* * * * *
Several talks among the Transcendentalists, during the autumn of 1839,
turned upon the propriety of establishing an organ for the expression
of freer views than the conservative journals were ready to welcome.
The result was the publication of the "Dial," the first number of
which appeared early in the summer of 1840, under the editorship of
Margaret, aided by R.W. Emerson and George Ripley. How moderate were
her own hopes, in regard to this enterprise, is clearly enough shown
by passages from her correspondence.
'_Jamaica Plain, 22d March, 1840._ * * * I have a great deal
written, but, as I read it over, scarce a word seems pertinent
to the place or time. When I meet people, it is easy to
adapt myself to them; but when I write, it is into another
world,--not a better one, perhaps, but one with very
dissimilar habits of thought to this wherein I am
domesticated. How much those of us, who have been formed by
the European mind, have to unlearn, and lay aside, if we would
act here! I would fain do something worthily that belonged to
the country where I was born, but most times I fear it may not
be.
'What others can do,--whether all that has been said is the
mere restlessness of discontent, or there are thoughts really
struggling for utterance,--will be tested now. A perfectly
free organ is to be offered for the expression of individual
thought and character. There are no party measures to be
carried, no particular standard to be set up. A fair, calm
tone, a recognition of universal principles, will, I hope,
pervade the essays in every form. I trust there will be a
spirit neither of dogmatism nor of compromise, and that
this journal will aim, not at leading public opinion, but at
stimulating each man to judge for himself, and to think more
deeply and more nobly, by letting him see how some minds are
kept alive by a wise self-trust. We must not be sanguine as
to the amount of talent which will be brought to bear on this
publication. All concerned are rather indifferent, and there
is no great promise for the present. We cannot show high
culture, and I doubt about vigorous thought. But we shall
manifest free action as far as it goes, and a high aim.
It were much if a periodical could be kept open, not to
accomplish any outward object, but merely to afford an avenue
for what of liberal and calm thought might be originated among
us, by the wants of individual minds.' * *
* * * * *
'_April 19, 1840._--Things go on pretty well, but doubtless
people will be disappointed, for they seem to be looking for
the Gospel of Transcendentalism. It may prove as Jouffroy
says it was with the successive French ministries: "The public
wants something positive, and, seeing that such and such
persons are excellent at fault-finding, it raises them to be
rulers, when, lo! they have no noble and full Yea, to match
their shrill and bold Nay, and so are pulled down again." Mr.
Emerson knows best what he wants; but he has already said it
in various ways. Yet, this experiment is well worth trying;
hearts beat so high, they must be full of something, and here
is a way to breathe it out quite freely. It is for dear New
England that I want this review. For myself, if I had wished
to write a few pages now and then, there were ways and means
enough of disposing of them. But in truth I have not much to
say; for since I have had leisure to look at myself, I find
that, so far from being an original genius, I have not yet
learned to think to any depth, and that the utmost I have
done in life has been to form my character to a certain
consistency, cultivate my tastes, and learn to tell the truth
with a little better grace than I did at first. For this the
world will not care much, so I shall hazard a few critical
remarks only, or an unpretending chalk sketch now and then,
till I have learned to do something. There will be beautiful
poesies; about prose we know not yet so well. We shall be the
means of publishing the little Charles Emerson left as a mark
of his noble course, and, though it lies in fragments, all who
read will be gainers.'
* * * * *
'1840.--Since the Revolution, there has been little, in
the circumstances of this country, to call out the higher
sentiments. The effect of continued prosperity is the same
on nations as on individuals,--it leaves the nobler faculties
undeveloped. The need of bringing out the physical resources
of a vast extent of country, the commercial and political
fever incident to our institutions, tend to fix the eyes of
men on what is local and temporary, on the external advantages
of their condition. The superficial diffusion of knowledge,
unless attended by a correspondent deepening of its sources,
is likely to vulgarize rather than to raise the thought of a
nation, depriving them of another sort of education through
sentiments of reverence, and leading the multitude to believe
themselves capable of judging what they but dimly discern.
They see a wide surface, and forget the difference between
seeing and knowing. In this hasty way of thinking and living
they traverse so much ground that they forget that not the
sleeping railroad passenger, but the botanist, the geologist,
the poet, really see the country, and that, to the former,
"a miss is as good as a mile." In a word, the tendency
of circumstances has been to make our people superficial,
irreverent, and more anxious to get a living than to live
mentally and morally. This tendency is no way balanced by the
slight literary culture common here, which is mostly English,
and consists in a careless reading of publications of the day,
having the same utilitarian tendency with our own proceedings.
The infrequency of acquaintance with any of the great fathers
of English lore marks this state of things.
'New England is now old enough,--some there have leisure
enough,--to look at all this; and the consequence is a violent
reaction, in a small minority, against a mode of culture that
rears such fruits. They see that political freedom does not
necessarily produce liberality of mind, nor freedom in church
institutions--vital religion; and, seeing that these changes
cannot be wrought from without inwards, they are trying to
quicken the soul, that they may work from within outwards.
Disgusted with the vulgarity of a commercial aristocracy, they
become radicals; disgusted with the materialistic working of
"rational" religion, they become mystics. They quarrel with
all that is, because it is not spiritual enough. They would,
perhaps, be patient if they thought this the mere sensuality
of childhood in our nation, which it might outgrow; but they
think that they see the evil widening, deepening,--not only
debasing the life, but corrupting the thought, of our people,
and they feel that if they know not well what should be done,
yet that the duty of every good man is to utter a protest
against what is done amiss.
'Is this protest undiscriminating? are these opinions crude?
do these proceedings threaten to sap the bulwarks on which men
at present depend? I confess it all, yet I see in these men
promise of a better wisdom than in their opponents. Their hope
for man is grounded on his destiny as an immortal soul, and
not as a mere comfort-loving inhabitant of earth, or as a
subscriber to the social contract. It was not meant that the
soul should cultivate the earth, but that the earth should
educate and maintain the soul. Man is not made for society,
but society is made for man. No institution can be good which
does not tend to improve the individual. In these principles
I have confidence so profound, that I am not afraid to trust
those who hold them, despite their partial views, imperfectly
developed characters, and frequent want of practical sagacity.
I believe, if they have opportunity to state and discuss
their opinions, they will gradually sift them, ascertain their
grounds and aims with clearness, and do the work this country
needs. I hope for them as for "the leaven that is hidden in
the bushel of meal, till all be leavened." The leaven is not
good by itself, neither is the meal; let them combine, and we
shall yet have bread.
'Utopia it is impossible to build up. At least, my hopes for
our race on this one planet are more limited than those of
most of my friends. I accept the limitations of human nature,
and believe a wise acknowledgment of them one of the best
conditions of progress. Yet every noble scheme, every poetic
manifestation, prophesies to man his eventual destiny. And
were not man ever more sanguine than facts at the moment
justify, he would remain torpid, or be sunk in sensuality. It
is on this ground that I sympathize with what is called the
"Transcendental party," and that I feel their aim to be the
true one. They acknowledge in the nature of man an arbiter for
his deeds,--a standard transcending sense and time,--and
are, in my view, the true utilitarians. They are but at the
beginning of their course, and will, I hope, learn how to make
use of the past, as well as to aspire for the future, and to
be true in the present moment.
'My position as a woman, and the many private duties which
have filled my life, have prevented my thinking deeply on
several of the great subjects which these friends have at
heart. I suppose, if ever I become capable of judging, I shall
differ from most of them on important points. But I am not
afraid to trust any who 'are true, and in intent noble, with
their own course, nor to aid in enabling them to express their
thoughts, whether I coincide with them or not.
'On the subject of Christianity, my mind is clear. If Divine,
it will stand the test of any comparison. I believe the reason
it has so imperfectly answered to the aspirations of its
Founder is, that men have received it on external grounds. I
believe that a religion, thus received, may give the life
an external decorum, but will never open the fountains of
holiness in the soul.
'One often thinks of Hamlet as the true representative of
idealism in its excess. Yet if, in his short life, man be
liable to some excess, should we not rather prefer to have
the will palsied like Hamlet, by a deep-searching tendency and
desire for poetic perfection, than to have it enlightened
by worldly sagacity, as in the case of Julius Cæsar, or made
intense by pride alone, as in that of Coriolanus?
'After all, I believe it is absurd to attempt to speak on
these subjects within the limits of a letter. I will try to
say what I mean in print some day. Yet one word as to "the
material," in man. Is it not the object of all philosophy,
as well as of religion and poetry, to prevent its prevalence?
Must not those who see most truly be ever making statements
of the truth to combat this sluggishness, or worldliness?
What else are sages, poets, preachers, born to do? Men go an
undulating course,--sometimes on the hill, sometimes in the
valley. But he only is in the right who in the valley forgets
not the hill-prospect, and knows in darkness that the sun will
rise again. That is the real life which is subordinated to,
not merged in, the ideal; he is only wise who can bring the
lowest act of his life into sympathy with its highest thought.
And this I take to be the one only aim of our pilgrimage here.
I agree with those who think that no true philosophy will try
to ignore or annihilate the material part of man, but will
rather seek to put it in its place, as servant and minister to
the soul.'