New-York tribune., 1879-04-15
A POET ON THE PLATFORM.
WALT WHITMAN AS A LECTURER.

DEATH.
The poet Walt Whitman made his beginning as a
lecturer last night, at Steck Hail. in Fourteenth-st
His subject was the death of President Lincoln.
He reads from notes. sitting III chair as he is still
much disabled from paralysis. He desires engage
ments as q reader of his own poems and as lee
turer. Tho following was last nights discourse'
Though by no means proposing TO resume the
Secession War tonight, ] wOuld briefly remind you,
my friends, of the public conditions preceding that
contest. For twenty years, ana especially duflns
the four or five before the actually began, the
aspect Of affairs IN the United states though Will
out the flash of military excitement presents more
than the survey of battle, or any extended call-
paign or series even of Natures commissions 1he
hot passions of the SOuth-the strange mixture AT
the North of inertia. ncredulity. and conscious
pOwer-the incendlansm Of the AbolltlonlstSIth the
rascalty and grip of the politicians, unparalleled
in any land, any age 10 these must nor o. oinlt @
adding honesty of the essential bull OF the poo
plc cverywhere-yet with all the seething Jury ana
contradiction of their natures more aroused thali
the AtlantIc's waves in widest equinox. >,
What could be more OmlnOus Though generaIN
unappTecated thenl-what more sighiicant than
the Presidentials of Fillmore and Buchanan prov
ing conclnsvely that the weakness ana welcomes
lust as Likely to Ct us here, as IN the countries oil
the Old World under their monarcheS emperors
and aristocracies. In that Old World we're every
whore heard underground rumblmgs, that died out,
only again surely TO return. While In America the
volcano. though civic yet, continued to grow more
and more cOnyulsyc-more and more stormy ana
threatening.
In the height Of all this excitement and chaos,
lowering Oh the edge at first, and then merged IN
appears a strange and awkward figure.
shall not easily forget the first time ever saw
Abraham Lincoln. 1t must have been about the
18th or 10Th of February 1861. lt was rather a
pleasant afternoon in NewYOrk City. as he arrived
here from the West, To remain few hours, ana
then pass on 20 Washington TO prepare for his IN
augdration. | saw him in Broadway, near the site
Of ha ant Dngt 10
from Canal-st., TO stop at the Ast0r House. The
broad spaces sidewalks and street in the nclghbOr-
hood aud for some distance, were crowded with
solid masses of peOple-many thousands. lhe ON
nIbuses and other vehicles had all been turned ot
leaving an unusual hush In that busy part OF the
city. Presently two or three shabby hac ba-
rOuches made their way with some difficulty through
the crowd and drew up at the Astor House en-
trance. A tall figure slipped out OF the centre
of these barouches, paused leisurelY ON the slde-
walk looked up at the dark granite walls and loom
ing architecture of the grand old hOol-then, after
a relieving stretch of arms and legs turned round
for over a minute TO scan slowly and ROOd-humor-
edly the appearance of the vast and silent crowds
There were no spcechcs--nO cOmpllments-nO well
come-as far as could hear, not a word said. Still
much anxiety was concealed IN that quiet oAutQus
persons had feared some marked insult or lndlgnty
TO the PTeSidcnt-eect-tOr he possessed no personal
popularity at all in New-York City, and very little
pOlitical But il was evidently taCitly agreed that
il the few political supporters OF Mr. Lincoln pres
would entirely abstain from any demonstration on
their side, tie immense majority, VINO were any
thing but supporters, would abstain on thelr slde
also. The result sulky, unbrohen silence
suCh as certainly never before characterized 50
great a New-IOrk crowd.
Almost III the same neighborhood distinctly re-
membered seeing Lafayette, on his visit to America
I'm 1925. had also personally seen and heard how
Andrew Jackson, Clay Webster, Hungarian Kos
suth, Filibuster Walker the Prince of Wales on his
VISIT and other c6lebres, native and foreign, had
been welcomed there, at various tmes-all that IN
descrbable human roar and magnetism, unlike any
other sound in the universe, the glad eXultng
.lnra Of Gt
mcnl But on this occasion, not yoice-not n
sound.
From the top of an omnibus, driven up one side,
close by, and blocked by the curbst0ne and the
crowds | had, say, a capital view of 1t ALL and
especially of Mr.. Lincoln, his look and gat-hls
perfect cOmpOsure and cOolneSs-hls UNUSUAL and
uncouth height, his dress OF complete black,
stovepipe hat pushed back on the head, its dark
brown complexion, scanned and wrinkled yet
canny-lOokng face his black. bushy head of hair,
isprOpOruOnatcly long neck, and his hands held
behind he stood observing the people. He looked
with curiosity upon that immense sea of faces and
the sea of faces returned the look with similar
curiosity. In both there dash of comedy, al
farce, such Shakespeare puts IN his blackest
tragedies. The crowd that hemmed around con
sisted, should think, of thirty to forty thousand
men, not single one his personal friend-wh:le |
have no doubt $50 irenZled were the fermens Of
the timel many an assassin,s knife aud pistol
lurked in hip or breast pocket there ready, soon as
break and riot came
But no break or rot came The tall figure gave
another relieving stretch or two Of aims and legs
then with moderate pace, ana accompanied Dy Il
few unknown looking persons, assembled the portico
steps of the AstOr House, disappeared through its
broad entrance-and the dumb show ended.
saw Abraham Lincoln often the four years fol-
lowing that date. He changed rapidly and much
during his Presldency-bu this scene and him III
1t, are indeliby stamped upon my recollectlOn As
| sat on the top of my omnibus and had a good
view of hlm, the thought. dim and inchOate then,
has since out clear enough, that four sorts OF
genius-fOur mighty and primal hands, Will be
needed to the complete Inning of this mans fu-
ture pOrIrait-the eyes and brains and tnger-tOuch
of Plutarcl and Hschylus and Michael Angelo, as
sisted by Rabelais.
The WAR AND TIE MURDER.
And now (Mr. Lincoln passing on from tins scene
to Washington, where he was inaugurated, amid
armed cavalry, and sharpshOoters at every point
the first instance of the kind in our history, and j
hope 1t will be the last, now the rapid succession
of well-known events. too well known-l believe,
these DAYS, we almost hate to hear them men,
tiOned-the National flag fired on at Sumter, the
uprising Of the North in parOxysms Of astonishment
and rage, the chaos Of divided councils. the call
for troops, the first Bull Run, the stun
ming cast-down, shock, and dismay OF the
War; Four years OF lurid. bleeding, muTky,
murderOus war. Who paint those years with all
their scenesH-the hard-fought engagemeDts-the
defeats plans failuTes-the gloomy hours. davs,
when our Nationality seemed hung III pail of doubt,
perhaps death-the MephistOphelean sneers of for
cirn lands and attaches-the dreaded Scylla of Eu-
rnnean interference aud the Charybdis of the tre-
mendously dangerous latent strata of secession
sympathlzers throughout the Free States tfar more
numerous than is suppOsedl-the long marches IN
Summer-the hot sweat and many sunstroke, az
on the rush to Gettysburg III '63-the night battles
in the woods. as under Hooker at Ghancelorsville
Ia strange episOdc)-the camps In Winter-the mil
itary prisons-the hOsptals-lalas! alas the hos
pitas). ~
Tho Secession War Nay, let me call 1t the Union
War. ThOuCh whatever called IL is even yet too
near us-too vast and too closely oyershadowing-
its branches Uniformed yet kDut certalnl, shooting
too far the fuure-and the most indicative and
mi ghtiest OF tbom yet ungrOwn.
A great literature viii yet arise out Of
the era of those four years, those scenes-era
class pictures, tempests of life aud deuth-an mex
haIsblo lnino for the histories, drama, aud
even philosophy of peoples to come-indeed the yer,