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TRANSMUTATION. OF SPECIES.*
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himself Emperor . He probably feared nothing from the " commandant of Seringapatam , the adviser on Indian affairs , the general of Sepoys , " or , even the conqueror of the Mahrattas . But the . gradual , expansion of Wellington ' s sphere of activity promised more solidity and balance to his genius than the sudden outburst of ' Xapoleon * whose ambition was from the first so largely fed by fame and success , that it outgrew even liis vast talents and capacious juclg--raent . " The guiding stars of these two mighty opponents were very different in their character and influence . The one followed glory ; the other duty . The author of the Essay before us , Mr . Hamley , well distinguishes between these in his remarks on Wellington ' s strategy in Portugal , in connection with his famous lines of Torres Vedras . Having surmounted all the difficulties that threatened his
operations with failure—having- defeated Massena , and lured him towards the fatal triple line of impregnable defences—Wellington was then in such a position , that had he " made glory , as it presented itself to the Napoleonic mind , his chief end , he would have poured down from his entrenchment and swept the invader back in a battle , or series of battles , which , might have forestalled his later triumphs . But his far-sig hted wisdom , his steadfastness of purpose , and his lofty sense of public duty , were never more conspicuously displayed than at that juncture . The temptation was great ,. but he resisted it . His was the only army fit to oppose the French in the Peninsula , and his men were , therefore , too costly to be sacrificed except for a certain advantage . If he sallied out , the winter and privations would press on his troops as they were pressing on the Prench . "
Patience was the power on whose aid Wellington depended most . All around him was impatience—the Government at home and that of Portugal—none understanding his policy , and his secresy being impenetBable . But all , at length , was justified . The siege of Almeida left him the victor , and the veteran Massena worse than defeated . The latter had fought his last field . "His master demanded absolute success from those who served him ; and enraged at the protraction of a war in which the French arms constantly suffered defeat , he now forgot , in his anger , the earlier services of one of the ablest of his officers , and with harsh rebukes deprived the Prince of Essling of his command . "
Then came the turns of Marmont and of Soult , and the fall of PfOdrigo and Badajos . And now the stern character of the warrior comes out into full relief : and the two great masters of the mighty art show a mutual resemblance . Hear the panegyrist of Wellington , and what here he is compelled to acknowledge . The name of Badajos , lie says , sheds ¦ " a lurid and bloody glare over the page of the Peninsular annals . That slaughter , " he adds , " probably affected Wellington more deeply than any incident of his victorious career . Neither he nor Napoleon were indifferent to suffering—the natures of both suffered violence from such scenes ; yet both of them , nevertheless , caused such scenes to be enacted without hesitation , when their plans needed it . Both showed the same resolution to earn victory , even at a frightful expense of blood ; and , judged by their deeds only , it is difficult to decide between what some will [ call the heroism , some the ruthlessness , of the two men . "
We shall riot imitate Mr , ! Hamley in attributing better motives to Wellington than to Napoleon . The latter was as sincere in his cause as the former ; and , as we hare since found , was really fighting the cause of nations against tyranny . Wellington was as conscientiously employed in delivering mankind from the threatened yoke of Uonapartism . The issues of the mighty contest are even now undecided ; and the verdict of history is yet unpronounced . The consideration of this part of the question involves much that belongs to Wellington ' s character as a statesman . In this , as well as in that of soldier , he maintained the path of duty . His groat faculty was that of Prevision . In that Napoleon was wanting . He was the passionate child of the Revolution , driven onward by mysterious impulses ; not the reflective seer who shapes the future his
by own visions . Both wore forces equal to the crisis—nnd never was one more momentous . At length it passed ; and Wellington appeared in a new character . To judge him properly in this requires some power of abstraction . We must separate tho man from his circumstances , Wellington , afc the outset of his now career , was confessedly bohind tho age . Tho civil world , when ho returned to it , was no longor what it was whon ho loft it for tho ¦ wars . Ho failed , in tho first instance , to malco allowance for tho lapse of time and tho change of manners . He still stood on tho ancient ways , as a oonsorvafist and aristocrat ; but an both lie wan a thoroughly English nobleman . Ho judged , too , of his position as a soldier . When ho found by experience that it wan untenable , ho most honourably capitulated , and marched out with tho honours . Ultimately ho got rid of party trammels , and carno to consider
iumselt as the servant of tho Queen oncl tho people , to bo omployod in any very groat omorgonoy which it required groat forco of character to atom or to turn . His personal wisdom and his influanco were m this man nor more than once appealed to , nor in vain . Investigated closely , ho was undoubtedly a groat man , He . was felt to be so by tho English pooplo , whoso instinct is seldom in tho wrong . Ho was as much truHtod by thorn , in groat political crises as by their Quoon . And nobly ho ropaid thoir confidence , What he did ho did thoroughly and well . When once ho recognised tho need of change , ho ncc ' optod tho fact with tho honourable determination to do justice to it . Ho lives in our romombranco us one whom tho future will g'lorify—who will shine as tho horp of a groat world-drama , tho moral of which w «» identified with bis fortune and confirmed by his triumphs
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npiIIS is a most interesting- on . a interesting subject JL The book is interesting because it brings into one focus all the arguments and facts that all the critics of Mr . Darwin ' s universally-criticised book have put forth against his theory ( Dr . Breo's own facts and arguments inclusive ) , and that the subject is important may be inferred from the extent to which Mr . Darwin has been criticised . Every one interested in the' subject should read the book ; the Darwinians , to find their views confirmed by the most powerful ' . arguments that can be adduced against their theory ;
the anti-Darwinians , that they may learn at length how useless it ' is to kick against the pricks . There are some parts of this book which we think Dr . " Bree had better have left out . It is to be regretted that a writer in the examination of a scientific theory should reveal so prejudiced and partial a state of mind as that which Dr . Bree does reveal in the following passages : —Ho tells us that Mr . Darwin ' s book " destroys every vestige of the beautiful from the mind , without replacing it with a plausible or even intelligible theorv . " Now , passing over the somewhat singular circumstance that "Dr . Brco should take the trouble to write a long and elaborate ¦
treatise to overthrow a book that not only is not " plausible , " but is not even " intelligible ; " passing over this as a trifling rhetorical Jiasco , one of those literary inconsistencies such as we meet with in a certain class of works by the hundred , we certainly are astonished at the proposition that Mr . Darwin ' s non- " plausible " and " unintelligible" book has " destroyed every vestiye of the beautiful . " If the -beautiful is simply resolvable into , the pleasing state of consciousness produced by the contemplation of some particular object , such as the human form , for instance , . we really do not sec how Mr . Darwin's , or any other theory , about the origin'of the being
possessing this form , can have ' anything to do with that . circumstance . . Some minds formed under one set of opinions , ' . might think the -origin of man , astaught by another set , very absurd or very revolting : A sect believing- that sublunary man has . descended lineally from the man in-the liioon , or that some particnlar race of men is the ¦¦ offspring of the brother , of . -the sun '( which cases find their parallels and exemplars among the Asiatics ) , might . 'be shocked at being told thattheir heaven-descended ancestors were originally made out of the chemical ingredients which enter into the composition of-this ' earth ' s crust . But how any genetteal theory can have
anything to do with the beauty of the human torm as it now is at the present day , we can no more understand than we can understand that a beautiful woman would lose her charms upon its being known that she came of ugly nareiits . We trace in tliis one of the mostvuljjar of vulgar ¦ prejudices . It is not only a vulgar prejudice , ^ a most mischievous prejudice , to judge of men and women not from what they are and do , " but from their ancestry . Let a man be a model of intellectual , moral , and physical perfection , as far us anything- earthly is perfect , yet if he is born of poor parents , if . . is born of- working--people , or oven of trades-peoplo , the mark is upon his forehead ' ; he is under the ban . On the other hand , let him bo vicious , idiotic , misshapen , and yet born to a high estate , and he is , Socratesall rolled into
of course , an Adonis , a Solon , and a , one . We regret to see this spirit of ( what Carlyle calls ) hiinkcyism imported into philosophy . Philosophy , which ought , above all things , to be above narrow prejudices and paltry antipathies , should not be written in a way whicli makes us deplore that the writer did not bear in mind even so homely a counsel as that suggested by the vulgar saying " handsome is as handsome docs . " And this brings us to the otUer view of " beauty ; " according to which " beauty consists not merely in an impression on the senses , but in the consciousness , though it ' may be what has boon culled , for want ot a better term , the unperceived consciousness , of adaptation \ n the tiling < " ° »« 1-dercd beautiful . Upon this theory n pnrt of tho bounty ot the that it tnc uest
human form is resolvable into the consciousness i * adapted of living- forms to render the external world subservient to its needs ; upon this theory wo consider the human form benuti nl , not merely because of its more shape and outline , but beci . uso it is associated * in our minds with all that rnnn has achieved in tie wioncos nnd arts . ( Vtdo our number of 20 th Oct ., p . HS 2 , notice <> l tho " Munuul of health and vigour , or the laws of lilo npnlied tn tho natural , healthful , and beautiful , in humanity . ) Jsow . whatevor was tho origin of tho human race , whether it descenUwl iroin tho man in tho moon , or tho brother of the nun , or if rowed , according to Topsy ' theory , out of tho earth , what it has binni and what it hoM dono in tho pant , nnd what it is , and what it is dompr in tho present , cannot in tho least bo nflbeted by these or nny otlicr
genetic hypotheses . , ... . Hut Dr . Brco in Htill nioro vohomont in tho expression o ( his piojadicoB , and of his passionate dislike of that extremely inoflensiveimd dispussionato ontity , tho Darwinian theory . One would havet inuyiit that anything ho abstruse , m profound , so rigorously HWontiNc in Hcopo , mid toin-porato in lan ( ruago , us Mr . Darwin ' s book , would Jinvo actod as a wort of mental sedative to tho vory highest stnfo oL I'orobral tbrmontation and exuberant nnimal spirits , lint m >! '"'• Broo breaks forth in thin wise : " I cannot conclude ) , suvs no , " without expressing my dotostaition of tho theory ; " and wliy , <«>«••« tho reader suppose ? JIuoiuiho it is fnlso or illogical V iV » * ' , » thing' ; but became the doctor Hupposun it collidon with Homo'i i him forogono conclusions ; " because , " to [ jive his reasons in lun own words , •« of its imllinohintf materialism ; bocauni ! it lias dyw ru-a tiio inductive track , tho only Hiiro track that leads to physu-ul truin ; because it utterly repudiate * iinal vaxwon , and thorobv ni ( wc « i <« in domoraliHod understanding- on tho part of its ndvocotes . W »> . Y '" °
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* Speotea not Transmit Cable , nor / tin rQtiult qf Stoandaq Caitmi bai "t"y . ! fw B xamination of Mr . Darwin e Wor % entitled "Origin and Variation <\ f Sptcm . v > O'K . Bieo . M . D . Lonrtoni Oroombrldgo and Bone .
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926 The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Nov . 10 , I 860 I
Transmutation. Of Species.*
TRANSMUTATION . OF SPECIES . *
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 10, 1860, page 926, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2373/page/6/
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