ture, and had no
idea that he himself ever could be mistaken. Though a powerful critic,
he did not realize the highest criticism, which discerns and brings out
the good as well as the evil. He won his reputation by dealing out
censure, which has a rare attraction for a certain class of minds, as
Tacitus observed in his "History." "People," he wrote, "lend a ready ear
to detraction and spite," for "malignity wears the imposing appearance
of independence."[190]

The influence of _The Nation_, therefore,--so these objectors to Godkin
aver,--was especially unfortunate on the intelligent youth of the
country. It was in 1870 that John Bigelow, whom I have just quoted,
advised Harvard University to include _The Nation_ among its
requirements; and it is true that at that time, and for a good while
afterwards, _The Nation_ was favorite reading for serious Harvard
students. The same practice undoubtedly prevailed at most other
colleges. Now I have been told that the effect of reading _The Nation_
was to prevent these young men from understanding their own country;
that, as Godkin himself did not comprehend America, he was an unsound
teacher and made his youthful readers see her through a false medium.
And I am further informed that in mature life it cost an effort, a
mental wrench, so to speak, to get rid of this influence and see things
as they really were, which was necessary for usefulness in lives cast in
America. The United States was our country; she was entitled to our love
and service; and yet such a frame of mind was impossible, so this
objection runs, if we read and believed the writing of _The Nation_. A
man of character and ability, who had filled a number of public offices
with credit, told me that the influence of _The Nation_ had been potent
in keeping college graduates out of public life; that things in the
United States were painted so black both relatively and absolutely that
the young men naturally reasoned, "Why shall we concern ourselves about
a country which is surely going to destruction?" Far better, they may
have said, to pattern after Plato's philosopher who kept out of
politics, being "like one who retires under the shelter of a wall in the
storm of dust and sleet which the driving wind hurries along."[191]

Such considerations undoubtedly lost _The Nation_ valuable subscribers.
I have been struck with three circumstances in juxtaposition. At the
time of Judge Hoar's forced resignation from Grant's Cab