rable; and for the existence of this simple
and benignant race our petitioners are indebted to the brethren of
the rosy cross. Among the modern professors of Spiritualism,
Cagliostro was the most justly celebrated. In Paris, his saloons
were thronged with the rich and noble. To old ladies he sold
immortality, and to the young ones he sold beauty that would endure
for centuries, and his charming countess gained immense wealth, by
granting attendant sylphs to such ladies as were rich enough to pay
for their services. The "Biographies des Contemporains," a work which
our present mediums ought to consult with care, says there was hardly
a fine lady in Paris who would not sup with the shade of Lucretius in
the apartments of Cagliostro. There was not a military officer who
would not discuss the art with Alexander, Hannibal or Caesar, or an
advocate or counselor who would not argue legal points with the ghost
of Cicero. These were spiritual manifestations worth paying for, and
all our degenerate "mediums" would have to hide their diminished
heads in the presence of Cagliostro.

It would be a curious inquiry to follow this occult science through
all its phases of mineral magnetism, animal mesmerism, etc., until we
reach the present, latest and slowest phase of all spiritual
manifestation; but I have said enough to show the truth of Burk's
beautiful aphorism, "The credulity of dupes is as inexhaustible as
the invention of knaves."

A writer of that time says:

"A pleasant debate followed. Mr. Petit proposed to refer the petition of
the Spiritualists to three thousand clergymen. Mr. Weller proposed to
refer it to the Committee on Foreign Relations, as it might be necessary
to inquire whether or not when Americans leave this world they lose their
citizenship. Mr. Mason proposed that it should be left to the Committee on
Military affairs. General Shields himself said he had thought of proposing
to refer the petition to the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads,
because there may be a possibility of establishing a spiritual telegraph
between the material and spiritual worlds. The petition was finally, by a
decisive vote, laid upon the table. The table did not, as we learn, tip in
indignation at this summary disposal of Spiritualism in the Senate, by
which we must infer that the 'spirits,' if there were any in the Senate