New-York daily tribune., 1843-01-27
THE TRIDUN NE.
Dickcns,s Notes.


We are sorry for it, for we only plainly wrote what
we honestly thought-,hat it was shallow and
percilious. Thinking to annihate u.s. the Editor
hurl, at US the dire charge of belonging te the
tTranscenden,a School We shall survive, how.
ever for SO far at least the writer Of the Liter.
ary Notices, to which special reference is made, is
concerned the assertion has TRUTH and the charge
therefore, no weight. But the Commercial repels
or intended compliment, that the paragraph was
"wel enough in its place but unworthy The Com
mercial, AID demands our meaning. Itwas SIM
ply this: There is class OF papers which, disrc
garding truth principle and courtesy vlify others
for the love Of it, and if they find good oc-
casion for abuse at least invent one, and forge
letters to suit their purpose. Thus in the begin
ming of the crusade was DlcxENs treated. liza
foreigner burdened with title come among us he
is abused and ridiculed by these prints, and, be-
cause he is a Lord, he is pronounced unworthy To
look upon the face of pure Democracy. If he have
no ttle-no birth light but that Of an honest name
no inheritance but that of genius and industry
he is declared to be base born fellow-o low 'Po-
lice Reporter perchance-a successful scavenger
in the streets of London, but ignorant of the usages
of high lfe,' and unfit for the society of gentle
men, Shallow sneers at Dickens in such papers
we thought would not be out Of place-int the Bui-
faIo Commercial we thought they were; and for
this we are Justify berated by its Editor. We can
retract if urged.
We said that Z" nothing else have seen, aP
proaches so near to a complete proof Of what
Dickens says of the American newspaper press, as
the manner in which he has been treated by it,
and the Commercial assal!s our grammar the
word else he declares has no business there.
He would have US utter the absurdity that No.
thing approaches so near proof as The treatment
mentioned" not even the treatment itself! We
commend him to Kirkham.
The Commercial attempts to provo that Boz
does profess to be a profound Philosopher, and
that his Notes do pretend to analyze the charac-
ter, the institutions, the complex, social and po-
,ical relations of our Republic" 1t may be, bui
we have not read them. 1t seems to that,
like all his other works, they elevate Humanityb b.
showing its dignity even in its lowest estate; and
we could never find it in our hearts to vilify him
because his sympathies were with the lowly and
,down.trodden, rather than the rich and powerful
= among. Us ;snor can we join those who think that
he should have spent his time while here in gaping
at the Astor House and admring Broadway in
stead Of turning aside to see how poor
treated and how truly we believe that all men
are created equal.' In the way thus indicated he
may have aspired to rank as social philosopher;
and has he not well vndicated his claim
The Commercial thinks Dickens did not write
what he saw, and instances among his untrnths the
assertion that the Americans never sleep at all
or else expectorate in their dreams. We shall
look next for trenchant assault upon the Bible
because it asserts that Herod was a fox'-a plain
'unmistakeable exaggeration. We wish the Com
mercial would explain the late strange mutation OF
public opinion concerning Dickens. Before he
visited US he was beloved and admired by every
body-and every body believed, for good and
substantial reasons He was welcomed here by
congratulations which, though sometimes in bad
taste, were at least sincere. But the moment he
limited that as en- Author he had Literary Rights
which he asked might be respected, not only was
he basey abused for his impertincnt mention OF
forbidden topic, bat the discovery was suddenly
made that he was nothing buta Police Reporter,
a petty fellow unworthy of notice, and that the
books formerly held go delightful were mere trash
Then letter abusing America was written and
his name was forged to it, and similar article in
Foreign Review was falsely attributed TO him
and upon the strength of these two falsehoods he
has been vilifed more than any other foreigner
who ever came among US. How came the leopard
thus suddenly to change his spots? We have no
special love for Dickens or his Notes. bat for their
own sake we could wish that people might
abstain at least from proving all the accusations he
represented 10 have urged against US.
E--We are duly thankful for the Commercial re-
bake of our assumption, though ignorant of its
foundation. In what we have heretofore
said VIC claim only TO TO think for ourself; and
assure the Commercial that even its authoritative
seto will prevent sur expressing such thoughts
freely and frankly rs occasion may seem to require.
The AMERICAN JOURNAL OF THE MEDICAL SCIENCES; Ed.
ted by Isaac HAYS N. D. Philadelphia Lea x Ban
ehard.
Wecan of course do nothing more than announce
the publication of this valuable Medical Quarterly,
aud slate that its pages are filed with matter pre-
pared BY the mos, eminent medical men In the
Country, and embracing information which cannot
iail 10 be of distinguished service to all interested
IN the theory and practice of Medicine and Sur
gerry Among the articles of most general interest,
We notice review OF LlgBle's Animal Chemistry,
work in which, we persuaded, real ad-
vance has been made in the important branch of
science OF which it treats. There are also a great