The musical world.

Such is the title of a new journal published in Brussels, in the format of the great newspapers, under the direction of Messrs. Malibran and Roselli, names that are, at the same time, a program and a recommendation for the specialty of this paper. It is not as an organ of the arts that we are going to appreciate it; we leave this point to others more competent than ourselves, who judge it equal to its title. Indeed, it could not be confused with those frivolous papers which, under the insignia of literature, give their readers more witticisms than substance and, very often, more blank spaces than text. The Musical World is a serious journal, in which all the questions of its program are treated in a substantial manner and by skillful hands. This consideration is important to us. This journal is a first step of the independent press on the path of Spiritism. Without presenting itself as an organ and a propagator of the doctrine, it made this judicious reasoning:

“True or false, Spiritism has taken a place among the facts of the present time that preoccupy opinion. The storms it provokes in a certain world show that it is not without importance; its propagation, despite the attacks of the clergy, proves that it is not a flash in the pan; by the number of its adherents, it is already becoming a power with which, sooner or later, one will have to reckon. If it is an error, it will fall by itself; if it is a truth, it is inevitably a revolution in ideas, and nothing could be set against it. In one or the other of these two alternatives, we must, by way of information, keep our readers abreast of the state of the question. In our opinion, to speak of this or of something else would be better than to divulge the scandalous chronicle of the wings and the drawing rooms. “To put our readers in a position to judge with full knowledge of the matter, we take the majority of our quotations from the writings that command credence among the adepts of this doctrine; but, as we neither must nor wish to force anyone’s opinion, either for or against, we admit controversy, provided it does not stray from the limits of a profitable and honest discussion. Keeping ourselves on the ground of impartiality, each one is free in his convictions. The favorable or contrary opinions that may come to be formulated in certain articles must be considered as the personal opinions of their respective authors and in no way commit the responsibility of the journal.” Such is the summary of the program that was presented to us and which we can only applaud. It would be desirable that this example should have imitators in the press; what we censure in the latter is not the discussion of our principles, but the blind and systematically malevolent criticism, which speaks of them without knowing them and distorts them in a manner that is far from loyal. The journals that frankly enter upon this way, far from losing thereby, can only gain materially, because the Spiritists today form a mass of readers ever more preponderant, and whose sympathy will naturally go to their side. In this respect, the Musical World deserves its encouragement.

Note. – The Musical World appears on Sundays, since the 1st of October 1864. Price of subscription: 4 francs per year for Belgium; 10 francs for France. One may subscribe to it from the 1st of each month: in Brussels, at the office of the journal, rue de l’Écuyer, 18; in Paris, at the agency of the journal, rue de Buffaut, 9.

A company has been formed for the operation of this journal, with a capital of 60,000 francs, divided into 2,400 shares of 25 fr. each.