Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-08-04
AMERICAN LITERATURE.

Who is there that is familiar with the solid
periodical literature of England, who has not been
compelled to admit TO himself tie vast superiority
Of the Transatlantic magazines and reviews over
our own and who, setting aside all national feel
ing, is not constrained to confess the higher tone
of journalism in the mother country? We do not
say this disparagingly for, in n new country.
where the people are beset at every turn with diff
fculties Of q material nature, that perfection is not
reasonably to be expected which we all naturally
look for in q land which has for centuries enjoyed
all the advantages of cultivation. The men and
women who give tone to the literature of the
United States are generally what are termed self
made" which is not, necessarily, and everywhere,
a disadvantage, hut which, in a country like ours,
where the general standard is low, and where,
Consequently, occasional means of selEimpr9ye.
ment are comparatively few, is an almost insur-
mountablo obstacle in the way of attaining to any
high degree Of literary excellence.
We know it is the fashion to dcpreciate the ben
efcial effects of a thorough and systematic educa
ton and advantage has been taken, in undertaking
it, of the senseless system Of ''cramming,' so gem
orally practised in the various institutions Of
learning, but we think no one capable of forming
an impartial Judgment in the matter, can doubt
for a moment that, ererythiag else bring equal, the
educated man or woman has, in erery possible re.
Spect, the advantage over the uneducatcd one.
These remarks may seem to belong rather to a
treatise on education than to a dissertation on liz
erature; they have, nevertheless, an important
bearing on the subject under consideration, a pri-
orr.
To refer again to American journalism, notwith.
standing the slang and rufianism introduced into
it by party politics, no observing person can doubt
that the tone in this department Of literature is
vastly higher than it was ONE ten or twelve years
ago. Witness, for instance, the ability which
characterizes the New York Tribune, the New
York Evening Post, and Matt nal Anti-Slavery
Standard, with several other journals less gene
rally known. Our magazine literature, too, is un
questionably improving: Putnam's Magazine is u
very decided improvement on the Lady's Book
and Graham, which, however Invaluable they may
be 20 the milliner, on account Of the admirable
fashion plates" and very tasteful designs for en-
~broidery with which they are embelIshed, are
lamentably deficient in tho matter of literature.
~lIarper's magazine might do as q compilation, or
for the entertainment of all such as value highly
series after series of ;hird-rate wood-cuts, With
text to match, but can scarcely be reckoned as a
contribution to our literature, properly, the more
especially as many of its best articles arc second
hand. The North American Review, too, under
the new management, promises better things-it is
certainly emancipated, in a measure, from its for
mer thraldom to the Slave-Power.
And this brings us quite naturally to q point in
the subject which we regard as very important.
Every American, however seriously he may be
afflicted with the disease called 'patriotism," sees
and acknowledges, as a general truth, the prejudi-
cial influence Of d~espotism upon every form of in
tellectual manifestation, literature, of course, in
cluded. lie knows that Russia, with her over
shadowing despotism, is almost without q literature
whereas, liberal Sweden, lying on her very bor-
ders, possesses q literature both rich and varied,
for an acquaintance with which, by the way, we
have principally to thanh Mrs Hewitt that under
tho Papal Hierarchy, Italian genius is all but an
initiated, while in protestant and constitutional
England it continues to flourish in full vigor; or,
to make the question one of time, and not of coun-
try, that the period of transition from Catholicism
to Professionalism in Great Britain was one Of pecu-
liar literary fertility-the age of Shakespeare and
5 Spenser. But while he admits these facts he is
reluctant to apply the principle in its fullest ex-
t tent to our own Institutions tie fact is, there are
t few people, even among the abelitionists, who
realize the disastrous effects Of Slavery upon every
Q department of literature in the United States.
/ But he who will diligently gather up facts, will
S not be long inclined to dispute our assertion thai
: it has exercised a more baneful influence on Amer
n lean genius than any other cause. Genius must be
:. untrammeLed it must be entirely free to utter it.
4 self without restraint. But this can never be the
case in America during the domination of tho all
controlling Slave-Power. To prove that we do moi
i use the adjective unadvisedly, we need only in
n stance the Harpers, emasculating the productions
of British authors, whose works they did not
scruple to mutilate by cancelling every word III
= apprehension of our National Sin, though they APP
IS propriated those works withoutas much as saying
"by your leave" to the authors; Longfellow con
/ senting IT, the publication of a splendid edition O
his exquisite poems, in which all the antt-Stdee15
pieces, which he ought to have regarded as th'
chief ornament of the volume, were suppressed
Hawthorne, throwing a bait to the Beast in hi
Life of the present microscopic object which occu
IL pies the post of President of the United States
and, lastly, Pierpont wantonly furnishing hi
u laurels, hitherto unstained, by emitting all thu
anti-slavery pieces from his admirable series 0
. school books.
! But the fault does not lie altogether with tn,
editor nor the author. So long as the reading
public manifest so little discrimination in bestow
ing their patronage, and to Freedom so little 0
1t that genuine and jealous devotion which the ad
,e herents of the Slave Power exhibit in support ant
C defence of The peculiar institution" just so Ion!
will the majority of our authors quietly submit t
G the muzzle. The gods do not shower all thei
d. gifts upon one favored individual, and it is no
10 every writer who possesses a higA endowment Q
" genius united to a corresponding spirit Of sell
sacrifice. We know, personally, some individual
who are CALLED by the chain, but with whom, ne'
erthelcss, the almighty dollar" is the paramount
consideration, Let the people be unHinchingl