New-York tribune., 1876-03-28
ANGLO-AMERICAN TOPICS.
THE HOSTILITY TO Mr.. DANA.

THE HOSTILITY TO Mr.. DANA.
THE ATTACK ISOPpORTUNE AND UNFAvORABLE TO
AMERICAN INTEREsTs-MR. BUCHASAN's OVER
ZEAL IN BEHALF OF WALT wHITMAN-LORD AM
BERLEY's CHILDREN TAKEN FROM A FREETnINK-
ING GUARDIAN-MR. MOTLEY AND THE FRENCH
INSTRUCTION HUGHES AN NyALID-AMER-
ICASs ABROAD.
[FRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE. ]
LONDON, March 1G.-1his morning brings us news
Of the extraordinary attack made upon Mr.. Dana In
the Foreign Committee of the Senate. 1t is tele-
graphed over here a charge Of literary piracy"
the authors and supporters of which are Mr.. VIII
liam Beach Lawrence and Mr. Benjamin f. Butler.
As to the latter l will only say that if anything
could add to the esteem and respect in which Mr.
Dana is held in England, it would be the oppo-
sition of Mr.. Butler. Mr.. William Beach Law
rence's name l have some memory of seeing
on the title-page of French translation of
Wheatons International Law, where he was
described as formerly Minister of the United States
to England. This seems good occasion to ask nm
to state when he represented the United States at
this Court, and, if he never did, how such state
ment came to be made on book which he is under
stood to have seen through the press. IL he is not
responsible fo it, he will rejoice to rise and explain.
If he s the cOmic element in the appearance of such
man as the accuser of Mr.. Dana will be good deal
increased The Timc5 dispatch alone gives the facts
about the charge in the proper way. If it came at
any other moment nobody here would pay any at
tention to it, Coming at this moment, when so
many charges, serious and not frivolous, fill the air.
it is misfortune and the misfortune will be much
greater should the Senate prove weak enough 10 be
made the instrument of the personal enmty OF MI
Butler and Mr.. Lawrence.
Save from my friends-or from one of them
must be Mr. Walt Wlitman's cry when he gets
this weeks mails from London. His cause has been
taken up here by Mr.. Robert Buchanan in the way
most likely to do Mr.. Whitman harm. Mr.. Buchanan
thinks Mr. Whitman's merits can best be urged
by denying those of everybody else. So he writes
letter a column in length most of which is filled
with shrill screams against American authors III
general Their sin is that they don't think highly
of Walt Whitman as Mr.. Buchanan does. For TINS
they are denounced in language meant to be Imper-
tnent but so violent that you can only laugh at IT,
and wonder what sort Of mortal Mr. Robert
Buchanan can be, and in what school OF mar
pcrs he was brought up. hr. Rossetu caused
TO be reprinted III last weeks AhendHm an ar
ticle from New-Jersey paper alleging, among
other things, that orthodox American authors and
established American poets greet the writer of
Leaves Of Grass with determined denial, disgust
and scorn; and that for this and other reasons
Whitman is in needy state This it Is which has
set Sir Buchanan off. He tells that Mr.. Whit
man is an eagle pursued by crowd OF prosperous
rocks and crows hootDg behind him. The esab-
lishcd American poets are simply poets who "plck
the brains of British barls," "dcnizens Of the
Bostonian pond farm-rail" a " choir of hedgerow
warblerr and much else. Editors come in for their
share OF polite appreciation -"all men know OF
what pudding typical Yankee editors brains are
made" Mr.. Walt Whitman, on the other hand, sut-
fering his final tory and doom in the shape OK lit
erary outawry 3D. official persecution, is liliened
by Mr. Robert Buchanan to Christ with His crown
Of thorns aid Socrates drinking his cup of hem
lock- And he asks British help for his new Re-
deemer
Few Americans, suppose, have ever heard of Mr.
Robert Buchanan. He is young Scotchnan VINO
has written verses not without merit, that have at
tracted some attention, and criticisms OF some poets
of the day, which attracted perhaps more, and were
remarkable for the same conceit, arrogance and de-
sire to give ollense, which conspicuous in his
present attack on American writers. On the next
day after his letter appeared Mr. w. W. Rossetti pub
lished another from which it appears that steps had
already been taken here to relieve Mr. Whitmans
poverty, substantially the same which Mr. Buchanan
urged-the buying Of certain number of copies Of his
poems This leaves Mr. Buchanan in the position of
an intruder who has thrust himself in the place OF
Mr. Whitman's real friends, and dragged Mr. " hit
man before the British public as a solicitor of aims,
which, if really required, Mr.. Rossetti had already
asked his permission to bestow privately. Other
letters were naturally called out by Mr.. Buchanan's
One from Dr. Alfred Austin regretting that Mr..
Buchanan should have couded a question of be-
nevoence with untimelY literary fervOr.
second appears this morning from the fervld per-
son himself, with faint hint of apol-
ogy for the maapert gibes of his former
episte. And The Daily Necs, in which all this ccrre-
spondence has been published, deyotes leader to
the consideration of Mr.. Whi,man's claims-or the
claims Of his admirersto be installed the national
poet of America Its Judgment is kindly to him
personally, but adverse to his claim as a poet
allowing him almost to possess some of the raw
material of a poet, but, on the whole, considering
him " n marred and incompleted being" who perhaps
might have been poet, but wilfnlly would not. IL
believes however there is no difference of opinion
as to the simple honesty, purity, and truth OF the
man, and disposes Of Mr.. Buchanans martyr
theory with the remark that "It is for those who
upheld the theory to sustain its victim rather than
to throw tho blame of the martyrdom on the world
Mt largen Mr.. Austin carries charity step further,
and is for having everybody contribute III recogni-
tion of Mr. Whtman's nobility OF character; adding
that he believes the American people TO be second to
none in native kindliness of heart, and is sure they
will he the first to help the who though he may
not be a poet nursed their wounded during the war.
When Lord Amberley died, he left, as is known.
one Mr. Douglas Spalding guardian over his young
children with power to appoint his own substitute
or successor. Mr.. Spadng being froethinker, and
chosen by Lord Amberley as such this arrangement
gave pain and anxiety to Earl Russell, their
grandfather, and the rest of the family and efforts
were made TO induce Mr.. Spadng to cede his rights
L. tI,a 10 rnsfena of his vnmnr wards. For