Home, 6 September, 1864.
I have just read your paper on Hawthorne, and am greatly
pleased with it. Your analysis of his mental and moral character, and of its
intellectual results, seems to me eminently subtile, delicate, and tender. I
regret only that it is so short, — for there is much suggested in what you have
written that might well be developed, and there are some traits of Hawthorne's
genius which scarcely have justice done them in the brevity of your essay. The
one point which I should like to have had more fully brought out is the
opposition that existed between his heart and his intellect. His genius
continually, as it seems to me, overmastered himself, and the depth and fulness
of his feelings were forced into channels of expression in which they were
confined and against which they struggled in vain. He was always hurting
himself, till he became a strange compound of callousness and sensitiveness.
But I do not mean to analyze. Your paper is a delightful one and I am very glad
to have it.
And now let us rejoice together over the great good news. It
lifts the cloud, and the prospect clears. We really see now the beginning of
the end. The party that went for peace at Chicago1 has gone to
pieces at Atlanta. The want of practical good sense in our own ranks pains me.
The real question at issue is so simple, and the importance of solving it
correctly so immense, that I am surprised alike at the confusion of mind and
the failure of appreciation of the stake among those who are most deeply
interested in the result. Even if Mr. Lincoln were not, as you and I believe,
the best candidate, he is now the only possible one for the Union party, and
surely, such being the case, personal preferences should be sunk in
consideration of the unspeakable evil to which their indulgence may lead. I
have little patience with Wade, and Sumner, and Chase, letting their silly
vexation at not having a chance for the Presidency thus cloud their patriotism
and weaken the strength of the party. . . .
I am glad you were to meet Goldwin Smith at dinner.2
He spent his first day on shore with us, — and we had much interesting talk. He
is as good at least as his books. I gave him a note to you, and begged him to
send it to you in advance of his going to New York that you might meet him
there on his arrival, and secure him the right entrance to the big city. Will
you give him a note to Seward and to Mr. Lincoln? He does not wish to go to
Washington without formal introductions, — and he has now only a letter from
Colonel Lawrence (T. Bigelow) which is not the right one for him to carry. . . .
_______________
1 The Democratic National Convention, which
nominated McClellan for the Presidency. It met at Chicago, August 29.
2 Goldwin Smith in his Reminiscences writes
of his first visit to America: “In 1864, when the war was drawing to a close, I
paid a visit to the United States charged with the sympathy of Bright, Cobden,
and other British friends of the North as a little antidote to the venom of the
too powerful Times. . . . My
friendships are, saving my marriage, the great events of my life; and of my
friendships none is more dear than that with Charles Eliot Norton, who was my
host, more than hospitable, in Cambridge. He combined the highest European
culture with the most fervent love of his own country.”
SOURCE: Sara Norton and M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Letters
of Charles Eliot Norton, Volume 1, p. 277-9
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