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Clitics are not the . legislators , biit the judges and police of literature . They do not make Iaw 3—they interpret and try fco enforce them .. — Edinburgh Review .
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Always among tie most interesting of periodicals to us is the North British Review . It is young as compared -with the Edinburgh and Quarterly ; but it is fresh , energetic , often original , and , while to the full as careful , tasteful and polished astlie older Reviews , it is generally deeper in its thinking , and strikes in with greater effect upon the problems and tendencies of the time . Neither the EdhtburgJi nor the Quarterly , for example , could have produced an ( article precisely like that which appears in the present number of che North British , under the title of " The Insoluble Problem . " In its character it reminds us of some of Sir Wili ^ am : Hamilton's philosophical articles in the Edinburgh in its old days , now reprinted among his " Discussions . " It is—what we rarely now see—a really profound philosophical paper , written in an orthodox religious spirit . The text of the article is Mr . Cai-dewood's " Philosophy of the Infinite , " a metaphysical work , recently published in Edinburgh . In this work the writer discusses the theories of Sir
vViiwam HAsrnrox and M . Cousin as to the possibility of man ' s knowledge of the infinite . These theories , as metaphysical readers know , are , ; . o some extent , antagonistic . Sir Wiuum Hamilton holds that the Finite can have absolutely no knowledge of the Infinite , and , consequently , that the natural religious sentiment in man is nothing more , rationally speaking , than an eternal "pressure against an ever-resisting Negative—a very different thing , however , from Secularism or Atheism , inasmuch as the Infinite , known only as a . Negative , may , even so , act tremendously on the thought . M . Cousns , on -the other hand , holds that man has a certain positive knowledge otf ^ Deity-, sure so far as it goes . Mr . Camjewood controverts Sir William Hamilton's notion , and inclines to M . Cousin ' s . The Reviewer plants himself in the midst of these various opinions , and discusses the whole question in an independent mannei ' , and with the strength of a master in metaphysics . His conclusion is indicated in the followinp ; sentences : —
Is not the true opinion a mean between these extremes ? Does it not recognise oar knowledge of the facts—finite beings and the Transcendent Being—which occasion the difficulty on the one hand ; and on the other the impossibility of any solution of their relation by human understanding ? This would account for contradiction emerging , whenever a solution ia irrationally attempted , and teach the need for withdrawing our faculty of comparison and reasoning from a region for which it is unfitted . Are we ^ vrong when we suppose that M . Cousin , who speaks of the " incomprehensibility" of God , and grants that we are unable " absolutely to comprehend God , " wishes lis theoay to be interpreted in harmony with the principle that the Great Problem is fundamentally Insoluble ; and that when Sir W . Hamilton indulges his matchless
logical ingenuity In eliciting the contradictions which follow an illegitimate application of reasoning to the Infinite and Eternal , his demonstration does not touch the pillars on which , the Facts themselves rest—mysteriously irreconcilable and yet known to be real ? On this intermediate hypothesis , while we have what may "be called a metaphysical knowledge of material and finite beings , —which may be converted into science T > y reasoning and induction ; we have a metaphysical knowledge of the Transcendent Being , —as not an object of logical definition and scientific reasoning at all . We beLieve , and therefore know , that the Infinite One exists ; but whenever He 3 a logically recognised as a term in thought or argument , either the object , like the argument , becomes finite , or else runs into innumerable contradictions .
Reason thus presents two corresponding faculties or organs for the apprehension of real beings : —Intuition and JixiMcniH ^ ui ! :, governed by the logical and associative laws ; and Faith , to whose object , as transcendent , the laws of scientific thought cannot "be applied . The problem of metaphysics , regarded as the science of knowledge in its relation to Being , may be put thus : —Given Experience and Faith , lodged in a mind governed by the laws of association and logic , —to account for actual human knowledge . In short , the Athoist ' s universe , and the Pantheist's universe , are both metaphysically impossible . The former excludes transcendent , and the latter absorbs finite existence . The dualism , implied in creation and providence is logically inconceivable , because beyond the range of human thought ; but it is originated and maintained an belief by an unaccountable necessity of reason . Now , we may believe what we cannot scientifically rationalise . Thus the balance falls on the side of the former of the alternatives to which we are confined by logic ; ami wo escape from the mental oscillation , to - which wo were hopelessly abandoned , by a theory which decline * to recognise in kuowlcdgo whatovor cannot bu logically concoived and reasoned about .
The position the Leader lias taken in regard to such discussions as the above is known to our readers ; but we have pleasure ia referring t 6 such articles as these in an orthodox Roview , a . 9 indicating what strength of intellect and noble serenity of feeling are still at work on these problems . It is witEitliis theology—a very different theology from thnt of PAr . Hr with his 44 Wafch" and its Watchmaker , " and from that of the Bridgewater treatises with their " argument from design "— 'that sceptics have now to grapple .
Metaphysics of this kind , us tho reviewer himself hints , have been hithorto rather English than Scotch—tho Scotch with all their metaphysical reputation , having concerned tlusinsolvcs chiefly with that " less abstract part of metaphysics " which consists of an investigation of tho origin , limits , and certainty of ourknowloilgo of the material world ;'' whilu , in comparison even with Knglishmon , and much inoro with Cr-jrmans , they hnvo nogluotod that *' higher motuphysic which contumplu . to .-i tho foiiiuliition and nature of thaological knowlodgo . " This would give a duopor mourning than has usually
been allowed to Gisorou tiih Third's Kiivinir , u None of your Scotch niotubeen allowed to Gisorou tiih Third's saying , u None of your Scotch metaphysics , Mr-DuNDAs "—na if his Majesty did not object to tins higher or English species of tho sumo commodity . For tho unite of those of our renders , however , who may object to tho commodity in all its kin da , wo may mention that tho paper in question in tho North Jiritish occupies only about thirty pages , and that in tho same number there « ro seven other articles on
very various subjects—including a rich and delightful article on the study of natural history , entitled " The Wonders of the Shore , " full of the poetry of science ^ a comprehensive article reviewing recent speculations on Mental Physiology , Electro-Biology , &e . ; " and an excellent political article , ia which a readjustment of the map of Europe , involving a setting-up of Poland , Italy , ani Hungary , as independent nationalities , is advocated as the only final solution of the present European question . From a " notice" prefixed to this number of the Prospective Review , we learn that one of its editor ? , the Rev . Charles Wickstebd , has withdrawn from the management on-account of ill health , leaving the care of the Review to the Rev . John Jambs Taylek , the Rev . James Martineau . the Rev .
John Hamilton Thom , ami Ir . William C . Roscor ; also , that in future the Review is to be published by Mr . Theobald , oC i ' sternoster-row ; and , finally , that " a scheme is now under consideration for enlarging the scope of the Review , and giving it all the variety and interest of a first-class Quarterly . " Tlie scheme is to involve no change in the relations of the Review towards contemporary speculation : it is still to be an organ of Rationalistic Christianity . " We confess ourselves , " say the editors , " to be interwoven with Historic Christendom by every fibre of conviction and sympathy ; but ., as we cannot , break from its roots , so neither would we stop its development . " In the present number there are six articles , all of a theological tenor , of which the longest , and , perhaps , the most interesting , is a careful and thoughtful paper on Bishop Butler , the author of the " Analogy . "
Brownsoii ' s Quarterly Review is an American Catholic periodical of some note , published in New York , and reprinted for British circulation by a Catholic publisher in London . The editor , 1 Mb . ¦ Shownson , we believe , . was formerly a Unitarian minister , but is now a champion of Catholicism in America . There is little in the present number worth noticing except an article on the " Know-Nothings . " The following passage characterit . es the " Know-Nothings" from the point of view of the American Catholics , and states the relation in which American Catholicism seeks to stand towards this new and powerful movement : —
Our readers have no need to be informed tliat there is a secret anti-Catholic organisation throughout the Union , bearing-some resemblance to the Orange lodges of Ireland , of persons who very appropriately call themselves Know-Nothings . The party that is represented by this organisation is substantially the late anti-Catholic Native American party , and is led on , avowedly or unavowedly , under the direction of foreign anarchists , and apostate priests and monks , by men of desperate fortunes , fanatics , bigots , arid demagogues , some of home and some of foreign production . The party reduced to its own elements would have little or no importance , but , affecting to be national , it is , in the actual state of the country and of national , religious , in id political passions and prejudices , somewhat formidable , and demands th « grave consideration of ev « ry true American , and especially of every Catholic citizen . The Know-Nothing party , taken in a general rather than in a special sense , rely for thi'ir
success on two powerful sentiments ;—the sentiment of American nationality alarmad by the extraordinaryinflux of foreigners , and the anti-Catholic sentiment , < r hatred of the Catholic Church , shared to a greater or less extent by the majority of our countrymen , and which , by the anti-Catholic declamations of Protestant England , Exeter Hall , and apostate priests and monks , and by tl \ e extension and consolidation of the church , and the freer , bolder , and more independent tone of Catholics , in tlie United States , has been quickened just now into more than its wonted activity . The strength of the party consists in the appeals it is able to make to tlie . se . sentiments , especially to that of American nationality , for with the American pooplc this world curries it over the other , and politics over religion . From neither of tlic-te two sentiments should we , as Catholics , have much to apprehend , if they were not combined and acting in concert . Our obvious policy is , then , to do all wo lawfully can to keep thorn scituratc in the
public mind , and prevent them from combining . This can Ije done , humanly speaking , only by satisfying the sounder portion of our iion-Catlioliu countrymen , —us cvuvy Catholic knows , to be true , —that there i . s no incompatibility between Catholicity and tho honest sentiment of American nationality , and that whatever of l ' orcignism attaches ) for tho moment to Catholics in this country attaches to them in their quality of foreigners , and not in their quality of Catholics . Thin is certain , for the sentiment of nationality is as strong in the bosom of the American Catholic a * in the bosom of the American Protestant . Nothing Hcems to us moro important at . this crisis in rotation to tho Know-Nothing movement , than for us clearly to distinguish th « sentiment of nationality from the anti-Catholic sentiment , and to lie on our guard agniiiHt oflfering it any gratuitous oflunce , and by our indiscretion enlisting on tlie side of that movement the large class of respectable non-Catholics who love their country more than they hate Popery .
X he American Catholics seem , indeed , to be in n very awkward predicament an regards this <; Know-Nothing" movement , ] f they side with it , and take up the notion of excluding foreigners in future from American citizenship , they check the 'inurca . se of their own numbers by the influx of Catholics iron * Ireland and other countries , and so arrest their own growth as a political element in the . Republic ; if they oppose it , they throw the Republic open to foreign Liberals , socialists , and all kinds of anti-Catholic immigrants from Europe . Brown . ion \ i Review seenus fairly nonplussed by this dilemma . It has got into u scrape by advocating , in a previous number , the doctrine of " Native Americanism ; " and it trios to get out of this acrapo in the present by protestation , explanation , and mystification . Evidently what tho reviewer would like would bo to solve tho dilliculty by lulling in good Irish Catholics , and keeping out all other lbrcignurri ; but , an thin cannot lie , ho tiinta that it might bo worth whilu in tho foreign Catholics to exorcise self-denial , and forego tho right of naturalisation , in order to koop out onoinica of thu Church . Altogether , " Know-Nolhingi . siu" aocma to be a forinulublo phenomenon for Amoriciui Catholicism . In tho Nwth American Me view—published in Hilton , «» i < l taking a firnt rank among American periodicals— there i » an article of n » uorc general character on Catholicism , from tho opposite point oC view . Tho writer , taking tho celebrated Do Maistro for his text , comments on the present
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November 4 , 1854 ] THE LEADER . 1045
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 4, 1854, page 1045, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2063/page/13/
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