On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
Untitled Article
BSfiSSaSS 23 SS ? S » S 2 s one aether " said % nson , interrupting him and changing the conversation to an-Xr " opSc ? In fine , constituted Jwe are , we must have our prejudices and our iaJiSns even ? and when these are innocent , for they may be so humanity tiSff ^ S- Hear what a great author says , but without supposing that he con-Sets anything lately heard respecting moderation , for everything , as my Uncle TobTJay ^ has two han dles . " Exaggeration , " says he , "is in the course of things . Nature sends no creatureno men into the world without adding a small excess of his
, proper quality . Given the planet , it is still necessary to add the impulse ; so to every creature nature added a little violence of direction in its proper path , a shove to put it on its way ; in every instance a slight generosity , a drop too much . Without this violence of direction which men and women have , without a spice of exaggeration , no excitement , no efficiency . We aim above tlie mark to hit the mark . Every act hath some falsehood of excess in it ; and when now and then comes along some sad sharp-eyed man , who refuses to play at this game , but blabs the secret , the wary TSfature sends a new troop of fairer forms , of lordlier j'ouths with a little more excess of direction to hold them fast to their several aims , makes them a little wrong-headed in that direction in which they are rightest , and on goes the game again with a new
whirl . " And again : — Is it not strange that grave men professing holiness should overlook the care evinced in the divine oracles to convince us that even truth itself is not of such moment as the exercise of toleration ; that charity is greater than faith and hope ? that love actually overthrows the barriers between union and division , between what God ordains and what the perversity of man occasions , raising those associated with the latter above all whom the former seems to glorify ? For what other end than to convey this lesson is it recorded that the only one out of the ten lepers who returned to give glory to God when cured was a Samaritan ? that he who did what all others are charged to do , was also a Samaritan ? Can human thought conceive a spirit more profoundly tolerant than that which breathes in the words of the chief of the
Apostles when alluding to the death of Christ , he says , " Et nunc fratres scio quia per ignorantiam fecistis , sicut et jyrinci pes nostp , ? " No , no ; the mercy that doth outstretch the universe will not be insufficient for one soul . Can the common sense of mankind be more indulgent than the words of the Apostle of the Gentiles , saying , without intending to disparage the force of true authority , " He who observeth the day , observeth it to the Lord , and he who eateth , eateth to the Lord , for he gives thanks to God ; and he who eateth not , eateth not to the Lord , and gives thanks to God ? Therefore , let us not any longer judge one another , —non ergo amplius invicem judiceirins . " What is the one concurrent voice of religion unless that re-echoed by the universal Church and by the human conscience ? " Wilt thou draw near the nature of our God ? Draw near Him then in being merciful . "
Where is its real operation seen but in Trim who follows that noble counsel , " " Weep for the frail that err , the weak that fall ; Have thine own faith , but hope and pray for all ?" In teaching us -very forcibly that we should quicken our perception of the good and the lovely by being constantly on the watch for it in common things , the author points to one of Dickens ' s greatest qualities : — To one who considers the various and multiplied kinds of observation in which men indulge , it may be a subject of surprise that by way of novelty some do not at times watch for the sake of finding virtues as so many do , in order to discover faults m others . I promise them that , without looking under these boughs , they would not have long to wait to put up game of this sort in abundance if they have only eyes that will see it ; but it is the exception always that exclusively strikes them , when something goes wrong , and they are wJiolly blind to the wonderfuj interchange and play of graces which keep society together . It is an axiom of jurisprudence , —" quod
communiter fit censetur legitinae fieri . " No doubt in all Christian ages the principle will apply to a great extent in the moral order also , where what is recognized as good , is , after all , only a conformity with the Divine plan in general . Wickedness is a thing contrary to nature ; it is striking , hideous , deformed , inconvenient , offensive to every common judgment , hateful when discovered . When seen , every one remarks it , and cries out . "Vices are in their nature intermittent , and comparatively rare ; whereas virtues are always before us , and their continuous succession drives one another out . What an admirable watcher in this respect is Dickens , who not only sees , but forces us to see goodness in very minute things : in a Kit bashfully bidding hia mother *• get out ; " in a Short ' s resolution , that " he ' s not a going to stand that , " when he thinks Nell haa been stolen from her friend ; in a Swiveller only just out of a fever , and , hearing how he can save the lad , crying out to the little nurse , and plucking off his nightcap and flinging it to the other end of the room , " Marchioness , if you'll do me the favour to retire for a few minutes and I'll get up ; " in the dying
boy afraid to kiss a loved ono lest he should make her ill ; in an ostler almost hating himself for deceiving two children lovers about a pony for their good . Thus does this great magician—for it really seems a case of magic when we arc on some points brought to the use of our senses—enable us to employ our cyea and cars . When once awakened by the touch of a wand like his , we may nil take the initiative in this same course . We can then all of us see goodness in the common things that pnsa daily before our eyes ; in the smile of kind approval bestowed by some one passing ua ; ia the youth that listens to the street musicinn ; in the gruff voice that calls the inattentive girl to pass running before the bridge ia drawn , —and so on for ever . It would be well if we were to adopt the practice of painters , and apply it to the general spectacle of human life . "Quam multa vident pictores , " exclaims Cicero , "in
umbria et in emioentia qtow nos non videmus ! " The untrained , as Hnsslitt aays , only scu nature as it is rcilected to them from art . The painter sees the picture in nature before he transfers it to the canvas . Ho refines , he analyzes , ho remarks fifty thingu which escape common eyes ; and this aflords a distinct oourco of reflection and amusement to him , independentl y of the beauty and grandeur of the objeutn themselves . The critic dwells with delight on the grace and beauty of the picture ; but who will suppose that the painter had not the same pleasure iu detecting these nice distinctions In nature ? Painters see beauty where others see nothing of the sort ; in torn stocking * , dusty feet , in a poor room , in a broken pitcher . Let a monilint study inen and women with the aame attention , and he will find the beauties of goodneas in tn « most minute and aesplaed details of common life .
Here is a passage which we commend to the attention of red-hot Protestnntfl : — We need not say In the style of Reviewers , that no schoolboy is ignorant of what We perhaps ourselves have only Just discovered ; but I think wo may nflirm , that no ono of any consideration in the republic of letters , as the learned call it , any longer Wrjjends that intolerance was confined to any class or portion of the world . The rattyterians of the Long Parliament in England , who persecuted throe flections of tiusir countrymen , —the Puritans of Boston , who wished to sell for alavea those who ww not P » y «*• ftnea incurred by their Wiglous dissent , —the Cnlvlnjotfl . Lutherans ,
and Anglicans , were all as obnoxious to the charge of intolerance as those who resisted their first advances , while , by the way , offering the cardinal ' s hat to Erasmus , the champion of liberty , and expressing with Bossuet their affection for Melancthon and Bull , —all were intolerant . But the beautiful lessons which our Saviour taught , and which celestial men , combining with their instructions what is common , age after age transmitted , have wrought through long centuries into the common mind and popular thought , have found an echo in the general heart , and no one can now arrest this tendency , bring back Tyburn or the cells of Venice , with the bigot ' s rack , or harden the softening human heart again . " Which is the work that remains , " asks a French -writer , " that of Luther substituting a system of opinions for what he found existing , or that of Erasmus claiming for man liberty of conscience , and adopting the sublime word of Christian philosophy ? Which has now most life ? this Christian philosophy , or Lutheranism , or any other sectarian system confiscating liberty of conscience for its own profit ? " While again protesting against the imputation of having
a double and concealed object in such reflections , may we be permitted for once to hear what can be advanced , especially on one side , in reply to the charge often brought against it of greatest intolerance ? What is most attacked needs most the defence of the generous . The thoughts of men respecting differences in religion are not now , some one will say , exactly what they were in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries . I see , he will continue , but two opinions at present , —the one of those who think that sects should disappear ; that there should be union among all , founded on the mutual recognition of one another ' s errors , and on the assumed hopelessness of having one truth , one external communion ; the other of those who believe that sects should disappear ; that there should be union among all , founded first on an external communion among those who hold that there is such a thing as truth in matters of religion ; and that as many as can be moved by the grounds of credibility in its favour should embrace it ; and , secondly , on the belief that there may be a sincere union of love , involving every kind of service between those forming this communion and those without it externally , who are so swayed by circumstances and involuntary ignorance as not to perceive that they ought to belong to it ; and that with them they may be united in their present pilgrimage , on the common ground of humanity and charity ,
from which I suppose religion itself is not to be excluded , —and eventually , by means with which they are unacquainted , in Him who alone knows what spirit all were of . It is not easy to perceive how this latter view is less favourable to an enlarged , intelleetual , and practical toleration , than the former . What is there in it to prevent those who hold it from regarding with an infinite love every one of the human race '! One may think , on the contrary , that it is more conducive to this universal love and forbearance than the former view ; because , if all idea of possessing truth be hopeless , we have no guarantee beyond a sentimentality , which , in some relations , is very uncertain , for that very forbearance . and love , which , in spite of what may be objected from the history of the past , springs out of a conviction of that truth which expressly inculcates forbearance and universal love , and not out of despair , or out of the notion that since all cannot think alike on such matters , when men suppose themselves to be perishing , they ought to wish to perish with all rather than be separated from others , while involved in the commun ruin . I repeat it , —the love of toleration will dispose us , even at the risk of appearing to oaseroieo a doublo part , to hear with , most patZJX ' -t what can be alleged in defence of what is most accused , even though that hearing may tend to a supposition of its being the least guilty .
Let not the reader suspect that we are on the way to become " perverts ' because we select passages which seem to prove the existence of that supposed paradox , a tolerant Catholic . We do so on the ground -which is well expressed by Mr . Digby when he says : — Man ' s chief wisdom is fairness ; fairness turns even to his own advantage ; and fairness is shown in recognizing neutral ground , and meeting on it with a friendly feeling towards all , seeking , as far as one can , ways of union and accordance , which , while never dangerous to truth , are best obtained gradually , step by step , following the river ' s gentle windings , not the harsh , straight lines and parallels , that have more the air of a wish to protract for ever warlike operations , than of that equity and benevolence to which the heart and that will which so rules the understanding arc
sure soonest to surrender , if they ought to do so . If any one objects that all this liberality is logically inconsistent with Catholicism , we cun only reply that we prefer illogical virtues to logical vices , and still more to s / logieal vices , of which one of the commonest is Protestant intolerance .
Untitled Article
COLONEL LAKE'S CAPTIVITY . Kara und Our Captivity in liussia : With Letters from General Sir \ V . F . Willi « ' ) ..- ¦ , Bart ., Major Teesdale , and the late Captain Thompson . By Colonel At well Lake C . B . Bentley-The public has been anxious about this book . It was expected to contain the untold part of a story in which all Englishmen are interested—the story of Kara and its defenders . There had already been narratives of the blockade , the battle , nnd the capitulation , but there had been no account oi the captivity ; indeed , since the beginning of the Russian conflict only two volumes have been published purporting to be by English prisoners of war in the enemy ' s country . The first presented the simpering reminiscences oi a feeble-minded Lieutenant ; the second , besides being of doubtful authenticity , was ineffably foolish ; so that Colonel Luke ' s is the only unallected and intelligent narration that lias appeared of an Englishman ' s captivity in
Russia during the Turkish war . The narration is brief , as was the captivity . But it is unecdotical , diversified , and illustrative in an interesting decree oi Russian provincial manners . From Kara , General Williams and his compiuiions-in-arms were taken to Mouraviefl ' s camp , and thence to Alexandropol , and among Georgian and Armenian villages to Tiflis . At that city , where Sir Robert Ker Porter enjoyed such delicate hospitalities , they stayed some time , waiting for an order from St . Petersburg . The ellect oi the order was , that General Williams , with hi » aide-de-camp and secretary , proceeded to Iiiazan , on the road to Moscow , -while Colonel Lake und Captain Thompson were conducted to 1 ' enza , nearly seven hundred miles from that capital . Their journey led them through the lowlands of the Caucasus , and the pass of Duriel , to Ekatorinograd , and Stavropol , and the valley <>' the Don . After a residence at Penza , they travelled homeward , by way ol Moscow .
The incidents of the captivity were not numerous , but thoy were characteristic , and Colonel Lake describes them in a natural and nmnly style . Before noticing them in detail , however , it will be as well to uketch , svnoptically , the contents of the entire volume , l « 'irat , Colonel Lake writes u succinct and simple account of the blockade of Kars , from tho arrival ol tho British officers to the day of tho surrender . He is preparing , for separate publication , a strictly military narrative , upon ti much larger plan : Tl » ° i
Untitled Article
HQa THE LEADER . [ No . 332 , Saturday ,
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 2, 1856, page 736, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2152/page/16/
-