New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-02-09
COCKNEY AMERICAN!SA.
rrp ppou q LATHROP.

,eoS TUE LITERARY DEVELOPMENT OF AMER
,c,-ee,R SPECIFICATIONS NOT INCLUDED
IN MR. JAMfs's INDICTMENT
70 me Fdftor of The Tribune.
SIN. In his recent little book OH Hawthorne MI
II James ir.. speaking of the substance CT AmeI
lean life as affecting literary development Id 'h's
country. says: tint
One might ennmerate the items of high CIVIL
zation as il exists In other COUNTRIES NhIcu az
absent from the texture OF American Ito; van left
should become o wonder to know What was ICY
No state in the European sense OF the Wolu, anu
barely specific National name. No soVcicIt"' ~
court no personal loyalty, no nrlstocIdCS, ~
cGnrrh. mo clergy, no army no diplomatic service,
no country gentleman no palaces no cns,,o s ,,"r
manors nor old oouutry-houses. nor
fhotched cottages, nor ived rulus no catn'"l"I>
nor abbcvs nor Iittlo Norman churchcS; DO E'u"r
universities nor public sohools-ho OAloiu no o
Eton Harrow; no literature 10 40 M snort
museums. no pictures. no poll'Ic"l So"''S' "' 'FO
ing class-no EPSON nor Ascot'
IL seems to me that the people OF this country
have not walked mp to the full force and coseh'y VI
so terrific an arraignment by Mr.. James ior o'ncI
wise we should nj this moment be III the miust % q
revolutiop. No population which adequately rated
It's debased and destitute condition. as deplc'eu j"
these burning words, would consent to remain LOT
single month without redrcSS-nay, complete s0c'"l
denomination; and the only theory which can aC
count for the National apathy is, that we are sun
laboring under unfortunate deusloh Va sPeo'''
nossiblv. of inherited popular insanity, that repub-
can government offers ADVANTAGES for the Tree anu
successful unfolding of the human mind in litera-
ture and the arts as we'll as IN commerce ana poh'y'
The impression, too, that have actually
ACCOMPLISHED something both in the way OF good
writing and in painting (even going the length, IN
the latter branch of aesthetics of furnishing Ires-
dent TO the ROYAL Academy still prevails among MS
But this is partly doubt, because no one hd set
70 work resolutely to expo!c the error until our pa
triotic exile whose language has just been quoted
brought his impassoned rhetoric TO bear lhe per
tinency and even the accuracy, OF ms resume is'
believe questioned by some of those Americans who
are tho moro hopcessly abandoned to NATIONAL pflue
and q regard for facts; but must they not con
fcss that Mr. James has shown a tender lot
bearauce in not making his ehumei"l'oh
longer and more crushing lie might
have reminded US that we have no cabOles III Tue
Enrcne,n sense of the word" no little boys with
stoye-pipe hats 10 Jeames 1ellowpushes nor pow
crhl class Of tip takers, no snobs of tie finest
flower but only poor imitation article; TO heir
oDnoreut accomplished in dissoluteness; no Irish
onprase;on nor ruined tenant farmers st home; no
brilliantly prevaricating BeacOnsiield, bat only
aevious Ben Butler; no primoeeniture no annual
millions of royal household supplies, and no vast
nouDer class: no PARISH beadles nor PHnch ana
Judy. adding maces to literature. Tins list
would be equally pertinent with the one
he has prepared; and l am sure you
will not grudge public acknowledgment 10
Mr. James, through your columns, Tor having
shared us the humiliation of continuing his inven-
tory Of what our squaiid surroundings do not con-
tain. so as to make it include these items Mr.
James assures US that the effect of his catalogue
even rs it stands will he appalling TO French or
nm English mag natiOn and If we are not appalled,
nv il. we must hearthrokeny admit that we have
not French nor an English imagination But this,
again is to expose ourselves to the modification OF
,howiue that here are two more things which
American life lacks.
Rnt If the passage has not had its full effect on
mr. semblance Of Nation. we can at least exert
,ncb imagination as we have, in trying to conceive
what would have been the advantage of all those
things lett out of American life, had we possessed
tbe,n FIRST we have 10 State, I'm the Europeas
sense of the word" That is very serious omission
vhjcI-had Mr.. James been at hand TO warn them
of its dire consequeuceS-our hot-headed peasantTy
men like Washington, Hancock, Adams, Jay, Jeher-
son and Franklin, would perhaps not have allowed
themselves to be guilty Of. But the European
sepse of the VOID seems 10 have been precisely
what they didn't like. and they pcrversely estaD-
Nshel something having new slgnihcance. Ac-
cordinqly we have only Uuion which possesses so
slight hold on the imagination and rouses SO little
sentiment that hardly more than million or a MIL
lion and half of men were found ready to rIsk
their lives for it in the civil war. Probably MI.
lance wonld saw. like Napoleon to Metternch in
1913 that he thinks nothing of a million men, 1t
,s trre we might say of Athens that it not a
STATE in the European sense but this will not avail
rs. for when the new criticism is accepted we
IN
NJ Greece was mistake, an anomaly, and that
Eschylus. Sophocles, Euripides, Plato, are really
ob;ects of compassion to what our critic likes to
call ,he initiated" mind. Further. we have not
en;oved that repression of ideas which has beer
nractised in the European State: and. owing t(
this we have assumed within the first century o.
the Republic prominence which makes us ono O.
the chief nations of the world whose history, htera
ture poli,ics, and sociology are the sub
iects of close and frequently admir-
ing study in Europe. This Is obviously
n very immodest position, into which we should no
have been forced if matters had been arranged OF
the old plan. European government Kept Germany
from having National literature for some seven
teen hundred years and more, and it is melancholy
20 tbiok that our opportunity for this wholesome
and deliberate style of growth is gone forever. BE
sides. we have had no Hugo banished to Jersey. NJ
Tnroeneff forbidden to enter his native land. How
can VIC repair such lossi We have only ou
James, in England
"No sovereign. no court, no personal loyalty" i
the second count against us. Defence Is, OF course
useless we must plead guilty at once. We shall neve
see in this country. that cheerful state of thing
which caused that hapless theatrical person William
Shakespeare. in " disgrace with fortune and mem
eyes, to beweep his "Outcast state" of despse
riaver We shall never reproduce the grave funk
a,,;sm If DIR. Johnson in that library scene wit
King George Ill Were Samuel Butler living nov
and in America, mis- satire could not procure tn
priceless reward of a sovereign's laughter in tn
midst of his courtiers and courtesans laughter whil