The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1842-12-21


pst, and awaken earnest inquiry into the causes o.
this growing and desolating spirit Of generalization
whose dominion appears to be gaining strength
every day. And surely it is full time to be alarmed
A new class of cuprits are now found before oui
justiciary tribunals. The genteel offender is not sc
much of rara auis as formerly Well-dressed
wel-bred rogues and braves are becoming far more
common The criminal calendar discovers vast
increase in the number of those connected respect
ably, who have made themselves amenable to the
law. And the character of the offences tried in oul
courts of justice, appears also to have undergone
change. These crimes are of a greater magnitude,
and more unprecedented nature, than those which
some years ago came before our tribunals. Robbie
rles, forgeres and swindlng transactions, are of
unexampled extent, and murders and assassinations
are marked by circumstances of singular atrocity.
And this is not all Not only is crime committed
on broader scale and more frequently by that por.
| ton OF the community amongst whom it had pre-
| vousy been comparatively of rare occurrence, but
it is too evident that it does not excite that deep
and hearty deestaton, with which il is sure TO be
visited when healthful moral tone pervades the
| public mind. On the contrary, morbid sympathy
! for offenders against the laws and the peace and
good order OF society, is active, and can be in
any case aroused TO the very extremity of excess.
Instances which fully illustrate our statements,
fresh in the recollection of the public, and do not
require particular reference.
The causes of this melancholy state of things,
or at least the most prominent of them, do not re-
quire for their discovery, any very remarkable pow
ers of observation. They are very obvious to any
one, who has paid ordinary attention the progress
of society in this country for the past few years
The imaginary and bewildering prosperity of
short-lived day-the ruinous habits of self-indu-
gence which such season introduoed-the almost
universal falthlessness OF men in places of trust
the than heathenish idolatry of gold-the de-
reflections of the cergy-,he spread of infidety-al
| these corruptng influences have been at work, and
moral miasma, desoating and fatal, as that which
brooded over the doomed cities of the plain, has
spread all over the land.
But there is onesource of the prevailing immora-
| lily, which we have not enumerated but which it
| is impossible to overlook We mean the flood of
corrupting licentious, demoralizng light literature
with which the country has been inundated during
the last few years Volumes after volumes of the
most perncious character have been issued from
the press, and circulated at a price which placed
them wlthiR the reach of every individual. II is
scarcely possible to exaggerate the evil influence
which has In this way been exercised, especially on
the young and unrefecting The most delusive
pictures OF life have been placed before the nexpe.
rlenced eye. The distinctions between right and
wrong have been COMPOUNDED. Vice has been in
vested with the dignity of romance, and virtue been
made TO appear dmnutve and mean when contrast
ed with magnificent crime. More has been done
by these popular noveliss to famiiarize the young
mind with vice and crme-to awaken desires for
actual participation in of folly and iniquity
TO weaken the souls aspirations after the pure and
holy which endure for overland to destroy the
nobling and conservative influence of religion than
all the writers who have in any age abored to over.
turn Christianity and defy human depravlty
Let us just for moment turn TO the productions
OF Bulwer, or Ainsworth, Marryatt or any of the
same school, Is it possible to doubt their tendency?
Who among the principal heroines on whom
Buwer has lavlshed the whole treasures of his per-
| verted genius In what do they differ from the
miserable outcasts who tenant the brothels And
yetwe have novel after novel occupied with the mar
ration of the lives and adventures of such charac-
tiers, and elaborate apologies we should rather cay
vindications-otfered for their conduct. Actions
| for The commission OF which man would be boot
ed from virtuous society, related with charac-
teTisc nonchalance, quite defensible and proper
in a fashionable hero and crimes which strike at
the very root of social happiness, represented
mere peccadilloes which must of necessity occur
in refined society. What man is there who, know
ing anything of the human heart, can read Pei
ham" "Ernest Maltravers" "Alice,' and other no.
wells OF kindred stamp and then say that their crcu-
lation among the youRg, and badly educated
is not calculated to subvert morality and defle the
III, IL -
Gated the affected eoquence which glitters through
out its pages, and the pseudo-philosophy which it
retails, render work of this novelist doubly dan
gerous. The devil himself knows better than to
present his temptation without careful disguise. II
| is always, to all appearance, a pleasant morsel
| The Ainsworth school, to which Boz belongs and
whose works are devoted to the exploits, and sue
cesses and exciting perils of the hishwayman, the
burglar, and the pickpocket, exercise influence
equally pernicious, and perhaps still more wide
spread than that of Buwer. The novels of this cas
have been almost all dramatized, and are thus rem
dered tenfold more influential in creating young as
prans after the glery of Jack Sheppard, and hi
kindred heroes These productions have created
and fostered dislike of honorable industry, a con
tempt for the ordinary avocatons of honest men
and an uncomfortable desire to seek notoriety ant
crafty lust and passion in the perous paths of crime
Will any of these writers, their admirers, pretent
to say that their novels tend to make vice and Grim
repulsvel Can they add lmpudent faIsehood to thei
other SINS and say that their design was to presen
wickedness, and folly and crime in their undisgui
sed depravty and to attract TO patient industry, hum
bic toll and steadfast virtue the homage ofah hearts
1t has not been without that pointed aluslo
has been made TO the late horrible affair on boar
the Somers, illustrative of the growth of reck
less spirit of crime amongst our youth The tree
known by its fruits. No great philosophical obser
walton is requisite to trace the operation of cause
effect in this matter Light literature, of the elias
we have so briefly but clearly enough described
must sooner or later exhibit its appropriate result
on those amongst whom it fourlshes.
But there is still sufficient moral force 10 chec