New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-25

open to receive our pooest ,;na enIogv ia
snnnressed Inv lawl Mr. Oliver stevens chooses
bis time we'll. The month of Emerson's burial sa
good month for the burial OF the book ne eiorlneu
Fit souvenir: 10 make stalk against the bright
bnJizons around that grave the spectre oil tho
black Puritan Happy thought: 10 complete
Concord with y Renaissance OF GaIlows mn! .
As for the part taken by MesSrs. Osgoon N
Company in this shameful transaction. wnat y
said should have the conciseuess OF oranu; ~
was no new book they had undertaken TO publish
it had been the talk of two worlds icr over
quarter of a century. They knew IT'S none fephle
in the highest quarters. and they also knew what
shadows III ight be cast upon il by BOBBY blyotry,
by fonl sour prndery minciDe rs purity, or by
rotten caruality i'll its bypocrite mask oil virtue,
Knowing all this. facing possible consequences III
their agreement to publish without eXpuTgation.
and having voluntarily sought the publication oI
the volume, | say i was their dnty as gehtienlehh
10 stand by the hargain they had soliclted' ana
il was no less their interest rs men OF business 10
advertise the State Attorneys ridiculous menace
in the holdeSt type their printers couid iurnisn,
and bid him come on with his prosecution lluie
enough 10 give in when Sidney Bartlett nau
failed TO make a Massachusetts, jury see tnat IN
literature we must allow free expressions II we a,e
going 10 have free expression time ehoMsu 70
own defeat when Sidney Bartlett or CnaIWs
OConor failed to make PLAIN, as either woul1 not
have tailed to make plain to even Mr. U,lng,
Sievens's comprehension. the difference between
Biblical courage OF language ami intrinsic ihtel-
lectua mpuritv. But Messrs. Osgood N COMPANY
including honor. They might have bTaGcu tneui-
selves with the remembrance OF NOodiaIl; s'ahI-
Ing prosecution heaped prosecution, III DIS uuk
fidelity 10 Junius. They night nave Sa.n L;n
grit by trying to imagine John Murray unehing
from the publication of byron On Tue eon 49,,
shaking IN ahect cowardlce at me eil,pciI ther
of this legal billy, they meanly break LIN LIN
contract with the author abandon the doom my
had volunteered to Issue. and drop from the ranks
of great publishers into the category OIL h"oAS''i'
whose business cannot afford conscience A..
It only remains to point the moral ana aIoi'l Inc
tale with the name Of the Boston Distict-Att1IheI'
| have called the transaction IN when lie appears
no fnN Shn
iimD ana cOOrlcSs in It's Application 10 Such an
outrage upon the liberty Of Thought as ne mas
committed. The sense of 1t makes every. hpIe Oh
ones being seem interknitted with lightning. Oh
such a subject no thinking man or woman III such
a country ours Will reflect WIN cola cohpu1uiJ.
The action of this lawyer constitutes reel NIcii
threatens with shpwrcck every great pook Oh
every great author, from Aristophaues to MOIeie:
from ESchylus to Victor Hugo; and the drop OF
blood that is calm in view of such an outrage
uroclaims us bastard to the lineage OF the learner
and the brave To-day Oliver Stevens mas become
the peril OF Shakespeare. lie KNOWS Wen, TIC one
knows it better, that under bis conNtIuclch oi IN,
statutes neither Shakespeare nor the biblc coui'i
he circulated and no one better knows tnan lie
that neither Of those books Is obscene. lie KNOWS
we'll Emerson and a host OF scholars and men OF
letters in both continents bearing wltnsss that
Walt Whitmans book Is no more With . .
meaning of the statutes than Shakespeare or the
Bible but he also knows that the charge he mas
brought against the one lies with at least equai
force against the others an u lie Goes nui ctn-
tiGue his raid upon great hteIatnie, IL Is on5 pc
cause his courage is not yet equal 10 MS l"gc'
Even his holder and brasSler ally III TINS holy war
Mr. Anthony Comstock,-eve he tehlPeiS NaI3 2I
with discretion for the noncc, and says be VIII
not prosecute the publishers OF the ca9SIc uheSS
they specially advertise them There are con-
tinGences it seems in which the great works OF
the human mind will be brought under the opera,
ton of "the statutes against obscene literature
VINO knows, since fortune favors the brave ana
euterprisnG, but that We may yet, step by STEP
succeed in bringing the fourteenth century INTO
the nineteenth, and reercct Montfauc)n-that
hideous edihcc of scaiolds reared by fmlippc lc
II. of
beside the carcass of the Tegicide for haVipS
translated Plato, and where Peter Adm IanIIeG
gibLeted beside the robher for having pnonshtu
Virgil, If this fond prospect is still someW as
tant it is only, it seems because Mr. ApthOh{
Comstock lets ms ! dare not wait upon would
and DELAYS the initial step npt tne eIaSsSs ;r are
Stevens also waits for fresh relays OF courage ana
as vet only ventures to attempt to crush walt
Whitman For that act OF daIlng ne shrl, tgap
the full harvest of reward. We VIII see whether
in this country and in this century nc can sup,
press by law the work of man OF genius ana iall
of his proper recompense, He has arrested IN
Massachusetts the superb book which Is the chef
literary glory of our country in the capitals oil
Europe-the book Of the good gray nurse VINO
nourshed the wounded ana tendea many ca, ny XII
soldier through our yeas OF war-ahd LOT lha az
valiant action I promise Mr.. Stevens ms meed Oh
immortal remembrance. He has the solemn com,
fort of having been unknown yesterday edll
offer hlm the glorious that he VIII not be
forgotten to. morrow In the words of Emerson,
greet him n9 at State IN hs Union there is not
country in the civilized world, III which ms deed
| shall not make him famous forever. l pledge
myself to attend TO his interests. The prosecutors
! of n good mans thought are precious 10 such as
! l. aud we should indeed be recreant to duty II we
failed to let it be widely known, and in such form
as to never be forgotten, that Massachusetts has
| District Attorney named Oliver stevens true TO
the Llood OF NatLer faithful to the darkest tradl-
| tons who wrenchcd the law from IFS purpose 10
crush and extinguSh the most extraordinary
| oicce of wit and wisdom America has yet
contributed 1.-THE sanest, the largest, the most
spen lid and enduring literary product when the
Celto-Saxon race has given the age Let this fame
console him even in the sad event of bis being eX-
PEELED from the Office Con rord and Harvard may
say he has disgraced AID polluted!
WMIIAM DOUGLAS OCONN0K
Hashirgton, b. C., May 10, 1852.