New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-05-07
WIND AND TONGUE.


the University Of Edinburgh. lie sigualized hi
entrance upon that high Office by an unwritten ad
dress to the students, in the course Of which he i
reported to have expressed gloomy apprehension
as to the future Of Great Britain aud America, &C
eusing theirpeople Of being 'allwind and tongue.'
Carlyle deals largely in emphasis and superlatives
Nature and education have made him a critic @
the severe, exacting and denuncatory school, Hi
eye dwels ondeformities and he so describes then
as to present oarioatures rather than true pic
: lures The quaint, jagged, strong style he uses
corresponds with thenature of his mind. Modera
ton, snoothuess, elegance and cll'rly flowing
language would be an unnatural AFT l.ton.
From the sweeping charge above quoted 4
stranger to the character and history Of the Anglo
Saxon nations would infer that Britains and Aneri
cans were remarkable only for words, and that thu
insignificant things they have done and are doiut
are made ridiculous by what they say
/ Asan author Carlyle's life has been spent will
speakers and writer's. Even when writing the live!
Of men like Cromwell and Frederick, greatly re-
nowned for their deeds and but little for then
words he has been obliged to have recourse to the
lahors of writers-the men of wind and tongue. .
For two-score years he has been principally en-
gagged in the works of those who deal in words in
the thousand forms presented by modern speeches;
lectures, sermons, essays, journals pamphlets,
| documents and books. In his dealings with words
he has forgotten that professed speakers and
writer's though probably too numerous, constitute
but small fraction Of she people. He appears to
have lost sight of the immense silent labors of the
land and sea, which have created British wealth
and extended British power. He seems to infer
that all America is engaged in making speeches
| writing books, and appears to know nothing of
the millions who are working with hands and heads
in million of shops and mills. Carlyle knows our
country through its journals, and the speeches
lectures and sermons of its orators by trade. He
knows American " wind and tongue very thor
oughly, but there is something in our country be-
sides these, of which he Sc ems to be ignorant The
events of the past five years ought to prove to him
that the American people, so far from being mere
takers are capable of Titanic labors Words never
built such navies put such millions into the field
of war. The wind of the speech makers
did not propel these ships nor feed and
elothe these troops. It did not build our
merchant ships and steamboats, did not
construct our ten thousand miles of rail
road--it does not turn our countless mills
does not feed our great and fast growing
population-it does not sink mines, bore oil wells
or hew cut quarries. A great labor is done by our
thirty millions of people, by land and water, in
workshops and in fields--a silent, assiduous and
1nostentatious labor, known only by results.
The men of stwind and tonguep who are SO
prominent in the foreground of Carlyle's picture
though they make themselves obtrusiyely conspi
;uous, really form but small proportion Of Ameri-
IAN society. If we exclude from observation all
Who teach, legislate, lecture, preach, write and
llesd-all who deal in words by virtue of their
Toeations or from choice, and there will still re-
main great nation of silent and thoughtful |
workers in no way obnoxious to the sweeping
'harge. Acotton mill may be all noise to blind
is conscious of nothing but the rattle and
latter of the machinery. So our nation is all
wind and tonguep to Carlyle because he is con
eious Of nothing beneath. He is deceived by the
Dam on our great, deep, moving sea of action.
nd seems ignorant of its tides and currents.
Of American " wind and tonguen undeniabv
here is much that is needless, and not little of
ais superauity is positively misohieyous Speeches
re made and books are written which do no good,
he products of the periodical press are not all
ems in style, nor profound in thought, nor rel.
BILE in statement, nor honest in intention. We i
ave preachers who make men less religious. Iepis.
SSAS ~ H"AhSh SouHSSl WIFI q multitude of
lords, teachers who explain their tuition into
luddy confusion, lawyers who weave bat tan
led web of argument, and lecturers who never
lnnow their grain: higher state of civilization
III bring better literature and more emo Il
ing oratory, and may lessen the quantity of both t.
1oks, newspapers, sermons and speeches the Ii
rlous products Of wind and tongue, /" are but "
pastime Of the American people; their serious IL
emit labor must be sought in other things than til
rds' There are very many in our country who W
Ee leisure to read, and this leisure creates de Of
nd for books and papers, The supply equals az
demand both in amount and excellence. H
zen tastes are more cultivated among readers NJ
listeners the quality Of speeches and books tn
i be improved Pc