The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1842-04-19
FOR THE MADI5ONIAN.
THE PROVINCE OF CRTTICISM-THE PRESS
-AHASUERUS, &C. sc.

as of Law, justice should sway the sceptre OF hel
dignity and her power. The works of Art, the me-
MORALS of Genius, and the achievements of intellec
tual excellence amidst the defects which some
times their beauties, demand from the empire OF
criticism not only unprejudced and impartial de-
csion but the language of courtesy and the homage
of respect.
The legitimate object of criticism is to analyse the
labors of genius by patient investigation, profound
learning, cultivated taste, and correct Judgment
Its province is to decide with an exact impartiaity
to the merits defects the beauty or deiormity OF
style, language and sentiment to trace out in compo
sition the slow and measured steps of reason, to fol-
low in the tram of logical arrangement and to pre-
sent to the eye of taste the ornaments and graces OF
simple and ervd eoquence. 1t is its peculiar Office
aso to mark the blemishes to detect the errors and
point out the defects in which ignorance vanity and
egotism too often array themselves There IS, sir
solemn dignity, an acknowledged majesty insepara-
BILE from the censorship of literature. The sword OF
Damoces is often there suspended over the heads OF
the votaries of the Muses. and personal rancor and
ribadry and harsh nvecve should not by their
rudeness the brittle thread of that hope which ami
mates the aspiring candidate for the fame Of literary
distinctions and honors Such is the Philosophy OF
Criticism, and such are the duties of its high and
nobling functions in the several departments of the
great republic of letters.
The great moralist and scholar Of his day, the
" Magnus Apollo" of writers, DR.. Johnson, swayed
the sceptre Of Criticism with that stern and nfexibe
spirit of independence which forms the true attribute
of Justice. If he sometimes displayed an apparent
severity in the pungency of his assaults on pedantc
vanity and bombast, it the severity of that skill
full necessity which forced him to expose that folly
which, as an impartial censor, it was his object to
Danish from the aristocracy of learning If, with the
pancy of wit he sometimes rendered vulgarity dis
gushing and presumption ludicrous-it was " the wit
which loved to play, not wound" and which, like
Ithuriels SPEAR was bright and burnished-not steed
nor warlike.
could wish for the honor of the metropolis well
as that of sound learning, that 4" The ,coudbe Critics
who figure so prominently in some Of our political
papers would initiate at least the Of the great
morast 1t possible that under the sober influence
of the true modesty of SCIENCE they might acquire
somewhat of his manner as Critics; but sure am
they could never, by any innate skill or mental acu
men, rise even to the semblance of his Judgment oil
even figure in the shadow of his greatness
As an American citizen, Mr.. Editor, am filled
with the deepest modification at the unwarrantable
illiberal and unmany which has been pursued
by certain individuals who control the press in oul
city against the President and his family. will say
nothing of those foul and unnatural aspersions OF
character which, in the darkness of their designs,
semble so infinitely those inky stains which are the
natural elements of disappointed editor and de-
PRAYED press. will pass by the gross and vapid in
tellgence-the grovellng wit, the unblushing obsce-
nty that hideous abortion of mental degradation
will avoid the disgusting exhibition of those personal
illusions which issue from the pen of the durnal
scribbler who, in the vanity of an affected impor-
tance fondly magines that ignominous notoriety is
an attribute of editorial greatness 1t is proper that
they should descend to the impure and gloomy abodes
to which they justly belong.
The Press is indeed noble engine. Through itf
channels thought survives in the beauty Of language
and language bequeathes to genius to science, and to
virtue, their own immortality. Over the streams OF
civilization it dfuses knowledge, and knowledge be-
gels virtue; and the vrtuous always brave and
the have are always free" Thus it becomes the de-
posdry of freedom and the nursery of genius; and in
its legitimate and proper uses patriotism strength
ened and liberty rendered perpetual. The Press, as
the National Egis, should be adamantine in its sup
mort of government just and honorable in the dsse-
mnation of truth, chaste in the ornament of its Ian
guage, and pure in the principles that are to give
worth and value to the Institutions of great and
free people 1t should be made pander to the
vile purposes of personal detraction, invade the
sanctity of domestic tranquility by single impress of
instrumentation or falsehood 1t may be considered
blessing of Divine Providence decreed to the immortal
franklin the father of the American Press, that he
did not live to witness in these days political excite
ment the base uses which that great moral and po-
ca engine is prosttuted by the disappointed and the
factious. The sober charlottesville grave decorum
the calm deliberations, and the compromising spirit
of that generous acquiescence which distinguished
his course as printer and patriot, have descended
with him to the tomb!
Permit me- in conclusion of these remarks to say
one word the critic well as the editor, who has
so prousey shed his Hudibras,ic salies over the late
nroductions of the of the President 1t is indeed,
a difficult task must own, to change mans OPT
Mons who is SO fortunate as well happy to be on
&c oood terms with himself" In other words it is
a hopeless task, to convince director of public
press, and writer for public newspaper, that
other important literary qualifications are necessary
70 constitute an able and udcious critic than those
which centre in mere editor. 1t is not the fppancy
If language the well turned periods of an Addiso-
man STYLE the epigramac sallies of initiative wit and
the harlequin exhibitions Of mimicry, that constitute
the proper materials for sound criticism II so, the
editor in question might claim the prerogatlve OF a
" funny reviewer" Personal rancor low buff emery,
and the savage baIbarity of dcep-seated revenge,
are weapons that the high chivalry and intellectual
warfare of criticism disdains to employ. advise that
such be thrown away. They are inglorous wea'