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MORAL GRAVITATION.
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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.
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but the main effect will be , to relieve him of a load of mebarrassment , and leave him in a favourable position to deal with that disgraceful renegade who commands the legions of the Pope . Without a strong force in Naples , it would be difficult to keep its ignorant and demoralised population in order ; and any disturbance would operate injuriously upon the national to the
cause . It is fortunate that Nap les is likely escape bombardment and plunder so amiably designed for her by her paternal Sovereign , and the spectacle of a Government thoroughly Austrian in its character , quietly tumbling to pieces from its own rottenness , will afford a useful subject of contemplation to the young despot at Vienna , who may before long find himself in the same predicament , and equally puzzled where to place his head . IT ¦ . ¦ _ _ ~ - -t . m ¦ -i . . . TT " i "I ¦ Paxmerston advised the to
^ In 1848 Lord Hungarians keep their quarrel quite distinct from that of any other nationality . They were foolish enough to do so , and failure was the result . Now every effort should be made to promote a union among the peoples , upon the basis of aiding and respecting each other ' s national ideas . The German who longs fora united Fatherland , must see that the success of the Italians and Hungarians helps him for ward , and that if he is persuaded to aid his Princes in the coercion of Italy or Hungary , he wip have given them , power to obstruct his own-favourite idea . At home—if he had a political home—the German statesman would render honour able service to his own race , and to .-humanity ; but in helping the Czak to Germanise Russia , or the HapsbtjrG to Germanise his multifarious dominions
he is engaged in pure -mischief and deserves to be overthrown . A nationality is something dif f erent from , arid more than the organisation of a race . It is rather the union of various races , animated by common ideas , interested in the defence of the same boundaries , arid having associated interests . In this view Italy has advanced in nationality far more than any
one would have imagined possible . If the North and the South continue to fight- the Austriaiis for a common idea , a great : step in unity will be gained . " Of course difficulties will arise , but if the various races of Italians are so fortunate , as to get through a successful campaign , for the liberation of their country , they will be firmly linked together in some way , although the future must determine whether as federal states or a single kingdom .
In like manner the Hungarians have made their pi'ogress towards a positive nationality . The Magyar , the Sclavonian , and the Roumanian will differ , as Yorkshire does from Kent , or Ireland from Scotland . ; but they have by this time learnt mutual forbearance , and a campaign for liberty in which all will fight side by side , will have the happiest result . It is also of importance that the movements in Italy and Hungary should paz-take of . a joint character ; for not only will their success be thereby promoted , but a commercial connection between the two countries will be established . Uniting together
in Avar -will lead to common action in peace , and when Atistnan oppression is removed , the ports of tho Adriatic will offer a fine field for the industry of Italian seamen and / the transport of Hungarian produce . If evil advisers con separate the action of Italy and Hungary , both may fail .. If they are verily united , the continuance of that great nuisance to humanity , the Austrian Empire , -will be impossible ; and its German adherents , instead of upholding a hideous tyranny over * other nationalities , will seek the development of their own national idea .
Count Pehsigny ' s speech has roused the Germans to further action , and their efforts for xmity will be materially strengthened by . the half hostile , half contemptuous declaration of France . In past history nations have seldom been formed by the voluntary fusion of races , but nearly always by conquest and force . We shall see , now the world has progressed , to what extent the scholars' book has replaced 'the warriors ' sword . Tho development of tlie idea of nationality in Extrope will form two great powers out of tho German and Italian
races . It will also form an important power of Hungary with alliances of the Danubiun provinces , But it will not stop here . It will change the character of Russia , -where it is now the fashion , to attribute all evils to tho Germanising ¦ tendencies of PjETisai nnd his successors , and to ossodnto liberal ideas with a purely national movemont . Thin movement is not Panslavio , but tends to tho reconsstitution of Poland under a Hussion prince Tho treaties of 1815 a to silly rags to make n banner of war . Tho ( illusion to thorn in oivr Queen ' s speoch was im jncHcntion of iintiquntcil imbecility , in tho Cuuinot .
The ionds of despotism are manifestly breaking , and England ought to be the first to promote the operation , of natural affinities in reconstructing the map of Europe .
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'TWERE is a profound truth in the remark J- day by a popular orator , that Progress is only Moral Gravitation . There is in every movement of the popular mind a tendency to a central truth ; and these movements , it is important to know , are as well and harmoniously regulated , as the motions of the planets . The exercise of free-will in the social or political arena has no more influence on the certainty of events in the moral world than it has in the natural . Persuasion in the one is equal to coercion in the other—the first has simply relation to a law of Liberty , the latter to a law of Necessity . The result , indicated by the tendency of progress , is quite as sure to follow in the one case as in the other .
The usual error is in confounding the two spheres of action , and substituting the one mode for the other . It is as absurd to endeavour to compel the human will and conscience in a particular direction , as it would be to aim at jwsuading the planets to alter their courses , Yet this is precisely what States and monarchs have been trying to do for ages , undeterred by the folly of the design and the fatality of the issue . The Bomb as 6 f every clime and time would govern by force , and pride themselves on thwarting popular inclination , and crushing the national volition . The result is , the most horrible oppression and insecuritv , as well for the throne and altar , as for
individual relations , It is written that no government can be safe , which does not respect civil and religious liberty . But the tvrant has no perception of the central truth , and how towards that all the bearings of governmental and national action must naturally gravitate . He would , like Joshua , command the sun and moon to stand still , in order to favour his private ends ; and expects to prosper in the -world by a perclaims
petual series of miracles . He , indeed , supernatural power , and right divine . And such is the audacity of the claim , that ' for- a period , the astonished world acquiesces , and looks on with stupified wonder . But reason at length resumes its sway - —the world awakens from its sleep—already the broad day has shed illumination on : the earth—the light has penetrated the low valleys as well as brightened the hill-tops , and the date of despotism is fixed . In a moment , lo ! jt was—and is not .
Brute force , however , is not only irrational , but blind . Want of intelligence includes all other wants , and cannot be substituted by anything else . The Southern planter in the United States cannot educate his own children , and has to confide them to the teachers of the North , who returns them to their parents' hands instructed in principles that are fatal to their own position . Nor can this necessity be avoided ; for without some modicum of intelligence , brute force itself would be totally inoperative . But its short-sighted policy has been ever to do with the smallest amount of knowledge . Its great dread is lest the common people should know too much ; and petty
tyrants , in a domestic sphere , are to be found who talk of the over-education , of the masses . There aTe too many of the middle class who find themselves inferior to the artisan who frequents the Mechanics' Institute , and stand in awe of the man whom they would command , Tho shopkeeper likes not to feel himself " lower in the scale than the workman . The remedy is obvious , but it implies labour . Do as he has done . Read books . Listen to lectures . Meditate and debate on man . nature , art , and literature . Give th « mind leave to expand at
Become his equal , liis superior , by the proper use of means your disposal , and occupy your leisure with profitable studies . What ! do you shrink from the labour of all this ? Then yield , without envy , to him who has won , by the labour of the brains as well as of the hands , a superiority unattainable by the indolent and unthinking . But do not attempt by force , or what is equivalent to force , to prevent him from receiving from all available sources the imformation as open to you as to him , but in which , from your own negligence and apathy , you arc
not accustomed to participate . There is . however , as we hove said , « moral law to wfticli these things are subject . However small the amount ot knowledge with which despotism may wish to content itself , it cannot keep it at so much and no more . Motion once imparted tp the light , it will increase with occelerated speod , until it pervades the hemisphere . With each step of progress , it accumulates ppwer , until , from being the despised servnnt , it becomes the irresistible muster of the lyronny that ilia
accepted its lempornry nid , The mngiciun himself must yickt to the spirit whopo help ho had unwillingly evoked , bjiortlived is tho triumph that intelligence lends to brute force ,
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780 The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Sept . 8 , 1860
Moral Gravitation.
MORAL GRAVITATION .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 8, 1860, page 780, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2364/page/4/
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