Part 7 (2/2)
CHAPTER VI.
THE ”HARBINGER” AND VARIOUS SUBJECTS.
The following is the prospectus of
THE ”HARBINGER.”
Devoted to the Social and Political progress. Published simultaneously at New York and Boston, by the Brook Farm Phalanx. ”All things, at the present day, stand provided and prepared, and await the light.”
Under this t.i.tle it is proposed to publish a weekly newspaper, for the examination, and discussion of the great questions in social science, politics, literature and the arts, which command the attention of all believers in the progress and elevation of humanity.
In politics, the _Harbinger_ will be democratic in its principles and tendencies; cheris.h.i.+ng the deepest interest in the advancement and happiness of the ma.s.ses; warring against all exclusive privilege in legislation, political arrangements and social customs; and striving with the zeal of earnest conviction, to promote the triumph of the high democratic faith, which is the chief mission of the nineteenth century to realize in society.
Our devotion to the democratic principle will lead us to take the ground of fearless and absolute independence in regard to all political parties, whether professing attachment to that principle or hostility to it. We know that fidelity to an idea can never be rea.s.sured by adherence to a name; and hence we shall criticise all parties with equal severity, though we trust that the sternness of truth will always be blended with the temperance of impartial candor. With tolerance for all opinions, we have no patience with hypocrisy and pretense; least of all with that specious fraud which would make a glorious principle the apology for personal ends. It will therefore be a leading object of the _Harbinger_ to strip the disguise from the prevailing parties, to show them in their true light, to give them due honor, to tender them our grateful reverence whenever we see them true to a n.o.ble principle; but at all times, and on every occasion, to expose false professions, to hold up hollow-heartedness and duplicity to just indignation, to warn the people against the demagogue, who would cajole them by honeyed flatteries, no less than against the devotee of mammon who would make them his slaves.
The _Harbinger_ will be devoted to the cause of a radical, organic social reform, as essential to the highest development of man's nature, to the production of those elevated and beautiful forms of character of which he is capable, and to the diffusion of happiness, excellence and universal harmony upon the earth. The principles of universal unity as taught by Charles Fourier, in their application to society, we believe are at the foundation of all genuine social progress, and it will ever be our aim to discuss and defend these principles, without any sectarian bigotry, and in the catholic and comprehensive spirit of their great discoverer. While we bow to no man as an authoritative, infallible master, we revere the genius of Fourier too highly not to accept, with joyful welcome, the light which he has shed on the most intricate problems of human destiny. The social reform of whose advent the signs are everywhere visible, comprehends all others, and in laboring for its speedy accomplishment, we are conscious that we are devoting our best ability to the removal of oppression and injustice among men, to the complete emanc.i.p.ation of the enslaved, to the promotion of genuine temperance, and to the elevation of the toiling and down-trodden ma.s.ses to the inborn rights of humanity.
In literature the _Harbinger_ will exercise a firm and impartial criticism, without respect of persons or parties. It will be made a vehicle for the freest thought, though not of random speculations; and with a generous appreciation of the various forms of truth and beauty, it will not fail to expose such instances of false sentiment, perverted taste and erroneous opinion, as may tend to vitiate the public mind or degrade the individual character. Nor will the literary department of the _Harbinger_ be limited to criticism alone. It will receive contributions from various pens, in different spheres of thought, and, free from dogmatic exclusiveness, will accept all that in any way indicates the unity of man with man, with nature, and with G.o.d.
Consequently all true science, all poetry and arts, all sincere literature, all religion that is from the soul, all wise a.n.a.lyses of mind and character, will come within its province.
We appeal for aid in our enterprise to the earnest and hopeful spirits in all cla.s.ses of society. We appeal to all who, suffering from a resistless discontent in the present order of things, with faith in man and trust in G.o.d are striving for the establishment of universal justice, harmony and love. We appeal to the thoughtful, the aspiring, the generous everywhere, who wish to see the reign of heavenly truth triumphant, by supplanting the infernal discords and falsehoods on which modern society is built--for their sympathy, friends.h.i.+p and practical cooperation in the undertaking which we announce to-day.
The _Harbinger_ was launched, and it weathered the, storm for four years, until its editors sought other and wider fields for their genius. Besides the motto on the prospectus, they took the following from Rev. William Ellery Channing: ”Of modern civilization, the natural fruits are, contempt for others' rights, fraud, oppression, a gambling spirit in trade, reckless adventure and commercial convulsions, all tending to impoverish the laborer and render every condition insecure.
Relief is to come, and can only come from the new application of Christian principles, of universal justice and universal love, to social inst.i.tutions, to commerce, to business, to active life.”
It was printed in quarto form, sixteen pages to every number, with clear type and in excellent style. The index of the first volume bears a list of twenty-two names as contributors, and it contains many worthy ones. The New York names were as follows:--
Albert Brisbane. William Henry Channing. Christopher P. Cranch. George William Curtis. George G. Foster. Parke G.o.dwin. Horace Greeley. Osborne MacDaniel.
The New England names were:--
Otis Clapp, Boston, Ma.s.s. William W. Story, Boston, Ma.s.s. T. Wentworth Higginson, Boston, Ma.s.s. James Russell Lowell, Cambridge, Ma.s.s. J. A.
Saxton, Deerfield, Ma.s.s. Francis George Shaw, West Roxbury, Ma.s.s. John G. Whittier, Amesbury, Ma.s.s.
Other contributors were:--
E. P. Grant of Ohio. A. J. H. Duganne of Philadelphia.
The Brook Farm writers were:--
George Ripley. John S. Dwight. Charles A. Dana. Lewis K. Ryckman.
In the second volume are two more of the Channing family as contributors, Dr. William F. and Walter, and also the name of James Freeman Clarke, of Boston, with an additional writer from Brook Farm--John Orvis.
Mr. Ripley and Mr. Dana wrote most of the editorial a.s.sociative articles. Mr. Dana was the princ.i.p.al reviewer, and noticed the new books. Mr. Dwight wrote an occasional article on a.s.sociation, reviewed, and attended to the musical and poetical department. He also earnestly advocated the doctrines of social and industrial life suggested by Fourier. Translations in prose and poetry were common. Parke G.o.dwin and W. H. Channing a.s.sisted in translations or selections from Fourier's writings. George William Curtis wrote the musical correspondence from New York, and among the poetical contributions in the first volume, is one from J. G. Whittier, ”To My Friend on the Death of His Sister,” and five poems by Cranch, Higginson, Story, Lowell and Duganne; also poetic translations from the German by Dwight and Dana, as well as original poems by them.
The paper was not local. It aimed high as a purely literary and critical as well as progressive journal, and I must ever consider it a fault that it did not chronicle more of Brook Farm life. We look almost in vain through its pages for one word of its situation, finding none except in some allusions to it in the correspondence from abroad.
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