Many a valuable work has been produced in manuscript by students and
other persons of experience in special fields of practice which have
never yet been put into type, and perhaps never will, solely because of
the poverty of their writers or of the disinclination of publishers in
general to take hold of books which do not at the start promise a
remuneration. The late Professor Sophocles of Harvard College, left in
MS. a _Lexicon of Modern Greek and English_, which if published
would certainly prove a valuable contribution to literature as well as
be greatly appreciated by scholars. We are aware of several instances of
this sort.
While, in such instances, the authors are to be commiserated, it would
be folly to blame the publishers, who, were they to accept for
publication every unremunerative manuscript offered to them, would soon
cease to be publishers and instead be forced into the alms-houses. It
has been suggested that wealthy men can do themselves honor and assist
creditably in building up literature by providing the means wherewith
deserving, but poor, authors may print their books. Were the suggestion
to be carefully weighed, and then, to be adopted, American literature
would be made the richer. A great many rich men of the day seem to take
great satisfaction in patronizing artists, athletes, actors, and
colleges. Why is it not possible to derive as much pleasure in
patronizing authors?
While writing on this theme, we are remained that one of the most
unsaleable books of the present day is a Town History: and, yet, however
crude or dry it may seem to be, it is in reality an exceedingly valuable
contribution to our national annals. Such books are as a rule declined
by regular publishing houses, and, if published at all, the author is
usually out of pocket by reason of his investment. There ought to be
public spirit enough in every community to make the opposite of this the
rule.
* * * * *
It remains to be seen whether the Hartford _Courant_ and other
newspapers of the same proclivities, will ever again wave the "bloody
shirt" in the field of politics. This paper, viewing the events of the
past month, has repeatedly thanked God (in print) that, "now we have
neither North nor South, but one united country." Few events in
ceremonial history, we confess, have been more significant than the
presence of two Confederate generals as pall-bearers at the funeral of
GENERAL GRANT. This ought, if indeed it does not, to mark the close of
the Civil War and of all the divisions and combinations which have had
their roots and their justifications in it. The "bloody shirt" can be
waved no more, except as an insult to the memory of the late first
citizen of the Republic. On what basis, then, are political parties
henceforth to rest? What, in the future, will give a meaning to the
names Republican and Democrat, or make it national and patriotic for an
American citizen to enlist in one of the two organizations and wage
political war against the other?
We can detect only three great questions now before the American people.
One is the Tariff, the other the reform of the Civil Service, and the
last is the problem of labor. It is noticeable that the division of
opinion regarding either of these questions does not correspond with the
lines of the established parties. There are Protectionists, as also Free
Traders, in both parties; both parties are equally puzzled by the labor
question; and though the Democratic Party has hitherto been re-actionary
on the subject of the Civil Service, a Democratic President is to-day
the champion and the hope of Reform. On the whole, it begins to look as
if each of the two great parties was in a state of incipient
disintegration. On the one hand, the Independent Republicans, whose
votes elected Grover Cleveland, although still professing allegiance to
the Republican party, will never again ally themselves with those who
supported Mr. Blaine. On the other side the Bourbon Democrats, who
helped to elect Mr. Cleveland, are now in arms against him. The
presidency of Cleveland is to say, the least the triumph of national
over party government; and should he continue to go forward bravely in
his present course, he may rest assured that the hearts of all good
citizens will go with him, and that his triumph will be complete. The
day is here when thinking men will have to brush conventionalism aside,
and confront with open minds the problem which the course of events has
now distinctly set before them for solution.
* * * * *
The records of our own time are being gradually embalmed in a permanent
form. MR. BLAINE has given us his first volume of what perhaps are
better classed as _impressions_ rather than as _memoirs pour
servir_; we are promised the Personal Memoirs of GENERAL GRANT; and
now at last, after many years' waiting, we have the completed works of
CHARLES SUMNER, the incorruptible son of Massachusetts, from the press
of Messrs. Lee and Shepard, who have spared no expense as publishers.
People who have not yet examined these volumes, or at least have not yet
looked through the volume containing the Index, have but a faint idea of
their invaluable worth and character. It would be impossible to write
the history of the early life of this people under the constitution
without borrowing material from the papers of Hamilton and of Madison.
Equally impossible will it be for the future historian to narrate, in
just and equable proportion, the events from 1845 to 1874, without
consulting the fifteen volumes which Mr. Sumner has left behind him.
But the distinguished senator from Massachusetts was not himself an
historian; he was a close and painstaking student of history, as well as
a rigid and critical observer of current events. He kept himself
thoroughly posted in the progress of his generation, and possessed the
happy faculty of seeing things not alone as one within the circle of
events but as one standing outside and afar off. Consequently, his
orations, senatorial speeches, miscellaneous addresses, letters and
papers on current themes are not fraught with the transitory or
ephemeral character, so common to heated discussions in legislative
halls, but are singularly and as a whole among the grandest
contributions to national history and growth.
These volumes cover, as we have already remarked, the period extending
from 1845 to 1874, and they furnish a compendium of all the great
questions which occupied the attention of the nation during that time,
and which were discussed by him with an ability equalled by few and
excelled by none of the great statesmen who were his contemporaries. The
high position which Mr. Sumner so long and so honorably held as one of
the giant minds of the nation,--his intimate connection with and
leadership in the great measure of the abolition of slavery, and all the
great questions of the civil war and those involved in a just settlement
of the same, rendered it a desideratum that these volumes should be
published.
Aside from their value as contributions to political history, the works,
particularly the orations, of Mr. Sumner belong to the literature of
America. They are as far superior to the endless number of orations and
speeches which are delivered throughout the country as the works of a
polished, talented and accomplished author surpass the ephemeral
productions of a day. In one respect these orations surpass almost all
others, namely, in the elevation of sentiment, the high and lofty moral
tone and grandeur of thought which they possess. The one on the "True
Grandeur of Nations" stands forth of itself like a serene and majestic
image, cut from the purest Parian marble. There has been no orator in
our time, whose addresses approach nearer the models of antiquity,
unless it be Webster, whom Sumner greatly surpasses in moral tone and
dignity of thought.
The works of a statesman, so variously endowed, and who has treated so
_many_ subjects with such a masterly command of knowledge,
reasoning, and eloquence, cannot fail to be widely circulated. These
elegantly-printed volumes,--which in their typographical appearance seem
to rival anything of similar character that have come to our
notice,--carefully edited and fully rounded by a copious analytical
index of subjects discussed, topics referred to, and facts adduced, will
prove an invaluable treasury to the scholar, the historian and the
general seeker after truth. The librarians of every city and town
library in this country should insist upon having the works of Charles
Sumner upon their shelves.
* * * * *
On the 12th of this month will be celebrated the two hundred and
fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Concord, Mass.
Judge John S. Keyes, whose father performed the same service at the
bi-centennial celebration half a century ago, will preside. On the 15th
of last May the committee of twenty-five made a report, which merits the
attention of committees to be appointed in other towns in New England,
on similar occasions. This report reads as follows:
"We have decided that it was not best to placard the town in an endeavor
to make history; that with the sum at the disposal of the town, and
those of the earliest dates, leaving to the future the memorials, if
any, of recent events and more modern times."
For this purpose, the town appropriated one thousand dollars, and in
connection with the celebration, it was suggested, and provided for,
that a large fac-simile of the act of incorporation of the town,
September 12th, 1635, should be procured and placed in the town hall in
such a position that all persons might easily read it. The work of
executing suitable memorials, to mark the most important spots in the
history of the town, has already been done in a neat manner by a citizen
of Concord, and we are informed that all the arrangements for the
pleasant events are fully completed.
* * * * *