New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-03-12
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
4 MAN USEFUL N MANY WAYS.

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ESSAYS: RRIIelous, SOCIAL roLrTIcAL ,,, BY
Charles 4 Dalksham.
The essays. eight 10 number, included IN TINS
volume we'll deserve preservation for their aplnoy'
vigorous thought and elevated tone; Dut tne
most interesting part Of the book y Mr Frothing-
hams memoir Of the author, for II Is the prlef
Absfraes and chronicle Of an intellectual life both
remarkable ana admirable In many respects. David
Atwood WATSON was q man Of peculiar character.
Endowed with STRONG religious feeling. he APP
uears TO hare been repealed from formal creeds
by the sustere Calvinism under which he was
reared, and which was from boyhood opposed in
bin by almost passionate love Of Nature and
sensitive appreciation Of It's beauty and harmony.
The single chapter Of autobiography which he
contributed to the memoir deals only with his
carly years. but IL throws much light upon his
development Natural theology came naturally
20 him. He was unable 70 accept the Hebrew
idea Of God. No more truly reverent spirit per-
haps ever existed, but to him God was thinkable
only upon the condition that He be thought OF
as the principle OF Love. He called himself a
Christian, though he was certainly not an ortho-
dox one. Even his Upitarianism went far beyond
the limitations Of the Church. His faith was
never fixed in FORM but it was real and o pro-
found faith nevertheless.
Compelled By wasting disease TO seclude him
SELF much in later years, it was inevitable that
he should moro or less lose touch with the world.
The free and fun communion which with tho
average man rounds of salient angles smoothes
away mental nodosities and tends to establish by
degrees Q philosophy OF compromise and con-
cession. was denied him. Thrown back upon his
own thoughts, and, moreover, driven to expend
upon Intellectual processes The naturally strong
passions which, under normal conditions would
have found healthier vent in action, his mind
worked always at q high temperature and his
views were expressed with viyacity, positive
ness and energy which frequently detracted from
the influence Of his arguments. But IL is i'm
possible to read one of his essays without feeling
that here Of least is a man who is in earnest;
who holds that be does well 70 be angry with sin
and peryersity and shutting and injustice: who
drives straight at the mark every time; and whose
utter sincerity and lucid logic render him o
formidable opponent, despite his intensity. Az
is frequently the case. his bodily pain and weak
ness rather seemed TO strengthen than interfere
with his intellectual expression. Even when he
could hardly write ut all he still wrote with
force and perfect clearness and the state Of his
health could at NO time be predicated upon his
literary work.
It Is curious that individuafism was his alb
horrence In politics. though no man was more
individual in character. In fact no community
system Of thought could contain or give rest to
him. His creed. his views. his convictions, were
essentially his own, developed ont Of solitary re-
Election, and held with the tenacity which at
taches men to their own creations. AS between
Democracy and Republication In politics he
could not hesitate, indeed. since the former en-
bodied and signiied all that was most repulsive
70 him. But be was never politician save in
theory, and his views on political issues were
always too direct, acknowledging and trenchsnt
to be acceptable to any party. His essay on The
New Type Of Oppression in this volume affords
q fair illustration Of the war his mind worked
Nothing can be bolder higher-principled. or. in
the main, truer. He puts his finger on abuses
and evils which unquestionably exist but which
az unquestionably cannot be got rid Of BY the
most unsparing denunciation. His mind was per
cepfive, but not executive He could see what
was wrong hut not how 70 right IL. Yet the
influence Of such man is always salutary, and
never more so than In age materiaistc as tho
present Though such Inconsistencies and rebukes
as he administered may seem too much In the air,
they none the less strike note In national ethics
which keys up the community. Mr.. rockingham
has described an interesting and estmable chsrac-
ter--that OF man who was useful in many ways,
and IN several respects type Of influences and
evolutionary movements peculiarly American.