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officers officials and about the palace the consequence was a revolution headed by the on the th of september king was compelled to proclaim the constitution which had been in since tiie of the at and a national assembly it is generally supposed that both the english and russian ministers at regarded or of king as a certain consequence of the revolution unless he should himself into their arms for protection that his was sought and openly by many of their is generally asserted and the accusation some color from the facts noticed m a published at by mr edward the british best acquainted with the political of greece and who was present at during the revolution mr says it cannot be denied that an correspondent of the morning post who usually knows very accurately how the wind blows at the british wrote to that journal ten days before the revolution and stated that the object of the impending movement was positively the forcible of and the overthrow of the and that a constitution would not be accepted at s hands should he offer it a hundred times this remarkable letter was printed with observations of the editor before the news of the revolution could reach england era the opinion that the british and directed mr s he held the u est legal offices in the and his eloquence at the bar was the of the hie from which we consists of two letters published in aa h newspaper the the one addressed to who is also the of a on the state of greece and the second addressed to the earl of better known as mr is also the of a little work entitled or cm the of u of the nation by edward one of the in the court of by j s h a of cambridge london the morning post succeeded the morning as ttie through which the greek court was attacked at london the condition and prospects of greece the movement was so general at daring the that on the night of the l th of september while the troops were marching into the square before the king s palace the british minister was said to have sent his secretary of to the of which is opposite his residence in order to inquire the cause of the tumult in the city the of the guard is said to have turned round very coolly and replied you ask me what s the matter well now that is i call as if you did not know at the british mission what is going on this night in a great deal better than i do the project of king whether entertained by the french the english or the for they accused one another failed completely the had to be disgusted with the constant interference of foreign agents in their and neither the army nor the people could be induced to adopt the cry for an in vain the corps was prevented from obtaining an audience of the in vain a decree compelling his majesty to confer a on those who had taken up arms against him was submitted to him for signature king had tact enough to perceive that thou the people were for the constitution they were not against him and he was easily persuaded by the members of the council of state who communicated with hun to accept all the made to him and by keeping possession of the throne save greece from it may here be necessary to point out the other causes which prevented the success of his enemies in such cases foreign agents naturally pay more attention to guard against the possibility of being personally in case of failure than to arrange the details of each step in the proceedings necessary to conduct the to success it therefore happened that the english and russian parties were unprepared with the precise proposals necessary to bring about their ultimate object ana while they were in doubt and the people adopted the determination to make a constitutional monarch great britain was the first to perceive that the moment for guiding the movement had passed away and by joining the popular cause and affecting to become a of king s constitutional power she acquired a to influence during the formation of the constitution russia on the other hand satisfied that the political position of greece will yet require another the and pro p of greece for its has not taken any prominent in greek since the revolution of but has abandoned the field to the of england and france the constitution of greece completed in is not without some serious defects it was framed bj a of the constitutional french and english parties and is an tion of european rather than a political system adapted to the peculiarities of greece in imitation of the house of a consisting of members for ufe has been appointed the selection of these is left to the king but his choice is bj numerous and the consequence is that the consists of a number of secondary characters without influence or knowledge and is utterly useless as a chamber indeed it cannot be denied even by the warmest friends of greece that the national assembly irritated by foreign and a spirit of political jealousy and official which has proved very injurious to the cause of liberty every greek not bom within the territory of the kingdom or who had not taken up arms during the revolution was excluded from all under government in consequence of this national decree many of the public servants were dismissed from they had discharged with honor for many years two parties were thus created among the themselves the citizens by birth and the strangers the ingratitude of the in passing this disgraceful law merits the but the error of and the english in the proceeding was an act of pitiful weakness or ing ambition their soon produced | 37 |
of five thousand men and a fleet by two thousand sailors governed greece with a of about four millions and the increased expenses of the were imposed on the country by the there is a difference of more than ten per cent the and the six are equal to oar dollar the and of three powers and and encouraged bj great britain during the lavish expenditure of the in and it is therefore an act of political as well as open hostility for great to hold greece for the whole of the loan of sixty millions no court either of law or would a private individual standing in the of greece towards the protecting powers to repay more than the sum which these can prove was actually employed for the maintenance of their ward now greece can show that if those having the power had paid due attention to the greek ten millions of or even would have covered the in the greek up to the end of when tlie commenced the issue of the third series of the loan to pay themselves the interest and sinking fund of two former series spent under their authority it is really lamentable to behold france great britain and russia the three great powers of europe which so rarely combine to confer any benefit on the human race in the alliance to keep the greek population in perpetual by a financial they reduce the long they have appointed to a worthless the government to a trembling and they destroy the future hopes of the nation that they have all soiled their fingers with the ink the greek accounts is but it was reserved for the spirit and restless hands of lord to with this the blushing cheeks of the question here suggests itself why do the great powers exert themselves so to the greek nation in a state of the explanation must be sought in the state of the east and the critical position of the empire the still rules over more than three millions of greek subjects and each of ihe some hope of making tiie condition of the greek popular tion useful to advance its own projects of ambition should any sudden event cause a revolution in the empire the anti greek policy of great britain during the administration of whether at or has however seriously injured the popularity of that power among the whole greek nation at a moment when the tion of internal order and the advancement of social improvement was the prayer of every greek british stepped forward to produce financial confusion in order to drive the condition and prospects of greece ti office at the of greece in civil war and in the meantime who can hardly be supposed to view the establishment of a free pe e in ihe with much favor sufficient prudence to leave to england the task of the progress of greece knows weu that the feeble and policy of the french will prevent france from greece the aid necessary to develop her moral resources in such a manner as to open a new destiny to the greek race and she that the hostility of great britain will in all probability involve greece in such a state of as must drive both the people and the king to throw themselves at the feet of russia and refer the settlement their to her we have very to say concerning the conduct of france her policy seems to be confined to in office and obtaining from the king as many crosses and stars for as hia majesty can be induced to part with for the internal improvement of greece france has not done more than her no measures have been recommended to check the corruption of the general it nor to prevent the of the large of the greek is supported in the and all the absurdity a double election of and while universal exists aa regards the no internal improvements are made and from what we have seen of the cf of greece we are inclined to think that with one of the largest palaces in europe it has the streets and worst police that ever disgraced an overgrown village yet lar e local and four in the house of representatives the greek nation when separated entirely from its rulers er to our a more cheering scene the revolution owed its success to the mass of the population their enthusiasm and endurance secured the liberty of greece the and navy were utterly inadequate to encounter the forces of tiie in a protracted war and the had neither the talents nor the resources required to contend with the of egypt the alone by their spirit of rejected the idea of defeat and clung to their independence has the popular energy relaxed the of the it has now taken a the condition and pro of greece more peaceful direction whatever progress greece made in political and social civilization under the government of king must be attributed to the efforts of the people on the one hand to push forward their rulers and on the other to the efforts of the european powers to their advance it is not to be wondered at there fore if we find the progress of greece in the career of improvement to be rather eccentric while towns are while commerce and trade are advancing while the press is free and the number of daily increasing while one in short is occupied with trade commerce art and literature another remains scattered over the greater part of the kingdom pursuing the labors of m poverty and ignorance while the towns of and equal any towns of their m europe in social culture the rural population in their immediate vicinity continues in the most primitive condition this superiority in the social portion of the inhabitants of the towns must be attributed to the influence which public opinion wherever free institutions exist with | 37 |
any of population and to the freedom with which knowledge is allowed to in greece not only is the press free but even the of books whether in the greek or any other language is not subjected to the smallest duty education in the towns is therefore more than either in the south of france in spain italy or and books of sterling value are much more common the shops of may be compared with those of and with great advantage to the wherever the population is sufficiently compressed to enable it to the advantages of a rapid communication of ideas there knowledge has produced unity of action in the country on the other hand the extreme of the agricultural population and the great physical difficulties in the way of frequent have left the inhabitants of extensive districts in some on the state of education in greece to the in s will be found in an bj of the which appeared in the des l s de et du m at present there are two french and sixteen greek published in the kingdom since s about sixty three have been printed at alone on scientific historical moral and subjects besides a much greater number of political there are also presses at and the condition and prospects of greece deprived of all the advantages of moral and political culture as well as of education to place the independence of greece on a solid basis the first step must be to improve the condition of the agricultural classes to do this effectually the assistance of the government is indispensable the must commence by the of the ti es and by all the laws which render the government in virtue of its claim for one tenth as a tax the masters of the whole crop if is ever to improve in greece it cannot be until the the absolute disposal of all his agricultural arrangements what can farmers do in the way of improvement who are compelled to ask permission to commence the harvest and to house the crop it is true that mr made an attempt lately to put an end to the system of farming the the party however succeeded in throwing out his bid in the expectation of compelling him to resign however aware of the popularity of his measure ventured to the chamber though the had not been pa and so well had he estimated the popular indignation at the conduct of the opposition that not one of the members who had sacrificed the advantage of their country to party and succeeded in being our space not allow us to enter into any concerning greece for such details must be extremely minute in order to reveal the strange varieties of civilization and the strong social that exist in the different classes of the population as there can be no doubt however that the future of the as a nation will depend more on their own personal exertions and individual qualities than on the of the feeble now existing it is of some importance to notice the actual state of education the general field of religious and moral culture demands a far more extensive and searching investigation than we can bestow we shall therefore confine our observations to the university of which has become the living fountain of knowledge to the whole greek race for information we must refer to greece at a kingdom or a of that country drawn up from official documents and other by strong esq at for their the kings of and london vo this work is unfortunately imperfect but uie chapters on religion and education may be consulted with profit the condition and of mr was engaged in preparing the cf the university when he was recalled count in hia terror of eveiy thing whidi waa really liberal proposed the project entertained by mr and wished to four separate schools namely of law medicine and philosophy the difficulty he met in this project caused him to delay the establishment of the university until he was aware that his recall had been decided on he then prepared in haste a confused and imperfect organization for the university at the commencement of january by the exertions of mr the accomplished professor at this improvement and the university was at last established oa th of may though me government had been compelled to yield to lie opinion so far as to found the university it still met with many obstacles in its progress ample funds had been for establishing orders of and other of royal an immense palace had been erected to lodge king but not one cent could be found to a building to enable the professors to lecture or to render the national library to the public the teachers were silent for want of lecture rooms for then hardly possessed houses sufficient for its the books sent as to greece for the use of the were left to rot piled volume upon volume in damp and churches the people now came forward to perform the duties neglected by their rulers party feelings were laid aside and in spite of court and and personal a public meeting was held at the party was allowed to take tiie lead and it was resolved to raise tiie sum necessary for an university and public library by private the of the over all europe were most liberal large sums were sent from london and and in a very short time the amounted to forty thousand dollars a handsome building has now been erected the number of the professors ordinary and extraordinary at present to four all of whom deliver lectures though many of them receive only very from the see a published at entitled h n rot h ai p the condition and prospects of greece of their holding connected the subjects on which thej deliver their instructions the are distributed as follows three law nine medicine ten | 37 |
philosophy twelve the number of students to nearly three hundred and of these about one hundred and fifty are from the and the who repair to to complete their studies this fact alone is sufficient to prove the immense influence this institution cannot fail to exercise over tiie ultimate fate of the it must be observed that besides the faculty at the there is a college for priests founded by a of two brothers named this college has five teachers of whom only one is a professor at the and about five students the library of the university consists of nearly forty thousand volumes but its value does not correspond with its extent as it has been composed almost entirely of every department is extremely imperfect the kings of and and the government have been the most liberal foreign and they have contributed many valuable works a very valuable collection of the earliest greek books in which we believe every e of the greek will be found and every edition the best text was purchased by the government from mr a greek who had spent many years at in forming this portion of a public library at the library contains also a few and greek firom the left to the university by an named who died in india where he resided many years and devoted much time to the study of literature some of his have been lately printed at by messrs and the of the university it may be interesting to oar readers to see a list of the subjects on which the professors of the lecture of they vary a in the different hebrew and sacred history law roman law common law of greece french code law of nations history of roman law of and practice of medicine medicine greek latin his the condition and pro of greece the future prospects of the greek nation cannot certainly be considered as destitute of hope when the people display so much energy and direct that energy with so much judgment still we must not be too sanguine in our expectations as long as tiie agricultural classes remain in a stationary condition as to intelligence wealth and numbers the national civilization rests on an uncertain and basis the civilization of greece rests on the power existing in the state this power great jealousy in all the european connected with the and its development is not regulated by an enlightened internal administration the task of introducing moral discipline into greek society and of raising the rude to the position of orderly and intelligent landed is one of no ordinary difficulty to do this in the face of an active enemy like great britain and with a feeble ally like france demands a larger fund of patriotism than is possessed either by or indeed unless greece can be released from the of the three powers she can only hope for a permanent improvement of her political condition by some great in the east we own however that we are not entirely without hopes that the protecting powers will be induced by the strength of public opinion in ie enlightened portion of european society to commence some of the injuries they have committed since france and russia have almost come to the conclusion that the loan of sixty millions ought to be regarded as a bad debt and even great britain in of her share had the frankness to declare that the government took the severe step of compelling the to pay the sum of x as interest and sinking fund of a loan they had not been allowed to spend to prevent the administration of mr from on a system of and corruption yet it is not to observe that if any circumstance should induce france and russia to adopt the policy of england then the darling object of the correspondent of the morning history political economy see an excellent speech of lord on greek in the british parliament on the of may it is to he regretted that the conduct of the british government at does not with its language at london the and pro of greece chronicle and the morning post would be attained and king would be driven from the throne of greece at all events the greek kingdom has little chance of enjoying internal as long as any one of the three powers can disturb the government and the of the country to party views the conduct of great britain coming in aid of the errors of mr has produced no less than three dangerous and a considerable loss of life and property in the present year if the three powers or even great britain alone would determine to enforce payment of the interest of the loan for the purpose of preventing the and corruption of the greek government no matter whether or should be prime minister and if they would apply the sums from the government in improving the condition of the people and in doing those things essential to the independent existence of the nation which have been neglected by the re by the king and by the english french and russian parties while in power then indeed the three powers might lay claim to be really to greece let this sum be employed in forming roads building bridges establishing and boats ports and communications for strange to say the only roads at present existing in greece are those round the capital which lead to and serve principally as drives for ike carriages of the court and of the members of the corps and the only are kept to foreign princes who happen to visit greece from one port to another the three powers are the parties most to blame for the actual state of greece who on earth though bred in the re of a court except and could in the nineteenth century have entertained the project of a before creating | 37 |
the means of the central government to act with or the people to feel necessity of national unity the greek from its presents singular to internal communication and as these caused the of the country into a number of independent states in ancient times it cannot have been overlooked by such profound classical scholars as the english ministers the they established is moreover divided into four distinct divisions on the map con condition and of greece the and the islands of the the portion is pierced by and by bare and rugged mountains twelve separate chains of which rise to an elevation of upwards of six thousand feet above the valleys at their base there are thirty inhabited islands a journey by land firom one end of the kingdom to another more time than one from the to and a voyage from to generally more time than one from boston to new it cannot be wondered at therefore if there exists a constant saving on the part of the population of greece to destroy the work of the three powers and break up the into a number of independent states the control of the central government is only manifested in compelling the people of the provinces to their taxes to tiie internal trade is so insignificant that each village thinks it would be a by refusing to pay its of and b complete independence the operation of this is not without effect in producing the constant which disturb the government greece in order to the existence of the it is necessary for me three powers to make a new on the of greece they must compel king to reduce his civil list to one quarter of its present amount they must prevent their own ministers from the greek custom house and sacrificing the honor of european by themselves of they must their from carrying on the trade of in place of the greek court in european newspapers and exciting the greek people to rebellion they must indicate to the government the steps necessary to reform the and the impartial administration of justice if some such line of conduct oe not speedily adopted we fear that the state of greece will very soon to trouble the repose of europe the tell a story not quite cable to present circumstances they say that a english once the east whose name may be translated he purchased a beautiful slave named and presented her with pair of brilliant slippers richly embroidered with diamonds the lady walked up and down the room in surveying both the slippers the and of greece and her own pretty feet lord on his looking at the beauty but admiring own present was at last tired and wished to sit down but her master exclaimed another turn another turn for a while female vanity sustained poor who believed was moved by admiration of her beauty but s constant exclamation of another turn how beautiful the slippers are revealed the sad truth that his was thinking of nothing but his own the indignant could bear the no longer so taking off diamond slippers she threw in the of lord with such vigor that he could see neither nor slippers for the next fortnight and exclaimed as she rushed out of the room keep your gifts i neither want your nor your tyranny great britain ought to on the conduct of her ministers to and pause for a moment ere she takes upon herself the of their acts let her not put in their talk about the of the when she hears that they are accused by foreigners of rank and honor of acting the part of at and of at the conduct of the british government towards greece has now fixed the attention of the civilized world and will be recorded in the page of history whatever may be the felt by the friends of england in the truth the claims of greece to enter the of independent states are and depend no longer on the enthusiasm of scholars or the dreams of poets and are indeed names which in ages will be in re now but such names as they cast no spell over the minds of trading do not constitute any claim to national independence yet even european admit that the constancy of the in war and the activity of the citizen in peace that the of a free press of the trial by jury of institutions of a representative chamber and of a national system of education greece the fullest right to complete political independence though the state of the be disturbed the morality of the public men and though both life and property demand additional security still let the impartial student of political history compare tiie moral political and intellectual condition of under the the life and writings of tion of mr with that of under the more absolute government of the british peer lord and the comparison will almost persuade him that greece is an enlightened and a great minister that our opinion is not quite so favorable the readers of this paper must be fully convinced we have endeavoured in the preceding pages to give an accurate and impartial sketch of the present miserable position of the greek greece now stands on the threshold of the assembly of nations great britain to close the gates of that assembly against her perhaps for ever the deed if accomplished would go down to the latest posterity as a crime of the against the of this crime we attempt to raise a warning moved by feelings of affection and veneration for both parties if our judgment on the we have recorded be correct and we can answer that our industry in the search after truth has been it seems to us not that even this statement of a nation s wrongs may awaken some sympathy across the atlantic and render greece some service at the | 37 |
very crisis of her fate art iv the life and writings of the best news for american scholars lately is the acceptance by mr of the of j and at this must ve additional inter est to any particulars concerning his life and labors hitherto and we have applied ourselves with what books and documents were at hand and above all with the assistance of friends specially informed on the subject to a sketch of his private history and scientific career the is of french and were those whom the of the of to leave france g ie immediate ancestors of mr fled to the pays de which at that time made part of the of from the time of their establishment in their new residence their prosperity has been the branch to which our belongs has been especially devoted to the the and writings of the whole line for fire generations having been the father of was at st one of the of the ancient of which had into the french empire when he married uie younger daughter of a physician of the de r e mayor a young lady as remarkable for die vivacity of her mind as for her beauty they had the misfortune to see their first four children die one after the o er and the family seemed in danger of becoming extinct when there was bom a fifth son who ha become the eminent man of whose life and labors we propose to ve some account louis was bom on the th of may exactly a century after the birth of from his he was tiie object of an unbounded and surrounded by all the care which ac most watchful solicitude could suggest to parents alarmed by the loss of four children fearing ie influence of the severe climate of st the had just left this parish to take charge of one in a in the of called situated on the of between the lake of and the lake of it was here that was bom here on the borders of the beautiful lake at the foot of a hill covered with rich in view of the chain of the he passed his first under the eye of a mother who divined from the first the future was in the young and ardent nature of her child after having received his first education in his father s house was placed with his younger brother at the of a small town in me neighbourhood establishment was at that time very celebrated throughout the the two brothers passed here several years devoted almost exclusively to the study of the ancient languages their in the meantime had left the parish of mo er and accepted a situation in his own in the town of situated at the foot of the it was during the which he passed with his parents tiiat the attention of the young student was for the first time toward the natural those who knew him at that time remember the with which he made his first and the he showed when on his return from an excursion he had some new butterfly or some curious insect to show to his this taste for natural i the life and of new when in of a second promotion his father was called to the parish of a large village on the lake of the vicinity of the lake which the garden of the opened a new field to his concerning natural objects from this moment his attention was directed to the fishes and as if he had already a of the great results which he was one day to from the philosophical study of these animals he not only applied himself to collecting them but also began to inquire into their habits their manner of life and the characters by which they are distinguished he took part in all accompanied the on all occasions and often went alone with his line in hand to pass whole days in the middle of the lake when he came afterwards to compare the results which he had obtained with the accounts ven in on natural history he saw immediately how much remained to be done in this department and the idea of filling this gap occupied his mind he had now finished his studies at school it was to be expected that following the example of his ancestors he would devote himself to the but natural history had gained too much his father wisely left to him the choice of a profession he chose that of medicine as offering the most opportunities for pursuing his beloved studies he commenced the study of medicine at the academy of where he was most kindly received by professor who admitted him to an intimate acquaintance and furnished every facility in his power for the pursuit of his from he went to the of where he devoted himself especially to the study of under the direction of the celebrated professor his in study did not prevent him from taking part in all the amusements of the so that the chose him for their president and long after he had quitted the university he was still spoken of as an accomplished possessing the rare talent of managing with equal dexterity the and the it was at this time that the government having recently organized the university of called thither as professors the most eminent men of germany in all the of science there were brought together at that time the celebrated the who the life and of m had lately returned firom his travels in south america with a rich harvest of scientific materials the great philosopher and the founder of modem such a corps of teachers could not il to attract a large b y of youth eager to learn among others did not hesitate to quit the fashionable ty of for the rude capital of it is here that his | 37 |
scientific career the four years he passed at the new university may be counted among the most remarkable of his life although only a student his extensive knowledge of natural history soon drew the attention of the professors whose lectures he eagerly attended sprung up between him and them and the intimacy in which he lived with these chosen men resulted in an increased enthusiasm for science as well as an extension of the field of his with he studied the organization of plants and their distribution according to and re of the globe with in whose house he he penetrated into the sublime mysteries of the formation of animals and their development during the period with he discussed the principles of according to the intimate of things based on a profound of their organization with he approached those questions of the higher philosophy which in germany more than anywhere else have at all times been the study of the greatest minds namely the relations that exist between the essence of beings and the laws of the physical world in other words between spirit and matter the theory was embraced at that time by many enlightened men in and it is not surprising that supported by the results of modem science and professed under a new and attractive form by an eminent man who freed from all party considerations presented it in all its grandeur it excited tiie enthusiasm of the young men who crowded round the chair of this celebrated philosopher already prepared for the doctrine by the writings of and if we are informed partook also of their opinions it was not until afterwards that as we shall show having commenced the study of former he modified his views and proclaimed as the result of his the existence of a personal god the author and ruler of the universe the life and of as we have already though only a at this time among the men of a few young men of like spirit gathered round him forming a small but select circle who met to discuss scientific subjects this society soon attracted attention it was called the academy even the professors gladly took part m it and those of the students who had the good fortune to be members of it remember the lectures read there as not the least instructive and interesting part of their scientific course was then occupied in his great work on the natural history of he himself to the part relating to companion who was to the portion died leaving many portions of his work unfinished that relating to in particular was barely out an able st was needed to reduce to order the chaos of new species and and to to them their true places in the system cast his eyes upon his young to whom he confided the honorable task of this important part of the work it appeared in a volume in latin with numerous plates part of the travels in from the time of its appearance it gained for its author the rank of an eminent such occupations necessarily resulted in the young more and more from his medical studies his parents who had already often protested against this too exclusive passion of their son for natural history now had recourse to an extreme measure they withdrew the moderate allowance which they had hitherto granted him this was a terrible blow for the young man who found himself thus at once deprived of all means of and obliged to what was dearer than all to him hu for his allowance had not only supplied his daily wants but had also been applied to paying for the services of a young artist named whom he had remarked among the crowd of ts men who fill the streets of and who under his guidance became one of the most painters in this department but like other passions the love of science is ingenious in difficulties full of confidence in himself he applied to the a man who united with great in business the most enlarged views to him he showed the materials he had collected for a natural history of the fresh the life and of water fishes of europe the beauty of the drawings the finish of the details and above all the enthusiasm of the young man gained the heart of the old who advanced him funds to continue and complete his work at the same time like a good son sought to regain the favor of his parents for this there was but one thing to be done namely to return to medicine until now he had divided his time between his medical and his studies but now we may infer that he applied himself seriously to his profession since not long after he presented himself as can for the degree of doctor and passed his examination with distinction but the title of doctor of medicine was not enough for him in the same ear he applied for the degree of doctor of philosophy which he received after a public which produced a great sensation in the literary community of he undertook to show that woman is superior to man t superior was the theme of his such a proposition coming from a young man whose devotion to the fair sex was well known could not to attract attention it was received with the most various sentiments the young applauded the irresistible arguments of the youthful candidate and those to what is called in germany the historical school thundered against these ideas as and calculated to the order of the sphere of woman they ht should not be extended the kitchen and the after this double examination received permission from his parents to visit the object of this journey was the completion of his medical studies but on his arrival he devoted himself again to his favorite pursuit and was oftener to be met with | 37 |
at the museum than in the hospital here he made the ac of many distinguished among others of and applied to the special of this study with him was not confined to living species he had extended his to the kinds and the often admirably preserved found in the fresh water of in had attracted his particular attention he found that most of the species said to be identical with those of the present epoch were different and therefore had drawings made of a great number so that when the and writings of he to his contained almost as many as recent species what was he to do with all these materials his parents having already made great sacrifices for him and seeing no for the future were impatient for him to begin his medical career in this conflict of his tastes and his filial duties his position was difficult but he had not yet seen paris and he could not make up his mind to commence practice without having examined the rich of that great capital without having visited the des and above all without having heard whose renown filled the world but how was he to find means to go to paris his parents were neither able nor willing to contribute any thing towards it fortunately a neighbouring clergyman a of his father who had always entertained the highest opinion of his talents having just inherited a small sum of money thought he could not employ it better than in the project of his young friend on his arrival m paris lost no time in seeking out the two most eminent men of the age then in that city and in order to his grief for the death of his daughter had just commenced his great work on i es and received with eagerness every thing concerning species relied upon his for his introduction to the great was so much astonished by it that after a second interview he informed that he would give up the projected publication and make over to him all his materials if he would undertake to describe them for those who know the value which the materials for a literary work acquire in the eyes of an author this by itself will be sufficient proof that s moral character was equal to his intellectual power from this moment continued on intimate terms with s family until the death of that great man and we have heard him say that the happiest moments of his life were passed in s cabinet after the death of returned to hoping to obtain a in some of the public of the de s in this he accepted the invitation of some citizens of to establish himself in that city where they were preparing to the college he was soon appointed professor of natural history a place which he filled until his departure for the united states the life and alexander yon who has enjoyed the rare of being able to assist so men ot talent was from the first the devoted of and it was his patronage that enabled our to commence in so soon i r his arrival in the publication of his great work on fishes which he to and of which we intend to say a few words as of all his works this made the greatest sensation and it is this that for him the eminent rank which he now holds in the scientific world this work consists of five volumes with an of about four hundred plates and descriptions and figures of nearly a thousand species of fishes all the specimens are represented of the natural size with the colors of the bed firom which they were taken it was impossible that so many new species should be made known without rendering many alterations necessary in the science of new types were established and the of various groups and families to each other more clearly shown moreover did not confine himself to establishing a vast number of species and even families beside this he founded an entirely new based principally on the importance of the fishes ou er makes two general divisions among the and the fishes also tiie fishes from the of which he makes his first order that of the but he the fishes again into three other equally important orders so that the class of i is divided into four orders namely the the the and the this is not founded on the skeleton like that of but on the nature of the outward the scales starts with the pie that the outward covering of fishes is the of their internal organization with this principle he the different families of the class of fishes with respect to their scales and finds in the of the external a variety of characters on which he his as to this it is to be remarked at the outset that all the fishes with the exception of a few are furnished with scales while the skin of the fishes is covered with plates or of a peculiar form known under the names of c the scales of the the life and of fishes are constructed on a different plan and the differences are so marked that mr considered them a sufficient foundation for his three orders of and the two former which all the fishes of the present epoch both have scales but they differ in that the have the edge of the scales while in the this border is entire he seeks to prove that this distinction apparently insignificant is in truth founded in nature the expression of a character which itself equally in other parts of the body thus fishes having or scales have generally on e head the and various parts of their body while the others the are smooth and without defence mr considers the perch with the species as the type of | 37 |
in the they and that to each was assigned a limit it does not pass so long as it remains in its natural condition man alone and those few species that are associated with him are exceptions to this general law and as the of even species place under the direct influence of man we may conclude that they were unknown to former these considerations with others not less important concerning the relation which this bears to the temperature and degree of elevation of at different suggested to some general reflections with which he his chapter on and which we as showing the spirit in which this work is written such facts says he loudly proclaim principles which science has hitherto left untouched but which the of urge upon the observer with an ever increasing force those i mean that respect the relation of the creator to the universe we see phenomena closely connected in the order of succession yet without any sufficient cause within themselves for the connection an infinite of species without any material bond of union so as to present the most admirable development in which our own species is involved have we not here the most of the existence of a superior intelligence whose power alone has been able to establish such an order of things the methods of scientific investigation however are of such that what seems to our feelings a matter of course we cannot admit supported by numerous and well established facts on this account i have delayed expressing my convictions on this subject until the last moment not that i have wished to avoid tiie which the announcement of such results must necessarily excite but that i have been desirous not to provoke them before establishing for these results a purely scientific foundation and supporting them by rigid rather than by a profession of faith an acquaintance with more than fifteen species of fishes has taught me that species do not pass into each other but that they appear and disappear without showing any connection with those preceding them for do not that any one can seriously affirm that the the and of types of and which are almost are descended from the and this would be in to say that and thus man are directly descended from the fishes all these species have a fixed time of appearance and disappear ance their existence is to a definite period nevertheless they present in their general character more or less close and a definite in a ven system intimately connected with the mode of life of each type and even of each species more than this in all ages an thread runs this immense presenting to us as a definite result a continual progress in this development of which man is the end the four classes of animals the steps and the the constant accompaniment have we not here the of a mind as powerful as the acts of an intelligence as sublime as r the marks of goodness as infinite as wise the most palpable demonstration of the existence of a personal ood author of all things ruler of the universe and of all good this at least is what i read in the works of the creation in contemplating them with a grateful heart such feelings moreover dispose us better to the truth and study it for itself ana it is my conviction that if in the study of the natural these questions were less avoided even in the of direct observation our progress would be generally more sure and more rapid it is not astonishing that such results accompanied by views so wide and presented with the irresistible force of a profound conviction gained for their author the respect of the scientific world learned societies in their sympathy with him and a distinction then at the age of thirty four was a member of every scientific academy in europe england was at that time in advance of all other nations in the study of it was here that found at once the richest materials and the greatest encouragement whole were put at his disposal and he obtained in this manner many precious some of his friends recollect with pleasure the impression produced by his visit on the of the united kingdom several were desirous of him among their professors and cities of and beside on the life and writings of him the degree of ll d him among their citizens we learn that his personal influence several persons of high rank to engage in the study of natural history among others sir philip and lord whose are known to all he became intimate with the most influential persons in the kingdom he was the welcome guest of sir robert and loi and the friend of and other distinguished english having obtained from the study of fishes results so important to the of the development of the whole creation naturally sought to confirm them by the study of other classes of and accordingly applied himself to the examination of the and the the latter had been in general somewhat neglected by the species in particular were scarcely known although firom their great variety and the complicated structure of their shells they are of great importance in the age of various in a short time he had collected a number of species g to various public and private europe and in lo he published in the first volume of the de la de a of the of the principles of which have since been g adopted the same volume contains another paper descriptions and figures of the belonging to e group of the a year afterwards he in another the de la descriptions of the peculiar to in the same year appeared the first number of a more extensive work having the of d this number contained the of the small g to the | 37 |
chalk it was followed by three others treating of the tiie and tiie of the the last number by m to the study of these curious animals so important to the of made casts in of all the specimens in his possession this collection casts of nearly five a formation belonging to the lower green and near from tiie latin name of which city it its name the life and writings of hundred species the of which are to be found in the great in europe and has thus become one of the most precious documents we possess concerning this of animals the labors of mr on shells are not less important a young m had made a considerable collection of shells from all the stages of the and mr commenced the publication of them in a work entitled ur les du of this four numbers have appeared with a hundred plates the group of the and that of the at the same time published a german translation of s with notes and additions and the french and german of s but whatever may be any man s ability and energy nature has fixed certain limits to what it is possible for him to accomplish which he cannot pass thus in order to explain the rapid succession at so short intervals of the works we have mentioned and those of which we have yet to speak we must observe that about this time associated with himself a young mr who has ever labored with and under his direction and who having accompanied him in all his excursions and in his visit to this country is now living among us to the information personally furnished by mr as well as to his writings we are for much of the present sketch which could not have been written without his assistance the united labors of the two friends accomplished what would have been the reach of a single individual and the fruits of these labors we see in these numerous the reputation of mr and his energy transformed the little town of into a nursery of science to the great astonishment of the peaceful who for the most part could not at all comprehend what was going on around them but the more enlightened among soon gathered about him and thus a society of natural was formed that soon drew attention by its activity the museum established by the liberality of some of the citizens increased rapidly at the recommendation of mr a young a pupil of his mr the life and writings of ill known by his work on was despatched on a voyage round the world to collect objects of natural history the influence which exercised was not confined to the town where he lived he succeeded also in the zeal of the des of which he was one of the it was in consequence of his exertions that this society resumed with renewed vigor its which had for some time for want of nourishment his studies of the did not make forget the fishes which have always been and still are his he continued to collect materials for his natural history of the fresh water of europe his now contained a complete series of drawings executed with the greatest care by mr the skilful whom he had educated at having formed at a establishment in which there were several distinguished artists he determined to commence the publication of his work the plates of the magnificent which ranks among the first works in this department were struck o f under his eye at it is on this account only the more to be regretted that after having exhausted all his pecuniary resources to make this publication worthy of its name the author found it impossible to continue it on the plan projected nevertheless science has been by the publication of the of the salmon tribe which forms the second number of the work after the attention which german had given to the study of this important and interesting branch of science determined that his also should contribute their share he therefore ed his friend mr now professor of at the university of who under his direction this part of the work which is esteemed by all a third part of the same work the of the the fruit of the joint labors of messrs and has since appeared in the third volume of the of the society with a large number of admirably executed plates mr had finished the publication of the we may add that in the opinion of mr the execution of these plates has heen surpassed only in one work the of the united states exploring expedition the ufe and writings of fishes but though the book was finished the subject was not exhausted numerous poured in from all quarters the study of the system in particular had made known a whole of a peculiar character mr was requested by the to publish these interesting remains this he did in a first to the under the name of the of the system about the same time he presented to the british association his report on the i es of the london clay after the publication of the there appeared a work of a different character and which of itself would be sufficient to establish the reputation of a this is the an of all the in the animal kingdom with an indication of the of their names of the author by whom the names were proposed the date of their publication and the family to which they should be referred from the commencement of his career had been struck by the disorder that pervaded and the confusion from the of the same name to totally different animals to remedy this difficulty he prepared in which he entered the names of all animals | 37 |
as they occurred to him in his studies after having continued this practice for more than ten years he the names and published the of each class separately after it by the most throughout europe in each special branch the is preceded bv an introduction in latin in which the general principles of are profoundly discussed and it has become an authority universally acknowledged li connection with work we must mention another publication more extensive and not less important the which grew up in a manner by the side of the it contains a list of the authors in the former work with notices and is in course of publication at the expense of the bay society this work will form several large volumes the first numbers containing a list of the of scientific institutions have we come now to speak of a series of discoveries which have particularly tended to make the name of known to the the life and writings of public in general and from resulted his this is so known that it may be to relate in a few words its origin and the different phases in which it has appeared although now of so wide application extending to the whole northern as far as and polished rocks are found its first origin is to be sought in the it was among the of the that the idea arose that masses of rock were transported by these men accustomed to live in the high regions of the and seeing every year enormous masses of rock transported to a distance from their position by the found no difficulty in supposing that ail the which are found in the valleys had been transported thither in the same manner and as they had observed the of the of the that is to say their advance in one year and their in the next they concluded in like manner that at the period when the blocks now found at a distance from the were first detached the themselves must have reached further than at present these notions however had not extended beyond the limits of the valleys m an engineer of the was the first to an application of them in a on the subject in which he showed that at various periods the end of the last century the had extended further than at present and in retiring had left everywhere heaps of stones and large rocks as marks of their presence afterwards m de conceived the idea of extending the application of these facts beyond the region of the present he advanced the that the distribution of the which are scattered over the valley of and on the sides of the may be accounted for in this way this opinion which he expressed in a brief was received with almost unanimous incredulity so generally adopted was s theory which accounted for these phenomena by the supposition that the chain had formerly been broken through at various points allowing vast lakes before shut up within its walls to escape with violence f the part of between the and the goes by this name t for some account of s see s of t american edition vol i p ko i the life and of mr as we hear was among the and in m de with the view of his to an which he but the instead of entering into a conducted to the places themselves on the de at where h observations had been made he showed him the actually at work in and in its passage and the rocks at its sides a li ht now upon the mind of mr not only did he admit that the blocks found in the valley of might have been carried thither in this manner but he saw moreover at a glance the immense bearing of this and the it must necessarily have on the science of in order that the should extend to the so as to these blocks at the elevation of four thousand feet the valley of must have been covered with ice at least two thousand five hundred feet thick now such an of ice could not be the effect of a local cause the depression of temperature to account for this extension of these must have made itself felt elsewhere and this with an intensity increasing towards the north now as the soil of presents the same marks of as the of the and the accompanied also by the was that all the north of europe must have been covered by a vast sheet of ice in the same manner as the regions are at present the formation of this sheet of ice in consequence of a sudden depression of the temperature it was insisted must have put an end to the epoch by the animals and plants then existing such was the form of the theory which was first announced in a discourse of mr in at the opening of the meeting of the held at the tion excited by m de s theory which only extended the of the as r as the was roused in a degree by that of mr as is always the case when a new upon the world two parties were immediately formed one embracing the new doctrine with enthusiasm the other f opposing it arose even concerning the present it was that they were capable of and scratching rocks doubts were raised as to the mode in which they advanced and as the of their advance rested the life and of solely on public it was demanded tbat their movement should be shown by direct observations before any conclusions were drawn from it a problem before purely was thus suddenly changed into a question of fact requiring a long series of and experiments though already by his various labors did not shrink from this task he saw at once tliat to obtain a | 37 |
tory solution it was not enough to have such isolated observations as can be made in a short visit it was necessary to examine the not only at their termination but also throughout their whole extent to ascertain the influence of of the soil on their movements the temperature of the ice and the of external upon it under all circumstances in a word it was necessary to do what had never been done before namely to establish an intimate acquaintance with the mr after having visited in most of tiie fixed his head quarters at the of the whither he went for eight years with his friends to pass his summer at first with no shelter except a large lying on the middle of the and which soon became famous under the name of the h des afterwards he built a stone cabin on the left margin of the this received the name of the here he the long series of that have obtained so much in the scientific world although his retreat was situated eight thousand feet above the level of the sea and twelve miles from any habitation it was soon well known throughout the country and there might often be seen assembled a select company m which all nations were represented the scientific results obtained from these are contained in two works the first published in under the of mr le a description with plates of the phenomena connected witli the together with a detailed account of the author s views as to their former extent the second published under the name of is the last and seems to us likely to be one of the most successful works of the it contains a account of the made during his last five from to with the view to determine the mode of of the in all parts of their course at all seasons of the year and under all conditions of temperature this work is accompanied by beau the life and writing of plates and a of the of the on a very large scale o allowing even the details of the surface to be given so tiiat this is better n in a point of view than any or state we cannot of course undertake an analysis of the results obtained from all these observations and up at the end of each chapter we will only say that this work if we mistake not is to be considered a a sort of introduction to a more extensive undertaking for which the author has already collected a great number of materials and which is to the history of the last great which the earth s surface has undergone we understand that mr finds in this a vast field for and valuable materials in the works of american referring those of our readers who are desirous of particular information on this matter to the above work we conclude our sketch with a single passage of a different character from a little volume by mr entitled et de m et de de voyage les et le regions des containing a lively and account of the incidents and adventures of their life as well as of the and scenery of the country and from which did our limits allow we would gladly make larger it is easy to conceive that living in the midst of the magnificent peaks by which the of the is surrounded the temptation to scale their dizzy heights must be strong especially when fortified by a scientific interest mr gives accounts of various undertaken by their little company the most memorable of which is that of the which took place in having for its object the study of the structure of the snow and ice on the higher the is the most admired of the mountains and next to the and the the highest of the being feet in elevation we extract from the work some particulars of this ascent which was much talked of among the since by many of them the was considered inaccessible starting from the hamlet of m ril on the at and paris mo for interesting details among others the of a descent into one of the of the to examine its see an article bj mr himself in the new journal for s the life arid writings of five o clock a m mr and his companions arrived at two p m at the base of the highest summit the inclination of which on being measured was found to be forty five degrees this moreover was covered with hard ice in which it was necessary to cut steps and this together with the intense cold so their progress that at one time they advanced only fifteen steps in a quarter of an hour the summit formed the section of a and the ice being less hard at the edge of the precipice they walked by the advice of their guide on the very brink of the abyss several times says mr on thrusting out my staff rather further than usual i felt it pass through the roof of snow which as is usually the case projected like a firom the edge of the precipice and then we could look whenever e fog separated for a moment through the hole into the vast gulf below lie fog which had hidden every thing from sight cleared away when they reached the summit at about four p m here for the first time we had a view of the valley of we were on the western edge of the section of the having at our feet the barrier that the valley of from that of the mountain here forms an abrupt angle a do sen feet below the summit and we saw with a sort of that the space which separated us from the highest point was a sharp ridge about twenty feet long the | 37 |
sides of which had an inclination of from sixty to seventy degrees there is no way of getting there said and we all inclined to the same opinion jacob their principal guide on the contrary said there was no difficulty whatever and that we should all get over laying aside what he carried he commenced the undertaking by passing his staff over the ridge so as to bring it under his right arm and thus climbed along the western slope burying his feet as much as possible in the snow in order to in this way he passed over and after having removed the snow from the summit persuaded them all to follow the summit is a very narrow space about two feet long and a foot and a half wide with the base towards the valley of as there was room only for one person we took turns mounted first resting on jacob s arm he about five minutes and when he rejoined us i saw he was unable to suppress the vivid emotion caused by the grandeur of the spectacle the life and writing of it is not the that makes the of the higher mountains already found from former experience that distant views are generally indistinct here on the summit of the the of the distant were still less defined but what fascinated us was the spectacle in our neighbourhood before us was spread out the of and at our feet were piled up the lower chains the apparent of whose height gave still greater to the vast peaks that up almost to our level at the same time the of the which until now had been covered by light were uncovered in several places revealing to us through the world below we distinguished on the right the valley of on the left far below an immense chasm at the bottom of which a brilliant thread wound along ring its this was tiie valley of with the river on the south the view was interrupted by clouds which had for some hours been gathering on the we were for this however by a very phenomenon which took place under our eyes and interested us much a thick mist had gathered on our left towards the it ascended constantly from the and began to extend to the northward we feared lest it should surround us a second time when we found that it terminated abruptly at the distance of a few feet from us owing to this circumstance we beheld before us a of mist the height of which we estimated to be at least from to feet since it rose from the valley of to a considerable distance above our heads as its temperature was below the the little of were transformed into of ice and reflected the sun s rays in all the colors of tiie we seemed to be surrounded by a mist of gold the scientific results of this were the discovery that the snow even on the highest is not changed into ice though it rests on a crust of ver compact ice also that the summit of the is and not as had been supposed among the gathered by mr at the was a new species the others were among found by on the general features of mr history the md of are known to most of oar in the i of being charged with a scientific hj the king of and also received an invitation to lecture before the he arrived in this country where he has since on the establishment of the scientific school at cambridge the of and was offered to him and after some accepted of the results of his labors in this country it is yet too soon to speak but the impulse ven to these studies by his presence is a matter of public and of the highest importance to scientific culture among us in we ve a list of the most of mr works et et species in per xx collect et vol et col sur les to et w u e in i e d end u v l vo description des de la pi to d et to sur les to des d de sur les de et to sur les vo pi also the same work in a german translation to des du me d un des les m m de k des sc vol in publication by the ray society ou sur les et un paris catalogue des et par mm et des sc y mr has also prepared by request an work on natural history is now in course of publication short and notices art v short and notices a report to the american academy of arts and cambridge of the by c m d published by e p first book of founded on the of the by c m d an of english properly speaking has never had existence the gentlemen of the american academy who have put forth the report in favor of state very clearly the from the extreme contradiction at present existing between the writing and the but they have not the origin and history of this nor shown the comparative truth to the nature of language of the writing and and hence the remedy they suggest is worse than the evil for it a sanction and extension of every abuse of the latter which has the chance of present fashion in its favor it future return towards the general standard of the european tongues in and what is worse than all it that truth to the eye which the language in a great degree still preserves by being written with letters indicating the natural growth of the from common to the whole family of languages to which it belongs we therefore would call attention to dr s | 37 |
on the significance of the as well as to the first book of english which he has published the latter notwithstanding some carelessness evinced in the composition of the is conceived in a more scientific spirit and suggests more ideas than any we have seen in the significance of the dr shows that the latin arrangement of the visible signs of sounds was made with reference to the organs which made the sounds and that these organs imitate the things and the ideas which are the subject of speech consequently that the sounds they make are significant and in the first book of english he states as a first principle that the great secret of language is this namely that the sounds by the lips tongue throat and teeth signify exactly what these organs to the senses and imagination if this is the case and if as he states the used by the european nations sounds according to their origin and significance an importance is given to these schemes of writing in the eyes of the and philosopher short and which does not respect but which claims the careful investigation of both its and dr has yet to in a second book of english the practical bearings of his idea upon the treatment of the english language in his on the significance he has merely spoken of the we use as affording a perfect stand ard of latin for which language it was invented the views and arguments with respect to the of latin are not new except in this country adopted this in his lectures in and in fact it is now generally recognized as having the of the language and the authority of the old in its favor even in england s latin grammar has been translated and the adds to the proofs by others of his own and dr long ago in his dictionary gives us the same views but ih goes to the root of the matter in pointing out the significance of the sounds and showing the bearings of the true of latin upon the establishment of a standard of radical and the laws that identify words in all the european languages the possibility of establishing this standard and discovering these laws which may be used as keys to the vital treasures of that immense family of languages containing the highest results of human civilization gives the subject such an interest as might for it the attentive study not only of professed scholars but of practical men to whom it becomes yearly of more importance to speak in a variety of tongues the suggestion of the containing a comparative of languages opens a new world to every man of common sense no less them to the and philosopher among the many trains of interesting thought suggested by these works we have room only to to that point in which they seem to cross the path of the dr all the of the of the writing and of english pointed out by the report of the academy and touches upon others of more importance still and although he that the english writing is less than the and is rather to be preserved of the two he admits and even suggests some reform in the writing since the latin is not adequate to the writing of the english tongue which contains eight more and five more than the latin he would it by a system of painting as the poles did when they undertook to write their language with latin letters he suggests that the a in man o in not and e in in and u short and in should have each a dot placed under them and u in two this would make a character for every for dr does not admit that mere quantity of sound changes the to the division of the he would add c with a dot under it to represent the ch in church to the division he would add s with a dot under it to represent the sh in sh and a z with a dot under it to represent the first sound in to represent the th in this he suggests that either the saxon character be restored or a d with a dot under it used and for ih in thin either the saxon character or a dot under t these twelve additional characters would represent all the sounds of the english language rendering the present characters not or obscure but more clear and and then a great deal of the english language could be written as it is but this last should not be done there are many silent in english writing which should be preserved because they indicate sounds that have a meaning and the t and u are often of sunken and must in those instances carefully preserved it is proper also to remark that dr suggests this reform in it is not at all essential in his eyes when languages are studied on the principle the of the writing of english are of less consequence we were quite surprised to find from the first book of english how seldom the soft sounds of c and g occur in the language dr that they never occur except in from the pronounced latin of the middle ages or in from the french in the saxon words get c we have g hard before e and t as well as before a o and u we would suggest that if the writing be a dot should be placed over c and g wherever they are soft to the reading of the language to children and foreigners the space allowed has compelled us to what we have hinted at and we can only add that the suggestion of point ing the letters of the latin to represent those sounds of the english which are not found in latin has this advantage over the scheme of the | 37 |
that it is in with the and in harmony with the significance of the language and suggests to scholars true standards of and meaning short and life and reflections or a narrative of hit trial conviction imprisonment treatment observations reflections and of work and suffered an unjust and cruel imprisonment in the for attempting to aid some slaves to liberty three in one bj one of the prisoners printed by james m mo and the above title is sufficiently descriptive of the work the u of the present age by translated from the german by william smith london john mo and two years ago mr smith translated another work of the nature of the scholar to which he a short but beautiful of its author and last year mrs translated his destination of man thus is likely to become well known to english readers the present volume contains seventeen lectures on the following subjects idea of universal a general and minute of the present age and its scientific condition the life according to reason earlier conditions of the scientific or literary world and its ideal as a phenomenon of the present age the origin and limits of history the absolute form and historical development of the state influence of christianity on the state development of the state in modem europe public morality and public religion of the present age conclusion he promises also to s doctrine of religion the and most celebrated of all his works the translation is more free than literal a of principles by est non sit non inter london john w vo xvi and this is the work of some man who has read much amongst philosophical and writers and has thought much he thinks william of originated the principles that and were not the main springs of the short and tion in england but the of letters and the influence of the articles of the english church have a comprehensive however he admits errors in the church establishment but thinks the to be blamed for their existence the most important feature of the book is the author s opposition to all worship of the bible he considers that has on the one hand and verbal inspiration on the other at the same time he thinks the deliver an message from god to man in regard to all matters of essential and religious truth therein set forth and thinks the gradual development of religious truth was terminated by the final revelation of the gospel after a good deal of good discussion and learned talk he comes to the conclusion that it is the duty of all rational men who are subjects of the british crown to enter the spread of the national church which allows full scope for the free exercise of the privilege of reading the and treats with enlightened every unimportant of religious sentiments he cannot understand any one who in the authority of the lord should object to the of the of the author has but a poor appreciation of the doctrine of the after the christian life by james vol il london mo xii and the first volume of the was published in and has been and read in america this work is thus to rev john thorn this volume the expression of a heart enlarged by his friendship and aided by his wisdom is in memory of many labors lightened by purposes by sympathy and the of years balanced by constancy of this volume contains twenty one sermons with the following titles where is thy god the sorrow with downward look the shadow of death great hopes for great souls lo is here christian self consciousness the heart help thou mine having doing and being the of christ the good soldier of christ the realm of order the christian doctrine of merit the child s thought looking up and lifting up the christian the family in heaven and earth the single and the evil eye the seven the sphere of silence short and notices plan s god s it is very refreshing to find a volume of sermons so bright so original so profound and beautiful as these somebody the of reading sermons is over though not the day of preaching them these are sermons which would command readers in any age and still more in this when and are about all that one looks for in the desk we have found in this volume nothing in the least degree all is large and liberal there is piety without wisdom without conceit and humanity with no we can only say to the author send us more washington and his or legends of the tion by george author of the city of the or the last of the with an essay by rev c philadelphia vo and ix this work and the others from the same pen we discover traces of a man of superior abilities of a noble and generous nature but he seems ill at ease stung perhaps by misfortune or by neglect by seeing the wrongs of the world and the men who upon those wrongs he writes often from an inferior motive yet always in the interest of mankind showing a ready sympathy with justice mercy and unaffected trust in god he does not seem at peace with himself or with the world there are many things in his works which we are sorry to for his many show the ability to do better things some day we shall hope for a work better than his terrible paintings of crime and sin in the city but he never makes vice lovely the monster certainly has a frightful mien yet the moral effect of such a book as that is more than questionable to us we can understand how could write his robbers easier than we can read the play a second time and are not pleased to see an able | 37 |
man writing from such an impulse even the city has scenes of great power and excellence the legends of the revolution extend over but a small part of the whole war and relate mainly to the battle of the life of the battle of and the declaration of independence it contains many fine scenes though the descriptions are too full and the too intense to suit a classic taste short and notices narrative of an visit to each of ike cities of china and to the islands of and in of the church missionary society in the years by the smith m a of hall oxford and late missionary to china london vo and mb smith visited to ascertain the precise nature of local for missionary enterprise and to procure a native teacher of the or court dialect the book is marked by ignorance conceit and and contains but little information of any value to the general reader mr smith conversed with a on religious subjects and desirous of overwhelming the heathen out especially an form of infant suffering we asked him how on any other than that of the entrance of sm into the world and the fall of man he could regard misery at so early an age as with the infinite benevolence of the creator he seemed to feel the force of the argument but endeavoured to it by suddenly asking us how it was there were so many of christians one day mr smith visited a the priests came up and intimated their desire that he would give them tobacco we made known to them adds the author that we had no gift for them but offered them some copies of the to the and a tract the way of eternal one told him that since the war with england the chinese were more than formerly to listen to christian doctrine thinking that if englishmen were christians it could not be a good religion which permitted them to be so insolent and mischievous another said perhaps this english doctrine may be very good but we wish that you would try it first on the english themselves for they are wicked men when this doctrine has made them better then come and n to us my chinese boy more than once on the voyage to in a vessel carrying seven hundred and fifty boxes of valued at about asked me whether i knew there was on board and what i should say in reply to the chinese if after hearing me speak to them about doctrines they should ask why i had come in a ship that brought of which so many of his countrymen ate and perished the missionary does not tell us how he these remarks he gives rather a tame picture of the ships and a much statement of the effect of the on the other hand he the number of cases of in out of four daughters poor men generally murdered two and sometimes even three short and notices the true story of my life a sketch by christian translated by boston james co mo and this is a simple and unaffected little it is full of delicate little touches of nature not without a good satire the occasional notices of the distinguished men of the time such as and others the variety and of the story was once troubled by a swarm of critics and thus writes of them the newspaper criticism in was infinitely stupid it was set down as an exaggeration that i could have seen the whole round blue globe of the moon in at the time of the new moon that was called fancy and extravagance which there any one sees who can open his eyes p he was not wholly above such criticism but felt a desire to such wet dogs who come into our rooms and lay themselves down in the best place in them p he everywhere gives indications of a warm humane generous heart though possessed of no very poetic imagination his little stories for children have a certain grace and about them which can only come from a man s experience combined with a simplicity views of christian and subjects adjacent by mo this volume contains two on christian designed to show that if you the religious nature of a child the child will commonly turn out a religious man without to go through the process of in a revival the child is to grow up a christian and at last will be a christian grown up not a christian made up he thinks with that education is as properly a means of grace as preaching then follows an argument for on christian a tract originally addressed to the committee of the sabbath school society who had printed his and then suppressed them the argument is sharp and convincing but considering the weakness of the persons addressed perhaps a little too hard and cutting then comes a paper on the spiritual economy of another entitled growth not conquest the true method of christian progress a third called the unity of the family a fourth on the scene of the and the christian parish and a note defending himself against short and notices tain we need scarcely that dr is of a church in of what is commonly called the nor that at this day he is one of the brightest ornaments of that itself he is what may be called a liberal christian holding fast to his own theory but allowing other men to do the same for themselves in this book and in the numerous sermons he has published we find talents of a high order united with a genuine christian piety his style is and vigorous original always manly and often eloquent the appearance of such a man and he is not alone in his is a cheering sign of the | 37 |
present is that it is not true a man accustomed to the broad wild sea shore with its bright and free winds and sounding rocks and eternal sensation of power can scarcely but be when bids him stand still on some paltry and with and running against him to watch a weak rippling bound and water that has not strength enough in one of its waves to upset the pots on the wall or even fling a jet of spray over the stone nor is it only by the professed landscape painters that the great of the material world are betrayed grand as are the motives of landscape in the works of the earlier and men there is yet m them nothing approaching to a general view nor complete rendering of natural phenomena not that they are to be blamed for this for they took out of nature that which was fit for their purpose and their mission was to do no more but we must be cautious to distinguish that imaginative abstraction of landscape which alone we find in them from the entire statement of truth which has been attempted by the from the window of s house at the chain of the is seen lifted in power above the plain of every dawn that the towers of lights also a line of and notices fires along that colossal ridge but there is so far as i know no in any of the master s works of his ever having beheld less felt the majesty of their burning more than this of that which thej loved and rendered much is rendered by noble indeed but such nevertheless as would be if the landscape became the principal subject instead of an accompaniment and whether this of aim be attributed to inability or to the reason is we think in either case the same namely that there now exists a more profound appreciation of the landscape by itself without any interest than formerly the only alternative is to suppose that what we feel in the landscape is beyond the reach of art that the old painters felt it also but wisely from attempting this opinion is a common one and is supported by the instinct which everywhere holds by what has been done and refuses to admit the possibility of any thing better and so far the feeling is just we are not called upon to take possibilities for facts or to believe that any thing can he until it is but it is to be remembered on the other hand that every great action as has been said is an impossibility until it is done and that if we quit our and say positively that it is impossible for modem art to the ancient we ought to show some ground for our assertion in the nature of things that there are feelings which cannot be thus expressed all will allow but that what nature does every day by means which we can imitate though at a vast interval cannot be represented even at such an interval by art remains to be proved if is to govern we on our part might well rely on the of the oxford he shows such a profound instinct for principles such a subtle apprehension and such an study of detail in the work before us as it is utterly impossible to give any adequate idea of by within our limits but which is in our opinion in the language all we knew we find here and a great deal more his statements therefore have a great deal of internal evidence in their it is natural to suppose that his standard is as high and his appreciation as just in art as in nature but there are independent grounds we think in facts edged by all for believing that landscape by itself that is material nature was less interesting and important to mankind in general and therefore likely to be less profoundly understood and felt by artists in former times than now li the works of the old painters the interest is less in the landscape itself than in its connection with or to man trees rocks earth and water were to them mere rubbish of which they were to make a picture these commonplace details were and notices to be elevated and aa being to an historical subject or even where they apparently stand by they always suppose some spectator present either in or oat of the since they are arranged with an evident view to at first sight some in the earlier landscape the is filled with animals birds and even insects and which no peasant could pass without observing later the object of attention is more elevated but still something to the land even never at least the glimpse of a or castle nor his distant spire in tone that is such a of light and color as make the picture agreeable and intelligible at first sight author allows that the old masters are but this according to him they obtained at the sacrifice of more important truth they accurately the relation and positive of light and color in certain parts of the landscape but the inferiority of the means employed to those of nature they soon came to the end of their scale and were obliged to omit the truths of space in every individual part of th picture by the thousand but this they did not care for it saved them tn they reached their grand end effect they thrust home just at the places where the common and careless eye looks for imitation and they attained the and most appearance of truth of tone which art can exhibit this so called of landscape whatever may be thought of it at all events at least the if not the of a large part of the objects and aspects of nature when we select | 37 |
we must neglect something now to i ought to mean to seize the idea to a variety of details and sufficiently expressing it to neglect what is mere repetition accident or the true ideal of landscape therefore is the expression of the specific not the individual but i the specific characters of every object in their i any thing unworthy of being represented therefore must be some i thing which does not in nature express any idea now it may be doubted we think whether my thing in nature as distinct from man was felt by the old painters to be of itself tiie expression of an idea certain forms and of color and tone they admired and they admired the landscape just so far as it could be made to to their notions we are inclined to think with our author that the of the landscape by the celebrated painters of fi times was too often a mere fanciful of nature to suit the whim of the artist these views are supported by the feeling now common to all lovers of nature that the beauty of the landscape is a quality common to all infinitely various indeed in degree yet independent of any special characters the and notices charm of oar woods and fields is totally not only with all human interest but also with any striking details it is not felt only nor most in presence of wide or enriched of majestic mountains and but of some familiar in which all the features are commonplace but exalted by some happy effect of light the scanty range of a lonely in an afternoon the echoing stillness of a grove in winter a few and or the details of a rock in the h of spring are sufficient for the highest enjoyment that can be derived from nature this enjoyment is distinct in kind from the admiration of remarkable m und objects and their representation by the old painters it is a veneration and love for the total spirit of nature and not for selected features our limits would not permit any satisfactory illustration or discussion of this novel and subject we must refer those interested in the matter to our author s pages we may remark however that this of feeling towards nature between ancient and modem times is not confined to art but is seen also in science and religion the did not believe that the gods created the world but only that they governed it their power was a power over nature as something apart and originally independent of them and even after the christian era there was nothing like a science of nature natural in the time of da was either the art of managing the forces of nature or the art of with them nature being looked upon as mere dead matter or as tbe creation and kingdom of the devil i know not says our author that of the expressions of tion towards external nature to be found among heathen writers there are of which the balance and leading thought not towards the parts of her her they sought and her power they her teaching through both ey understood never the pleasant influences of soft winds and ringing and shady of the violet couch and shade they received perhaps in a more noble way than we but they found not thing except fear upon the bare mountain or in the the they loved more for its sweet than its purple hues but the christian spirit finds the object of its love everywhere in what is harsh and as well as what is kind nay even in all that seems coarse and seizing that which is good and more sometimes at its table spread in strange places and in the presence of its enemies and its honey coming out of the rock than if all were into a less wondrous pleasure if then there now exists a sense for nature than foi it will follow that the aim of painters of landscape of the present day ought to be and very naturally may be hi than short and notices that of their and this as already remarked is the important point our author however goes further than this and to show in a detailed of the in nature and in existing pictures which the principal part of his first volume the actual superiority of the whatever be thought of this opinion this part of the book will probably be the most popular from the keen observation and appreciation of nature which it should we undertake to quote here it would be difficult to know when to stop and we can only recommend every lover of the country to buy it and read for himself the second volume contains of general principles of which though resting rather upon instinctive feeling than knowledge are yet in the highest degree interesting and valuable in this volume also are many keen of particular works of art the american is very neatly executed and with tolerable but we hope the do not intend to put us off with half the work instead of the whole we are sorry to see no indications on the cover or title page that this is only the first volume de et des par du en la de paris paris vo and this is the third work of the author on the same or a similar subject in he published a work on labor and the laboring classes in the first two chapters he treats of slavery he says liberty for all men and in all of life is the hope of the age the two great problems of france are to found a new order of things in and in the west indies to restore the slaves to the condition of entire civil and social freedom he will not undertake to prove the of | 37 |
slavery the lime has gone by when it was necessary to that the color of the skin or the place of birth ought not to determine a man s rank in society it must be remembered he is writing at paris slavery is a crime and a blunder the m mankind was taught fully by the and by christianity but has not been understood till now france has taken the lead in developing the doctrine and ought to slavery for she will thereby influence other nations and slavery is at this day the greatest obstacle in the way of civilization it the master and the slave it labor renders it the wealthy and the vices of the poor it is only possible on condition that the slaves are degraded and the masters to show that slavery prevents the increase and notices of be mr clay one of the most enlightened men of the union and one of the most ardent of slavery in louis the tenth made all men free who touched the soil of france but louis the introduced slavery into the french colonies formerly the spanish slaves were better treated than others but now in point of cruelty spanish slavery can only be compared to the american he thinks the and e c es show that the slaves are not happy and mr who says he has studied their condition where the laws and national habits tend to their lot but goes back with the same horror of slavery as when he first quitted it seems the american churches are not alone in their defence of the institution for the of saint in which most of the clergy are educated for their functions teaches the of slavery and the slave trade the religion of a nation seldom over its interests says it is the philosophers not the who the question of slavery he thinks works well in the west indies the have money in the bank they join societies build churches and fill them they send money to the london society to promote their work they send to africa to preach love and liberty on their soil crime from year to year he says there are three schemes of gradual and general and general and spontaneous he general and immediate in chapter he gives a history of ancient by the and in chapter ly he a reform of the french colonies in chapter v he touches upon the condition of a tale of by worth third edition boston wm d co mo this is a beautiful poem in verse and relates the adventures of a young french maiden a native of the destroy the french settlement of grand pr and carry off tiie inhabitants who are scattered over the continent gets separated from her lover and after seeking him in all uie french from the great lakes to the gulf of becomes a sister of charity in philadelphia she him in a hospital sick and too feeble to speak he dies in her arms and she soon him in the world where there is no separation the poem is full of beauties now of description or of sh rt and bee r ment and of thought the is slight bat sometimes more and sinking to prose the measure seems wholly congenial to the author s mind the sound an echo to the sense we a few specimens many a word and sweet on the door lingered long in s heart and filled it with gladness then were the embers that glowed on the and on the stairs the tread of the soon with a step the foot of followed up the staircase a space in the lighted less by the lamp than the shining face of the maiden p friends they sought and homes and many despairing heart broken asked of the earth bat a grave and no longer a or a written their history stands on of stone in the churchyard long among them was seen a maiden who waited and wandered lowly and meek in spirit and patiently all things was she and young but alas before her extended dreary and vast and the desert of life with its pathway marked by the graves of those who had and fallen before her passions long extinguished and hopes long dead and abandoned as the s way o er the western desert is by camp consumed and bones that in the sunshine something there was in her life unfinished as if a morning of june with all its music and sunshine suddenly paused in the sky and fading slowly descended into the east win whence it late had arisen sometimes she in towns till bv the within her urged by a restless longing the and thirst of the spirit she commence again her endless search and endeavour sometimes in strayed and gazed on the crosses and sat by some nameless grave and fat that perhaps in its bosom he was already at rest and she to slumber beside him p still stands the forest but far away its shadow side by side in their nameless graves ae lovers are sleeping under the humble walls of the uttle catholic in the heart of the lie unknown and unnoticed daily the tides of life go and flowing beside them thousands of throbbing hearts where are at rest and forever thousands of aching brains where theirs no longer are thousands of toiling hands where theirs have ceased m their labors thousands of weary feet where theirs have completed the journey we would remind the that the tree does not grow in that was not known among its inhabitants and that no is found bending with golden in that region in the month of november american readers may well the author for a poem so wholly american in its incidents its geography and its scenery we cannot but think it will add to e well of | 37 |
task of youth or the of maturity and age rather than the stated occupation of a class in contrast with the scanty period usually allotted to its pursuit he the immense extension of the field of science in our day the advances made in history politics art philosophy and in spite of improved methods the of knowledge has now become so wide that none can hope to possess it in its full extent we are reminded however that knowledge is not a mere of facts it is a mistake to suppose that all mental acquisition mental culture facts without end may be learned forgotten again and leave the mind at last more than they found it short the idea or law is what is to be learned law is all that is truly and a knowledge of law brings as to the ultimate possible as well as the highest and limit of human knowledge however according to mr marsh is but a means to an ultimate end and therefore should be pursued with constant reference to its higher uses which are not the of external means to selfish ends but to reign supreme over one s self and to promote the best interests of as to the prospects of literature in this country mr marsh thinks that the american intellect the of the with the practical tendencies of the english mind and thus sees in the literature of america abundant promise of rich to the of the highest which can occupy the faculties of mortal man we have received of two new one called the nineteenth century to be devoted to science literature national news reform theories of government and law and religion without to be by c c and published by g b co philadelphia among the names of promised we notice those of and mr the other is to bear the title of the and to be devoted to general inquiry and the of the principles of nature in their application to individual and social hfe it is to be conducted and published by s b of new york assisted by twelve associate among whom is mr the recent in continental europe hi t bt g d d to b q r n d bis bis to g h j h l a r bitter d d in e ir g g d yer n d patent y to j g y y s a di c the same j d w y y n d bis is d yo ti q h s ir th u g s l k ir a d d yo q yon s n s a d d y j h yo n h m de on et des classes d s et paris to et o des poor de et de s lament pi de et de c par a et et paris to et j d d d to j j y d st to c p d to n s s n c e te y c a m yo n d ban n d d n d d d bad d te y u d m od n etc ir and j h d te yo recent in europe h t link d in ss h to j e n term ir vo u h w dove d period d a d d y bis to j j s d d in d a d y c j to p con pin et v i iv o di l j j de de en el de da s de t i ul ft p p pas dean paris e de sa paris s fin c m p om h k im a d in d to a d d n n k d d k il e l d d d te d a d o j y j o r ir g c r b mo p y u w system d yo xxx a b op ed c h y w y s j de la s ant paris vol i ii yo law k y system d bom b fr d d s d te p n j y y l in continental k r e sole a w v y b fo at t r r g f a s t dr w l oi di e e the same d di v de la b c t lo de m de t so de n y d l f de t o a j le di review no it march art i has slavery in the united states a legal basis the lt of slavery parts first and second by mo of met on me of slavery by one main pillar of domestic as it now exists in the united states of america is the idea it rests upon the law law is regarded with veneration as the great tion and support of the rights of property of personal ri ts in a word of social organization with a natural disposition to the importance of a profession to which most of them have belonged have been induced to overlook or to disregard the foundation of rights most of them represent the idea of property as resting on a merely artificial basis the law not the law of nature but tiie law of upon that same artificial basis too they are induced to rest even the most important of personal rights these ideas widely spread through the community public opinion upon tiie question of slavery in the abstract slavery all admit is sheer cruelty and injustice but slavery as it exists in the united states is supposed to be legal and being legal is supposed to acquire a certain character of right to use our best efforts lot the of cruelty and is admitted to | 37 |
be a moral duty but then it is a moral duty and in the opinion of many a duty to obey the law prevailing ideas on the theory of government tend precisely ko n legal bam of american slavery march the same way those ideas from and represent government as a contract the natural state of man the state of nature is assumed to be a state of war of hostility on the part of each individual against every other to escape out of this wretched condition men we are told resort to the artificial expedient of government founded on contract according to this theory the only moral principle involved in the idea of government is contract and this contract we are told must be preserved or government is at an end and chaos comes again no matter how absurd no matter how unjust towards ourselves or others a bargain is a bargain and it for the pound of flesh it must be many excellent men ready to slavery in the abstract as the sum of all will tell us in the same breath that the of the constitution its existence it is morally wrong they say to attempt to or get over or set aside those and this appeal to notions of honor is not without a powerful influence upon the best portion of the these opinions law and government involve indeed the and absurdity of supposing that men have power by arrangement and to make that right which naturally is wrong there have not been wanting able writers to expose this and absurdity these writers have shown clearly enough that the basis of law the basis of property the basis of personal rights the basis of government are to be sought for ca found in the nature and constitution of man not in any artificial or arbitrary or they have shown clearly enough that law so far as it has any binding moral force is and must be to natural principles of right indeed that in this alone its moral binding force and that so far as this is wanting what is called law is mere violence and tyranny to which a man may submit for the sake of peace but which he has a moral right to resist at all times and forcibly when he has any fair prospect of success such indeed was the principle upon which the american revolution was justified the acts of parliament of which the colonies complained had all the forms of law and and other great lawyers said they were law but in the view of the they lacked the substance without which law cannot exist they those legal bam of american slavery eternal principles of right and expressed in that and usage of the english constitution which coupled and representation together without representation was by the as mere robbery to which though concealed under the form of law they were not obliged to and would not submit the principle of the and of bo matter what their object character or operation has been attacked with no less energy and success it has been triumphantly shown that the very essence and of contract is mutual benefit whether in law or morals have no binding force without a consideration a good and valuable consideration men cannot bargain away either their own rights or the rights of others all such pretended are void from the beginning the of fraud in the one party and ignorance in the other or of injustice and intentions in both to say that by committing the folly or the crime of to do an act a man lays himself under a moral obligation to do that act is to the very foundations of morality nor are these principles the mere notions of so far as relates to private are fully acknowledged and admitted by all courts of law throughout the civilized world they constitute indeed the principle upon which those courts administer the law of but all these appeals to general principles however able and when applied to the question of slavery have little weight with the great body of the community did they relate to points in which that body had a direct obvious personal interest the appeal no doubt would be irresistible when governor of new england undertook to deprive people of their lands under pretence of the men of did much quote lord and finding that useless they stripped of his power when undertook to taxes without their consent they were ready at once to resort to principles and when those principles failed to their then the case touched themselves when it only touches the unfortunate of the southern states or a few poor colored people of our own it is quite a different matter appeal to principle is then as wild and visionary always fearful of effort and responsibility the great mass of the community themselves on question behind legal ba i of american slavery march usage the of lawyers and the current notions of the day to be sure slavery is wrong and unjust and and wicked but then it is legal nor indeed is this conduct to be wondered at the courts those reverend of the knowledge of the law those upon earth of eternal and justice have themselves set the example in mere questions of private right the courts resort without hesitation to those eternal of right reason that is of true morality which they t to be the foundation of law they set aside without hesitation every private contract which has in it any trace or of fraud or crime but when it comes to the of political a sad change is individual lawyers indeed even on the bench of the highest eminence have not hesitated to say that an act of parliament contrary to the law of ood that is contrary to the eternal principles of right is void such opinions have been thrown out incidentally | 37 |
extremity of should not be esteemed since it cannot be presumed that malice should induce any man to destroy his own estate legal of american slavery march these three acts the le of slavery m were during the government of sir william well known for his famous i thank ood we have no free schools nor and i hope we shall not have these years lor learning has and and into the world and has them and against the best government ood keep us from both this wish has not been in vain the establishment of slavery secured its fulfilment virginia has no free schools to this day none at least worthy of the name she has indeed a few presses but they are restrained from against that best government the of slave the very next year after the of the two the assembly of plainly admitted that no christian could be held in slavery it had been provided for reasons of or humanity that indians not be held as slaves the reason it places the of on this point in honorable contrast to that of new england where as we have seen the contrary practice but did this extend to indian taken in war elsewhere than in virginia and brought to that colony for sale this question was settled by ing that all servants not being christians imported by shall be slaves for their lives servants imported by land were to serve a limited time only freedom had just been denied to christian converted in the colony or bom there but the assembly did not venture to any such over stranger christians all stranger christians coming into the colony of whatever origin or color were to be free in attempting to give a to the slavery of christians and the governor and assembly put at defiance what they knew to be the english law yet in the to the code of in which all the laws of the colony were embodied those laws are ex declared to be a mere extract from the laws of england to which the assembly profess and acknowledge i due obedience and reverence sometimes perhaps from the difference of our and their condition in small things but far fix m the presumption of any thing therein contained too in that very paper above quoted containing his of free schools ana presses expressly declares that contrary to the laws of england legal bom of american slavery we never did nor dare make any he indeed one exception requiring deeds to be recorded such an exception seems to be one of those that prove the rule as a necessary to the slave code the system of the free to now also began it was m in that negro women though free should be and as free and indians were also to purchase or hold white servants the virtuous resolution of virginia on the subject of indians did not last long nor did its freedom from schools and presses preserve the colony from rebellion the immediate cause of bacon s was the refusal of to against the indians who had lately committed some prepared a scheme of defence by but the alleged that his interest in the fur trade made him too tender of the indians a law in by bacon s assembly might seem to imply that the eagerness of the for offensive war was not altogether disinterested into an act for the of the indian war a was inserted tiiat indian prisoners might be held as slaves and this with some other of bacon s laws was continued in force after the of the in during s administration the slave code of virginia received some additions slaves were forbidden to carry arms offensive or or to so off their master s plantation without a written pass or to mt hand against a christian even in self defence who refused to be apprehended might be killed already the internal slave trade was begun that trade in which virginia still bears so unhappy a part as yet however the was not and for were extended by a partial of the existing provision in favor of stranger christians it was that all servants whether or indians brought into the colony by sea or land whether converted to christianity or not provided they were not of christian and and also all indians bought of the neighbouring or other tribes might be held as slaves yet with all this eagerness for new purchases the evils of the slave system were felt the colony was suffering severely from an of tobacco to such a degree that the poorer people could scarcely purchase clothes for themselves an over legal bam of american slavery march production to which as stated in an official report the buying of had exceedingly contributed in shortly after the breaking out of the first french and indian war policy or humanity or both combined recovered the mastery the slavery of indians by the time of bacon s rebellion was now finally yet the humane intentions of the were but partially fulfilled and the practice of indians was still continued the virginia records were always in the most state as it was the judicious custom in that colony to all the law from time to time the original date of particular was apt to be forgotten this law forbidding the of indians was included in the of and was long supposed to have been originally in that year when at a period subsequent to the revolution the golden age of virginia an interest began to be felt in many of e descendants of indians were encouraged to bring suits to their freedom in all cases in which the of the appeared to have commenced subsequent to the earliest date of the act the ma court of appeals held the entitled to their freedom but many were dismissed because the could not themselves | 37 |
within that limit when at length the act of was discovered in manuscript the court of appeals recognized its authority and de in to it that no indian subsequently to the year could have been reduced to slavery and that the descendants of all such indians were free this decision however availed but few of the unhappy they were too ignorant and helpless to their rights multitudes of the descendants of indians in virginia so says the learned and laborious editor of the are still deprived of their liberty another proof how little the law the feeble and defence this same code of above referred to made some additional in the relating to slaves and the mixed race all servants imported and brought into by sea or land who were not christians m their native country except and in with her majesty and others who can make due proof of their being free in england or any other christian country before they legal of american slavery were in order to hither shall be accounted and be slaves and as such be here bought and sold notwithstanding a to christianity afterwards all children to be bond or free according to the condition of their mothers such was the final of virginia under near half her population are still held as slaves but even in this act the al idea that no christian could be reduced to slavery is still apparent in the case of servants newly brought into the colony religion not color nor race is made the sole test of distinction between slavery and vice whatever may have been the practice it is plain enough that under this act no negro who was a christian in his native country could be brought into virginia and held there as a slave and this law remains to the present day this same code also provided that persons in england of crimes with loss of life or member and and indians should be to hold office in the colony white women having children by or were to pay the parish fifteen pounds or in of payment to be sold for five years the child to be bound out as a servant for thirty one years and for a further of that abominable mixture and issue which hereafter may increase in this her majesty s colony and dominion as well by english and other white men and women with and as by connection with them it was that any man or woman with a negro or bond or free should be imprisoned six months and ten pounds the minister the marriage to be also thus early was the cry of raised in similar laws in the other colonies to and keep down the colored race and to prevent the institution of slavery from assuming that character by which in other countries it is and sometimes has been nothing indeed is more striking than the different treatment bestowed by american slave especially those of the united states upon their own children by slave mothers and the behaviour of spanish and french slave towards their children in the slave holding colonies of these latter nations legal bam of american slavery march that white man is regarded as unnatural mean and cruel who does not if his permit secure for his colored children and some pecuniary provision colored children are not less numerous in the united states but here decorum the white father to recognize his colored offspring at all or to make any provision for them they are still held and sold as slaves among which unfortunate class may be found the descendants of more than one of the declaration of independence of the revolution and leading and candidate of our own day to what shall we this strange and most disgraceful difference to what if not to that narrow spirit of that insolent derived from the superstitious study of the old testament with which the whole british race is so ly the careful student of our history will discover this spirit of and as in the southern as in those of new england moses was good authority in all the english colonies for with and indians and for the of races as and wicked but no law could control the appetite of the or prevent that which takes place whenever two races are brought into contact if one race be held in slavery that austere morality pretending to be ous for the united states are distinguished above all nations on the face of the earth has been obliged in this case as in others to content itself in defect of to its rules with cruel and a lie acted out it is is the tribute which vice pays to virtue of that sort of tribute the religious of our country are full the virtuous man southern or venture minister of the gospel his with his female slaves by on his own with cold in which no recognition dwells as a further proof of his austere morals occasion offering he them at we have dwelt thus long on the slave of and have carefully traced them from their commencement to their final development because upon these the practice and we of all the other southern colonies were slavery had existed in from its first bam of american slavery but no appears to have defined its nature or the parties subject to it till by which time held in bondage composed a fifth part of the population in that year upon occasion of the restoration of tiie ment to tiie the laws of were and the new code provided all and other slaves already imported or hereafter to be imported into this province and all children now bom or hereafter to be bom of such and slaves shall be slaves during their natural lives upon this rest all the claims of the slave holding system of to a legal foundation the grand | 37 |
model the constitution of the production of the celebrated contained the following every of shall have absolute power and authority over his negro slaves of what opinion and religion but the grand model in compliance with the repeated and earnest of the was in and for nineteen years the system of slavery in south without any legal basis but that furnished by the mistaken notions of the as to the english law the assembly however at thought it necessary to provide some authority of their own for holding two thirds of the population in an act for that purpose passed in provided that all or indians which at any time heretofore were sold or now are held or taken to be or hereafter shall be bought and sold for slaves are declared slaves to all and purposes with exceptions however in of those who have been or shall be for some particular merit made or declared free and also of such as can prove that they ought not to be sold as slaves this most extraordinary piece of worthy of a south assembly was in and again in bv the act of it was modified as follows au and free indians in with this government and and who are now free who now are or shall hereafter be in this province and all their issue and bom or to be bom shall be and are declared to be and remain for ever hereafter absolute slaves and follow the condition of the mother and shall be deemed in law personal in all claims of freedom the burden of proof was to be on the and it was to be always presumed that every negro no n legal bam of american slavery march indian and is a slave unless the contrary appear this act which forms the legal ba such as it is of the existing slave holding system of south was preceded and followed bj all the customary barbarous of slave yet the south assembly seem to have supposed themselves to be within the limits of the law for at the very same at which the slave act of was the common law of england was declared to be in force in south in north the slaves were already a third part of the population but no act of that colony seems ever to have ven a basis to the authority of the master which rested and still rests upon mere custom and the old imaginary right under the english common law to reduce and their descendants to so far as relates to the slavery of indians the had been from the be they had an irresistible to the unhappy natives and reduce them to slavery one chief ground of quarrel with the grew out of efforts made by them to put a stop to this it is well known was intended to be a free colony during the eighteen years that its affairs were administered by the who had planted it slavery was during this whole period the from the streets of london the principal english in a had raised a loud against this to it the poverty and slow progress of the colony the natural result of their own idleness and the famous had pleaded with the in favor of slavery under the old slave trading pretence of by that means the christian religion the in long had scruples but they were reassured by the heads of their in germany if you take slaves in faith and with the intent of conducting them to christ the action will not be a sin but may prove a thus as usual the religious sentiment and its most disinterested were made the tools of worldly selfishness for the and plunder of mankind the amiable afterwards bishop of had already served as a similar cats in spite of the ments of the to the contrary the idea still remained strongly impressed on the mind that christians could not be held in and many legal of american slavery refused to allow their slaves to be instructed or lest thereby they might become free during s residence in america for the purpose of a missionary college in his attention was attracted to the condition of the slaves to get rid of the opposition of the masters to their ous instruction he applied for to and the one attorney general the other general of en and these learned lawyers feed for that purpose by the had already that might be held as slaves even in england a doctrine afterwards set aside in the famous case of and now at s request they sent an opinion signed by their own hands mat the and of did not make them free this opinion caused to be published in island where he resided and to be through the colonies the poor of with fatal ignorance of their true interests influenced by some vague hopes of wealth or the pleasure of seeing beneath them a class more miserable and degraded than themselves had raised as we have seen a for slaves and one of the first acts of the new government which succeeded to the authority of the was the of the of slavery it was not however till thirteen years after that the le of sustained what they supposed to be the common law on this subject by positive in they copied the south act of excepting however m m the stem doom of slavery not only such and indians as already were free but such also as might afterwards become free thus acknowledging a possibility of which the south seemed to cut off such is the and all the by which it can be pretended that slavery during the times acquired in our southern states the character and the dignity of a legal institution was this could it have uie effect to slavery in america as our state are now in their powers by state and | 37 |
so the le both afterwards the one as lord the other as lord ba u of slavery march were in powers bj the law of england contrary to the great principles of that law they could not make any acts this was declared in the thus for instance the of provided that all laws to be by the provincial le be to reason and be not or contrary but so far as conveniently may be agreeable to hie laws customs and rights of our kingdom of england similar provisions are to be found in the of ua and a it is true that these except that of were surrendered or away previous to the revolution but this proceeding so extending the authority of the the other way to the law of en and being still more strictly demanded m the royal than in the provinces this doctrine of the powers of the was perfectly well established and has been repeatedly recognized by the supreme court of the united states as well as by the state courts no lawyer would pretend that any le had power for instance to trial by jury the limits of authority may be well by a transaction in south that province was distracted by between and in the happening to have a majority of one in the assembly passed an act by the help of a od quantity of good liquor that none but should vote this act was approved by the and as the of reserved no negative to the crown it thus obtained the form of law the indignant at this outrage sent an agent to england on whose petition the house of lords swayed by the eloquence of pronounced this act unreasonable and contrary to the laws of england while queen anne by the advice of the attorney and issued a declaring the act void because it that in the which required the laws of the colony not to contradict those of england k the could not trial by jury if after the of all had become uie law of england they had no power to laws any had they any power to establish slavery bam of american slavery certainly not if slavery was contrary to the law of england that it was contrary to the law of england was fully decided in after repeated and solemn argument in the famous case of in case lord held that the of the old of the middle ages no such thing as had or could exist m england had been hereditary the sole way of proving a man a was to prove that he had been bom so there existed no other way of the ranks of slavery the old notion upon which the had acted that and and their descendants might be t and held as slaves was by this case wholly set aside as a vulgar error the particular decision in s case was limited to england which the of the court did not extend but its principles were to the colonies and struck a blow at all slave laws for if slavery was contrary to english law then the had no power to it slavery had been carried to a much greater extent in some of the colonies than in england yet for a hundred and years preceding the decision in s case west and had claimed and exercised right to sell beat and control their alleged slaves as fully in london as in america the supreme of england having clearly established it as law that all persons the realm of england were free that great principle became the law of the colonies and swept the only basis upon which the acts of the slavery could rest it has however been attempted to this conclusion and the of parliament has been as having at least by way of and recognition slavery in america for this purpose several acts of parliament are relating to the trade also the act of for the speedy recovery of debts in the colonies it is very true that in acts are spoken of as in those relating to tiie african trade the fact of of from the coast of africa to be sold in america is fully recognized but is nothing whatever in of these acts to distinguish m this respect from the servants regularly from ireland germany and elsewhere and sold and as in the colonies are nowhere in these legal bam of slavery march spoken of as slaves nor is there any shadow of for so far as these acts are concerned between the of and that of the into the colonies and sale there of servants to be held for a limited period to be esteemed during that period the goods and of the and to be sold at his pleasure was undoubtedly legal by the law of england and there is nothing whatever in the acts above to show that thing more was intended to be recognised in the case of such indeed seems to have been the view taken of these acts by lord k they in the colonies they just as much it in great britain for the of was not limited to america but though these acts were and relied upon in s case lord allowed them no weight we are led in this connection briefly to notice an oft repeated statement that slavery was forced upon the colonies by the mother country against their will and in spite of their efforts to prevent it has labored by at least to give some color to this charge which originated with and made its first appearance in the introduction to the first constitution of virginia wished to repeat it in a still more direct and emphatic form in the declaration of independence but it was rather too much to ask the from the and to the slave trade as a cruel war against human ture its most sacred rights of | 37 |
history or the of this faculty of or consciousness is elsewhere called direct perception a mental or seeing c whatever is known to us by consciousness is beyond possibility of question what one sees or feels bodily or mentally one cannot but be sure that one sees or no science is required for purpose of such truths no rules of art can render our knowledge of them more certain than it is in itself there is no logic for this portion of our knowledge the other source that of or knowledge is or reasoning this is the province of logic which is to i at portion of our knowledge which consists of from truths previously known logic is not the science of belief but science of proof or evidence the distinction is that the science or knowledge of the particular subject matter tiie evidence while logic the principles and rules of the estimation of evidence logic does not pretend to teach the what are the symptoms which indicate a violent death this he must learn from his own experience and observation or from that of his in his peculiar science logic thus to which its rules are to be applied every proposition is formed by putting together two names and consists of three parts the sub the system march the and the names he into several classes of the only ones of importance to oar purpose are the and non a non term i is one which a subject only or an attribute only a term is one which a subject and an attribute names have hence been also called because the subject which they is by or receives a name from the attribute which they james and robert receive the name man because they possess the attributes which are considered to constitute humanity thus whenever the names given to objects convey any information that is whenever they have properly any meaning the meaning not in what they but in what they so that the only names of objects which nothing are proper names and these have strictly speaking no but their object is merely distinction a proper name is but an mark which we connect in our minds with the idea of the object and it is even conceivable that i might know every single individual of whom a given name could be with truth affirmed yet could not be said to know the meaning of the name every therefore that is every which simply something must be an name a name to have any meaning must include an attribute or quality common to the thing named with other things and thus refer the thing to a previously existing class direct perception then is possible only of names for not merely a simple perception of the thing but also acknowledge of its attributes that is a which is given not or by but by a mental process the existence of a name therefore that direct perception is and tiiat reasoning has taken place it may perhaps be objected that may be known though unconsciously inasmuch as the though existing might not be at first perceived but discovered afterwards this seems to be what mr means by what he says about and fixing the but here the is as a process and the question is how it came about is surely an act or so the system knowledge to all reasoning has been preceded bj a it is to understand mr mill here unless suppose that as he had laid it down that the meaning is in all cases discovered by the notion might have floated through his mind that the is the meaning thus the act or process with the result obtained bj it however this may be our clear result is this that wherever we know any thing we find that a mental process beside that of mere direct perception has preceded and that direct according to the principles started with is impossible we are very far from supposing that this result is at all contemplated or would be admitted by mr mill on the contrary as we have seen he depends upon and to perception for the subject matter and ultimate foundation of all science this doctrine that ultimate truths are directly perceived is we believe imder one form or another common to most english and french a writer in the review vol l p thus states it our knowledge rests ultimately on certain facts of consciousness which as primitive and consequently incomprehensible are given less in the form of than of but if consciousness in its last analysis in other words if our experience be a tiie reality of our knowledge turns on the of our as ultimate the quality of these cannot be inferred their truth however is in the first instance to be presumed the result of direct perception therefore according to the theory must be incomprehensible and for as these results according to the are altogether independent of and with mental action they must be purely and given to it from without many however which seem all will allow to be in fact either which habit has made rapid and easy or else in reality included in something already known of the first class namely conclusions which are commonly mistaken for our author i gives as an example our perception of distance than which as he re marks nothing can seem more example of the other class of so called is given by tiie truths of number thus that the same is true of all of which we are conscious all pre something more than mere reception from without the system march bat for the present we will observe only that if the of their truth be an and incomprehensible which we know ns very often and of which we can have in no case test the would seem to form | 37 |
a very foundation for science and here we must notice a great in the of the philosophers of the school namely that while thej claim m behalf of their own system confidence in they will not allow this to others now if these belief are to pass as truths it is impossible to draw the line between those to be admitted as of scientific and those to be rejected whatever we fully believe then is true there is no test but persuasion then the visions and of and of various kinds must be as scientific truth and even if the fact of full belief in their own be denied in these cases or if the belief of all mankind be it will at least be admitted that some have in the history of science been held with as full and universal belief as scientific truth at the present day the m the system no doubt as fully believed that the sun moved round the earth as we now do the converse now the important point is not that we believe ever so strongly but that we have reason to believe if passive belief were the source of knowledge not only would all men of equal of sense be on a par in but the brutes also would stand on a level with man for they also have and sensations and what we call instinct is precisely incomprehensible or knowledge our result therefore that this direct knowledge is no knowledge at au though from our author s premises against his intention itself from the to which the opposite supposition necessarily leads it is moreover bv mr mill s subsequent admission that we cannot in any case know any thing of o themselves j but only the or representations in the mind this point he says i is one upon which those are now very generally considered to have made out case namely that all we know of objects is the sensations which they give us and the order of the occurrence of those sensations now as sensations are states of the mind not states of the body as distinguished from the system it i this would seem to sa ng that of the outward world we know absolutely nothing at all directly but as represented or conceived by the this is not only but openly stated in the theory of phenomena yet we find writers on constantly speaking of phenomena as if they were things of a more airy and sort indeed but things having a material existence though wanting the attributes of matter instead of being the results of a mental process thus when it is said that phenomena have no existence out of the mind this is taken to be a denial of all reality whereas on the contrary if the objects of sensation were reality sensation being of itself only of as we have seen and not of reality we should be cut off from all knowledge what we perceive is undoubtedly the thing itself but the representation is no thing and what is present in the mind is not the thing but the representation so that we are not to fancy things existing in our minds fragments of truth out of which science is to be built up by mechanical in what we call and in ail general names provided they stand for any thing and are not merely repeated by the outward world is seen the of the impression being removed by reflection it is true that there exists in the mind much that the results of and may be called immediate knowledge but from knowledge properly so called in this that it exists unknown to the mind itself and is manifested only in action this immediate knowledge or instinct shows in its results a resemblance to the of conscious reason as for instance in the knowledge of shown in the construction of the bee s cell this is displayed certainly by the bee but unconsciously so that it cannot be said to belong to the bee ut is given to the insect from without but when we speak of science and method and the moment we reflect upon the nature of our knowledge that moment it ceases to be instinctive it is no longer knowledge merely but our knowledge and nothing can properly bear the name except the results of conscious action thus it is to the second of the two sources above mentioned which a productive action of the mind namely tlie system march reasoning or that we are referred for the origin of all our knowledge and lo c therefore as the science of reasoning will be with philosophy or the science of knowledge most of the which we believe says mr mill i are not on their own evidence but on the of something previously assented to and from which they are said to be inferred to infer a proposition from a previous proposition or is to in the most extensive sense of the term reasoning is to be of two kinds reasoning from particulars to and reasoning from to particulars the former being called the latter or and first of the to a legitimate sm it is essential that there should be three and no more than three namely the conclusion or proposition to be proved and two other which together prove it and which are called the it is essential that there should be three and no more than three terms namely the subject and of the conclusion and another called the term which must be found in both since it is by means of it that the two terms are to be connected together of the conclusion is called the term of the m the subject of the conclusion is called the minor term one the major is an universal proposition and according as this is affirmative or negative the conclusion is so too | 37 |
the differences between any two or oak or any other two things in nature the most minute examination would only the field and the problem all difference then must be difference of class and as i no two things are the every object in the universe must form a by itself that is is impossible except as a matter of arbitrary a relation i not upon what the con notes but upon the class which it d that is upon the proper name or what we have agreed it stand for ana upon the place which in some given that class to the particular subject if j then from certain apparent between a number of things we form them into a class and if it be proposed to conclude these that a ven belonging to a certain individual among them but not known to belong to the rest does in fact belong to them the proposition would be so far from identical that on tiie contrary it would be altogether the problem of therefore instead of a seems to be a hopeless puzzle that we do infer general truths from experience all will allow but how this is even on the principles here laid down much more the ground of it it is difficult to perceive for any thing that it may be a prejudice it is of the utmost necessity therefore to discover some test or evidence a by which the wanting tion may be to and until this be done the whole fabric of science must swing in ear some of the practical difficulties growing out of this defect in his principle mr w notices though not the defect itself the popular he says i consists in ko n tu js march ing the character of general to all which are true in every instance that we happen to know of it is a habit of expecting that what has been true once or several times and never yet found false will be found true i gain but thk bj no means this the earliest records the testimony of au the inhabitants of the known world was on the that all are white yet this cannot have been a good since the conclusion has turned out the uniform experience therefore of the inhabitants of the known world agreeing in a common result without one known instance of from that result is not always sufficient to establish a general conclusion and we may add if not always sufficient m the absence of any test as to when it may be relied upon and when not it can never be sufficient mr mill makes a distinction i between a mere of cases and a namely that the facts must not be brought together but moreover that the connecting must be some character which really in the themselves and which would manifest itself therein if the could be realized which our organs of sense require but this is saying in other words that our must not be conventional or accidental but founded in the nature of things a direct contradiction to the notion of before mentioned this contradiction is inherent in the system for the problem of science is to particulars and this the theory renders impossible but let us see what the connecting link must be as it is to be a character really existing m the facts it must be something common to all of them all community of attributes and all identity in principle being abstracted as the of prejudice and demands we have nothing left whereby to group objects except their position in time and space avoiding the question whether even these relations do not an principle of among particulars so related it is true that in all our experience we find things and events in a certain order in time and space every object a certain space and every event happens in a certain time whilst other characters may be abstracted without destroying them one or both of these characters then must be the link which we seek takes both mr the s item in time thai is for this he no reason but be is to it by his and his negative principle of extent in space is present and continuous extent in time on the contrary and on we take no note of time but by its loss for time is the abstract form of change things are connected then as being transient and successive and this is their only general and the only one which we can say really in all things of all truths relating to phenomena the most valuable to va are those which relate to the order of succession but all those in the succession of phenomena which common observation is sufficient to bring to t there are very few which have any even apparent to this and of those few one has been found capable of completely it this is succession in time or as he calls it between the phenomena which exist at any instant and the phenomena which exist at the succeeding instant there is an order of to certain facts certain facts always do and as we believe always will succeed the is termed the cause the the effect upon the of this truth depends the of the process to and this notion of cause is the root of the whole theory of i now as we are in search of and as the theory of cause is introduced to ve such to the results of it is above all as our author i remarks tiiat the succession itself should be universal and and unless it is so it cannot have any to the name of cause uniform experience therefore he says is not to establish the of but if so it is clearly incapable of being established at all on the theory no conceivable method no nor | 37 |
comparison of experiments can ever the of a succession in time for to do so the experience must be with all time it does not follow because a particular has hitherto been invariable that it will henceforth continue to be so even that we suppose or guess that it will be is not accounted for at all events it is a mere the march whether such a is a or not must then always he doubtful and the doubt must be firom the nature of things incapable of solution so that to select from the endless of of them as cause and effect must be mere guess work without the slightest scientific value we know beforehand that an immense mass of phenomena given one and many of them invariably it which must all be causes of it or else some of them not causes but if all are causes the principle will be useless to science and if some only are causes we cannot distinguish them in making experiments we do not think it necessary to note the position of the because experience has shown as a very superficial experience is sufficient to show that in such cases that circumstance is not material to the result on the contrary by his own showing nothing less than an experience with the existence of the and reaching beyond them could be sufficient or by what process are their possible to be nor if we the principle and trust to invariable experience merely is the difficulty lessened many phenomena as the fixed stars are constant and have in the french sense out history are we therefore to conclude that they have also in tiie sense of the confusion of post with is indeed a matter of daily experience but will hardly be as a scientific principle and it cannot be allowed even as a matter of common experience or opinion that cause and effect are always related as and consequent on the mr i s own definition of cause he says i the cause speaking is the sum total of the conditions positive and negative tis en together the whole of the of every description which being realized the consequence invariably follows the cause then does not exist until all the conditions are assembled but what interval can be between the assemblage of all the conditions and the existence of tiie clearly only an imaginary one not merely wiu the interval of time be too small to be appreciated by senses but more than this there will be an absolute coincidence you cannot the conditions of water without at the same instant producing it the combination of and is equally a description of the cause and of the effect if the the e system effect is not produced it is some of the conditions are wanting or some of the negative present this indeed mr mill i seems to admit but thinks it unimportant whether the cause and its effect be necessarily successive or not is still the law of the of phenomena every thing which begins to exist must have a cause that is all that the common notion of demands is ome necessary connection between the phenomena in which it is undoubtedly right only is not the slightest ground for any weight to succession which instead of giving receives all its importance from the fact of a real connection what this connection is then or how it is to be known is left this principle of therefore will not accomplish what it is brought forward to do as before its application shows its thus i in the first it is not true that the same phenomenon is always produced by the same cause the effect a may sometimes arise from a sometimes from b and secondly the effects of different causes are often not but and marked out by no boundaries from one another one fact may be the consequent in several invariable it may follow with equal any one of several or of so that i where in every single instance a multitude often an unknown multitude of are and what security have we in our a we have taken all these into one reckoning how many must we not generally be ignorant of among those we know how probable that some have been overlooked and even were all included how vain the pretence of up the effects of many causes unless we know accurately the law of each a condition in most cases not to be fulfilled and even when fulfilled to make the calculation in an but very ample cases the utmost power of science with its most modem improvements these difficulties mr mill confined to certain classes of but as remarked on a former occasion even allowing this the trouble is that we can never be sure whether or not any given case belongs to one of classes this uncertainty therefore must extend to all our results as a remedy for these of mr th march the method l the mode of investigation which from the proved of direct methods of observation and experiment remains to ns as the main source of the we possess of the more complex phenomena is called the method and consists of three operations the first one of direct ae second of and the third of the problem of the method is to find tiie law of an effect from the laws of the different tendencies of which it is the joint result the first requisite therefore ia to know the laws of these tendencies the law of each of tiie causes and this a previous process of observation or experiment upon each cause separately or else a previous which also must depend for its ultimate upon observation or experiment this being accomplished the second part follows that of from the laws of the causes what any given combination of those causes will produce thus | 37 |
far there is nothing peculiar in the method its essential characteristic is the third process whereby tiie general formed are compared with the results of direct tion without it is acknowledged i tiiat au the results of the method have little other value than that of guess work it is upon therefore that the ty of au scientific results must at last depend that the advances henceforth to be expected even m and still more in mental and social science will be chiefly the result of is evident from the general considerations already but it is not a sufficient that the supposed cause accounts for all the known phenomena since is a condition often fulfilled equally well by two conflicting it is sufficient only provided the case be such that a false law cannot lead to a true result provided no law except the very one we have assumed can lead to the same conclusions which that leads to here the whole difficulty is provided for in advance in a summary manner the uncertainty whether our tion has been ample to all possibility of influence from causes is disposed of but by a for the of which we can see no grounds previously to we have no means of obtaining such knowledge concerning the law in question except through in tht st stem and founded unless by some additional to on account of its forming part of the process we see no chance that the can ever be complied with mr mill however is of a different opinion he thinks it may often be realized and gives as an instance s demonstration that the law governing the motion of the is but in all as our author himself remarks i t the result is implied in the and the derived from simple that the can ever be complied with in cases other than he does not show and he is obliged to admit that in order that shall be proof it is necessary that the supposed cause should not only be a real phenomenon but should be already known to some influence upon the supposed effect the precise degree and manner of the influence being the only point and tliat what is an at the be of the inquiry becomes a proved law of nature before its close can only happen when the inquiry has for its object not to detect an unknown cause but to determine the precise law of a cause already ascertained ie therefore is a subordinate matter and does not help us at all in the main point namely the discovery of cause for this we are referred back to and experiment hi furnish the independent evidence on which depends the by suggesting observations and experiments puts us upon the road to that independent evidence if it be really ble and until it be attained the ought not to count more than a suspicion in this account of it may be observed we have throughout assumed that the preliminary is in all cases an from what has already been shown it must always answer to mr mill s definition of an namely a supposition made upon insufficient evidence if it is not an there is no need of if it is is no more than is thus only an with which it ends being nothing more than experience witli which begins it results therefore that the connecting link of phenomena cannot be discovered the passage from the particular to the system march the general remains and inexplicable we must remain content with particulars and not only this but also as the particular only of itself and not of other particulars we must be content with a partial or knowledge philosophers usually give the name of laws to those which observation or experiment has shown to exist but upon which they hesitate to rely in cases varying much from those which have been actually observed for want of seeing any reason such a law should exist it is implied therefore in the notion of an law that it is not an ultimate law that if true at all its truth is capable of and requires to be accounted for it is a law me of which is not yet known laws therefore can only be held true within the limits of time and place in which they have been found true bv observation and not merely the limits of time and place but of time place and circumstance for since it is the very meaning of an law that we do not know the ultimate laws of upon which it is dependent we cannot foresee without actual trial m what manner or to what extent the introduction of any new circumstance may affect it in proportion therefore to our ignorance of the causes on which the law depends we can be less assured that it will continue to hold good and the further we look into the less improbable is it that some one of the causes whose existence rise to the may be destroyed or the nearest that the philosophy can come to truth therefore is universal experience being impossible knowledge must be so also its first principles must be the whole problem of the investigation of nature is what are the which being granted the order of nature as it exists would be the result i it cannot to know the nature or the reason of any thing but must content itself with the bare fact it the universe into two mysteries the mystery of existence and the mystery of body is the unknown exciting cause of sensations the mysterious something which the mind to feel and mind the unknown or of sensations the mysterious something which feels and thinks on the nature of the thinking principle as well as on the inmost nature of matter we are and with our human must the y always remain entirely m the dark i | 37 |
thus it is often that from the general of human faculties we ought not a j to require or expect human knowledge to to any thing more than probability to demand for science absolute and necessary truth seems to many persons a kind of at least the extreme of presumption for if we regard truth as an the largest conceivable will still be a quantity distinct from the infinite not in degree but in kind but in the first place it ought to be distinctly understood and confessed that probability of itself can have no scientific we do it is true often attribute high scientific importance to what are only but this is on the supposition that they are not to remain but to become truths their importance c in the prospect of knowledge and if this be absolutely cut off as in the theory their value is at an end in the second place we that this whole theory of probability is founded on an namely that is nothing higher than sensation i that there is nothing in knowledge which our senses could not perceive provided they were perfect of their i and thus nothing but a mechanical of particulars that the material world is such an of particulars we admit but at the same time it is allowed that we have no with objects except through the senses and that sensations are states of the tiu not states of the body therefore is based at all events not on any thing material but on something mental as appeared at the be of our examination we have no direct of objects but all our knowledge a mental process namely however is to is to attach to the particular an attribute that is a general character a particular attribute an attribute which does not attach the particular to a class is a contradiction m terms mr mill himself says in every act of what is called observation there is at least one from the sensations to the presence of the object from the marks or to the entire phenomenon that is we infer the general character by the particular sensations and again we cannot describe a fact without more than the fact the m is only of one individual thing but to describe it is the system march to a between it and every other thing which is either or by any of the terms used or rather we should say what we perceive is an thing bnt the thing as an object or phenomenon is this is what is meant by the distinction between phenomena and in themselves there is not the rear son says mr mill i for believing that what we call the sensible qualities of the object are a type of any thing inherent in itself or bear any to its own nature a cause does not as such resemble its effects an east wind is not like the steam of boiling water why then should matter resemble our sensations why should the inmost nature of fire or water resemble the impressions made by these objects upon our senses and if not on the principle of resemblance on what other principle can the manner m which objects affect us through our senses afford us any insight into the inherent nature of those objects it may therefore safely be laid down as a truth obvious in itself and admitted by all whom it is at present necessary to take into consideration that of the world we know and can know absolutely nothing except the sensations which we experience from it that is to say our thoughts and even the representations we make to ourselves of outward things are not material things but of a nature altogether distinct from matter and sensation considered as mere to outward impulses is an abstraction and not a fact of experience in this statement of mr mill s however as in s distinction between phenomena and the notion seems to remain that the reason we perceive only phenomena lies in a of our powers that phenomena are still things but as it were the shadows or ghosts of the things and that if our faculties were more perfect we should perceive the things themselves lying behind of the same sort is the notion alluded to that are copies of the things or from without i ii these and the like views all flow out from the assumption that reality is equivalent to matter now that matter is the test of all things under tiie sun we are ready to allow whatever does not manifest itself we are at liberty to conclude does not exist de et de non est but that material existence is not reality we think sufficiently appears from the principles of the hy according to it the only character common the to the material world its essence is every natural event to destroy itself and bring something else in its place the bud makes way for the flower and the flower for the fruit the growth of the tree is a hastening to decay every and every mechanical force aims at being or spent the spring to the seeks the there is throughout nature a perpetual reference of each thing to something else each by itself is and partly in another a existence is thus an insufficient existence the idea of the thing is not realized in the thing itself but partly in another thing and this again in another and so on to reality therefore or the existence of the idea itself in the phenomenon but as namely a of the form of existence and of the form is of the reality manifested in it this is shown for instance in the of on animal organization alluded to by mr mill i their effect he says is the of the animal substance by combination with the poison into a compound held | 37 |
together by so powerful a force as to resist the subsequent action of the ordinary causes of now life consisting in a continual state of and of the different organs and whatever them for the life so soon as the form is made permanent life is the reality manifested in it is destroyed material existence or accordingly is an embodied self contradiction a contradiction between the form and the substance and thus a prolonged the form of which is change or q me and the assertion that we know only particulars must be coupled with the admission that these or facts are nothing more phenomena to know which is to know their another prevailing notion is that matter is a temporary reality that though it does not endure for ever yet it contains a certain amount being but time as is shown by the old of and the cannot be divided into independent moments that is cannot be really divided otherwise each moment would be an eternity every force say the will act for ever unless not that we have any experience of a force acting for ever but if we a force it necessarily becomes eternal since tbe the march notion of existence does not include but non ence a temporary reality therefore is a l e reality a reality which is partly unreal the succession of time is the development of this that we perceive only phenomena as already remarked is so far from with a knowledge of reality that on ti e contrary it simply declares the superficial nature of the that we see in things that which changes is not the reality but the and to this is to affirm its opposite so that to reduce matter to a superficial and transient form is not to deny but to affirm the reality it contains and change though a mere or destruction of matter is in affirmative being a of the negative though on the other hand it is not to be imagined that the reality is something existing apart behind the phenomenon for the phenomenon is nothing else than the appearing or existing though in an inadequate form it is no degradation therefore to spiritual things that they exist materially man for instance exists as body and we may say that his body is a complete of his soul provided we keep in that this is an or partially and thus existence and do not confine the spirit to its temporary as we have already seen all knowledge is but to the particular is to destroy its knowledge of particulars therefore is a of their connection with and dependence upon a general principle and here we see the root of the inability of the theory to form a each particular to some other and again to another and so on when we come to examine one therefore we are necessarily referred to the next and thus the problem is prolonged to or rather to thus it is that mr mill makes the term general equivalent to whereas it properly what is universal and therefore definite in opposition to what is accidental and thus were each object in nature a definite fact it would be necessary to study each separate thing by itself each grain of sand on the would require as special and careful examination as any other fact the problem proposed by the philosophy to knowledge out of particular is the wildest of the nearest approach that an the system gate of can make to the universal is the indefinite that which requires to be but is not finished there is no reason therefore to attribute the to the weakness of human faculties when the task proposed is an absurdity it would nothing from to say that two cannot be made without a valley between the talk about the nature of man and his consequent inability to grasp universal truth an entire of i e whole process of knowing the whole argument is this a that is a thing must have definite dimensions and thus cannot contain the infinite but a thing can no more contain a sensation than it can the infinite the would be not how we can have absolute knowledge but how we can have any knowledge or ev i sensation if then it be allowed that we mentally perceive are conscious at all there is no reason why knowledge should be limited knowledge as we have seen is now what grounds have we for supposing that the must be imperfect for on this ground alone can knowledge be partial that our knowledge of the universe is in point of fact no one will question new objects and new tor observation are presented to us eveiy day and if by knowledge we understand an of facts and observations this is a defect in kind as well as degree we cannot safely until we have gathered the universe into a heap and weighed measured and the whole of it this however being impossible either is so too or else tiie is wrong it will not help us at all to call our present knowledge an as if it were in degree there is not the slightest hope that all mankind m any imaginable lapse of ages could even a single grain of sand for this reason that matter is aud can be stretched to match any extent of time this however is at least as fatal to knowledge as to an other of what use is it to talk about a partial when the part must be an infinitely or rather small quantity and thus a merely abstract or amount r degree and kind are here one we either know nothing y or else tiie argument against absolute knowledge falls to the ground here again the is beaten by its own weapons it for its authority to consciousness experience or common sense but common the sense | 37 |
to and moreover to know the themselves the distinction between the appearance and the inmost essence is altogether foreign to it the contradiction implied in the that reality the universal can be contained in a particular in other words that particular things are real exists therefore in its strength in the theory itself as we have already shown the perception even of things then ought not even to seem to be for this equally e it is not enough to say that objects make on oar senses for they make impressions also on other objects one stone for instance on another bat there no no sensation is caused the of with does not indeed seem to satisfy even our in its practical working why says he is a e instance in some cases sufficient for a complete while in others of instances without a angle known or presumed go such a very little way toward an universal proposition whoever can answer this question knows more of the philosophy of jo c than the wisest of the and has solved the great problem of that this difficulty should occur is most natural for were the theory sound ought to proceed in exact proportion to the amount of facts collected the force of evidence ought to be on a number of instances being given we must know the number being less believe or conjecture accordingly but without having the slightest intention of measuring ourselves with even the less wise among tiie we think the answer to the problem a very one simply this that in some cases we apprehend the idea at once and at other times a long for it the difficulty is confined to the system and business in this examination has been only to show this and thereby to answer the arguments founded upon it as to the question what is the true theory of knowledge we do not propose to go much into it at present ah or systems of are self the problem proposed is with the means employed for its solution to know is to but cannot be accomplish the system ed bj sensation nor bj any of for tiie reason that sensation requires and has to do only with particulars whereas to is to perceive the secondary and dependent nature of particulars and thus that the faculty corresponding to particulars namely sensation is a subordinate one of this indeed the theory is conscious for that less weight is given to particulars as such and a more or less distinct feeling that the important point is what is common to all of them but its error consists m this that instead of seeing that the common principle must be the one reality itself under these various forms it sees in it only an accidental coincidence of certain attributes to be got at by the other attributes instead of a common principle therefore we have as many as there are attributes by the understanding it is thus a system of we hear various that of for instance or blamed for their by writers of this school but the of all is the for its great principle is abstraction and its results are abstract attributes which it seeks again to by them to fancied the existence of which it does not always even pretend to believe and can in no instance show where do we find such a string of as in the modem english their c hy par and the rest has any one ever seen these thi so r from it that it is not pretended that they are things at all yet a separate existence is g ven to them and they are supposed to be induced upon or imparted to matter now to the philosophy if consistent whatever is no that is has not material existence is nothing hence the oi j o in which qualities are supposed to exist yet to matter that is to east and not exist at the same time thus for instance it was formerly fancied by that communication must place by means of a and y they up for the occasion not only tiie but through the for it to run in but the nerves being found to be solid and meanwhile offering itself as a yet more convenient was proposed instead so the great of force which is nothing else but abstract motion or action the system march it would be easy to point out in this system in pretending to derive all knowledge observation and yet building theories upon where observations are impossible or at least have never been made but the point of interest is that these errors are not or at random but show a progress of the system itself beyond its own principles that it and thereby itself the term is often used by persons of this wa of thinking as equivalent to or or which is supposed to be the same thing and as a pretence of human faculties to accomplish what is beyond their sphere but this again can apply nowhere so weu as to the system itself for this is precisely its position it has got so far as to feel that the reality it seeks is not the phenomenon but no reality except it does not get beyond this negative conception of matter matter that is from which all attributes are abstracted thus it makes reality an abstraction and at the same time speaks of it as and present to experience it may be worth while shortly to describe the process gone through by the theory were phenomena pure realities one fact would be as ve in science as a thousand all that we can learn at all we could learn at once and there would be no need of but every one feels that in every there is much that is accidental and | 37 |
belongs to the particular circumstances of its appearance if every ct were a pure then a five legged calf would be a new species this however was never unless by a child or a savage men with very aid of science come unconsciously to tiie notion of a type that is a universal form to which phenomena ought but sometimes do not an ideal standard is established that is the of the thing is declared to be outside of it and not in any one thing though all aim and tend towards it but each more or less wide of the mark this is the true sense of which is nothing else than the attempt to discover the reality in phenomena but this establishing of a type is nevertheless contrary to the assumption with which the begins namely that reality is equivalent to matter tor here a distinction is made between tiie thing and its reality the m knows nothing of these to it the world k a solid and a calf with a leg or two more or less does not puzzle farmer he is used indeed to see with four legs and is thus at first struck with the novelty but he knows no reason why if it pleased god they should not have twenty legs as well as four and if the birth of a legged calf should happen half a dozen times would be quite reconciled to it and think no more of the matter that is his are he is content with his immediate experience and his being merely instinctive and not a matter of reflection is readily modified instinctively he makes a distinction between phenomenon and reality matter and form so that different degrees of between them and thus different degrees of reality are recognized and acted upon in practice though not in theory as the mind is further developed it becomes by degrees conscious of tliis distinction and reasons upon it of the material world become the object of interest and the m arises whether these laws are invariable the answer is that the law invariably acts but from various tiie effect does not always follow greater importance is ven to the law the general form and less to the pa case the subject matter in which the law is manifested thus tiie distinction before instinctively made is now recognized also matter and law are separate as form and substance and come together only in the in which the law is completely embodied and the completely obedient to the law this is a great step for here reality is placed in the of matter and law that is they are declared to be identical and where they do not completely there must be here however the theory becomes or rather to adopt s distinction the notion of type that matter is not equivalent to reality that is that assumption is mr accordingly this notion others as mr of admit it but the main is by all since otherwise could not go on but though they hold t to the new view they do not let go the old one a contradiction thus arises reality is outside of matter and yet is identical with it it is therefore both identical and not identical that is it is ar identical material objects them are no n the system march partly real and unreal these sides are to be separated tiie phenomenon is to be split in and the one half retained the other thrown this is the actual position of the theory here however it is to be remarked that the two sides are merely declared so that if we fix a to be reality b must be but it does not appear hj what authority one is preferred to the other that is why b should not as well be reality and a in whatever way we establish it some one else may choose to reverse their relative positions to declare our cases typical and vice all then must be conventional we cannot affirm any identity between things but only it is necessary therefore to find some principle of connection between these but as are of themselves mere there is either no such principle or it is something distinct from and including both mr mill as we have seen does not show any such principle others as have sought it in ood and perhaps this is involved in the stress which he also lays on the or human character of our this reference to gk d however though to some minds and convenient for putting an end to and replying to arguments which we know not otherwise how to answer is in fact a mere and as says the asylum of ignorance it means only that we suppose a final principle to exist somewhere but are at a loss where to look it the name therefore is it being a mere of the and various writers have the same thing by various terms cousin for instance calls it reason mr ideas c in either case it is merely a reference to an ultimate authority about which no questions are to be asked and only to saying that the reason of the its reality is not only but the occasion for the introduction of a third principle is this on the one hand the original instinctive that matter and reality are identical is gone reflection has revealed to us the that exists between the mind and its object matter is outward rude it does not always p the system to laws indeed we are obliged to begin our of phenomena with any as to their law in order that we may learn the law from a series of observations and not be led astray by an instance the material world is to the understanding a chaos on which a foreign and opposite principle has impressed itself from | 37 |
without and ar ranged the on ally lawless matter into order and forms belonging to itself and not to matter on the other hand law it may come is certainly found in intimate connection with matter to explain this a higher principle of some sort is required and this er principle of some this something is that already mentioned this however after all nothing for the point to be explained is not how matter and law in themselves but how we come to of their that created the universe according to his infinite wisdom and ordained a certain order among wings does not prove that we know this order or that our notions in any way correspond with reality on the contrary was driven to his theory precisely by this difficulty to him an impossibility of how a subject can have any knowledge d he very declares our ideas as well as the order of things are ihe te of ood this indeed is the only lo conclusion from these premises only in that case the knowledge and the ideas are god s and not ours and therefore philosophy is an empty word being nothing else than the first principles of all thought of intellectual and spiritual interests wherever the views of the system have prevailed among we shall recognize them in the prevailing forms of religion morals and government li religion this is the position of the catholic church the term catholic being used as the opposite of as that of christians who rest religion on an outward authority if the highest the object of worship is of a different nature from the mind and therefore inaccessible to its efforts that is something outward it follows necessarily that it can be manifested to us only outwardly as law or outward authority which we have only to obey and not to reason about and if following these principles we admit that the catholic church ever was a church and its faith ever was on that is that it ever was a in the march its claims must now also be admitted as to foil extent for it have been a religion ordained on being something which man of could never create its creed and its forms then must be and its claim of just then those who have separated from it must have set up human reason against the divine will and from the first to hie last be all of the same sort are those of government and which deny that ihe standard of right is an inward principle if the foundation of absolute right is outward it must be ble and unknown to us and any pretence at making it a matter of conscience and free inquiry is mere rebellion and if allowed shows a state of and universal license the only form of government consistent with this view is which we are told would be the best form of government provided we could have always a good man for the difficulty of which is urged as an answer to objections that do not work weu in practice and are found only where the people are degraded the organization of the universe is not such a blunder that what is true in principle can never be true in practice even in where the very nature of the problem seems to imply that the standard is inward the system of has been invented with the sole aim as it would seem to contrive as a substitute an outward one the of actions to ends foreign to the mind so obedient are men to a theory themselves all the while and practical as man s instincts always his conscious so here the religious and moral instincts have long against tiie views by the understanding the religious instinct as the deepest leading the way in is the declaration that the authority in religion the between god and man is not without merely but also within us and what requires is not an outward persuasion or belief but faith or inward sight so in morals virtue is no longer obedience to a decree of fate a command of the church nor in spite of the theory to a calculation of profit or use but to conscience man is a law unto himself on this ground also rests the right of self government these principles it is true are as yet matters of the aod of felt and acted upon but not understood thus few comprehend or would the truths their faith and rests upon so in the of the of self govern ment have the argument mostly on their side england and germany for example there is no end to triumphant that this country is sunk in and license the newspapers from month to month ever since we had a separate political existence have the announcement we on the spot however to be convinced theory also must sooner or later come to the same level and meanwhile must show itself to be behind the age in not able to comprehend or explain historical which are no longer to be overlooked or denied history says is progress in the consciousness of freedom freedom however is the unity of t e outward law with the inward or the idea thus a free man is not from without but the law of conscience the first of this consciousness we see in the in religion and government philosophy having no merely instinctive side but throughout the consciousness must be reached last thus tiie system as we have seen more or less distinctly reality or truth can exist only in the unity of matter and law these how ever are not of themselves united but opposed and we cannot discover any bond of union between them if we resort to a third principle by way of this is not only an proceeding but moreover does not at all remove the | 37 |
difficulty since the union being outward merely the opposition apart from the temporary effect of the pie continues as before knowledge requires not only connection but unity of these it is not enough that matter should obey a law it must be its law else we could not for it would not follow that any thing is true to day it will therefore be true to morrow as we have not the third principle within our power in other words as we do not know through god s but through our own we know at most only single instances of its action and not its law nor can we how it will act in future either the knowledge is impossible or else these op are only opposed but in reality united of themselves without the of any other principle of the people march is not then an outward form impressed upon matter but its idea the same reform is thus necessary in philosophy which we have seen making its appearance in religion morals and and the made on the science from without with the inward which it is to make of itself art in city no of the of the public schools of the boston i boston vo and annual report of the board of tion together with the annual report of the secretary of the board boston vo and ix education in the wide sense of the word is the harmonious development of all the natural powers of man of the body of the mind conscience affections will and religious sentiment the general means to that end are world of matter and the world of men leaving the former out of account the latter may be considered under four several forms as so many forces which influence the development of the rising generation in this country there is i the political action of the people represented by the state n the material action of the people represented by business in the literary and scientific action of the people represented by the press ly the action of the people represented by the churches now these four the state business the press and the churches are the great forces which most powerfully affect the intellectual and moral development of the people the al tendency of each generation as it rises this is so the very nature of man and the constitution of society of the people but subordinate to these general forces there are likewise special institutions whose design is to prepare the child and put him in communication these general influences the more completely they do that the more completely are they commonly thought to do their work and for this purpose schools and have mainly been established to put the youth in connection with these forces and thus enable him to do the duties and receive the instruction which the state business the press and the churches may demand or afford him he who has learned to read to write and to calculate has got of the three most important tools or helps and by the use thereof receives the aid of these great general he who also a foreign language letting alone other advantages of that study may thereby receive the instruction which uie state and churches of another land have likewise to offer him were these great and general forces of a higher or a lower character than now with us their influence would be modified accordingly it is the duty of a wise to appreciate the kind and degree of influence which these forces actually exert on the young and act with or against it as the case may require state by its actions may teach men to reverence the eternal or only the power of armies and commerce the business of the nation may teach respect for honesty and manly usefulness or only the of the dollar the press may direct men to honor justice and may fill them with noble ideas and sentiments or teach them to be mean and little taking public opinion as their standard the churches may instruct men to love and to love man as the supreme objects of ideal or practical affection or they may teach men to with public sins to believe a lie and for a pretence make long prayers affecting a belief in all manner of ana it is the duty of such as direct the public education of the people to understand the character and of all it will be hard work for the teacher to make his ascend though by their proper motion while these forces are to drive him down but when these forces act in the right direction it is difficult for the youth to go wrong however it is not our task at present to these forces and inquire what they actually teach in america at this day what good they promise what ill they threaten of th people for the we wish to look at subordinate fin the public of the people ia to the youth of land with the of learning after a has provided the common material wants of protection food shelter clothing and the like the moat important is to the generation to do is not merely a duty which the father owes to his own child but which society in virtue of its eminent owes to every child born in its bosom the t of the state to alike person and property is continually set forth tin it often comes to be considered as superior to reason and conscience but the duty of the state to watch over the culture of its children is too forgot but this duty is with the right and both grow out of the relation of which the state holds over the individuals that compose it it has always been acknowledged that society owes some thing to each person subject to its | 37 |
power in the ages of social existence it is felt to be the duty of the state to pro as r as possible the lives of its citizens from the violence of a public enemy from abroad or a private enemy at home next it becomes recognised as a natural duty to protect also the property of each man as well as his person then the state its obligation to aid au its citizens or subjects in their ous culture and so in some form or other pro for the public worship of the ood of the state there is no government in europe which does not admit all these obligations all have established armies and churches with their appropriate furniture to protect the persons and property of and do something to advance their at a period of social progress more advanced the state admits it is a public duty of the sovereign power to defend a man from want and save him firom starvation not only in times of and war but in the ordinary state of things at a period of progress still more recent it is also recognized as a public to look after the education of all the children of the state this duty rests on the same foundation with the others at this day it is admitted by all that each citizen has a right to claim of his state protection for property and person food enough likewise to keep him from on condition that he of the people does what he to protect himself in new aad most of the enlightened states of the world it is also admitted that each child has a likewise to claim of the state an of acquiring the of education but how ou t the state to this education which is to be placed within the reach of all the answer to this we will attempt to give in another part of this article only here that in a people the point of education is continually rising what was once the mom of hope one day becomes the of in england it has long been admitted in practice though not proclaimed in our political theories that the state owes each child in it a chance to obtain the average education so far as schools can secure that our scheme of public education of the people is one of the most original things in america in literature and science america has hitherto shown little and has achieved little worth mentioning in the nation is eminently and in politics we are the most original of nations both m respect of ideas and the forms in which they become actual with these exceptions the new england scheme of public education now extended over most of the free states is the most thing which america has produced take new england as a whole with the states which have descended from her her public free schools are the noblest monument of the character of the people of their industry their foresight their vigorous and manhood new l has been for her ships her roads of earth and iron her her towns and her shops she has often looked with pride on her churches once the place of such and long the of civil freedom in the new world but die has far more reason to b proud if aught human may be proud of her common schools these are more honorable to her head aad heart than even the great political and legal institutions which have grown around them and above them often but always out of e same soil is the government of all the citizens for the sake of all the citizens and by means of them all of course it is only on condition that it is itself conducted by the eternal laws of justice which man has not made but only found made otherwise it will not be for the sake of all but hostile to the of some such a is of course of the people march only an ideal as yet but the sentiments of america especially of i england and her states are her ideas are her institutions in the main all tending towards that ideal the public schools of new england have grown out of these sentiments and ideas their growth as as that of and on is the ideal of america but it is an ideal which can never be realized except on the condition that the people the whole people are well educated in the large sense of that word there may be a or or an aristocracy without any considerable culture on the part of the mass of the people but a under such circumstances cannot be a nation of savages may be governed it is only a wise people that can govern themselves the very constitution of new england therefore demands a degree of culture in the people hitherto unknown in the most advanced nations of the world thus in america there is not only the general duty of society to all its members but also e special duty of a government which thereby is the most imperative conditions of its existence at the first settlement of america it was not possible for the infant state struggling for existence to spend much time in the education of the children yet considering all things the ideal set up in new england m tiie century was exceedingly high and the achievement likewise greater than a sanguine man would have dared at day the intelligence of the mass is much and the wealth thereof is increased the point of public education has also risen this may be laid down as a that it is the duty of society to afford every child bom in it a chance of the best education which the genius of the child is capable of | 37 |
receiving and the wealth and intelligence of society are capable of it seems to us from the very e of man and of society that each child has just as ood a for this as for protection from violence or starvation much will be possible in the way of education a hundred years hence not thought of now but now much is possible which is not attempted much not even hoped for when the opportunity for obtaining even a liberal is afforded to all is there danger that men will leave the laborious call education of the people of life and rush to what are called the educated professions quite the contrary there will always be five hundred good to one good philosopher or poet there are but few men who have an innate preference for being lawyers ministers and doctors rather than farmers and many are now in the professions solely because these offered a chance for some liberal culture which the trade did not though otherwise far more attractive when education is thought equally necessary for the farmer and the lawyer and all honest and useful equally honorable there is more danger that the office be neglected than the field we may safely count on more com and less the process of education at this day consists of distinct i the acquisition of positive knowledge namely of the facts of science and the facts of history including also the ideas of science and n the development of the faculties of the so that he may also effectually possess all his natural powers and act originally for himself at present the common schools do a little of both the high schools and a little more but in the common schools taken as a whole so far as we know far too little is attempted in the way of an original development of the faculties themselves memory and imitation are the chief faculties which are cultivated the reason of this is too plain to need showing now the foundation of the public education of the people must be laid in the common schools take the whole population of any northern state perhaps not more than an eighth part of the people receive any instruction from any private school the faults then of the common schools will show themselves in the character of the people and that in a single generation the common schools therefore are the most important institutions of new england if there had been none such for two hundred years past the mass of men would have been unable to read and write and calculate those would be the of a few men of superior wealth or superior natural ability as the natural consequence would have been in a poor state commerce in a poor state a hundred years behind their present condition there would not be the signs of life activity of the march progress all over the new d states the crowds which in boston now attend the lectures of the and other means of or refined would seek their entertainment in a bull fight x a bear in a man fight of in a ring mr a soldier on the public lectures would be aa rare in boston as in l or even new the government would not be a get ting more and more but a in the form of a or aristocracy a government over all but by a few and against the interest of the many the i w and ihe strong would own the bodies of the w and the many in new england as well as in south and there would not be a hundred churches m boston filled by intelligent men of more than a hundred different ways of thinking on religious matters each freedom of conscience but three or four magnificent and costly temples in which e ignorant and people for miracles ridden by their rulers and worse by priests met to some of a the pocket of the mother of god and the nail from the cross or from the horse the queen of did not ride a from joseph s beard or perhaps the coat of the city would with to ignorance and and at least that part of their vow there would be slaves in new england not black alone but white freedom would be in few hands land in few hands education in few hands power in few hands comfort and virtue in few hands new england might then be the heaven of the and the noble the of the wise and the good but the hell of the poor and the weak k there had never been any public schools for s in new england then the majority of women would have had the of ignorance they would be the slaves of the men not their companions the hardest and most work in the streets the and the would be performed bv the of sisters wives mothers woman would be the victim of lust of of every crime trod down into the dust but still the foot on the other hand if the public schools could have better could have been as good and well attended in as now new england would have gained perhaps at the fifty years where would have been the the education of tke people the crime which now prey on society we should not need so many and five thousand ma of the in we should not have a nation with little shame and so much to be ashamed of a press so and business be marked by an activity wiser and yet greater and by its purer morals the churches would be far other than what now they are the amount of intelligent activity might be what it is now and that activity would show itself in all of human concern in a morality comfort order | 37 |
and in general there are several causes which prevent the common schools from doing the service which is needed of them we will mention only the two chief all the children from five to sixteen do not attend regularly from a fourth to a third part are always absent mr of thb as an enormous loss the most and community in the world here plays the and prodigal the state can do little directly to repair this evil to make attendance would be inconsistent with the spirit of american and perhaps productive of little good teachers school and uie clergy can doubtless do much to check this evil the next e is found in the inferior character of the teachers employed far be it from us to find fault with these persons there is no class in the community for whom we feel a more profound respect or regard with a deeper sympathy madam said dr johnson to a lady who grumbled about her servants madam you cannot expect all the celestial virtues for three shillings a week eminent ability does not naturally flow towards the master s desk in the common schools take two thousand five hundred of the men of most marked for general ability and probably not ten of them would be found among the teachers of public schools in that state certainly not seeking a permanent resting place there is no honor connected with the calling the pay is miserably little rewards her teachers better we think than any other state but on the average after the expense of board pays the male teacher less than twenty five dollars a month and the female but eight dollars and seven cents in it is but twelve dollars a month and four dollars and seventy five cents for females of the people march the celestial are seldom to be had so cheap such a is not likely to attract men of energy they will flee from a which can offer no but the vow of poverty men of inferior ability have hitherto had little encouragement to fit themselves for the duties of a teacher indeed there have been no means hitherto placed within their reach there have long been for the training of lawyers and soldiers until lately none for the education of teachers there are even now few good works treating either of the art or the science of teaching there is no college we think in the united states in which lectures are ven on this art or science though it is necessary for every parent to practise the art and to understand it belongs to the very profession of the teacher the normal schools have already done something to remedy this evil teachers lectures by accomplished men the production of books treating of the art and science of teaching will also do good but all will not reach the root of the evil may always be found to go on the forlorn hope of humanity but no state ever relied on a whole army of to man its and its to form the rank and file of tiie very a more argument must be resorted to than the hope of eternal rewards in heaven superior talent will always be attracted towards wealth and social rank in no country more certainly than in america a christian minister was once sure of a competent support for his natural life sure also of a high social rank then men of masculine ability and superior culture came to that calling and did it honor representing the superior thought of the nation circumstances the minister s salary becoming uncertain in its continuance or comparatively small his social rank in reality r less that masculine ability and superior culture seek other channels of usefulness and only by exception flow through the pulpit then to the amazement and consternation of the church long to the drowsy of an stream now it is in the power of the people to command superior talent cultivation and skill solely by paying its price some men are bom with a genius for many with a talent for it offer a sufficient pay and they will come and the results will appear in the character of the next generation it is not difficult for to obtain men of fine ability and culture for their service because though the salary is not large of the people compared with the income of a or a master in a large town yet a certain honor and respectability as well as is connected with the post of professor give the same reward to the teacher of the common schools and a result will now the state demands its men for and the like and easily them the business of the whole generation of youth in the land between four and sixteen is one of the first importance on which the of the nation depend common sense demands then a class of men with superior powers with a generous development of all their faculties and especially masters of the science and art of education soon as the people are satisfied of this the can have such a body of men at their disposal until this is done the state must suffer it is easy to be penny wise and pound foolish and it seems to us that the system of small for hitherto pursued even in new england is like sacrificing a whole cloak of velvet to save the end of a candle compare the of a child of fourteen in one of the common schools say of boston and another of equal age and capacity trained under the care of the most judicious and skilful teachers of that city and what a difference a difference not only in the amount of positive knowledge acquired but still more in ike actual development of faculties the one is ten times better educated than the other the difference | 37 |
found from the ranks of the people their services are so valuable that their parents will not the boy to attend school to ue man of small means the daughter s time is not worth so much as the son s she therefore could attend school much longer were there any superior school for her to attend such too is the demand for active young men and the general hurry of the times that young men rush from the schools and into active life long fore they are prepared women less needed in active life finding indeed few to fill could longer at school and a superior culture in such schools there would come many daughters out of the portion of the people and getting well educated they become the mothers of men of no humble class would an influence wherever they were and that class which is now a and a reproach to the young further still the presence of a body of highly educated young women would the other sex more than any amount of appeals from the press or the pulpit a coarse and ignorant man and conceited his head filled with better than tne newspapers and who thou t as nature a he hates nothing so much as to be found inferior to the women he constantly meets while the majority of women have a very inferior culture their heads even more furnished than the young men s while they are ignorant incapable of all serious thought even of attention enough to understand a common lecture and report it it is no wonder that men who have a better culture though still coarse and ignorant conceited and should think woman their inferior when such men meet a woman of really superior culture they only mock and call names on her as a almost as a monster were there many such women were the of women of such a character our ignorant young man finding himself in a would become ashamed would give over calling names and finding that his boasted superiority of nature only made him would to culture of his better faculties and would end by becoming something of a man of the people it need not be said the expense of such not be afforded for all experience of public education shows that it costs less to the whole at public charge than to the select portions who now occupy the we think it could soon be shown that the sums now paid for the education of two or hundred young women at private schools in boston would more than suffice for the superior education of the thousand who would avail themselves of such an education were it possible were there a thousand young women furnished with the best culture which this age could afford scattered about in society as wives and mothers it is easy to see the change which would soon effect in a single generation nay it is not easy to see all the change they would effect their influence soon appear in the in the newspapers the theatres in all our yes in the state itself and produce effects by no means anticipated now the establishment of such an institution would in a very few years double the number of persons who have a superior education and every such woman is not only an ornament but a to society to crown the whole system of public education a public college would seem necessary founded by the state watched over by tiie state and by the state preserved from all and influence a college with and lectures open to all who were able to understand their use our scheme of public education is exceedingly until this also is established at present many young men of superior talent are from a generous solely by their inability to meet the expenses of a college course suffer for lack of culture and society suffers for lack of their services inferior men but bom of parents or more fortunate obtain the culture and occupy the more elevated poets of society which can only be filled by men bom with superior gifts not less than well bred everywhere we see signs that a free public college is needed and desired amongst them are the rise of cheap which only express die want which they cannot satisfy the numerous and courses of lectures the me library association the association of and like in boston it would be easy for any one of the free states to establish such a public college in one of its principal cities offering to all education the people march who could such an as would show were capable of the offered we will not go into the of such a scheme only to invite public attention to the subject such would soon a large body of men with a superior and free us from one of we troubles of american society professional men ignorant of their lawyers doctors ministers whom it would be flattery to call half educated bat who are yet not to be blamed having ail the culture they could get still more it would a liberal education amongst all classes of society and the advantages of that we have not time to point out it is no mean reproach to us that the the and the french have done r more for the education of the e than we have thought proper even to attempt has taken the lead in many important movements of the nation we wish s e would set the example of a public college for surely no state is so competent for various reasons to make the experiment and perhaps none so much feels ihe need of it every man of superior education so far as that goes is a blessing to society not less than an ornament he dignity and honor to hid calling not | 37 |
it to him he may at on the bench of a judge or on the bench of a be an or a clergyman that is of small account his thou t his wisdom his character do their work in society as now so we get rich faster than we get and as a nation the reproach of material and vulgar said in his day the mass of laboring people should not be of a character too elevated a government demands for all the best education which it is possible for all to receive the superior education of as many as ble in all the large towns of men and women have associated together established and secured to themselves courses of lectures every winter this movement shows the want of something more than schools and have hitherto hie effect of these with their lectures is excellent in many ways intellectual moral and social but as yet is accomplished by them in comparison with what may be done no system is pursued by such institutions lectures come after one another without order there is no sufficient body of men well trained for the business of popular brilliant t of oe people and men serve for an s amusement but of the great work waits to be done it seems to os that the of several towns might combine to and have regular and of lectures od in each by the same person in this manner men of ability and suitable education might easily be well paid for the labor of preparing valuable lectures and the people receive the advantage of instruction from the best minds in the land the of a popular mi t soon become as important as that of a judge his social rank as high and his salary still more in this some of the best talent of the state might be applied to its most appropriate work the education of the people lectures might be delivered treating of the facts of nature or science in its various the facts of man his history literature laws and the like lectures on facts and lectures also on ideas a few years ago in boston one of her sons founded an for the better education of the people by means of lectures and thereby did a greater service to town as we think than any american has ever done to his native place education in its large sense is the greatest which can be bestowed on a town or a city we refer to the its usefulness is now only be there the services of some of the most able men of america and of europe have wisely obtained for the purpose of the people the experience of that shows that superior talent and culture can easily be commanded for great work whenever the pecuniary means are provided a combination of numerous thou poor can also secure the services of men of superior for their purpose as soon as they wiu the apparatus most important m is men able men the influence of lectures hke those of and at the ci at the various and elsewhere it is not easy to calculate not only do men give positive information but they ail their hearers to a yet nobler culture and suggest tiie intellectual and methods by which it may be won in new england there is no public or even amuse ment as such the old and barbarous sport of military has long been and is now ridiculous the amusement of getting is rather old and though still the only of the wretched is not of the people march to amongst iq or even merely respectable men politics and ma serve for in of amusement this for the men that for the women bat they will not do the work this absence of amusement and tlie character with which america has been reproached render it the more desirable that and lectures should be provided to meet numerous wants and while they cultivate the mind cultivate also social feelings amongst all public also wiu powerfully aid this work we think there is not a public library in any large town in the united states a to which all persons have access the land is of books valuable books even are now becoming more and more common true tiie yellow tore the literary that is about at the a low taste in the and of such miserable productions the school books in most common use we regret to say are poor and low such as relate to science often poorly constructed and devoid alike of scientific principles and scientific method it is commonly thou t that an ignorant man may write for the ignorant if he to keep them so he had better but the most skilful are needed by the men still spite of the increase of works and the spread of that yellow fever of literature the taste for really valuable books has increased with astonishing rapidity the want of public in most of our large towns is be to be felt the establishment of social are not so often merely domestic as heretofore of district school tiie of the various associations and the like is only an indication of want not adequate to meet it it is a remarkable fact that m the city of paris there are more books thrown open to the every day than are contained in all the college and state of country there we have seen with republican and christian a professor firom the and a m his of blue cotton at the same table studying works which neither of them perhaps could to own we are g lad to learn while writing these pages attempts are seriously making in boston to found such a the generosity of tiie wealthy men of that is well known and seems to have no limit but we of the | 37 |
their wealth has been directed to a nobler object than this of the people the scientific in the university at cambridge recently established will doubtless valuable aid in uie solid education of the people a want has long been felt of some institution which should afford a culture somewhat different firom that of our better not less severe and scientific but more so if possible only less and we see it suggested by the distinguished president of university that something is perhaps to be done with a view to the formation of accomplished ers for classical schools and and hope that some provision may soon be made there or elsewhere tor instruction m the science of education what tiie call gk apart firom the art of teaching there is a science of as distinct from the business instruction as is from the art of land making an this also is a liberal science to be cultivate in part for itself as an end and therefore should have a place m every liberal scheme of education as well as and but is a means also and will prove useful in practice as most men come at length to have the charge of forming and developing the characters of others at the most tender age committed to their care the english language is deficient in works which treat of this though the german is sufficiently rich at least so far as quantity is concerned we come now to speak though briefly of the works named at tiie head of our article no the reports of two sub of the boston school committee the first is the report of the annual examination of the grammar department of the grammar and writing schools the second of the annual examination of the writing department of the grammar schools the first is a plain statement of the results of the examination of each particular school the reading in the upper divisions of the r t class is pronounced admirable as that is under the direction of the head masters but tiie lower classes including more than four of all the children in the schools are under the care b m s of the march of much smaller and with inferior the mr b a c i majority of all the children never reach tiie first and therefore do not partake directly in the advantages of the best instruction provided for the schools some children have been two in the grammar schools who yet have not advanced at all since ihey entered them ought to be done to this there is a deficiency in the furniture of the schools but in special there is a great want of there are not two thousand volumes in all the grammar schools in the city the thinks should be provided that ihe study of should be introduced into all the schools as soon as possible and also that the art of drawing should likewise be taught in all and in the for boys the report also ihe want of schools for ignorant a want deeply felt and now but supplied by the of a few private persons many ignorant foreigners come amongst us many also in new and where there are no accessible who cannot even read it is hard to leave men to the irregular care of private benevolence which already finds more to do it is unjust to neglect them leaving them in their ignorance the little which would be required to establish such schools would perhaps be a gain to the city in the end the report of ihe other is a literary curiosity a document so ill written we have seldom seen and know not which is the more remarkable the confusion of thought or of speech speaking of the school the author says the teacher has had no to or interest the in in the p school he no books are used the tenth question in natural laid before the at the examination was as follows the north pole of the earth and the north pole in the same part of the earth s surface but we forbear from any more specimens of the of the report the committee recommend as it seems to us very that sewing should be taught in all the is schools to some this wiu doubtless seem a trifling matter while in reality it is one of great importance but the committee also recommend that and should be in the that boys should be of the people educated by men and be to the moat excellent scholars we trust ihe will not take three steps backward in compliance these suggestions we wish the boston examining committee had mended the of a general of all tiie schools in the city to look teachers and both the school from their nature can i best do their work but as their reports show it would be easy for each town with ten thousand inhabitants to a of public schools who should make it his whole business to look after their welfare and we think that in a few years most beautiful results would follow the school have seldom much time to devote to their work ihey are yet more rarely men who understand the science or the art of education so well as the teachers themselves the result is that the teachers become adopt inferior methods of instruction or attempt to teach with no method at all and much of the time of the children and the money of the people is thereby wasted no a large amount of valuable information and important suggestions offered by the secretary of the board report will doubtless be and therefore we say but of its contents the most important part is the section which treats of the power of common schools to redeem the state from social vices and crimes he thinks that more than half of the bodily and disease of | 37 |
of education was in at that time waa president tf the with a fair prospect of advancing in his political career he had talents good men of all parties gave him confidence he was also a lawyer with a reputation rapidly and a income of about a year some one was needed to take the office of secretary of tiie board of education and tou for the common good of the of mr accepted that post e gave up his chance of political so to the greedy for noisy gave up with certainty of wealth which it he became secretary of the of education with a pitiful salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year and the chance that even that would be reduced one half by a of the leg in a year or two he knew he must toil harder than ever before and that too with the certainty of being abused by each lazy and a sleepy of his work by every who could get up the insane cry of and talk of the folly of paying fifteen for a man to look after the common schools yes by from to who feared so much aa education wide spread amongst the people such was the prospect many him a fool for taking the office and some said so but one good man soaring far above the heads of his thanked him for his heroism and bade him god that man long since ceased to be mortal and needs no praise of ours a guess would solve the it was dr the ends whidi could so easily have been foreseen soon came to pass the penny wisdom of the state was appealed to by the pound foolishness thereof and the talk was of the expense the great cost of the board of education fifteen hundred dollars in one year paid to the secretary truly the was in danger the also took torn attacking the and its not with success but not without effect were true to their craft and raised the old cry of and church in dan r till the land rung but if the q the people ed at that cry we other ears also at the retort and its echo loud and long of the people political and were excited and widely diffused dark and were and they worked longer and more for working beneath the sur ce even the or a part of them joined also in the battle excited we not whence or how and fought with if not with science and with skill even now we fear the battle is not over the normal schools got established a man doing much for education that greatest charity much in public as green a growth still marks the unseen of that same stream of private towards the same end by means of this movement by the board of education by the normal schools and still more as we think by the able efforts of the secretary matters are rapidly getting mended the education of the people goes forward rapidly and yet more certainly bi ts are losing their influence their power but it is getting light when the day wild beasts lie down in their and and are not seen nor heard k we were asked for the man who in the last ten years has done the greatest service to his state we should not hesitate to name the secretary of the board of education who will doubtless blame us for writing of him who hides him self behind his work he has had the reward always given to such services not riches and not rank not honor but a grown not a crown of gold or of laurel by grateful men pressed upon an honored brow but a of thorns put there by quite other hands and for purposes somewhat we cannot forbear a word on the causes which the public education of the people amongst us one is the effect of habit it has never been the habit of any state to demand a wide culture of its citizens or to use the public wealth for the public education said the present emperor of a few years ago to the assembled students of the university of wants not so much accomplished students as obedient subjects the money which built and the what and common schools might it not have founded what sums are by england france the united states on armies which would those nations i true a cannon speaks with a loud voice yet a school of the people march master can be heard tiie the hundred dollars already spent it is said in the war would found one hundred and five free each as costly as university school and all yet nobody thinks it very that the public book money and school fund are taken to buy powder and ball even the churches which certainly have played an important part in the general education of the human race are doing little directly to advance the intellectual culture of mankind they have favored that by god s providence not their own design unconscious of a good they knew not at this day in many instances the clergy actually the education of the people counting reason as forbidding thought mocking at science now at and now slavery war out of the bible itself ng pains to establish unity of belief in some miserable tradition rather than that independent wisdom which takes old things if good and new ones likewise if also true we wish such men may be found the exceptions yet we blame not the church or the state doubting not that tiie leaders of both walk by such light as have we only take their walking as the index of their light it has not been the habit of the people to look on church and state | 37 |
jacob or to prevent the from descending to his posterity now as if this illustrious descent were not enough to the hebrew nation withal a corresponding and parallel effort is made to cast a cloud over the origin of tiie other races most immediately in contact with them many of them it is said are descended from ham the second son of a person held in high veneration by many of the oriental races but it is said that ham committed an infamous offence which demanded the on the part of his father accordingly curses the youngest son of ham the were the special objects of hatred to the in the early part of their history the latter conquered and gradually absorbed the territory of the former the inhabitants or them to bondage so the author of after relating m tie ham tlie fret that ib tbe ot s and tlie is repeated times m a angle to the y of one third of the race are by the act of their great ham hie are the nations of descent in the south and west of asia and the tf africa the and tiie bat the disgrace must be shared by all children of yet the curse falls specially upon his posterity taking the names from the common of the old the the the ie the and the many others these are the nations whom the are so often at war and who were unworthy to for and jacob in language manners and institutions some of the tribes were more allied to the than the car as it appears this fact must be accounted for m the hebrew history and accordingly they are from but they also are in their they are not allowed to be descended the ra ue and wife of the great but from a secondary wife or and also a in s whom once out of doors on account ot her in addition to this reproach is herself an woman and therefore disgraced by her descent from ue infamous family of ham after her fix m s household she returns bears a son called and remains there until after the birth of till nearly attained the age of manhood as it appears then at the of the mother is turned out ol doors and her son with her himself tf the must not be a joint heir nor inherit the land or the promises as he also is s son he must haye a blessing and a nation but when s posterity are are taken to add that he was the son of a ana she an egyptian a daughter therefore of the race of ham kindred nations are also said to haye been descended from but for mother only an obscure the m woman whom the author of ihe seeks to still more her by a bad name while he the of a hostile the or had likewise a strong national resemblance to tiie in man respects therefore must be referred to the same j they are descended from the twin brother of jacob but had shown himself unworthy of his privilege of tore and had sold the promises npon m thus ihe of the is at an early period of the history but that ii not enough his parents consent makes a shameful two both of them descendants therefore of the in family of ham and still more of the most of that and of a special curse pains are taken to the descendants of this unfortunate marriage but we need not follow the children of than to show that the and powerful enemies of the were traced back to that there yet two other nations often at war with the the and tiie the most intense national hatred appears to have existed between them and the descendants of jacob which continued long after the establishment of the to these nations so formidable and detested an yet more is they are the children of lot and his own the sons of and at the very when tiie birth of and ben is recorded the author diligently adds that they are the parents of the and thus the early and most important of the are disposed of and referred to some disgraceful original an man might put all these things together and considering also what nations are not thus mi a guess at the date of the book of itself the four books of moses as they are called are not more precisely historical than ae first equally and in the portions which relate to history and marked by the same intense which is at ferocious of the historical of the last of these and of tiie apparent mode in which it was composed we speak in a subsequent part d this article ji li r ie s the the book of k in many like ite it is foil of historical and c the book of judges is less constructed than and free tiie peculiarly spirit which that book but it is also and by no means a historical document on which any certain reliance can be placed the books of samuel and kings have a more and historical character all the outlines of tiie period they treat are by the hand of contemporary prose writers state records seem to hare been kept from the of david downwards the seem often to have been in the hands of the authors rf samuel kings and even the spirit is much in its intensity but the r of tiie work named at the be of article treats of their character and we will ve opinion upon the subject his aim is to a political history of the but he treats also of religious affairs for the whole value of hebrew history to us turns upon the hebrew on to this end he uses the hebrew with the same | 37 |
critical freedom that and dr show in their treatment of the roman documents he does not scruple to out the between the books of and nor to reject a statement which is absurd nor to set down a fiction under its appropriate name as we have to deal with human fortunes to us by the evidence of documents which bear plentiful marks of the human mind and hand we cannot dispense with a free and full criticism of these and in we have no choice but to proceed by those laws of thou t and of reasoning which in all the have now received we advance from the known towards the unknown we assume that human nature is like itself and the men of early ages b our more intimate knowledge of contemporary and recent times making for the of circumstances more do we believe that god is always like himself and that whatever are his moral attributes now and his consequent judgment of conduct such were they then and at all times nor ought we to question that the between the divine and the human mind are still e see d the the same as i e find this pre utterly to fail in for the facts presented to our we explain all the phenomena by known causes in preference to unknown ones and when one after another is found gradually to be cleared up by patient and a world of reality to itself before the mind fresh confirmation is added to the grand of modem philosophy which proves alone to lead to self x tent results the author has not the common superstitious reverence the bible and does not take the letter to tiie christian with he shows a large humane and christian spirit he is aware that his way of treating the hebrew documents is not usual his and says a and conscientious reader will probably meet here many things which have before passed across his mind but have been rejected under the idea that if they were true ihey would surely be well known to professed but let him be as there is not the same and ignorance concerning the old testament in the german as in the english if the hebrew history has hitherto been as a sealed book to us it is because all the and teachers of it are compelled to sign thirty nine articles of religion before assuming their office it is not easy to conceive how little we might know of greek history if from the revival of greek studies had been imposed with a view to the ideas of it current in the century but it is very easy to assure ourselves that neither nor could have produced their valuable works under such a until the strike off these the clergy it is mere in them to to a clergyman s authority in any question of first rate importance we dictate to the early youth what they are to believe and thereby deprive them of the power of bearing independent testimony to it in their mature years true religion consists in elevated notions of god right and a pure conscience towards him but certainly in the mind to a system of history those who call this religion are in the writer s belief as much in the dark as those who place it in and outward but while utterly both these false and injurious representations he desires his book to carry on its front his most intense conviction that pure and religion is the noblest the most blessed the most valuable of all god s countless gifts that a heart to fear and love him is a po n sweeter th i and and that the outward of held sacred bj good men is destined to be by the progress of knowledge jet in their deeper essence there is a spirit which will live more with the of all that is most and in man t vn this book be regarded we as the e er made in the en to our means of understanding that of hebrew history and the whidi relate to it only two writers in the dr and dr so aa we know haye ever treated the historical books of the old testament with the same freedom and courage mr has made a hi y to the of the old bat as he starts with the that has made itself for the net that the on like itself proceeded immediately from god his critical and progress is by a hie the work before ns is learned but a more reference to other writers would its the appeals to be with the works of the best writers who have treated the even the most recent in writing a he has written at the same time a good historical on the books of and and sheds t also m contemporary passages in tiie prophetic works he with the most profound of modem critics that the five books of moses were written long after the time of david that the hebrew code of laws like all others was formed part by part during a considerable period of tame and tiiat uie establishment of the is of later date than the itself he thinks the books of kings were during the man exile and those of samuel a earlier we will not give an of the whole work but only of parts which appear of most value the political aim of the hebrew institutions was to constitute a people of small independent land owners the most remarkable law was that forbade the sale of land beyond the oar of this the law of which aimed directly to keep land in and therefore to prevent of large masses of landed property the of q mm u h note d p et the result was no exist bat he that the law of rested on usage and feeling rather than | 37 |
on any or positive ment he thinks that samuel may be called a second moses that the results of his were greater and his instructions more permanent than those of moses himself but we see not how this can be unless he to samuel and not to moses the first introduction of the worship god to the hebrew nation the hebrew creed he was not in the sense of denying the of other gods it rather degraded them into devils samuel preached against try as john and john in and preached against and foreign tyranny the brief on the is perhaps the best account of those men in the language with au their they were not free from various tin of they often worked themselves into a frenzy in the administration of samuel and during the of the kings there were two great parties in ihe land one favored the exclusive worship of the other also that of and other a sign or ment of each of their tendencies may be noticed in tiie proper names of persons and places some are i some with others with or je for in the family of there is a mingling of these names but after his time the names derived from samuel and tiie favored the party s policy was to foster tiie of foreign as a to the influence of the a to the of david s treatment of the philip ib found in tiie conduct of the north american indians and savage tribes his proceeding were not according to the public cities and his private sins are not excused by this author but looked at with a clear cool human eye le says the complicated involved in his murder of so casts his in the dust that we rather pity and excuse than admire hint all the brilliancy alike of his and of his piety is and cold minds suspect his of if had been wise and bold enough to dash open the monarch s conscience before the of ess had swelled into a most happy might it been i but the march we tbat it was bo bard to a and prince david was not indeed an an alfred or a louis yet neither was he one of the vulgar herd of kings the in which he indulged so must in part be laid to his personal weakness when we observe how restrained in comparison was his nevertheless as a man he was affectionate and generous sympathetic and pious as a king his patronage of religious persons was highly judicious and his whole character of permanent importance to the best interests of his people and of as a warrior he taught a mutual confidence and common pride in their god and first elevated his countrymen into a ruling and leading race whose high place it was to for and teach the heathen around his career may serve to warn all who are wanting in depth of passion or enlarged knowledge of human nature that those on whose conduct society has relaxed its wholesome grasp are not to be judged of by their partial of evil but by the amount of positive good which they habitually exhibit compared with the great of the educated nations of europe david s virtues and vices appear alike but among he was a truly great man and of his own posterity though several who were happily subjected to greater were for more consistent in goodness there is none who more our interest and our love than the heroic and royal solomon the temple firom mingled motives of policy and the splendor of the building the of the ceremonies performed there three times a year led the people to there partly bom curiosity partly for business and in part fi r religious purposes thus a custom was established which helped the nation to this circumstance the author attributes a good deal of the superiority which had over in later times in non s time the strange awe of the dangerous ark to have the ark was opened and in it were found neither the rod of which nor the golden pot of but only two tables of stone it is not certain that the successive high priests dared examine them and compare the inscription with the copy in their books the author finds a remarkable between the two copies of the which is uniformly overlooked by we ve us version of the as found n only remarking that he has the t third and the table l thou shall worship no other god than for whose name is jealous is a jealous god n thou shalt make thee no gods m the feast of shalt thou keep and all unto me hut the of thy sons thou shalt redeem none shall appear before me iv six days shalt thou work but on the seventh day thou rest in time and in harvest thou shalt rest second table y shalt observe the feast of weeks the of wheat harvest and the feast of at the year s end thrice in the year shall all your appear before the lord the god of thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with the sacrifice of the feast of the shall not be left to the morning ix the first of the of the land shalt thou bring into the house of thy god x thou shalt not a kid in his mother s milk during the latter part of solomon s reign through the influence of his the party opposed to the worship of came again into and a popular appealed to an eminent man for of the wrongs which the nation was suffering this was the beg of the revolution which finally separated the kingdom but the pious design of the prophet was by no means accomplished is painted in black colors by the hebrew writers and as our author thinks mainly | 37 |
at length came out knowledge thus limited to the era which preceded its publication cannot be to a divine nor yet to accident p s he traces in the the growth of a wide and spirit which extending beyond the embraces the whole world he finds this especially in and yet more in the author of the last twenty chapters of the book of i whom he calls the younger more important is it to observe the softened tone towards the here indeed the tenderness and sweetness of this prophet is far more uniformly than that of any other his very and generally tell of the more recent polish and he moreover all the of the older school are in no respect elevated by him the alone is named and that in a tone the very reverse of although indicating the same high reverence for that institution which christians in general have retained with the exception of the fall of whidi was the immediate means of release to his people he does not concern himself with politics but on the trials sorrows and hopes of and the promises of divine aid to her in general terms to which the heart of man in all ages and countries has responded after the return from the nation was changed those who returned were chiefly over whose minds principles had a commanding influence the nation became by the letter of th ir old law reverence for the became more profound the of the law became the most important profession it is not intended here to pursue the later fortunes of the nation we have seen its rise and fall in its progress the and the elements were developed side by side the former flourished in its native soil for a brief period but was over all the world to impart a lasting glory to the latter while in union with and to the free spirit of prophecy had struck its roots into the national heart and grown up as a constitutional the lar to the but when by prophet or by king and invested with the supreme and spiritual control of the restored nation it to a mere plant whose was dry and learning or apples of which are as ashes in the mouth such was the and literal of the later out of which has proceeded nearly all that is in the character but the roman writers who saw this side only of the nation little knew how high a value the of the world s history would set on the agency of this scattered and despised people for if greece was to teach art and philosophy and rome to the processes of law and government surely has been the of religious wisdom to a world by frivolous or to these three nations it has been given to cultivate and develop principles characteristic of themselves to the beauty and science to the and rule but to the jews the of god and his sympathy with his chosen servants that this was the true calling of the nation the were inwardly conscious at an early period they discerned that was as a centre of bright light to a dark world and while groaning over the monstrous which imposed on the nations under the name of religion thej announced that out of should go forth the law and the d of when they did not see yet they believed that the proud and heathen should at length gladly learn of their wisdom and rejoice to honor them we thank the writer for his valuable book and would gladly see it here but as its publication would not favor any we have no reason to expect to see it in an american form and accordingly have been thus copious in our from its pages a few works written with the industry learning and philosophical so perceptible in this and above aj marked by the same humane spirit of religion would do much to relieve the christian world from the of superstition now resting on its bosom disturbing its sleep with ugly dreams yet at the same time forbidding it to awake so long as is thought responsible for so long mil the letter of the old testament the spirit of the new the bible will be appealed to for sanction of slavery war and a and so long likewise will the real spiritual beauty the hearty piety the manly faith which fills so many a page of and prophet be lost to the world the modern christian may say with the ancient greek give us light in the darkness only are we afraid march v a book of md and by j s esq c london yo vi and vi and the of and we shall for the present leave to the and for confess that we know not whether they claim their descent ham or et neither will wc to observe the nice distinctions that have been made between and legends and the many other distinctions which have not yet been made but easily be if any one would show a difference sufficient to a rd a for such a distinction or even without that difference we take a ballad to be a of some human event real or pretended it be a ballad of love or a ballad of war it may set forth the feelings of the author and so be mainly in its character or only the feelings of the s described in the poem and so be in its character it may be long or short good or bad old or new to us in case it may be a ballad we say all this lest it should be supposed firom what follows that we are not aware of the distinctions above hinted at and which have been made by critics and who if not very wise were at least very nice | 37 |
beggar man s stead come pull off thy coat thou old beggar man and thou shalt put on mine and forty good shillings i ll give thee to boot besides brandy good beer ale and wine bold robin hood then unto came unto town came he o there did he meet with great and likewise the all three one boon one boon says jolly one boon i beg on my knee that as for the d th of these three their i may be soon granted soon granted says master soon granted unto thee and thou shalt have all their gay aye and all their white mon y oh i will have none of their gay nor none of their white but i have three on my horn that their souls to heaven may flee c i ballad literature march then robin hood mounted the gallows so where he blew loud and shrill till an hundred and ten of robin hood s men came marching down the green hill whose men are these says master whose men are thej tell unto me o thej are mine but none o thine and are come for the all three take them take them says great master take them along vith thee for there s never a man in fair can do the like of thee sometimes indeed this moral feeling which is sinks down into patriotism and is limited to the country of the bard sometimes it is bounded by men of his own humble rank in life but this seldom happens in such poetry except when war or oppression has made wise men mad bringing out passions are narrow and hateful notwithstanding the english so commonly scorn the authority of circumstances they yet betray the purely character of the english nation with the exception of these of the of life they contain scarce any thing which has not its parallel in experience we look in vain for the signs of that more elevated so noticeable in the popular poetry of some other nations the americans have produced but little poetry in the simple form of little which among tiie people and that little is destined to a speedy and burial as we think hitherto circumstances have not favored the production of original literature with the perpetual exception of speeches and sermons which grow oat of the daily wants of state and church they from their nature must ever be new england has always been the most literary part of america but the fathers of new england had a form of religion or rather of perhaps the most that was ever developed on a scale so extensive was no poet he dwelt years long on the lake of preaching within right of and with the most beautiful scenery in the world spread out before him and yet so far as we remember there is not in sermon or letter a single allusion to tiiat wondrous beauty wasted on his cold eye not a single ballad literature figure of speech ever is drawn from the scene before him the lake the mountain or the his followers in america had scarce more inclination to poetry than he men who are reflecting on the five points of election and ihe kindred or inwardly the assembly s would not bo likely to write or to make they did well in allowing the nursery to be sung to children in not unworthy to be wholly forgotten still further their outward circumstances were most to the production of popular poetry songs and amongst the people they were struggling against poverty against the wilderness the wild beasts and savage men not to mention the difficulties which came from the other side of the water thus stood the fathers of new england on the one side was starvation and destruction on the other and the indians laying in wait and ready to hasten the advance of both under such circumstances few men would incline to sing any thing very or besides to the common things had a certain of about them and were thought scarce worthy of being sung would a man be merry he might indeed sing for there was a argument for his singing but it must be new england is a proverb amongst nations we speak not of the so long drawn and so but of the substantial words which endure while the have long ago been hushed into expressive silence we ve a verse from an old american version of the of david assuring our readers that it is no invention of ours but an the race is not to them that do the run nor that carries ihe longest gun of singing there was no lack in new england but that was not quite enough even for the the natural heart of man wanted something a little more some narrative of heroic events in a form slightly poetical with a tinge of moral feeling and a minute of time place person and all particulars belonging this want was supplied so far as we can learn by the public prayers so abundantly made by the they were as as literature the popular about as long equally it is said only the element was and t was supplied we suppose by the of the orator or by tiie repetition of particular phrases as a sort of refrain or burden few men esteem the of new england more than we but we honor them for what they were not for what they were not not so much for their as for their masculine character and faith m god we have seen many of the early american but few of any merit new england ran to politics and practical life not to poetry war which forced such music from the and the but little song from the stem men of america | 37 |
and that poor ot the which belong to the period there are few which are worth we a portion of one which seems to us the best its date is obvious while i relate my story americans give ear of britain s fading glory you presently shall hear i u give you a true relation attend to what i say concerning the of north america the cruel lords of britain who glory in their shame the project they have lit on they joyfully proclaim t is what they re striving after our rights to take away and rob us of our in north america there are two mighty who rule in parliament who always have been seeking some mischief to invent t was north and his father this horrid plan did lay a mighty tax to gather in north america he searched the gloomy regions of the infernal pit to find among those one who d in wit to ask of him assistance or tell them how they may subdue without assistance this north america old satan the arch traitor resolved a voyage to take who rules sole upon the burning lake for the ocean he away to land he had no notion in north america he takes his seat in britain it was his soul s intent great george s throne to sit on and rule the parliament his comrades were pursuing a way for to complete the ruin of north america literature he tried uie art of magic to bis schemes at length the gloomy project he out the plan was indulged in a but was in north america these subtle address d the british court all three were of this report there is a pleasant landscape that beyond the wide atlantic in north america there is a wealthy people who in that land their churches all with most delicately stand their houses like the are painted red and gi they flourish e the sly in north america their land with milk and honey continually doth flow the want of food or money they seldom ever know they heap up golden treasure have no debts to pay they spend their time in pleasure in north america on fowls and fishes most frequently they dine with gold and silver dishes their tables always shine crown their with butter they eat and rise to play in their ladies flutter in north america with gold and silver do themselves adorn the deck their faces as the mom i wine in their glasses they spend each happy day in merriment and dances in north let not our suit nt you when we address your throne king this wealthy country and subjects are your own and you their sovereign they truly must obey have a right to govern th america o king you ve heard the of what we now is it not just and equal to tax this wealthy tribe the question being asked his majesty did say my subjects shall be in north america invested with a warrant my shall go the tenth of all their current they surely bestow if they indulge rebellion or from my stray send my war to north ni rally all my forces by water and by land my light and horses shall go at my command bom both town and city with smoke the day show no human pi north america literature march go on my hearty soldiers jou need not fear of ill there s and their wiu fulfil thej tell such ample stories believe them sure we may that one half of them are in north america mj gallant ships are ready to you o er the food and in my cause be steady which is good go steal and plunder and you shall have the prey they quickly will knock under in north america the laws i have i never will although they are neglected my fury to provoke i will forbear to flatter i rule with mighty sway i take away the from north america o george you are distracted by sad experience find the laws you have are of the kind make a short and tell you by the way we fear not your oppression in north america our fathers were distressed while in their native land by were oppressed as i do understand for freedom and i they were resolved to stray and try the desert regions of north america heaven was their protector while on the roaring tide kind fortune their and providence their guide if i am not mistaken about the first of may this voyage was undertaken for north america to sail they were commanded about the hour of noon at shore they landed the twenty first of june the savages were with fear they fled away and they settled in north america we are their bold descendants for liberty we fight the claim to independence we challenge as our right t is what kind heaven gave us who can take away kind heaven too will save us in north america we never will knock under george we do not fear the rattling of your thunder nor lightning of your spear though you declare us we re strangers to dismay therefore you can t scare us in north america to what you have commanded we never will consent although your troops are landed upon the continent well take our swords and and march in bright array and drive the from north america we have a bold who fears not nor gun the second alexander his name is washington his men are all collected and ready for the to fight thej are directed for north america the songs of are still fresh in the recollection of their authors no doubt and are pretty fair of what america has produced in the form of poetry for the people and were besides valuable as specific signs of that period the work of mr named at the | 37 |
be of this article is intended to supply the want of a book containing all the good or at least all of the best in the language certainly the want has long been felt and remains still these volumes contain some pieces unworthy of a place in such a collection as it seems to us such as the story of john white s and the of the valuable are omitted to make way for them we miss and who would have thought it the grand old ballad of sir the of orders grey the to sweet william and fair margaret and even those about king arthur robin gray is likewise omitted the most valuable that he has inserted which are not in the hands of lovers of ballad lore are the luck of robin conscience the king and a man the last which seems to be tlie original of a popular song a there was in the west is supposed to have been written by one martin a celebrated author of we give some from it come to me all around and i will tell you a merry tale of a man that held some ground which was the king s land in a he was borne and bred thereupon and his father had dwelt there long before who kept a good in that country and the from off his now for this farm the good old man just twenty a year did pay at length came death with his dart and this old farmer he did literature march who left behind him an wife then that was with and with her she about for she was likewise and lame when that his were laid in the grave his eldest did the at the same rent as the father before he took great and thought no by him there dwelt a lawyer false that with his was not content bat oyer the man still hang d his nose because he did gather the king s rent this by the lawyer s land which this had a mind unto the a good conscience had he in his that sought this man for to he told him he his lease had and that he must there no longer abide the king by such hath wrong done and for you the world is broad and wide the man pray d him for to cease and content if he would be willing and no in my lease and i will give ee forty shilling its neither forty shillings no forty pound warrant thee so can agree thee and me thou yield me thy so round and stand unto my the tenant sets off to carry the matter before the king he had a humble on his a i that was of gray with a good blue bonnet he thought it no to the king he is as fast as he may so he goes to london and thence to he gives the porter a penny and a nobleman a to introduce him to the king who is playing at yonder s the king said the nobleman behold fellow where he goes ballad s same the that has lost his money and ins how hi t he hath a to his this i like not it hath him undone warrant that fellow in those he hath his and his won but when he before the the nobleman did his the man followed after him and gave a nod with his head and a with his knee if u be sir then said the man as i can hardly yon be here is a fellow that brought me hither is to be the king than ye i am the king his grace now fellow let me thy cause understand if you be sir king a tenant of yours that was borne and within your there a lawyer hard by me and a fault in my lease he he hath found and all was for five ashes to build a house upon my ground hast thou a lease here said the king or thou to me the deed he put it into the king s hand aiid said sir t is here if that you can read why what if i cannot said our king that which i cannot another may i have a boy of mine not seven old a will read you as swift as run i th highway lets see thy lease then said our king then from his he it out he gave it into the king s hand with four or five knots ty d fast in a when the king had gotten these letters to read and found the truth was very so i warrant thee thou hast not thy lease if that thou five ashes o ballad literature march have an oar king from troubling of thee he will cease either thee a good cause why or else let thee live in peace have an attachment said our king charge all thou to take thy part till he pay thee an hundred pound be sure thou never let him start a me the man then you ken no whit what you now do say a won me a thousand times ere he such a of money will pay thou art hard a then said our king to please him with letters he was right willing i see you have taken great in writing with all my heart lie give you a shilling he have none of thy shilling said oar king man with thy money god give thee win he threw it into the king s the money lay cold next to his skin thy heart then said oar king art a something too bold dost thou not see i am hot with the money next to my skin lies cold the called up his and bad him fetch him twenty pound if | 37 |
ever thy here away be thy charges up and when the man saw the gold for to receive it he was willing i had thought the king had so gold my heart a kept my shilling the man got home next sunday the lawyer did him oh sir you have been a stranger long i from me you have kept you by it was for you indeed said the man the matter to the king as i have tell i did as neighbours it in mj head and made a submission to the king what a thou with the king said the lawyer could not neighbours and friends agree and me the a neighbour or friend that i had that would a bin a man as he he has gin me a letter but i know not what thej t but if the king s words be true to me when you have read and it over i hope you will leave and let me be he has gin me another but i know not what t is but i charge you all to hold him fast pray you that are learned this letter which presently made them all aghast then they did this letter the lawyer must pay him a hundred pound you see the king s letter the man did say and unto a post he straight way be bound then unto a post they tide him fast and all men did rate him in sort the lads and the and all the at him had great glee and sport he pay it he pay it the lawyer said the attachment i say it is good and you must something credit me till i home and fetch some credit nay it the king he bad if i got thee i should thee stay the lawyer him an hundred pound in ready money ere he went away would lawyer were served thus from troubling men they would cease they d either show them a good cause why or else they d let them live in peace and thus i end my merry tale which the plain man s and the king s great mercy in writing his wrongs and the lawyer s fraud and mr has not inserted any songs in his volumes as most of have done we cannot forbear ballad literature march adding a little piece not so well known as it to be called s love in mj bosom like a bee doth his sweet now with his wings he plays with me now with his feet within mj eyes he makes his nest his bed within my tender breast my kisses are his daily feast but yet he me of my rest i ah wanton will ye and when i sleep then he with pretty flight and makes his pillow on my knee the live long night i strike the harp he tunes the string he music plays if so i sing he gives me many a lovely thing but cruel he my heart doth sting i wanton still ye here is a little piece by a german poet of the school not without merit we know not the name of the the last poet when will be poets weary and throw their away when will be sung and ended the old eternal lay when will your horn of plenty at last exhausted lie when every flower is gather d and every fountain dry as long as the sun s chariot in the heavenly blue as long as human faces are with the view long as the sky s loud thunder is echoed from the hill and touched with dread and wonder a human heart can thrill ballad literature and while through tempest the rainbow the air and d human can hail the token fair and long as night the with stars and and man can read the meaning that in golden letters as long as shines the moon upon our nightly rest and the forest waves its branches above the weary breast as long as the spring and while the roses blow while smiles can cheeks and eyes with joy o and while the dark o er the grave its head can shake and while an eye can weep and while a heart can break so long on earth shall live the goddess and make of human life an endless melody and singing all alone the last of living men upon earth s garden green shall be a poet then holds his fair creation in his hand a blooming rose he smiles on it with pleasure and in his smile it but when the giant flower for ever dies away and earth and sun its blossoms like of spring decay then ask the poet then if you live to see the day when will be sung and ended the old eternal short and notices march art short and notices e princess by alfred boston w d ck mo on the day after the publication of the princess we were informed that had pronounced it an entire failure is a gentleman who readily admits whatever has been universally admitted for a century or two but has his fears that the world will admire too much he therefore his energies to putting down all new to the office of giving the public a fresh source of delight he his fellow citizens from being too easily pleased for this de le purpose he has erected a small battery mounted with what he calls the received of criticism and serves the guns himself there is no immediate danger of a hostile he fires at nothing for practice and it must be allowed that his shots tell upon this kind of with admirable precision and effect it cannot be denied that possesses a large amount of valuable information he is as familiar with schools of poetry as a cape ann is with schools | 37 |
of and regards them very much fix m the same point of view he has a notion that pope and are exactly alike and that though nobody can ever be like them eveiy body ought to be within a few years he has made prize of the terms and which he uses merely as whereby to convey his own confusion of ideas into the heads of other people he considers as only a convenient disguise assumed by men whose real object is to destroy our time honored institutions he has a vague horror floating in his mind with regard to some school the master of which must be a very abandoned man judging from our friend s account of the principles by his scholars keeps a kind of private into which he admits the statues of such poets only as have nothing dangerous in them a new idea a new rhyme a new with him a violent presumption of poetical and any one of these he considers as a blow aimed at the foundations of society he only declared peace with on his being appointed and that out of reverence for an office which had been illustrated by a and a he is a of the kind which only in short he is a valuable member of society and the original there have been five since american this of our respected friend ringing in our ears we opened the princess with a tremulous hand not that we short and notices ourselves bad not been in the habit of his judgments like dreams by but we feared the effect of his verdict on the public which has always shown a curious for having its opinions made up for it by its we read the book through with a pleasure which heightened to delight and ended in admiration the poem is unique in conception and execution it is one of those few instances in literature where a book is so true to the of its author that we cannot conceive of the possibility of its being written by any other person no matter how gifted had led it unfinished it would have remained a fragment for ever like the stories of bold and we beg pardon mr martin has completely finished the latter poem we will therefore our remark and say that had the princess been broken off in the middle it would have continued a till providence sent us another in the first place we must look at the poem not as the work of a but of an acknowledged poet and of one who has gained his rank and maintained it by the certainty with which he has produced his effects and his conscientious to the truths of art we know of few poets in whose writings we have found that entire which those of his conception is always clear his means exactly adequate and his finish perfect so entirely free is he from any appearance of effort that many have been led to him and to praise his delicacy at the expense of his strength it is true that he never an of force he never calls all his muscles into play for the of a flower yet he is never found wanting to the demand of the occasion with his fingers in the oak made after all rather a sorry display of though one chief characteristic of s mind be a flowing grace and a feminine to every finest suggestion of beauty though thought in him seems to be rather a luxury of sensation than an activity of intellect though his themselves to every winding of expression with the yielding freedom of water yet his outlines are always and severe perfection of form seems to be with him a natural instinct not an we must therefore regard the princess as the work of a master and it must argue a poverty in ourselves if we cannot see it as a harmonious whole for so perfect is s appreciation of his own strength that he has never in a single instance fallen below himself his self command is not the least wonderful quality in him the growth of the poem is as natural as its plan is original the gradual of the author in his subject till what was begun as a song turns out a sermon the growing no ii short and march of the poet over the mere story as the higher relations of his subject appeal to him and the faculty feels itself more and more are exquisitely true to the intellect and the h art we know of no other man who could have mingled the purely poetical the humorous in such entire sympathy as nowhere to suggest even a suspicion of but s humor is peculiar to himself it is as refined as all the other parts of his mental constitution we were about to compare it with s it is as genial and simple but not so robust it has more of the polish of it is like s and ed by the poetic sense it has none of that which generally goes with it when it is the quality of the mind it is not a laugh but a quiet smile and a light in uie eyes it is a delicate flower which we can perceive and enjoy but which escapes definition in short it is s k we take by itself any one of the touches of humor scattered through the princess it will seem nothing extraordinary and we shall wonder whither its charm has flown so perfectly and dependent on each other are all parts of this delicious poem for art is like the invention of the arch each piece taken singly has no especial fitness the material is no than that of the doorway two upright blocks with a third laid across the top nor is the idea less simple after we have once found it out we | 37 |
feel this book to be so true an expression of the man its hu is so thoroughly a part of him and leads up to or falls off from the higher and graver passages with so graceful an that the whole poem would suffer by losing the least shade of it it out of the story as as it had entered at the moment when the interest becoming concentrated in the deeper moral to which the poem is naturally drawn necessarily it the progress of the poem is carried forward and its movement with the truest feeling and tact it is as if some in a laughing mood had himself at the organ to for the entertainment of a few friends at first he is conscious of their presence and his fingers run lightly over the keys bringing out of notes swayed hither and thither by the of the moment but gradually he becomes absorbed in his own power and that of his instrument the original theme less and less till at last he quite away from it on the wings of his art one striking excellence of s poetry as noticeable in the princess as elsewhere is its repose and there is nowhere the least exaggeration we are never distracted by the noise of the machinery no one beauty is so prominent as to divide the effect and to prevent our receiving the full pleasure arising from our perception of completeness the leading idea keeps all the rest in perfect he never gives us and notices too much with admirable instinct he always short where the reader s imagination may be safely trusted to suggest all the minor of a thought or a situation he gives all that is essential not all that he can he never his invention with two images where one is enough and this self denial this entire of the author to his work has been remarkable in him m the first it marks the sincere artist and is worthy of all praise if some of his earlier poems were with of it was only the natural to a mind which felt itself to be peculiar and was too hasty in asserting its peculiarity before it had learned to clearly between the absolute and the accidental but he has long since worked himself clear of this defect and is now only a because he is a the profound and delicate conception of female character for which is distinguished and which from the nice structure of his mind we should expect to find in him is even more perfectly developed in the princess than hitherto it marks the wisdom of the man no less than the insight of the poet whatever any woman may think of the conclusions he arrives at she cannot help being grateful to the man who has drawn the lady and the design of the princess is novel the movement of the poem is yet it is not of and milton but of the busy nineteenth century there are glimpses of contemporary manners and modes of thought and a question is argued though without upon the freedom of the story indeed it is the story itself which on the whole we consider this to be the and fullest expression of which we have had the reader will find in it all the qualities for which he is admirable so blended and as to produce a greater breadth of than he has elsewhere achieved the familiarity of some passages while it is in strict keeping with the character he at the outset also the singer at last sure of his audience and on the readiness of their sympathies moral et education des et des en c par paris de les en par den und fur von dr the and bloody of the french when the human intellect was into a delirium short and march of excitement and put forth its energies when gods struggled with many noble plans for the elevation of were proposed and partially tried but speedily failed in consequence of the death of their authors or were forgotten in the excitement of new and more brilliant schemes many of those plans however contained of vitality which can never per and we find them after long years of neglect and forgetfulness among these was the plan of the philosopher and physician for teaching the of this wild and strange creature in the human form who was caught in the woods furnished to the delighted of paris an opportunity of proving the truth of their theory that man was originally savage and rose to through long ages of painful in and semi civilization they thought that an individual might all these transition stages and become at once a highly civilized being if he were properly instructed undertook to train teach and this savage no one was more capable of the task and his enthusiastic accustomed to the rapid changes of the drama of the revolution expected that the savage of yesterday would be a on the to morrow an of his the next day ready to be a leader of some reform the next week and a victim to the the next month but failed because as it proved his subject was not a savage but only an idiot failed but truth never fails he got a glimmer of it he saw that might be taught he communicated the feeble light which dawned upon him to one of his who by following it up has been guided to the knowledge of a method of teaching all and vastly improving their physical moral and mental condition the first work named above contains not only the beautiful and satisfactory results of his treatment but the theory on which he all his mental and physical it is not altogether sound and philosophical but we have no heart to find fault with a man s philosophy when his practice brings such a harvest of good | 37 |
and endeavour to learn from the condition and treatment of these of society some lessons which may be useful for there is no subject so ugly and that does not contain within itself precious jewels to reward the earnest after truth and general principles of the philosophy of nature with an outline of some of its recent among the embracing the philosophical systems of and and s system of nature by j b a m lately professor of natural philosophy and in st john s college n y wm and h r nothing but a regularly projected article can do justice to or introduce this book to the american public it is altogether the best thing upon the profound subjects to which it relates that has ever appeared on this side of the water it is the best because it gives the most intelligible and thorough analysis of the modem identity systems of the and because that part of the book which is original with mr most sharply and successfully the true theory of development from that bold popular which first appeared in the and thence but not through the of mr it is a counter revelation of reason and science with which luckily spirits from the second sphere of existence did not some pages of mr s book are written with rare warmth and vigor for instance nearly all the sections under the head of organization of society but we must be allowed to say that we do not think he has fairly stated the theory of or rather that particular or of it which is held by the spirited and devoted of this country we agree with mr as to the fact that the centre must always create its and that therefore the so long as it is an exterior scheme to be applied is but there is no in this country who will dispute his position that the person and family are an essential existence in society it is not true that their system the natural feeling the immediate reality of the relations of brother and sister in favor of an abstract brotherhood it should always be sufficient to state the central objections to without the question with these special issues which were first started by the newspapers mr has had some private on this and personal arguments which never convince any body have left their the discussion is the identity system of the briefly said and without mentioning its necessary in thought and science it is this mind and matter are opposed to each other and nevertheless one they are different but corresponding revelations of the deity which is their source only short and march in far as it is their identity so that to use mr s apt illustration the symbol of the absolute is the one principle constantly itself as two poles and still resting in their midst as their identity the every part will be a complete system in itself two poles and a point of ence and just as every part of the is the entire in miniature so also every individual development in nature is a miniature universe this figure the true theory of development and the true and function of god in the world it is the of that great of nature which is the present task of science to and noble of which the whole harmonious system to which they must belong are already discovered and all science is but a of the absolute science starting from this new term of the identity yet difference of god and the real mr is completely informed upon the present state of science and knows its latest he holds firmly and clearly the great idea which the active thought of this epoch in every domain of life is pledged to he is a german yet we are harassed by no he has a system yet it is not a mere of nothing and it has not crowded out a single tender feeling or moral the destiny of the individual has been identified by him with the of the race becomes completely manifested only when every individual has that absolute which is the perfect expression of his nature and which is embodied in the text shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart and thy neighbour as that is as much as god mr in speaking of social questions finely says the assurance that the of this world are to be silent in a better one is not accepted as an and a these are to become accord here to resolve themselves now into harmony a sunday of cannot for the brutal toils of the preceding week the descent of heaven upon earth the of every day of labor as a legitimate sunday is the great of our generation expressed the whole philosophy of the day in the single line the new down to man we may as well pause in our notice here for a discussion of all the points which throng upon us suggested or re awakened by this book would carry us far beyond our limits we cordially greet this work and hasten to recommend it to our scholars as mr as we are able to judge its analysis of the german systems from to is just clear and comprehensive we should short and notices object to his estimate of were it not evident that he regards him simply from a point of view some of s fine and social are not unknown to the heart of mr our young men will not find this book so easy to read as the last mysteries or even the bloody pages of mr yet we hope they will put themselves under its suggestive influence by an occasional of sentences a sturdy or a stray obscurity of style for these exist and we think that a second edition might safely contain a few verbal alterations to the benefit | 37 |
of the general clearness of the text it is a grand solid book of german thought and saxon sense and just the thing for our notes on the government and people of and on the chinese language c by thomas meadows to her majesty s at london vol vo and the work is and is evidently written by an intelligent man he thinks the chinese a sober minded rational people that their official documents are generally superior to those of the english he thinks the long duration of the chinese empire is explained by the fact that each successive has taught this as a cardinal principle that good government consists in the advancement of men of talent and only to the rank and honor conveyed by official posts to prove that this principle has long been recognized there he numerous passages from ancient writers thus who began to reign years before christ says to the emperor his when a king knows how difficult it is to be a good king and when a subject knows how much it costs to fulfil all his duties faithfully the government is perfect and the people make a progress in the ways of virtue that is certain replied the emperor and i love to be with in this manner truths so well ought never to be concealed let all wise men be distinguished then all the of the world will enjoy a profound peace but to rest entirely upon the sentiments of wise men to prefer them to his own to treat with kindness and never to reject the suit of the poor are only to be in a very wise king in the year b c the emperor wan te published a declaration in which he says to the people yon know that i have neither virtue nor sufficient for the weight of govern short and n march ment this me to publish this present declaration to inform all who are in posts in mj empire from the prince to the simple magistrate to inquire carefully after persons of merit for mj service such for instance as know the world perfectly well others who have a thorough understanding of all affairs relating to the state but above au such have resolution and enough to inform me of what they think amiss in my the author that the certainty of rank and wealth in the state merely through personal the whole nation to exertions thus prosperity throughout it and its powers to a great extent the following quotation is from those who and fight for territory and fill the with dead bodies and who fight for cities so as to fill the cities with dead bodies may be said to lead men on the earth to eat human flesh death is not a sufficient punishment for such crimes those then who delight in war deserve the highest punishment the family of the king descendants of are still numerous and have just claims to be considered the oldest and most noble family in the world never pretended to any powers or intelligence with superior beings was neither a nor an but simply a moral philosopher and a and his doctrines have obtained their present great authority merely because they are generally sound the author thinks is not much more common in china than in england but lying is a vice almost universal s boston religion und yon wolf an st in und vol vo xxvi and this is a translation of mr s discourse of matters to religion and is executed with extraordinary diligence success and beauty in the preface the says there has never been a period of so much movement of thought in the religious world since the as now he doubts whether the age of the itself was so rich as ours in religious but it is still the old between the one religion and the various the victory is certain but the question is how can it be achieved with the least cost the old forms of belief are no longer the was a great advance but not the end of progress it and notices broke the chains of fell back on the bible and allowed entire freedom in the criticism and of that we have now to confess that the standard measure of religious truth is not to be found in the bible but in reason and conscience the were not advanced enough to accomplish that work if we are to go no further than thej went we may complain that the first step was taken for what it to declare the soul and then insist on entire of belief that can only be accomplished by the soul men may create silence and call it peace but the man who feels the calls it sullen death he gives a brief account of the rise of the in europe and thinks it was they who most clearly understood the principle of the have most faithfully represented it in the ages and have continually endeavoured to bring themselves and the world into a clearer consciousness he cannot understand how could have said the are the only christian which have no seed of in them to an eye they are eminently the representatives of the idea he touches briefly the history of the and their followers and says that at there are at present one hundred and four one hundred and twenty and about forty thousand souls then follows an account of in england and america taken mainly from the writings of and he thinks that in america the have been somewhat to their first principles and have neglected their high he the distinguished men in america who have once been and have since that calling considering their action as an important sign of the times an american dictionary of the english language c by ll c c and enlarged by a q c vol to and we | 37 |
would have copied the whole title but had not space to more than a brief notice of the work itself and thought it better to omit part of the title than the whole of the notice this new edition contains all the matter of the former edition of s dictionary in to with additions by his law the editor it is a work of great and learning a work of great value no pains seem to have been spared to render the accurate and complete the words relating short and notices march to various arts and professions have heen examined by eminent men to whose special studies words apply an attempt is made to give all the words in common use and all that are found in such writers as bacon and american words also have a place in the dictionary though they are few in number some alterations have been made in the of dr but perhaps not enough to satisfy the demands of a classic english reader with all the gratitude we feel to dr for his great services to all of english we must confess that he has tended somewhat to the tongue in some of his changes of the we could wish he had not been quite so obstinate in his to an opinion once formed and expressed the furniture of the dictionary is abundant and valuable the are sometimes sometimes a little far fetched we could wish to see a few more words relating to the of the roman and english churches which an american often meets with both in ancient and modem writers but which none of the common help him to understand the tables of proper names hebrew classic and modem with their are exceedingly serviceable we cannot hope dr will be followed in respects but we are sure he has done a great service to all who speak the english tongue and are happy to see the proof of his usefulness and increasing reputation which this new edition of his great work affords services and civil life of general william prepared from his by daughter mrs maria together the history of the campaign of and surrender of hie port of by his james new york vol vo xv and the first part of this work relating to the services of is a valuable contribution to american history reflecting honor on the early life of the g but the second part is the more important inasmuch as it entirely from the charges so long and so often brought against him and as it has long seemed to us this history has only confirmed the impressions made on us years ago by the report of the trial of the that he was entirely innocent of the charged on him that the of his expedition and the fall of were not to be charged to him the work is written throughout with good temper with evident h and notices freedom from all spirit with and and as it should be bj a with mingled reverence and affection yet while general is defended it became that his should be spoken of doubtless we shall hear from them and the whole matter will probably be anew the old charges and the old battle fought over a letter to the people of the states touching the matter of slavery by boston j co the following communication has been handed to as as a note on the part of the work relating to the effects of slavery on industry the annual of the and slave states stated in dollars give no idea whatever of the comparative which a free and a slave population produce and for this reason the labor which it costs to produce a and not its market price at a particular time is the measure of its value as wealth judging generally the market price of a at a given time will depend mainly upon the greater or less quantity in the market at that time to the demand thus a which has cost but one hour s labor may owing to the of the article at a particular time bring as much in the market as another that has cost ten hours labor this shows why the productions of the south when estimated in money at their present market price in value to those of the north the south a for some of its most important productions and not producing enough to supply the demand a high price for what has really cost but little labor and its estimated in money make a somewhat tolerable comparison with those of the north it is probable that the population of the north with its superior diligence energy skill implements and machinery perform ten twenty or thirty times as much labor and therefore produce ten twenty or thirty times as much wealth judging wealth by its true general rd as that of the south for man but the north by its labor produces such an abundance of its peculiar and them subject to so severe a competition from abroad that their market value is reduced and their value measured by makes no fair comparison with the value of the of the south which are produced in but small quantities and sold with all the advantages of in their if the south performed as much labor as the north man short and march man its productions be much more various and yet so much more abundant as to be reduced in price it would thereby add ten or twenty fold more than now to the wealth of the world although the value in money might be little or nothing greater than that of their present productions a necessary consequence of the present state of things is that when the north and the south make an exchange of productions of the same value the north gives the south ten or twenty | 37 |
times as much wealth or the product of ten or twenty times as much labor as the south gives in return when the north to the south a yard of cotton in exchange for a pound of tobacco she gives to the south an article of wealth which its slave labor if educated only by the masters with no aid or instruction from free would probably never have been able to produce a community consisting solely of slaves and slave if cut off from the rest of the world would probably never bring the arts to that degree of perfection that would enable them to manufacture a yard of our cheap cotton these things illustrate in some measure how little in comparison a slave population if placed in the same circumstances as a free one would contribute to the wealth of the world they show also that our slave states in reality give comparatively little in exchange for what they receive when they make ex changes with the free states we learn from the best authority that there are not in the state of ten bom in that state and unable to read and write of the persons reported in the as ignorant to that degree almost all are this fact makes the difference between and south still more enormous than before t p lectures and by deeply in the soul of things we shall be wise london william s co vol mo and this is a of nearly au the published prose writings of mr the volume contains a preface entitled and his writings the first volume of his essays his essay called nature sketches or of three lectures on the times and namely the addresses delivered before the divinity school before the library association before the society and the in in continental europe ad v ii ex oo l paris c dr g f vo dr f x die hell us c j u thomas lord v england d s c l f t and r dr f x der d to a d d v g h vol i ui vol iv and and d v v dr c l t c l et a g g t c l and fr h v m mo s vm a s yo s de la et la par a l paris yo die v der d d y der and von a ml dr j v c l w de ex yo der im des c f x die der and j h in c c dr a coral den der yo dr j k and an dr vo h des and vol ul vo von hammer cardinal s ton s c c yo yo and s list of new received the past the present and the future by h c author of principles of political economy c philadelphia mo don de la translated from the spanish of de of new received march hj charles esq carefully and corrected with by philadelphia to and the haunted and other poems by e j c co new york mark h co the children at the a familiar dialogue on education by f translated by francis boston wm d co mo position and duties ot the north with regard to slavery by f from the christian of july charles the triumphs of war a sermon by p john w foster d ed fame and glory an address before the literary societies of college at their by charles boston wm d co vo poems by james second series cambridge george boston b b co a lecture delivered before the female anti slavery society of by william w brown a fugitive slave boston a discourse delivered l the church n y upon day by henry ward new york the duty of obedience to the civil three sermons preached in the chapel of brown university by francis president of the university boston the new church and r review devoted to the of the philosophy and taught in the writings of conducted by a m vol no new york john street on together with general plans of a state constitution and a constitution for a of states c to which is added the new constitution of the state of new york boston to essays on the progress of nations in productive civilization population and wealth illustrated by by c seaman no new york an lecture delivered at the medical college by m d professor of and t boston religion und an die in von mo a grammar of the language with by the of the a b c f m mission western new york vo reminiscences of the last of life for the hour of death c by paul boston mo the library of american biography conducted by sparks xxv second series xv boston little brown mo contains life of wm by f m life of by s k with a portrait of into the united states by little brown vo address and poem delivered before the boston library association boston printed for the association the history of town by charles m boston and travels over the rocky mountains in by p j de new edward g review no iii june art i has slavery in the united states a legal basis we examined in a article the pretensions of slavery as it existed in the british north american colonies prior to the revolution which converted those colonies into the united states of america to rest upon a legal basis we found in most of the colonies of the of an earlier or later date and in all of them a practice assuming to the slavery of indians and the mixed race to make that hereditary wherever the mother was a slave and in all claims of freedom to throw the burden of proof on the but we also found that this practice and | 37 |
all the attempting to it were m direct great and well settled principles of the law of england which was also the supreme law of tiie colonies principles which the and the courts had no authority to set aside or to contradict and thence we concluded that american slavery prior to the revolution had no legal basis but existed as it had done in england for some two centuries or more prior to s case a mere on the part of the masters and a mere wrong as respected those alleged to be slaves nor is this view of the matter by any means with u or at all of recent it was taken and acted on and made the basis of in while the british still prevailed m america the best account almost the only original account of the of in is in a paper by dr printed in the historical dr states that about the time of the commencement of the ho m legal bum of american slavery june several of slavery took occasion to against the of for our own liberty and at the same time other people of theirs na and james swan merchants of boston distinguished themselves as writers on the side of liberty those on the other side generally concealed their names but their arguments were not suffered to rest long without an answer the began about the year and was renewed at various tunes till when it was very warmly agitated and became the subject of at the public commencement in college this subject at least so far as concerned the further of and others as slaves was introduced into the court but neither nor would in any upon it the says had better success in the courts a containing the case of a negro who had accompanied ms master from the west indies to england and had there for and obtained his freedom was at boston and this encouraged several to sue their masters for their freedom and for of their services after they had attained the age of twenty one years this was undoubtedly the case though dates the first of these a cases in two years previous o that important decision the collected money among themselves to carry on the suit and it terminated suits were between that time and the revolution and the invariably gave their verdict in favor of liberty the old law of the slavery of indians and was no longer m force it had fallen with the first under the second no such had been but slavery had continued by custom and had been recognized by the of the province apparently as a legal relation the on the part of the masters were that the were purchased in open market and bills of sale were produced in evidence that tne laws of the province recognized slavery as existing in it by declaring that no person should his slave without giving bond for his maintenance c on the part of the it was pleaded that the expressly declared all persons bom or m the province to be as free as the king s subjects in great britain that by the law of england no man could be deprived of his liberty legal bam of american slavery but by the judgment of his that the laws of the province respecting an evil existing and attempting to or it did not it and on some occasions the plea was that though the slavery of the parents be admitted yet that no of that kind could descend to the children the invariably gave their verdict in favor of liberty nor does it appear that these were in any respect inconsistent the instructions of the judges as to matter of law the blow thus dealt at slavery in might perhaps have been repeated in other colonies but before there was time for any thing of the sort the revolution occurred and new stepped in to take the places of the old ones this brings us back to the question started at the close of our former article did the new established at the revolution do any thing to give any additional character of to the institution of slavery let us begin with the of virginia the of and representatives from the several and which assumed the responsibility of a new government for that state very their labors by setting forth a declaration of as its basis and foundation this declaration of rights bearing date june announced among other things that all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights of which when they enter into a state of society they cannot by any compact deprive or their posterity namely the enjoyment of life and liberty with the means of acquiring and possessing property and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety upon the basis and foundation of this declaration of rights the proceeded to erect a constitution or form of government m which it was provided that the common law of england and all of parliament not local in their character made in aid of the common law prior to the settlement of virginia together with the several acts of the general assembly of this colony now in force so far as the same may consist with the several and resolutions of the general shall be considered as in full force until the same shall be altered by the power of this colony but this provision could give no to the acts for the of slavery j in the first place because those acts legal bam of american slavery june speaking were not in force and never had been being void from the be m defiance of great principles of the english law bj which the powers of the assembly were and in the second place because thej not and could not consist with that declaration of the above quoted laid down bj the itself as the | 37 |
and foundation of the new government immediately after the of this constitution provision was made for the laws of and a committee was appointed for that purpose but nothing was done tall when several bills prepared by the committee of were bv the assembly and as laws it was f in one of these acts that no persons shall be slaves in this except such as were so on the first day of this present of assembly and the descendants of the females of them this act embodied into the of still in force and through it all legal tides to slave property in must be traced but in there were no persons held as slaves in virginia the practice on this subject and the acts of the assembly which that practice were contradictory to the law of england always on the assembly and specially adopted bv the government as the law of virginia and contradictory also to those general principles and that declaration of natural rights specially adopted as the basis and foundation of the new government the which framed the constitution of virginia was far from or claiming any power to confer on the assembly any authority to reduce any of the inhabitants of that state to a condition of slavery l he assembly was far from the possession of any such power or from attempting to add any thing to the legal basis upon which rested prior to me revolution it remained then what it had been in times a mere without any legal basis a in direct of the declaration of rights b mere force and terror and the overwhelming power and influence of the masters without law and against the of which upon the out of with the mother country had the government following in the footsteps of adopted on the of a declaration of legal basis of american slavery the part of a new constitution m which they declared that au government of right from the people is founded in compact only and is constituted solely for the good of the whole and that the of are entitled to the common law of england to all to their situation passed before the settlement of and introduced and practised on in the colony and also to all acts of the old assembly in force on the first of june but acts of assembly and slavery were not in force on the first of june nor at any other time they never had been in force they were contrary to the law of england to a with which the assembly was specially limited by yet it is on these void acts that the of slavery in still continues to rest the constitution of north formed th contains not one single word respecting slavery that institution did not receive even the semblance of support derived in virginia and from the in force of the acts for no act of the assembly of north had ever attempted to define who were or might be slaves nor was any such attempt made by the newly established assembly slavery remained in the state of north what it had been in the colony a mere custom a sheer not by even tiie semblance of law neither the first constitution of south adopted in march nor the second constitution adopted march contains a single word attempting to slavery nor even any continuing in force the old but in february in the interval between the two an act of assembly revived and continued in force for five years of those acts among others the act of on the subject of slavery of which a was ven in our former article and in act was made perpetual but the act of was void from the beginning by reason of numerous to the law of england which the assembly of south had no power to into law if then the acts of and are to have any they must be considered as al acts half population of to perpetual slavery had the assembly of south any authority to pass such acts has it any such authority at this mo legal bam of american slavery june ment could the south having a majority in the assembly pass a act for selling all the into perpetual slavery or all inhabitants of irish descent or all white men not and not possessed of or all citizens of who might land on er hospitable coast we must always remember in considering questions of this sort that not the government only but the state also are of powers the sovereign power is in the people or that portion of it possessed of political rights the of offices created by the state possess no authority not specially conferred upon by those admit for the sake of the argument that the sovereign people of south are and can give the character of law to the most wrongs yet surely no state can exercise any such authority it be expressly the of south no such power and a power in a state to reduce at its pleasure to the condition of perpetual any portion of tne inhabitants of a state and that not for public but for private uses is hardly to be presumed as one of the ordinary powers of at least m a state which in the solemn act of separation om the mother country had united in declaring that all men are bom free and equal and that life liberty and the pursuit of happiness are rights the first constitution of formed in february contains no allusion to slavery the power of the assembly is to such laws and as maybe to the good order and well being of the state by any new authority the system of slavery was left in as in the other states to rest on such legal basis as it might have had during times the of that basis was not perceived by the | 37 |
state or the state courts their prejudices their to look into the matter at all kept them blind to it but their blindness their ignorance their mistakes could not alter the law or make that legal which in fact was not so the supreme court of decided that the natural freedom and equality of all men acknowledged in the bill of rights to the constitution adopted in that state in was totally inconsistent with the existence of involuntary legal b ms of slavery and that slavery under that bill of rights could not be legal a similar in the second constitution of new was held to personal freedom to all persons bom in that state after the of that constitution in and island personal was secured by to all future natives of these states and to complete this scheme of in these states as well as in new the further introduction of persons claimed as slaves or the of such persons from those states was in five of the eight remaining states new york new and virginia slavery was regard by the most intelligent and enlightened of the citizens and by m distinguished men who had taken a conspicuous part in e late revolution as an evil and a wrong inconsistent with the principles on that revolution was founded its termination was anxiously looked for and confidently hoped all five states had taken the first step in that direction by the introduction of persons claimed as slaves while and by the old acts which forbade except bv i e allowance of the governor and council had opened a for the action of individual sentiment in of liberty which came soon into active exercise such was the state of things in the ten states the came together while that was still sitting the famous of was passed by the of the by which involuntary except for crime was for ever in tiie territory of the the only territory to which at that time the had a joint title yet rising sentiment in favor of impartial liberty encountered a formidable opposition the had been carried indeed in five of the states but in only one of those five had it been thorough sweeping and complete four had provided for the future but had not thought it expedient to interfere with the present in five other states a commencement only had been made the mass of the slave in those five states clung with to their prey and ihe friends of though their influence was apparent did not yet venture to propose any very decisive measures in the and the case was much worse the north had indeed commenced the legal bom of american slavery of their but the of that state put a stop to that dangerous practice by forbidding except bj allowance of the county courts since the peace the of slaves from the coast of africa into the three southern states had been and was vigorously carried on was no thou t in those states of a system from which great were hoped let it be remembered however and this consideration though frequently overlooked or disregarded is absolutely essential to a correct understanding of the case that the did not to the laws or institutions of the states nor to or enforce the political or social ri ts to the inhabitants of the states as such that had been done already by the state the states existed as bodies they had their laws the rights of their citizens and inhabitants and their courts for those rights and with none of those arrangements either by way of or alteration was it any of the business of the to interfere unless in cases where these arrangements had or have an injurious bearing upon the citizens of other states or upon the foreign relations of the the business of m d was so to the articles of as to carry into effect the objects at which that namely the the states to act as one nation in their foreign and securing the several states and their inhabitants against injustice oppression or injury on the part of other states or their individual inhabitants it might indeed become necessary for the accomplishment of these objects to interfere to some extent with some of the laws and institutions of the states or at least to reserve to the authorities to be created by the new constitution the power of doing so and under the plan adopted of that to be separately by each of the states any alterations so made or would rest on the same basis of popular consent with the state themselves but interference with state or state laws any interference in any shape with the internal affairs of the states was a power to be very exercised especially in its application to particular cases otherwise any constitution which the t form would be sure of being rejected by the states legal bam of slavery it was from this view of the case that the omitted to to the constitution bill of an much complained of by those who opposed its it was not in their ch as individuals about to enter into a political organization but in their character as inhabitants of certain states already constituted and organized that the constitution had to do with the people of america their rights as inhabitants of each particular state it belonged to the state to settle the constitution had only to declare what should be their additional and rights as citizens and inhabitants of the under view of the subject slavery in the states was a matter with which the was not called upon to and which indeed could not be directly interfered with without exposing the proposed constitution to it did however come before the incidentally and the question which we now have to consider is whether m dealing with it thus incidentally the constitution has acknowledged the legal existence | 37 |
of slavery in any of the states so as to bind the and to impart to that institution in the states that legal character which the laws of the states themselves have failed to to it the article in the constitution principally relied upon by those who the on this point is that which the of in the house of representatives that article is spoken of as though it were the great compromise the concession upon which the constitution was based this was not so the great difficulty that occurred at the outset was to reconcile the pretensions of the larger and the smaller the smaller states insisted upon t t political equality which they already possessed under the articles of the larger states maintained that representation in the national ought to be based on wealth and numbers the larger states having carried a resolution to that effect as to both branches of the the smaller states threatened to quit the and this result was only prevented by a concession recommended by a of one from each state to whom the subject was referred which was finally adopted by the yielding to the small states an representation in one branch legal of slavery june oi the national this was the great compromise the particular of representation to be adopted in the other branch was quite a subordinate matter yet thou subordinate it was interesting and important the subject of the distribution of representatives in the first after being referred to two whose reports were based on a estimate of wealth and numbers was finally arranged by the the of the future representation was a more difficult matter one party headed by wished to leave it entirely to the discretion of with the object of the existing states to retain a political over such new states as might be admitted into the union but this was objected to as unjust and it became necessary to t upon some precise rule of distribution that distribution was to be regulated by wealth and numbers as to this there was a general agreement numbers might easily be ascertained by a but how was wealth to be measured this was a point upon which under the existing difficulties had already occurred in the articles of it had been proposed to the charges of the war and other common expenses among the states in proportion to their on the ground that population on the whole was the best practicable test of wealth and ability to pay taxes but the southern states had strongly objected to arrangement on the ground that the labor of their slaves was far less productive than the labor of the same number of northern and the value of build and cultivated lands to be ascertained by an made by the authorities of each state was finally adopted as the basis of and pecuniary bu such an was found liable to great difficulties expenses and objections very few states had made it and since the peace had proposed to the articles of by for it the whole number of white and other free citizens and inhabitants of every age sex and condition including those bound to for a term of years and three cf all other persons not comprehended in the foregoing description except indians not this proposed to which eleven states had already had only been agreed on hi after a good deal of between the and southern members as to the relative legal bam of american slavery of free and slave labor that question was now revived in the and the same compromise was suggested there which the continental had already proposed as the basis of having first agreed that representation and direct should go together it was finally arranged and so it now stands in the constitution that the number of representatives from each state shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons including those bound to service for a term of years and indians not three of all other persons the question is whether the use of the phrase three all other persons the of the slave of any particular state and a sufficient basis for those laws to stand upon notwithstanding their al defects already pointed out the first thing to be observed is that the of those laws was not of the least consequence in settling the point under consideration to wit the of the industry of the several states whether the of virginia for instance were held in slavery by law or against law made in this point of view no difference at all suppose for example as we hold that they were deprived of their liberty the of their would not increase their or the wealth of th state so as to her whole population to be counted in her representation what the constitution had to deal with in settling this distribution of representation was a question of external fact not a question of law or right the question of the individual rights of the inhabitants of the states was one over which this article required the assumption of no control their condition in fact not their condition in law was the real point according to which the distribution was to be regulated even in referring to the matter of fact great caution was used the question of slavery in the states said in reference to another point to be considered ought not to be touched but we ought to be careful not to ve it any sanction thought it wrong to admit into the constitution the idea that there could be property in men and the whole of the instrument was carefully settled in accordance with this view it is fair enough to conclude that the other persons deferred to in this article were those held as slaves in the bam of american slavery june states sat the constitution takes care not to commit itself hj calling them | 37 |
slaves or bj using any that would seem to miss a judgment on the legal character or particular legal incidents of condition that remains what it was this article does not affect it in way and if the laws of the states fail as we to ve any legal authority to those who claim to be masters surely they will look for it in in this article of the constitution when the in the course of its labors arrived at the with the power to and foreign commerce a new occasion for compromise arose ten states out of the thirteen had ab the of slaves from abroad and if the government were invested with unlimited control over the intercourse with foreign countries it was un enough that one of its first acts would be the of the african slave trade for this a and the were not prepared and the opinion was very warmly and confidently expressed by the of those states that such an power conferred upon would in those states the of the constitution to avoid this result a provision was inserted that the or of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be by prior to the year but a tax or duty may be imposed on such not exceeding ten dollars for each person we observe in the same cautious as in that which we have already discussed as to the legal character or condition of the persons so to be admitted nothing whatever is said there is not the slightest that the constitution assented in any way that any of the persons so introduced into the states should be held in a state of slavery k that was done it could only be on the of those who did it and of the states that allowed it the constitution did not assent to it and by the power which it reserved to itself all the power which was possible under the circumstances it secured the right after the lapse of twenty years of preventing the possibility of such an occurrence but for this right thus reserved to the government there is every reason to believe that in all the states south of virginia the foreign slave trade would be now bam of american slavery vigorously the concession made to and the was temporary and limited the point carried was of a permanent character there still remains one other of the constitution relied upon as slavery in the states no person held to service or labor m one state under the laws thereof escaping into another shall in consequence of any law or therein be discharged from such service or labor but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due it may be worth while to mention in this connection that in the original of the the phrase bound to was used following in this respect the proposed to the articles of from which the idea of the was derived but was struck out and service as us because seemed to be only appropriate to express the condition of slavery yet in the article now under consideration the term service is employed no person held to service or labor but without dwelling on this distinction it is for our purpose to refer to the pointed difference between this and tiie in the express reference which this makes to law practice usage fact merely is not but law is required no person held to service or labor in one state under the laws thereof y c the question then whether this for the return of fugitive slaves is entirely dependent on the previous question whether there is any lawful slavery in any of the states a question upon this expresses no opinion and throws not the slightest light whatever if there is any such slavery it must exist by virtue of state laws laws complete and in themselves for whatever might have been the intention or whatever the legal effect of it neither intended to give nor has it any effect to give a legal or character to claims of service not previously and legal the three of the constitution above are the only portions of that instrument have ever been set up as giving any sanction to the slave system of the states so far from finding in these any such sanction we find on the contrary evidence of a fixed determination in the constitution not to yield it they contain legal basis of american slavery june no of the slave laws of the states no recognition even of slavery as a state institution entitled to the favorable regard of the government general of south in the course of the of the more than once insisted on some such for slave property but so far from yielding to this demand the greatest care was taken not to admit into the constitution the idea that there could be property in men that is to say the very idea upon which the whole slave rests it was impossible for the constitution by its own proper vigor to slavery or to make its one of the conditions of the compact for on such conditions no constitution could be formed but on the other hand the greatest care was taken not to give any sanction to a practice or a principle so inconsistent with those natural right upon which all the american professed to be founded this view of the constitution very nearly with the view taken of it both north and south for many years subsequent to its it is only within a very recent period that the idea has been set up that the of the constitution include the recognition of slavery an institution of the states or some of them entitled to protection and support not only does the constitution so far from slavery | 37 |
in that character take the greatest pains to avoid doing so but in point of fact as we maintain slavery is not even a state institution speaking but a mere by law and in that character certainly not entitled to support or countenance from the government or any but if the constitution though cautiously avoiding to commit the union to the support of slavery has yet left the determination of the rights of the inhabitants of the states to the state authorities even allowing that slavery exists by and not has the government any warrant to interfere in any way to set this matter right is it not bound to wait patiently till the state authorities shall themselves do it besides the specific and particular powers conferred upon by the constitution that body by a of a very extensive and comprehensive character is to provide for the common defence and general legal of american slavery fare of the united states now suppose the to be adopted by the majority of the people that the common defence and general welfare of the united states their defence against invasion from abroad and at home their welfare moral social and economical demand the termination of the system of slavery and in this point of view it seems to matter but little we consider that system an or a legal institution of those states in which it exists suppose the conclusion to be arrived at that the continued existence of slavery whether legal or not will be fatal to the success of that great experiment which the american people are now making at the matter in this point of view has not the government a right to interfere and to adopt such measures as seem best calculated to stop the increase of this evil and to bring it to an end if under the above confess had power to buy to buy to to buy has it not power under the same to vote money and take other needful steps towards the of some of native bom inhabitants from most cruel it is true that heretofore has not with this intention it is also true that on a petition signed by and others and presented to the first praying that body to take measures for the of slavery the conclusion was arrived at after a warm debate that had no over the subject of slavery within the states but this decision binding only on the that made it though very generally in since still remains open to and a change of circumstances changing the light in which the question presents itself cannot m to have a serious influence oa the decision to be made upon it when the first met slavery was a crime and disgrace in which the whole of was more or less involved and in the wars which the nations of europe carried on with each other their in this matter were respected when france england spain and holland invaded each other s colonies they never thought of putting arms into the hands of the slaves early in our war some suggestion was thrown out in the british house of that the slaves in the southern states might be armed and employed to keep those colonies in but the opposition headed by and fox legal bam of american slavery june the idea as barbarous and infamous and the never seriously entertained remained upon of acknowledged in the that if the british had availed themselves as they might have done of the aid of the the war in the southern states might have had a very d termination during the last war with england a plan it is said was formed for occupying the between the and the with a british army turning it into an asylum for the slaves of and to whom was to be and training a black army under english officers and with it to the conquest of the south but britain had slaves of her own it would not do to set an example of and of liberty won at the point of the and this brilliant scheme was consequently abandoned had it been undertaken something more might have happened than the burning of the since that period opinions have greatly changed england has slavery throughout her wide spread france has but a veiy slight interest in it and is seeking to get rid of that all cries out against it should we become involved in war with france or england especially with england and war with england is one of the of our politics no matter what the cause or origin of the war a of freedom to the would it in the eyes of the world it would become the cause of humanity against a the more hateful from its attempt to cloak itself with the name of and from its audacious efforts to out the doctrine of the rights of man in the in which that doctrine was first proclaimed as the basis of political organization the enemy would strike us in our vital parts and would honor and the blow under these circumstances will not due regard to the common defence justify in a course of le policy such as may narrow limit and tend to the of a source of weakness which no provision of and tes can guard against the welfare of tiie united states their internal well be has already it or likely to while these sheets are passing the press ed legal bam of american slavery ing from any dangers from without and more the welfare of the slave states themselves seems to call stiu for interference the perception of the evils of slavery has till recently been confined to an enlightened and reflecting few a class of persons more inclined to think to act and by the of their number from any effectual political action but sensibility to | 37 |
of slavery the spirit of must be encountered in the slave states themselves by a power potent enough to awe it down and keep it under and this power can only be a mass of citizens combined together acting in concert and having such weight of social and especially of political influence that it shall become necessary to respect their feelings their opinions and their rights such a combination must be formed in all the slave states before the first effectual steps can be taken we do not say towards the of slavery merely but even towards the of the rights of those free those great rights of free discussion and a free which no or would be willingly however or the friends of freedom in con are not to wait till such a party rises up it is their business legal bom of american jane to help it up to reach out a hand to it on eveiy could the immense patronage of the once be directed to that point we may judge of the likely to follow by the effect which that same patronage has produced at the north in a counter i it is by upon the government on every possible occasion that occurs or can be made to occur to all responsibility for slavery and all countenance of it it is by finding and making perpetual occasions to point out the of slavery in particular instances its with the general welfare and the obstacles which it to the common defence it is by the example of steadfast old and repeating at every opportunity in season and out of season i think also that slavery ought to be such are the means by which even a very few members of may effect great things not indeed by way of direct for direct after all but a small part of the influence which but by keeping this subject constantly before the public mind and compelling the slave to see what they have hitherto so shut their eyes to and what is of more importance yet giving the non of the south an opportunity to see what the slave hitherto have so kept out of their sight just in proportion as the anti slavery party in just in proportion as body shall symptoms of a settled firm and steady opposition to slavery just in the same proportion will the southern anti slavery men be encouraged to confess themselves first to themselves then to one another and then to the world it is only through the medium of and the government that the anti slavery sentiment of the north can be brought into any active with the anti slavery sentiment of the south and surely until northern representatives of non can stand up on the floor of and boldly speak their minds upon the subject and secure a hearing too it is too much to expect any such boldness or any such hearing in the of any state it needs as we believe only this free discussion to show that even the behind which slavery claims to itself cannot be maintained this point has a a ft been to hie without examination and as believe without reason the ct seems to be that although the people of the southern states were to allow slavery to continue among them as a matter of ct they left its to rest upon the and practice of the times without undertaking by any act of on their part to con fer any new or additional upon it the of slavery rests then upon a usage a usage not by the english law but in several most important points directly contradictory to it a usage totally incapable of furnishing any legal foundation for claim of right a usage upon which neither t ie state nor the constitution undertake to confer a legal character art n as a we cannot hope in the compass of article to do justice to the various claims which the writings of prefer to the respect of the ous and philosophic mind we shall indeed attempt nothing more than a statement of their leading import in entering upon a brief survey of s it will be advisable to consider for a moment his claim to a peculiar illumination in the first place this tion very from the phenomena of animal in that it involved no to his senses in what is called the subject is obliged as a first requisite to become insensible to the material world he is in fact reduced to a condition very nearly approaching the death of the body before the consciousness is able to itself with however the case was otherwise his illumination involved no denial of the life his senses their action although he their sphere and became the familiar of scenes which they were all too gross to apprehend in short his illumination was a illumination to him the reason of things he saw the forms of the m a a the june mental sphere because he had acknowledged as no man before him the only principle to be use or it is this which gives his writings all their worth to the or philosopher that he reports principles and not ts or rather that his are all principles he describes the heavens and the or the things to either state not as ultimate facts or interesting on their own bat as by their existence the basis of human individuality and thus of the divine in nature he describes them as the necessary means to a divine and eternal end which is the communication of divine life to the creature an end which when truly apprehended or viewed in its fulfilment the means also with divinity for the grand reason he says of all experience the essential cause of all the causes and effects in the universe is the divine humanity or | 37 |
the fact that god is a man not but really and actually or and naturally that is as being the original and fountain of every truly human relation now however we may judge of the of this reason or cause for the effects witnessed in nature at all events we cannot deny that here is an attempt to a universal or philosophy and this in the second place as to the claim of illumination from the whole race of and these persons have always some private mission they are always endowed with some personal authority over others and the deity from an equal providence over all his creatures into the special benefactor of a select few but claimed no authority of any sort over men s opinions or actions he simply claimed to have his or spiritual sight opened to the apprehension of the universe of causes and this with a view to the of certain effects then becoming visible in society and of the highest possible import to christian nations he refrained from all vulgar never spoke of his pretensions except when appealed to by an enlightened curiosity and published all his books in a learned language as if purposely to bar their extensive recognition at all events during hb life so far was he from or dreaming of a new that he treated the established institutions of worship with respect and in order to do so with the greater emphasis as a sent for a minister of the church in london to receive the at his hands in we look upon s then as an orders ly of his understanding in spiritual things growing out of a life of singular virtue but for that very reason bearing a very encouraging instead of an insulting aspect towards the rest of the race any illumination which does not this height and claim this basis makes a very appeal to our respect or attention in this point of view we not only do not deny to s illumination its special use and but are disposed on the contrary to attribute consequences of to it in the future history of humanity upon the earth the great declaration of is this that a new church is establishing itself on the earth which shall prove the fulfilment of all divine promise and all human hope as was natural at the epoch when he wrote his chief aim was to justify this by a searching criticism of the evils and of the current christian life rather than very clearly to indicate the points of which should the new economy we presume he had himself no adequate foresight of the features of natural order as they are yet to disclose themselves indeed in a very passage of his latest work christian religion n he a sufficient comprehension of this subject and the curiosity of his reader for satisfaction to some possible future performance but we are at no loss to understand what he meant by a new church whenever in hia of the past he describes the rise of a new church he describes it as the development of a new mind in man thus the earliest church the or condition of humanity he declares to have been celestial that is to say the ruling principle in that state was the love of god or of unlimited goodness to this elevated beginning succeeded a church of an inferior character as the intellect is inferior to the in which the love of god sank into the love of the neighbour or of limited goodness the had now become well pronounced in men producing of character among them and consequently giving rise to the hitherto play of personal sympathies and viewed in itself however this was still an elevated phase of spiritual life whilst the influence of the earlier lasted whilst the love of god or the sentiment of oi a june justice remained in it these personal relations were preserved pure and unselfish and were a blessing and to the earth but the mind of man tended ever to more external states until at length the original love of the human bosom fix m its of scope in the love of mankind through the love of the neighbour into the love of self this according to was the end of the spiritual being in scripture under the figure of the building of the tower of which the preposterous attempt on man s part to himself or to place the acceptable worship of god in self love internal worship which is charity or love of the neighbour had now perished and an external worship of the love of self and therefore took its place but let no one that the divine design towards man was now disconcerted rather let him acknowledge that this apparent of the human mind was in truth in the keeping with its fulfilment for man says was created to love himself as well as his neighbour and the lord only this love should be strictly to the others that is to say he should not so love himself as to truth and goodness but of course it was impossible that this of self love should be so long as the divine remained in the laws of natural order and the spiritual world consequently must have been in the condition described by namely a mixed or condition arising from the yet extremes of the love of god and the love of self and hence have offered a very inadequate medium for the divine into nature meanwhile until a new mind in man were formed by the reconciliation of these extremes and divine worship placed upon a new and basis that worship must reflect its temporary and sink from a living reality into a mere representation of future realities thus according to all that long stage of human history between the period and the middle of the last century was merely a transition | 37 |
process to the new heavens and earth or the new internal and external man who is to constitute the true and universal church the economy he declares to have been purely representative of that living worship which is about to upon the earth itself was but a type of the true divine oi a which is now descending to the natural life of man and the christian church in its internal character had as little to the name of a positive church since the temper of mind in it as well as the church the hostility of self love and universal love for although the christian church confessed the divine it ascribed a meaning to it which greatly its healing influence upon the human mind of perceiving in the experience of the divine man the actual of self love with universal love by means of the orderly of evil to good or the to the heavens in the spiritual sphere and the consequent of these hitherto extremes in the promotion of a new and infinite good which is art or social use the christian church has represented that experience as designed purely to the old hostility of good and evil and thus fixed upon the creator the of an impotent relation towards one half of his creatures however that the christian church in its prophetic rites of and the supper has always evinced an external correspondence with heaven inasmuch as all heavenly good is in the things which these rites namely the of our natural evils and the of good and truth from the lord these rites in the truth of the divine humanity set forth also the essential constitution of the new heaven in man the social or human principle is the unity of self love and universal love it is the marriage of these two extremes the point in which they become universal love alone or self love alone would alike defeat society the one because it would render its subject indifferent to any special fellowship the other because it would render him averse to all fellowship thus the existence of society both the heavens and the or the extremes of self love and of universal love while its maturity or perfection their actual union in all the varied forms of art or productive wealth so long as this union remains in a divine society or church upon the earth so long of course the earthly society as shows must possess only a a confined to its representative but when this union has begun to be in nature as for example in the progress the last century has shown m all the and arts of life then this mere a a june ty loses its hold upon men s esteem and gives place to the because positive of art or productive use these remarks will have prepared the reader for the v of the of the new and universal church i i does not so much declare this as sup i us with for our own independent conclusions on the subject if we accept his that the church is a man and therefore like every thing human a social development we can be at no loss from the of the genius of the two earlier churches to infer the relative character of the third and final church if we take man as the we shall have the most ancient church answering to the sphere of love or the affections the ancient church answering to the intellectual sphere and the new or church to the practical sphere or the plane of the activity if we take universal order as our we shall have the first church celestial the second spiritual the third natural thus we have an fertile of the of the coming church for as affection and thought are impotent without action as the head and chest are worthless without the and so the natural is the seat of power to the celestial and spiritual and the coming church which to it therefore and which is the crown and of the two churches is destined to whatsoever they realize of divine good and truth it will be to them an every way thy body j while they to it are a soul and intellect whatsoever depths of disinterested love whatsoever of intellectual have failed of adequate natural in the past are the of the coming church which will them in scientific and permanent forms and so achieve the utter of evil and from the earth for the human science as the human body food and the church therefore which a scientific basis claims an empire not less universal nor less than the human mind itself the bare assertion of a natural church even though it be to be a natural one is sure to much nature is so totally without a doctrine to most minds and is so exquisite an evil to renowned and that it requires the support of a very en conscience to ve it respectful mention or for it a really divine destiny but it is time these mists of as a ignorance were dispersed and we know of nothing so effectual to this end as the free of that great truth which all s namely the actual of god we cannot hope to do any thing like justice to this great truth in our confined space and would refer the reader at once to himself in whom he will find mines of still gold his and our is not the fact that the theme has as yet attracted so little attention so far as we are aware none of the professed of with the exception of mr charles has attempted a rational of his they have repeated it in every form of and wearisome repetition but have never to give it a and mr has attempted its on the basis of the philosophy but while we admit the merits of his attempt | 37 |
and recognize in its rounded flow the impress of his own beautiful mind we cannot but feel that it proceeds upon a very partial and utterly fails to represent the affirmative nature of the system it would let us however attempt a brief illustration of this doctrine according to our own li t we shall be satisfied if ourselves to give a successful of it we yet succeed in e curiosity of minds it it will be admitted by all persons that no man is or absolutely from another man by virtue of his nature or what is the same thing by virtue of his connection with the race because this very nature or connection being what is common to all men must upon all a uniform development and thus defeat tiie possibility of positive differences to explain the fact then of moral distinctions among men we must consider man as related to something besides the natural life or the life which flows from his connection with the race we must consider him as related also to some higher life but the only conceivable life higher than man s is the divine life to attain then the ground of moral differences among men we must consider man as related also to the divine me but the divine life considered in itself considered absolutely all of good and evil the differ oi a june which separate one man from another to our sight into in approaching god can be either good or evil to him considered because all things alike come from him and are therefore alike to him he is the same always and his operation consequently is uniform thus both the divine and the human natures regarded in themselves regarded as distinct one from the other refuse to explain the actual differences which exist among men our only resource consequently unless we deny the existence of these differences is to accept the truth of christianity which the actual of the and natures or what is the same thing the essential humanity of god but how does this explain the moral experience of mankind the answer to this question as it does an orderly apprehension of the divine end or object in creation will also perfectly illustrate the truth of the humanity what then is the divine end or object in creation god says is infinite or perfect love love in other words is utterly unlimited by self love for as the of all his creatures as his is the absolute ground of all other selves so there can be no possible in him between the love of others and the love of himself the two loves in are absolutely one and thus divine love is not an emotion or tiiat is to say it is not the quality of a subject in relation to an object but the absolute unity of subject and object it is thus a love it does not exercise itself in or its but in the actual creation of subjects who shall image or its own powers and delights thus says is essentially of himself to others in other words is essentially the creator he proceeds cannot but be in created from himself his essential perfection or the absolute in him of self love and universal love this upon the perception of this truth declares all right knowledge of creation to depend and in exact with it he represents the whole end or object of creation to be the op the creator with the creature but how shall this great end be practically accomplished the creature has no absolute but only a derived existence and a existence would appear to rd as a no adequate for the divine it for how shall he who is the au in all himself with that which in itself is sheer how shall the infinite come into such correspondence with the as shall leave the reaction of the one to the action of the other absolutely of course the question is in the absolute truth of things as men say there is no between creator and creature or infinite and and consequently the of himself with the creature which is god s end in creation must be a purely practical or a which stands in the exact correspondence of the created and activity now the grand distinction of the action is that it is self prompted and self sustained and accordingly the action of the creature in order to correspond with must be self moved and sustained but the creature is or social that is he is de e in all that he is and does upon the fellowship of others ence his actions can never be self prompted until he becomes perfect until all opposition between the universal and individual elements disappear and society exhibit the unity of a man the fulfilment of the divine end in creation then requires the social man or the man in whose experience the universal life and the individual life are perfectly at one in other words the end of on earth the construction of a perfect society in which every member s love of himself shall be with his love of all the rest in which self love and the love of others shall cordially join hands in the infinite of the associated life the of tlie creator with the creature says is wholly unless the latter be a in whom the former may dwell as in himself j these subjects in order that they may be and of the creator must be of his as from themselves must be such as to themselves to the creator as from themselves and join themselves to him without this in the creature no is possible in plain english the creator must not be in the creature as a foreign power but as the creature s self the consciousness of the creature must be a productive consciousness the consciousness of a power | 37 |
to his own activity and a love and wisdom a a june of this sort as we have a perfect harmony between the public and life of man no man can attain to productive consciousness or the consciousness of a power to his own activity unless by the of all other men if the interests of others be in any manner opposite to my own then my activity shapes itself accordingly and gives evidence of a imposed by that opposition it is an activity not of myself absolutely but of myself as opposed to others but if all other men s interests with my own then my action no but appears to be of myself alone what then is the precise condition of this harmony what is that thing without which all harmony between the race and the individual is actually impossible it is that man both universally and particularly be in s phrase a form of use be in other words productive if the relation which i am under to my kind supply me the tion of all my natural wants if there be no opposition between my individual interests and those of any other man then my self consciousness ip o become or the full divine with me and all my activity exhibit the fruits of such but if this relation do not supply me the gratification of my natural if these cannot be gratified without injustice to other men then it is manifest that i am by no means as yet a subject of the divine but a bond slave of nature and all my activity consequently this bondage before the will of divine love then can be accomplished in humanity before man can exhibit this exclusive to the divine it is absolutely necessary that a perfect oft of man with man be established such a fellowship as shall make the interest of every individual man entirely with that of all other men and the condition of this fellowship we repeat is that the universal man and the individual man be beneficent or productive that the universal man on his part relieve the individual man of his otherwise invincible to nature and that the individual man thus and delivered over to the sole of god bring forth the exclusive fruits of such in every varied fi of divine art or art then or the use accomplished by man as of himself and not of natural or accidental is according to the as a new tiie divine end in humanity and the of this end is exclusively social art is thus the glory of man it is what the creator s abode within him and gives him the of the lower creation every animal form indeed as well as all other forms is a form of use because as god cannot possibly create any thing but use but then it is an involuntary form and thus incapable of with the divine neither the animal the vegetable nor the its proper uses an of but only by of its own or some other nature it cannot help performing them but the uses which true or humanity are voluntary uses uses which do not flow from any of nature or position but from the will of the subject the creator says would be in the created subject as in and this is possible only in so far as the creature acts of himself or freely thus true uses in man are not those which grow out of our natural relations or are imposed by our natural affections but those which grow out of our social relations or our relations to all mankind my parent my brother my child stand in a relation to me than any which these names import the relation of human fellowship which my natural sentiment towards them of all its and injustice and clothes it instead with a truly divine grace the uses which our natural relations impose are all involuntary and therefore although of an dignity in their proper sphere do not the divine with us our affection for ourselves or our may equal the animal s in but can hardly exceed it though our superior intelligence affords us vastly superior methods of gratifying it and clearly our should not merely in measure but in kind from those of the animal man indeed embraces in himself the animal and all lower natures but it is only that he may them all with the crown and of his own al humanity and so lift them into the of the divine the family or domestic relation then although it beautifully yet by no means the true divine achievement in humanity the finished work of god is to be seen only in the social relations of man those relations which the individual and the race or the universal family of man with every individual member of it and now we are prepared for the of the whole matter a a june for why will it be asked divine work the moral experience of mankind why should it not be accomplished at so to speak and without in the creature any knowledge of good and evil this question proceeds upon a of the whole matter in discussion it proceeds upon the assumption that the divine end in creation was to make an essential or absolute of himself with the creature which of course is absurd for it would be to make the creature the creator essentially or absolutely the creature is of necessity embraced in the creator and therefore to talk of the creator a in this point of view between himself and the creature an essential or absolute would be to use words without understanding what is essential or absolute cannot be effected or all actual for the simple reason that it is itself the basis of all effects or the divine end in creation then no such as this but wholly a formal or | 37 |
a to the creature s consciousness but how shall this take place while the creature is without a consciousness or self d for absolutely of course the creature is without a or is god being the only absolute how then all the in question take place the first condition is that the creature possess if not an absolute yet a or apparent a self consciousness which shall furnish the requisite basis of but here again a difficulty occurs for how shall this or apparent become pronounced become possible how shall this self consciousness become developed for god is essentially and his creature therefore cannot be a mere illusion he must be a real and actual if all this be then it results of absolute necessity that this of the creature become pronounced only by the descent of the divine to natural conditions by his in the principles of natural order it results in other words that the absolute or infinite reveal himself in the and that the creator manifest in the creature creation then considered as a divine achievement or finished work is the of the divine in the laws of natural order but creation considered considered z the ac a a f the gi in of in s language as the divine of a plane of a plane to that of absolute and absolute death or good and absolute evil for absolute life er good of be imparted and absolute death or is equally of course an since its experience would be to a of the subject s hence we repeat that creation regarded as a i as procession of the subject towards the created subject as the from absolute to existence necessarily a experience an experience which be that neither oi absolute life nor of absolute d but the indifference or of the two and the subject of this experience is exclusively the moral man the man who id f sod a nd or in s both the then why the the divine end in creation which is uie of the creator with the creature the moral man or the moral experience of mankind is plain for inasmuch as the creator df is absolute and hence life and the in himself is the absolute of life so there can be no actual of the two save in some life which shall be common to both accordingly the or spiritual sphere of creation altogether under this mixed aspect or as wholly made up of this moral no trace absolute life appeared in it but the deity varied according to the endless of tiie individual and this reflected eveiy phase between an almost total in deity and an almost total denial of him or between the experience of him as a and overpowering splendor and a destructive and the true man m whom the deity dwelt as in or what is tlie same thing with whom he was sensibly was nowhere for to the senses of the morally good or man the deity shone as a sun at an infinite remove above his head and to the senses of the morally evil or infernal man he appeared as that sun at an infinite remove below his feet li the one subject creator was seen the creature in the the creature was seen tiie creator no m i a a june in neither subject were the two presented in perfect accord or combination for in neither do we see the creator dwelling as m nor consequently the creature forth all divine as of l e man m proportion to his relative superiority acknowledged only the the infernal man in proportion to his relative acknowledged the created now to our apprehension what renders of infinite and moment to the an or philosopher is the with which he the minute and perfect of this sphere of creation to the grand ultimate or sphere which was to reveal tiie true divine humanity or the man with whom the deity should be sensibly this man is the artist or the man who in s phrase loves use or art for its own sake and not for its to his physical or social necessities art is the only positive or divine good on earth its may exhibit every variety of comparative excellence but there is none of them however humble be its sphere which is positively evil which is not when considered in itself positively good and does not therefore the of god and man when accordingly the true divine man appears self love and universal love in the supreme love of art or use then the of heaven and hell or moral good and will be seen to import only the difference of internal and external or soul and body and both alike will proclaim the divine goodness we have now ven according to our apprehension of it a statement of the doctrine of the lord or the a doctrine which gives to s pages all their interest the e divine humanity consists in love the divine natural humanity consists in every varied form of art or productive use and is upon a perfect society this latter theme is the mystic burden or all sacred scripture the world began and we are now according to this on the very verge of its accomplishment the great according to which this doctrine meets among christians lies in their or material they cultivate no faculty of thought hence they conceive of the lord or me humanity as a material body exalted into tiie heavens and a a the personal homage and adoration of every spirit under of death and tl ey doubtless to see that they thus every of the spirit which on earth and convert him into a being of selfishness and vanity it is this of the christian mind which has always kept the church firom the true acknowledgment of the divine humanity having no conception of ood but as a body | 37 |
very keep throws to them written laws of and bids keep quiet at a distance but they come creeping creeping everywhere and demanding more came and of june gives to certain privileges and cries peace be still but still they come creeping everywhere and crying for they know not what finally throws down all the political all legal distinctions the whole field of state and bids them in god s name to vote and vote to their heart s content but only to leave and respectability quiet in their possession but still they come no longer creeping but erect asserting their of and claiming brotherhood this may be illustrated by the history of any social institution take the punishment of crime for instance once whoever offended against the powers that be was instantly beaten killed without other warrant than the temper of the tyrant little by little it was found necessary to make some show of proof though it were the thumb screw or wheel this would not do very long and it was found that the man must be tried before even the lord could or hang him soon it was found that only his could judge of his guilt and then were organized the kind of punishment too must be modified a man must not be drawn and hung in chains or even hung by a rope like a dog but shut up in prison but the prison too must be modified at first the were only into which could be thrown the that came between the wind and the noses of nobility or common in which if only out of sight the poor ana ignorant might breed mutual corruption thb could not be endured and so prisoners were made orderly and industrious but still regarded as worthless wretches to be punished with and blows upon the body and blows upon the soul but this could not be and at last humanity comes creeping and crying make your moral to cure as well as punish our sons and brothers or your granite and iron shall sure as did the stone walls and steel of strange how men reading the lessons of the past can be of the cries and demands of humanity in tiie present but so it ever is nobility in his saddle aristocracy in his coach respectability in his in his counting room propriety in his ever have and still do cry peace be still when the poor and lowly strive to struggle up a step higher upon the platform of humanity and the foremost countries in the world and is one of them are however be to heed the warning of the past and the threatening of the future some of the claims of the poorer classes are beginning to be understood and granted still too much as rather than ri ts the time was when were considered as all that was necessary for national education the time has come when the common school is considered still more necessary and the time is at hand when for the rich alone shall into compared with the vast machinery which be put in operation for the education of the children of the poorest citizens the pay of the dismissed soldier and the honor now paid to his shall go to encourage and the teacher and the of shall be left to rot that the school house may be built up and adorned in the way too of what is called charity but which should be called on and duty we are advancing the time was when children were exposed and left to perish a and were everywhere at hand for those who could not be reared to beauty and strength but now the more they are the more solicitude is manifested in their behalf the sick are gathered into the dumb are taught to speak the to read the insane to reason and at last the poor idiot is welcomed into the human family we do not propose to write a upon much less upon the means that should be used to improve the subject it but we would utter some thoughts suggested by reading the books at the head of our article and especially bv an examination of the recently collected by the bv the le of the seed of our thou t is this great truth that the mental and moral condition of men is made by nature to be mainly dependent upon the structure and condition of their bodily organization the fruit is the sad conviction that this truth is overlooked or disregarded among us the reports of the show clearly that the vast majority of cases of insanity and are to palpable and of the of and yet the venerable and of at veiy a project for the introduction of more general knowledge of those laws in the community they can protect pigeon beds encourage and push rail roads the people it would seem need encouragement in and of that line but as thej need no knowledge of now will it be believed in lie face of all that in our there are one thousand men and n in a state of deplorable one thousand beings in the form of but of all its attributes and this mainly because their parents ignored tlie laws of such is the case beyond as question now u we these the greater number of the insane the still greater one of helpless the blind the deaf and dumb and that class whose name is and which all the rest put together the what a fearful load of unfortunate and degraded do we find that society has to and what a serious must it be to any progress we speak within bounds when we say that there are ten thousand wretched and helpless creatures of the classes alluded to in this our | 37 |
fair and if so many here then what must be the case elsewhere t great as this standing army is we could better afford to support it than to as many mail clad warriors indeed the burden they impose upon c not in the shape of money it is felt in a more dreadful each s experience is bringing home with ever increasing force the that society is a god willed tiiat should be community of interest men he to the of his will and all the efforts of the upper ten or ten thousand to walk on the heads k the multitude are there is not a spot on tlie globe where a man can find means to enjoy his riches and his culture beyond the reach of the troubles by the ignorance and degradation in which the mass of the people may be left and it ought so to be for otherwise the favored few win neglect the laboring many ignorance crime dirt vulgarity are around us and in our very midst they breed moral as well as physical are and we ourselves or more our may become by them unless we see to it that they are cured now the cure must be radical and it must be undertaken by the more intelligent and wealthy class nothing short of this will answer we may cut off a or limb but we cannot cut off the people j for they are the body social e md of some remarks in the ers are to this it says in some which are degraded bj and there ia a degree of and which it is not wonderful that feeble minded children are bom in families or being that many of them become out of this class are sometimes taken by those in better circumstances and they make their feel the consequences of suffering ignorance and vice to exist ia the community there are cases recorded in the where servant women who had the charge of little girls deliberately taught them habits of self abuse in order that they might themselves and go to sleep quietly this has happened out of the as well as in them and such little girls have be the mind from giving credit to such guilt nevertheless it is there with its hideous and no hiding of our eyes no wearing of rose colored spectacles nothing but looking at it in its naked will ever enable men to cure it there is no for vice we cannot put it into nor shut it up in a hospital if we allow its existence in our neighbourhood it the very air whidi our children breathe there it is that b the doctrine we have got to look at it in that light and treat it as a matter which affects us and our before we shall be moved to cure it in another part of the report it is said that the moral evils from the existence of a thousand and more of such persons in the community are still greater than the physical ones the spectacle of human beings reduced to a state of and given up to the indulgence of animal and passions is not only painful but in the last degree not only young children but children of an older growth are most affected by it what virtuous parent could endure the thought of a beloved child living within the influence of an man or woman who knows none of the laws of conscience and morality and none even of the of decency and yet most of the in our unless absolutely up as a few are have within their narrow range some children who may mock them indeed and them but upon whom they in inflict a more serious and lasting evil every such person is like an tree that the whole moral atmosphere about him e mi of yes the spectacle of a man created in god s image but made and brutal by being ven over to his and passions must ever be to all who witness it and this spectacle multiplied as it is in our state a thousand times and presented daily and to thousands of our citizens is doubtless in a high degree but there is even more dreadful import in this than at first appears for these thousand senseless human beings who are utterly dependent upon others who are regarded as by the law who may commit even murder without legal or guilt are only the occupants of the t rank in the scale rising above them by are other ranks up to the high platform upon which stand our most gifted and best educated men and women in the rank next above the idiot stand those helpless creatures who are supposed to know right from wrong and from whom are almost all the tenants of our and it is a question whether most of this class though above are not still in a state of moral whether by the necessity of the case by the operation of our social system they are not bom in un in ignorance and in so as to be certainly and necessary to the prison and the we are not of that school of philosophy which teaches that all against human and divine laws are the necessary consequences of a vicious organization which irresistibly the into crime and sin but we cannot shut our eyes to the facts that are pressing with force every day and which tend to show that a very large class of are made so by causes altogether beyond their control and others have shown beyond all possibility of doubt that certain being given such as the religion the education the material condition and the population of a country the number and even the kind of crimes that will be committed in a given time may be calculated with as much certainty as the of deaths | 37 |
christian countries while they seem to do good to the poor by and clothing their bodies really keep them down nearly upon a level with the brutes because they leave them no time and no opportunity for improving themselves we need not go abroad to find such we have some at home not very bad indeed compared with many others but bad the institution of domestic for instance which as it is administered by hundreds and thousands of church going christians among us has some of the worst features of southern slavery talk about do we not one over our that has more than all tiie tails of the cat the of necessity talk about men in the sun in fields of cotton or rice do we not women down in our cellar away firom the bright sunlight the fresh air over fires of hard coal do we not make and sweat below while we drink champagne and above what genteel christian would buy a house which had not back entrance and ease for the servants t what mistress them good to come in and out at the front door do we not bind upon our heavy burdens and grievous to be borne and to touch them with one of our fingers must they not work work work aching head or aching heart while we on and cut the leaves of new books do we not make of brothers slaves causes and of june of oar sisters do we not make them do what we teach our children it is not genteel to do they may go away may they oh yes go from your house to your s ring at the hack gate wait humbly awhile below and then be carried up examined questioned and at last admitted upon trial to see whether they are strong and skilful enough to in another domestic tread they like it do they oh yes but why they never have had an opportunity of knowing or liking any better why will they not read say you why have they not a taste for pictures why do they not love music why are they not refined and interesting like your children because you never gave them time and opportunity for becoming what your children have become you give them time in the evening do you you let to church on sunday but still they will be low and vulgar well try it on your own daughter turn her out of bed before daylight in winter to make the fires cook breakfast dinner ana supper and wash your linen and then tell her to sit down in the evening to read aloud to you or sing a try this a few years and you shall see of how much better stuff she is made than your cook and woman form your children s ideas of as did the they made their drunk and at them said beware of you your vulgar and cry to your children beware of vulgarity by all the toil and sweat and of years your servants can seldom lay up to support themselves after you have thrown them out at the back door with your who ever hears of an old cook or a venerable elsewhere than in the but this scanty of payment would be a small evil were it not that they cannot do what you require them to do upon the pains and of the nine shillings a week the part of your income we suppose you to be a clergyman s lady unless neglect tne of their intellect and their tastes a ow for the exceptions allow for kind still as a general thing the terms and conditions of domestic among us are such as to forbid the mental culture and training which every human being has a right to demand of society our are not members of our they are among us but not of us they e and of know this and we know it and families and society are all in this respect most of the arguments and considerations urged in defence of this distribution of the labors and tiie of life are urged by those who institutions the wickedness of which is more apparent the cultivated and refined master who holds his fellow creatures in bondage to minister to his own physical well being and supply him with the luxuries and of life will tell you that his slaves are quite as happy and enjoy life quite as much as his own children but oh i not for worlds would he so his son as enable him to dance with on his limbs and to laugh aloud the live long day because his intellect is so and his moral nature so that he does not even feel the impulses of humanity which urge men upwards towards the angels there is yet another institution by which the rich man uses the whip and spur of necessity to make the poor always ready to work for him he together hundreds and thousands of men women and children and their living muscles against his machines from the rising to the setting sun and even far into the night of them an amount of physical labor which while it barely and clothes their bodies their souls it is an appalling fact that christian gentlemen have been known to call together little children to shut them up in their mills and work so long and so severely that they could hardly home on their tiny feet and when they came home their parents had to them while they ate their lest they should fall asleep with the in their mouths it is very probable that these and other like have ceased since the evidences of them were obtained for such perish when dragged into the light of day never it is unquestionably true that even now in christian countries a few men for the | 37 |
increase of their own wealth and luxury do hold hundreds and thousands of to such severe and ceaseless labor all day that their souls are and killed it is said in defence of such that their workmen were quite as ignorant and degraded before and are better off now inasmuch as they are kept from starving but if the employer can release them from their toil one hour in the day and if he fail to do e and of june he cannot be held no matter though the workmen will not at first use the hour for their own moral and intellectual improvement the master should free himself guilt by giving them the chance for improvement these remarks seem to have little to do with our subject but in reality they have much for we are not dealing with single cases of total but with causes which lead to the moral of whole classes of men and doubtless slavery as in this country and the factory system as practised in england and elsewhere do tend to and to make moral of whole classes the deep and damp of the do not more certainly produce and than do the and of some refined and christian gentlemen produce and crime they do verily use up and destroy the bodies and souls of human beings in the production of and sugar just as certainly as though they should knock a man in the head every morning and use to feed the furnace and his blood to the sugar it is a and for him who loves the of nature but who loves his race more to wander in the mountain regions of and and when he comes to a valley of peculiar beau where the quaint village upon the green seems in danger of being pushed forward by the advancing it is a sad sight for the traveller upon entering that to meet at every step men and women with great like from their and to see the lying in the supporting distorted heads with their hands their stony eyes rolling with a stupid stare and their tongues half from their ever mouths but a sight him who leaves what is perhaps the most i specimen of social refinement and tiiat tiie world ever saw the elegant of an english and seeks the neighbouring streets and lanes where the poor and in that man a m he is as if in a palace where the attendant are ever about him with noiseless tread his wish but never a moment in his way where the lower pleasures of sense are all refined away and hidden in the feast of reason and the flow of soul at the banquet which is prolonged to tiie midnight hour but even at tiiat hour as he leaves the blaze of light which flashes fix m that mansion far m e and of into the he find the and near at hand peer who not where to lay their heads or having a to ke down in are too to sleep and seek in tlie excitement of and tile of a of t want and their yes yoa may see at midnight in the streets of english towns sights than that of at in e villages of you may see staggering up from filled of smoke and with of spirit yoimg of twelve or thirteen years old who you to bay what was never to them a at tne of a wretched which may serve to procure more of the which is to them bread and meat oh ood thou wilt and afterwards bless these thy wretched children who t not this lot of and wretchedness but were bom to it but thou not ve im if we neglect the lesson and the duty we there learn for even there the hand tf love is visible thus far thou thy creatures to abuse thy gifts and to wander from their sphere but no ther and by the same law which tne when it seems flying away the centre and threatening ruin to the universe by the law which the power with the of thou the downward course of humanity and the utter degradation of the race can be more striking than me principle developed by course of degradation the and fed population have been running want of and the hope of o to share ana their labor drives them into early marriage and nature the increase but m the of a feeble and generation this one grows up and calls upon nature for a successor and it comes but still and more and so on till nature back aghast and refuses to the fourth gen further power of she will not permit her earth to be filled with monsters in any shape there can be no manner of doubt that those social institutions which require that great classes of men shall spend their whole time and their whole energies in bodily labor are wrong we have seen that when to their extreme such institutions cause a great of the race and great of moral and mental the doctrine that is now continually preached to m and al to and to is rest for your exercise for your bodies and it is a good one but the doctrine we would preach to the working class is rest rest for your bodies and exercise for your minds we hold this doctrine to be a most important one and it may be expressed simply by saying an b and both of body and hind let us try to illustrate it the system when in healthy action a certain quantity of nervous matter essence it what we may this nervous is mainly ing the hours of sleep hence it is that we are so full of vigor after a good night s rest and so feeble after a sleepless one now it | 37 |
is just as much a law of god as though it were written in the that this nervous should be expended in due by the performance of various functions part in part in muscular action part in intellectual exercise and the like and that man in day who fails in any way of obedience to this law which is almost the same thing as saying that every man is all the time let us express this in language that will be clear to every banker s clerk the sources of this nervous in the may be considered as a capital stock this makes a daily which is deposited in the nervous to the credit of the the individual being me agent of all of them with full power that is so much is due to the muscles and should be expended for their benefit in exercise so much to the stomach and should be expended in so much to the brain and should be expended in thought feeling and and so on with the other organs of the body now if the individual the agent that is ex the sum due to one account for the benefit of another if for in he the muscles of the amount necessary for exercise and gives it to the stomach to be expended in he is not only to the muscles and does them a wrong but he does a wrong to the stomach also and to himself and tiie whole system so also if he takes that part which is due to the brain and himself of the power of thinking in order to the nervous upon the muscles and to keep hard at work all day long he does wrong then also to the muscles the brain and the whole system there is this however between the account kept by the man as agent for the various organs of his body and e md of kept by an for persons that the individual may let income to the credit of his different and they will be perhaps no worse for it the income may be to the but the man most daily the whole amount of nervous energy that daily mare nor for if he more he upon the if he less it will be sure to itself in mischief if he be young in or discontent if he be old or in be his age what it may there is yet another difference in the two cases the man who is agent for other individuals may be or and may never find it out or it out may to punish him but no man ever yet cheated any of the organs of his body of the amount of nervous fairly due to them without punished for it because never a sin that is he never lets a man escape without paying the penalty which he should be paid for every law when he made the law and created man to it the doctrine that god ever a sin that is in the ordinary sense of forgiveness is one which has done ble mischief to mankind even if god e have any change of purpose his love for his children would not let him our trust in the of his laws by a single instance of or shadow of turning in the whole history of our race let convince men if they can that no sin of or commission was ever forgiven without payment of the of the pen ty and there will then be more hesitation about present gratification and less reliance upon future repentance and let ts teach people that every or excess or neglect is surely followed by evil consequences and men will be more cautious about present and less upon future and it will be impossible to make young persons or persons of any age who are or think they are perfectly healthy believe in this doctrine of the necessity of exact distribution of nervous unless they have studied very carefully in order to make men free agents g has them bodies which will bear a great deal of abuse not indeed without injury but still without loss of life or s u rf sit it is to see of men what feeble beings what inwardly bodies dress themselves in and gowns and go about and answer with the web i thank yon to the daily how d ye do of other persons who are perhaps as far as themselves from the normal state of vigorous healthy without at all it it is st more to see how are surprised and shocked to hear that mr such ne down dead mrs such ne has been found lifeless in her bed or that during the year persons of their acquaintance and die very long before arriving at old age there is great marvel about such and much talk about sudden and mysterious of providence ana the like as if the deceased had not all died of some law which had been ever at work and which at last t them to the earth just as as brings an apple to the ground the and have much to do with these they so make the crooked and the an t they out men s coats and ve them garments a too wide for their so thai when they walk abroad j ou cannot guess their true tions and when the wig maker and the have lent their aid their subjects appear such youthful upon the parade that you assure their lives for a score of years upon a small and therefore you are on missing them from their morning walks to hear that they have suddenly died and made no sign the inhabitants of this goodly city are a pretty and healthy race and were are upon a estimate five thousand persons of the non classes between e ages of forty and sixty most of these dress | 37 |
of unfortunate creatures dread the sound of the human voice especially if words to which they are not accustomed mr explains this by that they have a dislike to any new that the human voice is which expresses an idea that the is forced to make an effort to understand it and all mental efforts are disagreeable to with some the and the explanation are true there are certain conditions of the brain in mental is painful whoever has suffered with nervous headache knows that if he is forced to use his in thinking pain is increased to intensity just as pain would be increased in a sore arm by exercise of the muscles there is another condition of the mind arising from long of certain faculties in which exercise of those is very disagreeable not only to but to all of us in childhood we delight in the exercise of the faculties we love to learn the names and minute qualities of all tiie individual things us we master the forty or ei ty thousand of our native tongue as though it were delightful sport and forty sixty a hundred thousand are mastered by children who with a pains learn three or four languages we have seen children in not more than ten years old who spoke four different languages two of the italian and they had learned in the streets and at their play without any special instruction and the others from their parents who were french and english without any painful effort now if these very children had learned only one language m childhood and should afterwards at the age of fifty or sixty be required to learn three new ones they would sit down and die in how is this f june does ihe mind grow old and stiff are its powers and we are forced rather to that ike brain the only material organ by the mind can in this of our existence becomes stiff and and in ace is as and an for picking np as our fingers would be for work ing at at but the mind has not grown altogether sh aad lame in old persons do not like to u of hot do love to grasp general as they loved to see the fact of an apple to the ground and to know whether it was red or green ripe or rotten as mm they love to consider the principle of t that i down and to extend that to the rise ol the tide and the course of the what ten they whether the apple was a or a there are two to be learned firom this and one the first is that tiie mental have each their proper period for exercise and s a principle all important m the second is at by long of any faculty we come to dislike to use it at all perhaps to be unable to use it if we to the mere intellectual it seems we care not to learn anew the and we do not need to study a new language but is it not even so with our benevolence k it has been long do we not dislike to have it called into play to pity and help m suffering brother is it not so with our conscience do we not dislike to have it called upon to obey long of right is it not so with our veneration do we not stiffly bend the knee of homage to a long neglected let us take heed to there is a time for all things once past it comes not back again no repentance however long and however bitter can entirely remove the consequences ana of or commission time lost opportunities committed are sins of and of commission some faculties have been unused some have been abused in the of life tiie balance is struck upon the page of day ai tiie account closed for ever for even cannot make that which has been not to have been ihe second great truth or law which has be mi developed and illustrated by these into the physical e of is that of the hereditary of morbid and tendencies whether of body or mind we do not mean that this has not been before it is now admitted in theory but we have never seen it so fully as in the case of the child is just as much the result of some weakness or vice in the constitution of the parent as the sour and apple is the necessary product of a wild and bad stock do men look for grapes from thorns or from or healthy children from parents truth is most apparent in cases but it is not less real in ones from the bottom of scale from up to common stupidity from utterly wicked and vicious children up to the and perverse ones the same influence of tlie is seen the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the s teeth are set on edge our limit will not allow us to enter largely into this subject th re is one part of it however that we must touch u n putting aside all we address young wives and and earnestly recommend to their attention the laws which govern the production of the race laws the knowledge of which is more important to mankind and to individual happiness than knowledge of those which govern the you all know the general principles of you know how the condition of your own bodily health affects tiiat of your future but it is not merely of bodily health and condition that we speak you know the immense ii of the emotions and passions upon the whole physical system and the mutual action and reaction between them and can you suppose your babe to be unaffected by any commotion within you while the warm tide of your own | 37 |
blood is filling every vein and vessel of its tiny frame you it matters not whether your heart be moved by the sweet of love or the dark spirit of hate you know tiiat sudden fears and violent anger have sometimes stricken dead the in tiie or what is worse the spirit in its bosom and left but a growing body to come forth in time and the earth a idiot and if of m bring these consequences must not a degree of it have corresponding effects we speak not to those who will not hear to those poor e and of creatures who in their seek comfort from drinks and thus actually force the liquid poison in k every of their heart into the h art of nor to those who make their condition an excuse for a of the body and who from their own d rich blood formed from high and food pour into their infant s system we seeds of disease or early decay such will not heed any words of caution but there are spirits of our race who are ready to their very lives for their s good let all such there is a principle as irresistible as that of ever at work by tiie and of tiie mother are an influence for good or for evil over the disposition and capacity of the babe which she bears within her let them remember that the of feelings of love of and not only me reward of cheerful sunshine to their own souls out increase the chances of happiness for their let remember that m melancholy in ness in envy and iu will not only makes the passing more dark and but may cloud the whole horizon of their child long after their own sun has gone down in death can there be a doubt about this does god care less for the soul than for the body or to fix its you know that a high and healthy condition of the muscular of the parent will great capacity for muscular vigor m the and is the feeling of benevolence or of less important than tiie muscular system as surely as want of exercise on your part will ve of muscle to your so surely will of benevolence or neglect of in you him less disposed to active and vigorous action of those faculties this principle is not new but it is generally overlooked even by the intelligent few there are so many other influences were are so many apparent exceptions so much depends upon the of children that the principle though admitted m the abstract is not acted ui on but the may exclaim is all this awful thrown upon me is this weight to be added to the already unequal burden of parental duties and pains oh no the father too is there with his influence for good or evil an influence more remote indeed but still powerful and which is made better or worse by every year and by every day of adam his life accordingly as they were spent or and your parents too and your even had their part in fitting the heart of your babe for the favorable grow of goodness or the rank of evil there may seem to be no thread running through these remarks but here it is men are made for action usefulness and happiness now as the activity the usefulness and the happiness of an individual his intellectual power and his excellence even are greatly dependent upon the original structure and the actual condition of his organization so is it with classes and nations of men this structure and condition are to a very great extent capable of being modified by means entirely under our control intelligent and virtuous parents strive to give to their children the best possible organization and to teach them how to keep it in the best condition so it should be with the virtuous and intelligent classes they should look upon less favored classes as their children strive to improve their condition and above all to them that knowledge which will enable them to dispense wit i all aid the number of those whose numbers the march of humanity the insane the the blind the deaf tiie the the will away as the light of knowledge makes clear the laws which govern our existence but in ue mean time let none of them be lost let none of them be for but whenever the signal is given of a man in distress no matter how how vicious how even he may be let it be regarded as a call to help a brother iy a discourse by the death of john delivered at the in boston march ta by of the twenty ei th in boston within a few days one of the most distinguished men of the age has passed away a man who has long been before the public known in the new world and the old he was one of the prominent monuments of the age it becomes us to look at his life works and public character f ne with an impartial eye to try him hj the let me nothing add and set t from any partial love or partial hate has been so marked in a long life his good and so sharply defined that one can scarcely fail to its most ood has made some men great and others little tlie use of great men is to the little men to take care of the race and act as practical of justice and truth this is not the hebrew rule nor the nor the common rule only the christian the great man is the servant of mankind not they of him greatness is always the same thing in kind only in mode and in form as well as degree the great man has | 37 |
more of human nature than other men in so far as that goes therefore he is more n than i am myself we fed that superiority in all our intercourse with great men whether philosophers poets or saints in kind we are the same different m degree in nature we find individuals not orders and but for our own convenience in understanding and we do a little violence to nature and put die individuals into classes in this way we understand better both the whole and each of its parts human nature us with individual great men for convenience we put them into several classes corresponding to their several modes or forms of greatness it is well to look at these classes before we examine any one great man this will render it easier to see where he belongs and what be is worth actual service is the test of actual greatness he who renders of himself the greatest actual service to mankind is actually the greatest man there may be other for the greatness of men or the essential this is the christian rule for the actual greatness let us arrange these men in the natural order of work first of all there are great men who discover general truths great ideas universal laws or invent methods of thought and action in this class the of a man s genius may be measured and his relative rank ascertained by the of his ideas by the of us truth by its practical value and the difficulty of it in us time and under his peculiar circumstances in literature it is such who thoughts and put them into forms john adam they are the great men of letters in we meet with such and thej are the great men of science thus discovered the philosophical method of minute analysis which distinguished his school and led to the rapid advance of knowledge in the various and even which held this method in common but iq plied it in various ways weu or ill and to various of human inquiry thus discovered the law of universal in nature and by the discovery did immense service to mankind in politics we find or men who discover yet other laws of ood which bear the same relation to men in society that bears to the in heaven or to the dust and stones in the street men that discover the first truths of politics and teach the true method of human society such are the great men in politics we find corresponding men in on men who discover an idea so central that of parties or of nations seems little in its light who discover and teach the universal law which e binding man to man and man to ood who the true method of on conducting to natural worship without to free goodness free piety free thought to our such are the greatest of great men when measured by the of their doctrine and the service they render to all by the influence of idea letters philosophy and politics become nobler and more beautiful both in their forms and their substance such is the class of men who get truth at first hand truth either especially to literature or at the same time to each and all of them the next class consists of such as these ideas methods truths and laws they the abstract the general they apply to practical purposes the discoveries of science into a a mill a and by work an idea becomes fact they love into families justice into a state piety into a church wealth is power knowledge is power power they all these powers wealth knowledge religion into common life making divinity humanity and that society this genius is a very great one and in various forms one man us t out on the soil john adam the land with bread corn another applies his mind to the rivers of new d making spin and for the human race this man will a t into a machine with his idea joining together fire and water iron and wood them into a new creature ready to do man s bidding that with audacious hand ike lightning of heaven us thought within thai fire and sends it of hia errands to fetch and carry tidings between the ends of the earth another form of this mode of greatness is seen in politics in men the man his thought out on mankind puts men into true relations with one another and god he strength wisdom justice love piety the conflicting forces of a nation so that each man has his natural liberty as complete as if the only man yet living in society advantages from all the rest the highest degree of this power is the genius for le which can justice and eternal right into and the divine thought into human laws making absolute on common life and daily custom and the power of the mass with the il power of the into a well state as god has balanced these two forces into the above our heads it need not be disguised that politics are the hi est business for men of this class nor that a great or le is the greatest example of skill it requires some ability to manage the brute forces of nature or to combine nine and thirty clerks in a shop how much more to arrange twenty millions of intelligent free men not for a special purpose but for all the ends of universal life such is the second class of great men the men of heads who form the institutions of the world the and the great the next class of men who administer the tions after they are founded to do this effectually and even it requires no genius for al organization of truths fr discovered none for the discovery of truths | 37 |
outright it requires only a perception of those truths and an acquaintance with the institutions wherein they have become a knowledge of details of and practical methods united with a strong will and a practised understand what is called a torn for affairs tact or address a knowledge of routine and an acquaintance with men the success of such men will depend on these qualities they know the ropes and the the of the times can take advantage of the winds and tiie tides in a shop farm factory or army in a church or a state such men are they cannot be with they are wheels to the carriage without them cannot a city be inhabited they are always more numerous than both the other classes more such are needed and therefore bom the american mind just now runs eminently in this direction these are not men of theories or of new modes of thought or action but what are called practical men men of a few good rules men of facts and figures not so of ideas as of they are called common men not having too much common sense to be understood they are not to be fallen in with far off at sea quite as seldom out of their reckoning in ordinary weather such men are excellent in common times but in times of trouble when old will not suit the new case but men must be guided by the nature of man not his are not strong enough for the place and get pushed off by more heads these men are the or k they have a less of practical sense such men fall a little below and turn out only critics of whom i will not now stop to discourse to have a rail road there must have been first the discover ers who found out the properties of wood and iron fire and water and their latent power to carry men over the earth next the who put these elements together sur the route planned the structure set men to grade the hill to fill the valley and the road with iron bars and then the who after all that is done procure the engines en and ticket and the rest of tiie hands they buy the coal and see it is not wasted fix the of re the and the the and often hard in the world lean men ill clad and suspected often laughed at while tiie is thought the greater man because he rides over their graves and pays the where the only called for the and the told what men called a dream what happens in a happens also in a church or a state john let us for a moment compare these three classes of great men the are the greatest of all measured bj the test referred to they anticipate the human race with long steps before their kind thej learn not only from the history of man but man s nature not by experience alone but by a n truth now seen as a law now as an idea they are wiser than experience and by through their nobler nature know at once what the human race has not learned in its thousands of years their lamp at the central fire now streaming from the sky now broad and terrible as ground lightning from the earth of such men there are but few especially in the highest mode of this greatness a single one makes a new world and men date the ages after him next in order of greatness comes the he also must have great intellect and character it is no light work to make thoughts things it requires mind to make a mill out of a river bricks iron and stone and set all the to spinning cotton but to a state to harness twenty million men animated by such motives possessing interests so unlike this is the work of skill to uie ideas of the into institutions to yoke men by mere laws and by such save the liberty of au and the of each that is the most of poetry the most of in modem times it is said napoleon is the example of this faculty not a but an of the highest power and on the largest scale in human history he seems to have had no superior perhaps no equal some in life a little opportunity to develop the great qualities above alluded to how much genius lies latent no man can know but he that walks familiarly with humble men often over masses of gold m proud in looked only for common dust how many a milton t mute and in his shop how many a only com and oxen for hie world s use no man can know some help to light some hide and hinder but is none which demands more ability than politics they develop if the man have the thereof within him m politics a man may get along with a very ability without being a or an it otherwise we should not be with a very john large house or a crowded experience shows that in ordinary times one not even a great may creep up to a high place and hang on there a while few able sit on the of europe at this day but if power be in the man the hand of politics will draw out the spark in america politics more than elsewhere demand greatness for ours is in theory the government of all for all and by all it requires greater range of thought to discover the law for all than for a few after the discovery thereof it is more difficult to a than a or an aristocracy and after that is organized it is more difficult to administer it requires more manhood to at will the fierce of america than to | 37 |
rule england or france yet the american institutions are to human nature and by that fact are rendered more easy complicated as they are in politics when the institutions are established men often think there is no room for and that alone are needed and choose accordingly but there are ideas well known not yet organized into institutions that of free trade of peace of universal freedom universal education universal comfort in a word the idea of human brotherhood these wait to be constructed into a state without injustice without war without slavery ignorance or want it is hardly true that is dry of truths unseen as yet there are truths enough waiting to be discovered all the space us and god is full of ideas waiting for some to disclose new worlds men are always saying there is no new thing under the sun but when the comes they see their mistake now it is quite where we are to place the distinguished person of whom i speak mr was not a not an he added no truth to mankind not known before and even well known he made no known truth a fact he was an of political institutions taking the whole land into consideration comparing him with his measuring him by his apparent works at first sight he does not seem very highly eminent in tliis class of political nay some would set him down not as an so much as a political critic here there is danger of doing him by a h iii john june ct so obvious that t is seldom seen mr was a with northern habits methods and opinions by the north i mean the free states now the chief of the north is to get empire over nature all to that young men of talents become merchants merchant merchant the object directly aimed at is wealth not wealth by plunder but by productive work now to get dominion over nature there must be education universal education otherwise there is not enough intelligent industry which alone that dominion wide spread intelligence property will be widely distributed and of course and civil power will get distributed all is without religion i deny not that these peculiarities of the north come also from other sources but they all are necessary to the chief object thereof dominion over the material world the north nature by thought and holds her powers in as results of this see the increase in wealth which is od by northern rail roads ships mills and shops in the schools churches which arise see the skill developed in this struggle with nature the great which come of that the movements of commerce the efforts and successful too for the promotion of education of religion all is and becomes more so continually each institutions more liberal than those of the parent state and as their business become merchants and the like they are by exception by accident from the necessity of the case few northern men are by profession they commonly think it better to be a or a than a place by money not power northern are bred as farmers merchants political is an accident not an end in the south the aim is to get dominion over men so the whole working population must be in in slavery while the north makes brute nature half intelligent the south makes human nature half brutal the man becoming a thing talent to politics not trade young men of ability go to the army navy to the public offices to posts in a word to politics they learn to manage men to do this they not only learn what men think but why they think it the young man of the north seeks a fortune of tlie south a reputation and political power the of the south makes politics the study and work of his whole life all else is accidental and subordinate he begins low but ends high he with men has bland and agreeable manners is frank honorable manly and knows how to persuade see the different results of causes so unlike the north the commercial rs of the land the ships mills farms and shops the spiritual affairs literature science morals education religion writes and but the south the political and has free trade or war or peace just as she will of the eight who were elected in fifty years only three were northern men each of them has retired from office at the end of a single term in possession of a fortune but with little political influence each of the five southern has been twice elected only one of them was rich there is no accident in all this the state of island has men that can administer the or the that can into a cotton factory yes that can get dominion over the ocean and the land but the state of south has men that can manage the can rule the north and south and make the nation do their bidding so the south in politics but grows poor and the north fails in politics but in commerce and the arts there the chief men turn to politics here to trade it is so in time of peace but in the day of trouble of storms of revolution like the old one men of tall heads will come up from the ships and the shops the farms and the of the north bom and the aristocracy of gk d and sit down in the nation s to control the state the north made tiie revolution furnished the men the money the ideas and the occasion for putting them into form at the making of the constitution the south out talked the north put in such as it saw fitting making the best bargain it could the ideas of the revolution and getting the north not only to consent to slavery | 37 |
but to allow it to be represented in itself now the south breaks the constitution just when it will puts northern sailors in its and the north dares not complain but bears it with a patient shrug an eastern merchant is great on a southern exchange makes cotton rise or fall but no northern has much weight at the south none has ever been twice elected president the north thinks it a great thing to get an in offensive northern man as speaker in the house of f john june the south is an aristocracy which the of the north would not a year were it at the north itself now it rules the land has the northern masses and completely under its thumb does the south say go ihey hasten come they say here we are do they obey in a moment there is not a mouse stirring in all the north does the south say it is done fight men of the put on the collar lie lies issue their their soldiers and declare it is moral treason for the most insignificant clergyman to preach against the war all this needs to be remembered in judging of mr true he was regularly bred to politics and to the manner bom but he was a new england man with northern notions northern habits and though more than fifty years in public life yet he seems to have sought the object of new england far more than the object of the south measure his greatness by his service but that is not to be measured by immediate and apparent success in a notice so brief as this i can say but little of the details of mr s life and purposely pass over many things dwelling mainly on such as are significant of his character he was bom at the th of july in went to europe with his father then minister to france he remained in europe most of the time his powers developing rapidity and promise of future till when he returned and entered the junior class in college in he with distinguished honors he studied law at with judge till and was a lawyer in boston till that may be called the period of his education he enjoyed the advantages of a residence abroad which enabled him to acquire a knowledge of foreign languages modes of life aud habits of thought his father s position brought uie son in contact with the men of the age he was secretary of the american minister to russia at the age of fourteen he early became acquainted with and men who had a powerful influence on his youthful mind for three years he was a student with judge a very remarkable man these years from to form a period marked by intense mental activity in america and in europe the greatest subjects which claim human attention the laws john that lie at the foundation of society the state the church and the family t ere discussed as never before mr drew in liberty and religion from his mother s breast his cradle rocked with the when eight years old from a hill top hard by his house he saw the smoke of burning at the command of the the of his childhood was the roar of cannon at and he was bom in the gathering of the storm of a family that felt the blast but never bent he grew up in its tumult circumstances like these make their mark on the character his attention was early turned to the most important matters in iy he wrote several papers in the at boston on rights the american government to remain in the quarrel between france our ally and others the papers attracted the attention of washington who appointed the author minister to he abroad in various services in that country in russia and england till when he was recalled by his father and returned home it was an important circumstance that he was abroad during that time when the nation divided into two great parties he was not called on to take sides with either he had a ground whence he could overlook both approve their good and their evil the effect of this is abundantly evident in all his life he was not in the wool by either political party the moral sense of the man drowned in the process of becoming a or a in he was elected to the of yet not wholly by the of one party in he was chosen to the of the united states in the le he was not a strict party man he was not elected to the by a strictly party vote in he was as professor of and at university and continued in that office about three years in he resigned his place in the in he was sent by mr as minister to russia and remained abroad in various and till when he returned and became secretary of state under mr this office he filled till he became president in in failing of he retired to private life in he was elected as one of the representatives to john adam gross from and continued till death the first president that ever sat m an american it will be fifty four years the of next may he began his public career what did he aim at in that long period at first sight it is easy to see the aim of some of the conspicuous men of america it has obviously been the aim of mr clay to build up the american system by the establishment of duties that of mr to establish free trade leaving a man to buy where he can buy and sell where he can sell dearest in respect to these matters the two are to one another as the poles but each has also and obviously another um to | 37 |
build up the institution of slavery in the south in this they agree and if i understand them aright this is the most important political design of each for which mr would forego even free trade and mr clay would compromise even a looked at in reference to their aims there is a of action in these gentlemen i speak not now of another object which both have equally and obviously aimed at not of the personal but the political object now at first sight it does not appear that mr had any definite scheme of measures which he aimed to establish there is no obvious unity of idea or of action that forces itself upon the spectator he does not seem to have t studied the two great subjects of our political economy fl i and trade very deeply or even with any considerable width of observation or inquiry he had no financial or com he has worked with every party and against every party all have claimed none held him now he sides with the then with the now he france showing that her policy is that of now he against england now he works in favor of general who put down the of south with a rough hand then he the general in his action against the bank now he for the indians then for the now attacks and then free trade he speaks in favor of and holding the whole of then against but there is one sentiment which runs through all his life an intense love of for all men one idea the idea that each man has these are what may be called the american sentiment and the american idea for john s they lie at the of except the and shine out in all our history i should say our early history these two form the golden thread on which mr s jewels are strung love of human freedom in its sense is the most marked and prominent thing in his character most of his actions studied with this in mind his life is pretty consistent this explains his love of the constitution he early saw the peculiarity of the american government that it rested in theory on the natural rights of man not on a compact not on tradition but on somewhat to both on the rights universal in man and equal in each he looked on the american constitution as an attempt to these rights resting therefore not on force but natural law not on power but right but with him the constitution was not an idol it was a means not an end he did more than it he went back of the constitution to the declaration of independence for the ideas of the constitution yes back of the declaration to human nature and the laws of god to legitimate these ideas the constitution is a compromise between those ideas and institutions and prejudices existing when it was made not an idol but a servant he saw that the constitution is not the work of eternal justice through the people but the work of man frail fallen imperfect man following the of his nature and to be perfect though a he did not worship the constitution he was much more than a of the constitution a of human rights mr had this american sentiment and idea in an degrees perhaps no political man now living has expressed them so fully with a man like him not very genial or having no great skill and not without a certain in his character this sentiment and idea would naturally develop themselves in a negative form that of opposition to wrong more often than in the positive form of direct organization of the right would lead to criticism oftener than to creation especially would this be the case if other men were building up institutions in opposition to this idea in him they take the form of what he called the right of resistance to oppression his life abundant instances of this he thought the indians were un social compact c providence p et al john june treated cried out against the wrong when president endeavoured to secure justice to the in and got into collision with he saw or thought he saw that england opposed the american idea in the new world and the old in his zeal for freedom he sometimes forgot the great services of england in that same cause and hated england hated her with great intensity of hatred hated her political policy her and her aristocracy at the madness of her king for he thought england stood in the way of freedom he loved the english name and the english blood was proud of being himself descended from that stock it worth noting that s language was mother tongue and great name with his own he confessed no nation had done more for the cause of human improvement he loved the common law of england putting it far above the roman law perhaps not without doing a little injustice to the latter f the common law was a rude and barbarous code but human liberty was there trial by jury was there the was there it was the law of men of human rights this sentiment led him to defend the right of petition in the house of representatives as no other man had dared to do he cared not whether it was the petition of a majority or a of men or women free men or slaves it might be a petition to remove him from a committee to him from the house a petition to the union he presented it none the less to him there was but one nature in all man or woman bond or free and that was human nature the most sacred thing on earth each human child | 37 |
had rights and though that child was a beggar or a slave had rights which all the power in the world bent into a single arm could not destroy nor though it might away this induced him to attempt to procure the right of for the colored citizens of the district of this sentiment led him to oppose tyranny in the house of reference is made to his speech in the of representatives may th and th boston it is a little remarkable that the false principle of the common law on which mr was as laid down by is corrected by a writer m who rests on the law for his see and t see address at washington th of july second edition cambridge representatives the tyranny of the majority in one of his essays published in against a highly popular work he opposed the theory that a state has the right to do what it pleases declaring it had no right to do wrong in his old age he had not again to encounter the empty of thomas but the substantial of the of the people of the united states the was trying to become a fact tho south had passed the infamous law which a man from new had presented though it originated with others by that law the mouth of the north was completely stopped in so that not one word could be said about the matter of slavery the north was quite willing to have it stopped for it did not care to speak against slavery and the did not stop the mouth of the northern purse you may take away from the north its honor if you can find it may take away its rights may its free citizens in of and the yes may the sacred soil of the north and a man out of boston itself within sight of hall and the north will not complain will bear it with that patient shrug waiting for yet further only when the northern purse is touched is there an uproar if the demands silver for letters there is instant alarm the of a the feelings and an once drove the indignant north to the perilous edge of rebel now mr loved his dollars as well as most new england men he looked out for their income as well guarded as carefully their though upright in all his dealings kind and hospitable he has never been proved generous and generosity is the commonest virtue of the north is said to have been close if not mean he loved his dollars as well as most men but he loved justice more honor more freedom more tiie of man far more he looked on the constitution as an instrument for the defence of the of man the government was to act as the people had told how the government was not to i o man london originally in the ck the london edition the name of john on the title pa te t mr john june the state government was not sovereign neither was a court of ultimate appeal but the was sovereign had the right of over and the constitution and making that had set limits to the ment he guarded therefore all of the as a wrong done to the people he would not its limits in a bad cause not even in a good one did mr by a confessed of the constitution mr would oppose the purchase of and was one of the six who against it making laws for that territory he wished to extend the trial by jury to all criminal while the law limited that form of trial to capital before that territory had a representative in the american government wished to collect a there mr opposed that too it was assuming a dangerous power it was govern ment without the consent of the governed and therefore an unjust government all exercise of human authority must be under the of right and wrong all other power is and in defiance of the laws of nature and of god t this love of freedom led him to hate and oppose the tyranny of the strong over the weak to hate it most in its worst form to hate american slavery doubtless the most infamous form of that tyranny now known amongst the nations of and perhaps the most disgraceful thing on earth mr called slavery a vessel of so base that it could not be named in the constitution with decency li he wished to lay a duty on the of slaves and was one of five who to that effect he saw the power of this institution the power of money and the power of which it gives to a few men he saw how dangerous it was to the union to american liberty to the cause of man he saw that it trod three millions of men down to the dust counting souls but as cattle he hated nothing as he hated this fought against nothing so it was the lion in the pathway of freedom which frightened almost all the of the north and the east and the west so that they that path a lion whose roar could well nigh silence the and the bar the pulpit and the press a lion who see at p et boston t the social compact c c providence p john lent the constitution trampled under foot the declaration of independence and tore the bible to mr was ready to rouse up this lion and then to beard him in hia den of course he opposed whatever went to strengthen its power opposed mr s law opposed the of opposed the war and wonderful to tell actually against it and never took back his vote when secretary of state this same feeling led him to oppose to the british the | 37 |
right of searching can vessels to be concerned in the slave and when representative to oppose the of the law giving protection to american sailors it appeared also in private intercourse with men no matter what was a man s condition mr treated him as an equal this devotion to freedom and the rights of man was the most important work of his life compared with some other political men he seems inconsistent because he now one evil then its opposite evil but his general course is in this direction and when viewed in respect to this idea seems more consistent than that of mr or or clay when measured by any great principle this appears in his earlier life in he became a member of the the majority of the general court were it was a time of intense political excitement the second year of mr s administration the custom is well to take the whole of the governor s council from the party which has a majority in the general court on the of may mr stood up for the rights of the he wanted some anti in the council of governor strong and as threw his first vote to secure that object such was the first action of john in the house of representatives in the first thing he did was to present fifteen for the of slavery in the of though from constitutional scruples opposed to the the last public act of his life was this the question was before the house on giving to the men distinguished in the war the opposing it wanted more time for debate the previous question was moved mr for the last time no with unusual emphasis the great loud no of a man john adam june going home to god full of the right of resistance to oppression its emphatic word on his dying lips there were the beginning the middle and the end all three in the same spirit all in favor of mankind a remarkable unity of action in his political drama somebody once asked him what are the recognized principles of politics mr answered that there were none the recognized are bad ones and so not but continued the is not this a good one to seek the greatest good of the greatest number no said he that is the worst of all for it looks while it is what shall become of the in that case this is the only to seek the greatest good of all i do not say there were no exceptions to this devotion to freedom in a long life are some passages in his history which it is impossible to justify and hard to excuse in early life he was evidently ambitious of place and rank and political power i must confess it seems to me at some times he was not scrupulous enough about the means of that place and power he has been much for his vote in favor of the in his vote unwise may easily have been an honest vote to an impartial spectator at this day perhaps it will be so his defence of it i cannot think an honest defence for in that he arguments as him to his vote which could scarcely have been present to his mind at the time and if they were his arguments then were certainly kept in silence they did not appear in the debate they were not referred to in the president s message f i am not to praise mr simply because he is dead what is wrong before is wrong after death it is no merit to die shall we tell lies about hun because he is dead no the see s letter to on the boston s john utter to the hon h g c boston s of the between the hon john and the late c but see also mr s to the above letter published sixteen years after the vote on the go mr ing s brief on the t reference is here made to british orders in of d they were not made known to the american till s they were however published in the national ihe morning on the message was sent to the th but were not mentioned in that document or in the debate john adam egyptian people and judged their kings after death much more should we our fellow citizens with power to serve the state a lavish and is not praise i know what coals of terrible fire lie under my feet as i speak of this matter and how thin and light is the coat of ashes deposited there in forty years how easily they are blown away at the slightest breath of or the and the old flame of political forth anew while the hostile forms of and come back to light i would not those awful shades nor bring them up again but a must be said the story of the is well known the president sent his message to the it and accompanied with several documents the message was read and assigned to a committee the ordinary rule of business was suspended the bill was reported by the committee engrossed and completely passed through all its stages the whole on the same day in secret and in about four hours yet it was a bill that involved the whole commerce of the country and that commerce seriously affecting the welfare of hundreds of thousands of men eight hundred thousand tons of shipping were doomed to lie idle and rot in port the message came on friday some of the wanted yet further information and more time for debate at least for consideration till monday it could not be till saturday then no the bill must pass now no man sleeping on that question mr was the most zealous for passing | 37 |
the bill in that debate if such it can be called while opposing a for further information and reflection he said the president has recommended the measure on his high responsibility i would not c m i would not deliberate i would act doubtless the president possesses tion as will justify the measure to my mind that is the worst act of his public life i cannot justify it i wish i could find some reasonable excuse for it what had become of the i copy this from the first letter of mr mr wrote a letter to h g in reply to this of mr but said nothing respecting the words charged upon him but in in an to that letter he that he expressed the sentiment which mr charged him with bat he not deny the they rest on ue authority of mr his in the a strong party man it is true perhaps not much disposed to but a man of most the sentiment speaks for john jane of the people the right of resistance to oppression v would not consider would not deliberate would a t without doing either leave it all to the high responsibility of the president with a doubtless he has further information to justify the measure it was a shame to say so it would have disgraced a in st why not have the further information laid before the what would mr have said if president or had sent such a message and some or representative had action without considering without deliberation with what appalling would he describe such a departure from the first duty of a how would the eloquence of that old shake the hall of till it rung again and the nation looked up with indignation in its face it is well known what mr said in when mr in the house of representatives seemed over of the president i shall never be disposed to interfere with any member who shall rise on this floor and pronounce a upon the chief magistrate no let the e absurd pomp and the of the knee where may follow and the of ti where may follow yet the future of mr was not so obvious in as the reward of mr in this act is particularly glaring in mr the north often sends men to washington who might have done it without any great men too not so remarkable for infirmity in the head as for that less weakness in the knees and the neck men that bend to power right or wrong mr was not with tiiat weakness and so the more to be for this palpable of a trust so important i wish i could find some excuse for it he was forty years old not very old but old enough to know better his defence made the matter worse the of his conduct chose another man to succeed him in the then mr resigned his seat and soon after was sent minister to russia as he himself subsequently declared in consequence of the support he had for years given to the measures of mr s remarks in the home of s adam s administration against great britain but his father said of that mission of his son is banished because he is too just it is easy to judge of the temper of the times when such words as those of the father could be said on such an occasion and that by a man who had been president of the united states when a famine occurs disease appears in the most hideous forms men go back to temporary in times of political strife such diseases appear of the intellectual and moral powers no man who did not live in those times can fully understand the of mind and moral which then displayed themselves amongst those otherwise without reproach says mr himself referring to that period imagination in her wildest can scarcely conceive the of temper the of intellect the of moral principle effected by of high and general excitement however it must be confessed that though not the only instance of injustice is the only case of with the to be found in the whole life of the man it was a grievous fault but did he answer it and if a long life of resistance to every attempt at assumption of power is fit then the was made about the same time mr was of a committee of the appointed to consider the case of a from his conduct on that occasion has been the theme of violent attack and defence as violent to the calm spectator at this day his conduct seems inconsistent with the counsels of justice which moving with her pace of looks always towards the right and will not move out of her track though the heavens fall while mr was president became free but he did not express any desire that the united states acknowledge her independence and receive her minister at washington an african in his he says there are circumstances that have hitherto forbidden the acknowledgment and additional reasons for tiiat acknowledgment in the instructions to the american sent to the celebrated of tht hon john and tht late win cm esq boston letter p t march th john june it is said the president is not prepared now to say that ought to be recognised as an independent sovereign power be does not think it would be proper at this time to recognize it as a new he was unwilling to consent to the independence of for fear of an of her slaves and the effect at home the duty of the united states would be to defend themselves against the of such near and dangerous examples that would them to employ all means necessary to their security that is the president would be constrained to put down the in who were the right of | 37 |
resistance to oppression for fear the in the united states would discover that they also were men and had rights had he forgotten the famous words rebellion to is obedience to god the defence for such language on such an occasion b that mr s eyes were not yet open to the evil of slavery that is a good defence if true to me it seems a true defence even great men do not see every thing in while delivering the on general washington even the british government because in the of africa it the commerce in slaves no man is so wise as mankind it must be confessed that mr while secretary of state and again while president showed no hostility to the institution of slavery his influence all went the other way he would repress the freedom of the in the west indies lest american slavery should be disturbed and its broke he would not acknowledge the independence of he would urge spain to make peace with her descendants for the same reason not for those new but lest the in and should secure their freedom he with england and she paid the united states more than a million of dollars for the fugitive slaves who took refuge under her flag during the late war mr had no scruples about receiving the money during bis tion an attempt was repeatedly made by his secretary mr clay through mr and then through mr to induce england to restore the fugitive slaves who had taken refuge in the provinces who escaping from the area of freedom seek the shelter of the british crown f nay he see mr s s sum was t see mr clay s letter to mr a h april ih to mr mid john adam a treaty with which bound her to deliver up fugitive slaves escaping from the united states a which the refused to should a great man have known better great men are not always wise afterwards public attention was called to the matter humble men gave lofty counsel mr used different and different measures but long before that on ihe of december mr his in the of the united states offered a resolution for the purpose of the constitution so as to representatives and direct taxes among the states according to their free inhabitants but there are other things in mr s course and conduct which deserve the censure of a good man one was the attempt to justify the conduct of england in her late war with china when she forced her upon the with the to make out his case he that in the celestial empire the system of sir robert flourished in all its glory and the chinese claimed superior dignity over all others tliey refused to hold equal and commercial intercourse with other and it is time this enormous outrage upon the rights of man nature and the first principles of the laws of nations should cease it is true the chinese were true the english carried thither the bible and at least own christianity but even by the law of nations letting alone the law of nature the had a right to both bible and christianity when they came in a shape that of and cannon to justify outrage of the strong against the weak he quite forgets his old to en and his devotion to human freedom and the of the people calling the cause of england a righteous cause he defended the american claim to the of up to he did not so much undertake to make out a title either by the law of nature or of nations but cut the matter short and claimed the whole of on the strength of the first chapter of this was e argument respecting the of the emperor of may aad th to mr may th and june th and ss second of the twentieth l report of mr a lecture on the war ia the for th and th m jim gave mankind dominion all the earth between christian nations the command of the creator lays the foundation of all titles to land of titles to of titles to then in the god gives the parts of the earth for a possession to the as the representative of all mankind who held the of the earth m chief but the pope as head of tiie visible church was the representative of and so holding under him had the to ve to any king or authority to subdue barbarous nations possess their territory and convert to christianity in the pope in virtue of the above right gave the american continent to the spanish who in time sold their to the people of the united states that may be as the pope may not be the representative of christ and so the passage in the will not help the american but then the united states will hold under the first m the testament of god that is in the claim of great britain is not for she does not want the land for the purpose in that of the testament to the earth and subdue it she wants it that she may keep it open as a hunting ground while the united states want it that it may into a great nation and become a free and sovereign this strange it seems lay at the bottom of his defence of the british in their invasion of china it would have led him if consistent to claim also the greater part of but as he did not declare us on that matter no more need be said concerning it such was the most prominent idea in his such the from it let us look at other events in his while president the most important object of his was the promotion of internal improvements especially the internal communication between the states | 37 |
for this purpose the government lent its in the construction of roads and and a more than four millions of dollars were devoted to this work in his administration on i s t il x see mr s speech on ui arguments akin to this be also in the at john hke th of july he helped break ground for the and canal thinking it an important event in his life he then said there were three great steps in the of america the first was the declaration of ence and the achievement thereof the second the union of the whole country under the constitution but the third was more than both of the others it is said he the of the powers moral and intellectual of the whole union to the improvement of its own condition of its moral and political condition by wise and liberal institutions by the cultivation of the understanding and the heart by schools and learned by the suit and patronage of learning and the arts of its condition by associated labor to improve the and supply the of nature to stem the torrent in its course to level the mountain with the plain to and the ra g of the ocean he to these words in his administration he was careful never to exceed the powers which the constitution prescribed for him he thought the acquisition of was accomplished by a of the constitution and himself guarded against such he the god of limits who in the roman refused to ve way or remove even for himself no man was ever more conscientious on that ground to him the constitution meant something his oath to keep it meant something no great political events occurred in his administration the questions which now vex the country had not arisen there was no quarrel between freedom and slavery no man in ventured to slavery as a crime the african slave trade was thought wrong not tiie slavery which caused it party lines under mr s administration were viewed and marked with a good deal of care and but the old lines could not be wholly restored mr was not the president of a section of the country not the president of a party but of the nation he no special interest of a class to the of another class he did not reward his friends nor punish his foes the party of the spoils patent or latent at all times got no spoils address on breaking ground for the and t of the p john him he country by the removal and of officers had he done otherwise done as all his have done used his actual power to his o m ambition no doubt he might have been but he could not stoop to manage men in that way no doubt he desired a and saw the method and means to effect that but conscience said it is not right be lost his election and we shall soon see what he gained on the th of at a public dinner at court house south mr mc said i ad came into power upon principles utterly of the republican system we worst species of that of and office hunters in the of a sound and wholesome republican when mr retired rom office he could remember wi the that no man had put on mourning for him because of his post was an office old er or an office a political friend of mr that did not help him a foe that did not hinder he looked only to the man s ability and integrity i wish it was no to say things but it is praise i dare not i to any other man since washington mr ice said there is no official act of the chief momentous or minute but it should be to a dictate of duty pointing to the welfare of the people that was his creed as a public he had many qualities seldom united in tiie same person he was and he had none of the of a great man seemed humble modest and retiring caring much for the substance of manhood he let the show t e care of itself he carried the simplicity of a plain new england man into the president s house spending in its about one fourth it is said of the amount of his successor in his housekeeping public or there was only one thing much to be boasted of and remarked upon strange to say was the master of the house he was by his own brass and mahogany he had what a called habits and himself in preference to being by others he treated all tiiat were about him with a marked deference and his respect for human bi ts into the details of common life john adam he as a model of diligence though not perhaps very his state papers prepared while he was minister secretary or member of his numerous and speeches though not always distinguished for that orderly arrangement of parts which is with minds of a high philosophical character are yet astonishing for their number and the wide learning they display he was well with the classic and most modem languages at h ne in literature he was familiar with modem history perhaps no political man was so thoroughly acquainted with the political history of america and that of christian europe for the last two hundred years he was widely read and profoundly skilled in all that relates to and to inter national law he was fond of and commented on more like a professor than a in that department few in america it is said were so widely read in their peculiar lore as he he had read much remembered much understood much however he seems to have paid little | 37 |
attention to physical science and perhaps less to his speeches and his conversation though neither brilliant nor rich in ideas astonished young men with an of learning which seemed marvellous in one ah his life devoted to practical but this is a trifle to achieve that nothing is needed but health memory and a long life mr had all these he had higher qualities he loved his country perhaps no man more so he had patriotism in an heroic degree yet was not thereby blinded to humanity he thought it a vital principle of human society that each nation should contribute to tiie happiness of all and therefore that no nation should its conduct by the exclusive or even the pat amount consideration of its own interest yet he loved his country his whole country and when she was in the wrong he told her so because he loved her this said he would be a good sentiment our country may she be always but whether successful or not may she be always in the right he saw the faults of america saw the corruption of the american government he did not make gain by in private but set an honest face against it he was a conscientious man this peculiarity is strongly marked in most of his life he respected the limit between on china s john adam jane right and wrong he did not think it unworthy of a to refer to moral principles the absolutely right i do not mean to say that in his whole life there was no departure from the strict rule of duty i haye mentioned already some examples but kept one more for this place he pursued persons with a of spirit i will not revive a the old quarrels nor dig up his hard words long ago consigned to oblivion it would be unjust to the living he was what is called a good if he loved an idea he seemed to hate the man who opposed it he was not content with replying he must also retort though it weakened the force of the reply in his attacks on persons he was sometimes unjust violent sharp and sometimes cruel and even barbarous did he ever forgive an enemy every opponent was a foe and he foes with an iron and them with a storm the most awful specimens of which the language affords can be found in his words bitter and i am sorry to say these things it hurts my feelings to say yours not less to hear them but it is not our fault are true it would be mine if they were true i did not on this occasion point them out in warning words mr says that was conscientious and it is equally true of himself perhaps mr had humor but certainly a giant s wit he used it and like a giant wit has its place in debate in it is a legitimate weapon and after one has beaten the corn of good sense out of a whole wagon of the easiest way to be rid of the rubbish is to bum it up with the lightning of wit the danger is that the burning should begin before the separation is made that the fire the good and bad when argument is edged and pointed with wit it is doubly effective but when that is jagged with ill will poisoned too with personal it becomes a weapon unworthy of a man mr used his wit as fairly as wisdom and bags of wind on which might have stamped and beaten a but in vain at a from tiiat keen wit gave up their ghost and into nothing a vanity to all men but a vexation of spirit to him who had blown them so full of his own soul but sometimes yes often mr s wit a different part it sits as a judge unjust and often deciding wrong and john q when right from wrong it was the small dagger with which he smote the foe it is a poor praise a man or to beat a with his own weapons it must be confessed that in mr s arrows were sharp and but they were often and sometimes poison true he encountered more political opposition than any man in the nation for more than forty years he has never been without bitter and enemies public and private no man ui america perhaps ever had such surely none had ever such opportunities to reply without how much better would it have been if at the end of that long life and fifty years war he could say he had never wasted a shot had never with his lips nor once his public arrow with private wise as he was and old he never learned that for for personal insult and abuse there is one answer christian manly and the dignity of silence a just man can afford to wait till the storm of abuse shall spend its rage and vanish under the rainbow which itself and leaves behind the speech of such a man may be or iron his silence victorious and golden it is easy to censure mr for such of speech and persecution of persons unfortunately too easy to furnish other examples of both we know what he spoke only what he repressed who knows out of how deep a fulness of indignation such torrents tried by the standard of other men his fellow of america and europe he was no worse than they only the mouse and the fox have as great a anger as the lion though the one is ridiculous and the other terrific mr must be tried by his own standard the rule of right tiie standard of conscience and of christianity then surely he did wrong for such | 37 |
his intellectual faculties as far as possible if any man is an exception to this rule it is mr he was temperate and industrious to a fault though not orderly or his letters his his reports and speeches all indicate wide learning the fruit of the most remarkable diligence the of a well bred scholar are not often found in the american or the president s house yet he never gives proof that he had the mind of a great man in his special department of politics he does not appear as a master he has no great ideas with which to solve the of commerce and has done little to settle the commercial problems of the world for that work there is needed not only a with the habits and history of men but the foresight which comes from a knowledge of the nature of things and of man his chief intellectual excellence seems to have been memory his great moral merit a and firm honesty his practical strength lay in his diligence his counsels seem al ways to have come from a knowledge of human history seldom to have been prompted by a knowledge of the nature of man hence he was a critic of the past or an of the present rather than a prophetic guide for the future he had many facts and but few ideas few examples of great political foresight can be quoted from his life and therein to his honor be it spoken his heart seems to have in a address mr once quoted the well known words of ta v i far applying them to a man lately deceased a lady wrote to inquire whence they came mr informed her and added they could not be translated in less than seven words in english the lady replied that they might be well translated in to not duty better in three john adam his head the public of the united states seem to be conducted bj men of moderate abilities rather than by a few men of great genius for politics mr wrote much some of his works are remarkable for their beauty for the graceful proportions of their style and the felicity of their such are his celebrated lectures on and which are sufficiently learned and sagacious not very philosophical but written in an agreeable style and at the present day not wholly without value his review of the of i speak only of the is perhaps the finest of his some of his productions are ill without joints or and homely to a fault this is a growth out of a central thought marked by an internal harmony that a composition a piece of distinguished by only an outward of members others are neither growth nor composition only a mass of materials huddled and together most of his later productions with the exception of his speeches are hard cold and unfinished performances with little order in the thoughts and less beauty m the expression his speeches have more of both they are better finished than his studied he could judge and speak with fury though he wrote with his illustrations are usually drawn from literature not from nature or human life his language is commonly cold derived from the roman stream which has been through books rather than from the deep and original well of our saxon home ss published letters are compact written in a cold style without or wit with no elegance and though business letters they are not remarkable for strength or distinctness his diligence appears in verse as well as prose he wrote much that tolerably little that was poetical the same absence of nature the same coldness and lack of inspiration mark his poetry and prose but in all that he wrote with tiie exceptions mentioned above though you miss the genial warmth the lofty thought the mind that embraces and the reader you find always a spirit of humanity of justice and love to god mr was seldom eloquent eloquence is no great t it has its place among subordinate powers not among the chief alas for the or the preacher who has john june that to save the state withal washington had none of it yet how he the land no man in america has ever had a political influence so wide and permanent as mr yet he was a very indifferent writer and never made a speech of any value the acts of washington the ideas of made eloquence superfluous true it has its value if a man have at command the of truth justice love the sentiments and great ideas thereof it is a good thing to be able with hand to that electric fire into bolted eloquence to thunder and in the sky but if a man have that electric truth it matters little whether it is moses that speaks or only whether or not paul s bodily presence be weak and his speech contemptible it is moses thought which and out of it is paul s idea that is powerful and up the church of true eloquence the best thoughts put in the best words and uttered in the best form mr had little and that appeared mainly in the latter part of his life hundreds have more what passes for eloquence is common in america where the public is always a going his are poor in their substance and in their form his ability as an orator developed late no of it appear before he entered the house of representatives at a good old age in his manner of speaking was little dignity and no grace though sometimes there was a terrible energy and fire he was often a powerful speaker bv his facts and figures by his knowledge his fame his age and his position but most of all by his independent character he spoke of | 37 |
great men of or with his theme and laying aside all of a party however he was most earnest and most eloquent not when he stood up the champion of a neglected truth not when he dwelt on great men now venerable to us all but when he gathered his strength to attack a foe his sarcasm was terrific colossal vanity to be a at the touch of that spear shrank to the dimensions of tom thumb his is his of skill it is sad to say this and to remember that the greatest works of ancient or of modem from the thundering of down to the sarcastic and crazy rattle of lord are all of the same character are efforts a personal foe men find hitherto the acts and speech in the same cause not positive and but critical and in war john if mr had died in he would have been remembered for a while as a learned man as an able who had served his country faithfully at home and abroad as a president and but not as a im personage in american history his mark would ave been faint and soon e from the sands of time but the last period of his life was the noblest he had worn all the official honors which the nation could bestow he sought the greater honor of serving that nation who had now no added boon to give all that he had done as abroad as secretary and president is little compared with what he did in the house of representatives and while he stood there with nothing to hope with nothing to fear the hand of justice wrote his name high up on the walls of his country it was surprising to see at his first attendance there men who while he was president had been the to call out bargain corruption come forward and express the involuntary confidence they felt in his wisdom and integrity and their fear actual though that his from the on would the very union itself great questions soon came up was speedily disposed of the bank and the got ended or but slavery lay in the consciousness of the nation like the one dear but an in a man s heart some wished to be rid of it northern men and southern men it would come up to justify that or excuse it the american sentiment and idea must be denied and rejected utterly the south who had long known the charms of was ready for her sake to make way with himself to remove that monstrous evil gradually but totally and restore unity to the nation would require a greater change than the of the constitution to keep slavery out of sight yet in existence of a contradiction m the national consciousness a political and sin the sin against the holy spirit of american liberty known but not confessed the public secret of the people that would lead to e in and out of to the pulpit the press and the people under circumstances mr went to an old man well known on sides the water the remarks of mr john june on his brow independent and fearless expecting no reward from men for services however great in respect to the subject of he had no ideas in advance of the nation he was far behind the foremost men he all discussion of slavery or its in the house and gave no countenance to for the of slavery in the district of or the however he acquired new ideas as he went on and became the leader in the great movement of the american mind towards universal freedom here he stood as the champion of human rights here he fought and with all his might in by the celebrated resolution debate on the subject of slavery the south drove the north to the wall it there into shameful silence a northern man with southern principles before entering the president s chair declared that if should pass a law to slavery in the district of he would exercise his to prevent the law mr stood up sometimes almost alone and for freedom of speech did obstinate men of the north send relative to slavery asking for its in the district or elsewhere mr was ready to present the did women petition it made no difference with him did slaves petition he stood up there to defend their right to be heard the south had overcome many an obstacle but that one fearless soul would not bend and could not be broken spite of rules of order he contrived to bring the matter perpetually before and sometimes to read the most parts of the when was made a state he endeavored to slavery in its domain he sought to establish relations with and to secure the right of for the colored citizens of the district of the laws which forbid to vote in the northern states he held in utter he saw from afar the plots of southern plots for extending the area of slavery for the area of freedom and exposed those plots tou all remember die tumult it excited when he rose m his place a petition from that the american was thrown into long and disgraceful confusion you cannot have forgotten the uproar which his presenting a petition to the john union i know few speeches more noble and manly than on the right of petition occasioned bj that celebrated attempt to debate and on the of some proposed to him some him some cried out bum the and him with them screamed yet others some threatened to have him by the grand jury of the district or be made to another hoping to see an brought to punishment my life on it said a southern if he presents that petition from slaves we shall yet see | 37 |
him within the walls of the some in secret threatened to him in the streets they their man with justice on his side he did not fear all the grand in the universe he would not curl nor but his defiance in their very face in front of ridicule of desertion rage and brutal threats stood up that old man bold and audacious and the rock of stands not firmer mid the waves nor more triumphant back into the ocean s face the broken of the storm that new england knee bent only before his god that man the whole power of the nation could not move him from his post men threatened to increase the slave power said one of the of slavery with prophetic speech but fatal as s in the classic tale americans would come up in thousands to plant the lone star of the banner on the the boundless wealth of captured towns and churches and a lazy vicious and luxurious would soon enable to pay her and redeem her state debt and push her victorious arms to the very shores of the pacific and would not all this extend the bounds of slavery yes the result would be that before another quarter of a century the extension of slavery would not stop short of the western ocean against this danger mr armed himself and fought in cause the cause of human rights i know few things in modem times so grand as that old man standing there in tiie house of representatives the see the of the house january s d and following or mr s own account of the matter in his letters to his c see too his series of speeches on the right of petition and the of and following printed in a n john adam of washington a man who had borne himself proudly in kings courts early doing service in high places where honor may be won a man who had filled the highest office m any nation s gift a president s son himself a president standing there the champion of the of the oppressed the conquering cause pleased others him only the cause of the conquered had he once been to the hands that power no can scare him now did he once make a ty and bind to the fugitive who took his life in his hand and fled from the of the american eagle now he would go to the stake sooner than such a deed when he went to the supreme court after an absence of thirty years and arose to defend a body of torn from their home and most held in when he asked the judges to excuse him at once both for the trembling faults of age and the of youth the man having labored so long elsewhere at he had forgotten the rules oi court when he up the conclusion of the whole matter and brought before those but yet eyes the great men whom he had once met there chase martin and himself and while he remembered them that were gone gone all gone remembered also the eternal justice that is never g me why the sight was sublime it was not an old of rome who had been coming out of his honored retirement at the s call to stand in the to new armies them to victory afresh and gain thereby new for his brow but it was a citizen of america who had held an office far greater that of king or his hand by no man s blood expecting no honors but coming in the name of justice to plead for the slave for the poor negro of africa for and for their deeds comparing them to and whose classic memory made each bosom thrill that was worth all honors it was while to live years for that when he stood in the house of the champion of the rights of a of the rights of man he stood colossal the great seems doubly so when single handed that son of the of against france england kept them all at bay divided by his aad conquered by us might surely he seems great when measured merely by his john adam deeds but in comparison the great seems the little for fought not for a kingdom nor for but for justice and the eternal right fought too with weapons tempered in a heavenly stream he had his reward who ever missed it from gain who his brother down to and from of down to the least man that dies or lives who ever lost his reward none no not one the wicked heart there dwells the with unseen hands to the cord to poison the fatal bowl in the of a good man s consciousness unseen by mortal eyes there stands the of justice radiant with celestial light mortal hands may make and mar this they can mar not no more than they can make things about the man can others build up or destroy but no foe no tyrant no can ever steal ihe man out of the man who would not have the consciousness of being right even of trying to be right though by a whole world rather than conscious of wrong and hollow and false have all the honors of a nation on his head of late years no party stood up for mr the madman of as they called him on the floor of but he knew that he had and in his old age done one work he had for the ble rights of man done it faithfully the government of god is invisible his the more certain and by that mr had his reward but he had his poorer and outward rewards negative and positive for his zeal in behalf of freedom he was called a in disguise | 37 |
an alien to the true interests of his country a traitor a slave firom published to his that he was sincerely desirous to check that man for if he could be removed from the of the nation or silenced upon the subject to which he seems to have devoted himself none other i believe could be found hardy enough or bad enough to fill his place it was worth to have an enemy speak such praise as that but the slave bolder was wrong in his conjecture the north has yet other sons not less not more likely to et in set et h no m john june be silenced still more praise of a similar sort at a fourth of july dinner at in south this sentiment was proposed and responded to nine cheers may we never want a to trip up the heels of a or a to prepare a for john considering what he had done and whence those rewards proceeded that was honor enough for a yet greater man let me turn to things more grateful mr through lack of genial qualities had few personal friends yet from good men throughout the north there went up a hearty thanks for his manly independence and prayers for his success brave men forgot their old prejudices forgot the forgot the forgot all the hard things which he had ever said forgot his words in the forgot their disappointments and said for this our hearts shall honor thee thou brave old man in when for the first time he visited the west to assist at the foundation of a scientific institution all the west rose up to do him reverence he did not go out to seek honors came to seek him it was the movement of a noble people feeling a noble presence about them no less than within y when the only great man whom rome never feared returned from his all italy rose up and went out to meet him so did the north and the west welcome this ion of freedom this venerable old man they came not to one who had been a president but one who was a man that alone said mr with tears of joy and grief filling his eyes was reward enough for all that he had done or undertaken yes it was too much too much for one man as the reward of one life you all remember the last time he was at any public meeting in this city a man had been m boston at noon day on the high road between hall and old and carried off to be a slave new england hands had seized their brother sold him into bondage for ever and children after him in the presence of slavery as of arms the laws are silent not always men then it appears who are men who not a meeting was called to talk tiie matter over in a way and look in one another s faces who was fit to in such a case that old man sat in the chair in hall above him was the image of his father and his own around urn were han john cock and the other washington greatest of all before him were the men and women of boston met to consider the wrongs done to a miserable negro slave the roof of the old cradle of liberty over au forty years before a young man and a he had taken chair at a meeting called to consult on the wrong done to american violently impressed by the british from an american ship of war tlie unlucky some of you remember that event now an old man clothed with a century of honors he sits in the same hall to over a meeting to consider the outrage done to a single slave a greater outrage alas not done by a hostile not by an alien hand one was the first meeting of citizens he ever presided over the other was the last both for the same object the defence of the eternal right but i would not weary you his death was noble fit ending for such a life he was an old man the last that had held a office under washington he had uttered his had done his work the highest honors of the nation he had worn but as his tell us caring little for the president and much for the man that was very little in comparison with his character the good and ill of the human cup he had tasted and too as son husband father he had borne his testimony for and the rights of mankind he had stood in almost alone with a few gallant men had gone down to the and if victory escaped him it was because night came on he saw others enter the field in good heart to stand in the imminent deadly breach he lived long enough for his own welfare for his own ambition long enough to see tiie seal broken and then this aged in the consolation bowed his head and went home in peace his feet were not hurt with he died with his on died like a in the of the nation died like an in the service of his country died like a christian full of immortality died like a man fearless and free tou will ask what was the secret of his strength whence did he gain such power to stand erect where often and crouched low to the ground t is plain to see he looked beyond time men looked to the eternal god and fearing him forgot all other fear some of his he knew to be such and struggled with them though he john june did not overcome a man perhaps not over modest once asked him what he most of all | 37 |
lamented in his life and he replied my impetuous temper and speech that i have not always returned good for evil but in e madness of my blood have said things that i am ashamed of before my as the world goes it needed some greatness to say that when he was a boy his mother a still woman and capable deep hearted and pious took great pains with his culture most of all with his religious culture when at the age of ten he was about to leave home for years of absence in another land she took him aside to warn him of temptations which he could not then understand she bade him remember and his god his secret silent prayer often in his day there came the earthquake of strife the fire the storm and the of passion he and god was not there but there came too the remembrance of his mother s whispered words god came in that memory and earthquake and storm the fire and the were powerless at last before still small voice beautifully did she write to her boy of ten learning and superior abilities will be of little value unless virtue honor truth and integrity are added to them remember that you are to your maker for all your words and your actions dear as you are to me says this more than this christian mother dear as you are to me i would much rather you should have found your grave in the ocean you have crossed or that any death cross you in your infant years than see you an or child let your observations and produce in your mind an of nation and power the parents of slavery ignorance and may you be led to an imitation of that patriotism and that noble love of your country which teach you to despise wealth pomp and as mere external advantages which cannot aad to the internal of your mind or for the want of integrity and virtue she tells him in a letter that her father a plain new england clergyman of who had just died left you a more valuable than gold or silver he left you his blessing and his prayers that you might become a useful citizen a guardian of the laws liberty and religion of your country lay this up john s in memory and practise upon it believe me you will find it a treasure that neither nor can destroy if a child have such a mother there is no wonder why he stood fearless and bore a charmed life which no opposition could tame down i wonder more that one so bom and by such a mother bred could even once bend a knee could ever indulge that fierce and dreadful hate could ever stoop to those hands which hers had joined in prayer it iu with like her own i wonder that he could ever have refused to deliberate religion is a quality that makes a man independent disappointment will not render such an one sour nor oppression drive him mad nor elevation power will not nor gold corrupt no threat can silence and no fear subdue there are men enough bom with greater abilities than mr men enough in new england in all the walks of man but how many are there in political life who use their gifts so diligently with such conscience such fearless deference to god nay tell us i have not spared his faults i am no to a man with let his follies warn us while his virtues guide but look on all his faults and then compare him with our famous men of the north or the south with the great or the great ask which was the purest man the most patriotic the most honest which did his nation the smallest harm and the greatest good which for country and his kind denied himself the most shall i their lives public and private strip them bare and lay them down beside his life and ask which alter all has the least of and the most of beauty nay that is not for me to do or to attempt in one thing he surpassed most men he grew more liberal the more he grew old and too age after he was seventy years old he welcomed new ideas kept his mind vigorous and never into that admiration of past times and buried institutions which is the of so many a man and which makes old age nothing but a pity and gray hairs of tears this is the more remarkable in a man of his habitual reverence for the past in one who judged oftener by the history than by the nature of man l es will come when men shall look to that vacant seat but the thunder is silent the lightning gone other men must john june his place and fill it as they can let us not mourn that he has gone from us let us remember what was evil in him but only to be warned of ambition of party strife to love more that large charity which an enemy and through good and ill for mankind let us be thankful for tiie good he has said and done be guided by it and blessed there is a certain of intellectual power granted to some men that admiration for a time let the man of gifts use his talent as he may such merely greatness of mind is matter of astonishment rather than a fit subject for esteem and praise of that mr had little as so many of his had more li him what most commands respect is ins his love of justice of his country and his kind no son of new england has been ever so distinguished in political life but it is no great thing to be president of the united states | 37 |
standard as to our author s point of view we should call him an whose prevailing feeling is that the true philosophy is something not impossible but as yet far distant a structure that may once be completed though this rather as a hope than a belief and with a tendency to its ad but for which as yet only materials have been furnished various systems he says are which even when true at bottom are not so in the sense that they could be joined together into one they are true only as so many elements which when combined and united form one whole in this labor of and every thing personal local temporary which has been mingled with the truth must be separated from it bat this labor which must be that of an absolute and notice june criticism producing the philosophy can be the work of time alone and ages must pass before it is accomplished he does not belong to the class who consider the history of philosophy as a random list of opinions prevailing or strung together by the casual succession of time but regards the various as parts of one whole in this slow labor of the ages he says no workman is useless and no work thrown away each system however imperfect if only it be genuine for the want of its age in it the human mind pauses and itself for a while then applies itself again to its work and its habitation more more certain more vast and more beautiful this habitation however is to m a temple built by and which is a mass until it is finished not a living body which is complete at every stage of its growth or tliat stage and whose subsequent progress is but a development from within these defects or however do not very materially interfere with the particular task he has taken in hand in this work namely to give a detailed analysis of the later german systems without much comment of his own cannot indeed allow this to be strictly history of philosophy for we might go through it all without at the end coming any nearer to philosophy there is to be sure something attractive at first sight in this cool way which merely states the doctrines in question without mixing private opinions with them but the main question af er all is whether any particular doctrine is philosophy or not and what its relations are to philosophy and this can be answered only by criticism but we readily acknowledge it to be a labor highly important to the student of these systems whether as an or as a preparatory to the study of the works themselves the plan of the work is as follows after a brief general introduction m gives a rapid rather review of philosophy from to the subsequent period which forms the proper field of his undertaking he into two periods and with the opposition represented principally by and with the opposition the whole to be closed by an account of the present condition of philosophy in germany beginning with he gives a short sketch of his and then a careful analysis of all his writings first and then practical occupying in all about pages in which moreover nothing is thrown away and which almost no criticism at all these are so full and minute as to amount almost to re writing and writing him better we consider this work of m s as the nearest approach to short and a of that we have seen it is of little use in gen to german philosophy particularly for the original is mastered with about the same labor as the translation a more difficult and a much more useful task is to re arrange the original matter in some places but more often and it with a strict regard to the original peculiarities of and method so far as these are essential and so far as they can be strictly rendered without certainty of being misunderstood by the a very delicate task and one which m seems to us to have very well accomplished his which as already remarked are very few have this merit that they distinguish accurately between what is implied in the writings of a philosopher and what is actually expressed and thus prevents that confusion which we sometimes see in of a higher order in which the connection of the same idea through a series of systems leads to in the precise relations of the systems among themselves on the other hand the fancied which will not judge from any one system is and has bad results for every one has his system and the only question is what it is the attempt to freely without system is in fact either to philosophy before the bar of common sense which is a trial of the by the mob or to test it by an arbitrary standard of some other system without explaining its relation and connection thus for instance m says that s great defect the source at once of all his errors and all his was that he had no proper foundations for his philosophy and on the other hand that his great merit is that he established the fact of freedom and morality as its law but s first aim was to dispense with the foundations or in other words the which were assumed by the philosophy of his day the other course insisted on by m the result obtained ere the labor is undertaken evidently if these foundations or as they have been by others are really as the basis of philosophy they must themselves be the only difference in this respect between these two methods is this that the former starts and with common sense as the point of departure or the which is to be developed into knowledge whereas the latter | 37 |
takes this same common sense sometimes under the high sounding names of consciousness c to be philosophy itself and thus in fact does not get started at all never going beyond the point of departure then again the merit of or any other philosopher cannot in the mere establishment of a fact however short and june ed and admirable the highest religious and moral facts as felt by the peasant as bj the philosopher but the sole aim of philosophy is to understand the fact that is to know it not as a fact merely but as a thought i the same remarks will apply to the accounts of and which occupy the second volume and of which takes up most of the third shorter notices are given of the less important characters such as fr el c who comes in at the latter part of the third volume is only commenced and moreover we have only been able to glance at this volume the method however continues the same throughout and thus does not leave much for us to say for being an analysis itself the work does not admit of being we understand that the remainder of the work will occupy two or three volumes m if we mistake not is the successor of at die college of france and some of our readers may have listened to the even stream of never ending eloquence always attractive but never which he forth to admiring in the paris lecture rooms the same qualities that mark him as a speaker the same elegance and learning we find in his book the live manner that we remarked in m the habit of talking about a system and dwelling on superficial peculiarities instead of its relations to thought in general belongs in a still greater degree to m whose eloquence moreover is apt to become long in a spoken discourse this is more in place and the repetition to which it gives rise less objectionable than where the attention is concentrated upon it in a book the arrangement of matter is as follows a preface in which the advantages of a study of the history of philosophy are discussed these are the aid derived from it in avoiding errors into which our have fallen the removal of the attraction which novelty and the pride of discovery give to views the support and advantage derived from the opinions of others and from witnessing attacks upon and of various theories neither will this study hurt our originality as is shown by the examples of and then again the sympathy and communion of others is needed as much in philosophy as in religion it is necessary also in order that we may be duly thankful and have due respect for those who have preceded us nevertheless we are not to depend too much on others c next m treats of the spirit of philosophy which he says b to be comprehended only in its relations to faith the difference between them is only or degree of growth short and faith being reason the nature of reason and faith however or the nature of in general is not further traced back but merely discussed at considerable length as a matter well understood next comes an introduction consisting of the report of a committee of the academy appointed to the prize for a on philosophy are given of several papers and the subject matter somewhat discussed yet as the of the discussion is repeated in the body of the work we are unable to see the propriety of occupying pages with it in this place we now come to the essay itself which with de la le grand de de la du of each of these writers except and is given a sketch longer or shorter according to his importance and a narrative of his opinions closing with a general indeed the whole work may be considered as biography the philosophical views of each being stated as facts merely as they might have appeared to an accurate impartial inquisitive neighbour the object of the history of philosophy m thi preface is not properly truth but what has been thought about truth it is to rather than invent this method as already remarked is that generally adopted to a greater or less extent by the french writers on this subject of the present day in the case of m the advantage to be derived from this course is less than where as in m s access to the is from any cause difficult the work before us therefore is not so much a or an to the student of philosophy as a convenient for the general reader the following is extracted firom his of the philosophy of to give at once the of his philosophy we must say that he gave it a true point of departure an of truth a simple and sure method that he embraced in it a theory of the soul which if not in detail is in principle a theory of equally at least in its arguments and particularly in one of them if not in all its points above all objection a system of and not indeed without and errors but in which nevertheless besides important truths is pointed out the way to many of the truths since recognized this extract will give a notion of the general character of this essay as a dr the third on list his task to display sh and notices june the progress of the philosophy of nature from bacon to the present day what to he understood hy a philosophy of nature is a point which there are very various views in the scientific world the extremes of which are shown in the difference in of the terms natural philosophy among english and among the the former the latter at st towards an a of | 37 |
nature these views dr considers equally natural science he says seems to possess in observation and the discoveries made thereby a field entirely apart from and untouched by philosophy but observation is necessarily thoughtful observation and as such only has it any scientific value as such only can it discover universal truth the forces the laws of nature and thus accomplish the task which it sets before itself nature may be spread before man in all the fulness of her manifold forms but it is thought alone that opens his eyes and his attention to particular phenomena that experiments and puts questions to nature herself that what is discovered and holds it as worthy of notice and as an essential phenomenon thus the unity of and speculation remains unbroken throughout the whole development of natural science these two forms of knowledge from one stage to another over more and more their one sided limited nature and approaching the complete truth these two elements are more widely separated in proportion as we go back towards the earlier period of modem philosophy this history dr into two general divisions the mechanical view of nature from bacon and to and the view beginning with the two parts of his work which have been received by us extend only through the immediate school these two divisions are further as follows i first stage of the mechanical view a bacon b c a b c second stage of the mechanical view a b c a b wolf short and notices iii third stage of the view a s b s i the view and bacon though so much opposed yet both start from the same point namely the immediate perception of truth by the mind the perception of truth a coincidence of the subject and the object of which the truth is known they must be separate else there is no reality in knowledge and they must come together else there is no truth hence arises an apparent contradiction and a difficulty arises which can only be solved by a thorough understanding of the relation of being and thought and which meanwhile must lead to this difficulty is not felt however by bacon nor by and thus they do not advance to its solution thus bacon although he demands a thoughtful consideration as well as observation of nature yet does not himself to the thought that the forms in nature are of absolute necessity and implied in the very conception of nature but contents himself with pointing them out as existing and general and he does not perceive that thought does not proceed gradually and by of facts though the way for thought may be thus prepared but always per and moreover that certainty could never be attained by any such since we can never have all the facts and a new fact might at any time destroy the best founded theory thus the system not only fails to explain the nature or possibility of knowledge but also is at direct with the fact of knowledge and with itself in demanding what it renders impossible carries out bacon s principles and thus their results knowledge being the of observations thought is merely addition or and nothing which cannot be added to or from can be known any thing simple and is therefore thus of god for instance we can know nothing but only believe and this belief not resting by any possibility upon facts is again a matter of belief all first principles therefore are a without proof what we know is not the essence but depends upon something which we do not and cannot know somewhat similar is who brought up again the philosophy of god in the place of chance yet god is here also chance nevertheless really belongs to modem philosophy and his theory to the system his are of reflection without and june weight and approaching to an principle makes knowledge the idea of sod the absolute having this by faith we know god will not deceive us and thus we can trust to clear and definite notions as being true god is the only substance and the of matter are secondary being by him of secondary all those are distinct which can be clearly conceived as distinct mind and matter therefore distinct mind purely active matter purely passive mere being here therefore as in bacon the nature of matter is and no means or possibility pointed out for any comprehension natural science is therefore necessarily and as matter is purely passive a force belonging to matter is inconceivable there is no such thing therefore s in the philosophy but only all force manifested in matter as motion must be given by impulse from without and as matter does not change or vary in substance but only in motion natural science is destroyed the interest begins just where the possibility of knowledge ends g carried out to its results this separation of mind and matter it is impossible that spirit should influence body the reason of their connection or rather coincidence lies in an incomprehensible harmony established by god who must create perception of the outward world for this could not become visible of itself particularly on the of god in our knowledge general notions cannot be obtained through the limited faculties of the human mind but only through god they are not however immediately impressed on our minds for this would be a deception but through the medium of the outward world with the dependence of on the infinite substance is not since they remain of different natures they are dependent only as respects existence not in essence makes this dependence essential mind and matter thought and extension are indeed distinct but only as different attributes of the one substance thus the the manifold variety of things is only superficial the only reality is substance and thus the only reality | 37 |
of the two attributes consists in their identity that is in substance so that their difference is an unreal one the reality of thought is not thought and the reality of extension non extension est the reality of particular existence is n thought therefore as that which is to discover must consist in the of the facts of experience shows in from general principles short and he to the view that only the particular is real he is thus the exact opposite of the application of his philosophy to science belongs to his particularly in his caution in asserting general principles in treating of the attraction of as a force acting from the towards the centre he is to insist that it is to be considered as a mere and not as an actual physical force otherwise indeed it would contradict the which he lays down as the first law of bodies he remarks that it cannot be physical because the of bodies are only points but this is inconsistent with his law of reaction it is necessary to make of this another innate force but if these forces were only and the only points then the masses of bodies would make no difference in their force and if were only attraction towards the centre then it would act only between bodies related as centre and and not for instance between two the demonstration plays therefore altogether a secondary part here these are only supported and in reality supposing physical forces the demonstration only makes clear what was found before indeed inclined to assume actual physical forces as existing in matter and this was done by his who called his system in opposition to that of this tendency of may be seen for example in the to his which is most distinctly presented in s de la nature is a necessary consequence from s principles no truth being admitted except that perceived by the senses nothing but matter can be real all spiritual things therefore are imaginary moral freedom is a delusion to come the and selfish impulses at the command of duty is enthusiasm nothing really exists except matter and motion and these are necessarily connected matter moves by its own energy motion being implied in its nature it is not necessary therefore to have recourse to any foreign principle as for instance to explain the laws of nature but it is not shown by that the so called forces of nature do really belong to matter of itself the idea matter is not shown to imply the existence of these forces it is merely passive still in this system as in the others and must receive these forces from without it may be true that organized matter requires or shows inherent forces but why should it be organized there is still something and and whether we call it god or chance matters little ho in and notice to the mechanical and of matter in his day if be considered as mere extension and having qualities then could make no difference and the largest body could be impelled bj the smallest extension being entirely indifferent to motion of attraction c in this case are merely miracles material being he says thus simple or having each an inward force which he calls the power of representation not that each is conscious and thus properly a soul but that they differ only in degree namely in the clearness or confusion of their the highest degree belonging to the personal or or souls properly so called representation therefore is here to be understood not as fiction or but in the general sense of the representation of in unity as principles and purely active the cannot act upon each other but each is a world by itself the organization of the universe is therefore a harmony pre by god the is thus an ideal principle yet being with a certain amount of being it is thus far material namely in relation to the absolute substance or as there is no other the and as they are matter cannot be material they cannot be and thus tiie notion of matter and of must be a one and the existence of matter must depend on the of the s therefore is it does not dispose of matter but merely one kind of matter for another for the being in a degree passive involve a material nature thus he falls ba into the theory and allows the whole of the mechanical system to remain under another name a more extreme is that of according to him spirit can be affected only by spirit and not by ma er ideas therefore cannot be derived from the material world yet they are not formed by the mind itself since we do not produce images at will and since there is an independent connection among them tliey must therefore be immediately in our mind by god or any action of the mind in is therefore impossible we are merely passive to god s influence this however does not explain the reality of knowledge this remains an miracle and matter of faith as makes knowledge mere to the absolute spirit or god so on tiie hand dwells on the impossibility of discovering any necessity in our knowledge of outward both unite in denying the connection c subject and object in one says that all knowledge resting on and not on the md notices mere relations of ideas depend on the connection of and effect it is only that we now we cannot prove this relation a since the idea of does not include that of the effect it is only by experience by long custom and the association of ideas that we get the notion of cause and as necessary and consequence we can therefore only but not know reality and this belief rests not on proof or reasoning but only on habit and impression the | 37 |
conception of nature the former that the mind can know objects directly is now no longer admitted an has been formed between thought and being as subject and object and it is denied that these two can come together that the mind is with reality only knowledge is philosophy at the time of s was therefore the question with which opens his of pure reason how are judgments a possible that is judgment in which the is not involved in the idea of the subject was equivalent to an inquiry as to the possibility of knowledge in general that the mind cannot know any thing absolutely foreign to itself was now clearly felt what things are in themselves apart from our perception of them allows we can never know leaving such a consideration then out of the question and considering objects only how is it possible to have any real knowledge that we have such knowledge is evident as a matter of experience for we form many judgments for example of s with a perfect conviction of their entire necessity which could not result from even the most extensive experience and where is not possible for instance that all outward material things exist in space and time is a truth that cannot have been derived from experience since experience could not in the first instance have been possible without it and moreover in certainty all results of experience as to such truths therefore is not possible and the question is how they are possible answers this question by saying that all such truths relate to the constitution of the mind itself to the forms under which objects appear to us these forms are in so far that they are fitted for the perception of phenomena which does not doubt are really the appearances of actual on the other hand nature to us a only the complex of phenomena and thus penetrated by the action of the mind in all real knowledge these must the understanding as the mind adapted to the perception of things and phenomena as the object adapted to being perceived each of the various functions of the understand short and june ing has always a relation to it in experience and to these functions the in which all possible judgments as to phenomena are the understanding thus the laws of nature nature being to only what it mu h appear according to the laws of the there b thus no direct of thin by the mind but only a knowledge of general reason does indeed form ideas as to what things are in themselves apart from actual and above it but these ideas give as no knowledge and have no power to know truths or in s language tbey have no but only a power and if sought to be applied to or actual they are and their sphere c i ing in nature therefore we can know only the abstract general rules that govern phenomena if they are thus our philosophical knowledge only to the of nature and not to actual nature particulars we can know only when we come to things then we are left to the same as before thus in for example the two opposing forces in nature and whose unity he makes co be the essence of matter rest on a met and in thi moreover he is io consistent with since to know the essence of matter would l e to know things m they are in themselves difficulty is that started with the supposition that subject and object must necessarily be and really distinct and opposite thus th ir union in knowledge is supposed in advance to be impossible is thus confined to the subject and the object is rendered purely all this a mere he not show for example why space is necessarily merely and so on of the other forms and functions the again and the forms of judgment in which the and the come together are merely and the possibility of a is not expired the second part of dr s work with a short review of s school of whom he says only is of importance and a few words on the relation of s of nature to science attempted improvements upon but these improvements consist only of some of the difficult points in which process they lose their meaning and importance thus ho would consider phenomena as really the of things he m and a and as the foundation of here with m theory in natural science he thinks extends only to general principles and is to be used practically by way of which are to be tested by experiment c the of s philosophy by and others dr says have been confined to a formal application of the and the like without much understanding of the philosophy itself in the form in which it the of nature was too abstract to be fit for immediate application on the other hand the great importance which the law of has attained in science although perhaps not owing at all to any direct influence of yet shows a remarkable with his great principle of two opposite forces as the essence of matter and the of the present day stands in the same relation to that of the preceding period as s philosophy to the philosophy of that period we have thus hastily the outline of the first two parts of dr s book thinking to give the reader in this way a notion of it than in any other but it is not thus that any justice can be done to its merits which consist not merely in the excellence of its general views but also in the precision and of the details it is not merely an elegant like m s essay nor a thorough and able analysis like that of m in | 37 |
and horrible sin are there scenes that make the pure to veil their eyes and words at which the pious would ask short and jane as a boon from heaven crowded with human and where wretchedness has crept to hide itself in its from many a fairer place the riot of a rising when the military are in and appear in their state has certainly a very terrible effect on the imagination but london with its all things infernal from the wail of the stricken infant to the suppressed rage of the and the look of demon malice in the eye of the wicked woman is to us a more spectacle the english poor were once a strong silent people now they are weak and cry out on every side and their cries are bitter and full of vengeance bat ladies sit in their elegant upper rooms in london receiving their elegant and doing their everlasting elegant work in german wool and they will tell you they have told us that do not realize the idea of actual u s and on this they no doubt congratulate themselves what would be thought of were it supposed that they f realize the idea of things passing within a short walk of their correct and peaceful i surely society would blush for them i how could they appear in the midst of the refined supposed as the robes they wear if their minds had been clouded with the sight of sin and those most streets which they know not even the of and from which if their coachman lo take them as a cut to some more destination they refrain their eyes by lowering the crimson silk of their carriage blinds ladies could not visit such places men might if duty called but even for them it is hardly right they wonder how and medical men can penetrate there it is really very benevolent but it must be a dreadful sacrifice i could the lover approach to his lips the hand that had been known to rest for an instant in gentle among the rough locks of the child of crime could he listen to the charming song breathed by the voice that but an hour before had expended its sweetness in whispering hope and christianity by the death pillow of the or the thief it could not be society has its boundary lines of doing good and so on within them we may work but not beyond it is improper i yet once there walked upon this earth a holy one whose was the eternal of the universe and be was as the friend of and to some men this book will seem sad reason cries for bread of life and this offers bread which moreover is draped and puts reason to sleep to others it will be a rainbow showing that the old storm which lowered so heavily on the english church is passing over for our own part we do not believe that mankind will go back not even from oxford to borne is not so long a journey as some fancy it wiu be as easy md notices to restore the of the middle ages as their their states as their church it would be a sight to see the next british association of scientific men undertake to revive the theories of the dark ages and the british house of try to bring back of that time to us it is refreshing to see real spiritual life in the english church years ago one looked merrily for good dinners and latin quantity in the church a serious and devout spirit has arisen there luxury and empty compliments give place to a sincerity and earnestness which often are signs of life s der des und von c two parts in one volume vo and this is a history of from its to the present day the work consists of an and two books the introduction treats of the development of the genial spirit of christianity in and and of the which bears to each book l treats of the historical development of from and in who were executed for their in down to the latest of in new england in book il treats of the doctrines of as they appear in the writings and hooks of the continental the work is written in spirit by a man of high philosophical of adequate learning and of great the style is pleasing dear and attractive and the work one of great value at tiie present time not only in germany but in america years in the republic c a by colonel q an officer in the army of the and twenty four years a resident of the country new york d a co once knew a man who used to tell the very stories about gold mines and mountains in we have frequently seen a person who is said to haye served a p under moreover we have read with some bewilderment various about dr of mi june south to lis tlie mr we believe is in the same to the entire land of too i is any bnt a dream to those who with its as yon shall see upon reading the we l his by to thomas b e of the and other of poetry and prose who s gossip into an lands when a at the ct of having left new his with the yankee love of he does not remain long in this new home before supreme to gives him a commission with these ments go now man and make own wi np the of fortune quite a heroic of introduction to and against against whom first carries and who is in the habit of sewing up his prisoners in raw hide and leaving them to perish in the mm entirely | 37 |
be his in the chapter as hi the nest page gets to be an under general and a flank in the second chapter surprises old flush and the good his wife by in now of with the italian duke of and in the next is off in pursuit over the of a man whose had been by the o in its authority is t ing to get bade in the battle gets his left to pieces and rides about holding the reins in his teeth hon is such a fight as now occurs nowhere except in tiie ar g en and our hero is most pursued by for and out of men who marched in the morning against the de st but could be of these skins ml of bullets but is only the of the that evening the balance of s the grass the dew it in place of ii such of as had been in the for cl b of t t i at bt goes th of the and at grown almost fe u in the l ht and even this was a they get within two of the villa de with men and can now have a drop of and a sleep not so however for in this same villa is a certain unexpected leader named who has just from and who is before while himself is coming up behind over seven hundred fight it over again behind some carts paris fashion and final ly when begins to starve them to death send a flag of by the brave and beloved whom e na ties instantly before their eyes mid shoots finally the carts get on fire they must run or fight hand to hand gets a blow upon my breast from the butt nd of a which ed my ribs and me after he sees his general marched out shot and his head severed from his body afterwards sent about for view as a such is the fulfilment of some part of supreme s sentence go now young man and make your own way up the ladder of fortune for our part looking at it these very american we should think the notion mi have entered s head who in a page or two on gets freed from by a new who instantly a new commission which he reluctantly ribs that this ladder was not at jacob s ladder he does however accompany on an expedition against his old on the sick list a id having at a house is again surprised and with some companions to or with nothing but a low fence around it the heads of s horses actually over the fence and the pouring their fire into them till at last he had to give in of our number lay dead in the up in a heap in the centre is a prisoner but with the least of kicking over the ladder yet s people turned him and his friend off in a state of being obliged to find a remnant of of we made a for our bodies so it goes our people is the most singular le under the heavens they are ready to run anywhere and to ran through every thing this about those now exhibiting a to keep himself m starving with my at another moment in a retreat with whole of south american after his skeleton next thing into a duty it the heaven kissing what what spirit drove this no doubt an of flesh and into tl and and was it is man a his by ao the powder of which he shall never boil we cannot follow up s ways farther with the particulars let us however get a look of him when he has risen to the pitch of ci tain by this time our had got sour he way of drawing his cap over my brow and of himself in my own miserable thoughts it is a little tragic at thai six from where general had stuck to have elegant spanish gentleman n ng by and coming in to have his signed now says if you will tell me what you thought of me as you rode past i will sign your he hesitated speak out i think i know your thoughts speak truly to tell the truth then he replied i thought you were a they furnish captains there with nothing but jerked beef and cracked com that republic is of all the most its are in one continual apprehension of being taken and no man can change his opinions half often enough to keep on the right side to day may be governed by general or by governor and to morrow and may be at the top of this beer and next day comes and if any regular account or day book has been opened for these performances we have never seen it our hero does his best and in his way by no means a does erect or him as he best can ever anon himself being over by fortune s and is no sooner crept out a one prison than he is at once pitched like a lo of hay into another his marriage to the lovely by whom he gets house and and after the proper time a boy keeps him in a sort of subordinate nevertheless he feels the of merchant life for it seems he turns out in the end but of all parts of this republic book that about is so appalling that were it not with an air of apparent truth we should deem it a mere blue beard fiction a certain don who indeed a fatal task published at in a table with the names of the people this man had killed and how he killed them short and t poisoned cat shot total it seems to that in had recently | 37 |
become we can present no further details of this man except one which for its perhaps all cannot it was in the market place t the bodies of many of his victims sometimes them in mockery with ribbons of the color blue and even to die on which were inscribed the words beef i the hide and this man is supreme there to day with his murder c d j who wear a cross of honor or a with this pious motto to thb death to the over the door of all the chief buildings in is inscribed death to the savage so says our colonel our head runs dizzy with murder at this part of the book we trust our has received a copy of this book or if not that some benevolent will pro our not too luminous friend with the proper copy folk in his magnificent soul would all north and south america under his broad wing feathers we advise him to pause those fingers are now desirous of picking their out of after we have taken all with its copper color ed next we are to do the business of patch up the monstrous between white and and copper colored and no color set these once more on their and then who knows but we shall next undertake for that admirable country the republic afterwards we can turn our attention to or he it s all too plain that some supreme or other has been whispering in president s ears excellent republic words now young man and make your way up the ladder of legal or a english and scotch books by j philadelphia t j w johnson vo this is a catalogue of law books arranged giving sufficient descriptions of the best of all m nm and and of the more important of tlie bj the tide page the re in general from books of standard authority and above all giving as as is wanted but no more and often consisting mostly of mere affording the student the means of readily the standing of the book sought without overflowing him with opinions the press the author mr was f n some time at the cambridge law school and seems to have made good use of the advantages afforded him by that library of course nothing but long use can fully test the a work hke this the main virtue of which is but many trials by looking up the and most out way books that to us we have not been able to find mr ai at besides the list there is at the end of the an index of subjects and at the beginning a table of the most complete we know over six pages and forming not the least part of the which as a whole we recommend to our readers as an important book of not only for lawyers but for general readers whose studies extend into the regions of politics or history mr s expressed plan indeed only practical books but hi he has confined himself very strictly to his plan hot admitted many works bearing upon the general questions of and in the event of a second edition we recommend a still greater ion in this direction though considering the considerable extent of the list and the almost of the field so soon as uie strict limit is passed we do not wonder at his caution every law book that cannot be in court is an experiment in a pecuniary point of view and we hope in this instance it will not be an unsuccessful one to mr ij t of sixteenth report of the anti society boston three in defence of by joseph b m b by boston b mo the bible its history sad by b speech of mr of on the bill s j hie general of the moral of god by a b m a boston to a of new letter to l bishop of the church in he state of north occasioned hj his late address to the of his by william m ed it and first day sabbath not of divine appointment with the opinions of te addressed to d d by h c boston or the of the against the of the bible by boston mo the modem a sermon at the or l c by john c to conscience the best policy a fast day sermon ac by john ac new mo the of new an before the st society of c c by c f new york to m the as it is was and to be a at the of the chapel c by james boston to review no iv september i the of the ancient d with the and of the are many fragments of a character which though not properly to a system yet manifest an attempt to on the to understand what is presented in their religious writings under the form of and tradition there seem at least to us who know the literature only at second hand to be three very distinct in the history of their sacred writings the first the age of the v or of certain portions of them is that of a simple original people of agricultural habits standing on the step of the literature of this period consists of hymns and prayers displaying the first simple relation of the mind to the infinite there is little trace of reflection or of ous consciousness the which at a later period appear as distinct are here only of the elements is still the fire c the prayers are for abundance of cows and of com for rain for protection against enemies and wild beasts the calls upon the deity from day to day as a cow to the is the friend of me the yer of horses cows and com lord | 37 |
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