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creased in a inuch less ratio than the deaths from Ot the rne ' thpd 3 followed in this comrounication , and the various conclusions thence deduced be thoroughly reliable , then it is obvious that many of the recommendations made by the Royal Commission on the sanitary state of the army , however valuable they may be : on other grounds , will not , if carried out produce the intended effect of reducing the ratio of deaths from diseases of the respiratory organs among our soldiers to the normal conditions ot tne country generall . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ . - .
y . _ _ x . . . . . It was proposed to discuss in this paper the statistical value of the Commissioners' hypothesis only , and not to enter on the consideration of the real cause of the high ratio of deaths from consumption in the army . Enough , it is believed , has been already adduced in Appendix LXXI .-of the report to indicate the chief cause of not only the general high rate of mortality , but also of the very unprecedented arid frightful destruction of life by diseases of the lunga .
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STUDIES OF CHRISTIANITY . Studies of Chri s tianity . A series of Original Papers , now first collected , or new . By James Martineau . '¦ ¦ ¦ . ¦ . Xrongman and Co . A criticism of a history , poem , or novel , which regarded nothing more than its style and outward manner , would be most meagre and unsatisfactory And a similar treatment of a book of any kind containing , opinion and thoughtfulriess , will be just so muck the more disappointing : to those interested in
by their respective specialties produce a somewhat hard and iconoclastic mental culture , and habi tude for dialectic . These ate ' Calvinism and Unitarianism . These are the poles of religious belief within the pale of Christian faith . The latter has travelled further from the former than from , any other dogma . The former opposes the latter as no Christianity at all . And yet the influences which both exercise on the minds of their believers are singularl y similar . They both , differing as they do in doctrine , agree in this , that they drsclaim with equal zeal the worth of a ritual and the efficacy of a priesthood . They both strongly foster individualism . The one sighs for communion with a personal Deity—the other
firmly directs the conscience to personal duty . Now these two forms of belief are just those current and powerful in New England , each the more energetic by the present antagonism of the other . Hence the highly developed logical activity and spirit of mental research , which make America more quickly and generally responsive to speculative opinion and its advocacy , than England . This view , if correct , it must be confessed , so far from solving , only throws a partial light upon the phenomenon , and carries it one stage further back . For if , the forms of belief have produced this specific result in the national mindj the national mind first chose and worked its way to those forms of belief .
Mr . Martineau commences his preface with the following sentences : — The volume here presented to the English reader has been compiled , primarily for American use , by the zealous hand of my friend , the Rev . W . R . Alger ; of Boston , U . S . With the exception of the last piece but one , which is new , the papers comprised in it have been published before , and have nothing to plead in excuse for their reappearance , except that many of them , being either out of print or buried in Reviews , had become prematurely inaccessible . For the friendly estimate to which they owe their preservation in more permanent form , T desire to express my grateful acknowledgments . Whether ratified or not by a more public judgment , it gives assurance of that kind of sympathy which best delivers the solitary student from his self-distrust .
The reader will be at no Joss how to divide the responsibility of this volume between my editor and myself . For the contents of the papers , taken , separately , I alone am answerable . Their selection , their grouping , and the common title , which brings them into a certain unity , are due to editorial care . We cannot agree with this . The avowed publication of a name on a title-page involves the author ' s responsibility for every detail ; for arrangement and selection , as well as for the matter presented . This is not a very cardinal point of objection . It is the onty one we believe ought to be strongly alleged , against the book ; and we clear our conscience of it at once . The same rule would have justified Mr . Macaulay , if , supposing Mr .
Vizetelly ' s publication of his speeches had been made in America , their author had introduced them as a collection and reprint to the English public , with his name put on the title-page by himself , along with a new preface , disclaiming responsibility in the matter . But if Mr . Macaulay had done so , instead of adopting the wise course which in selfdefence he pursued , the present and the future could have most fairl y alleged against him an \ indue disregard for historical accuracy easily to be secured . We believe that Mr . Martineau is satisfied with the " editorial care , " else he would not have stood by its results . Practically , therefore ,
he is responsible for all . Mr . Martineau has been for years before the public in anonymous literature , and more than onqe us the avowed author of separate works . It is not therefore necessary , de novo , fully to" criticise his stylo and literary character . It is enough to say that here we have , as before , his easy flow , his capacity for lucid exposition of somewhat rcoondite subjects , aud his choice selection of appropriate and elegant language . Hero , too , wo nave , as before , Ins considerable tendency to over-theorising and refinement , and the attempt tosolvo things un *
explainable . The book has a biographic and historio interest . ^ t- ^ howa ^ the ^ ro \ Wrh-o ^ bhe ! - ^ lvite ^ 8 ^ owii' - > mind ^ and it contains his contemporary opinion and criticism on many notable books , ana new presentations of doctrines , contained within the last thirty years , The datos of first publication ore affixed to c » oh paper , nnd range from 1830 to the present your . And such tir . los of articles in the contents , as " Creed and Heresies of early Christianity , " " Tho Creed of Ohristondom , " "Tho Restoration of Belief , " nnd " St . Paul and his Modern Students ;" loud you to expcot , when you refer to tlvoir
rothe questions discussed in the book , as matter rises in relative proportion to manner , when you ascend the gamut of literature , from lightest " belles lettres" to richest metaphysic and theology . Aud yet , knowing as we do the superficial and meagre character pF such criticisms of such books , we can venture no more in a catholic literary journal , which takes no side in the sectarian disputes either of . literature or religion , and assumes no duty in this field but the impartial chronicling of the progress of opinion , than to tell our readers , in a summary way , ¦ what this book is , what it professes , and how its
professions are verified , in respect of the mechanism and literary handicraft . ' This book , though written by a well-known , Popular , and influential Englishman , is a reprint from the publication of it in America . This is a curious and a growing feature . We have more than a surmise that , in New England , a book of opinion of any kind is more widely read , and speaks more directly to the popular mind , than in England . The influence of Mr . Carlyle here is , we believe , deeper and wider than that of Mr . Emerson over his countrymen . But Mr . Carlyle ' s influence is not
exercised directly upon the people ' s minds . It 13 exerted only through his large band of popularisers—Uis v thorough or partial disciples and copyists . Whereas Mr . Emerson , not without his special esoteric school , speaks to and is responded to with wonderful directness by tho general mass of the minds of his fellow-citizens . True , Mr . Emerson . floe ' s notgive a ^ h . al ^ duqated mail , so many nuts to crack i » s tiis brother of Chelsea j and his style is more attractive and alluring to a class of minds far larger and more impressible than those Mr . Carlylo speciall y affects . But even if you make due allowance for that , the main features of the contrast , on which we could cosily brin ^ other illustrations to bear , remain unaccounted lor ,
except by the , solution that it is in some elements occupying the minda addressed , and not tho minds teaching , that tho explanation is to bo found . Wo hazard an opinion , not as complete and sufficient in itself , but as at least offering apartial explanation a ^ . i « -gri ?^ P' ; ^^ , fQr , cpnt > : o ,. v , crsy , ftud , diaQU 8 aion oriugh questions , winch prevails in Now England , ilie more popular institutions of the States , tho more general diffusion of all tho means of education , the greater leisure afforded by bettor pay for leas work , are ^ 11 factors towards our conclusion . But they « ro riot sufficientl y speoifio for our purpose . Ahey only partially explain tho increased devotion fo speculative questions , and rather account for a forger public for literature generally to address , iliero are two types pf religious belief which ,
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THE PATNA CRISIS . The Patna Crisis . By W . Tayler . Nisbet and Co . No history of the Indian rebellion ~ we cannot bring ourselves to call it a military mutiny- — -will be complete unless use is made of the important materials m this small volume . The book , hardly more than pamphlet size , contains an account of the events which occurred at Patna , between the 20 th May and the 11 th August , 1857 . Air . Tayler , it will be recollected , obtained a considerable share of public attention in consequence of his abrupt
dismissal from his post by the Governor-General of India . Mr . Tayler was Commissioner of Patna during the heiglit of the rebellion . Suddenly he was deprived ot his appointment—he remained unemployed for seven months , and then was placed in a post of lower grade . Feeling his character compromised , he proceeds in a nervous pamphlet to lay before the world the circumstances , leaving it to pronounce its verdict on his case . Here is Mr . Tayler ' s statement : —
And what ia the crime of -which he stands accused ? It must surely be of a strange and unusual character to be compatible with bo much wiae judgment and vigorous action P Hia crime is , that at a time when Behar was trembling in the balance between loyalty and rebellion , between order and anarchy , he directed , or suggested , the withdrawal of tho civil officers and Christian , residents from several out-stations , and the concentration at Patna of the scattered forces . It appears that symptoms of an insurrectionary spirit m Bohar hail been observed bv Mr . Tayler for two years previous to tho outbreak in 1856 , and Tthatn-he » had- « : Cominu « icated- ^ vith" -t > h 0-Govepnmontr- -
whioh resulted in a proclamation explaining matters that had alarmed and aroused both Mohammedan and Hindoo . Subsequent events proved that Mr . Taylor ' s representations woro founded on mots . After the outbreak at Moerut nnd Delhi had occurred , it became , necessary to tuke precautions to moot and suppress mutinous demonstration at Patna ,. Tho narrative horo becomes mtensjj mto * - eating , and taking tho , statements for fronted , no praise can bo too hig h to award to Mr . laylcr
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spective pages , as you do find to be the case , that the important works on these subjects , of Messrs . Bunsen , Rathbone Greg , Conybeare , Stanley , and Jowett , are to be treated and commented on . . Mr . Martineau says in his first paper on " Distinctive Types of Christianity " - —which is evidently intended to be introductory in purpose as well as in position- — It is an obvious , yet little noticed" consequence of the invention of printing , that no one mood of feeling or
school of thought can tyrannise over a generation of mankind , and sweep all before it , as of old ; and then again , with change in the intellectual season , rot utterly away and give place to a successor no less absolute . Generations and ages now live in presence of each other ; the impulse of the present is restrained by the counsels of the past , and in fighting for the throne of tie human mind , finds it not onlv strong in living prepossession , but guarded by shadowy sentinels , encircled by a band of immortals .
This is fine writing ; but it is more—it is true , and obviously so . And hence the value of such a book as this , which re-collects for us from partial obscurity well-weighed opinions , written upon doctrines when they first took to themselves new utterances and advocacy , and which are st ill amongst us , fighting for supremacy over our minds . You can trace for centuries as clear a succession in the dynasty of thought as you can run up thejpedigree of German Kaisers or English kings . The arch thought-rulers leap to your recollection at once ; such names as Plato , Augustine , Abelard , Aristotle , Aquinas , Ramus , Des Cartes , asserting special and paramount prominence . Then come the republics , or at least divided empires , which Mr . Martineau
rightly says have existed since the effects of printing had full time to develop themselves . Locke and Leibnitz concurrently founding schools—Voltaire and Butler , each at tfie same time gaining an independent and lasting sway—Stewart and Brown skimming over the mind of man at Edinburgh—Kant and Hegel digging through it , into infinity , at Konigsberg and Berlin . We need hardly say , that in the midst of polemics , Mr . Martineau is never angrily polemical ; that he is fair and candid in argument , and never shrinks from showing his whole front and unfurling every fold of his banner . The book may well be read * by those to whom it is new , and will acquire an additional value to those who have read it in its scattered parts .
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Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws- —the 3 ' interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Review .
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! v » ¦ ' ¦ *** -a ^ rinrtrit 25 . 1858 . 1 T H E X E A P E R . 1005
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 25, 1858, page 1005, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2261/page/21/
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