On this page
-
Text (3)
-
September 25, 1852.] THE LEADER. 927
-
COLLOQUIAL SOLILOQUIES. Colloquial Solil...
-
SCIlTELCIIEIt'S HISTOKY OF 2nd PECKMBKK....
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
( Tknno1 Ann's H Fstory Of Imii Losoimiy...
revised this translation according to the last edition , incorporating Wendt ' s additions ; he has also brought the history down to our own day bv brief notices of his own , and has prefaced the whole with a vocabulary of some of the principal terms in German metaphysics . A chronological table and an index complete the serviceableness of this book . As a M anual we know of no book equal to Tennemann , in spite of its serious drawback of its Kantism . It is brief , clear , erudite . The bibliography is minute and extensive . The expositions , though of little service to one who has not already gained some insight into the systems , are excellent as brief indications . It is not a book from which to study philosophy , but it should be for reference on the shelves of every student . Germany has produced a vast array of Histories and Handbooks , but this of Tennemann ' s still holds its ground . Mr . J B- Morell has considerably improved the work by his additions . He was probably limited as to space , so that we will not object to the
unsatisfactory meagreness of his notices , especially when we observe that he only devotes a page to Fourier , an author for whom he has the predilection of a translator . Yet surely St . Simon and Proudhon deserved something more than the simple mention of their names , even if that something had been confined to an enumeration of their works . It would have been better , we think , to have preserved the same silence with respect to Comte , who , we are told in the preface , receives some little of the notice which his merit and influence deserve , because silence is better than error ; and not only is it quite evident that Mr . Morell knows nothing whatever of Comte at first hand , but he repeats the absurd charge of Atheism . " His system , " Mr . Morell says , " which is remarkable for ingenuity ( ingenuity as the characteristic !) establishes
Atheism as a material basis . " Our readers can appreciate the truth of that sentence . But neither we , nor in all probability they , can divine what Mr . Morell ' s meaning is , when he says , " A considerable analogy may be traced between Hume's and Comte ' s systems . " Minute criticism would pick many a hole both in Tennemann ' s text and in that of his editor ; but these small details do not affect our estimate of the general excellence , and we commend the book to all students as a serviceable Manual , in a compact , * cheap , and even elegant form . While noticing this the most recent of Mr . Bonn's valuable contributions to our library of serious books , let us also mention his republication of the Bridgewater Treatises , in his Scientific Library . The entertaining work by Kirby we have already noticed . This month we have Professor Kidd ' s Adaptation of External Nature to the Physical Constitution of to the
3 Ian . On a former occasion , we called attention profoundly unphilosophical idea implied in the title and the contents of this Treatise , which follows the old theological assumption of the Universe being made for the special purpose of serving Man as a theatre , or , as this title-page has it , " with reference to the supply of his wants , and the exercise of his intellectual faculties . " We do not make this objection in any spirit of blame to the late Professor Kidd . He was an orthodox professor , bound to write according to orthodoxy . Our remark is a general one , pointing at the immense absurdity of considering the Universe as constructed with a view to man's wants , instead of man as constructed in " adaptation" to physical laws . Dr . Kidd ' s book , without possessing any remarkable characteristics , is a pleasant and suggestive survey of an interesting subject . The comparison between Aristotle and Cuvier , and the parallel passages quoted in the Appendix , deserve attention .
Further , let us mention that , in the Classical L , ihrary we have the second and concluding volume of Plautus , translated by Henry Thomas ltiley ; and , considering its object , very creditably translated , with brief useful notes , and a capital index . The second volume of Frederika JBremers Works , translated by Mary Howitt , contains the President ' s Daughter , and Nina .
September 25, 1852.] The Leader. 927
September 25 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 927
Colloquial Soliloquies. Colloquial Solil...
COLLOQUIAL SOLILOQUIES . Colloquial Soliloquies : being a Day ' s Serious Table Talk on serious subjects . By One who took all the Talk to himself . C . Fox . This little brochure may be read in a quarter-of-an-hour , yet it contains the results of many many hours thinking . We are puzzled as to the authorship . If the writer is young , he will become remarkable , for there is a vein of humorous thoughtfulness which associates him with our finest essayist—the author of Friends- in Council . But as his little book defies analysis , we will let a passage or two explain all we mean : —
" SELF-COMMUNING . " Wi . sc men —( they arc numerous )—have often counselled u . s to fly from . societ y * to commune with ourselves , and ho learn wisdom . A most efficient mode of learning , I doubt not , for the—wi . se . They have thus learned wisdom . Hut what do all the rent of us learn thereby ? We commune with ourselves , adopt- some suggestion of our own prolific brain , view it on its beautiful side , turn it round and round i' » the same way as the moon ' s face is turned round anil round , we keep the very Kiune disc still in view , pronounce all arguments in its favour to be quite unanswerable , draw upon fancy for facts in support of them , applaud our own originality ,
acuteneKs , love of right , freedom from prejudice , and every other qualification for drawing up bucketfuls of Truth . So far , we are pursuing a process very like that ° f The Wise . We instal ourselves among those who left legacies of wisdom to guide succeeding ages ; we invite them to conference , we condescend to bid them be seated with uh , we ask their opinions , we receive nods of approbation . Any NympLoins of contradiction are accounted for by the ancient wage ' s obvious want of modem light . So we truss up our bundle of . infallible illumination and irrefragable deduction , to go forth into the world as have done The Wise . Then we discover that Self-communing has bestowed upon us , a » upon The Wine , favours truly , but to be ' worn witfi a difference . '
" A retiring friend tells me how much it vexes him to have ' a-knock-down-blow from a-great-stick-of-common-senso' levelled at . his choicest lucubrations . This w treatment which none of the shades of the mighty dead whom he invoked ever bestowed upon him . Whilst he was communing with himself , they all politely gave iiHHont and consent , or at least withheld contradiction . It is only in contemporary society , frivolous , vain , and ephemeral , that he gets this great-knock-down-1 'low . My friend obtains my Wrongest sympathy , for 1 have often been served , ho
myself . The Wise , on the contrary , find self-communing guard them against accidents of this kind . " , " DIVINE SERVICE . " * Finish your breakfast , old-fellow , whilst I tell you what happened when I lived at Court . The scullions and the stable-boys were dutifully loyal , and desirous of showing their pre-eminent love for the service of the monarch . Their device for testifying this good feeling was to meet in one of the great halls of the palace and thank her Majesty for the provision of food , lodging , and liveries which she gave them , sing ' God save the Queen , ' read the Royal Proclamations , and ask for promotion . The cook called the scullions to wash the dishes , the groom called the stable-boys to use the curry-comb and say ' e-s-s-s-s-s - { -. ' "
" THE ETERNAL CAUSE . " No absurdity can surpass that of our speculating upon the operations of the Deity before his having begun to call into existence a single-one of his creatures / The sentiment expressed by my most sage friend bears the usual marks of his wisdom . It is gravely sententious and fit for quoting , with that delightful quality , ever charming to a quoter , of attributing absurdity to the gentleman opposite so conclusively that his mouth must be stopped for the evening . I see , Madam , you have written down the Doctor ' s sentence on the back of your card ; permit me to request you will interline ' knife-making' over « operations ' ' cutler' over ' Deity ; ' and « knife' over the words that follow the word ' single / Read it with these substitutions , and you have made a trap to catch the Doctor ' s ignoratio elenchi . ' You amaze me , Sir ; pray don't at dinner talk about catching sucli creatures / Pardon , Madam , I only want to show that the Doctor wont see the point of the fork . ' Then , Sir , he does but prick his own fingers . ' Perchance , Madam , he pokes it into his neighbour ' s face .
" We who assent not to the Doctor ' s ' Evidences of Design / do not speciilate on operations performed before the operator operated . As much as the Doctor deprecates talking about the Deity ' s doings before he did anything , am I disposed to shrink from language which attributes to the Deity a beginning to operate . If there was a time when the Deity began to operate , by creating the first thing that has ever existed distinct from himself , his whole previous existence , the never-beginning eternity up to that moment of first creation , was spent in absolute inaction Omniscient ! Omnipotent ! and Non-energetic through a course extending infinitely in one direction !!! My reverential feelings prevent my using such words as ' Creator' and ' First Cause / which necessarily carry back a thinking mind to the absurdity condemned by Dr . TouchitofF . Unthinking minds will be glad to be furnished with conventional phrases , solemn sounds lightly shot off by g , thoughtless tongue , which are sure to he well received , since they evince to the unthinking , as well as the thinking , that the talkers wish to stand well with society . " How many of our readers will bring this home to themselves : —
" Have I prejudices ? is my judgment biassed by foregone conclusions ? Have I bigotry , do I refuse investigation , or do I retain opinions in spite of conviction ? " Tried by the opinions which I have , my questions remain unanswered . What will appear to be my mental condition if tried by opinions which I have not ? The religion of ancient Athens—the religion of modern Siam : two faiths held by vast numbers of the human race , with capacity and means far beyond what I can pretend to have for examining and weighing evidence of the faith as it wns in Zeus or as it is in Buddha . Of these two widely accepted faiths I know but little ; and I
form no systematic design of labouring to acquire a more extended knowledge . What but prejudice , a conclusion of the mind antecedent to proof , influences me to refuse investigation ? Shall I commence making acquaintance with the Hirmeso articles of Faith , resolutely determined to live by and die in that faith if I find it to have a satisfnetory basis ? I have no such present intention . Surely it is by virtue of prejudice that I do not examine the Credibility of Buddhism . Is it sale to pass by without serious investigation a faith in which millions of men find for their spiritual life comfort , trust , and hope ? The inquiry is not attempted , nor does the reasonableness of the call for investigation induce me to commence it . Am I then biiroted ?"
Sciltelciieit's Histoky Of 2nd Peckmbkk....
SCIlTELCIIEIt'S HISTOKY OF 2 nd PECKMBKK . Histvire des Crimes du Deux Dfcembrc . Par V . Scha'leher , Kepresenfanf ; < lu Peuple . John Chapman . Victor Schcelcher is sin eminent member of that section of . French [ Republicans which , under the designation of La Montague , keeps up the traditions of ' 1 ) 3 . We may remark in passing , that there is something singularly in contradiction with revolutionary principles in this conservatism of revolutionary traditions . The old conservative party may glorify their " traditions , " without incurring the charge of inconsequence ; they may use former successes and former greatness as an argument for future action ; but surely the men who avowedly disclaim the argument , of tradition , who proclaim the word Progress as their watchword , and who believe thai 'Humanity grows , are singularly placed when they call upon the " traditions' * of a transition era like ' * . ); $ , and demand the symbols and the actions which grew up out of the necessities of iK )!
The Montagnards , however , whatever Ihe faults of their policy , showed themselves animated by a sincere and courageous patriotism in December , 1851 , when all other parties gave ; way , held aloof , or vilely applauded the acts of Louis JMnpoleon . M . Scho'leher has written in burning pages the history of that frightful and ignoble epoch . lie was foremost at the barricades . The sword powerless in his hand , he exchanges if for the powerful pen . lie writes—and if \ h as if the sword-point cut in blood I ho disgraceful annuls of reactionary France . To those who have rend the splendid indignation of Victor Hugo , we now commend the damning evidence of Schuiloher ' s narrative . There is much that is new in it , and
every page i « curious . The history of the several " preventive- arresfN " with which the coup d ' etat opened , ' is told with circumstantial minuteness , and reads like a Dumas novel . This chapter is followed by one on the " First Measures of the . Insurrection , " and by one on the " . Resistance of the Assembly , " which leads to that more dramatic chapter , " The Res istance of Paris . " M . Schaslcher then pauses to consider the attitude of the People in this crisis , and shows how completely the People , duped by the lying promises of . Louis Napoleon , and disgusted by the " palaver" of the Assembly , welcomed , rather than opposed , the coup d ' tUaL Tho conclusion JVI . Hchcjolcher draws—and ho repeats the sentence with emphasisi » ono which , can hardly be said to belong to revolutionary " traditions , "
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 25, 1852, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25091852/page/19/
-