Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1914-08-06
NeO Letters From Carlyle Glue Literary
AdUice and Touch on Matters of the Time
CLondon Tines.)

: which too | am profoundly seriousl
and that. one day, perhaps YOU will
be astonished TO find how much ths
Penny newspapers (and their Penny
PHILOSOPHERS, indubitable to All tn,
world just now have still hold Of
YOU Verb. Sap.
That Carlyle was indeed profound.
ly serious about the Silcnces" may
be illustrated by the well known pas
sage:
Looking round on the noisy insan-
litv Of the world. words with little
meaning. actions with little worth.
one loves To reflect on the great en-
pre of silence. The noble silent men.
scattered here and there each in his
department. silently thinking. silent
~ working. whom no morning news
paper makes mention of,
And there are many other refer
enees, as, for example:
No speech ever uttered or utterable
~ worth comparison with silence
CLectures, 1881
Under all speech that is good for
anything there lies silence that is
better. Silence is deep as Eternity;
speech is shallow as Time. Memoir
of the Life of Scott)
An extract from letter later In
the same year, November II, 1862, is
of especial interest The American
clyil war was then in full progress;
and though Carlyle here recurs to
the idea of silence he could not re-
main watching with patience and In
silence" and in 1863 wrote THE Amer
the eonfederates which has been de-
scribed as zone of the most regret
table incidents of his life" The first
words, no doubt. refer to his Fred
erick the Great" on which he was
occupied from 1852 to 1865:
| am very busy constantly Though
making poorish progress); and see
with patience. and in silence. the fall
of sceptors and of crowns" (prefig-
ured by Hudibras Beard) and, look
with a pity and awe. which also are
silent. on the Contamination of Con
stitutional Palaver and Universal Suf-
frage. and our poor Yankee brothers
tearing one another in pieces about
nothing at all. and in fact the earth
opening and He'll and its fires burst
ing out on them, as visibly. or more so.
than on Sodom and Gomorrah long
agol--Silence. Silence.
France and Germany.
al. -.
vivid series of letters. extending over
so many years and containing so much
rugged and sane criticism upon the
calling OF a literary life, by an extract
from letter dated October 90 1870
and written at Carlyle's dictation by
his niece, Mary Carlyle Aitken. After
thanking Mr.. Ward again for a gift
of fruit. the letter turns to the Franco
German war, which had been declared
three months before:
You seem to me II you will al
low me to say so, much In error in
regard to King William and his Ger
mans. / believe King William to be
man. and that his prayers to God
are not thing of cant. but of prof.
found sincerity-in word, that he is
one of the few living European men
who retain real capacity of pray
ing to God" other men by the million.
In all countries, / should rather rec
ommeni to cease that operation. /
ever did. This praying King Will
liam has actually his foot upon the
throat Of France, and can If he please,
in spite of all Europe. as matters now
stand, slit anarchic France to ribbons
and reduce Paris to a cinder, ii such
were his intention, which it is far
from being. In brief. | believe mag
unanimous, pious strong and modest
Germany is henceforth to be queen
of the continent. instead Of vain, va
pouring, impious, and mischievous
France, which | take to be the most /
blessed event in European politics
have witnessed in my time.