The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-02-26

'1"'o OV0n
these attacks IcaBnot. however sscribe them all, or
even the greater part Of them to personal magny Ono
journal followed the pie Of another with little
hection think In moet till It became sort Of
nien not merely to decry bis works but to arasn his
| motives
u Is related that in 1892 while he was in Paris
teie was she wn him In American newspaper, purport
rg to Re eritio,m Of hi, work.; but reflect
ing WIN much hspsrtty on his personal character.
losre nefiIgp he reported TO have said for the
criiei.m " am not indifferent TO tho slsudsr. II
ihese ATTACKS On my character houd be kept up I've
years Tier my return to America shall to tho
New York courts Ter proiectionn lie gave the new,-
paper press OF this sate the fun period II orbe
on which be nd fixed but fading that forbearanoe
sc.med to enccursae ssfaut, he sought rsdse in tho
When these litieations fret bssun reeolecs IL
seemed 10 that Cooper bad taken step which WOULD
give him great deal Of trouble and effect bat little
e''N' .Lissi Leyiathan Ia no. so .smedi"
As he proceeded, however L saw that he had under
stood the matter better than /. lie put hook into
the OF this huge monster wallowins in ss inky
pool and kefpatterng tho pssssrs by he dragged him
to the land and made him trsciabe One suit follow
ed another; ons editor sued think half dozen
times rome Of them found themselves under second
irdicn'n at before the frat tried In vindicatlng
hrtef to bin readers asain't ne charge Of pubiahtn
one libel the angry journalist often houndered into
another The occasions Of there prosecutions seem to
have been always carefully considered for Cooper
uniformly succeaful In obtaining verdcts In letter
OF his written in February, 1898, about Ave years
thin IRON the commencement OF the rst prosecutions,
he rays, Il have beaten every man have sued, who
has not retracted bin lbelsD
In one Of there quits, commenced against the late
William Stone, Of the Commercial .adpatiser and
isrred to the arbitration OF ,hee distinguished lawyers
he argued himsef the question the authenticty OF
bis account Of the battle Of Lake Erie which tho
matter in dispute. ! listened TO his op.nbg-t
clear skiful p.rsuasve but his clcsIng Argument
was raid to be ,plendidly eloquent. IL bavs heard
nothing hhsi said barris;er to me, "sinse the days
| Of Emmett ~
Cooper behaved literally towards his antagonists so
fer as pecnniary damages concerned though
Of them wholly eecsped their payment by bankruptcy.
After relieve, about six years of litigation ths
paper preas gradually subsidized into pacific dispositions
towards Its adversary and the contest closed with tho
account Of pecuniary profit and loss far as he was
concerned nearly balanced The occasion Of these suits
far from honorable to those who provoked them but
the result Was had almost said credabe to all parties,
to him as the prosecutor to the administers
ton OF justice in bs country, and TO the docy Of tho
newspaper press which he had disciplined into good man.
nerB
1t was while he In the midst OF these tgations,
that he published In 1910, the 'pathhnder" People
had begun to think of him conference.-the, acute,
keen and pesevering occupied with his personal wrongs
ard schemes Of attack aud defence They startled
from this estimate OF his character by the moral beauty
Of that glorious work. must cali it by the vivid
nees and force of deineatons by the unspoiled love
nature apparent in every page and by the fresh and
emotions which every where gave life to the nara
tiveand the dialogue Cooper in his afty first
part Of his literary life written with much Of what
might seem the generous eryor cf youth showed the
faculty of invention In higher visor recoect thas
near the time OF It's appearance informed OF OBJ
servation made upon it by one, highly distinguished in
the literature of country and Of tho age between
whom aud the and the author unhappy GOODNESS hsd
for soEe existed A. he finished the reading Of the
Pathfinder, he exclaimed, They may say what they
great man but good man"
The readers Of the Pathfinder quickly
cled to the fourth appearance Of when
they ss1 him made to act different part from any
which the author had hitherto gned him when they
saw him shown as lover ard placed in the midst OF as
sociations which invested ha character with higher
and more affecting heroem In this work are two female
characters portrayed In mastery manner-the corpo-
RAILS daughter Mabel Durham generous resolute, yet
wonanly and the young Iudian woman, called by her
tribe the Dew OF June, prsoDcation Of female truth,
affection and sympathy with a strong aboriginal cast
which she lie named
"M.rcedes Of Caslen published near the close Of tho
some year has OF the stronger characteristics OF
Coopsrs genius but in the "Deersayer" which appear
ed in 1884, another Of his L.athetockng tales he
work rivalipg the Pathfinder. Leathersock king IL
brought before in his early youth In the first exercise
of that keen sagacity which 1, blended so harmoniouy
tiers Of the retired freebooter dwelling the Ossgo
lake inspire scarcely less interest than the prinopal
parsonage; Judith In the pride II her beauty and intel
lect her good impulses contendiog with fatal love Of
admiration holding fascinated with constant inter-
EFT In her fate, which, with consummate skill, are
permitted rather to than to know and Hetty
scarcey less beautiful In person. weak minded but wise
in the midst of that weakness beyond the wisdom If the
lo,tiest intellect tho power Of conscience aud
religion. The character OF Hstty would have been .
us experiment In feober hands but in his it
The 1.-TWO AdmiraIs' and "Wing-s nd Wing were
given TO the public in 1912, both Of them taking high
rank among Coop,rs sea tales The first Of thess il
sort Of naval epic in prose; the fight Of armed
veeeels hold in breathess and the fights
described with terrible power In the later ses-
tales of Cooper It to that the mastery with
which he makes his grand professions OF events pass
fore the mind. Is even greater than in his earlier
The sext year he published the "Wysndotte or Huttei
Knoll one Of his beautiful romances Of the woods aud
in 1874 two more OF his stories AHoat and A.hore
his nautical tales closed by Jack Tier the Flo
rids Reef" published In 1s4s when Cooper was in his
tion, life like presentation Of objects and events
>. .n,,, The vi vision s and the faculty divine.
Let pause here to say, that Cooper, though not
manufacturer OF verse was In the highest OF the
SANDY M SToq ss ,se
reader for realities. With him there whitening,
or Decline or di.use Of the poetic faculty he s.eppsd
downward from the zenith Of life, shadow chilli
came over tit like the year Of some genial oil
mates perpetual season Of verdure, bloom and fruit
see that he was unspoed by the controversies in
which ne had allowed himself to become engaged-that
genius any &c Of manthropy or appearance Of
tracing and closing syDpabes, any trace Of inter-
est IL bis fowbeiOgs less large and free than IN his
Before the appearance Of his aJack TIER Cooper
pubhh in ls45 and the following year series Of
wells relating to the anti rent question In which he took
great Interest lie thought that the dispo.ton mani
tested in certain quarters to make concessions to what
step in most dangerous path To discourage this dis
position, he wrote "Saanstoe The Chainbearer and
THE Redskinso They ddactic in their design snd
want the freedom invention which belongs TO Coopers
best novels; but II they had been written by anybody
but Cooper-by member Of Congress, for example, or
an eminent politician OF any classthey would have
made his reputation. 1t said am told by distin.
euished urst Of our State that they entitled the author
TO high place In law his other works had for
him in literature.
had thought, In mediteting the plan Of this dis
course to mention ell the works Of Mr. Cooper hut the
length to which have found It extending has induced
to pass several written in the last years Of
bis life and to Genuine myself TO those which Illus
trate biz tsrHy character The last Of his novels
The Ways Of the Hour work in which the ob-
jecons be entertained to the trial by Jury in civil
causes were stated In the form Of a narrative
IL ga volumineus catalogue-that Of Cooper's pub
Eshed works-but 1t comprises not all be wrote He.
ffpr al ka fra will hon
fuits Of his literary Industry 1t was understood,
,ome years tince, that he had q work ready for the
prees on the Middle States OF the Union, principally
Illustrative Of their social history; but 1t has been
ound among his manuscripts, and the presumption 10
hat re mutt have destroyed IL. Great was the
rumbsr Of bis works ard great as was the favor with
which they received, the pecuniary rewards of
hts far less than has been generally
scarcely as SIN inform tenth part Of what the
f..cI do anna inGnikaix