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is the conversion of the observation of many particulars into a law received as universal—a . procedure manifestly synthetic . . - : Thus fav we have followed ' . ' the lectures generally introductory to the proper business of . course" From this general view of philosophy < renerally , we proceed to the special treatment of the psychology of the cognitive faculties . Considerable space is occupied with the explication of terms mostly of terins of common and recognised use among metaphysicians * but in some cases specially devised , where additional clearness and precision were wanted , by Sir W . Hamilton himself . Such is the term " conative | powers , "—the desires , have deno
appetencies , orectic faculties , as others - minated them , about the phenomena of which ethics and politics are concerned . The relativity of our knowlege is expounded . " Rerumque ignarus , imagine gaudet . " We know not substances , whether mind or matter , only their conditions or phenomena . The limitation of our knowledge is further defined . Knowledge is possible to us only as far as the inlets of our senses and perceptions allow . As Kant says , "In perception everything is knovm according to the constitution of our faculty of sense , " Our knowledge is still further limited . Even the properties of existence we know not in their native purity . Our senses not only contribute to , but also modify , our knowledge of objects .
The value of the distinction between the terms " subject" and " object , "—between the ego and the non-ego—is impressed and illustrated . Con ^ sciousness involves the conscious self ; ergo , the conscious self must be axiomatically taken for granted . , "¦ ^ . A lrypothesis is a provisionally held theory ^ or general law . Hypotheses are allowable in the interim between the adduction of particulars and the synthetic induction towards laws , if two necessary conditions be observed . The phenomenon to be explained must be known to exist . It were absurd to account for apparitions until we knew that there were apparitions . The p henomenon must be otherwise unaccountable , " else the hypothesis is unallowable . The comparative excellence of a
hypothesis is thus determined . If must not , involve anything contradictory , either between any of its OAvn parts or between any part , of it and some othci : established truth . The Ptolemaic hypothesis of the heavenly revolutions became untenable , when it was contradicted by the ascertained phenomena of Venus and Mercury . The Wernerian-hypothesis in geology cannot be maintained , because water could never hold in solution substances we know it to be incapable of dissolving . Again , a hypothesis is probable in proportion to the number of the phenomena it explains . ¦ All the primaiy classes of the mental phenomena are included under the one universal phenomenon of consciousness . Consciousness is therefore the
faculty first to bo considered * It cannot be defined , for it lies at the root of all our knowledge ; still it may be philosophically analysed . It is the recognition of the mind , or ego , of its nets and affections . It is a" knowledge actual , not potential ; immediate , not mediate ; it supposes a . discrimination ; it involves judgment ; it is possible only through memory . > After , at great length , and with the most ample _« Ji # - _ « ¦ » J * . _ _ _ J I . _ T A— _ .. _ _ 1 1 . _ .. ia -. — . __» J . — _ _ *¦ ^ fe *^ fc ma ¦ a v « I « k ^^ V ? m citation of authoritiesillustrativecorroborative
* ^^ ^ ^ . * *^ ^ * *^ , , and adverse ( and those 'refuted ) , showing that consciousness is the onl y source from which all knowledge of tho mental phenomena must be obtained , considering the- character of its evidence , and tho different degrees of its authority under different relations , and . expounding the more general phenomena it reveals , Sir " \ V \ Hamilton goes on to the consideration of tho special faculties of kuowlcdjvo , or the particular modifications of which consciousnoss is susceptible ,
In our next number wo sliull conclude our summary of tho loi'tui'utf , hazard an estimate of their literary clmraoterislicn , anil of tho way in ' which the editors have performed their task . "
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THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLES JAMES FOX ; Tho Life and Timoft of Charles James Fox . By tho Wight Hon . Lord John Kuseell , M . P . Vol . J . liiohard Bontloy . This biography was projected by Lord John Avussoll , in pursuance , or his havinji undertaken in
the fourth volume of * Mi * . Fox ' s correspondence to o-ive , " in a connected nai-rative , the relation of Mr . Pox ' s political career , and an account of his ' times , " The volume before us possesses the usual merits and defects of Lord John ' s compositions . There is an accumulation of materials without proper arrangement , and a deficiency of the requisite literary manipulation , from want of time . We must accept the work , so far as it has gone , as containing the collections of a politician on a particular subject —not , properly speaking , as the biography of I ox , such as it would have been with the same materials
if it had been carefully written by a professional author . The book , for ' what we know—paradoxical as the assertion may appear—may be all the better for these supposed defects , that is , may show more of the man , if not , the writer—may exhibit not only the image of Mr . Fox , in undress , but that of Lord John himself , in his easy chair , seated in his study , arranging papers intended for publication , sufficient for information , though' not to form an artistic unity . The papers are in themselves of value ; and therefore we propose to bestow on them more than an ordinary share of
consideration . At the very outset of the work we are presented with three characters—Charles James Fox , William Pitt , and George III . These three distinoTiished men present the results of as many schemes of education . That of Fox was conducted without any regard to morals * or the control Of the passions . His mind learned what it mi ° -ht } and his heart indulged itself as it would . It was not the liberty , but the license of instruction that was . . permitted . By the age of nineteen he had attained all the knowledge of the world and the school that he was likely to want , and found lumself in Parliament by the force of family influence . His cliddbut
rival , William Pitt , is also a precocious , brought up in strict principles . The mother of Fox paid a visit to Lady Chatham in- 1767 , and gave this account to her husband : — " I have been , tins morning , Avith Lady Hester Pitt , and there-is little William Pitt , now eig ht years old , and reaHy the cleverest child I ever saw , and brought up so strictly and so proper in his behaviour ; that , mark my words , that little hoy will be a thorn in Charles ' s side as long as he lives . " A very singular prediction , exclaims Lord John , showing not onl y the early cleverness of the two boys , butthe ¦ c herished , ambition of their parents , the wise strictness of Lord and Lady Chatham , and the sagacity of Lady Holland .
Gfeorgc III ., as a boy , was neither restrained like Pitt nor indulged like Fox . He showed no talent of any kind , except for dissimulation and secrecy . His niother described him as very honest , but wished that he was ' a little more forward and less childish at his age . Except to his brother Edward , he took to nobody , of which she was glad , " for the young people of quality were so ill-educated , and so very vicious , tliat they frightened her . " Thus secluded , Iris uiiud—what there was of it—grew up in its o \ yu way . His parj . s were " tolerable ; " his honesty wanted " that frank and open Lfli . n * . ! . ' ..,.. ^ .. I ^ r . lt -.- »«!>* - » a 1-w \ iirtu 4 * v nnnmni * niniJil'iliV 11 i ^ j ^^* .,. ^ ..-. ^ f
MUI-Ml > I If 111 > yillLU | Utll > vO " *» v * iiv . » . ' ^»»» r » . w .. Nor was his religion " amiable ; " ho . had " rather too much attention to the sins of his neighbour . " He had " spirit" also , " but not of the * active kind , " and did " not want resolution , " but it was " mixed with too much obstinacy . " He was sullen and silent , too , when angry , " retired to his closet to enjoy his ill-hiunour , and indicated sometimes that his memory was only too correct and retentive , lie was , moreover , on the testimony ' of "Lord Waldegravc , " uncommonly full of princely prejudices , contracted in the nursery , and improved by the society of bed-chniuhcr womon nnd pages of the backstairs . " Lord John himself adds : —
•• Prince George , with a mind more ready . lu imbibe prejudice than to aHsiruilalc learning , seems n'ot to mvo acquired lVoin tiny of lib * proouptors a knowledge of classical or even , Kng'liNh literattirc , Ho novcr understood or appreciated ttlinkespcnrc , inulj'ow Knglish gentlemen wrote in a style so inelegant nnd so ungrainmatical . I 3 ut if ho attained no proficiency cither in the lofty lossona of history or tho delightful study of poetry , ho scorns to havo learnt very early tho habit ot ' syerocy and dissimulation , bo natural to a court , A characteristic instance of those ( umlitios was observed by those near him wlion he first hoard of the doath of George IX . He ' was-out riding when tho Intelligence roaohod him ; he said aloud , without betraying 1 any emotion , that his liorso had fallen lame , and turned towards home , \\ yion he dismounted , ho Bald ( jwigtly to the groom , " 1 havo
said this horse is lame ; I forbid you to say the contrary . ' . ' ¦ : '„ ¦ ¦¦ . . ; . '' " . . ' ' ¦ . ' Lord John however accredits the king with " a conscientious principle and a ruling passion . " He honestly' desired to perform his duty ; but cherished a strong-determination to make the con ? elusions of his narrow intellect and ill-furnished inind- ¦ prevail over the opinions of the wisest , and the combinations of the most powerful of his subjects . " His political prejudices prolonged the Contest with America ; his religious intolerance alienated the affections of Ireland ; his national pride and his hatred of democracy promoted the wars against France , whether -monarchical ox Jacobin . " .- ' .
To all this the character of Fox was diametric cally opposed . His abilities were brilliant , and his pvmpathics with the cause of freedom and the interests of mankind . He resisted the mad perseverance of Lord North in the project of subduing America . lie opposed the war undertaken by Mr . Pitt against France , as unnecessary and un ^ just . He proved himself at all times the friend of religious liberty , and endeavoured to free both the Protestant and Roman Catholic dissenter from disabilities on account of their creed . He denounced the slave trade . He supported a reform in the House of Commons . These views and sentiments , concludes JLord John RusseU , " made
Mm through life obnoxious to the king . _ We shall see , " he adds , " the results of this antagonism , which was throughout , on both sides , not only political , but also , in some degree , personal . Thus , for a great part of his life , he appears as a kind of rival to the sovereign upon -the-throne . We shall see that in 1784 this opposition of character produced a contest which is one of the most metqorable in the history of our parliainentary struggles . Neverthelessy the early career of Fox m parhanient seemed to indicate a desire on liis part to " a : m the favoiir of the Court ; In 1772 he was named one of the Commissioners of the Treasury ; two or three months afterwards he was dismissed , not
veiy courteously , by Lord Xorth . During this period of lxis life , Fox " entered deeply—almost madly ;—into the pursuit of gaining . " He was duped , and borrowed to sxich an extent , that , he cost his father no less a sum than 140 , 000 / . This was the result of his lax e ducation , and the paternal bad example . Mr . Fox spoke for the first time in behalf of freedom on occasion of the proposal for . the repeal of the tea-duty , when Mr . Burke mode his famous speech on American taxation .
The Public Fast of the 1 st . of June , 1774 , in America , to which George Washington showed his adherence- by visiting church , is the next incident dwelt on by Lord John Russell ; and he is at Paris to fill in an entire episode relative to the great American patriot . 3 Jext November ,. . with a new parliament , England was enabled to boast oi a strong Government . " But a strong Government which over-leaps wisdom and violates justice , is one of the worst evils that can befal a country . " George III ,,- in his obstinacy , thought hnnsolt triumphant , but it was a triumph such as -belongs to that " pride , " which " coineth before a fall . Lord North was the nominal minister ; but the Kin " ' was really his own . Much better is it for u monarch of EnQhmd that he skoulU reign only ,
and not govern . Nor did the ill-consequences that ensued originate in the King ' s incapaeity or narrow understanding ,- " the best men of the tiinewere but obscurely ¦ fconscious of its great questions , and particularl y the continental ones . The general state of things- is graphically sketched m n low sentences by Lord John Hussell . ¦ . " The Court of Great Britain was urroutmt ami confident ; the Parliament indifil'ivnl , I ^ mm m ' . ami submissive ; tlio Americans far -from unanimous , but tfwiornlly determined to bv iVvo Hiilywtrt or a free eonimoMwealth . The more modern ( o tliouulit IJbovtv » uiRl » t be pruuurvwl without sfjimration i i io inoi-o ftblcaii . 1 lu . ibition . s J ^ olto . 1 mi He ]» ariUion u » tlio oponiMK o £ u hiyhcT jlc-Hllny , tlic immilili ul . !!!!; eracyat homo , and tlio uuHoriloir oi ini ^ uul plaoo among the gmtlcdt nation /* oi'thf k ' ou « . In the ( ii ) iiil (» n of Mr . CSrntUu ., the best MpauohoH clurinlr tlio Anii-rk-iin war were those made by Mr . Fo , \ 'I'liitt utrnjfgle indeed , iirst summoned fortii his * eiH . 'r » ios . It wan Mr . Fox who called the war ministry n Tory administration . Lord JNortU thoutrht projior'tn vindicate liimsvlf ' from the ulmrgo . Ho iviniirked that the Americans mi ^ lit with more justifo be calJeil Tories , for they » iii » phIo < 1 to « io Kiii "' a jirorogntive ; whereas tlio cubmut uplieUi
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Ko . 468 , March 12 . 1859 . 1 ' THE LEADER . 331
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 12, 1859, page 331, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2285/page/11/
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