New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-01-14


Criticism nc imposed upon as, &c must neverthe-
less, sacrifice tnls easy and compiacent mOod-this
merely receptive spcsitiOn must reexamine.
We must csvil and object We must question Of Oh.
security Why It should stand there darkening the
road we must refuse admittance TO mere paradox.
we must expose the triIDg COnceit or fancilgl an
aioey tha, would erect itself into high places and
assume the air OF novel and profound truth.
Some portion Of this less agreeable duty we will
az once perform. .uat sc may afterw ard the more
freely aud heartily devote ourselves to the more
pleasant task Of calling attention % the works Of q
man Of genius-ior We suspect that Emerson is
NOT kuown ID this country he deserves % be-
With some HhO have heard bis name coupled with
that Of Carlyle, he passes for sort Of echo or dou.
bic oil the English writer. more independent
aud original thinker can nowhere In this age be
found. This praise must at all events, be awarded
him. Aud even IN America-which mas not the rep
utation Of generally overlooking, or undertaking
the merits of her own chIldren-Ve understand
that the reputation Of Emerson is By no means
what it ought 70 be and many critics there who
are dissatisfied with merely initiative talent and
demand man Of genius OF tier 0irH are not aware
that he stands there among them.
When we accuse Mr. Emerson Of obscurty, it
ia not obscurty Of sty lie that we mean. His style
often rses-as our readers have had already eP
portunties OF iudging-in,O vivid, terse and gra-
phc eloquence, agreeably tinged at times with
poetic cooring and although he occasionally adopts
certain diversions which are not customary IN mod
ern prose he never lays himself open to the charge
OF being difficult unintellgibe. But there IS an
Obscurity Of thOUght-In the very matter OF hls
vritngs-produced first by q VEN Of my sticism
which ruDs throughout his works, and secondly, by
q manner he sometimes hes OF sweeping together
into one paragraph number Of unsorted IDEAS, but
scantily related 10 each oiher-brnging up ms
dragnet with all Of fish in it, and deposit
ing it then and there before US.
Mysticism is a word often so vaguely and rashly
applied, that We feel bound to explain the sense IN
which We use H. IL is no. because Mr.. Emerson
is an dealist IN his philosophy We are IN
the habit in the present day of describing as the
German school Of metaphysics, though ne does not
appear 70 have drawn his tenets from the Germans,
and more frequently quotes the name OF Plato than
that of Kant or Hegel-it is not for this we pro
nounCe him 10 be q mystic Berkeley was 10
my site La support Of this philosophy reasons may
be aGduced which appeal TO the faculties and are
open u the examination Of all men. We do not
pronounce idealism TO be mystical, but we pro
nounce him to be G mystic who uphods this or any
other philosophy upon grounds OF conviction MOI
open TO all rational men whose convictions II
short, rest upon profound intuition, deep
and peculiar source of knowledge. 10 which the
great multitude of mankind are utter strangers.
man shall be an idealist and welcome We can dis
cuss the matter with him we can follow his reason
Incs, and II we cannot sustain ourselves in that
nicely balanced aerial position he has assumed
poised above the earth n needles point Of faith
we can a. least appreherd nov the more subtle
metapby sician has coDtrived 10 accomplish the
feat But the moment a man proclams himself IN
the possession Of any truth whatever, by an ntui
ton of which we. and other men, find 10 traces in
our own mind. then it is that We must, OF force,
abandon him % the sole enjoyment Of sn illumina-
zion we do not share and which he cannot lnpnrt
We call him mystical, aud he calls az blind or
sense beclouded. We assume that he pretends 10
see where there 8 no vision, and no visual organ
H. 81 IN IfrrF lf.
have lost, never attained the high faculty Of
vision which he possesses. Whether It IS Plato or
Swedenborg, Pagan or Christian, who lays claim Ia
this occult and Oracular wisdom We must proclaim
IL delusiOn. l. is in vain % tell US that these
men may be the rite Of humanity, that they are
thus signaliy favored because they have more sue
cessfuy cultivated their minds both intellectually
aud morally, and purified them for the reception OF
n closer communion with the divine and all sustain
ing aud interpeneirating intelligence, than Is
Vouchsaied 70 the rest OF mankind. We who
have nothing but our eyesight and our reason We
OF the multitude who are not thus favored, can at
all events, learn nothing from hen Whether
above or beside human reason, they are equally
remote from Intellectual communion. We do not
recognize their AS reason nor their truth as
truth and We call them mystics to express this
Indispensable nature of their minds, this hopeless
severance from determination OF thought from
even so much Of contact is requisite for the hos
tties of Controversy. These wisest OF mankind
are in the same predicamont as the macdest OF
mankind both believe that they are the only per.
lectly sane and that all the rest OF the world
have lost their reason. The rest of the world hold
the opposite opinion and we are not aware that M
either case there any appeal but to the authority
of numbers to which, OF course neither the lunauc
nor the my site Will submit.
We have frequent limitations In Mr. Emerson
writings Of this high intuitive source OF truth Take
the following passage in the Essay on Sell reliance
Aod now at last the highest truth on this subject re-
mains unsad probably cannot be sad Tor All mar We say
is the fsr-oa remembering OF the intuition The thought
by which now nearest approach 70 soy II Is I'M
When good Is near ycu when you have NE 10 yogtseA
il not By any known appointed way you shall not
discern the footprints Of any otheri you shall not see hs
face OF you shall not hear any name the way Ae
thought The good. shall be wholly strange snd new u
shall all other being. You take The way from an
All persons that ever existed are rs isssS
ministers There shall be fear IN H. Fear and nope
are alike beneath H. IL asks nothing There i some
what low even In hope We ave ne" ~ tuoH mere -
nothing that be called gratitude nor propery Jof
The soul s raised passion II eh ld'ny and sfe,-
nal cnEsafioa. perceving not ram ana hsHi &c.
Hence II becomes tranquility out Of the knowing that
all thinss 20 we'll Vast spaces OF Naiure-the Atianuc
Ocean-ths South Sea-vast intervals Of tne-years-
eeuturie.-are Of no account This, which think and
feel uuderay that former state OF lie and circgn'tauces
a. II oas unseris nv present and will always al circum
stances ana is called iife and what 10 called death
Whenever man begins by telling that he
cannot ind language 20 express bis meaning we
NAV be pretty sure IN az be has no ineligible
Ing 10 express; and Mr.. Emerson, in the above
passage, fully bears out TINS genera oOscr!atloA
Il cannot" he says ia another place, d" cannot, nor
can any man speak precisely Of things sublime bu 10
seems to me- Toe Of lie strength, his grace ha
tendency art. the and the presence Of God
IL Is beyond explanation When all e said ana DONE the
rspt s.at il found ire only logic Not exhortson not
argument becomes lips bat pesns OF JOY Aad praise
But sdulsou: too neary reiatd ~ "a detP
cfH mud taf honor. - God ~ ~ Aica eh,Ef
guags petition % graHdey thought IL fas oe,
tom The Asalf sad an and By Hs, . cai1d' tii
far bodg and ig0rld Of t.ae stands mt grOuS an at
fA,ucf ere NINE and al mine falHf. "
live can gather anything from this language, II
must Imply that the individual mind IS conscious OF
being part an emsnAtion OF the Divine minds
conscious OF this union or identty-the pretension
20 which species Of consciousness is, in our aPpre
hension, pure mysticism.
But We shall not weary our readers by seeking
farther proof OF this charge OF mysticism Tor what
can be more wearisOme than 70 nave number oil
uuiutelicibe passages broughttogeiher from differ.
eut and remote parts OF an authors works. w e
pa,s 70 that other cause OF obsc1rty We have hint
ed at-the agglomoraticns Of multitude Of unfe-
lated OF hai.rcla ted, ideas Sometimes G whole
paragraph, aud long oae too, IL made up OF sepa'
f-,.,...uta al fhou ft or fancy good anus