New-York daily tribune., 1844-09-10
THE TRIBUNE
Con,me enecment as Old Misunderstanding
~ f.;usnni-A6dress OF Dir. Putnam be fore
the Society of Fiji Beta Kappa, &c.
ce Of The Tribune.

Correspondence OF The Tribune.
BosroE. August n. 1874
Commencement week at Cambridge is over. The
t,,i, ;ours went of with good success. Tuesday
,bs 9th was the Anniversar, meeting Of the Alum
,;of,hs College, before whom an excellent address
was delivered by Hon. DANIEL A. WHITE, of
s,lem on the Advantages Of The Plan of Ejuca-
,;on pursued at Cambridge and on the Ohlisalions
and Duties Of the Sons oi Harvard 10 their Alma
Mater and 10 the country. The Alumni dined to-
.e,ber in Harvard Hall Judge STORY presiding,
IN the absence Of ]. Q. ADAMS. Ii went off very
successfully. Speeches and toasts were abundant
end of good quality. So werc am sorry 10 say,
The claret and champagne. l, is hoped, however,
ha, this learned body will consent, remote Pc
nod to dispense with these accompanimen,s oftheir
annual festival. Al The business meeting this year,
Mr. EDMuNp QurScY submitted resolution thai
bseafier wines end all other intoxicating liquors
should be excluded from the Dinner. He was
sus,aiued by Hon. SAMUEL HoAR and Hon.
LINES SAVAGE; and II is believed that If the vote
could have taken the oluton, directlv i,
youId have been carried. ii was decided however,
by small ingnrty, To let the. qu son lie over til
,be next year, llen 10 be acted upon and settled by
the Society, alter lime for delIberaton and discus
siop There can ue but little doust thai The dec-
sion will be favorable 10 The interests of temper
auce and of the rising acadcmica generation
Commencement took place the next day. The
attendance numerous aGd brilliant beyond all
urecedent. The large Church filled 10 It's III.
most capacity, ard beyond it, with intelli,e ,enI
and attentive audience. The performances were
highly crediIabe TO thr young gentlemen and TO the
College aud the exercises were finished at much
earlier hour than usual, owing chiefly 10 the dscon-
inuance of the exercises for The degree of Master
AtIs. The usual dinner was furnished by The Cor
pmation TO the Masters of Arts aud invited guests
,,l m ,F.rf IN .fN
held l-vee at ,ha Presidents House, according t.
ancient usage The company was lurge aud bril-
liant Beside Gov. BHiGGs, aud many gentlemen
Of eminent station aud character in this country,
observed am0ng ,ie coufany Mr. SCohEsBY, III
cel,brutrd ArclIc traveller, and Mr.. hacHEADY, the
emilpnt tragedIan, whose professional fisIncjIup
ony adorns his scholar. like accomplishments ano
private excellence.
On Thursday, the Society OF Phi Beta keppu
held its anniversary. The attendsnce OF Members
was unn-uaile large, and the Church was agau
crowded To It's fullest extent al an farly hour. Rev
Mr. Bellows of New-Iork Otfciated as Chaplain
Rev. tiluHGE PUrsAM OF RoAbury as OraIur, ano
MILAN W. STORY, Esq (the ouly Of Mr.
Ju-tlcr STOr, us Poet. The arilstIcal execution
OF The Grafton Was such might have been exp-ci-
ed from the gen,lenan who delivered II. As iilco
rica performance, no fault could be found with it,
lls d.Iecrs discourse before literary Society,
were such the orator himself seemed to think hard
TO avoid, arising from the force OF professional hub
It's. Ii was IN Effect sermon, IN which the COM
lnonplsces oil Unitarian preaching were illustrated
somewha, al large by literary topics and examples.
The point Of the preacher was that Moral Excel
lrnce is an Indispensable prerequisite 20 Intellectual
Greatness. This he endeavoied 10 establish by Z
number OF examples. His misfortune was, that liz
omitted 10 define his terms, ard thus left that vague
ness OF impression on the mind which Ia generally
the effect oi the elegant ecamation of the Unta-
riau pulpit and also that his argument was founded
Ia orH ms
iions, which could by no means be admitted by those
who were acquainted with the facts. Ii Is no doubt
pity that his position cannot he made out-that
none but good man can attain high and lasting
literary reputation; but apprehend that the facts
literary history, from the be inning of the world
contradict his theory, and that ii Is by no means
borne out by the examples he himself alleged. His
first example was Norare, whose life he pronounced
failure. aIr Putnam made the extraordinary as
seron. that Eoltaire was only known 10 the present
generation az the writer OF books used by the
learners of the French language This may bt
true with regard to Mr.. Ps parish, but apprehend
he cannot huve extended his view much beyond its
limits il this is his real opinion. Ii may be unlor-
tunaisyhut HII. =. will find il to be fact, ielieve,
that tfiefe was no mind Of the lust century that
ercises so powerful SWAY over the mind OF the
present, in Enrope that of Noltare, and author
whose works are more widely read mans life
can hardly be said 10 be failure, who has toppleG
down half the thrones o! Europe aud shaken 10 thei
foundations her hoary hierarchies, and who, though
buried beneath whatever mountains Of obioquS
kings and priests can heap upon him. STILL like The
Titan, shakes The earth whenever he moves. Mr.. L.
denied To Voltaire the possession OF faith OF any
kind, or Of a heart. conceive h. must have read
his works. if at all, with prejudiced eye, ii he
did no, discern in Them, sometimes indeed beneath
apocki3g exterior Il deep humanity and u strong
faith in man.
Mr.. P.'s mex, illustration was Goethe whom he
compared with NOltaire, with slight foundation
in fact IA TO the extent OF his influence He desert
bed Goethe as n man o., abandoned and proiiigntr
character pnd thence inferred the speedy dowuialt
fhs ~ puation. Admitting his statements 10 be true
(which, | conceive, will not be allowed in then fall
extent by the admirers OF the great man, they only
show that great literary reputation aud influence
nav be attained by bad man. Whether ii can b.
maintained or not will depend upon whe her MIR ~
prerensions Us prophet are better founded than his
claims TO decide upon the character and the fate o.;
the philosopher OF Ferney. Lori Byrons merits
such DIS they are, hir. 7. conceived 10 be owing 10
the rae flashes oi genuine goodness 10 be discerned
occasionally IN his works. He asserted thai; his
latter wears weIe marked only by wee and JudA.sm
and pronounced, with a prophetic spirit winch un-
fortunately can be contradicted by tacts, that
h,d h. lived he never would have proJuc
ed auy lhIpg again worthy OF his h-tter days.
He seems to have surgouen that 'Cain'-Ihe no
blest religious poem in The world, next to the Para
disc LosI the production OF his later years. Barns
too, NT. 4. Geectlbtn as ~ QFhI.huI winch AM
afraid is too true bat ii rather iiyaIidaes ,hsn SUP
ports his theory. A drunkard can scarcely be re-
garded as II moral man. and Yet conceive that Nc
p hiins-f will hardly deny the fact OF the might,
sway Burns exercises over the mud and heart al
Scoisud and the world, or even undertake 10 pro-
phesy It's speedy downfall. While Mir P.'s o"n,x
ON rs thus Ia efe CT disprove hs theory he entire
!, passes over those Instances which would more
directly contradict II. The ancient authors, even
the best OF iheu, Can hardy be regarded hs hish
morol .xauples, but vino con den, their genius or
set bounds TO their Influence So OF most OF The
medieval aud modern authors. heir ne 'lec-
lual sGpremac. has been in but too many IN
stances marr,d and diminished by their vices,
bl, i, is none the less upqtesinnable for all
that Dir. Pulnam would perhaps produce
81 eqaai dee,ee oil edifcu'ion, and ut The
same rue snow a greater respect to' the in'et!-
grace and reading OF audience, II in his next DIS
course before lrlerar, Society he should admit ,he
set ofthe great literary ,rumphs and conqursts OF
1en'usi III spite Of The npedmrns OF vice, aud the"