The

152

Nation.

A MELANCHOLYPOET.*

For God rem&R almay; and to the Truth

Shall incense filrcnm from many a grander fwc ;
And, in the blinding glory of her youth,
Frcwlom ~hnll rive again.

I KNOWthe critics ahnll be kind at last,

says or sings Mr. Dorgan, and we will be kind now, for there can be no
doubt that he has suffered genuine pain in writing many of his verses, and
we have no heart to add to his sorrow. Mr. Dorgan, though a ready
versifier, is not one of the mob who writ0 with ease. His poems are the
expression of his unrest, or his discomfort, or his remorse, or his despair.
He is always in agony or in tears. In his very first poem his heart after
sobbing, and shaking t,he panting stars, and lying in dungeons, falls into
agonies of ultimate despair. A little after, in a succeeding poem, his heart is
old and cold, and his spirit beats its bars, and trembles for the happy stars
which his heart had just before been shaking.
And in one of the very last
poems in the volume we regret to find that, his soul is still beating its bars,
h&ving meanwhile broken its pinions, and blooded its hands.
Mr. Dorgan is often naturally in tears; he has very troubled sleep, he
complains of feverishness, and both life and death, he declares, are curses
and accurst. He almost wishes some one would bring him poison. Nature
does not solace him, for the forest is haunted by ghastly shapcss, and the
sea either hisses like a snake or is dead, and the night is dead, and the moon
is drowning.
Everything, in fine, is very disagreeable to him. We truly
pit,y him, for

-+*

ANTI-SLAVERYMEASURESIN CONGRESS."
Ttr~ framers of the Constitution of the Unitcxd Stntcs did not dream that
which they so rolnctantly rons(7lttd to incorporate in that instrument,, enclosed the serds of tllc: wicltctll>rt and bloodiest
:ivil war that tho world has ever XXII. Belic~ing a union of the Rtntcs
Indispensable to the national life, and thcrcforc a l~aran~oun t nc,c<&ty, tllcy
rvcre too easily persuaded that,, for the sake of achiwin,q
so great a gootl, t,ll(*.y
Ilight safely make terms with the supporters of a s+c,m which t,hcy acknowledged to be inconsistent with republican principles and a blot upon tho
national character, but which they thought was sure of (sxtinction at no very
listant day. But the attempt of a nation to shield with the forms of law
m institution in flagrant antagonism with its highest professions, and with
the principles of justice and humanity, is alike impious and demoralizing,
md, if long persisted in, is sure to undermine the foundations of social order
2nd 1Jublic security.
In our country the bitter fruit,s of nat,ionnl injustice and oplmY&on were
~pl~~rcnt at an early day. From 178I) to 1%X--a period of more than seventy
years-tha Southern lords of the lash, through the concessions made to them
m the Constitution, were almost as much masters of the ,gcncrl Government
Their property in 11nman flrsh, under
BSof the slams on their plantations.
a vicious and anti-republican rule of reprcscntntion, incrc>nscYlthcair political
power to such an ostcnt that, by act,& m always as a unit, am1 adroitly taking
.ulvantngc of party divisions at the North, they wcrc able, from the rery
Lxginniug,
to control
the legislation
of tlrc: country for t,hc support and perpetuity of their hateful system. With the clxccption of the ordinance by
which slavery was excluded from the Northwvrst Territory, nnd the act of
1808 abolishing the foreign slave trade, the records of Congrc,ss from 1789 to
18Gl exhibit
no act unfriendly
to the system, I)ut many acts ralrulated
and
Tho Const,itutiou, according to
designed to give it streugth and protection.
t,he highest judicial authority, conferred upon the gcncral Gorrmment no
power to interfere with slavery in the States ; and so watchful were the
~lulrdians of the system, and HO iml)(~rions in tli(sir dr~nt:~n(ls in its bohoof,
t,lurt they were always able to prevent the adoption by Congress of even constitutional measures that were likely to expose it to the slightest peril. Subserviency to the slave power became the fixed habit of politicians and parties
at the North, insomuch that the petitions of the l~~plc for the abolition of
slaycry in the District of Columbia, and of the slave trade bcxtwon the States
-measures admitted by eminent stntcsmen of all parties to bc within the
constit&onal
prerogatives of Congress-w-crc contemptuously laid upon the
Many of
table, at the moment of prcsent,ation, without dcbatc or rc+rcnce.
our readers are old enough to,rcmcmber the contest so >Talorr,rrsly wagctl by
John Quincy Adams, nearly thirty years ago, in sul)port r)f the peoples
right of petition, and the insolent at,tcmpt of the cohorts of slavcry to
expel him from the House for simply cnquiring of t,lz Spt~kc*r if it would bc
in or&r to present a petition purporting
to be signed by slaves. Thtt simple question so provoked th e rage and fury of the Sonthcrn mcmbcrs that
they threatened to break up the C-iovormnr~nt if a way could not, h(* found of
Tl~c, 111~se was, for
putting a stop t,o anti-slavery agitation at the North.
days, a scene of unparallclcd cscit,cmcnt and disorth>r, :un,l thl,rc wv(ro fears
in some quarters of the flow of I)lOod up011 the floor.
Mr. 1Vilsons book records another and a brighter chnptr,r in the history
of our country.
The r&cllion
of lSGO-Gl swept away in :I moment the constitutional restrictions by which slavery had been so long protected, and the
withdrawal of the Southern senators and representatives afforded an opportunity to the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth
Congresses to r~pnnge from the
statute book the whole series of mcasurps dcsignctl to strc~n&llc,n and l)crpetuate slavcry, and to propose to the Lcgislntnrcs of the PVV(T:~Stntcs an amendmcnt to the Constitution aboli&ingnntl
for (svcr prohibiting it on every part of
the American soil. Nothing could better illustrat,o the l~ow~ which slarcry
had acquired oycr the Government than the hesitation of an anti-slavc,ry 0~1.
The habit of regress to undertake this work of cspurgation and reform.
garding the system as beyond the jurisdiction
of the national Govcrnmnlt
was so strong that members found it hard to bl~lic~rc~,at first, that the old
limitations were removed, and that they wore nctuall,v at, libc~rtp to legislate
It took
in accordance with t.he principles of impartial and nnircrsnl libc+.
to have bctcn dono in a
four years to do the work which might and o&t
single month. But the work, thank God ! is donc~at Inst. Tll~ statute book
the compromises with slarery,

Doom and dcsolntion, and of hell

The angnish, whcrcwecr
he tnrns, are nigh.

It is not in jest, it is in all seriousness, that we say we pity Mr. Dorgan.

For he is a man capable of doing better than thus to devote himself to the
exprossion of his morbid feelings, and of a sickly melancholy which he
The volume of his poems gives indications
mistakes for a divine despair.
of his possessing the poetic facult,y to a degree that would enable him to
write poems that should bc road and prized, if he would refuse to dwell on
himself, his rcsl or fancied woos, and would strive after that simplicity 01
feeling and expression which some strains of his verse afford evidence of hie
capacity to attain.
If Mr. Dorgan bo a very young man, youth and inexperience of life afford
some excme for the faults of his work, and strengthen our hopes that hc
may grow out of his present passion for revcalin, m himself in his forlornness
and weakness, and product verse that shall be strong with thr vigor 01
s&restraint
and health.
There are better things for ones self and fi~r onc~~
readers than to tell the world, in the cagc~rnuss and self-absorption of youth,
of ones own morbid conditions.
It is the hardest lesson for a young p&t to
learn, that however important and interesting the study and expression oj
his morbid feelings may be to himself, they are of very little consequence tc
The subjective school of poets, cren though it includes some
the public.
great names, is not the school of the highest masters of the divine art. The
greatest poets are the most reserved ; they rccognizo the sanctity of thei
own feeling ; they shrink from self-exposure ; they honor the modesty oj
their souls. Moreover, a man of genuine manliness, whether pact or not, if
aTerse to showing or indulging his own weakness. Strength is the founda
tion on which genuine excellence of character or of work must rest. If a
man be weak, let him not parade his weakness, but let him discipline himselj
in quiet to overcome it.
Mr. Dorgan may find our criticism harsh and hard, but it is, as we began
by saying, truly kind. Even in his poor& pieces, even in those too frequeni
poems in which he strives to be intense and falls illto the manner of Mr
Alexander Smith, carrying what Ituskin calls the pathetic fallacy to a great
excess, or in those in which he most disljlays his sickly fancies nnd humors
there is often an element of such true poetry as to mxkc his faults seem the
worse by comparison.
He has tenderness, sw&ness, grace, and fancy, and
that he has manly strength enough to give promise of writing well hereafter,
let the following striking poem witness to our readers :

MENEl
MERE 1
Speak not to me of power that builds its throne
On outragqd rights : for it rh:lll paw away ;
Yea, though Its em ire stretch from zone to zone,
And bathe in en a lees day.
Even when the mirth is loudest shall the wine
Grow bitter, and the shivered wine-cup fall ;
For in that hour @hall come the Hand Divine
And write upon the wall.
Weep, if thou wilt,, sad 8eer I thy lands decay ;
Weep, if than wilt, the hopes that shall expire ;
Weep, If thou wilt, the wearisome delay
Of earths nngust desire.
Bat weep not ever-daring Truth as fled,
Though descrt8 howl where once her temples rose;
Kor weep for Freedom, dreaming she is dead,
Fallen amidst her foes.
* I Studies by John A. Dorgan.
i?mo, pp. 22.3.

Second edition.

Philadelphia:

C II. Slarvt.

Is65

IIistory
of the Anti-Slavery
Mensnrc~ of the Thirty-scwllth
nnd Thirty-eighth
Boston: Walker. Fuller ;Y;Co.
United States Congresses, X331-5. By Henry Wilson.

-__

The

_~---.--- .~--~_- ---~-

Nation.

--. .-

--.~

~_______-

.,--..-

-_- .---- - --

153

~is inexcusable that the frontispiece of No. 3 should deface the title-page
by
being bound up with it before the ink was dry.
Smith, LL.D.
(Harper 8
~ A SnzrcUer X&tory of Rome. By William
Brothers, New York.)-The
old and standard work of which this is an
Mr. Eugene Lawrence hns continued the
epitome is well enough known.
narrative from the establishment of the empire to its fall in 476 There is a
profusion of illustrations, but not too great for the youth whom they will
serve. The index is incomplete, as one may see by turning to the title
Vexpnsian. The colosseum, however, is duly catalogued.
~
The Cultxre of the Obsercing Faculties in the Family and thr School.
By Warren Burton.
(Harper & Brothers, New To&)--In
the reaction
against our present system of instruction from primary schools up to and
~including colleges, this little book bears a useful if an humble and unpreten110~s part. Its special aim is to set forth the advantages of object-teaching
I over

the discipline of words and rules, and to propitiate for the young akind
~of training which shall call into activity the senses by which all knowlodge
Nature and natural operations-the
field, the sky,
enters tile understanding.
the wood; dew, rain, and snow ; the flying bird and distant, mountain ; the
insect and the rladruped-wliatetrt:r
a&&
to the pcrcraption of color, size,
shape, position, weight,, nmllber, time, texture, taste, sound, or smell-are
all imm-essed as educators of the crowing boy or girl. WXen wo add that,
Mr. B&ton furnishes examples of Go mod& in \vhi& tuition of this sort may
be disguised as play, and invested with all the attractivcmss
of childish
amusements, we shall have indicated the scope of his work. His hints will
profit all who have the charge of youth, or influence immediately their
bringing up.
Our Great Captains.
Grant, Sherman, Thomas, Sheridan, and Farrrcgvt. (Charles B. Richardson, New York.)-\Ve
would not call this a
cat&penny
publication, yet we apprehend it to have sprung from a shrewd
regard to the general curiosit? of the hour, rather than from a conscienCURRENT LITERATURE.
tious desire to extend the domnm of critical biography or to rear an endurSybil: -4 Trrcgedy, in Fiae Acts. By John Savage. (James B. Iiirker, I mg monument to the military
genius and patriotism of Its fire Justly
New York.)-The
incidents of this drama, wo are told in the preface, so famous subjects. The proof of this suspicion lies in the fact that ihe book
closely rcscmbled the actual history of a well known Kentuckian, that the I was in type before the operations of the war had culminated in thca eo~p
play was for a time interdicted at Louisville.
The plot, which is ingenious de UP~CEof the rebellion. and thercforc is deficient in those lnttcr exvloits
cnoueh.
Y the action, and the catastronhe are in fact trulv Southern. and cal- why& throw new light upon the character of Grant, Sherman, and &riculated to delight the community in which the characters would be at home. dan at least. Other marks of haste are not wanting: the l~al!er is infcsrior.
We have a seducer, duellist, and unscrupulous politician in Wolfe ; in Sybil, the portraits moderately faithful, the comIilntic,n--lllongll
it doul,tlcPs cost
his victim, who practiscs target-shooting
in the spirit of Miss Mary Harris, labor and trouble-no
whit better than that which is made for the daily
until, being pressed by the suit of Clifden, she yields to him as an avenger press or monthly magazines, nor more trustworthy.
For iustancct, Sh&:an
rather than a lover. Chance favors-the
author and the Southern public is said (1~.97) to have declared two hundred thousand men ~PCIF~;III~for a
would say compels-the
vicarious execution of her bloody purpose ; and if forward movement in his department, in the fall of 1%:.
The pubbc hns
Sybil had been familiar with the enlightened usage of Southern society! she just learned from the generals own lips that he only asked for sixty thouwould have survived her husbands trial, in the perfect assurance of his sand, but added that the larger number would be needed before the South
acquittal.
The literary merit of the tragedy is exceedingly slight.
The could be subjugated.
Perhaps two hundred would have sufficed for this
heroic vein of discourse IS interrupted absurdly by commonplace conversation,
which would seem to defy the best effort of the actor to relieve it of flatness. business if he could have obtained his sixty.
For all that, we can 8ee that Sybil has qualities which fit it for successful
representation, and that the moral it contains will be applauded nowhere
BOOKS
RECEIVED.
more enthusiastically than among those who are depraved enough to commit
WILLIAX SHAKESPEARE.By His Eminence Cardinal Wisemnn. Patrick Donahoe,
the crimes against nature which the dramatist condemns, and that against Boston.
social order which he approves. This is not different from the phenomenon
TIIE GREATVWTO~P: ITS COSTAND ITS VALUE. An Address by Hon. M. RumelI
that may be witnessed at any theatre whose votaries are treated to Jack Thayw-Pnocmmms
OF THE UNION Le~erm OP PRILADELFHIA. July 4. lPti5. OraSheppard, Paul Clifford, and the like sensational performances.
The tion, by Charles Gibbon& King & Baird, Philadelphia.
pit, which is the demonstrative friend of virtue and innocence, dissolves into
UNDER GREENLEAVER. A Book of Rural Poems. Edited by Richard Henry
the rabble that feeds the police courts. There are nations which exhibit the Stoddard. Bunce & Huntington, New York.
Same inconsistency.
One would think that the English code and people were
A Busrx~ss MANS VIEWS OF PUBLICMATTERS. By Sinclair Touwy. American
peculiarly humane in their respect for womankind if he accepted the con- News Company, New York.
clusion of Blackstone-
So great a favorite is the female sex of the laws of
CAMPSUD PRIFXI. Twenty Months in the Department of thr Gulf. l3y A. J. H.
England -or the mot (not down in the play) of a stage supernumeraryDuganne. J. P. Robens, New York.
And allow me to add that him as lifts his arm, except in kindness, against
AN EXAM~HATIONOF SIR WILLIAX Haarr~~ox-s Im~onora~.
l3y John Stunrt
a woman, is unworthy the -me of a Briton.
Xill. Two vole. William V. Spencer, Boeton. Sheldon & Co., Sew York.
AROUHEXTOP Jona A. Br~cinaar, S ecinl Judge-Advocntc in the Trial of the ConThe Jest-Book: the C7loicest Anecdotes and Sayings.
Selected and arspirators for the Assassination of PressIf ~r~tLmcoln. Wnshington.
ranged by Mark Lemon.
(Cambridge : Sever & Francis.
1865.)-This
book might be called more appropriately,
and with some saving of words,
Joe Miller, edited by Mark Lemon.
Tho collection of anecdotes and
jokes is large, and, though it undoubtedly contains the choicest, it also
contains a great many very bad ones, which Mr. Lemon might have judiciously omitted.
There are some dozen that it was a shame ever to set
afloat, and which a professional joker, like the compiler, ought to have
USCOVERIE3 AND INVENTIONS.
had too much rcsllect for his calling to put into a permanent shape. The
QUITE marvellous resul.s have lately been noted from the usr of ice
sense of humor a century ago was not. so nice as it is now, and people
laughed at a great many things at which they will never laugh again. Still applied to the spinal nerves. Its frequent application in some severe ca8ea
Mr. Lemon has done good service in rescuing several good modern jests of apoplexy has relieved the patients.
It is applied to the lumbar plexus
from oblivion, in old newspapers and little read memoirs, and many more
of
nerves
over
the
spine,
alternated
with
hot water to the feet. A case of
have now for the first time been transferred from common room and messThe
undoubted hydrophobia has been cured by following that treatment.
table gossip into print.
patient was bound to the bed, face domnmnrd, and a thorough wet cupping
The Cottage Library.
(Bunce S: Huntington, New York.)-The
numbers
of this series thus far issued are: Home Ballads, by Our Home Poets, from the head down the whole length of the spine, followed with ice appliPulse and breathing became
The Song of the Shirt, and other of the poems of Thomas Hood, Under cations for two or three days uninterruptedly.
Green Leaves, a book of rural poetry, edited by Richard Henry Stoddard. quiet, pains gradually left him, and complete recovery was the result.
In
The last-named collection is almost exclusively from English authors, with a the French hospitals the ice treatment, in crises of nervous debility, paralysis
liberal representation of the oldest nnd best. The publishers aim at obt,ainof the motor nerves, prolapsus uteri, convulsions from teething, nnd puering a popular circulation for these volumes, and have shown good judgment
The
in determining their size and style. The price they ask would not be dear peral convulsions, has been successful without a drop of medicine.
except that it ought to purchase much better workmanship.
The people great secret of this mode of treatment consists in using the ice long
have a right to all that their hard-earned money can fairly claim as an equienough to get its t.onic effects only, which is a nice point, and requires
valent.
A little more pains would have produced much better typography,
and have given their proper meaning to the engravings, which show slovenly great care from the attendant, as short applications of ice are powerfully
printing.
No apology of haste can be offered in works of this character.
It neuro-tonic, while its too lengthy application debilitates the patient and

of the Cnited States is no longer defiled by a single line or word supporting

or tolerating slavcry, and measures have been adopted by the highest lcgislative authority to secure the complete extirpation
of the cruel and bloody
system.
We venture to a&m that no other legislative body cvor adopted, in the
short period of four years, a series of measures so important in themselves
and of such wide-reaching beneficence as those of which hfr. Wilson has
given us the history in this volume.
The men to whose unyielding persistency and devotion we owe these grand measures have claims upon the gratitude of their countrymen no whit inferior to those of the men who led our
armies in the bloody conflict with treason and rebellion.
But for these
measures, indeed, our victories in the field would be of little worth.
The preparation of this volume required much patient labor and no common degree of judgment and discrimination.
It is divided into twenty-six
chapters, each one giving
1 us the history of a distinct measure, from the
moment of its introduction to its final passage in either IIouse. The amendments adopted or reiected are carefullv stated : and the sl,irit and substance
of the debates impartially
set forth, so far as possible, in the very words of
the speakers themselves.
The narrative, unencumbered by needless details,
embraces all that the general reader will care to learn, and it is far from
being dry or dull. In preparing it, Mr. Wilson has added another to his
many claims upon the gratitude of a nation rodcemed from the crime and
curse of slavery.

Science.