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Besides warning us against a too acquiescent ; use of metaphors , Mr . Bailey suggests an excellent canon , when treating of imaginary mental transactions : Nine-tenths of the speculations of transcendental philosophers , as far as they have come under my ohservation , appear to be made up of absolutely imaginary events . To make the subject plain , it may be needful to remind you that all the events and facts in the world may be arranged under two heads—mental facts , and physical facts . In the philosophy of the human mind we have to deal with both , because changes ia our physical frame are not only indispensable for the perception of external objects ,
but are continually producing other variations in the state of our minds ; and such variations of intellect or emotion again affect the body , as is obvious in the case of voluntary actions . When a man , for example , is in a low , sluggish condition of thought and feeling , the application of a stimulating substance to his stomach will enliven both : while , on the other hand , the sudden announcement of calamity maydeprive that organ for the moment of its usual vigour , at the same time that it excites the powers of utterance to extraordinary exertion . And so in innumerable other instances . Indeed , there is every reason to conclude that no mental state arises without having been preceded by a physical change in the body , and without itself in turn producing such a change .
Whether , nevertheless , this is true or not , one thing is plain , that mental facts and physical facts , even when there is the clearest dependence of one on the other , are distinct as objects of knowledge . Mental facts can be gathered only from consciousness , or , more correctly , are states and events of consciousness ; and physical facts , being states and events of matter , can be gathered only from external observation . Among the examples here is one : When I read in the pages of Kant , or of his expositors , that " all our cognition begins from the senses , proceeds thence to the understanding , and finishes in reason , " I examine whether I am conscious of the two latter events , which are clearly not of a physical character , and I do not find that I am conscious of such an event or operation as knowledge proceeding from the senses to the understanding , or of the subsequent operation of its finishing in reason .
Described as they are in the passage quoted , such processes appear to be wholly fictitious . What I am conscious of is , that I perceive external objects , which is itself as much an act of the understanding , that is , of an intelligent being , as anything can be , and of itself constitutes knowledge ; that I afterwards think , or may think , upon such objects ; and that I frequently draw conclusions regarding them . And the following example , referring to a passage in Cousin , may be added : " It is reason , " he says , " which perceives both itself and the sensibility which envelops it , and the will which it obliges without constraining . " Now here we have divers imaginary facts . If the reason which hovers about M . Cousin ( for the faculty being , as he affirms , impersonal , cannot belong to him or
reside within him ) really perceives itself , I can only say in my own case that I am not conscious or in any way cognisant of a separate entity called reason , making itself the object of its own observation ; nor am I conscious of , or even able to understand , such a phenomenon as sensibility enveloping reason ; and I am as little conscious that reason performs the difficult , if not impossible , task of obliging without constraining another power named the will . As they are stated by M . Cousin , all these are the imaginary transactions of imaginary entities , and vanish the moment you try to substitute operations for faculties . Had the sentence here quoted proceeded from an English pen , it would have been at once stigmatised as jargon ; nor can , I pass a more favourable judgment on such phrases as— " I myself am the instrument with which I know everything : " " c'est moi qui suis l ' instrument avec lequel
je connais toute chose . When , again , he speaks of the will being " the centre of consciousness , and reason its light" I am incapable ' of finding any state of mind in myself answering to these plausible expressions . We cannot enter upon the proposed classification Mr . Bailey gives in these Letters , —it would carry us beyond our limits ; but content ourselves with referring the reader to it , as very superior to those adopted in other works known to us . In the Letters on the various theories of perception , there is much
suggestive criticism , and a dexterous disentanglement of the subject from verbal ambiguities . His own position is what may be called a scientific vindication of the Common Sense school . He says we perceive external obj <* ts ; we know them ; we know them to be external , and there ' s an end of the matter . Better knowledge we cannot have . Now , while agreeing with Mr . Bailey in his main positions , both as regards Perception and Idealism , we are not certain that wo thoroughly understand his criticism directed against Kant , and others who are not Kantites , respecting our knowledge of things per se . Indeed , his language occasionally seems to imply that he himself has not rightly grasped the difficulty he professes to meet .
It is worth while to advert more particularly to the proposition often reiterated by Kant , that we cannot know things in themselves—a proposition extensively accepted by modern philosophers . This is , in my view , a perfectly unmeaning assertion . We cannot form the slightest conception of knowing external things , except as wo do know them , i . e . through the organs of sense . Do you demur at this ? Then bo so good as to tell me the precise signification of knowing things in themselves ; give mo a specimen of that sort of knowledge wo have not ; and point out how you have gaiucd so curioua a pioco of transcendent al information . No one manifestly ia entitled to deny that our knowledge is of things in themselves , unload ho not only possesses the sort of knowledge which ho denies to others , and has found on comparison that wo—the rest of tlio human race—have only a knowledge of things as they arc not in tlioiniolved , but actually produces it for our examination . Till that ia done , assertions about knowing things in themselves must bo regarded as utterly without moaning .
This seems to us altogether untenable . A man U not bound to know the things he professes he docs not know and cannot know , or else to relinquish his avowal of ignorance . Mr . Bailey insists that tho perception of external objects is a primary fact of consciousness . Granted ; but a primary fact of conaoiousness is not a primary fact of objective existence—and Mr . Bailey ' s argument requires that whatever is true of the subjoctivo should bo true of the objective , and true not relatively but absolutely , not partially but wholly . A simple illustration will suflice to cluar our argument from ambiguity . A man receives a blow in the dark . The subjoctivo element in tins transac - tion is tt sensation of pain , which sonaatiou corresponds ) truly enough with
the external cause of that sensation , considered solely as a pain-producing cause . But this cause , this objective element , which is known only through pain , exists independently of the man . He knows it must exist ; he knows it is something external ; he knows it is not the pain ; but he does not know what it is . Mr . Bailey will not contend that the stricken man knows the object because he perceives the pain- ; nor that he is bound to know "what the object is before he can say he knows it not . Yet this is man's position with regard to external objects . We only know them through our sensations , and our sensations are only modifications of ourselves , produced
bycertain actions of things on us;—the whole nature of the objects does not affect us , only certain aspects affect us . Thus , recurring to the illustration just used , the man struck in the dark perceives the pain , but knows little of the cause . In daylight he , seeing the cause to be a black wand , has increased perception , and knows more of the cause ; but unless he can examine that wand and so extend his perceptions , he remains ignorant of whether it is wood , whalebone , or gutta-percha . With every increase of the avenues through which knowledge may reach him , he knows more and more of the properties the thing has of affecting him ; but he gets no nearer to a knowledge of the thing in itself . To know more he must be more . Lest , however , the reader should object to a prolonged metaphysical discussion where only a brief indication of the contents of a new work was anticipated , we break off , referring all who are curious to Mr . Bailey's volume , and expressing an urgent desire that Mr . Bailey will speedily give us a second series of suck Letters .
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PAPERS OF LORD METCALFE . Selections from the Papers of Lord Metcalfe . Edited by John William Kaye . J London : Smith , Elder , and Co . 1855 . The insecurity of our position in India is the continually recurring theme of Sir Charles Mctcalfe's public and private correspondence . Our power is precarious because it " does not rest on actual strength , but on impression . " The fidelity of the Native army can be depended upon only so long as success attends our arms . Every temporary reverse that has overtaken us , has proved the utter hollowness of our tenure . We are merely encamped in India , and the feeling of the population among whom we have pitched our tents is universally unfavourable . " All India is at all timqs looking out for our downfal . The people everywhere would rejoice , or fancy that they would rejoice at our destruction ; and numbers arc not wanting who would promote it by all means in tlieir power . Our ruin , if it be ever commenced , will probably be rapid and sudden From the pinnacle to the abjss
mig ht bo but one step . " Again : — Our situation in India han always been precarious . . . . We are still a handful of Europeans governing an immense empire without any firm hold in the country , having warlike and powerful enemies on all our frontiers , and tho spirit of disatflietion dormant , but rooted Universally among our subjects . That insuperable separation which exists between us and our subjects renders it necessary to keep thorn in subjection by tho presence of a military force , and impossible to repose confidence m tuoir affection , or fidelity , for assistance in tho dofonco of our territories . And again : — Our Government is not a national Government that can rely on tho Affections of Its
subjects for defence against foreign invasion . It is the curse of a government ovor a conquered country that it cannot trust the people . Our m . bjects « ro in ornac on os , ready at least for change , if not ripe for insurrection ; the best all ected , ro pwe votaries of fate . We can retain our dominion only by a large military ostat wh . t ¦ , and without a considerable force . of JJrituh troops , the iiuohty of our native mmy could not bo relied on . . ,. . -, ., The slightest check is quick ! / magnified into a serious duw tor ,. and tho intelligence , spreading lL wildlife , » immediately excites the hope * ana speculations of the millions whom we hold in subjection . ' ¦ 1 »» ' atJ ^« commencement of tho first JJurmuu war , when ourtroop . ^^^^ reverses , it was currently reported and beheved that tho ^ ° ™ n ™* ° 1 l " " Chief had been killed in action , and that ^ Govornor-Grono a 1 had committed suicide by swallowing pounded diamonds On oho . ' occasions sucU aa tho Neoaulcflo war und tlio first siege of liUurtpwo , tho ill-success oi our
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May 26 , 1855 . ] T ^ gOg JLEABBIL 403
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WIDOW BURNING . Widow Burning : a Narrative . By Henry Jeffreys Bushby , of the Inner Temple , Esq ., Barrister-at-La-w , late of the Hon . East India Company ' s Civil Service . Longmans Mk . H . J . Busiiby has reprinted from the Quarterly Review an article on Widow Burning in India , with a Postscript . We learn from him the interesting and instructive fact that Hindooism is in a fair way to be overthrown , not by the preaching of Claphamite missionaries , but by the publication , going on through the liberality of the East India Company , under the auspices of Professor -Miiller and Wilson , of the original and authoritative documents of the religion , the Vedas , which have been overlaid with a mass of Brahminical superstitions and corruptions . There is no
authority in the Vedas for Suttee ; on the contrary , there is a precept that when a man dies , his widow " shall go up into his house , " which , by a rather awkward corruption of the text , has been read " shall go up into the fire . " The discovery of this want of authority has forwarded the cause of the abolitionists more than the arguments of morality or political influence . But not only do the Vedas say nothing about Widow Burning , they say nothing about the greatest gods and goddesses of modern Hindostanl They say nothing about castes , metempsychosis , the incarnation of "Vishnu , or the triune mystery itself ! Mr . Bushby may well look forward to the bewilderment of the devotee . But , unfortunately , a superstition which has once taken a complete hold of a people , and become part of their moral nature , will stand a good deal of criticism directed against its source . We recommend the Brahmins , thus endangered , the theory of church authority and development . ' Peahaps it would be only justice to mention that Mr . Bushby has been under considerable obligations to Colonel Tod ' s admirable work on Rajpootana , the text-book from which so many volumes have been derived—without acknowledgment .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 26, 1855, page 499, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2092/page/19/
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