Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-04-29
ANOTHER KICK AT THE DEAD I1s8.

The work Of demolition not having been quite
completed by tho attacks of Wendell Phillips,
LLOYD Garrison aud Theodore Parker upon tbs
name and fame Of Daniel Webster, fourth cracks
brain was brought to the stand in the person u
Ralph Waldo Emerson. who. mounting the tripod;
whence so much lcnacy has been prOfnulg gated
the platform Of the Broadway Tabernaclc--pro-
cccled to put the finishing touch to the utter ex-
tinction Of the memory among men Of the late
Senator from Massachusetts,,
The particular friends Of Ralph Waldo are talk
ing the most inelable twaddle about their pet and
his speech upon that occasion and IL would seem
that another Moses had come down from the mount.
with his face shining like that Of angel, and
too glorious to look upon. Think OF Massnctus.
cts man writing aud Massachusetts, editor pub
fishing that that was only Just very litto short
Of on inspired Grafton which attributed to thd
speeches Of Daniel Webster "sterilliy Of thought"
"want Of generalization" and an utter absence Of
20 single remarkable sentence, or n single valui
able arhorsm, which can pass into Literature from
bis writingsl"
We do not blame this poor muddlcbrain for his
TRADE so much as we do those who procured its
uttcrance, and, by senctioning II with their pres
encc and afterwards putting it in print, seem 10
stamp it with value and give II chrrbncy Il
could not obtain without such aid. il is like stir
ring up an inmate Of one Of our ltlnatic asylums
to rave, aud repeating to the world all he says as
gospel. This Ralph Waldo Emerson has been
living in m atmosphere Of intellectual fog for 50
many years that he has become used to it, seaS tbs
world and everything 1t contains through it, and
thinks thick, talks thick in il, like man in
dream. a crazier fellow lives not out of bedlam,
and yet he has his worshippers and admirers, who
seem 90 have much the same sort Of vencration
for him as the Mussclmans do for the insane, whom
it is part of their religion TO revere IA something
beyond their capacity 10 flthom.
The discourse delivered by this trnnsccndentalist
orator was one Of q series called Popular Lee
lures on the Subject Of Slavery" If there was d
paragraph in IT, from beginning to end, that had
any meaning, level to popular" comprehension
nj all, il has been most grossly misreportd by tho
New York press Such turgid sentences, such
sensoess periods, sich pointcss paragraphs. lead
ing to nothing, informing of nothing. sayouring
Of nothing were never uttered before. And such
a feather-brain 10 talk Of Daniel Websters lack
of ability in writing and speaking, and the abb
sence of "a single valuable aphorism" in all
his writings!
Here is specimen Of Emcrson's idea of d "valu;
able apborsm." Speaking OF the Fugitive Slave
law, he says: Laws are of no use without loyal
citizens to obey theml And here, again, "Itis
Of no use to vote down grayitaton or morals"
And here, again: Liberty is not cheap: t is the
result Of the porectness Of man y and once more,
lie who commits crime defeats the ends Of his ex-
istence."
Truly enough has il been said Of this unfortunate
that he is one Of those who seem to be
saving something, but the moment you would take
hold Of that something it collapses under your I'm.
gers like q soap bubblo--N y. Rcdyios.