New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-12-26
LITERATURE.
.sseurv Heine and judaism.

Henry Hekne ana JR0a2sHi'
D Israeli in his "Tancred" and other late
novels, undertakes to show how much Of the great
est genius OF the world at this moment ls jewish.
He does this with enthusiasm and success, speak
ing all the while as Jew for Iewry; for, although
the brilliant author has received Christian bap-
tism the Jewishness yet fingers ia his mind as IN
his blood. and his mental features arc as charac-
Heristically marked as his sharp black eyes and
crisp curling hair There is no record we fancy,
of a Jewish fool. Knayes there are IN abundance'
bat the very talent which, reduced to its last legs
makes Lombard.st. and Chatham-st. is the most
vital and in loftier spheres the most imperial and
triumphant Of any contemporary power. The
world today worships Mammon as zealously and
entirely as it ought to worship God, and the High
Priest of our religion, the first Finsncier oil the
world, at whose frown Emperors quake and Kings
hide their faces, is Jew.
In Literature and Art the same clement is most
prominent. The names Of Rachel of the Crisis,
OF Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn, of Henry Heine
and lesser fnmes continue the brilliant list And
these triumphs are achieved against every disad-
vantage. Not only the general religious oppro-
5rium, but in most countries heavy social and po-
htical disabilities weigh upon the Jews, with
kind OF instructive hope among Christians, it would
SEEM of sitting Judaism until it perishes of con-
sempt and neglect. At this day the feeling of en-
hghtened Englishmen against the Jews surprises
an American as much as the apparltlon OF front
de Badf rising in Parliament to vote against aron
Rothschild would astOnish the country members
But we are wandering wide of our intention,
which was to remark the singular fact Of the pre-
dominance of the Jewish genius in modern affairs
nowhere more conspicuous than IN its CONNER
eial development in England In France it is
chief in the characteristic Literature OF the mo-
nnent, each Of whose flying leaves it presses with
iss cosmopolitan, cold, skeptical spirit and in
Germany-the present Court of Art-it wears
the highest orders and gives the word to the
world-not there cold and skeptica, bat humane
and wide as the art it illustrates. The names and
flames of the Jewish musicians are well known,
and of the Jewish fnanoiors and artists,
The Jewish element in cotemporary literature
is much greater than the unintiated suppose. Of
ahe Journalists in the Roman States, not less than
two-thirds are Jews, and in Austria the Jew Jour
nalists are ninety.nine in a hundred. In Art and
Science, the same proportion does Not hold, for
sMccess in such departments demands longer
settledresdence than Jews usually enjoy. They
are OF HI VI polit1Soi OPHtOi4' XIV SuteSi
of the organ of the Prussian Government is a
Jew.
But we wish now to look at the literary career
and influence of Henry Heine-who even at this
moment PROSTATE upon his beds debating an
autobiography which viii probably end only with
his life.
In this critiQue of Heine literary character and
influence, we follow the view of contemporary
German critic, who speaks evidently from strong
antipathy to the spirit OF Jewish prominence.
Heincs influence for the last twenty-five years
has been of the most corrupting character. II
his defense there is this to be said, that his frivoi
ty was the necessary reaction against the sckly
vicious sentimentasm Of the CORES, Arndt
jain, and of the Suabian school generally. Will
the entry OF the sharp, aerd Jewish element, the
sleepy, sluggish Germansm at least q little
stirred The misfortune was that the attempt t(
make permanent the moment of transition from
thc old to the new development, drove Hene intt
poetioal studies as a trade, and caused him t.
make business of the worlds sorrow
Naturally, therefore, Heine has likened himsel
10 Byron, And one knows not whether most tc
smile at, or to scorn the suggestion, that he i:
much more virtuous and God,fearing than the
English Poet The essential difference between
n " two, is most pap&ble First Of ALL Lord By
70 "a was entirely and always gentleman. He
W, vs. scepticRl exceedingly of the stiff and prudsl
En- shsh manner but never of the great laws o
hon or. Heine, on the contrary belongs to thai
slasA Of Knockers at which one cannot restrain s
smile. and whose true position one never doubt:
n MOI ucnt. He thrusts himself personally for
ward, Us other Poet ever did He celebrate.
81 pcat- vii, Il
mgs. an d with his love experiences aud despite
remembr snces of quite another character, groan.
hat he, second Atlas must bear the wo of the
whole world, and is en3!essly miserable because
he cannot be endlessly happy, 1t is clear to see
through all this however, that this boastir6 does
,ot arise from genuine feeling, but only from the
,eue impression that he must wear striking
~, sk to steal into good society, which he can even
che scarcely do He calls himself darling of the
,,ss IS, but Of the profound peculiarites with
xvhs.h the graces endow their mortal favorites-o
tho "a, hetcal sense he has not the slightest trace
This personal want of manners, is of the same
essential, character his soepticism It has little
in eompo with Byrons scepticism, with which
we have o. 'rmitted English Ppritanlsm to brighten
as-to WIN. h all that is not in the Catochism, is
ahominable The very warmth with which he
endeevors to b eak away from the Social Laws
shows only bow closely they were netted around
him. The holy iigp res Of humanity arr his also
sometimes in bis liz as in his verse he nsuted
sheIa, bat always with the consciousness that be
was playing a Traitors cart. Passion and con-
seience clash-now the one speaks, now the
ether, bat the struggle is Away severe enough 10
'sapart tragicsl tone 10 life