Poems of James Russell Lowell: With biographical sketch by Nathan Haskell DoleLowell, James Russell
General
Poems of James Russell Lowell: With biographical sketch by Nathan Haskell Dole
Lowell, James Russell
American poetry
descendants, to be devoured by the Caucasian race.
In God's name, let all, who hear nearer and nearer the
hungry moan of the storm and the growl of the breakers,
speak out! But, alas! we have no right to interfere. If a
man pluck an apple of mine, he shall be in danger of the
justice; but if he steal my brother, I must be silent. Who
says this? Our Constitution, consecrated by the callous
consuetude of sixty years, and grasped in triumphant
argument by the left hand of him whose right hand clutches
the clotted slave-whip. Justice, venerable with the
undethronable majesty of countless æons, says,--|Speak|! The
Past, wise with the sorrows and desolations of ages, from
amid her shattered fanes and wolf-housing palaces,
echoes,--|Speak|! Nature, through her thousand trumpets of
freedom, her stars, her sunrises, her seas, her winds, her
cataracts, her mountains blue with cloudy pines, blows
jubilant encouragement, and cries,--|Speak!| From the soul's
trembling abysses the still, small voice not vaguely
murmurs,--|Speak|! But, alas! the Constitution and the
Honorable Mr. Bagowind, M. C., say,--|Be dumb|!
It occurs to me to suggest, as a topic of inquiry in this
connection, whether, on that momentous occasion when the
goats and the sheep shall be parted, the Constitution and
the Honorable Mr. Bagowind, M. C., will be expected to take
their places on the left as our hircine vicars.
_Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
Quem patronum rogaturus?_
There is a point where toleration sinks into sheer baseness
and poltroonery. The toleration of the worst leads us to
look on what is barely better as good enough, and to worship
what is only moderately good. Woe to that man, or that
nation, to whom mediocrity has become an ideal!
Has our experiment of self-government succeeded, if it
barely manage to _rub and go_? Here, now, is a piece of
barbarism which Christ and the nineteenth century say shall
cease, and which Messrs. Smith, Brown, and others say shall
_not_ cease. I would by no means deny the eminent
respectability of these gentlemen, but I confess, that, in
such a wrestling-match, I cannot help having my fears for
them.
_Discite justitiam, moniti, et non temnere divos._
H. W.]
No. VI.
THE PIOUS EDITOR'S CREED.
[At the special instance of Mr. Biglow, I preface the
following satire with an extract from a sermon preached
during the past summer, from Ezekiel xxxiv. 2:--"Son of man,
prophesy against the shepherds of Israel." Since the Sabbath
on which this discourse was delivered, the editor of the
"Jaalam Independent Blunderbuss" has unaccountably absented
himself from our house of worship.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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