New-York tribune., 1871-11-29

VIC uHu u iUuB duu pIotcuAOuo p"~
at the shortcomings of tho day, under tno
melancholy title of "Alas! Satire on t'ie
"Timcs." There arc a good many hundred
lines Of it all. and incompatible as the TWO
qualities may appear, We have rarely reaa
anything at once so dull and 80 waspisl. ii
the work does not please ourselves, we arc
bound to admit that it is much admired by
tho Editor of The Rertcw, who may be much
better Judge Of such things than it would bc
safe for us to pretend to be. lie informs VI
that the work Of his contributor is "trenchant
"and pOwerful" He has but ono misgiving.
Uo is afraid that "Alasw will "bo thought
"too severe" Bnt, as ne distinctly and some
what dogmatcal.yy declare. .sc! 81 IL 'snt'-hot
hit Of iiL::'iior iio human language or imagl.
"not;on could give nicre than faint and
"fccblc idea Of tho awful c0riuptiV-' VI '"o
" timesr-sO that the Imagination and langu"e'
of this rhyming Thersitcs and scourgcr in deca'
syllabics must either bo superhnman or else
his verses must he "faint and feeble" We
leave the reader to decide this problem when
be has read the tid-bits with which he Is
about to be presented. We can easily imagine
(as the gentleman who guides the destlnics OF
Tho Southern Rerie,u declares that he regards
our present condition "wth feeling OF
"unuttcrable loathing and disgust,' and thinks
"our blessed country sunk in wide swelter-
cling mass Of corruption as in u continent OF
"filth,'D that his bilious contributor is not IN
tho least too bilious for him. Still it Is a
little odd to bo told on the Same page that 4
country is "blessed," whilo its "putrid mass
"But struggles each the other to snrpass,
"In crime and wantOnness till Nature wrthrs."
Truly, we can exclaim with our censor, God
"hclp the land 40 rcprobate and curscd!"
though the other line of the couplct inquiring,
"Whcn will His thundcrs on this Sodom burst r
is srathcr discouragng. God, it will be observed,
is asked to do two rather inconsistent things
TO "helpr the land and to blast it with his
thunderbOlts-a kind of help which, como 1t
from what quarter it may. we may be excused
for declining
Nobody ever read satire yet which did
not contain the phrase "There was a time ~
for your true tlagelant is always great adj
mirer of the past. There always has been
ga time" when everything was lovely. The
United States of America once enjoyed that
felicity, but "Therc came a serpent to this
Paradise, A spawn of hell in philanthropic
guise" And pretty mess tho ill-omened
wrigglcr has made Of it. There followed
innovations startling and absurd" and
among them, to mention no others, "dis-
"orer, raid robbery, defilement, desecratiOn,
frenzy, arson, murder. torture, agony, and
outrage" We Gull quite cursOrily from this
painful poem this catalogue, by no means
complete of all our woes; and We are not
surprised to find our indignant rcbuker howl
ing:
Alas the change where shonc washing gion.
Bcgrmcd with smoke sits Jesse's putting son.
Boorsh in Manners poor in thought and speech.
His pen aud tongue below the critics reach"
Nor are our people any better than their
President They are "grOvclling,' and "de-
bauchcd," and depraved." Congress is
"given to drunkenness and lust" AS to news
papers, "The worst Of all corruption is tho
Press The blushing Muse with anguish must
confess" Editors will " do anything for ten
or fifty dollar bill" We beg leave to be ranked
at least not below the "ffties." Tweed catches
it, of course, and 30 does Connolly, and 80 docs
James Fisk, junior, and 40 do WOmcn's Right
Women, "whO travel loosely round and mako
stump speeches, Rcnding the air with their
"infcrnal screechcs," and claiming "thc right to
VOTE hold Office rear and jumpW We should |
very much like to know the particular nature |
of the right to rear and jump"
We fancy that wo have before met this re-
markablc writer, who canonizcs Judge Tancy
while he damns everybody else. His lines have |
an ancient and familiar flavor. This is evil |
dently bard who is not satisfied with the turn |
which public affairs have been taking, and who |
so ruthlcssly belabOrs us that, bad as they are,
we do not candidly think that the times de-
served such fustigaton.