Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-02-21
PRIVATE LETTERS.


PRIVATE LETTERS.
re Poee whittier Has Something TO say
ON . TIcklish Subject.
The poet Whittier has enunciated q
hard doctrine in a recent letter to
friend in regard to the publication of
private epfstles. How it chances that
the principles he so emphatically lays
down are violated by the publication
of this particular document Is not ex-
planned; but it is rather surprising,
since he writes: ''Some years ago
destroyed large collection of letters
I had received. not from any regard to
my own reputation, but from the fear
that to leave them liable to publicity
might be Injurious or unpleasant to
the writer's or their friends. They
covered much of the anti-slavery
period, and the war of the rebellion.
and many of them, I know. were
strictly private and confidential.
was not able at the time to look over
the MSS. and I thought it safest to
make a bonfire of all. / have always
regarded a private and confidential
letter as sacred. and its publicity in
any shape q shameful breach of trust.
unless authorized by the writer. I
only wish my own letters to thousands
of correspondents may be as carefully
disposed Of"
The ground here taken is certainly
a sufficiently high one. The logical
deduction from the position of the
writer is that most biographies are
practically violations of the decent re-
serve which should surround the dead.
since it is difficult to believe that there
exists a modern biography which does
not owe its Information largely to
what Mr.. Whittier calls private letters.
Leaving. for the moment, the wider
question whether biographies as such
are or are not of value, it is fair to
consider that every honest man, if
told that his history will be written,
will first of all desire that it be true.
To destroy his letters would, in the
case OF any person of sufficient note to
have been concerned in important
events. be to lessen the chance of the
truths being known, either in regard
to himself or others. Certainly if BIZ
ography and history are to be written.
it is important that they shall ap-
proach as nearly as possible to the
truth; and neither Mr.. Whittier nor
anybody else has right to destroy
documents which would assist in
bringing the truth to light. Justice
to the memory of his friend should
lead one who has important letters to
see that they are properly used, not
that the risk is run Of having history
<<l 70, 81
Whittier himself would undoubtedly
prefer that Ibis letters to thousands
of correspondents should be printed
to having his life misrepresented and
the high causes in defense of which he
has fought so we'll misunderstood.
The fact is that while this matter of
publication seems at first glance both
unpleasant and :unjustifiable, it is but
another form of the universal truth
that no mans life belongs to himself
Perhaps "a man has no more right
either to expect or to wish to take to
the grave with him any more than
he takes his gold the personal privacy
which is as much a luxury of life as is
his treasure. In any case the history
of man belongs to the living; and since
the history of man is made up of the
history of men. in their story the world
has an inalienable right. 1t follows
that documents which seem private
property are often public trusts, and
| not therefore to be disposed of accord
| ing to the simple will of the possessor,
who is really simply custodian.
It is not of course meant that all the
details of life, the private experiences,
hidden emotions and intimate secrets
of the heart, are to be laid open to the
market place. 1t is not that public
vulgar curiosity is to be satisfied, but
the significant, the general. the things
which belong to the life of the people
or to the growth of the public senti-
| ment or belief-these things belong
not to the individual, but to the race.
And so, despite our recognition of the
| genuine sincerity of the act and of the
delicacy of feeling which prompted it.
we can not help feeling that it is al
least an open question whether Mr..
Whittier had moral right to destroy
those letters, relating. as many OF
them must have done, to some of the
most important events which have
ever shaken and shaped our Nation
| Boston Courier.
The Vital Functions.