464 Notes of the Month on Affairs in General [OcT. 



in silence ; the nonsense of meddling with the slaves will be equally 

 felt, and the consequences may be of a much deeper class than the craft 

 of all the quarter-masters general, and the calculations of the Cabinet 

 of Clerks, may be able to cure. If America should take it into her 

 head to pay her debts, as usual, by breaking out with a declaration of 

 war, we then may have fruits of our legislation in the West Indies, 

 palpable enough to catch the eyes even of a Cabinet with Mr. Goulburn 

 for its financier. 



" Bronze Colossal Elephant : Paris. The enormous bronze elephant, 

 which w r as originally intended to be placed as a fountain on the site of 

 the Bastile in Paris, is at last, it seems, to be fixed on a pedestal, in a 

 vacant space in the Champs Eli/sees ; M. A. Malavoine, the architect, 

 having obtained from the city of Paris for eighty years, the grant of 

 the land in question, without rent, on condition of its reverting with the 

 statue to the city, so as to become a national monument. The pedestal 

 will be about 50 feet in height, and the castle on the back of the ele- 

 phant will be at an elevation of 100 feet from the ground. Staircases to 

 ascend to the castle will be made in the legs of the elephant, and the body 

 will be fitted up elegantly as a saloon : persons entering the elephant to 

 pay one franc for each admission. From this fee the architect expects 

 to derive a large income." 



Every city must have its Elephant, and ours is to be a colossal cemetery. 

 For this, three plans are already before the public, and if the public 

 please, it may have twenty. But we are not yet French enough to 

 relish a Pere la Chaise "weeping seats," and artificial garlands for 

 tombs, are not to be the English taste. We shall never be refined enough 

 to turn a church-yard into a display of weekly sentimentality ; and pro- 

 menade among tne graves of those whom we loved and lament, with 

 our white handkerchiefs to our eyes for the benefit of the lookers on, 

 and a quadrille step for the display of our own graces. The cemetery 

 plans are uniformly unsuitable to the habits and the feelings of this 

 country. They are besides extravagantly expensive, in a matter al- 

 ready loaded with expense ; and they will be and ought to be resisted 

 by every man who thinks that the place of the dead ought to be one of 

 silence, sacredness, and solitude. 



A clever pamphlet, " What has the Ministry gained by the Elec- 

 tions ?" is laying on our table. We have not room to take any further 

 notice of it, than by saying that the writer's views are just, his infor- 

 mation is accurate enough, and his style pleasant, and often forcible. 



If this be enough, we fully recommend it to our readers. 



