Originally published in Dublin University Magazine (William Curry Jun. and Company) vol.1 #1 (Jan 1833).
"Up rouse ye then my merry merry men,
"It is our opening day."
The commencement of a new year, is a period at the approach of which every one feels more or less of interest. There is a something in the passing away for ever of one year and the succession of another, with all its unknown events of good and ill, which naturally disposes the mind to reflection and to thought. And though the first day of the year be in itself no more than any other, and the commencement of the annual revolution of time be but an artificial period, still the fiction, like many others, possesses all the influence and vividness of reality—and on the first of January we feel as if the sun had indeed returned to the place from which he came, and was once more preparing to set out, invigorated and fresh, upon his yearly path, rejoicing as a giant to run his course.
There have been new-year's days when we have felt all that imaginative and pleasing melancholy to which we have alluded. In our early days, when free and light-hearted, "we took no note of time but by its loss." The return of this day served as a memento of its flight, and reminded us that our years were hurrying away, and those days were coming in which we should say we have no pleasure in them. But now our emotions are of a far different nature, our interest in this day proceeds from far different sources. It is as Editors that we regard it with feelings of intense anxiety, as the day upon which we appear before the public to solicit their favour for our work, and all our pretty sentiments and sage reflections are forgotten in our meditations upon that all-absorbing topic—the success of our Magazine. And we trust, gentle reader, we will stand excused in your eyes if, even upon this day we detain you for a short time upon a subject of personal interest to ourselves, and if in our pages you have found either instruction or amusement, we only ask in return, that before you throw aside our book you will bear with us for a short time while we speak of ourselves. Nay, to our Irish readers we trust that even this apology is unnecessary, for we hope better things of their patriotism than to believe them indifferent to the progress of our Irish periodical, and we would fain regard every one of our countrymen as well-wishers to our undertaking, and personally, or at least nationally interested in its success.
Our Magazine is now before the public, and they can judge for themselves. After many embarrassments and many difficulties, of which no one has known but ourselves, and with much personal exertion, the labour of which none but those who have engaged in a similar attempt can fully estimate, we have succeeded in producing our work, and all we ask now is what every publication has a right to demand, "a fair field and no favour." We do not mean to reject the partiality of kindness, or defy the severity of criticism, neither do we mean to waive the strong claims which an Irish periodical has upon every well-wisher to the literature of his country; but this we do mean to say, that if we do not produce so good a Magazine as could be expected under the many disadvantages which attend such an undertaking in this country, then let us be at once, without favour or affection, consigned to the tomb of all the Capulets, and a better and more efficient one substituted in our stead.
When we speak of the disadvantages that attend a literary periodical in Dublin, we would not be understood to imply, that in the nature of the undertaking of itself there is any thing which attaches to it a peculiar degree of difficulty. But it must be remembered that every failure increases the peril of a subsequent attempt. And now when numberless Irish periodicals have already failed, in estimating our embarrassments, it must be taken into consideration, that we appear like the descendants of some prescribed race, with the sins of many generations upon our heads. Tis true, that we have not begun to build our tower without counting well the cost, and we think that we have materials sufficient for the work, yet it is a discouraging reflection that we are building amid the ruins of many a goodly structure, of which the foundation stone was laid with hopes perhaps as fair as our own. We know that there is a prejudice against Irish periodicals which it will require much caution on our part to overcome. Many who are jealous of their names will not wish them to be connected with an undertaking the success of which is doubtful, and withhold their contributions or subscriptions until they can be satisfied that we shall maintain our ground, or in other words refuse us their assistance until it is comparatively of little use. We know that this principle is acted on by many, and this has contributed in no small degree to the failure of our predecessors: Thus it is, that while the English and Scotch periodicals number among their most talented contributors many of our countrymen, there rests upon our metropolis the stigma of never having supported a good general Magazine; and Irish talent, like Irish valour, is valued and distinguished every where but at home.
But we have been looking at the dark side of affairs, and from regarding the contingency of our failure, we now turn with pleasure to contemplate the probability of our success. Puffing, in all its forms and modifications, we detest; and in literature, as well as law, we maintain the maxim that no man can be a witness in his own cause. Our mere promises we know are, and ought to be, of little consequence; and our fate must be decided, not by our professions, but by the character of our work. Still, modesty in these days is so rare a qualification, that it is generally presumed if an individual say nothing for himself, it is because he has nothing to say; and the old proverb, that even a fool, if he kept silence, might be taken for a wise man, is exactly and strangely reversed. To this spirit of the age, then, we must pay deference, and do violence to our innate modesty, at least so far as to state the grounds on which we rest our claims to public patronage and support.
We are persuaded that within the bosom of our country there is talent sufficient, and more than sufficient, to support a periodical fully equal to any of those in any other country. This talent we trust to bring into efficient operation in our Magazine, and thus, by opening at home a channel for those communications which have hitherto occupied the pages of foreign reviews and periodicals, to prevent the literary resources of our country being drained away to increase the already too abundant treasures of the sister island. It is with no little pride we say it, that we have already enlisted in our service some who are ornaments in their several professions and walks of life, and though, as yet, we be but a little band, we number among our contributors those whose names augur well for our ultimate success; for we are persuaded that talents which have been tried and framed in many of the more arduous exercises of intellect, will not fail to command admiration in the pages of a Magazine. Yet we feel that great as are our resources, they are not beyond what we have occasion for. Variety is the very essence of a publication such as ours. It is not enough that we have able contributors, but we must have them in every department; there must be a succession of them, who will relieve each other, like the guards of the watch-fire, and that versatility of talent which we would look for in vain in an individual must be supplied by the united capabilities of many. Support such as this we both look for and expect; and if we are not successful in obtaining it, it shall not be for want of active and strenuous exertion. At present we hardly contemplate the possibility of a disappointment, but if we are calculating beyond our resources, we shall, at least, have the satisfaction of reflecting that the fault is not our own; and shall console ourselves by the consciousness that we have made the exertion, and that we are not responsible for its failure. But, in sooth, we hope better things. Were our prospects even less encouraging than they are, this were not the time for indulging in melancholy forebodings, and while we are writing the [GREEK] of our Magazine, we would not imitate the Scythians, who mourned over the infant's birth from a foresight of the perils which awaited its progress through the world upon which it had entered; we would rather take for example the merriment of our Irish christenings, where nothing is heard but prophecies of the future greatness of the little stranger. We feel that we may safely use the language of confidence and hope; and though in giving to our work the name that we have selected, we feel ourselves seriously responsible for its character and merits, yet we trust the lapse of time will show that its sponsors have not promised too much for the Dublin University Magazine. We know and feel that from us will be expected an order of talent different from, though perhaps not superior to, that which is looked for in similar publications that do not appear before the public under such high sanction, or with the impress of so venerable a name. Upon this point we can only promise to bear in mind, and to be influenced by the maxim—"Vitavi culpam haud merui laudem." We cannot anticipate that any thing should ever appear under the name of Alma Mater, but what, like the classic pillars of her buildings, is at once elegant and solid, ornamental and yet chaste.
There are, we know, some who conceive we would have consulted better for the dignity of that name, had we not connected it with the politics of the day; who imagine that within the precincts of her peaceful courts, should be heard no sound but the calm voice of science, and that the jarring of discord and the clamour of party should not be permitted to disturb the solemnity of the temple of learning, or interrupt the devotions of her worshippers. But human nature, even in the cloisters of a college, cannot be divested of its attributes; and when the sound of the battle outside has become so loud as even to break upon the silence of our retirement, and when we know that the contest is for all that we are bound to prize, it cannot be expected that we should stand aloof. Nor do we believe that the University ever was intended as a tomb, in which should be buried energies that might be usefully employed in the service of society. That very provision of the Constitution by which a representation in the legislature was given to the academic body, proves that its original founders entertained more enlightened views, and regarded learning and education but as means for the attainment of an end—as qualifications for the noble employment of taking a part in the concerns of the state. Why is weight thus given to the opinions of the University if it be criminal in her members to form a judgment upon passing events? And why is that very theatre in which her examinations are held, and her honours are adjudged, made the arena of an election, if the great questions that concern the well-being and the constitution of the country be beneath her dignity to notice? Our legislators were wiser than to establish in the very centre of the land, a great and influential body of men, who should, as it were, be exiled from the sympathies of their fellow citizens; and in conferring the elective franchise as the reward of distinguished proficiency in the students, they seemed to inculcate this lesson on the rising generation, that having a voice in political concerns was an honourable privilege, and that as they progressed in knowledge and information, the state would expect from them a corresponding increase of exertion in her service, and regard them as better qualified to express an opinion upon every thing that concerned her safety or her interest. This certainly was the practical lesson of our constitution, and we cannot yet forget the precepts of that form of government which raised Britain to that height of glory unparallelled in the annals of the world.
To what purpose is it that we examine the volumes of history, if it is not that we may derive lessons from its pages, as to the causes which fostered the greatness, or produced the downfall of empires, and thus bring the experience of past ages to guide our own ignorance and weakness, and employ the observations of other times in enabling us to form a correct estimate as to the results of our own? If the position be at all tenable, that politics are inconsistent with the dignity of the University; then, indeed, may history be regarded as an old almanack, and the time devoted to its study as misspent, and shallow and presuming ignorance be left to settle those questions of vital import which are regarded as beneath the notice of intelligence and education. Yet there was a time when even philosophers were not ashamed to bear their part in what so deeply concerns their fellow men, and when it was not considered that deep erudition was mispent, when employed in the settlement of questions that involved the happiness of thousands—when even a Solon could render himself illustrious as a legislator; and Socrates, the first of heathen sages, bring his energies to bear upon the interests of his country.
These too, be it remembered are no ordinary times. We may say, with the orator of old, that we have not led the life that ordinarily falls to the lot of man, but have been born for a tale of wonder to those that shall come after us; we have seen the religious and political principles of infidel and revolutionary France, spreading in our own country; nay, and admitted within the very walls of the senate house of Britain. We have lived to see experiment substituted for experience, and to behold the strange, and yet the solemn spectacle of a great and happy nation voluntarily renouncing that Constitution under which she had prospered, and entering on hazarilous speculations, in an untried and theoretical system of representation. We feel as if we were yet but upon the threshold of the change. A spirit seems to have gone abroad of restless and ceaseless innovation, and it is with deep solicitude, that we put to ourselves the momentous question—"What will be the end thereof." Age cannot command respect, or utility ensure protection, while the time-honoured buttresses of our social system are to be given up to the rude assaults of the Goths and Vandals of modern days, that our vain and self-confident speculators in novelties, may erect an edifice of their own upon its ruins. If ever there was a period when circumstances practically enforced the Lacedæmonian law, that every man should be of some party in the state, that period is the present, and we confess, that we think little of that man's patriotism, who can view unmoved the aspect of the times, and wrapping himself in the narrowness of selfish apathy, slumber on in undisturbed indifference, while the storm is shaking the social fabric to its base. Surely, then, in taking our stand by the side of order, and the settled Institutions of the country, we are not acting in a manner unworthy the name we beat, nay, perhaps, we may be enabled to contribute to the defence of the University itself. The war that is waged against every thing great and venerable in the land, may not cease until she is among the number of the aggressed. If concession is continued, demand may be encreased, and the yawning chasm of democracy be like that gulph in the Roman Forum, which it was predicted, would close only upon that which Rome held the most precious.
But it is time that this article should be drawing to a close. We must conclude by expressing our unfeigned gratitude to those who have evinced, by their kind and active support, a more than ordinary anxiety for the ultimate success of our enterprize; hazardous it must be, but that it should prove utterly unavailing, we will not allow ourselves for a moment to anticipate. We wish then, in all sincerity of heart, to our readers, and we trust we may be allowed to hope for ourselves, many a happy anniversary of "our opening day."