The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1856-09-04
The Sons Of Great Men.

Why is 1t that there are so few distin-
guished sons Of great men! Clay, Webster
and Calhoun have all left sons, but none
that seem to take their fathers places as
orators or as statesmen. Lord Chatham,
indeed might boast of an exception in Will
ham fit; but where shall we find another. !
The younger Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, Burke,
Broughman, where are their sons? The
present Sir Robert Peel is, indeed, of the
third generation Of men who have attained
to some degree OF distinction in Great Brit.
ain, and have sat in the English House OF
Commons. But then, none Of these men
have been persons of genius; they were
good business men and able tactcians, but
nothing more. The present member OF that
name, while q plodding, persevering and
successful red-tape man, is, by all, acknowl.
edged to be no gentleman; and although his
| father was sound and useful prime minis
ter, it is we'll known that the Duke of We'll
lington despaired of forming ministry with
him agreeable TO the Queen, because he
was SO ungeniul in his manners as to be ac.
counted emo gentleman"
Distinction, in the exact sciences would
seem most apt to reproduce itself. Her
schell, father and son, have been great as
astronomers, and the whole Iamiy Of Ma
piers have been distinguished for two or three
generations.
In the line of military men, such as Ma
poleon and Washington, where are their
descendants! Lord Wellington has soLs,
il is true, but they have added but little hon.
or to his name SO far, and are not likely to
add much more. Oliver Cromwell had q
son, who had indeed the good sense to resign
| his Protectorate, but it was because he felt
he had not the ability to keep it.
With the poets it is the most noticeable
of all. Where have We, in all history, two
really great poets, father and son! Milton
had sons. Sir Walter Scott had, but they
are al dead, without issue and without dis.
tinction, and the hearth at Abbottsford may
soon be tenantless and desolate of any Of
his surviving descendants. Byron's only
surviving child cannot bear, ii is said, to
hear her fathers name mentioned, and BOASTS
that she has never read his works. Goethe,
who shall hand down his name to posterity!
Coleridgc, the most eccentric of all the
race of modern poets, showed his singulority
in nothing more conspicuously than this
that he was the father of man of some
genius and promise, almost poet. Indeed,
Hartley wrote. some admirable little pieces
Gall fragmentary, howeverD and would have
been perhaps as great man as his father,
but for an utter impotence and prostration
t Of the will, which, with habits of intemper.
ance, from which he never emerged, ruined
J him. In fact account for it as we mty, the
descendants of men ofreal genius have been
) as general thing, few and undistinguished
Mohammcd and Conlucius might indeed
claim to be exceptions to the former part OF
the statement, but not to the latter. On
what principle then is this fact to be explain
, ed! Is it simply that Us the acorn cannot
) grow under the shadow of the full grown,
! overspreading oak, SO youthful genius in the
second generation is perpetually depressed
} by sense of inferiorty in the presence OF
F tainment becomes elevated so high, that
from the very first these men never hope to
realize anything at all equal to their own
ideas, and will therefore, attempt nothing?
, This may be the cause in part Very proba-
bly, Hartley Coleridge would never have
produced even what he did as poet, had he
not been brought up far enough from the in.
fuence of his father, for the shadow of his
genius not to put blight upon him.
} But there are other causes. The same
: immediate necessity is not laid upon the
second generation, as produced the hoblest
: efforts of their fathers. DR.. Johnson would
never have written the finest pages Of the
t Rambler had he not wanted guinea to pay
for his dinner, and it was Constablc's s liber.
e oil advances for the building of Abbottsford
: that produced the Wuverly Novels. Cole.
S ridge would have talk ed, but never have
written volume, except to secure ready
money, and Tom Moore's truest inspiration
was the promise Of three thousand guineas
for poem. Even Lord Byron wrote some
of the most brilliant passages of his Don
: Juan as much under the influence of Muir.
rays check book as his favorite gin and wa
ter. But the sons of successful meE oil
genius are often too much protected and pet.
ted and spoiled. They either have plenty
Of money, or learn to live without it. They
are not sufficiently thrown by stern neces.
sity on their own resources. Even this
| however, would fail adequately to account
] for the facts of the case. The truth is thai
the productions OF real genius in any direc-
tion are an exhausting crop, and the sol
d that produces them has to lie fallow for Q
r generation or two at least, if il ever regains
: its fertility.
e 1T is principally as an exhibition of the
: folly Of hereditary distinctions that this sub.
e ject is worth tracing. All over Europe, the
d supposition is that the sons of great men SO
$ generally inherit their parents abilities as to