The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-03-25
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

The Letters of Victor Hugo. From
Exile and After the Fall OF the Empire.
Edited by Paul Meurice. The second vol
une of Victor Marie Hugo's, letters has
recently issued from the Riverside Press
and completes plain but elegant publica-
tion of thoroughly fine workmanship and
finish The dates covered by these letters
are 1886 to 1882 period of nearly half a
century, years crowded with political ex-
citerent, and reacting through literature
In stress and storm. The reader must
not seek these pages. having in his mind
Ia life of the great recognized leader of the
romantic school of the XIX century in
France. He must rather turn to them ex-
pecting only extracts from letters to
Hugo's family and to distinguished mon
of his day in politics, art and literature,
which are for the most part brief and
frag1nentary. 1t would seem, too, that
the French nature with all it's demon
strative and caressing expression really
reveals less of character and details less
of fact than the American composite of
culture and training. Compare Motley's
letters for example with those of the great
man we are discussing. Victor Hugo
was giant, in his way the great revolu-
Zionist of the epoch. In these letters he
addresses, beside his family group. such
circle as Lsmartine, Chateaubriand,
Garibaldi; Louis Blanc, Boulauger;
Laoroix, Pavie, Beranger, Karr, Dumas,
Coppee, Gautier, Chainpfeury de Bauville
and George Sand, with a word to Tenny-
son, Swinburne and some Americans
wrought to righteous excitement upon
the question of negro slavery. Let us
quote few words from his democracy:
"The day when the people become intelli-
gent, it will rule
For long time past in all my writ
ings | have striven to hasten the day
when social questions will be substituted
for political ones; when, between the
party of reaction and that of revolution,
there will arise the party of civilization. )"
or John Browns death-'and it is a
republic which has done this. What sim
lister folly it is to be an owner of men !;
and see what it leads to Here is free
nation putting to death liberator!
Alas Ny heart is indeed sad. The
crimes of Kings one can understand; a
Kings crime has nothing abnormal
about it; but crimes comm tilted by a
people are intolerable to the thinker. y
Yes, a society which tolerates misery i,
p religion which admits hell, a humanity
which admits war, appear to me to be u
society, religion. and a humanity Of a
lower order; and it is towards the society
the humanity, and the religion OF high
er world | aspire; society without kings,
humanity without frontiers, religion
without sacred books. Yes, | combat the
priest who sells lies and the judge who
administers injustice. TO universalize
property (Which is the reverse of abolish
ing i5) by getting rid of parasitism, !. g. j,
to achieve the following object, every
man an owner of property and no man
master, that is my idea of true social and
political economy. To sum up, SO far as
q man can will it, l would destroy human
fatality. condemn slavery, Danish misery,
enlighten ignorance, cure disease, illu
So, too, the sympathetic CLEANER might
gather this mans views on literature and
various other important matters from
these letters did space permit their use
1t is rather curious to note that N. Victor
Hugo was an excellent financier and
ku0W HOF W eStAsA hAo1AAOoeS
fairly good fortunes practical turn Of
mind not often possessed or desired by
the fanatic and pioneer. With volume
of this standard value, it is Tot necessary
to say that every member of the frater'
nifty of books will place these volumes uI
on his library shelves beside Las Misera'
bles, Notre Dame de Paris and Les
Travailleurs de la Mer. Boston and
New York: Houghton, Miffiin q Com
pany; Portland: Loring, Short & Har-
mon. Price SO. 90 a volume
From the Other Side. Stor es of Trans
atlantic Travel by Henry B. Fuller, au-
thor of The Chevalier of Pensieri-Vani,
etc. Readers of Mr.. Fuller's books know
that his method is not that of the COB.
vious." He is somewhat subtle and in
direct in the handling of his themes. In
the present short sketches these qualities
are noticeable; they are, with differ
ence, Henry -Jamesesque. Therefore they
viii exasperate the impatient lover OF
plain statement or inference and delight
the analyst and literary dissector. The
titles contained are "The Greatest OF
These" what Truth Can Do, "The
Pilgrim Sons'' and "Pasquales Pic
lures" The first locates us in Sicily
with travel therefrom, the second in Italy
the third en- route between America and
England, the last in Venice. That much
abused word ''clever" must again come
to the front to suit Mr.. Fuller's case.
Here is a bit of description-"A large
family group from England, all brothers
and sisters, all bachelors and spinsters,
who were doing the island amicably in q
body,-a compact and sturdy little Eng
fish hamlet on the move. Perhaps the
thatch was more or less out of repair and