The Portland daily press., 1892-04-16

YVES arranged and largely attended by
those who regarded Whitman as a lit
erary scavenger, and who were anxious
to relieve the university and polite soci-
ETY. from al. completely with Mr.. Dow
den in the expression of respect for one
who was said to have had nothing but
contempt shown him in his own country.
Speakers representing various colleges
and nearly all the learned professions
rose in turn, and with disconnected pas
sages for texts proceeded to overwhelm
! Whitlnan's book with ridicule. There
wero few tinid speakers for the de-
tense, but Dowden, who had opened the
discussion, enjoyed the privilege of re-
plying in full to all that was said during
the entire evening. Accordingly he
| girded himself for the conflict. He took
notes of the various speeches and was
kept busily employed arranging book
markers in certain volumes before him
on the table. His spirited reply con-
sisted of ~ q brief general review of
poetry, C2) sketch of modern democ-
racy, 90 series Of ad hominem arguments
which fairly knocked the bottom" out
of attacks based upon detached SEN
fences and made by men whose critical
! faculty seemed to have been guided by
prlriency rather than principle in their
reading of Whitman.
Dowden took each important quota
ton made by his adversaries, showed it's
relation to the context and explained the
bearing of the entire passage or poem
upon Whitnlan's leading ideas Of de-
mocracy and optimism. With great en-
thusiasm he brushed away the cobweb
fancies of mere prettiness and jingle
which make up a great part of so called
poetry to the detriment of wide views
and sound sentiment.
He had much to say of magazine
poetry, Of what Professor Huxley calls
the sensual caterwauling school," and
Of the long dallying with nastiness in
fine phrases and classical illusions. He
then spoke of the mortal race of men"
and Of the mighty perturbations of
society, which seem necessary for the
establishment Of humanity's claims; of
the crusades, the reformation, the
French revolution and the civil war in
the United States. Reviewing the re-
suits of the last great connection he
traced the growth of new desires, new
demands, new tendencies and new atti-
tudes toward life and death, and all per-
manent subjects of human thought or in
terest. He regarded Walt Whitman as
the most profitable and original inter
prefer of the new age, and declared that
the great western republic will not rest
satisfied with the tags and rags of
Europe any more in poetry than in
politics; that the jinglings of Alexander
Pope's moral platitudes are as much out
of date under. existing conditions in the
United States as the successful interfer-
ence Of Vatican pope with the estab-
lished principles of American institu-
tions
When his remarks upon Whitman's
own methods were concluded, Dowden
called attention to the critics who had
just spoken in something like the follow
ing terms:
s'In estimating the value of criti-
cism, particularly upon such important
subjects as those with which Walt Whit
man deals, it is not unnatural to make
some inquiries into the character and
capacity of each different critic. Some
of the gentlemen who have spoken to-
night have been my acquaintance or
friends for many years. They are all
honorable men, and in their own special
callings speak with authority. They
understand the technicalities of com
mon law, equity, horses, billiards, choice
wines, foreign cigars and good society,"
They are capable of discussing with in
telligence the niceties of ancient and
modern literature, including French
novels and dramas adapted from the
same.
"They can sit at the windows of the
University or Kildare Street clubs, and
with mathematical accuracy point out
the merits and defects of woman or a
horse. In private life have no doubt
that they are the best of good fellows.
They are the fortunates of the earth and
have fairly touched the Happy Isles
But we have not heard that they have
ever raised a voice on behalf of any
movement which tends to the ameliora-
ton of that large portion of the human
race which is so profoundly unfortunate
and so far away from any happy prospect
in this world.
.They have done nothing to mitigate
the misery of the hungry, the houseless,
the depraved and abandoned of the
world. These gentlemen live, and their
predecessors Of the same temperament
have lived and died, apparently uncon-
scious Of, or Indifferent to, the hard lot
of the poor and the oppressed. We do
not blame them for this callous indiffer-
ence. They are so constituted and prob
ably would not wish to be otherwise.
But we do blame them when they
insult a great writer and thinker who
views life with clearer vision than they
possess, and who dares to hold out
brighter prospects for the millions.
''These excellent judges of good wines
and fast horses, then, are the gentlemen
who tonight accuse Whitman of ieno-
rance, indecency, obscenity and the rest
| of IL They dnro11nca him for a p1oi,,