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ideas , and no amount of " historical evidence" or " exegetical erudition , no amount of eloquence or ingenuity can disguise their inherent falsehood . This being the case , shall we regard our convictions as " guilty P © hall we keep them in trembling secresyv or shall we utter them as the agonies of our heart ? No ; to the belief in these propositions as true , we oppose our belief in their falsity ; and that not , we hope , because our heart is corrupt—assuredly not because our heart is miserable , for few hearts are lighter ! \ . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ '¦ > . ' , The JSclipse ofTaith is useless , because it never once touches the real centre of the question : it will flatter one party , but it will convince no one , strengthen no one .
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POLITICAL ELEMENTS . Political Elements , or the Progress of Modern Legislation . By Joseph Moseley , B . C . L . J , "W . Parker and Son . Although we cannot say that Mr . Moseley has the clue to a science of politics , such as we conceive to be not only possible but inevitable , yet this thoughtful volume will not be unwelcome to the student . The silent revolution , wMch , he truly says , has been changing this country during the last thirty years , has been owing to certain principles ,-the presence of which he undertakes to indicate . " Not France , with all her commotions , " he says , " has undergone so complete a change as we . There they have but altered the name , the form of government , the dynasty on the throne —here we have had revolutions in the opinions , in the sentiments , in the material interests of the people . " If any one wishes to see how striking is the change , let him read Miss Martineau ' s EAstoryof the Thirty Years ' Peace .
Mr . Moseley , in seeking for the principles of this silent but mighty revolution , is first led to consider the principle of Reform , which he vindicates as the instinct for Perfection—the craving for progressive development implanted in the human race . " This was the means by which all that higher destiny which awaited him was to be worked out . And it has been . All that surpassing excellence in religious , moral , and intellectual well-being which he has achieved— -every comfort that he enjoys above that of his earliest state , has been obtained by the impulse of ^ this lonsinff . The essential distinction between man and the inferior orders of beings ,
consists in this , that they are content to think , and to act , to eat , drink , and to sleep , as now , so ever , and so on for ever ; whilst man is urged by an ever-renewing , never-to-be-satisfied desire to ameliorate bis condition—to add something of the comfortable , of the noble of to-day to that of yesterday . The doctrine of contentment—the proverb of " leave well alone , " and such like , acting exclusively , is peculiarly that of the lower grades of the Creation . In its full extent jt is at variance with this first principle of the physical temperament of man in the individual—and if carried out , were fatal to the destiny of man as a race . He had not yet left the caves where he first dwelti if be had yielded to it . "
And he also sees that no amount of political action so produced is to be undervalued , because , perhaps , the instruments were insignificant or worse : — " Doubtlessly , there are other , secondary motive powers , as it were , that have operated in this political change , besides that referred to . A disposition to change is a matter of physical habit , a fidgettiness , a nervous affection , with some—though in this sense , perhaps , it is only an undue operation of the principle we speak of . In others , the desire for political alteration is a vanity for imposing their own theories upon society ; in others , a means of thrusting themselves upon the theatre of events j a standard under which political adventurers , like soldiers of fortune , enlist and fight their way to honour and power . And even by parties , by whole
bodies of men , it is not unfrequently held in this mean view . But an abstract truth is not affected by this—that men see it in a false light ; nor is the unity , the identity , the absoluteness of truth , destroyed by this—that men worship it through a thousand different shrines . Even religion operates on different men iu different ways ; with some it is a fear—with some a hope—with some a veneration for the Omnipotent Being ; with others a mere means of gain , and with not a few a mere vanity ^—a display . And so , too , with morality—fear of what the world saysdread of what the law may do—conviction that on the whole it is tho best policy , and many other such moan motives , are the impulses of its action on many minds . But for all thatreligion and social morality arc not tho less true in their general
, results—neither is political morality . By it all men are led to the eamo end that is ordained to thorn , though by different ways . Even if we grant progress or reform to bo a series of operations , originating in and carried out by a series of political combinations of men , with a view , to serve their own ends , this will not render it tho less , what we have above contended it to be—the natural impjilao which mankind has to ameliorate his condition . For in so doing , those combinations must have been actuated either by their own innate instinct of lovo of perfection for that which was best in tho institutions of tho country ; or else , by a conviction that the public mind was impelled by such an instinct . In either case , it was the desire of man for his well-being which was tho moving power . "
Nor does ho less clearly recognise the function of that apparently antagonistic principle of Conservatism which claims a party for its expression : — " Tho very first principle of humanity—of every living thing—is that of selfpreservation . It is in accordance with this instinctive impulse , that man over finds himself urged by an innate fear of what ho does not know—what he docs not comprehend . Ho refuses to take as nourishment things ho has not tasted of beforeto enter into places where ho has not been—or in anything to trust to what ho has no dxporionco of . If ho does , it is because that ho , is not in reality ignorant of what ho trusts to—that ho known it by tho analogy it boars to something that lie with
was acquainted with boforo ; and even thon ho confides in it by degrcos— a four , a trembling , with a caution proportionate to his . inexperience . And as ho has a dread of tho now , ho also ho has a rational clinging to the old—to that which lie is acquainted with and comprehends , and so need not fear ; for , do as ho will , lie must always bo dependent upon what is about him . Ho calls this tho actual—tl » o roal , and tho disposition towards it , contentment . And so it js with society : what tho instinct of self-preservation is to man in tho individual , that of solf-consorvation —of conservatism—is to man in tho aggregate . Mankind , like man , not only llncls itself urged by a tendency to preserve itself from direct injury and annihilation , but by a fooling also to anticipate such occurrences . Society , also , feare to toko any
or those which we all experience when beneath the gothic arch of some cathedVal ' Veneration— -awonder that astonishes—a pride that makes it all our own , and a * sweet sense of gratitude that at once repays the debt— -the vastness that receives and protects ali , if all do not officiate- ^ -the righteousness of proportion as a whole even though some parts be too prominent—the beauty of detail , if it has its rough portions—the ages it has stood—the assaults that have wasted their little strength upon ifc—the marvel it has been in all ages , the model it is now— -the bold minds that conceived it , ar id the lives that wore their weary selves away upon the work , and which now sleep quietly beneath it- —how is it possible not to be conservative of
new nourishment- ^—to adopt any unknown remedy for relieving thbse > maladies fc * subject to—to follow any new course of life- —any new rule of action of which * t * ignorant . And in so doing , man , in the aggregate , is actuated by an intuitiv perception of that profound truth that lies at the bottom . ofall instinctive impulsl ? just as man in the individual is * . * " But , again , there is a conservatism of the sentiment . It is in some— -perhans in most—a passion of the imagination for the past . In this sense it is the tra ^* of ideas and feelings which an Englishman feels for the institutions of his country It is like those whichithe scion -of some long old family feels for the mansion honsJ *
such a structure as this ? " And in such sentiments there is truth . For wonder at that which is vast , admiration of that which is beautiful—even though it be not perfect—are true . And gratitude is truth . Such sentiments are but the short cuts by which the feel ings , stealing a march on t he reasoning faculties , arrive at just conclusions before them . Arid as true , so useful . No truth rises and passes away idle—without having performed the functions assigned to it . It is these sentiments that attach us to our institutions ; and since they exist in us , and are dependent on us , it is these sentiments , therefore , that give them stability . And since those institutions
have and shall contribute so essentially to our well-beingi those feelings—those emotions—contribute powerfully to our welfare . " Having laid down and illustrated these : ' prmd pi ^ 8 >; ]^ ' ' ]^ Q 86 lejr'iiexfe proceeds to consider the position of political parties—of Bfogress--the Elements of Legislation . Public Opinion and its Evidences- ~ Leei 8 lative Science and the functions of a Legislator ; but . we cantfot follow him through these chapters . Enough has been said to indicate the purpose and the style of the work , which occupies ground too little cultivated by our writers .
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CUETiS'S LOTOS EATING . ' Zotos Eating : a Summer Book . By George William Curtis . Author of " Nile Notes , " &c . ¦ ¦ ¦ . , ¦ ¦ . ¦ ¦ .... . . Bentley These is one peculiarity in modern literature wholly unlike anything we can find in ancient writers , namely , the deep and abiding sense of Nature speaking symbolically to Man of his hopes , his aspirations ; his sorrows , and his troubles . "Critics have endeavoured by the terms Classic and to draw the distinct
Bomantic , and by the terms Ethnic and Christian , line of demarcation , but on examination the Eomantic element is found animating Grecian Literature , as the Classic lives in the modern . In the one peculiarity to which we allude , Greek thought Btands as , remote from European thought , as the Acropolis from St . Paul ' s . We have , on a former occasion , compared the introduction of this new element to the introduction into music of moving basses , by Carissimi , —the greatest modification ever made in music , —without which all those stupendous orchestral effects , and all those subtle , intricate harmonies which in the or ** * fvrnmoHflrs ravish the ear . would have been impossible , lnink at ot
what Literature would be were all those passages effaced which speak Nature as if its phenomena were but reflections of the poems written on the red-leaved tablets of the heart ! " . . . flonffl Like everything else this feeling is exaggerated , and Literature reflects the exaggeration . It is not a healthy symptom that few writers now can speak of Nature without rising into rhapsodies ; and that description loses itself in interpretation . For one man who can paint a scene , we nave thousands who can give lyrical utterance to the emotions they did not teei in the presence of that scene , but which they desire you to believe they
The merit and the fault we touch upon are both illustrated in the little volume before us . It announces itself as a Summer BooK-as a dreamy Lotos eating , —and bears the same relation to Literature as louing on a sunny slope under the chequered branching shade of some oiovne , with a rivulet running at your feet , and birds and insects musical arouna you , bears to active life . It is a reverie , and let us add , a sweet an pleasant reverie , wherein the misty forms of the Hudson and the Itmne of Niagara and Saratoga , of Lake George and Trenton Falls , pass betoro the half dosed eye of " Idlesse in her dreaming < mood . Mr . Curtis is an American , a travelled American , an agreeame wjm panion , a poetic nature , an eloquent writer ; he has made a summer ¦ w , and written a sort of journal of his reveries during ™* tom / * Z " compares the Hudson with the Rhine while sailing on the former , au after speaking eloquentlof tho German riversays— uviAWJiJfc MHfc - ^* -t ¦ ¦
y , , £ 4 , 1 , \ t \ J 3 , fj EJvW **** - * fc ^/*^^^« i ^^»*^ w ^ ¦ ———¦ " - ™ - —— r ^ _ t i « The Hudson , however , is larger and grander . It is not to bo devoured . m ^ tail . No region without association , is , except by science . But its * V ° r ° the stately character , its varied and magnificent outline , from the i ^ aiisaaui Catskill , aro as epical as tho loveliness of the Rhine is lyrical . The Hudson ^ i v a continent behind . For vineyards it luw forests . For a belt of water , a "J stream . For graceful and grain-goldoned hiUs it has imposing mountains . . is no littleness about tho Hudson , but there is in tho Rhine . Hero e ™ J * ' » j boldly touched . What lucid and penetrant lights , what broad and «> . J" T , 10 Tho river moistens tho feot , nnd tho clouds anoint the heads , of regal nu * Dnnnbo . , in parts , glimpses of such grandeur . Tho Elbe hafl' w ™ £ f . nonO dolicatcly penciled cllccts . But no European river is bo lordly m ita oo » r » b
flows in such state to tho sea . " -Hi t we Tho ground ho travels over has been so often trodden before * " » n can only look to him for novelty of st y lo . Here is » fftvour ab l ^ the from his chapter on that inexhaustible subject , Niagara ; ironj . reader will gather evidence of all we have said abtfttt his little ooo « - ^ " Tho beauty of Niagara is in its immediate neighbourhood . . ** J" JJmb tb «* Island—upon the clifla , over which hangs the greatest verdure—in tne w «*>
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: ¦ .. ¦ "¦ ¦ ¦ ; , . '¦ . ' ¦ . ¦ " . - ' ¦ " ¦ ¦¦ ' ' : ' / \ ; v . - ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ' ¦ ¦ .. . ¦ ¦ ' ¦; " ¦ :. ¦; . ¦ . ¦/¦ ¦¦ . ' ¦ ¦ - ' ' . ' " , ¦ - 'V "' ; ^ ; - \; : V ' - ;* i ; - - / ¦¦ ¦ ¦' 542 TH E LEAB || ¦ ¦ ¦^ 0 ^*^^
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Leader (1850-1860), June 5, 1852, page 542, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1938/page/18/
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