a friendly feeling towards the great sculptor, of whom
the Queen City is so proud, and a due regard for his interests and his
fame, would have prevented the consummation of such an act. It can be
no pleasing reflection to Mr. Powers, that a work which many persons in
Europe, as well as in America, would have purchased at any reasonable
price, should, by any movement of his own townsmen, be disposed of at a
public raffle, so that of its final destination he must long remain in
ignorance.

It seems, from what has here been adduced, that Art-Unions have not
proved of service to art or artists, notwithstanding the immense amount
annually collected for this ostensible purpose; but that they are in
reality only lotteries operating under another but less objectionable
name.

If a corporation can be granted by the Legislature, with the privilege
of selling pictures, or statuary, by lottery, every other branch of
industry is as much entitled to such a privilege, or our laws are
onesided and unjust. We would then see distributions of prizes from
every quarter, until the whole mechanical and commercial interests of
the country would be turned into Lotteries or Unions. Following the
example of the Art-Union in this state, we have already advertised a
"_Homestead Art-Union_," the grand prize of which is a "house and lot
situated in Williamsburgh, which cost nearly $5,000." Subscribers are
entitled to "an elegant and valuable engraving, which has heretofore
sold at $7.50, (being $2.50 more than the price of subscription,) and
superior in execution and elegance to any picture distributed in this
manner." It has in its collection for distribution "ninety-nine elegant
and costly oil paintings and engravings, richly framed in ornamental and
plain gilt frames." All the difference between these Unions, seems to be
in the fact that the "Homestead" has limited the number of
tickets--certainly an improvement on the other, so far as the public
interest is concerned. We may expect to hear very soon of _Bread and
Meat Art-Unions_, when the whole community, for a very small outlay, may
live like princes, and snap their fingers at haggard want.

The tendency of these hotbed methods of cultivating an appreciation of
art and of rewarding its professors, has been to discourage artists from
any suitable efforts to provide instruction, upon a liberal scale, to
those who are seeking for it. Indeed it takes from them the power to do
so, by drawing awa