No More Learning

held the
theme:
115. co-detenuto: I, "prisoner. "
Il6. POPULUM people" [8:43].
. . .
: L, "He
edified the
orange peels, cocoanut shells . . . modore knew" [TYV, 11, 146].
119. Giles . . . read: William
1830, American statesman from V. who op- posed the bank. Benton writes of him after his death as "the most accomplished debater
the Com-
? 524
89/597-598
89/598
525
which his country had ever seen," He com- pares him to Charles Fox of Britain, also a great debater in the House of Commons, but they worked differently: "Mr. Fox, a ripe scholar, addicted to literature, and imbued with all the learning of all the classics in all time; Mr. Giles neither read nor studied, but talked incessantly with able men" [ibid. , I,
682-683].
120. Young Jessie . . . : Benton's daughter, who married John C. Fremont, a young of- ficer in the U. S. Army Topographical Corps [cf. 191 below]. His expedition to the West was ordered stopped because of arms his party carried. "[Jessie] read the counter? manding orders, and detained them! and Fremont knew nothing of their existence until after he had returned from one of the most marvellolls . . . expeditions of modern times~one to which the United States are
indebted . . . for the present ownership of California" [TYV, II, 579].
121. The Collingwood . . . : In a long se? quence of events involving the struggle by Indians, Mexico, and the British to control California, Fremont, not even knowing the Mexican War had broken Qut, acted on his own and raised the American flag over the key port at Monterey. On July 16, 1846 the British admiral who was under orders to take California arrived: "his flagship the Colling? wood, of 80 guns, and his squadron the largest British fleet ever seen in the Pacific. To his astonishment he beheld the American flag flying over Monterey, the American
squadron in its harbor, and Fremont's mounted riflemen encamped over the town. His mission was at an end. The prize had escaped him. He attempted nothing further, and Fremont and Stockton rapidly pressed the conquest of California to its conclusion"
[ibid. , 692].
122. "Madame Bilea" . . . : Elizabeth Benton Fremont (young Jessie) had an aunt named Susie who spent much time in Paris. She eventually married a Frenchman named Boileau. Says Elizabeth in her Recollections: "My Aunt Susie later in life was Madame Boileau, and wheu she lived. in Paris, often
played at Rossini's musical Sundays-the musical event of the week. I have heard her say that when she was ready to play, Rossini would send his wife among the guests with the message: 'Madame Boileau is going to play; those who want to talk may now leave! ' " [pp. 61-62].
130. 220 riflemen . . . : Fremont wrote to his father? in? law (T. H. Benton) on July 25, 1846' about his success in freeing Californian territory from "all Mexican authority. " He describes the forces he had under him to march upon and take Monterey: "The regis- tered force, actually in arms, under my or- ders, numbered two hundred and twenty riflement, with one piece of artillery, and ten men, in addition to the artillery of the
garrison" [Memoirs, 525].
131. Mr Dix: John Adams D. , 1798-1879, American statesman who served in the Sen- ate (1845-1849). In a speech to the Senate he showed that if it had not been for Fre? mont the British would have had the U. S. surrounded by British colonies in Central
. America, Canada, and all the Pacific coast: "There is no doubt that his [Fremont's] rapid and decisive movements kept Califor- nia out of the hands . . . of the British gov? ernment . . . . We could not have failed to regard them [Britain's movements1, consid- ered in connection with her proceedings in Oregon, and more recently in Central Amer- ica, as part of a deliberate design to environ us with her colonies, and especially to shut us out from the Pacific and its extending commerce" [Memoirs, 547-548].
132. "The irish are . . . : Father MacNamara, an apostolic missionary, had a "far-reaching plan to colonize California with emigrants from Ireland:' In his application to the presi- dent he said: "The Irish people are devout Catholics, moral, industrious, sober, and brave" [ibid. , 550. 554]. To include "sober" is to suggest the good father had in mind a very special group of Irishmen not to be found in other places.
133. Kit Carson: This famous mountain man acted as a scout for Fremont in his military effort to locate and oust the Mexicans in lower California. But he and some of his men did better on land than on sea. Says Fremont: "By the time we had been a few hours at sea we were all very low in our minds. . . . Carson was among those who were badly worsted by this evening of lands? men, and many were the vows made to the
winds that never again would they put trust in the fairweather promises of the ocean"
[Memoirs, 563] .
134. 3 days . . . : Fremont left a party of 10 meo, all 20 years of age or so, to guard Santa Barbara, which soon came under attack by a party of 150. They refused to surrender. The ladies of Santa Barbara offered to hide them, but they took to the mountains, where in time, "They suffered greatly for want of food. " The enemy tried to burn them out by setting fires on the mountain around them: "It took them three days to cross the first ridge of the mountains, during which time they had nothing but rosebuds to eat"
[ibid. , 596-597].
135. Che tolgo 10 stato: I, "that I remove the condition. " A half-line variant of a line in a canzone, "Song of Fortune," attributed (wrongly? ) to Cavalcanti, in which Fortuna says,"Sanacolei,chetaIga/e/dostat0" ("I am the one who gives and takes away")
[SR, Ill].
136. Don Jesus . . . : In the continual insur-
rections of Mexican forces, many were cap~ tured and some were paroled, including a leader, Don Jesus Pico: "Don Jesus had bro- ken his parole, and was put before a court- martial and sentenced to be shot. " But at the hour of execution when he was about to be led before the firing squad, his wife and several children burst in upon Fremont and begged for mercy. She said, "he did not know that he was committing such a crime. He went . . . because he was ashamed to stay behind:' Fremont pardoned him. Don Jesus said Fremont had given him a new life and that he would dedicate it to him: "And he did it faithfully" [Memoirs, 598-599].
137. Guadalupe: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848 ended the war between the United States and Mexico.
138. von Humboldt: [97: 130, 131].
139. Agassiz: [93:51].
140. Del Mar: [96: 119]. Writing of Del Mar, Pound said: "Along with Louis Agassiz and Leo Frobenius, he builds . upon Alexander
. . .
"The Symphony" has these lines: "0 Trade!
o Trade! would thou wert dead! / The Time needs heart-'tis tired of head: / We're all for love the violinssaid" [77: 119].
124. Van Buren . . . : [95: 13].
125. the elderly Aida: Prob. Ida or Adah Lee Mapel [91:80].
126. Sagetrieb: [85:194].
127. Ubaldo: [77:99]. M de R suggests that the remark reflects the admiral's conviction that "Mussolini did not have enough good men about him" [Discretions, 166].
128. Pumpelly: Raphael P. , 1827-1923, American Geologist who, for the Carnegie Institute and others, made two expeditions into Turkestan. His digs there were to test the theory of Aryan migration. The excava- tions at Anau showed several levels of civili- zation. Identification was done partly by the bones of domesticated animals, The lower levels had only bones of wild animals. In his Reminiscences he gives a fascinating account of his work and discoveries. He says: "At the
123. "Trade
Lanier: Sidney
Lanier's
Anau I . . . there appeared a short? [of ox] which . . . may have
end of
horned breed
been brought in by the newcomers of Anau II, along with the goat, dog, and camel" But below that level they found no dogs, goats,
or other 804. 812].
domesticated
animals [II,
129. Said Bonaparte: When young, Napa? leon read some Rousseau and disagreed with it. He set forth his own ideas about how primitive man formed community: "Ex- change had to be made. Wealth and taste followed. Imagination then emerged from the cave in which it had been a prisoner"
[Wilson, Napoleon, 24. 27].
? 526
89/598
89/598-599
527
von Humboldt's 'art of collecting and arrang- ing a mass of isolated facts, and rising thence by a process of induction to general ideas. ' " From a bulletin announcing the Square Dol~ lar Series [NS, 556; CB-R, ZBC, 112J. The concept is basic to Pound's iciea of a "suffi- cient phalanx of particulars [74/441 J.
141. Frobenius: [38:45J.
142. Benton: [88:80J. Benton tells a sad story. After Fremont's successes, he re- turned to Washington to be court-martialed for exceeding his orders. He was found guil- ty and sentenced to loss of rank and dismis- sal from military service. President Polk par- doned him of some charges and restored him to the rank of Lt. Colonel, but Fremont said he wasn't guilty of any of them and resigned his commission in protest. Soon he was back on the trail west on a 4th expedition.
As he was trying to cross the southern Rockies, however, a guide misled his party, which was caught in a blizzard high up. The 120 pack mules froze to death. They were ten days from any supplies and without food. Fre- mont sent the guide with a party of 2 to get food. After they had been gone 16 days, Fremont with 2 others went looking for them. The guide had died; his comrades had eaten part of him and were wandering around wild. He took them in tow and final- ly reached an Indian he knew, who gave them horses. He got supplies, went back for the survivors, and got there in time to save two-thirds of them: "finding the other third dead along the road, scattered at intervals as each had sunk exhausted and frozen. " Ben- ton says, "Fremont found himself in a situa- tion which tries the soul-which makes the issue between despair and heroism-and leaves no alternative but to sink under fate or to rise above it" [TYV, II, 721J. This passage may be the one Pound thinks is in
Benton.
143. Randolph . . . : [87:! OJ. JR applauded Jackson's veto of the bank bill, but he vio- lently opposed the Nullification Ordinances of 1832. Although he was weak, he would not see the Constitution so mistreated: "he attended large meetings at the Charlotte
Court House and again at Buckingham, fifty miles from his home, in so weak a condition that he could not stand to speak but was obliged to address them from his chair"
[MVB, Auto, 424J.
144. Henry's passion . . . : Thomas Jeffer- son, when asked about the mind and man- ners of Patrick Henry in 1759-60, wrote of him: "His manners had something of the coarseness of the society he had frequented; his passion was fiddling) dancing, and pleas- antry" [ibid. , 441 J. Charlotte Courthouse was the scene of Patrick Henry's last speech, which engaged the beardless young John Randolph in his first attempt at public speaking [ibid. , 436J.
145. "We ought not . . . : The "old crump" is James Kent of New York who met Van Buren after he was no longer president and asked pardon for being against him and help- ing put a "wholly unfit" man in his place: "Y ou made a very good President . . . you did nothing of which either of us has reason to be ashamed; and we ought not to have turned you out, without placing a more competent man in your place" [ibid. , 63].
146. "Great blackguard . . . : AJ went to Richmond to be present at the BUIT treason trial in 1807, which was presided over by John Marshall. AJ's boisterous conduct re- mained in the memory of one present: "As I was crossing the Court House Green, I heard a great noise at some distance off. Inquiring what it was, 1 was told it was a great black- guard from Tennessee, one Andrew Jackson, making a speech for Burr and damning. Jefferson as a prosecutor" [Bruce, Ran- dolph, 305-306J.
147. "No auction . . . : Randolph would not enter the debate about the relation of the slave to his owner, but he vehemently pro- tested a slave market in the heart of Wash- ington, the nation's capital. So he called upon the House to put a stop to "a practice which. . . was not surpassed for abomina- tion in any part of the earth; for in no part of it . . . was there so great and infamous a slave market as in this metropolis; in the
very seat of government of this nation which prided itself on freedom" [ibid. , 438-439J.
148. Tiw T(;'V OAWV c,PXTW: H, "The begin- ning of all things" [Sophocles, Ajax, 1105- 1I06J.
149. Slave labour . . . : Randolph, in a slave vs. antislave states debate, said in 1803: "[It isJ the opinion of your committee, that the labor of slaves is not necessary to promote the growth and settlement of colonies in that region. That this labor, demonstrably the dearest of any, can only be employed to advantage in the cultivation of products more valuable than any known to that quar- ter of the United States" [TYV, II, 759- 560J.
150. But for Price: Exgovernor Rodman Price of New Jersey told the story of the raising of the flag at Monterey after Fremont had taken it. In those days Price was an officer serving under Commodore Sloat. Sloat had given him orders to go ashore but not to take part in any aid to Fremont whatsoever. He didn't know the people seemed to prefer the British to the Ameri- cans as rulers. When ashore, Price found the truth. Fremont was ready to raise the flag at San Francisco. In a nip-and-tuck situation, Price returned to the fiagship, roused the commodore in the middle of the night, and in an impassioned plea asked him to ignore "the treaty obligations with Mexico" and raise the fla&. Sloat was convinced. Price raised the flag at Monterey (July 7, 1848) and Fremont raised it at San Francisco: "The English admiral arrived a few days af- terwards, and the first thing he said on re- ceiving the Commodore was, 'Sloat, if your flag was not flying on shore I should have hoisted mine there'" [Fremont, Memoirs, 538-542J.
. . .
see-Quam paroa sapientia regitur mundus-
with how little wisdom this world is gov- erned. This administration [JQA'sJ seemed to have thought that even less than little would do for us" [Bruce, Randolph, 547J.
152. Ideogram: 14 [M2952J, "treat lightly. "
153. Macauley . . . : Said Van Buren, speak- ing of Robert Peel as a great orator: "Lord Macauley, a competent judge, altho' certain~ ly sometimes extravagant if not careless in his conclusions, ranks him [Peel] among the successors of Pitt" [MVB, Auto, 464 J.
154. Palmerston: Van Buren had much con- tact with Palmerston as secretary of state, as president, and as minister to Great Britain. Protesting anti~Palmerston sentiments in the U. S. , he said: "In the course of the exciting and truly important discussions in which we have been involved I never had occasion to suspect him of professing opinions he did not sincerely believe. . . . During my recent visit to England, twenty-five years later than the period of which I am writing, 1 saw much of him and was pleased to find him at the head of government" [MVB, Auto, 465-466; 42: 1J.
155. Jury from . . . : MVB speaks of the ways of liberty which the U. S. and Britain have in common: "liberty of speech and of the press . . . liberty of conscience in matters of religious faith-securities and safeguards for the enjoyment of personal liberty, such as the Writ of Habeas Corpus, trial by a jury of the vicinage etc" [ibid. , 480-481 J.
156. Disraeli sold: [48:19J. At a critical moment when Parliament was not in session, D (then prime minister) was dining at the Rothschild mansion when news came that shares controlling the Suez were available at Paris. D made a deal with the Rothschilds to transfer ? 4 million to the Egyptian Khe- dive's account. Other details of cost, etc, are hidden [86:6IJ.
157. Tory not a Liberal: On the right to search suspicious vessels at sea, which the British under the liberals asserted in provoca- tive tones of voice. With Robert Peel as prime
151. Quam
dom is hidebound. " Randolph, in a speech ca. 1827 supporting Jackson against JQA, is prompted to recall other great statesmen: "Cardinal Richelieu was what? A priest. Yes, but what a priest! Oxenstierna was a chan- cellor. He it was who sent his son abroad to
regitur:
L, "such
small
wis-
? 528
minister, says MVE, "a great change had
occurred in the tone of the English Minis~ try" [ibid. , 528-529].
, 89/599 I
gentlemanly; and he dispenses . . . a generous and liberal hospitality" [TYV, 11, 101]. Fre- mont said of THB: "Mr. Benton always re- laxed to the enjoyment of the interesting and cheerful dinner-table" [Memoirs, 414- 415].
165. Domvile: [102:29].
166. Uberti: [77:99; cf. 127 above].
167. "His agreeable niece . . . : MVB as minister to Britain speaks of Prince Talley? rand: "I visited his house as often as the habits of society in relation to persons in his position would justify, and was always re~ ceived with cordiality by himself and his agreeable niece the Duchesse de Dino"
[MVB, Auto, 458] .
168. Mihailovitch: Prob. Draza Mihajlovic, a Yugoslav adversary of Tito who believed Communism was a greater threat than Fas~ cism. He was tried for treason in 1946 and executed [104:2].
169. Henriot: Prob. Philippe H. , minister in Petain's Vichy government. Three weeks and a day after the Normandy invasion (June 28, 1944), he was shot to death by members of the French Resistance [Bosha, Pat, 4-1, 99-100; 84-39].
170. Gentile: Prob. Giovanni G. , 1875-1944, who taught philosophy at several Italian uni- versities. An early supporter of Mussolini, he was called "the philospher of Fascism. "
171. "China . . . treaty: A would-be con man by the name of Caleb Cushing sought notori- ety and fame by promoting a trade treaty between the U. S. and China. A bill spon- sored in Congress for money to promote this unwise project was opposed by Benton and many others. The idea came because China had signed a peace treaty with Great Britain; but that treaty was in settlement of a con- flict. Both China and wise men in this coun~ try said that trade between the two coun- tries had increased amid fine relationships and no such formality or costly administra- tive arrangement was needed. In spite of this, President Tyler was charmed by
89/599
Cushing and his idea, so money was appro~ priated. Cushing was launched on his mission with three battleships "carrying altogether near two hundred guns; a formidable accom~ paniment for a peace mission seeking a com~ mercial treaty" [TYV, 11,515]. Fortunately, fire and disaster disabled some of the ships or Cushing might have caused a war. When he got to China, he demanded to see the emperor. "The Emperor's governor-general, Ching, replied that the Emperor would not give audience to a trade mission, and that it was the custom and law for foreign trade missions to conduct business outside the heavenly empire, at Canton" [Watts, unpub. 206]. Cushing persisted and threatened to sail up the river and hunt down the emperor, who was "insulting the dignity of the United States. " Benton concludes that only the de- lay of the warships may have prevented Cushing blundering the U. S. into war-a re- sult that seems to have been narrowly avoided. The lines focus on several argu- ments. Our trade with China had gone on with little bureaucratic interference or con~ trol. Benton outlines Ching's response: "With respect to the treaty offriendship and commerce, the governor declares there is no necessity for it-that China and America have traded together two hundred years in peace and friendship without a treaty-that all nations now had the benefit of the treaty with Great Britain, which treaty was neces? sary to establish relations after a war; and that the United States, having had no war with China, had no need for a treaty" [TYV, 11,516].
172. Cambreling: [Cambreleng]. Jackson ap- pointed Samuel Swartwout, an old political ally, to be the customs collector of New York Harbor over the protests of his secre- tary of state, Van Buren) who considered resigning because he thought the appoint~ ment so unwise. His own choice was Churchill C. Cambreleng [37:58]. MVB de- cided, finally, to stay on but with the pro- viso that he be allowed to state his objec~ tions to his friends in New Yark. In response to his letters) Cambreleng ended a long re- ply: "and now mark me-if our Collector is
529
not a defaulter in four years, I'll swallow the Treasury if it was all coined in coppers . . . C. C. Cambreleng" [MVB, Auto, 268]. It was discovered in 1838 that Swartwout had embezzled $1,250,000.
173. Tazewill . . . St James: Jackson wanted to appoint Randolph's friend Littleton W. Tazewell (senator from Virginia) as minister to England. MVB thought he was too old and unsuited to the pomp of English court life: "I am sure he derived more social enjoy- ment from his games at quoits with Chief Justice Marshall . .