Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-02-07
THOMAS CARLYLE.

prolonged mental struggle, during which
the foundation was laid of that chronic
dyspepsia which tormented him ceaselessly
thenceforward, and which undoubtedly
had much to do with the pessimist phil
osophy of which he subsequently became
the exponent, he decided to devote himself
to literature. He first acquired fame
through the strange work entitled Sar-
tor Resartus," which was refused by
all the London publishers, and finally APP
peared in Frazer's Magazine. Much of his
best work was put into this book, which,
despite its eccentricities of style and
chaotic confusion of the sublime and the
grotesque, took a strong hold upon the
judgment of the reading public About
the same time he was opening to English
readers the then unknown region of Ger
man literature, by his translation of
Goethe's Wilhelm Meister, and his essays
on and translations of other German
authors. His principal work in later life
was the History of the French Revolution,
the Letters and Speeches of Oliver Crom.
well, the Life of Frederic the Great, and
Heroes and Hero Worship He wrote a
life of Schiller which was not very good,
and life of Sterling which Justly ranks
as one of the best biographies in
the language. Besides these works his
essays form several volumes, while in
Chartism, Past and Present, and Latter
Day Pamphlets, he reached the extreme
of that hopeless and vituperative temper
in which he had learned to view almost
every manifestation of modern society.
Of the power and ability of his principal
works there can be no two opinions, but
never Were qualities and dispositions so
discordant joined in the same writer
before. In his historical works, viz the
French Revolution, Oliver CromweHs
Letters, and Frederick the Great, the
most exhaustive and painstaking research
are exhibited. He ransacked the archives
of many countries for his facts, and he
hunted new views with the scent and
keenness of a bloodhound. But in writing
his narrative he perpetually broke away
from the matter in hand and burst out in
wild poetical excursions, while the events
he recorded appeared, after passing
through the alembic of his mind, wrapped
in lurid halo, or obscured by
darkest clouds. He said that the French
Revolution appeared TO him to be ga
mighty truth, clad in hell-tire," and this
expression indicates the peculiar frame of
mind in which he dealt with history gen
orally.
His philosophy was not only pessimistic
but pagan and medieval, He could see
no good or hope in modern society. Above
all he hated the democratic tendency in all
It's forms. He was passionate, even an ex-
travagant admirer of despotism Never had
the policy of Blood and Iron so bold and
incorporating a champion. Force was
his deity; not physical but mental force,
though in hislater years he evinced fond
ness for mere animal power, as Illustrated
in the old muscular pirates of Norseland
He believed and taught that the masses of
men were fit only to be led-or, better
still, driven and he reverenced only such
as had shown their ability to be the drivers.
There never was worse king in modern
times, or more thoroughly detestable
man, than Frederick William of Prussia,
the father of Frederick the Great He was
a truculent, ferocious, brutal, drunken
rutfian, who never in his whole life showed
one amiable quality, who was cruel and
harsh especially to his own family, and
who was odious in every way. Him Carlyle
has dealt with so as to make it evident
that the arrogance and tyranny of the man
outweighed as virtues all his defects. In
the same way he has apotheosized the
coarse and drunken butcher, Danton, and
has eulogized Mirabeau and his execrable
old father as patterns Of manly excellence.
He has also found justification for Crom-
wells most indefensible deeds, and has
elevated that ruler upon a pinnacle
which we doubt the willingness of poster
ity to render enduring.
To thinker SO penetrated with con.
tempt for the capacity of the masses to
govern themselves, and who despised free
dom so heartily, it is not strange that the
ever-growing tendency of modern civiiiza-
ton towards democracy should have
seemed the symptom of fatal disease.
And so he regarded and treated it.
Throughout all his late works there runs
a despairing protestagainst popular govern
ment, accompanied with the fiercest and
most merciless sareasms upon the results of
all experiments in that direction. His
last political paper was entitled Shooting
" Niagara, and in it he reached the con-
clusion that England and America were
running race to the Devil, and that all
the barriers between those countries and
anarchy were being thrown down.
His manner of writing was peculiar to
himself. When writing. what he was
pleased to call history he condescended to
reason at times, though even then his
Rembrandtesque style so changed the ap-
pearance of things that they became
scarcely recognizable. But whenhe launched
himself into discussion of existing con.
ditions he simply acclaimed, and he never
paused to pick his phrases when assailing
pet abuse. Few authors of eminence
have ever transgressed the decencies of
controversy more frequently. He abused
his opponents in the language of Billings
gate. Those whom he disliked he detested
most virulently, while those whom he
liked could do no wrong in his eyes. 1t is
impossible to draw a life-like portrait of
one who was essentially an anomaly. He
combined the disposition of Berserkir with
the habits of metaphysician and the tenn