Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1866-04-07
New England TranSCendcnial-
Lecture Of The Hon.
Samuel \. Cox.


Mr.. Cox said No subject is hard
to define. In metaphysics transcend
entaism is applied to IDEAS beyond
experience, Its origin is Older than
/ the drcamcrs OF Germany, or the
subtle intcllccts Of New England,
1t is as old rs Aristotle, who defined
it ms embracing everything no in bis
ten catcgorics. Kent adopted this
definition. and from his grotcsQuc
pipe puifed out his inner ideas,
through which objects were only
pictured as phenomena. Mingmg
with the imagery Of his fancy, these
idcalisms left the spectator more in
the exercise of his wonder than Of
his faculties. We are reminded by
them of the three brothers, llagi
Kagi and Magi: Ilagi took a torch
and jumped down Kagi'5 throat;
Kagi took torch and jumped down
Mag's throat. and Magi jumped his
own throat, leaving the spectators
entirely in the dark. This is to be
transcendent. Laughter.
Mr.. Cox referred to the New Eng.
land mutual admi:ationists, who
pleased themselves with thinking
they understood the jargon, He
gave some ludicrous definitions OF
his subject. Its disciples were intel
lcctual acrobats; useless, though
agile. He gave a sketch Of Carlyle,
Emerson, &c, their copyists, disci-
pies, paraboxes. and style. They
lacked humility, docility, and re-
ligion. Horace Mann, one Of the
sect, charged the orthodox New
England mind with believing in
the vicarious atonement only be-
cause they drove a sharp bargain
with God, getting everything and
giving nothing, just rs their Puritan
ancestors treated the Indians. The
New York Tribune an organ Of the
sect, has within a few months called
for a new bible and religion, En-
erson came Of clerical stock-Puri-
tan; but it took eight generations
to reduce the Puritan to Transcend
entalist, yet one is the outgrowth Of
the other. To understand the for
mer, we must trace the latter in his
history. not as he is painted by New
England literature, but as he is;
not the great Puritan of English
history who stayed in England and
fought the good fight, but the little
Puritan who ran to this country to
ge, rid Of the battle Of Armageddon!
1t is extremely entertaining for
one who knows anything of the
"origineS Ndve Angii@ the begin
nings of these "pIantations Of God
in the wilderness TO read report
of New England Society's dinner
in one of our great cities. On these
occasions, amid a popping of cham
pagne corks, which would have
sounded in the ears Of Cotton Mather
like salute of the muSketry of hell
fired in honor Of a witches. sabbath,
you shall hear some eloquent Uni
tartan divine glorify the religious
freedom established under Plymouth
Rock, and some smiling abolitionst,
buttoning up his last contract for
guns o. tin cups, in his brcechcs
pocket, dilate upon the wide human
ity which crossed the ocean in the
Mayflower for Manhattan, but was
dexterously caromed by the subtle
Dutch burghers into Massachusetts,
Bay!
Now. Just fancy the entertainment
which the Unitarian divine, with
his mthetic notion eff the Deity, and
his neat little theories about the
atonefnent, would have received
from the worthy men who kicked
Mrs. Hutchinson to death, and hunt
ed Roger Williams into Rhode
Island Or imagine the sanctity
with which Mr.. Wendell Philips
would have been treated to dance
in the air on Boston Common if he
had presumed to recommend negro
suffrage to the silver-buckled and
slaveholding magistrates Of Massa-
chusetts Bay in the year ofour Lord
1865.
Why, even SO late as the year
l7SS, when the solid men of Boston
met in conclave with the mountain
GERS of Berkshire and the farmers
of "rich and rural Worcester" TO
frame a new Constitution for Massa-
chusetts, which they gravely de-
clared should be perpetual and un-
alterable," they provided that ifany
: african or negro" not being a
subject Of the Emperor OF Morocco,
should be caught hanging about the
old Bay State, he or she might be
ordered by any magistrate to get
out of that with dispatch, with the
further specification that if within
ten days time the order was not
obeyed, the African should be whip
ped on the bare back not exceeding
ten stripes, and again politely in
formed that his room was considered
more desirable than his company.
1t was further provided that the
aforementioned whipping be repeat
ed, totes QUOTES" till the be-cow-
/. skinned blackamoor should travel.
The exception made in favor Of the
subjects of the Emperor of Morocco
oddly illustrates the old saying that
there lis nothing like leather" The
Bostonese had much traffic in those
days with the MOors. Though they
loved not the abstract negro, still
when he came bringing bags Of sill
yer and gold, they saw Othello :
xisare In has nnrsel They could be