The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-11-04

att Carlisle, which still bears and per
petua1es his name and contributing q
prize TO Princeton of $500. That uni
versity, after a life of century and a
half, village IN itself, with a faculty
CT eighty and students numbering q
thousand in both academic and scientific
departments has among it's prizes Of
today one founded by a John Dickinson.
of New Jersey, in 1882 worth $50. The
home of the John Dickinson who wrote
the "Farmer's' and "Fabius" letters.
advocating an American magma charta
and the ratification of the constitution,
was alternately in Pennsylvania and
Delaware after leaving Maryland. Be-
sides a book on his life, with but seant
comment at the time of its appearance,
and the archives of the Pennsylvania
Historical society. there is no vesl ige
of Dickinson except his Carlisle school.
But that is g. monument that may ex-
cite the nveliest and most interesting
investigation. Unfortunately, he an
tagonized the Declaration of Independ-
ence, and that stupendous error that
his countrymen magnified to crime
swept out of sight all the good that he
had done before. The Farmers Let
t5rs" were forgotten, and those of 'Fabi-
u.s." powerful as they were, were not
sufficient to erase the stigma Dickinson
had incurred by opposing independence.
Nor have they yet fully restored him.
There is no apotheosis for Dickinson in
Fourth of July oratory. The scant trib-
ute to his memory is but a part of the
accommodating evidence that false step
is easily rectified. So Dickinson's psr-
petuity really lies without the circle of
his country's glory, at the college in Car
isle though he was a courageous, up
right man, thoroughly patriotic and one
of the greatest conservative forces and
political writers of the revolutionary
time.
Dickinson made himself such by a
series of a dozen letters, written In as
many weeks, and printed In a Phila-
dslphia paper called the Chronicle and
Advertiser" He was then 35 years old,
and by profession a lawyer. Here too,
we have evidence that Dickinson would
employ tact and shrewdnsss to effect
his purpose. u. is in a minor way, to be
sure, but no scintilla is too minute to
estimate in character. The results, how
ever, of so small a ruse as writing un-
No one at first doubted that the identity
was real The writer assumed the lati-
tude of literature and said that me was
farmer, and ito give his words the un-
adorned and unselfish import of pro-
ceeding from one Of lowly lot, he said
his farm was a small one. 1t was i'm
possible that he should have long re-
manned unknown, such a whirlwind of
feeling had he started, but he took good
care to make his hit before disclosing
himself There are several circumstan-
ces in Dickinson's life, one of which
has been referred ito, more pronounced
than this, but not more extensive in the
outcome, that intimate he was less
transparent than commonly supposed.
The sweet expression of countenance, al
most broadening into a smile. indicates
an individuality that is not altogether
apparent in the face. 1t Is not meant
that Dickinson was not perfectly up
right, for one may be secretive in the
right as well as in the wrong.
The first of the farmers Letters"
appeared early in December, 1887 and
the last about the close of February the
following year. With the advent of
each the popular excitement increased
and spread. It was dispatched and
copied throughout the thirteen prov
inces. When the series was completed
it was issued and disseminated as
pamphlet, and in this form the words of
Dickinson wrought the miracle of rous-
ing the colonists to a sense of their duty
and at the same time combining them
into an effective, power of resistance.
6 hn Of
men, and while he famed the flame
he did not neglect to pour on little
water here and there lest it should burn
too fiercely. In that he had miscalcu-
lated. He was a Philadelphia lawyer
with patrimony, had graduated In the
p9rnicious principles of loyalty to the
crown from the Temple, at London, and
moved in the most ethereal circles.
Dickinson did not comprehend the men
he addressed The question presents it,
self that had he understood this m would
he have spoken to them? Indeed, he
would not; for Dickinson could think
of nothing more deplorable than a final
and complete separation from England
The sturdy colonists, with neither mind
nor patience for the niceit1es of dstinc-
ton, devoured what he said about the
usurpation of Great Britain, which was
altogether to their liking, but for his
cautions they did not care a fig. War
was their watchword, but not one drop
of blood would they shed for prize less
than independence. Here was spoken in
voice Of thunderous turbulence what
Emerson u :unciated later in the smooth
phrase of philosophy, that the genius
OF a man, or of a people, will select
what is agreeable. There was that in
Dickinson's letters which appealed direct
to this genius, and made him the ruling
mind at that particular line. No other
American composition was so widely
read and admired
Within Three months it was printed In
Ilondon, with a. preface written by
Franklin. and in the following year, 1859,
was published in French at Paris In
France the letters were eagerly read,
and We're one of THE active influences