|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 52
After remaining more than five hours in the great temple, I turned my
back upon the richly laden stalls and left the Crystal Palace. On my
return home I was more fortunate than in the morning, inasmuch as I
found a seat for my friend and myself in an omnibus. And even my ride
in the close omnibus was not without interest. For I had scarcely taken
my seat, when my friend, who was seated opposite me, with looks and
gesture informed me that we were in the presence of some distinguished
person. I eyed the countenances of the different persons, but in vain,
to see if I could find any one who by his appearance showed signs of
superiority over his fellow-passengers. I had given up the hope of
selecting the person of note when another look from my friend directed
my attention to a gentlemen seated in the corner of the omnibus. He was
a tall man with strongly marked features, hair dark and coarse. There
was a slight stoop of the shoulder--that bend which is almost always a
characteristic of studious men. But he wore upon his countenance a
forbidding and disdainful frown, that seemed to tell one that he thought
himself better than those about him. His dress did not indicate a man of
high rank; and had we been in America, I would have taken him for an
Ohio farmer.
While I was scanning the features and general appearance of the
gentleman, the Omnibus stopped and put down three or four of the
passengers, which gave me an opportunity of getting a seat by the side
of my friend, who, in a low whisper, informed me that the gentleman whom
I had been eyeing so closely, was no less a person than Thomas Carlyle.
I had read his "Hero-worship," and "Past and Present," and had formed a
high opinion of his literary abilities. But his recent attack upon the
emancipated people of the West Indies, and his laborious article in
favour of the re-establishment of the lash and slavery, had created in
my mind a dislike for the man, and I almost regretted that we were in
the same Omnibus. In some things, Mr. Carlyle is right: but in many, he
is entirely wrong. As a writer, Mr. Carlyle is often monotonous and
extravagant. He does not exhibit a new view of nature, or raise
insignificant objects into importance, but generally takes commonplace
thoughts and events, and tries to express them in stronger and statelier
language than others. He holds no communion with his kind, but stands
alone without mate or fellow. He is like a solitary peak, all access to
which is cut off. He exists not by sympathy but by antipathy. Mr.
Carlyle seems chiefly to try how he shall display his own powers, and
astonish mankind, by starting new trains of speculation or by expressing
old ones so as not to be understood. He cares little what he says, so as
he can say it differently from others. To read his works, is one thing;
to understand them, is another. If any one thinks that I exaggerate, let
him sit for an hour over "Sartor Resartus," and if he does not rise from
its pages, place his three or four dictionaries on the shelf, and say I
am right, I promise never again to say a word against Thomas Carlyle. He
writes one page in favour of Reform, and ten against it. He would hang
all prisoners to get rid of them, yet the inmates of the prisons and
"work-houses are better off than the poor." His heart is with the poor;
yet the blacks of the West Indies should be taught, that if they will
not raise sugar and cotton by their own free will, "Quashy should have
the whip applied to him." He frowns upon the Reformatory speakers upon
the boards of Exeter Hall, yet he is the prince of reformers. He hates
heroes and assassins, yet Cromwell was an angel, and Charlotte Corday a
saint. He scorns everything, and seems to be tired of what he is by
nature, and tries to be what he is not. But you will ask, what has
Thomas Carlyle to do with a visit to the Crystal Palace? My only reply
is, "Nothing," and if my remarks upon him have taken up the space that
should have been devoted to the Exhibition, and what I have written not
prove too burdensome to read, my next will be "a week in the Crystal
Palace."
LETTER XVIII.
_The London Peace Congress--Meeting of Fugitive Slaves--Temperance
Demonstration--The Great Exhibition: last visit._
LONDON, _August 20_.
The past six weeks have been of a stirring nature in this great
metropolis. It commenced with the Peace Congress, the proceedings of
which have long since reached you. And although that event has passed
off, it may not be out of place here to venture a remark or two upon its
deliberations.
A meeting upon the subject of Peace, with the support of the monied and
influential men who rally around the Peace standard, could scarcely have
been held in Exeter Hall without creating some sensation. From all parts
of the world flocked delegates to this practical protest against war.
And among those who took part in the proceedings, were many men whose
names alone would, even on ordinary occasions, have filled the great
hall. The speakers were chosen from among the representatives of the
various countries, without regard to dialect or complexion; and the only
fault which seemed to be found with the Committee's arrangement was,
that in their desire to get foreigners and Londoners, they forgot the
country delegates, so that none of the large provincial towns were at
all represented in the Congress, so far as speaking was concerned.
Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, and all the important towns in Scotland
and Ireland, were silenced in the great meeting. I need not say that
this was an oversight of the Committee, and one, too, that has done some
injury. Such men as the able Chairman of the late Anti-Corn Law League,
cannot be forgotten in such a meeting, without giving offence to those
who sent him, especially when the Committee brought forward, day after
day, the same speakers, chosen from amongst the metropolitan delegation.
However, the meeting was a glorious one, and will long be remembered
with delight as a step onward in the cause of Peace. Burritt's
Brotherhood Bazaar followed close upon the heels of the Peace Congress;
and this had scarcely closed, when that ever-memorable meeting of the
American Fugitive Slaves took place in the Hall of Commerce.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|