The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1842-02-24
From the Philadelphia Public Ledger.

POLITICAL RAHcoR.-The partalitles, malignities,
piques spit.s and injustice of profeesed critics. or
those whose business is the cutting up of literary
publications, have long been proverbial, and have
long ceased to excite among readers any sentiment
mingled IN the least with respect. Every one OF
them now existing in any of our cities, swell known
to be partisan Of some kind, to belong to some
clique or association in politics, fnancerng, print
ing, publishing, or something else, who seek to pro-
mote exclusive interest by waging war against
every body else. Hence discovery in science, no
improvement in art, effort in literature is to be
sustained treated with justice, unless it can be
made subservent to the interests of the clique Our
own city has several Of these associations, each of
which daily trots in circle of small diameter re-
solved upon seeing no merit beyond it, and upon mis-
representing and abusing every thing which cannot
be brought within it. But such mischievous little
things not confined to the Quaker city for they
are as numerous, active, as UNJUST and as malig-
nant, in the g literary emporium" CID and the
" commercial emporium, as they are in the empo-
rium of financerng.
In one of the periodicals" belonging to some of
these cques, in neghbhring city, is what it called
criticism upon Mr.. Tyler's poem And to what
does it amount To efusion of vulgar spite, that
would have disgraeed even "pipe layer" or some
members of Congress. 1t in the following words
"The dynasty of Chance ends not we perceive,
in the elder Tyler. The son succeeds to write, as
the father regns, by accident. Into larger nheri-
lance of folly no young gentleman ever came. En-
larging as he has done, by this production he may
set up separate dominion, duncedom of his own.
and reign through all the realms of nonsense abso
lute'"
Nobody fail to perceive, in this ebullition, the
vulgar maligny of the low politician, who belongs to
clique in pursuit of spois, and which wages
unrelentng upon all who too honest to admit
its nsolent pretensons and resist its corrupt practices
1t is malignant libel of author, prompted by dis
appointed rage against the political movements of his
father in public trust. The President of the Uni
ted States ha not bestowed the emOluments of Office
upon certain politicians, who however hard may have
been their labor in elections, worked only for spoils,
and are incapable, politicians, of entertaining an
honest thought, performing honest action; and
because the President of the United States has disap
pointed the corrupt aspirations of such PERSONS
tain poem, written by another person, is tissue OF
nonsense, and its author is a Ounce! We really can
not perceive any connection between the Presidents
official appointments and the literary merits of an Their
man. the character of his works We take for
granted that Mr.. Tyler would have written and pub
lshed "Ahasuerus % if his father had never been
President, either by "accident" design; and that
neither the election Of the father any of his
official movements, has had the slightest influence
over any thought of the son in the whole poem.
How ridiculous then is this attempt to make the poll
can responsible for the poet the poet for the poll
tcian
And this is called criticism And person thus
rabid with political maligntes, induced by disap-
pointment in political schemes of profit and too rabd
to any thing through any other medium than his
political interests anmOsities, undertakes to repeo
literary effort If the public will encourage such
outrages upon common sense and common honesty,
by sustaining the periodicals in which they appear,
then is that public deficient in both candor and judg
ment The author of this respectable esion probably
supposes that the influence of the terary press over
the public mind is irresistible, and that he will COM
mand the polls in presidential election, by command
ing the public judgment about poetry He is not the
frstn elk VVh has m of
own" by attempting to force partisan politics into il
legitimate connections, or to subject literature or
science to political standard. We advise him to
abdcae, for in this " duncedom Of his own" he will
not have subjects enough to supply his throne with
corporal's guard People will he deferred
from reading Mr.. Tyers poem by partisan denuncia-
tons of his father, Than by quotation of stocks and
its readers Y decide upon lis merits whether right
wrong, without even asking what pipe layers"
fill custom house, or whether Tyler man, or
Clay man. or Webster man, Van Buren, man
is pocket the salary of post office. With SO much
for the spirit of this criticism, will offer word
upon it's merits, and begin with saying that whoever
could have written this spitefu paragraph is incapa
BILE Of approaching the merits dement's of this poem.
We say that it is highly credable to its author and
contains some passages which, for beauty and gran
deur of imagery would not lose all claim to praise in
comparison with some of the finest passages of those
great masters of the beautiful or the sublime in de-
scripton, Dante and Milton. We are far from say
ing that any thing in it equals the highest efforts of
either of these giants in poetry But we do say that
neither ofthem would have been ashamed to own and
glory in some of its passages. And yet they
utterly contemplate as literary efforts, and their
thor is Ounce" because his father happens 10 be
President of the U nted States, and to have dsnp-
pointed some clique ignorant and vulgar pohgates,
in making official appointments This may be very
good criticism for the commercial emporium" for
thoroughly imbued with the lowest spirit of trade
But it will not satisfy those whose thoughts can ira
vel beyond the dominion of dollars.