A Garrisonian Discussion of Prejudice: "Not One Dares to Rise"

Abstract

New England textile industry, wealthy Boston capitalist, and strong Whig (he was Congressman, Vice-Presidential candidate, and President Taylor's Minister to Great Britain), Lawrence's was a very strong recommendation. Ezra Lincoln, Secretary, Massachusetts Whig Committee, stated the proposition even more directly: [Goodrich's] appointment I am sure would help the administration in relation to the removal of Hawthorne 8c Walsh as literary men-Mr. G. as Peter Parley being more popular throughout the country than either of these gentlemen-.i7 To this end had the political appointment of writers come-political consideration not for their own artistic strengths and weaknesses but from an ultimate regard to retention of the sensitive checks and balances upon which party loyalty is built. From this analysis of the removal of Walsh and the placing of Goodrich in the position of Consul at Paris, it becomes clear that at the middle of the century the tradition of literary appointments was solidly established. As a means of literary sinecure it was less than perfect. One class of writers who needed help, that is, the novice, was rarely appointed (William Dean Howells' appointment as Consul at Venice is a notable exception). Mostly, men of letters of established reputation benefited from the system. It was, after all, literary men of established reputation that the patronage system inherently favored; and as a means of cultivating literary art it was at best a social gesture. What can be said in favor of a system of subsidy that fails to distinguish Hawthorne from Goodrich? Were the winners disturbed, in moments of self-awareness, to recognize it was more their image than merit that counted? Still, there was the triumph of the achieved power, the glory of recognition.