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,. . T t . ftve riven casts upon many obscurities $ lch ^ ay plrpTexAe ^ tuden ? of Socialist theories . I few wordS in conclusioa upon the practical apph-^ No ' thin ^ ap peMs ' to ' ine more important , in the present position of Socialism , than , on the one hand to keep constantly in view , and constantly tommt upon tfce intimate connection between the effort * of the Socialists and the idea of duty ; and , on the other , to rest our Socialism upon this simple idea as a fact of our own consciousness , without drawing m the conceptions which we may form of the origin and foundation of this idea to constitute part of our Socialist creed . If the Socialist is to have a true feeling of the nobleness of his aims , if the band of Social Reformers is not to be split into hostile sects hv the diversity of the practical measures which they
may advocate , they must keep continually before them the recollection that Socialism is essentially an earnest effort to realize the highest conception of which man is capable , the conception of right and of duty , in the most important subjects to which it can be applied by man , the conditions under which the body of mankind are to live and work upon the earth . Again , if the Social Reformers are to avoid splitting into a number of philosophical , or theological sections , they must remember that they have to deal with matters of positive regulation of law , which requires as its foundation only the sense of duty as it exists in the human conscience , and that , important as it is for each individual to attain correct views of the origin of the sense of duty , and incumbent as it may often be upon him to promulgate the views he has attained , these
it is only foolish to insist upon introducing convictions into a sphere to which they do not properly belong , and to make compulsory as a bond of union , that which is valuable only as the free result of independent investigation . Religion , as the utterance of the affections towards that Being on whom our individual existences depend , and p hilosophy , as the expression of speculative thought—its ever renewed effort to connect the facts of our individul consciousness with the laws of universal being revealed to us by the phenomena around us , necessarily embrace the practical principles on which Socialism rests , and as necessarily go beyond them . But in the loftier regions to which they aspire , we are very apt to lose the firm footing which the stable earth supplies . In the words of the clear-sighted Goethe we may say : —
" Will man raise himself upwards And lift his head amid the stars ? No certain resting-place His wavering foot can find , But with him sport The winds and clouds . " The Catholic Church , in the assumption of her infallibility , can indeed consistently transfer the basis of union from the solid ground of practice to the airy regions of speculation . But if , abandoning this assumption as untenable , we seek in these inquiries , as in other branches of human knowledge , for that
degree of certainty which our own investigations can supply , we must comply with the conditions under which investigation has in other matters passed gradually from doubt to science , and , conceding perfect liberty of inquiry , give up the notion of establishing our own particular systems as the foundation for a general union . If these positions be admitted , they seem to afford a basis for the religion of a plan which has been already mooted in the Leader , a plan of a general union among all bodies of Socialists , for receiving and diffusing information , and thus forming a centre which shall further the social cause .
To make Buch a union practicable some conception of Socialism seems to be required , which all can accept , which shall leave toeach freoliberty to teach and net on their own principles , and yet shall not be subject to the reproach with which Schelling stigmatizes the union of the Lutherans and Calvinists , that they united "upon a basis of nullity . " It seems tome that in defining Socialism to be " the recognition of the imperative du » y of establishing , in all those relations of life which grow out of or concern property , such laws and customs as accord with reason and
conscience , in firm faith that the fulfilment of this duty is possible , a basis of union , at once full of significance and free from sectarianism , is afforded . Many , I believe , may be found in the present day ready to unite in a society formed upon the acknowledgment of such a principle , for the purpose of promoting all earnest efforts to solve , theoretically and practically , the problems it involves ; to consider what are the laws and customs which ought to prevail in relution to property , and how they may be most easily and safely introduced , to collect and diffuse information in relation to these subjects , and in " 1 1 other practicable ways to assist the attempts at the practical introduction of such laws , whatever might be the particular theories of those who made the attempt .
In the hope that by bringing this subject to the attentio n of your readers I may do something to forward such a union , I remain , Dear Sir , yours faithfully , K . Vansittaut Nkalje .
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There is certainly nothing more capricious than the judgment of men on books : it defies all rule , escapes all calculation . In Blackwood there is this month an article on the Essays of Mr . Helps , written with a loving admiration , such as to make its two points of objection all the more surprising ; Had the critic been blind to the peculiar characteristics of Mr . Helps , and detected nothing in those essays but grave commonplaces ( a tour de force which has been accomplished by one
journal !) , we could have understood his sweeping depreciation of the historical talent of Mr . Helps , and of the Essays written during the Intervals of Business j but from one who sees and appreciates the delicate and subtle wisdom set forth in exquisite language , which constitutes the charm of Friend * in Council and Companions of my Solitude , we were astonished to hear a summary dismissal of the
Essays , as containing nothing of practical application . The volume is not at hand , or we could marshal quotations rank and file to rout this notion . What does the critic say , for example , to this felicitous and practical bit of advice to thinkers : — " Use the pen : there is no magic in it , but it prevents the mind from staggering about . ' * Advice which we have acted on ever since we met with it . Then ,
again , the caution against allowing yourself to be carried away by the current sayings about men ' s conduct and characters , "By so doing you are helping to form a mob " / How well said ! how well worth saying ! There is another passage about the rarity of men ' s exercising their imagination in service of charity , which we remember as peculiarly suggestive . Indeed , the volume abounds with true and thoughtful aphorisms , although we agree with the critic that it is far inferior to the works which succeeded it .
In Fraser there is a curious paper on Dr . Wichcot and Bishop Butler , wherein the writer undertakes to show that Butler , in liis Analogy , did but appropriate and methodize the published opinions of Wichcot . A little while ago Paley was detected plagiarizing the substance of his Natural Theology , and now the other " great gun" of Orthodoxy is to be stripped of his feathers ! In vaio : all the criticisms in the world
will not shake Butler and Paley ; all the cases of appropriation that can be brought forward will fail to rob the one of his power , the other of his charm . Original ? Who is Original ? Goethe shall tell us : ein Narr aufs eigne Hand J ** Vain Crassus boasting said , * I follow none : I owe my learning to myself alone ; To neither ancient nor to modern sage Am I indebted for a single page . ' To place this boasting in its proper light : Friend Crassus is—a Fool in his own right ! "
Of Dr . Wichcot we are glad to hear what Fraser tells us , and arc interested in the extracts ; his name has a pleasant sound with us as the author of that definition of Heaven which Leigh Hunt is fond of quoting : — " Heaven is first a temper and then a place . " In Tait , the paper on Heine is well worth
reading ; and in Brother Jonathan ( the new American Magazine ) , there is Edoar Poe ' h weird poem The Raven , which will be more attractive than all the other papers . Albert Smith keeps up his Month with amazing joviality , admirably seconded by Lkecii , who also revels in the comicalities of the Comic History of Rome .
While touching on these serials , let us not forget Charleh Knight ' s new publication The Companion Library for Student and Traveller , which is announced as a scries of cheap and portable volumes , fit for a , day's journey , or for the library . Travelling Hours ( a collection of short tracts ) , the Companion Shakspere ( for pocket or portmanteau ) , and Companion Dictionary of Universal Reference , are the threp ? eries announced .
The Revue de Paris is revived : or rather a newreview has revived the old familiar name . It is to be monthly . The first number is before us , and contains articles by Lamartine , Balzac , Theophile Gautier , Chasles , Arsene Houssayebut none of them worthy of their authors , if we except the sketch of Murat , which is extracted from the forthcoming volumes of Lamartine ' s History of the Restoration ( announced for this month ); and unless a very decided improvement takes place , the Revue will stand no chance of
success . Gautier , in the introduction , announces that the Revue will admit perfect liberty of opinion , every writer to utter whatever he thinks true , to seek the Beautiful in his own way ; the only condition affixed is , that the article be well written . " People who have no style , " he says , " pretend to great depth of thought , as plain women affect cleverness : it is sheer pretension . " The epigram will pass as an epigram j but does Gautier deny the Germans thought , although scarcely one in a thousand can write a decent page ?
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Our Age has had many epithets ; — Age of Humbug , Age of Iron , Age of Brass—why not Age of Confidences ( perhaps not so remote from that of Brass ); seeing how eager men are to whisper their secret histories " to the Universe . " Lamartinb has latel y been striving to equal the Briareus of Literature , Alexandre Dumas . That indomitable , inimitable Creole now turns round upon Lamartine j and as he , the poet , thinks fit to publish his Confidences , he , Dumas , will astound
the world with his Memoirs—in eight volumes No sooner said than done ; the eight volumes are paid for—written . La Presse announces them as food for its feuilleton . " L ' auteur se raconte , " we are told , " nvec une verve que lui raerae n ' avait jamais egale " e . " Imagine Dumas writing of himself ! What gaiety ! what invention ! what pyramidal conceit ! The men he has seen—the places he has visited—the deeds he has done—the ups and
downs of his adventurous life , more varied than one of his own novels ! He has been a clerk , he has been a theatrical manager , he has been an editor , and the " friend of princes , " he has earned vast sums and squandered them , lived with wits , politicians , actors , demireps , and bill discountershe has had lawsuits and duels ( at least as a second )—he has had intrigues and successesnnd all this he will tell with his immense talent
for narrative , and his immense capacity for fiction ! It will be one of the most amusing books in the language . Who can ever forget his " attitude , " the French say , after the Revolution of 1848 ? For a few weeks his pose was that of an immense politician ; probably the Presidentship loomed through the mist of his vanity . If Lamahtine was a great man , the idol of the nation , the hope of the public , what might not Alexandre become 1 He started a
paper : the prospectus of which , placarded on the walls , ought to be preserved among the delici < e literarite as a specimen . We only remember the close . After setting forth how his pen will chronicle every phase of the Revolution , every step in the march of Society , he winds up with this magnificent ( and " French" ) passage : — " Du reste notre tAche est facile : Dieu dicte , at nous ecrivons "— " As to the rest , my task will be light : God will dictate , and I shall hold the pen ! "
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In our nummary of the 27 th ultimo , we mentioned a new trcatiae , by M . A . Cochut , on the Working-men ' * Associations in Paris , and on the attempts at indiiNf rial reorganization in France ainco the Revolution of * i « . I" speaking of the work we ventured on a presumption , that M . Cochut would be unfriendly to th « principle of anaociation . It is needles * now to exp lain how it wa « that we had confounded tl . o writer with literary namediatluKui-hed in Political Economy , amongst winch h . own had appeared . Hut the promotion wa « and we hasten to correct it , the more ILWat ' lr . -inco ™ underatand that the friends of M . € ochut have felt grieved at the mode in which wo clamed
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Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and polic * of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them— Edinburgh . Review .
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Oct . 11 , 1 S 51 . ] ^ Cftl 3 Lt&itt . . 969
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 11, 1851, page 969, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1904/page/13/
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