Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1856-10-08
From the Philadelphia Ledger.
The Sons of Great Men.

L
Why is it that there are so few distinguishe
sons of great men7 Clay, Webster and Calhoun
have all left sons, but none that seem to TAX
their fathers places as orators or as statesmen
Lord Chatham. indeed might boast of all excep
ion in William Pitt; but where shall we int
mother? Tie Younger Pitt, Fox, Sheridan
Burke, Brouglam, where are their Sons3 Th
present Sir Robert Peel is, indeed, of the thrt
generation of men who have attained to som,
degree of distinction in Great Britain, and hav,
sat in the English House of Commons. Bu
then, none of these men have been men of geni
Ms; they were good business men and able fac
tcians, but nothing more. The present mem
her of that name while plodding. perseverin.
and successful red-tape man, is, by all, acknowl
edged to be no gentleman: ana although his fa
| her was sound and useful prime minister, il
is well known that the Duke of Wellington de-
SPARED of forming ministry with him agreea
ble to the Queen, because he was so genial in
| his manners as 10 be accounted "no gentleman
Distinction in the exact sciences would seer
most apt to reproduce itself. Hershell, father
and san, have been great astronomers, and
the whole family of Napiers been distinguished
for two or three generations.
In the line of military men. such rs Napoleon
and Washington. where are their descendants
Lord Wellington has sons, it is true, but they
have added hut little honor to his name so far,
and are not likely to add much more. Oliver
Cromwell had son, who had indeed the good
sense to resign his Protectorate, but it was he
cause 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 SOM Milton had no SONS
Sir Walter Scott had, but they are all dead.
without issue md without distinction, and the
hearth at AbottsIord may soon be tenantless and
desoate Of any of his surviving descendants
Byrons only surviving child cannot bear, it 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 pos
terity2 Cowper, Wordsworth, Shelley. what
son of genius has arisen from their ashes
Cueridge, the most eccentric of all the race
of modern poets, showed his singularity in moth
ing more conspicuously than this-that he was
the father of man of some genius and promise,
almost a poet. Indeed, Hartley wrote some ad-
mirable little pieces (all fraglnentary. however)
and would have been perhaps as great man us
his father, but for an utter impo ence and pros
tration of the will. which, with habits of inem-
perance, from which he never emerged ruined
him. In fact, account tor it as you may, the de
scendants of real genius have been. as n general
thing W and undistipguished. Mohammed
and ContnciuS might indeed claim TO be excep-
tions to the former part OF the statement, but
not to the latter. On what principle then is
this fact to lie expained9 Is it simply that as
The acorn cannot grow under the shadow OF the
full grown, overspreading oak, so youthful ge-
MUS in the second generation is perpetually de
pressed by sense Of interority in the presence
of the tirst3 Or is it that the standard of at
tainment becomes elevated SO high, that from
the Very first these neil never hope to realize
anything at all equal to their own ideas, and
will therefore attempt nothing? This may be
the csuse in part. Very probably Hartley Cole
ridge would never have produced even what he
did as poet, had he not been brought up far
enough from the Influence of his father, for the
shadow uf his genius not 10 put blight upon
him.
But there are other causes. The same imne-
date necessity is not laid upon the second gene
ration, AS produced the nohlest efforts of their
fathers. DR.. johnson would never have written
the finest pages of the Rambler had he not
wanted guinea to pay for his dinner, and it
w,s Constable'S liberal advances for the building
of Abottstord that produced the Waverly Nov
els. Coleridge would have talked. but never
have written volume except to secure ready
money, and Tom Moore's truest inspiration was
the promise of three thousand guine,ls for po-
elm. Even Lord Byron wrote some OF the mast
brilliant passages of his Don Juan rs much under
the influence of Murray's check-book as his ia
vorite gin and water. But the son of successful
men OF genius are often too much protected and
petted and spoiled They either have plenty of
money, or learn to live without it. They are
not sufficiently thrown by a stern necessity on
their own resources Even this, however,
would fail adequately to account for the facts of
the case. The truth is that the productions of
real genius in any direction are an exhauSting
crop, and the soil that produces them has to lie
tallow for generation or two at least, it it ever
regains its fertility
1t is principally as an exhibition of the folly of
hereditary distinctions that this subject is worth
tracing All over Europe, the superstition Is
that the sons of great nen SO generally Inherit
their parents abilities as to make 1t the safest
method for the country. Yet the reverse is the
fact. The hereditary nobles of any country seem
to he the least progressive of all classes. The
House of Lords greatly lost It's power in England,
and only retains what influence il has 10y means
of new creations constantly taking place. But
it surely is the worst thing which can be done
for the inferior and incompetent SONS OF truly
great men, TO put them in positions where all
their weakness must he displayed to the world.