Mexican War, 1846-1848 -- Poetry; Slavery -- United States -- Poetry
"When the paragraph in question was shown to Mr. Biglow, the only part
of it which seemed to give him any dissatisfaction was that which
classed him with the Whig party. He says, that, if resolutions are a
nourishing kind of diet, that party must be in a very hearty and
flourishing condition; for that they have quietly eaten more good ones
of their own baking than he could have conceived to be possible without
repletion. He has been for some years past (I regret to say) an ardent
opponent of those sound doctrines of protective policy which form so
prominent a portion of the creed of that party. I confess, that, in some
discussions which I have had with him on this point in my study, he has
displayed a vein of obstinacy which I had not hitherto detected in his
composition. He is also (_horresco referens_) infected in no small
measure with the peculiar notions of a print called the Liberator,
whose heresies I take every proper opportunity of combating, and of
which, I thank God, I have never read a single line.
"I did not see Mr. B.'s verses until they appeared in print, and there
_is_ certainly one thing in them which I consider highly improper. I
allude to the personal references to myself by name. To confer notoriety
on an humble individual who is labouring quietly in his vocation, and
who keeps his cloth as free as he can from the dust of the political
arena (though _væ mihi si non evangelizavero_), is no doubt an
indecorum. The sentiments which he attributes to me I will not deny to
be mine. They were embodied, though in a different form, in a discourse
preached upon the last day of public fasting, and were acceptable to my
entire people (of whatever political views), except the postmaster, who
dissented _ex officio_. I observe that you sometimes devote a portion of
your paper to a religious summary. I should be well pleased to furnish a
copy of my discourse for insertion in this department of your
instructive journal. By omitting the advertisements, it might easily be
got within the limits of a single number, and I venture to insure you
the sale of some scores of copies in this town. I will cheerfully render
myself responsible for ten. It might possibly be advantageous to issue
it as an _extra_. But perhaps you will not esteem it an object, and I
will not press it. My offer does not spring from any weak desire of
seeing my name in print; for I can enjoy this satisfaction at any time
by turning to the Triennial Catalogue of the University, where it also
possesses that added emphasis of Italics with which those of my calling
are distinguished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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