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+Project Gutenberg's The Contemporary Review, January 1883, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Contemporary Review, January 1883
+       Vol 43, No. 1
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: July 3, 2008 [EBook #25957]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, JANUARY 1883 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW
+
+VOLUME XLIII. JANUARY-JUNE, 1883
+
+ISBISTER AND COMPANY
+
+LIMITED
+
+56, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON
+
+1883
+
+   Ballantyne Press
+
+   BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO., EDINBURGH
+   CHANDOS STREET, LONDON
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOLUME XLIII.
+
+   JANUARY, 1883.
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+   The Americans. By Herbert Spencer                                   1
+
+   University Elections. By Edward A. Freeman, D.C.L.                 16
+
+   Hamlet: A New Reading. By Franklin Leifchild                       31
+
+   Panislamism and the Caliphate                                      57
+
+   The Bollandists. By the Rev. G. T. Stokes                          69
+
+   England, France, and Madagascar. By the Rev. James Sibree          85
+
+   The Religious Future of the World. I. By W. S. Lilly              100
+
+   Syrian Colonization. By the Rev. W. Wright, D.D                   122
+
+   The Conservative Dilemma. By Henry Dunckley                       141
+
+
+   FEBRUARY, 1883.
+
+   Contemporary Life and Thought in France. By Gabriel Monod         157
+
+   Gambetta. By A German                                             179
+
+   The Art of Rossetti. By Harry Quilter                             190
+
+   The Religious Future of the World. II. By W. S. Lilly             204
+
+   The "Silver Streak" and the Channel Tunnel. By Professor
+     Boyd Dawkins                                                    240
+
+   The Prospect of Reform. By Arthur Arnold, M.P.                    250
+
+   Ancient International Law. By Professor Brougham Leech            260
+
+   A Russian Prison. By Henry Lansdell, D.D.                         275
+
+   Canonical Obedience. By the Rev. Edwin Hatch                      289
+
+   Democratic Toryism. By Arthur B. Forwood                          294
+
+
+   MARCH, 1883.
+
+   County Government. By the Rt. Hon. Sir R. A. Cross, G.C.B., M.P.  305
+
+   Léon Gambetta: A Positivist Discourse. By Frederic Harrison       311
+
+   Discharged Prisoners: How to Aid Them. By C. E. Howard
+     Vincent, Director of Criminal Investigations                    325
+
+   Miss Burney's Own Story. By Mary Elizabeth Christie               332
+
+   The Highland Crofters. By John Rae                                357
+
+   Local Self-Government in India: The New Departure. By Sir
+     Richard Temple, Bart., G.C.S.I.                                 373
+
+   Siena. By Samuel James Capper                                     383
+
+   The Limits of Science. By the Rev. George Edmundson               404
+
+   Land Tenure and Taxation in Egypt. By Henry C. Kay                411
+
+   The Enchanted Lake: An Episode from the Mahábhárata.
+     By Edwin Arnold, C.S.I.                                         428
+
+   The Municipal Organization of Paris. By Yves Guyot, Member
+     of the Municipal Council of Paris                               439
+
+
+   APRIL, 1883.
+
+   PAGE
+
+   The English Military Power, and the Egyptian Campaign of 1882.
+     By A German Field-Officer                                       457
+
+   M. Gambetta: Positivism and Christianity. By R. W. Dale, M.A.     476
+
+   The Anti-Vivisectionist Agitation:
+     1. By Dr. E. De Cyon                                            498
+     2. By R. H. Hutton                                              510
+
+   The Gospel According to Rembrandt. By Richard Heath               517
+
+   Conseils de Prud'hommes. By W. H. S. Aubrey                       538
+
+   The Manchester Ship Canal. By Major-General Hamley                549
+
+   The Progress of Socialism. By Emile de Laveleye                   561
+
+   Irish Murder-Societies. By Richard Pigott                         583
+
+   Contemporary Life and Thought: Italian Politics. By Professor
+     Villari                                                         592
+
+
+   MAY, 1883.
+
+   Mrs. Carlyle. By Mrs. Oliphant                                    609
+
+   The Business of the House o£ Commons. By the Right
+     Ho. W. E. Baxter, M.P.                                          629
+
+   The Oxford Movement of 1833. By William Palmer                    636
+
+   Radiation. By Professor Tyndall                                   660
+
+   Cairo: The Old in the New. I. By Dr. Georg Ebers                  674
+
+   Responsibilities of Unbelief. By Vernon Lee                       685
+
+   Fiji. By the Hon Sir Arthur H. Gordon, G.C.M.G.                   711
+
+   John Richard Green. By the Rev. H. R. Haweis, M A.                732
+
+   Fenianism. By F. H. O'Donnell, M.P.                               747
+
+
+   JUNE, 1883.
+
+   The Congo Neutralized. By Emile de Laveleye                       767
+
+   Agnostic Morality. By Frances Power Cobbe                         783
+
+   Native Indian Judges: Mr. Ilbert's Bill. By the Right Hon.
+     Sir Arthur Hobhouse, K.C.S.I.                                   795
+
+   The Philosophy of the Beautiful. By Professor John Stuart Blackie 812
+
+   Nature and Thought. By G. J. Romanes, F.R.S.                      831
+
+   Cairo: The Old in the New. II. By Dr. Georg Ebers                 842
+
+   De Mortuis. By C. F. Gordon Cumming                               858
+
+   Wanted, an Elisha. By H. D. Traill, D.C.L.                        870
+
+   Two Aspects of Shakspeare's Art. By T. Hall Came                  883
+
+   Insanity, Suicide and Civilization. By M. G. Mulhall              901
+
+   The New Egyptian Constitution. By Sheldon Amos                    909
+
+
+
+
+THE AMERICANS:
+
+A CONVERSATION AND A SPEECH, WITH AN ADDITION.
+
+BY HERBERT SPENCER.
+
+
+I.--A CONVERSATION: _October 20, 1882_.
+
+     [The state of Mr. Spencer's health unfortunately not permitting him
+     to give in the form of articles the results of his observations on
+     American society, it is thought useful to reproduce, under his own
+     revision and with some additional remarks, what he has said on the
+     subject; especially as the accounts of it which have appeared in
+     this country are imperfect: reports of the conversation having been
+     abridged, and the speech being known only by telegraphic summary.
+
+     The earlier paragraphs of the conversation, which refer to Mr.
+     Spencer's persistent exclusion of reporters and his objections to
+     the interviewing system, are omitted, as not here concerning the
+     reader. There was no eventual yielding, as has been supposed. It
+     was not to a newspaper-reporter that the opinions which follow were
+     expressed, but to an intimate American friend: the primary purpose
+     being to correct the many misstatements to which the excluded
+     interviewers had given currency; and the occasion being taken for
+     giving utterance to impressions of American affairs.--ED.]
+
+Has what you have seen answered your expectations?
+
+It has far exceeded them. Such books about America as I had looked into
+had given me no adequate idea of the immense developments of material
+civilization which I have everywhere found. The extent, wealth, and
+magnificence of your cities, and especially the splendour of New York,
+have altogether astonished me. Though I have not visited the wonder of
+the West, Chicago, yet some of your minor modern places, such as
+Cleveland, have sufficiently amazed me by the results of one
+generation's activity. Occasionally, when I have been in places of some
+ten thousand inhabitants where the telephone is in general use, I have
+felt somewhat ashamed of our own unenterprising towns, many of which, of
+fifty thousand inhabitants and more, make no use of it.
+
+I suppose you recognize in these results the great benefits of free
+institutions?
+
+Ah! Now comes one of the inconveniences of interviewing. I have been in
+the country less than two months, have seen but a relatively small part
+of it, and but comparatively few people, and yet you wish from me a
+definite opinion on a difficult question.
+
+Perhaps you will answer, subject to the qualification that you are but
+giving your first impressions?
+
+Well, with that understanding, I may reply that though the free
+institutions have been partly the cause, I think they have not been the
+chief cause. In the first place, the American people have come into
+possession of an unparalleled fortune--the mineral wealth and the vast
+tracts of virgin soil producing abundantly with small cost of culture.
+Manifestly, that alone goes a long way towards producing this enormous
+prosperity. Then they have profited by inheriting all the arts,
+appliances, and methods, developed by older societies, while leaving
+behind the obstructions existing in them. They have been able to pick
+and choose from the products of all past experience, appropriating the
+good and rejecting the bad. Then, besides these favours of fortune,
+there are factors proper to themselves. I perceive in American faces
+generally a great amount of determination--a kind of "do or die"
+expression; and this trait of character, joined with a power of work
+exceeding that of any other people, of course produces an unparalleled
+rapidity of progress. Once more, there is the inventiveness which,
+stimulated by the need for economizing labour, has been so wisely
+fostered. Among us in England, there are many foolish people who, while
+thinking that a man who toils with his hands has an equitable claim to
+the product, and if he has special skill may rightly have the advantage
+of it, also hold that if a man toils with his brain, perhaps for years,
+and, uniting genius with perseverance, evolves some valuable invention,
+the public may rightly claim the benefit. The Americans have been more
+far-seeing. The enormous museum of patents which I saw at Washington is
+significant of the attention paid to inventors' claims; and the nation
+profits immensely from having in this direction (though not in all
+others) recognized property in mental products. Beyond question, in
+respect of mechanical appliances the Americans are ahead of all nations.
+If along with your material progress there went equal progress of a
+higher kind, there would remain nothing to be wished.
+
+That is an ambiguous qualification. What do you mean by it?
+
+You will understand me when I tell you what I was thinking the other
+day. After pondering over what I have seen of your vast manufacturing
+and trading establishments, the rush of traffic in your street-cars and
+elevated railways, your gigantic hotels and Fifth Avenue palaces, I was
+suddenly reminded of the Italian Republics of the Middle Ages; and
+recalled the fact that while there was growing up in them great
+commercial activity, a development of the arts which made them the envy
+of Europe, and a building of princely mansions which continue to be the
+admiration of travellers, their people were gradually losing their
+freedom.
+
+Do you mean this as a suggestion that we are doing the like?
+
+It seems to me that you are. You retain the forms of freedom; but, so
+far as I can gather, there has been a considerable loss of the
+substance. It is true that those who rule you do not do it by means of
+retainers armed with swords; but they do it through regiments of men
+armed with voting papers, who obey the word of command as loyally as did
+the dependants of the old feudal nobles, and who thus enable their
+leaders to override the general will, and make the community submit to
+their exactions as effectually as their prototypes of old. It is
+doubtless true that each of your citizens votes for the candidate he
+chooses for this or that office, from President downwards; but his hand
+is guided by an agency behind which leaves him scarcely any choice. "Use
+your political power as we tell you, or else throw it away," is the
+alternative offered to the citizen. The political machinery as it is now
+worked, has little resemblance to that contemplated at the outset of
+your political life. Manifestly, those who framed your Constitution
+never dreamed that twenty thousand citizens would go to the poll led by
+a "boss." America exemplifies at the other end of the social scale, a
+change analogous to that which has taken place under sundry despotisms.
+You know that in Japan, before the recent Revolution, the divine ruler,
+the Mikado, nominally supreme, was practically a puppet in the hands of
+his chief minister, the Shogun. Here it seems to me that "the sovereign
+people" is fast becoming a puppet which moves and speaks as wire-pullers
+determine.
+
+Then you think that Republican institutions are a failure?
+
+By no means: I imply no such conclusion. Thirty years ago, when often
+discussing politics with an English friend, and defending Republican
+institutions, as I always have done and do still, and when he urged
+against me the ill-working of such institutions over here, I habitually
+replied that the Americans got their form of government by a happy
+accident, not by normal progress, and that they would have to go back
+before they could go forward. What has since happened seems to me to
+have justified that view; and what I see now, confirms me in it. America
+is showing, on a larger scale than ever before, that "paper
+Constitutions" will not work as they are intended to work. The truth,
+first recognized by Mackintosh, that Constitutions are not made but
+grow, which is part of the larger truth that societies, throughout their
+whole organizations, are not made but grow, at once, when accepted,
+disposes of the notion that you can work as you hope any
+artificially-devised system of government. It becomes an inference that
+if your political structure has been manufactured and not grown, it
+will forthwith begin to grow into something different from that
+intended--something in harmony with the natures of the citizens, and the
+conditions under which the society exists. And it evidently has been so
+with you. Within the forms of your Constitution there has grown up this
+organization of professional politicians altogether uncontemplated at
+the outset, which has become in large measure the ruling power.
+
+But will not education and the diffusion of political knowledge fit men
+for free institutions?
+
+No. It is essentially a question of character, and only in a secondary
+degree a question of knowledge. But for the universal delusion about
+education as a panacea for political evils, this would have been made
+sufficiently clear by the evidence daily disclosed in your papers. Are
+not the men who officer and control your Federal, your State, and your
+Municipal organizations--who manipulate your caucuses and conventions,
+and run your partisan campaigns--all educated men? And has their
+education prevented them from engaging in, or permitting, or condoning,
+the briberies, lobbyings, and other corrupt methods which vitiate the
+actions of your administrations? Perhaps party newspapers exaggerate
+these things; but what am I to make of the testimony of your civil
+service reformers--men of all parties? If I understand the matter
+aright, they are attacking, as vicious and dangerous, a system which has
+grown up under the natural spontaneous working of your free
+institutions--are exposing vices which education has proved powerless to
+prevent?
+
+Of course, ambitious and unscrupulous men will secure the offices, and
+education will aid them in their selfish purposes. But would not those
+purposes be thwarted, and better Government secured, by raising the
+standard of knowledge among the people at large?
+
+Very little. The current theory is that if the young are taught what is
+right, and the reasons why it is right, they will do what is right when
+they grow up. But considering what religious teachers have been doing
+these two thousand years, it seems to me that all history is against the
+conclusion, as much as is the conduct of these well-educated citizens I
+have referred to; and I do not see why you expect better results among
+the masses. Personal interests will sway the men in the ranks, as they
+sway the men above them; and the education which fails to make the last
+consult public good rather than private good, will fail to make the
+first do it. The benefits of political purity are so general and remote,
+and the profit to each individual is so inconspicuous, that the common
+citizen, educate him as you like, will habitually occupy himself with
+his personal affairs, and hold it not worth his while to fight against
+each abuse as soon as it appears. Not lack of information, but lack of
+certain moral sentiment, is the root of the evil.
+
+You mean that people have not a sufficient sense of public duty?
+
+Well, that is one way of putting it; but there is a more specific way.
+Probably it will surprise you if I say the American has not, I think, a
+sufficiently quick sense of his own claims, and, at the same time, as a
+necessary consequence, not a sufficiently quick sense of the claims of
+others--for the two traits are organically related. I observe that they
+tolerate various small interferences and dictations which Englishmen are
+prone to resist. I am told that the English are remarked on for their
+tendency to grumble in such cases; and I have no doubt it is true.
+
+Do you think it worth while for people to make themselves disagreeable
+by resenting every trifling aggression? We Americans think it involves
+too much loss of time and temper, and doesn't pay.
+
+Exactly; that is what I mean by character. It is this easy-going
+readiness to permit small trespasses, because it would be troublesome or
+profitless or unpopular to oppose them, which leads to the habit of
+acquiescence in wrong, and the decay of free institutions. Free
+institutions can be maintained only by citizens, each of whom is instant
+to oppose every illegitimate act, every assumption of supremacy, every
+official excess of power, however trivial it may seem. As Hamlet says,
+there is such a thing as "greatly to find quarrel in a straw," when the
+straw implies a principle. If, as you say of the American, he pauses to
+consider whether he can afford the time and trouble--whether it will
+pay, corruption is sure to creep in. All these lapses from higher to
+lower forms begin in trifling ways, and it is only by incessant
+watchfulness that they can be prevented. As one of your early statesmen
+said--"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." But it is far less
+against foreign aggressions upon national liberty that this vigilance is
+required, than against the insidious growth of domestic interferences
+with personal liberty. In some private administrations which I have been
+concerned with, I have often insisted that instead of assuming, as
+people usually do, that things are going right until it is proved that
+they are going wrong, the proper course is to assume that they are going
+wrong until it is proved that they are going right. You will find
+continually that private corporations, such as joint-stock banking
+companies, come to grief from not acting on this principle; and what
+holds of these small and simple private administrations holds still more
+of the great and complex public administrations. People are taught, and
+I suppose believe, that the "heart of man is deceitful above all things,
+and desperately wicked;" and yet, strangely enough, believing this, they
+place implicit trust in those they appoint to this or that function. I
+do not think so ill of human nature; but, on the other hand, I do not
+think so well of human nature as to believe it will go straight without
+being watched.
+
+You hinted that while Americans do not assert their own individualities
+sufficiently in small matters, they, reciprocally, do not sufficiently
+respect the individualities of others.
+
+Did I? Here, then, comes another of the inconveniences of interviewing.
+I should have kept this opinion to myself if you had asked me no
+questions; and now I must either say what I do not think, which I
+cannot, or I must refuse to answer, which, perhaps, will be taken to
+mean more than I intend, or I must specify, at the risk of giving
+offence. As the least evil, I suppose I must do the last. The trait I
+refer to comes out in various ways, small and great. It is shown by the
+disrespectful manner in which individuals are dealt with in your
+journals--the placarding of public men in sensational headings, the
+dragging of private people and their affairs into print. There seems to
+be a notion that the public have a right to intrude on private life as
+far as they like; and this I take to be a kind of moral trespassing.
+Then, in a larger way, the trait is seen in this damaging of private
+property by your elevated railways without making compensation; and it
+is again seen in the doings of railway autocrats, not only when
+overriding the rights of shareholders, but in dominating over courts of
+justice and State governments. The fact is that free institutions can be
+properly worked only by men, each of whom is jealous of his own rights,
+and also sympathetically jealous of the rights of others--who will
+neither himself aggress on his neighbours in small things or great, nor
+tolerate aggression on them by others. The Republican form of government
+is the highest form of government; but because of this it requires the
+highest type of human nature--a type nowhere at present existing. We
+have not grown up to it; nor have you.
+
+But we thought, Mr. Spencer, you were in favour of free government in
+the sense of relaxed restraints, and letting men and things very much
+alone, or what is called _laissez faire_?
+
+That is a persistent misunderstanding of my opponents. Everywhere, along
+with the reprobation of Government intrusion into various spheres where
+private activities should be left to themselves, I have contended that
+in its special sphere, the maintenance of equitable relations among
+citizens, governmental action should be extended and elaborated.
+
+To return to your various criticisms, must I then understand that you
+think unfavourably of our future?
+
+No one can form anything more than vague and general conclusions
+respecting your future. The factors are too numerous, too vast, too far
+beyond measure in their quantities and intensities. The world has never
+before seen social phenomena at all comparable with those presented in
+the United States. A society spreading over enormous tracts, while still
+preserving its political continuity, is a new thing. This progressive
+incorporation of vast bodies of immigrants of various bloods, has never
+occurred on such a scale before. Large empires, composed of different
+peoples, have, in previous cases, been formed by conquest and
+annexation. Then your immense _plexus_ of railways and telegraphs tends
+to consolidate this vast aggregate of States in a way that no such
+aggregate has ever before been consolidated. And there are many minor
+co-operating causes, unlike those hitherto known. No one can say how it
+is all going to work out. That there will come hereafter troubles of
+various kinds, and very grave ones, seems highly probable; but all
+nations have had, and will have, their troubles. Already you have
+triumphed over one great trouble, and may reasonably hope to triumph
+over others. It may, I think, be concluded that, both because of its
+size and the heterogeneity of its components, the American nation will
+be a long time in evolving its ultimate form, but that its ultimate form
+will be high. One great result is, I think, tolerably clear. From
+biological truths it is to be inferred that the eventual mixture of the
+allied varieties of the Aryan race forming the population, will produce
+a finer type of man than has hitherto existed; and a type of man more
+plastic, more adaptable, more capable of undergoing the modifications
+needful for complete social life. I think that whatever difficulties
+they may have to surmount, and whatever tribulations they may have to
+pass through, the Americans may reasonably look forward to a time when
+they will have produced a civilization grander than any the world has
+known.
+
+
+
+
+II.--A SPEECH:
+
+_Delivered on the occasion of a Complimentary Dinner in New York, on
+November 9, 1882._
+
+
+Mr. President and Gentlemen:--Along with your kindness there comes to me
+a great unkindness from Fate; for, now that, above all times in my life,
+I need full command of what powers of speech I possess, disturbed health
+so threatens to interfere with them that I fear I shall very
+inadequately express myself. Any failure in my response you must please
+ascribe, in part at least, to a greatly disordered nervous system.
+Regarding you as representing Americans at large, I feel that the
+occasion is one on which arrears of thanks are due. I ought to begin
+with the time, some two-and-twenty years ago, when my highly valued
+friend Professor Youmans, making efforts to diffuse my books here,
+interested on their behalf the Messrs. Appleton, who have ever treated
+me so honourably and so handsomely; and I ought to detail from that time
+onward the various marks and acts of sympathy by which I have been
+encouraged in a struggle which was for many years disheartening. But,
+intimating thus briefly my general indebtedness to my numerous friends,
+most of them unknown, on this side of the Atlantic, I must name more
+especially the many attentions and proffered hospitalities met with
+during my late tour, as well as, lastly and chiefly, this marked
+expression of the sympathies and good wishes which many of you have
+travelled so far to give, at great cost of that time which is so
+precious to the American. I believe I may truly say, that the better
+health which you have so cordially wished me, will be in a measure
+furthered by the wish; since all pleasurable emotion is conducive to
+health, and, as you will fully believe, the remembrance of this event
+will ever continue to be a source of pleasurable emotion, exceeded by
+few, if any, of my remembrances.
+
+And now that I have thanked you, sincerely though too briefly, I am
+going to find fault with you. Already, in some remarks drawn from me
+respecting American affairs and American character, I have passed
+criticisms, which have been accepted far more good-humouredly than I
+could have reasonably expected; and it seems strange that I should now
+propose again to transgress. However, the fault I have to comment upon
+is one which most will scarcely regard as a fault. It seems to me that
+in one respect Americans have diverged too widely from savages, I do not
+mean to say that they are in general unduly civilized. Throughout large
+parts of the population, even in long-settled regions, there is no
+excess of those virtues needed for the maintenance of social harmony.
+Especially out in the West, men's dealings do not yet betray too much of
+the "sweetness and light" which we are told distinguish the cultured man
+from the barbarian. Nevertheless, there is a sense in which my assertion
+is true. You know that the primitive man lacks power of application.
+Spurred by hunger, by danger, by revenge, he can exert himself
+energetically for a time; but his energy is spasmodic. Monotonous daily
+toil is impossible to him. It is otherwise with the more developed man.
+The stern discipline of social life has gradually increased the aptitude
+for persistent industry; until, among us, and still more among you, work
+has become with many a passion. This contrast of nature has another
+aspect. The savage thinks only of present satisfactions, and leaves
+future satisfactions uncared for. Contrariwise, the American, eagerly
+pursuing a future good, almost ignores what good the passing day offers
+him; and when the future good is gained, he neglects that while striving
+for some still remoter good.
+
+What I have seen and heard during my stay among you has forced on me the
+belief that this slow change from habitual inertness to persistent
+activity has reached an extreme from which there must begin a
+counterchange--a reaction. Everywhere I have been struck with the
+number of faces which told in strong lines of the burdens that had to be
+borne. I have been struck, too, with the large proportion of gray-haired
+men; and inquiries have brought out the fact, that with you the hair
+commonly begins to turn some ten years earlier than with us. Moreover,
+in every circle I have met men who had themselves suffered from nervous
+collapse due to stress of business, or named friends who had either
+killed themselves by overwork, or had been permanently incapacitated, or
+had wasted long periods in endeavours to recover health. I do but echo
+the opinion of all the observant persons I have spoken to, that immense
+injury is being done by this high-pressure life--the physique is being
+undermined. That subtle thinker and poet whom you have lately had to
+mourn, Emerson, says, in his essay on the Gentleman, that the first
+requisite is that he shall be a good animal. The requisite is a general
+one--it extends to the man, to the father, to the citizen. We hear a
+great deal about "the vile body;" and many are encouraged by the phrase
+to transgress the laws of health. But Nature quietly suppresses those
+who treat thus disrespectfully one of her highest products, and leaves
+the world to be peopled by the descendants of those who are not so
+foolish.
+
+Beyond these immediate mischiefs there are remoter mischiefs. Exclusive
+devotion to work has the result that amusements cease to please; and,
+when relaxation becomes imperative, life becomes dreary from lack of its
+sole interest--the interest in business. The remark current in England
+that, when the American travels, his aim is to do the greatest amount of
+sight-seeing in the shortest time, I find current here also: it is
+recognized that the satisfaction of getting on devours nearly all other
+satisfactions. When recently at Niagara, which gave us a whole week's
+pleasure, I learned from the landlord of the hotel that most Americans
+come one day and go away the next. Old Froissart, who said of the
+English of his day that "they take their pleasures sadly after their
+fashion," would doubtless, if he lived now, say of the Americans that
+they take their pleasures hurriedly after their fashion. In large
+measure with us, and still more with you, there is not that abandonment
+to the moment which is requisite for full enjoyment; and this
+abandonment is prevented by the ever-present sense of multitudinous
+responsibilities. So that, beyond the serious physical mischief caused
+by overwork, there is the further mischief that it destroys what value
+there would otherwise be in the leisure part of life.
+
+Nor do the evils end here. There is the injury to posterity. Damaged
+constitutions reappear in children, and entail on them far more of ill
+than great fortunes yield them of good. When life has been duly
+rationalized by science, it will be seen that among a man's duties, care
+of the body is imperative; not only out of regard for personal welfare,
+but also out of regard for descendants. His constitution will be
+considered as an entailed estate, which he ought to pass on uninjured,
+if not improved, to those who follow; and it will be held that millions
+bequeathed by him will not compensate for feeble health and decreased
+ability to enjoy life. Once more, there is the injury to
+fellow-citizens, taking the shape of undue disregard of competitors. I
+hear that a great trader among you deliberately endeavoured to crush out
+every one whose business competed with his own; and manifestly the man
+who, making himself a slave to accumulation, absorbs an inordinate share
+of the trade or profession he is engaged in, makes life harder for all
+others engaged in it, and excludes from it many who might otherwise gain
+competencies. Thus, besides the egoistic motive, there are two
+altruistic motives which should deter from this excess in work.
+
+The truth is, there needs a revised ideal of life. Look back through the
+past, or look abroad through the present, and we find that the ideal of
+life is variable, and depends on social conditions. Every one knows that
+to be a successful warrior was the highest aim among all ancient peoples
+of note, as it is still among many barbarous peoples. When we remember
+that in the Norseman's heaven the time was to be passed in daily
+battles, with magical healing of wounds, we see how deeply rooted may
+become the conception that fighting is man's proper business, and that
+industry is fit only for slaves and people of low degree. That is to
+say, when the chronic struggles of races necessitate perpetual wars,
+there is evolved an ideal of life adapted to the requirements. We have
+changed all that in modern civilized societies; especially in England,
+and still more in America. With the decline of militant activity, and
+the growth of industrial activity, the occupations once disgraceful have
+become honourable. The duty to work has taken the place of the duty to
+fight; and in the one case, as in the other, the ideal of life has
+become so well established that scarcely any dream of questioning it.
+Practically, business has been substituted for war as the purpose of
+existence.
+
+Is this modern ideal to survive throughout the future? I think not.
+While all other things undergo continuous change, it is impossible that
+ideals should remain fixed. The ancient ideal was appropriate to the
+ages of conquest by man over man, and spread of the strongest races. The
+modern ideal is appropriate to ages in which conquest of the earth and
+subjection of the powers of Nature to human use, is the predominant
+need. But hereafter, when both these ends have in the main been
+achieved, the ideal formed will probably differ considerably from the
+present one. May we not foresee the nature of the difference? I think we
+may. Some twenty years ago, a good friend of mine, and a good friend of
+yours too, though you never saw him, John Stuart Mill, delivered at St.
+Andrews an inaugural address on the occasion of his appointment to the
+Lord Rectorship. It contained much to be admired, as did all he wrote.
+There ran through it, however, the tacit assumption that life is for
+learning and working. I felt at the time that I should have liked to
+take up the opposite thesis. I should have liked to contend that life is
+not for learning, nor is life for working, but learning and working are
+for life. The primary use of knowledge is for such guidance of conduct
+under all circumstances as shall make living complete. All other uses of
+knowledge are secondary. It scarcely needs saying that the primary use
+of work is that of supplying the materials and aids to living
+completely; and that any other uses of work are secondary. But in men's
+conceptions the secondary has in great measure usurped the place of the
+primary. The apostle of culture as it is commonly conceived, Mr. Matthew
+Arnold, makes little or no reference to the fact that the first use of
+knowledge is the right ordering of all actions; and Mr. Carlyle, who is
+a good exponent of current ideas about work, insists on its virtues for
+quite other reasons than that it achieves sustentation. We may trace
+everywhere in human affairs a tendency to transform the means into the
+end. All see that the miser does this when, making the accumulation of
+money his sole satisfaction, he forgets that money is of value only to
+purchase satisfactions. But it is less commonly seen that the like is
+true of the work by which the money is accumulated--that industry too,
+bodily or mental, is but a means; and that it is as irrational to pursue
+it to the exclusion of that complete living it subserves, as it is for
+the miser to accumulate money and make no use of it. Hereafter, when
+this age of active material progress has yielded mankind its benefits,
+there will, I think, come a better adjustment of labour and enjoyment.
+Among reasons for thinking this, there is the reason that the process of
+evolution throughout the organic world at large, brings an increasing
+surplus of energies that are not absorbed in fulfilling material needs,
+and points to a still larger surplus for the humanity of the future. And
+there are other reasons, which I must pass over. In brief, I may say
+that we have had somewhat too much of "the gospel of work." It is time
+to preach the gospel of relaxation.
+
+This is a very unconventional after-dinner speech. Especially it will be
+thought strange that in returning thanks I should deliver something very
+much like a homily. But I have thought I could not better convey my
+thanks than by the expression of a sympathy which issues in a fear. If,
+as I gather, this intemperance in work affects more especially the
+Anglo-American part of the population--if there results an undermining
+of the physique, not only in adults, but also in the young, who, as I
+learn from your daily journals, are also being injured by overwork--if
+the ultimate consequence should be a dwindling away of those among you
+who are the inheritors of free institutions and best adapted to them;
+then there will come a further difficulty in the working out of that
+great future which lies before the American nation. To my anxiety on
+this account you must please ascribe the unusual character of my
+remarks.
+
+And now I must bid you farewell. When I sail by the _Germanic_ on
+Saturday, I shall bear with me pleasant remembrances of my intercourse
+with many Americans, joined with regrets that my state of health has
+prevented me from seeing a larger number.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[A few words may fitly be added respecting the causes of this
+over-activity in American life--causes which may be identified as having
+in recent times partially operated among ourselves, and as having
+wrought kindred, though less marked, effects. It is the more worth while
+to trace the genesis of this undue absorption of the energies in work,
+since it well serves to illustrate the general truth which should be
+ever present to all legislators and politicians, that the indirect and
+unforeseen results of any cause affecting a society are frequently, if
+not habitually, greater and more important than the direct and foreseen
+results.
+
+This high pressure under which Americans exist, and which is most
+intense in places like Chicago, where the prosperity and rate of growth
+are greatest, is seen by many intelligent Americans themselves to be an
+indirect result of their free institutions and the absence of those
+class-distinctions and restraints existing in older communities. A
+society in which the man who dies a millionaire is so often one who
+commenced life in poverty, and in which (to paraphrase a French saying
+concerning the soldier) every news-boy carries a president's seal in his
+bag, is, by consequence, a society in which all are subject to a stress
+of competition for wealth and honour, greater than can exist in a
+society whose members are nearly all prevented from rising out of the
+ranks in which they were born, and have but remote possibilities of
+acquiring fortunes. In those European societies which have in great
+measure preserved their old types of structure (as in our own society up
+to the time when the great development of industrialism began to open
+ever-multiplying careers for the producing and distributing classes)
+there is so little chance of overcoming the obstacles to any great rise
+in position or possessions, that nearly all have to be content with
+their places: entertaining little or no thought of bettering themselves.
+A manifest concomitant is that, fulfilling, with such efficiency as a
+moderate competition requires, the daily tasks of their respective
+situations, the majority become habituated to making the best of such
+pleasures as their lot affords, during whatever leisure they get. But
+it is otherwise where an immense growth of trade multiplies greatly the
+chances of success to the enterprising; and still more is it otherwise
+where class-restrictions are partially removed or wholly absent. Not
+only are more energy and thought put into the time daily occupied in
+work, but the leisure comes to be trenched upon, either literally by
+abridgment, or else by anxieties concerning business. Clearly, the
+larger the number who, under such conditions, acquire property, or
+achieve higher positions, or both, the sharper is the spur to the rest.
+A raised standard of activity establishes itself and goes on rising.
+Public applause given to the successful, becoming in communities thus
+circumstanced the most familiar kind of public applause, increases
+continually the stimulus to action. The struggle grows more and more
+strenuous, and there comes an increasing dread of failure--a dread of
+being "left," as the Americans say: a significant word, since it is
+suggestive of a race in which the harder any one runs, the harder others
+have to run to keep up with him--a word suggestive of that breathless
+haste with which each passes from a success gained to the pursuit of a
+further success. And on contrasting the English of to-day with the
+English of a century ago, we may see how, in a considerable measure, the
+like causes have entailed here kindred results.
+
+Even those who are not directly spurred on by this intensified struggle
+for wealth and honour, are indirectly spurred on by it. For one of its
+effects is to raise the standard of living, and eventually to increase
+the average rate of expenditure for all. Partly for personal enjoyment,
+but much more for the display which brings admiration, those who acquire
+fortunes distinguish themselves by luxurious habits. The more numerous
+they become, the keener becomes the competition for that kind of public
+attention given to those who make themselves conspicuous by great
+expenditure. The competition spreads downwards step by step; until, to
+be "respectable," those having relatively small means feel obliged to
+spend more on houses, furniture, dress, and food; and are obliged to
+work the harder to get the requisite larger income. This process of
+causation is manifest enough among ourselves; and it is still more
+manifest in America, where the extravagance in style of living is
+greater than here.
+
+Thus, though it seems beyond doubt that the removal of all political and
+social barriers, and the giving to each man an unimpeded career, must be
+purely beneficial; yet there is (at first) a considerable set-off from
+the benefits. Among those who in older communities have by laborious
+lives gained distinction, some may be heard privately to confess that
+"the game is not worth the candle;" and when they hear of others who
+wish to tread in their steps, shake their heads and say--"If they only
+knew!" Without accepting in full so pessimistic an estimate of success,
+we must still say that very generally the cost of the candle deducts
+largely from the gain of the game. That which in these exceptional cases
+holds among ourselves, holds more generally in America. An intensified
+life, which may be summed up as--great labour, great profit, great
+expenditure--has for its concomitant a wear and tear which considerably
+diminishes in one direction the good gained in another. Added together,
+the daily strain through many hours and the anxieties occupying many
+other hours--the occupation of consciousness by feelings that are either
+indifferent or painful, leaving relatively little time for occupation of
+it by pleasurable feelings--tend to lower its level more than its level
+is raised by the gratifications of achievement and the accompanying
+benefits. So that it may, and in many cases does, result that diminished
+happiness goes along with increased prosperity. Unquestionably, as long
+as order is fairly maintained, that absence of political and social
+restraints which gives free scope to the struggles for profit and
+honour, conduces greatly to material advance of the society--develops
+the industrial arts, extends and improves the business organizations,
+augments the wealth; but that it raises the value of individual life, as
+measured by the average state of its feeling, by no means follows. That
+it will do so eventually, is certain; but that it does so now seems, to
+say the least, very doubtful.
+
+The truth is that a society and its members act and react in such wise
+that while, on the one hand, the nature of the society is determined by
+the natures of its members; on the other hand, the activities of its
+members (and presently their natures) are redetermined by the needs of
+the society, as these alter: change in either entails change in the
+other. It is an obvious implication that, to a great extent, the life of
+a society so sways the wills of its members as to turn them to its ends.
+That which is manifest during the militant stage, when the social
+aggregate coerces its units into co-operation for defence, and
+sacrifices many of their lives for its corporate preservation, holds
+under another form during the industrial stage, as we at present know
+it. Though the co-operation of citizens is now voluntary instead of
+compulsory; yet the social forces impel them to achieve social ends
+while apparently achieving only their own ends. The man who, carrying
+out an invention, thinks only of private welfare to be thereby secured,
+is in far larger measure working for public welfare: instance the
+contrast between the fortune made by Watt and the wealth which the
+steam-engine has given to mankind. He who utilizes a new material,
+improves a method of production, or introduces a better way of carrying
+on business, and does this for the purpose of distancing competitors,
+gains for himself little compared with that which he gains for the
+community by facilitating the lives of all. Either unknowingly or in
+spite of themselves, Nature leads men by purely personal motives to
+fulfil her ends: Nature being one of our expressions for the Ultimate
+Cause of things, and the end, remote when not proximate, being the
+highest form of human life.
+
+Hence no argument, however cogent, can be expected to produce much
+effect: only here and there one may be influenced. As in an actively
+militant stage of society it is impossible to make many believe that
+there is any glory preferable to that of killing enemies; so, where
+rapid material growth is going on, and affords unlimited scope for the
+energies of all, little can be done by insisting that life has higher
+uses than work and accumulation. While among the most powerful of
+feelings continue to be the desire for public applause and dread of
+public censure--while the anxiety to achieve distinction, now by
+conquering enemies, now by beating competitors, continues
+predominant--while the fear of public reprobation affects men more than
+the fear of divine vengeance (as witness the long survival of duelling
+in Christian societies); this excess of work which ambition prompts,
+seems likely to continue with but small qualification. The eagerness for
+the honour accorded to success, first in war and then in commerce, has
+been indispensable as a means to peopling the Earth with the higher
+types of man, and the subjugation of its surface and its forces to human
+use. Ambition may fitly come to bear a smaller ratio to other motives,
+when the working out of these needs is approaching completeness; and
+when also, by consequence, the scope for satisfying ambition is
+diminishing. Those who draw the obvious corollaries from the doctrine of
+Evolution--those who believe that the process of modification upon
+modification which has brought life to its present height must raise it
+still higher, will anticipate that "the last infirmity of noble minds"
+will in the distant future slowly decrease. As the sphere for
+achievement becomes smaller, the desire for applause will lose that
+predominance which it now has. A better ideal of life may simultaneously
+come to prevail. When there is fully recognized the truth that moral
+beauty is higher than intellectual power--when the wish to be admired is
+in large measure replaced by the wish to be loved; that strife for
+distinction which the present phase of civilization shows us will be
+greatly moderated. Along with other benefits may then come a rational
+proportioning of work and relaxation; and the relative claims of to-day
+and to-morrow may be properly balanced.--H. S.]
+
+
+
+
+UNIVERSITY ELECTIONS.
+
+
+The late election for the University of Cambridge had an ending which
+may well set many of us a-thinking. That Mr. Raikes should have been
+chosen by an overwhelming majority rather than Mr. Stuart means a good
+deal more than a mere party victory and party defeat. Combined with
+several elections of late years at Oxford, it is enough to make us all
+turn over in our minds the question of University representation in
+general. The facts taken altogether look as if those constituencies to
+which we might naturally look for the return of members of more than
+average personal eminence were committed, in the choice of their
+representatives, not only to one particular political party, but to
+absolute indifference to every claim beyond membership of that
+particular party. It would be unreasonable to expect a conscientious
+Conservative to vote for a Liberal candidate; but one might expect any
+party, in choosing candidates for such constituencies as the
+Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, to put forward its best men. And
+we cannot, after all, think so ill of the great Conservative party as to
+believe that the present representatives of Oxford and Cambridge are its
+best men. We ought indeed not to forget that, whatever Mr.
+Beresford-Hope has since shown himself, he was brought forward, partly
+at least, as a man of scholarship and intellectual tastes, and that he
+received many Liberal votes in the belief that he was less widely
+removed from Liberal ideas than another Conservative candidate. This
+would seem to have been the last trace of an old tradition, the last
+faint glimmering of the belief that the representative of an University
+should have something about him specially appropriate to the
+representation of an University. In Oxford that tradition had, on the
+Conservative side, given way earlier. Another tradition gave way with
+it, one which I at least did not regret, the tradition that an
+University seat should be a seat for life. It sounded degrading when a
+proposer of Mr. Gladstone stooped to appeal to the doctrine, "ut semel
+electus semper eligatur." But be that rule wise or foolish, it was on
+the Conservative side that it was broken down. It gave way to the rule
+that Mr. Gladstone was always to be opposed, and that it did not matter
+who could be got to oppose him. Again I cannot believe that the
+Conservative ranks did not contain better men than the grotesque
+succession of nobodies by whom Mr. Gladstone was opposed. But in the
+course of those elections the rule was established at Oxford, and it now
+seems to be adopted at Cambridge, that anybody will do to be an
+University member, provided only he is an unflinching supporter of the
+party which, as recent elections show, still keeps a large majority in
+both Universities.
+
+Mr. Gladstone was very nearly the ideal University member. I say "very
+nearly," because to my mind the absolutely ideal state of things would
+be if the Universities could catch such men as Mr. Gladstone young, and
+could bring them into Parliament as their own, before they had been laid
+hold of by any other constituency. The late jubilee of Mr. Gladstone's
+political life ought to have been the jubilee of his election, not for
+Newark but for Oxford. The Universities should choose men who have
+already shown themselves to be scholars and who bid fair one day to be
+statesmen. I am not sure about the policy of bringing forward actual
+University officials. There is sure to be a cry against them, and it is
+not clear that they are the best choice in themselves. It may be as well
+however to remember that the example was set, though in rather an
+amusing shape, by the Conservatives themselves. Dr. Marsham, late Warden
+of Merton, who was brought forward thirty years ago in opposition to Mr.
+Gladstone, did not belong to exactly the same class of academical
+officials as Professor Stuart and Professor H. J. S. Smith; still, as an
+academical official of some kind, he had something in common with them,
+as distinguished from either Mr. Gladstone or Mr. Raikes. At the last
+elections both for Oxford and Cambridge, the Liberal candidate was an
+actual Professor. Mr. Stuart indeed is much more than a mere professor;
+he has shown his capacity for practical work of various kinds. But I
+could not but look on the Oxford choice of 1878 as unlucky. Mr. H. J. S.
+Smith was brought forward purely on the ground of "distinction,"
+distinction, it would seem, so great that moral right and wrong went for
+nothing by its side. Just at that moment right and wrong were
+emphatically weighing in the balance; it was the very crisis of the fate
+of South-Eastern Europe. But we were told that Mr. Smith's candidature
+had "no reference to the Eastern Question;" he was, we were told,
+supported by men who took opposite views on that matter. That is to
+say, when the most distinct question of right and wrong that ever was
+put before any people was at that moment placed before our eyes, we were
+asked to put away all thought of moral right and moral duty in the
+presence of the long string of letters after Mr. Smith's name. Better, I
+should have said, to choose, even for the University, a man who could
+not read or write, if he had been ready to strive heart and soul for
+justice and freedom alongside of Mr. Gladstone and the Duke of Argyll.
+Yet no such hard choice was laid upon us. There was a man standing by,
+another bearer of the same great Teutonic name, not young indeed in
+years, but who might have gone fresh to Parliament as the University's
+own choice, one whom it would have been worth some effort to keep within
+the bounds of England and of Europe, one who to a list of "distinctions"
+at least as long as that of the candidate actually chosen, added the
+noblest distinction of all, that of having been, through a life of
+varied experiences, the consistent and unflinching champion of moral
+righteousness. I do not know that Mr. Goldwin Smith would have had a
+greater chance--perhaps he might have had even less chance--of election
+than Mr. H. J. S. Smith. But there would have been greater comfort in
+manly defeat in open strife under such a leader than there could be in a
+defeat which it had been vainly hoped to escape by a compromise on the
+great moral question of the moment. The Oxford Liberals lost, and, I
+must say, they deserved to lose. It is a great gain for an University
+candidate to be "distinguished;" but one would think that it would
+commonly be possible to find a "distinguished" candidate who is at once
+"distinguished" and something better as well.
+
+Still at Oxford in 1878 Mr. H. J. S. Smith was the accepted candidate of
+the Liberal party, and in that character he underwent a crushing defeat.
+It may be, or it may not be, that a candidate of more decided principles
+would have gained more votes than the actual candidate gained; he
+certainly would not have gained enough to turn the scale. Mr. Smith was
+defeated by a candidate who was utterly undistinguished; and who,
+instead of simply halting, like Mr. Smith, between right and wrong, was
+definitely committed to the cause of wrong. Mr. Talbot became member for
+the University on the same principle on which Mr. Gladstone's successive
+opponents were brought forward, the principle that anybody will do, if
+only he be a Tory. Any stick is good enough to beat the Liberal dog.
+When Toryism showed itself in its darkest colours, when it meant the
+rule of Lord Beaconsfield, and when the rule of Lord Beaconsfield meant,
+before all things, the strengthening of the power of evil in
+South-Eastern Europe, a constituency, in which the clerical vote is said
+to be decisive, preferred, by an overwhelming majority, the candidate
+who most distinctly represented the bondage of Christian nations under
+the yoke of the misbeliever. It is quite possible that crowds voted at
+the Oxford election, as at other elections, in support of Lord
+Beaconsfield's ministry, in utter indifference or in utter ignorance as
+to what support of Lord Beaconsfield's ministry meant. The Conservative
+party was conventionally supposed to be the Church party; and so men
+calling themselves Christians, calling themselves clergymen, rushed,
+with the cry of "Church" in their mouths, to do all that in them lay for
+the sworn allies of Antichrist.
+
+A constituency which could return a supporter of Lord Beaconsfield in
+1878 is hopelessly Tory--hopelessly that is, till a new generation shall
+have supplanted the existing one. It is Conservative, not in the sense
+of acting on any intelligible Conservative principle, but in the sense
+of supporting anything that calls itself Conservative, be its principles
+what they may. No measure could be less really Conservative, none could
+more be opposed to the feelings and traditions of a large part of the
+clergy, than the Public Worship Act. A large part of the clergy grumbled
+at it; some voted for the Liberals in 1880 on the strength of it; but it
+did not arouse a discontent so strong or so general as seriously to
+deprive the so-called Conservative party of clerical support. It was
+perhaps unreasonable to expect much change in the older class of
+electors, clerical or lay; but the results of the two elections, of
+Oxford in 1878 and of Cambridge in 1882, are disappointing in another
+way. The Universities, and therewith the University constituencies, have
+largely increased within the last few years. The number of electors at
+Oxford is far greater than it was in the days of Mr. Gladstone's
+elections; at Cambridge the increase must be greater still since any
+earlier election at which a poll was taken. And it was certainly hoped
+that the increase would have been altogether favourable to the Liberal
+side. Among the new electors there was a large lay element, a certain
+Nonconformist element; even among the clergy a party was known to be
+growing who had found the way to reconcile strict Churchmanship with
+Liberal politics, and whose Christianity was not of the kind which is
+satisfied to walk hand-in-hand with the Turk. In these different ways it
+was only reasonable to expect that the result of an University election
+was now likely to be, if not the actual return of a Liberal member, yet
+at least a poll which should show that the Conservative majority was
+largely diminished. Instead of this, both at Oxford in 1878 and at
+Cambridge in 1882 the Conservative candidate comes in by a majority
+which is simply overwhelming. It must however be remembered that it
+would be misleading to compare the poll at either of these elections
+with the polls at any of Mr. Gladstone's contests. The issue was
+different in the two cases. The elections of 1878 and 1880 were far more
+distinctly trials between political parties than the several elections
+in which Mr. Gladstone succeeded or the final one in which he failed.
+First of all, there is a vast difference between Mr. Gladstone and any
+other candidate. This difference indeed cuts both ways. The foremost man
+in the land is at once the best loved and the best hated man in the
+land. Neither Mr. Smith nor Mr. Stuart nor any other candidate that
+could be thought of could call forth either the depth of enthusiasm in
+his supporters or the depth of antagonism in his opponents which is
+called forth by every public appearance of Mr. Gladstone. No other man
+has, in the same measure as he has, won the glory of being the bugbear
+of cultivated "society" and the object of the reverence and affection of
+thinking men. But, apart from this, the issues were different. Mr. Smith
+and Mr. Stuart stood directly as Liberal candidates. Mr. Gladstone, at
+least in his earlier elections, was still in party nomenclature counted
+among Conservatives, and he received but little support from professed
+political Liberals. The constituency was then confined to men who had
+signed the articles of the Established Church, and the election largely
+turned on controversies within the Established Church. I venture to
+think that the High Church party of that day was really a Liberal party,
+one that had far more in common with the political Liberals than with
+the political Conservatives. But it is certain that neither the High
+Churchmen nor the political Liberals would have acknowledged the
+kindred, and the great mass of Mr. Gladstone's supporters in 1847, in
+1852, and even later, would assuredly not have voted for any avowedly
+Liberal candidate. In his later elections Mr. Gladstone received a
+distinct Liberal support; still he was also supported by men who would
+not support a Liberal candidate now. As he came nearer and nearer to the
+Liberal camp, his majorities forsook him till he was at last rejected
+for Mr. Hardy. The two elections of the last four years have turned more
+directly, we may say that they have turned wholly, on ordinary political
+issues. Controversies within the Established Church have had little
+bearing on them. So far as ecclesiastical questions have come in, the
+strife has been between "Church"--that kind of Church which is
+pue-fellow to the Mosque--and something which is supposed not to be
+"Church." These late elections have therefore been far better tests than
+the old ones of the strictly political feelings of the constituencies.
+Looked at in that light, they certainly do not prove that the University
+constituencies are more Conservative now than they were then. They do
+prove that the Liberal growth, the Liberal reaction, or whatever we are
+to call it, in the University constituencies since that time has been
+far less strong than Liberals had hoped that it had been. They do prove
+that the Conservatism of those constituencies is still of a kind which,
+both for quantity and quality, has a very ugly look in Liberal eyes.
+
+Thus far we have been looking at Oxford and Cambridge only. But we must
+not forget that Oxford and Cambridge are not the only Universities in
+the kingdom. The general results of University elections were set forth
+a few weeks back in an article in the _Spectator_. They are certainly
+not comfortable as a whole. We of Oxford and Cambridge may perhaps draw
+a very poor satisfaction from the thought that we are at least not so
+bad as Dublin. But then we must feel in the like proportion ashamed when
+we see how we stand by the side of London. A better comparison than
+either is with the Universities of Scotland. From a Liberal point of
+view, they are much better than Oxford and Cambridge, but still they are
+not nearly so good as they ought to be. The Liberalism of the
+Universities of Scotland lags a long way behind the Liberalism of the
+Scottish people in general. One pair of Universities returns a Liberal,
+the other a Conservative, in neither case by majorities at all like the
+Conservative majorities at Oxford and Cambridge. Speaking roughly, in
+the Scottish Universities the two parties are nearly equally balanced, a
+very different state of things from what we see in the other
+constituencies of Scotland. If then in England and Ireland the
+University constituencies are overwhelmingly Conservative, while in
+Liberal Scotland they are more Conservative than Liberal, it follows
+that there is something amiss either about Liberal principles or about
+University constituencies. And those who believe that Liberal principles
+are the principles of right reason and that so-called Conservative
+principles represent something other than right reason, will of course
+take that horn of the dilemma which throws the blame on the University
+constituencies. For some reason or other, those constituencies which
+might be supposed to be more enlightened, more thoughtful and better
+informed, than any others are those in which the principles which we
+deem to be those of right reason find least favour. Even in the most
+Liberal part of the kingdom, the University constituencies are the least
+Liberal part of the electoral body. The facts are clear; we must grapple
+with them as we can. There is something in education, in culture, in
+refinement, or whatever the qualities are which are supposed to
+distinguish University electors from the electors of an ordinary county
+or borough, which makes University electors less inclined to what we
+hold to be the principles of right reason than the electors of an
+ordinary county or borough. Education, culture, or whatever it is,
+clearly has, in political matters, a weak side to it. There is the fact;
+we must look it in the face.
+
+After all perhaps the fact is not very wonderful. There is no need to
+infer either that Liberal principles are wrong or that University
+education is a bad thing. The _Spectator_ goes philosophically into the
+matter. The Universities give--that is, we may suppose, to those who
+take, only a common degree--only a moderate education, an average
+education, a little knowledge and a little culture springing from it.
+And the effect of this little knowledge and little culture is to make
+those who have it satisfied with the state of things in which they find
+themselves, and to separate themselves from those who have not even that
+little knowledge and little culture. "Education," says the _Spectator_,
+"to the very moderate extent to which a University degree attests it, is
+a Conservative force, because to that extent at all events it does much
+more to stimulate the sense of privilege and caste than it does to
+enlarge the sympathies and to strengthen the sense of justice." That is,
+it would seem, a pass degree tends to make a man a Tory. It does not at
+all follow that even the passman's course is mischievous to him on the
+whole, even if it does him no good politically. For, if it has the
+effect which the _Spectator_ says, the form which that effect takes is,
+in most cases, rather to keep a man a Tory than to make him one. And it
+may none the less do him good in some other ways. But the _Spectator_
+leaves it at least open to be inferred that a higher degree, or rather
+the knowledge and consequent culture implied in the higher degree, does,
+or ought to do, something different even in the political way. And such
+an inference would probably be borne out by facts. If Lord Carnarvon
+looks on all passmen as "men of literary eminence and intellectual
+power," he must be very nearly right in his figures when he says that
+three-fourths of such men are opposed to Mr. Gladstone. But those who
+have really profited by their University work may doubt whether passmen
+as such are entitled to that description. Indeed in the most ideal state
+of an University, though it might be reasonable to expect its members to
+be men of intellectual power, it would be unreasonable to expect all of
+them to be men of literary eminence. If by literary eminence be meant
+the writing of books, some men of very high intellectual power are men
+of no literary eminence whatever. Without therefore requiring the
+University members to be elected wholly by men of literary eminence, we
+may fairly ask that they may be elected by men of more intellectual
+power than the mass of the present electors. We should ask for this,
+even if we thought that Lord Carnarvon was right, if we thought that,
+the higher the standard of the electors, the safer would be the Tory
+seats. But it is perhaps only human nature to ask for it the more, if we
+happen to think that the raising of the standard would have the exactly
+opposite result.
+
+The evil then, to sum up the result of the _Spectator's_ argument, is
+that the University elections are determined by the votes of the
+passmen, and that the mass of the passmen are Tories. Now what is the
+remedy for this evil? One very obvious remedy is always, on such
+occasions as that which has just happened, whispered perhaps rather than
+very loudly proclaimed. This is the doctrine that the representation of
+Universities in Parliament is altogether a mistake, and that it would be
+well if the Universities were disfranchised by the next Reform Bill.
+And, if the question could be discussed as a purely abstract one, there
+is no doubt much to be said, from more grounds than one, against
+University representation. There is only one ground on which separate
+University representation can be justified on the common principles on
+which an English House of Commons is put together. This is the ground
+that each University is a distinct community from the city or borough in
+which it is locally placed, something in the same way in which it is
+held that a city or borough is a distinct community from the county in
+which it locally stands. The University of Oxford has interests,
+feelings, a general corporate being, distinct from the city of Oxford,
+just as the city of Oxford has interests, feelings, a general corporate
+being, distinct from the county of Oxford. So, if one were maliciously
+given, one might go on to argue that the choice of a representative made
+by the borough of Woodstock seems to show that the inhabitants of that
+borough have something in them which makes them distinct from
+University, county, city, or any other known division of mankind.
+Regarding then these differences, the wisdom of our forefathers has
+ruled, not that the county of Oxford, the city, the University, and the
+boroughs of Woodstock and Banbury, should join to elect nine members
+after the principle of _scrutin de liste_, but that the nine members
+should be distributed among them according to their local divisions,
+after the principle of _scrutin d'arrondissement_. On any ground but
+this local one, a ground which applies to some Universities and not to
+others, and which seems to have less weight than formerly in those
+Universities to which it does apply, the University franchise is
+certainly an anomaly. It must submit to be set down as a fancy
+franchise. But it is a fancy franchise which has a great weight of
+precedent in its favour. Besides the original institution of the British
+Solomon, there is the fact that University representation has been
+extended at each moment of constitutional change for a century past. It
+was extended by the Union with Ireland, by the great Reform Bill, and by
+the legislation of fifteen years back. Each of these changes has added
+to the number of University members. And each has added to them in a way
+which more and more forsakes the local ground, and gives to the
+University franchise more and more the character of a fancy franchise.
+Dublin has less of local character than Oxford and Cambridge; London has
+no local character at all. Such a grouping as that of Glasgow and
+Aberdeen takes away all local character from Scottish University
+representation. In short, whatever James the First intended, later
+legislators, down to our own day, have adopted and confirmed the
+principle of the fancy franchise as applied to the Universities. There
+stands the anomaly, with the stamp of repeated re-enactment upon it.
+Some very strong ground must therefore be found on which to attack it.
+Liberals may think that there is a very strong ground in the fact that
+University representation tends to strengthen the Conservative interest,
+and not only to strengthen it, but to give it a kind of credit, as
+stamped with the approval of the most highly educated class of electors.
+But this is a ground which could not be decently brought forward. It
+would not do to propose the disfranchisement of a particular class of
+electors merely because they commonly use their franchise in favour of a
+particular political party. From a party point of view, the
+representation of the cities of London and Westminster is as great a
+political evil as the representation of the Universities of Oxford and
+Cambridge. But we could not therefore propose the disfranchisement of
+those cities. The abstract question of University representation may be
+discussed some time. It may be discussed in our own time on the proposal
+of a Conservative government or a Conservative opposition. It may be
+discussed on the proposal of a Liberal government on the day when all
+University members are Liberals. But the disfranchisement of the
+Universities could not, for very shame, be proposed by a Liberal
+government when the answer would at once be made, and made with truth,
+that the Universities were to be disfranchised simply because most of
+them return Conservative members.
+
+We may therefore pass by the alternative of disfranchisement as lying
+beyond the range of practical politics. I use that famous phrase
+advisedly, because it always means that the question spoken of has
+already shown that it will be a practical question some day or other.
+The other choice which is commonly given us is to confine the franchise
+to residents. After every University election for many years past, and
+not least after the one which has just taken place, we have always heard
+the outcry that the real University is swamped by the nominal
+University, that the body which elects in the name of the University is
+in no way qualified to speak in the name of the University, and that in
+point of fact it does not speak the sentiments of those to whom the name
+of University more properly belongs. Reckonings are made to show that,
+if the election had depended, not on the large bodies of men who are now
+entitled to vote, but on much smaller bodies of residents, above all of
+official residents, professors, tutors, and the like, the result of the
+election would have been different. If then, it is argued, the
+Universities are to keep the right of parliamentary representation, the
+right of voting should be taken away from the mass of those who at
+present exercise it, and confined to those who really represent the
+University, to those who are actually engaged on the spot, in the
+government, the studies, or the teaching of the place.
+
+Now every word of this outcry is true. No one can doubt that the
+electoral bodies of the Universities, as at present constituted, are
+quite unfit to represent the Universities, to speak in their name or to
+express their wishes or feelings. The franchise, at Oxford and
+Cambridge, is in the hands of the two largest bodies known to the
+University constitution, the Convocation of Oxford, the Senate of
+Cambridge. If we look at the University as a commonwealth of the
+ancient, the mediæval, or the modern Swiss pattern, the election is in
+the hands of the _Ekklêsia_, the _Comitia_ of Tribes, the
+_Portmannagemót_, the _Landesgemeinde_, the _Conseil Général_. The
+franchise is open to all academic citizens who have reached full
+academic growth, to all who have put on the _toga virilis_ as the badge
+of having taken a complete degree in any faculty. That is to say, it
+belongs to all doctors and masters who have kept their names on the
+books. Now, whatever such a body as this may seem in theory, we know
+what it is in practice. It is not really an academic body. Those who
+really know anything or care anything about University matters are a
+small minority. The mass of the University electors are men who are at
+once non-resident and who have taken nothing more than that common
+degree which the _Spectator_, quite rightly, holds to be of such small
+account. They often, we may believe, keep their name on the books simply
+in order to vote at the University elections.
+
+But what is the remedy? I cannot think that it is to be found in
+confining the election to residents, at Oxford perhaps to members of
+Congregation.[1] By such a restriction we should undoubtedly get a
+constituency with a much higher average of literary eminence and
+intellectual power. We should get a constituency which would far more
+truly represent the University as a local body. But surely we cannot
+look on the Universities as purely local bodies. It has always been one
+of the great characteristics--I venture to think one of the great
+beauties--of the English Universities that the connexion of the graduate
+with his University does not come to an end when he ceases to reside,
+but that the master or doctor keeps all the rights of a master or doctor
+wherever he may happen to dwell. The resident body has many merits and
+does much good work; but it has its weaknesses. It is in the nature of
+things a very changing body; it must change far more from year to year
+than any other electoral body. And, though the restriction to residents
+would undoubtedly raise the general character of the constituency, it
+would get rid of one of its best elements. Surely those who have
+distinguished themselves in the University, who have worked well for the
+University, who are continuing in some other shape the studies or the
+teaching which they have begun in the University, who are in fact
+carrying the University into other places, are not to be looked on as
+cut off from the University merely because they have ceased locally to
+reside in it. Not a few of the best heads and the best professors--I
+suspect we might say the best of both classes--are those who have not
+always lived in the University, but who have been called back to it
+after a period of absence. To the knowledge of local affairs, which
+belong to the mere resident, they bring a wider knowledge, a wider
+experience, which makes them better judges even of local affairs. And
+can men whom the University thus welcomes after absence be deemed
+unworthy even to give a vote during the time of absence? One reads a
+great deal about the real University being swamped by voters running in
+from London clubs, barristers' chambers, country houses, country
+parsonages. And no doubt a great many most incompetent voters do come
+from all those quarters. But some of the most competent come also. The
+restriction to residents would have disfranchised for ever or for a
+season most of our greatest scholars, the authors of the greatest works,
+for the last forty years. Yet surely sad men are the University in the
+highest sense; they are the men best entitled to speak in its name,
+whether they are at a given moment locally resident or not. It would
+surely not be a gain, it would not increase the literary eminence or
+intellectual power of the constituency, to shut out those men, and to
+confine everything to a body made up so largely of one element which is
+too permanent and another which is too fluctuating, of old heads and of
+young tutors. Then too there is a very reasonable presumption in the
+human mind, and specially in the English mind, against taking away the
+rights of any class of men without some very good reason. And in this
+case there are at least as strong arguments against the restriction as
+there are for it. I speak only of the simple proposal to confine the
+election to residents, in Oxford language to transfer it from
+Convocation to Congregation. There are indeed other plans, to let
+Convocation elect one member and Congregation the other--something like
+the election of the consuls at an early stage of the Roman
+commonwealth--or to leave the present members as they are, and to give
+the Universities yet more members to be chosen by Congregation. Now I
+will not say that these schemes lie without the range of practical
+politics, because they show no sign of being ever likely to come within
+it. They may safely be referred to Mr. Thomas Hare.
+
+While therefore I see as strongly as any man the evils of election by
+Convocation, as Convocation is at present constituted,[2] I cannot think
+that restriction to Congregation or to residents in any shape is the
+right remedy for the evil. I venture to think that there is a more
+excellent way. The remedy that I propose has this advantage, that,
+though it would practically lessen the numbers of the constituency, and
+would, gradually at least, get rid of its most incompetent elements, it
+would not be, in any constitutional sense, a restrictive measure. It
+would not deprive any recognized class of men of any right. And it would
+have the further advantage that it would be a change which could be made
+by the University itself, a change which would not be a mere political
+change affecting parliamentary elections only, but a real academical
+reform affecting other matters as well, a reform which would be simply
+getting rid of a modern abuse and falling back on an older and better
+state of things. It is one of three changes which I have looked for all
+my life, but towards which, amidst countless academical revolutions, I
+have never seen the least step taken. I confess that all three have this
+to be said against them, that they would affect college interests and
+would give the resident body a good deal of trouble. But this is no
+argument against the measures themselves; it only shows that it would be
+hard work to get them passed. Of these three the first and least
+important is the establishment of an University matriculation
+examination. (Things change so fast at Oxford that this may have been
+brought in within the last term or two; but, if so, I have not heard of
+it.) Secondly, a rational reconstruction of the Schools, so as to have
+real schools of history and philology--perhaps better still a school of
+history and philology combined--without regard to worn out and
+unscientific distinctions of "ancient" and "modern." Thirdly, the change
+which alone of the three concerns us now, the establishment of some kind
+of standard for the degree of Master of Arts. Through all the changes of
+more than thirty years, I have always said, when I have had a chance of
+saying anything, Give us neither a resident oligarchy nor a non-resident
+mob. Keep Convocation with its ancient powers, but let Convocation be
+what it was meant to be. Let the great assembly of masters and doctors
+go untouched; but let none be made masters or doctors who do not show
+some fitness to bear those titles. Every degree was meant to be a
+reality; it was meant, as the word _degree_ implies, to mark some kind
+of proficiency; a degree which does not mark some kind of proficiency is
+an absurdity in itself. A degree conferred without any regard to the
+qualifications of the person receiving it is in fact a fraud; it is
+giving a testimonial without regard to the truth of the facts which the
+testimonial states. Now this is glaringly the case with the degree of
+Master of Arts as at present given. In each faculty there are two
+stages: the lower degree of bachelor, the higher degree of master or
+doctor. The lower degree is meant to mark a certain measure of
+proficiency in the studies of the faculty; the higher degree is meant to
+mark a higher measure of proficiency, that measure which qualifies a
+man to become, if he thinks good, a teacher in that faculty. The
+bachelor's degree is meant to mark that a man has made satisfactory
+progress in introductory studies; the master's degree is meant, as its
+name implies, to mark that a man is really a master in some subject. The
+bachelor's degree in short should be respectable; the master's degree
+should be honourable. Nowadays we certainly cannot say that the master's
+degree is honourable; it might be almost too much to say that the
+bachelor's degree is respectable. I am far from saying that an
+University education, even for a mere passman, is worthless; I am far
+from thinking so. But the mere pass degree is very far from implying
+literary eminence or intellectual power. Eminence indeed is hardly to be
+looked for at the age when the bachelor's degree is taken; it is only
+one or two men in a generation who can send out "The Holy Roman Empire"
+as a prize essay. But the degree does not imply even the promise or
+likelihood of eminence or power. The best witness to the degradation of
+the simple degree is the elaborate and ever-growing system of
+class-lists, designed to mark what the degree itself ought in some
+measure to mark. The need of having class-lists is the clearest
+confession of the very small value of the simple degree by itself. And,
+whatever may be the value of the bachelor's degree, the value of the
+master's degree is exactly the same. The master's degree proves no
+greater knowledge or skill than the bachelor's degree; it proves only
+that its bearer has lived some more years and has paid some more pounds.
+It is given, as a matter of course, to every one who has taken the
+degree of bachelor--never mind after how many plucks--and has reached
+the standing which is required of a master. The bestowing of two degrees
+is a mere make-believe; the higher degree proves nothing, beyond mere
+lapse of time, which is not equally proved by the lower.
+
+Now this surely ought not to be. That the first degree should be next
+door to worthless, and that the second degree should be worth no more
+than the first, is surely to make University degrees a mockery, a
+delusion, and a snare. Men who do not know how little a degree means are
+apt to be deceived, even in practical matters, by its outward show. Men
+who see that a degree proves very little, but who do not look much
+further, are apt most untruly to undervalue the whole system and studies
+of the University. In common consistency, in common fairness, the
+degrees should mean what their names imply. The bachelor's degree should
+prove something, and the master's degree should prove something more. As
+I just said, the bachelor's degree should be respectable and the
+master's degree should be honourable. I should even like to see the
+bachelor's degree so respectable that we might get rid of the modern
+device of class-lists; but that is not our question at present. The
+immediate business is to make the master's degree a real thing, an
+honest thing, to make it the sign of a higher standard than the
+bachelor's degree, whether the bachelor's standard be fixed high or low.
+Let there be some kind of standard, some kind of test. Its particular
+shape, whether an examination, or a disputation, or the writing of a
+thesis, or anything else, need not now be discussed. I ask only that
+there should be a test of proficiency of some kind, and that there
+should be the widest possible range of subjects in which proficiency may
+be tested. Let a man have the degree, if he shows himself capable of
+scholarly or scientific treatment of some branch of some subject, but
+not otherwise. The bachelor's degree should show a general knowledge of
+several subjects, which may serve as a ground-work for the minuter
+knowledge of one. The master's degree should show that that minuter
+knowledge of some one subject has been gained. The complete degree
+should show, if not the actual presence, at least the very certain
+promise, of literary eminence or intellectual power. We should thus get,
+neither the resident oligarchy nor the non-resident mob; we should have
+a body of real masters and doctors worthy of the name. Men who had once
+dealt minutely with some subject of their own choice would not be likely
+to throw their books aside for the rest of their days, as the man who
+has merely got his bachelor's degree by a compulsory smattering often
+does. We should get a Convocation or Senate fit, not only to elect
+members of Parliament, but to do the other duties which the constitution
+of the University lays on its Convocation or Senate. And I cannot help
+thinking that, if such a change as this had been adopted at the time of
+the first University Commission, it would have been less needful to cut
+down the powers of Convocation in the way which, Convocation being left
+what it is, certainly was needful.
+
+Such a change as I propose would doubtless lessen the numbers of the
+constituency. Possibly it would not lessen them quite so much as might
+seem at first sight. A high standard, but a standard attainable with
+effort, would surely make many qualify themselves who at present do not.
+Still it would lessen the numbers very considerably, and it would be
+meant to do so. Yet it would not be a restrictive measure in the same
+sense in which confining the franchise to Congregation would be a
+restrictive measure. It would not take away the votes of any class. The
+franchise would still be the same, exercised by the same body; only that
+body would be purified and brought back to the character which it was
+originally meant to bear. The purifying would be gradual. The doctrine
+of vested interests, that doctrine so dear to the British mind, would of
+course secure every elector in the possession of his vote as long as he
+lives and keeps his name on the books. But the ranks of the unqualified
+would no longer be yearly reinforced. In course of time we should have
+a competent body. And the great advantage of this kind of remedy is that
+it is so distinctly an academical remedy. It would not come as a mere
+clause in a parliamentary reform bill. It would affect the parliamentary
+constituency; but it would affect it only as one thing among others. It
+would be a general improvement in the character of the Great Council of
+the University, which would make it better qualified to discharge all
+its duties, that of choosing members of Parliament among them. In the
+purely political look-out, we may believe that one result of the change
+would be to make the election of Liberal members for the Universities
+much more likely. But neither this nor any other purely political result
+would be the sole and direct object of the change. Even if it did not
+accomplish this object, it would do good in other ways. If the
+Universities, under such a system, still chose Conservative members, we
+should have no right to complain. We should feel that we had been fairly
+and honourably beaten by adversaries who had a right to speak. It would
+be an unpleasant result if the real Universities should be proved to be
+inveterately Tory. But it would be a result less provoking than the
+present state of things, in which Tory members are chosen for the
+Universities by men who have no call to speak in the name of the
+Universities at all.
+
+   EDWARD A. FREEMAN.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] That is, to all members of Convocation who are either resident or
+hold University office. This, besides the Chancellor and a few other
+great personages, lets in a few professors and examiners who are
+non-resident.
+
+[2] I use Oxford language, as that which I myself best understand; but I
+believe that, all that I say applies equally to Cambridge also. For
+"Convocation" one must of course, in Cambridge language, read "Senate."
+
+
+
+
+HAMLET: A NEW READING.
+
+
+There is a sense in which the stage alone can give the full significance
+to a dramatic poem, just as a lyric finds its full interpretation in
+music; but we prefer that a song of Goethe or Shelley should wait for
+its music, and in the meantime suggest its own aërial accompaniment,
+rather than be vulgarized in the setting. And even when set for the
+voice by a master, although there is a gain in as far as the charm is
+brought home to the senses, yet there is a loss in proportion to the
+beauty of the song; for if it is delicate the finer spiritual grace
+departs, and if it is ardent the passion is liable to scream, and, above
+all, there is a vague but appreciable loss of identity; so that on the
+whole we please ourselves best with the literary form. There is the same
+balance of gain and loss in the relation of the drama to the stage. The
+gain is in proportion to the excellence of the acting, and the loss in
+proportion to the beauty o£ the play. It is well then that, as the lyric
+poem no longer demands the lyre, the poetical drama has become, though
+more recently, independent of the stage. Each has its own perspective of
+life, its own idea of Nature, its own brilliancy, its own dulness, and
+finally its own public; and notwithstanding the objections of some
+critics, it will soon be admitted that a work may be strictly and
+intrinsically dramatic, and yet only fit for the study--that is, for
+ideal representation. For there is a theatre in every imagination, where
+we produce the old masterpiece in its simplicity and dignity, and where
+the new work appears and is followed in plot and action, and conflict of
+feeling, and play of character, and rhythm of part with part, if not
+with as keen an excitement, at least with as fair a judgment, as if we
+were criticizing the actors, not the piece. And were all theatres
+closed, the drama--whether as the free and spontaneous outflow of
+observation, fancy, and humour, or as the intense reflection of the
+movement of life in its animation of joy and pain--would remain one of
+the most natural and captivating forms in which the creative impulse of
+the poet can work. When we look at its variety and flexibility of
+structure--from the lyrical tragedy of Æschylus to a "Proverbe" of De
+Musset; at its diversity of spirit--from the exuberance of a comedy of
+Aristophanes and the caprice of an Elizabethan mask to the serenity of
+"Comus" and Tasso, and the terror of "Agamemnon" and "Macbeth;" at its
+range of expression--from, the full-toned Greek and English Iambic to
+the plain but sparkling prose of Molière, and from that again to the
+intricate harmonies of Calderon, Goethe, and Shelley; with its use of
+all voices, from vociferous mob to melodious daughters of Ocean, and its
+command of all colour, from the gloom of Medea to the splendour of
+Marlowe's Helen,--it is a small matter to remember the connection of
+work or author with the stage--how long they held it, how soon they were
+dispossessed, how and at what intervals and with what uncertain footing
+they returned. We do not accept them because they were popular in their
+day, and we do not reject them because they are not suitable to ours.
+They have lost no vivacity or strength or grace by their exclusion from
+the stage and their exile to literature--to that permanent theatre for
+which the poet, freely using any and every form of dramatic expression,
+should now work.
+
+   "There is the playhouse now, there you must sit....
+   For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our king."
+
+The relevancy of these remarks, as an introduction to a study of one of
+Shakespeare's plays, will presently appear.
+
+
+I.
+
+Shakespeare, although a master of theatrical effect, is often found
+working rather away from it than toward it, and at a meaning and beauty
+beyond the limits of stage expression. This is because he is more
+dramatist than playwright, and will always produce and complete his work
+in its ideal integrity, even if, in so doing, he outruns the sympathy of
+his audience. This disposition may be traced not only in the plays it
+has banished from the stage, including such a masterpiece as "Antony and
+Cleopatra," but in those that are universally popular, such as "The
+Merchant of Venice," where the fifth Act, although it closes and
+harmonizes the drama as a work of art with perfect grace, is but a tame
+conclusion to the theatrical piece; and in the scenes that furnish us
+with the delicate and finished study of Antonio, we find the audience
+intent on the situation and the poet on the character; for we no more
+expect to see the true Antonio on the stage than to see the true
+moonlight shimmering on the trees in Belmont Park. But sometimes the
+play will transcend the limits of stage expression by being too purely
+and perfectly dramatic, as in "Lear." For not only is it, as Lamb points
+out,[3] impossible for the actor to give the convulsions of the father's
+grief, and yet preserve the dignity of the king, but the sustained
+intensity of passion fatigues both voice and ear when they should be
+most impressive and impressed. Had Shakespeare written with a view to
+stage effect, he would not in the first two acts have stretched the
+voice through all the tones and intervals of passion, and then demand
+more thrilling intonations and louder outcries to meet and match the
+tumult of the storm. This greatest of all tragedies is written beyond
+the compass of the human voice, and can only be fully represented on
+that ideal stage, where, instead of hoarse lament and husky indignation,
+we hear each of us the tones that most impress and affect us, and can
+command the true degrees of feeling in their illimitable scale.
+
+But in "Hamlet" the inadequacy of the stage is of another kind. It leads
+to a general displacement of motive, and change of focus, the hero's
+character being obscured in the attempt to make it effective. And for
+this to some extent the stage itself, as a place of popular
+entertainment, and not the actor, is at fault. Some such ambiguity as
+this seems, indeed, only natural, when we recall the circumstances
+attending the composition of the play.
+
+By common consent of the best authorities, "Hamlet" represents the work
+of many years. I make no conjectures, but content myself with Mr.
+Dowden's statement of the case:--"Over 'Hamlet,' as over 'Romeo and
+Juliet,' it is supposed that Shakespeare laboured long and carefully.
+Like 'Romeo and Juliet,' the play exists in two forms, and there is
+reason to believe that in the earlier form, in each instance, we possess
+an imperfect report of Shakespeare's first treatment of his theme,"[4]
+We know also that Shakespeare had before him, at least as early as 1589,
+an old play in which "a ghost cried dismally like an oyster wife,
+'Hamlet! Revenge!'" and Shakespeare worked upon this until from what was
+probably a rather sorry melodrama he produced the most intellectual play
+that keeps the stage. And the very sensational character of the piece
+enabled him to steal into it the results of long and deep meditation
+without hazard to its popularity. He seems to have withdrawn Hamlet from
+time to time for a special study, and then to have restored and
+readjusted the hero to the play, touching and modulating, here and
+there, character and incident in harmony with the new expression. In
+this way a new direction and significance would be given to the plot,
+but in a latent and unobtrusive way, so as not to weaken the popular
+interest. This leads to the ambiguity of which I have spoken. The new
+thought is often not earnestly but ironically related to the old
+material, and the spiritual hero seems almost to stand apart from the
+rude framework of the still highly sensational theatrical piece. This
+has given rise to a rather favourite saying with the Germans, that
+Hamlet is a modern. Hamlet seems to step forth from an antiquated
+time,--with its priestly bigotry, its duels for a province, its
+heavy-headed revels, its barbarous code of revenge, and its ghostly
+visitations to enforce it,--to meet and converse with a riper age. But
+this is because Hamlet belongs wholly and intimately to the poet, while
+the other characters, though informed with new and original expression,
+are left in close relation, to the old plot.
+
+Such being the ambiguity resulting from this continued spiritualization
+of the play, the actor would instinctively endeavour to remove it, and
+to bring the hero in closer relation with the main action of the stage
+piece. Hamlet must not be too disengaged; he must not be too ironical. A
+few omissions, a fit of misplaced fury, a too emphatic accent, a too
+effective attitude, with what is called a bold grasp of character, and
+Shakespeare's latest and finest work on the hero is obliterated.
+
+Now, the great actors who have personated Hamlet have done much, and the
+thrilling treatment of the ghost-story has done more, to stamp upon the
+minds of learned and unlearned alike the impression that _the great
+event of Hamlet's life is the command to kill his uncle_. As he does not
+do this, and as he is given to much meditation and much discussion, it
+is assumed that he thinks and talks in order to avoid acting. And then
+the word "irresolution" leaps forth, and all is explained. This curious
+assumption, that all the pains taken by Shakespeare on the work and its
+hero has no other object but to illustrate this theme--a command to kill
+and a delayed obedience--pervades the criticism even of those who
+consider the intellectual element the great attraction of the play. And
+yet, when you ask what is the dramatic situation out of which this
+speculative matter arises, the German and English critics alike reply in
+chorus, "Irresolution." Each one has his particular shade of it, and
+finds something not quite satisfactory in the interpretations of others.
+Goethe's finished portrait of Hamlet as the amiable and accomplished
+young prince, too weak to support the burden of a great action, did not
+recommend itself either to Schlegel or Coleridge, who take the mental
+rather than the moral disposition to task. Schlegel, with some asperity,
+speaks of "a calculating consideration that cripples the power of
+action;" and Coleridge, with more subtlety, applies Hamlet's antithesis
+of thought and resolution to the elucidation of his own character,
+concluding that Hamlet "procrastinates from thought." Gervinus, while
+following Schlegel as to "the bent of Hamlet's mind to reflect upon the
+nature and consequences of his deed, and by this means to paralyze his
+active powers," adds to this defect a deplorable conscientiousness,
+which unfits Hamlet for the great duty of revenge. And Mr. Dowden, while
+most ably collating these various kinds and degrees of irresolution,
+concludes that Hamlet is "disqualified for action by his excess of the
+reflective faculty." Mr. Swinburne alone resolutely protests against
+this doctrine. He speaks of "the indomitable and ineradicable fallacy of
+criticism which would find the key-note of Hamlet's character in the
+quality of irresolution."[5] And he considers that Shakespeare purposely
+introduces the episode of the expedition to England to exhibit "the
+instant and almost unscrupulous resolution of Hamlet's character in time
+of practical need." I gladly welcome this instructive remark, which,
+although Mr. Swinburne calls it "the voice of one crying in the
+wilderness," is more likely to gain me a patient hearing than any
+arguments I can use. But before I propose my own reading, I will, as I
+have given the genesis or natural history of this theory of
+irresolution, compare it with the general features of Hamlet's mental
+condition throughout the play.
+
+If Hamlet "procrastinates from thought," if "the burden of the action is
+too heavy for him to bear," if "by a calculating consideration he
+exhausts all possible issues of the action," it should at least be
+continually present to his mind. We should look for the delineation of a
+soul harassed and haunted by one idea; torn by the conflict between
+conscience and filial obedience; or balancing advantage and peril in an
+agony of suspense and vacillation; forecasting consequence and result to
+himself and others; and so absorbed in this terrible secret as to
+exclude all other interests. We have two studies of such a state of
+irresolution, in Macbeth and Brutus. Of Macbeth it may truly be said
+that he has an action upon his mind the burden of which is too heavy for
+him to bear. It is constantly before him; he is shaken with it,
+possessed by it, to such a degree that
+
+                             "function
+   Is smother'd in surmise; and nothing is
+   But what is not."
+
+Now "he will proceed no further in this business," and now "he is
+settled and bound up to it," and in one long perturbed soliloquy stands
+before us the very picture of that irresolution which "procrastinates
+from thought." Brutus thus describes his own suspense:--
+
+   "Between the action of a dreadful thing
+   And the first motion, all the interim is
+   Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream:
+   The genius, and the mortal instruments,
+   Are then in council: and the state of man,
+   Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
+   The nature of an insurrection."
+
+But what is the general course and scope of Hamlet's utterance, whether
+to himself or others? We find musings and broodings on the possibility
+of escape from so vile a world alternating with cool and keen analysis,
+polished criticism, and petulant wit; we find a pervading ironical
+bitterness, rising at times to fierce invective, and even to the frenzy
+of passion when his mother is the theme, relapsing again to trance-like
+meditations on the depravity of the world, the littleness of man and the
+nullity of appearance; and when his mind does revert to this "great
+action," this "dread command," which is supposed to haunt it, and to
+keep it in a whirl of doubt and irresolution, it is because it is
+forcibly recalled to it, because some incident startles him to
+recollection, proves to him that he has forgotten it, and he turns upon
+himself with surprise and indignation: Why is it this thing remains to
+do? Am I a coward! Do I lack gall? Is it "bestial oblivion?" or is it
+
+                           "some craven scruple
+   Of thinking too precisely on the event?"
+
+On this text, so often quoted in support of the orthodox "irresolution"
+theory, I will content myself at present with the remark, thats surely
+no one before or after Hamlet ever accounted for his non-performance of
+a duty by the double explanation that he had either entirely forgotten
+it or had been thinking too much about it.
+
+Looking then at the general features of Hamlet's talk, it is plain that
+to make this command to revenge the clue to his mental condition, is to
+make him utter a great deal of desultory talk without dramatic point or
+pertinence; for if, except when surprised by the actors' tears or by the
+gallant bearing of the troops of Fortinbras, he wholly forgets it, what
+does he remember? What is the secret motive of this prolonged criticism
+of the world which "charms all within its magic circle?"
+
+The true centre will be found, I think, by substituting the word
+"preoccupation" for the word "irresolution." And the "preoccupation" is
+found by antedating the crisis of Hamlet's career from the revelation of
+the ghost to the marriage of his mother, and the persistent mental and
+moral condition thus induced. Start from this, as a fixed point, and a
+dramatic situation is gained in which every stroke of satire, every
+curiosity of logic, every strain of melancholy; is appropriate and
+pertinent to the action.
+
+In order to measure the full effect of this strange event, we must bring
+before us the Hamlet of the earlier time, before his father's death, and
+for this we have abundant material in the play.
+
+
+II.
+
+Hamlet was an enthusiast. His love for his father was not an ordinary
+filial affection, it was a hero-worship. He was to him the type of
+sovereignty--
+
+               "The front of Jove himself;
+   An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;"
+
+a link between earth and heaven--
+
+   "A combination, and a form, indeed,
+   Where every god did seem to set his seal,
+   To give the world assurance of a man."
+
+To Hamlet, this "assurance of a man" was the great reality which made
+other things real, which gave meaning to life, and substance to the
+world. That his love for his mother was equally intense, is clearly
+discernible in the inverted characters of his rage and grief. In her he
+reverenced wifehood and womanhood. He sees the rose on
+
+   "the fair forehead of an innocent love."
+
+And of his mother we are told--
+
+           "The queen his mother
+   Lives almost by his looks."
+
+But this enthusiasm was connected with a habit of thought that was
+rather critical than sentimental. Hamlet had a shrewd judgment, a lively
+and caustic wit, an exacting standard, and a turn for satire. He was
+fond of question and debate, an enemy to all illusion, impatient of
+dulness,[typo for dullness?] and not indisposed to alarm and bewilder
+it; and he had brought with him from Wittenberg a philosophy half
+stoical and half transcendental, with whose eccentricities he would
+torment the wisdom of the Court. He looked upon the machinery of power
+as part of the comedy of life, and would be more amused than impressed
+by the equipage of office, its chains and titles, the frowns of
+authority, and the smiles of imaginary greatness. He therefore of all
+men needed a personal centre in which faith and affection could unite to
+give seriousness and dignity to life; and this he had found from his
+childhood in the sovereign virtues of the King and Queen. So that his
+criticism in these earlier days was but the fastidiousness of love, that
+disparages all other excellence in comparison with its own ideal; his
+philosophy was a disallowance of all other reality; and his negations
+only defined and brightened his faith. Doubt, question and speculation,
+mystery and anomaly, the illusions of sense, the instability of natures,
+all that was irrational in life, with its certainties of logic and
+hazards of chance, all that was unproven in religion, dubious in
+received opinion, obscure in the destiny of man, were but glimpses of a
+larger unity, vistas of truth unexplored.
+
+Hamlet's thinking is always marked by that quality of penetration into
+and through the thoughts of others, that is called free-thinking. The
+discovery, as he moved in the spiritual world of established ideas and
+settled doctrines, apparently immovable, that they were of the same
+stuff as his own thoughts--were pliant and yielding, and could be
+readily unwoven by the logic that wove them, would tempt him to move and
+displace, and build and construct, until he might have a collection of
+opinions large enough to be termed a philosophy. But it would be
+gathered rather in the joy of intellectual activity, realizing its own
+energy, and ravelling up to its own form the woof of other minds, than
+with any practical bearing on life. All this was a work in another
+sphere--
+
+   "of no allowance to his bosom's truth."
+
+The light of a sovereign manhood and womanhood was reflected on the
+world around him, and afar on the world of thought---their greatness
+reconciled all the contradictions of life. And in pure submission to
+their control all the various activities of his versatile nature, its
+irony and its earnestness, its shrewdness and its fancy, its piety and
+its free-thinking, harmonized like sweet bells not yet jangled or
+untuned. He lived at peace with all, in fellowship with all; he could
+rally Polonius without malice, and mimic Osric without contempt.
+
+It is plain that Hamlet looked forward to a life of activity under his
+father's guidance. He was no dreamer--we hear of "the great love the
+general gender bear him," and the people are not fond of dreamers. In
+truth, the Germans have had too much their own way with Hamlet, and have
+read into him something of their own laboriousness and phlegm. But
+Hamlet was more of a poet than a professor. He had the temperament of a
+man of genius--impatient, animated, eager, swift to feel, to like or
+dislike, praise or resent--with a character of rapidity in all his
+actions, and even in his meditation, of which he is conscious when he
+says, "as swift as meditation." He did not live apart as a student, but
+in public as a prince--
+
+   "the observed of all observers;"
+
+he was of a free, open, unsuspicious temper--
+
+                                  "remiss,
+   Most generous and free from all contriving."
+
+He was fond of all martial exercises and expert in the use of the sword.
+He was a soldier first, a scholar afterwards; a soldier in his alacrity
+to fight
+
+   "Until his eyelids would no longer wag;"
+
+a soldier even to
+
+   "The glass of fashion, and the mould of form;"
+
+and, above all, a soldier in his sensibility on the point of honour, one
+who would think it well
+
+   "Greatly to find quarrel in a straw,
+   When honour is at stake."
+
+And Fortinbras, type of the man of action, recognized in him a kindred
+spirit--
+
+   "Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;
+   For he was likely, had he been put on,
+   To have proved most royally;"
+
+while Hamlet eyed Fortinbras with the envious longing of one who had
+missed his career. What must have been the felicity of life to such a
+man, whose vivacity no stress of calamity, no accumulation of sorrow
+could tame, whose enthusiasm embraced Nature, art, and literature, and
+whose delight was always fresh and new, "in this excellent canopy the
+air, in this brave o'erhanging firmament,"' and in the spectacle of man
+"so excellent in faculty, in form and moving so express and admirable,
+in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god?"
+
+Without a warning the blow fell. His father was suddenly struck down;
+and while he was indulging a grief, poignant and profound indeed, but
+natural, wholesome, manly, his uncle usurped the crown. This second blow
+would be acutely felt, but it would rather rouse than prostrate his
+energies. There is no passion in Hamlet when there has been no love. And
+he had always held his uncle in slight esteem--foreboded something from
+his smiling insincerity. He never mentions him without an expression of
+contempt, hardly acknowledges him as king; he is a thing--of nothing--a
+farcical monarch--"a peacock"--and, in this particular act, no dread
+usurper, but a "cut-purse of the realm." Whether he designed to wait or
+was prepared to strike, his future was still intact, his energy
+unimpaired. His mother remained to him, now doubly dear and doubly
+great, and with her the tradition of the past. She was, as he gathered
+from her silence, like himself, retired from the world, absorbed in
+grief; but he was assured of her constancy and truth. Even the kind of
+distance between them in age and sex, in mind and character, was no
+barrier to this sympathetic relation. She was there with the expectation
+that makes heroism possible; she was there to watch, if not to further
+his enterprise, and to give it lustre with her praise. We are often
+quite unconscious of the commanding influence exerted on our life by
+those who are least in contact with it. To be cognizant of one steadfast
+and stainless soul is to have encouragement in difficulty and support in
+pain. The mere knowledge of its existence is a light within the mind,
+and a secret incentive to the best action. Though silent and apart, it
+is the witness of what is great, and our life is always seeking to rise
+within its sphere; while, by a secret transference--for souls are not
+retentive of their own goodness--our standards of living and thinking
+are maintained at their highest level, like water fed by a distant
+spring. All this and infinitely more than this was the Queen his mother
+to Hamlet. It is impossible, therefore, to measure the effect upon him
+of her marriage with his uncle. The shock of it is ever fresh throughout
+the play. In the third Act the whole frame of nature is still aghast at
+it:--
+
+                 "Heaven's face doth glow;
+   Yea, this solidity and compound mass,
+   With tristful visage, as against the doom,
+   Is thought-sick at the act."
+
+And this was not only after the revelation of the Ghost, but after the
+confirmation of its truth by the test Hamlet had himself applied. Even
+then the first paroxysm has hardly subsided. You see the whole being
+measured by it, the mind stretched to give it utterance, the world
+called as a witness to its enormity:--
+
+
+III.
+
+But it is at an earlier stage of this impression, when the thought of
+this profanation of the sacredness of life and the sanctity of love
+chills the life-blood of his heart, and then rushes burning through it
+like the shame of a personal insult, that he first stands before us in
+the palace of the King. In appearance nothing is changed. He sees the
+same crowd, the same obsequious attitudes, the same decorous forms; the
+trumpets with their usual flourish announce the arrival of the King and
+Queen; the Ministers of State precede them, and the Court ladies; the
+pretentious gravity of Polonius' brow; the dreamy innocence of Ophelia.
+The sovereigns seat themselves, the Queen looks smilingly around her as
+of old. All is easy, bright, and festive. All goes on as if this
+horrible revolution were the most natural thing in the world. Oh, that
+he could avoid the sight of it! Oh, that he could be quit of it all!
+
+   "Oh! that this too too solid flesh would melt,
+   Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew;
+   Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
+   His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!"
+
+Although the nervous horror of his address to the Ghost is greater,
+there is no speech in which Hamlet betrays so deep an agitation as in
+this. He struggles for utterance, repeats himself, mingles oaths and
+axioms, confuses and then annihilates time in the breathless tumult of
+his soul. "Why, she, _even she_. O Heaven!" What can he say? what is
+vile enough? "A _beast_
+
+                         "that wants discourse of reason,
+   Would have mourned longer--married with my uncle."
+
+In this opening speech we see at once the immediate relation of the
+feeling of life-weariness so prevalent throughout the play to this
+supreme emotion; we see also his comprehensive criticism of the world
+branching from the same root--
+
+   "How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
+   Seems to me all the uses of this world!
+   Fie, on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden;"
+
+and
+
+   "Frailty, thy name is woman."
+
+These themes are developed Act by Act, we can follow them to the
+graveyard scene, and to the moment before death.
+
+And it is not unnatural that Hamlet's grief should assume a
+comprehensive form. The Queen had drawn the world in her train. Nobles
+and people, councillors and courtiers, the honoured statesman, the
+artless maiden, had joined her, had connived, were her accomplices. They
+had, parted among them, all the vices appropriate to _her_ Court, _her_
+people. The world was betrayed to Hamlet in all its meanness and
+littleness: and he looked at it to see if he could discover the secret
+of his mother's treason, as Lear would anatomize the heart of Regan to
+account for her ingratitude. In attacking it he is attacking her guilt,
+in its inferior forms and obscure disguises. It is the nest of her
+depravity, and the small vices are but hers in the shell, and the whole
+is a vast confederacy of evil. Here are no "superfluous activities," no
+desultory talk; Hamlet's preoccupation is one throughout. He alternates
+between the desire to escape from so vile a world, and the pleasure of
+exposing its vice and fraud. The one gives us soliloquies, the other
+dialogues. Now he looks out at an obscure eternity from a time that was
+more obscure, and now the tension of the mind relieves the tension of
+the heart. On the one side we have all passages of life-weariness,
+whether as the issue of long meditation, or as the outcome of familiar
+talk; and on the other we have the brilliant and discursive criticism of
+man and Nature continued throughout the play. All this is so closely
+connected with the treason of his mother, that we see the very
+attachment of the feeling to the thought.
+
+This explains the particular bitterness with which he attacks the
+Ministers and parasites of the Court. As soon as he sees them he crosses
+the current of their talk, commits them to an argument, confuses them
+with the evolutions of a logic too rapid for their senses to follow, and
+makes their bewilderment a sport. How small their world appears in the
+mirror of his ironical mind! The state-craft, the love-making, the
+"absurd pomp," the "heavy-headed revels," the women that "jig and amble
+and lisp," the nobles that are "spacious in the possession of dirt," the
+sovereign that is a "king of shreds and patches;" as for their opinions,
+"do but blow; them to their trials, and the bubbles are out;" as for
+their ideas of prosperity, it is to act as "sponges and soak up the
+king's countenance, his rewards and authorities;" as for their standard
+of worth, "let a beast be a lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at
+the king's table." It is a disgrace to live in such a world, and
+contemptible to share its pleasures and prizes.
+
+But his quarrel with it does not end here. The flaw runs through the
+whole constitution of things; there is no possible equation between the
+anomalies and dislocations on which he turns the dry light of that
+sceptical philosophy which has usurped the place of faith. Thought is
+good and action is good, but they will not work together. Our reason is
+our glory, but our indiscretions serve us best--we must either be
+cowards or fools. We have a perception of infinite goodness, just
+sufficient to make us conclude that we are "arrant knaves, all of us,"
+and just enough belief in immortality "to perplex our wills." There is
+nothing but disagreement and disproportion--a constant missing of the
+mark, a stretching of the hand for that which is not. How is it possible
+to take seriously such a life if you pause to think?
+
+It is not only irrational but visionary. The evanescence and fluency of
+Nature would matter little, but man himself, with his ingenuities of wit
+and triumphs of ambition, is whirled from form to form in "a fine
+revolution if we had the trick to see it." This is a favourite idea, it
+lends itself so easily to the contempt of the world--
+
+   "Imperious Cæsar, dead, and turn'd to clay,
+   Might stop a hole to keep the wind away,"
+
+is only a variation of "a man may fish with the worm that has eat of a
+king, and eat of the fish that has fed on the worm."
+
+In this collision with the world, alone and unsupported, Hamlet's
+natural buoyancy returns. It is the moment of isolation, but it is the
+moment also of intellectual freedom. It is desertion, but it is also
+independence. Every incongruity feeds his fanciful and inventive humour.
+He follows vanity and affectation with irony and mimicry, removes a mask
+with the point of his dexterous wit, and exposes the pretence of virtue
+or conceit of knowledge with sarcastic glee, while there is a savour of
+retribution in his chastisement of vice. The vivacity of this running
+comment, critical and satirical, on the ways and works of men adds much
+to the charm of the play, but it is a charm that properly belongs to
+the best comedy. And Shakespeare has marked this disengagement of his
+hero from the sanguinary plot by reserving the exaltation of verse to
+the expression of personal feeling, while the lithe and nimble movement
+of his prose follows with its undulating rhythm every turn of Hamlet's
+wayward mind, in subtlety of argument or caprice of fancy.
+
+Such is the "preoccupation" of Hamlet, emotional and intellectual. I
+have purposely made it seem a separate study, as thus alone could this
+fatal "thought-sickness," in which Heaven and Earth seemed to partake,
+be treated with the requisite clearness and fulness.
+
+We can see at once that no other claim to the command of his spirit is
+likely to succeed. His mind is already haunted. No Ghost can be more
+spiritual than his own thoughts, or more spectral than the world around
+him. No revelation of a particular crime can rival the revelation lately
+made to him of sin in the most holy place--the seat of virtue itself and
+heavenly purity. He may acknowledge the ties of filial obedience and the
+duty of revenge, but there is no place, nor obligation to
+hold, no world to which it may be attached, no faith or interest strong
+enough within him to give it vitality, no fruit of good result to be
+looked for without. The place is occupied:
+
+   "For where the greater malady is fixed
+   The lesser scarce is felt."
+
+When Hamlet says, "There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it
+so," he confesses himself an idealist--that is, one to whom ideas are
+not images or opinions, but the avenues of life. They garner up
+happiness and they store the harvest of pain; they make the "majestical
+roof fretted with golden fire" and the "pestilential cloud." The basis
+on which Hamlet's happiness had rested had been suddenly removed, and
+with the sanctity of the past the promise of the future had disappeared;
+the sky and the earth. He could say to his mother:
+
+   "Du hast sie zerstört
+     Die schöne Welt;"
+
+but the new world is built of the same materials--that is, absorbing
+ideas. The shadow descends till it measures the former brightness; the
+revulsion is as great as the enthusiasm.
+
+
+IV.
+
+Why, then, does he accept the mission of the Ghost? To answer this fully
+we must accompany him to the platform.
+
+In this scene Hamlet exhibits in perfection all the elements of
+courage--coolness, determination, daring. He is singularly free from
+excitement; and this is not because he is absorbed in his own thoughts,
+for he easily falls into conversation, and treats the first subject that
+comes to hand with his usual felicity and fulness, rising from the
+private instance to a public law, and applying it to large and larger
+groups of facts till his father's spirit stands before him. Thrilled and
+startled he pauses not, "harrowed with fear and wonder like Horatio on
+the previous night, but at once addresses it, as he said he would,
+though hell itself should gape." No more dignified rebuke ever shamed
+terror from the soul than Hamlet administers to his panic-stricken
+friends, and when they would forcibly withhold him from following the
+Ghost, the steady determination with which he draws his sword is marked
+by the play upon words:
+
+   "By Heav'n, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me."
+
+In the presence of his father the old life is rekindled within his
+filial awe and affection, unquestioned obedience, daring resolve. He
+will "sweep to his revenge,"
+
+   "And thy commandment all alone shall live
+   Within the book and volume of my brain,
+   Unmixed with baser matter."
+
+And this commandment had forbidden him to taint his mind against his
+mother.
+
+But what is his first exclamation when he is released from physical
+horror, and his thoughts regain the living world? It is
+
+   "O! most pernicious woman!"
+
+This singular phrase is one of Shakespeare's final touches, as does not
+appear in the quarto of 1603; and it marks, therefore, his deliberate
+intention, and is of the highest significance. He who will hereafter be
+so often amazed at his own forgetfulness has already forgotten.
+
+When his friends reappear, Hamlet is in a half-ironical humourous and
+assuming an astonishing superiority over ghost and mortal alike informs
+them--
+
+   "It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you."
+
+But when this honest ghost plays sepulchral tricks, Hamlet shows small
+respect to it, and at last, in a tone of almost command, cries--
+
+   "Rest! rest! perturbed spirit!"
+
+Does Hamlet slight the command of the Ghost? By no means. He never
+repudiates it or even calls it in question. There is no hesitation,
+cavil, or debate in the acceptance of it as a duty. But the purpose
+cools. It cools even on the platform. What passes within him is hardly a
+process of thought, otherwise some intimation of it would be given in
+his numerous self-communings. But there is a process prior to thought
+in which the relations of things are felt before they are defined, and a
+conclusion is reached, and a disposition decided, without the mediation
+of the reason. There is a vague attraction this way or that, a blind
+forecast and correlation of issues, and the whole being is so influenced
+that, while there is no register of result in the memory, there is a
+direction of the will and a determination of conduct. From the shadow of
+the future that passes thus before his spirit he shrinks averse. To
+scramble for a throne--to lord it over such a crew--to be linked to them
+as by chains--to return to that polluted Court--to be the centre of
+intrigues and hatreds--and for what? To leave the darker deeper evil
+untouched. Some process such as this may account for the change from
+"sweeping to his revenge" to
+
+   "The time is out of joint;--O cursed spite!
+   That ever I was born to set it right!"
+
+In the meantime, in the well-lit chambers of consciousness, no note is
+taken of this shadowy logic. This may appear paradoxical: but the last
+of the changes from love to indifference, from faith to doubt, is the
+avowal of change. When the ties of habit and tradition are inwardly
+outgrown, we bend and intend with our whole being in a new direction
+without the purpose or even the desire to move. So Hamlet silently
+evades the obligation he so readily undertakes, and sinks back into that
+more powerful interest that almost at once regains possession of his
+mind. Still, before he quits the scene of this ghastly disclosure, he
+resolves to counterfeit madness--and this for two reasons: he will seem
+(to himself) to be conspiring, and he will gain a license to speak his
+mind without offence. This is the only use to which he puts this mask of
+madness, as Coleridge has remarked. But why should he instinctively seek
+to gain more latitude of speech? Because since the marriage of his
+mother he had suffered from an enforced silence with regard to the
+proceedings of the Court, as he distinctly tells us in the first
+soliloquy--
+
+   "But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue!"
+
+From his first utterances after he had left the platform, we at once
+infer that the mission of the Ghost had failed. There is nothing that
+Hamlet would sooner part with "than his life." There is, therefore, no
+prospect before his mind, no awakening energy, no latent enterprise.
+With what relief, on the contrary, does he turn from the real to the
+ideal world! How cordially does he welcome the players, and how
+gracefully, so that we seem for the first time to make acquaintance with
+his natural tone and manner. Here at least is man's world, whose reality
+can never be undermined. He plies them with questions, indulges in
+literary criticism, and asks for a recitation. Suddenly he sees tears
+in the actors' eyes. He hurries them away, and when he is alone breaks
+out--
+
+   "Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!"
+
+He is jealous of the players' tears. Here again is no debate, but simply
+surprise at his own apathy. He tries to lash himself to fury but fails,
+and falls back on the practical test he is about to apply to the guilt
+of the king which he must appear to doubt, or this pseudo-activity
+would be too obviously superfluous.
+
+In the interval between the instruction to the players and the play,
+Hamlet's mind, unless absorbed by some strong preoccupation, would
+naturally turn to the issue of the plot; and he would reveal, if he
+admitted us to the secret workings of his mind, if not resolution, at
+least irresolution, something to mark the vacillation of which we hear
+so much. But we find that the whole matter has dropped from his mind,
+and that he has drifted back to the theme of--
+
+   "Oh! that this too too solid flesh would melt!"
+
+It is now recast more in the tone of deliberate thought than of excited
+feeling: he asks not which is best for him, but which is "nobler in the
+mind,"--an impersonal, a profoundly human question, which so fascinates
+our attention that we forget its irrelevance to the matter in hand or
+what we assume to be the matter in hand. It is as if he had never seen
+the Ghost. In his profound preoccupation he speaks of the "bourne from
+which no traveller returns," and of "evils that we know not of,"
+although the Ghost had told him "of sulphurous and tormenting flames."
+Hamlet muses, "To sleep! perchance to dream,--ay, there's the rub," but
+the Ghost had said--
+
+                        "I am thy father's spirit,
+   Doomed for a certain term to walk the night,
+   And, for the day, confined to fast in fires."
+
+It is plain that the "traveller" that had returned was not present at
+all to his mental vision nor his tale remembered. In his former
+meditation he had accepted the doctrine of the church; here he
+interrogates the human spirit in its still place of judgment; and he
+gives its verdict with a sigh of reluctance--
+
+   "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all."
+
+Considering that this and the succeeding lines occur at the end of a
+soliloquy on suicide,--that there is not only the absence of any
+reference to the ghostly action, but positive proof that the subject was
+not present to his thoughts, it is nothing less than astonishing that
+this passage should be quoted as Hamlet's witness to his own
+"irresolution." He would willingly take his own life; conscience forbids
+it; therefore conscience makes us cowards: and then with a still
+further generalization he announces the opposition of thought and
+resolution, causing the failure of
+
+   "enterprises of great pith and moment."
+
+Now the only enterprise on which lie was engaged--the testing of the
+king's conscience--was in a fair way of success, and did, in fact,
+ultimately succeed.
+
+The scene with Ophelia that immediately follows is the development of
+another theme in the first soliloquy, "Frailty! thy name is woman."
+Ophelia is inseparably connected with the queen in Hamlet's mind. She is
+a Court maiden, sheltered, guarded, cautioned, and, as we see in the
+warnings of Polonius and Laertes, cautioned in a tone that is suggestive
+of evil. What scenes she must have witnessed--the confusion on the death
+of the king, the exclusion of Hamlet from the throne, the marriage of
+the queen to the usurper! Yet she takes it all quite sweetly and
+subserviently. She is as docile to events as she is to parental advice.
+To such a one every circumstance is a fate, and she bows to it, as she
+bows to her father: "Yes, my lord, I will obey my lord." She denies
+Hamlet's access to her though he is in sorrow; though he has lost all,
+she will "come in for an after loss." One would rather leave her
+blameless in the sweetness of her maiden prime and the pathos of her
+end, but to place her, as some do, high on the list of Shakespeare's
+peerless women fastens upon Hamlet unmerited reproach. There is a love
+that includes friendship, as religion includes morality, and such was
+Portia's for Bassanio. There is a love whose first instinctive movement
+is to share the burden of the loved one, and such was Miranda's love for
+Ferdinand. And there is a love that reserves the light of its light and
+the perfume of its sweetness for the shadowed heart and the sunless
+mind. How would Cordelia have addressed this king and queen--how would
+she have aroused the energy of Hamlet and rehabilitated his trust, with
+that voice, soft and low indeed, but firmer than the voice of Cato's
+daughter claiming to know her husband's cause of grief! As Hamlet talks
+to Ophelia, you perceive that the marriage of his mother is more present
+to him than the murder of his father. He discourses on the frailty of
+woman and the corruption of the world; "Go to, it hath made me mad. We
+will have no more marriages."
+
+The play is acted. The king is "frighted with false fire," and Hamlet is
+left with the feeling of a dramatic success and the proof of his uncle's
+guilt. He sings snatches of song. Horatio falls in with his mood. "You
+might have rhymed," he says. The only effect of the confirmation of the
+ghost's story, as at its first hearing, is a fresh blaze of indignation
+against his mother. When Polonius has delivered his message that the
+queen would speak with him, Hamlet presently says, "Leave me, friend;"
+and then his mind clouds like the mind of Macbeth before he enters the
+chamber of Duncan--
+
+   "'Tis now the very witching time of night,
+   When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out
+   Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,
+   And do such bitter business as the day
+   Would quake to look on."
+
+As he passes to the Queen's closet in this tense and dangerous mood, he
+sees the king on his knees. His brow relaxes in a moment; he stops,
+looks curiously at him, and says, familiarly--
+
+   "Now might I do it, pat, now he is praying."
+
+He did not mean to do it, because he was on his way to his mother's
+closet, but some reason must be found. The word "praying" suggests it.
+"This would be scanned;" and he scans it, and decides to leave him for
+another day. As he enters the closet to speak the words "like daggers,"
+his quick decisive gesture and shrill peremptory tones alarm the queen.
+She rises to call for help; he seizes her roughly: "Come, come, and sit
+you down." Nothing can mark Hamlet's awful resentment more than his
+persistence through two interruptions that would have unnerved the
+bravest, and checked the most relentless spirit. As he looks at his
+mother there is that in his countenance bids her cry aloud for
+assistance. There is a movement behind the arras. Hamlet lunges at once.
+Is it the king? No; it is but Polonius. Had it been the king, it would
+not have diverted him from his purpose. He is no more afraid of killing
+than he is afraid of death, and is as hard to arrest in his reproof of
+his mother as in his talk with his father:
+
+   "Leave wringing of your hands; peace, sit you down."
+
+His mother confesses her guilt. Hamlet is not appeased. He vilifies her
+husband with increasing vehemence; the Ghost rises as if to protect the
+queen. "Do not forget," he cries, although the king's name was at that
+moment on Hamlet's lips in terms of bitterest contempt. But it was
+understood between the two spirits that it was the queen's husband and
+not his father's murderer that he was thus denouncing. After the
+disappearance of the ghost, he turns again to his mother; and on leaving
+her almost reluctantly, without further punishment, asks pardon of his
+own genius--"Forgive me this my virtue," more authoritative to Hamlet
+than a legion of spirits.
+
+This scene is the spiritual climax of the play, and from it the whole
+tragedy directly proceeds. The death of Polonius leads on the one side
+to the madness of Ophelia, on the other to the revenge of Laertes and
+the final catastrophe. Hamlet's apathy at the death of Polonius is of
+the same character as his oblivion of the ghost's command, and has the
+same origin. For there is no apathy like that of an over-mastering
+passion, whether it be love or jealousy, or a new faith, or a terrible
+doubt. It draws away the life from other duties and interests, and
+leaves them pale and semi-vital. Men thus possessed acknowledge the
+duties they evade, let slip occasion, are "lapsed in time and passion,"
+and are surprised at their own oblivion.
+
+This happens again to Hamlet as he is leaving Denmark. His own inaction
+is flashed back upon him by the sight of the gallant array of
+Fortinbras, and his first words--
+
+   "How all occasions do inform against me,"
+
+disclose that the duty of revenge has its obligations and sanctions, not
+in the inward but the outward world; not in the genius of the
+man--secret, individual, detached--but in the outward mind of inherited
+opinion and ancestral creed, that we share with others in unreflecting
+fellowship. The world has charge of it, and reflects it back upon him
+new in the actor's tears, and now--
+
+   "In this army of such mass and charge,
+   Led by a delicate and tender prince."
+
+This speech must be read, like a Spartan despatch, on the [Greek:
+skutalê] or counterpart of Hamlet's personality. He begins, as after the
+player's recitation, with a confession, and ends with an excuse. He is
+startled into an avowal, which he qualifies by a subtle
+after-thought--"What is a man," he cries, who acts as I have acted, who
+allows
+
+   "That capability and god-like reason,
+   To fust in him unused?"
+
+"A beast, no more." But as he looks at Fortinbras and his soldiers,
+another thought strikes him. These men act because they do not pause to
+think. I must have been thinking, _not too little, but too much_; and
+with that he turns short round upon his first confession, escapes from
+the charge of "bestial oblivion," and takes refuge in an imaginary
+"thinking too precisely on the event;" which indeed, as he remembers,
+had more than once prevented him taking his own life. But he condemns
+himself without cause; he cannot now return to that earlier stage of
+unreasoning activity in appointed paths, and the joy and grace of
+unconscious obedience.
+
+When Hamlet returns from England, he takes Horatio apart to recount his
+adventures and unfold the plot of the king; but before he utters a word
+of this his settled mood is revealed to us in the graveyard scene.
+Hamlet, ever prone to belittle the world, is not loth to watch the
+making of a grave. There is the limit and boundary of what can be done
+or suffered; there the triumph is ended, and there the enmity is stayed.
+He advances step by step to look closely at the ruins of mortality; to
+slight the great names of kings and follow heroes to the dust. As he
+sees the skull tossed out of the grave, the king is already dead to him.
+"How the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were Cain's jawbone,
+that did the first murder. This might be the pate of a politician, which
+this ass now o'erreaches; one that would circumvent God, might it not?"
+He is not satisfied till he takes the skull in his hand, and is
+sarcastic on beauty and festive wit, and the base uses to which we may
+come; when, from the other side, the procession of Ophelia advances. The
+grace and allurement of Ophelia had awakened in the imaginative Hamlet a
+feeling stronger and warmer indeed, but of the same relation to his
+capacity of loving as that of Romeo for Rosaline, and as easily lost in
+the glow or shadow of a deeper passion. That it was without depth and
+sacredness is plain from his delighting to ridicule and torment her
+father, and from his careless and equivocal jesting with her at the
+play. But though not a deep experience, it was of a quality different
+from that of other life. And the death of Ophelia had gathered into one
+the records of the hours of love; the first and the last; the meetings
+and the partings; the gifts, and flowers, and snatches of song. On these
+tender memories the hollow clamour of Laertes breaks with a discord so
+intolerable that Hamlet, who had with his usual reserve received the
+news of her death with the cold exclamation, "What! the fair Ophelia!"
+suddenly breaks into a fury and leaps into her grave.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In this study of Hamlet in relation to the ghost-story, we have seen
+that the effect, both of the first recital and of its subsequent
+confirmation, was to whet his mind against his mother; and that the
+passages in which this is expressed are among the _final touches_ of the
+master; that the deed of revenge is only flashed upon him from without;
+and that, in the intervals between such awakenings of memory, he
+relapses to the thought-sickness of the first soliloquy; that on the
+only occasion when the bitterness of his sorrow leads him to meditate
+self-destruction, there is no question of the ghost, the murder, or the
+king; that the only ungovernable bit of fury is in the presence of his
+mother; and that from this scene the drama is developed, and the final
+catastrophe ensues.
+
+
+V.
+
+Supposing this "preoccupation" proved, what is the particular value and
+significance of the fact? Before we can answer this we must set the
+character of Hamlet in this new light clearly before us.
+
+Shakespeare gives to him the rare nobility of feeling with the keenness
+of personal pleasure and pain, the presence or absence of moral beauty.
+He is one to whom public falsehood is private affliction, to whom
+goodness in its purity, truth in its severity, honour in its brightness,
+are the only goods worth a man's possessing, and the rest but a dream
+and the shadow of a dream. Hamlet bears his private griefs with proud
+composure. We have no lamentation on the death of his father, on the
+defection of Ophelia, on his exclusion from the throne. Among the images
+of horror and distress that crowd upon his mind in his mother's closet
+there is one on which he is silent then, and throughout the play, and
+that is her heartless desertion of his cause, as natural successor to
+the crown. To make it entirely clear that we have here no type of morbid
+weakness and excess, but the portrait of a representative man, we have
+only to look at the careful way in which all the other characters are
+touched and modelled so as to allow and enhance Hamlet's superiority,
+This is true even of Horatio. We have already remarked that in their
+scenes with the ghost the manhood of Hamlet is of a higher strain and
+dignity. And not only in resolution, but in that other manly virtue of
+self-reliance, his superiority is incontestable. Horatio follows Hamlet
+at a distance as Lucilius follows Brutus, content if from time to time
+he may stand at his side. Whatever is Hamlet's mood he reflects it, for
+to him Hamlet is always great. Horatio never questions, presumes not to
+give advice, echoes the scorn or laughter of his friend, is equally
+contemptuous of the king, and, as he never urges to action, is, if his
+friend is supposed to procrastinate, accomplice in his delay. Hamlet
+detaches himself from the world and follows his own bent; he will admit
+no guidance, and be subject to no dictation. He is not the man to be
+hag-ridden like Macbeth, or humoured into remorseful deeds like Brutus.
+The strong dramatic feature of his character, the secret of his
+attraction on the stage, is his pure and independent personality. Who
+has a word of solace from him, but when does he claim it? Who leaves any
+mark or dint of intellectual impact on that firm and self-determined
+mind? And if he is superior to Horatio, how much more to Laertes? Had
+Shakespeare wished to exalt the quality of resolution at Hamlet's
+expense, he would not have chosen so ignoble a representative of it as
+this man. A true son of Polonius, a prater of moral maxims, while he is
+all for Paris and its pleasures; violent, but weak; who, when he is told
+of the tragic and untimely death of his sister, can find nothing better
+to say than--
+
+   "Too much of water, hast thou, dear Ophelia?"
+
+who, like Aufidius, has the outward habit and encounter of honour, but
+is a facile tool of treacherous murder in the hands of the king. Compare
+the conduct of the two when they are brought into collision, and the
+final impression they leave. The readiness with which Hamlet undertakes
+to fence for his uncle's wager is one of the most surprising strokes in
+the play. What! with the foil in his hand, no plot, no project, not even
+a word, not a look between him and Horatio that the occasion might be
+improved! What absolute freedom from the malice which in another mind
+is preparing his death. The treachery of Laertes is the more odious in
+this, that the success of his plot depends on the generous confidence of
+his victim. Polonius is handled in the same way with special reference
+to Hamlet. His thinking is marked by slowness and insincerity, and when
+he comes in contact with the rapid current of Hamlet's mind he is
+benumbed; he can only mutter, "If this is madness, there is method in
+it." What little portable wisdom was given to him in the first Act is
+soon withdrawn--he stammers in his deceit, and the old indirectness
+having no material of thought to work upon becomes a circumlocution of
+truisms. As the play proceeds he is made, as if with a second intention,
+more and more the antithesis, as he is the antipathy, of the prince. It
+is the careful portrait of what Hamlet would hate--a remnant of senile
+craft in the method with folly in the matter--a shy look in the dull and
+glazing eye, that insults the honesty of Hamlet as much as the
+shrivelled meaning with its pompous phrase insults his intelligence. So
+with the other characters; they are all made to justify his demeanour
+towards them. The queen is heard to confess her guilt, Ophelia is seen
+to act as a decoy; his college friends attempt his death.
+
+In as far then as Hamlet is right in his verdicts, blameless in his
+aims, lofty in his ideal, and just in his resentment, he is a
+representative man; and we have not the study of a special affliction,
+but the fundamental drama of the soul and the world. This, whatever we
+may call it, was the work at which Shakespeare laboured so long, and for
+which he withdrew Hamlet from time to time for special study, every
+fresh touch telling in this direction.
+
+
+VI.
+
+How far is such an interpretation consonant with the genius and method
+of Shakespeare? Certainly I should hardly have found courage to add
+another to the many studies of Hamlet had it not been for the hope of
+bringing out a characteristic of our great national poet that is rather
+unobtrusive than obscure. I mean a singular unworldliness of thought and
+feeling; a cherished idealism; an inborn magnanimity. Not the
+unworldliness of the study and the cloister, or the other-worldliness of
+such poets as Dante and Milton, but the unworldliness of a man of the
+world, the idealism that is closely allied with humour. And it is in
+this union and not elsewhere that the "breadth" of Shakespeare, of which
+we hear so much, is found. This unworldliness is elusive, ubiquitous,
+full of disguise. Now it is militant, and now observant; now it is
+fastidious in its scorn, and now it is piercing in its dissection; now
+it is satire, and now it is melancholy. He gives the most knightly
+chivalry of friendship to a merchant, and the most exquisite fidelity of
+service to a fool, and makes the ingrained worldliness of Cleopatra die
+before her love. He not only scatters through his pages rebukes of the
+arrogance of power and the more pitiable pride of wealth, but makes his
+kings deride their own ceremonies and mock their own state. Who has not
+observed the easy and effortless way in which his heroes and heroines
+move from one station to the other, from authority to service like Kent,
+from obscurity to splendour like Perdita, or to the greenwood from the
+palace like Rosalind. The change affects their happiness no more than
+the change of their position in the sky affects the brightness of the
+stars. It is all so truthful and clear that we grow more simple as we
+read. Lear utters but one cry of joy, and that is when he is entering a
+prison with Cordelia:
+
+                        "Come, let's away to prison!
+   We two alone will sing like birds in a cage;"
+
+while the Queen of France has just said:
+
+   "For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down,
+   Myself could else outfrown false fortune's frown."
+
+In these two lines the magnanimity of Shakespeare is pure, unveiled, as
+he gives us the last words of his favourite heroine: we must read them
+backwards and forwards to catch the portrait they enclose. We see the
+unconscious elevation of Cordelia's mind, not so much superior as
+invulnerable to mortal ills; we see this dignity and lovely pride cast
+down by pity and love, and then in answer to Lear's troubled and anxious
+look we hear in measured and steadfast tones the reassurance of perfect
+peace.
+
+Remark too Shakespeare's habit of looking upon the world as a masque or
+pageant, not to be treated with too much respectful anxiety as if it
+were as real as ourselves. He who can give so perfectly the texture of
+common life, the solidities of common sense, likes to wave his wand over
+the domain of sturdy prose and incontrovertible custom, and to show how
+plastic it is, and how easily pierced, and how readily transformed. He
+has a malicious pleasure in confusing the boundaries of nature and
+fancy, and mocking the purblind understanding. In the "Midsummer Night's
+Dream" we have an ambiguous and bewildering light, with the horizon
+always shifting, and the boundaries of fact and fable confused with an
+inseparable mingling of forms; both outwardly, as when Theseus enters
+the forest on the skirts of the fairy crew; and inwardly in the memories
+of the lovers. And we are expressly told after the enchantment of the
+"Tempest" that this summary dealing with the solid world was not merely
+by way of entertainment but was a presentation of truth. And Macbeth,
+after grasping all that life could offer of tangible reward or palpable
+power, pronounces it
+
+   "such stuff as dreams are made of."
+
+No doubt something will be said on the other side, of Shakespeare's
+broad and indulgent humanity, and of his toleration even of vice itself
+when it is convivial and amusing. It should be remembered, however, that
+his comedies while more realistic are not so real as his tragedies. They
+are, as he himself insists, entertainments; to which jovial sensuality,
+witty falsehood, and even hypocrisy when it is not morose are admitted,
+as diverting in their very aberration from the mean rule of life. So
+that a touch of rascality is a genuine element in comedy, as a touch of
+danger in sport, and the provocation of the moral sense is part of the
+fun. But they are all under guard. The moment they pass a certain
+boundary and break into reality, the moment that intemperance leads to
+disorder, and vice to suffering, as in real life, then suddenly Harry
+turns upon Falstaff, or Olivia on Sir Toby, and vice is called by its
+right name.
+
+And as life awakens and reality enters, either the grace or the
+sentiment or the passion of unworldliness is more and more distinctly
+present. And in the tragedies even the pleasant vices are seen as part
+of a world-wide corruption that wrongs, debases, and betrays.
+Shakespeare has painted every phase of antagonism to the world, from the
+pensive aloofness of Antonio to the impassioned misanthropy of Timon.
+Every excited feeling emits light into the dark places of the earth, and
+every suffering is a revelation of more than its own injury. It is as if
+the soul, fully aroused, became aware by its own light of the oppression
+and injustice abroad upon the earth.
+
+But there is a more vague and general disaffection to the world than is
+the outcome of any particular experience. It may be called a spiritual
+discontent which few have felt as a passion, but many have known as a
+mood: when that average goodness of human nature which we have found so
+companionable, and to which we have so pleasantly adapted ourselves,
+becomes "very tolerable and not to be endured;" when the world seems to
+be made of our vices, and our virtues seem to be looking on, or if they
+enter into the fray are too tame and conventional for the selfish fire
+and unscrupulous industry of their rivals; and when to our excited
+sensibility there is a taint in the moral atmosphere, and we long to
+escape if only to breathe more freely. This is more than a mood with
+Shakespeare, and is present in those slight but distinctive touches that
+mark the unconscious intrusion of character in an artist's work; and is
+frankly confessed in one of his Sonnets:---
+
+   "Tired with all these; for restful death I cry;
+   As to behold desert a beggar born,
+   And needy nothing drest in jollity,
+   And purest faith unhappily forsworn.....
+   Tired with all these, from, these would I be gone."
+
+We find, then, scattered through the dramas of Shakespeare a
+disaffection to the world as deep-grained as it is comprehensive; and we
+find the various elements of it--the contempt of fortune, the ideal
+virtue, the disinterested passion, the mysticism, the fellowship with
+the oppressed, the distaste of the world's enjoyment and the weariness
+of its burden--concentrated in Hamlet for full and exhaustive study;
+thus presenting what I have called the interior or fundamental drama of
+the soul and the world.
+
+But the tragedy of "Hamlet" includes more than this. It is not merely
+the doom of suffering on a soul above a certain strain, still less is it
+the accidental death of a sluggard in revenge; it is the implication of
+a noble mind in the intrigues and malignities of a world it has
+renounced. In vain Hamlet contracts his ambition till it is bounded by a
+nutshell; he is ordered to strike for a throne. No abnegation clears him
+from entanglement. The world permits not his escape, but drags him back
+with those crooked hands of which Dante speaks, which pierce while they
+hold. This is the tragedy in all its fulness, the involution of the
+inward and outward drama to the immense advantage of both. For while the
+spiritual agony of Hamlet gives an incomparable dignity to the
+ghost-story, yet by the very interruptions and checkings and crossings
+of it through the accidents and oppositions of the plot, its physiognomy
+is more distinctly and delicately revealed. Instead of the majestic but
+monotonous declamation of Timon, we have every variety of that ironical
+humour (indicating some yet unconquered province of the soul) that
+guards and embalms the purer strength of feeling, keeps it airy and
+spiritual, and frees it from moan and heaviness. Here we have no
+insistance on suffering, no literary heart-breaks, no dilettante
+pessimism; but those indefinable harmonies of freedom and law, of the
+ascendency of the soul and the sovereignty of fate, of Nature and the
+spaces of the mind, that in the works of the great masters represent, if
+they do not explain, the mystery of life.
+
+The religion of Hamlet is that faith in God which survives after the
+extinction of the faith in man. Losing the light of human worth and
+dignity through which, alone the soul can reach to the idea of what is
+truly divine, and with it the link between earth and heaven, Hamlet's
+religion is reduced to its elements again; to the vague and fragmentary
+hints of Nature, and instincts of the spirit; to intimations of
+limitless power, of mysterious destiny, of a "something after death,"
+of a "divinity that shapes our ends;" and with these, gleams of a
+transcendent religion of humanity, for devotion to which he was
+suffering; and on the other side, binding him to the stage-plot, relics
+of childish superstition, half-beliefs, inherited opinions, "_our_
+circumstance and course of thought," which he adopted when he
+pleased,--as, for instance, when he feared lest he should dismiss the
+murderer to heaven, or half-believed that his blameless father was
+tormented in sulphurous flames for having endured a horrible death. But
+however obscure and indefinite the religion of Hamlet may be, and partly
+because it is so, and hence of universal experience, it adds reach and
+depth to his struggle with the world. His soul flies out of bounds and
+away in airy liberty on these excursions to the vast unknown, and
+escapes at last victorious with the light through the darkness of
+conscious immortality, and the lamp in his hand of "the readiness is
+all." There is always a certain vacuity in the positive or realistic
+treatment of passion, in which it is confined to the area of mortality,
+and after a sultry strife delivered over to the mercy of its enemies.
+But the world cannot so beset and beleaguer the soul as to block up the
+access and passage of invisible allies, or intercept the communications
+of infinite strength and infinite charity, or follow to its distant
+haunts and inaccessible refuges the migrations of thought--
+
+   "In the hoar deep to colonize."
+
+   FRANKLIN LEIFCHILD.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[3] "To see Lear acted, to see an old man tottering about the stage with
+a walking-stick, turned out of doors by his daughters in a rainy night,
+has nothing in it but what is painful and disgusting."--_Lamb's Essays._
+
+[4] "Shakspere: His Mind and Art," p. 96.
+
+[5] "A Study of Shakespeare," p. 166.
+
+
+
+
+PANISLAMISM AND THE CALIPHATE.[6]
+
+
+I use the word "Panislamism," simply because it is one of the political
+catchwords of the day. The prefix _Pan_ is supposed to have some great
+and terrible significance. It is not long since Europe exerted all her
+power to save Islam from the jaws of Panslavism, but now that a _Pan_
+has been added to Islam, it has become in its turn the bugbear of
+Europe. It is even supposed that England was fighting with this new
+monster, when she put down the revolution in Egypt. England could never
+have so far forgotten her liberality as to take up arms against Islam,
+but Panislam must be crushed by a new crusade. Such is the wondrous
+power of a prefix. So far as I can understand the mysterious force of
+this word, it is designed to express the idea that the scattered
+fragments of the Mohammedan world have all rallied around the Caliph to
+join in a new attack upon Christendom, or that they are about to do so.
+There is just enough of truth in this idea to give it currency, and to
+make it desirable that the whole truth should be known. Most of the
+mistakes of Europe in dealing with the Ottoman empire, during the
+present century, have come from a misapprehension of the forces of
+Islam, and the position, and influence of the Sultan of Turkey. There is
+danger now of such a misapprehension as may lead to the most unfortunate
+complications.
+
+The first essential point, which must always be kept in mind by those
+who would understand the movements of the Mohammedan world, is the exact
+relation of the Ottoman Sultans to the Caliphate. The word Caliph means
+the vicar or the successor of the Prophet. The origin and history of the
+Caliphate is well known, but it may be well to give a brief _résumé_ of
+it here. During the life of the Prophet it was his custom to name a
+Caliph to act for him when he was absent from Medina. During his last
+illness he named his father-in-law, Abou-Bekir, and after his death this
+appointment was confirmed by election. Omar, Osman, and Ali were
+successively chosen to this office, and these four are recognized by all
+orthodox Mohammedans as perfect Caliphs. The Persians and other Shiites
+recognize only Ali. It is said that the Prophet predicted that the true
+Caliphate would continue only thirty years. His words are quoted: "The
+Caliphate after me will be for thirty years. After this there will be
+only powers established by force, usurpation, and tyranny." The death of
+Ali and the usurpation of Mouawiye came just thirty years after the
+death of the Prophet, and this was the end of the true and perfect
+Caliphate. The sixty-eight imperfect Caliphs who followed were all of
+the family of the Prophet, although of different branches, but they
+fulfilled the demand of the sacred law, that the Caliph must be of the
+family of Koreish, who was a direct descendant from Abraham. Mouawiye
+and the Ommiades, fourteen in all, were of the same branch as Osman, the
+third Caliph. The Abassides of Kufa, Bagdad, and Cairo, fifty-four in
+all, descended from Abas, the great-uncle of the Prophet. There were
+many others who at different times usurped the name of Caliph, but these
+seventy-two are all who are recognized as universal Caliphs. Mohammed
+XII., the last of these died in obscurity in Egypt in 1538. The power of
+the Caliphs gradually decayed, until for hundreds of years it was little
+more than nominal, and exclusively religious.
+
+The claim of the Ottoman Sultans to the Caliphate dates back to the time
+of Sultan Selim I. This Sultan conquered Egypt and over-threw the
+dynasty of the Mamelukes. He found at Cairo the Caliph Mohammed XII.,
+and brought him as a prisoner to Constantinople. He was kept at the
+fortress of the Seven Towers for several years, and then sent back to
+Egypt with a small pension. While Selim was in Cairo, the Shereeff of
+Mecca presented to him the keys of the holy cities, and accepted him as
+their protector. In 1517 Mohammed XII. also made over to him all his
+right and title to the Caliphate. This involuntary cession, and the
+voluntary homage of the Shereeff of Mecca are the only titles possessed
+by the Ottoman Sultans to the Caliphate, which, according to the word of
+the Prophet himself, must always remain in his own family. If the
+Ommiades and the Abassides were imperfect Caliphs, it is plain that the
+Ottoman Sultans must be doubly imperfect. It was easy, however, for an
+all-powerful Sultan to obtain an opinion from the Ulema that his claim
+was well-founded; and it has been very generally recognized by orthodox
+Mohammedans, in spite of its essential weakness. When the time comes,
+however, that the Ottoman Sultans are no longer powerful, it will be
+still more easy to obtain an opinion that the Shereeff of Mecca, who is
+of the family of the Prophet, is the true Caliph.
+
+The Ottoman Sultans have also assumed the other and more generally used
+title of _Imam-ul-Mussilmin_, which may be roughly translated Grand
+Pontiff of all the Moslems, although, strictly speaking, the functions
+of an Imam are not priestly. This title is based upon an article of the
+Mohammedan faith which says--"The Mussulmans ought to be governed by an
+Imam, who has the right and authority to secure obedience to the law, to
+defend the frontiers, to raise armies, to collect tithes, to put down
+rebels, to celebrate public prayers on Fridays, and at Beiram," &c. This
+article of faith is based upon the words of the Prophet--"He who dies
+without recognizing the authority of the Imam of his time, is judged to
+have died in ignorance and infidelity."
+
+The law goes on to say--"All Moslems ought to be governed by one Imam.
+His authority is absolute, and embraces everything. All are bound to
+submit to him. No country can render submission to any other."
+
+Under this law the Ottoman Sultans claim absolute and unquestioning
+obedience from all Moslems throughout the world; but their right to this
+title rests upon the same foundation as that upon which is based the
+title of Caliph. The Prophet himself said, and the accepted law repeats,
+that the Imam-ul-Mussilmin must be of the family of Koreish. The Ottoman
+Sultans belong not only to a different family, but to a different race.
+
+With this evident weakness in their title to the Caliphate, and the
+accompanying rank of universal Imam, it is a question of interest on
+what grounds the doctors of Mohammedan law have justified their claims,
+and how far these have been recognized.
+
+In addition to the rights said to have been conferred by the Caliph
+Mohammed XII. and by the Shereef of Mecca upon Sultan Selim I., and by
+him transmitted to his posterity, the Mohammedan doctors make use of a
+very different argument. They say--
+
+     "The rights of the house of Othman are based upon its power and
+     success, for one of the most ancient canonical books declares that
+     the authority of a prince who has usurped the Caliphate by force
+     and violence, ought not the less to be considered legitimate,
+     because, since the end of the perfect Caliphate, the sovereign
+     power is held to reside in the person of him who is the strongest,
+     who is the actual ruler, and whose right to command rests upon the
+     power of his armies."
+
+This statement presents the real basis of the claims of the Sultans to
+the Caliphate. It is the right of the strongest. Any man who disputes
+it, does so at his peril; and, since 1517, the Ottoman Sultans have been
+able to command the submission of the Mohammedan world. Their title has
+not been seriously disputed.
+
+But the title has this weak point in it. It is good only so long as the
+Sultan is strong enough to maintain it. It has not destroyed the rights
+of the family of Koreish. It only holds them in abeyance, until some
+one of that family is strong enough to put an end to the Turkish
+usurpation. The power of the Sultan does not depend upon the title, but
+the title depends upon his power. This is a point the political
+importance of which should never be overlooked.
+
+We come now to our second question. How far is the claim of the Ottoman
+Sultans to the Caliphate now recognized in the Mohammedan world? Except
+with the Shiites, who have never acknowledged it, there is no open
+rebellion against it. But the decay of the Ottoman Empire during the
+last hundred years has been obvious to all the world. Not only has it
+been gradually dismembered, not only have many of its Mohammedan
+subjects been brought under the dominion of Christian Powers, and many
+of its Christian subjects set free, not only have its African
+possessions become practically independent, except Tripoli, but the
+house of Othman exists to-day, only because Christian Europe interfered
+to defend it against its own Mohammedan subjects. The house of Mohammed
+Ali would otherwise have taken its place. Again and again have the
+Sultans shown their inability to defend the frontiers of Islam. Since
+the advent of the present Sultan, the process of dismemberment has gone
+on more rapidly than ever.
+
+The influence of these facts upon the Mohammedan world has been very
+marked. I cannot speak from personal knowledge of the people of India
+and Central Asia, but from the best information that I can obtain, I
+conclude that while they have lost none of their interest in Islam,
+while they are still interested in the fate of their Turkish brethren,
+they would not lift a finger to maintain the right of the Sultan to the
+Caliphate against any claimant of the family of the Prophet. The feeling
+of the Arabic-speaking Mohammedans is well known. Islam is an Arab
+religion; the Prophet was an Arab; the Caliph should be an Arab. The
+Ottoman Sultans are barbarian usurpers, who have taken and hold the
+Caliphate by force. The Arabs have been ready for open revolt for years,
+and have only waited for a leader of the house of the Prophet. Their
+natural leader would be the Shereef of Mecca; and it is understood that
+the Shereef who has just been deposed by the Sultan, as well as his
+predecessor who was mysteriously assassinated, was on the point of
+declaring himself Caliph. The new Shereef is a young man of the same
+family.
+
+So far as the Turkish, Circassian, and Slavic Mohammedans are concerned,
+their interests are bound up with those of the Sultan. They do not
+distinguish between the Caliphate and the Sultanat. Their ruler is the
+Imam-ul-Mussilmin, their law is the Sheraat, their country is the
+Dar-Islam; and when they are fighting for their Sultan they are fighting
+for their faith. They know nothing of any other possible Caliph. But if
+a new Caliph should appear at Mecca, and declare the Sultan a usurper
+and a Kaffir, it is very doubtful whether they would stand by the
+Sultan. They would not know what to do.
+
+Another element enters just now into the question of the Caliphate, of
+which so much has been written of late that it is only necessary to
+mention it here. The Mohammedan world is looking for the coming of the
+Mehdy. The time appointed by many traditions for his appearance has
+already come, the year of the Hedjira 1300. Other traditions, however,
+fix no definite time--they only say "towards the end of the world," and
+many impostors have already appeared at different times and places
+claiming to be the Mehdy. According to Shiite tradition, it is the
+twelfth Imam of the race of Ali who is to appear. At the age of twelve
+he was lost in a cave, where he still lives, awaiting his time.
+According to the Sunnis, the _Mehdy_ is to come from Heaven with 360
+celestial spirits, to purify Islam and convert the world. He will be a
+perfect Caliph, and will rule over all nations.
+
+It is impossible for any Christian to speak with absolute certainty of
+the real feeling of Mohammedans; but it is evident that this expected
+Mehdy is talked of by Mohammedans everywhere, and that there is more or
+less faith in his speedy appearance. No one who anticipates his coming,
+can have any interest in the claims of the Sultan to be the Caliph.
+Should any one appear to fulfil the demands of the tradition, and meet
+with success in rousing any part of the Mohammedan world, the excitement
+would become intense, especially in Africa and Arabia. The claims of the
+Sultan would be repudiated at once. Still I think it probable that too
+much has been made of this Mehdy in Europe. I do not think that the
+Pachas of Constantinople have any more faith in his coming than Mr.
+Herbert Spencer has in the second coming of Christ. They only fear that
+some impostor may take advantage of the tradition to create division in
+the empire. This is the real danger.
+
+It has been evident for many years that the Sultans have felt that their
+influence in the Mohammedan world was declining. They have seen that
+beyond their own dominions the Caliph has no real authority; that
+whatever influence they have depends upon the strength of their own
+empire. Abd-ul-Medjid and Abd-ul-Aziz seem to have had a pretty clear
+conception of their weakness, and of the necessity of restoring the
+vitality of the Ottoman empire, by the introduction of radical reforms.
+There is no reason to suppose that the Hatt-i-houmayoun and the other
+innumerable Hatts issued by these Sultans, were all intended simply to
+blind the eyes of Europe. None knew better than they that the empire
+must be reformed or lost. But they were Caliphs as well as Sultans, and
+what they would do as Sultans they could not do as Caliphs. The very
+nature of their claims to the Caliphate made them more timid. They could
+not execute the reforms which they promised, without encountering the
+opposition of the whole body of the Ulema, the most powerful and the
+best organized force in the empire. If they could have saved their
+empire by resigning the Caliphate, they might possibly have been willing
+to do it; but they were made to believe that in surrendering the
+Caliphate they would lose the support of the only part of the nation
+upon which they could fully depend. So they hesitated, promising much
+and doing little, raising hopes on one side which could never be
+forgotten, and raising fears on the other which they could not allay;
+seeing clearly the need of reform, but seeing no way in which to
+accomplish it. They could decide upon nothing, and drifted on until
+Abd-ul-Aziz was deposed and assassinated by his own ministers, and the
+empire was on the verge of ruin.
+
+The next Sultan was overwhelmed by the burdens which fell upon him, and
+in a few months was deposed as a lunatic. Sultan Hamid came to the
+throne under these trying circumstances, and it seemed for a time that
+he might be the last of the Sultans. He was but little known, as he had
+been forced to live in retirement, and it was supposed that he would
+follow meekly in the steps of his predecessors; but it very soon became
+evident to those about him that he had a mind and a will of his
+own--more than this, that he had a policy which he was determined to
+carry out. A Sultan with a fixed policy was a new thing, and to this day
+Europe is somewhat sceptical about it; but it very soon became apparent
+to close observers at Constantinople. Sultan Hamid was determined to be
+first of all the Caliph, the Imam-ul-Mussilmin, and to sacrifice all
+other interests to this. His education had been exclusively religious,
+and in his retirement he had lived a serious life, associating much with
+the Ulema, who, no doubt, pointed out to him the vacillating policy of
+his predecessors, and the danger that there was that the Caliphate and
+the empire would be lost together. He determined to strengthen his
+empire by restoring the influence of the Caliphate, and rallying the
+Mohammedan world once more around the throne of Othman. Judged from a
+European standpoint, this policy is at once reactionary and suicidal. It
+ignores the fact that the Ottoman empire is dependent for its existence
+upon the good-will of Europe; that it has measured its strength with a
+single Christian Power, and been utterly crushed in a year. It ignores
+the principle that a government can never be strong abroad which is weak
+at home. It ignores the history of the last hundred years. It may be
+doubted whether it is a policy which can be justified from the
+standpoint of Islam. Turkey is the last surviving Mohammedan Power of
+any importance. Its influence depends upon its strength, and its
+strength upon the prosperity of its people, and this upon a wise and
+enlightened administration of the government. It would seem that the
+best thing the Sultan could have done for Islam, would have been not to
+excite the fears of Europe by the phantom of a Panislamic league, but to
+have devoted all his energies to the reformation of his government.
+
+But Sultan Hamid chose the path of Faith rather than of Reason, and,
+however we may think the choice unwise, we are bound to treat it with
+respect. It is easy to say that it was a mere question of policy, and
+very bad policy; it certainly was, but I think we have good reason to
+believe that the Sultan was actuated by religious rather than political
+motives, that he is a sincere and honest Moslem, and feels that it is
+better to trust in God than in the Giaour. I have a sincere respect and
+no little admiration for Sultan Hamid. Had he been less a Caliph and
+more a Sultan, with his courage, industry, and pertinacity, he might
+have done for Turkey what he has failed to do for Islam. He might have
+revived and consolidated the empire. It is possible that he may do it
+yet, and should he attempt it he will have the sympathy of the world.
+
+But thus far, having transferred the seat of government from the Porte
+to the Palace, having secured a declaration from the Ulema that his will
+is the highest law, and that as Caliph he needs no advice, he has
+sought, first of all, to make his influence felt in every part of the
+Mohammedan world, to revive the spirit of Islam, and to unite it in
+opposition to all European and Christian influences. Utterly unable to
+resist Europe by force of arms, he has sought to outwit her by diplomacy
+and finesse. I know of nothing more remarkable in the history of Turkey
+than the skill with which he made a tool of Sir Henry Layard. Sir Henry
+could not be bought; but he could be flattered and blinded by such
+attentions as no Ottoman Sultan ever bestowed upon any Ambassador
+before; and to accomplish this object, the Sultan did not hesitate to
+ignore all Mohammedan ideas of propriety. His demonstrations of
+friendship for Germany is another illustration of his diplomatic skill.
+But while ready to yield any point of etiquette to accomplish his ends,
+he has resisted to the last every attempt to induce him to do anything
+to repress or punish any development of Moslem fanaticism. All Europe
+combined could not force him to punish the murderer of Colonel
+Coumaroff, the secretary of the Russian Embassy, who was shot down in
+the street like a dog by a servant of the Palace; nor, so far as I know,
+has he ever suffered a Moslem to be punished for murdering a Christian.
+
+His agents have done their best to rouse the Mohammedans of India and
+Central Asia. He has armed the tribes of Northern Africa against France,
+and encouraged them to resist to the end. He has given new life to
+Mohammedan fanaticism in Turkey. The change from the days of Abd-ul-Aziz
+is very marked. The counsellors of the Sultan are no longer the
+Ministers, but the astrologers, eunuchs, and holy men of the Palace. No
+Mussulman could now change his faith in Constantinople without losing
+his life. Firmans can no longer be obtained for Christian churches, and
+it is extremely difficult to obtain permission to print a Christian
+book, even in a Christian language. The greatest care is taken to seize
+books of every description in the Custom House. It is not long since the
+Life of Mr. Gladstone was seized as a forbidden book. It is a curious
+fact in this connection that the fanaticism of the Government is far in
+advance of the fanaticism of the people. There is no fear of the people,
+except as they are encouraged and pushed forward by those in authority.
+If left to themselves, Turks and Christians would have no difficulty in
+living together amicably.
+
+The relation of the Sultan to the rebellion in Egypt is not perfectly
+clear, and probably never will be. In one sense he was no doubt the
+cause of it. It was a direct result of the agitation which his policy
+had roused. But it was not intended by Arabi to strengthen the power of
+a Turkish Caliph. It was originally anti-Turkish, and looked to the
+revival of the Arab Caliphate, as well as to the personal advantage of
+Arabi himself. The Sultan could not oppose it without exciting the
+enmity of those whom he most wished to conciliate, so he sought to
+control it and turn it to his own advantage. He gave Arabi all possible
+aid and support. There is no reason to suppose that Arabi and his
+friends were deceived by this; but it was for their interest to avoid a
+conflict with the Sultan as long as possible, and to get what aid from
+him they could. But for the intervention of England, Arabi would no
+doubt have won the game against the Turk. He might even have caused the
+downfall of the Sultan; for it is a well-known fact that so great was
+the enthusiasm of the Moslems in Syria and Arabia for Arabi, that they
+were with difficulty restrained by the Turkish authorities from breaking
+out into open rebellion. This spirit had been fostered by the Sultan;
+but it naturally turned, not to the Turkish Caliph, but to the
+successful Arab adventurer. Even in Asia Minor and Constantinople the
+enthusiasm for Arabi was universal, and had he been allowed to triumph
+unmolested, it seems probable the Sultan would have been forced either
+to unite with him in a crusade against Christendom, or to send an army
+to put him down. Either of these courses would have been fatal; for no
+Moslem army would have fought against Arabi under such circumstances,
+and as against Europe the Sultan could have accomplished nothing.
+
+It is no doubt perfectly legitimate for a Caliph, especially for one
+whose title depends upon the strength of his sword, to stir up the
+enthusiasm of his people and attract their attention to himself as their
+leader. He cannot be blamed for improving every occasion to defend their
+rights and interfere in their behalf. If he is strong enough to do so,
+it is no doubt in full accord with the example and teaching of the
+Prophet that he should lead them against the infidels. It is not strange
+that a man of faith should be so dazzled by the possibility of such a
+crusade as to forget his own weakness. As he sits in his palace
+to-night,[7] and hears the roar of the guns announcing the great
+festival of Courban Beiram, and thinks that more than two hundred
+millions of the faithful are uniting with him in the sacrifice, and
+confessing their faith in the Prophet of whom he claims to be the
+successor and representative, it will be strange if he does not dream of
+what might be if he could but rally them round his throne; strange if he
+does not catch something of the inspiration of the Prophet himself, who,
+with God on his side, dared alone to face all Mecca, and with a few
+half-naked Arabs to brave the world. There is nothing in the Palace
+unfavourable to such a dream as this, and there will be nothing in the
+pomp and ceremony of the homage to be paid to him to-morrow morning to
+recall him from it. What a contrast it will be to come back from such a
+dream of universal dominion, and the triumph of the true faith, to the
+discussion of the sixty-first Article of the Treaty of Berlin and the
+rights of the Armenians! It is perfectly legitimate for a Caliph to have
+such dreams, and perfectly natural for him to prefer to try to realize
+them, rather than to give his attention to the reform of his empire; but
+without blaming the Caliph we may well doubt whether it is altogether
+wise for the Sultan of Turkey to indulge in such dreams.
+
+I believe that it would be better not only for Turkey but for Islam
+also, if the Sultan would give up his doubtful title to the Caliphate,
+and pass it over to the descendant of the Prophet who is Shereef of
+Mecca. As for Turkey, this is the only hope of the empire; and the
+experience of the Pope of Rome has made it clear that the loss of
+temporal power tends rather to strengthen than to weaken a great
+religious organization. There is no inclination in any part of the world
+to persecute Mohammedans, or interfere in any way with their faith. Only
+a very small minority of them are under the government of the Sultan,
+and those who are not enjoy as much religious liberty as those who are.
+This is not from fear of the Sultan, but it is in accord with the spirit
+of the age, and the manifest interest of other Governments. As a Caliph
+cannot by any possibility restore the strength of the Ottoman empire, so
+a Sultan of Turkey cannot be the spiritual leader of millions who are
+not in any way under his control. I see no reason to suppose that the
+transfer of the Caliph to Mecca would in any way weaken the faith of
+Moslems or diminish their zeal. Mohammedans in India and in Russia show
+no more inclination to abandon their faith than those who reside at
+Constantinople under the shadow of the Caliph; on the contrary, there is
+more unbelief in Constantinople than there. What is more, there is every
+reason to believe that such a transfer would gratify the great majority
+of Mohammedans, probably a majority of those living in the Turkish
+Empire, certainly all the Arabic-speaking population. In one way or
+another this change is sure to come, however it may be resisted by the
+Sultan; the very effort that he has made to arouse the spirit of Islam
+has made it more apparent than before that he is really powerless to
+defend any Mohammedan country against aggression. He could do nothing
+for Tunis against France. He could do nothing for Arabi against England.
+The very encouragement that he gave in these cases was an injury to
+them. The Arabs are all ready to assert their rights to the Caliphate
+and defend them against the Sultan. If he does not surrender the title
+voluntarily, sooner or later they will take it by force, and that part
+of the empire along with it.
+
+The Sultan complains of the interference of Europe in the affairs of his
+empire; but, in fact, he owes not only his throne, but his continued
+possession of the Caliphate, to their protection. Let it be known in
+Mecca to-day that Europe would favour such a change and encourage an
+insurrection in Syria and Arabia, and the new Shereef of Mecca would
+celebrate the Courban Beiram as Caliph amidst such enthusiasm as has not
+been known there for a hundred years.
+
+In spite of all this, however, in spite of the imperfection of his
+title, and the coolness or discontent of Mohammedans throughout the
+world, in spite of the growing weakness of the empire and his failure to
+defend those whom he has encouraged to resist Europe, it is not probable
+that Sultan Hamid will voluntarily surrender the Caliphate. Abd-ul-Aziz
+might have done it to save his empire, but Sultan Hamid is too religious
+a man; he values his title of Imam-ul-Mussilmin too highly to give it up
+without a struggle. It is safe to conclude that he will cling to it
+until it is taken by force by a stronger man.
+
+I have already mentioned incidentally the relation of Europe to the
+Caliphate. England and France are most directly interested in this
+question, and hitherto their policy has been to sustain the claims of
+the Sultans. They seem to be quite as anxious to maintain the Caliphate
+of Constantinople as the Sultans themselves, and its continuance has
+been due in great measure to their protection. As the interest of France
+in this question is only secondary, I will confine myself to the policy
+of England. It is not strange that England, with her Indian Empire and
+40,000,000 Mohammedan subjects, should be deeply interested in the
+question of the Caliphate. It must be a question of vital importance to
+her whether it is better for the peace of India to have the Caliphate in
+the hands of a temporal sovereign at Constantinople or of a Shereef of
+Mecca in Arabia. So long as she was in close alliance with the Sultan,
+and her influence at Constantinople was supreme, there could not be any
+doubt on this subject, for a Caliph at Mecca would be practically beyond
+her reach; but since the Crimean war English influence has seldom been
+paramount at Constantinople. Still, English statesmen have probably
+reasoned that, even if he were decidedly unfriendly, it was better to
+have a Caliph who had something to lose, and who, on occasion, could be
+reached by a British fleet and bombarded in his palace, than one in the
+deserts of Arabia, who could not be reached by pressure of any kind,
+either diplomatic or military, who might proclaim a holy war without
+fear of being called to account for it. There is always a great
+practical advantage in dealing with a responsible person. Then, again,
+the late Sultans have manifested no inclination to rouse the fanaticism
+of Mohammedans against Christendom. They have been only anxious that
+Christendom should forget them, and leave them to manage their own
+affairs in their own way. Under these circumstances no English interest
+has demanded the consideration of the question of the Caliphate. It is a
+religious question which no Christian Government could wish to take up
+unless forced to do so. Whatever the Turks may believe, it is certain
+that no European Power has any inclination to enter upon a crusade
+against the Mohammedan religion. Even the Pope of Rome, who in former
+days decreed crusades against the Moslem, is now on terms of the most
+friendly intimacy with the Caliph. England not only carefully protects
+the rights of Mohammedans in India, but she has used all her influence
+for years to strengthen the Ottoman Empire and discourage all agitation
+against the Caliphate of the Sultan.
+
+Such has been the policy of the past. But circumstances have changed,
+and long-cherished hopes have been disappointed. The effort to reform
+and strengthen the Turkish empire has failed chiefly because the Sultans
+have been unwilling or unable to abandon the strictly religious
+constitution of the Government, and to distinguish between their duties
+as Caliphs, and their duties as civil rulers over a mixed population of
+various sects. This failure has led to most unhappy complications in
+Europe, to the dismemberment of European Turkey, and to a great
+development of the influence of Russia, the Power most unfriendly to the
+existence of the Turkish Empire. It is now clear to all the world that
+Turkey cannot be reformed by a Caliph. In addition to this, the present
+Sultan, departing from the prudent course of his predecessors, has
+undertaken to rouse the hostility of Islam against Christendom, and to
+encourage fanatical outbreaks, not only in Africa, but in Asia as well.
+As Caliph he is no longer the friendly ally of the Christian Powers,
+but, as far as he dares, is acting against them. Under these changed
+circumstances the question must arise whether it is any longer for the
+interest of England to defend the Caliphate of Constantinople. It is not
+a question of deposing one Caliph and setting up another. This is not
+the work of a Christian Power. It is for Mohammedans to settle this
+question among themselves. If they prefer to continue to recognize the
+Sultan as Caliph, they should be free to do so. But the policy of
+England has not hitherto been one of neutrality. It has been the active
+support of the Sultan. The question now is whether this support should
+not be withdrawn, and the Arabs made to understand that if they prefer
+an Arab Caliph at Mecca, England will not interfere to prevent it.
+
+This is a very serious question, and the plan is open to the objection
+already suggested of the inaccessibility of Mecca. It is also to be
+considered that the Arabs are more fanatical and more easily excited
+than the Turks. But, on the other hand, it may be doubted whether the
+influence of the Shereef of Mecca would be greatly increased by his
+assuming the title of Caliph. It would not be recognized by the Turks,
+and Constantinople would be even more opposed to Mecca than it is now.
+The nature of the new Caliph's influence would be the same that it is
+now as Shereef of Mecca--a purely moral influence.
+
+Another thing to be considered is the fact that this is only a question
+of time. Sooner or later this change is sure to come. As the power of
+the Sultan continues to decline, he will be less and less able to resist
+the progress of this Arab movement. It is not easy to see exactly what
+England will gain by postponing this change. Certainly not the
+friendship of the Arabs. I cannot speak with authority of the feeling in
+India; but it is understood that Indian Mohammedans sympathize with the
+Arabs rather than the Turks. I cannot presume to give a decided opinion
+on this question; but the new responsibilities assumed by the British
+Government in Egypt, make it one of immediate practical importance. Are
+the real interests of England with the Turk or the Arab?
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[6] We have received this article from a valued correspondent, whose
+name, for obvious reasons, is not given.--ED.
+
+[7] The eve of Courban Beiram.
+
+
+
+
+THE BOLLANDISTS:
+
+THE LITERARY HISTORY OF A MAGNUM OPUS.
+
+
+The majority of educated people have, from time to time, in the course
+of their historical reading, come across some mention of the "Acta
+Sanctorum," or "Lives of the Saints;" while but few know anything as to
+the contents, or authorship, or history of that work. Yet it is a very
+great, nay a stupendous monument of what human industry, steadily
+directed for ages towards one point, can effect. Industry, directed for
+ages, I have said--an expression, which to some must seem almost like a
+misprint, but which is quite justified by facts, since the first volume
+issued by the company of the Bollandists, is dated Antwerp, 1643; and
+the last, Paris, A.D. 1875. Two hundred and forty years have thus
+elapsed, and yet the work is not concluded. Indeed, as it has taken
+well-nigh two centuries and a half to narrate the lives of the Saints
+commemorated in the first ten months of the year, it may easily happen
+that the bones of the present generation will all be mingled with the
+dust, before those Saints be reached who are celebrated on the 31st of
+December. Some indeed--prejudiced by the very name "Acta Sanctorum"--may
+be inclined to turn away, with a contempt bred of ignorance, from the
+whole subject. But if it were only as a mental and intellectual tonic
+the contemplation of these sixty stately folios, embracing about a
+thousand pages each, would be a most healthy exercise for the men of
+this age. This is the halcyon period of primers, introductions,
+handbooks, manuals. "Knowledge made Easy" is the cry on every side. We
+take our mental pabulum just as we take Liebig's essence of beef, in a
+very concentrated form, or as hom[oe]opathists imbibe their medicine, in
+the shape of globules. I do not desire, however, to say one word against
+such publications. The great scholars of the seventeenth century, the
+Bollandists, Casaubon, Fabricius, Valesius Baluze, D'Achery, Mabillon,
+Combefis, Vossius, Canisius, shut up their learning in immense folios,
+which failed to reach the masses as our primers and handbooks do,
+penetrating the darkness and diffusing knowledge in regions inaccessible
+to their more ponderous brethren. But at the same time their majestic
+tomes stand as everlasting protests on behalf of real and learned
+inquiry, of accurate, painstaking, and often most critical research into
+the sources whence history, if worth anything, must be drawn.
+
+I propose in this paper to give an account of the origin, progress,
+contents, and value of the work of the Bollandists, regarded as the
+vastest repertory of original material for the history of mediæval
+times. This immense series is popularly known either as the "Acta
+Sanctorum" or the Bollandists. The former is the proper designation. The
+latter, however, will suit best as the peg on which we shall hang our
+narrative. John Bolland, or Joannes Bollandus as it is in Latin, was the
+name of the founder of a Company which, more fortunate than most
+literary clubs, has lasted well-nigh three centuries. To him must be
+ascribed the honour of initiating the work, drawing the lines and laying
+the foundations of a building which has not yet been completed. That
+work was one often contemplated but never undertaken on the same
+exhaustive principles. Clement, the reputed disciple of the Apostles
+Peter and Paul, is reported--in the "Liber Pontificalis" or "Lives of
+the Popes;" dating from the early years of the sixth century--to have
+made provision for preserving the "Acts of the Martyrs." Apocryphal as
+this account seems, yet the honest reader of Eusebius must confess that
+the idea was no novel one in the second century, as is manifest from the
+well-known letter narrating the sufferings of the martyrs of Lyons and
+Vienne. Space would now fail us to trace the development of hagiography
+in the Church. Let it suffice to say that century after century, as it
+slowly rolled by, contributed its quota both in east and west. In the
+east even an emperor, Basil, gave his name to a Greek martyrology; while
+in both west and east the writings of Metaphrastes, Mombritius, Surius,
+Lipomanus, and Baronius, embalmed abundant legends in many a portly
+volume. Still the mind of a certain Heribert Rosweid, a professor at
+Douai, a Jesuit and an enthusiastic antiquarian, was not satisfied.
+Rosweid was a typical instance of those Jesuits, learned and devout, who
+at a great crisis in the battle restored the fallen fortunes of the
+Church of Rome. As the original idea of the "Acta Sanctorum" is due to
+him, we may be pardoned in giving a brief sketch of his career, though
+he was not in strictness a member of the Bollandist Company.
+
+Rosweid was born at Utrecht, in 1569, and entered the Society of Jesus
+in 1589, the year when all Europe, and the world at large, was ringing
+with the defeat of the Armada and the triumph of Protestantism. He
+studied and taught first at Douai and then at Antwerp, where, also after
+the manner of the Jesuits, he entered upon active pastoral work, in
+which he caught a contagious fever, of which he died A.D. 1629. His
+literary life was very active, and very fruitful in such literature as
+delighted that age. Thus he produced editions of various martyrologies,
+the modern Roman, the ancient Roman, and that of Ado; he discussed the
+question of keeping faith with heretics; took an active share in the
+everlasting controversy concerning the "Imitatio Christi," wherein he
+espoused the side of A-Kempis and the Augustinians, as against Gerson
+and the Benedictines; published the lives of the Eastern Ascetics, who
+were the founders of modern monasticism; debated with Isaac Casaubon
+concerning Baronius; and published, in 1607, the "Lives of the Belgic
+Saints," where we find the first sketch or general plan of the "Acta
+Sanctorum." The idea of this great work suggested itself to Rosweid
+while living at Douai, where he used to employ his leisure time in the
+libraries of the neighbouring Benedictine monasteries, in search of
+manuscripts bearing on the lives of the Saints. It was an age of
+criticism, and he doubtless felt dissatisfied with all existing
+compilations, content as they were to repeat, parrot-like and without
+any examination, the legends of earlier ages. It was an age of research,
+too--more fruitful in some respects than those which have followed--and
+he felt that an immense mass of original material had never yet been
+utilized. It was at this period of his life he produced the work above
+mentioned, which we have briefly named the "Lives of the Belgic Saints,"
+but the full title of which is, "Fasti Sanctorum quorum Vitæ in Belgicis
+Bibliothecis Manuscriptæ." He intended it as a specimen of a greater and
+more comprehensive work, embracing the lives of all the Saints known to
+the Church throughout the world. He proposed that it should embrace
+sixteen volumes, divided in the following manner:--The first volume
+dealing with the life of Christ and the great feasts; the second with
+the life of the Blessed Virgin and her feasts; the third to the
+sixteenth with the lives of the Saints according to the days of the
+month, together with no less than thirteen distinct indexes,
+biographical, historical, controversial, geographical, and moral; so
+that the reader might not have any ground for the complaint so often
+brought against modern German scholars, that they afford no apparatus to
+help the busy student when consulting their works. Rosweid's idea as to
+the manner in which those volumes should be compiled was no less
+original. He proposed first of all to bring together all the lives of
+Saints that had been ever published by previous hagiographers; which he
+would then compare with ancient manuscripts, as he was convinced that
+considerable interpolation had been made in the narratives. In addition,
+he desired to seek in all directions for new materials; and to
+illustrate all the lives hitherto published or unpublished, by
+explaining obscurities, reconciling difficulties, and shedding upon
+their darker details the light of a more modern criticism. Rosweid's
+fame was European in the first quarter of the seventeenth century; and
+his proposal attracted the widest attention. To the best judges it
+seemed utterly impracticable. Cardinal Bellarmine heard of it, and
+proved his keenness and skill in literary criticism by asking what age
+the man was who proposed such an undertaking. When informed that he was
+about forty, "Ask him," said the learned Cardinal, "whether he has
+discovered that he will live two hundred years; for within no smaller
+space can such a work be worthily performed by one man,"--an unconscious
+prophecy, which has found in fact a most ample fulfilment; for death
+snatched away Rosweid before he could do more towards his great
+undertaking than accumulate much precious material; while more than two
+hundred years have elapsed, and yet the work is not completed.
+
+After the death of Rosweid, the Society of Jesus, which now regarded the
+undertaking as a corporate one, entrusted its continuation to Bollandus.
+He was thirty-three years of age, and had distinguished himself in every
+branch of the Society's activity as a teacher, a divine, a scholar, and
+an orator. In this last capacity, indeed, it was his duty to address
+Latin sermons to the aristocracy of Antwerp, a fact which betokens a
+much more learned audience than now falls to any preacher's lot. He was
+a wise director of conscience too, a sphere of duty in which the Jesuits
+have always delighted. A story is told illustrating his skill in this
+direction. One of the highest magistrates of the city, being suddenly
+seized with a fatal illness, despatched a messenger for Bollandus, who
+at once responded to the call, only however to find the sick man in
+deepest trouble, on account of the sternness with which he had exercised
+his judicial functions. He acknowledged that he had often been the means
+of inflicting capital punishment when the other judges would have passed
+a milder sentence in the belief that he was rescuing the condemned from
+greater crimes, which they would inevitably commit, and securing the
+salvation of their souls through the repentance to which their ghostly
+adviser would lead them prior to their execution. Bollandus at once
+perceived that he had to deal with the over-scrupulous conscience of one
+who had striven, according to his light, to do his duty. He therefore
+produced his breviary, and proceeded to read and expound the hundred and
+first psalm, "I will sing of mercy and judgment;" making such a very
+pertinent application of it to the magistrate's case, as led him to cry
+out with tears, "What comfort thou hast brought me, Father! now I die
+happy." A consideration of these numerous and apparently inconsistent
+engagements may not be without some practical use in this age. Looking
+at the varied occupations of Bollandus and his fellows, and at the
+massive works which they at the same time produced, who can help smiling
+at the outcry which the advocates for the endowment of research, as they
+style themselves, raised some time ago against the simple proposal of
+the Oxford University Commission, that well-endowed professors should
+deliver some lectures on their own special subjects? Such a practice,
+they maintained, would utterly distract the mind from all original
+investigation of the sources. Such certainly was not the case with the
+Bollandists, who yet could make time carefully--far more carefully than
+most modern historians--to investigate the sources of European history.
+But then the Bollandists were real students, and had neither lawn tennis
+nor politics to divert them from their chosen career.
+
+Bollandus again is a healthy study for us moderns in the triumph
+exhibited by him of mind over matter, of the ardent student over
+physical difficulties. His rooms were no pleasant College chambers,
+lofty, commodious, and well-ventilated; on the contrary the apartments
+where the volumes commemorating the saints of January saw the light were
+two small dark chambers next the roof, exposed alike to the heat of
+summer and the cold of winter, in the Jesuit House at Antwerp. In them
+were heaped up, for such is the expression of his biographer, the
+documents accumulated by his Society during forty years. How vast their
+number must have been is manifest from this one fact that Bollandus
+possessed upwards of four hundred distinct Lives of Saints, and more
+than two hundred histories of cities, bishoprics, and monasteries in the
+Italian language alone, whence our readers may judge of the size of the
+entire collection which dealt with the saints and martyrs of China,
+Japan, and Peru, as well as those of Greece and Home.
+
+Bollandus was summoned to his life's work in 1629. He at once entered
+upon a vigorous pursuit of fresh manuscripts in every quarter of the
+globe, wherein he was mightily assisted by the organization of the
+Jesuit Society, and by the liberal assistance bestowed upon his
+undertaking by successive abbots of the great Benedictine Monastery of
+Liessies, near Cambray, specially by Antonius Winghius, the friend and
+patron, first of Rosweid, and then of Bollandus. Indeed, it was the
+existence and rich endowments of those great monasteries which explains
+the publication of such immense works as those of Bollandus, Mabillon,
+and Tillemont, quite surpassing any now issued even by the wealthiest
+publishers among ourselves, and only approached, and that at a distance,
+by Pertz's "Monumenta" in Germany.
+
+New material was now poured upon him from every quarter, from English
+Benedictines even and Irish Franciscans; though indeed, as regards the
+latter, Bollandus seems to have cherished a wholesome suspicion as to
+the genuineness of many, if not most, of the Irish legends. But
+Bollandus, though he worked hard, and knew no other enjoyment save his
+work, was only human. He soon found the labour was too great for any one
+man to perform, while, in addition, he was racked and torn with disease
+in many shapes; gout, stone, rupture, all settled like harpies upon his
+emaciated frame, so that in 1635 he was compelled to take Henschenius as
+his assistant. This was in every respect a fortunate choice, as
+Henschenius proved himself a man of much wider views as to the scope of
+the work than Bollandus himself. Bollandus had proposed simply to
+incorporate the notices of the Saints found in ancient martyrologies and
+manuscripts, adding brief notes upon any difficulties of history,
+geography, or theology, which might arise. To Henschenius was allotted
+the month of February. He at once set to work, and produced under the
+date of Feb. 6, exhaustive memoirs of SS. Amandus and Vedastus, Gallic
+bishops of the sixth and eleventh centuries whose lives present a
+striking picture of those troubled times, amid which the foundations of
+French history were laid. Henschenius scorned the narrow limits within
+which his master would fain limit himself. He boldly launched out into a
+discussion of all the aspects of his subject, discussing not merely the
+men themselves, but also the history of their times, and doing that in a
+manner now impossible, as the then well stored, but now widely scattered
+muniment rooms of the abbeys of Flanders and Northern France lay at his
+disposal. Bollandus was so struck with the success of this innovation
+that he at once abandoned his own restricted ideas, and adopted the more
+exhaustive method of his assistant, which of course involved the
+extension of the work far beyond the sixteen volumes originally
+contemplated. The first two volumes appeared in 1643, and the next
+three, including the "Saints of February," in 1658. About this time the
+reigning Pontiff, Alexander VII., who had been the life-long friend and
+patron of Bollandus, pressed upon him, an oft-repeated invitation to
+visit Rome, and utilize for his work the vast stores accumulated there
+and in the other libraries of Italy. Bollandus had hitherto excused
+himself. In fact, he possessed already more material than he could
+conveniently use. But now that larger apartments had been assigned to
+him, and proper arrangements and classifications adopted in his
+library--due especially to the skill of Henschenius--he felt that such a
+journey would be most advantageous to his work. As, however, he could
+not go in person, owing to his infirmities, which were daily increasing,
+he deputed thereto Henschenius and Daniel Papebrock, a young assistant
+lately added to the Company, and destined to spend fifty-five years in
+its service. The history of that literary journey is well worth reading.
+The reader, curious on such points, will find it in the "Life of
+Bollandus," prefixed to the first volume of the "March Saints," chap.
+xiii.--xx. Still more interesting, were it printed, would be the diary
+of his journey kept by Papebrock, now preserved in the Burgundy Library
+at Brussels, and numbered 17,672. Twenty-nine months were spent in this
+journey, from the middle of 1659 to the end of 1661. Bollandus
+accompanied his disciples as far as Cologne, where they were received
+with almost royal honours. After parting with their master, his
+followers proceeded up the Rhine and through Southern Germany, making a
+very thorough examination of the libraries, to all of which free access
+was given; the very Protestant town of Nuremberg being most forward to
+honour the literary travellers, while the President of the Lutheran
+Consistory assisted them even with his purse. Entering Italy by way of
+Trent, they arrived at Venice towards the end of October, where they
+found the first rich store of Greek manuscripts, and whence also they
+despatched by sea to Bollandus the first fruits of their toil. From
+Venice they made a thorough examination of the libraries of North-east
+Italy, at Vicenza, Verona, Padua, Bologna; whence they turned aside to
+visit Ravenna, walking thither one winter's day, November 18--a journey
+of thirty miles--and Henschenius, be it observed, was now sixty years of
+age.[8] They spent the greater part of the year 1661 at Rome, at
+Naples--where the blood and relics of St. Januarius were specially
+exhibited to them, an honour only conferred on kings and their
+ambassadors--and amid the rich libraries of the numerous abbeys of
+Southern Italy. But even when absent from Rome their work there went on
+apace. They enjoyed the friendship of some wealthy merchants from their
+own land, who liberally supplied them with money, enabling them to
+employ five or six scribes to copy the manuscripts they selected; while
+the patronage of two eminent scholars, even yet celebrated in the world
+of letters, Lucas Holstenius and Ferdinand Ughelli, backed by the still
+more powerful aid of the Pope, placed every library at their command.
+The Pope, indeed, went so far as to remove, in their case, every
+anathema forbidding the removal of books or manuscripts from the
+libraries. Lucas Holstenius, in his boyhood a Lutheran, in his later age
+an agent in the conversion of Queen Christina of Sweden, and one of the
+greatest among the giants of the black-letter learning of the age, rated
+the Bollandists and their work so highly that, at his decease, which
+took place while they were in Rome, he used their ministry alone in
+receiving the last sacraments of the Roman Church. Encouraged and
+supported thus, the Bollandists economized and utilized every moment.
+They were in the habit of rising before day to say their sacred offices;
+and then prosecuted, with their secretaries, their loved work till ten
+or eleven o'clock at night. When leaving Rome they were enabled
+therefore to send to Bollandus, by sea, a second consignment of three
+chests of manuscripts, in addition to a large store which they carried
+home themselves.
+
+On their return journey they visited Florence and Milan, spending more
+than half a year in these libraries, and then proceeded through France
+to Paris, where they met scholars like Du Cange, Combefis, and Labbe.
+They finally arrived at home December 21, 1661, to find Bollandus in a
+very precarious state of health, which terminated in his death in 1665.
+The life of Bolland is a type of the lives led by all his disciples and
+successors. Devout, retired, studious, they gave themselves up,
+generation after generation, to their appointed task, the elders
+continually assuming to themselves one or two younger assistants, so as
+to preserve their traditions unimpaired. And what a work was theirs! How
+it dwarfed all modern publications! Bollandus worked at eight of those
+folios, Henschenius at twenty-four, Papebrock at nineteen, Janningus his
+successor at thirteen; and so the work went on, aided by a subsidy from
+the Imperial House of Austria, till the suppression of the Jesuits,
+which was followed soon after by the dissolution of the Bollandists in
+1788. Their library became then an object of desire to many foreigners,
+who would undoubtedly have purchased it, had it not been for the
+opposition of the local government, and of several Belgian abbeys. It
+was finally bought by Godfrey Hermans, a Præmonstratensian abbat, under
+whose auspices the publication of the work continued for seven years
+longer, till, on the outburst of the wars of the French Revolution, the
+library was dispersed, part burnt, part hidden, part hurried into
+Westphalia. At length, after various chances, a great part of the
+manuscripts was obtained for the ancient library of the House of
+Burgundy, now forming part of the Royal Library at Brussels, while
+others of them were reclaimed for the library of the New Bollandists at
+Louvain, where the work is now carried on. After the dissolution of the
+old Company, two attempts at least, one in 1801 and the other in
+1810--this last under the all-powerful patronage of Napoleon--were made,
+though without success, to revive the work. Better fortune attended a
+proposal made in 1838 by four members of the Jesuit Society--viz., J. B.
+Boone, J. Vandermocre, P. Coppens, and J. van Hecke. Since that time the
+publication of the volumes has steadily proceeded; we may even hope that
+the progress of the work in the future will be still more rapid, as the
+Company has lately added to its ranks P. C. de Smedt, one of the most
+learned and laborious ecclesiastical historians in the Roman
+Communion.[9]
+
+After this sketch of the history of the Bollandists, which the literary
+student can easily supplement from the various memoirs of deceased
+members scattered through the volumes of the "Acta Sanctorum," we
+proceed to a consideration of the results of labours so long, so varied,
+and so strenuous. We shall now describe the plan of the work, the helps
+all too little known towards the effective use thereof, and then offer
+some specimens illustrating its critical value. When an ordinary reader
+takes up a volume of the "Acta Sanctorum,"' he is very apt to find
+himself utterly at sea. The very pagination is puzzling, two distinct
+kinds being used in all of the volumes, and even three in some. Then
+again lists, indexes, dissertations, acts of Saints, seem mingled
+indiscriminately. This apparent confusion, however, is all on the
+surface, as the reader will at once see, if he take the trouble to read
+the second chapter of the general preface prefixed to the first volume
+of the "January Saints,"' where the plan of the work is elaborately set
+forth. Let us briefly analyze a volume. The daily order of the Roman
+martyrology was taken as the basis of Bolland's scheme. Our author first
+of all arranged the saints of each day in chronological order,
+discussing them accordingly. A list of the names belonging to it is
+prefixed to the portion of the volume devoted to each separate day, so
+that one can see at a glance the lives belonging to that day and the
+order in which they are taken. A list then follows of those rejected or
+postponed to other days. Next come prefaces, prolegomena, and "previous
+dissertations," examining the lives, actions, and miracles of the
+Saints, authorship and history of the manuscripts, and other literary
+and historical questions. Then appear the lives of the Saints in the
+original language, if Latin; if not, then a Latin version is given;
+while of the Greek _menologion_, which the Bollandists discovered during
+their Roman journey, we have both the Greek original and a Latin
+translation. Appended to the lives are annotations, explaining any
+difficulties therein; while no less than five or six indexes adorn each
+volume: the first an alphabetical list of Saints discussed; the second
+chronological; the third historical; the fourth topographical; the fifth
+an onomasticon, or glossary; the sixth moral or dialectic, suggesting
+topics for preachers.
+
+Prefixed to each volume will be found a dedication to some of the
+numerous patrons of the Bollandists, followed by an account of the life
+and labours of any of their Company who had died since their last
+publication. Thus, opening the first volume for March, we find, in
+order, a dedication to the reigning Pope, Clement IX; the life of
+Bollandus; an alphabetical index of all the Saints celebrated during the
+first eight days of March; a chronological list of Saints discussed
+under the head of March 1; the lives of Saints, including the Greek ones
+discovered by Henschenius during his Italian tour, ranged under their
+various natal days, followed by five indexes as already described. But,
+the reader may well ask, is there no general index, no handy means of
+steering one's way through this vast mass of erudition, without
+consulting each one of those fifty or sixty volumes? Without such an
+apparatus, indeed, this giant undertaking would be largely in vain; but
+here again the forethought of Bollandus from the very outset of his
+enterprise made provision for a general index, which was at last
+published at Paris, in 1875. We possess also in Potthast's "Bibliotheca
+Historica Medii Aevi," a most valuable guide through the mazes of the
+"Acta Sanctorum," while for a very complete analysis of every volume,
+joined with a lucid explanation of any changes in arrangement, we may
+consult De Backer's "Bibliothèque des Ecrivains de la Compagnie de
+Jésus," t. v., under the name "Bollandus."
+
+But some may say, what is the use of consulting these volumes? Are they
+not simply gigantic monuments of misplaced and misapplied human
+industry, gathering up every wretched nursery tale and village
+superstition, and transmitting them to future ages? Such certainly has
+been the verdict of some who knew only the backs of the books, or who at
+farthest had opened by chance upon some passage where--true to their
+rule which compelled them to print their manuscripts as they found
+them--the Bollandists have recorded the legendary stories of the Middle
+Ages. Yet even for an age which searches diligently, as after hid
+treasure, for the old folk-lore, the nursery rhymes, the popular songs
+and legends of Scandinavia, Germany, and Greece, the legends of mediæval
+Christendom might surely prove interesting. But I regard the "Acta
+Sanctorum" as specially valuable for mediæval history, secular as well
+as ecclesiastical, simply because the authors--having had unrivalled
+opportunities of obtaining or copying documents--printed their
+authorities as they found them; and thus preserves for us a mine of
+historical material which otherwise would have perished in the French
+Revolution and its subsequent wars. Yet it is very strange how little
+this mine has been worked. We must suppose indeed that it was simply due
+to the want of the helps enumerated above--all of which have come into
+existence within the last twenty-five years--that neither of our own
+great historians who have dealt with the Middle Ages, Gibbon or Hallam,
+have, as far as we have been able to discover, ever consulted them.
+
+Yet the very titles of even a few out of the very many critical
+dissertations appended to the "Lives of the Saints," will show how very
+varied and how very valuable were the purely historical labours of the
+Bollandists. Thus opening the first volume of the "Thesaurus
+Antiquitatis," a collection of the critical treatises scattered through
+the volumes published prior to 1750, the following titles strike the
+eye:--"Dissertations on the Byzantine historian Theophanes," on the
+"Ancient Catalogues of the Roman Pontiffs," on the "Diplomatic Art"--a
+discussion which elicited the famous treatise of Mabillon, "De Re
+Diplomatica," laying down the true principles for distinguishing false
+documents from true--on certain mediæval "Itineraries in Palestine," on
+the "Patriarchates of Alexandria and Jerusalem," on the "Bishops of
+Milan to the year 1261," on the "Mediæval Kings of Majorca" and no less
+than three treatises on the "Chronology of the early Merovingian and
+other French Kings." Let us take for instance these last mentioned
+essays on the early French kings. In them we find the Bollandists
+discovering a king of France, Dagobert II., whose romantic history,
+banishment to Ireland, restoration to his kingdom by the instrumentality
+of Archbishop Wilfrid, of York, and tragic death, had till their
+investigations lain hidden from every historian. As soon, indeed, as
+they had brought this obscure episode to light, and had elaborately
+traced the genealogy of the Merovingians, their claim to the discovery
+was disputed by Hadr. Valesius, the historiographer to the French Court,
+who was of course jealous that any one else should know more about the
+origins of the French monarchy than he did. His pretension, however, was
+easily refuted by Henschenius, who showed that he had himself discovered
+this derelict king twelve years before Valesius turned his thoughts to
+the subject, having published in 1654 a dissertation upon him distinct
+from those embodied in the "Acta Sanctorum." Hallam, in his "History of
+the Middle Ages," introduces this king, and notices that his history had
+escaped all historians till discovered by some learned men in the
+seventeenth century, for it is in this vague way he alludes to the
+Bollandists--and then refers for his authority to Sismondi, who in turn
+knows nothing of the Bollandists' share in the discovery, but attributes
+it to Mabillon when treating of the "Acts of the Benedictine Saints."
+Let us again take up Hallam, and we shall in vain search for notices of
+the kings of Majorca, a branch of the Royal family of Arragon, who
+reigned over the Balearic Islands in the thirteenth and fourteenth
+centuries. Let any one, however, desirous of a picture of the domestic
+life of sovereigns during the Middle Ages, take up Papebrock's treatise
+on the "Palatine Laws" of James II., King of Majorca, A.D. 1324, where
+he will see depicted--all the more minutely because from the size of his
+principality the king had no other outlet for his energy--the ritual of
+a mediæval Court, illustrated, too, with pictures drawn from the
+original manuscript. In this document are laid down with painful
+minuteness, the duties of every official from the chancellor and the
+major-domo to the lowest scullions and grooms, including butlers, cooks,
+blacksmiths, musicians, scribes, physicians, surgeons, chaplains,
+choir-men, and chamberlains. Remote, too, as these kings of Majorca and
+their elaborate ceremonial may seem to be from the England of to-day, a
+careful study of these "Palace Laws" would seem to indicate either that
+our own Court Ritual was derived from it, or else that both are deduced
+from one common stock. The point of contact, however, between our own
+Court etiquette and that of Majorca is not so very hard to find. The
+kings of Arragon, acting on the usual principle, might is right,
+devoured the inheritance of their kinsmen, which lay so tantalizingly
+close to their own shores, during the lifetime of the worthy legislator,
+James II. But as Greece led captive her conqueror, Rome, so too Arragon,
+though superior in brute force, bowed to the genius of Majorca, at least
+on points of courtly details, and adopted _en bloc_ the laws of James
+II., which were published as his own by Peter IV., King of Arragon, A.D.
+1344. Thence they passed over to the United Kingdom of Castile and
+Arragon, and so may have easily found their way to England; for surely,
+if a naturally ceremonious people like the Spaniards needed instruction
+on such matters from the Majorcans, how much more must colder northerns
+like ourselves. This incident illustrates the special opportunities
+possessed by the Bollandists for consulting ancient documents, which
+otherwise would most probably have been lost for ever. Their manuscript
+of those Majorcan laws seems to have been originally the property of the
+legislator himself. When King James was dispossessed of his kingdom, he
+fled to Philip VI. of France, seeking redress, and bearing with him a
+splendid copy of his laws as a present, which his son and successor John
+in turn presented to Philip, Duke of Burgundy. After lying there a
+century it found its way to Flanders, in the train of a Duchess of
+Burgundy, and thus finally came into the possession of the Antwerp
+Jesuits.
+
+Again, the study of the Bollandists throws light upon the past history
+and present state of Palestine. Thus the indefatigable Papebrock,
+equally at home in the most various kinds of learning, discusses the
+history of the Bishops and Patriarchs of Jerusalem, in a tract
+preliminary to the third volume for May. But, not content with a subject
+so wide, he branches off to treat of divers other questions relating to
+Oriental history, such as the Essenes and the origin of Monasticism, the
+Saracenic persecution of the Eastern Christians, and the introduction of
+the Arabic notation into Europe. On this last head the Bollandists
+anticipate some modern speculations.[10] He maintains, on the authority
+of a Greek manuscript in the Vatican, written by an Eastern monk,
+Maximus Planudes, about 1270, that, while the Arabs derived their
+notation from the Brahmins of India, about A.D. 200, they only
+introduced it into Eastern Europe so late as the thirteenth century.
+Upon the geography of Palestine again they give us information. All
+modern works of travel or survey dealing with the Holy Land, make
+frequent reference to the records left us by men like Eusebius and
+Jerome, and the itineraries of the "Bordeaux Pilgrim," of Bishop
+Arculf, A.D., 700, Benjamin of Tudela, A.D. 1163, and others. In the
+second volume for May, we have presented to us two itineraries, one of
+which seems to have escaped general notice. One is the record of
+Antoninus Martyr, a traveller in the seventh century. This is well known
+and often quoted. The other is the diary of a Greek priest, Joannes
+Phocas, describing "the castles and cities from Antioch to Jerusalem,
+together with the holy places of Syria, Ph[oe]nicia, and Palestine," as
+they were seen by him in the year 1185. This manuscript, first published
+in the "Acta Sanctorum," was discovered in the island of Chios, by Leo
+Allatius, afterwards librarian of the Vatican. It is very rich in
+interesting details concerning the state of Palestine and Christian
+tradition in the twelfth century. The Bollandists again were the first
+to bring prominently forward in the last volume of June the "Ancient
+Roman Calendar of Polemeus Silvius." This seems to have been a combined
+calendar and diary, kept by some citizen of Rome in the middle of the
+fifth century. It records from day to day the state of the weather, the
+direction of the wind, the birthdays of eminent characters in history,
+poets like Virgil, orators like Cicero, emperors like Vespasian and
+Julian; and is at the same time most important as showing the large
+intermixture of heathen ideas and fashions which still continued
+paramount in Rome a century and a half after the triumph of
+Christianity.
+
+The new Bollandists, indeed, do not produce such exhaustive monographs
+as their predecessors did; but we cannot join in the verdict of the
+writer in the new issue of the "Encyclopædia Britannica," who tells us
+that the continuation is much inferior to the original work. Some of
+their articles manifest a critical acquaintance with the latest modern
+research, as, for instance, their dissertation on the Homerite Martyrs
+and the Jewish Homerite kingdom of Southern Arabia, wherein they display
+their knowledge of the work done by the great Orientalists of England
+and Germany, while in their history of St. Rose, of Lima, A.D. 1617,
+they celebrate the only American who was ever canonized by the Roman
+Catholic Church, and, at the same time, give us a fearful picture of the
+austerities to which fanaticism can lead its victims. Perhaps to some
+readers one of the most interesting points about this great work, when
+viewed in the light of modern history, will be the complete change of
+front which it exhibits on one of the test questions about Papal
+Infallibility. One of the great difficulties in the path of this
+doctrine is the case of Liberius, Pope in the middle of the fourth
+century. He is accused--and to ordinary minds the accusation seems
+just--of having signed an Arian formula, of having communicated with the
+Arians, and of having anathematized St. Athanasius. He stood firm for a
+while, but was exiled by the Emperor. During his absence Felix II. was
+chosen Pope. Liberius, after a time was permitted to return; whereupon
+the spectacle, so often afterwards repeated, was witnessed of two Popes
+competing for the Papal throne. Felix, however he may have fared in
+life, has fairly surpassed his opponent in death, since Felix appears in
+the Roman Martyrology as a Saint and a Martyr under the date of July
+29; while Liberius is not admitted therein even as a Confessor. This
+would surely seem to give us every guarantee for the sanctity of Felix,
+and the fallibility of Liberius, as the Roman Martyrology of to-day is
+guaranteed by a decree of Pope Gregory XIII., issued "under the ring of
+the Fisherman." In this decree "all patriarchs, archbishops, bishops,
+abbots, and religious orders," are bidden to use this Martyrology
+without addition, change, or subtraction; while any one so altering it
+is warned that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the
+Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul. The earlier Bollandists, with this
+awful anathema hanging over them, most loyally accepted the Roman
+Martyrology, and therefore most vigorously maintained, in the seventh
+volume for July, the heresy of Liberius, as well as the orthodoxy and
+saintship of Felix. But, as years rolled on, this admission was seen to
+be of most dangerous consequence; and so we find, in the sixth volume,
+for September, that Felix has become, as he still remains in current
+Roman historians, like Alzog, a heretic, a schismatic, and an anti-Pope,
+while Liberius is restored to his position as the only valid and
+orthodox Bishop of Rome. But then the disagreeable question arises, if
+this be so, what becomes of the Papal decree of Gregory XIII. issued
+_sub annulo piscatoris_, and the anathemas appended thereto? With the
+merits of this controversy, however, we are, as historical students, in
+a very slight degree concerned; and we simply produce these facts as
+specimens of the riches contained in the externally unattractive volumes
+of the "Acta Sanctorum." Space would fail us, did we attempt to set
+forth at any length the contents of these volumes. Suffice it to say
+that even upon our English annals, which have been so thoroughly
+explored of late years, the records of the Bollandists would probably
+throw some light, discussing as they do, at great length, the lives of
+such English Saints as Edward the Confessor and Wilfrid of York; and yet
+they are not too favourably disposed towards our insular Saints, since
+they plainly express their opinion that our pious simplicity has filled
+their Acts with incredible legends and miracles, more suited to excite
+laughter than to promote edification.
+
+But, doubtless, our reader is weary of our hagiographers. We must,
+therefore, notice briefly the controversies in which their labours
+involved them. Bollandus, when he died, departed amid universal regret:
+Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, all joined with Jesuits in regret
+for his death, and in prayers for his eternal peace. A few years
+afterwards the Society experienced the very fleeting character of such
+universal popularity. During the issue of the first twelve volumes, they
+had steered clear of all dangerous controversies by a rigid observance
+of the precepts laid down by Bollandus. In discussing, however, the life
+of Albert, at first Bishop of Vercelli, and afterwards Papal Legate and
+Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, in the beginning of the thirteenth
+century, Papebrock challenged the alleged antiquity of the Carmelite
+Order, which affected to trace itself back to Elijah the Tishbite. This
+piece of scepticism, brought down a storm upon his devoted head, which
+raged for years and involved Popes, yea even Princes and Courts, in the
+quarrel. Du Cange threw the shield of his vast learning over the honest
+criticism of the Jesuits. The Spanish Inquisition stepped forward in
+defence of the Carmelites; and toward the end of the seventeenth century
+condemned the first fourteen volumes of the "Acta Sanctorum" as
+dangerous to the faith. The Carmelites were very active in writing
+pamphlets in their own defence, wherein after the manner of the time
+they deal more in hard words and bad names than in sound argument. Thus
+the title of one of their pamphlets describes Papebrock as "the new
+Ishmael whose hand is against every man and every man's hand is against
+him." It is evident, however, that they felt the literary battle going
+against them, inasmuch as in 1696 they petitioned the King of Spain to
+impose perpetual silence upon their adversaries. As his most Catholic
+Majesty did not see fit to interfere, they presented a similar memorial
+to Pope Innocent XIII., who in 1699 imposed the _clôture_ upon all
+parties, and thus effectually terminated a battle which had raged for
+twenty years. Papebrock again involved himself at a later period in a
+controversy touching a very tender and very important point in the Roman
+system. In discussing the lives of some Chinese martyrs, he advocated
+the translation of the Liturgy into the vulgar tongue of the converts;
+which elicited a reply from Gueranger in his "Institutions
+Théologiques;" while again between the years 1729 and 1736 a pitched
+battle took place between the Bollandists and the Dominicans touching
+the genealogy of their founder, St. Dominic. All these controversies,
+with many other minor ones in which they were engaged, will be found
+summed up in an apologetic folio which the Bollandists published. In
+looking through it the reader will specially be struck by this
+instructive fact, that the bitterness and violence of the controversy
+were always in the inverse ratio of the importance of the points at
+issue. This much also must any fair mind allow: the Society of Jesus,
+since the days of Pascal and the "Provincial Letters," has been regarded
+as a synonym for dishonesty and fraud. From any such charge the student
+of the "Acta Sanctorum" must regard the Bollandists as free. In them we
+behold oftentimes a credulity which would not have found place among men
+who knew by experience more of the world of life and action, but, on
+the other hand, we find in them thorough loyalty to historical truth.
+They deal in no suppression of evidence; they give every side of the
+question. They write like men who feel, as Bollandus their founder did,
+that under no circumstances is it right to tell a lie. They never
+hesitate to avow their own convictions and predilections. They draw
+their own conclusions, and put their own gloss upon facts and documents;
+but yet they give the documents as they found them, and they enable the
+impartial student--working not in trammels as they did--to make a
+sounder and truer use of them. They display not the spirit of the mere
+confessor whose tone has been lowered by the stifling atmosphere of the
+casuistry with which he has been perpetually dealing; but, the braced
+soul, the hardy courage of the historical critic, who having climbed the
+lofty peaks of bygone centuries, has watched and noted the inevitable
+discovery and defeat of lies, the grandeur and beauty of truth. They
+were Jesuits indeed, and, like all the members of that Society, were
+bound, so far as possible, to sink all human affections and consecrate
+every thought to the work of their order. If such a sacrifice be lawful
+for any man, if it be permitted any thus to suppress the deepest and
+holiest affections which God has created, surely such a sacrifice could
+not have been made in the pursuance of a worthier or nobler object than
+the rescue from destruction, and the preservation to all ages, of the
+facts and documents contained in the "Acta Sanctorum."
+
+   GEORGE T. STOKES.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[8] Henschenius was a man of great physical powers. He always delighted
+in walking exercise, and executed many of his literary journeys in Italy
+on foot, even amid the summer heats. Ten years later, when close on
+seventy, he walked on an emergency ten leagues in one day through the
+mountains and forests of the Ardennes district, and was quite fresh next
+day for another journey. He was a man of very full complexion. According
+to the medical system of the time, he indulged in blood-letting once or
+twice a year.
+
+[9] Since this paper was written the Bollandists have issued a
+prospectus of an annual publication called "Analecta Bollandiana." From
+this document we learn that disease and death have now reduced the
+company very low. De Smedt has had to retire almost as soon as elected.
+
+[10] Cf., for instance, Colebrooke's "Life and Essays," i. 309. iii.
+360, 399, 474; W[oe]pké, "Memoir on the Propagation of Indian Cyphers in
+Jour. Asiatique," 1863.
+
+
+
+
+ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND MADAGASCAR.
+
+
+The present difficulties between France and Madagascar, and the recent
+arrival of a Malagasy Embassy in this country, have made the name of the
+great African island a familiar one to all readers of our daily journals
+during the last few weeks. For some time past we have heard much of
+certain "French claims" upon Madagascar, and alleged "French rights"
+there; and since the envoys of the Malagasy sovereign are now in England
+seeking the friendly offices of our Government on behalf of their
+country, it will be well for Englishmen to endeavour to understand the
+merits of the dispute, and to know why they are called to take part in
+the controversy.
+
+Except to a section of the English public which has for many years taken
+a deep interest in the religious history of the island and given
+liberally both men and money to enlighten it, and to a few others who
+are concerned in its growing trade, Madagascar is still very vaguely
+known to the majority of English people; and, as was lately remarked by
+a daily journal, its name has until recently been almost as much a mere
+geographical expression as that of Mesopotamia. The island has, however,
+certain very interesting features in its scientific aspects, and
+especially in some religious and social problems which have been worked
+out by its people during the past fifty years; and these may be briefly
+described before proceeding to discuss the principal subject of this
+article.
+
+Looking sideways at a map of the Southern Indian Ocean, Madagascar
+appears to rise like a huge sea monster out of the waters. The island
+has a remarkably compact and regular outline; for many hundred miles its
+eastern shore is almost a straight line, but on its north-western side
+it is indented by a number of deep land-locked gulfs, which include some
+of the finest harbours in the world. About a third of its interior to
+the north and east is occupied by an elevated mountainous region, raised
+from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea, and consisting of Primary
+rocks--granite, gneiss, and basalt--probably very ancient land, and
+forming during the Secondary geological epoch an island much smaller
+than the Madagascar of to-day. While our Oolitic and Chalk rocks were
+being slowly laid down under northern seas, the extensive coast plains
+of the island, especially on its western and southern sides, were again
+and again under water, and are still raised but a few hundred feet above
+the sea-level. From south-east to north and north-west there extends a
+band of extinct volcanoes, connected probably with the old craters of
+the Comoro Group, where, in Great Comoro, the subterranean forces are
+still active. All round the island runs a girdle of dense forest,
+varying from ten to forty miles in width, and containing fine timber and
+valuable gums and other vegetable wealth--a paradise for botanists,
+where rare orchids, the graceful traveller's-tree, the delicate
+lattice-leaf plant, the gorgeous flamboyant, and many other elsewhere
+unknown forms of life abound, and where doubtless much still awaits
+fuller research.
+
+While the flora of Madagascar is remarkably abundant, its fauna is
+strangely limited, and contains none of the various and plentiful forms
+of mammalian life which make Southern and Central Africa the paradise of
+sportsmen. The ancient land of the island has preserved antique forms of
+life: many species of lemur make the forest resound with their cries;
+and these, with the curious and highly-specialized Aye-aye, and peculiar
+species of Viverridæ and Insectivora, are probably "survivals", of an
+old-world existence, when Madagascar was one of an archipelago of large
+islands, whose remains are only small islands like the Seychelles and
+Mascarene Groups, or coral banks and atolls like the Chagos, Amirante,
+and others, which are slowly disappearing beneath the ocean. Until two
+or three hundred years ago, the coast-plains of Madagascar were trodden
+by the great struthious bird, the Æpyornis, apparently the most gigantic
+member of the avi-fauna of the world, and whose enormous eggs probably
+gave rise to the stories of the Rukh of the "Arabian Nights." It will be
+evident, therefore, that Madagascar is full of interest as regards its
+scientific aspects.
+
+When we look at the human inhabitants of the island there is also a
+considerable field for research, and some puzzling problems are
+presented. While Madagascar may be correctly termed "the great _African_
+island" as regards its geographical position, considered ethnologically,
+it is rather a Malayo-Polynesian island. Though so near Africa, it has
+but slight connection with the continent; the customs, traditions,
+language, and mental and physical characteristics of its people all tend
+to show that their ancestors came across the Indian Ocean from the
+south-east of Asia. There are traces of some aboriginal peoples in
+parts of the interior, but the dark and the brown Polynesians are
+probably both represented in the different Malagasy tribes; and although
+scattered somewhat thinly over an island a thousand miles long and four
+times as large as England and Wales, there is substantially but one
+language spoken throughout the whole of Madagascar. Of these people, the
+Hova, who occupy the central portion of the interior high-land, are the
+lightest in colour and the most civilized, and are probably the latest
+and purest Malay immigrants. Along the western coast are a number of
+tribes commonly grouped under the term Sàkalàva, but each having its own
+dialect, chief, and customs. They are nomadic in habits, keeping large
+herds of cattle, and are less given to agriculture than the central and
+eastern peoples. In the interior are found, besides the Hova, the
+Sihànaka, the Bétsiléo, and the Bàra; in the eastern forests are the
+Tanàla, and on the eastern coast are the Bétsimisàraka, Tamòro, Taisàka,
+and other allied peoples.
+
+From a remote period the various Malagasy tribes seem to have retained
+their own independence of each other, no one tribe having any great
+superiority; but about two hundred years ago a warlike south-western
+tribe called Sàkalàva conquered all the others on the west coast, and
+formed two powerful kingdoms, which exacted tribute also from some of
+the interior peoples. Towards the commencement of the present century,
+however, the Hova became predominant; having conquered the interior and
+eastern tribes, they were also enabled by friendship with England to
+subdue the Sàkalàva, and by the year 1824 King Radàma I. had established
+his authority over the whole of Madagascar except a portion of the
+south-west coast.
+
+A little earlier than the date last named--viz., in 1820--a Protestant
+mission was commenced in the interior of the island at the capital city,
+Antanànarivo. This was with the full approval of the king, who was a
+kind of Malagasy Peter the Great, and ardently desired that his people
+should be enlightened. A small body of earnest men sent out by the
+London Missionary Society did a great work during the fifteen years they
+were allowed to labour in the central provinces. They reduced the
+beautiful and musical Malagasy language to a written form; they gave the
+people the beginnings of a native literature, and a complete version of
+the Holy Scriptures, and founded several Christian churches. Many of the
+useful arts were also taught by the missionary artisans; and to all
+appearance Christianity and civilization seemed likely soon to prevail
+throughout the country.
+
+But the accession of Queen Ranavàlona I. in 1828, and, still more, her
+proclamation of 1835 denouncing Christian teaching, dispelled these
+pleasing anticipations. A severe persecution of Christianity ensued,
+which, however, utterly failed to prevent its progress, and only served
+to show in a remarkable manner the faith and courage of the native
+Christians, of whom at least two hundred were put to death. The
+political state of the country was also very deplorable during the
+queen's reign; almost all foreigners were excluded, and for some years
+even foreign commerce was forbidden.
+
+On the queen's death, in 1861, the island was reopened to trade and to
+Christian teaching, both of which have greatly progressed since that
+time, especially during the reign of the present sovereign, who made a
+public profession of Christianity at her accession in 1868. By the
+advice and with the co-operation of her able Prime Minister numerous
+wise and enlightened measures have been passed for the better government
+of the country; idolatry has entirely passed away from the central
+provinces; education and civilization have been making rapid advances;
+and all who hope for human progress have rejoiced to see how the
+Malagasy have been gradually rising to the position of a civilized and
+Christian people.
+
+The present year has, however, brought a dark cloud over the bright
+prospects which have been opening up for Madagascar. Foreign aggression
+on the independence of the country is threatened on the part of France,
+and a variety of so-called "claims" have been put forward to justify
+interference with the Malagasy, and alleged "rights" are urged to large
+portions of their territory.
+
+It is not perfectly clear why the present time has been chosen for this
+recent ebullition of French feeling, since, if any French rights ever
+existed to any portion of Madagascar, they might have been as justly (or
+unjustly) urged for the last forty years as now. Some three or four
+minor matters have no doubt been made the ostensible pretext,[11] but
+the real reason is doubtless the same as that which has led to French
+attempts to obtain territory in Tongking, in the Congo Valley, in the
+Gulf of Aden, and in Eastern Polynesia, viz., a desire to retrieve
+abroad their loss of influence in Europe; and especially to heal the
+French _amour propre_, sorely wounded by their having allowed England to
+settle alone the Egyptian difficulty.
+
+It is much to be wished that some definite and authoritative statement
+could be obtained from French statesmen or writers as to the exact
+claims now put forward and their justification, with some slight
+concession to the request of outsiders for reason and argument. As it
+is, almost every French newspaper seems to have a theory of its own, and
+we read a good deal about "our ancient rights," and "our acknowledged
+claims," together with similar vague and rather grandiose language. As
+far as can be ascertained, four different theories seem to be held:--(1)
+Some French writers speak of their "ancient rights," as if the various
+utter failures of their nation to retain any military post in
+Madagascar in the 17th and 18th centuries were to be urged as giving
+rights of possession.
+
+(2) Others talk about "the treaties of 1841" with two rebellious
+Sàkalàva tribes as an ample justification of their present action.
+
+(3) Others, again, refer to the repudiated and abandoned "Lambert
+treaty" of 1862 as, somehow or other, still giving the French a hold
+upon Madagascar. And (4) during the last few days we have been gravely
+informed that "France will insist upon carrying out the treaty of 1868,"
+which gives no right in Madagascar to France beyond that given to every
+nation with whom a treaty has been made, and which says not one word
+about any French protectorate.[12]
+
+It will be necessary to examine these four points a little in detail.
+
+1. Of what value are "ancient French rights" in Madagascar? These do not
+rest upon _discovery_ of the country, or prior occupation of it, since
+almost every writer, French, English, or German, agrees that the
+Portuguese, in 1506, were the first Europeans to land on the island.
+They retained some kind of connection with Madagascar for many years;
+and so did the Dutch, for a shorter period, in the early part of the
+seventeenth century; and the English also had a small colony on the
+south-west side of the island before any French attempts were made at
+colonization. Three European nations therefore preceded the French in
+Madagascar.
+
+During the seventeenth century, from 1643 to 1672, repeated efforts were
+made by the French to maintain a hold on three or four points of the
+east coast of the island. But these were not colonies, and were so
+utterly mismanaged that eventually the French were driven out by the
+exasperated inhabitants; and after less than thirty years' intermittent
+occupation of these positions, the country was abandoned by them
+altogether for more than seventy years.[13] In the latter part of the
+eighteenth century fresh attempts were made (after 1745), but with
+little better result; one post after another was relinquished; so that
+towards the beginning of the present century the only use made of
+Madagascar by the French was for the slave-trade, and the maintenance of
+two or three trading stations for supplying oxen to the Mascarene
+Islands.[14] In 1810 the capture of Mauritius and Bourbon by the British
+gave a decisive blow to French predominance in the Southern Indian
+Ocean; their two or three posts on the east coast were occupied by
+English troops, and were by us given over to Radàma I., who had
+succeeded in making himself supreme over the greater portion of the
+island. The French eventually seized the little island of Ste. Marie's,
+off the eastern coast, but retained not a foot of soil upon the
+mainland; and so ended, it might have been supposed, their "ancient
+rights" in Madagascar.[15]
+
+It is, however, quite unnecessary to dwell further on this point, as the
+recognition by the French, in their treaty with Radàma II., of that
+prince as _King of Madagascar_ was a sufficient renunciation of their
+ancient pretensions. This is indeed admitted by French writers. M.
+Galos, writing in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_(Oct. 1863, p. 700), says,
+speaking of the treaty of Sept. 2, 1861:--
+
+     "By that act, in which Radàma II. appears as King of Madagascar, we
+     have recognized without restriction his sovereignty over all the
+     island. In consequence of that recognition two consuls have been
+     accredited to him, the one at Tanànarìvo, the other at Tamatave,
+     who only exercise their functions by virtue of an _exequatur_ from
+     the real sovereign."
+
+Again he remarks:--?
+
+     "We see that France would not gain much by resuming her position
+     anterior to 1861; also, we may add, without regret, that it is no
+     longer possible. We have recognized in the King of Madagascar the
+     necessary quality to enable him to treat with us on all the
+     interests of the island. It does not follow, because he or his
+     successors fail to observe the engagements that they have
+     contracted, that therefore the quality aforesaid is lost, _or that
+     we should have the right to refuse it to them for the future_."[16]
+
+And the treaty of 1868 again, in which the present sovereign is
+recognized as "Reine de Madagascar," fully confirms the view of the
+French writer just cited.[17]
+
+2. Let us now look for a moment at the Lambert treaty, or rather
+charter, of 1862. On his accession to the throne in 1861, the young
+king, Radàma II., soon fell into follies and vices which were not a
+little encouraged by some Frenchmen who had ingratiated themselves with
+him. A Monsieur Lambert, a planter from Réunion, managed to obtain the
+king's consent to a charter conceding to a company to be formed by
+Lambert very extensive rights over the whole of Madagascar. The king's
+signature was obtained while he was in a state of intoxication, at a
+banquet given at the house of the French Consul, and against the
+remonstrances of all the leading people of the kingdom. But the
+concession was one of the principal causes of the revolution of the
+following year, in which the king lost both crown and life; and it was
+promptly repudiated by the new Sovereign and her Government, as a
+virtual abandonment of the country to France. Threats of bombardment,
+&c., were freely used, but at length it was arranged that, on the
+payment of an indemnity of a million francs by the native Government to
+the company, its rights should be abandoned. It is said that this
+pacific result was largely due to the good sense and kindly feeling of
+the Emperor Napoleon, who, on being informed of the progress in
+civilization and Christianity made by the Malagasy, refused to allow
+this to be imperilled by aggressive war. There would seem, then, to be
+no ground for present French action on the strength of the repudiated
+Lambert treaty.
+
+3. As already observed, several French public prints have been loudly
+proclaiming that France is resolved "to uphold the treaty of 1868 in its
+entirety."[18] It may with the same emphasis be announced that the
+Malagasy Government is equally resolved to uphold it, so far at least as
+they are concerned, especially its first article, which declares that
+"in all time to come the subjects of each power shall be friends, and
+shall preserve amity, and shall never fight." But it should be also
+carefully noted that this 1868 treaty recognizes unreservedly the Queen
+as Sovereign _of Madagascar_, makes no admission of, or allusion to, any
+of these alleged French rights, much less any protectorate; and is
+simply a treaty of friendship and commerce between two nations,
+standing, as far as power to make treaties is concerned, on an equal
+footing. If French statesmen, therefore, are sincere in saying that they
+only require the maintenance of the treaty of 1868 in its integrity, the
+difficulties between the two nations will soon be at an end.
+
+But it is doubtful whether the foregoing is really a French "claim," as
+far more stress has been laid, and will still doubtless be laid, upon
+certain alleged treaties of 1841. What the value of these is we must now
+consider.
+
+4. The facts connected with the 1841 treaties are briefly these:--In the
+year 1839 two of the numerous Sàkalàva tribes of the north-west of the
+island, who had since the conquest in 1824 been in subjection to the
+central government, broke into rebellion. It happened that a French war
+vessel was then cruising in those waters, and as the French had for some
+time previously lost all the positions they had ever occupied on the
+east coast, it appeared a fine opportunity for recovering prestige in
+the west. By presents and promises of protection they induced, it is
+alleged, the chieftainess of the Ibòina people, and the chief of the
+Tankàrana, further north, to cede to them their territories on the
+mainland, as well as the island of Nòsibé, off the north-west coast.
+These treaties are given by De Clercq, "Recueil de Traités," vol. iv.
+pp. 594, 597; but whether these half-barbarous Sàkalàva, ignorant of
+reading and writing, knew what they were doing, is very doubtful. Nòsibé
+was, however, taken possession of by the French in 1841, and has ever
+since then remained in their hands; but, curiously enough, until the
+present year, no claim has ever been put forward to any portion of the
+mainland, or any attempt made to take possession of it. But these
+treaties have been lately advanced as justifying very large demands on
+the part of the French, including (_a_) a protectorate over the portions
+ceded; (_b_) a protectorate over all the northern part of the island,
+from Mojangà across to Aritongil Bay; (_c_) a protectorate over all the
+western side of the island; finally (_d_), "general rights" (whatever
+these may mean) over all Madagascar! Most English papers have rightly
+considered these treaties as affording no justification for such large
+pretensions, although one or two[19] have argued that the London press
+has unfairly depreciated the strength of French claims. Is this really
+so?
+
+The Malagasy Government and its envoys to Europe have strenuously denied
+the right of a rebellious tribe to alienate any portion of the country
+to a foreign power; a right which would never be recognized by any
+civilized nation, and which they will resist to the last. The following
+are amongst some of the reasons they urge as vitiating and nullifying
+any French claim upon the mainland founded upon the 1841 treaties:--
+
+i. The territory claimed had been fairly conquered in war in 1824 by the
+Hova, and their sovereign rights had for many years never been disputed.
+
+ii. The present queen and her predecessors had been acknowledged by the
+French in their treaties of 1868 and 1862 as sovereigns of Madagascar,
+without any reserve whatever. (See also _Revue des deux Mondes_, already
+cited.)
+
+iii. Military posts have been established there, and customs duties
+collected by Hova officials ever since the country was conquered by
+them, and these have been paid without any demur or reservation by
+French as well as by all other foreign vessels. Some years ago
+complaints were made by certain French traders of overcharges; these
+were investigated, and money was refunded.
+
+iv. All the Sàkalàva chiefs in that part of the island have at various
+times rendered fealty to the sovereign at Antanànarìvo.
+
+v. These same Sàkalàva, both princes and people, have paid a yearly
+poll-tax to the Central Government.
+
+vi. The French flag has never been hoisted on the mainland of
+Madagascar, nor, for forty years, has any claim to this territory been
+made by France, nothing whatever being said about any rights or
+protectorate on their part in the treaties concluded during that period.
+
+vii. The Hova governors have occasionally (after the fashion set now and
+then by governors of more civilized peoples) oppressed the conquered
+races. But the Sàkalàva have always looked to the Queen at Antanànarìvo
+for redress (and have obtained it), and never has any reference been
+made to France, nor has any jurisdiction been claimed by France or by
+the colonial French authorities in the matter.
+
+viii. British war-vessels have for many years past had the right
+(conceded by our treaty of 1865) to cruise in these north-western bays,
+creeks, and rivers, for the prevention of the slave trade. The British
+Consul has landed on this territory, and in conducting inquiries has
+dealt directly with the Hova authorities without the slightest reference
+to France, or any claim from the latter that he should do so.
+
+ix. The French representatives in Madagascar have repeatedly blamed the
+Central Government for not asserting its authority more fully over the
+north-west coast; and several years ago, in the reign of Ranavàlona I.,
+a French subject, with the help of a few natives, landed on this coast
+with the intention of working some of the mineral productions, and built
+a fortified post. Refusing to desist, he was attacked by the Queen's
+troops, and eventually killed. No complaint was ever made by the French
+authorities on account of this occurrence, as it was admitted to be the
+just punishment for an unlawful act. Yet it was done on what the French
+now claim as their territory.
+
+x. And, lastly, France has quite recently (in May of this year) extorted
+a heavy money fine from the Malagasy Government for a so-called
+"outrage" committed by the Sàkalàva upon some Arabs from Mayotta,
+sailing under French colours. These latter were illegally attempting to
+land arms and ammunition, and were killed in the fight which ensued. The
+demand was grossly unjust, but the fact of its having been made would
+seem to all impartial persons to vitiate utterly all French claims to
+this territory, as an unmistakable acknowledgment of the Hova supremacy
+there.
+
+Such are, as far as can be ascertained, the most important reasons
+recently put forth for French claims upon Madagascar, and the Malagasy
+replies thereto; and it would really be a service to the native
+Government and its envoys if some French writer of authority and
+knowledge would endeavour to refute the arguments just advanced.
+
+Another point of considerable importance is the demand of the French
+that leases of ninety-nine years shall be allowed. This has been
+resisted by the Malagasy Government as most undesirable in the present
+condition of the country. It is, however, prepared to grant leases of
+thirty-five years, renewable on complying with certain forms. It
+argues, with considerable reason on its side, that unless all powers of
+obtaining land by foreigners are strictly regulated, the more ignorant
+coast people will still do as they are known to have done, and will make
+over, while intoxicated, large tracts of land to foreign adventurers for
+the most trifling consideration, such as a bottle of rum, or a similar
+payment.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The question now arises, what have Englishmen to do in this matter, and
+what justifies our taking part in the dispute?
+
+Let us first frankly make two or three admissions. We have no right to
+hinder, nor do we seek to prevent, the legitimate development of the
+colonial power of France. So far as France can replace savagery by true
+civilization, we shall rejoice in her advances in any part of the world.
+And further, we have no right to, nor do we pretend to the exercise of,
+the duty of police of the world. But at the same time, while we ought
+not and cannot undertake such extensive responsibilities, we have, in
+this part of the Indian Ocean, constituted ourselves for many years a
+kind of international police for the suppression of the slave-trade, in
+the interests of humanity and freedom; and this fact has been expressly
+or tacitly recognized by other European Powers. The sacrifices we have
+made to abolish slavery in our own colonies, and our commercial
+supremacy and naval power, have justified and enabled us to take this
+position. And, as we shall presently show, the supremacy of the French
+in Madagascar would certainly involve a virtual revival of the
+slave-trade.
+
+It may also be objected by some that, as regards aggression upon foreign
+nations, we do not ourselves come into court with clean hands. We must
+with shame admit the accusation. But, on the other hand, we do not carry
+on religious persecution in the countries we govern; and, further, we
+have restored the Transvaal, we have retired from Afghanistan, and,
+notwithstanding the advocates of an "Imperialist" policy in Egypt, we
+are not going to retain the Nile Delta as a British province. And, as
+was well remarked in the _Daily News_ lately, "such an argument proves a
+great deal too much. It would be fatal to the progress of public opinion
+as a moral agent altogether, and might fix the mistaken policy of a
+particular epoch as the standard of national ethics for all time."
+
+What claim, then, has England to intervene in this dispute, and to offer
+mediation between France and Madagascar?
+
+(_a_) England has greatly aided Madagascar to attain its present
+position as a nation. Largely owing to the help she gave to the
+enlightened Hova king, Radàma I., from 1817 to 1828, he was enabled to
+establish his supremacy over most of the other tribes of the island,
+and, in place of a number of petty turbulent chieftaincies, to form one
+strong central government, desirous of progress, and able to put down
+intestine wars, as well as the export slave-trade of the country. For
+several years a British agent, Mr. Hastie, lived at the Court of Radàma,
+exercising a powerful influence for good over the king, and doing very
+much for the advancement of the people. In later times, through English
+influence, and by the provisions of our treaty with Madagascar, the
+import slave-trade has been stopped, and a large section of the slave
+population--those of African birth, brought into the island by the Arab
+slaving dhows--has been set free (in June,1877).
+
+(_b_) England has done very much during the last sixty years to develop
+civilization and enlightenment in Madagascar. The missionary workmen,
+sent out by the London Missionary Society from 1820 to 1835, introduced
+many of the useful arts--viz., improved methods of carpentry,
+iron-working, and weaving, the processes of tanning, and several
+manufactures of chemicals, soap, lime-burning, &c.; and they also
+constructed canals and reservoirs for rice-culture.
+
+From 1862 to 1882 the same Society's builders have introduced the use of
+brick and stone construction, have taught the processes of brick and
+tile manufacture and the preparation of slates, and have erected
+numerous stone and brick churches, schools, and houses; and these arts
+have been so readily learned by the people that the capital and other
+towns have been almost entirely rebuilt within the last fifteen years
+with dwellings of European fashion. England has also been the principal
+agent in the intellectual advance of the Malagasy; for, as already
+mentioned, English missionaries were the first to reduce the native
+language to a grammatical system, and to give the people their own
+tongue in a written form. They also prepared a considerable number of
+books, and founded an extensive school system.[20] If we look at what
+England has done for Madagascar, a far more plausible case might be made
+out--were we so disposed--for "English claims" on the island, than any
+that France can produce.
+
+(_c_) England has considerable political interests in preserving
+Madagascar free from French control. These should not be overlooked, as
+the influence of the French in those seas is already sufficiently
+strong. Not only are they established in the small islands of Ste. Marie
+and Nòsibé, off Madagascar itself, but they have taken possession of two
+of the Comoro group, Mayotta and Mohilla. Réunion is French; and
+although Mauritius and the Seychelles are under English government, they
+are largely French in speech and sympathy. And it must be remembered
+that the first instalment of territory which is now coveted includes
+five or six large gulfs, besides numerous inlets and river mouths, and
+especially the Bay of Diego Suarez, one of the finest natural harbours,
+and admirably adapted for a great naval station. The possession of
+these, and eventually of the whole of the island, would seriously affect
+the balance of power in the south-west Indian Ocean, making French
+influence preponderant in these seas, and in certain very possible
+political contingencies would be a formidable menace to our South
+African colonies.
+
+
+(_d_) We have also commercial interests in Madagascar which cannot be
+disregarded, because, although the island does not yet contribute
+largely to the commerce of the world, it is a country of great natural
+resources, and its united export and import trade, chiefly in English
+and American hands, is already worth about a million annually. Our own
+share of this is fourfold that of the French, and British subjects in
+Madagascar outnumber those of France in the proportion of five to one;
+and our valuable colony of Mauritius derives a great part of its
+food-supply from the great island.
+
+But apart from the foregoing considerations, it is from no narrow
+jealousy that we maintain that French preponderance in Madagascar would
+work disastrously for freedom and humanity in that part of the world. We
+are not wholly free from blame ourselves with regard to the treatment of
+the coolie population of Mauritius; but it must be remembered that,
+although that island is English in government, its inhabitants are
+chiefly French in origin, and they retain a great deal of that utter
+want of recognition of the rights of coloured people which seems
+inherent in the French abroad. So that successive governors have been
+constantly thwarted by magistrates and police in their efforts to obtain
+justice for the coolie immigrants. A Commission of Inquiry in 1872,
+however, forced a number of reforms, and since then there has been
+little ground for complaint. But in the neighbouring island of Réunion
+the treatment of the Hindu coolies has been so bad that at length the
+Indian Government has refused to allow emigration thither any longer.
+For some years past French trading vessels have been carrying off from
+the north-west Madagascar coast hundreds of people for the Réunion
+plantations. Very lately a convention was made with the Portuguese
+authorities at Mozambique to supply coloured labourers for Réunion, and,
+doubtless, also with a view to sugar estates yet to be made in
+Madagascar--a traffic which is the slave-trade in all but the name. The
+French flag is sullied by being allowed to be used by slaving dhows--an
+iniquity owing to which our brave Captain Brownrigg met his death not
+long ago. Is it any exaggeration to say that an increase of French
+influence in these seas is one of sad omen for freedom?
+
+And, further, a French protectorate over a part of the island would
+certainly work disastrously for the progress of Madagascar itself. It
+has been already shown that during the present century the country has
+been passing out of the condition of a collection of petty independent
+States into that of one strong Kingdom, whose authority is gradually
+becoming more and more firmly established over the whole island. And all
+hope of progress is bound up in the strengthening and consolidation of
+the central Hova Government, with capable governors representing its
+authority over the other provinces. But for many years past the French
+have depreciated and ridiculed the Hova power; and except M. Guillain,
+who, in his "Documents sur la Partie Occidentale de Madagascar," has
+written with due appreciation of the civilizing policy of Radàma I.,
+there is hardly any French writer but has spoken evil of the central
+government, simply because every step taken towards the unification of
+the country makes their own projects less feasible. French policy is,
+therefore, to stir up the outlying tribes, where the Hova authority is
+still weak, to discontent and rebellion, and so cause internecine war,
+in which France will come in and offer "protection" to all rebels. Truly
+a noble "mission" for a great and enlightened European nation!
+
+After acknowledging again and again the sovereign at Antanànarìvo as
+"Queen of Madagascar," the French papers have lately begun to style Her
+Majesty "Queen of the Hovas," as if there were not a dozen other tribes
+over whom even the French have never disputed her authority; while they
+write as if the Sàkalàva formed an independent State, with whom they had
+a perfect right to conclude treaties. More than this: after making
+treaties with at least two sovereigns of Madagascar, accrediting consuls
+to them and receiving consuls appointed by them, a portion of the French
+press has just discovered that the Malagasy are "a barbarous people,"
+with whom it would be derogatory to France to meet on equal terms.[21]
+Let us see what this barbarous Malagasy Government has been doing during
+the last few years:--
+
+i. It has put an end to idolatry in the central and other provinces, and
+with it a number of cruel and foolish superstitions, together with the
+use of the _Tangéna_ poison-ordeal,[22] infanticide, polygamy, and the
+unrestricted power of divorce.
+
+ii. It has codified, revised, and printed its laws, abolishing capital
+punishment (formerly carried out in many cruel forms), except for the
+crimes of treason and murder.
+
+iii. It has set free a large portion of the slave population, indeed
+all African slaves brought from beyond the seas, and has passed laws by
+which no Malagasy can any longer be reduced to slavery for debt or for
+political offences.
+
+iv. It has largely limited the old oppressive feudal system of the
+country, and has formed a kind of responsible Ministry, with departments
+of foreign affairs, war, justice, revenue, trade, schools, &c.
+
+v. It has passed laws for compulsory education throughout the central
+provinces, by which the children in that part of the island are now
+being educated.
+
+vi. It has begun to remodel its army, putting it on a basis of short
+service, to which all classes are liable, so as to consolidate its power
+over the outlying districts, and bring all the island under the action
+of the just and humane laws already described.
+
+vii. It has made the planting of the poppy illegal, subjecting the
+offender to a very heavy fine.
+
+viii. It has passed several laws forbidding the manufacture and
+importation of ardent spirits into Imérina, and is anxious for powers in
+the treaties now to be revised to levy a much heavier duty at the ports.
+
+We need not ask if these are the acts of a barbarous nation, or whether
+it would be for the interests of humanity and civilization and progress
+if the disorderly elements which still remain in the country should be
+encouraged by foreign interference to break away from the control they
+have so long acknowledged. It is very doubtful whether any European
+nation has made similar progress in such a short period as has this Hova
+Government of Madagascar.
+
+It may also be remarked that although it has also been the object of the
+French to pose as the friends of the Sàkalàva, whom they represent as
+down-trodden, it is a simple matter of fact that for many years past
+these people have been in peaceable subjection to the Hova authority.
+The system of government allows the local chiefs to retain a good deal
+of their former influence so long as the suzerainty of the Queen at
+Antanànarìvo is acknowledged. And a recent traveller through this
+north-west district, the Rev. W. C. Pickersgill, testifies that on
+inquiring of every tribe as to whom they paid allegiance, the invariable
+reply was, "To Ranavàlo-manjàka, Queen of Madagascar." It is indeed
+extremely probable that, in counting upon the support of these
+north-westerly tribes against the central government, the French are
+reckoning without their host, and will find enemies where they expect
+allies.[23] In fact, the incident which was one of the chief pretexts
+for the revival of these long-dormant claims--the hoisting of the
+Queen's flag at two places--really shows how well disposed the people
+are to the Hova Government, and how they look to the Queen for justice.
+
+It will perhaps be asked, Have we any diplomatic standing-ground for
+friendly intervention on behalf of the Malagasy? I think there are at
+least two considerations which--altogether apart from our commercial and
+political interests in the freedom of the country, and what we have done
+for it in various ways--give us a right to speak in this question. One
+is, that there has for many years past been an understanding between the
+Governments of France and England that neither would take action with
+regard to Madagascar without previous consultation with each other.[24]
+We are then surely entitled to speak if the independence of the island
+is threatened. Another reason is, that we are to a great extent pledged
+to give the Hova Government some support by the words spoken by our
+Special Envoy to the Queen Ranavàlona last year. Vice-Admiral Gore-Jones
+then repeated the assurance of the understanding above-mentioned, and
+encouraged the Hova Government to consolidate their authority on the
+west coast, and, in fact, his language stimulated them to take that
+action there which the French have made a pretext for their present
+interference.[25]
+
+In taking such a line of action England seeks no selfish ends. We do not
+covet a foot of Madagascar territory; we ask no exclusive privileges;
+but I do maintain that what we have done for Madagascar, and the part we
+have taken in her development and advancement, gives us a claim and
+imposes on us an obligation to stand forward on her behalf against those
+who would break her unity and consequently her progress. The French will
+have no easy task to conquer the country if they persist in their
+demands; the Malagasy will not yield except to overwhelming force, and
+it will prove a war bringing heavy cost and little honour to France.
+
+May I not appeal to all right-minded and generous Frenchmen that their
+influence should also be in the direction of preserving the freedom of
+this nation?--one of the few dark peoples who have shown an unusual
+receptivity for civilization and Christianity, who have already advanced
+themselves so much, and who will still, if left undisturbed, become one
+united and enlightened nation.
+
+It will be to the lasting disgrace of France if she stirs up aggressive
+war, and so throws back indefinitely all the remarkable progress made by
+the Malagasy during the past few years; and it will be hardly less to
+our own discredit if we, an insular nation, jealous of the inviolability
+of our own island, show no practical sympathy with another insular
+people, and do not use every means that can be employed to preserve to
+Madagascar its independence and its liberties.
+
+   JAMES SIBREE, Jun.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[11] The single act which led to the revival of these long-forgotten
+claims upon the north-west coast, was the hoisting of the Queen's flag
+by two native Sàkalàva chieftains in their villages. These were hauled
+down, and carried away in a French gun-boat, and the flag-staves cut up.
+
+[12] This last claim must be preferred either in perfect ignorance of
+what the 1868 treaty really is, or as an attempt to throw dust in the
+eyes of the newspaper-reading public.
+
+[13] It is true that during these seventy years various edicts claiming
+the country we issued by Louis XIV.; but as the French during all that
+time did not attempt to occupy a single foot of territory in Madagascar,
+these grandiloquent proclamations can hardly be considered as of much
+value. As has been remarked, French pretensions were greatest when their
+actual authority was least.
+
+[14] See "Précis sur les Etablissements Français formés à Madagascar."
+Paris, 1836, p.4.
+
+[15] For fuller details as to the character of French settlements in
+Madagascar, their gross mismanagement and bad treatment of the people,
+see Statement of the Madagascar Committee; and _Souvenirs de
+Madagascar_, par M. le Dr. H. Lacaze: Paris, 1881, p. xviii.
+
+[16] The italics are my own.
+
+[17] See also letter of Bishop Ryan, late of Mauritius, _Daily News_,
+Dec. 16.
+
+[18] See _Daily News_, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1; _La Liberté_, Nov. 29, and
+_Le Parlement_ of same date. Both these French journals speak of an "Act
+by which the Tanànarivo Government cancelled the Treaty of 1868" (_Le
+Parlement_), and of its being "annulled by Queen Ranavàlona of her own
+authority" (_La Liberté_). It is only necessary to say that no such
+"Act" ever had any existence, save in the fertile brains of French
+journalists, and it is now brought forward apparently with a view to
+excite animosity towards the Malagasy in the minds of their readers.
+
+[19] _E.g., The Manchester Guardian_, Dec. 1st., 5th., and 6th.
+
+[20] Almost all Malagasy words for military tactics and rank are of
+English origin, so are many of the words used for building operations,
+and the influence of England is also shown by the fact that almost all
+the words connected with education and literature are from us, such as
+school, class, lesson, pen, copybook, pencil, slate, book, gazette,
+press, print, proof, capital, period, &c., grammar, geography, addition,
+&c.
+
+[21] See _Le Parlement_, Dec. 15, and other French papers.
+
+[22] Among the many unfair statements of the Parisian press is an
+article in _Le Rappel_, of Oct. 29, copied by many other papers, in
+which this Tangéna ordeal is described as if it was now a practice of
+the Malagasy, the intention being, of course, to lead its readers to
+look upon them as still barbarous; the fact being that its use has been
+obsolete ever since 1865 (Art. XVIII. of English Treaty), and its
+practice is a capital offence, as a form of treason. The Malagasy Envoys
+are represented as saying that their Supreme Court often condemned
+criminals to death by its use!
+
+[23] See Tract No. II. of the Madagascar Committee.
+
+[24] See Lord Granville's speech in reply to the address of the
+Madagascar Committee, Nov. 28.
+
+[25] The Admiral, so it is reported on good authority, congratulated the
+Queen and her Government on having solved the question of Madagascar by
+showing that the Hova could govern it. He also said that France and
+England were in perfect accord on this point, and on the wisdom of
+recognizing Queen Ranavàlona as sovereign of the whole island. See
+_Daily News_, Dec. 14. This will no doubt be confirmed by the
+publication of the official report which has been asked for by Mr. G.
+Palmer, M.P.
+
+
+
+
+THE RELIGIOUS FUTURE OF THE WORLD.
+
+PART THE FIRST.
+
+
+I.
+
+I suppose there are few students of man and of society to whom the
+present religious condition and apparent religious prospect of the world
+can seem very satisfactory. If there is any lesson clear from history it
+is this; that, in every age religion has been the main stay both of
+private life and of the public order,--"the substance of humanity," as
+Quinet well expresses it, "whence issue, as by so many necessary
+consequences, political institutions, the arts, poetry, philosophy, and,
+up to a certain point, even the sequence of events."[26] The existing
+civilization of Europe and America--I use the word civilization in its
+highest and widest sense, and mean by it especially the laws,
+traditions, beliefs, and habits of thought and action, whereby
+individual family and social life is governed--is mainly the work of
+Christianity. The races which inhabit the vast Asiatic Continent are
+what they are chiefly from the influence of Buddhism and Mohammedanism,
+of the Brahminical, Confucian, and Taosean systems. In the fetichism of
+the rude tribes of Africa, still in the state of the childhood of
+humanity, we have what has been called the _parler enfantin_ of
+religion:--it is that rude and unformed speech, as of spiritual babes
+and sucklings, which principally makes them to differ from the
+anthropoid apes of their tropical forests: "un peuple est compté pour
+quelque chose le jour où il s'elève a la pensée de Dieu."[27] But the
+spirit of the age is unquestionably hostile to all these creeds from the
+highest to the lowest. In Europe there is a movement--of its breadth and
+strength I shall say more presently--the irreconcilable hostility of
+which to "all religion and all religiosity," to use the words of the
+late M. Louis Blanc, is written on its front. Thought is the most
+contagious thing in the world, and in these days pain unchanged, but
+with no firm ground of faith, no "hope both sure and stedfast, and which
+entereth into that within the vail," no worthy object of desire whereby
+man may erect himself above himself, whence he may derive an
+indefectible rule of conduct, a constraining incentive to
+self-sacrifice, an adequate motive for patient endurance,--such is the
+vision of the coming time, as it presents itself to many of the most
+thoughtful and competent observers.
+
+
+II.
+
+In these circumstances it is natural that so thoughtful and competent an
+observer as the author of "Ecce Homo" should take up his parable. And
+assuredly few who have read that beautiful book, so full of lofty
+musing, and so rich in pregnant suggestion, however superficial and
+inconsequent, will have opened the volume which he has recently given to
+the world without high expectation. It will be remembered that in his
+preface to his former work, he tells us that he was dissatisfied with
+the current conceptions of Christ, and unable to rest content without a
+definite opinion regarding Him, and so was led to trace His biography
+from point to point, with a view of accepting those conclusions about
+Him which the facts themselves, weighed critically, appeared to warrant.
+And now, after the lapse of well-nigh two decades, the author of "Ecce
+Homo" comes forward to consider the religious outlook of the world.
+Surely a task for which he is in many respects peculiarly well-fitted.
+Wide knowledge of the modern mind, broad sympathies, keen and delicate
+perceptions, freedom from party and personal ends, and a power of
+graceful and winning statement must, upon all hands, be conceded to him.
+What such a man thinks on such a subject, is certain to be interesting;
+and, whether we agree with it or not, is as certain to be suggestive. I
+propose, therefore, first of all to consider what may be learnt about
+the topic with which I am concerned, from this new book on "Natural
+Religion," and I shall then proceed to deal with it in my own way.
+
+The author of "Natural Religion" starts with the broad assumption that
+"supernaturalism" is discredited by modern "science." I may perhaps, in
+passing, venture to express my regret that in an inquiry demanding, from
+its nature and importance, the utmost precision of which human speech is
+capable, the author has in so few cases clearly and rigidly limited the
+sense of the terms which he employs. "Supernaturalism," for example, is
+a word which may bear many different meanings; which, as a matter of
+fact, does bear, I think, for me a very different meaning from that
+which it bears for the author of "Natural Religion." So, again,
+"science" in this book, is tacitly assumed to denote physical science
+only: and what an assumption, as though there were no other sciences
+than the physical! This in passing. I shall have to touch again upon
+these points hereafter. For the present let us regard the scope and aim
+of this discourse of Natural Religion, as the author states it. He finds
+that the supernatural portion of Christianity, as of all religions, is
+widely considered to be discredited by physical science. "Two opposite
+theories of the Universe" (p. 26) are before men. The one propounded by
+Christianity "is summed up," as he deems, "in the three propositions,
+that a Personal Will is the cause of the Universe, that that Will is
+perfectly benevolent, that that Will has sometimes interfered by
+miracles with the order of the Universe" (p. 13). The other he states as
+follows:--"Science opposes to God Nature. When it denies God it denies
+the existence of any power beyond or superior to Nature; and it may deny
+at the same time anything like a _cause_ of Nature. It believes in
+certain laws of co-existence and sequence in phenomena, and in denying
+God it means to deny that anything further can be known" (p. 17). "For
+what is God--so the argument runs--but a hypothesis, which religious men
+have mistaken for a demonstrated reality? And is it not precisely
+against such premature hypotheses that science most strenuously
+protests? That a Personal Will is the cause of the Universe--this might
+stand very well as a hypothesis to work with, until facts should either
+confirm it, or force it to give way to another, either different or at
+least modified. That this Personal Will is benevolent, and is shown to
+be so by the facts of the Universe, which evince a providential care for
+man and other animals--this is just one of those plausibilities which
+passed muster before scientific method was understood, but modern
+science rejects it as unproved. Modern science holds that there may be
+design in the Universe, but that to penetrate the design is, and
+probably always will be, beyond the power of the human understanding.
+That this Personal Will has on particular occasions revealed itself by
+breaking through the customary order of the Universe, and performing
+what are called miracles--this, it is said, is one of those legends o£
+which histories were full, until a stricter view of evidence was
+introduced, and the modern critical spirit sifted thoroughly the annals
+of the world" (p. 11). These, in our author's words, are the two
+opposite theories of the Universe before the world: two "mortally
+hostile" (p. 13) theories; the one "the greatest of all affirmations;"
+"the other the most fatal of all negations," (p. 26) and the latter, as
+he discerns, is everywhere making startling progress. "The extension of
+the _methods_ of physical science to the whole domain of human
+knowledge," he notes as the most important "change of system in the
+intellectual world" (p. 7). "No one," he continues, "needs to be told
+what havoc this physical method is making with received systems, and it
+produces a sceptical disposition of mind towards primary principles
+which have been of steam locomotion and electric telegraphs, of cheap
+literature and ubiquitous journalism, ideas travel with the speed of
+light, and the influences which are warring against the theologies of
+Europe are certainly acting as powerful solvents upon the religious
+systems of the rest of the world. But apart from the loud and fierce
+negation of the creed of Christendom which is so striking a feature of
+the present day, there is among those who nominally adhere to it a vast
+amount of unaggressive doubt. Between the party which avowedly aims at
+the destruction of "all religion and all religiosity," at the delivery
+of man from what it calls the "nightmare" or "the intellectual whoredom"
+of spiritualism, and those who cling with undimmed faith to the religion
+of their fathers, there is an exceeding great multitude who are properly
+described as sceptics. It is even more an age of doubt than of denial.
+As Chateaubriand noted, when the century was yet young, "we are no
+longer living in times when it avails to say 'Believe and do not
+examine:' people will examine whether we like it or not." And since
+these words were written, people have been busily examining in every
+department of human thought, and especially in the domain of religion.
+In particular Christianity has been made the subject of the most
+searching scrutiny. How indeed could we expect that it should escape?
+The greatest fact in the annals of the modern world, it naturally
+invites the researches of the historian. The basis of the system of
+ethics still current amongst us, it peremptorily claims the attention of
+the sociologist. The fount of the metaphysical conceptions accepted in
+Europe, until in the last century, before the "uncreating word" of
+Lockian sensism,
+
+   "Philosophy that leaned on Heaven before
+   Sinks to her second cause, and is no more,"
+
+it challenges the investigation of the psychologist. The practical
+result of these inquiries must be allowed to be, to a large extent,
+negative. In many quarters, where thirty or forty years ago we should
+certainly have found acquiescence, honest if dull, in the received
+religious systems of Europe, we now discern incredulity, more or less
+far-reaching, about "revealed religion" altogether, and, at the best,
+"faint possible Theism," in the place of old-fashioned orthodoxy. And
+earnest men, content to bear as best they may their own burden of doubt
+and disappointment, do not dissemble to themselves that the immediate
+outlook is dark and discouraging. Like the French monarch they discern
+the omens of the deluge to come after them; a vast shipwreck of all
+faith, and all virtue, of conscience, of God; brute force, embodied in
+an omnipotent State, the one ark likely to escape submersion in the
+pitiless waters. A world from which the high sanctions of religion,
+hitherto the binding principle of society, are relegated to the domain
+of old wives' fables; a march through life with its brief dream of
+pleasure and long reality of thought to lie deeper than _all_ systems.
+Those current abstractions, which make up all the morality and all the
+philosophy of most people, have been brought under suspicion. Mind and
+matter, duties and rights, morality and expediency, honour and interest,
+virtue and vice--all these words, which seemed once to express
+elementary and certain realities, now strike us as just the words which,
+thrown into the scientific crucible, might dissolve at once. It is thus
+not merely philosophy which is discredited, but just that homely and
+popular wisdom by which common life is guided. This too, it appears,
+instead of being the sterling product of plain experience, is the
+overflow of an immature philosophy, the redundance of the uncontrolled
+speculations of thinkers who were unacquainted with scientific method"
+(p. 8). And then, moreover, there is that great political movement which
+has so largely and directly affected the course of events and the
+organization of society on the Continent of Europe, and which in less
+measure, and with more covert operation, has notably modified our own
+ways of thinking and acting in this country. Now the Revolution in its
+ultimate or Jacobin phase, is the very manifestation, in the public
+order, of the tendency which in the intellectual calls itself
+"scientific." It bitterly and contemptuously rejects the belief in the
+supernatural hitherto accepted in Europe. It wages implacable war upon
+the ancient theology of the world. "It delights in declaring itself
+atheistic"[28] (p. 37). It has "a quarrel with theology as a doctrine.
+'Theology,' it says, even if not exactly opposed to social improvement,
+is a superstition, and as such allied to ignorance and conservatism.
+Granting that its precepts are good, it enforces them by legends and
+fictitious stories which can only influence the uneducated, and
+therefore in order to preserve its influence it must needs oppose
+education. Nor are these stories a mere excrescence of theology, but
+theology itself. For theology is neither more nor less than a doctrine
+of the supernatural. It proclaims a power behind nature which
+occasionally interferes with natural laws. It proclaims another world
+quite different from this in which we live, a world into which what is
+called the soul is believed to pass at death. It believes, in short, in
+a number of things which students of Nature know nothing about, and
+which science puts aside either with respect or with contempt.
+
+These supernatural doctrines are not merely a part of theology, still
+less separable from theology, but theology consists exclusively of them.
+Take away the supernatural Person, miracles, and the spiritual world,
+you take away theology at the same time, and nothing is left but simple
+Nature and simple Science" (p. 39). Such, as the author of "Ecce Homo"
+considers, is "the question between religion and science" now before the
+world. And his object[29] in his new work is not to inquire whether the
+"negative conclusions so often drawn from modern scientific discoveries
+are warranted," still less to refute them, but to estimate "the precise
+amount of destruction caused by them," admitting, for the sake of
+argument, that they are true. His own judgment upon their truth he
+expressly reserves, with the cautious remarks, that "it is not the
+greatest scientific authorities who are so confident in negation, but
+rather the inferior men who echo their opinions:"[30] that "it is not on
+the morrow of great discoveries that we can best judge of their negative
+effect upon ancient beliefs:" and that he is "disposed to agree with
+those who think that in the end the new views of the Universe will not
+gratify an extreme party quite so much as is now supposed."[31]
+
+The argument, then, put forward in "Natural Religion," and put forward,
+as I understand the author, tentatively, and for what it is worth, and
+by no means as expressing his own assured convictions, is this:--that to
+banish the supernatural from the human mind is "not to destroy theology
+or religion or even Christianity, but in some respects to revive and
+purify all three:"[32] that supernaturalism is not of the essence but of
+the accidents of religion; that "the _unmiraculous_ part of the
+Christian tradition has a value which was long hidden from view by the
+blaze of supernaturalism," and "that so much will this unmiraculous part
+gain by being brought, for the first time into full light ... that faith
+may be disposed to think even that she is well rid of miracle, and that
+she would be indifferent to it, even if she could still believe it" (p.
+254). That religion in some form or another is essential to the world,
+the author apparently no more doubts than I do: indeed he expressly
+warns us that "at this moment we are threatened with a general
+dissolution of states from the decay of religion" (p. 211). "If religion
+fails us," these are his concluding words, "it is only when human life
+itself is proved to be worthless. It may be doubtful whether life is
+worth living, but if religion be what it has been described in this
+book, the principle by which alone life is redeemed from secularity and
+animalism, ... can it be doubtful that if we are to live at all we must
+live, and civilization can only live, by religion?" And now let us
+proceed to see what is the hope set before us in this book: and consider
+whether the Natural Religion, which it unfolds, is such a religion as
+the world can live by, as civilization can live by.
+
+
+III.
+
+The author of "Natural Religion," it will be remembered, assumes for the
+purposes of his argument, that the supernatural portion of Christianity
+is discredited, is put aside by physical science; that, as M. Renan has
+somewhere tersely expressed it, "there is no such thing as the
+supernatural, but from the beginning of being everything in the world of
+phenomena was preceded by regular laws." Let us consider what this
+involves. It involves the elimination from our creed, not only of the
+miraculous incidents in the history of the Founder of Christianity,
+including, of course, His Resurrection--the fundamental fact, upon
+which, from St. Paul's time to our own, His religion has been supposed
+to rest--but all the beliefs, aspirations, hopes, attaching to that
+religion as a system of grace. It destroys theology, because it destroys
+that idea of God from which theology starts, and which it professes to
+unfold. This being so, it might appear that religion is necessarily
+extinguished too. Certainly, in the ordinary sense which the word bears
+among us, it is. "Religio," writes St. Thomas Aquinas, "est virtus
+reddens debitum honorem Deo."[33] And so Cardinal Newman, somewhat more
+fully, "By religion I mean the knowledge of God, of His will, and of our
+duties towards Him;" and he goes on to say that "there are three main
+channels which Nature furnishes us for our acquiring this
+knowledge--viz., our own minds, the voice of mankind, and the course of
+the world, that is, of human life and human affairs."[34] But that, of
+course, is very far from being what the author of "Ecce Homo" means by
+religion, and by natural religion, in his new book. Its key-note is
+struck in the words of Wordsworth cited on its title-page:--" We live by
+admiration."[35] Religion he understands to be an "ardent condition of
+the feelings," "habitual and regulated admiration" (p. 129), "worship of
+whatever in the known Universe appears worthy of worship" (p. 161). "To
+have an individuality," he teaches, "is to have an ideal, and to have an
+ideal is to have an object of worship: it is to have a religion" (p.
+136). "Irreligion," on the other hand, is defined as "life without
+worship," and is said to consist in "the absence of habitual
+admiration, and in a state of the feelings, not ardent but cold and
+torpid" (p. 129). It would appear then that religion, in its new sense,
+is enthusiasm of well-nigh any kind, but particularly the enthusiasm of
+morality, which is "the religion of right," the enthusiasm of art, which
+is "the religion of beauty," and the enthusiasm of physical science,
+which is "the religion of law and of truth" (p. 125).[36] "Art and
+science," we read, "are not secular, and it is a fundamental error to
+call them so; they have the nature of religion" (p. 127). "The popular
+Christianity of the day, in short, is for the artist too melancholy and
+sedate, and for the man of science too sentimental and superficial; in
+short, it is too melancholy for the one, and not melancholy enough for
+the other. They become, therefore, dissenters from the existing
+religion; sympathizing too little with the popular worship, they worship
+by themselves and dispense with outward forms. But they protest at the
+same time that, in strictness, they separate from the religious bodies
+around them, only because they know of a purer or a happier religion"
+(p. 126). It is useful to turn, from time to time, from the abstract to
+the concrete, in order to steady and purge our mental vision. Let us
+therefore, in passing, gaze upon Théophile Gautier, the high priest of
+the pride of human form, whose unspeakably impure romance has been
+pronounced by Mr. Swinburne to be "the holy writ of beauty;" and, on the
+other, upon Schopenhauer, the most thorough-going and consistent of
+physicists, who reduces all philosophy to a cosmology, and consider
+whether, the author of "Ecce Homo" himself being judge, the religion of
+the one can be maintained to be purer or that of the other to be
+happier, than the most degraded form of popular Christianity. I proceed
+to his declaration, which naturally follows from what has been said,
+that the essence of religion is not in theological dogma nor in ethical
+practice. The really religious man, as we are henceforth to conceive of
+him, is, apparently, the man of sentiment. "The substance of religion is
+culture," which is "a threefold devotion to Goodness, Beauty, and
+Truth," and "the fruit of it the higher life" (p. 145). And the higher
+life is "the influence which draws men's thoughts away from their
+personal existence, making them intensely aware of other existences, to
+which it binds them by strong ties, sometimes of admiration, sometimes
+of awe, sometimes of duty, sometimes of love" (p. 236). And as in the
+individual religion is identified with culture, so, "in its public
+aspect" "it is identical with civilization" (p. 201), which "expresses
+the same threefold religion, shown on a larger scale, in the character,
+institutions, and ways of life of nations" (p. 202). "The great
+civilized community" is "the modern city of God" (p. 204).
+
+But what God? Clearly not that God spoken of by St. Paul--or the author
+of the Epistle to the Hebrews, whoever he was--"the God of Peace that
+brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that Great Shepherd
+of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant;" for that
+God, the Creator, Witness, and Judge of men--is assuredly _Deus
+absconditus_, a hidden God, belonging to "the supernatural;" and the
+hypothesis upon which the author of "Ecce Homo" proceeds in his new work
+is that men have "ceased to believe in anything beyond Nature" (p. 76).
+The best thing for them to do, therefore, he suggests, if they must have
+a God, is to deify Nature. But "Nature, considered as the residuum that
+is left after the elimination of everything supernatural, comprehends
+man with all his thoughts and aspirations, not less than the forms of
+the material world" (p. 78). God, therefore, in the new Natural
+Religion, is to be conceived of as Physical "Nature, including Humanity"
+(p. 69), or "the unity which all things compose in virtue of the
+universal presence of the same laws" (p. 87), which would seem to be no
+more than a Pantheistic expression, its exact value being all that
+exists, the totality of forces, of beings, and of forms. The author of
+"Natural Religion" does not seem to be sanguine that this new Deity will
+win the hearts of men. He anticipates, indeed, the objection "that when
+you substitute Nature for God you take a thing heartless and pitiless
+instead of love and goodness." To this he replies, "If we abandoned our
+belief in the supernatural, it would not be only inanimate Nature that
+would be left to us; we should not give ourselves over, as is often
+rhetorically described, to the mercy of merciless powers--winds and
+waves, earthquakes, volcanoes, and fire. The God we should believe in
+would not be a passionless, utterly inhuman power." "Nature, in the
+sense in which we are now using the word, includes humanity, and
+therefore, so far from being pitiless, includes all the pity that
+belongs to the whole human race, and all the pity that they have
+accumulated, and, as it were, capitalised in institutions political,
+social and ecclesiastical, through countless generations" (pp. 68-9).
+
+He, then, who would not "shock modern views of the Universe" (p. 157)
+must thus think of the Deity. And so Atheism acquires a new meaning. "It
+is," we read, "a disbelief in the _existence_ of God--that is, a
+disbelief in _any_ regularity in the Universe to which a man must
+conform himself under penalties" (p. 27); a definition which surely is a
+little hard upon the _libres-penseurs_, as taking the bread out of their
+mouths. I remember hearing, not long ago, in Paris, of a young Radical
+diplomatist who, with the good taste which characterizes the school now
+dominant in French politics, took occasion to mention to a well-known
+ecclesiastical statesman that he was an Atheist. "O de l'athéisme à
+votre âge," said the Nuncio, with a benign smile: "pourquoi, quand
+l'impiété suffit et ne vous engage à rien?" But with the new
+signification imposed upon the word, a profession of Atheism would
+pledge one in quite another sense: it would be equivalent to a
+profession of insanity; for where, except among the wearers of
+strait-waistcoats or the occupants of padded rooms, shall we find a man
+who does not believe in some regularity in the universe to which he must
+conform himself under penalties? But let us follow the author of
+"Natural Religion" a step further in his inquiry. "In what relation does
+this religion stand to our Christianity, to our churches, and religious
+denominations?" (p. 139). Certainly, we may safely agree with him that
+"it has a difficulty in identifying itself with any of the organized
+systems," and as safely that the "conception of a spiritual city," of an
+"organ of civilization," of an "interpreter of human society," is
+"precisely what is now needed" (p. 223). "The tide of thought,
+scepticism, and discovery, which has set in ... must be warded off the
+institutions which it attacks as recklessly as if its own existence did
+not depend upon them. It introduces everywhere a sceptical condition of
+mind, which it recommends as the only way to real knowledge; and yet if
+such scepticism became practical, if large communities came to regard
+every question in politics and law as absolutely open, their
+institutions would dissolve, and science, among other things, would be
+buried in the ruin. Modern thought brings into vogue a speculative
+Nihilism ... but unintentionally it creates at the same time a practical
+Nihilism.... There is a mine under modern society which, if we consider
+it, has been the necessary result of the abeyance in recent times of the
+idea of the Church" (p. 208). In fact, as our author discerns, the
+existence of civilization is at stake. "It can live only by religion"
+(p. 262). "On religion depends the whole fabric of civilization, all the
+future of mankind" (p. 218). The remedy which he suggests is that the
+Natural Religion which we have been considering, the new "universal
+religion," should "be concentrated in a doctrine," should "embody itself
+in a Church" (p. 207). "This Church," we are told, "exists already, a
+vast communion of all who are inspired by the culture and civilization
+of the age. But it is unconscious, and perhaps, if it could attain to
+consciousness, it might organize itself more deliberately and
+effectively" (p. 212). The precise mode of such organization is not
+indicated, but its main function it appears would be to diffuse an
+"adequate doctrine of civilization," and especially to teach "science,"
+in "itself a main part of religion, as the grand revelation of God in
+these later times," and also the theory "of the gradual development of
+human society, which alone can explain to us the past state of affairs,
+give us the clue to history, save us from political aberrations, and
+point the direction of progress" (p. 209). Of the _clerus_ of the new
+Natural Church we read as follows:--
+
+     "If we really believe that a case can be made out for civilization,
+     this case must be presented by popular teachers, and their most
+     indispensable qualification will be independence. They perhaps will
+     be able to show, that happiness or even universal comfort is not,
+     and never has been, within quite so easy reach, that it cannot be
+     taken by storm, and that as for the institutions left us from the
+     past they are no more diabolical than they are divine, being the
+     fruit of necessary development far more than of free-will or
+     calculation. Such teachers would be the free clergy of modern
+     civilization. It would be their business to investigate and to
+     teach the true relation of man to the universe and to society, the
+     true Ideal he should worship, the true vocation of particular
+     nations, the course which the history of mankind has taken
+     hitherto, in order that upon a full view of what is possible and
+     desirable men may live and organize themselves for the future. In
+     short, the modern Church is to do what Hebrew prophecy did in its
+     fashion for the Jews, and what bishops and Popes did according to
+     their lights for the Roman world when it laboured in the tempest,
+     and for barbaric tribes first submitting themselves to be taught.
+     Another grand object of the modern Church would be to teach and
+     organize the outlying world, which for the first time in history
+     now lies prostrate at the feet of Christian civilization. Here are
+     the ends to be gained. These once recognized, the means are to be
+     determined by their fitness alone" (p. 221).
+
+
+IV.
+
+So much must suffice to indicate the essential features of the religion
+which would be left us after the elimination of the supernatural. And
+now we are to consider whether this religion will suffice for the wants
+of the world; whether it is a religion "which shall appeal to the sense
+of duty as forcibly, preach righteousness and truth, justice and mercy,
+as solemnly and as exclusively as Christianity itself does" (p. 157).
+Surely to state the question is enough. In fact the author of "Natural
+Religion" quite recognizes that "to many, if not most, of those who feel
+the need of religion, all that has been offered in this book will
+perhaps at first seem offered in derision" (p. 260), and frankly owns
+that "whether it deserves to be called a faith at all, whether it
+justifies men in living, and in calling others into life, may be
+doubted" (p. 66). He tells us that "the thought of a God revealed in
+Nature," which he has suggested, does not seem to him "by any means
+satisfactory, or worthy to replace the Christian view, or even as a
+commencement from which we must rise by logical necessity to the
+Christian view" (p. 25) and it must be hard not to agree with him. It is
+difficult to suppose that any one who considers the facts o£ life, who
+contemplates not the _individua vaga_ of theories, but the men and women
+of this working-day world can think otherwise. Surely no one who really
+surveys mankind as they are, as they have been in the past, and, so far
+as we are able to judge, will be in the future, can suppose that this
+Natural Religion, even if embodied in a Natural Church, and equipped
+with "a free clergy," will meet their wants, or win their affections, or
+satisfy those "strange yearnings" of which we read in Plato, and which,
+in one form or another, stir every human soul; which we may trace in
+the chatterings of the poor Neapolitan crone to her Crucifix, or in the
+hallelujahs of "Happy Sal" at a Salvationist "Holiness Meeting," as
+surely as in the profoundest speculations of the Angelic Doctor, or in
+the loftiest periods of Bossuet. Can any one, in this age of all others,
+when, as the revelations of the physical world bring home to us so
+overwhelmingly what Pascal calls "the abyss of the boundless immensity
+of which I know nothing, and you know nothing," man sinks to an
+insignificance which, the apt word of the author of "Natural Religion"
+"petrifies" him, can--can any one believe that the compound of
+Pantheistic Positivism and Christian sentiment--if we may so account of
+it--set forth in these brilliant pages, will avail to redeem men from
+animalism and secularity? But, indeed, we need not here rest in the
+domain of mere speculation. The experiment has been tried. Not quite a
+century ago, when Chaumette's "Goddess of Reason," and Robespierre's
+"Supreme Being," had disappeared from the altars of France, La
+Reveillère-Lepeaux essayed to introduce a Natural Religion under the
+name of Theophilanthropy[37] to satisfy the spiritual needs of the
+country over which he ruled as a member of the Directory, Chernin
+Dupontés, Dupont de Nemours and Bernardin de St. Pierre constituting
+with himself the four Evangelists of the new cult. The first mentioned
+of these must, indeed, be regarded as its inventor, and his "Manuel des
+Théophilanthrophiles" supplies the fullest exposition of it. But it was
+La Reveillère-Lepeaux whose influence gave form and actuality to the
+speculations of Chemin, and whose credit obtained for the new sect the
+use of some dozen of the principal churches of Paris, and of the choir
+and organ of Notre Dame. The formal _début_ of the new religion may,
+perhaps, be dated from the 1st of May, 1797, when La Reveillère read to
+the Institute a memoir in which he justified its introduction upon
+grounds very similar to those urged in our own day against "the
+theological view of the universe." Moreover, he insisted that
+Catholicism was opposed to sound morality, that its worship was
+antisocial, and that its clergy--whom he contemptuously denominated _la
+prêtraille_, and whom he did his best to exterminate--were the enemies
+of the human race. In its leading features the new Church resembled very
+closely the system which we have just been considering, offered to the
+world by the author of "Ecce Homo." It identified the Deity with
+Nature:[38] religion, considered subjectively, with sentiment, and
+objectively, with civilization; and it regarded Atheists and the
+adherents of all forms of faith--with the sole exception of Catholics
+--as eligible for its communion. Its dogmas, if one may so speak, were a
+hotchpotch of fine phrases about beauty, truth, right, and the like,
+culled from writers of all creeds and of no creed. Its chief public
+function consisted in the singing of a hymn to "the Father of the
+Universe," to a tune composed by one Gossee, a musician much in vogue at
+that time, and in lections chosen from Confucius, Vyasa, Zoroaster,
+Theognis, Cleanthes, Aristotle, Plato, La Bruyère, Fénélon, Voltaire,
+Rousseau, Young, and Franklin, the Sacred Scriptures of Christianity
+being carefully excluded on account, as may be supposed, of their
+alleged opposition to "sound morality." The priests of the "Natural
+Religion" were vested in sky-blue tunics, extending from the neck to the
+feet, and fastened at the waist by a red girdle, over which was a white
+robe open before. Such was the costume in which La Reveillére-Lepeaux
+exhibited himself to his astonished countrymen, and having the
+misfortune to be--as we are told--"petit, bossu, et puant," the
+exhibition obtained no great success. It must be owned, however, that
+the Natural Church did its best to fill the void caused by the
+disappearance of the Christian religion. It even went so far as to
+provide substitutes for the Sacraments of Catholicism. At the rite which
+took the place of baptism, the father himself officiated, and, in lieu
+of the questions prescribed in the Roman Ritual, asked the godfather,
+"Do you promise before God and men to teach N. or M. from the dawn of
+his reason to adore God, to cherish (_chérir_) his fellows, and to make
+himself useful to his country?" And the godfather, holding the child
+towards heaven, replied, "I promise." Then followed the inevitable
+"discourse," and a hymn of which the concluding lines were:
+
+   "Puisse un jour cet enfant honorer sa patrie,
+   Et s'applaudir d'avoir vécu."
+
+So much must suffice as to the Natural Church during the time that it
+existed among men as a fact, or, in the words of the author of "Ecce
+Homo," as "an attempt to treat the subject of religion in a practical
+manner." But, backed as it was by the influence of a despotic
+government, and _felix opportunitate_ as it must be deemed to have been
+in the period of its establishment, very few were added to it.
+Whereupon, as the author of "Ecce Homo" relates, not without a touch of
+gentle irony, La Reveillère confided to Talleyrand[39] his
+disappointment at his ill-success. "'His propaganda made no way,' he
+said, 'What was he to do?' he asked. The ex-bishop politely condoled
+with him, feared indeed it was a difficult task to found a new
+religion--more difficult than could be imagined, so difficult that he
+hardly knew what to advise! 'Still'--he went on, after a moment's
+reflection--'there is one plan which you might at least try: I should
+recommend you to be crucified, and to rise again the third day'" (p.
+181). Is the author of "Ecce Homo" laughing in his sleeve at us? Surely
+his keen perception must have suggested to him, as he wrote this
+passage, "mutato nomine, deme." It may be confidently predicted
+that, unless he is prepared to carry out Talleyrand's suggestion, the
+Natural Religion which he exhibits "to meet the wants of a sceptical
+age" will prove even a more melancholy failure than it proved when
+originally introduced a century ago by La Reveillère-Lepeaux.
+
+
+V.
+
+Are we then thrown back on Pessimism--"the besetting difficulty of
+Natural Religion" (p. 104), as the author of "Ecce Homo" confesses? Is
+that after all the key to the enigma of life? And is the prospect before
+the world that "universal darkness" which is to supervene, when, in the
+noble verse of the great moral poet of the last century--the noblest he
+ever wrote--
+
+   "Religion, blushing, veils her sacred fires,
+   And unawares morality expires;
+   Nor public flame, nor private, dares to shine,
+   Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine."
+
+I venture to think otherwise. And as with regard to the subject of which
+I am writing, it may be said that "egotism is true modesty," I shall
+venture to say why I think so, even at the risk of wearying by a
+twice-told tale, for I shall have to go over well-worn ground, and I
+must of necessity tread more or less in the footprints of others. The
+reasons which satisfy me have satisfied, and do satisfy, intellects far
+more subtle, acute, and penetrating than mine. All I can do is to state
+them in the way in which they present themselves to my own mind. I shall
+be genuine, if not original, although indeed I might here shelter myself
+under a dictum--profoundly true it is--of Mr. Ruskin: "That virtue of
+originality that men so strive after is not newness, as they vainly
+think (there is nothing new) it is only genuineness."
+
+Cardinal Newman, in writing to me a few weeks ago, suggests the pregnant
+inquiry, "Which is the greater assumption? that we can do without
+religion, or that we can find a substitute for Christianity?" I have
+hitherto been surveying the substitute for Christianity which the author
+of "Ecce Homo" has exhibited to the world in his new book. I shall now
+briefly consider the question whether the need for such a substitute
+does in truth exist. The book, as I have already more than once noted,
+assumes that it does. It takes "the scientific view frankly at its
+worst"[40] as throwing discredit upon the belief "that a Personal Will
+is the cause of the Universe, that that Will is perfectly benevolent,
+that that Will has sometimes interfered by miracles with the order of
+the Universe," which three propositions are considered by its author to
+sum up the theological view of the universe. "If," he writes, "these
+propositions exhaust [that view] and science throws discredit upon all
+of them, evidently theology and science are irreconcilable, and the
+contest between them must end in the destruction of one or the other"
+(p. 13). I remark in passing, first, that no theologian--certainly no
+Catholic theologian--would accept these three propositions as exhausting
+the theological view of the universe; and secondly, that if we were
+obliged to admit that physical science throws discredit upon that view,
+it would by no means necessarily follow that physical science and
+theology are irreconcilable, for ampler knowledge might remove the
+discredit.
+
+   "What do we see? Each man a space,
+   Of some few yards before his face.
+   Can that the whole wide plan explain?
+   Ah no! Consider it again."
+
+But is it true, as a matter of fact, that physical science throws
+discredit upon these three propositions? Let us examine this question a
+little. I must of necessity be brief in the limits to which I am here
+confined, and I must use the plainest language, for I am writing not for
+the school but for the general reader. Brevity and plainness of speech
+do not, however, necessarily imply superficiality, which, in truth, is
+not unfrequently veiled by a prolix parade of pompous technicalities.
+
+First, then, as to causation. The shepherd in the play, when asked by
+Touchstone, "Hast any philosophy in thee?" replies, "No more but that I
+know that the property of rain is to wet, and fire to burn; that good
+pasture makes fat sheep: and that a great cause of the night is lack of
+the sun," and upon the strength of this knowledge is pronounced by the
+clown to be "a natural philosopher." Well, is not in truth the "science"
+of the mere physicist, however accomplished, _in pari materia_ with that
+of honest Corin? He observes certain sequences of facts, certain
+antecedents and consequents, but of the _nexus_ between them he knows no
+more than the most ignorant and foolish of peasants. He talks, indeed,
+of the laws of Nature, but the expression, convenient as it is in some
+respects, and true as it is in a sense--and that the highest--is
+extremely likely to mislead, as he uses it ordinarily. What he calls a
+law of Nature is only an induction from observed phenomena, a formula
+which serves compendiously to express them. As Dr. Mozley has well
+observed in his Bampton Lectures, "we only know of law in Nature, in
+the sense of recurrences in Nature, classes of facts, _like_ facts in
+Nature:"[41]
+
+   "In vain the sage with retrospective eye
+   Would from the apparent what conclude the why;"
+
+physical "science has itself proclaimed the truth that we see no causes
+in nature"[42]--that is to say, in the phenomena of the external world,
+taken by themselves. We read in Bacci's "Life of St. Philip Neri" that
+the Saint drew men to the service of God by such a subtle irresistible
+influence as caused those who watched him to cry out in amazement,
+"Father Philip draws souls, as the magnet draws iron." The most
+accomplished master of natural science is as little competent to explain
+the physical attraction as he is to explain the spiritual. He cannot get
+behind the _fact_, and if you press him for the reason of it--if you ask
+him why the magnet draws iron--the only reason he has to give you is,
+"Because it does." It is just as true now as it was when Bishop Butler
+wrote in the last century that "the only distinct meaning of the word
+[natural] is, stated, fixed, or settled," and it is hard to see how he
+can be refuted when, travelling beyond the boundaries of physics, he
+goes on to add, "What is natural as much requires and presupposes an
+intelligent agent to render it so--_i.e._, to effect it continually, or
+at stated times--as what is supernatural or miraculous does to effect it
+for once."[43] Then, again, the indications of design in the universe
+may well speak to us of a Designer, as they spoke three thousand years
+ago to the Hebrew poet who wrote the Psalm "_C[oe]li enarrant_," as they
+spoke but yesterday to the severely disciplined intellect of John Stuart
+Mill, who, brushing aside the prepossessions and prejudices of a
+lifetime, has recorded his deliberate judgment that "there is a large
+balance in favour of the probability of creation by intelligence."[44]
+Sir William Thomson, no mean authority upon a question of physical
+science, goes further, and speaks not of "a large balance of
+probability," but of "overpowering proofs." "Overpowering proofs," he
+told the British Association, "of intelligence and benevolent design,
+lie all around us; and if ever perplexities, whether metaphysical or
+scientific, turn us away from them for a time, they come back upon us
+with irresistible force, showing to us through Nature the influence of a
+free will, and teaching us that all living beings depend upon one
+ever-acting Creator and Ruler."[45] And, once more, it is indubitable
+that matter is inert until acted upon by force, and that we have no
+knowledge of any other primary[46] cause of force than will. Whence, as
+Mr. Wallace argues in his well-known work, "it does not seem improbable
+that all force may be will-force, and that the whole universe is not
+merely dependent upon, but actually is, the will of higher intelligences
+or of one Supreme Intelligence."[47]
+
+If then things are so--as who can disprove?--we may reasonably demur to
+the assertion that physical science throws discredit upon the position
+that a Personal Will is the cause of the universe. Let us now glance at
+the last of the propositions supposed to be condemned by the researches
+of the physicists--namely, that this Personal Will has sometimes
+interfered by miracles with the order of the universe. Now, here, as I
+intimated in an earlier portion of this article, I find myself at
+variance with the author of "Natural Religion" upon a question, and a
+very important question, of terminology. I do not regard the
+supernatural as an interference with, or violation of, the order of the
+universe. I adopt, unreservedly, the doctrine that "nothing is that errs
+from law." The phenomena which we call supernatural and those which we
+call natural, I view as alike the expression of the Divine Will: a Will
+which acts not capriciously, nor, as the phrase is, arbitrarily, but by
+law, "attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter suaviterque disponens
+omnia." And so the theologians identify the Divine Will with the Divine
+Reason. Thus St. Augustine, "Lex æterna est ratio divina vel voluntas
+Dei,"[48] and St. Thomas Aquinas, "Lex æterna summa ratio in Deo
+existens."[49] It is by virtue of this law that the sick are healed,
+whether by the prayer of faith or the prescription of a physician, by
+the touch of a relic or by a shock from a galvanic battery; that the
+Saint draws souls and that the magnet draws iron. The most ordinary
+so-called "operations of Nature" may be truly described in the words of
+St. Gregory as God's daily miracles;[50] and those events, commonly
+denominated miraculous, of which we read in the Sacred Scriptures, in
+the Lives of the Saints, and elsewhere, may as truly be called natural,
+using the word in what, as I just now observed, Bishop Butler notes as
+its only distinct meaning--namely, stated, fixed, or settled;[51] for
+they are the normal manifestations of the order of Grace--an order
+external to us, invisible, inaccessible to our senses and reasonings,
+but truly existing and governed by laws, which, like the laws of the
+physical and the intellectual order, are ordained by the Supreme
+Lawgiver. Once purge the mind of anthropomorphic conceptions as to the
+Divine Government, and the notion of any essential opposition between
+the natural and the supernatural disappears. Sanctity, which means
+likeness to God, a partaking of the Divine nature, is as truly a force
+as light or heat, and enters as truly into the great order of the
+universe. There is a passage in M. Renan's "Vie de Jésus" worth citing
+in this connection. "La nature lui obéit," he writes; "mais elle obéit
+aussi à quiconque croit et prie; la foi peut tout. Il faut se rappeler
+que nulle idée des lois de la nature ne venait, dans son esprit ni dans
+celui de ses auditeurs, marquer la limite de l'impossible.... Ces mots
+de 'surhumain' et de 'surnaturel,' empruntés à notre théologie mesquine,
+n'avaient pas de sens dans la haute conscience religieuse de Jésus. Pour
+lui, la nature et le développement de l'humanité n'étaient pas des
+règnes limités hors de Dieu, de chétives réalités assujetties aux lois
+d'un empirisme désesperant. Il n'y avait pas pour lui de surnaturel, car
+il n'y avait pas pour lui de nature. Ivre de l'amour infini, il oubliait
+la lourde chaîne qui tient l'esprit captif; il franchissait d'un bond
+l'abîme, infranchissable pour la plupart, que la médiocrité des facultés
+humaines trace entre l'homme et Dieu."[52] These words seem to me to
+express a great truth. The religious mind conceives of the natural, not
+as opposed to the supernatural, but as an outlying province of it; of
+the economy of the physical world as the complement of the economy of
+Grace. And to those who thus think, the great objection urged by so many
+philosophers, from Spinoza downwards--not to go further back--that
+miracles, as the violation of an unchangeable order, make God contradict
+himself, and so are unworthy of being attributed to the All-Wise, is
+without meaning. The most stupendous incident in the "Acta Sanctorum"
+is, as I deem, not less the manifestation of law than is the fall of a
+sparrow.[53] The budding of a rose and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
+are equally the effect of the One Motive Force, which is the cause of
+all phenomena, of the Volition of the Maker, Nourisher, Guardian,
+Governor, Worker, Perfecter of all. Once admit what is involved in the
+very idea of God as it exists in Catholic theology--as it is set forth,
+for example, in the treatise of St. Thomas Aquinas "De Deo"--and the
+notion of miracles as abnormal, as infractions of order, as violations
+of law, will be seen to be utterly erroneous.
+
+And now one word as to the bearing of physical science upon the doctrine
+of the Divine goodness[54]--the second of the theological positions
+which, as we have seen, the author of "Natural Religion" assumes to be
+discredited by physical science. No doubt he had in his mind what has
+been so strongly stated by the late Mr. Mill: "Not even on the most
+distorted and contracted theory of good, which ever was framed by
+religious or philosophical fanaticism, can the government of Nature be
+made to resemble the work of a being at once good and omnipotent."[55]
+Now there can be no question that physical nature gives the lie to that
+shallow optimism, which prates of the best of all conceivable worlds,
+and hardly consents to recognize evil, save as "a lower form of good;"
+unquestionably recent researches of physicists have brought out with
+quite startling clearness what St. Paul calls the subjection of the
+creature to vanity. Ruin, waste, decay are written upon every feature of
+the natural order. All that is joyful in it is based on suffering; all
+that lives, on death; every thrill of pleasure which we receive from the
+outward world is the outcome of inconceivable agonies during
+incalculable periods of time. But how does this discredit the teaching
+of theology as to God's goodness? Theology recognizes, and recognizes
+far more fully than the mere physicist, the abounding misery that is in
+the world, the terribleness of that "unutterable curse which hangs upon
+mankind," for it sees not only what he sees, but what is infinitely
+sadder and more appalling, the vision of moral evil presented by the
+heart and conscience of man, by every page in the history of the
+individual and of the race. It was not reserved for professors of
+physical science in the nineteenth century to bring to light the fact
+that "the world is out of joint," and thereby to discredit the
+theological view of the universe. Theology knows only too well that life
+is "a dread machinery of sin and sorrow." It is the very existence of
+the vast aboriginal calamity, whatever it may have been, in which the
+human race, the whole creation, is involved, that forms the ground for
+the need of the revelation which Christianity professes to bring. If
+there were no evil, there would be no need of a deliverance from evil.
+Of course, why evil has been suffered to arise, why it is suffered to
+exist, by the Perfect Being, of whom it is truly said that He is God,
+because he is the highest Good, we know not, and no search will make us
+know. All we know is that it is not from Him, of whom, and for whom, and
+by whom, are all things; "because it has no substance of its own, but is
+only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has
+substance." The existence of evil is a mystery--one of the countless
+mysteries surrounding human life--which, after the best use of reason,
+must be put aside as beyond reason. But it is also a fact, and a fact
+which is so far from discrediting the theological view of the universe,
+that it is a primary and necessary element of that view.
+
+
+VI.
+
+Thus much as to physical science and the propositions in which the
+author of "Natural Religion" supposes the theological view of the
+universe to be summed up. But, as he notes, the case urged in the
+present day against Christianity does not rest merely upon physical
+science, properly so called; but upon the extension of its methods to
+the whole domain of knowledge (p. 7), the practical effect being the
+reduction of religion to superstition, of anthropology to physiology, of
+metaphysics to physics, of ethics to the result of temperament or the
+promptings of self-interest, of man's personality to the summation of a
+series of dynamic conditions of particles of matter. I shall proceed to
+state the case, as I often hear it stated, and I shall put it in the
+strongest way I can, and to indicate the answer which, at all events,
+has satisfied one mind, after long and patient consideration, and in
+spite of strong contrary prepossessions. And this evidently has the most
+direct bearing on my theme. If Christianity be irrational, its claims to
+the world's future may at once be dismissed. But if, as I very strongly
+hold, the achievements of the modern mind, whether in the physical
+sciences, in psychology, in history, in exegetical criticism, have not
+in the least discredited Christianity, as rightly understood, here is a
+fact which is a most important factor in determining our judgment as to
+the religious prospect of mankind. What I have to say on this grave
+question I must reserve for the Second Part of this article. I end the
+First Part with one observation. It seems to me that the issue before
+the world is between Christianity and a more or less sublimated form of
+Materialism--not necessarily Atheistic, nay, sometimes approximating to
+"faint possible Theism"--which is most aptly termed Naturalism; a system
+which rejects as antiquated the ideas of final causes, of Providence, of
+the soul and its immortality; which allows of no other realities than
+those of the physical order, and makes of Nature man's highest ideal:
+and this issue is not in the least affected by decking out Naturalism in
+some borrowed garments of Spiritualism, and calling it "Natural
+Christianity."
+
+   W. S. LILLY.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[26] "La Génie des Religions," l. i. c. i.
+
+[27] _Ibid._, c. iv.
+
+[28] The author of "Natural Religion" thinks it mistaken in so declaring
+itself. "Its invectives against God and against Religion do not prove
+that it is atheistic, but only that it thinks itself so. And why does it
+think itself so? Because God and Religion are identified in its view
+with the Catholic Church; and the Catholic Church is a thing so very
+redoubtable that we need scarcely inquire why it is passionately hated
+and feared" (p. 37). But this is an error. God and Religion are not
+identified, in the view of the Revolution, with the Catholic Church. It
+will be evident to anyone who will read its accredited organs that it is
+as implacably hostile to religious Protestantism as to Catholicism.
+Perhaps I may be allowed to refer, on this subject, to some remarks of
+my own in an article entitled "Free Thought--French and English,"
+published in this REVIEW, in February last, p. 241.
+
+[29] See his Preface to the Second Edition.
+
+[30] Warburton, a shrewd observer enough, expressed the same view a
+hundred years ago, with characteristic truculence:--"Mathematicians--I
+do not mean the inventors and geniuses amongst them, whom I honour, but
+the Demonstrators of others' inventions, who are ten times duller and
+prouder than a damned poet--have a strange aversion to everything that
+smacks of religion."--_Letters to Hurd_, xix.
+
+[31] Preface to Second Edition, p. vii.
+
+[32] _Ibid._, p. v.
+
+[33] Summa, 1^ma 2^de qu. 60, art. 3.
+
+[34] "Grammar of Assent," p. 389. 5th ed.
+
+[35] What Wordsworth says is--
+
+"We live by Admiration, Hope, and Love, And, even as these are well and
+wisely fixed, In dignity of being we ascend."
+
+This is widely different from the nude proposition that "we live by
+admiration."
+
+[36] See also p. 127.
+
+[37] A good deal of information about Theophilanthropy and the
+Theophilanthropists, in an undigested and, indeed, chaotic state, will
+be found in Grégoire's "Histoire des Sectes Religieuses," vol. i.
+
+[38] The Theophilanthropists were most anxious that the object of their
+worship should not be supposed to be the Christian God. Thus in one of
+their hymns their Deity is invoked as follows:--
+
+"Non, tu n'es pas le _Dieu_ dont le prêtre est l'apôtre, Tu n'as point
+par la Bible enseigné les humains."
+
+[39] The author of "Natural Religion" says, Talleyrand; I do not know on
+what authority. Grégoire writes:--"Au Directoire même on le raillait sur
+son zèle thêophilantropique. Un de ses collègues, dit-on, lui proposait
+de se faire pendre et de ressusciter le troisième jour, comme
+l'infaillible moyen de faire triompher sa secte, et Carnot lui décoche
+dans son _Mémoire_ des épigrammes sanglantes à ce sujet."--_Histoire des
+Sectes Religieuses_, vol. I. p. 406. Talleyrand was never a member of
+the Directory.
+
+[40] Preface to second edition.
+
+[41] "Eight Lectures on Miracles," p. 50.
+
+[42] _Ibid._ See Dr. Mozley's note on this passage.
+
+[43] "Analogy." Part I. c. i. I give, of course, Bishop Butler's words
+as I find them, but, as will be seen a little later, I do not quite take
+his view of the supernatural.
+
+[44] "Three Essays on Religion," p. 174.
+
+[45] "Address to the British Association," 1871.
+
+[46] I say "_primary_ cause;" of course I do not deny _its own proper
+causality_ to the non-spiritual or matter.
+
+[47] "Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection," p. 368. I am,
+of course, aware of Mr. Mill's remarks upon this view in his "Three
+Essays on Religion" (pp. 146-150). The subject is too great to be
+discussed in a footnote. But I may observe that he rests, at bottom,
+upon the assumption--surely an enormous assumption--that causation is
+order. Cardinal Newman's argument upon this matter in the "Grammar of
+Assent" (pp. 66-72, 5th ed.) seems to me to be unanswerable; certainly,
+it is unanswered. I have no wish to dogmatize--the dogmatism, indeed,
+appears to be on the other side--but if we go by experience, as it is
+now the fashion to do, our initial elementary experience would certainly
+lead us to consider will the great or only cause. To guard against a
+possible misconception let me here say that I must not be supposed to
+adopt Mr. Wallace's view in its entirety or precisely as stated by him.
+Of course, the analogy between the human will and the Divine Will is
+imperfect, and Mr. Mill appears to me to be well founded in denying that
+_our_ volition originates. My contention is that Matter is inert until
+Force has been brought to bear upon it: that all Force must be due to a
+Primary Force of which it is the manifestation or the effect: that the
+Primary Force cannot exert itself unless it be self-determined: that to
+be self-determined is to be living: that to be primarily and utterly
+self-determined is to be an infinitely self-conscious volition: _ergo_,
+the primary cause of Force is the Will of God. This is the logical
+development of the famous argument of St. Thomas Aquinas. He contends
+that whatever things are moved must be moved by that which is not moved:
+_a movente non moto_. But Suarez and later writers complete the argument
+by analyzing the term _movens non motum_, which they consider equivalent
+to _Ens a se, in se, et per se_, or _Actus Purissimus_.
+
+[48] "Contra Faustum," 22.
+
+[49] Summa, 1, 2, qu. 83, art. 1. But on this and the preceding
+quotation, see the note on page 118.
+
+[50] "Quotidiana Dei miracula ex assiduitate vilescunt."--_Hom. xxvi. in
+Evan_.
+
+[51] "Stated, fixed, or settled" is a predicate common to natural and
+supernatural, not the _differentia_ of either. And here let me remark
+that the expression, "Laws of Nature," is a modern technical expression
+which the Catholic philosopher would require, probably, to have defined
+before employing it. "Natura," in St. Thomas Aquinas, is declared to be
+"Principium operationis cujusque rei," the Essence of a thing in
+relation to its activity, or the Essence as manifested _agendo_. Hence
+"Natura rerum," or "Universitas rerum" (which is the Latin for Nature in
+the phrase "Laws of Nature") means the Essences of all things created
+(finite) as manifested and related to each other by their proper
+inherent activities, which of course are stable or fixed. But since it
+is not a logical contradiction that these activities should be
+suspended, arrested, or annihilated (granting an Infinite Creator), it
+will not be contrary to _Reason_ should a miraculous intervention so
+deal with them, though their suspension or annihilation may be
+described, loosely and inaccurately, as against the Laws of Nature. By
+_Reason_ is here meant the declarations of necessary Thought as to
+possibility and impossibility, or the canons of contradiction, the only
+proper significance of the word in discussions about miracles. Hence, to
+say that miracles have their laws, is not to deny that they are by the
+Free Will of God. For creation is by the Fiat of Divine Power and
+Freedom, and yet proceeds upon law--that is to say, upon a settled plan
+and inherent sequence of cause and effect. But it is common with Mr.
+Mill and his school to think of law as _necessary inviolable_ sequence;
+whereas it is but a fixed mode of action whether _necessarily or freely_
+determined; and it is a part of law that some activities should be
+liable to suspension or arrestment by others, and especially by the
+First Cause.
+
+[52] "Vie de Jésus," p. 247.
+
+[53] When Mr. Mill says ("Three Essays on Religion," p. 224), "The
+argument that a miracle may be the fulfilment of a law in the same sense
+in which the ordinary events of Nature are fulfilments of laws, seems to
+indicate an imperfect conception of what is meant by a law and what
+constitutes a miracle," all he really means is that this argument
+involves a conception of law and of miracle different from his own,
+which is undoubtedly true. Upon this subject I remark as follows: There
+is a necessary will (_spontaneum non liberum_) and a free will(_liberum
+non spontaneum_); and these are in God on the scale of infinite
+perfection, as they are in man finitely. With Mr. Mill, as I have
+observed in a previous note, Law is taken to signify "invariable,
+necessary sequence;" and its test is, that given the same circumstances,
+the same thing will occur. But it is essential to Free Will (whether in
+God or man) that given the same circumstances, the same thing need not,
+may not, and perhaps will not, occur. However, an act may be free _in
+causa_ which _hic et nunc must_ happen; the Free Will having done that
+by choice which brings as a necessary consequence something else. For
+there are many things which would involve contradiction and so be
+impossible, did not certain consequences follow them. This premised, it
+is clear that the antithesis of Mr. Mill's "Law" is Free Will. Law and
+antecedent necessity to Mr. Mill are one and the same. But Law in
+Catholic terminology means the Will of God decreeing freely or not
+freely, according to the subject-matter; and is not opposed to
+Free-Will. It guides, it need not coerce or necessitate, though it may.
+Neither in one sense, is Law synonymous with Reason, for that is
+according to Reason, simply, which does not involve a contradiction,
+whether it be done freely or of necessity; and many things are possible,
+or non-contradictives, that Law does not prescribe. Nor again does
+Free-Will mean lawless in the sense of irrational; or causeless, in the
+sense of having no motive: "contra legem," "præter legem" is not "contra
+rationem," "prater rationem." The Divine Will, then, may be free, yet
+act according to Law, namely, its own freely-determined Law. And it may
+act "not according to Law," and yet act according to Reason. In this
+sense, then, theologians identify the Divine Will with the Divine
+Reason--I mean, they insist that God's Will is always according to
+Reason--in this sense, but, as I think, not in any other. For the Divine
+Will is antecedently free as regards all things which are not God; but
+the Divine Intellect is not free in the same way. St. Augustine always
+tends to view things in the concrete, not distinguishing their "rationes
+formales," or distinguishing them vaguely. And Ratio with him does not
+mean Reason merely, but living Reason or the Reasoning Being, the Soul.
+When St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of Lex Æterna he means the Necessary Law
+of Morality, concerning which God is not free, because in decreeing it,
+He is but decreeing that there is no Righteousness except by imitation
+of Him.
+
+The root of all these difficulties and of all the confusion in speech
+which they have brought forth is this: the mystery of Free-Will in God,
+the Unchangeable and Eternal, The great truth taught in the words of the
+Vatican Council, "Deus, _liberrimo consilio_ condidit universa," must
+ever be borne in mind. Undoubtedly, there are no afterthoughts in God.
+But neither is there a past in which He decreed once for all what was to
+be and what was not to be. He is the Eternal Now. But still all events
+are the fulfilment of His Will, and contribute to the working out of the
+scheme which He has traced for creation. Feeble is human speech to deal
+with such high matters, serving, at the best, but dimly to adumbrate
+ineffable truths. As Goethe somewhere says, "Words are good, but not the
+best: the best cannot be expressed in words. My point, however, is that
+there is, on the one hand, a connection of events with events all
+through creation and an intelligible sequence, while, on the other, the
+Free-Will of man is a determining force as regards his own spiritual
+actions, as is the Free-Will of God in respect of the whole creation,
+and that miracles are neither afterthoughts, nor irregularities, nor
+contradictions, but at once free and according to law. Miracles are not
+abnormal, unless Free-Will is a reduction of Kosmos to Chaos, and the
+negation of Reason altogether."
+
+[54] I say "the doctrine of the Divine goodness," because that is, as I
+think, what the author of "Natural Religion" means. As to the "simple,
+absolute benevolence"--"benevolence," indeed, is a milk-and-water
+expression; "God is love"--which "some men seem to think the only
+character of the Author of Nature," it is enough to refer to Bishop
+Butler's striking chapter on "The Moral Government of God," (Analogy,
+Part I. c. iii). I will here merely observe that although, doubtless,
+God's attribute is Love of the creation, He is not only Love, but
+Sanctity, Justice, Creative Power, Force, Providence; and whereas,
+considered as a Unit He is infinite, He is not infinite--I speak under
+correction--viewed in those aspects, abstractions, or attributes which,
+separately taken, are necessary for our subjective view of Him. I allow
+that God's power and His "benevolence" may in some cases work out
+different ends, as if separate entities, but still maintain--what the
+author of "Natural Religion" ignores--that God in His very essence is
+not only "Benevolence," but Sanctity, &c. also; _all as One in His
+Oneness_.
+
+[55] "Three Essays on Religion," p. 38.
+
+
+
+
+SYRIAN COLONIZATION.
+
+
+During the past few years many proposals have been made, and schemes
+formed, for repeopling the wastes of Syria and Palestine with the
+surplus population of Europe. These schemes, sometimes philanthropic,
+sometimes commercial, are always advocated on the assumption that the
+current of European emigration and capital might be turned to Syria and
+Palestine in accordance with sound economic and financial
+considerations. In this paper I propose--
+
+_First._ To take a survey of the agricultural resources of the country.
+
+_Second._ To draw attention to the difficulties which immigrants would
+experience in obtaining secure titles to landed property.
+
+_Third._ To give a summary of the different kinds of land tenure, and
+the burdens on agriculture.
+
+_Fourth._ To point out some of the dangers and inconveniences to which
+immigrants would be exposed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I. In the first place we may say broadly that the natural resources of
+Syria and Palestine are agricultural. On the eastern slopes of Mount
+Hermon there are a few bitumen pits from which a small quantity of ore
+of excellent quality is yearly exported to England. Small deposits of
+coal and iron exist in several localities, and there are chemical
+deposits about the shores of the Dead Sea. Gypsum and coloured marble
+are found in Syria, and along the coast opposite the Lebanon range
+sponges are fished annually to the value of £20,000. Hot sulphur springs
+exist at Palmyra and the Sea of Galilee, and there are ruined baths on
+the way between Damascus and Palmyra and in the Yarmûk Valley; but none
+of these natural products are of sufficient importance to attract
+European labour or capital.
+
+Forests can scarcely be said to exist in Syria or Palestine. A few
+groves of cedars of Lebanon, which escaped the axes of Hiram, are fast
+disappearing. On the limestone ridges and in some of the valleys there
+are clumps of pine, and throughout a great part of the country there is
+a considerable quantity of scrub oak which the peasants reduce to
+charcoal, and carry into the cities. In Galilee one comes on places
+where the trees give a pleasing character to the landscape. On Mount
+Carmel there are jungles and thickets of oak, and on the slopes towards
+Nazareth there are considerable groves, but the nearest approach to a
+forest is where the oaks of Bashan, which recall the beauties of an
+English park, assert their ancient supremacy.
+
+Rows of poplars mark the courses of rivers and streams throughout the
+land, and supply beams for flat-roofed houses; but when churches or
+other important buildings have to be roofed, or timber is required for
+domestic purposes, it has to be imported from America, and carried into
+the interior on the backs of animals. There remain trees enough in some
+places to lend beauty to the landscape, and to show what the country may
+once have been, as well as to suggest what it may again become; but
+there are no forests to attract labour or capital.
+
+The few manufactories of wool and cotton and soap and leather are
+chiefly limited to local want. Besides these there are the silk-spinning
+factories in the Lebanon, managed by Frenchmen and natives, and a
+manufactory of cotton thread on one of the rivers of Damascus.
+
+The popular accounts of the agricultural resources of Syria and
+Palestine are very different. As instances of extremes:--Mark Twain
+tells us he saw the goats eating stones in Syria, and he assures us that
+he could not have been mistaken, for they had nothing else to eat; while
+Mr. Laurence Oliphant saw even in the Dead Sea "a vast source of wealth"
+for his English Company. We read in his "Land of Gilead" these words:
+"There can be little doubt, in fact, that the Dead Sea is a mine of
+unexplored wealth which only needs the application of capital and
+enterprise to make it a most lucrative property."[56]
+
+The tourists who traverse the country in spring, immediately after the
+latter rains, when there is some vegetation in the barest places, and
+when their horses are up to the fetlocks in flowers, never forget the
+beauty of the landscape. Others, who have been picturing to themselves a
+land flowing with milk and honey, hills waving with golden grain, and
+green meadows dappled with browsing flocks, and who pass through the
+land in autumn, find themselves bitterly disappointed. As they trudge
+along the white glaring pathways, and through the roadless and flinty
+wilderness, breasting the hot beating waves of a Syrian noonday, with
+only an ashy chocolate-coloured landscape around them, scorched as if by
+the breath of a furnace, they get an impression of dreary and blasted
+desolation which time can never efface. They looked for the garden of
+the Lord, and they find only the "burning marl." It was my fate, during
+a long residence in Syria, to hear autumn tourists criticize books
+written by spring tourists, and spring tourists criticize books written
+by autumn tourists, and generally in a manner by no means complimentary
+to the authors' veracity;--the fact being that the writers had given
+their impression of what they saw, with perhaps a little of American
+wit, which consists in exaggerating "the leading feature."
+
+I think, however, that to most English travellers, who have no hobbies
+to ride, the barren appearance of Syria and Palestine is a
+disenchantment. Accustomed to their own moist climate and green fields,
+they are not prepared for the dry and parched, and abandoned appearance
+of the greater part of the country. With us an abundance of water spoils
+the crops; in Syria and Palestine the case is reversed, for unless water
+can be poured over the land the crops are stunted and uncertain. For six
+or seven months in the year scarcely any rain falls, and scarcely a
+cloud darkens the sky. In October the early rain commences, with much
+thunder and lightning; and in April the latter rain becomes light and
+uncertain, and generally ceases altogether. Then the sky becomes
+intensely blue, and the sun comes out in all his glory, or rather in all
+her glory, for with the Arabs the sun is feminine. Suddenly grass and
+vegetation wither up and become dry for the oven. The level country,
+except where there are rivers, becomes parched. The stones stick up out
+of the red soil like the white bones of a skeleton. Limestone, flint,
+and basalt, and thorny shrubs, cover the face of the wilderness country.
+Here and there you may see a dwarf oak, or an olive tree, or a wild fig
+tree, and among the mountains you may notice little patches scratched
+and cultivated by the _fellahîn_; but, unless on the great plains of
+Bashan and Esdraelon and Hamath, and on the uplands of Gilead, or where
+there is water for irrigation, you may ride for hours along the zigzag
+paths, over mountain and high-land, and before and behind extend the
+limestone and flinty rocks, white and blinding, and broken into
+fragments or burnt into powder. It thus happens that few tourists who
+pass along the beaten tracks of Syria and Palestine have any just
+conception of the vast agricultural resources of the land.
+
+The most striking features in the Syrian landscape are two parallel
+mountain ranges, which appear on the map like two centipedes, running
+north and south. These are the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges. Lebanon
+proper lies along the shore of the Mediterranean. The narrow strip of
+land between the mountain and the sea was the home of the Ph[oe]nicians,
+who steered their white-winged ships to every land, and dipped their
+oars in every sea, before the Britons were heard of. The gardens of
+Sidon, luxuriant with bananas, oranges, figs, lemons, pomegranates,
+peaches, apricots, &c., extend across the plain for two miles to the
+mountain, and show what Ph[oe]nicia may once have been. The palm trees
+that adorn the fertile gardens of Beyrout are doubtless survivors of the
+groves from which the strip of land once took its name.[57]
+
+By the exertions of Lord Dufferin in 1860, a Christian governor was
+placed over the Lebanon in a semi-independent position. Since then the
+terraced mountain has been marvellously developed, and every foothold
+has been planted with vines and figs and mulberries. The industrious
+peasantry, comparatively safe from Turkish rapacity, have cultivated the
+ledges among its crags and peaks, and enjoy the fruits of their
+industry, sitting under their vines and fig trees. The bloodthirsty and
+turbulent Druzes, restrained by law, and unable to hold their own in a
+field of fair competition, are being rapidly civilized off the mountain,
+and betake themselves to remote regions in Bashan where no law is
+acknowledged but that of the strong arm.
+
+Between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon stretches for seventy miles
+C[oe]lo-Syria or Buka'a, a well-watered and fertile plain, containing
+about 500 square miles and 137 agricultural villages, and marked by such
+ruins as those of Chalcis and Baalbek.
+
+The Anti-Lebanon consists of a series of mountain ranges, some of which
+run parallel with Lebanon, and flatten into the plain at "the gathering
+in of Hamath," while some bend off in a more easterly direction, and
+shoot out boldly into the desert. The westward end of this mountainous
+range rises into Mount Hermon. The eastward end sinks into Palmyra.
+North of the Anti-Lebanon, the narrow plain of C[oe]lo-Syria expands
+into the great rolling country of high-land, river, lake, and plain,
+where for more than a thousand years the Hittite kings rolled back the
+tide of Egyptian and Assyrian invasion, and where, in later years, the
+Selucidæ kings pastured their elephants and steeds of war.
+
+Among the ranges and spurs of the Anti-Lebanon are many green spots of
+great picturesque beauty. Wherever there are fountains the habitations
+of men are clustered together at the water, seemingly jostling and
+struggling like thirsty flocks to get to its margin. The cottages cling
+to the edges of fountains and rivers in the most perilous positions.
+Sometimes they are stuck to the rocks like swallows' nests, and
+sometimes they are placed on beetling cliffs like the home of the eagle
+above the chasm. No solitary houses are met throughout the country. The
+people build together for safety, and near the water for life, and by
+the village fountains and wells cluster the fairest scenes of Eastern
+poetry, as well Arab and Persian as Hebrew, and around them have taken
+place some of the fiercest of Oriental battles.
+
+At the villages a little water is drawn off from the rivers, and
+carefully apportioned among the different families and factions. By
+means of this water, carefully conducted to the various gardens, apples
+and plums, grapes and pomegranates, melons and cucumbers, corn and
+onions, olives and egg plants are cultivated; and such is the bounty of
+Nature, that with the least effort existence is possible wherever there
+is water. A little rancid oil and a few vegetables are sufficient to
+sustain life, and these can be had by a few hours labour in the cool of
+the day. The rest of the time may be spent squatting cross-legged by the
+water, or smoking and dozing in the shade. This is existence, but not
+life; yet why should the _fellah_ labour for anything beyond what is
+absolutely necessary, when the slightest sign of wealth would create
+anxious solicitude on the part of the Turk?
+
+A ride of seventy-two miles across Ph[oe]nicia, Lebanon, C[oe]lo-Syria,
+and Anti-Lebanon, brings us, by French diligence, to Damascus. Abana and
+Pharpar break through a sublime gorge, about 100 yards wide, down the
+middle of which the French road winds its serpentine course, the rivers
+on either side being fringed with silver poplar and scented walnut. As
+we look eastward from the brow of the hill, the great plain of Damascus,
+encircled by a framework of desert, lies before us. The river, escaped
+from the rocky gorge, spreads out like a fan, and, after a run of three
+miles, enters Damascus, where it flows through 15,000 houses, sparkles
+in 60,000 marble fountains, and hurries on to scatter wealth and
+fertility far and wide over the plain. Those who have gazed on this
+scene are never likely to forget its supreme loveliness. Its beauty is
+doubtless much enhanced by contrast. The eye has been wandering over a
+chocolate-coloured and heated landscape throughout a weary day;
+suddenly, on turning a corner, it rests on Eden.
+
+The city is spread out before you, embowered in orchards, in the midst
+of a plain of 300 square miles. Around the pearl-coloured, city--first
+in the world in point of time, first in Syria and Western Asia in point
+of importance--surge, like an emerald sea, forests of apricots and
+olives and apples and citrons, and "every tree that is pleasant to the
+sight and good for food," with all their variety of colour and tint,
+according to their season, sometimes all aglow with blossoms, sometimes
+golden and ruddy with fruit, and sometimes russet with the mellowing
+tints of autumn. Beyond the city the water conveys its wealth by seven
+rivers to shady gardens and thirsty fields; and, as far as cultivation
+extends, two or three splendid crops during the same year reward the
+industry of the husbandman. But even in the plain of Damascus the land
+is cultivated for only a few miles beyond the gates of the city. The
+water that would fertilize the whole plain flows uselessly into
+pestiferous marshes, and the wide plain within sight of the Damascus
+garrison is abandoned to the Bedawîn of the Desert and the wild boars of
+the jungle.[58]
+
+In Palestine there is the great plain of Esdraelon, now, to a large
+extent, in the hands of a Greek firm at Beyrout, and partially
+cultivated, but capable of producing wheat and maize and cotton and
+barley, throughout its whole extent. On the southern side of Carmel
+spreads out the extensive plain of Sharon, a vast expanse of
+pasture-land, ablaze with flowers in early spring, and rank with
+thistles in the time of harvest; and further south extends the still
+more fertile regions of Philistia.
+
+Looking south, from the southern slopes of Mount Hermon, the green plain
+of the Huleh, with Lake Merom glassed in its centre, forms a beautiful
+picture. Mr. Oliphant here first saw an enchanting location for his
+colony. "I felt," he says, "a longing to imitate the example of the men
+of Dan; for there can be no question that if, instead of advancing upon
+it with six hundred men, and taking it by force, after the manner of the
+Danites, one approached it in the modern style of a joint-stock company
+(limited), and recompensed the present owners, keeping them as
+labourers, a most profitable speculation might be made out of the 'Ard
+el Huleh.'" The lake "might, with the marshy plain above it, be easily
+drained; and a magnificent tract of country, nearly twenty miles long by
+from five to six miles in width, abundantly watered by the upper
+affluents of the Jordan, might then be brought into cultivation. It is
+only now occupied by some wandering Bedawîn and the peasants of a few
+scattered villages on its margin."[59]
+
+East of the Jordan are the corn-growing table-land of Bashan and the
+beautiful and fertile high-lands of Gilead. In the former I have ridden
+for hours, with an unbroken sea of waving wheat as far as I could see
+around me, and as regards the "land of Gilead," I can confirm Mr.
+Oliphant's most enthusiastic descriptions of its beauty, fertility, and
+desolation.
+
+Nor are the agricultural resources of Syria and Palestine limited to the
+great irrigated plains and broad trans-Jordanic table-lands. Throughout
+the country there are numerous villages shut in among bare hills, with
+apparently no resource; but on closer inspection it turns out that there
+are a few cultivated terraces, where tobacco and grape-vines and
+vegetables are cultivated, and on a still closer inspection it is
+evident that the bare mountains all around were once terraced, and
+doubtless clothed with the vine.
+
+I was once crossing a series of undulating ranges abutting on Mount
+Hermon with an English tourist who was making merry at the utterly
+barren appearance of "the promised land." It turned out, however, that
+his attempted wit served to sharpen our observation, and we found that
+all the hill-sides had once been terraced by human hands. A few miles
+further on we came to Rasheiya, where the vineyards still flourish on
+such terraces, and we had no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that
+the bare terraces, from which lapse of time had worn away the soil, were
+once trellised with the vine, the highest emblem of prosperity and joy.
+Similar terraces were noticed by Drake and Palmer in the Desert of
+Judea, far from any modern cultivation.
+
+It is rash to infer that because a place is desolate now, it must always
+have been so, or must always remain so. The Arab historian tells us that
+Salah-ed-Dîn, before the battle of Hattin, set fire to the forests, and
+thus encircled the Crusaders with a sea of flame. Now there is scarcely
+a shrub in the neighbourhood.
+
+In wandering through that sacred land, over which the Crescent now
+waves, one is amazed at the number of ruins that stud the landscape, and
+show what must once have been the natural fertility of the country.
+Whence has come the change? Is the blight natural and permanent? or has
+it been caused by accidental and artificial circumstances which may be
+only temporary? Doubtless, each ruin has its tale of horror, but all
+trace their destruction to Islamism, and especially to the blighting and
+desolating presence of the Turk.
+
+That short, thick, beetle-browed, bandy-legged, obese man, that so many
+fresh tourists find so charming, is a Turkish official. He and his
+ancestors have ruled the land since 1517. A Wilberforce in sentiment, he
+is the representation of "that shadow of shadows for good--Ottoman
+rule." The Turks, whether in their Pagan or Mohammedan phase, have only
+appeared on the world's scene to destroy. No social or civilizing art
+owes anything to the Turks but progressive debasement and decay.
+
+That heap of stones, in which you trace the foundations of temples and
+palaces, where now the owl hoots and the jackal lurks, was once a
+prosperous Christian village. Granted that the Christianity was pure
+neither in creed nor ritual; yet it had, even in its debased form, a
+thew and sinew that brought prosperity to its possessors. The history of
+that ruin is the history of a thousand such throughout the empire. Its
+prosperity led to its destruction. The insolent Turk, restrained by no
+public opinion, and curbed by no law, would wring from the villagers the
+fruits of their labour. Oppression makes even wise men mad, and the
+Christians, goaded to madness, turned on their oppressors. Then followed
+submission, on promise of forgiveness. The Christians surrendered their
+arms, and the flashing scymitar of Islam fell upon the defenceless; and
+the place became a ruin amid horrors too foul to narrate. No greater
+proof of the exhaustless fertility of the soil of Syria and Palestine
+could be furnished than this: that the spoiler, unrestrained, has been
+in it for 365 years, and that he has not yet succeeded in reducing it
+all to a howling wilderness.
+
+
+II. Those who embark capital in land, with a view to securing a home for
+themselves and their children, should look closely to the character of
+their title-deeds. The foremost Englishman in the Levant assured me that
+he never invested money in houses or land because there was no such
+thing as security of title in the Turkish Empire. My own opinion, based
+on an experience of ten years, is that it is impossible to know whether
+or not you have a title in Syria. Unfortunately this judgment does not
+rest on mere opinions as to what might happen, but it is fortified by
+the authoritative Commercial Reports of Her Majesty's Consuls throughout
+Syria and Palestine, and by a series of facts of daily occurrence.
+
+Vice-Consul Jago, of Beyrout, in a report dated July 11, 1876, thus
+writes:--
+
+     "Efforts made by wealthy native Christians and Europeans to employ
+     capital in agriculture have been invariably met by great obstacles,
+     the apparent impossibility of getting _incontestable title-deeds_
+     being one of the many, although such documents may have emanated
+     from the highest authority in the land. Actions of ejectment have
+     invariably followed such efforts, to which the fact of the
+     Government itself being often the seller opposed no bar."
+
+The same Vice-Consul, writing from Damascus, under date March 13, 1880,
+referring to the difficulty of investing capital in agricultural
+enterprise, says:--
+
+     "Unfortunately, the present judicial system is of a nature to
+     permit, if not to foster, the thousand and one intrigues and
+     vexations which seem to be almost inseparably connected with the
+     possession of land in Syria, and additional facilities for such are
+     to be found, if wanting, in the state in which the land registry
+     offices are kept. Erasures, irregular entries, at the request of
+     the interested, change of one name for another as the legitimate
+     owner, resulting often in persons finding their names down in the
+     Government books as owners of property, the existence of which was
+     unknown to them, and _vice versâ_, cause the validity of
+     title-deeds, issued as they are by various courts in the country,
+     to be a fertile source of litigation, and fraudulent action.... The
+     fact, however, that title-deeds can be set aside by verbal
+     testimony perhaps sufficiently accounts for the little value they
+     practically possess."
+
+I could cite many instances in illustration of Mr. Jago's statements. An
+effort made by the Rev. E. B. Frankel, of Damascus, to secure the
+title-deeds of a worthless piece of barren rock without resorting to the
+degrading practices of the country, is interesting, not only as an
+illustration in point, but also as showing that an honest man would
+suffer loss rather than gain his point by questionable means. I was
+privy to the transactions as they occurred, but as Mr. Frankel has
+kindly furnished me with a brief history, I shall give it in his own
+words:--
+
+     "During my residence in Damascus, I tried one or two villages in
+     the neighbourhood as a summer retreat, and at length fixed upon a
+     village called Maraba, as being at a convenient distance from the
+     city to ride there in the morning and return at night. Finding,
+     however, that the native houses were scarcely habitable, I
+     determined to have a small house built, close to, yet not
+     overlooking, the village. To carry out my plan I had first of all
+     to apply to the Vali for permission to do so. His Highness, with an
+     outburst of Oriental liberality, declared his readiness to give me
+     not only a piece of ground but a garden as well. This I declined
+     with thanks, knowing the value of such an offer, but showed him on
+     paper the spot I had chosen, consisting of a barren rock, and asked
+     him to send a competent person to the place to examine the site and
+     value it, and at the same time see from the plan that none of my
+     windows would overlook my neighbours. In the course of a few days,
+     I received a notice that a commission of six officials would meet
+     me on the spot and settle the matter at once. I provided a luncheon
+     _al fresco_, to which the sheikh of the village was invited to
+     negotiate on the part of the villagers.
+
+     "After a long preamble, setting forth the value of land in general,
+     and of this spot in particular, he offered at length to sell the
+     site for 5,000 piastres (a piastre is equal to 2_d._).
+
+     "'Fifty piastres,' wrote down the scribe. 'By the life of your
+     father, it is too little--say 3,000.' 'Seventy-five,' said the
+     scribe. 'Say 1,000--by Allah, it is worth 5,000; but Allah is
+     great.' 100 piastres was the sum agreed to at last, and I had the
+     permission to begin building at once.
+
+     "When the house was half finished, an order came to stop, on the
+     ground that it was built over the tomb of a Moslem saint, and that
+     the departed spirit might not relish the vicinity of Christians,
+     and avenge himself by doing us some bodily harm for which the Vali
+     would be responsible.
+
+     "After a great deal of trouble and investigation, his Highness was
+     convinced that the existence of such a tomb was a myth. The next
+     charge brought against me was, that whilst I pretended to build a
+     house, I was in reality building a convent in the midst of a
+     Mohammedan population. I had a hard struggle to convince him that
+     Protestants had no such institutions.
+
+     "Now all these charges had been trumped up by the officials in the
+     hope of receiving the usual bribe, which I was determined not to
+     give--having made up my mind to carry the business through honestly
+     and legally. One more effort was made to annoy me, or rather to
+     force me to give the customary 'backsheesh,'--viz., that the house
+     was built over a road leading from the village to the stream to the
+     great inconvenience of the villagers. The Consul had at length to
+     interfere; the Government engineer was sent to investigate the
+     matter and report upon it, which was to the effect that there was
+     no vestige of road or foot-path in the vicinity of the house.
+
+     "After this, I was left in peaceful possession so far, that no one
+     could turn me out of the house, but not having the title-deeds, I
+     could scarcely expect to find a purchaser in case I wished to sell
+     it. My next effort was to secure the necessary papers. Month after
+     month I applied in vain for them. The Governor pretended to be
+     shocked to hear that his orders had not been carried out, he sent
+     for the scribe, and threatened him with his fiercest displeasure if
+     such an act of negligence should ever again be reported against
+     him. The scribe pleaded a sprained wrist as an excuse for the
+     delay, but by the life of the Prophet, he would write the document
+     at once. I took a hasty leave of the Vali, and rushed off after the
+     scribe, determined not to lose sight of him again; he had, however,
+     disappeared, as if the earth had swallowed him up. These scenes
+     were repeated over and ever again, till at the end of twelve
+     months, having to leave Damascus, I had to sell the house at a
+     great loss, not having the title-deeds. The purchaser, the American
+     Vice-Consul, trusting to his official position, hoped to be able to
+     succeed where I had failed.
+
+     "I have no doubt but that by following the usual Oriental custom of
+     backsheesh, and dividing £10 or £20 among the officials, every
+     obstacle would have been removed to my obtaining the title-deeds of
+     a property for which I paid the sum of 16_s._ 8_d._"
+
+There are a few most interesting groups of German colonists in
+Palestine, who belong to a religious order called "The Temple;" and who
+assume to be a Spiritual Temple in the Holy Land. As far as I had
+opportunity of judging, the colonists were men who, as colonists, would
+succeed in any land, except perhaps Syria. There were among them masons
+and carpenters and blacksmiths and shoemakers and doctors. They were all
+accustomed to work with their hands, and they were prepared to do, not
+only whatever hard work was to be done in their own colony, but also to
+do any jobs for their neighbours, wherever their superior skill might be
+employed. They were strong, patient, sober, devout, and they entered on
+their work with lofty but calm enthusiasm. One branch settled at Jaffa,
+on the ruins of an American colony which had been led there by a Mr.
+Adams, and which ended in sad disaster. Another has settled "under the
+shadow of Mount Carmel," about a mile out of Haifa, and a third near
+Jerusalem. Besides settling in these places, some of the girls were
+prepared to go out as servants, with results, in some cases, that cannot
+be detailed. The first batch of these colonists settled near Nazareth in
+1867, and all died of malarious fever.[60] But the German colonists were
+not daunted by preliminary disaster, and they have been since battling
+with the difficulties of the situation with a patient energy bordering
+on heroism.
+
+Mr. Oliphant visited the colonies at Jerusalem and Haifa, and after
+describing the streets and gardens and homesteads created by German
+industry, he adds, "The colonists have scarcely any trouble in their
+dealings with the Government."
+
+Captain Conder, who spent much time among the colonists, gives a more
+realistic picture. He says--
+
+     "The Turkish government is quite incapable of appreciating their
+     real motives in colonization, and cannot see any reason beyond a
+     political one for the settlement of Europeans in the country. The
+     colonists have therefore _never obtained title-deeds to the land
+     they have bought_, and there can be little doubt that should the
+     Turks deem it expedient they would entirely deny the right of the
+     Germans to hold their property. Not only do they extend no favour
+     to the colony, though its presence has been most beneficial to the
+     neighbourhood, but the inferior officials, indignant at the
+     attempts of the Germans to obtain justice, without any regard to
+     'the customs of the country' (that is, to bribery), have thrown
+     every obstacle they can devise in the way of the community, both
+     individually and collectively."[61]
+
+The two most successful agricultural enterprises in Palestine are those
+of Bergheim and Sursuk, and as these are often referred to with a view
+to induce Englishmen to embark capital in similar enterprises, a few
+words about each may not be superfluous. Captain Conder, writing with
+full and accurate information, says:--
+
+     "Probably the most successful undertaking of an agricultural kind
+     in Palestine is the farm at Abu Shûsheh, belonging to the
+     Bergheims, the principal banking firm in Jerusalem. The lands of
+     Abu Shûsheh belong to this family, and include 5,000 acres; a fine
+     spring exists on the east, but in other respects the property is
+     not exceptional. The native inhabitants are employed to till the
+     land, under the supervision of Mr. Bergheim's son; a farmhouse has
+     been built, a pump erected, and various modern improvements have
+     been introduced. The same hindrance is, however, experienced by the
+     Bergheims which has paralyzed all other efforts for the improvement
+     of the land. The difficulties raised by the venal and corrupt
+     under-officials of the Government have been vexatious and
+     incessant, being due to the determination to extort money by some
+     means or other, or else to ruin the enterprise from which they
+     could gain nothing. The Turkish Government recognizes the right of
+     foreigners to hold land, subject to the ordinary laws and taxes;
+     but there is a long step between this abstract principle and the
+     practical encouragement of such undertakings, and nothing is easier
+     than to raise groundless difficulties, _on the subject of title_,
+     or of assessment, in a land where the judges are as corrupt as the
+     rest of the governing body."[62]
+
+More important still is the estate of seventy square miles in the plain
+of Esdraelon, now in the hands of Mr. Sursuk, a wealthy banker at
+Beyrout. Mr. Oliphant gives an account of the enterprise. "The
+investment," he adds, "has turned out eminently successful; indeed, so
+much so, that I found it difficult to credit the accounts of the
+enormous profits which Mr. Sursuk derives from his estate."[63]
+
+From Mr. Oliphant's description, I turn to the excellent Commercial
+Report, written by Vice-Consul Jago, in plain prose, and I find he thus
+speaks of the undertaking:--
+
+     "Some few years ago, the wealthiest native Christian in the
+     country, tempted by the low price of land near Acre offered for
+     sale by the Government, purchased a large tract, containing thirty
+     villages, for £18,000. The revenue accruing to the Government was,
+     prior to the purchase, between £T.1,500 and £T.2,000 per annum,
+     owing to the poverty of the peasants, and consequently little
+     production.
+
+     "Large sums were spent in importing labour from other districts for
+     cultivation, and in providing the peasants with proper means. Under
+     judicious management the speculation paid well, as much as thirty
+     per cent. on capital, besides increasing the taxes paid to the
+     Government to £5,000. The peasantry likewise benefited, being
+     assured of protection and prompt return for their labours. This
+     state of prosperity produced local intrigue and jealousies. Actions
+     of ejectment were brought to which _the government title-deeds
+     proved no bar_. Journeys to Constantinople, and endless special
+     commissions were the result, and it was only after a liberal
+     expenditure of money, time, and labour, that the judicial courts of
+     the country gave a decision, which, it is hoped, has set the matter
+     finally at rest.... In short, a capitalist wishing to employ money
+     in agriculture must be prepared to light his way, as it were, inch
+     by inch, and that, too, with the weapons of the country."[64]
+
+Apparently Mr. Oliphant would have no objection to use the weapons of
+the country. At least he seems ready to base the successful launching of
+his Company on such considerations. Looking out over the province of
+Ajlun, which is a fertile region about forty miles long by twenty-five
+in width, he exclaims: "I feel no moral doubt that £50,000, partly
+expended judiciously in bribes at Constantinople, and partly applied to
+the purchase of land, not belonging to the State, from its present
+proprietors, would purchase the entire province, and could be made to
+return a fabulous interest on the investment."[65]
+
+I need only suggest that where investors embark their capital in
+philanthropic undertakings for "fabulous interest," it might be well if
+they reflected on the character of their proposed security and the means
+used to secure it.
+
+
+III. Tenure of land in Syria and Palestine is regulated by Mohammedan
+law as administered in the Ottoman Empire. That law contemplates land
+under a five-fold classification.
+
+_First._ Crown lands set apart at the time of the conquest as the
+personal share of the Sultan and the Mussulman nation. These crown lands
+were farmed to the highest bidders, and the rent paid for them was known
+as _Miri_. Several changes at different times were introduced with
+respect to the _Miri_, and in 1864 these were superseded by the _Tapoo_
+code, the effect of which was to give titles of possession to those who,
+for ten years previously, had cultivated the crown lands, on condition
+of their paying five per cent. of the value of the land against the
+issue of their title-deeds. Under the _Tapoo_ system the crown lands
+become subject to two fixed taxes--the _Verghoo_, about four per mil. on
+the estimated value of the land; and the _Ushr_ or tithe, which should
+be a tenth part of the produce of the soil.
+
+_Second._ _Wakoof_ lands dedicated to the maintenance of holy places at
+Mecca, or to charitable institutions and sacred sanctuaries.
+
+_Third._ _Mulk_, or freehold property. This is subdivided into four
+categories, which I need not enumerate. Such lands are owned and
+cultivated by private individuals, without payment to the Government.
+The owners of such lands are free to dispose of them as they please, and
+at their deaths they pass to their descendants in accordance with the
+rules of inheritance prescribed by Mohammedan law.
+
+_Fourth._ Waste lands.
+
+_Fifth._ Lands abandoned through non-cultivation.
+
+The above classification has the advantage of being theoretically
+simple, and easily understood by the people; and the different items of
+taxation, as laid down by law, cannot be said to be onerous. The
+following are the chief heads:--
+
+_Verghi._--A rate of four per mil., as stated above.
+
+_Ushr._--A tenth of the produce of the soil. This is sometimes raised to
+12-1/2 per cent., and in the manner in which it is collected it
+sometimes amounts to 20 or 30 per cent.
+
+_Income Tax._--Which amounts to 3 per cent. on the estimated income of
+those engaged in trade.
+
+_Military Exoneration Tax._--Payable by Jews, Christians, and other
+non-Moslems, at the rate of £T.50 for every 182 males of all ages. There
+is a new law limiting this payment to males between the ages of 15 and
+60, but it has not yet come into operation.
+
+_Military Exemption Tax._--Payable by Moslems who are drawn by
+conscription, but wish to escape service, at the rate of £T.50 each.
+
+_Tax on the Registration of Real Property._
+
+_Sheep and Goat Tax_ of sixpence per head (3 piastres).
+
+Besides these there are stamp duties:--auction fees of 2-1/2 per cent.,
+fees on contracts of 2-1/2 per cent., on sale of all animals 2-1/2 per
+cent., on recovery of debts 3 per cent., on transfer of real estate 1
+per cent.; import duties of 8 per cent., export duties of 1 per cent.,
+and a charge of 8 per cent. on all native produce and manufactures when
+carried by sea from one part of the Turkish Empire to another. There are
+also the duties on tobacco, liquors, salt, &c. In addition to these
+Vice-Consul Jago, in his Commercial Report, dated Beyrout, July 11,
+1876, gives a summary of seventeen agricultural burdens, which are
+worthy of the consideration of all who feel disposed to embark in
+agriculture in Syria under its present rulers.
+
+
+IV. European emigrants, on landing in Syria, would find themselves in an
+unhealthy climate. The whole of the first batch of German settlers, and
+a very large number of the American emigrants who preceded them, fell
+victims to the fevers of the country. Captain Conder, referring to the
+difficulties of the German colonists, says:--
+
+     "There are other reasons which militate against the idea of the
+     final success of the Colony. The Syrian climate is not adapted to
+     Europeans, and year by year it must infallibly tell on the Germans,
+     exposed as they are to sun and miasma. It is true that Haifa is,
+     perhaps, the healthiest place in Palestine, yet even here they
+     suffer from fever and dysentery, and if they should attempt to
+     spread inland, they will find their difficulties from climate
+     increase tenfold."[66]
+
+The privations and discomforts of Syrian peasant life would be
+intolerable to European emigrants. The men would work by day under a
+blistering sun, and sleep at night the centre of attraction for
+sand-flies and mosquitoes, and all the other nameless tormentors that
+leap and bite. Mr. Oliphant speaks feelingly of a night spent at Kefr
+Assad:--
+
+     "No sooner had the sounds of day died away, and the family and our
+     servants gone to roost, than a pack of jackals set up that
+     plaintive and mournful wail by which they seem to announce to the
+     world that they are in a starving condition. They came so close to
+     the village that all the dogs in it set up a furious barking. This
+     woke the baby, of whose vocal powers we had been till then unaware.
+     Fleas and mosquitoes innumerable seemed to take advantage of the
+     disturbed state of things generally to make a combined onslaught.
+     Vainly did I thrust my hands into my socks, tie handkerchiefs round
+     my face and neck, and so arrange the rest of my night attire as to
+     leave no opening by which they could crawl in. Our necks and wrists
+     especially seemed circled with rings of fire. Anything like the
+     number and voracity of the fleas of that 'happy village' I have
+     never, during a long and varied intimacy with the insect,
+     experienced."[67]
+
+These experiences were made near the troglodyte village es-Sal; and as
+Mr. Oliphant peeped into the subterranean dwellings and dark caves, with
+a view to his colonization company, he exclaimed,
+
+     "Indeed, there is probably no country in the world where an
+     immigrant population would find such excellent shelter all ready
+     prepared for them, or where they could step into the identical
+     abodes which had been vacated by their occupants at least 1,500
+     years ago, and use the same doors and windows."[68]
+
+It is just possible, however, that emigrants might not care to have
+their necks and wrists circled with rings of fire, and their bodies
+covered with swarms of loathsome insects, for the romantic delights of
+living in underground dens that had not been occupied for 1,500 years.
+
+Mr. Oliphant's scheme only contemplates Jewish emigrants, to whom such
+conditions would not be altogether novel.
+
+     "I should not," he says, "expect men to come from England or
+     France, but from European and Asiatic Turkey itself, as well as
+     from Russia, Galicia, Roumania, Servia, and the Slav countries."
+
+He has, however, his eye on the whole Jewish race throughout the world
+when he says:--
+
+     "As the area of land which I should propose, in the first instance,
+     for colonization would not exceed a million, or, at most, a million
+     and a half acres, it would be hard if, out of nearly 7,000,000 of
+     people attached to it by the tradition of former possession, enough
+     could not be found to subscribe a capital of £1,000,000, or even
+     more, for its purchase and settlement, and if, out of that number,
+     a selection of emigrants could not be made, possessing sufficient
+     capital of their own to make them desirable colonists."[69]
+
+This article is not a review of Mr. Oliphant's interesting book, and
+therefore I shall not follow him into the details of his colonization
+scheme, where he narrows it, first, to Oriental Jews exclusively, and
+second to the elevation of such Jews into petty landlords.
+
+     "It has been objected," he says, "that the Jews are not
+     agriculturists, and that any attempts to develop the agricultural
+     resources of the country through their instrumentality must result
+     in failure. In the first instance, it is rather as landed
+     proprietors than as labourers on the soil, that I should invite
+     them to emigrate into Palestine, where they could lease their own
+     land at high prices to native farmers if they preferred, instead of
+     lending money on crops at 20 or 25 per cent. to the peasants, as
+     they do at present."[70]
+
+This is the point to which Mr. Oliphant's fine enthusiasm dwindles
+down--the floating of a joint-stock company, limited, with one million
+sterling capital, for the purpose of transforming into "landed
+proprietors" a number of Oriental Jews, who would neither have the heart
+to work themselves nor the skill to direct the labour of others. Those
+who have read modern history, or political economy, will not require an
+elaborate exposure of a scheme which aims at setting up in Gilead, under
+the guise of philanthropy, the rack-renting and ornamental landlording
+which have received such severe rebukes in Europe. We refer to the
+general outline of Mr. Oliphant's fascinating scheme, inasmuch as he has
+reduced to practical shape what others vaguely theorize about.
+
+He gives us a map of the proposed colony, connected by railways and
+tram-cars with the outer world. It embraces "the plains of Moab and the
+land of Gilead," from the Jabok to the Annon. I know the country well.
+It is even more beautiful and fertile than Mr. Oliphant describes it to
+be. It is impossible to pass through it without the constant thought of
+what it might be in the hands of an Anglo-Saxon race. Mr. Oliphant was
+struck with the beauty of the girls of Ajlun, one of whom tried in vain
+to remove the vermin from his blankets. Dr. Thomson and I lay on a
+grassy slope, a whole afternoon, at the village of es-Souf, watching
+the children pelting each other with flowers, and we both agreed that we
+had never seen an assemblage of merrier or lovelier children. "I cannot
+make them out," said Dr. Thomson, with unwonted enthusiasm; "they seem
+to be English children."
+
+Supposing the land for the proposed colony were secured, on Mr.
+Oliphant's plan, partly by judicious bribing at Constantinople, and
+partly by buying out the interest of the present proprietors, and that
+the undertaking proved to be the "sound and practical scheme containing
+all the elements of success" which its promoters predict--the very
+success of the colony would expose the colonists to a great and terrible
+danger. Travellers must have noticed that the _fellahîn_ cultivate their
+fields with long guns slung over their shoulders, and an armoury of
+pistols and daggers in their belts. Why is this? Because, as the
+proverb, tested by experience, has it--"A Turkish judge may be bribed by
+three eggs, two of them rotten; and a _fellah_ may be murdered for his
+jacket without a button upon it."
+
+Mr. Oliphant came upon Circassians re-occupying deserted villages in the
+midst of the Bedawîn, and he takes the fact as "valuable evidence that
+the problem of colonization by a foreign element, so far as the Arabs
+are concerned, is by no means insoluble."[71] He seems to forget that
+the traveller with empty pockets may whistle in the face of the
+highwayman. The Circassians are settling in abandoned villages by the
+wish of the authorities. They have the deep sympathy of all Moslems on
+account of their sufferings. Besides, they have nothing to lose which
+would compensate the Bedawîn for the alienation of the Turkish
+Government.
+
+The case would be far different with a rich and prosperous colony of
+foreigners supported by foreign capital.
+
+In his hurried tour beyond Jordan, Mr. Oliphant came upon the Fudl Arabs
+with 2,000 fighting men, and in their midst a colony of 300 Circassians.
+In another place he came on a colony of 3,000 Circassians in the midst
+of the Naïm Arabs, who muster 4,000 fighting men. "The Anezeh Arabs, who
+control," he says, "an area of about 40,000 square miles, and who can
+bring over 100,000 horsemen and camel-drivers into the field," would be
+on the borders of the colony, and the Druzes, who are born warriors, and
+who inhabit Jebel-ed-Druze, he places at 50,000. Besides these there are
+the Beni Sukhr, and other local tribes, whose fanaticism and cupidity
+would be moved by the presence of a prosperous colony of foreigners.
+
+On April 12, 1875, Dr. Thomson and I started from Der'a in a
+southwesterly direction over wavy hills covered with splendid wheat, the
+sides of the way ablaze with anemones. As we approached Remthey, we saw
+what in the miragy atmosphere seemed a row of trees fifteen or twenty
+miles long. I had been over the path before, and I was struck with this
+new feature in the landscape. Soon it seemed to us that the line, as far
+as we could see, was in motion, and as we approached closer to it, we
+found that it was composed of camels. We spurred our horses, and soon we
+found ourselves by the side of the great living stream of the Wuld 'Aly
+Arabs moving from the Arabian Desert to the pastures of Jaulan. The
+procession marched six or seven abreast, and in families of from 20 to
+150. The camels had curious baskets fixed on their humps, and in these
+were stowed women and children, and kids and dogs, while cooking
+utensils were hung all round the baskets, and by the sides of their dams
+trotted little baby camels. The stream flowed past silent and orderly,
+with here and there a spearman riding by the side of his family. At
+short intervals flocks of sheep and goats marched parallel with the
+living stream.
+
+A party of Arab horsemen were reclining on a little hill with their
+spears stuck in the ground watching their people pass. We rode up to
+them, and their chief received us with great courtesy, and urged us to
+await the arrival of the cavalry with the Sheikh, to whom I had once
+done a favour which they remembered. We remained about an hour, and
+still the stream flowed past. The Arabs told us they had begun to move
+at an early hour, and would continue on the march for days, and as far
+as we could see, looking north and south, the procession was without
+break or pause. They told us they could bring into the field 100,000
+fighting men, and their people, they said, was "like the sand of the
+sea." Never before or since have I seen such a swarm of human beings--"a
+multitude that no man could number." Any trans-Jordanic colony would
+have to calculate on the proximity of this horde, whose power has never
+been broken, not even by Joshua nor Ibrahîm Pasha, and whose rule in
+their own land is supreme in virtue of their resistless might. Even the
+Turkish Government bribe the Arabs in this region to let the Mohammedan
+pilgrims pass to Mecca! How much black-mail would the prosperous colony
+of infidels have to pay for permission to exist in the land of the
+faithful? And supposing arrangements could be made to secure the
+tolerance of the Bedawîn, there would still remain the Druzes and
+Circassians, and local sub-tribes and aggrieved _fellahîn_, who would
+form combinations to which an agricultural colony could offer no
+effective resistance.
+
+Mr. Oliphant speaks of driving the Arabs "back across the _Hadj_ road,
+where a small cordon of soldiers, posted in the forts which now exist
+upon it, would be sufficient to keep them in check." Turkish soldiers
+would not be the slightest protection to a prosperous colony of
+infidels, nor would a small cordon of any soldiers suffice, should the
+colony ever become a tempting prize.
+
+In the spring of 1874, a small party of us were returning from Palmyra,
+and a few miles beyond Karyetein we passed close by a desperate battle
+in progress between the Giath and Amour Arabs, and a powerful caravan
+proceeding from Baghdad to Damascus. The camels of the caravan were
+formed into a circular rampart, the head of one camel being made fast to
+the next; and from behind this living rampart the hardy villagers, who
+were bringing provisions for their families from beyond the Euphrates,
+defended themselves throughout a long summer day--the sound of the
+battle being distinctly heard by the Turkish garrison at Karyetein. The
+Bedawîn galloped round the circle, making a feint here and an attack
+there until the villagers were worn out and their ammunition exhausted.
+Near sunset a wounded camel staggered and fell, and broke the line. The
+circle opened out and became a crescent. Quick as lightning the Bedawîn
+rushed in at the breach, the camels fled in panic in all directions, and
+the wiry Arabs with their flashing spears decided the victory in a few
+minutes. I had full details of the fight afterwards from the victors and
+the vanquished. The Bedawîns took possession of 120 loads of butter, and
+a large amount of tobacco, dates, Persian carpets, horses, mules, and
+camels, valued at £4,000. All the caravan people, dead and alive, were
+stripped naked in the desert. What did the Bedawîn do with 120 loads of
+butter? They had it brought into Damascus and sold publicly. What did
+the Bedawîn do with the splendid carpets from the looms of Persia and
+Cashmere? They distributed them among their powerful friends in
+Damascus, in return for efficient protection, and some of the best found
+their way into the gorgeous saloons of those whose duty it was to
+administer justice. One of my friends found three of his camels in the
+hands of the robbers' friends, and though he got several orders from the
+Government for the restoration of his property, he could never get them
+carried out. The above incident, of which I have complete details, may
+be interesting to those who have any idea of entrusting their lives and
+property to the Bedawîn hordes and the protecting Turk.
+
+And what is true of the land of Gilead is true of all lands bordering
+the Desert. In the north-east of Syria there is as fine a peasantry as
+is to be found anywhere. They are handsome and courteous, though
+picturesque in rags. They are thrifty and frugal, but penniless and
+starving. They are comparatively truthful and honest, but without credit
+or resources. They have broad acres which only require to be scratched
+and they bring forth sixty-fold; but they cultivate little patches
+surrounded with mud walls and within range of their matchlocks. During
+the greater part of the year these poor people dare not walk over their
+own fields for fear of being stripped of their tattered rags. And yet
+these are the most heavily taxed peasantry in the world. They pay
+_black-mail_ to the Bedawîn, who plunder them notwithstanding; and they
+pay taxes to the Turks, who give them no protection. The Bedawîn enforce
+their claims by cutting off the ears of any straggling villagers from
+defaulting villages, who fall within their power, and by carrying off
+for ransom a number of village children into the Desert. The Turks
+enforce their claims by imprisoning the Sheikhs of the villages till
+they have paid the uttermost farthing. With protection and fair
+government, the peasantry of Northern Syria would be among the happiest
+in the world. But in their land, what the Turkish caterpillar leaves the
+Bedawy locust devours.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From the foregoing remarks it is evident that the agricultural resources
+of Syria and Palestine are very great, and capable, under good
+government, of being largely developed: that the difficulties
+encountered by those who invest capital in land in Syria and Palestine
+are such as to deter immigrants from embarking in agricultural
+enterprises under Turkish rule in that land: and that immigrants in
+Syria and Palestine would be exposed to great personal dangers, which
+would increase in proportion to the success of their labours.
+
+   WM. WRIGHT.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[56] "The Land of Gilead," p. 295.
+
+[57] Ph[oe]nicia, the Greek [Greek: phoinikê], has been by some derived
+from [Greek: phoinix], a palm tree.
+
+[58] Vice-Consul Jago, writing from Damascus, March, 1880, says:--"With
+regard to the property near the Damascus Lakes, it is on the edge of the
+Desert where no authority exists, and therefore exposed to Bedawîn
+raids." He summarizes the agricultural products of the neighbourhood of
+Damascus as:--"Wheat, barley, maize (white and yellow), beans, peas,
+lentils, kerané, gelbané, bakié, belbé, fessa, boraké (the last seven
+being green crops for cattle food), aniseed, sésamé, tobacco, shuma,
+olive, and liquorice root. The fruits are grapes, hazel, walnut, almond,
+pistachio, currant, mulberry, fig, apricot, peach, apple, pear, quince,
+plum, lemon, citron, melon, berries of various kinds, and a few oranges.
+The vegetables are cabbage, potatoes, artichokes, tomatoes, beans, wild
+truffles, cauliflower, egg-plant, celery, cress, mallow, beetroot,
+cucumber, radish, spinach, lettuce, onions, leeks, &c."--_Report_, dated
+Damascus, March 14, 1881. To these might be added numerous other
+products, such as bitumen, soda, salt, hemp, cotton, madder-root, wool,
+&c.
+
+[59] "The Land of Gilead," p. 19.
+
+[60] "Tent Work in Palestine," p. 355.
+
+[61] "Tent Work in Palestine," p. 361.
+
+[62] _Ibid._ p. 372.
+
+[63] "The Land of Gilead," p. 330.
+
+[64] Beyrout, July 11, 1876.
+
+[65] "The Land of Gilead," p. 131.
+
+[66] "Tent Work in Palestine," p. 361.
+
+[67] "The Land of Gilead," p. 146.
+
+[68] _Ibid._ p. 103.
+
+[69] "Land of Gilead," p. 21.
+
+[70] _Ibid._ p. 23.
+
+[71] "The Land of Gilead," p. 255.
+
+
+
+
+THE CONSERVATIVE DILEMMA.
+
+
+All is not as well as it should be with the Conservative party. Just
+when a succession of misfortunes has lowered its credit with the world,
+it is harassed with mutiny in the camp. Both sides have taken the public
+into their confidence. "Two Conservatives" lately figured on a
+distinguished rostrum and retailed their grievances. A month later "Two
+other Conservatives" stood up on the same spot and answered the
+impeachment. These dual appearances are rather puzzling. In the case of
+the first couple it may be that they fixed upon the figure "2" as a neat
+divisor, and while sending one-half of their force to the front kept the
+other half in reserve to defend the rear. This explanation will not hold
+good for the second couple. The party loyalists can hardly have been
+reduced to such insignificant proportions. Why, then, should they have
+hit upon the odd device of delivering their apologetics in pairs? Is
+suspicion so rampant in their ranks that no one man can be trusted? Is
+the drawing up of a reply to the insurgents so ticklish a business that
+two heads are needed for its satisfactory performance? Or are we to see
+in this circumstance merely another sign of the fatal dualism which
+pervades the party, and has already rent Elijah's mantle in twain?
+
+Instead of attempting to solve these mysteries let us turn to the
+indictment. There, at any rate, are certain things set down in black and
+white, and some progress may be made in useful knowledge without any
+desire to be wise above what is written. The manifesto drawn up by the
+"Two Conservatives" is not altogether edifying reading. At a first
+glance it reminds us of a round-robin got up in the servants' hall for
+the purpose of springing a mine upon the steward and housekeeper, or of
+the whisperings sometimes heard in the lower ranks of a mercantile
+establishment where a conviction prevails that nothing but discreet
+promotion will save the firm. Some of the complaints set forth fall far
+beneath this level. They deal with tiffs and slights and rebuffs.
+Services have not been compensated according to the estimate of those
+who rendered them. Good things have been given to the wrong men, while
+modest merit has been left out in the cold. Lord Beaconsfield had, it
+seems, a Figaro in his employ who fed him with judicious doses of
+flattery and ministered to his blameless vices. The Figaro system has,
+we are given to understand, been kept up, and the great men of the party
+take care to live in an atmosphere of adulation. The Dukes meet with
+hard treatment. It is difficult to see how these unhappy beings are to
+give satisfaction. They are faithless to their principles if they stand
+aloof; they do wrong if they come down to scatter their smiles and their
+patronage among the crowd. Their absence looks like treason while their
+presence demoralizes. In both cases they are mischievous. What are they
+to do?
+
+On the whole it is held to be best for the welfare of the party that the
+aristocratic chiefs should forthwith perform the "happy despatch." They
+saved it by their secession from its councils in 1868; they ruined it in
+1874 when they rushed back to claim their share of the spoils. There is
+some truth in the representation. It is not easy to forget the pathetic
+spectacle which Mr. Disraeli presented at the former period. By his
+suppleness and audacity he had forced his party through the crises of a
+revolution which they had denounced beforehand, and the consequences of
+which they contemplated with dismay. Over against their fears there was
+nothing to be put but their leader's assurances that everything would
+come right. They had taken "a leap in the dark," they had staked the
+fortunes of the party on the dice-box, and events were to decide the
+issue. When the blow came Mr. Disraeli's reputation for sagacity fell to
+zero. At last the hollowness of his pretensions was detected, and there
+was no mincing of epithets for the man who had befooled and destroyed a
+great party. The Dukes left him to himself, and, according to our
+present informant, their flight was the harbinger of reviving fortunes.
+The heart of provincial conservatism warmed to its deserted chief. The
+patriotic sentiments of the people began to stir. Constitutional
+associations sprang up in the large towns. The reaction grew apace when
+the party was left face to face with one great man. When in 1874 the
+most sanguine prophecies were fulfilled, the Dukes could not have been
+more surprised if Moses and the Prophets had dropt from the clouds to
+chide their unbelief. They made what amends they could for their former
+incivilities. They gathered with prodigious hum about the great man,
+overwhelmed him with disinterested plaudits, and settled down
+comfortably to the feast which his genius had spread. From that moment,
+so we are assured, decay set in. Aristocratic patronage soon paralyzed
+the rude energies which had won the victory. The Carlton again began to
+pay the bills and pull the strings. Then in due time came the black
+night of defeat, when moon and stars disappeared, and Toryism was
+plunged into a deeper gulf than ever. The lesson is plain. Roll up your
+aristocratic trumpery, and give the party a leader. What it wants is a
+man strong enough to pull it out of the slough and set it on its legs
+again.
+
+The burden of the manifesto of the Two Conservatives is the want of a
+leader, and an exhaustive process of exclusion shows among whom he is
+_not_ to be found. The acting chiefs of the party are made to pass in
+file before us, as the sons of Jesse passed before the prophet Samuel
+when he wished to ascertain which of them was the predestined King of
+Israel. Not this man, nor this, nor this, but is there not yet another?
+Yes, there was one among the sheepfolds who little wotted of the
+greatness in store for him. The David of whom the Conservative Samuels
+are in search can pretend perhaps to no such unconsciousness of his
+mission. A genius for opposition pushes him to the front and flashes in
+speech and print. He is content probably to put up with the leadership
+of the Lower House, assured that, with the Conservative commonalty at
+his back, his talents will soon win for him a complete ascendancy.
+Meanwhile it is proved to demonstration that none of the acting chiefs
+are fit for the post. Sir Richard Cross and Mr. W. H. Smith, "great as
+are many of their qualities, do not entirely possess those that are
+necessary to secure the plenary confidence of a party." Sir Michael
+Hicks-Beach comes nearest the mark, "but, either from patience or
+indolence, he has not seen fit since 1880 to put forward his best
+energies." In Lord George Hamilton and Mr. Stanhope "there lurks great
+promise," but they lack years and experience. "Mr. Lowther is daring,
+but not always fortunate in his daring." They may all stand aside. It is
+clear that none of the six will do. There is Mr. Gibson, but "he is a
+lawyer and an Irishman of the Irish." As for Sir Stafford Northcote, he
+is a respectable man, with a host of respectable qualities, but "he is
+too amiable for his ambition, which is great, and in trying to play a
+double part, that of caution and daring, he is at times taxed beyond his
+strength." Besides, the House of Commons did not choose him. He was
+"chosen for them." There is as yet no active disaffection towards him,
+"but of latent dissatisfaction abundance, and of active loyalty none."
+Was there ever such a beggarly account of empty boxes? Did anybody ever
+see such an array of political numskulls? Not among these at any rate is
+the party to find its leader. We must look for him among those whose
+names have been left out of the enumeration. His blushes are certainly
+unseen, though his fragrance may not be wasted on the desert air.
+
+The double manifesto of the mutineers is remarkable for the
+obliviousness it displays of everything higher than personal and party
+interests. It reads like the minute-book of a Caucus. With a few verbal
+alterations it might pass for a description of the quarrels between the
+"Stalwarts" and the "Half-breeds." When Mr. Gibson befools Lord
+Salisbury over the Arrears Bill the comment is, "What a cry for the
+country!" The Egyptian question suggests a hope that Egypt may deliver
+the Conservatives from their Irish connections and enable them to agree
+upon a leader. The preference shown for county over borough members is
+jotted down as a serious grievance. The use made of social influence
+comes in for a share of lamentation. Here we seem to get within the
+smell of soup, the bustle of evening receptions, and the smiles of
+dowagers. The cares which weigh upon this couple of patriot souls cannot
+be described as august. It is hardly among such petty anxieties that the
+upholders of the Empire and the pilots of the State are bred. The men
+who bemoan such wrongs can scarcely aspire to be the sages and ornaments
+of a legislature that gives laws to a fifth part of the human race. It
+is assuredly not in an outburst of wounded egotism that we should expect
+to find any trace of that noble pride which delights in subordination
+for public ends, and is willing to forget and to be forgotten in common
+services rendered to the nation. If we were not assured that we have
+been conversing for half an hour with two fair specimens of the chivalry
+of the land, we should almost suspect that we had been listening to the
+confidences of a couple of retired but aspiring soap-boilers.
+
+The criticisms of the "Two Conservatives" are not wholly destructive. As
+one fabric collapses, we begin to see the graceful outlines of another,
+for which a top-stone is already prepared. The question of the
+leadership is complicated by the requirements of the two Houses, but
+there is not much doubt as to the direction in which the quivering
+needle will finally point. Notwithstanding the gibes which have been
+flung at the aristocrats of the party, an aristocratic chief is
+necessary to lead an aristocratic assembly, and the only possible
+selection is already made. Lord Cairns stands dangerously near the
+centre of power, but the same may be said of him as of Mr. Gibson, "He
+is a lawyer and an Irishman of the Irish." The noble lord, moreover, is
+objectionable on the spiritual side of his character. To a High
+Churchman he smacks a little of the conventicle, and is given to
+"exercises" at unauthorized times and places. His university escutcheon
+is dim and stained compared with that of Oxford's Chancellor. On the
+whole Lord Cairns can never be a serious rival for the first place among
+the peers of England.
+
+Lord Salisbury is equipped with many of the qualifications that are
+necessary or held to be desirable in a party leader. He is a member of
+the higher aristocracy. He can boast of ancestors who played a
+distinguished part in the politics of Europe three centuries ago. This
+circumstance appeals to the imagination and confers a legitimate
+advantage. He served an apprenticeship in the House of Commons. On
+succeeding to the peerage he did not lose a moment in making his
+influence felt in the Upper House. In one of his earliest speeches he
+startled the peers by telling them that if they did not choose to assert
+their constitutional rights they would consult their dignity by ceasing
+to be a House at all. He has had much experience in State affairs. What
+he did at the India Office and as Foreign Secretary is too well known to
+the world. Lord Salisbury's oratorical gifts are undeniable. He is one
+of a select half-dozen taken from either House who stand first in the
+power of moving a popular assembly. Lord Beaconsfield said that he
+"wanted finish." The remark was more spiteful than true. Lord Salisbury
+could not rival his chief in the neatness and polish of an epigram, but
+just as little could Lord Beaconsfield rival him in the unstudied graces
+of oratory. His speeches have a freedom and a rhythmical flow which
+captivate the hearer. Though he gives full play to his imagination and
+recklessly faces the risks to which an impetuous speaker is exposed, he
+is seldom stilted, and rarely breaks the neck of a sentence. Here,
+perhaps, the favourable side of the catalogue should end. His speeches
+have the great blemish of insolence. They are wanting in geniality, and
+apparently wanting in reflectiveness. They contain too little thought
+and more than enough of gall. Perhaps their cleverness is too obtrusive.
+His hearers are pleased, but they suspect a trick, and levy a discount
+on his argument. The faults of his speeches are his faults as a
+politician. He is headstrong and impulsive. He borrows his ideas from
+his passions, and fancies he is sagacious when he is but following the
+bent of his uppermost desire. He has but little sympathy with modern
+life and but a narrow comprehension of its facts. He is under the spell
+of long-descended traditions, and would prefer, if he could have it so,
+the England of the Tudors to the England of Victoria. Of the people and
+of the spirit which animates them he knows nothing. How should he? Save
+the rustics of Hatfield, he has never seen them, except from a platform.
+His occasional references to such a subject as English Nonconformity
+shows the depth of his benightedness; and his ignorance, the voluntary
+and superb ignorance of the aristocrat and the High Churchman, is the
+source of many of his blunders. Knowing nothing of the ground in front,
+he forces a leap and comes down in the ditch, and his friends with him.
+
+Lord Salisbury is indispensable, and as nothing will cure him of his
+faults the only plan is to keep him out of the path of temptation. The
+way to do this, we are told, is to fill the front bench in the House of
+Commons with the right sort of men. Thus his qualifications for the
+leadership depend upon the choice which may be made of a leader for the
+Lower House. Everything points to that as the one crucial business. The
+"Two Conservatives" seem to have a special grudge against Mr. Gibson,
+perhaps because, unlike Sir Stafford Northcote, he is not too amiable
+for his ambition, and has lately been making a formidable bid for power.
+Hence we are told how absurd it is to think for a moment of Mr. Gibson.
+He is a member for the University of Dublin and might just as well be a
+member of the House of Keys or of the States of Jersey. Lord Salisbury
+would never have made such a humiliating display over the Arrears Bill
+if he had not been misled by Mr. Gibson. Hence it is necessary to keep
+the hon. and learned gentleman in the background if the party is not to
+be doomed to endless blunders, and driven, sheer beyond the range of
+English sympathies.
+
+The attack on Sir Stafford Northcote is conducted with greater caution,
+but with the same fell design. We are told that Lord Salisbury's
+selection for the leadership on Lord Beaconsfield's death was opposed by
+a near relative of Sir Stafford's, and lost by one vote. Then comes the
+suggestion that Mr. Disraeli would not have left the House of Commons
+for the Upper House if he had not believed that Mr. Gladstone had
+finally retired from the leadership of the Opposition. In other words,
+had he foreseen the course of events he would not have entrusted the
+leadership of the House to Sir Stafford Northcote. There is a vicious
+hit in the picture of Sir Stafford sitting between Mr. W. H. Smith and
+Mr. Lowther, yielding by turns to the caution of the one and the daring
+of the other, and showing himself unequal to the double part. Impartial
+observers will, perhaps, admit that Sir Stafford Northcote's chief fault
+is a want of backbone. He has not enough of confidence in himself. He
+would be a better politician if he were not so good a man. He needs to
+be armed either with the power of kicking out, or with imperturbable
+composure. This latter is the more useful and more dignified endowment,
+but it springs from a sense of self-sufficiency which fails him. If he
+had but the gift of epigram he might escape from his tormentors. The
+plague of it is that he never succeeds except when he reasons like a man
+of sense, and weapons forged on this anvil are too blunt to pierce the
+thick hide of impudence.
+
+No evil has befallen Sir Stafford Northcote but such as is common to
+men. It seems but the other day when Lord Robert Cecil was playing the
+same freaks that Lord Randolph Churchill is playing now. Our friend
+Fluellen would perhaps say, "the situations, look you, is both alike."
+Either of the noble names would pass for the other if they were written
+with initials and dashes in eighteenth century style. In those days the
+late Lord Derby was the Conservative chief, and Mr. Disraeli led the
+Opposition in the Commons as his lieutenant. This arrangement nettled
+the young blood of the Conservative _noblesse_. Lord Robert Cecil's
+outlook in the world was not then what it afterwards became. He was a
+younger son with a career to make for himself. Ambition can supply
+spurs, so can prudence, so can necessity, and so can all three combined.
+The younger son of a great house enters upon political life at an
+enormous advantage over humbler rivals. If there is any brilliancy about
+him his fortune is made. Lord Robert Cecil's influence was sufficient to
+produce a succession of small insurrectionary earthquakes on the
+Opposition benches. Old members from the shires nudged each other in
+their bucolic way and asked what was the matter, learning with puzzled
+amusement that there were some who did not think it quite right for the
+gentlemen of England to be led by a Semitic adventurer. But the Semitic
+adventurer had the gifts of his race. He was primed to the throat with
+contempt and scorn, too cold and measured withal for the slightest show
+of insolence. As each hurly-burly ended and the dust settled, he was
+found sitting where he always meant to sit, just as if nothing had
+happened, with the same impassive look and the same indomitable calm. He
+had one great advantage external to himself. He knew that he could place
+unbounded confidence in the loyalty of his chief in the Upper House, and
+so long as Lord Derby stood by him the insurgent school-boys on the
+back-benches could do him no harm. Perhaps Sir Stafford Northcote
+cannot count upon the same support, but then his own resources are
+greater, if he did but know it.
+
+The truth is that Sir Stafford Northcote represents the only type of
+Conservatism that can survive in the present state of political thought
+in England. It is not a brilliant type, but that is the fault of
+history. Enough that it may be a useful one. Toryism has undergone a
+process of inverse development which resembles decay, but which is
+merely an accommodation to the existing conditions of life and health.
+The figments which used to furnish it with sustenance are dead. The
+divine right of kings, which nourished as a sentiment long after it was
+disowned by the laws, has at last gone spark out. The divine rights of
+the Church have followed suit. The legal abuses which were clung to as a
+symbol of the unchangeableness of English institutions are being swept
+away. The monopoly of political power which gave the right of governing
+the realm as a perquisite to a few patrician families has been broken
+down. The compromise which transferred the old privileges of the
+aristocracy to the middle classes has had to be abandoned. The
+"advancing tide of democracy" at which men looked through a telescope
+twenty years ago, wondering at what comparatively remote period it would
+reach our shores, has already reached us, and the waters are still
+rising. The superstitions formerly attaching to the possession of land,
+to hereditary descent, to ancestral titles, to the feudal pretensions of
+the squirearchy, are all dissipating into thin air. If it is not yet
+proved whether science is a democratic power, at any rate it asserts the
+predominance of natural laws, and at their fiat artificial distinctions
+must tend to disappear.
+
+In such a state of things what part is left for Conservatism to play?
+Mr. Disraeli asked and answered the same question when he began his
+witches' dance. What have you to conserve? Nothing! The answer is not
+true. There is much that may be conserved for a long time to come, and
+when it can no longer be conserved in its present shape something will
+have to be said as to the altered form it shall assume. One thing is
+certain. Conservatism cannot emancipate itself from the conditions of
+the age. It may indeed turn hermit and shut itself up in parsonages and
+manor-houses, but if it is still to be a political power it can only
+plan and achieve what is possible. It accepts, and cannot but accept,
+the law of progress as the rule of legislation, and the only arbiter to
+whom it can appeal is the national will. But you may advance slowly or
+rapidly, you may resort to modifications and compromises instead of
+sweeping things bodily away. In establishing a preference on these
+questions there is abundant room for popular advocacy. The people are
+not swayed by pure reason. They are actuated to a great extent by their
+prejudices and their passions. They must be taken as they are, and
+recent experience shows that it is difficult to say beforehand what and
+how much may not be made out of them. Unorganized groups of men are so
+helpless, oratory has so much power, the small vices of the mind have so
+strong a tendency to pass into politics, that a wide field will long be
+open to propagandists of every kind. It sometimes seems as if the
+obstacles to be overcome might be too great for the reformers, and that
+the "children of light" must adjourn their efforts till the millennium
+is a little nearer. It is the spread of education and the silent working
+of intellectual influences springing from the higher knowledge of the
+age that puts the better chances on their side. But Conservatism has its
+chances too, only it must not frighten the people with antiquated
+nonsense. It must fall in with current ideas. It must set up on the
+whole similar aims to those of its opponents, merely asking a preference
+for other methods. Above all, it must be modest and sober and give up
+bounce and slap-dash. The people are becoming more serious. They reason
+more on politics and with better lights; a sense of power teaches them
+self-respect, and they resent clap-trap. Perhaps I ought to ask pardon
+for saying so, but they can see through a merely clever man, like Lord
+Salisbury. A Liberal would find Sir Stafford Northcote a more formidable
+antagonist. He might be more eloquent, but eloquence is not everything.
+A gentle persuasiveness, even with a spice of puzzledom in it, will go
+further in the end. The Conservative mutineers know not what they are
+doing when they try to demolish this type of Conservatism. Or perhaps
+they do know, but are bent upon objects which, from a personal point of
+view, are attended with compensations. But the future of Conservatism
+does not rest with them unless they change their ideas and manners. The
+staying power and the fitness of things are on the side of those whom,
+with the ribald audacity of youth, they deride as slow-coaches.
+
+The "Two Conservatives" are not prepared to accept this humble _rôle_.
+They meditate something heroic. They say that "if the Conservative party
+is to continue to exist as a power in the State it must become a popular
+party;" "that the days are past when an exclusive class, however great
+its ability, wealth, and energy, can command a majority in the
+electorate." "The liberties and interests of the people at large," they
+say, "are the only things which it is possible now to conserve: the
+rights of property, the Established Church, the House of Lords, and the
+Crown itself, must be defended on the ground that they are institutions
+necessary or useful to the preservation of civil and religious freedom,
+and can be maintained only so far as the people take this view of their
+subsistence." These are the principles of democracy. It is here laid
+down that the people are the only legitimate court of appeal on
+political questions, and that the decision rests, and ought to rest,
+with the numerical majority. Before this court the most venerable
+institutions of the realm may be brought to have their merits sifted,
+and an adverse verdict is to be followed by a writ of execution. The
+only test by which they are to be judged is their utility. If they
+fail to stand it they are to be voted nuisances. The standard of utility
+is not to be the interests or the supposed rights of any person or
+class, but the interests of the whole people. The people themselves are
+to decide what is meant by their liberties, how far they extend, and
+what other interests shall be superadded in making out the standard
+towards which our institutions shall approximate.
+
+If these are the principles of Neo-conservatism, our case is made out
+with a superfluity of proof. Of course there is a pretence of acting on
+these principles already. When a measure is before Parliament it is
+assumed that the sole issue in dispute is its utility. The Conservative
+debater recognizes the decisiveness of this test just as freely as his
+opponents. But these principles have not been openly avowed by the
+Conservatives. The "hypocrisy" with which Mr. Disraeli taunted them
+still flourishes in the form of amiable prepossessions. A vast mass of
+mystic and traditional lumber still enters into the foundations of
+Conservatism, and if all this "wood, hay, and stubble" were to be burnt
+up it would fare ill with the frail fabric overhead. The practical
+policy of Conservatism would not alter, and could not be altered much,
+but its pretensions would have to be pitched in a lower key, and the
+excessive modesty of the part which alone remains to it in the politics
+of the future would be put beyond dispute.
+
+It would be interesting to see this theory of Conservatism, quietly
+admitted though it be into the working details of legislation, hawked
+for acceptance among the Opposition benches, and note the result. What
+is this new creed of yours? we can fancy the hon. and gallant member for
+Loamshire ejaculating. That there must be no class influence in
+politics? That any half-dozen hinds on my estate are as good as so many
+dukes? That the will of the people is the supreme political tribunal?
+That if a majority at the polls bid us abolish the Church and toss the
+Crown into the gutter we are forthwith to be their most obedient
+servants? And you tell me that I can profess this horrible creed without
+ceasing to be a Tory! Before I could with a spark of honesty so much as
+parley with it I should have to crave a seat among the red-hot gentlemen
+yonder below the gangway. And the hon. and gallant member would only say
+the truth. Privilege is the mint mark of Toryism, exclusiveness is its
+life and soul. The doctrine of equal rights must be in everlasting
+repugnance to it. Toryism is the political expression of feudalized
+society, with lords and squires at the top, subservient dependants
+half-way down, and a mass of brutalized serfs at the bottom. It has been
+comparatively humanized by modern influences, but nothing can change the
+bent of its genius. With privilege vested interests of all sorts enter
+into ready fellowship. All those good citizens who have reason to
+suspect that if a public inquest sat upon them the verdict would not be
+favourable hasten to edge themselves in as closely as possible towards
+the privileged circle. The village rector, who does his duty with all
+the conscientiousness of a beneficed Christian, but who prizes his glebe
+and tithe, rushes to Cambridge to swell the majority for Mr. Raikes.
+Gentlemen of the long robe who make politics a vocation gravitate for
+some reason or other towards Liberalism; but the lower branch of the
+profession displays an opposite tendency. The county lawyer, who makes
+two-thirds of his income out of the mysteries of conveyancing, has
+reason to dislike such things as the registration of titles, and the
+transfer of estates by a few sentences extracted from a public record.
+The licensed victuallers, tens of thousands strong and with more than a
+hundred millions of invested capital, dread the change which would give
+them a quiet Sunday in return for a seventh of their profits. The
+strength of Toryism lies in this phalanx of vested interests and social
+privileges. The golden chain reaches from squire to Boniface, and still
+lower in the social scale, wherever some snug little peculium is found
+to nestle. The principles of Neo-Conservatism would rend the structure
+from top to bottom. The doctrine that the solution of all our political
+problems and the fate of all our institutions are simply an affair of
+numerical majorities at the ballot-box, and that the interests of the
+people are the sole end of legislation, is enough of itself to smash the
+party to atoms.
+
+All sensible politicians admit that if the time should come when a large
+majority of the people are adverse to monarchical institutions it will
+be vain to think of maintaining them by force. It may be added that
+sensible politicians seldom discuss such questions. They have too much
+present work on hand to trouble themselves about the remote and the
+unknown. "What thy hand findeth to do" is their motto, and out of the
+faithful achievements of to-day will the better future spring.
+Nevertheless bare possibilities sometimes present themselves as
+conundrums to be unravelled, and to the conundrum in question there is
+no second answer. But it is one thing to quietly accept a proposition
+and then let it drop out of sight; it is another to run it up to the top
+of the flag-staff as the symbol of a great party. This is what the
+"Neo-conservatives" propose to do with their recent discovery. An
+opinion of the Crown's utility is to determine whether it shall be
+preserved or destroyed. When the majority of the people cry "Away with
+it," away it is to go. As soon as the popular fiat is announced, the
+Sovereign will depart from Windsor, the Life Guards will present arms to
+the President of the Republic, and in the twinkling of an eye, as the
+result of a contested election, the Monarchy of England is to be
+decorously carried to the tomb. This is the doctrine which Tory lords
+and squires are asked to proclaim with sound of trumpet as the
+corner-stone of their political creed. "Only so far as the people take
+this view of its subsistence"--this is to be the Tory patent for the
+"subsistence" of the Crown. Rather different this from the old cry:--
+
+     "Ere the King's Crown go down there are crowns to be broke."
+
+It is true that the peers no longer wear coats of mail, or lead their
+vassals to the field of battle. Of most of them it is hardly
+disrespectful to suppose that on critical occasions they would prefer
+the rear of the army to the van. But the creed is not quite extinct that
+there are things worth fighting for, and that among them are the
+Monarchy of England and the rights of the Crown. For practical purposes,
+perhaps, the creed is obsolete, but it lives in the imagination, and the
+sentiments which spring from it are part of the cement of Toryism. The
+solemn abjuration which is now proposed in the name of Neo-conservatism
+resembles a charge of dynamite.
+
+But in abandoning Tory principles the leaders of the new movement hope
+perhaps to drive a roaring trade by defending Tory institutions. They
+will say that they have been obliged to shift their ground, but that
+they hope to work with better results from their new position. The
+business of the party is to prevail upon Household Suffrage to accept
+the survivals of feudalism, and a verdict in the new court of appeal
+that shall ratify the old creed. It is a creditable enterprise. Will it
+succeed? It seems but too likely that the efforts contemplated will only
+serve to weaken the institutions they are meant to defend, and that
+whatever is practicable or desirable in the objects aimed at will be
+secured most easily and most effectually by the Liberal party.
+
+Among the political institutions of an old country there are some which
+certainly would not be set up if the past were obliterated, and the
+nation were beginning afresh. They were suitable to the times in which
+they originated, but they are out of harmony with the tendencies of the
+present day. Perhaps they do some good; at any rate they do not do much
+harm, and the people tolerate them for the sake of old associations.
+From this point of view a great deal may be said in their behalf. They
+make visible the continuity of our national existence, they connect us
+with a distant and romantic past, they lend to the State something of
+dignity and poetic charm. Institutions of this sort may be held in
+veneration by those who can trace them to their origin, and see them in
+perspective from the beginning. But there is one test they will not
+stand. They will not pass unscathed through the crucible of modern
+criticism. They are disfigured by anomalies, they shelter many abuses,
+they involve an expenditure of public money out of proportion to the
+services rendered in return, they consecrate a privileged descent, in
+the transmission of property they violate the rules of natural equity,
+while the principles on which they rest need only to be developed and
+applied with logical consistency to overthrow the fabric of political
+freedom. The best service that can be rendered to such institutions is
+to say as little as possible about them. A wise friend will not utter a
+word in their defence unless they are assailed, and the ground selected
+for defence will then be carefully limited to the dimensions of the
+attack. The next best service will be to remove from them as occasion
+offers all unsightly excrescences, to put an end to any anomaly which is
+beginning to excite remark, and to amend any faults of mechanism which
+are likely to produce a jar. Such a policy of discriminating reserve may
+lengthen out their existence indefinitely. But to force them to the
+front, to exalt them as the ripest product of political wisdom, to hold
+them forth as necessary to the maintenance of the civil and religious
+liberties of the people,--this can only be the work of designing
+adversaries or of blundering friends. As a basis of party action it
+would be like sand. It would be levelled by the mocking tides of popular
+criticism.
+
+The programme of the "Two Conservatives" begins with a grand item, the
+conservation of the liberties of the people. But why "conserve?" Why not
+extend and advance them? Why should the present stage in the historical
+growth of our liberties be selected as the point at which conservation
+becomes a duty? Would not the party which undertakes the task to-day be
+better pleased if there were fewer of them to conserve? The Tories have
+always been adepts at conservation, but the things they have been most
+willing to conserve were not our liberties but the restrictions put upon
+our liberties. Since the liberties now proposed to be conserved are
+assumed to be threatened by the Liberals, they must be liberties of a
+special sort, such as liberty to spread infection, liberty to dispense
+with vaccination, liberty to send uninspected ships to sea, to keep
+children away from school, or to send them out at any age to work in the
+fields, the factory, or the streets. "Personal rights" have good radical
+sponsors in the hon. members for Stockport and Leicester. Perhaps
+Parliament as a whole is the best sponsor. The Neo-conservative
+programme should tell us what is meant by the liberties of the people.
+The absence of definition may perhaps cover an imposture.
+
+The next object of Neo-conservative devotion is the maintenance of the
+rights of property. Those rights are of no private interpretation, and
+belong to sociology rather than to politics. Every man is interested in
+them who has anything to lose, or who has a chance of acquiring
+anything. Hence they cannot be claimed as an appanage of Toryism. They
+are placed under the common championship of all parties. But the
+exclusive claim set up must have some meaning. The rights of property
+intended may perhaps be the rights of property as understood by the
+landlords, in which sense they may include a right to the property of
+other people; or as understood by the association of which Lord Elcho is
+president, in which sense they stand in opposition to the rights of the
+public. We know what is meant by the rights of landed proprietors, of
+railway corporations, of publicans, of property owners, of shipowners,
+of pawnbrokers and of corporate bodies, such as the guilds of the city
+of London. They represent the pretensions of these classes to have their
+interests preferred to those of the community. It is a case of
+prescription against equity, of the license assumed by special callings
+against the checks and guarantees which Parliament has found it
+necessary to impose for the general welfare. This is a field in which
+Neo-conservatism can reap no harvest. It will be vain to tell the
+working man who is the owner of the house in which he lives, that his
+rights are in the same boat with the right of London companies to
+squander or misapply the wealth which has descended to them from the
+Middle Ages. It will be useless to enter an appeal before the tribunal
+of public opinion in defence of such rights as these on the pretence
+that they are the rights of property. The unsophisticated reason of the
+constituencies will resent the assumption as an attempted fraud.
+
+The political institutions which are to be set forth as necessary to the
+maintenance of the civil and religious liberties of the people are the
+Established Church, the House of Lords, and the Crown. Of the Crown we
+have already spoken. It is the least vulnerable of the three, and for
+this reason it is the least fitted to furnish a party cry. The strength
+of the Crown resides in its enormous historical _prestige_, and in the
+constitutional device, old as the monarchy in principle, but modern in
+its machinery, by which it is removed from the sphere of responsibility
+and therefore from party assault. The Crown need not be defended for it
+is not assailed. If it were assailed there are sufficient grounds for an
+adequate, perhaps a triumphant, defence. But in mere truth it would be
+difficult to defend it on the special ground that it is necessary to the
+maintenance of our civil and religious liberties. Everybody knows that
+these liberties were won in despite of the Crown, and in opposition to
+its alleged prerogatives. We had to send a dynasty adrift before we
+could regard our liberties as moderately secure. No greater disservice
+can be done to any institution than to advance exaggerated or
+ill-founded pretensions on its behalf, and this is what Neo-conservatism
+proposes to do for the Crown. It will be well to keep this institution
+off the hustings. To utilize it for party purposes seems like an
+insidious form of treason. The Established Church is fairer game, but
+absolutely worthless as a means of raising the wind for a forlorn party.
+An institution which needs all the support it can get has none to share
+with companions in distress. The Church may have a larger hold upon a
+portion of the middle classes than it had thirty years ago, but the
+working classes are separated from it by a wider gulf. Many who attend
+its services and call themselves Churchmen are utterly indifferent to
+its political fate. It is preposterous to represent the Established
+Church as necessary to the maintenance of civil and religious freedom.
+In the course of her history she has been the unrelenting foe of both,
+and we have no more of either than she could help our having. The want
+of disciplinary powers prevents her from interfering with the belief,
+or, except in grave cases, with the moral conduct of her members, but
+the paralysis of the authority necessary for internal discipline is not
+the same thing as religious freedom. The bondage of the Church is not
+the liberty of the State. Disestablishment has not yet come within the
+range of practical politics, but if a popular statesman felt it his duty
+to bring the question fairly before the electorate, it is at least
+doubtful whether the verdict would not be hostile to the Church. No
+doubt need be entertained as to the result of such an appeal in the case
+of the House of Lords. The constitution of the House as an assembly of
+hereditary legislators is admitted to be indefensible. Its theoretic
+prerogatives are tolerated only on the understanding that they shall
+never be exerted. It exists by virtue of habit and indifference, aided
+by a conviction of its powerlessness. As a decorative institution there
+is no great eagerness to pull it down, but whenever the House forgets
+that its functions are ornamental, and commits itself to a serious issue
+with the Commons, its last hour will be at hand. The step most likely to
+precipitate its doom would be for the Tory party to glorify it as the
+palladium of our liberties, and try to get up popular enthusiasm on its
+behalf. The House of Lords would not long survive that treacherous
+homage. It would be beaten in one campaign.
+
+No: from whatever point of view we consider the question, it is plain
+that the attempt to reconstruct the Tory party on a Democratic basis
+cannot succeed. The open avowal of such an aim would deprive Toryism of
+all backbone and reduce it to the condition of a moribund jelly-fish. It
+is not given to any creature to change its nature and yet continue to
+discharge its old functions. It is true that Toryism in order to get on
+at all with the present age is obliged occasionally to act on Liberal
+principles. The device gives no offence so long as it is adopted
+quietly, and if suspicions are awakened a few heart-stirring speeches in
+the old orthodox vein suffice to allay them. A formal repudiation of old
+ideas is quite another thing. Just as Utopian is the project of
+defending Tory institutions on Democratic principles. There are two
+arsenals from which political combatants may choose their weapons, the
+historical and the scientific. It is from the former that the champion
+equips himself who offers battle on behalf of institutions that have
+descended to us from hoar antiquity. Weapons taken from the latter are
+unfit for such a service. Every blow would recoil upon the institution
+which it was the champion's aim to defend. To abandon the Established
+Church, the House of Lords, and the Crown to the uncovenanted mercies of
+modern political criticism is a rash experiment. The hope which sees in
+such an experiment a fresh lease of life and new chances of ascendency
+for Toryism is absurd.
+
+Yet there is, and always will be, room for a Conservative party in
+English politics, only it must move along the historic lines, and not
+needlessly renounce its old watchwords. We need two brooms to keep our
+constitutional mansion in a tidy state, one in use, the other undergoing
+repairs, or put in pickle, and ready to be brought in when wanted.
+Government by party requires the existence of two parties, and demand is
+apt to generate supply. It is not necessary that the two parties should
+be separated by an impassable gulf. It is only necessary that materials
+for two separate connections should be provided, and in this emergency
+Nature does much to help us. There are opposite moods of mind in
+politics as in literature and art; there are antithetical differences of
+intellect and temperament to be found among men of all countries and all
+times; there is the standing opposition between what is and what ought
+to be, between the actual and the ideal, between the desire of the poor
+human wayfarer to sit down and rest, and the curiosity which ever lures
+him on. Possession and the desire to possess, divine contentment and
+still diviner discontent, self-centreing reflectiveness and impulses
+whose proper object is the welfare of mankind,--here are agencies which
+play their part in politics as well as in social life. These
+multifarious forces tend to range themselves on opposite sides, the
+sympathetic in each class readily finding out their kinsmen in the rest.
+With such materials to work upon, a Conservatism which chooses to follow
+the ordinary course of things can never be defunct. Extinction can only
+come from an endeavour after some monstrous birth against which both
+Nature and history have pronounced their ban.
+
+   HENRY DUNCKLEY.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Contemporary Review, January 1883, by Various
+
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+
+Project Gutenberg's The Contemporary Review, January 1883, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Contemporary Review, January 1883
+       Vol 43, No. 1
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: July 3, 2008 [EBook #25957]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, JANUARY 1883 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<h1>THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW</h1>
+
+<h3>VOLUME XLIII. JANUARY-JUNE, 1883</h3>
+
+<p class="center">ISBISTER AND COMPANY<br />
+
+LIMITED<br />
+
+56, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON<br />
+
+1883<br /><br />
+
+
+Ballantyne Press<br />
+<br />
+BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO., EDINBURGH<br />
+CHANDOS STREET, LONDON
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS_OF_VOLUME_XLIII" id="CONTENTS_OF_VOLUME_XLIII"></a>CONTENTS OF VOLUME XLIII.</h2>
+
+
+
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS">
+<tr><th align='center'>JANUARY, 1883.</th></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'>PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Americans. By Herbert Spencer</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_1'><b>1</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>University Elections. By Edward A. Freeman, D.C.L.</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_16'><b>16</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Hamlet: A New Reading. By Franklin Leifchild</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_31'><b>31</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Panislamism and the Caliphate</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_57'><b>57</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Bollandists. By the Rev. G. T. Stokes</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_69'><b>69</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>England, France, and Madagascar. By the Rev. James Sibree</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_85'><b>85</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Religious Future of the World. I. By W. S. Lilly</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_100'><b>100</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Syrian Colonization. By the Rev. W. Wright, D.D</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_122'><b>122</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Conservative Dilemma. By Henry Dunckley</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_141'><b>141</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><th align='center'>FEBRUARY, 1883.</th></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Contemporary Life and Thought in France. By Gabriel Monod</td><td align='right'>157</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Gambetta. By A German</td><td align='right'>179</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Art of Rossetti. By Harry Quilter</td><td align='right'>190</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Religious Future of the World. II. By W. S. Lilly</td><td align='right'>204</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The "Silver Streak" and the Channel Tunnel. By Professor Boyd Dawkins</td><td align='right'>240</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Prospect of Reform. By Arthur Arnold, M.P.</td><td align='right'>250</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Ancient International Law. By Professor Brougham Leech</td><td align='right'>260</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>A Russian Prison. By Henry Lansdell, D.D.</td><td align='right'>275</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Canonical Obedience. By the Rev. Edwin Hatch</td><td align='right'>289</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Democratic Toryism. By Arthur B. Forwood</td><td align='right'>294</td></tr>
+<tr><th align='center'>MARCH, 1883.</th></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>County Government. By the Rt. Hon. Sir R. A. Cross, G.C.B., M.P.</td><td align='right'>305</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Léon Gambetta: A Positivist Discourse. By Frederic Harrison</td><td align='right'>311</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Discharged Prisoners: How to Aid Them. By C. E. Howard Vincent, Director of Criminal Investigations</td><td align='right'>325</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Miss Burney's Own Story. By Mary Elizabeth Christie</td><td align='right'>332</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Highland Crofters. By John Rae</td><td align='right'>357</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Local Self-Government in India: The New Departure. By Sir Richard Temple, Bart., G.C.S.I.</td><td align='right'>373</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Siena. By Samuel James Capper</td><td align='right'>383</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Limits of Science. By the Rev. George Edmundson</td><td align='right'>404</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Land Tenure and Taxation in Egypt. By Henry C. Kay</td><td align='right'>411</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Enchanted Lake: An Episode from the Mahábhárata. By Edwin Arnold, C.S.I.</td><td align='right'>428</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Municipal Organization of Paris. By Yves Guyot, Member of the Municipal Council of Paris</td><td align='right'>439</td></tr>
+<tr><th align='center'>APRIL, 1883.</th></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The English Military Power, and the Egyptian Campaign of 1882. By A German Field-Officer</td><td align='right'>457</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>M. Gambetta: Positivism and Christianity. By R. W. Dale, M.A.</td><td align='right'>476</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Anti-Vivisectionist Agitation:</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">1. By Dr. E. De Cyon</span></td><td align='right'>498</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;">2. By R. H. Hutton</span></td><td align='right'>510</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Gospel According to Rembrandt. By Richard Heath</td><td align='right'>517</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Conseils de Prud'hommes. By W. H. S. Aubrey</td><td align='right'>538</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Manchester Ship Canal. By Major-General Hamley</td><td align='right'>549</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Progress of Socialism. By Emile de Laveleye</td><td align='right'>561</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Irish Murder-Societies. By Richard Pigott</td><td align='right'>583</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Contemporary Life and Thought: Italian Politics. By Professor Villari</td><td align='right'>592</td></tr>
+<tr><th align='center'>MAY, 1883.</th></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Mrs. Carlyle. By Mrs. Oliphant</td><td align='right'>609</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Business of the House o£ Commons. By the Right Ho. W. E. Baxter, M.P.</td><td align='right'>629</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Oxford Movement of 1833. By William Palmer</td><td align='right'>636</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Radiation. By Professor Tyndall</td><td align='right'>660</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Cairo: The Old in the New. I. By Dr. Georg Ebers</td><td align='right'>674</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Responsibilities of Unbelief. By Vernon Lee</td><td align='right'>685</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Fiji. By the Hon Sir Arthur H. Gordon, G.C.M.G.</td><td align='right'>711</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>John Richard Green. By the Rev. H. R. Haweis, M A.</td><td align='right'>732</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Fenianism. By F. H. O'Donnell, M.P.</td><td align='right'>747</td></tr>
+<tr><th align='center'>JUNE, 1883.</th></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Congo Neutralized. By Emile de Laveleye</td><td align='right'>767</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Agnostic Morality. By Frances Power Cobbe</td><td align='right'>783</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Native Indian Judges: Mr. Ilbert's Bill. By the Right Hon. Sir Arthur Hobhouse, K.C.S.I.</td><td align='right'>795</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The Philosophy of the Beautiful. By Professor John Stuart Blackie</td><td align='right'>812</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Nature and Thought. By G. J. Romanes, F.R.S.</td><td align='right'>831</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Cairo: The Old in the New. II. By Dr. Georg Ebers</td><td align='right'>842</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>De Mortuis. By C. F. Gordon Cumming</td><td align='right'>858</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Wanted, an Elisha. By H. D. Traill, D.C.L.</td><td align='right'>870</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Two Aspects of Shakspeare's Art. By T. Hall Came</td><td align='right'>883</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Insanity, Suicide and Civilization. By M. G. Mulhall</td><td align='right'>901</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>The New Egyptian Constitution. By Sheldon Amos</td><td align='right'>909</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<h2><br /><br /><a name="THE_AMERICANS" id="THE_AMERICANS"></a>THE AMERICANS:</h2>
+
+<h3>A CONVERSATION AND A SPEECH, WITH AN ADDITION.</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">By</span> HERBERT SPENCER.</h4>
+
+
+<h3>I.&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Conversation</span>: <i>October 20, 1882</i>.</h3>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>[The state of Mr. Spencer's health unfortunately not permitting him
+to give in the form of articles the results of his observations on
+American society, it is thought useful to reproduce, under his own
+revision and with some additional remarks, what he has said on the
+subject; especially as the accounts of it which have appeared in
+this country are imperfect: reports of the conversation having been
+abridged, and the speech being known only by telegraphic summary.</p>
+
+<p>The earlier paragraphs of the conversation, which refer to Mr.
+Spencer's persistent exclusion of reporters and his objections to
+the interviewing system, are omitted, as not here concerning the
+reader. There was no eventual yielding, as has been supposed. It
+was not to a newspaper-reporter that the opinions which follow were
+expressed, but to an intimate American friend: the primary purpose
+being to correct the many misstatements to which the excluded
+interviewers had given currency; and the occasion being taken for
+giving utterance to impressions of American affairs.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Ed.</span>]</p></div>
+
+<p>Has what you have seen answered your expectations?</p>
+
+<p>It has far exceeded them. Such books about America as I had looked into
+had given me no adequate idea of the immense developments of material
+civilization which I have everywhere found. The extent, wealth, and
+magnificence of your cities, and especially the splendour of New York,
+have altogether astonished me. Though I have not visited the wonder of
+the West, Chicago, yet some of your minor modern places, such as
+Cleveland, have sufficiently amazed me by the results of one
+generation's activity. Occasionally, when I have been in places of some
+ten thousand inhabitants where the telephone is in general use, I have
+felt somewhat ashamed of our own unenterprising towns, many of which, of
+fifty thousand inhabitants and more, make no use of it.</p>
+
+<p>I suppose you recognize in these results the great benefits of free
+institutions?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Ah! Now comes one of the inconveniences of interviewing. I have been in
+the country less than two months, have seen but a relatively small part
+of it, and but comparatively few people, and yet you wish from me a
+definite opinion on a difficult question.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps you will answer, subject to the qualification that you are but
+giving your first impressions?</p>
+
+<p>Well, with that understanding, I may reply that though the free
+institutions have been partly the cause, I think they have not been the
+chief cause. In the first place, the American people have come into
+possession of an unparalleled fortune&mdash;the mineral wealth and the vast
+tracts of virgin soil producing abundantly with small cost of culture.
+Manifestly, that alone goes a long way towards producing this enormous
+prosperity. Then they have profited by inheriting all the arts,
+appliances, and methods, developed by older societies, while leaving
+behind the obstructions existing in them. They have been able to pick
+and choose from the products of all past experience, appropriating the
+good and rejecting the bad. Then, besides these favours of fortune,
+there are factors proper to themselves. I perceive in American faces
+generally a great amount of determination&mdash;a kind of "do or die"
+expression; and this trait of character, joined with a power of work
+exceeding that of any other people, of course produces an unparalleled
+rapidity of progress. Once more, there is the inventiveness which,
+stimulated by the need for economizing labour, has been so wisely
+fostered. Among us in England, there are many foolish people who, while
+thinking that a man who toils with his hands has an equitable claim to
+the product, and if he has special skill may rightly have the advantage
+of it, also hold that if a man toils with his brain, perhaps for years,
+and, uniting genius with perseverance, evolves some valuable invention,
+the public may rightly claim the benefit. The Americans have been more
+far-seeing. The enormous museum of patents which I saw at Washington is
+significant of the attention paid to inventors' claims; and the nation
+profits immensely from having in this direction (though not in all
+others) recognized property in mental products. Beyond question, in
+respect of mechanical appliances the Americans are ahead of all nations.
+If along with your material progress there went equal progress of a
+higher kind, there would remain nothing to be wished.</p>
+
+<p>That is an ambiguous qualification. What do you mean by it?</p>
+
+<p>You will understand me when I tell you what I was thinking the other
+day. After pondering over what I have seen of your vast manufacturing
+and trading establishments, the rush of traffic in your street-cars and
+elevated railways, your gigantic hotels and Fifth Avenue palaces, I was
+suddenly reminded of the Italian Republics of the Middle Ages; and
+recalled the fact that while there was growing up in them great
+commercial activity, a development of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> arts which made them the envy
+of Europe, and a building of princely mansions which continue to be the
+admiration of travellers, their people were gradually losing their
+freedom.</p>
+
+<p>Do you mean this as a suggestion that we are doing the like?</p>
+
+<p>It seems to me that you are. You retain the forms of freedom; but, so
+far as I can gather, there has been a considerable loss of the
+substance. It is true that those who rule you do not do it by means of
+retainers armed with swords; but they do it through regiments of men
+armed with voting papers, who obey the word of command as loyally as did
+the dependants of the old feudal nobles, and who thus enable their
+leaders to override the general will, and make the community submit to
+their exactions as effectually as their prototypes of old. It is
+doubtless true that each of your citizens votes for the candidate he
+chooses for this or that office, from President downwards; but his hand
+is guided by an agency behind which leaves him scarcely any choice. "Use
+your political power as we tell you, or else throw it away," is the
+alternative offered to the citizen. The political machinery as it is now
+worked, has little resemblance to that contemplated at the outset of
+your political life. Manifestly, those who framed your Constitution
+never dreamed that twenty thousand citizens would go to the poll led by
+a "boss." America exemplifies at the other end of the social scale, a
+change analogous to that which has taken place under sundry despotisms.
+You know that in Japan, before the recent Revolution, the divine ruler,
+the Mikado, nominally supreme, was practically a puppet in the hands of
+his chief minister, the Shogun. Here it seems to me that "the sovereign
+people" is fast becoming a puppet which moves and speaks as wire-pullers
+determine.</p>
+
+<p>Then you think that Republican institutions are a failure?</p>
+
+<p>By no means: I imply no such conclusion. Thirty years ago, when often
+discussing politics with an English friend, and defending Republican
+institutions, as I always have done and do still, and when he urged
+against me the ill-working of such institutions over here, I habitually
+replied that the Americans got their form of government by a happy
+accident, not by normal progress, and that they would have to go back
+before they could go forward. What has since happened seems to me to
+have justified that view; and what I see now, confirms me in it. America
+is showing, on a larger scale than ever before, that "paper
+Constitutions" will not work as they are intended to work. The truth,
+first recognized by Mackintosh, that Constitutions are not made but
+grow, which is part of the larger truth that societies, throughout their
+whole organizations, are not made but grow, at once, when accepted,
+disposes of the notion that you can work as you hope any
+artificially-devised system of government. It becomes an inference that
+if your political structure has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> been manufactured and not grown, it
+will forthwith begin to grow into something different from that
+intended&mdash;something in harmony with the natures of the citizens, and the
+conditions under which the society exists. And it evidently has been so
+with you. Within the forms of your Constitution there has grown up this
+organization of professional politicians altogether uncontemplated at
+the outset, which has become in large measure the ruling power.</p>
+
+<p>But will not education and the diffusion of political knowledge fit men
+for free institutions?</p>
+
+<p>No. It is essentially a question of character, and only in a secondary
+degree a question of knowledge. But for the universal delusion about
+education as a panacea for political evils, this would have been made
+sufficiently clear by the evidence daily disclosed in your papers. Are
+not the men who officer and control your Federal, your State, and your
+Municipal organizations&mdash;who manipulate your caucuses and conventions,
+and run your partisan campaigns&mdash;all educated men? And has their
+education prevented them from engaging in, or permitting, or condoning,
+the briberies, lobbyings, and other corrupt methods which vitiate the
+actions of your administrations? Perhaps party newspapers exaggerate
+these things; but what am I to make of the testimony of your civil
+service reformers&mdash;men of all parties? If I understand the matter
+aright, they are attacking, as vicious and dangerous, a system which has
+grown up under the natural spontaneous working of your free
+institutions&mdash;are exposing vices which education has proved powerless to
+prevent?</p>
+
+<p>Of course, ambitious and unscrupulous men will secure the offices, and
+education will aid them in their selfish purposes. But would not those
+purposes be thwarted, and better Government secured, by raising the
+standard of knowledge among the people at large?</p>
+
+<p>Very little. The current theory is that if the young are taught what is
+right, and the reasons why it is right, they will do what is right when
+they grow up. But considering what religious teachers have been doing
+these two thousand years, it seems to me that all history is against the
+conclusion, as much as is the conduct of these well-educated citizens I
+have referred to; and I do not see why you expect better results among
+the masses. Personal interests will sway the men in the ranks, as they
+sway the men above them; and the education which fails to make the last
+consult public good rather than private good, will fail to make the
+first do it. The benefits of political purity are so general and remote,
+and the profit to each individual is so inconspicuous, that the common
+citizen, educate him as you like, will habitually occupy himself with
+his personal affairs, and hold it not worth his while to fight against
+each abuse as soon as it appears. Not lack of information, but lack of
+certain moral sentiment, is the root of the evil.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>You mean that people have not a sufficient sense of public duty?</p>
+
+<p>Well, that is one way of putting it; but there is a more specific way.
+Probably it will surprise you if I say the American has not, I think, a
+sufficiently quick sense of his own claims, and, at the same time, as a
+necessary consequence, not a sufficiently quick sense of the claims of
+others&mdash;for the two traits are organically related. I observe that they
+tolerate various small interferences and dictations which Englishmen are
+prone to resist. I am told that the English are remarked on for their
+tendency to grumble in such cases; and I have no doubt it is true.</p>
+
+<p>Do you think it worth while for people to make themselves disagreeable
+by resenting every trifling aggression? We Americans think it involves
+too much loss of time and temper, and doesn't pay.</p>
+
+<p>Exactly; that is what I mean by character. It is this easy-going
+readiness to permit small trespasses, because it would be troublesome or
+profitless or unpopular to oppose them, which leads to the habit of
+acquiescence in wrong, and the decay of free institutions. Free
+institutions can be maintained only by citizens, each of whom is instant
+to oppose every illegitimate act, every assumption of supremacy, every
+official excess of power, however trivial it may seem. As Hamlet says,
+there is such a thing as "greatly to find quarrel in a straw," when the
+straw implies a principle. If, as you say of the American, he pauses to
+consider whether he can afford the time and trouble&mdash;whether it will
+pay, corruption is sure to creep in. All these lapses from higher to
+lower forms begin in trifling ways, and it is only by incessant
+watchfulness that they can be prevented. As one of your early statesmen
+said&mdash;"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." But it is far less
+against foreign aggressions upon national liberty that this vigilance is
+required, than against the insidious growth of domestic interferences
+with personal liberty. In some private administrations which I have been
+concerned with, I have often insisted that instead of assuming, as
+people usually do, that things are going right until it is proved that
+they are going wrong, the proper course is to assume that they are going
+wrong until it is proved that they are going right. You will find
+continually that private corporations, such as joint-stock banking
+companies, come to grief from not acting on this principle; and what
+holds of these small and simple private administrations holds still more
+of the great and complex public administrations. People are taught, and
+I suppose believe, that the "heart of man is deceitful above all things,
+and desperately wicked;" and yet, strangely enough, believing this, they
+place implicit trust in those they appoint to this or that function. I
+do not think so ill of human nature; but, on the other hand, I do not
+think so well of human nature as to believe it will go straight without
+being watched.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>You hinted that while Americans do not assert their own individualities
+sufficiently in small matters, they, reciprocally, do not sufficiently
+respect the individualities of others.</p>
+
+<p>Did I? Here, then, comes another of the inconveniences of interviewing.
+I should have kept this opinion to myself if you had asked me no
+questions; and now I must either say what I do not think, which I
+cannot, or I must refuse to answer, which, perhaps, will be taken to
+mean more than I intend, or I must specify, at the risk of giving
+offence. As the least evil, I suppose I must do the last. The trait I
+refer to comes out in various ways, small and great. It is shown by the
+disrespectful manner in which individuals are dealt with in your
+journals&mdash;the placarding of public men in sensational headings, the
+dragging of private people and their affairs into print. There seems to
+be a notion that the public have a right to intrude on private life as
+far as they like; and this I take to be a kind of moral trespassing.
+Then, in a larger way, the trait is seen in this damaging of private
+property by your elevated railways without making compensation; and it
+is again seen in the doings of railway autocrats, not only when
+overriding the rights of shareholders, but in dominating over courts of
+justice and State governments. The fact is that free institutions can be
+properly worked only by men, each of whom is jealous of his own rights,
+and also sympathetically jealous of the rights of others&mdash;who will
+neither himself aggress on his neighbours in small things or great, nor
+tolerate aggression on them by others. The Republican form of government
+is the highest form of government; but because of this it requires the
+highest type of human nature&mdash;a type nowhere at present existing. We
+have not grown up to it; nor have you.</p>
+
+<p>But we thought, Mr. Spencer, you were in favour of free government in
+the sense of relaxed restraints, and letting men and things very much
+alone, or what is called <i>laissez faire</i>?</p>
+
+<p>That is a persistent misunderstanding of my opponents. Everywhere, along
+with the reprobation of Government intrusion into various spheres where
+private activities should be left to themselves, I have contended that
+in its special sphere, the maintenance of equitable relations among
+citizens, governmental action should be extended and elaborated.</p>
+
+<p>To return to your various criticisms, must I then understand that you
+think unfavourably of our future?</p>
+
+<p>No one can form anything more than vague and general conclusions
+respecting your future. The factors are too numerous, too vast, too far
+beyond measure in their quantities and intensities. The world has never
+before seen social phenomena at all comparable with those presented in
+the United States. A society spreading over enormous tracts, while still
+preserving its political continuity, is a new thing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> This progressive
+incorporation of vast bodies of immigrants of various bloods, has never
+occurred on such a scale before. Large empires, composed of different
+peoples, have, in previous cases, been formed by conquest and
+annexation. Then your immense <i>plexus</i> of railways and telegraphs tends
+to consolidate this vast aggregate of States in a way that no such
+aggregate has ever before been consolidated. And there are many minor
+co-operating causes, unlike those hitherto known. No one can say how it
+is all going to work out. That there will come hereafter troubles of
+various kinds, and very grave ones, seems highly probable; but all
+nations have had, and will have, their troubles. Already you have
+triumphed over one great trouble, and may reasonably hope to triumph
+over others. It may, I think, be concluded that, both because of its
+size and the heterogeneity of its components, the American nation will
+be a long time in evolving its ultimate form, but that its ultimate form
+will be high. One great result is, I think, tolerably clear. From
+biological truths it is to be inferred that the eventual mixture of the
+allied varieties of the Aryan race forming the population, will produce
+a finer type of man than has hitherto existed; and a type of man more
+plastic, more adaptable, more capable of undergoing the modifications
+needful for complete social life. I think that whatever difficulties
+they may have to surmount, and whatever tribulations they may have to
+pass through, the Americans may reasonably look forward to a time when
+they will have produced a civilization grander than any the world has
+known.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h3><a name="II_A_Speech" id="II_A_Speech"></a>II.&mdash;<span class="smcap">A Speech:</span></h3>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Delivered on the occasion of a Complimentary Dinner in New York, on
+November 9, 1882.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Mr. President and Gentlemen:&mdash;Along with your kindness there comes to me
+a great unkindness from Fate; for, now that, above all times in my life,
+I need full command of what powers of speech I possess, disturbed health
+so threatens to interfere with them that I fear I shall very
+inadequately express myself. Any failure in my response you must please
+ascribe, in part at least, to a greatly disordered nervous system.
+Regarding you as representing Americans at large, I feel that the
+occasion is one on which arrears of thanks are due. I ought to begin
+with the time, some two-and-twenty years ago, when my highly valued
+friend Professor Youmans, making efforts to diffuse my books here,
+interested on their behalf the Messrs. Appleton, who have ever treated
+me so honourably and so handsomely; and I ought to detail from that time
+onward the various marks and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> acts of sympathy by which I have been
+encouraged in a struggle which was for many years disheartening. But,
+intimating thus briefly my general indebtedness to my numerous friends,
+most of them unknown, on this side of the Atlantic, I must name more
+especially the many attentions and proffered hospitalities met with
+during my late tour, as well as, lastly and chiefly, this marked
+expression of the sympathies and good wishes which many of you have
+travelled so far to give, at great cost of that time which is so
+precious to the American. I believe I may truly say, that the better
+health which you have so cordially wished me, will be in a measure
+furthered by the wish; since all pleasurable emotion is conducive to
+health, and, as you will fully believe, the remembrance of this event
+will ever continue to be a source of pleasurable emotion, exceeded by
+few, if any, of my remembrances.</p>
+
+<p>And now that I have thanked you, sincerely though too briefly, I am
+going to find fault with you. Already, in some remarks drawn from me
+respecting American affairs and American character, I have passed
+criticisms, which have been accepted far more good-humouredly than I
+could have reasonably expected; and it seems strange that I should now
+propose again to transgress. However, the fault I have to comment upon
+is one which most will scarcely regard as a fault. It seems to me that
+in one respect Americans have diverged too widely from savages, I do not
+mean to say that they are in general unduly civilized. Throughout large
+parts of the population, even in long-settled regions, there is no
+excess of those virtues needed for the maintenance of social harmony.
+Especially out in the West, men's dealings do not yet betray too much of
+the "sweetness and light" which we are told distinguish the cultured man
+from the barbarian. Nevertheless, there is a sense in which my assertion
+is true. You know that the primitive man lacks power of application.
+Spurred by hunger, by danger, by revenge, he can exert himself
+energetically for a time; but his energy is spasmodic. Monotonous daily
+toil is impossible to him. It is otherwise with the more developed man.
+The stern discipline of social life has gradually increased the aptitude
+for persistent industry; until, among us, and still more among you, work
+has become with many a passion. This contrast of nature has another
+aspect. The savage thinks only of present satisfactions, and leaves
+future satisfactions uncared for. Contrariwise, the American, eagerly
+pursuing a future good, almost ignores what good the passing day offers
+him; and when the future good is gained, he neglects that while striving
+for some still remoter good.</p>
+
+<p>What I have seen and heard during my stay among you has forced on me the
+belief that this slow change from habitual inertness to persistent
+activity has reached an extreme from which there must begin a
+counterchange&mdash;a reaction. Everywhere I have been struck<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> with the
+number of faces which told in strong lines of the burdens that had to be
+borne. I have been struck, too, with the large proportion of gray-haired
+men; and inquiries have brought out the fact, that with you the hair
+commonly begins to turn some ten years earlier than with us. Moreover,
+in every circle I have met men who had themselves suffered from nervous
+collapse due to stress of business, or named friends who had either
+killed themselves by overwork, or had been permanently incapacitated, or
+had wasted long periods in endeavours to recover health. I do but echo
+the opinion of all the observant persons I have spoken to, that immense
+injury is being done by this high-pressure life&mdash;the physique is being
+undermined. That subtle thinker and poet whom you have lately had to
+mourn, Emerson, says, in his essay on the Gentleman, that the first
+requisite is that he shall be a good animal. The requisite is a general
+one&mdash;it extends to the man, to the father, to the citizen. We hear a
+great deal about "the vile body;" and many are encouraged by the phrase
+to transgress the laws of health. But Nature quietly suppresses those
+who treat thus disrespectfully one of her highest products, and leaves
+the world to be peopled by the descendants of those who are not so
+foolish.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond these immediate mischiefs there are remoter mischiefs. Exclusive
+devotion to work has the result that amusements cease to please; and,
+when relaxation becomes imperative, life becomes dreary from lack of its
+sole interest&mdash;the interest in business. The remark current in England
+that, when the American travels, his aim is to do the greatest amount of
+sight-seeing in the shortest time, I find current here also: it is
+recognized that the satisfaction of getting on devours nearly all other
+satisfactions. When recently at Niagara, which gave us a whole week's
+pleasure, I learned from the landlord of the hotel that most Americans
+come one day and go away the next. Old Froissart, who said of the
+English of his day that "they take their pleasures sadly after their
+fashion," would doubtless, if he lived now, say of the Americans that
+they take their pleasures hurriedly after their fashion. In large
+measure with us, and still more with you, there is not that abandonment
+to the moment which is requisite for full enjoyment; and this
+abandonment is prevented by the ever-present sense of multitudinous
+responsibilities. So that, beyond the serious physical mischief caused
+by overwork, there is the further mischief that it destroys what value
+there would otherwise be in the leisure part of life.</p>
+
+<p>Nor do the evils end here. There is the injury to posterity. Damaged
+constitutions reappear in children, and entail on them far more of ill
+than great fortunes yield them of good. When life has been duly
+rationalized by science, it will be seen that among a man's duties, care
+of the body is imperative; not only out of regard for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> personal welfare,
+but also out of regard for descendants. His constitution will be
+considered as an entailed estate, which he ought to pass on uninjured,
+if not improved, to those who follow; and it will be held that millions
+bequeathed by him will not compensate for feeble health and decreased
+ability to enjoy life. Once more, there is the injury to
+fellow-citizens, taking the shape of undue disregard of competitors. I
+hear that a great trader among you deliberately endeavoured to crush out
+every one whose business competed with his own; and manifestly the man
+who, making himself a slave to accumulation, absorbs an inordinate share
+of the trade or profession he is engaged in, makes life harder for all
+others engaged in it, and excludes from it many who might otherwise gain
+competencies. Thus, besides the egoistic motive, there are two
+altruistic motives which should deter from this excess in work.</p>
+
+<p>The truth is, there needs a revised ideal of life. Look back through the
+past, or look abroad through the present, and we find that the ideal of
+life is variable, and depends on social conditions. Every one knows that
+to be a successful warrior was the highest aim among all ancient peoples
+of note, as it is still among many barbarous peoples. When we remember
+that in the Norseman's heaven the time was to be passed in daily
+battles, with magical healing of wounds, we see how deeply rooted may
+become the conception that fighting is man's proper business, and that
+industry is fit only for slaves and people of low degree. That is to
+say, when the chronic struggles of races necessitate perpetual wars,
+there is evolved an ideal of life adapted to the requirements. We have
+changed all that in modern civilized societies; especially in England,
+and still more in America. With the decline of militant activity, and
+the growth of industrial activity, the occupations once disgraceful have
+become honourable. The duty to work has taken the place of the duty to
+fight; and in the one case, as in the other, the ideal of life has
+become so well established that scarcely any dream of questioning it.
+Practically, business has been substituted for war as the purpose of
+existence.</p>
+
+<p>Is this modern ideal to survive throughout the future? I think not.
+While all other things undergo continuous change, it is impossible that
+ideals should remain fixed. The ancient ideal was appropriate to the
+ages of conquest by man over man, and spread of the strongest races. The
+modern ideal is appropriate to ages in which conquest of the earth and
+subjection of the powers of Nature to human use, is the predominant
+need. But hereafter, when both these ends have in the main been
+achieved, the ideal formed will probably differ considerably from the
+present one. May we not foresee the nature of the difference? I think we
+may. Some twenty years ago, a good friend of mine, and a good friend of
+yours too,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> though you never saw him, John Stuart Mill, delivered at St.
+Andrews an inaugural address on the occasion of his appointment to the
+Lord Rectorship. It contained much to be admired, as did all he wrote.
+There ran through it, however, the tacit assumption that life is for
+learning and working. I felt at the time that I should have liked to
+take up the opposite thesis. I should have liked to contend that life is
+not for learning, nor is life for working, but learning and working are
+for life. The primary use of knowledge is for such guidance of conduct
+under all circumstances as shall make living complete. All other uses of
+knowledge are secondary. It scarcely needs saying that the primary use
+of work is that of supplying the materials and aids to living
+completely; and that any other uses of work are secondary. But in men's
+conceptions the secondary has in great measure usurped the place of the
+primary. The apostle of culture as it is commonly conceived, Mr. Matthew
+Arnold, makes little or no reference to the fact that the first use of
+knowledge is the right ordering of all actions; and Mr. Carlyle, who is
+a good exponent of current ideas about work, insists on its virtues for
+quite other reasons than that it achieves sustentation. We may trace
+everywhere in human affairs a tendency to transform the means into the
+end. All see that the miser does this when, making the accumulation of
+money his sole satisfaction, he forgets that money is of value only to
+purchase satisfactions. But it is less commonly seen that the like is
+true of the work by which the money is accumulated&mdash;that industry too,
+bodily or mental, is but a means; and that it is as irrational to pursue
+it to the exclusion of that complete living it subserves, as it is for
+the miser to accumulate money and make no use of it. Hereafter, when
+this age of active material progress has yielded mankind its benefits,
+there will, I think, come a better adjustment of labour and enjoyment.
+Among reasons for thinking this, there is the reason that the process of
+evolution throughout the organic world at large, brings an increasing
+surplus of energies that are not absorbed in fulfilling material needs,
+and points to a still larger surplus for the humanity of the future. And
+there are other reasons, which I must pass over. In brief, I may say
+that we have had somewhat too much of "the gospel of work." It is time
+to preach the gospel of relaxation.</p>
+
+<p>This is a very unconventional after-dinner speech. Especially it will be
+thought strange that in returning thanks I should deliver something very
+much like a homily. But I have thought I could not better convey my
+thanks than by the expression of a sympathy which issues in a fear. If,
+as I gather, this intemperance in work affects more especially the
+Anglo-American part of the population&mdash;if there results an undermining
+of the physique, not only in adults, but also in the young, who, as I
+learn from your daily journals, are also being<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> injured by overwork&mdash;if
+the ultimate consequence should be a dwindling away of those among you
+who are the inheritors of free institutions and best adapted to them;
+then there will come a further difficulty in the working out of that
+great future which lies before the American nation. To my anxiety on
+this account you must please ascribe the unusual character of my
+remarks.</p>
+
+<p>And now I must bid you farewell. When I sail by the <i>Germanic</i> on
+Saturday, I shall bear with me pleasant remembrances of my intercourse
+with many Americans, joined with regrets that my state of health has
+prevented me from seeing a larger number.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>[A few words may fitly be added respecting the causes of this
+over-activity in American life&mdash;causes which may be identified as having
+in recent times partially operated among ourselves, and as having
+wrought kindred, though less marked, effects. It is the more worth while
+to trace the genesis of this undue absorption of the energies in work,
+since it well serves to illustrate the general truth which should be
+ever present to all legislators and politicians, that the indirect and
+unforeseen results of any cause affecting a society are frequently, if
+not habitually, greater and more important than the direct and foreseen
+results.</p>
+
+<p>This high pressure under which Americans exist, and which is most
+intense in places like Chicago, where the prosperity and rate of growth
+are greatest, is seen by many intelligent Americans themselves to be an
+indirect result of their free institutions and the absence of those
+class-distinctions and restraints existing in older communities. A
+society in which the man who dies a millionaire is so often one who
+commenced life in poverty, and in which (to paraphrase a French saying
+concerning the soldier) every news-boy carries a president's seal in his
+bag, is, by consequence, a society in which all are subject to a stress
+of competition for wealth and honour, greater than can exist in a
+society whose members are nearly all prevented from rising out of the
+ranks in which they were born, and have but remote possibilities of
+acquiring fortunes. In those European societies which have in great
+measure preserved their old types of structure (as in our own society up
+to the time when the great development of industrialism began to open
+ever-multiplying careers for the producing and distributing classes)
+there is so little chance of overcoming the obstacles to any great rise
+in position or possessions, that nearly all have to be content with
+their places: entertaining little or no thought of bettering themselves.
+A manifest concomitant is that, fulfilling, with such efficiency as a
+moderate competition requires, the daily tasks of their respective
+situations, the majority become habituated to making the best of such
+pleasures as their lot affords, during whatever leisure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> they get. But
+it is otherwise where an immense growth of trade multiplies greatly the
+chances of success to the enterprising; and still more is it otherwise
+where class-restrictions are partially removed or wholly absent. Not
+only are more energy and thought put into the time daily occupied in
+work, but the leisure comes to be trenched upon, either literally by
+abridgment, or else by anxieties concerning business. Clearly, the
+larger the number who, under such conditions, acquire property, or
+achieve higher positions, or both, the sharper is the spur to the rest.
+A raised standard of activity establishes itself and goes on rising.
+Public applause given to the successful, becoming in communities thus
+circumstanced the most familiar kind of public applause, increases
+continually the stimulus to action. The struggle grows more and more
+strenuous, and there comes an increasing dread of failure&mdash;a dread of
+being "left," as the Americans say: a significant word, since it is
+suggestive of a race in which the harder any one runs, the harder others
+have to run to keep up with him&mdash;a word suggestive of that breathless
+haste with which each passes from a success gained to the pursuit of a
+further success. And on contrasting the English of to-day with the
+English of a century ago, we may see how, in a considerable measure, the
+like causes have entailed here kindred results.</p>
+
+<p>Even those who are not directly spurred on by this intensified struggle
+for wealth and honour, are indirectly spurred on by it. For one of its
+effects is to raise the standard of living, and eventually to increase
+the average rate of expenditure for all. Partly for personal enjoyment,
+but much more for the display which brings admiration, those who acquire
+fortunes distinguish themselves by luxurious habits. The more numerous
+they become, the keener becomes the competition for that kind of public
+attention given to those who make themselves conspicuous by great
+expenditure. The competition spreads downwards step by step; until, to
+be "respectable," those having relatively small means feel obliged to
+spend more on houses, furniture, dress, and food; and are obliged to
+work the harder to get the requisite larger income. This process of
+causation is manifest enough among ourselves; and it is still more
+manifest in America, where the extravagance in style of living is
+greater than here.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, though it seems beyond doubt that the removal of all political and
+social barriers, and the giving to each man an unimpeded career, must be
+purely beneficial; yet there is (at first) a considerable set-off from
+the benefits. Among those who in older communities have by laborious
+lives gained distinction, some may be heard privately to confess that
+"the game is not worth the candle;" and when they hear of others who
+wish to tread in their steps, shake their heads and say&mdash;"If they only
+knew!" Without accepting in full so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> pessimistic an estimate of success,
+we must still say that very generally the cost of the candle deducts
+largely from the gain of the game. That which in these exceptional cases
+holds among ourselves, holds more generally in America. An intensified
+life, which may be summed up as&mdash;great labour, great profit, great
+expenditure&mdash;has for its concomitant a wear and tear which considerably
+diminishes in one direction the good gained in another. Added together,
+the daily strain through many hours and the anxieties occupying many
+other hours&mdash;the occupation of consciousness by feelings that are either
+indifferent or painful, leaving relatively little time for occupation of
+it by pleasurable feelings&mdash;tend to lower its level more than its level
+is raised by the gratifications of achievement and the accompanying
+benefits. So that it may, and in many cases does, result that diminished
+happiness goes along with increased prosperity. Unquestionably, as long
+as order is fairly maintained, that absence of political and social
+restraints which gives free scope to the struggles for profit and
+honour, conduces greatly to material advance of the society&mdash;develops
+the industrial arts, extends and improves the business organizations,
+augments the wealth; but that it raises the value of individual life, as
+measured by the average state of its feeling, by no means follows. That
+it will do so eventually, is certain; but that it does so now seems, to
+say the least, very doubtful.</p>
+
+<p>The truth is that a society and its members act and react in such wise
+that while, on the one hand, the nature of the society is determined by
+the natures of its members; on the other hand, the activities of its
+members (and presently their natures) are redetermined by the needs of
+the society, as these alter: change in either entails change in the
+other. It is an obvious implication that, to a great extent, the life of
+a society so sways the wills of its members as to turn them to its ends.
+That which is manifest during the militant stage, when the social
+aggregate coerces its units into co-operation for defence, and
+sacrifices many of their lives for its corporate preservation, holds
+under another form during the industrial stage, as we at present know
+it. Though the co-operation of citizens is now voluntary instead of
+compulsory; yet the social forces impel them to achieve social ends
+while apparently achieving only their own ends. The man who, carrying
+out an invention, thinks only of private welfare to be thereby secured,
+is in far larger measure working for public welfare: instance the
+contrast between the fortune made by Watt and the wealth which the
+steam-engine has given to mankind. He who utilizes a new material,
+improves a method of production, or introduces a better way of carrying
+on business, and does this for the purpose of distancing competitors,
+gains for himself little compared with that which he gains for the
+community by facilitating the lives of all. Either unknowingly or in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>
+spite of themselves, Nature leads men by purely personal motives to
+fulfil her ends: Nature being one of our expressions for the Ultimate
+Cause of things, and the end, remote when not proximate, being the
+highest form of human life.</p>
+
+<p>Hence no argument, however cogent, can be expected to produce much
+effect: only here and there one may be influenced. As in an actively
+militant stage of society it is impossible to make many believe that
+there is any glory preferable to that of killing enemies; so, where
+rapid material growth is going on, and affords unlimited scope for the
+energies of all, little can be done by insisting that life has higher
+uses than work and accumulation. While among the most powerful of
+feelings continue to be the desire for public applause and dread of
+public censure&mdash;while the anxiety to achieve distinction, now by
+conquering enemies, now by beating competitors, continues
+predominant&mdash;while the fear of public reprobation affects men more than
+the fear of divine vengeance (as witness the long survival of duelling
+in Christian societies); this excess of work which ambition prompts,
+seems likely to continue with but small qualification. The eagerness for
+the honour accorded to success, first in war and then in commerce, has
+been indispensable as a means to peopling the Earth with the higher
+types of man, and the subjugation of its surface and its forces to human
+use. Ambition may fitly come to bear a smaller ratio to other motives,
+when the working out of these needs is approaching completeness; and
+when also, by consequence, the scope for satisfying ambition is
+diminishing. Those who draw the obvious corollaries from the doctrine of
+Evolution&mdash;those who believe that the process of modification upon
+modification which has brought life to its present height must raise it
+still higher, will anticipate that "the last infirmity of noble minds"
+will in the distant future slowly decrease. As the sphere for
+achievement becomes smaller, the desire for applause will lose that
+predominance which it now has. A better ideal of life may simultaneously
+come to prevail. When there is fully recognized the truth that moral
+beauty is higher than intellectual power&mdash;when the wish to be admired is
+in large measure replaced by the wish to be loved; that strife for
+distinction which the present phase of civilization shows us will be
+greatly moderated. Along with other benefits may then come a rational
+proportioning of work and relaxation; and the relative claims of to-day
+and to-morrow may be properly balanced.&mdash;H. S.]<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="UNIVERSITY_ELECTIONS" id="UNIVERSITY_ELECTIONS"></a>UNIVERSITY ELECTIONS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The late election for the University of Cambridge had an ending which
+may well set many of us a-thinking. That Mr. Raikes should have been
+chosen by an overwhelming majority rather than Mr. Stuart means a good
+deal more than a mere party victory and party defeat. Combined with
+several elections of late years at Oxford, it is enough to make us all
+turn over in our minds the question of University representation in
+general. The facts taken altogether look as if those constituencies to
+which we might naturally look for the return of members of more than
+average personal eminence were committed, in the choice of their
+representatives, not only to one particular political party, but to
+absolute indifference to every claim beyond membership of that
+particular party. It would be unreasonable to expect a conscientious
+Conservative to vote for a Liberal candidate; but one might expect any
+party, in choosing candidates for such constituencies as the
+Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, to put forward its best men. And
+we cannot, after all, think so ill of the great Conservative party as to
+believe that the present representatives of Oxford and Cambridge are its
+best men. We ought indeed not to forget that, whatever Mr.
+Beresford-Hope has since shown himself, he was brought forward, partly
+at least, as a man of scholarship and intellectual tastes, and that he
+received many Liberal votes in the belief that he was less widely
+removed from Liberal ideas than another Conservative candidate. This
+would seem to have been the last trace of an old tradition, the last
+faint glimmering of the belief that the representative of an University
+should have something about him specially appropriate to the
+representation of an University. In Oxford that tradition had, on the
+Conservative side, given way earlier. Another tradition gave way with
+it, one which I at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> least did not regret, the tradition that an
+University seat should be a seat for life. It sounded degrading when a
+proposer of Mr. Gladstone stooped to appeal to the doctrine, "ut semel
+electus semper eligatur." But be that rule wise or foolish, it was on
+the Conservative side that it was broken down. It gave way to the rule
+that Mr. Gladstone was always to be opposed, and that it did not matter
+who could be got to oppose him. Again I cannot believe that the
+Conservative ranks did not contain better men than the grotesque
+succession of nobodies by whom Mr. Gladstone was opposed. But in the
+course of those elections the rule was established at Oxford, and it now
+seems to be adopted at Cambridge, that anybody will do to be an
+University member, provided only he is an unflinching supporter of the
+party which, as recent elections show, still keeps a large majority in
+both Universities.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Gladstone was very nearly the ideal University member. I say "very
+nearly," because to my mind the absolutely ideal state of things would
+be if the Universities could catch such men as Mr. Gladstone young, and
+could bring them into Parliament as their own, before they had been laid
+hold of by any other constituency. The late jubilee of Mr. Gladstone's
+political life ought to have been the jubilee of his election, not for
+Newark but for Oxford. The Universities should choose men who have
+already shown themselves to be scholars and who bid fair one day to be
+statesmen. I am not sure about the policy of bringing forward actual
+University officials. There is sure to be a cry against them, and it is
+not clear that they are the best choice in themselves. It may be as well
+however to remember that the example was set, though in rather an
+amusing shape, by the Conservatives themselves. Dr. Marsham, late Warden
+of Merton, who was brought forward thirty years ago in opposition to Mr.
+Gladstone, did not belong to exactly the same class of academical
+officials as Professor Stuart and Professor H. J. S. Smith; still, as an
+academical official of some kind, he had something in common with them,
+as distinguished from either Mr. Gladstone or Mr. Raikes. At the last
+elections both for Oxford and Cambridge, the Liberal candidate was an
+actual Professor. Mr. Stuart indeed is much more than a mere professor;
+he has shown his capacity for practical work of various kinds. But I
+could not but look on the Oxford choice of 1878 as unlucky. Mr. H. J. S.
+Smith was brought forward purely on the ground of "distinction,"
+distinction, it would seem, so great that moral right and wrong went for
+nothing by its side. Just at that moment right and wrong were
+emphatically weighing in the balance; it was the very crisis of the fate
+of South-Eastern Europe. But we were told that Mr. Smith's candidature
+had "no reference to the Eastern Question;" he was, we were told,
+supported by men who took opposite views on that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> matter. That is to
+say, when the most distinct question of right and wrong that ever was
+put before any people was at that moment placed before our eyes, we were
+asked to put away all thought of moral right and moral duty in the
+presence of the long string of letters after Mr. Smith's name. Better, I
+should have said, to choose, even for the University, a man who could
+not read or write, if he had been ready to strive heart and soul for
+justice and freedom alongside of Mr. Gladstone and the Duke of Argyll.
+Yet no such hard choice was laid upon us. There was a man standing by,
+another bearer of the same great Teutonic name, not young indeed in
+years, but who might have gone fresh to Parliament as the University's
+own choice, one whom it would have been worth some effort to keep within
+the bounds of England and of Europe, one who to a list of "distinctions"
+at least as long as that of the candidate actually chosen, added the
+noblest distinction of all, that of having been, through a life of
+varied experiences, the consistent and unflinching champion of moral
+righteousness. I do not know that Mr. Goldwin Smith would have had a
+greater chance&mdash;perhaps he might have had even less chance&mdash;of election
+than Mr. H. J. S. Smith. But there would have been greater comfort in
+manly defeat in open strife under such a leader than there could be in a
+defeat which it had been vainly hoped to escape by a compromise on the
+great moral question of the moment. The Oxford Liberals lost, and, I
+must say, they deserved to lose. It is a great gain for an University
+candidate to be "distinguished;" but one would think that it would
+commonly be possible to find a "distinguished" candidate who is at once
+"distinguished" and something better as well.</p>
+
+<p>Still at Oxford in 1878 Mr. H. J. S. Smith was the accepted candidate of
+the Liberal party, and in that character he underwent a crushing defeat.
+It may be, or it may not be, that a candidate of more decided principles
+would have gained more votes than the actual candidate gained; he
+certainly would not have gained enough to turn the scale. Mr. Smith was
+defeated by a candidate who was utterly undistinguished; and who,
+instead of simply halting, like Mr. Smith, between right and wrong, was
+definitely committed to the cause of wrong. Mr. Talbot became member for
+the University on the same principle on which Mr. Gladstone's successive
+opponents were brought forward, the principle that anybody will do, if
+only he be a Tory. Any stick is good enough to beat the Liberal dog.
+When Toryism showed itself in its darkest colours, when it meant the
+rule of Lord Beaconsfield, and when the rule of Lord Beaconsfield meant,
+before all things, the strengthening of the power of evil in
+South-Eastern Europe, a constituency, in which the clerical vote is said
+to be decisive, preferred, by an overwhelming majority, the candidate
+who most distinctly represented the bondage of Christian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> nations under
+the yoke of the misbeliever. It is quite possible that crowds voted at
+the Oxford election, as at other elections, in support of Lord
+Beaconsfield's ministry, in utter indifference or in utter ignorance as
+to what support of Lord Beaconsfield's ministry meant. The Conservative
+party was conventionally supposed to be the Church party; and so men
+calling themselves Christians, calling themselves clergymen, rushed,
+with the cry of "Church" in their mouths, to do all that in them lay for
+the sworn allies of Antichrist.</p>
+
+<p>A constituency which could return a supporter of Lord Beaconsfield in
+1878 is hopelessly Tory&mdash;hopelessly that is, till a new generation shall
+have supplanted the existing one. It is Conservative, not in the sense
+of acting on any intelligible Conservative principle, but in the sense
+of supporting anything that calls itself Conservative, be its principles
+what they may. No measure could be less really Conservative, none could
+more be opposed to the feelings and traditions of a large part of the
+clergy, than the Public Worship Act. A large part of the clergy grumbled
+at it; some voted for the Liberals in 1880 on the strength of it; but it
+did not arouse a discontent so strong or so general as seriously to
+deprive the so-called Conservative party of clerical support. It was
+perhaps unreasonable to expect much change in the older class of
+electors, clerical or lay; but the results of the two elections, of
+Oxford in 1878 and of Cambridge in 1882, are disappointing in another
+way. The Universities, and therewith the University constituencies, have
+largely increased within the last few years. The number of electors at
+Oxford is far greater than it was in the days of Mr. Gladstone's
+elections; at Cambridge the increase must be greater still since any
+earlier election at which a poll was taken. And it was certainly hoped
+that the increase would have been altogether favourable to the Liberal
+side. Among the new electors there was a large lay element, a certain
+Nonconformist element; even among the clergy a party was known to be
+growing who had found the way to reconcile strict Churchmanship with
+Liberal politics, and whose Christianity was not of the kind which is
+satisfied to walk hand-in-hand with the Turk. In these different ways it
+was only reasonable to expect that the result of an University election
+was now likely to be, if not the actual return of a Liberal member, yet
+at least a poll which should show that the Conservative majority was
+largely diminished. Instead of this, both at Oxford in 1878 and at
+Cambridge in 1882 the Conservative candidate comes in by a majority
+which is simply overwhelming. It must however be remembered that it
+would be misleading to compare the poll at either of these elections
+with the polls at any of Mr. Gladstone's contests. The issue was
+different in the two cases. The elections of 1878 and 1880 were far more
+distinctly trials between political parties than the several elections
+in which Mr. Gladstone succeeded or the final one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> in which he failed.
+First of all, there is a vast difference between Mr. Gladstone and any
+other candidate. This difference indeed cuts both ways. The foremost man
+in the land is at once the best loved and the best hated man in the
+land. Neither Mr. Smith nor Mr. Stuart nor any other candidate that
+could be thought of could call forth either the depth of enthusiasm in
+his supporters or the depth of antagonism in his opponents which is
+called forth by every public appearance of Mr. Gladstone. No other man
+has, in the same measure as he has, won the glory of being the bugbear
+of cultivated "society" and the object of the reverence and affection of
+thinking men. But, apart from this, the issues were different. Mr. Smith
+and Mr. Stuart stood directly as Liberal candidates. Mr. Gladstone, at
+least in his earlier elections, was still in party nomenclature counted
+among Conservatives, and he received but little support from professed
+political Liberals. The constituency was then confined to men who had
+signed the articles of the Established Church, and the election largely
+turned on controversies within the Established Church. I venture to
+think that the High Church party of that day was really a Liberal party,
+one that had far more in common with the political Liberals than with
+the political Conservatives. But it is certain that neither the High
+Churchmen nor the political Liberals would have acknowledged the
+kindred, and the great mass of Mr. Gladstone's supporters in 1847, in
+1852, and even later, would assuredly not have voted for any avowedly
+Liberal candidate. In his later elections Mr. Gladstone received a
+distinct Liberal support; still he was also supported by men who would
+not support a Liberal candidate now. As he came nearer and nearer to the
+Liberal camp, his majorities forsook him till he was at last rejected
+for Mr. Hardy. The two elections of the last four years have turned more
+directly, we may say that they have turned wholly, on ordinary political
+issues. Controversies within the Established Church have had little
+bearing on them. So far as ecclesiastical questions have come in, the
+strife has been between "Church"&mdash;that kind of Church which is
+pue-fellow to the Mosque&mdash;and something which is supposed not to be
+"Church." These late elections have therefore been far better tests than
+the old ones of the strictly political feelings of the constituencies.
+Looked at in that light, they certainly do not prove that the University
+constituencies are more Conservative now than they were then. They do
+prove that the Liberal growth, the Liberal reaction, or whatever we are
+to call it, in the University constituencies since that time has been
+far less strong than Liberals had hoped that it had been. They do prove
+that the Conservatism of those constituencies is still of a kind which,
+both for quantity and quality, has a very ugly look in Liberal eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Thus far we have been looking at Oxford and Cambridge only.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> But we must
+not forget that Oxford and Cambridge are not the only Universities in
+the kingdom. The general results of University elections were set forth
+a few weeks back in an article in the <i>Spectator</i>. They are certainly
+not comfortable as a whole. We of Oxford and Cambridge may perhaps draw
+a very poor satisfaction from the thought that we are at least not so
+bad as Dublin. But then we must feel in the like proportion ashamed when
+we see how we stand by the side of London. A better comparison than
+either is with the Universities of Scotland. From a Liberal point of
+view, they are much better than Oxford and Cambridge, but still they are
+not nearly so good as they ought to be. The Liberalism of the
+Universities of Scotland lags a long way behind the Liberalism of the
+Scottish people in general. One pair of Universities returns a Liberal,
+the other a Conservative, in neither case by majorities at all like the
+Conservative majorities at Oxford and Cambridge. Speaking roughly, in
+the Scottish Universities the two parties are nearly equally balanced, a
+very different state of things from what we see in the other
+constituencies of Scotland. If then in England and Ireland the
+University constituencies are overwhelmingly Conservative, while in
+Liberal Scotland they are more Conservative than Liberal, it follows
+that there is something amiss either about Liberal principles or about
+University constituencies. And those who believe that Liberal principles
+are the principles of right reason and that so-called Conservative
+principles represent something other than right reason, will of course
+take that horn of the dilemma which throws the blame on the University
+constituencies. For some reason or other, those constituencies which
+might be supposed to be more enlightened, more thoughtful and better
+informed, than any others are those in which the principles which we
+deem to be those of right reason find least favour. Even in the most
+Liberal part of the kingdom, the University constituencies are the least
+Liberal part of the electoral body. The facts are clear; we must grapple
+with them as we can. There is something in education, in culture, in
+refinement, or whatever the qualities are which are supposed to
+distinguish University electors from the electors of an ordinary county
+or borough, which makes University electors less inclined to what we
+hold to be the principles of right reason than the electors of an
+ordinary county or borough. Education, culture, or whatever it is,
+clearly has, in political matters, a weak side to it. There is the fact;
+we must look it in the face.</p>
+
+<p>After all perhaps the fact is not very wonderful. There is no need to
+infer either that Liberal principles are wrong or that University
+education is a bad thing. The <i>Spectator</i> goes philosophically into the
+matter. The Universities give&mdash;that is, we may suppose, to those who
+take, only a common degree&mdash;only a moderate education, an average
+education, a little knowledge and a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> culture springing from it.
+And the effect of this little knowledge and little culture is to make
+those who have it satisfied with the state of things in which they find
+themselves, and to separate themselves from those who have not even that
+little knowledge and little culture. "Education," says the <i>Spectator</i>,
+"to the very moderate extent to which a University degree attests it, is
+a Conservative force, because to that extent at all events it does much
+more to stimulate the sense of privilege and caste than it does to
+enlarge the sympathies and to strengthen the sense of justice." That is,
+it would seem, a pass degree tends to make a man a Tory. It does not at
+all follow that even the passman's course is mischievous to him on the
+whole, even if it does him no good politically. For, if it has the
+effect which the <i>Spectator</i> says, the form which that effect takes is,
+in most cases, rather to keep a man a Tory than to make him one. And it
+may none the less do him good in some other ways. But the <i>Spectator</i>
+leaves it at least open to be inferred that a higher degree, or rather
+the knowledge and consequent culture implied in the higher degree, does,
+or ought to do, something different even in the political way. And such
+an inference would probably be borne out by facts. If Lord Carnarvon
+looks on all passmen as "men of literary eminence and intellectual
+power," he must be very nearly right in his figures when he says that
+three-fourths of such men are opposed to Mr. Gladstone. But those who
+have really profited by their University work may doubt whether passmen
+as such are entitled to that description. Indeed in the most ideal state
+of an University, though it might be reasonable to expect its members to
+be men of intellectual power, it would be unreasonable to expect all of
+them to be men of literary eminence. If by literary eminence be meant
+the writing of books, some men of very high intellectual power are men
+of no literary eminence whatever. Without therefore requiring the
+University members to be elected wholly by men of literary eminence, we
+may fairly ask that they may be elected by men of more intellectual
+power than the mass of the present electors. We should ask for this,
+even if we thought that Lord Carnarvon was right, if we thought that,
+the higher the standard of the electors, the safer would be the Tory
+seats. But it is perhaps only human nature to ask for it the more, if we
+happen to think that the raising of the standard would have the exactly
+opposite result.</p>
+
+<p>The evil then, to sum up the result of the <i>Spectator's</i> argument, is
+that the University elections are determined by the votes of the
+passmen, and that the mass of the passmen are Tories. Now what is the
+remedy for this evil? One very obvious remedy is always, on such
+occasions as that which has just happened, whispered perhaps rather than
+very loudly proclaimed. This is the doctrine that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> representation of
+Universities in Parliament is altogether a mistake, and that it would be
+well if the Universities were disfranchised by the next Reform Bill.
+And, if the question could be discussed as a purely abstract one, there
+is no doubt much to be said, from more grounds than one, against
+University representation. There is only one ground on which separate
+University representation can be justified on the common principles on
+which an English House of Commons is put together. This is the ground
+that each University is a distinct community from the city or borough in
+which it is locally placed, something in the same way in which it is
+held that a city or borough is a distinct community from the county in
+which it locally stands. The University of Oxford has interests,
+feelings, a general corporate being, distinct from the city of Oxford,
+just as the city of Oxford has interests, feelings, a general corporate
+being, distinct from the county of Oxford. So, if one were maliciously
+given, one might go on to argue that the choice of a representative made
+by the borough of Woodstock seems to show that the inhabitants of that
+borough have something in them which makes them distinct from
+University, county, city, or any other known division of mankind.
+Regarding then these differences, the wisdom of our forefathers has
+ruled, not that the county of Oxford, the city, the University, and the
+boroughs of Woodstock and Banbury, should join to elect nine members
+after the principle of <i>scrutin de liste</i>, but that the nine members
+should be distributed among them according to their local divisions,
+after the principle of <i>scrutin d'arrondissement</i>. On any ground but
+this local one, a ground which applies to some Universities and not to
+others, and which seems to have less weight than formerly in those
+Universities to which it does apply, the University franchise is
+certainly an anomaly. It must submit to be set down as a fancy
+franchise. But it is a fancy franchise which has a great weight of
+precedent in its favour. Besides the original institution of the British
+Solomon, there is the fact that University representation has been
+extended at each moment of constitutional change for a century past. It
+was extended by the Union with Ireland, by the great Reform Bill, and by
+the legislation of fifteen years back. Each of these changes has added
+to the number of University members. And each has added to them in a way
+which more and more forsakes the local ground, and gives to the
+University franchise more and more the character of a fancy franchise.
+Dublin has less of local character than Oxford and Cambridge; London has
+no local character at all. Such a grouping as that of Glasgow and
+Aberdeen takes away all local character from Scottish University
+representation. In short, whatever James the First intended, later
+legislators, down to our own day, have adopted and confirmed the
+principle of the fancy franchise as applied to the Universities. There
+stands the anomaly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> with the stamp of repeated re-enactment upon it.
+Some very strong ground must therefore be found on which to attack it.
+Liberals may think that there is a very strong ground in the fact that
+University representation tends to strengthen the Conservative interest,
+and not only to strengthen it, but to give it a kind of credit, as
+stamped with the approval of the most highly educated class of electors.
+But this is a ground which could not be decently brought forward. It
+would not do to propose the disfranchisement of a particular class of
+electors merely because they commonly use their franchise in favour of a
+particular political party. From a party point of view, the
+representation of the cities of London and Westminster is as great a
+political evil as the representation of the Universities of Oxford and
+Cambridge. But we could not therefore propose the disfranchisement of
+those cities. The abstract question of University representation may be
+discussed some time. It may be discussed in our own time on the proposal
+of a Conservative government or a Conservative opposition. It may be
+discussed on the proposal of a Liberal government on the day when all
+University members are Liberals. But the disfranchisement of the
+Universities could not, for very shame, be proposed by a Liberal
+government when the answer would at once be made, and made with truth,
+that the Universities were to be disfranchised simply because most of
+them return Conservative members.</p>
+
+<p>We may therefore pass by the alternative of disfranchisement as lying
+beyond the range of practical politics. I use that famous phrase
+advisedly, because it always means that the question spoken of has
+already shown that it will be a practical question some day or other.
+The other choice which is commonly given us is to confine the franchise
+to residents. After every University election for many years past, and
+not least after the one which has just taken place, we have always heard
+the outcry that the real University is swamped by the nominal
+University, that the body which elects in the name of the University is
+in no way qualified to speak in the name of the University, and that in
+point of fact it does not speak the sentiments of those to whom the name
+of University more properly belongs. Reckonings are made to show that,
+if the election had depended, not on the large bodies of men who are now
+entitled to vote, but on much smaller bodies of residents, above all of
+official residents, professors, tutors, and the like, the result of the
+election would have been different. If then, it is argued, the
+Universities are to keep the right of parliamentary representation, the
+right of voting should be taken away from the mass of those who at
+present exercise it, and confined to those who really represent the
+University, to those who are actually engaged on the spot, in the
+government, the studies, or the teaching of the place.</p>
+
+<p>Now every word of this outcry is true. No one can doubt that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> the
+electoral bodies of the Universities, as at present constituted, are
+quite unfit to represent the Universities, to speak in their name or to
+express their wishes or feelings. The franchise, at Oxford and
+Cambridge, is in the hands of the two largest bodies known to the
+University constitution, the Convocation of Oxford, the Senate of
+Cambridge. If we look at the University as a commonwealth of the
+ancient, the medi&aelig;val, or the modern Swiss pattern, the election is in
+the hands of the <i>Ekkl&ecirc;sia</i>, the <i>Comitia</i> of Tribes, the
+<i>Portmannagem&oacute;t</i>, the <i>Landesgemeinde</i>, the <i>Conseil G&eacute;n&eacute;ral</i>. The
+franchise is open to all academic citizens who have reached full
+academic growth, to all who have put on the <i>toga virilis</i> as the badge
+of having taken a complete degree in any faculty. That is to say, it
+belongs to all doctors and masters who have kept their names on the
+books. Now, whatever such a body as this may seem in theory, we know
+what it is in practice. It is not really an academic body. Those who
+really know anything or care anything about University matters are a
+small minority. The mass of the University electors are men who are at
+once non-resident and who have taken nothing more than that common
+degree which the <i>Spectator</i>, quite rightly, holds to be of such small
+account. They often, we may believe, keep their name on the books simply
+in order to vote at the University elections.</p>
+
+<p>But what is the remedy? I cannot think that it is to be found in
+confining the election to residents, at Oxford perhaps to members of
+Congregation.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> By such a restriction we should undoubtedly get a
+constituency with a much higher average of literary eminence and
+intellectual power. We should get a constituency which would far more
+truly represent the University as a local body. But surely we cannot
+look on the Universities as purely local bodies. It has always been one
+of the great characteristics&mdash;I venture to think one of the great
+beauties&mdash;of the English Universities that the connexion of the graduate
+with his University does not come to an end when he ceases to reside,
+but that the master or doctor keeps all the rights of a master or doctor
+wherever he may happen to dwell. The resident body has many merits and
+does much good work; but it has its weaknesses. It is in the nature of
+things a very changing body; it must change far more from year to year
+than any other electoral body. And, though the restriction to residents
+would undoubtedly raise the general character of the constituency, it
+would get rid of one of its best elements. Surely those who have
+distinguished themselves in the University, who have worked well for the
+University, who are continuing in some other shape the studies or the
+teaching which they have begun in the University, who are in fact
+carrying the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> University into other places, are not to be looked on as
+cut off from the University merely because they have ceased locally to
+reside in it. Not a few of the best heads and the best professors&mdash;I
+suspect we might say the best of both classes&mdash;are those who have not
+always lived in the University, but who have been called back to it
+after a period of absence. To the knowledge of local affairs, which
+belong to the mere resident, they bring a wider knowledge, a wider
+experience, which makes them better judges even of local affairs. And
+can men whom the University thus welcomes after absence be deemed
+unworthy even to give a vote during the time of absence? One reads a
+great deal about the real University being swamped by voters running in
+from London clubs, barristers' chambers, country houses, country
+parsonages. And no doubt a great many most incompetent voters do come
+from all those quarters. But some of the most competent come also. The
+restriction to residents would have disfranchised for ever or for a
+season most of our greatest scholars, the authors of the greatest works,
+for the last forty years. Yet surely sad men are the University in the
+highest sense; they are the men best entitled to speak in its name,
+whether they are at a given moment locally resident or not. It would
+surely not be a gain, it would not increase the literary eminence or
+intellectual power of the constituency, to shut out those men, and to
+confine everything to a body made up so largely of one element which is
+too permanent and another which is too fluctuating, of old heads and of
+young tutors. Then too there is a very reasonable presumption in the
+human mind, and specially in the English mind, against taking away the
+rights of any class of men without some very good reason. And in this
+case there are at least as strong arguments against the restriction as
+there are for it. I speak only of the simple proposal to confine the
+election to residents, in Oxford language to transfer it from
+Convocation to Congregation. There are indeed other plans, to let
+Convocation elect one member and Congregation the other&mdash;something like
+the election of the consuls at an early stage of the Roman
+commonwealth&mdash;or to leave the present members as they are, and to give
+the Universities yet more members to be chosen by Congregation. Now I
+will not say that these schemes lie without the range of practical
+politics, because they show no sign of being ever likely to come within
+it. They may safely be referred to Mr. Thomas Hare.</p>
+
+<p>While therefore I see as strongly as any man the evils of election by
+Convocation, as Convocation is at present constituted,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> I cannot think
+that restriction to Congregation or to residents in any shape<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> is the
+right remedy for the evil. I venture to think that there is a more
+excellent way. The remedy that I propose has this advantage, that,
+though it would practically lessen the numbers of the constituency, and
+would, gradually at least, get rid of its most incompetent elements, it
+would not be, in any constitutional sense, a restrictive measure. It
+would not deprive any recognized class of men of any right. And it would
+have the further advantage that it would be a change which could be made
+by the University itself, a change which would not be a mere political
+change affecting parliamentary elections only, but a real academical
+reform affecting other matters as well, a reform which would be simply
+getting rid of a modern abuse and falling back on an older and better
+state of things. It is one of three changes which I have looked for all
+my life, but towards which, amidst countless academical revolutions, I
+have never seen the least step taken. I confess that all three have this
+to be said against them, that they would affect college interests and
+would give the resident body a good deal of trouble. But this is no
+argument against the measures themselves; it only shows that it would be
+hard work to get them passed. Of these three the first and least
+important is the establishment of an University matriculation
+examination. (Things change so fast at Oxford that this may have been
+brought in within the last term or two; but, if so, I have not heard of
+it.) Secondly, a rational reconstruction of the Schools, so as to have
+real schools of history and philology&mdash;perhaps better still a school of
+history and philology combined&mdash;without regard to worn out and
+unscientific distinctions of "ancient" and "modern." Thirdly, the change
+which alone of the three concerns us now, the establishment of some kind
+of standard for the degree of Master of Arts. Through all the changes of
+more than thirty years, I have always said, when I have had a chance of
+saying anything, Give us neither a resident oligarchy nor a non-resident
+mob. Keep Convocation with its ancient powers, but let Convocation be
+what it was meant to be. Let the great assembly of masters and doctors
+go untouched; but let none be made masters or doctors who do not show
+some fitness to bear those titles. Every degree was meant to be a
+reality; it was meant, as the word <i>degree</i> implies, to mark some kind
+of proficiency; a degree which does not mark some kind of proficiency is
+an absurdity in itself. A degree conferred without any regard to the
+qualifications of the person receiving it is in fact a fraud; it is
+giving a testimonial without regard to the truth of the facts which the
+testimonial states. Now this is glaringly the case with the degree of
+Master of Arts as at present given. In each faculty there are two
+stages: the lower degree of bachelor, the higher degree of master or
+doctor. The lower degree is meant to mark a certain measure of
+proficiency in the studies of the faculty; the higher degree is meant to
+mark a higher<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> measure of proficiency, that measure which qualifies a
+man to become, if he thinks good, a teacher in that faculty. The
+bachelor's degree is meant to mark that a man has made satisfactory
+progress in introductory studies; the master's degree is meant, as its
+name implies, to mark that a man is really a master in some subject. The
+bachelor's degree in short should be respectable; the master's degree
+should be honourable. Nowadays we certainly cannot say that the master's
+degree is honourable; it might be almost too much to say that the
+bachelor's degree is respectable. I am far from saying that an
+University education, even for a mere passman, is worthless; I am far
+from thinking so. But the mere pass degree is very far from implying
+literary eminence or intellectual power. Eminence indeed is hardly to be
+looked for at the age when the bachelor's degree is taken; it is only
+one or two men in a generation who can send out "The Holy Roman Empire"
+as a prize essay. But the degree does not imply even the promise or
+likelihood of eminence or power. The best witness to the degradation of
+the simple degree is the elaborate and ever-growing system of
+class-lists, designed to mark what the degree itself ought in some
+measure to mark. The need of having class-lists is the clearest
+confession of the very small value of the simple degree by itself. And,
+whatever may be the value of the bachelor's degree, the value of the
+master's degree is exactly the same. The master's degree proves no
+greater knowledge or skill than the bachelor's degree; it proves only
+that its bearer has lived some more years and has paid some more pounds.
+It is given, as a matter of course, to every one who has taken the
+degree of bachelor&mdash;never mind after how many plucks&mdash;and has reached
+the standing which is required of a master. The bestowing of two degrees
+is a mere make-believe; the higher degree proves nothing, beyond mere
+lapse of time, which is not equally proved by the lower.</p>
+
+<p>Now this surely ought not to be. That the first degree should be next
+door to worthless, and that the second degree should be worth no more
+than the first, is surely to make University degrees a mockery, a
+delusion, and a snare. Men who do not know how little a degree means are
+apt to be deceived, even in practical matters, by its outward show. Men
+who see that a degree proves very little, but who do not look much
+further, are apt most untruly to undervalue the whole system and studies
+of the University. In common consistency, in common fairness, the
+degrees should mean what their names imply. The bachelor's degree should
+prove something, and the master's degree should prove something more. As
+I just said, the bachelor's degree should be respectable and the
+master's degree should be honourable. I should even like to see the
+bachelor's degree so respectable that we might get rid of the modern
+device of class-lists; but that is not our question at present. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+immediate business is to make the master's degree a real thing, an
+honest thing, to make it the sign of a higher standard than the
+bachelor's degree, whether the bachelor's standard be fixed high or low.
+Let there be some kind of standard, some kind of test. Its particular
+shape, whether an examination, or a disputation, or the writing of a
+thesis, or anything else, need not now be discussed. I ask only that
+there should be a test of proficiency of some kind, and that there
+should be the widest possible range of subjects in which proficiency may
+be tested. Let a man have the degree, if he shows himself capable of
+scholarly or scientific treatment of some branch of some subject, but
+not otherwise. The bachelor's degree should show a general knowledge of
+several subjects, which may serve as a ground-work for the minuter
+knowledge of one. The master's degree should show that that minuter
+knowledge of some one subject has been gained. The complete degree
+should show, if not the actual presence, at least the very certain
+promise, of literary eminence or intellectual power. We should thus get,
+neither the resident oligarchy nor the non-resident mob; we should have
+a body of real masters and doctors worthy of the name. Men who had once
+dealt minutely with some subject of their own choice would not be likely
+to throw their books aside for the rest of their days, as the man who
+has merely got his bachelor's degree by a compulsory smattering often
+does. We should get a Convocation or Senate fit, not only to elect
+members of Parliament, but to do the other duties which the constitution
+of the University lays on its Convocation or Senate. And I cannot help
+thinking that, if such a change as this had been adopted at the time of
+the first University Commission, it would have been less needful to cut
+down the powers of Convocation in the way which, Convocation being left
+what it is, certainly was needful.</p>
+
+<p>Such a change as I propose would doubtless lessen the numbers of the
+constituency. Possibly it would not lessen them quite so much as might
+seem at first sight. A high standard, but a standard attainable with
+effort, would surely make many qualify themselves who at present do not.
+Still it would lessen the numbers very considerably, and it would be
+meant to do so. Yet it would not be a restrictive measure in the same
+sense in which confining the franchise to Congregation would be a
+restrictive measure. It would not take away the votes of any class. The
+franchise would still be the same, exercised by the same body; only that
+body would be purified and brought back to the character which it was
+originally meant to bear. The purifying would be gradual. The doctrine
+of vested interests, that doctrine so dear to the British mind, would of
+course secure every elector in the possession of his vote as long as he
+lives and keeps his name on the books. But the ranks of the unqualified
+would no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> longer be yearly reinforced. In course of time we should have
+a competent body. And the great advantage of this kind of remedy is that
+it is so distinctly an academical remedy. It would not come as a mere
+clause in a parliamentary reform bill. It would affect the parliamentary
+constituency; but it would affect it only as one thing among others. It
+would be a general improvement in the character of the Great Council of
+the University, which would make it better qualified to discharge all
+its duties, that of choosing members of Parliament among them. In the
+purely political look-out, we may believe that one result of the change
+would be to make the election of Liberal members for the Universities
+much more likely. But neither this nor any other purely political result
+would be the sole and direct object of the change. Even if it did not
+accomplish this object, it would do good in other ways. If the
+Universities, under such a system, still chose Conservative members, we
+should have no right to complain. We should feel that we had been fairly
+and honourably beaten by adversaries who had a right to speak. It would
+be an unpleasant result if the real Universities should be proved to be
+inveterately Tory. But it would be a result less provoking than the
+present state of things, in which Tory members are chosen for the
+Universities by men who have no call to speak in the name of the
+Universities at all.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">Edward A. Freeman.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> That is, to all members of Convocation who are either
+resident or hold University office. This, besides the Chancellor and a
+few other great personages, lets in a few professors and examiners who
+are non-resident.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> I use Oxford language, as that which I myself best
+understand; but I believe that, all that I say applies equally to
+Cambridge also. For "Convocation" one must of course, in Cambridge
+language, read "Senate."</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="HAMLET_A_NEW_READING" id="HAMLET_A_NEW_READING"></a>HAMLET: A NEW READING.</h2>
+
+
+<p>There is a sense in which the stage alone can give the full significance
+to a dramatic poem, just as a lyric finds its full interpretation in
+music; but we prefer that a song of Goethe or Shelley should wait for
+its music, and in the meantime suggest its own a&euml;rial accompaniment,
+rather than be vulgarized in the setting. And even when set for the
+voice by a master, although there is a gain in as far as the charm is
+brought home to the senses, yet there is a loss in proportion to the
+beauty of the song; for if it is delicate the finer spiritual grace
+departs, and if it is ardent the passion is liable to scream, and, above
+all, there is a vague but appreciable loss of identity; so that on the
+whole we please ourselves best with the literary form. There is the same
+balance of gain and loss in the relation of the drama to the stage. The
+gain is in proportion to the excellence of the acting, and the loss in
+proportion to the beauty o&pound; the play. It is well then that, as the lyric
+poem no longer demands the lyre, the poetical drama has become, though
+more recently, independent of the stage. Each has its own perspective of
+life, its own idea of Nature, its own brilliancy, its own dulness, and
+finally its own public; and notwithstanding the objections of some
+critics, it will soon be admitted that a work may be strictly and
+intrinsically dramatic, and yet only fit for the study&mdash;that is, for
+ideal representation. For there is a theatre in every imagination, where
+we produce the old masterpiece in its simplicity and dignity, and where
+the new work appears and is followed in plot and action, and conflict of
+feeling, and play of character, and rhythm of part with part, if not
+with as keen an excitement, at least with as fair a judgment, as if we
+were criticizing the actors, not the piece. And were all theatres
+closed, the drama&mdash;whether as the free and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> spontaneous outflow of
+observation, fancy, and humour, or as the intense reflection of the
+movement of life in its animation of joy and pain&mdash;would remain one of
+the most natural and captivating forms in which the creative impulse of
+the poet can work. When we look at its variety and flexibility of
+structure&mdash;from the lyrical tragedy of &AElig;schylus to a "Proverbe" of De
+Musset; at its diversity of spirit&mdash;from the exuberance of a comedy of
+Aristophanes and the caprice of an Elizabethan mask to the serenity of
+"Comus" and Tasso, and the terror of "Agamemnon" and "Macbeth;" at its
+range of expression&mdash;from, the full-toned Greek and English Iambic to
+the plain but sparkling prose of Moli&egrave;re, and from that again to the
+intricate harmonies of Calderon, Goethe, and Shelley; with its use of
+all voices, from vociferous mob to melodious daughters of Ocean, and its
+command of all colour, from the gloom of Medea to the splendour of
+Marlowe's Helen,&mdash;it is a small matter to remember the connection of
+work or author with the stage&mdash;how long they held it, how soon they were
+dispossessed, how and at what intervals and with what uncertain footing
+they returned. We do not accept them because they were popular in their
+day, and we do not reject them because they are not suitable to ours.
+They have lost no vivacity or strength or grace by their exclusion from
+the stage and their exile to literature&mdash;to that permanent theatre for
+which the poet, freely using any and every form of dramatic expression,
+should now work.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"There is the playhouse now, there you must sit....</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our king."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>The relevancy of these remarks, as an introduction to a study of one of
+Shakespeare's plays, will presently appear.</p>
+
+
+<h3>I.</h3>
+
+<p>Shakespeare, although a master of theatrical effect, is often found
+working rather away from it than toward it, and at a meaning and beauty
+beyond the limits of stage expression. This is because he is more
+dramatist than playwright, and will always produce and complete his work
+in its ideal integrity, even if, in so doing, he outruns the sympathy of
+his audience. This disposition may be traced not only in the plays it
+has banished from the stage, including such a masterpiece as "Antony and
+Cleopatra," but in those that are universally popular, such as "The
+Merchant of Venice," where the fifth Act, although it closes and
+harmonizes the drama as a work of art with perfect grace, is but a tame
+conclusion to the theatrical piece; and in the scenes that furnish us
+with the delicate and finished study of Antonio, we find the audience
+intent on the situation and the poet on the character; for we no more
+expect to see the true Antonio on the stage than to see the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> true
+moonlight shimmering on the trees in Belmont Park. But sometimes the
+play will transcend the limits of stage expression by being too purely
+and perfectly dramatic, as in "Lear." For not only is it, as Lamb points
+out,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> impossible for the actor to give the convulsions of the father's
+grief, and yet preserve the dignity of the king, but the sustained
+intensity of passion fatigues both voice and ear when they should be
+most impressive and impressed. Had Shakespeare written with a view to
+stage effect, he would not in the first two acts have stretched the
+voice through all the tones and intervals of passion, and then demand
+more thrilling intonations and louder outcries to meet and match the
+tumult of the storm. This greatest of all tragedies is written beyond
+the compass of the human voice, and can only be fully represented on
+that ideal stage, where, instead of hoarse lament and husky indignation,
+we hear each of us the tones that most impress and affect us, and can
+command the true degrees of feeling in their illimitable scale.</p>
+
+<p>But in "Hamlet" the inadequacy of the stage is of another kind. It leads
+to a general displacement of motive, and change of focus, the hero's
+character being obscured in the attempt to make it effective. And for
+this to some extent the stage itself, as a place of popular
+entertainment, and not the actor, is at fault. Some such ambiguity as
+this seems, indeed, only natural, when we recall the circumstances
+attending the composition of the play.</p>
+
+<p>By common consent of the best authorities, "Hamlet" represents the work
+of many years. I make no conjectures, but content myself with Mr.
+Dowden's statement of the case:&mdash;"Over 'Hamlet,' as over 'Romeo and
+Juliet,' it is supposed that Shakespeare laboured long and carefully.
+Like 'Romeo and Juliet,' the play exists in two forms, and there is
+reason to believe that in the earlier form, in each instance, we possess
+an imperfect report of Shakespeare's first treatment of his theme,"<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>
+We know also that Shakespeare had before him, at least as early as 1589,
+an old play in which "a ghost cried dismally like an oyster wife,
+'Hamlet! Revenge!'" and Shakespeare worked upon this until from what was
+probably a rather sorry melodrama he produced the most intellectual play
+that keeps the stage. And the very sensational character of the piece
+enabled him to steal into it the results of long and deep meditation
+without hazard to its popularity. He seems to have withdrawn Hamlet from
+time to time for a special study, and then to have restored and
+readjusted the hero to the play, touching and modulating, here and
+there, character and incident in harmony with the new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> expression. In
+this way a new direction and significance would be given to the plot,
+but in a latent and unobtrusive way, so as not to weaken the popular
+interest. This leads to the ambiguity of which I have spoken. The new
+thought is often not earnestly but ironically related to the old
+material, and the spiritual hero seems almost to stand apart from the
+rude framework of the still highly sensational theatrical piece. This
+has given rise to a rather favourite saying with the Germans, that
+Hamlet is a modern. Hamlet seems to step forth from an antiquated
+time,&mdash;with its priestly bigotry, its duels for a province, its
+heavy-headed revels, its barbarous code of revenge, and its ghostly
+visitations to enforce it,&mdash;to meet and converse with a riper age. But
+this is because Hamlet belongs wholly and intimately to the poet, while
+the other characters, though informed with new and original expression,
+are left in close relation, to the old plot.</p>
+
+<p>Such being the ambiguity resulting from this continued spiritualization
+of the play, the actor would instinctively endeavour to remove it, and
+to bring the hero in closer relation with the main action of the stage
+piece. Hamlet must not be too disengaged; he must not be too ironical. A
+few omissions, a fit of misplaced fury, a too emphatic accent, a too
+effective attitude, with what is called a bold grasp of character, and
+Shakespeare's latest and finest work on the hero is obliterated.</p>
+
+<p>Now, the great actors who have personated Hamlet have done much, and the
+thrilling treatment of the ghost-story has done more, to stamp upon the
+minds of learned and unlearned alike the impression that <i>the great
+event of Hamlet's life is the command to kill his uncle</i>. As he does not
+do this, and as he is given to much meditation and much discussion, it
+is assumed that he thinks and talks in order to avoid acting. And then
+the word "irresolution" leaps forth, and all is explained. This curious
+assumption, that all the pains taken by Shakespeare on the work and its
+hero has no other object but to illustrate this theme&mdash;a command to kill
+and a delayed obedience&mdash;pervades the criticism even of those who
+consider the intellectual element the great attraction of the play. And
+yet, when you ask what is the dramatic situation out of which this
+speculative matter arises, the German and English critics alike reply in
+chorus, "Irresolution." Each one has his particular shade of it, and
+finds something not quite satisfactory in the interpretations of others.
+Goethe's finished portrait of Hamlet as the amiable and accomplished
+young prince, too weak to support the burden of a great action, did not
+recommend itself either to Schlegel or Coleridge, who take the mental
+rather than the moral disposition to task. Schlegel, with some asperity,
+speaks of "a calculating consideration that cripples the power of
+action;" and Coleridge, with more subtlety, applies Hamlet's antithesis
+of thought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> and resolution to the elucidation of his own character,
+concluding that Hamlet "procrastinates from thought." Gervinus, while
+following Schlegel as to "the bent of Hamlet's mind to reflect upon the
+nature and consequences of his deed, and by this means to paralyze his
+active powers," adds to this defect a deplorable conscientiousness,
+which unfits Hamlet for the great duty of revenge. And Mr. Dowden, while
+most ably collating these various kinds and degrees of irresolution,
+concludes that Hamlet is "disqualified for action by his excess of the
+reflective faculty." Mr. Swinburne alone resolutely protests against
+this doctrine. He speaks of "the indomitable and ineradicable fallacy of
+criticism which would find the key-note of Hamlet's character in the
+quality of irresolution."<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> And he considers that Shakespeare purposely
+introduces the episode of the expedition to England to exhibit "the
+instant and almost unscrupulous resolution of Hamlet's character in time
+of practical need." I gladly welcome this instructive remark, which,
+although Mr. Swinburne calls it "the voice of one crying in the
+wilderness," is more likely to gain me a patient hearing than any
+arguments I can use. But before I propose my own reading, I will, as I
+have given the genesis or natural history of this theory of
+irresolution, compare it with the general features of Hamlet's mental
+condition throughout the play.</p>
+
+<p>If Hamlet "procrastinates from thought," if "the burden of the action is
+too heavy for him to bear," if "by a calculating consideration he
+exhausts all possible issues of the action," it should at least be
+continually present to his mind. We should look for the delineation of a
+soul harassed and haunted by one idea; torn by the conflict between
+conscience and filial obedience; or balancing advantage and peril in an
+agony of suspense and vacillation; forecasting consequence and result to
+himself and others; and so absorbed in this terrible secret as to
+exclude all other interests. We have two studies of such a state of
+irresolution, in Macbeth and Brutus. Of Macbeth it may truly be said
+that he has an action upon his mind the burden of which is too heavy for
+him to bear. It is constantly before him; he is shaken with it,
+possessed by it, to such a degree that</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">"function</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Is smother'd in surmise; and nothing is</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">But what is not."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Now "he will proceed no further in this business," and now "he is
+settled and bound up to it," and in one long perturbed soliloquy stands
+before us the very picture of that irresolution which "procrastinates
+from thought." Brutus thus describes his own suspense:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Between the action of a dreadful thing</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And the first motion, all the interim is</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream:</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The genius, and the mortal instruments,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Are then in council: and the state of man,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Like to a little kingdom, suffers then</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The nature of an insurrection."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>But what is the general course and scope of Hamlet's utterance, whether
+to himself or others? We find musings and broodings on the possibility
+of escape from so vile a world alternating with cool and keen analysis,
+polished criticism, and petulant wit; we find a pervading ironical
+bitterness, rising at times to fierce invective, and even to the frenzy
+of passion when his mother is the theme, relapsing again to trance-like
+meditations on the depravity of the world, the littleness of man and the
+nullity of appearance; and when his mind does revert to this "great
+action," this "dread command," which is supposed to haunt it, and to
+keep it in a whirl of doubt and irresolution, it is because it is
+forcibly recalled to it, because some incident startles him to
+recollection, proves to him that he has forgotten it, and he turns upon
+himself with surprise and indignation: Why is it this thing remains to
+do? Am I a coward! Do I lack gall? Is it "bestial oblivion?" or is it</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;">"some craven scruple</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Of thinking too precisely on the event?"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>On this text, so often quoted in support of the orthodox "irresolution"
+theory, I will content myself at present with the remark, thats surely
+no one before or after Hamlet ever accounted for his non-performance of
+a duty by the double explanation that he had either entirely forgotten
+it or had been thinking too much about it.</p>
+
+<p>Looking then at the general features of Hamlet's talk, it is plain that
+to make this command to revenge the clue to his mental condition, is to
+make him utter a great deal of desultory talk without dramatic point or
+pertinence; for if, except when surprised by the actors' tears or by the
+gallant bearing of the troops of Fortinbras, he wholly forgets it, what
+does he remember? What is the secret motive of this prolonged criticism
+of the world which "charms all within its magic circle?"</p>
+
+<p>The true centre will be found, I think, by substituting the word
+"preoccupation" for the word "irresolution." And the "preoccupation" is
+found by antedating the crisis of Hamlet's career from the revelation of
+the ghost to the marriage of his mother, and the persistent mental and
+moral condition thus induced. Start from this, as a fixed point, and a
+dramatic situation is gained in which every stroke of satire, every
+curiosity of logic, every strain of melancholy; is appropriate and
+pertinent to the action.</p>
+
+<p>In order to measure the full effect of this strange event, we must bring
+before us the Hamlet of the earlier time, before his father's death, and
+for this we have abundant material in the play.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h3>II.</h3>
+
+<p>Hamlet was an enthusiast. His love for his father was not an ordinary
+filial affection, it was a hero-worship. He was to him the type of
+sovereignty&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 7.5em;">"The front of Jove himself;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>a link between earth and heaven&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"A combination, and a form, indeed,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Where every god did seem to set his seal,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">To give the world assurance of a man."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>To Hamlet, this "assurance of a man" was the great reality which made
+other things real, which gave meaning to life, and substance to the
+world. That his love for his mother was equally intense, is clearly
+discernible in the inverted characters of his rage and grief. In her he
+reverenced wifehood and womanhood. He sees the rose on</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"the fair forehead of an innocent love."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>And of his mother we are told&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">"The queen his mother</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Lives almost by his looks."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>But this enthusiasm was connected with a habit of thought that was
+rather critical than sentimental. Hamlet had a shrewd judgment, a lively
+and caustic wit, an exacting standard, and a turn for satire. He was
+fond of question and debate, an enemy to all illusion, impatient of
+dulness,[typo for dullness?] and not indisposed to alarm and bewilder
+it; and he had brought with him from Wittenberg a philosophy half
+stoical and half transcendental, with whose eccentricities he would
+torment the wisdom of the Court. He looked upon the machinery of power
+as part of the comedy of life, and would be more amused than impressed
+by the equipage of office, its chains and titles, the frowns of
+authority, and the smiles of imaginary greatness. He therefore of all
+men needed a personal centre in which faith and affection could unite to
+give seriousness and dignity to life; and this he had found from his
+childhood in the sovereign virtues of the King and Queen. So that his
+criticism in these earlier days was but the fastidiousness of love, that
+disparages all other excellence in comparison with its own ideal; his
+philosophy was a disallowance of all other reality; and his negations
+only defined and brightened his faith. Doubt, question and speculation,
+mystery and anomaly, the illusions of sense, the instability of natures,
+all that was irrational in life, with its certainties of logic and
+hazards of chance, all that was unproven in religion, dubious in
+received opinion, obscure in the destiny of man, were but glimpses of a
+larger unity, vistas of truth unexplored.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Hamlet's thinking is always marked by that quality of penetration into
+and through the thoughts of others, that is called free-thinking. The
+discovery, as he moved in the spiritual world of established ideas and
+settled doctrines, apparently immovable, that they were of the same
+stuff as his own thoughts&mdash;were pliant and yielding, and could be
+readily unwoven by the logic that wove them, would tempt him to move and
+displace, and build and construct, until he might have a collection of
+opinions large enough to be termed a philosophy. But it would be
+gathered rather in the joy of intellectual activity, realizing its own
+energy, and ravelling up to its own form the woof of other minds, than
+with any practical bearing on life. All this was a work in another
+sphere&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"of no allowance to his bosom's truth."</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>The light of a sovereign manhood and womanhood was reflected on the
+world around him, and afar on the world of thought&mdash;-their greatness
+reconciled all the contradictions of life. And in pure submission to
+their control all the various activities of his versatile nature, its
+irony and its earnestness, its shrewdness and its fancy, its piety and
+its free-thinking, harmonized like sweet bells not yet jangled or
+untuned. He lived at peace with all, in fellowship with all; he could
+rally Polonius without malice, and mimic Osric without contempt.</p>
+
+<p>It is plain that Hamlet looked forward to a life of activity under his
+father's guidance. He was no dreamer&mdash;we hear of "the great love the
+general gender bear him," and the people are not fond of dreamers. In
+truth, the Germans have had too much their own way with Hamlet, and have
+read into him something of their own laboriousness and phlegm. But
+Hamlet was more of a poet than a professor. He had the temperament of a
+man of genius&mdash;impatient, animated, eager, swift to feel, to like or
+dislike, praise or resent&mdash;with a character of rapidity in all his
+actions, and even in his meditation, of which he is conscious when he
+says, "as swift as meditation." He did not live apart as a student, but
+in public as a prince&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"the observed of all observers;"</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>he was of a free, open, unsuspicious temper&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 13em;">"remiss,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Most generous and free from all contriving."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>He was fond of all martial exercises and expert in the use of the sword.
+He was a soldier first, a scholar afterwards; a soldier in his alacrity
+to fight</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Until his eyelids would no longer wag;"</span>
+</p>
+
+<p>a soldier even to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"The glass of fashion, and the mould of form;"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>and, above all, a soldier in his sensibility on the point of honour, one
+who would think it well</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Greatly to find quarrel in a straw,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">When honour is at stake."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>And Fortinbras, type of the man of action, recognized in him a kindred
+spirit&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">For he was likely, had he been put on,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">To have proved most royally;"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>while Hamlet eyed Fortinbras with the envious longing of one who had
+missed his career. What must have been the felicity of life to such a
+man, whose vivacity no stress of calamity, no accumulation of sorrow
+could tame, whose enthusiasm embraced Nature, art, and literature, and
+whose delight was always fresh and new, "in this excellent canopy the
+air, in this brave o'erhanging firmament,"' and in the spectacle of man
+"so excellent in faculty, in form and moving so express and admirable,
+in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god?"</p>
+
+<p>Without a warning the blow fell. His father was suddenly struck down;
+and while he was indulging a grief, poignant and profound indeed, but
+natural, wholesome, manly, his uncle usurped the crown. This second blow
+would be acutely felt, but it would rather rouse than prostrate his
+energies. There is no passion in Hamlet when there has been no love. And
+he had always held his uncle in slight esteem&mdash;foreboded something from
+his smiling insincerity. He never mentions him without an expression of
+contempt, hardly acknowledges him as king; he is a thing&mdash;of nothing&mdash;a
+farcical monarch&mdash;"a peacock"&mdash;and, in this particular act, no dread
+usurper, but a "cut-purse of the realm." Whether he designed to wait or
+was prepared to strike, his future was still intact, his energy
+unimpaired. His mother remained to him, now doubly dear and doubly
+great, and with her the tradition of the past. She was, as he gathered
+from her silence, like himself, retired from the world, absorbed in
+grief; but he was assured of her constancy and truth. Even the kind of
+distance between them in age and sex, in mind and character, was no
+barrier to this sympathetic relation. She was there with the expectation
+that makes heroism possible; she was there to watch, if not to further
+his enterprise, and to give it lustre with her praise. We are often
+quite unconscious of the commanding influence exerted on our life by
+those who are least in contact with it. To be cognizant of one steadfast
+and stainless soul is to have encouragement in difficulty and support in
+pain. The mere knowledge of its existence is a light within the mind,
+and a secret incentive to the best action.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> Though silent and apart, it
+is the witness of what is great, and our life is always seeking to rise
+within its sphere; while, by a secret transference&mdash;for souls are not
+retentive of their own goodness&mdash;our standards of living and thinking
+are maintained at their highest level, like water fed by a distant
+spring. All this and infinitely more than this was the Queen his mother
+to Hamlet. It is impossible, therefore, to measure the effect upon him
+of her marriage with his uncle. The shock of it is ever fresh throughout
+the play. In the third Act the whole frame of nature is still aghast at
+it:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;">"Heaven's face doth glow;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Yea, this solidity and compound mass,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">With tristful visage, as against the doom,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Is thought-sick at the act."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>And this was not only after the revelation of the Ghost, but after the
+confirmation of its truth by the test Hamlet had himself applied. Even
+then the first paroxysm has hardly subsided. You see the whole being
+measured by it, the mind stretched to give it utterance, the world
+called as a witness to its enormity:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<h3>III.</h3>
+
+<p>But it is at an earlier stage of this impression, when the thought of
+this profanation of the sacredness of life and the sanctity of love
+chills the life-blood of his heart, and then rushes burning through it
+like the shame of a personal insult, that he first stands before us in
+the palace of the King. In appearance nothing is changed. He sees the
+same crowd, the same obsequious attitudes, the same decorous forms; the
+trumpets with their usual flourish announce the arrival of the King and
+Queen; the Ministers of State precede them, and the Court ladies; the
+pretentious gravity of Polonius' brow; the dreamy innocence of Ophelia.
+The sovereigns seat themselves, the Queen looks smilingly around her as
+of old. All is easy, bright, and festive. All goes on as if this
+horrible revolution were the most natural thing in the world. Oh, that
+he could avoid the sight of it! Oh, that he could be quit of it all!</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Oh! that this too too solid flesh would melt,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Or that the Everlasting had not fixed</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Although the nervous horror of his address to the Ghost is greater,
+there is no speech in which Hamlet betrays so deep an agitation as in
+this. He struggles for utterance, repeats himself, mingles oaths and
+axioms, confuses and then annihilates time in the breathless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> tumult of
+his soul. "Why, she, <i>even she</i>. O Heaven!" What can he say? what is
+vile enough? "A <i>beast</i></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">"that wants discourse of reason,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Would have mourned longer&mdash;married with my uncle."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>In this opening speech we see at once the immediate relation of the
+feeling of life-weariness so prevalent throughout the play to this
+supreme emotion; we see also his comprehensive criticism of the world
+branching from the same root&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Seems to me all the uses of this world!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Fie, on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden;"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>and</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Frailty, thy name is woman."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>These themes are developed Act by Act, we can follow them to the
+graveyard scene, and to the moment before death.</p>
+
+<p>And it is not unnatural that Hamlet's grief should assume a
+comprehensive form. The Queen had drawn the world in her train. Nobles
+and people, councillors and courtiers, the honoured statesman, the
+artless maiden, had joined her, had connived, were her accomplices. They
+had, parted among them, all the vices appropriate to <i>her</i> Court, <i>her</i>
+people. The world was betrayed to Hamlet in all its meanness and
+littleness: and he looked at it to see if he could discover the secret
+of his mother's treason, as Lear would anatomize the heart of Regan to
+account for her ingratitude. In attacking it he is attacking her guilt,
+in its inferior forms and obscure disguises. It is the nest of her
+depravity, and the small vices are but hers in the shell, and the whole
+is a vast confederacy of evil. Here are no "superfluous activities," no
+desultory talk; Hamlet's preoccupation is one throughout. He alternates
+between the desire to escape from so vile a world, and the pleasure of
+exposing its vice and fraud. The one gives us soliloquies, the other
+dialogues. Now he looks out at an obscure eternity from a time that was
+more obscure, and now the tension of the mind relieves the tension of
+the heart. On the one side we have all passages of life-weariness,
+whether as the issue of long meditation, or as the outcome of familiar
+talk; and on the other we have the brilliant and discursive criticism of
+man and Nature continued throughout the play. All this is so closely
+connected with the treason of his mother, that we see the very
+attachment of the feeling to the thought.</p>
+
+<p>This explains the particular bitterness with which he attacks the
+Ministers and parasites of the Court. As soon as he sees them he crosses
+the current of their talk, commits them to an argument, confuses them
+with the evolutions of a logic too rapid for their senses to follow, and
+makes their bewilderment a sport. How<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> small their world appears in the
+mirror of his ironical mind! The state-craft, the love-making, the
+"absurd pomp," the "heavy-headed revels," the women that "jig and amble
+and lisp," the nobles that are "spacious in the possession of dirt," the
+sovereign that is a "king of shreds and patches;" as for their opinions,
+"do but blow; them to their trials, and the bubbles are out;" as for
+their ideas of prosperity, it is to act as "sponges and soak up the
+king's countenance, his rewards and authorities;" as for their standard
+of worth, "let a beast be a lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at
+the king's table." It is a disgrace to live in such a world, and
+contemptible to share its pleasures and prizes.</p>
+
+<p>But his quarrel with it does not end here. The flaw runs through the
+whole constitution of things; there is no possible equation between the
+anomalies and dislocations on which he turns the dry light of that
+sceptical philosophy which has usurped the place of faith. Thought is
+good and action is good, but they will not work together. Our reason is
+our glory, but our indiscretions serve us best&mdash;we must either be
+cowards or fools. We have a perception of infinite goodness, just
+sufficient to make us conclude that we are "arrant knaves, all of us,"
+and just enough belief in immortality "to perplex our wills." There is
+nothing but disagreement and disproportion&mdash;a constant missing of the
+mark, a stretching of the hand for that which is not. How is it possible
+to take seriously such a life if you pause to think?</p>
+
+<p>It is not only irrational but visionary. The evanescence and fluency of
+Nature would matter little, but man himself, with his ingenuities of wit
+and triumphs of ambition, is whirled from form to form in "a fine
+revolution if we had the trick to see it." This is a favourite idea, it
+lends itself so easily to the contempt of the world&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Imperious C&aelig;sar, dead, and turn'd to clay,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Might stop a hole to keep the wind away,"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>is only a variation of "a man may fish with the worm that has eat of a
+king, and eat of the fish that has fed on the worm."</p>
+
+<p>In this collision with the world, alone and unsupported, Hamlet's
+natural buoyancy returns. It is the moment of isolation, but it is the
+moment also of intellectual freedom. It is desertion, but it is also
+independence. Every incongruity feeds his fanciful and inventive humour.
+He follows vanity and affectation with irony and mimicry, removes a mask
+with the point of his dexterous wit, and exposes the pretence of virtue
+or conceit of knowledge with sarcastic glee, while there is a savour of
+retribution in his chastisement of vice. The vivacity of this running
+comment, critical and satirical, on the ways and works of men adds much
+to the charm of the play, but it is a charm that properly belongs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> to
+the best comedy. And Shakespeare has marked this disengagement of his
+hero from the sanguinary plot by reserving the exaltation of verse to
+the expression of personal feeling, while the lithe and nimble movement
+of his prose follows with its undulating rhythm every turn of Hamlet's
+wayward mind, in subtlety of argument or caprice of fancy.</p>
+
+<p>Such is the "preoccupation" of Hamlet, emotional and intellectual. I
+have purposely made it seem a separate study, as thus alone could this
+fatal "thought-sickness," in which Heaven and Earth seemed to partake,
+be treated with the requisite clearness and fulness.</p>
+
+<p>We can see at once that no other claim to the command of his spirit is
+likely to succeed. His mind is already haunted. No Ghost can be more
+spiritual than his own thoughts, or more spectral than the world around
+him. No revelation of a particular crime can rival the revelation lately
+made to him of sin in the most holy place&mdash;the seat of virtue itself and
+heavenly purity. He may acknowledge the ties of filial obedience and the
+duty of revenge, but there is no place, nor obligation to
+hold, no world to which it may be attached, no faith or interest strong
+enough within him to give it vitality, no fruit of good result to be
+looked for without. The place is occupied:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"For where the greater malady is fixed</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">The lesser scarce is felt."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>When Hamlet says, "There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it
+so," he confesses himself an idealist&mdash;that is, one to whom ideas are
+not images or opinions, but the avenues of life. They garner up
+happiness and they store the harvest of pain; they make the "majestical
+roof fretted with golden fire" and the "pestilential cloud." The basis
+on which Hamlet's happiness had rested had been suddenly removed, and
+with the sanctity of the past the promise of the future had disappeared;
+the sky and the earth. He could say to his mother:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Du hast sie zerst&ouml;rt</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Die sch&ouml;ne Welt;"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>but the new world is built of the same materials&mdash;that is, absorbing
+ideas. The shadow descends till it measures the former brightness; the
+revulsion is as great as the enthusiasm.</p>
+
+
+<h3>IV.</h3>
+
+<p>Why, then, does he accept the mission of the Ghost? To answer this fully
+we must accompany him to the platform.</p>
+
+<p>In this scene Hamlet exhibits in perfection all the elements of
+courage&mdash;coolness, determination, daring. He is singularly free<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> from
+excitement; and this is not because he is absorbed in his own thoughts,
+for he easily falls into conversation, and treats the first subject that
+comes to hand with his usual felicity and fulness, rising from the
+private instance to a public law, and applying it to large and larger
+groups of facts till his father's spirit stands before him. Thrilled and
+startled he pauses not, "harrowed with fear and wonder like Horatio on
+the previous night, but at once addresses it, as he said he would,
+though hell itself should gape." No more dignified rebuke ever shamed
+terror from the soul than Hamlet administers to his panic-stricken
+friends, and when they would forcibly withhold him from following the
+Ghost, the steady determination with which he draws his sword is marked
+by the play upon words:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"By Heav'n, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>In the presence of his father the old life is rekindled within his
+filial awe and affection, unquestioned obedience, daring resolve. He
+will "sweep to his revenge,"</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"And thy commandment all alone shall live</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Within the book and volume of my brain,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Unmixed with baser matter."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>And this commandment had forbidden him to taint his mind against his
+mother.</p>
+
+<p>But what is his first exclamation when he is released from physical
+horror, and his thoughts regain the living world? It is</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"O! most pernicious woman!"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>This singular phrase is one of Shakespeare's final touches, as does not
+appear in the quarto of 1603; and it marks, therefore, his deliberate
+intention, and is of the highest significance. He who will hereafter be
+so often amazed at his own forgetfulness has already forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>When his friends reappear, Hamlet is in a half-ironical humourous and
+assuming an astonishing superiority over ghost and mortal alike informs
+them&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>But when this honest ghost plays sepulchral tricks, Hamlet shows small
+respect to it, and at last, in a tone of almost command, cries&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Rest! rest! perturbed spirit!"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Does Hamlet slight the command of the Ghost? By no means. He never
+repudiates it or even calls it in question. There is no hesitation,
+cavil, or debate in the acceptance of it as a duty. But the purpose
+cools. It cools even on the platform. What passes within him is hardly a
+process of thought, otherwise some intimation of it would be given in
+his numerous self-communings. But there is a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> process prior to thought
+in which the relations of things are felt before they are defined, and a
+conclusion is reached, and a disposition decided, without the mediation
+of the reason. There is a vague attraction this way or that, a blind
+forecast and correlation of issues, and the whole being is so influenced
+that, while there is no register of result in the memory, there is a
+direction of the will and a determination of conduct. From the shadow of
+the future that passes thus before his spirit he shrinks averse. To
+scramble for a throne&mdash;to lord it over such a crew&mdash;to be linked to them
+as by chains&mdash;to return to that polluted Court&mdash;to be the centre of
+intrigues and hatreds&mdash;and for what? To leave the darker deeper evil
+untouched. Some process such as this may account for the change from
+"sweeping to his revenge" to</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"The time is out of joint;&mdash;O cursed spite!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">That ever I was born to set it right!"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, in the well-lit chambers of consciousness, no note is
+taken of this shadowy logic. This may appear paradoxical: but the last
+of the changes from love to indifference, from faith to doubt, is the
+avowal of change. When the ties of habit and tradition are inwardly
+outgrown, we bend and intend with our whole being in a new direction
+without the purpose or even the desire to move. So Hamlet silently
+evades the obligation he so readily undertakes, and sinks back into that
+more powerful interest that almost at once regains possession of his
+mind. Still, before he quits the scene of this ghastly disclosure, he
+resolves to counterfeit madness&mdash;and this for two reasons: he will seem
+(to himself) to be conspiring, and he will gain a license to speak his
+mind without offence. This is the only use to which he puts this mask of
+madness, as Coleridge has remarked. But why should he instinctively seek
+to gain more latitude of speech? Because since the marriage of his
+mother he had suffered from an enforced silence with regard to the
+proceedings of the Court, as he distinctly tells us in the first
+soliloquy&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue!"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>From his first utterances after he had left the platform, we at once
+infer that the mission of the Ghost had failed. There is nothing that
+Hamlet would sooner part with "than his life." There is, therefore, no
+prospect before his mind, no awakening energy, no latent enterprise.
+With what relief, on the contrary, does he turn from the real to the
+ideal world! How cordially does he welcome the players, and how
+gracefully, so that we seem for the first time to make acquaintance with
+his natural tone and manner. Here at least is man's world, whose reality
+can never be undermined. He plies them with questions, indulges in
+literary criticism, and asks for a recita<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>tion. Suddenly he sees tears
+in the actors' eyes. He hurries them away, and when he is alone breaks
+out&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>He is jealous of the players' tears. Here again is no debate, but simply
+surprise at his own apathy. He tries to lash himself to fury but fails,
+and falls back on the practical test he is about to apply to the guilt
+of the king which he must appear to doubt, or this pseudo-activity
+would be too obviously superfluous.</p>
+
+<p>In the interval between the instruction to the players and the play,
+Hamlet's mind, unless absorbed by some strong preoccupation, would
+naturally turn to the issue of the plot; and he would reveal, if he
+admitted us to the secret workings of his mind, if not resolution, at
+least irresolution, something to mark the vacillation of which we hear
+so much. But we find that the whole matter has dropped from his mind,
+and that he has drifted back to the theme of&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Oh! that this too too solid flesh would melt!"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>It is now recast more in the tone of deliberate thought than of excited
+feeling: he asks not which is best for him, but which is "nobler in the
+mind,"&mdash;an impersonal, a profoundly human question, which so fascinates
+our attention that we forget its irrelevance to the matter in hand or
+what we assume to be the matter in hand. It is as if he had never seen
+the Ghost. In his profound preoccupation he speaks of the "bourne from
+which no traveller returns," and of "evils that we know not of,"
+although the Ghost had told him "of sulphurous and tormenting flames."
+Hamlet muses, "To sleep! perchance to dream,&mdash;ay, there's the rub," but
+the Ghost had said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">"I am thy father's spirit,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Doomed for a certain term to walk the night,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And, for the day, confined to fast in fires."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>It is plain that the "traveller" that had returned was not present at
+all to his mental vision nor his tale remembered. In his former
+meditation he had accepted the doctrine of the church; here he
+interrogates the human spirit in its still place of judgment; and he
+gives its verdict with a sigh of reluctance&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Thus conscience does make cowards of us all."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Considering that this and the succeeding lines occur at the end of a
+soliloquy on suicide,&mdash;that there is not only the absence of any
+reference to the ghostly action, but positive proof that the subject was
+not present to his thoughts, it is nothing less than astonishing that
+this passage should be quoted as Hamlet's witness to his own
+"irresolution." He would willingly take his own life; conscience forbids
+it; therefore conscience makes us cowards: and then with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> still
+further generalization he announces the opposition of thought and
+resolution, causing the failure of</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"enterprises of great pith and moment."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Now the only enterprise on which lie was engaged&mdash;the testing of the
+king's conscience&mdash;was in a fair way of success, and did, in fact,
+ultimately succeed.</p>
+
+<p>The scene with Ophelia that immediately follows is the development of
+another theme in the first soliloquy, "Frailty! thy name is woman."
+Ophelia is inseparably connected with the queen in Hamlet's mind. She is
+a Court maiden, sheltered, guarded, cautioned, and, as we see in the
+warnings of Polonius and Laertes, cautioned in a tone that is suggestive
+of evil. What scenes she must have witnessed&mdash;the confusion on the death
+of the king, the exclusion of Hamlet from the throne, the marriage of
+the queen to the usurper! Yet she takes it all quite sweetly and
+subserviently. She is as docile to events as she is to parental advice.
+To such a one every circumstance is a fate, and she bows to it, as she
+bows to her father: "Yes, my lord, I will obey my lord." She denies
+Hamlet's access to her though he is in sorrow; though he has lost all,
+she will "come in for an after loss." One would rather leave her
+blameless in the sweetness of her maiden prime and the pathos of her
+end, but to place her, as some do, high on the list of Shakespeare's
+peerless women fastens upon Hamlet unmerited reproach. There is a love
+that includes friendship, as religion includes morality, and such was
+Portia's for Bassanio. There is a love whose first instinctive movement
+is to share the burden of the loved one, and such was Miranda's love for
+Ferdinand. And there is a love that reserves the light of its light and
+the perfume of its sweetness for the shadowed heart and the sunless
+mind. How would Cordelia have addressed this king and queen&mdash;how would
+she have aroused the energy of Hamlet and rehabilitated his trust, with
+that voice, soft and low indeed, but firmer than the voice of Cato's
+daughter claiming to know her husband's cause of grief! As Hamlet talks
+to Ophelia, you perceive that the marriage of his mother is more present
+to him than the murder of his father. He discourses on the frailty of
+woman and the corruption of the world; "Go to, it hath made me mad. We
+will have no more marriages."</p>
+
+<p>The play is acted. The king is "frighted with false fire," and Hamlet is
+left with the feeling of a dramatic success and the proof of his uncle's
+guilt. He sings snatches of song. Horatio falls in with his mood. "You
+might have rhymed," he says. The only effect of the confirmation of the
+ghost's story, as at its first hearing, is a fresh blaze of indignation
+against his mother. When Polonius<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> has delivered his message that the
+queen would speak with him, Hamlet presently says, "Leave me, friend;"
+and then his mind clouds like the mind of Macbeth before he enters the
+chamber of Duncan&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"'Tis now the very witching time of night,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And do such bitter business as the day</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Would quake to look on."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>As he passes to the Queen's closet in this tense and dangerous mood, he
+sees the king on his knees. His brow relaxes in a moment; he stops,
+looks curiously at him, and says, familiarly&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Now might I do it, pat, now he is praying."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>He did not mean to do it, because he was on his way to his mother's
+closet, but some reason must be found. The word "praying" suggests it.
+"This would be scanned;" and he scans it, and decides to leave him for
+another day. As he enters the closet to speak the words "like daggers,"
+his quick decisive gesture and shrill peremptory tones alarm the queen.
+She rises to call for help; he seizes her roughly: "Come, come, and sit
+you down." Nothing can mark Hamlet's awful resentment more than his
+persistence through two interruptions that would have unnerved the
+bravest, and checked the most relentless spirit. As he looks at his
+mother there is that in his countenance bids her cry aloud for
+assistance. There is a movement behind the arras. Hamlet lunges at once.
+Is it the king? No; it is but Polonius. Had it been the king, it would
+not have diverted him from his purpose. He is no more afraid of killing
+than he is afraid of death, and is as hard to arrest in his reproof of
+his mother as in his talk with his father:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Leave wringing of your hands; peace, sit you down."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>His mother confesses her guilt. Hamlet is not appeased. He vilifies her
+husband with increasing vehemence; the Ghost rises as if to protect the
+queen. "Do not forget," he cries, although the king's name was at that
+moment on Hamlet's lips in terms of bitterest contempt. But it was
+understood between the two spirits that it was the queen's husband and
+not his father's murderer that he was thus denouncing. After the
+disappearance of the ghost, he turns again to his mother; and on leaving
+her almost reluctantly, without further punishment, asks pardon of his
+own genius&mdash;"Forgive me this my virtue," more authoritative to Hamlet
+than a legion of spirits.</p>
+
+<p>This scene is the spiritual climax of the play, and from it the whole
+tragedy directly proceeds. The death of Polonius leads on the one side
+to the madness of Ophelia, on the other to the revenge of Laertes and
+the final catastrophe. Hamlet's apathy at the death of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> Polonius is of
+the same character as his oblivion of the ghost's command, and has the
+same origin. For there is no apathy like that of an over-mastering
+passion, whether it be love or jealousy, or a new faith, or a terrible
+doubt. It draws away the life from other duties and interests, and
+leaves them pale and semi-vital. Men thus possessed acknowledge the
+duties they evade, let slip occasion, are "lapsed in time and passion,"
+and are surprised at their own oblivion.</p>
+
+<p>This happens again to Hamlet as he is leaving Denmark. His own inaction
+is flashed back upon him by the sight of the gallant array of
+Fortinbras, and his first words&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"How all occasions do inform against me,"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>disclose that the duty of revenge has its obligations and sanctions, not
+in the inward but the outward world; not in the genius of the
+man&mdash;secret, individual, detached&mdash;but in the outward mind of inherited
+opinion and ancestral creed, that we share with others in unreflecting
+fellowship. The world has charge of it, and reflects it back upon him
+new in the actor's tears, and now&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"In this army of such mass and charge,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Led by a delicate and tender prince."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>This speech must be read, like a Spartan despatch, on the [Greek:
+skutal&ecirc;] or counterpart of Hamlet's personality. He begins, as after the
+player's recitation, with a confession, and ends with an excuse. He is
+startled into an avowal, which he qualifies by a subtle
+after-thought&mdash;"What is a man," he cries, who acts as I have acted, who
+allows</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"That capability and god-like reason,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">To fust in him unused?"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"A beast, no more." But as he looks at Fortinbras and his soldiers,
+another thought strikes him. These men act because they do not pause to
+think. I must have been thinking, <i>not too little, but too much</i>; and
+with that he turns short round upon his first confession, escapes from
+the charge of "bestial oblivion," and takes refuge in an imaginary
+"thinking too precisely on the event;" which indeed, as he remembers,
+had more than once prevented him taking his own life. But he condemns
+himself without cause; he cannot now return to that earlier stage of
+unreasoning activity in appointed paths, and the joy and grace of
+unconscious obedience.</p>
+
+<p>When Hamlet returns from England, he takes Horatio apart to recount his
+adventures and unfold the plot of the king; but before he utters a word
+of this his settled mood is revealed to us in the graveyard scene.
+Hamlet, ever prone to belittle the world, is not loth to watch the
+making of a grave. There is the limit and boundary of what can be done
+or suffered; there the triumph is ended, and there the enmity is stayed.
+He advances step by step to look closely at the ruins of mortality; to
+slight the great names of kings and follow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> heroes to the dust. As he
+sees the skull tossed out of the grave, the king is already dead to him.
+"How the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were Cain's jawbone,
+that did the first murder. This might be the pate of a politician, which
+this ass now o'erreaches; one that would circumvent God, might it not?"
+He is not satisfied till he takes the skull in his hand, and is
+sarcastic on beauty and festive wit, and the base uses to which we may
+come; when, from the other side, the procession of Ophelia advances. The
+grace and allurement of Ophelia had awakened in the imaginative Hamlet a
+feeling stronger and warmer indeed, but of the same relation to his
+capacity of loving as that of Romeo for Rosaline, and as easily lost in
+the glow or shadow of a deeper passion. That it was without depth and
+sacredness is plain from his delighting to ridicule and torment her
+father, and from his careless and equivocal jesting with her at the
+play. But though not a deep experience, it was of a quality different
+from that of other life. And the death of Ophelia had gathered into one
+the records of the hours of love; the first and the last; the meetings
+and the partings; the gifts, and flowers, and snatches of song. On these
+tender memories the hollow clamour of Laertes breaks with a discord so
+intolerable that Hamlet, who had with his usual reserve received the
+news of her death with the cold exclamation, "What! the fair Ophelia!"
+suddenly breaks into a fury and leaps into her grave.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>In this study of Hamlet in relation to the ghost-story, we have seen
+that the effect, both of the first recital and of its subsequent
+confirmation, was to whet his mind against his mother; and that the
+passages in which this is expressed are among the <i>final touches</i> of the
+master; that the deed of revenge is only flashed upon him from without;
+and that, in the intervals between such awakenings of memory, he
+relapses to the thought-sickness of the first soliloquy; that on the
+only occasion when the bitterness of his sorrow leads him to meditate
+self-destruction, there is no question of the ghost, the murder, or the
+king; that the only ungovernable bit of fury is in the presence of his
+mother; and that from this scene the drama is developed, and the final
+catastrophe ensues.</p>
+
+
+<h3>V.</h3>
+
+<p>Supposing this "preoccupation" proved, what is the particular value and
+significance of the fact? Before we can answer this we must set the
+character of Hamlet in this new light clearly before us.</p>
+
+<p>Shakespeare gives to him the rare nobility of feeling with the keenness
+of personal pleasure and pain, the presence or absence of moral beauty.
+He is one to whom public falsehood is private affliction, to whom
+goodness in its purity, truth in its severity, honour in its brightness,
+are the only goods worth a man's possessing, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> rest but a dream
+and the shadow of a dream. Hamlet bears his private griefs with proud
+composure. We have no lamentation on the death of his father, on the
+defection of Ophelia, on his exclusion from the throne. Among the images
+of horror and distress that crowd upon his mind in his mother's closet
+there is one on which he is silent then, and throughout the play, and
+that is her heartless desertion of his cause, as natural successor to
+the crown. To make it entirely clear that we have here no type of morbid
+weakness and excess, but the portrait of a representative man, we have
+only to look at the careful way in which all the other characters are
+touched and modelled so as to allow and enhance Hamlet's superiority,
+This is true even of Horatio. We have already remarked that in their
+scenes with the ghost the manhood of Hamlet is of a higher strain and
+dignity. And not only in resolution, but in that other manly virtue of
+self-reliance, his superiority is incontestable. Horatio follows Hamlet
+at a distance as Lucilius follows Brutus, content if from time to time
+he may stand at his side. Whatever is Hamlet's mood he reflects it, for
+to him Hamlet is always great. Horatio never questions, presumes not to
+give advice, echoes the scorn or laughter of his friend, is equally
+contemptuous of the king, and, as he never urges to action, is, if his
+friend is supposed to procrastinate, accomplice in his delay. Hamlet
+detaches himself from the world and follows his own bent; he will admit
+no guidance, and be subject to no dictation. He is not the man to be
+hag-ridden like Macbeth, or humoured into remorseful deeds like Brutus.
+The strong dramatic feature of his character, the secret of his
+attraction on the stage, is his pure and independent personality. Who
+has a word of solace from him, but when does he claim it? Who leaves any
+mark or dint of intellectual impact on that firm and self-determined
+mind? And if he is superior to Horatio, how much more to Laertes? Had
+Shakespeare wished to exalt the quality of resolution at Hamlet's
+expense, he would not have chosen so ignoble a representative of it as
+this man. A true son of Polonius, a prater of moral maxims, while he is
+all for Paris and its pleasures; violent, but weak; who, when he is told
+of the tragic and untimely death of his sister, can find nothing better
+to say than&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Too much of water, hast thou, dear Ophelia?"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>who, like Aufidius, has the outward habit and encounter of honour, but
+is a facile tool of treacherous murder in the hands of the king. Compare
+the conduct of the two when they are brought into collision, and the
+final impression they leave. The readiness with which Hamlet undertakes
+to fence for his uncle's wager is one of the most surprising strokes in
+the play. What! with the foil in his hand, no plot, no project, not even
+a word, not a look between him and Horatio that the occasion might be
+improved! What absolute freedom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> from the malice which in another mind
+is preparing his death. The treachery of Laertes is the more odious in
+this, that the success of his plot depends on the generous confidence of
+his victim. Polonius is handled in the same way with special reference
+to Hamlet. His thinking is marked by slowness and insincerity, and when
+he comes in contact with the rapid current of Hamlet's mind he is
+benumbed; he can only mutter, "If this is madness, there is method in
+it." What little portable wisdom was given to him in the first Act is
+soon withdrawn&mdash;he stammers in his deceit, and the old indirectness
+having no material of thought to work upon becomes a circumlocution of
+truisms. As the play proceeds he is made, as if with a second intention,
+more and more the antithesis, as he is the antipathy, of the prince. It
+is the careful portrait of what Hamlet would hate&mdash;a remnant of senile
+craft in the method with folly in the matter&mdash;a shy look in the dull and
+glazing eye, that insults the honesty of Hamlet as much as the
+shrivelled meaning with its pompous phrase insults his intelligence. So
+with the other characters; they are all made to justify his demeanour
+towards them. The queen is heard to confess her guilt, Ophelia is seen
+to act as a decoy; his college friends attempt his death.</p>
+
+<p>In as far then as Hamlet is right in his verdicts, blameless in his
+aims, lofty in his ideal, and just in his resentment, he is a
+representative man; and we have not the study of a special affliction,
+but the fundamental drama of the soul and the world. This, whatever we
+may call it, was the work at which Shakespeare laboured so long, and for
+which he withdrew Hamlet from time to time for special study, every
+fresh touch telling in this direction.</p>
+
+
+<h3>VI.</h3>
+
+<p>How far is such an interpretation consonant with the genius and method
+of Shakespeare? Certainly I should hardly have found courage to add
+another to the many studies of Hamlet had it not been for the hope of
+bringing out a characteristic of our great national poet that is rather
+unobtrusive than obscure. I mean a singular unworldliness of thought and
+feeling; a cherished idealism; an inborn magnanimity. Not the
+unworldliness of the study and the cloister, or the other-worldliness of
+such poets as Dante and Milton, but the unworldliness of a man of the
+world, the idealism that is closely allied with humour. And it is in
+this union and not elsewhere that the "breadth" of Shakespeare, of which
+we hear so much, is found. This unworldliness is elusive, ubiquitous,
+full of disguise. Now it is militant, and now observant; now it is
+fastidious in its scorn, and now it is piercing in its dissection; now
+it is satire, and now it is melancholy. He gives the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> knightly
+chivalry of friendship to a merchant, and the most exquisite fidelity of
+service to a fool, and makes the ingrained worldliness of Cleopatra die
+before her love. He not only scatters through his pages rebukes of the
+arrogance of power and the more pitiable pride of wealth, but makes his
+kings deride their own ceremonies and mock their own state. Who has not
+observed the easy and effortless way in which his heroes and heroines
+move from one station to the other, from authority to service like Kent,
+from obscurity to splendour like Perdita, or to the greenwood from the
+palace like Rosalind. The change affects their happiness no more than
+the change of their position in the sky affects the brightness of the
+stars. It is all so truthful and clear that we grow more simple as we
+read. Lear utters but one cry of joy, and that is when he is entering a
+prison with Cordelia:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 8em;">"Come, let's away to prison!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">We two alone will sing like birds in a cage;"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>while the Queen of France has just said:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Myself could else outfrown false fortune's frown."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>In these two lines the magnanimity of Shakespeare is pure, unveiled, as
+he gives us the last words of his favourite heroine: we must read them
+backwards and forwards to catch the portrait they enclose. We see the
+unconscious elevation of Cordelia's mind, not so much superior as
+invulnerable to mortal ills; we see this dignity and lovely pride cast
+down by pity and love, and then in answer to Lear's troubled and anxious
+look we hear in measured and steadfast tones the reassurance of perfect
+peace.</p>
+
+<p>Remark too Shakespeare's habit of looking upon the world as a masque or
+pageant, not to be treated with too much respectful anxiety as if it
+were as real as ourselves. He who can give so perfectly the texture of
+common life, the solidities of common sense, likes to wave his wand over
+the domain of sturdy prose and incontrovertible custom, and to show how
+plastic it is, and how easily pierced, and how readily transformed. He
+has a malicious pleasure in confusing the boundaries of nature and
+fancy, and mocking the purblind understanding. In the "Midsummer Night's
+Dream" we have an ambiguous and bewildering light, with the horizon
+always shifting, and the boundaries of fact and fable confused with an
+inseparable mingling of forms; both outwardly, as when Theseus enters
+the forest on the skirts of the fairy crew; and inwardly in the memories
+of the lovers. And we are expressly told after the enchantment of the
+"Tempest" that this summary dealing with the solid world was not merely
+by way of entertainment but was a presentation of truth. And Macbeth,
+after grasping all that life could offer of tangible reward or palpable
+power, pronounces it</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"such stuff as dreams are made of."</span><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>No doubt something will be said on the other side, of Shakespeare's
+broad and indulgent humanity, and of his toleration even of vice itself
+when it is convivial and amusing. It should be remembered, however, that
+his comedies while more realistic are not so real as his tragedies. They
+are, as he himself insists, entertainments; to which jovial sensuality,
+witty falsehood, and even hypocrisy when it is not morose are admitted,
+as diverting in their very aberration from the mean rule of life. So
+that a touch of rascality is a genuine element in comedy, as a touch of
+danger in sport, and the provocation of the moral sense is part of the
+fun. But they are all under guard. The moment they pass a certain
+boundary and break into reality, the moment that intemperance leads to
+disorder, and vice to suffering, as in real life, then suddenly Harry
+turns upon Falstaff, or Olivia on Sir Toby, and vice is called by its
+right name.</p>
+
+<p>And as life awakens and reality enters, either the grace or the
+sentiment or the passion of unworldliness is more and more distinctly
+present. And in the tragedies even the pleasant vices are seen as part
+of a world-wide corruption that wrongs, debases, and betrays.
+Shakespeare has painted every phase of antagonism to the world, from the
+pensive aloofness of Antonio to the impassioned misanthropy of Timon.
+Every excited feeling emits light into the dark places of the earth, and
+every suffering is a revelation of more than its own injury. It is as if
+the soul, fully aroused, became aware by its own light of the oppression
+and injustice abroad upon the earth.</p>
+
+<p>But there is a more vague and general disaffection to the world than is
+the outcome of any particular experience. It may be called a spiritual
+discontent which few have felt as a passion, but many have known as a
+mood: when that average goodness of human nature which we have found so
+companionable, and to which we have so pleasantly adapted ourselves,
+becomes "very tolerable and not to be endured;" when the world seems to
+be made of our vices, and our virtues seem to be looking on, or if they
+enter into the fray are too tame and conventional for the selfish fire
+and unscrupulous industry of their rivals; and when to our excited
+sensibility there is a taint in the moral atmosphere, and we long to
+escape if only to breathe more freely. This is more than a mood with
+Shakespeare, and is present in those slight but distinctive touches that
+mark the unconscious intrusion of character in an artist's work; and is
+frankly confessed in one of his Sonnets:&mdash;-</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Tired with all these; for restful death I cry;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">As to behold desert a beggar born,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And needy nothing drest in jollity,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And purest faith unhappily forsworn.....</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Tired with all these, from, these would I be gone."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>We find, then, scattered through the dramas of Shakespeare a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+disaffection to the world as deep-grained as it is comprehensive; and we
+find the various elements of it&mdash;the contempt of fortune, the ideal
+virtue, the disinterested passion, the mysticism, the fellowship with
+the oppressed, the distaste of the world's enjoyment and the weariness
+of its burden&mdash;concentrated in Hamlet for full and exhaustive study;
+thus presenting what I have called the interior or fundamental drama of
+the soul and the world.</p>
+
+<p>But the tragedy of "Hamlet" includes more than this. It is not merely
+the doom of suffering on a soul above a certain strain, still less is it
+the accidental death of a sluggard in revenge; it is the implication of
+a noble mind in the intrigues and malignities of a world it has
+renounced. In vain Hamlet contracts his ambition till it is bounded by a
+nutshell; he is ordered to strike for a throne. No abnegation clears him
+from entanglement. The world permits not his escape, but drags him back
+with those crooked hands of which Dante speaks, which pierce while they
+hold. This is the tragedy in all its fulness, the involution of the
+inward and outward drama to the immense advantage of both. For while the
+spiritual agony of Hamlet gives an incomparable dignity to the
+ghost-story, yet by the very interruptions and checkings and crossings
+of it through the accidents and oppositions of the plot, its physiognomy
+is more distinctly and delicately revealed. Instead of the majestic but
+monotonous declamation of Timon, we have every variety of that ironical
+humour (indicating some yet unconquered province of the soul) that
+guards and embalms the purer strength of feeling, keeps it airy and
+spiritual, and frees it from moan and heaviness. Here we have no
+insistance on suffering, no literary heart-breaks, no dilettante
+pessimism; but those indefinable harmonies of freedom and law, of the
+ascendency of the soul and the sovereignty of fate, of Nature and the
+spaces of the mind, that in the works of the great masters represent, if
+they do not explain, the mystery of life.</p>
+
+<p>The religion of Hamlet is that faith in God which survives after the
+extinction of the faith in man. Losing the light of human worth and
+dignity through which, alone the soul can reach to the idea of what is
+truly divine, and with it the link between earth and heaven, Hamlet's
+religion is reduced to its elements again; to the vague and fragmentary
+hints of Nature, and instincts of the spirit; to intimations of
+limitless power, of mysterious destiny, of a "something after death,"
+of a "divinity that shapes our ends;" and with these, gleams of a
+transcendent religion of humanity, for devotion to which he was
+suffering; and on the other side, binding him to the stage-plot, relics
+of childish superstition, half-beliefs, inherited opinions, "<i>our</i>
+circumstance and course of thought," which he adopted when he
+pleased,&mdash;as, for instance, when he feared lest he should dismiss the
+murderer to heaven, or half-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>believed that his blameless father was
+tormented in sulphurous flames for having endured a horrible death. But
+however obscure and indefinite the religion of Hamlet may be, and partly
+because it is so, and hence of universal experience, it adds reach and
+depth to his struggle with the world. His soul flies out of bounds and
+away in airy liberty on these excursions to the vast unknown, and
+escapes at last victorious with the light through the darkness of
+conscious immortality, and the lamp in his hand of "the readiness is
+all." There is always a certain vacuity in the positive or realistic
+treatment of passion, in which it is confined to the area of mortality,
+and after a sultry strife delivered over to the mercy of its enemies.
+But the world cannot so beset and beleaguer the soul as to block up the
+access and passage of invisible allies, or intercept the communications
+of infinite strength and infinite charity, or follow to its distant
+haunts and inaccessible refuges the migrations of thought&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"In the hoar deep to colonize."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">Franklin Leifchild.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> "To see Lear acted, to see an old man tottering about the
+stage with a walking-stick, turned out of doors by his daughters in a
+rainy night, has nothing in it but what is painful and
+disgusting."&mdash;<i>Lamb's Essays.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> "Shakspere: His Mind and Art," p. 96.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> "A Study of Shakespeare," p. 166.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h2><a name="PANISLAMISM_AND_THE_CALIPHATE6" id="PANISLAMISM_AND_THE_CALIPHATE6"></a>PANISLAMISM AND THE CALIPHATE.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></h2>
+
+
+<p>I use the word "Panislamism," simply because it is one of the political
+catchwords of the day. The prefix <i>Pan</i> is supposed to have some great
+and terrible significance. It is not long since Europe exerted all her
+power to save Islam from the jaws of Panslavism, but now that a <i>Pan</i>
+has been added to Islam, it has become in its turn the bugbear of
+Europe. It is even supposed that England was fighting with this new
+monster, when she put down the revolution in Egypt. England could never
+have so far forgotten her liberality as to take up arms against Islam,
+but Panislam must be crushed by a new crusade. Such is the wondrous
+power of a prefix. So far as I can understand the mysterious force of
+this word, it is designed to express the idea that the scattered
+fragments of the Mohammedan world have all rallied around the Caliph to
+join in a new attack upon Christendom, or that they are about to do so.
+There is just enough of truth in this idea to give it currency, and to
+make it desirable that the whole truth should be known. Most of the
+mistakes of Europe in dealing with the Ottoman empire, during the
+present century, have come from a misapprehension of the forces of
+Islam, and the position, and influence of the Sultan of Turkey. There is
+danger now of such a misapprehension as may lead to the most unfortunate
+complications.</p>
+
+<p>The first essential point, which must always be kept in mind by those
+who would understand the movements of the Mohammedan world, is the exact
+relation of the Ottoman Sultans to the Caliphate. The word Caliph means
+the vicar or the successor of the Prophet. The origin and history of the
+Caliphate is well known, but it may be well to give a brief <i>r&eacute;sum&eacute;</i> of
+it here. During the life of the Prophet it was his custom to name a
+Caliph to act for him when he was absent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> from Medina. During his last
+illness he named his father-in-law, Abou-Bekir, and after his death this
+appointment was confirmed by election. Omar, Osman, and Ali were
+successively chosen to this office, and these four are recognized by all
+orthodox Mohammedans as perfect Caliphs. The Persians and other Shiites
+recognize only Ali. It is said that the Prophet predicted that the true
+Caliphate would continue only thirty years. His words are quoted: "The
+Caliphate after me will be for thirty years. After this there will be
+only powers established by force, usurpation, and tyranny." The death of
+Ali and the usurpation of Mouawiye came just thirty years after the
+death of the Prophet, and this was the end of the true and perfect
+Caliphate. The sixty-eight imperfect Caliphs who followed were all of
+the family of the Prophet, although of different branches, but they
+fulfilled the demand of the sacred law, that the Caliph must be of the
+family of Koreish, who was a direct descendant from Abraham. Mouawiye
+and the Ommiades, fourteen in all, were of the same branch as Osman, the
+third Caliph. The Abassides of Kufa, Bagdad, and Cairo, fifty-four in
+all, descended from Abas, the great-uncle of the Prophet. There were
+many others who at different times usurped the name of Caliph, but these
+seventy-two are all who are recognized as universal Caliphs. Mohammed
+XII., the last of these died in obscurity in Egypt in 1538. The power of
+the Caliphs gradually decayed, until for hundreds of years it was little
+more than nominal, and exclusively religious.</p>
+
+<p>The claim of the Ottoman Sultans to the Caliphate dates back to the time
+of Sultan Selim I. This Sultan conquered Egypt and over-threw the
+dynasty of the Mamelukes. He found at Cairo the Caliph Mohammed XII.,
+and brought him as a prisoner to Constantinople. He was kept at the
+fortress of the Seven Towers for several years, and then sent back to
+Egypt with a small pension. While Selim was in Cairo, the Shereeff of
+Mecca presented to him the keys of the holy cities, and accepted him as
+their protector. In 1517 Mohammed XII. also made over to him all his
+right and title to the Caliphate. This involuntary cession, and the
+voluntary homage of the Shereeff of Mecca are the only titles possessed
+by the Ottoman Sultans to the Caliphate, which, according to the word of
+the Prophet himself, must always remain in his own family. If the
+Ommiades and the Abassides were imperfect Caliphs, it is plain that the
+Ottoman Sultans must be doubly imperfect. It was easy, however, for an
+all-powerful Sultan to obtain an opinion from the Ulema that his claim
+was well-founded; and it has been very generally recognized by orthodox
+Mohammedans, in spite of its essential weakness. When the time comes,
+however, that the Ottoman Sultans are no longer powerful, it will be
+still more easy to obtain an opinion that the Shereeff of Mecca, who is
+of the family of the Prophet, is the true Caliph.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Ottoman Sultans have also assumed the other and more generally used
+title of <i>Imam-ul-Mussilmin</i>, which may be roughly translated Grand
+Pontiff of all the Moslems, although, strictly speaking, the functions
+of an Imam are not priestly. This title is based upon an article of the
+Mohammedan faith which says&mdash;"The Mussulmans ought to be governed by an
+Imam, who has the right and authority to secure obedience to the law, to
+defend the frontiers, to raise armies, to collect tithes, to put down
+rebels, to celebrate public prayers on Fridays, and at Beiram," &amp;c. This
+article of faith is based upon the words of the Prophet&mdash;"He who dies
+without recognizing the authority of the Imam of his time, is judged to
+have died in ignorance and infidelity."</p>
+
+<p>The law goes on to say&mdash;"All Moslems ought to be governed by one Imam.
+His authority is absolute, and embraces everything. All are bound to
+submit to him. No country can render submission to any other."</p>
+
+<p>Under this law the Ottoman Sultans claim absolute and unquestioning
+obedience from all Moslems throughout the world; but their right to this
+title rests upon the same foundation as that upon which is based the
+title of Caliph. The Prophet himself said, and the accepted law repeats,
+that the Imam-ul-Mussilmin must be of the family of Koreish. The Ottoman
+Sultans belong not only to a different family, but to a different race.</p>
+
+<p>With this evident weakness in their title to the Caliphate, and the
+accompanying rank of universal Imam, it is a question of interest on
+what grounds the doctors of Mohammedan law have justified their claims,
+and how far these have been recognized.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to the rights said to have been conferred by the Caliph
+Mohammed XII. and by the Shereef of Mecca upon Sultan Selim I., and by
+him transmitted to his posterity, the Mohammedan doctors make use of a
+very different argument. They say&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The rights of the house of Othman are based upon its power and
+success, for one of the most ancient canonical books declares that
+the authority of a prince who has usurped the Caliphate by force
+and violence, ought not the less to be considered legitimate,
+because, since the end of the perfect Caliphate, the sovereign
+power is held to reside in the person of him who is the strongest,
+who is the actual ruler, and whose right to command rests upon the
+power of his armies."</p></div>
+
+<p>This statement presents the real basis of the claims of the Sultans to
+the Caliphate. It is the right of the strongest. Any man who disputes
+it, does so at his peril; and, since 1517, the Ottoman Sultans have been
+able to command the submission of the Mohammedan world. Their title has
+not been seriously disputed.</p>
+
+<p>But the title has this weak point in it. It is good only so long as the
+Sultan is strong enough to maintain it. It has not destroyed the rights
+of the family of Koreish. It only holds them in abeyance,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> until some
+one of that family is strong enough to put an end to the Turkish
+usurpation. The power of the Sultan does not depend upon the title, but
+the title depends upon his power. This is a point the political
+importance of which should never be overlooked.</p>
+
+<p>We come now to our second question. How far is the claim of the Ottoman
+Sultans to the Caliphate now recognized in the Mohammedan world? Except
+with the Shiites, who have never acknowledged it, there is no open
+rebellion against it. But the decay of the Ottoman Empire during the
+last hundred years has been obvious to all the world. Not only has it
+been gradually dismembered, not only have many of its Mohammedan
+subjects been brought under the dominion of Christian Powers, and many
+of its Christian subjects set free, not only have its African
+possessions become practically independent, except Tripoli, but the
+house of Othman exists to-day, only because Christian Europe interfered
+to defend it against its own Mohammedan subjects. The house of Mohammed
+Ali would otherwise have taken its place. Again and again have the
+Sultans shown their inability to defend the frontiers of Islam. Since
+the advent of the present Sultan, the process of dismemberment has gone
+on more rapidly than ever.</p>
+
+<p>The influence of these facts upon the Mohammedan world has been very
+marked. I cannot speak from personal knowledge of the people of India
+and Central Asia, but from the best information that I can obtain, I
+conclude that while they have lost none of their interest in Islam,
+while they are still interested in the fate of their Turkish brethren,
+they would not lift a finger to maintain the right of the Sultan to the
+Caliphate against any claimant of the family of the Prophet. The feeling
+of the Arabic-speaking Mohammedans is well known. Islam is an Arab
+religion; the Prophet was an Arab; the Caliph should be an Arab. The
+Ottoman Sultans are barbarian usurpers, who have taken and hold the
+Caliphate by force. The Arabs have been ready for open revolt for years,
+and have only waited for a leader of the house of the Prophet. Their
+natural leader would be the Shereef of Mecca; and it is understood that
+the Shereef who has just been deposed by the Sultan, as well as his
+predecessor who was mysteriously assassinated, was on the point of
+declaring himself Caliph. The new Shereef is a young man of the same
+family.</p>
+
+<p>So far as the Turkish, Circassian, and Slavic Mohammedans are concerned,
+their interests are bound up with those of the Sultan. They do not
+distinguish between the Caliphate and the Sultanat. Their ruler is the
+Imam-ul-Mussilmin, their law is the Sheraat, their country is the
+Dar-Islam; and when they are fighting for their Sultan they are fighting
+for their faith. They know nothing of any other possible Caliph. But if
+a new Caliph should appear at Mecca, and declare the Sultan a usurper
+and a Kaffir, it is very doubtful whether they would stand by the
+Sultan. They would not know what to do.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Another element enters just now into the question of the Caliphate, of
+which so much has been written of late that it is only necessary to
+mention it here. The Mohammedan world is looking for the coming of the
+Mehdy. The time appointed by many traditions for his appearance has
+already come, the year of the Hedjira 1300. Other traditions, however,
+fix no definite time&mdash;they only say "towards the end of the world," and
+many impostors have already appeared at different times and places
+claiming to be the Mehdy. According to Shiite tradition, it is the
+twelfth Imam of the race of Ali who is to appear. At the age of twelve
+he was lost in a cave, where he still lives, awaiting his time.
+According to the Sunnis, the <i>Mehdy</i> is to come from Heaven with 360
+celestial spirits, to purify Islam and convert the world. He will be a
+perfect Caliph, and will rule over all nations.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible for any Christian to speak with absolute certainty of
+the real feeling of Mohammedans; but it is evident that this expected
+Mehdy is talked of by Mohammedans everywhere, and that there is more or
+less faith in his speedy appearance. No one who anticipates his coming,
+can have any interest in the claims of the Sultan to be the Caliph.
+Should any one appear to fulfil the demands of the tradition, and meet
+with success in rousing any part of the Mohammedan world, the excitement
+would become intense, especially in Africa and Arabia. The claims of the
+Sultan would be repudiated at once. Still I think it probable that too
+much has been made of this Mehdy in Europe. I do not think that the
+Pachas of Constantinople have any more faith in his coming than Mr.
+Herbert Spencer has in the second coming of Christ. They only fear that
+some impostor may take advantage of the tradition to create division in
+the empire. This is the real danger.</p>
+
+<p>It has been evident for many years that the Sultans have felt that their
+influence in the Mohammedan world was declining. They have seen that
+beyond their own dominions the Caliph has no real authority; that
+whatever influence they have depends upon the strength of their own
+empire. Abd-ul-Medjid and Abd-ul-Aziz seem to have had a pretty clear
+conception of their weakness, and of the necessity of restoring the
+vitality of the Ottoman empire, by the introduction of radical reforms.
+There is no reason to suppose that the Hatt-i-houmayoun and the other
+innumerable Hatts issued by these Sultans, were all intended simply to
+blind the eyes of Europe. None knew better than they that the empire
+must be reformed or lost. But they were Caliphs as well as Sultans, and
+what they would do as Sultans they could not do as Caliphs. The very
+nature of their claims to the Caliphate made them more timid. They could
+not execute the reforms which they promised, without encountering the
+opposition of the whole body of the Ulema, the most powerful and the
+best organized force in the empire. If they could have saved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> their
+empire by resigning the Caliphate, they might possibly have been willing
+to do it; but they were made to believe that in surrendering the
+Caliphate they would lose the support of the only part of the nation
+upon which they could fully depend. So they hesitated, promising much
+and doing little, raising hopes on one side which could never be
+forgotten, and raising fears on the other which they could not allay;
+seeing clearly the need of reform, but seeing no way in which to
+accomplish it. They could decide upon nothing, and drifted on until
+Abd-ul-Aziz was deposed and assassinated by his own ministers, and the
+empire was on the verge of ruin.</p>
+
+<p>The next Sultan was overwhelmed by the burdens which fell upon him, and
+in a few months was deposed as a lunatic. Sultan Hamid came to the
+throne under these trying circumstances, and it seemed for a time that
+he might be the last of the Sultans. He was but little known, as he had
+been forced to live in retirement, and it was supposed that he would
+follow meekly in the steps of his predecessors; but it very soon became
+evident to those about him that he had a mind and a will of his
+own&mdash;more than this, that he had a policy which he was determined to
+carry out. A Sultan with a fixed policy was a new thing, and to this day
+Europe is somewhat sceptical about it; but it very soon became apparent
+to close observers at Constantinople. Sultan Hamid was determined to be
+first of all the Caliph, the Imam-ul-Mussilmin, and to sacrifice all
+other interests to this. His education had been exclusively religious,
+and in his retirement he had lived a serious life, associating much with
+the Ulema, who, no doubt, pointed out to him the vacillating policy of
+his predecessors, and the danger that there was that the Caliphate and
+the empire would be lost together. He determined to strengthen his
+empire by restoring the influence of the Caliphate, and rallying the
+Mohammedan world once more around the throne of Othman. Judged from a
+European standpoint, this policy is at once reactionary and suicidal. It
+ignores the fact that the Ottoman empire is dependent for its existence
+upon the good-will of Europe; that it has measured its strength with a
+single Christian Power, and been utterly crushed in a year. It ignores
+the principle that a government can never be strong abroad which is weak
+at home. It ignores the history of the last hundred years. It may be
+doubted whether it is a policy which can be justified from the
+standpoint of Islam. Turkey is the last surviving Mohammedan Power of
+any importance. Its influence depends upon its strength, and its
+strength upon the prosperity of its people, and this upon a wise and
+enlightened administration of the government. It would seem that the
+best thing the Sultan could have done for Islam, would have been not to
+excite the fears of Europe by the phantom of a Panislamic league, but to
+have devoted all his energies to the reformation of his government.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But Sultan Hamid chose the path of Faith rather than of Reason, and,
+however we may think the choice unwise, we are bound to treat it with
+respect. It is easy to say that it was a mere question of policy, and
+very bad policy; it certainly was, but I think we have good reason to
+believe that the Sultan was actuated by religious rather than political
+motives, that he is a sincere and honest Moslem, and feels that it is
+better to trust in God than in the Giaour. I have a sincere respect and
+no little admiration for Sultan Hamid. Had he been less a Caliph and
+more a Sultan, with his courage, industry, and pertinacity, he might
+have done for Turkey what he has failed to do for Islam. He might have
+revived and consolidated the empire. It is possible that he may do it
+yet, and should he attempt it he will have the sympathy of the world.</p>
+
+<p>But thus far, having transferred the seat of government from the Porte
+to the Palace, having secured a declaration from the Ulema that his will
+is the highest law, and that as Caliph he needs no advice, he has
+sought, first of all, to make his influence felt in every part of the
+Mohammedan world, to revive the spirit of Islam, and to unite it in
+opposition to all European and Christian influences. Utterly unable to
+resist Europe by force of arms, he has sought to outwit her by diplomacy
+and finesse. I know of nothing more remarkable in the history of Turkey
+than the skill with which he made a tool of Sir Henry Layard. Sir Henry
+could not be bought; but he could be flattered and blinded by such
+attentions as no Ottoman Sultan ever bestowed upon any Ambassador
+before; and to accomplish this object, the Sultan did not hesitate to
+ignore all Mohammedan ideas of propriety. His demonstrations of
+friendship for Germany is another illustration of his diplomatic skill.
+But while ready to yield any point of etiquette to accomplish his ends,
+he has resisted to the last every attempt to induce him to do anything
+to repress or punish any development of Moslem fanaticism. All Europe
+combined could not force him to punish the murderer of Colonel
+Coumaroff, the secretary of the Russian Embassy, who was shot down in
+the street like a dog by a servant of the Palace; nor, so far as I know,
+has he ever suffered a Moslem to be punished for murdering a Christian.</p>
+
+<p>His agents have done their best to rouse the Mohammedans of India and
+Central Asia. He has armed the tribes of Northern Africa against France,
+and encouraged them to resist to the end. He has given new life to
+Mohammedan fanaticism in Turkey. The change from the days of Abd-ul-Aziz
+is very marked. The counsellors of the Sultan are no longer the
+Ministers, but the astrologers, eunuchs, and holy men of the Palace. No
+Mussulman could now change his faith in Constantinople without losing
+his life. Firmans can no longer be obtained for Christian churches, and
+it is extremely difficult to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> obtain permission to print a Christian
+book, even in a Christian language. The greatest care is taken to seize
+books of every description in the Custom House. It is not long since the
+Life of Mr. Gladstone was seized as a forbidden book. It is a curious
+fact in this connection that the fanaticism of the Government is far in
+advance of the fanaticism of the people. There is no fear of the people,
+except as they are encouraged and pushed forward by those in authority.
+If left to themselves, Turks and Christians would have no difficulty in
+living together amicably.</p>
+
+<p>The relation of the Sultan to the rebellion in Egypt is not perfectly
+clear, and probably never will be. In one sense he was no doubt the
+cause of it. It was a direct result of the agitation which his policy
+had roused. But it was not intended by Arabi to strengthen the power of
+a Turkish Caliph. It was originally anti-Turkish, and looked to the
+revival of the Arab Caliphate, as well as to the personal advantage of
+Arabi himself. The Sultan could not oppose it without exciting the
+enmity of those whom he most wished to conciliate, so he sought to
+control it and turn it to his own advantage. He gave Arabi all possible
+aid and support. There is no reason to suppose that Arabi and his
+friends were deceived by this; but it was for their interest to avoid a
+conflict with the Sultan as long as possible, and to get what aid from
+him they could. But for the intervention of England, Arabi would no
+doubt have won the game against the Turk. He might even have caused the
+downfall of the Sultan; for it is a well-known fact that so great was
+the enthusiasm of the Moslems in Syria and Arabia for Arabi, that they
+were with difficulty restrained by the Turkish authorities from breaking
+out into open rebellion. This spirit had been fostered by the Sultan;
+but it naturally turned, not to the Turkish Caliph, but to the
+successful Arab adventurer. Even in Asia Minor and Constantinople the
+enthusiasm for Arabi was universal, and had he been allowed to triumph
+unmolested, it seems probable the Sultan would have been forced either
+to unite with him in a crusade against Christendom, or to send an army
+to put him down. Either of these courses would have been fatal; for no
+Moslem army would have fought against Arabi under such circumstances,
+and as against Europe the Sultan could have accomplished nothing.</p>
+
+<p>It is no doubt perfectly legitimate for a Caliph, especially for one
+whose title depends upon the strength of his sword, to stir up the
+enthusiasm of his people and attract their attention to himself as their
+leader. He cannot be blamed for improving every occasion to defend their
+rights and interfere in their behalf. If he is strong enough to do so,
+it is no doubt in full accord with the example and teaching of the
+Prophet that he should lead them against the infidels. It is not strange
+that a man of faith should be so dazzled by the possibility<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> of such a
+crusade as to forget his own weakness. As he sits in his palace
+to-night,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> and hears the roar of the guns announcing the great
+festival of Courban Beiram, and thinks that more than two hundred
+millions of the faithful are uniting with him in the sacrifice, and
+confessing their faith in the Prophet of whom he claims to be the
+successor and representative, it will be strange if he does not dream of
+what might be if he could but rally them round his throne; strange if he
+does not catch something of the inspiration of the Prophet himself, who,
+with God on his side, dared alone to face all Mecca, and with a few
+half-naked Arabs to brave the world. There is nothing in the Palace
+unfavourable to such a dream as this, and there will be nothing in the
+pomp and ceremony of the homage to be paid to him to-morrow morning to
+recall him from it. What a contrast it will be to come back from such a
+dream of universal dominion, and the triumph of the true faith, to the
+discussion of the sixty-first Article of the Treaty of Berlin and the
+rights of the Armenians! It is perfectly legitimate for a Caliph to have
+such dreams, and perfectly natural for him to prefer to try to realize
+them, rather than to give his attention to the reform of his empire; but
+without blaming the Caliph we may well doubt whether it is altogether
+wise for the Sultan of Turkey to indulge in such dreams.</p>
+
+<p>I believe that it would be better not only for Turkey but for Islam
+also, if the Sultan would give up his doubtful title to the Caliphate,
+and pass it over to the descendant of the Prophet who is Shereef of
+Mecca. As for Turkey, this is the only hope of the empire; and the
+experience of the Pope of Rome has made it clear that the loss of
+temporal power tends rather to strengthen than to weaken a great
+religious organization. There is no inclination in any part of the world
+to persecute Mohammedans, or interfere in any way with their faith. Only
+a very small minority of them are under the government of the Sultan,
+and those who are not enjoy as much religious liberty as those who are.
+This is not from fear of the Sultan, but it is in accord with the spirit
+of the age, and the manifest interest of other Governments. As a Caliph
+cannot by any possibility restore the strength of the Ottoman empire, so
+a Sultan of Turkey cannot be the spiritual leader of millions who are
+not in any way under his control. I see no reason to suppose that the
+transfer of the Caliph to Mecca would in any way weaken the faith of
+Moslems or diminish their zeal. Mohammedans in India and in Russia show
+no more inclination to abandon their faith than those who reside at
+Constantinople under the shadow of the Caliph; on the contrary, there is
+more unbelief in Constantinople than there. What is more, there is every
+reason to believe that such a transfer would gratify the great majority
+of Mohammedans, probably a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> majority of those living in the Turkish
+Empire, certainly all the Arabic-speaking population. In one way or
+another this change is sure to come, however it may be resisted by the
+Sultan; the very effort that he has made to arouse the spirit of Islam
+has made it more apparent than before that he is really powerless to
+defend any Mohammedan country against aggression. He could do nothing
+for Tunis against France. He could do nothing for Arabi against England.
+The very encouragement that he gave in these cases was an injury to
+them. The Arabs are all ready to assert their rights to the Caliphate
+and defend them against the Sultan. If he does not surrender the title
+voluntarily, sooner or later they will take it by force, and that part
+of the empire along with it.</p>
+
+<p>The Sultan complains of the interference of Europe in the affairs of his
+empire; but, in fact, he owes not only his throne, but his continued
+possession of the Caliphate, to their protection. Let it be known in
+Mecca to-day that Europe would favour such a change and encourage an
+insurrection in Syria and Arabia, and the new Shereef of Mecca would
+celebrate the Courban Beiram as Caliph amidst such enthusiasm as has not
+been known there for a hundred years.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of all this, however, in spite of the imperfection of his
+title, and the coolness or discontent of Mohammedans throughout the
+world, in spite of the growing weakness of the empire and his failure to
+defend those whom he has encouraged to resist Europe, it is not probable
+that Sultan Hamid will voluntarily surrender the Caliphate. Abd-ul-Aziz
+might have done it to save his empire, but Sultan Hamid is too religious
+a man; he values his title of Imam-ul-Mussilmin too highly to give it up
+without a struggle. It is safe to conclude that he will cling to it
+until it is taken by force by a stronger man.</p>
+
+<p>I have already mentioned incidentally the relation of Europe to the
+Caliphate. England and France are most directly interested in this
+question, and hitherto their policy has been to sustain the claims of
+the Sultans. They seem to be quite as anxious to maintain the Caliphate
+of Constantinople as the Sultans themselves, and its continuance has
+been due in great measure to their protection. As the interest of France
+in this question is only secondary, I will confine myself to the policy
+of England. It is not strange that England, with her Indian Empire and
+40,000,000 Mohammedan subjects, should be deeply interested in the
+question of the Caliphate. It must be a question of vital importance to
+her whether it is better for the peace of India to have the Caliphate in
+the hands of a temporal sovereign at Constantinople or of a Shereef of
+Mecca in Arabia. So long as she was in close alliance with the Sultan,
+and her influence at Constantinople was supreme, there could not be any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+doubt on this subject, for a Caliph at Mecca would be practically beyond
+her reach; but since the Crimean war English influence has seldom been
+paramount at Constantinople. Still, English statesmen have probably
+reasoned that, even if he were decidedly unfriendly, it was better to
+have a Caliph who had something to lose, and who, on occasion, could be
+reached by a British fleet and bombarded in his palace, than one in the
+deserts of Arabia, who could not be reached by pressure of any kind,
+either diplomatic or military, who might proclaim a holy war without
+fear of being called to account for it. There is always a great
+practical advantage in dealing with a responsible person. Then, again,
+the late Sultans have manifested no inclination to rouse the fanaticism
+of Mohammedans against Christendom. They have been only anxious that
+Christendom should forget them, and leave them to manage their own
+affairs in their own way. Under these circumstances no English interest
+has demanded the consideration of the question of the Caliphate. It is a
+religious question which no Christian Government could wish to take up
+unless forced to do so. Whatever the Turks may believe, it is certain
+that no European Power has any inclination to enter upon a crusade
+against the Mohammedan religion. Even the Pope of Rome, who in former
+days decreed crusades against the Moslem, is now on terms of the most
+friendly intimacy with the Caliph. England not only carefully protects
+the rights of Mohammedans in India, but she has used all her influence
+for years to strengthen the Ottoman Empire and discourage all agitation
+against the Caliphate of the Sultan.</p>
+
+<p>Such has been the policy of the past. But circumstances have changed,
+and long-cherished hopes have been disappointed. The effort to reform
+and strengthen the Turkish empire has failed chiefly because the Sultans
+have been unwilling or unable to abandon the strictly religious
+constitution of the Government, and to distinguish between their duties
+as Caliphs, and their duties as civil rulers over a mixed population of
+various sects. This failure has led to most unhappy complications in
+Europe, to the dismemberment of European Turkey, and to a great
+development of the influence of Russia, the Power most unfriendly to the
+existence of the Turkish Empire. It is now clear to all the world that
+Turkey cannot be reformed by a Caliph. In addition to this, the present
+Sultan, departing from the prudent course of his predecessors, has
+undertaken to rouse the hostility of Islam against Christendom, and to
+encourage fanatical outbreaks, not only in Africa, but in Asia as well.
+As Caliph he is no longer the friendly ally of the Christian Powers,
+but, as far as he dares, is acting against them. Under these changed
+circumstances the question must arise whether it is any longer for the
+interest of England to defend the Caliphate of Constantinople. It is not
+a question of deposing one Caliph and setting up another. This is not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>
+the work of a Christian Power. It is for Mohammedans to settle this
+question among themselves. If they prefer to continue to recognize the
+Sultan as Caliph, they should be free to do so. But the policy of
+England has not hitherto been one of neutrality. It has been the active
+support of the Sultan. The question now is whether this support should
+not be withdrawn, and the Arabs made to understand that if they prefer
+an Arab Caliph at Mecca, England will not interfere to prevent it.</p>
+
+<p>This is a very serious question, and the plan is open to the objection
+already suggested of the inaccessibility of Mecca. It is also to be
+considered that the Arabs are more fanatical and more easily excited
+than the Turks. But, on the other hand, it may be doubted whether the
+influence of the Shereef of Mecca would be greatly increased by his
+assuming the title of Caliph. It would not be recognized by the Turks,
+and Constantinople would be even more opposed to Mecca than it is now.
+The nature of the new Caliph's influence would be the same that it is
+now as Shereef of Mecca&mdash;a purely moral influence.</p>
+
+<p>Another thing to be considered is the fact that this is only a question
+of time. Sooner or later this change is sure to come. As the power of
+the Sultan continues to decline, he will be less and less able to resist
+the progress of this Arab movement. It is not easy to see exactly what
+England will gain by postponing this change. Certainly not the
+friendship of the Arabs. I cannot speak with authority of the feeling in
+India; but it is understood that Indian Mohammedans sympathize with the
+Arabs rather than the Turks. I cannot presume to give a decided opinion
+on this question; but the new responsibilities assumed by the British
+Government in Egypt, make it one of immediate practical importance. Are
+the real interests of England with the Turk or the Arab?</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> We have received this article from a valued correspondent,
+whose name, for obvious reasons, is not given.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Ed.</span></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> The eve of Courban Beiram.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_BOLLANDISTS" id="THE_BOLLANDISTS"></a>THE BOLLANDISTS:</h2>
+
+<h3>THE LITERARY HISTORY OF A MAGNUM OPUS.</h3>
+
+
+<p>The majority of educated people have, from time to time, in the course
+of their historical reading, come across some mention of the "Acta
+Sanctorum," or "Lives of the Saints;" while but few know anything as to
+the contents, or authorship, or history of that work. Yet it is a very
+great, nay a stupendous monument of what human industry, steadily
+directed for ages towards one point, can effect. Industry, directed for
+ages, I have said&mdash;an expression, which to some must seem almost like a
+misprint, but which is quite justified by facts, since the first volume
+issued by the company of the Bollandists, is dated Antwerp, 1643; and
+the last, Paris, <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1875. Two hundred and forty years have thus
+elapsed, and yet the work is not concluded. Indeed, as it has taken
+well-nigh two centuries and a half to narrate the lives of the Saints
+commemorated in the first ten months of the year, it may easily happen
+that the bones of the present generation will all be mingled with the
+dust, before those Saints be reached who are celebrated on the 31st of
+December. Some indeed&mdash;prejudiced by the very name "Acta Sanctorum"&mdash;may
+be inclined to turn away, with a contempt bred of ignorance, from the
+whole subject. But if it were only as a mental and intellectual tonic
+the contemplation of these sixty stately folios, embracing about a
+thousand pages each, would be a most healthy exercise for the men of
+this age. This is the halcyon period of primers, introductions,
+handbooks, manuals. "Knowledge made Easy" is the cry on every side. We
+take our mental pabulum just as we take Liebig's essence of beef, in a
+very concentrated form, or as hom&oelig;opathists imbibe their medicine, in
+the shape of globules. I do not desire, however, to say one word against
+such publications. The great scholars of the seventeenth century, the
+Bollandists, Casaubon, Fabricius, Valesius<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> Baluze, D'Achery, Mabillon,
+Combefis, Vossius, Canisius, shut up their learning in immense folios,
+which failed to reach the masses as our primers and handbooks do,
+penetrating the darkness and diffusing knowledge in regions inaccessible
+to their more ponderous brethren. But at the same time their majestic
+tomes stand as everlasting protests on behalf of real and learned
+inquiry, of accurate, painstaking, and often most critical research into
+the sources whence history, if worth anything, must be drawn.</p>
+
+<p>I propose in this paper to give an account of the origin, progress,
+contents, and value of the work of the Bollandists, regarded as the
+vastest repertory of original material for the history of medi&aelig;val
+times. This immense series is popularly known either as the "Acta
+Sanctorum" or the Bollandists. The former is the proper designation. The
+latter, however, will suit best as the peg on which we shall hang our
+narrative. John Bolland, or Joannes Bollandus as it is in Latin, was the
+name of the founder of a Company which, more fortunate than most
+literary clubs, has lasted well-nigh three centuries. To him must be
+ascribed the honour of initiating the work, drawing the lines and laying
+the foundations of a building which has not yet been completed. That
+work was one often contemplated but never undertaken on the same
+exhaustive principles. Clement, the reputed disciple of the Apostles
+Peter and Paul, is reported&mdash;in the "Liber Pontificalis" or "Lives of
+the Popes;" dating from the early years of the sixth century&mdash;to have
+made provision for preserving the "Acts of the Martyrs." Apocryphal as
+this account seems, yet the honest reader of Eusebius must confess that
+the idea was no novel one in the second century, as is manifest from the
+well-known letter narrating the sufferings of the martyrs of Lyons and
+Vienne. Space would now fail us to trace the development of hagiography
+in the Church. Let it suffice to say that century after century, as it
+slowly rolled by, contributed its quota both in east and west. In the
+east even an emperor, Basil, gave his name to a Greek martyrology; while
+in both west and east the writings of Metaphrastes, Mombritius, Surius,
+Lipomanus, and Baronius, embalmed abundant legends in many a portly
+volume. Still the mind of a certain Heribert Rosweid, a professor at
+Douai, a Jesuit and an enthusiastic antiquarian, was not satisfied.
+Rosweid was a typical instance of those Jesuits, learned and devout, who
+at a great crisis in the battle restored the fallen fortunes of the
+Church of Rome. As the original idea of the "Acta Sanctorum" is due to
+him, we may be pardoned in giving a brief sketch of his career, though
+he was not in strictness a member of the Bollandist Company.</p>
+
+<p>Rosweid was born at Utrecht, in 1569, and entered the Society of Jesus
+in 1589, the year when all Europe, and the world at large, was ringing
+with the defeat of the Armada and the triumph of Pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>testantism. He
+studied and taught first at Douai and then at Antwerp, where, also after
+the manner of the Jesuits, he entered upon active pastoral work, in
+which he caught a contagious fever, of which he died <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1629. His
+literary life was very active, and very fruitful in such literature as
+delighted that age. Thus he produced editions of various martyrologies,
+the modern Roman, the ancient Roman, and that of Ado; he discussed the
+question of keeping faith with heretics; took an active share in the
+everlasting controversy concerning the "Imitatio Christi," wherein he
+espoused the side of A-Kempis and the Augustinians, as against Gerson
+and the Benedictines; published the lives of the Eastern Ascetics, who
+were the founders of modern monasticism; debated with Isaac Casaubon
+concerning Baronius; and published, in 1607, the "Lives of the Belgic
+Saints," where we find the first sketch or general plan of the "Acta
+Sanctorum." The idea of this great work suggested itself to Rosweid
+while living at Douai, where he used to employ his leisure time in the
+libraries of the neighbouring Benedictine monasteries, in search of
+manuscripts bearing on the lives of the Saints. It was an age of
+criticism, and he doubtless felt dissatisfied with all existing
+compilations, content as they were to repeat, parrot-like and without
+any examination, the legends of earlier ages. It was an age of research,
+too&mdash;more fruitful in some respects than those which have followed&mdash;and
+he felt that an immense mass of original material had never yet been
+utilized. It was at this period of his life he produced the work above
+mentioned, which we have briefly named the "Lives of the Belgic Saints,"
+but the full title of which is, "Fasti Sanctorum quorum Vit&aelig; in Belgicis
+Bibliothecis Manuscript&aelig;." He intended it as a specimen of a greater and
+more comprehensive work, embracing the lives of all the Saints known to
+the Church throughout the world. He proposed that it should embrace
+sixteen volumes, divided in the following manner:&mdash;The first volume
+dealing with the life of Christ and the great feasts; the second with
+the life of the Blessed Virgin and her feasts; the third to the
+sixteenth with the lives of the Saints according to the days of the
+month, together with no less than thirteen distinct indexes,
+biographical, historical, controversial, geographical, and moral; so
+that the reader might not have any ground for the complaint so often
+brought against modern German scholars, that they afford no apparatus to
+help the busy student when consulting their works. Rosweid's idea as to
+the manner in which those volumes should be compiled was no less
+original. He proposed first of all to bring together all the lives of
+Saints that had been ever published by previous hagiographers; which he
+would then compare with ancient manuscripts, as he was convinced that
+considerable interpolation had been made in the narratives. In addition,
+he desired to seek in all directions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> for new materials; and to
+illustrate all the lives hitherto published or unpublished, by
+explaining obscurities, reconciling difficulties, and shedding upon
+their darker details the light of a more modern criticism. Rosweid's
+fame was European in the first quarter of the seventeenth century; and
+his proposal attracted the widest attention. To the best judges it
+seemed utterly impracticable. Cardinal Bellarmine heard of it, and
+proved his keenness and skill in literary criticism by asking what age
+the man was who proposed such an undertaking. When informed that he was
+about forty, "Ask him," said the learned Cardinal, "whether he has
+discovered that he will live two hundred years; for within no smaller
+space can such a work be worthily performed by one man,"&mdash;an unconscious
+prophecy, which has found in fact a most ample fulfilment; for death
+snatched away Rosweid before he could do more towards his great
+undertaking than accumulate much precious material; while more than two
+hundred years have elapsed, and yet the work is not completed.</p>
+
+<p>After the death of Rosweid, the Society of Jesus, which now regarded the
+undertaking as a corporate one, entrusted its continuation to Bollandus.
+He was thirty-three years of age, and had distinguished himself in every
+branch of the Society's activity as a teacher, a divine, a scholar, and
+an orator. In this last capacity, indeed, it was his duty to address
+Latin sermons to the aristocracy of Antwerp, a fact which betokens a
+much more learned audience than now falls to any preacher's lot. He was
+a wise director of conscience too, a sphere of duty in which the Jesuits
+have always delighted. A story is told illustrating his skill in this
+direction. One of the highest magistrates of the city, being suddenly
+seized with a fatal illness, despatched a messenger for Bollandus, who
+at once responded to the call, only however to find the sick man in
+deepest trouble, on account of the sternness with which he had exercised
+his judicial functions. He acknowledged that he had often been the means
+of inflicting capital punishment when the other judges would have passed
+a milder sentence in the belief that he was rescuing the condemned from
+greater crimes, which they would inevitably commit, and securing the
+salvation of their souls through the repentance to which their ghostly
+adviser would lead them prior to their execution. Bollandus at once
+perceived that he had to deal with the over-scrupulous conscience of one
+who had striven, according to his light, to do his duty. He therefore
+produced his breviary, and proceeded to read and expound the hundred and
+first psalm, "I will sing of mercy and judgment;" making such a very
+pertinent application of it to the magistrate's case, as led him to cry
+out with tears, "What comfort thou hast brought me, Father! now I die
+happy." A consideration of these numerous and apparently inconsistent
+engagements may not be without some practical use in this age. Looking
+at the varied occupations of Bol<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>landus and his fellows, and at the
+massive works which they at the same time produced, who can help smiling
+at the outcry which the advocates for the endowment of research, as they
+style themselves, raised some time ago against the simple proposal of
+the Oxford University Commission, that well-endowed professors should
+deliver some lectures on their own special subjects? Such a practice,
+they maintained, would utterly distract the mind from all original
+investigation of the sources. Such certainly was not the case with the
+Bollandists, who yet could make time carefully&mdash;far more carefully than
+most modern historians&mdash;to investigate the sources of European history.
+But then the Bollandists were real students, and had neither lawn tennis
+nor politics to divert them from their chosen career.</p>
+
+<p>Bollandus again is a healthy study for us moderns in the triumph
+exhibited by him of mind over matter, of the ardent student over
+physical difficulties. His rooms were no pleasant College chambers,
+lofty, commodious, and well-ventilated; on the contrary the apartments
+where the volumes commemorating the saints of January saw the light were
+two small dark chambers next the roof, exposed alike to the heat of
+summer and the cold of winter, in the Jesuit House at Antwerp. In them
+were heaped up, for such is the expression of his biographer, the
+documents accumulated by his Society during forty years. How vast their
+number must have been is manifest from this one fact that Bollandus
+possessed upwards of four hundred distinct Lives of Saints, and more
+than two hundred histories of cities, bishoprics, and monasteries in the
+Italian language alone, whence our readers may judge of the size of the
+entire collection which dealt with the saints and martyrs of China,
+Japan, and Peru, as well as those of Greece and Home.</p>
+
+<p>Bollandus was summoned to his life's work in 1629. He at once entered
+upon a vigorous pursuit of fresh manuscripts in every quarter of the
+globe, wherein he was mightily assisted by the organization of the
+Jesuit Society, and by the liberal assistance bestowed upon his
+undertaking by successive abbots of the great Benedictine Monastery of
+Liessies, near Cambray, specially by Antonius Winghius, the friend and
+patron, first of Rosweid, and then of Bollandus. Indeed, it was the
+existence and rich endowments of those great monasteries which explains
+the publication of such immense works as those of Bollandus, Mabillon,
+and Tillemont, quite surpassing any now issued even by the wealthiest
+publishers among ourselves, and only approached, and that at a distance,
+by Pertz's "Monumenta" in Germany.</p>
+
+<p>New material was now poured upon him from every quarter, from English
+Benedictines even and Irish Franciscans; though indeed, as regards the
+latter, Bollandus seems to have cherished a wholesome suspicion as to
+the genuineness of many, if not most, of the Irish legends. But
+Bollandus, though he worked hard, and knew no other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> enjoyment save his
+work, was only human. He soon found the labour was too great for any one
+man to perform, while, in addition, he was racked and torn with disease
+in many shapes; gout, stone, rupture, all settled like harpies upon his
+emaciated frame, so that in 1635 he was compelled to take Henschenius as
+his assistant. This was in every respect a fortunate choice, as
+Henschenius proved himself a man of much wider views as to the scope of
+the work than Bollandus himself. Bollandus had proposed simply to
+incorporate the notices of the Saints found in ancient martyrologies and
+manuscripts, adding brief notes upon any difficulties of history,
+geography, or theology, which might arise. To Henschenius was allotted
+the month of February. He at once set to work, and produced under the
+date of Feb. 6, exhaustive memoirs of SS. Amandus and Vedastus, Gallic
+bishops of the sixth and eleventh centuries whose lives present a
+striking picture of those troubled times, amid which the foundations of
+French history were laid. Henschenius scorned the narrow limits within
+which his master would fain limit himself. He boldly launched out into a
+discussion of all the aspects of his subject, discussing not merely the
+men themselves, but also the history of their times, and doing that in a
+manner now impossible, as the then well stored, but now widely scattered
+muniment rooms of the abbeys of Flanders and Northern France lay at his
+disposal. Bollandus was so struck with the success of this innovation
+that he at once abandoned his own restricted ideas, and adopted the more
+exhaustive method of his assistant, which of course involved the
+extension of the work far beyond the sixteen volumes originally
+contemplated. The first two volumes appeared in 1643, and the next
+three, including the "Saints of February," in 1658. About this time the
+reigning Pontiff, Alexander VII., who had been the life-long friend and
+patron of Bollandus, pressed upon him, an oft-repeated invitation to
+visit Rome, and utilize for his work the vast stores accumulated there
+and in the other libraries of Italy. Bollandus had hitherto excused
+himself. In fact, he possessed already more material than he could
+conveniently use. But now that larger apartments had been assigned to
+him, and proper arrangements and classifications adopted in his
+library&mdash;due especially to the skill of Henschenius&mdash;he felt that such a
+journey would be most advantageous to his work. As, however, he could
+not go in person, owing to his infirmities, which were daily increasing,
+he deputed thereto Henschenius and Daniel Papebrock, a young assistant
+lately added to the Company, and destined to spend fifty-five years in
+its service. The history of that literary journey is well worth reading.
+The reader, curious on such points, will find it in the "Life of
+Bollandus," prefixed to the first volume of the "March Saints," chap.
+xiii.&mdash;xx. Still more interesting, were it printed, would be the diary
+of his journey kept by Papebrock, now preserved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> in the Burgundy Library
+at Brussels, and numbered 17,672. Twenty-nine months were spent in this
+journey, from the middle of 1659 to the end of 1661. Bollandus
+accompanied his disciples as far as Cologne, where they were received
+with almost royal honours. After parting with their master, his
+followers proceeded up the Rhine and through Southern Germany, making a
+very thorough examination of the libraries, to all of which free access
+was given; the very Protestant town of Nuremberg being most forward to
+honour the literary travellers, while the President of the Lutheran
+Consistory assisted them even with his purse. Entering Italy by way of
+Trent, they arrived at Venice towards the end of October, where they
+found the first rich store of Greek manuscripts, and whence also they
+despatched by sea to Bollandus the first fruits of their toil. From
+Venice they made a thorough examination of the libraries of North-east
+Italy, at Vicenza, Verona, Padua, Bologna; whence they turned aside to
+visit Ravenna, walking thither one winter's day, November 18&mdash;a journey
+of thirty miles&mdash;and Henschenius, be it observed, was now sixty years of
+age.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> They spent the greater part of the year 1661 at Rome, at
+Naples&mdash;where the blood and relics of St. Januarius were specially
+exhibited to them, an honour only conferred on kings and their
+ambassadors&mdash;and amid the rich libraries of the numerous abbeys of
+Southern Italy. But even when absent from Rome their work there went on
+apace. They enjoyed the friendship of some wealthy merchants from their
+own land, who liberally supplied them with money, enabling them to
+employ five or six scribes to copy the manuscripts they selected; while
+the patronage of two eminent scholars, even yet celebrated in the world
+of letters, Lucas Holstenius and Ferdinand Ughelli, backed by the still
+more powerful aid of the Pope, placed every library at their command.
+The Pope, indeed, went so far as to remove, in their case, every
+anathema forbidding the removal of books or manuscripts from the
+libraries. Lucas Holstenius, in his boyhood a Lutheran, in his later age
+an agent in the conversion of Queen Christina of Sweden, and one of the
+greatest among the giants of the black-letter learning of the age, rated
+the Bollandists and their work so highly that, at his decease, which
+took place while they were in Rome, he used their ministry alone in
+receiving the last sacraments of the Roman Church. Encouraged and
+supported thus, the Bollandists economized and utilized every moment.
+They were in the habit of rising before day to say their sacred offices;
+and then prosecuted,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> with their secretaries, their loved work till ten
+or eleven o'clock at night. When leaving Rome they were enabled
+therefore to send to Bollandus, by sea, a second consignment of three
+chests of manuscripts, in addition to a large store which they carried
+home themselves.</p>
+
+<p>On their return journey they visited Florence and Milan, spending more
+than half a year in these libraries, and then proceeded through France
+to Paris, where they met scholars like Du Cange, Combefis, and Labbe.
+They finally arrived at home December 21, 1661, to find Bollandus in a
+very precarious state of health, which terminated in his death in 1665.
+The life of Bolland is a type of the lives led by all his disciples and
+successors. Devout, retired, studious, they gave themselves up,
+generation after generation, to their appointed task, the elders
+continually assuming to themselves one or two younger assistants, so as
+to preserve their traditions unimpaired. And what a work was theirs! How
+it dwarfed all modern publications! Bollandus worked at eight of those
+folios, Henschenius at twenty-four, Papebrock at nineteen, Janningus his
+successor at thirteen; and so the work went on, aided by a subsidy from
+the Imperial House of Austria, till the suppression of the Jesuits,
+which was followed soon after by the dissolution of the Bollandists in
+1788. Their library became then an object of desire to many foreigners,
+who would undoubtedly have purchased it, had it not been for the
+opposition of the local government, and of several Belgian abbeys. It
+was finally bought by Godfrey Hermans, a Pr&aelig;monstratensian abbat, under
+whose auspices the publication of the work continued for seven years
+longer, till, on the outburst of the wars of the French Revolution, the
+library was dispersed, part burnt, part hidden, part hurried into
+Westphalia. At length, after various chances, a great part of the
+manuscripts was obtained for the ancient library of the House of
+Burgundy, now forming part of the Royal Library at Brussels, while
+others of them were reclaimed for the library of the New Bollandists at
+Louvain, where the work is now carried on. After the dissolution of the
+old Company, two attempts at least, one in 1801 and the other in
+1810&mdash;this last under the all-powerful patronage of Napoleon&mdash;were made,
+though without success, to revive the work. Better fortune attended a
+proposal made in 1838 by four members of the Jesuit Society&mdash;viz., J. B.
+Boone, J. Vandermocre, P. Coppens, and J. van Hecke. Since that time the
+publication of the volumes has steadily proceeded; we may even hope that
+the progress of the work in the future will be still more rapid, as the
+Company has lately added to its ranks P. C. de Smedt, one of the most
+learned and laborious ecclesiastical historians in the Roman
+Communion.<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>After this sketch of the history of the Bollandists, which the literary
+student can easily supplement from the various memoirs of deceased
+members scattered through the volumes of the "Acta Sanctorum," we
+proceed to a consideration of the results of labours so long, so varied,
+and so strenuous. We shall now describe the plan of the work, the helps
+all too little known towards the effective use thereof, and then offer
+some specimens illustrating its critical value. When an ordinary reader
+takes up a volume of the "Acta Sanctorum,"' he is very apt to find
+himself utterly at sea. The very pagination is puzzling, two distinct
+kinds being used in all of the volumes, and even three in some. Then
+again lists, indexes, dissertations, acts of Saints, seem mingled
+indiscriminately. This apparent confusion, however, is all on the
+surface, as the reader will at once see, if he take the trouble to read
+the second chapter of the general preface prefixed to the first volume
+of the "January Saints,"' where the plan of the work is elaborately set
+forth. Let us briefly analyze a volume. The daily order of the Roman
+martyrology was taken as the basis of Bolland's scheme. Our author first
+of all arranged the saints of each day in chronological order,
+discussing them accordingly. A list of the names belonging to it is
+prefixed to the portion of the volume devoted to each separate day, so
+that one can see at a glance the lives belonging to that day and the
+order in which they are taken. A list then follows of those rejected or
+postponed to other days. Next come prefaces, prolegomena, and "previous
+dissertations," examining the lives, actions, and miracles of the
+Saints, authorship and history of the manuscripts, and other literary
+and historical questions. Then appear the lives of the Saints in the
+original language, if Latin; if not, then a Latin version is given;
+while of the Greek <i>menologion</i>, which the Bollandists discovered during
+their Roman journey, we have both the Greek original and a Latin
+translation. Appended to the lives are annotations, explaining any
+difficulties therein; while no less than five or six indexes adorn each
+volume: the first an alphabetical list of Saints discussed; the second
+chronological; the third historical; the fourth topographical; the fifth
+an onomasticon, or glossary; the sixth moral or dialectic, suggesting
+topics for preachers.</p>
+
+<p>Prefixed to each volume will be found a dedication to some of the
+numerous patrons of the Bollandists, followed by an account of the life
+and labours of any of their Company who had died since their last
+publication. Thus, opening the first volume for March, we find, in
+order, a dedication to the reigning Pope, Clement IX; the life of
+Bollandus; an alphabetical index of all the Saints celebrated during the
+first eight days of March; a chronological list of Saints discussed
+under the head of March 1; the lives of Saints, including the Greek ones
+discovered by Henschenius during his Italian tour, ranged under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> their
+various natal days, followed by five indexes as already described. But,
+the reader may well ask, is there no general index, no handy means of
+steering one's way through this vast mass of erudition, without
+consulting each one of those fifty or sixty volumes? Without such an
+apparatus, indeed, this giant undertaking would be largely in vain; but
+here again the forethought of Bollandus from the very outset of his
+enterprise made provision for a general index, which was at last
+published at Paris, in 1875. We possess also in Potthast's "Bibliotheca
+Historica Medii Aevi," a most valuable guide through the mazes of the
+"Acta Sanctorum," while for a very complete analysis of every volume,
+joined with a lucid explanation of any changes in arrangement, we may
+consult De Backer's "Biblioth&egrave;que des Ecrivains de la Compagnie de
+J&eacute;sus," t. v., under the name "Bollandus."</p>
+
+<p>But some may say, what is the use of consulting these volumes? Are they
+not simply gigantic monuments of misplaced and misapplied human
+industry, gathering up every wretched nursery tale and village
+superstition, and transmitting them to future ages? Such certainly has
+been the verdict of some who knew only the backs of the books, or who at
+farthest had opened by chance upon some passage where&mdash;true to their
+rule which compelled them to print their manuscripts as they found
+them&mdash;the Bollandists have recorded the legendary stories of the Middle
+Ages. Yet even for an age which searches diligently, as after hid
+treasure, for the old folk-lore, the nursery rhymes, the popular songs
+and legends of Scandinavia, Germany, and Greece, the legends of medi&aelig;val
+Christendom might surely prove interesting. But I regard the "Acta
+Sanctorum" as specially valuable for medi&aelig;val history, secular as well
+as ecclesiastical, simply because the authors&mdash;having had unrivalled
+opportunities of obtaining or copying documents&mdash;printed their
+authorities as they found them; and thus preserves for us a mine of
+historical material which otherwise would have perished in the French
+Revolution and its subsequent wars. Yet it is very strange how little
+this mine has been worked. We must suppose indeed that it was simply due
+to the want of the helps enumerated above&mdash;all of which have come into
+existence within the last twenty-five years&mdash;that neither of our own
+great historians who have dealt with the Middle Ages, Gibbon or Hallam,
+have, as far as we have been able to discover, ever consulted them.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the very titles of even a few out of the very many critical
+dissertations appended to the "Lives of the Saints," will show how very
+varied and how very valuable were the purely historical labours of the
+Bollandists. Thus opening the first volume of the "Thesaurus
+Antiquitatis," a collection of the critical treatises scattered through
+the volumes published prior to 1750, the following titles strike the
+eye:&mdash;"Dissertations on the Byzantine historian Theophanes," on the
+"Ancient Catalogues of the Roman Pontiffs," on the "Diplomatic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> Art"&mdash;a
+discussion which elicited the famous treatise of Mabillon, "De Re
+Diplomatica," laying down the true principles for distinguishing false
+documents from true&mdash;on certain medi&aelig;val "Itineraries in Palestine," on
+the "Patriarchates of Alexandria and Jerusalem," on the "Bishops of
+Milan to the year 1261," on the "Medi&aelig;val Kings of Majorca" and no less
+than three treatises on the "Chronology of the early Merovingian and
+other French Kings." Let us take for instance these last mentioned
+essays on the early French kings. In them we find the Bollandists
+discovering a king of France, Dagobert II., whose romantic history,
+banishment to Ireland, restoration to his kingdom by the instrumentality
+of Archbishop Wilfrid, of York, and tragic death, had till their
+investigations lain hidden from every historian. As soon, indeed, as
+they had brought this obscure episode to light, and had elaborately
+traced the genealogy of the Merovingians, their claim to the discovery
+was disputed by Hadr. Valesius, the historiographer to the French Court,
+who was of course jealous that any one else should know more about the
+origins of the French monarchy than he did. His pretension, however, was
+easily refuted by Henschenius, who showed that he had himself discovered
+this derelict king twelve years before Valesius turned his thoughts to
+the subject, having published in 1654 a dissertation upon him distinct
+from those embodied in the "Acta Sanctorum." Hallam, in his "History of
+the Middle Ages," introduces this king, and notices that his history had
+escaped all historians till discovered by some learned men in the
+seventeenth century, for it is in this vague way he alludes to the
+Bollandists&mdash;and then refers for his authority to Sismondi, who in turn
+knows nothing of the Bollandists' share in the discovery, but attributes
+it to Mabillon when treating of the "Acts of the Benedictine Saints."
+Let us again take up Hallam, and we shall in vain search for notices of
+the kings of Majorca, a branch of the Royal family of Arragon, who
+reigned over the Balearic Islands in the thirteenth and fourteenth
+centuries. Let any one, however, desirous of a picture of the domestic
+life of sovereigns during the Middle Ages, take up Papebrock's treatise
+on the "Palatine Laws" of James II., King of Majorca, <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1324, where
+he will see depicted&mdash;all the more minutely because from the size of his
+principality the king had no other outlet for his energy&mdash;the ritual of
+a medi&aelig;val Court, illustrated, too, with pictures drawn from the
+original manuscript. In this document are laid down with painful
+minuteness, the duties of every official from the chancellor and the
+major-domo to the lowest scullions and grooms, including butlers, cooks,
+blacksmiths, musicians, scribes, physicians, surgeons, chaplains,
+choir-men, and chamberlains. Remote, too, as these kings of Majorca and
+their elaborate ceremonial may seem to be from the England of to-day, a
+careful study of these "Palace Laws" would seem to indicate either that
+our own Court<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> Ritual was derived from it, or else that both are deduced
+from one common stock. The point of contact, however, between our own
+Court etiquette and that of Majorca is not so very hard to find. The
+kings of Arragon, acting on the usual principle, might is right,
+devoured the inheritance of their kinsmen, which lay so tantalizingly
+close to their own shores, during the lifetime of the worthy legislator,
+James II. But as Greece led captive her conqueror, Rome, so too Arragon,
+though superior in brute force, bowed to the genius of Majorca, at least
+on points of courtly details, and adopted <i>en bloc</i> the laws of James
+II., which were published as his own by Peter IV., King of Arragon, <span class="smcap">A.D.</span>
+1344. Thence they passed over to the United Kingdom of Castile and
+Arragon, and so may have easily found their way to England; for surely,
+if a naturally ceremonious people like the Spaniards needed instruction
+on such matters from the Majorcans, how much more must colder northerns
+like ourselves. This incident illustrates the special opportunities
+possessed by the Bollandists for consulting ancient documents, which
+otherwise would most probably have been lost for ever. Their manuscript
+of those Majorcan laws seems to have been originally the property of the
+legislator himself. When King James was dispossessed of his kingdom, he
+fled to Philip VI. of France, seeking redress, and bearing with him a
+splendid copy of his laws as a present, which his son and successor John
+in turn presented to Philip, Duke of Burgundy. After lying there a
+century it found its way to Flanders, in the train of a Duchess of
+Burgundy, and thus finally came into the possession of the Antwerp
+Jesuits.</p>
+
+<p>Again, the study of the Bollandists throws light upon the past history
+and present state of Palestine. Thus the indefatigable Papebrock,
+equally at home in the most various kinds of learning, discusses the
+history of the Bishops and Patriarchs of Jerusalem, in a tract
+preliminary to the third volume for May. But, not content with a subject
+so wide, he branches off to treat of divers other questions relating to
+Oriental history, such as the Essenes and the origin of Monasticism, the
+Saracenic persecution of the Eastern Christians, and the introduction of
+the Arabic notation into Europe. On this last head the Bollandists
+anticipate some modern speculations.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> He maintains, on the authority
+of a Greek manuscript in the Vatican, written by an Eastern monk,
+Maximus Planudes, about 1270, that, while the Arabs derived their
+notation from the Brahmins of India, about <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 200, they only
+introduced it into Eastern Europe so late as the thirteenth century.
+Upon the geography of Palestine again they give us information. All
+modern works of travel or survey dealing with the Holy Land, make
+frequent reference to the records left us by men like Eusebius and
+Jerome, and the itineraries of the "Bordeaux<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> Pilgrim," of Bishop
+Arculf, <span class="smcap">A.D.</span>, 700, Benjamin of Tudela, <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1163, and others. In the
+second volume for May, we have presented to us two itineraries, one of
+which seems to have escaped general notice. One is the record of
+Antoninus Martyr, a traveller in the seventh century. This is well known
+and often quoted. The other is the diary of a Greek priest, Joannes
+Phocas, describing "the castles and cities from Antioch to Jerusalem,
+together with the holy places of Syria, Ph&oelig;nicia, and Palestine," as
+they were seen by him in the year 1185. This manuscript, first published
+in the "Acta Sanctorum," was discovered in the island of Chios, by Leo
+Allatius, afterwards librarian of the Vatican. It is very rich in
+interesting details concerning the state of Palestine and Christian
+tradition in the twelfth century. The Bollandists again were the first
+to bring prominently forward in the last volume of June the "Ancient
+Roman Calendar of Polemeus Silvius." This seems to have been a combined
+calendar and diary, kept by some citizen of Rome in the middle of the
+fifth century. It records from day to day the state of the weather, the
+direction of the wind, the birthdays of eminent characters in history,
+poets like Virgil, orators like Cicero, emperors like Vespasian and
+Julian; and is at the same time most important as showing the large
+intermixture of heathen ideas and fashions which still continued
+paramount in Rome a century and a half after the triumph of
+Christianity.</p>
+
+<p>The new Bollandists, indeed, do not produce such exhaustive monographs
+as their predecessors did; but we cannot join in the verdict of the
+writer in the new issue of the "Encyclop&aelig;dia Britannica," who tells us
+that the continuation is much inferior to the original work. Some of
+their articles manifest a critical acquaintance with the latest modern
+research, as, for instance, their dissertation on the Homerite Martyrs
+and the Jewish Homerite kingdom of Southern Arabia, wherein they display
+their knowledge of the work done by the great Orientalists of England
+and Germany, while in their history of St. Rose, of Lima, <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1617,
+they celebrate the only American who was ever canonized by the Roman
+Catholic Church, and, at the same time, give us a fearful picture of the
+austerities to which fanaticism can lead its victims. Perhaps to some
+readers one of the most interesting points about this great work, when
+viewed in the light of modern history, will be the complete change of
+front which it exhibits on one of the test questions about Papal
+Infallibility. One of the great difficulties in the path of this
+doctrine is the case of Liberius, Pope in the middle of the fourth
+century. He is accused&mdash;and to ordinary minds the accusation seems
+just&mdash;of having signed an Arian formula, of having communicated with the
+Arians, and of having anathematized St. Athanasius. He stood firm for a
+while, but was exiled by the Emperor. During his absence Felix II. was
+chosen Pope. Liberius,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> after a time was permitted to return; whereupon
+the spectacle, so often afterwards repeated, was witnessed of two Popes
+competing for the Papal throne. Felix, however he may have fared in
+life, has fairly surpassed his opponent in death, since Felix appears in
+the Roman Martyrology as a Saint and a Martyr under the date of July
+29; while Liberius is not admitted therein even as a Confessor. This
+would surely seem to give us every guarantee for the sanctity of Felix,
+and the fallibility of Liberius, as the Roman Martyrology of to-day is
+guaranteed by a decree of Pope Gregory XIII., issued "under the ring of
+the Fisherman." In this decree "all patriarchs, archbishops, bishops,
+abbots, and religious orders," are bidden to use this Martyrology
+without addition, change, or subtraction; while any one so altering it
+is warned that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the
+Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul. The earlier Bollandists, with this
+awful anathema hanging over them, most loyally accepted the Roman
+Martyrology, and therefore most vigorously maintained, in the seventh
+volume for July, the heresy of Liberius, as well as the orthodoxy and
+saintship of Felix. But, as years rolled on, this admission was seen to
+be of most dangerous consequence; and so we find, in the sixth volume,
+for September, that Felix has become, as he still remains in current
+Roman historians, like Alzog, a heretic, a schismatic, and an anti-Pope,
+while Liberius is restored to his position as the only valid and
+orthodox Bishop of Rome. But then the disagreeable question arises, if
+this be so, what becomes of the Papal decree of Gregory XIII. issued
+<i>sub annulo piscatoris</i>, and the anathemas appended thereto? With the
+merits of this controversy, however, we are, as historical students, in
+a very slight degree concerned; and we simply produce these facts as
+specimens of the riches contained in the externally unattractive volumes
+of the "Acta Sanctorum." Space would fail us, did we attempt to set
+forth at any length the contents of these volumes. Suffice it to say
+that even upon our English annals, which have been so thoroughly
+explored of late years, the records of the Bollandists would probably
+throw some light, discussing as they do, at great length, the lives of
+such English Saints as Edward the Confessor and Wilfrid of York; and yet
+they are not too favourably disposed towards our insular Saints, since
+they plainly express their opinion that our pious simplicity has filled
+their Acts with incredible legends and miracles, more suited to excite
+laughter than to promote edification.</p>
+
+<p>But, doubtless, our reader is weary of our hagiographers. We must,
+therefore, notice briefly the controversies in which their labours
+involved them. Bollandus, when he died, departed amid universal regret:
+Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, all joined with Jesuits in regret
+for his death, and in prayers for his eternal peace. A few years
+afterwards the Society experienced the very fleeting character<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> of such
+universal popularity. During the issue of the first twelve volumes, they
+had steered clear of all dangerous controversies by a rigid observance
+of the precepts laid down by Bollandus. In discussing, however, the life
+of Albert, at first Bishop of Vercelli, and afterwards Papal Legate and
+Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, in the beginning of the thirteenth
+century, Papebrock challenged the alleged antiquity of the Carmelite
+Order, which affected to trace itself back to Elijah the Tishbite. This
+piece of scepticism, brought down a storm upon his devoted head, which
+raged for years and involved Popes, yea even Princes and Courts, in the
+quarrel. Du Cange threw the shield of his vast learning over the honest
+criticism of the Jesuits. The Spanish Inquisition stepped forward in
+defence of the Carmelites; and toward the end of the seventeenth century
+condemned the first fourteen volumes of the "Acta Sanctorum" as
+dangerous to the faith. The Carmelites were very active in writing
+pamphlets in their own defence, wherein after the manner of the time
+they deal more in hard words and bad names than in sound argument. Thus
+the title of one of their pamphlets describes Papebrock as "the new
+Ishmael whose hand is against every man and every man's hand is against
+him." It is evident, however, that they felt the literary battle going
+against them, inasmuch as in 1696 they petitioned the King of Spain to
+impose perpetual silence upon their adversaries. As his most Catholic
+Majesty did not see fit to interfere, they presented a similar memorial
+to Pope Innocent XIII., who in 1699 imposed the <i>cl&ocirc;ture</i> upon all
+parties, and thus effectually terminated a battle which had raged for
+twenty years. Papebrock again involved himself at a later period in a
+controversy touching a very tender and very important point in the Roman
+system. In discussing the lives of some Chinese martyrs, he advocated
+the translation of the Liturgy into the vulgar tongue of the converts;
+which elicited a reply from Gueranger in his "Institutions
+Th&eacute;ologiques;" while again between the years 1729 and 1736 a pitched
+battle took place between the Bollandists and the Dominicans touching
+the genealogy of their founder, St. Dominic. All these controversies,
+with many other minor ones in which they were engaged, will be found
+summed up in an apologetic folio which the Bollandists published. In
+looking through it the reader will specially be struck by this
+instructive fact, that the bitterness and violence of the controversy
+were always in the inverse ratio of the importance of the points at
+issue. This much also must any fair mind allow: the Society of Jesus,
+since the days of Pascal and the "Provincial Letters," has been regarded
+as a synonym for dishonesty and fraud. From any such charge the student
+of the "Acta Sanctorum" must regard the Bollandists as free. In them we
+behold oftentimes a credulity which would not have found place among men
+who knew by experience more of the world of life and action, but,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> on
+the other hand, we find in them thorough loyalty to historical truth.
+They deal in no suppression of evidence; they give every side of the
+question. They write like men who feel, as Bollandus their founder did,
+that under no circumstances is it right to tell a lie. They never
+hesitate to avow their own convictions and predilections. They draw
+their own conclusions, and put their own gloss upon facts and documents;
+but yet they give the documents as they found them, and they enable the
+impartial student&mdash;working not in trammels as they did&mdash;to make a
+sounder and truer use of them. They display not the spirit of the mere
+confessor whose tone has been lowered by the stifling atmosphere of the
+casuistry with which he has been perpetually dealing; but, the braced
+soul, the hardy courage of the historical critic, who having climbed the
+lofty peaks of bygone centuries, has watched and noted the inevitable
+discovery and defeat of lies, the grandeur and beauty of truth. They
+were Jesuits indeed, and, like all the members of that Society, were
+bound, so far as possible, to sink all human affections and consecrate
+every thought to the work of their order. If such a sacrifice be lawful
+for any man, if it be permitted any thus to suppress the deepest and
+holiest affections which God has created, surely such a sacrifice could
+not have been made in the pursuance of a worthier or nobler object than
+the rescue from destruction, and the preservation to all ages, of the
+facts and documents contained in the "Acta Sanctorum."</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">George T. Stokes.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Henschenius was a man of great physical powers. He always
+delighted in walking exercise, and executed many of his literary
+journeys in Italy on foot, even amid the summer heats. Ten years later,
+when close on seventy, he walked on an emergency ten leagues in one day
+through the mountains and forests of the Ardennes district, and was
+quite fresh next day for another journey. He was a man of very full
+complexion. According to the medical system of the time, he indulged in
+blood-letting once or twice a year.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Since this paper was written the Bollandists have issued a
+prospectus of an annual publication called "Analecta Bollandiana." From
+this document we learn that disease and death have now reduced the
+company very low. De Smedt has had to retire almost as soon as elected.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Cf., for instance, Colebrooke's "Life and Essays," i. 309.
+iii. 360, 399, 474; W&oelig;pk&eacute;, "Memoir on the Propagation of Indian
+Cyphers in Jour. Asiatique," 1863.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ENGLAND_FRANCE_AND_MADAGASCAR" id="ENGLAND_FRANCE_AND_MADAGASCAR"></a>ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND MADAGASCAR.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The present difficulties between France and Madagascar, and the recent
+arrival of a Malagasy Embassy in this country, have made the name of the
+great African island a familiar one to all readers of our daily journals
+during the last few weeks. For some time past we have heard much of
+certain "French claims" upon Madagascar, and alleged "French rights"
+there; and since the envoys of the Malagasy sovereign are now in England
+seeking the friendly offices of our Government on behalf of their
+country, it will be well for Englishmen to endeavour to understand the
+merits of the dispute, and to know why they are called to take part in
+the controversy.</p>
+
+<p>Except to a section of the English public which has for many years taken
+a deep interest in the religious history of the island and given
+liberally both men and money to enlighten it, and to a few others who
+are concerned in its growing trade, Madagascar is still very vaguely
+known to the majority of English people; and, as was lately remarked by
+a daily journal, its name has until recently been almost as much a mere
+geographical expression as that of Mesopotamia. The island has, however,
+certain very interesting features in its scientific aspects, and
+especially in some religious and social problems which have been worked
+out by its people during the past fifty years; and these may be briefly
+described before proceeding to discuss the principal subject of this
+article.</p>
+
+<p>Looking sideways at a map of the Southern Indian Ocean, Madagascar
+appears to rise like a huge sea monster out of the waters. The island
+has a remarkably compact and regular outline; for many hundred miles its
+eastern shore is almost a straight line, but on its north-western side
+it is indented by a number of deep land-locked gulfs, which include some
+of the finest harbours in the world. About<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> a third of its interior to
+the north and east is occupied by an elevated mountainous region, raised
+from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea, and consisting of Primary
+rocks&mdash;granite, gneiss, and basalt&mdash;probably very ancient land, and
+forming during the Secondary geological epoch an island much smaller
+than the Madagascar of to-day. While our Oolitic and Chalk rocks were
+being slowly laid down under northern seas, the extensive coast plains
+of the island, especially on its western and southern sides, were again
+and again under water, and are still raised but a few hundred feet above
+the sea-level. From south-east to north and north-west there extends a
+band of extinct volcanoes, connected probably with the old craters of
+the Comoro Group, where, in Great Comoro, the subterranean forces are
+still active. All round the island runs a girdle of dense forest,
+varying from ten to forty miles in width, and containing fine timber and
+valuable gums and other vegetable wealth&mdash;a paradise for botanists,
+where rare orchids, the graceful traveller's-tree, the delicate
+lattice-leaf plant, the gorgeous flamboyant, and many other elsewhere
+unknown forms of life abound, and where doubtless much still awaits
+fuller research.</p>
+
+<p>While the flora of Madagascar is remarkably abundant, its fauna is
+strangely limited, and contains none of the various and plentiful forms
+of mammalian life which make Southern and Central Africa the paradise of
+sportsmen. The ancient land of the island has preserved antique forms of
+life: many species of lemur make the forest resound with their cries;
+and these, with the curious and highly-specialized Aye-aye, and peculiar
+species of Viverrid&aelig; and Insectivora, are probably "survivals", of an
+old-world existence, when Madagascar was one of an archipelago of large
+islands, whose remains are only small islands like the Seychelles and
+Mascarene Groups, or coral banks and atolls like the Chagos, Amirante,
+and others, which are slowly disappearing beneath the ocean. Until two
+or three hundred years ago, the coast-plains of Madagascar were trodden
+by the great struthious bird, the &AElig;pyornis, apparently the most gigantic
+member of the avi-fauna of the world, and whose enormous eggs probably
+gave rise to the stories of the Rukh of the "Arabian Nights." It will be
+evident, therefore, that Madagascar is full of interest as regards its
+scientific aspects.</p>
+
+<p>When we look at the human inhabitants of the island there is also a
+considerable field for research, and some puzzling problems are
+presented. While Madagascar may be correctly termed "the great <i>African</i>
+island" as regards its geographical position, considered ethnologically,
+it is rather a Malayo-Polynesian island. Though so near Africa, it has
+but slight connection with the continent; the customs, traditions,
+language, and mental and physical characteristics of its people all tend
+to show that their ancestors came across the Indian Ocean from the
+south-east of Asia. There are traces of some aboriginal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> peoples in
+parts of the interior, but the dark and the brown Polynesians are
+probably both represented in the different Malagasy tribes; and although
+scattered somewhat thinly over an island a thousand miles long and four
+times as large as England and Wales, there is substantially but one
+language spoken throughout the whole of Madagascar. Of these people, the
+Hova, who occupy the central portion of the interior high-land, are the
+lightest in colour and the most civilized, and are probably the latest
+and purest Malay immigrants. Along the western coast are a number of
+tribes commonly grouped under the term S&agrave;kal&agrave;va, but each having its own
+dialect, chief, and customs. They are nomadic in habits, keeping large
+herds of cattle, and are less given to agriculture than the central and
+eastern peoples. In the interior are found, besides the Hova, the
+Sih&agrave;naka, the B&eacute;tsil&eacute;o, and the B&agrave;ra; in the eastern forests are the
+Tan&agrave;la, and on the eastern coast are the B&eacute;tsimis&agrave;raka, Tam&ograve;ro, Tais&agrave;ka,
+and other allied peoples.</p>
+
+<p>From a remote period the various Malagasy tribes seem to have retained
+their own independence of each other, no one tribe having any great
+superiority; but about two hundred years ago a warlike south-western
+tribe called S&agrave;kal&agrave;va conquered all the others on the west coast, and
+formed two powerful kingdoms, which exacted tribute also from some of
+the interior peoples. Towards the commencement of the present century,
+however, the Hova became predominant; having conquered the interior and
+eastern tribes, they were also enabled by friendship with England to
+subdue the S&agrave;kal&agrave;va, and by the year 1824 King Rad&agrave;ma I. had established
+his authority over the whole of Madagascar except a portion of the
+south-west coast.</p>
+
+<p>A little earlier than the date last named&mdash;viz., in 1820&mdash;a Protestant
+mission was commenced in the interior of the island at the capital city,
+Antan&agrave;narivo. This was with the full approval of the king, who was a
+kind of Malagasy Peter the Great, and ardently desired that his people
+should be enlightened. A small body of earnest men sent out by the
+London Missionary Society did a great work during the fifteen years they
+were allowed to labour in the central provinces. They reduced the
+beautiful and musical Malagasy language to a written form; they gave the
+people the beginnings of a native literature, and a complete version of
+the Holy Scriptures, and founded several Christian churches. Many of the
+useful arts were also taught by the missionary artisans; and to all
+appearance Christianity and civilization seemed likely soon to prevail
+throughout the country.</p>
+
+<p>But the accession of Queen Ranav&agrave;lona I. in 1828, and, still more, her
+proclamation of 1835 denouncing Christian teaching, dispelled these
+pleasing anticipations. A severe persecution of Christianity ensued,
+which, however, utterly failed to prevent its progress, and only served
+to show in a remarkable manner the faith and courage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> of the native
+Christians, of whom at least two hundred were put to death. The
+political state of the country was also very deplorable during the
+queen's reign; almost all foreigners were excluded, and for some years
+even foreign commerce was forbidden.</p>
+
+<p>On the queen's death, in 1861, the island was reopened to trade and to
+Christian teaching, both of which have greatly progressed since that
+time, especially during the reign of the present sovereign, who made a
+public profession of Christianity at her accession in 1868. By the
+advice and with the co-operation of her able Prime Minister numerous
+wise and enlightened measures have been passed for the better government
+of the country; idolatry has entirely passed away from the central
+provinces; education and civilization have been making rapid advances;
+and all who hope for human progress have rejoiced to see how the
+Malagasy have been gradually rising to the position of a civilized and
+Christian people.</p>
+
+<p>The present year has, however, brought a dark cloud over the bright
+prospects which have been opening up for Madagascar. Foreign aggression
+on the independence of the country is threatened on the part of France,
+and a variety of so-called "claims" have been put forward to justify
+interference with the Malagasy, and alleged "rights" are urged to large
+portions of their territory.</p>
+
+<p>It is not perfectly clear why the present time has been chosen for this
+recent ebullition of French feeling, since, if any French rights ever
+existed to any portion of Madagascar, they might have been as justly (or
+unjustly) urged for the last forty years as now. Some three or four
+minor matters have no doubt been made the ostensible pretext,<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> but
+the real reason is doubtless the same as that which has led to French
+attempts to obtain territory in Tongking, in the Congo Valley, in the
+Gulf of Aden, and in Eastern Polynesia, viz., a desire to retrieve
+abroad their loss of influence in Europe; and especially to heal the
+French <i>amour propre</i>, sorely wounded by their having allowed England to
+settle alone the Egyptian difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>It is much to be wished that some definite and authoritative statement
+could be obtained from French statesmen or writers as to the exact
+claims now put forward and their justification, with some slight
+concession to the request of outsiders for reason and argument. As it
+is, almost every French newspaper seems to have a theory of its own, and
+we read a good deal about "our ancient rights," and "our acknowledged
+claims," together with similar vague and rather grandiose language. As
+far as can be ascertained, four different theories seem to be held:&mdash;(1)
+Some French writers speak of their "ancient rights," as if the various
+utter failures of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> nation to retain any military post in
+Madagascar in the 17th and 18th centuries were to be urged as giving
+rights of possession.</p>
+
+<p>(2) Others talk about "the treaties of 1841" with two rebellious
+S&agrave;kal&agrave;va tribes as an ample justification of their present action.</p>
+
+<p>(3) Others, again, refer to the repudiated and abandoned "Lambert
+treaty" of 1862 as, somehow or other, still giving the French a hold
+upon Madagascar. And (4) during the last few days we have been gravely
+informed that "France will insist upon carrying out the treaty of 1868,"
+which gives no right in Madagascar to France beyond that given to every
+nation with whom a treaty has been made, and which says not one word
+about any French protectorate.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p>It will be necessary to examine these four points a little in detail.</p>
+
+<p>1. Of what value are "ancient French rights" in Madagascar? These do not
+rest upon <i>discovery</i> of the country, or prior occupation of it, since
+almost every writer, French, English, or German, agrees that the
+Portuguese, in 1506, were the first Europeans to land on the island.
+They retained some kind of connection with Madagascar for many years;
+and so did the Dutch, for a shorter period, in the early part of the
+seventeenth century; and the English also had a small colony on the
+south-west side of the island before any French attempts were made at
+colonization. Three European nations therefore preceded the French in
+Madagascar.</p>
+
+<p>During the seventeenth century, from 1643 to 1672, repeated efforts were
+made by the French to maintain a hold on three or four points of the
+east coast of the island. But these were not colonies, and were so
+utterly mismanaged that eventually the French were driven out by the
+exasperated inhabitants; and after less than thirty years' intermittent
+occupation of these positions, the country was abandoned by them
+altogether for more than seventy years.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> In the latter part of the
+eighteenth century fresh attempts were made (after 1745), but with
+little better result; one post after another was relinquished; so that
+towards the beginning of the present century the only use made of
+Madagascar by the French was for the slave-trade, and the maintenance of
+two or three trading stations for supplying oxen to the Mascarene
+Islands.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> In 1810 the capture of Mauritius and Bourbon by the British
+gave a decisive blow to French predominance in the Southern Indian
+Ocean; their two or three posts on the east coast were occupied by
+English troops, and were by us given over to Rad&agrave;ma I., who had
+succeeded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> in making himself supreme over the greater portion of the
+island. The French eventually seized the little island of Ste. Marie's,
+off the eastern coast, but retained not a foot of soil upon the
+mainland; and so ended, it might have been supposed, their "ancient
+rights" in Madagascar.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>It is, however, quite unnecessary to dwell further on this point, as the
+recognition by the French, in their treaty with Rad&agrave;ma II., of that
+prince as <i>King of Madagascar</i> was a sufficient renunciation of their
+ancient pretensions. This is indeed admitted by French writers. M.
+Galos, writing in the <i>Revue des Deux Mondes</i>(Oct. 1863, p. 700), says,
+speaking of the treaty of Sept. 2, 1861:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"By that act, in which Rad&agrave;ma II. appears as King of Madagascar, we
+have recognized without restriction his sovereignty over all the
+island. In consequence of that recognition two consuls have been
+accredited to him, the one at Tan&agrave;nar&igrave;vo, the other at Tamatave,
+who only exercise their functions by virtue of an <i>exequatur</i> from
+the real sovereign."</p></div>
+
+<p>Again he remarks:&mdash;?</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"We see that France would not gain much by resuming her position
+anterior to 1861; also, we may add, without regret, that it is no
+longer possible. We have recognized in the King of Madagascar the
+necessary quality to enable him to treat with us on all the
+interests of the island. It does not follow, because he or his
+successors fail to observe the engagements that they have
+contracted, that therefore the quality aforesaid is lost, <i>or that
+we should have the right to refuse it to them for the future</i>."<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>And the treaty of 1868 again, in which the present sovereign is
+recognized as "Reine de Madagascar," fully confirms the view of the
+French writer just cited.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>2. Let us now look for a moment at the Lambert treaty, or rather
+charter, of 1862. On his accession to the throne in 1861, the young
+king, Rad&agrave;ma II., soon fell into follies and vices which were not a
+little encouraged by some Frenchmen who had ingratiated themselves with
+him. A Monsieur Lambert, a planter from R&eacute;union, managed to obtain the
+king's consent to a charter conceding to a company to be formed by
+Lambert very extensive rights over the whole of Madagascar. The king's
+signature was obtained while he was in a state of intoxication, at a
+banquet given at the house of the French Consul, and against the
+remonstrances of all the leading people of the kingdom. But the
+concession was one of the principal causes of the revolution of the
+following year, in which the king lost both crown and life; and it was
+promptly repudiated by the new Sovereign and her Government, as a
+virtual abandonment of the country to France. Threats of bombardment,
+&amp;c., were freely used,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> but at length it was arranged that, on the
+payment of an indemnity of a million francs by the native Government to
+the company, its rights should be abandoned. It is said that this
+pacific result was largely due to the good sense and kindly feeling of
+the Emperor Napoleon, who, on being informed of the progress in
+civilization and Christianity made by the Malagasy, refused to allow
+this to be imperilled by aggressive war. There would seem, then, to be
+no ground for present French action on the strength of the repudiated
+Lambert treaty.</p>
+
+<p>3. As already observed, several French public prints have been loudly
+proclaiming that France is resolved "to uphold the treaty of 1868 in its
+entirety."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> It may with the same emphasis be announced that the
+Malagasy Government is equally resolved to uphold it, so far at least as
+they are concerned, especially its first article, which declares that
+"in all time to come the subjects of each power shall be friends, and
+shall preserve amity, and shall never fight." But it should be also
+carefully noted that this 1868 treaty recognizes unreservedly the Queen
+as Sovereign <i>of Madagascar</i>, makes no admission of, or allusion to, any
+of these alleged French rights, much less any protectorate; and is
+simply a treaty of friendship and commerce between two nations,
+standing, as far as power to make treaties is concerned, on an equal
+footing. If French statesmen, therefore, are sincere in saying that they
+only require the maintenance of the treaty of 1868 in its integrity, the
+difficulties between the two nations will soon be at an end.</p>
+
+<p>But it is doubtful whether the foregoing is really a French "claim," as
+far more stress has been laid, and will still doubtless be laid, upon
+certain alleged treaties of 1841. What the value of these is we must now
+consider.</p>
+
+<p>4. The facts connected with the 1841 treaties are briefly these:&mdash;In the
+year 1839 two of the numerous S&agrave;kal&agrave;va tribes of the north-west of the
+island, who had since the conquest in 1824 been in subjection to the
+central government, broke into rebellion. It happened that a French war
+vessel was then cruising in those waters, and as the French had for some
+time previously lost all the positions they had ever occupied on the
+east coast, it appeared a fine opportunity for recovering prestige in
+the west. By presents and promises of protection they induced, it is
+alleged, the chieftainess of the Ib&ograve;ina people, and the chief of the
+Tank&agrave;rana, further north, to cede to them their territories on the
+mainland, as well as the island of N&ograve;sib&eacute;, off the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> north-west coast.
+These treaties are given by De Clercq, "Recueil de Trait&eacute;s," vol. iv.
+pp. 594, 597; but whether these half-barbarous S&agrave;kal&agrave;va, ignorant of
+reading and writing, knew what they were doing, is very doubtful. N&ograve;sib&eacute;
+was, however, taken possession of by the French in 1841, and has ever
+since then remained in their hands; but, curiously enough, until the
+present year, no claim has ever been put forward to any portion of the
+mainland, or any attempt made to take possession of it. But these
+treaties have been lately advanced as justifying very large demands on
+the part of the French, including (<i>a</i>) a protectorate over the portions
+ceded; (<i>b</i>) a protectorate over all the northern part of the island,
+from Mojang&agrave; across to Aritongil Bay; (<i>c</i>) a protectorate over all the
+western side of the island; finally (<i>d</i>), "general rights" (whatever
+these may mean) over all Madagascar! Most English papers have rightly
+considered these treaties as affording no justification for such large
+pretensions, although one or two<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> have argued that the London press
+has unfairly depreciated the strength of French claims. Is this really
+so?</p>
+
+<p>The Malagasy Government and its envoys to Europe have strenuously denied
+the right of a rebellious tribe to alienate any portion of the country
+to a foreign power; a right which would never be recognized by any
+civilized nation, and which they will resist to the last. The following
+are amongst some of the reasons they urge as vitiating and nullifying
+any French claim upon the mainland founded upon the 1841 treaties:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>i. The territory claimed had been fairly conquered in war in 1824 by the
+Hova, and their sovereign rights had for many years never been disputed.</p>
+
+<p>ii. The present queen and her predecessors had been acknowledged by the
+French in their treaties of 1868 and 1862 as sovereigns of Madagascar,
+without any reserve whatever. (See also <i>Revue des deux Mondes</i>, already
+cited.)</p>
+
+<p>iii. Military posts have been established there, and customs duties
+collected by Hova officials ever since the country was conquered by
+them, and these have been paid without any demur or reservation by
+French as well as by all other foreign vessels. Some years ago
+complaints were made by certain French traders of overcharges; these
+were investigated, and money was refunded.</p>
+
+<p>iv. All the S&agrave;kal&agrave;va chiefs in that part of the island have at various
+times rendered fealty to the sovereign at Antan&agrave;nar&igrave;vo.</p>
+
+<p>v. These same S&agrave;kal&agrave;va, both princes and people, have paid a yearly
+poll-tax to the Central Government.</p>
+
+<p>vi. The French flag has never been hoisted on the mainland of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>
+Madagascar, nor, for forty years, has any claim to this territory been
+made by France, nothing whatever being said about any rights or
+protectorate on their part in the treaties concluded during that period.</p>
+
+<p>vii. The Hova governors have occasionally (after the fashion set now and
+then by governors of more civilized peoples) oppressed the conquered
+races. But the S&agrave;kal&agrave;va have always looked to the Queen at Antan&agrave;nar&igrave;vo
+for redress (and have obtained it), and never has any reference been
+made to France, nor has any jurisdiction been claimed by France or by
+the colonial French authorities in the matter.</p>
+
+<p>viii. British war-vessels have for many years past had the right
+(conceded by our treaty of 1865) to cruise in these north-western bays,
+creeks, and rivers, for the prevention of the slave trade. The British
+Consul has landed on this territory, and in conducting inquiries has
+dealt directly with the Hova authorities without the slightest reference
+to France, or any claim from the latter that he should do so.</p>
+
+<p>ix. The French representatives in Madagascar have repeatedly blamed the
+Central Government for not asserting its authority more fully over the
+north-west coast; and several years ago, in the reign of Ranav&agrave;lona I.,
+a French subject, with the help of a few natives, landed on this coast
+with the intention of working some of the mineral productions, and built
+a fortified post. Refusing to desist, he was attacked by the Queen's
+troops, and eventually killed. No complaint was ever made by the French
+authorities on account of this occurrence, as it was admitted to be the
+just punishment for an unlawful act. Yet it was done on what the French
+now claim as their territory.</p>
+
+<p>x. And, lastly, France has quite recently (in May of this year) extorted
+a heavy money fine from the Malagasy Government for a so-called
+"outrage" committed by the S&agrave;kal&agrave;va upon some Arabs from Mayotta,
+sailing under French colours. These latter were illegally attempting to
+land arms and ammunition, and were killed in the fight which ensued. The
+demand was grossly unjust, but the fact of its having been made would
+seem to all impartial persons to vitiate utterly all French claims to
+this territory, as an unmistakable acknowledgment of the Hova supremacy
+there.</p>
+
+<p>Such are, as far as can be ascertained, the most important reasons
+recently put forth for French claims upon Madagascar, and the Malagasy
+replies thereto; and it would really be a service to the native
+Government and its envoys if some French writer of authority and
+knowledge would endeavour to refute the arguments just advanced.</p>
+
+<p>Another point of considerable importance is the demand of the French
+that leases of ninety-nine years shall be allowed. This has been
+resisted by the Malagasy Government as most undesirable in the present
+condition of the country. It is, however, prepared to grant leases of
+thirty-five years, renewable on complying with certain forms.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> It
+argues, with considerable reason on its side, that unless all powers of
+obtaining land by foreigners are strictly regulated, the more ignorant
+coast people will still do as they are known to have done, and will make
+over, while intoxicated, large tracts of land to foreign adventurers for
+the most trifling consideration, such as a bottle of rum, or a similar
+payment.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The question now arises, what have Englishmen to do in this matter, and
+what justifies our taking part in the dispute?</p>
+
+<p>Let us first frankly make two or three admissions. We have no right to
+hinder, nor do we seek to prevent, the legitimate development of the
+colonial power of France. So far as France can replace savagery by true
+civilization, we shall rejoice in her advances in any part of the world.
+And further, we have no right to, nor do we pretend to the exercise of,
+the duty of police of the world. But at the same time, while we ought
+not and cannot undertake such extensive responsibilities, we have, in
+this part of the Indian Ocean, constituted ourselves for many years a
+kind of international police for the suppression of the slave-trade, in
+the interests of humanity and freedom; and this fact has been expressly
+or tacitly recognized by other European Powers. The sacrifices we have
+made to abolish slavery in our own colonies, and our commercial
+supremacy and naval power, have justified and enabled us to take this
+position. And, as we shall presently show, the supremacy of the French
+in Madagascar would certainly involve a virtual revival of the
+slave-trade.</p>
+
+<p>It may also be objected by some that, as regards aggression upon foreign
+nations, we do not ourselves come into court with clean hands. We must
+with shame admit the accusation. But, on the other hand, we do not carry
+on religious persecution in the countries we govern; and, further, we
+have restored the Transvaal, we have retired from Afghanistan, and,
+notwithstanding the advocates of an "Imperialist" policy in Egypt, we
+are not going to retain the Nile Delta as a British province. And, as
+was well remarked in the <i>Daily News</i> lately, "such an argument proves a
+great deal too much. It would be fatal to the progress of public opinion
+as a moral agent altogether, and might fix the mistaken policy of a
+particular epoch as the standard of national ethics for all time."</p>
+
+<p>What claim, then, has England to intervene in this dispute, and to offer
+mediation between France and Madagascar?</p>
+
+<p>(<i>a</i>) England has greatly aided Madagascar to attain its present
+position as a nation. Largely owing to the help she gave to the
+enlightened Hova king, Rad&agrave;ma I., from 1817 to 1828, he was enabled to
+establish his supremacy over most of the other tribes of the island,
+and, in place of a number of petty turbulent chieftaincies, to form one
+strong central government, desirous of progress, and able<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> to put down
+intestine wars, as well as the export slave-trade of the country. For
+several years a British agent, Mr. Hastie, lived at the Court of Rad&agrave;ma,
+exercising a powerful influence for good over the king, and doing very
+much for the advancement of the people. In later times, through English
+influence, and by the provisions of our treaty with Madagascar, the
+import slave-trade has been stopped, and a large section of the slave
+population&mdash;those of African birth, brought into the island by the Arab
+slaving dhows&mdash;has been set free (in June,1877).</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) England has done very much during the last sixty years to develop
+civilization and enlightenment in Madagascar. The missionary workmen,
+sent out by the London Missionary Society from 1820 to 1835, introduced
+many of the useful arts&mdash;viz., improved methods of carpentry,
+iron-working, and weaving, the processes of tanning, and several
+manufactures of chemicals, soap, lime-burning, &amp;c.; and they also
+constructed canals and reservoirs for rice-culture.</p>
+
+<p>From 1862 to 1882 the same Society's builders have introduced the use of
+brick and stone construction, have taught the processes of brick and
+tile manufacture and the preparation of slates, and have erected
+numerous stone and brick churches, schools, and houses; and these arts
+have been so readily learned by the people that the capital and other
+towns have been almost entirely rebuilt within the last fifteen years
+with dwellings of European fashion. England has also been the principal
+agent in the intellectual advance of the Malagasy; for, as already
+mentioned, English missionaries were the first to reduce the native
+language to a grammatical system, and to give the people their own
+tongue in a written form. They also prepared a considerable number of
+books, and founded an extensive school system.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> If we look at what
+England has done for Madagascar, a far more plausible case might be made
+out&mdash;were we so disposed&mdash;for "English claims" on the island, than any
+that France can produce.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>c</i>) England has considerable political interests in preserving
+Madagascar free from French control. These should not be overlooked, as
+the influence of the French in those seas is already sufficiently
+strong. Not only are they established in the small islands of Ste. Marie
+and N&ograve;sib&eacute;, off Madagascar itself, but they have taken possession of two
+of the Comoro group, Mayotta and Mohilla. R&eacute;union is French; and
+although Mauritius and the Seychelles are under English government, they
+are largely French in speech and sympathy. And it must be remembered
+that the first instalment of territory which is now coveted includes
+five or six large<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> gulfs, besides numerous inlets and river mouths, and
+especially the Bay of Diego Suarez, one of the finest natural harbours,
+and admirably adapted for a great naval station. The possession of
+these, and eventually of the whole of the island, would seriously affect
+the balance of power in the south-west Indian Ocean, making French
+influence preponderant in these seas, and in certain very possible
+political contingencies would be a formidable menace to our South
+African colonies.</p>
+
+
+<p>(<i>d</i>) We have also commercial interests in Madagascar which cannot be
+disregarded, because, although the island does not yet contribute
+largely to the commerce of the world, it is a country of great natural
+resources, and its united export and import trade, chiefly in English
+and American hands, is already worth about a million annually. Our own
+share of this is fourfold that of the French, and British subjects in
+Madagascar outnumber those of France in the proportion of five to one;
+and our valuable colony of Mauritius derives a great part of its
+food-supply from the great island.</p>
+
+<p>But apart from the foregoing considerations, it is from no narrow
+jealousy that we maintain that French preponderance in Madagascar would
+work disastrously for freedom and humanity in that part of the world. We
+are not wholly free from blame ourselves with regard to the treatment of
+the coolie population of Mauritius; but it must be remembered that,
+although that island is English in government, its inhabitants are
+chiefly French in origin, and they retain a great deal of that utter
+want of recognition of the rights of coloured people which seems
+inherent in the French abroad. So that successive governors have been
+constantly thwarted by magistrates and police in their efforts to obtain
+justice for the coolie immigrants. A Commission of Inquiry in 1872,
+however, forced a number of reforms, and since then there has been
+little ground for complaint. But in the neighbouring island of R&eacute;union
+the treatment of the Hindu coolies has been so bad that at length the
+Indian Government has refused to allow emigration thither any longer.
+For some years past French trading vessels have been carrying off from
+the north-west Madagascar coast hundreds of people for the R&eacute;union
+plantations. Very lately a convention was made with the Portuguese
+authorities at Mozambique to supply coloured labourers for R&eacute;union, and,
+doubtless, also with a view to sugar estates yet to be made in
+Madagascar&mdash;a traffic which is the slave-trade in all but the name. The
+French flag is sullied by being allowed to be used by slaving dhows&mdash;an
+iniquity owing to which our brave Captain Brownrigg met his death not
+long ago. Is it any exaggeration to say that an increase of French
+influence in these seas is one of sad omen for freedom?</p>
+
+<p>And, further, a French protectorate over a part of the island would
+certainly work disastrously for the progress of Madagascar itself. It
+has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> been already shown that during the present century the country has
+been passing out of the condition of a collection of petty independent
+States into that of one strong Kingdom, whose authority is gradually
+becoming more and more firmly established over the whole island. And all
+hope of progress is bound up in the strengthening and consolidation of
+the central Hova Government, with capable governors representing its
+authority over the other provinces. But for many years past the French
+have depreciated and ridiculed the Hova power; and except M. Guillain,
+who, in his "Documents sur la Partie Occidentale de Madagascar," has
+written with due appreciation of the civilizing policy of Rad&agrave;ma I.,
+there is hardly any French writer but has spoken evil of the central
+government, simply because every step taken towards the unification of
+the country makes their own projects less feasible. French policy is,
+therefore, to stir up the outlying tribes, where the Hova authority is
+still weak, to discontent and rebellion, and so cause internecine war,
+in which France will come in and offer "protection" to all rebels. Truly
+a noble "mission" for a great and enlightened European nation!</p>
+
+<p>After acknowledging again and again the sovereign at Antan&agrave;nar&igrave;vo as
+"Queen of Madagascar," the French papers have lately begun to style Her
+Majesty "Queen of the Hovas," as if there were not a dozen other tribes
+over whom even the French have never disputed her authority; while they
+write as if the S&agrave;kal&agrave;va formed an independent State, with whom they had
+a perfect right to conclude treaties. More than this: after making
+treaties with at least two sovereigns of Madagascar, accrediting consuls
+to them and receiving consuls appointed by them, a portion of the French
+press has just discovered that the Malagasy are "a barbarous people,"
+with whom it would be derogatory to France to meet on equal terms.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a>
+Let us see what this barbarous Malagasy Government has been doing during
+the last few years:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>i. It has put an end to idolatry in the central and other provinces, and
+with it a number of cruel and foolish superstitions, together with the
+use of the <i>Tang&eacute;na</i> poison-ordeal,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> infanticide, polygamy, and the
+unrestricted power of divorce.</p>
+
+<p>ii. It has codified, revised, and printed its laws, abolishing capital
+punishment (formerly carried out in many cruel forms), except for the
+crimes of treason and murder.</p>
+
+<p>iii. It has set free a large portion of the slave population, indeed
+all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> African slaves brought from beyond the seas, and has passed laws by
+which no Malagasy can any longer be reduced to slavery for debt or for
+political offences.</p>
+
+<p>iv. It has largely limited the old oppressive feudal system of the
+country, and has formed a kind of responsible Ministry, with departments
+of foreign affairs, war, justice, revenue, trade, schools, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>v. It has passed laws for compulsory education throughout the central
+provinces, by which the children in that part of the island are now
+being educated.</p>
+
+<p>vi. It has begun to remodel its army, putting it on a basis of short
+service, to which all classes are liable, so as to consolidate its power
+over the outlying districts, and bring all the island under the action
+of the just and humane laws already described.</p>
+
+<p>vii. It has made the planting of the poppy illegal, subjecting the
+offender to a very heavy fine.</p>
+
+<p>viii. It has passed several laws forbidding the manufacture and
+importation of ardent spirits into Im&eacute;rina, and is anxious for powers in
+the treaties now to be revised to levy a much heavier duty at the ports.</p>
+
+<p>We need not ask if these are the acts of a barbarous nation, or whether
+it would be for the interests of humanity and civilization and progress
+if the disorderly elements which still remain in the country should be
+encouraged by foreign interference to break away from the control they
+have so long acknowledged. It is very doubtful whether any European
+nation has made similar progress in such a short period as has this Hova
+Government of Madagascar.</p>
+
+<p>It may also be remarked that although it has also been the object of the
+French to pose as the friends of the S&agrave;kal&agrave;va, whom they represent as
+down-trodden, it is a simple matter of fact that for many years past
+these people have been in peaceable subjection to the Hova authority.
+The system of government allows the local chiefs to retain a good deal
+of their former influence so long as the suzerainty of the Queen at
+Antan&agrave;nar&igrave;vo is acknowledged. And a recent traveller through this
+north-west district, the Rev. W. C. Pickersgill, testifies that on
+inquiring of every tribe as to whom they paid allegiance, the invariable
+reply was, "To Ranav&agrave;lo-manj&agrave;ka, Queen of Madagascar." It is indeed
+extremely probable that, in counting upon the support of these
+north-westerly tribes against the central government, the French are
+reckoning without their host, and will find enemies where they expect
+allies.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> In fact, the incident which was one of the chief pretexts
+for the revival of these long-dormant claims&mdash;the hoisting of the
+Queen's flag at two places&mdash;really shows how well disposed the people
+are to the Hova Government, and how they look to the Queen for justice.</p>
+
+<p>It will perhaps be asked, Have we any diplomatic standing-ground for
+friendly intervention on behalf of the Malagasy? I think<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> there are at
+least two considerations which&mdash;altogether apart from our commercial and
+political interests in the freedom of the country, and what we have done
+for it in various ways&mdash;give us a right to speak in this question. One
+is, that there has for many years past been an understanding between the
+Governments of France and England that neither would take action with
+regard to Madagascar without previous consultation with each other.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a>
+We are then surely entitled to speak if the independence of the island
+is threatened. Another reason is, that we are to a great extent pledged
+to give the Hova Government some support by the words spoken by our
+Special Envoy to the Queen Ranav&agrave;lona last year. Vice-Admiral Gore-Jones
+then repeated the assurance of the understanding above-mentioned, and
+encouraged the Hova Government to consolidate their authority on the
+west coast, and, in fact, his language stimulated them to take that
+action there which the French have made a pretext for their present
+interference.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p>
+
+<p>In taking such a line of action England seeks no selfish ends. We do not
+covet a foot of Madagascar territory; we ask no exclusive privileges;
+but I do maintain that what we have done for Madagascar, and the part we
+have taken in her development and advancement, gives us a claim and
+imposes on us an obligation to stand forward on her behalf against those
+who would break her unity and consequently her progress. The French will
+have no easy task to conquer the country if they persist in their
+demands; the Malagasy will not yield except to overwhelming force, and
+it will prove a war bringing heavy cost and little honour to France.</p>
+
+<p>May I not appeal to all right-minded and generous Frenchmen that their
+influence should also be in the direction of preserving the freedom of
+this nation?&mdash;one of the few dark peoples who have shown an unusual
+receptivity for civilization and Christianity, who have already advanced
+themselves so much, and who will still, if left undisturbed, become one
+united and enlightened nation.</p>
+
+<p>It will be to the lasting disgrace of France if she stirs up aggressive
+war, and so throws back indefinitely all the remarkable progress made by
+the Malagasy during the past few years; and it will be hardly less to
+our own discredit if we, an insular nation, jealous of the inviolability
+of our own island, show no practical sympathy with another insular
+people, and do not use every means that can be employed to preserve to
+Madagascar its independence and its liberties.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">James Sibree</span>, Jun.<br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> The single act which led to the revival of these
+long-forgotten claims upon the north-west coast, was the hoisting of the
+Queen's flag by two native S&agrave;kal&agrave;va chieftains in their villages. These
+were hauled down, and carried away in a French gun-boat, and the
+flag-staves cut up.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> This last claim must be preferred either in perfect
+ignorance of what the 1868 treaty really is, or as an attempt to throw
+dust in the eyes of the newspaper-reading public.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> It is true that during these seventy years various edicts
+claiming the country we issued by Louis XIV.; but as the French during
+all that time did not attempt to occupy a single foot of territory in
+Madagascar, these grandiloquent proclamations can hardly be considered
+as of much value. As has been remarked, French pretensions were greatest
+when their actual authority was least.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> See "Pr&eacute;cis sur les Etablissements Fran&ccedil;ais form&eacute;s &agrave;
+Madagascar." Paris, 1836, p.4.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> For fuller details as to the character of French
+settlements in Madagascar, their gross mismanagement and bad treatment
+of the people, see Statement of the Madagascar Committee; and <i>Souvenirs
+de Madagascar</i>, par M. le Dr. H. Lacaze: Paris, 1881, p. xviii.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> The italics are my own.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> See also letter of Bishop Ryan, late of Mauritius, <i>Daily
+News</i>, Dec. 16.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> See <i>Daily News</i>, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1; <i>La Libert&eacute;</i>, Nov.
+29, and <i>Le Parlement</i> of same date. Both these French journals speak of
+an "Act by which the Tan&agrave;narivo Government cancelled the Treaty of 1868"
+(<i>Le Parlement</i>), and of its being "annulled by Queen Ranav&agrave;lona of her
+own authority" (<i>La Libert&eacute;</i>). It is only necessary to say that no such
+"Act" ever had any existence, save in the fertile brains of French
+journalists, and it is now brought forward apparently with a view to
+excite animosity towards the Malagasy in the minds of their readers.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>E.g., The Manchester Guardian</i>, Dec. 1st., 5th., and
+6th.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Almost all Malagasy words for military tactics and rank
+are of English origin, so are many of the words used for building
+operations, and the influence of England is also shown by the fact that
+almost all the words connected with education and literature are from
+us, such as school, class, lesson, pen, copybook, pencil, slate, book,
+gazette, press, print, proof, capital, period, &amp;c., grammar, geography,
+addition, &amp;c.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> See <i>Le Parlement</i>, Dec. 15, and other French papers.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Among the many unfair statements of the Parisian press is
+an article in <i>Le Rappel</i>, of Oct. 29, copied by many other papers, in
+which this Tang&eacute;na ordeal is described as if it was now a practice of
+the Malagasy, the intention being, of course, to lead its readers to
+look upon them as still barbarous; the fact being that its use has been
+obsolete ever since 1865 (Art. XVIII. of English Treaty), and its
+practice is a capital offence, as a form of treason. The Malagasy Envoys
+are represented as saying that their Supreme Court often condemned
+criminals to death by its use!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> See Tract No. II. of the Madagascar Committee.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> See Lord Granville's speech in reply to the address of the
+Madagascar Committee, Nov. 28.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> The Admiral, so it is reported on good authority,
+congratulated the Queen and her Government on having solved the question
+of Madagascar by showing that the Hova could govern it. He also said
+that France and England were in perfect accord on this point, and on the
+wisdom of recognizing Queen Ranav&agrave;lona as sovereign of the whole island.
+See <i>Daily News</i>, Dec. 14. This will no doubt be confirmed by the
+publication of the official report which has been asked for by Mr. G.
+Palmer, M.P.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_RELIGIOUS_FUTURE_OF_THE_WORLD" id="THE_RELIGIOUS_FUTURE_OF_THE_WORLD"></a>THE RELIGIOUS FUTURE OF THE WORLD.</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Part the First.</span></h3>
+
+
+<h3>I.</h3>
+
+<p>I suppose there are few students of man and of society to whom the
+present religious condition and apparent religious prospect of the world
+can seem very satisfactory. If there is any lesson clear from history it
+is this; that, in every age religion has been the main stay both of
+private life and of the public order,&mdash;"the substance of humanity," as
+Quinet well expresses it, "whence issue, as by so many necessary
+consequences, political institutions, the arts, poetry, philosophy, and,
+up to a certain point, even the sequence of events."<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> The existing
+civilization of Europe and America&mdash;I use the word civilization in its
+highest and widest sense, and mean by it especially the laws,
+traditions, beliefs, and habits of thought and action, whereby
+individual family and social life is governed&mdash;is mainly the work of
+Christianity. The races which inhabit the vast Asiatic Continent are
+what they are chiefly from the influence of Buddhism and Mohammedanism,
+of the Brahminical, Confucian, and Taosean systems. In the fetichism of
+the rude tribes of Africa, still in the state of the childhood of
+humanity, we have what has been called the <i>parler enfantin</i> of
+religion:&mdash;it is that rude and unformed speech, as of spiritual babes
+and sucklings, which principally makes them to differ from the
+anthropoid apes of their tropical forests: "un peuple est compt&eacute; pour
+quelque chose le jour o&ugrave; il s'el&egrave;ve a la pens&eacute;e de Dieu."<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> But the
+spirit of the age is unquestionably hostile to all these creeds from the
+highest to the lowest. In Europe there is a movement&mdash;of its breadth and
+strength I shall say more presently&mdash;the irreconcilable hostility of
+which to "all religion and all religiosity," to use the words of the
+late M. Louis Blanc, is written on its front. Thought is the most
+contagious thing in the world, and in these days<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> pain unchanged, but
+with no firm ground of faith, no "hope both sure and stedfast, and which
+entereth into that within the vail," no worthy object of desire whereby
+man may erect himself above himself, whence he may derive an
+indefectible rule of conduct, a constraining incentive to
+self-sacrifice, an adequate motive for patient endurance,&mdash;such is the
+vision of the coming time, as it presents itself to many of the most
+thoughtful and competent observers.</p>
+
+
+<h3>II.</h3>
+
+<p>In these circumstances it is natural that so thoughtful and competent an
+observer as the author of "Ecce Homo" should take up his parable. And
+assuredly few who have read that beautiful book, so full of lofty
+musing, and so rich in pregnant suggestion, however superficial and
+inconsequent, will have opened the volume which he has recently given to
+the world without high expectation. It will be remembered that in his
+preface to his former work, he tells us that he was dissatisfied with
+the current conceptions of Christ, and unable to rest content without a
+definite opinion regarding Him, and so was led to trace His biography
+from point to point, with a view of accepting those conclusions about
+Him which the facts themselves, weighed critically, appeared to warrant.
+And now, after the lapse of well-nigh two decades, the author of "Ecce
+Homo" comes forward to consider the religious outlook of the world.
+Surely a task for which he is in many respects peculiarly well-fitted.
+Wide knowledge of the modern mind, broad sympathies, keen and delicate
+perceptions, freedom from party and personal ends, and a power of
+graceful and winning statement must, upon all hands, be conceded to him.
+What such a man thinks on such a subject, is certain to be interesting;
+and, whether we agree with it or not, is as certain to be suggestive. I
+propose, therefore, first of all to consider what may be learnt about
+the topic with which I am concerned, from this new book on "Natural
+Religion," and I shall then proceed to deal with it in my own way.</p>
+
+<p>The author of "Natural Religion" starts with the broad assumption that
+"supernaturalism" is discredited by modern "science." I may perhaps, in
+passing, venture to express my regret that in an inquiry demanding, from
+its nature and importance, the utmost precision of which human speech is
+capable, the author has in so few cases clearly and rigidly limited the
+sense of the terms which he employs. "Supernaturalism," for example, is
+a word which may bear many different meanings; which, as a matter of
+fact, does bear, I think, for me a very different meaning from that
+which it bears for the author of "Natural Religion." So, again,
+"science" in this book, is tacitly assumed to denote physical science
+only: and what an assumption, as though there were no other sciences
+than the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> physical! This in passing. I shall have to touch again upon
+these points hereafter. For the present let us regard the scope and aim
+of this discourse of Natural Religion, as the author states it. He finds
+that the supernatural portion of Christianity, as of all religions, is
+widely considered to be discredited by physical science. "Two opposite
+theories of the Universe" (p. 26) are before men. The one propounded by
+Christianity "is summed up," as he deems, "in the three propositions,
+that a Personal Will is the cause of the Universe, that that Will is
+perfectly benevolent, that that Will has sometimes interfered by
+miracles with the order of the Universe" (p. 13). The other he states as
+follows:&mdash;"Science opposes to God Nature. When it denies God it denies
+the existence of any power beyond or superior to Nature; and it may deny
+at the same time anything like a <i>cause</i> of Nature. It believes in
+certain laws of co-existence and sequence in phenomena, and in denying
+God it means to deny that anything further can be known" (p. 17). "For
+what is God&mdash;so the argument runs&mdash;but a hypothesis, which religious men
+have mistaken for a demonstrated reality? And is it not precisely
+against such premature hypotheses that science most strenuously
+protests? That a Personal Will is the cause of the Universe&mdash;this might
+stand very well as a hypothesis to work with, until facts should either
+confirm it, or force it to give way to another, either different or at
+least modified. That this Personal Will is benevolent, and is shown to
+be so by the facts of the Universe, which evince a providential care for
+man and other animals&mdash;this is just one of those plausibilities which
+passed muster before scientific method was understood, but modern
+science rejects it as unproved. Modern science holds that there may be
+design in the Universe, but that to penetrate the design is, and
+probably always will be, beyond the power of the human understanding.
+That this Personal Will has on particular occasions revealed itself by
+breaking through the customary order of the Universe, and performing
+what are called miracles&mdash;this, it is said, is one of those legends o&pound;
+which histories were full, until a stricter view of evidence was
+introduced, and the modern critical spirit sifted thoroughly the annals
+of the world" (p. 11). These, in our author's words, are the two
+opposite theories of the Universe before the world: two "mortally
+hostile" (p. 13) theories; the one "the greatest of all affirmations;"
+"the other the most fatal of all negations," (p. 26) and the latter, as
+he discerns, is everywhere making startling progress. "The extension of
+the <i>methods</i> of physical science to the whole domain of human
+knowledge," he notes as the most important "change of system in the
+intellectual world" (p. 7). "No one," he continues, "needs to be told
+what havoc this physical method is making with received systems, and it
+produces a sceptical disposition of mind towards primary principles
+which have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> of steam locomotion and electric telegraphs, of cheap
+literature and ubiquitous journalism, ideas travel with the speed of
+light, and the influences which are warring against the theologies of
+Europe are certainly acting as powerful solvents upon the religious
+systems of the rest of the world. But apart from the loud and fierce
+negation of the creed of Christendom which is so striking a feature of
+the present day, there is among those who nominally adhere to it a vast
+amount of unaggressive doubt. Between the party which avowedly aims at
+the destruction of "all religion and all religiosity," at the delivery
+of man from what it calls the "nightmare" or "the intellectual whoredom"
+of spiritualism, and those who cling with undimmed faith to the religion
+of their fathers, there is an exceeding great multitude who are properly
+described as sceptics. It is even more an age of doubt than of denial.
+As Chateaubriand noted, when the century was yet young, "we are no
+longer living in times when it avails to say 'Believe and do not
+examine:' people will examine whether we like it or not." And since
+these words were written, people have been busily examining in every
+department of human thought, and especially in the domain of religion.
+In particular Christianity has been made the subject of the most
+searching scrutiny. How indeed could we expect that it should escape?
+The greatest fact in the annals of the modern world, it naturally
+invites the researches of the historian. The basis of the system of
+ethics still current amongst us, it peremptorily claims the attention of
+the sociologist. The fount of the metaphysical conceptions accepted in
+Europe, until in the last century, before the "uncreating word" of
+Lockian sensism,</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Philosophy that leaned on Heaven before</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Sinks to her second cause, and is no more,"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>it challenges the investigation of the psychologist. The practical
+result of these inquiries must be allowed to be, to a large extent,
+negative. In many quarters, where thirty or forty years ago we should
+certainly have found acquiescence, honest if dull, in the received
+religious systems of Europe, we now discern incredulity, more or less
+far-reaching, about "revealed religion" altogether, and, at the best,
+"faint possible Theism," in the place of old-fashioned orthodoxy. And
+earnest men, content to bear as best they may their own burden of doubt
+and disappointment, do not dissemble to themselves that the immediate
+outlook is dark and discouraging. Like the French monarch they discern
+the omens of the deluge to come after them; a vast shipwreck of all
+faith, and all virtue, of conscience, of God; brute force, embodied in
+an omnipotent State, the one ark likely to escape submersion in the
+pitiless waters. A world from which the high sanctions of religion,
+hitherto the binding principle of society, are relegated to the domain
+of old wives' fables; a march through life with its brief dream of
+pleasure and long reality of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> thought to lie deeper than <i>all</i> systems.
+Those current abstractions, which make up all the morality and all the
+philosophy of most people, have been brought under suspicion. Mind and
+matter, duties and rights, morality and expediency, honour and interest,
+virtue and vice&mdash;all these words, which seemed once to express
+elementary and certain realities, now strike us as just the words which,
+thrown into the scientific crucible, might dissolve at once. It is thus
+not merely philosophy which is discredited, but just that homely and
+popular wisdom by which common life is guided. This too, it appears,
+instead of being the sterling product of plain experience, is the
+overflow of an immature philosophy, the redundance of the uncontrolled
+speculations of thinkers who were unacquainted with scientific method"
+(p. 8). And then, moreover, there is that great political movement which
+has so largely and directly affected the course of events and the
+organization of society on the Continent of Europe, and which in less
+measure, and with more covert operation, has notably modified our own
+ways of thinking and acting in this country. Now the Revolution in its
+ultimate or Jacobin phase, is the very manifestation, in the public
+order, of the tendency which in the intellectual calls itself
+"scientific." It bitterly and contemptuously rejects the belief in the
+supernatural hitherto accepted in Europe. It wages implacable war upon
+the ancient theology of the world. "It delights in declaring itself
+atheistic"<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> (p. 37). It has "a quarrel with theology as a doctrine.
+'Theology,' it says, even if not exactly opposed to social improvement,
+is a superstition, and as such allied to ignorance and conservatism.
+Granting that its precepts are good, it enforces them by legends and
+fictitious stories which can only influence the uneducated, and
+therefore in order to preserve its influence it must needs oppose
+education. Nor are these stories a mere excrescence of theology, but
+theology itself. For theology is neither more nor less than a doctrine
+of the supernatural. It proclaims a power behind nature which
+occasionally interferes with natural laws. It proclaims another world
+quite different from this in which we live, a world into which what is
+called the soul is believed to pass at death. It believes, in short, in
+a number of things which students of Nature know nothing about, and
+which science puts aside either with respect or with contempt.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>These supernatural doctrines are not merely a part of theology, still
+less separable from theology, but theology consists exclusively of them.
+Take away the supernatural Person, miracles, and the spiritual world,
+you take away theology at the same time, and nothing is left but simple
+Nature and simple Science" (p. 39). Such, as the author of "Ecce Homo"
+considers, is "the question between religion and science" now before the
+world. And his object<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> in his new work is not to inquire whether the
+"negative conclusions so often drawn from modern scientific discoveries
+are warranted," still less to refute them, but to estimate "the precise
+amount of destruction caused by them," admitting, for the sake of
+argument, that they are true. His own judgment upon their truth he
+expressly reserves, with the cautious remarks, that "it is not the
+greatest scientific authorities who are so confident in negation, but
+rather the inferior men who echo their opinions:"<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> that "it is not on
+the morrow of great discoveries that we can best judge of their negative
+effect upon ancient beliefs:" and that he is "disposed to agree with
+those who think that in the end the new views of the Universe will not
+gratify an extreme party quite so much as is now supposed."<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>The argument, then, put forward in "Natural Religion," and put forward,
+as I understand the author, tentatively, and for what it is worth, and
+by no means as expressing his own assured convictions, is this:&mdash;that to
+banish the supernatural from the human mind is "not to destroy theology
+or religion or even Christianity, but in some respects to revive and
+purify all three:"<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> that supernaturalism is not of the essence but of
+the accidents of religion; that "the <i>unmiraculous</i> part of the
+Christian tradition has a value which was long hidden from view by the
+blaze of supernaturalism," and "that so much will this unmiraculous part
+gain by being brought, for the first time into full light ... that faith
+may be disposed to think even that she is well rid of miracle, and that
+she would be indifferent to it, even if she could still believe it" (p.
+254). That religion in some form or another is essential to the world,
+the author apparently no more doubts than I do: indeed he expressly
+warns us that "at this moment we are threatened with a general
+dissolution of states from the decay of religion" (p. 211). "If religion
+fails us," these are his concluding words, "it is only when human life
+itself is proved to be worthless. It may be doubtful whether life is
+worth living, but if religion be what it has been described in this
+book, the principle by which alone life is redeemed from secularity and
+animalism, ... can it be doubtful that if we are to live at all we must
+live,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> and civilization can only live, by religion?" And now let us
+proceed to see what is the hope set before us in this book: and consider
+whether the Natural Religion, which it unfolds, is such a religion as
+the world can live by, as civilization can live by.</p>
+
+
+<h3>III.</h3>
+
+<p>The author of "Natural Religion," it will be remembered, assumes for the
+purposes of his argument, that the supernatural portion of Christianity
+is discredited, is put aside by physical science; that, as M. Renan has
+somewhere tersely expressed it, "there is no such thing as the
+supernatural, but from the beginning of being everything in the world of
+phenomena was preceded by regular laws." Let us consider what this
+involves. It involves the elimination from our creed, not only of the
+miraculous incidents in the history of the Founder of Christianity,
+including, of course, His Resurrection&mdash;the fundamental fact, upon
+which, from St. Paul's time to our own, His religion has been supposed
+to rest&mdash;but all the beliefs, aspirations, hopes, attaching to that
+religion as a system of grace. It destroys theology, because it destroys
+that idea of God from which theology starts, and which it professes to
+unfold. This being so, it might appear that religion is necessarily
+extinguished too. Certainly, in the ordinary sense which the word bears
+among us, it is. "Religio," writes St. Thomas Aquinas, "est virtus
+reddens debitum honorem Deo."<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> And so Cardinal Newman, somewhat more
+fully, "By religion I mean the knowledge of God, of His will, and of our
+duties towards Him;" and he goes on to say that "there are three main
+channels which Nature furnishes us for our acquiring this
+knowledge&mdash;viz., our own minds, the voice of mankind, and the course of
+the world, that is, of human life and human affairs."<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> But that, of
+course, is very far from being what the author of "Ecce Homo" means by
+religion, and by natural religion, in his new book. Its key-note is
+struck in the words of Wordsworth cited on its title-page:&mdash;" We live by
+admiration."<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> Religion he understands to be an "ardent condition of
+the feelings," "habitual and regulated admiration" (p. 129), "worship of
+whatever in the known Universe appears worthy of worship" (p. 161). "To
+have an individuality," he teaches, "is to have an ideal, and to have an
+ideal is to have an object of worship: it is to have a religion" (p.
+136). "Irreligion," on the other hand, is defined as "life without
+worship,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> and is said to consist in "the absence of habitual
+admiration, and in a state of the feelings, not ardent but cold and
+torpid" (p. 129). It would appear then that religion, in its new sense,
+is enthusiasm of well-nigh any kind, but particularly the enthusiasm of
+morality, which is "the religion of right," the enthusiasm of art, which
+is "the religion of beauty," and the enthusiasm of physical science,
+which is "the religion of law and of truth" (p. 125).<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> "Art and
+science," we read, "are not secular, and it is a fundamental error to
+call them so; they have the nature of religion" (p. 127). "The popular
+Christianity of the day, in short, is for the artist too melancholy and
+sedate, and for the man of science too sentimental and superficial; in
+short, it is too melancholy for the one, and not melancholy enough for
+the other. They become, therefore, dissenters from the existing
+religion; sympathizing too little with the popular worship, they worship
+by themselves and dispense with outward forms. But they protest at the
+same time that, in strictness, they separate from the religious bodies
+around them, only because they know of a purer or a happier religion"
+(p. 126). It is useful to turn, from time to time, from the abstract to
+the concrete, in order to steady and purge our mental vision. Let us
+therefore, in passing, gaze upon Th&eacute;ophile Gautier, the high priest of
+the pride of human form, whose unspeakably impure romance has been
+pronounced by Mr. Swinburne to be "the holy writ of beauty;" and, on the
+other, upon Schopenhauer, the most thorough-going and consistent of
+physicists, who reduces all philosophy to a cosmology, and consider
+whether, the author of "Ecce Homo" himself being judge, the religion of
+the one can be maintained to be purer or that of the other to be
+happier, than the most degraded form of popular Christianity. I proceed
+to his declaration, which naturally follows from what has been said,
+that the essence of religion is not in theological dogma nor in ethical
+practice. The really religious man, as we are henceforth to conceive of
+him, is, apparently, the man of sentiment. "The substance of religion is
+culture," which is "a threefold devotion to Goodness, Beauty, and
+Truth," and "the fruit of it the higher life" (p. 145). And the higher
+life is "the influence which draws men's thoughts away from their
+personal existence, making them intensely aware of other existences, to
+which it binds them by strong ties, sometimes of admiration, sometimes
+of awe, sometimes of duty, sometimes of love" (p. 236). And as in the
+individual religion is identified with culture, so, "in its public
+aspect" "it is identical with civilization" (p. 201), which "expresses
+the same threefold religion, shown on a larger scale, in the character,
+institutions, and ways of life of nations" (p. 202). "The great
+civilized community" is "the modern city of God" (p. 204).</p>
+
+<p>But what God? Clearly not that God spoken of by St. Paul&mdash;or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> the author
+of the Epistle to the Hebrews, whoever he was&mdash;"the God of Peace that
+brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that Great Shepherd
+of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant;" for that
+God, the Creator, Witness, and Judge of men&mdash;is assuredly <i>Deus
+absconditus</i>, a hidden God, belonging to "the supernatural;" and the
+hypothesis upon which the author of "Ecce Homo" proceeds in his new work
+is that men have "ceased to believe in anything beyond Nature" (p. 76).
+The best thing for them to do, therefore, he suggests, if they must have
+a God, is to deify Nature. But "Nature, considered as the residuum that
+is left after the elimination of everything supernatural, comprehends
+man with all his thoughts and aspirations, not less than the forms of
+the material world" (p. 78). God, therefore, in the new Natural
+Religion, is to be conceived of as Physical "Nature, including Humanity"
+(p. 69), or "the unity which all things compose in virtue of the
+universal presence of the same laws" (p. 87), which would seem to be no
+more than a Pantheistic expression, its exact value being all that
+exists, the totality of forces, of beings, and of forms. The author of
+"Natural Religion" does not seem to be sanguine that this new Deity will
+win the hearts of men. He anticipates, indeed, the objection "that when
+you substitute Nature for God you take a thing heartless and pitiless
+instead of love and goodness." To this he replies, "If we abandoned our
+belief in the supernatural, it would not be only inanimate Nature that
+would be left to us; we should not give ourselves over, as is often
+rhetorically described, to the mercy of merciless powers&mdash;winds and
+waves, earthquakes, volcanoes, and fire. The God we should believe in
+would not be a passionless, utterly inhuman power." "Nature, in the
+sense in which we are now using the word, includes humanity, and
+therefore, so far from being pitiless, includes all the pity that
+belongs to the whole human race, and all the pity that they have
+accumulated, and, as it were, capitalised in institutions political,
+social and ecclesiastical, through countless generations" (pp. 68-9).</p>
+
+<p>He, then, who would not "shock modern views of the Universe" (p. 157)
+must thus think of the Deity. And so Atheism acquires a new meaning. "It
+is," we read, "a disbelief in the <i>existence</i> of God&mdash;that is, a
+disbelief in <i>any</i> regularity in the Universe to which a man must
+conform himself under penalties" (p. 27); a definition which surely is a
+little hard upon the <i>libres-penseurs</i>, as taking the bread out of their
+mouths. I remember hearing, not long ago, in Paris, of a young Radical
+diplomatist who, with the good taste which characterizes the school now
+dominant in French politics, took occasion to mention to a well-known
+ecclesiastical statesman that he was an Atheist. "O de l'ath&eacute;isme &agrave;
+votre &acirc;ge," said the Nuncio, with a benign smile: "pourquoi, quand
+l'impi&eacute;t&eacute; suffit et ne vous engage &agrave; rien?" But with the new
+signifi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>cation imposed upon the word, a profession of Atheism would
+pledge one in quite another sense: it would be equivalent to a
+profession of insanity; for where, except among the wearers of
+strait-waistcoats or the occupants of padded rooms, shall we find a man
+who does not believe in some regularity in the universe to which he must
+conform himself under penalties? But let us follow the author of
+"Natural Religion" a step further in his inquiry. "In what relation does
+this religion stand to our Christianity, to our churches, and religious
+denominations?" (p. 139). Certainly, we may safely agree with him that
+"it has a difficulty in identifying itself with any of the organized
+systems," and as safely that the "conception of a spiritual city," of an
+"organ of civilization," of an "interpreter of human society," is
+"precisely what is now needed" (p. 223). "The tide of thought,
+scepticism, and discovery, which has set in ... must be warded off the
+institutions which it attacks as recklessly as if its own existence did
+not depend upon them. It introduces everywhere a sceptical condition of
+mind, which it recommends as the only way to real knowledge; and yet if
+such scepticism became practical, if large communities came to regard
+every question in politics and law as absolutely open, their
+institutions would dissolve, and science, among other things, would be
+buried in the ruin. Modern thought brings into vogue a speculative
+Nihilism ... but unintentionally it creates at the same time a practical
+Nihilism.... There is a mine under modern society which, if we consider
+it, has been the necessary result of the abeyance in recent times of the
+idea of the Church" (p. 208). In fact, as our author discerns, the
+existence of civilization is at stake. "It can live only by religion"
+(p. 262). "On religion depends the whole fabric of civilization, all the
+future of mankind" (p. 218). The remedy which he suggests is that the
+Natural Religion which we have been considering, the new "universal
+religion," should "be concentrated in a doctrine," should "embody itself
+in a Church" (p. 207). "This Church," we are told, "exists already, a
+vast communion of all who are inspired by the culture and civilization
+of the age. But it is unconscious, and perhaps, if it could attain to
+consciousness, it might organize itself more deliberately and
+effectively" (p. 212). The precise mode of such organization is not
+indicated, but its main function it appears would be to diffuse an
+"adequate doctrine of civilization," and especially to teach "science,"
+in "itself a main part of religion, as the grand revelation of God in
+these later times," and also the theory "of the gradual development of
+human society, which alone can explain to us the past state of affairs,
+give us the clue to history, save us from political aberrations, and
+point the direction of progress" (p. 209). Of the <i>clerus</i> of the new
+Natural Church we read as follows:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"If we really believe that a case can be made out for civilization,
+this case must be presented by popular teachers, and their most
+indispensable qualification will be independence. They perhaps will
+be able to show, that happiness or even universal comfort is not,
+and never has been, within quite so easy reach, that it cannot be
+taken by storm, and that as for the institutions left us from the
+past they are no more diabolical than they are divine, being the
+fruit of necessary development far more than of free-will or
+calculation. Such teachers would be the free clergy of modern
+civilization. It would be their business to investigate and to
+teach the true relation of man to the universe and to society, the
+true Ideal he should worship, the true vocation of particular
+nations, the course which the history of mankind has taken
+hitherto, in order that upon a full view of what is possible and
+desirable men may live and organize themselves for the future. In
+short, the modern Church is to do what Hebrew prophecy did in its
+fashion for the Jews, and what bishops and Popes did according to
+their lights for the Roman world when it laboured in the tempest,
+and for barbaric tribes first submitting themselves to be taught.
+Another grand object of the modern Church would be to teach and
+organize the outlying world, which for the first time in history
+now lies prostrate at the feet of Christian civilization. Here are
+the ends to be gained. These once recognized, the means are to be
+determined by their fitness alone" (p. 221).</p></div>
+
+
+<h3>IV.</h3>
+
+<p>So much must suffice to indicate the essential features of the religion
+which would be left us after the elimination of the supernatural. And
+now we are to consider whether this religion will suffice for the wants
+of the world; whether it is a religion "which shall appeal to the sense
+of duty as forcibly, preach righteousness and truth, justice and mercy,
+as solemnly and as exclusively as Christianity itself does" (p. 157).
+Surely to state the question is enough. In fact the author of "Natural
+Religion" quite recognizes that "to many, if not most, of those who feel
+the need of religion, all that has been offered in this book will
+perhaps at first seem offered in derision" (p. 260), and frankly owns
+that "whether it deserves to be called a faith at all, whether it
+justifies men in living, and in calling others into life, may be
+doubted" (p. 66). He tells us that "the thought of a God revealed in
+Nature," which he has suggested, does not seem to him "by any means
+satisfactory, or worthy to replace the Christian view, or even as a
+commencement from which we must rise by logical necessity to the
+Christian view" (p. 25) and it must be hard not to agree with him. It is
+difficult to suppose that any one who considers the facts o&pound; life, who
+contemplates not the <i>individua vaga</i> of theories, but the men and women
+of this working-day world can think otherwise. Surely no one who really
+surveys mankind as they are, as they have been in the past, and, so far
+as we are able to judge, will be in the future, can suppose that this
+Natural Religion, even if embodied in a Natural Church, and equipped
+with "a free clergy," will meet their wants, or win their affections, or
+satisfy those "strange yearnings" of which we read in Plato, and which,
+in one form or another, stir every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> human soul; which we may trace in
+the chatterings of the poor Neapolitan crone to her Crucifix, or in the
+hallelujahs of "Happy Sal" at a Salvationist "Holiness Meeting," as
+surely as in the profoundest speculations of the Angelic Doctor, or in
+the loftiest periods of Bossuet. Can any one, in this age of all others,
+when, as the revelations of the physical world bring home to us so
+overwhelmingly what Pascal calls "the abyss of the boundless immensity
+of which I know nothing, and you know nothing," man sinks to an
+insignificance which, the apt word of the author of "Natural Religion"
+"petrifies" him, can&mdash;can any one believe that the compound of
+Pantheistic Positivism and Christian sentiment&mdash;if we may so account of
+it&mdash;set forth in these brilliant pages, will avail to redeem men from
+animalism and secularity? But, indeed, we need not here rest in the
+domain of mere speculation. The experiment has been tried. Not quite a
+century ago, when Chaumette's "Goddess of Reason," and Robespierre's
+"Supreme Being," had disappeared from the altars of France, La
+Reveill&egrave;re-Lepeaux essayed to introduce a Natural Religion under the
+name of Theophilanthropy<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> to satisfy the spiritual needs of the
+country over which he ruled as a member of the Directory, Chernin
+Dupont&eacute;s, Dupont de Nemours and Bernardin de St. Pierre constituting
+with himself the four Evangelists of the new cult. The first mentioned
+of these must, indeed, be regarded as its inventor, and his "Manuel des
+Th&eacute;ophilanthrophiles" supplies the fullest exposition of it. But it was
+La Reveill&egrave;re-Lepeaux whose influence gave form and actuality to the
+speculations of Chemin, and whose credit obtained for the new sect the
+use of some dozen of the principal churches of Paris, and of the choir
+and organ of Notre Dame. The formal <i>d&eacute;but</i> of the new religion may,
+perhaps, be dated from the 1st of May, 1797, when La Reveill&egrave;re read to
+the Institute a memoir in which he justified its introduction upon
+grounds very similar to those urged in our own day against "the
+theological view of the universe." Moreover, he insisted that
+Catholicism was opposed to sound morality, that its worship was
+antisocial, and that its clergy&mdash;whom he contemptuously denominated <i>la
+pr&ecirc;traille</i>, and whom he did his best to exterminate&mdash;were the enemies
+of the human race. In its leading features the new Church resembled very
+closely the system which we have just been considering, offered to the
+world by the author of "Ecce Homo." It identified the Deity with
+Nature:<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> religion, considered subjectively, with sentiment, and
+objectively, with civilization; and it regarded Atheists and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> the
+adherents of all forms of faith&mdash;with the sole exception of Catholics
+&mdash;as eligible for its communion. Its dogmas, if one may so speak, were a
+hotchpotch of fine phrases about beauty, truth, right, and the like,
+culled from writers of all creeds and of no creed. Its chief public
+function consisted in the singing of a hymn to "the Father of the
+Universe," to a tune composed by one Gossee, a musician much in vogue at
+that time, and in lections chosen from Confucius, Vyasa, Zoroaster,
+Theognis, Cleanthes, Aristotle, Plato, La Bruy&egrave;re, F&eacute;n&eacute;lon, Voltaire,
+Rousseau, Young, and Franklin, the Sacred Scriptures of Christianity
+being carefully excluded on account, as may be supposed, of their
+alleged opposition to "sound morality." The priests of the "Natural
+Religion" were vested in sky-blue tunics, extending from the neck to the
+feet, and fastened at the waist by a red girdle, over which was a white
+robe open before. Such was the costume in which La Reveill&eacute;re-Lepeaux
+exhibited himself to his astonished countrymen, and having the
+misfortune to be&mdash;as we are told&mdash;"petit, bossu, et puant," the
+exhibition obtained no great success. It must be owned, however, that
+the Natural Church did its best to fill the void caused by the
+disappearance of the Christian religion. It even went so far as to
+provide substitutes for the Sacraments of Catholicism. At the rite which
+took the place of baptism, the father himself officiated, and, in lieu
+of the questions prescribed in the Roman Ritual, asked the godfather,
+"Do you promise before God and men to teach N. or M. from the dawn of
+his reason to adore God, to cherish (<i>ch&eacute;rir</i>) his fellows, and to make
+himself useful to his country?" And the godfather, holding the child
+towards heaven, replied, "I promise." Then followed the inevitable
+"discourse," and a hymn of which the concluding lines were:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Puisse un jour cet enfant honorer sa patrie,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Et s'applaudir d'avoir v&eacute;cu."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>So much must suffice as to the Natural Church during the time that it
+existed among men as a fact, or, in the words of the author of "Ecce
+Homo," as "an attempt to treat the subject of religion in a practical
+manner." But, backed as it was by the influence of a despotic
+government, and <i>felix opportunitate</i> as it must be deemed to have been
+in the period of its establishment, very few were added to it.
+Whereupon, as the author of "Ecce Homo" relates, not without a touch of
+gentle irony, La Reveill&egrave;re confided to Talleyrand<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> his
+disappointment at his ill-success. "'His propaganda made no way,' he
+said, 'What was he to do?' he asked. The ex-bishop politely condoled
+with him, feared indeed it was a difficult task to found a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> new
+religion&mdash;more difficult than could be imagined, so difficult that he
+hardly knew what to advise! 'Still'&mdash;he went on, after a moment's
+reflection&mdash;'there is one plan which you might at least try: I should
+recommend you to be crucified, and to rise again the third day'" (p.
+181). Is the author of "Ecce Homo" laughing in his sleeve at us? Surely
+his keen perception must have suggested to him, as he wrote this
+passage, "mutato nomine, deme." It may be confidently predicted
+that, unless he is prepared to carry out Talleyrand's suggestion, the
+Natural Religion which he exhibits "to meet the wants of a sceptical
+age" will prove even a more melancholy failure than it proved when
+originally introduced a century ago by La Reveill&egrave;re-Lepeaux.</p>
+
+
+<h3>V.</h3>
+
+<p>Are we then thrown back on Pessimism&mdash;"the besetting difficulty of
+Natural Religion" (p. 104), as the author of "Ecce Homo" confesses? Is
+that after all the key to the enigma of life? And is the prospect before
+the world that "universal darkness" which is to supervene, when, in the
+noble verse of the great moral poet of the last century&mdash;the noblest he
+ever wrote&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Religion, blushing, veils her sacred fires,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And unawares morality expires;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Nor public flame, nor private, dares to shine,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>I venture to think otherwise. And as with regard to the subject of which
+I am writing, it may be said that "egotism is true modesty," I shall
+venture to say why I think so, even at the risk of wearying by a
+twice-told tale, for I shall have to go over well-worn ground, and I
+must of necessity tread more or less in the footprints of others. The
+reasons which satisfy me have satisfied, and do satisfy, intellects far
+more subtle, acute, and penetrating than mine. All I can do is to state
+them in the way in which they present themselves to my own mind. I shall
+be genuine, if not original, although indeed I might here shelter myself
+under a dictum&mdash;profoundly true it is&mdash;of Mr. Ruskin: "That virtue of
+originality that men so strive after is not newness, as they vainly
+think (there is nothing new) it is only genuineness."</p>
+
+<p>Cardinal Newman, in writing to me a few weeks ago, suggests the pregnant
+inquiry, "Which is the greater assumption? that we can do without
+religion, or that we can find a substitute for Christianity?" I have
+hitherto been surveying the substitute for Christianity which the author
+of "Ecce Homo" has exhibited to the world in his new book. I shall now
+briefly consider the question whether the need for such a substitute
+does in truth exist. The book, as I have already more than once noted,
+assumes that it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> does. It takes "the scientific view frankly at its
+worst"<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> as throwing discredit upon the belief "that a Personal Will
+is the cause of the Universe, that that Will is perfectly benevolent,
+that that Will has sometimes interfered by miracles with the order of
+the Universe," which three propositions are considered by its author to
+sum up the theological view of the universe. "If," he writes, "these
+propositions exhaust [that view] and science throws discredit upon all
+of them, evidently theology and science are irreconcilable, and the
+contest between them must end in the destruction of one or the other"
+(p. 13). I remark in passing, first, that no theologian&mdash;certainly no
+Catholic theologian&mdash;would accept these three propositions as exhausting
+the theological view of the universe; and secondly, that if we were
+obliged to admit that physical science throws discredit upon that view,
+it would by no means necessarily follow that physical science and
+theology are irreconcilable, for ampler knowledge might remove the
+discredit.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"What do we see? Each man a space,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Of some few yards before his face.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Can that the whole wide plan explain?</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Ah no! Consider it again."</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>But is it true, as a matter of fact, that physical science throws
+discredit upon these three propositions? Let us examine this question a
+little. I must of necessity be brief in the limits to which I am here
+confined, and I must use the plainest language, for I am writing not for
+the school but for the general reader. Brevity and plainness of speech
+do not, however, necessarily imply superficiality, which, in truth, is
+not unfrequently veiled by a prolix parade of pompous technicalities.</p>
+
+<p>First, then, as to causation. The shepherd in the play, when asked by
+Touchstone, "Hast any philosophy in thee?" replies, "No more but that I
+know that the property of rain is to wet, and fire to burn; that good
+pasture makes fat sheep: and that a great cause of the night is lack of
+the sun," and upon the strength of this knowledge is pronounced by the
+clown to be "a natural philosopher." Well, is not in truth the "science"
+of the mere physicist, however accomplished, <i>in pari materia</i> with that
+of honest Corin? He observes certain sequences of facts, certain
+antecedents and consequents, but of the <i>nexus</i> between them he knows no
+more than the most ignorant and foolish of peasants. He talks, indeed,
+of the laws of Nature, but the expression, convenient as it is in some
+respects, and true as it is in a sense&mdash;and that the highest&mdash;is
+extremely likely to mislead, as he uses it ordinarily. What he calls a
+law of Nature is only an induction from observed phenomena, a formula
+which serves compendiously to express them. As Dr. Mozley has well
+observed in his Bampton<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> Lectures, "we only know of law in Nature, in
+the sense of recurrences in Nature, classes of facts, <i>like</i> facts in
+Nature:"<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"In vain the sage with retrospective eye</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Would from the apparent what conclude the why;"</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>physical "science has itself proclaimed the truth that we see no causes
+in nature"<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a>&mdash;that is to say, in the phenomena of the external world,
+taken by themselves. We read in Bacci's "Life of St. Philip Neri" that
+the Saint drew men to the service of God by such a subtle irresistible
+influence as caused those who watched him to cry out in amazement,
+"Father Philip draws souls, as the magnet draws iron." The most
+accomplished master of natural science is as little competent to explain
+the physical attraction as he is to explain the spiritual. He cannot get
+behind the <i>fact</i>, and if you press him for the reason of it&mdash;if you ask
+him why the magnet draws iron&mdash;the only reason he has to give you is,
+"Because it does." It is just as true now as it was when Bishop Butler
+wrote in the last century that "the only distinct meaning of the word
+[natural] is, stated, fixed, or settled," and it is hard to see how he
+can be refuted when, travelling beyond the boundaries of physics, he
+goes on to add, "What is natural as much requires and presupposes an
+intelligent agent to render it so&mdash;<i>i.e.</i>, to effect it continually, or
+at stated times&mdash;as what is supernatural or miraculous does to effect it
+for once."<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> Then, again, the indications of design in the universe
+may well speak to us of a Designer, as they spoke three thousand years
+ago to the Hebrew poet who wrote the Psalm "<i>C&oelig;li enarrant</i>," as they
+spoke but yesterday to the severely disciplined intellect of John Stuart
+Mill, who, brushing aside the prepossessions and prejudices of a
+lifetime, has recorded his deliberate judgment that "there is a large
+balance in favour of the probability of creation by intelligence."<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a>
+Sir William Thomson, no mean authority upon a question of physical
+science, goes further, and speaks not of "a large balance of
+probability," but of "overpowering proofs." "Overpowering proofs," he
+told the British Association, "of intelligence and benevolent design,
+lie all around us; and if ever perplexities, whether metaphysical or
+scientific, turn us away from them for a time, they come back upon us
+with irresistible force, showing to us through Nature the influence of a
+free will, and teaching us that all living beings depend upon one
+ever-acting Creator and Ruler."<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> And, once more, it is indubitable
+that matter is inert until acted upon by force, and that we have no
+knowledge of any other primary<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> cause of force than will.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> Whence, as
+Mr. Wallace argues in his well-known work, "it does not seem improbable
+that all force may be will-force, and that the whole universe is not
+merely dependent upon, but actually is, the will of higher intelligences
+or of one Supreme Intelligence."<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p>
+
+<p>If then things are so&mdash;as who can disprove?&mdash;we may reasonably demur to
+the assertion that physical science throws discredit upon the position
+that a Personal Will is the cause of the universe. Let us now glance at
+the last of the propositions supposed to be condemned by the researches
+of the physicists&mdash;namely, that this Personal Will has sometimes
+interfered by miracles with the order of the universe. Now, here, as I
+intimated in an earlier portion of this article, I find myself at
+variance with the author of "Natural Religion" upon a question, and a
+very important question, of terminology. I do not regard the
+supernatural as an interference with, or violation of, the order of the
+universe. I adopt, unreservedly, the doctrine that "nothing is that errs
+from law." The phenomena which we call supernatural and those which we
+call natural, I view as alike the expression of the Divine Will: a Will
+which acts not capriciously, nor, as the phrase is, arbitrarily, but by
+law, "attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter suaviterque disponens
+omnia." And so the theologians identify the Divine Will with the Divine
+Reason. Thus St. Augustine, "Lex &aelig;terna est ratio divina vel voluntas
+Dei,"<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> and St. Thomas Aquinas, "Lex &aelig;terna summa ratio in Deo
+existens."<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> It is by virtue of this law that the sick are healed,
+whether by the prayer of faith or the prescription of a physician, by
+the touch of a relic or by a shock from a galvanic battery; that the
+Saint draws souls and that the magnet draws iron. The most ordinary
+so-called "operations of Nature" may be truly described in the words of
+St. Gregory as God's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> daily miracles;<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> and those events, commonly
+denominated miraculous, of which we read in the Sacred Scriptures, in
+the Lives of the Saints, and elsewhere, may as truly be called natural,
+using the word in what, as I just now observed, Bishop Butler notes as
+its only distinct meaning&mdash;namely, stated, fixed, or settled;<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> for
+they are the normal manifestations of the order of Grace&mdash;an order
+external to us, invisible, inaccessible to our senses and reasonings,
+but truly existing and governed by laws, which, like the laws of the
+physical and the intellectual order, are ordained by the Supreme
+Lawgiver. Once purge the mind of anthropomorphic conceptions as to the
+Divine Government, and the notion of any essential opposition between
+the natural and the supernatural disappears. Sanctity, which means
+likeness to God, a partaking of the Divine nature, is as truly a force
+as light or heat, and enters as truly into the great order of the
+universe. There is a passage in M. Renan's "Vie de J&eacute;sus" worth citing
+in this connection. "La nature lui ob&eacute;it," he writes; "mais elle ob&eacute;it
+aussi &agrave; quiconque croit et prie; la foi peut tout. Il faut se rappeler
+que nulle id&eacute;e des lois de la nature ne venait, dans son esprit ni dans
+celui de ses auditeurs, marquer la limite de l'impossible.... Ces mots
+de 'surhumain' et de 'surnaturel,' emprunt&eacute;s &agrave; notre th&eacute;ologie mesquine,
+n'avaient pas de sens dans la haute conscience religieuse de J&eacute;sus. Pour
+lui, la nature et le d&eacute;veloppement de l'humanit&eacute; n'&eacute;taient pas des
+r&egrave;gnes limit&eacute;s hors de Dieu, de ch&eacute;tives r&eacute;alit&eacute;s assujetties aux lois
+d'un empirisme d&eacute;sesperant. Il n'y avait pas pour lui de surnaturel, car
+il n'y avait pas pour lui de nature. Ivre de l'amour infini, il oubliait
+la lourde cha&icirc;ne qui tient l'esprit captif; il franchissait d'un bond
+l'ab&icirc;me, infranchissable pour la plupart, que la m&eacute;diocrit&eacute; des facult&eacute;s
+humaines trace entre l'homme et Dieu."<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> These words<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> seem to me to
+express a great truth. The religious mind conceives of the natural, not
+as opposed to the supernatural, but as an outlying province of it; of
+the economy of the physical world as the complement of the economy of
+Grace. And to those who thus think, the great objection urged by so many
+philosophers, from Spinoza downwards&mdash;not to go further back&mdash;that
+miracles, as the violation of an unchangeable order, make God contradict
+himself, and so are unworthy of being attributed to the All-Wise, is
+without meaning. The most stupendous incident in the "Acta Sanctorum"
+is, as I deem, not less the manifestation of law than is the fall of a
+sparrow.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> The budding of a rose and the Resurrection of Jesus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> Christ
+are equally the effect of the One Motive Force, which is the cause of
+all phenomena, of the Volition of the Maker, Nourisher, Guardian,
+Governor, Worker, Perfecter of all. Once admit what is involved in the
+very idea of God as it exists in Catholic theology&mdash;as it is set forth,
+for example, in the treatise of St. Thomas Aquinas "De Deo"&mdash;and the
+notion of miracles as abnormal, as infractions of order, as violations
+of law, will be seen to be utterly erroneous.</p>
+
+<p>And now one word as to the bearing of physical science upon the doctrine
+of the Divine goodness<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a>&mdash;the second of the theological positions
+which, as we have seen, the author of "Natural Religion" assumes to be
+discredited by physical science. No doubt he had in his mind what has
+been so strongly stated by the late Mr. Mill: "Not even on the most
+distorted and contracted theory of good, which ever was framed by
+religious or philosophical fanaticism, can the government of Nature be
+made to resemble the work of a being at once good and omnipotent."<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a>
+Now there can be no question that physical nature gives the lie to that
+shallow optimism, which prates of the best of all conceivable worlds,
+and hardly consents to recognize evil, save as "a lower form of good;"
+unquestionably recent researches of physicists have brought out with
+quite startling clearness what St. Paul calls the subjection of the
+creature to vanity. Ruin, waste, decay are written upon every feature of
+the natural order. All that is joyful in it is based on suffering; all
+that lives, on death; every thrill of pleasure which we receive from the
+outward world is the outcome of inconceivable agonies during
+incalculable periods of time. But how does this discredit the teaching
+of theology as to God's goodness? Theology recognizes, and recognizes
+far more fully than the mere physicist, the abounding misery that is in
+the world, the terribleness of that "unutterable curse which hangs upon
+mankind," for it sees not only what he sees, but what is infinitely
+sadder and more appalling, the vision of moral evil presented by the
+heart and conscience of man, by every page in the history of the
+individual and of the race. It was not reserved for professors of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>
+physical science in the nineteenth century to bring to light the fact
+that "the world is out of joint," and thereby to discredit the
+theological view of the universe. Theology knows only too well that life
+is "a dread machinery of sin and sorrow." It is the very existence of
+the vast aboriginal calamity, whatever it may have been, in which the
+human race, the whole creation, is involved, that forms the ground for
+the need of the revelation which Christianity professes to bring. If
+there were no evil, there would be no need of a deliverance from evil.
+Of course, why evil has been suffered to arise, why it is suffered to
+exist, by the Perfect Being, of whom it is truly said that He is God,
+because he is the highest Good, we know not, and no search will make us
+know. All we know is that it is not from Him, of whom, and for whom, and
+by whom, are all things; "because it has no substance of its own, but is
+only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has
+substance." The existence of evil is a mystery&mdash;one of the countless
+mysteries surrounding human life&mdash;which, after the best use of reason,
+must be put aside as beyond reason. But it is also a fact, and a fact
+which is so far from discrediting the theological view of the universe,
+that it is a primary and necessary element of that view.</p>
+
+
+<h3>VI.</h3>
+
+<p>Thus much as to physical science and the propositions in which the
+author of "Natural Religion" supposes the theological view of the
+universe to be summed up. But, as he notes, the case urged in the
+present day against Christianity does not rest merely upon physical
+science, properly so called; but upon the extension of its methods to
+the whole domain of knowledge (p. 7), the practical effect being the
+reduction of religion to superstition, of anthropology to physiology, of
+metaphysics to physics, of ethics to the result of temperament or the
+promptings of self-interest, of man's personality to the summation of a
+series of dynamic conditions of particles of matter. I shall proceed to
+state the case, as I often hear it stated, and I shall put it in the
+strongest way I can, and to indicate the answer which, at all events,
+has satisfied one mind, after long and patient consideration, and in
+spite of strong contrary prepossessions. And this evidently has the most
+direct bearing on my theme. If Christianity be irrational, its claims to
+the world's future may at once be dismissed. But if, as I very strongly
+hold, the achievements of the modern mind, whether in the physical
+sciences, in psychology, in history, in exegetical criticism, have not
+in the least discredited Christianity, as rightly understood, here is a
+fact which is a most important factor in determining our judgment as to
+the religious prospect of mankind. What I have to say on this grave
+question I must reserve for the Second Part of this article. I end the
+First Part with one observa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>tion. It seems to me that the issue before
+the world is between Christianity and a more or less sublimated form of
+Materialism&mdash;not necessarily Atheistic, nay, sometimes approximating to
+"faint possible Theism"&mdash;which is most aptly termed Naturalism; a system
+which rejects as antiquated the ideas of final causes, of Providence, of
+the soul and its immortality; which allows of no other realities than
+those of the physical order, and makes of Nature man's highest ideal:
+and this issue is not in the least affected by decking out Naturalism in
+some borrowed garments of Spiritualism, and calling it "Natural
+Christianity."</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">W. S. Lilly.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> "La G&eacute;nie des Religions," l. i. c. i.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, c. iv.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> The author of "Natural Religion" thinks it mistaken in so
+declaring itself. "Its invectives against God and against Religion do
+not prove that it is atheistic, but only that it thinks itself so. And
+why does it think itself so? Because God and Religion are identified in
+its view with the Catholic Church; and the Catholic Church is a thing so
+very redoubtable that we need scarcely inquire why it is passionately
+hated and feared" (p. 37). But this is an error. God and Religion are
+not identified, in the view of the Revolution, with the Catholic Church.
+It will be evident to anyone who will read its accredited organs that it
+is as implacably hostile to religious Protestantism as to Catholicism.
+Perhaps I may be allowed to refer, on this subject, to some remarks of
+my own in an article entitled "Free Thought&mdash;French and English,"
+published in this <span class="smcap">Review</span>, in February last, p. 241.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> See his Preface to the Second Edition.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Warburton, a shrewd observer enough, expressed the same
+view a hundred years ago, with characteristic
+truculence:&mdash;"Mathematicians&mdash;I do not mean the inventors and geniuses
+amongst them, whom I honour, but the Demonstrators of others'
+inventions, who are ten times duller and prouder than a damned
+poet&mdash;have a strange aversion to everything that smacks of
+religion."&mdash;<i>Letters to Hurd</i>, xix.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Preface to Second Edition, p. vii.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. v.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Summa, 1<sup>ma</sup> 2<sup>de</sup> qu. 60, art. 3.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> "Grammar of Assent," p. 389. 5th ed.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> What Wordsworth says is&mdash;
+</p><p><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"We live by Admiration, Hope, and Love,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And, even as these are well and wisely fixed,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">In dignity of being we ascend."</span><br />
+</p>
+<p>
+This is widely different from the nude proposition that "we live by
+admiration."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> See also p. 127.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> A good deal of information about Theophilanthropy and the
+Theophilanthropists, in an undigested and, indeed, chaotic state, will
+be found in Gr&eacute;goire's "Histoire des Sectes Religieuses," vol. i.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> The Theophilanthropists were most anxious that the object
+of their worship should not be supposed to be the Christian God. Thus in
+one of their hymns their Deity is invoked as follows:&mdash;
+</p><p><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">"Non, tu n'es pas le <i>Dieu</i> dont le pr&ecirc;tre est l'ap&ocirc;tre,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Tu n'as point par la Bible enseign&eacute; les humains."</span><br />
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> The author of "Natural Religion" says, Talleyrand; I do
+not know on what authority. Gr&eacute;goire writes:&mdash;"Au Directoire m&ecirc;me on le
+raillait sur son z&egrave;le th&ecirc;ophilantropique. Un de ses coll&egrave;gues, dit-on,
+lui proposait de se faire pendre et de ressusciter le troisi&egrave;me jour,
+comme l'infaillible moyen de faire triompher sa secte, et Carnot lui
+d&eacute;coche dans son <i>M&eacute;moire</i> des &eacute;pigrammes sanglantes &agrave; ce
+sujet."&mdash;<i>Histoire des Sectes Religieuses</i>, vol. I. p. 406. Talleyrand
+was never a member of the Directory.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Preface to second edition.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> "Eight Lectures on Miracles," p. 50.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> See Dr. Mozley's note on this passage.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> "Analogy." Part I. c. i. I give, of course, Bishop
+Butler's words as I find them, but, as will be seen a little later, I do
+not quite take his view of the supernatural.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> "Three Essays on Religion," p. 174.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> "Address to the British Association," 1871.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> I say "<i>primary</i> cause;" of course I do not deny <i>its own
+proper causality</i> to the non-spiritual or matter.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> "Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection," p.
+368. I am, of course, aware of Mr. Mill's remarks upon this view in his
+"Three Essays on Religion" (pp. 146-150). The subject is too great to be
+discussed in a footnote. But I may observe that he rests, at bottom,
+upon the assumption&mdash;surely an enormous assumption&mdash;that causation is
+order. Cardinal Newman's argument upon this matter in the "Grammar of
+Assent" (pp. 66-72, 5th ed.) seems to me to be unanswerable; certainly,
+it is unanswered. I have no wish to dogmatize&mdash;the dogmatism, indeed,
+appears to be on the other side&mdash;but if we go by experience, as it is
+now the fashion to do, our initial elementary experience would certainly
+lead us to consider will the great or only cause. To guard against a
+possible misconception let me here say that I must not be supposed to
+adopt Mr. Wallace's view in its entirety or precisely as stated by him.
+Of course, the analogy between the human will and the Divine Will is
+imperfect, and Mr. Mill appears to me to be well founded in denying that
+<i>our</i> volition originates. My contention is that Matter is inert until
+Force has been brought to bear upon it: that all Force must be due to a
+Primary Force of which it is the manifestation or the effect: that the
+Primary Force cannot exert itself unless it be self-determined: that to
+be self-determined is to be living: that to be primarily and utterly
+self-determined is to be an infinitely self-conscious volition: <i>ergo</i>,
+the primary cause of Force is the Will of God. This is the logical
+development of the famous argument of St. Thomas Aquinas. He contends
+that whatever things are moved must be moved by that which is not moved:
+<i>a movente non moto</i>. But Suarez and later writers complete the argument
+by analyzing the term <i>movens non motum</i>, which they consider equivalent
+to <i>Ens a se, in se, et per se</i>, or <i>Actus Purissimus</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> "Contra Faustum," 22.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Summa, 1, 2, qu. 83, art. 1. But on this and the preceding
+quotation, see the note on page 118.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> "Quotidiana Dei miracula ex assiduitate vilescunt."&mdash;<i>Hom.
+xxvi. in Evan</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> "Stated, fixed, or settled" is a predicate common to
+natural and supernatural, not the <i>differentia</i> of either. And here let
+me remark that the expression, "Laws of Nature," is a modern technical
+expression which the Catholic philosopher would require, probably, to
+have defined before employing it. "Natura," in St. Thomas Aquinas, is
+declared to be "Principium operationis cujusque rei," the Essence of a
+thing in relation to its activity, or the Essence as manifested
+<i>agendo</i>. Hence "Natura rerum," or "Universitas rerum" (which is the
+Latin for Nature in the phrase "Laws of Nature") means the Essences of
+all things created (finite) as manifested and related to each other by
+their proper inherent activities, which of course are stable or fixed.
+But since it is not a logical contradiction that these activities should
+be suspended, arrested, or annihilated (granting an Infinite Creator),
+it will not be contrary to <i>Reason</i> should a miraculous intervention so
+deal with them, though their suspension or annihilation may be
+described, loosely and inaccurately, as against the Laws of Nature. By
+<i>Reason</i> is here meant the declarations of necessary Thought as to
+possibility and impossibility, or the canons of contradiction, the only
+proper significance of the word in discussions about miracles. Hence, to
+say that miracles have their laws, is not to deny that they are by the
+Free Will of God. For creation is by the Fiat of Divine Power and
+Freedom, and yet proceeds upon law&mdash;that is to say, upon a settled plan
+and inherent sequence of cause and effect. But it is common with Mr.
+Mill and his school to think of law as <i>necessary inviolable</i> sequence;
+whereas it is but a fixed mode of action whether <i>necessarily or freely</i>
+determined; and it is a part of law that some activities should be
+liable to suspension or arrestment by others, and especially by the
+First Cause.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> "Vie de J&eacute;sus," p. 247.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> When Mr. Mill says ("Three Essays on Religion," p. 224),
+"The argument that a miracle may be the fulfilment of a law in the same
+sense in which the ordinary events of Nature are fulfilments of laws,
+seems to indicate an imperfect conception of what is meant by a law and
+what constitutes a miracle," all he really means is that this argument
+involves a conception of law and of miracle different from his own,
+which is undoubtedly true. Upon this subject I remark as follows: There
+is a necessary will (<i>spontaneum non liberum</i>) and a free will(<i>liberum
+non spontaneum</i>); and these are in God on the scale of infinite
+perfection, as they are in man finitely. With Mr. Mill, as I have
+observed in a previous note, Law is taken to signify "invariable,
+necessary sequence;" and its test is, that given the same circumstances,
+the same thing will occur. But it is essential to Free Will (whether in
+God or man) that given the same circumstances, the same thing need not,
+may not, and perhaps will not, occur. However, an act may be free <i>in
+causa</i> which <i>hic et nunc must</i> happen; the Free Will having done that
+by choice which brings as a necessary consequence something else. For
+there are many things which would involve contradiction and so be
+impossible, did not certain consequences follow them. This premised, it
+is clear that the antithesis of Mr. Mill's "Law" is Free Will. Law and
+antecedent necessity to Mr. Mill are one and the same. But Law in
+Catholic terminology means the Will of God decreeing freely or not
+freely, according to the subject-matter; and is not opposed to
+Free-Will. It guides, it need not coerce or necessitate, though it may.
+Neither in one sense, is Law synonymous with Reason, for that is
+according to Reason, simply, which does not involve a contradiction,
+whether it be done freely or of necessity; and many things are possible,
+or non-contradictives, that Law does not prescribe. Nor again does
+Free-Will mean lawless in the sense of irrational; or causeless, in the
+sense of having no motive: "contra legem," "pr&aelig;ter legem" is not
+"contra rationem," "prater rationem." The Divine Will, then, may be
+free, yet act according to Law, namely, its own freely-determined Law.
+And it may act "not according to Law," and yet act according to Reason.
+In this sense, then, theologians identify the Divine Will with the
+Divine Reason&mdash;I mean, they insist that God's Will is always according
+to Reason&mdash;in this sense, but, as I think, not in any other. For the
+Divine Will is antecedently free as regards all things which are not
+God; but the Divine Intellect is not free in the same way. St. Augustine
+always tends to view things in the concrete, not distinguishing their
+"rationes formales," or distinguishing them vaguely. And Ratio with him
+does not mean Reason merely, but living Reason or the Reasoning Being,
+the Soul. When St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of Lex &AElig;terna he means the
+Necessary Law of Morality, concerning which God is not free, because in
+decreeing it, He is but decreeing that there is no Righteousness except
+by imitation of Him.
+</p><p>
+The root of all these difficulties and of all the confusion in speech
+which they have brought forth is this: the mystery of Free-Will in God,
+the Unchangeable and Eternal, The great truth taught in the words of the
+Vatican Council, "Deus, <i>liberrimo consilio</i> condidit universa," must
+ever be borne in mind. Undoubtedly, there are no afterthoughts in God.
+But neither is there a past in which He decreed once for all what was to
+be and what was not to be. He is the Eternal Now. But still all events
+are the fulfilment of His Will, and contribute to the working out of the
+scheme which He has traced for creation. Feeble is human speech to deal
+with such high matters, serving, at the best, but dimly to adumbrate
+ineffable truths. As Goethe somewhere says, "Words are good, but not the
+best: the best cannot be expressed in words. My point, however, is that
+there is, on the one hand, a connection of events with events all
+through creation and an intelligible sequence, while, on the other, the
+Free-Will of man is a determining force as regards his own spiritual
+actions, as is the Free-Will of God in respect of the whole creation,
+and that miracles are neither afterthoughts, nor irregularities, nor
+contradictions, but at once free and according to law. Miracles are not
+abnormal, unless Free-Will is a reduction of Kosmos to Chaos, and the
+negation of Reason altogether."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> I say "the doctrine of the Divine goodness," because that
+is, as I think, what the author of "Natural Religion" means. As to the
+"simple, absolute benevolence"&mdash;"benevolence," indeed, is a
+milk-and-water expression; "God is love"&mdash;which "some men seem to think
+the only character of the Author of Nature," it is enough to refer to
+Bishop Butler's striking chapter on "The Moral Government of God,"
+(Analogy, Part I. c. iii). I will here merely observe that although,
+doubtless, God's attribute is Love of the creation, He is not only Love,
+but Sanctity, Justice, Creative Power, Force, Providence; and whereas,
+considered as a Unit He is infinite, He is not infinite&mdash;I speak under
+correction&mdash;viewed in those aspects, abstractions, or attributes which,
+separately taken, are necessary for our subjective view of Him. I allow
+that God's power and His "benevolence" may in some cases work out
+different ends, as if separate entities, but still maintain&mdash;what the
+author of "Natural Religion" ignores&mdash;that God in His very essence is
+not only "Benevolence," but Sanctity, &amp;c. also; <i>all as One in His
+Oneness</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> "Three Essays on Religion," p. 38.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="SYRIAN_COLONIZATION" id="SYRIAN_COLONIZATION"></a>SYRIAN COLONIZATION.</h2>
+
+
+<p>During the past few years many proposals have been made, and schemes
+formed, for repeopling the wastes of Syria and Palestine with the
+surplus population of Europe. These schemes, sometimes philanthropic,
+sometimes commercial, are always advocated on the assumption that the
+current of European emigration and capital might be turned to Syria and
+Palestine in accordance with sound economic and financial
+considerations. In this paper I propose&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>First.</i> To take a survey of the agricultural resources of the country.</p>
+
+<p><i>Second.</i> To draw attention to the difficulties which immigrants would
+experience in obtaining secure titles to landed property.</p>
+
+<p><i>Third.</i> To give a summary of the different kinds of land tenure, and
+the burdens on agriculture.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fourth.</i> To point out some of the dangers and inconveniences to which
+immigrants would be exposed.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I. In the first place we may say broadly that the natural resources of
+Syria and Palestine are agricultural. On the eastern slopes of Mount
+Hermon there are a few bitumen pits from which a small quantity of ore
+of excellent quality is yearly exported to England. Small deposits of
+coal and iron exist in several localities, and there are chemical
+deposits about the shores of the Dead Sea. Gypsum and coloured marble
+are found in Syria, and along the coast opposite the Lebanon range
+sponges are fished annually to the value of &pound;20,000. Hot sulphur springs
+exist at Palmyra and the Sea of Galilee, and there are ruined baths on
+the way between Damascus and Palmyra and in the Yarm&ucirc;k Valley; but none
+of these natural products are of sufficient importance to attract
+European labour or capital.</p>
+
+<p>Forests can scarcely be said to exist in Syria or Palestine. A few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>
+groves of cedars of Lebanon, which escaped the axes of Hiram, are fast
+disappearing. On the limestone ridges and in some of the valleys there
+are clumps of pine, and throughout a great part of the country there is
+a considerable quantity of scrub oak which the peasants reduce to
+charcoal, and carry into the cities. In Galilee one comes on places
+where the trees give a pleasing character to the landscape. On Mount
+Carmel there are jungles and thickets of oak, and on the slopes towards
+Nazareth there are considerable groves, but the nearest approach to a
+forest is where the oaks of Bashan, which recall the beauties of an
+English park, assert their ancient supremacy.</p>
+
+<p>Rows of poplars mark the courses of rivers and streams throughout the
+land, and supply beams for flat-roofed houses; but when churches or
+other important buildings have to be roofed, or timber is required for
+domestic purposes, it has to be imported from America, and carried into
+the interior on the backs of animals. There remain trees enough in some
+places to lend beauty to the landscape, and to show what the country may
+once have been, as well as to suggest what it may again become; but
+there are no forests to attract labour or capital.</p>
+
+<p>The few manufactories of wool and cotton and soap and leather are
+chiefly limited to local want. Besides these there are the silk-spinning
+factories in the Lebanon, managed by Frenchmen and natives, and a
+manufactory of cotton thread on one of the rivers of Damascus.</p>
+
+<p>The popular accounts of the agricultural resources of Syria and
+Palestine are very different. As instances of extremes:&mdash;Mark Twain
+tells us he saw the goats eating stones in Syria, and he assures us that
+he could not have been mistaken, for they had nothing else to eat; while
+Mr. Laurence Oliphant saw even in the Dead Sea "a vast source of wealth"
+for his English Company. We read in his "Land of Gilead" these words:
+"There can be little doubt, in fact, that the Dead Sea is a mine of
+unexplored wealth which only needs the application of capital and
+enterprise to make it a most lucrative property."<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p>
+
+<p>The tourists who traverse the country in spring, immediately after the
+latter rains, when there is some vegetation in the barest places, and
+when their horses are up to the fetlocks in flowers, never forget the
+beauty of the landscape. Others, who have been picturing to themselves a
+land flowing with milk and honey, hills waving with golden grain, and
+green meadows dappled with browsing flocks, and who pass through the
+land in autumn, find themselves bitterly disappointed. As they trudge
+along the white glaring pathways, and through the roadless and flinty
+wilderness, breasting the hot beating<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> waves of a Syrian noonday, with
+only an ashy chocolate-coloured landscape around them, scorched as if by
+the breath of a furnace, they get an impression of dreary and blasted
+desolation which time can never efface. They looked for the garden of
+the Lord, and they find only the "burning marl." It was my fate, during
+a long residence in Syria, to hear autumn tourists criticize books
+written by spring tourists, and spring tourists criticize books written
+by autumn tourists, and generally in a manner by no means complimentary
+to the authors' veracity;&mdash;the fact being that the writers had given
+their impression of what they saw, with perhaps a little of American
+wit, which consists in exaggerating "the leading feature."</p>
+
+<p>I think, however, that to most English travellers, who have no hobbies
+to ride, the barren appearance of Syria and Palestine is a
+disenchantment. Accustomed to their own moist climate and green fields,
+they are not prepared for the dry and parched, and abandoned appearance
+of the greater part of the country. With us an abundance of water spoils
+the crops; in Syria and Palestine the case is reversed, for unless water
+can be poured over the land the crops are stunted and uncertain. For six
+or seven months in the year scarcely any rain falls, and scarcely a
+cloud darkens the sky. In October the early rain commences, with much
+thunder and lightning; and in April the latter rain becomes light and
+uncertain, and generally ceases altogether. Then the sky becomes
+intensely blue, and the sun comes out in all his glory, or rather in all
+her glory, for with the Arabs the sun is feminine. Suddenly grass and
+vegetation wither up and become dry for the oven. The level country,
+except where there are rivers, becomes parched. The stones stick up out
+of the red soil like the white bones of a skeleton. Limestone, flint,
+and basalt, and thorny shrubs, cover the face of the wilderness country.
+Here and there you may see a dwarf oak, or an olive tree, or a wild fig
+tree, and among the mountains you may notice little patches scratched
+and cultivated by the <i>fellah&icirc;n</i>; but, unless on the great plains of
+Bashan and Esdraelon and Hamath, and on the uplands of Gilead, or where
+there is water for irrigation, you may ride for hours along the zigzag
+paths, over mountain and high-land, and before and behind extend the
+limestone and flinty rocks, white and blinding, and broken into
+fragments or burnt into powder. It thus happens that few tourists who
+pass along the beaten tracks of Syria and Palestine have any just
+conception of the vast agricultural resources of the land.</p>
+
+<p>The most striking features in the Syrian landscape are two parallel
+mountain ranges, which appear on the map like two centipedes, running
+north and south. These are the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges. Lebanon
+proper lies along the shore of the Mediterranean.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> The narrow strip of
+land between the mountain and the sea was the home of the Ph&oelig;nicians,
+who steered their white-winged ships to every land, and dipped their
+oars in every sea, before the Britons were heard of. The gardens of
+Sidon, luxuriant with bananas, oranges, figs, lemons, pomegranates,
+peaches, apricots, &amp;c., extend across the plain for two miles to the
+mountain, and show what Ph&oelig;nicia may once have been. The palm trees
+that adorn the fertile gardens of Beyrout are doubtless survivors of the
+groves from which the strip of land once took its name.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p>
+
+<p>By the exertions of Lord Dufferin in 1860, a Christian governor was
+placed over the Lebanon in a semi-independent position. Since then the
+terraced mountain has been marvellously developed, and every foothold
+has been planted with vines and figs and mulberries. The industrious
+peasantry, comparatively safe from Turkish rapacity, have cultivated the
+ledges among its crags and peaks, and enjoy the fruits of their
+industry, sitting under their vines and fig trees. The bloodthirsty and
+turbulent Druzes, restrained by law, and unable to hold their own in a
+field of fair competition, are being rapidly civilized off the mountain,
+and betake themselves to remote regions in Bashan where no law is
+acknowledged but that of the strong arm.</p>
+
+<p>Between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon stretches for seventy miles
+C&oelig;lo-Syria or Buka'a, a well-watered and fertile plain, containing
+about 500 square miles and 137 agricultural villages, and marked by such
+ruins as those of Chalcis and Baalbek.</p>
+
+<p>The Anti-Lebanon consists of a series of mountain ranges, some of which
+run parallel with Lebanon, and flatten into the plain at "the gathering
+in of Hamath," while some bend off in a more easterly direction, and
+shoot out boldly into the desert. The westward end of this mountainous
+range rises into Mount Hermon. The eastward end sinks into Palmyra.
+North of the Anti-Lebanon, the narrow plain of C&oelig;lo-Syria expands
+into the great rolling country of high-land, river, lake, and plain,
+where for more than a thousand years the Hittite kings rolled back the
+tide of Egyptian and Assyrian invasion, and where, in later years, the
+Selucid&aelig; kings pastured their elephants and steeds of war.</p>
+
+<p>Among the ranges and spurs of the Anti-Lebanon are many green spots of
+great picturesque beauty. Wherever there are fountains the habitations
+of men are clustered together at the water, seemingly jostling and
+struggling like thirsty flocks to get to its margin. The cottages cling
+to the edges of fountains and rivers in the most perilous positions.
+Sometimes they are stuck to the rocks like swallows' nests, and
+sometimes they are placed on beetling cliffs like the home of the eagle
+above the chasm. No solitary houses are met through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>out the country. The
+people build together for safety, and near the water for life, and by
+the village fountains and wells cluster the fairest scenes of Eastern
+poetry, as well Arab and Persian as Hebrew, and around them have taken
+place some of the fiercest of Oriental battles.</p>
+
+<p>At the villages a little water is drawn off from the rivers, and
+carefully apportioned among the different families and factions. By
+means of this water, carefully conducted to the various gardens, apples
+and plums, grapes and pomegranates, melons and cucumbers, corn and
+onions, olives and egg plants are cultivated; and such is the bounty of
+Nature, that with the least effort existence is possible wherever there
+is water. A little rancid oil and a few vegetables are sufficient to
+sustain life, and these can be had by a few hours labour in the cool of
+the day. The rest of the time may be spent squatting cross-legged by the
+water, or smoking and dozing in the shade. This is existence, but not
+life; yet why should the <i>fellah</i> labour for anything beyond what is
+absolutely necessary, when the slightest sign of wealth would create
+anxious solicitude on the part of the Turk?</p>
+
+<p>A ride of seventy-two miles across Ph&oelig;nicia, Lebanon, C&oelig;lo-Syria,
+and Anti-Lebanon, brings us, by French diligence, to Damascus. Abana and
+Pharpar break through a sublime gorge, about 100 yards wide, down the
+middle of which the French road winds its serpentine course, the rivers
+on either side being fringed with silver poplar and scented walnut. As
+we look eastward from the brow of the hill, the great plain of Damascus,
+encircled by a framework of desert, lies before us. The river, escaped
+from the rocky gorge, spreads out like a fan, and, after a run of three
+miles, enters Damascus, where it flows through 15,000 houses, sparkles
+in 60,000 marble fountains, and hurries on to scatter wealth and
+fertility far and wide over the plain. Those who have gazed on this
+scene are never likely to forget its supreme loveliness. Its beauty is
+doubtless much enhanced by contrast. The eye has been wandering over a
+chocolate-coloured and heated landscape throughout a weary day;
+suddenly, on turning a corner, it rests on Eden.</p>
+
+<p>The city is spread out before you, embowered in orchards, in the midst
+of a plain of 300 square miles. Around the pearl-coloured, city&mdash;first
+in the world in point of time, first in Syria and Western Asia in point
+of importance&mdash;surge, like an emerald sea, forests of apricots and
+olives and apples and citrons, and "every tree that is pleasant to the
+sight and good for food," with all their variety of colour and tint,
+according to their season, sometimes all aglow with blossoms, sometimes
+golden and ruddy with fruit, and sometimes russet with the mellowing
+tints of autumn. Beyond the city the water conveys its wealth by seven
+rivers to shady gardens and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> thirsty fields; and, as far as cultivation
+extends, two or three splendid crops during the same year reward the
+industry of the husbandman. But even in the plain of Damascus the land
+is cultivated for only a few miles beyond the gates of the city. The
+water that would fertilize the whole plain flows uselessly into
+pestiferous marshes, and the wide plain within sight of the Damascus
+garrison is abandoned to the Bedaw&icirc;n of the Desert and the wild boars of
+the jungle.<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p>
+
+<p>In Palestine there is the great plain of Esdraelon, now, to a large
+extent, in the hands of a Greek firm at Beyrout, and partially
+cultivated, but capable of producing wheat and maize and cotton and
+barley, throughout its whole extent. On the southern side of Carmel
+spreads out the extensive plain of Sharon, a vast expanse of
+pasture-land, ablaze with flowers in early spring, and rank with
+thistles in the time of harvest; and further south extends the still
+more fertile regions of Philistia.</p>
+
+<p>Looking south, from the southern slopes of Mount Hermon, the green plain
+of the Huleh, with Lake Merom glassed in its centre, forms a beautiful
+picture. Mr. Oliphant here first saw an enchanting location for his
+colony. "I felt," he says, "a longing to imitate the example of the men
+of Dan; for there can be no question that if, instead of advancing upon
+it with six hundred men, and taking it by force, after the manner of the
+Danites, one approached it in the modern style of a joint-stock company
+(limited), and recompensed the present owners, keeping them as
+labourers, a most profitable speculation might be made out of the 'Ard
+el Huleh.'" The lake "might, with the marshy plain above it, be easily
+drained; and a magnificent tract of country, nearly twenty miles long by
+from five to six miles in width, abundantly watered by the upper
+affluents of the Jordan, might then be brought into cultivation. It is
+only now occupied by some wandering Bedaw&icirc;n and the peasants of a few
+scattered villages on its margin."<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p>
+
+<p>East of the Jordan are the corn-growing table-land of Bashan and the
+beautiful and fertile high-lands of Gilead. In the former I have ridden
+for hours, with an unbroken sea of waving wheat as far as I could see
+around me, and as regards the "land of Gilead," I can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> confirm Mr.
+Oliphant's most enthusiastic descriptions of its beauty, fertility, and
+desolation.</p>
+
+<p>Nor are the agricultural resources of Syria and Palestine limited to the
+great irrigated plains and broad trans-Jordanic table-lands. Throughout
+the country there are numerous villages shut in among bare hills, with
+apparently no resource; but on closer inspection it turns out that there
+are a few cultivated terraces, where tobacco and grape-vines and
+vegetables are cultivated, and on a still closer inspection it is
+evident that the bare mountains all around were once terraced, and
+doubtless clothed with the vine.</p>
+
+<p>I was once crossing a series of undulating ranges abutting on Mount
+Hermon with an English tourist who was making merry at the utterly
+barren appearance of "the promised land." It turned out, however, that
+his attempted wit served to sharpen our observation, and we found that
+all the hill-sides had once been terraced by human hands. A few miles
+further on we came to Rasheiya, where the vineyards still flourish on
+such terraces, and we had no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that
+the bare terraces, from which lapse of time had worn away the soil, were
+once trellised with the vine, the highest emblem of prosperity and joy.
+Similar terraces were noticed by Drake and Palmer in the Desert of
+Judea, far from any modern cultivation.</p>
+
+<p>It is rash to infer that because a place is desolate now, it must always
+have been so, or must always remain so. The Arab historian tells us that
+Salah-ed-D&icirc;n, before the battle of Hattin, set fire to the forests, and
+thus encircled the Crusaders with a sea of flame. Now there is scarcely
+a shrub in the neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>In wandering through that sacred land, over which the Crescent now
+waves, one is amazed at the number of ruins that stud the landscape, and
+show what must once have been the natural fertility of the country.
+Whence has come the change? Is the blight natural and permanent? or has
+it been caused by accidental and artificial circumstances which may be
+only temporary? Doubtless, each ruin has its tale of horror, but all
+trace their destruction to Islamism, and especially to the blighting and
+desolating presence of the Turk.</p>
+
+<p>That short, thick, beetle-browed, bandy-legged, obese man, that so many
+fresh tourists find so charming, is a Turkish official. He and his
+ancestors have ruled the land since 1517. A Wilberforce in sentiment, he
+is the representation of "that shadow of shadows for good&mdash;Ottoman
+rule." The Turks, whether in their Pagan or Mohammedan phase, have only
+appeared on the world's scene to destroy. No social or civilizing art
+owes anything to the Turks but progressive debasement and decay.</p>
+
+<p>That heap of stones, in which you trace the foundations of temples<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> and
+palaces, where now the owl hoots and the jackal lurks, was once a
+prosperous Christian village. Granted that the Christianity was pure
+neither in creed nor ritual; yet it had, even in its debased form, a
+thew and sinew that brought prosperity to its possessors. The history of
+that ruin is the history of a thousand such throughout the empire. Its
+prosperity led to its destruction. The insolent Turk, restrained by no
+public opinion, and curbed by no law, would wring from the villagers the
+fruits of their labour. Oppression makes even wise men mad, and the
+Christians, goaded to madness, turned on their oppressors. Then followed
+submission, on promise of forgiveness. The Christians surrendered their
+arms, and the flashing scymitar of Islam fell upon the defenceless; and
+the place became a ruin amid horrors too foul to narrate. No greater
+proof of the exhaustless fertility of the soil of Syria and Palestine
+could be furnished than this: that the spoiler, unrestrained, has been
+in it for 365 years, and that he has not yet succeeded in reducing it
+all to a howling wilderness.</p>
+
+
+<p>II. Those who embark capital in land, with a view to securing a home for
+themselves and their children, should look closely to the character of
+their title-deeds. The foremost Englishman in the Levant assured me that
+he never invested money in houses or land because there was no such
+thing as security of title in the Turkish Empire. My own opinion, based
+on an experience of ten years, is that it is impossible to know whether
+or not you have a title in Syria. Unfortunately this judgment does not
+rest on mere opinions as to what might happen, but it is fortified by
+the authoritative Commercial Reports of Her Majesty's Consuls throughout
+Syria and Palestine, and by a series of facts of daily occurrence.</p>
+
+<p>Vice-Consul Jago, of Beyrout, in a report dated July 11, 1876, thus
+writes:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Efforts made by wealthy native Christians and Europeans to employ
+capital in agriculture have been invariably met by great obstacles,
+the apparent impossibility of getting <i>incontestable title-deeds</i>
+being one of the many, although such documents may have emanated
+from the highest authority in the land. Actions of ejectment have
+invariably followed such efforts, to which the fact of the
+Government itself being often the seller opposed no bar."</p></div>
+
+<p>The same Vice-Consul, writing from Damascus, under date March 13, 1880,
+referring to the difficulty of investing capital in agricultural
+enterprise, says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Unfortunately, the present judicial system is of a nature to
+permit, if not to foster, the thousand and one intrigues and
+vexations which seem to be almost inseparably connected with the
+possession of land in Syria, and additional facilities for such are
+to be found, if wanting, in the state in which the land registry
+offices are kept. Erasures, irregular entries, at the request of
+the interested, change of one name for another as the legitimate
+owner, resulting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> often in persons finding their names down in the
+Government books as owners of property, the existence of which was
+unknown to them, and <i>vice vers&acirc;</i>, cause the validity of
+title-deeds, issued as they are by various courts in the country,
+to be a fertile source of litigation, and fraudulent action.... The
+fact, however, that title-deeds can be set aside by verbal
+testimony perhaps sufficiently accounts for the little value they
+practically possess."</p></div>
+
+<p>I could cite many instances in illustration of Mr. Jago's statements. An
+effort made by the Rev. E. B. Frankel, of Damascus, to secure the
+title-deeds of a worthless piece of barren rock without resorting to the
+degrading practices of the country, is interesting, not only as an
+illustration in point, but also as showing that an honest man would
+suffer loss rather than gain his point by questionable means. I was
+privy to the transactions as they occurred, but as Mr. Frankel has
+kindly furnished me with a brief history, I shall give it in his own
+words:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"During my residence in Damascus, I tried one or two villages in
+the neighbourhood as a summer retreat, and at length fixed upon a
+village called Maraba, as being at a convenient distance from the
+city to ride there in the morning and return at night. Finding,
+however, that the native houses were scarcely habitable, I
+determined to have a small house built, close to, yet not
+overlooking, the village. To carry out my plan I had first of all
+to apply to the Vali for permission to do so. His Highness, with an
+outburst of Oriental liberality, declared his readiness to give me
+not only a piece of ground but a garden as well. This I declined
+with thanks, knowing the value of such an offer, but showed him on
+paper the spot I had chosen, consisting of a barren rock, and asked
+him to send a competent person to the place to examine the site and
+value it, and at the same time see from the plan that none of my
+windows would overlook my neighbours. In the course of a few days,
+I received a notice that a commission of six officials would meet
+me on the spot and settle the matter at once. I provided a luncheon
+<i>al fresco</i>, to which the sheikh of the village was invited to
+negotiate on the part of the villagers.</p>
+
+<p>"After a long preamble, setting forth the value of land in general,
+and of this spot in particular, he offered at length to sell the
+site for 5,000 piastres (a piastre is equal to 2<i>d.</i>).</p>
+
+<p>"'Fifty piastres,' wrote down the scribe. 'By the life of your
+father, it is too little&mdash;say 3,000.' 'Seventy-five,' said the
+scribe. 'Say 1,000&mdash;by Allah, it is worth 5,000; but Allah is
+great.' 100 piastres was the sum agreed to at last, and I had the
+permission to begin building at once.</p>
+
+<p>"When the house was half finished, an order came to stop, on the
+ground that it was built over the tomb of a Moslem saint, and that
+the departed spirit might not relish the vicinity of Christians,
+and avenge himself by doing us some bodily harm for which the Vali
+would be responsible.</p>
+
+<p>"After a great deal of trouble and investigation, his Highness was
+convinced that the existence of such a tomb was a myth. The next
+charge brought against me was, that whilst I pretended to build a
+house, I was in reality building a convent in the midst of a
+Mohammedan population. I had a hard struggle to convince him that
+Protestants had no such institutions.</p>
+
+<p>"Now all these charges had been trumped up by the officials in the
+hope of receiving the usual bribe, which I was determined not to
+give&mdash;having made up my mind to carry the business through honestly
+and legally. One more effort was made to annoy me, or rather to
+force me to give the customary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> 'backsheesh,'&mdash;viz., that the house
+was built over a road leading from the village to the stream to the
+great inconvenience of the villagers. The Consul had at length to
+interfere; the Government engineer was sent to investigate the
+matter and report upon it, which was to the effect that there was
+no vestige of road or foot-path in the vicinity of the house.</p>
+
+<p>"After this, I was left in peaceful possession so far, that no one
+could turn me out of the house, but not having the title-deeds, I
+could scarcely expect to find a purchaser in case I wished to sell
+it. My next effort was to secure the necessary papers. Month after
+month I applied in vain for them. The Governor pretended to be
+shocked to hear that his orders had not been carried out, he sent
+for the scribe, and threatened him with his fiercest displeasure if
+such an act of negligence should ever again be reported against
+him. The scribe pleaded a sprained wrist as an excuse for the
+delay, but by the life of the Prophet, he would write the document
+at once. I took a hasty leave of the Vali, and rushed off after the
+scribe, determined not to lose sight of him again; he had, however,
+disappeared, as if the earth had swallowed him up. These scenes
+were repeated over and ever again, till at the end of twelve
+months, having to leave Damascus, I had to sell the house at a
+great loss, not having the title-deeds. The purchaser, the American
+Vice-Consul, trusting to his official position, hoped to be able to
+succeed where I had failed.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no doubt but that by following the usual Oriental custom of
+backsheesh, and dividing &pound;10 or &pound;20 among the officials, every
+obstacle would have been removed to my obtaining the title-deeds of
+a property for which I paid the sum of 16<i>s.</i> 8<i>d.</i>"</p></div>
+
+<p>There are a few most interesting groups of German colonists in
+Palestine, who belong to a religious order called "The Temple;" and who
+assume to be a Spiritual Temple in the Holy Land. As far as I had
+opportunity of judging, the colonists were men who, as colonists, would
+succeed in any land, except perhaps Syria. There were among them masons
+and carpenters and blacksmiths and shoemakers and doctors. They were all
+accustomed to work with their hands, and they were prepared to do, not
+only whatever hard work was to be done in their own colony, but also to
+do any jobs for their neighbours, wherever their superior skill might be
+employed. They were strong, patient, sober, devout, and they entered on
+their work with lofty but calm enthusiasm. One branch settled at Jaffa,
+on the ruins of an American colony which had been led there by a Mr.
+Adams, and which ended in sad disaster. Another has settled "under the
+shadow of Mount Carmel," about a mile out of Haifa, and a third near
+Jerusalem. Besides settling in these places, some of the girls were
+prepared to go out as servants, with results, in some cases, that cannot
+be detailed. The first batch of these colonists settled near Nazareth in
+1867, and all died of malarious fever.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> But the German colonists were
+not daunted by preliminary disaster, and they have been since battling
+with the difficulties of the situation with a patient energy bordering
+on heroism.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Oliphant visited the colonies at Jerusalem and Haifa, and after
+describing the streets and gardens and homesteads created by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> German
+industry, he adds, "The colonists have scarcely any trouble in their
+dealings with the Government."</p>
+
+<p>Captain Conder, who spent much time among the colonists, gives a more
+realistic picture. He says&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The Turkish government is quite incapable of appreciating their
+real motives in colonization, and cannot see any reason beyond a
+political one for the settlement of Europeans in the country. The
+colonists have therefore <i>never obtained title-deeds to the land
+they have bought</i>, and there can be little doubt that should the
+Turks deem it expedient they would entirely deny the right of the
+Germans to hold their property. Not only do they extend no favour
+to the colony, though its presence has been most beneficial to the
+neighbourhood, but the inferior officials, indignant at the
+attempts of the Germans to obtain justice, without any regard to
+'the customs of the country' (that is, to bribery), have thrown
+every obstacle they can devise in the way of the community, both
+individually and collectively."<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>The two most successful agricultural enterprises in Palestine are those
+of Bergheim and Sursuk, and as these are often referred to with a view
+to induce Englishmen to embark capital in similar enterprises, a few
+words about each may not be superfluous. Captain Conder, writing with
+full and accurate information, says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Probably the most successful undertaking of an agricultural kind
+in Palestine is the farm at Abu Sh&ucirc;sheh, belonging to the
+Bergheims, the principal banking firm in Jerusalem. The lands of
+Abu Sh&ucirc;sheh belong to this family, and include 5,000 acres; a fine
+spring exists on the east, but in other respects the property is
+not exceptional. The native inhabitants are employed to till the
+land, under the supervision of Mr. Bergheim's son; a farmhouse has
+been built, a pump erected, and various modern improvements have
+been introduced. The same hindrance is, however, experienced by the
+Bergheims which has paralyzed all other efforts for the improvement
+of the land. The difficulties raised by the venal and corrupt
+under-officials of the Government have been vexatious and
+incessant, being due to the determination to extort money by some
+means or other, or else to ruin the enterprise from which they
+could gain nothing. The Turkish Government recognizes the right of
+foreigners to hold land, subject to the ordinary laws and taxes;
+but there is a long step between this abstract principle and the
+practical encouragement of such undertakings, and nothing is easier
+than to raise groundless difficulties, <i>on the subject of title</i>,
+or of assessment, in a land where the judges are as corrupt as the
+rest of the governing body."<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>More important still is the estate of seventy square miles in the plain
+of Esdraelon, now in the hands of Mr. Sursuk, a wealthy banker at
+Beyrout. Mr. Oliphant gives an account of the enterprise. "The
+investment," he adds, "has turned out eminently successful; indeed, so
+much so, that I found it difficult to credit the accounts of the
+enormous profits which Mr. Sursuk derives from his estate."<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p>
+
+<p>From Mr. Oliphant's description, I turn to the excellent Commer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>cial
+Report, written by Vice-Consul Jago, in plain prose, and I find he thus
+speaks of the undertaking:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Some few years ago, the wealthiest native Christian in the
+country, tempted by the low price of land near Acre offered for
+sale by the Government, purchased a large tract, containing thirty
+villages, for &pound;18,000. The revenue accruing to the Government was,
+prior to the purchase, between &pound;T.1,500 and &pound;T.2,000 per annum,
+owing to the poverty of the peasants, and consequently little
+production.</p>
+
+<p>"Large sums were spent in importing labour from other districts for
+cultivation, and in providing the peasants with proper means. Under
+judicious management the speculation paid well, as much as thirty
+per cent. on capital, besides increasing the taxes paid to the
+Government to &pound;5,000. The peasantry likewise benefited, being
+assured of protection and prompt return for their labours. This
+state of prosperity produced local intrigue and jealousies. Actions
+of ejectment were brought to which <i>the government title-deeds
+proved no bar</i>. Journeys to Constantinople, and endless special
+commissions were the result, and it was only after a liberal
+expenditure of money, time, and labour, that the judicial courts of
+the country gave a decision, which, it is hoped, has set the matter
+finally at rest.... In short, a capitalist wishing to employ money
+in agriculture must be prepared to light his way, as it were, inch
+by inch, and that, too, with the weapons of the country."<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>Apparently Mr. Oliphant would have no objection to use the weapons of
+the country. At least he seems ready to base the successful launching of
+his Company on such considerations. Looking out over the province of
+Ajlun, which is a fertile region about forty miles long by twenty-five
+in width, he exclaims: "I feel no moral doubt that &pound;50,000, partly
+expended judiciously in bribes at Constantinople, and partly applied to
+the purchase of land, not belonging to the State, from its present
+proprietors, would purchase the entire province, and could be made to
+return a fabulous interest on the investment."<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p>
+
+<p>I need only suggest that where investors embark their capital in
+philanthropic undertakings for "fabulous interest," it might be well if
+they reflected on the character of their proposed security and the means
+used to secure it.</p>
+
+
+<p>III. Tenure of land in Syria and Palestine is regulated by Mohammedan
+law as administered in the Ottoman Empire. That law contemplates land
+under a five-fold classification.</p>
+
+<p><i>First.</i> Crown lands set apart at the time of the conquest as the
+personal share of the Sultan and the Mussulman nation. These crown lands
+were farmed to the highest bidders, and the rent paid for them was known
+as <i>Miri</i>. Several changes at different times were introduced with
+respect to the <i>Miri</i>, and in 1864 these were superseded by the <i>Tapoo</i>
+code, the effect of which was to give titles of possession to those who,
+for ten years previously, had cultivated the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> crown lands, on condition
+of their paying five per cent. of the value of the land against the
+issue of their title-deeds. Under the <i>Tapoo</i> system the crown lands
+become subject to two fixed taxes&mdash;the <i>Verghoo</i>, about four per mil. on
+the estimated value of the land; and the <i>Ushr</i> or tithe, which should
+be a tenth part of the produce of the soil.</p>
+
+<p><i>Second.</i> <i>Wakoof</i> lands dedicated to the maintenance of holy places at
+Mecca, or to charitable institutions and sacred sanctuaries.</p>
+
+<p><i>Third.</i> <i>Mulk</i>, or freehold property. This is subdivided into four
+categories, which I need not enumerate. Such lands are owned and
+cultivated by private individuals, without payment to the Government.
+The owners of such lands are free to dispose of them as they please, and
+at their deaths they pass to their descendants in accordance with the
+rules of inheritance prescribed by Mohammedan law.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fourth.</i> Waste lands.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fifth.</i> Lands abandoned through non-cultivation.</p>
+
+<p>The above classification has the advantage of being theoretically
+simple, and easily understood by the people; and the different items of
+taxation, as laid down by law, cannot be said to be onerous. The
+following are the chief heads:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><i>Verghi.</i>&mdash;A rate of four per mil., as stated above.</p>
+
+<p><i>Ushr.</i>&mdash;A tenth of the produce of the soil. This is sometimes raised to
+12&frac12; per cent., and in the manner in which it is collected it
+sometimes amounts to 20 or 30 per cent.</p>
+
+<p><i>Income Tax.</i>&mdash;Which amounts to 3 per cent. on the estimated income of
+those engaged in trade.</p>
+
+<p><i>Military Exoneration Tax.</i>&mdash;Payable by Jews, Christians, and other
+non-Moslems, at the rate of &pound;T.50 for every 182 males of all ages. There
+is a new law limiting this payment to males between the ages of 15 and
+60, but it has not yet come into operation.</p>
+
+<p><i>Military Exemption Tax.</i>&mdash;Payable by Moslems who are drawn by
+conscription, but wish to escape service, at the rate of &pound;T.50 each.</p>
+
+<p><i>Tax on the Registration of Real Property.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Sheep and Goat Tax</i> of sixpence per head (3 piastres).</p>
+
+<p>Besides these there are stamp duties:&mdash;auction fees of 2&frac12; per cent.,
+fees on contracts of 2&frac12; per cent., on sale of all animals 2&frac12; per
+cent., on recovery of debts 3 per cent., on transfer of real estate 1
+per cent.; import duties of 8 per cent., export duties of 1 per cent.,
+and a charge of 8 per cent. on all native produce and manufactures when
+carried by sea from one part of the Turkish Empire to another. There are
+also the duties on tobacco, liquors, salt, &amp;c. In addition to these
+Vice-Consul Jago, in his Commercial Report, dated Beyrout, July 11,
+1876, gives a summary of seventeen agricultural burdens, which are
+worthy of the consideration of all who feel disposed to embark in
+agriculture in Syria under its present rulers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>IV. European emigrants, on landing in Syria, would find themselves in an
+unhealthy climate. The whole of the first batch of German settlers, and
+a very large number of the American emigrants who preceded them, fell
+victims to the fevers of the country. Captain Conder, referring to the
+difficulties of the German colonists, says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"There are other reasons which militate against the idea of the
+final success of the Colony. The Syrian climate is not adapted to
+Europeans, and year by year it must infallibly tell on the Germans,
+exposed as they are to sun and miasma. It is true that Haifa is,
+perhaps, the healthiest place in Palestine, yet even here they
+suffer from fever and dysentery, and if they should attempt to
+spread inland, they will find their difficulties from climate
+increase tenfold."<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>The privations and discomforts of Syrian peasant life would be
+intolerable to European emigrants. The men would work by day under a
+blistering sun, and sleep at night the centre of attraction for
+sand-flies and mosquitoes, and all the other nameless tormentors that
+leap and bite. Mr. Oliphant speaks feelingly of a night spent at Kefr
+Assad:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"No sooner had the sounds of day died away, and the family and our
+servants gone to roost, than a pack of jackals set up that
+plaintive and mournful wail by which they seem to announce to the
+world that they are in a starving condition. They came so close to
+the village that all the dogs in it set up a furious barking. This
+woke the baby, of whose vocal powers we had been till then unaware.
+Fleas and mosquitoes innumerable seemed to take advantage of the
+disturbed state of things generally to make a combined onslaught.
+Vainly did I thrust my hands into my socks, tie handkerchiefs round
+my face and neck, and so arrange the rest of my night attire as to
+leave no opening by which they could crawl in. Our necks and wrists
+especially seemed circled with rings of fire. Anything like the
+number and voracity of the fleas of that 'happy village' I have
+never, during a long and varied intimacy with the insect,
+experienced."<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>These experiences were made near the troglodyte village es-Sal; and as
+Mr. Oliphant peeped into the subterranean dwellings and dark caves, with
+a view to his colonization company, he exclaimed,</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Indeed, there is probably no country in the world where an
+immigrant population would find such excellent shelter all ready
+prepared for them, or where they could step into the identical
+abodes which had been vacated by their occupants at least 1,500
+years ago, and use the same doors and windows."<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>It is just possible, however, that emigrants might not care to have
+their necks and wrists circled with rings of fire, and their bodies
+covered with swarms of loathsome insects, for the romantic delights of
+living in underground dens that had not been occupied for 1,500 years.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Oliphant's scheme only contemplates Jewish emigrants, to whom such
+conditions would not be altogether novel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"I should not," he says, "expect men to come from England or
+France, but from European and Asiatic Turkey itself, as well as
+from Russia, Galicia, Roumania, Servia, and the Slav countries."</p></div>
+
+<p>He has, however, his eye on the whole Jewish race throughout the world
+when he says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"As the area of land which I should propose, in the first instance,
+for colonization would not exceed a million, or, at most, a million
+and a half acres, it would be hard if, out of nearly 7,000,000 of
+people attached to it by the tradition of former possession, enough
+could not be found to subscribe a capital of &pound;1,000,000, or even
+more, for its purchase and settlement, and if, out of that number,
+a selection of emigrants could not be made, possessing sufficient
+capital of their own to make them desirable colonists."<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>This article is not a review of Mr. Oliphant's interesting book, and
+therefore I shall not follow him into the details of his colonization
+scheme, where he narrows it, first, to Oriental Jews exclusively, and
+second to the elevation of such Jews into petty landlords.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"It has been objected," he says, "that the Jews are not
+agriculturists, and that any attempts to develop the agricultural
+resources of the country through their instrumentality must result
+in failure. In the first instance, it is rather as landed
+proprietors than as labourers on the soil, that I should invite
+them to emigrate into Palestine, where they could lease their own
+land at high prices to native farmers if they preferred, instead of
+lending money on crops at 20 or 25 per cent. to the peasants, as
+they do at present."<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p></div>
+
+<p>This is the point to which Mr. Oliphant's fine enthusiasm dwindles
+down&mdash;the floating of a joint-stock company, limited, with one million
+sterling capital, for the purpose of transforming into "landed
+proprietors" a number of Oriental Jews, who would neither have the heart
+to work themselves nor the skill to direct the labour of others. Those
+who have read modern history, or political economy, will not require an
+elaborate exposure of a scheme which aims at setting up in Gilead, under
+the guise of philanthropy, the rack-renting and ornamental landlording
+which have received such severe rebukes in Europe. We refer to the
+general outline of Mr. Oliphant's fascinating scheme, inasmuch as he has
+reduced to practical shape what others vaguely theorize about.</p>
+
+<p>He gives us a map of the proposed colony, connected by railways and
+tram-cars with the outer world. It embraces "the plains of Moab and the
+land of Gilead," from the Jabok to the Annon. I know the country well.
+It is even more beautiful and fertile than Mr. Oliphant describes it to
+be. It is impossible to pass through it without the constant thought of
+what it might be in the hands of an Anglo-Saxon race. Mr. Oliphant was
+struck with the beauty of the girls of Ajlun, one of whom tried in vain
+to remove the vermin from his blankets. Dr. Thomson and I lay on a
+grassy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> slope, a whole afternoon, at the village of es-Souf, watching
+the children pelting each other with flowers, and we both agreed that we
+had never seen an assemblage of merrier or lovelier children. "I cannot
+make them out," said Dr. Thomson, with unwonted enthusiasm; "they seem
+to be English children."</p>
+
+<p>Supposing the land for the proposed colony were secured, on Mr.
+Oliphant's plan, partly by judicious bribing at Constantinople, and
+partly by buying out the interest of the present proprietors, and that
+the undertaking proved to be the "sound and practical scheme containing
+all the elements of success" which its promoters predict&mdash;the very
+success of the colony would expose the colonists to a great and terrible
+danger. Travellers must have noticed that the <i>fellah&icirc;n</i> cultivate their
+fields with long guns slung over their shoulders, and an armoury of
+pistols and daggers in their belts. Why is this? Because, as the
+proverb, tested by experience, has it&mdash;"A Turkish judge may be bribed by
+three eggs, two of them rotten; and a <i>fellah</i> may be murdered for his
+jacket without a button upon it."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Oliphant came upon Circassians re-occupying deserted villages in the
+midst of the Bedaw&icirc;n, and he takes the fact as "valuable evidence that
+the problem of colonization by a foreign element, so far as the Arabs
+are concerned, is by no means insoluble."<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> He seems to forget that
+the traveller with empty pockets may whistle in the face of the
+highwayman. The Circassians are settling in abandoned villages by the
+wish of the authorities. They have the deep sympathy of all Moslems on
+account of their sufferings. Besides, they have nothing to lose which
+would compensate the Bedaw&icirc;n for the alienation of the Turkish
+Government.</p>
+
+<p>The case would be far different with a rich and prosperous colony of
+foreigners supported by foreign capital.</p>
+
+<p>In his hurried tour beyond Jordan, Mr. Oliphant came upon the Fudl Arabs
+with 2,000 fighting men, and in their midst a colony of 300 Circassians.
+In another place he came on a colony of 3,000 Circassians in the midst
+of the Na&iuml;m Arabs, who muster 4,000 fighting men. "The Anezeh Arabs, who
+control," he says, "an area of about 40,000 square miles, and who can
+bring over 100,000 horsemen and camel-drivers into the field," would be
+on the borders of the colony, and the Druzes, who are born warriors, and
+who inhabit Jebel-ed-Druze, he places at 50,000. Besides these there are
+the Beni Sukhr, and other local tribes, whose fanaticism and cupidity
+would be moved by the presence of a prosperous colony of foreigners.</p>
+
+<p>On April 12, 1875, Dr. Thomson and I started from Der'a in a
+southwesterly direction over wavy hills covered with splendid wheat, the
+sides of the way ablaze with anemones. As we approached Remthey, we saw
+what in the miragy atmosphere seemed a row of trees fifteen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> or twenty
+miles long. I had been over the path before, and I was struck with this
+new feature in the landscape. Soon it seemed to us that the line, as far
+as we could see, was in motion, and as we approached closer to it, we
+found that it was composed of camels. We spurred our horses, and soon we
+found ourselves by the side of the great living stream of the Wuld 'Aly
+Arabs moving from the Arabian Desert to the pastures of Jaulan. The
+procession marched six or seven abreast, and in families of from 20 to
+150. The camels had curious baskets fixed on their humps, and in these
+were stowed women and children, and kids and dogs, while cooking
+utensils were hung all round the baskets, and by the sides of their dams
+trotted little baby camels. The stream flowed past silent and orderly,
+with here and there a spearman riding by the side of his family. At
+short intervals flocks of sheep and goats marched parallel with the
+living stream.</p>
+
+<p>A party of Arab horsemen were reclining on a little hill with their
+spears stuck in the ground watching their people pass. We rode up to
+them, and their chief received us with great courtesy, and urged us to
+await the arrival of the cavalry with the Sheikh, to whom I had once
+done a favour which they remembered. We remained about an hour, and
+still the stream flowed past. The Arabs told us they had begun to move
+at an early hour, and would continue on the march for days, and as far
+as we could see, looking north and south, the procession was without
+break or pause. They told us they could bring into the field 100,000
+fighting men, and their people, they said, was "like the sand of the
+sea." Never before or since have I seen such a swarm of human beings&mdash;"a
+multitude that no man could number." Any trans-Jordanic colony would
+have to calculate on the proximity of this horde, whose power has never
+been broken, not even by Joshua nor Ibrah&icirc;m Pasha, and whose rule in
+their own land is supreme in virtue of their resistless might. Even the
+Turkish Government bribe the Arabs in this region to let the Mohammedan
+pilgrims pass to Mecca! How much black-mail would the prosperous colony
+of infidels have to pay for permission to exist in the land of the
+faithful? And supposing arrangements could be made to secure the
+tolerance of the Bedaw&icirc;n, there would still remain the Druzes and
+Circassians, and local sub-tribes and aggrieved <i>fellah&icirc;n</i>, who would
+form combinations to which an agricultural colony could offer no
+effective resistance.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Oliphant speaks of driving the Arabs "back across the <i>Hadj</i> road,
+where a small cordon of soldiers, posted in the forts which now exist
+upon it, would be sufficient to keep them in check." Turkish soldiers
+would not be the slightest protection to a prosperous colony of
+infidels, nor would a small cordon of any soldiers suffice, should the
+colony ever become a tempting prize.</p>
+
+<p>In the spring of 1874, a small party of us were returning from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> Palmyra,
+and a few miles beyond Karyetein we passed close by a desperate battle
+in progress between the Giath and Amour Arabs, and a powerful caravan
+proceeding from Baghdad to Damascus. The camels of the caravan were
+formed into a circular rampart, the head of one camel being made fast to
+the next; and from behind this living rampart the hardy villagers, who
+were bringing provisions for their families from beyond the Euphrates,
+defended themselves throughout a long summer day&mdash;the sound of the
+battle being distinctly heard by the Turkish garrison at Karyetein. The
+Bedaw&icirc;n galloped round the circle, making a feint here and an attack
+there until the villagers were worn out and their ammunition exhausted.
+Near sunset a wounded camel staggered and fell, and broke the line. The
+circle opened out and became a crescent. Quick as lightning the Bedaw&icirc;n
+rushed in at the breach, the camels fled in panic in all directions, and
+the wiry Arabs with their flashing spears decided the victory in a few
+minutes. I had full details of the fight afterwards from the victors and
+the vanquished. The Bedaw&icirc;ns took possession of 120 loads of butter, and
+a large amount of tobacco, dates, Persian carpets, horses, mules, and
+camels, valued at &pound;4,000. All the caravan people, dead and alive, were
+stripped naked in the desert. What did the Bedaw&icirc;n do with 120 loads of
+butter? They had it brought into Damascus and sold publicly. What did
+the Bedaw&icirc;n do with the splendid carpets from the looms of Persia and
+Cashmere? They distributed them among their powerful friends in
+Damascus, in return for efficient protection, and some of the best found
+their way into the gorgeous saloons of those whose duty it was to
+administer justice. One of my friends found three of his camels in the
+hands of the robbers' friends, and though he got several orders from the
+Government for the restoration of his property, he could never get them
+carried out. The above incident, of which I have complete details, may
+be interesting to those who have any idea of entrusting their lives and
+property to the Bedaw&icirc;n hordes and the protecting Turk.</p>
+
+<p>And what is true of the land of Gilead is true of all lands bordering
+the Desert. In the north-east of Syria there is as fine a peasantry as
+is to be found anywhere. They are handsome and courteous, though
+picturesque in rags. They are thrifty and frugal, but penniless and
+starving. They are comparatively truthful and honest, but without credit
+or resources. They have broad acres which only require to be scratched
+and they bring forth sixty-fold; but they cultivate little patches
+surrounded with mud walls and within range of their matchlocks. During
+the greater part of the year these poor people dare not walk over their
+own fields for fear of being stripped of their tattered rags. And yet
+these are the most heavily taxed peasantry in the world. They pay
+<i>black-mail</i> to the Bedaw&icirc;n, who plunder them not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>withstanding; and they
+pay taxes to the Turks, who give them no protection. The Bedaw&icirc;n enforce
+their claims by cutting off the ears of any straggling villagers from
+defaulting villages, who fall within their power, and by carrying off
+for ransom a number of village children into the Desert. The Turks
+enforce their claims by imprisoning the Sheikhs of the villages till
+they have paid the uttermost farthing. With protection and fair
+government, the peasantry of Northern Syria would be among the happiest
+in the world. But in their land, what the Turkish caterpillar leaves the
+Bedawy locust devours.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>From the foregoing remarks it is evident that the agricultural resources
+of Syria and Palestine are very great, and capable, under good
+government, of being largely developed: that the difficulties
+encountered by those who invest capital in land in Syria and Palestine
+are such as to deter immigrants from embarking in agricultural
+enterprises under Turkish rule in that land: and that immigrants in
+Syria and Palestine would be exposed to great personal dangers, which
+would increase in proportion to the success of their labours.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+<span class="smcap">Wm. Wright</span>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> "The Land of Gilead," p. 295.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Ph&oelig;nicia, the Greek [Greek: phoinik&ecirc;], has been by some
+derived from [Greek: phoinix], a palm tree.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Vice-Consul Jago, writing from Damascus, March, 1880,
+says:&mdash;"With regard to the property near the Damascus Lakes, it is on
+the edge of the Desert where no authority exists, and therefore exposed
+to Bedaw&icirc;n raids." He summarizes the agricultural products of the
+neighbourhood of Damascus as:&mdash;"Wheat, barley, maize (white and yellow),
+beans, peas, lentils, keran&eacute;, gelban&eacute;, baki&eacute;, belb&eacute;, fessa, borak&eacute; (the
+last seven being green crops for cattle food), aniseed, s&eacute;sam&eacute;, tobacco,
+shuma, olive, and liquorice root. The fruits are grapes, hazel, walnut,
+almond, pistachio, currant, mulberry, fig, apricot, peach, apple, pear,
+quince, plum, lemon, citron, melon, berries of various kinds, and a few
+oranges. The vegetables are cabbage, potatoes, artichokes, tomatoes,
+beans, wild truffles, cauliflower, egg-plant, celery, cress, mallow,
+beetroot, cucumber, radish, spinach, lettuce, onions, leeks,
+&amp;c."&mdash;<i>Report</i>, dated Damascus, March 14, 1881. To these might be added
+numerous other products, such as bitumen, soda, salt, hemp, cotton,
+madder-root, wool, &amp;c.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> "The Land of Gilead," p. 19.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> "Tent Work in Palestine," p. 355.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> "Tent Work in Palestine," p. 361.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> p. 372.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> "The Land of Gilead," p. 330.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Beyrout, July 11, 1876.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> "The Land of Gilead," p. 131.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> "Tent Work in Palestine," p. 361.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> "The Land of Gilead," p. 146.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> p. 103.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> "Land of Gilead," p. 21.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> p. 23.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> "The Land of Gilead," p. 255.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_CONSERVATIVE_DILEMMA" id="THE_CONSERVATIVE_DILEMMA"></a>THE CONSERVATIVE DILEMMA.</h2>
+
+
+<p>All is not as well as it should be with the Conservative party. Just
+when a succession of misfortunes has lowered its credit with the world,
+it is harassed with mutiny in the camp. Both sides have taken the public
+into their confidence. "Two Conservatives" lately figured on a
+distinguished rostrum and retailed their grievances. A month later "Two
+other Conservatives" stood up on the same spot and answered the
+impeachment. These dual appearances are rather puzzling. In the case of
+the first couple it may be that they fixed upon the figure "2" as a neat
+divisor, and while sending one-half of their force to the front kept the
+other half in reserve to defend the rear. This explanation will not hold
+good for the second couple. The party loyalists can hardly have been
+reduced to such insignificant proportions. Why, then, should they have
+hit upon the odd device of delivering their apologetics in pairs? Is
+suspicion so rampant in their ranks that no one man can be trusted? Is
+the drawing up of a reply to the insurgents so ticklish a business that
+two heads are needed for its satisfactory performance? Or are we to see
+in this circumstance merely another sign of the fatal dualism which
+pervades the party, and has already rent Elijah's mantle in twain?</p>
+
+<p>Instead of attempting to solve these mysteries let us turn to the
+indictment. There, at any rate, are certain things set down in black and
+white, and some progress may be made in useful knowledge without any
+desire to be wise above what is written. The manifesto drawn up by the
+"Two Conservatives" is not altogether edifying reading. At a first
+glance it reminds us of a round-robin got up in the servants' hall for
+the purpose of springing a mine upon the steward and housekeeper, or of
+the whisperings sometimes heard in the lower ranks of a mercantile
+establishment where a conviction prevails that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> nothing but discreet
+promotion will save the firm. Some of the complaints set forth fall far
+beneath this level. They deal with tiffs and slights and rebuffs.
+Services have not been compensated according to the estimate of those
+who rendered them. Good things have been given to the wrong men, while
+modest merit has been left out in the cold. Lord Beaconsfield had, it
+seems, a Figaro in his employ who fed him with judicious doses of
+flattery and ministered to his blameless vices. The Figaro system has,
+we are given to understand, been kept up, and the great men of the party
+take care to live in an atmosphere of adulation. The Dukes meet with
+hard treatment. It is difficult to see how these unhappy beings are to
+give satisfaction. They are faithless to their principles if they stand
+aloof; they do wrong if they come down to scatter their smiles and their
+patronage among the crowd. Their absence looks like treason while their
+presence demoralizes. In both cases they are mischievous. What are they
+to do?</p>
+
+<p>On the whole it is held to be best for the welfare of the party that the
+aristocratic chiefs should forthwith perform the "happy despatch." They
+saved it by their secession from its councils in 1868; they ruined it in
+1874 when they rushed back to claim their share of the spoils. There is
+some truth in the representation. It is not easy to forget the pathetic
+spectacle which Mr. Disraeli presented at the former period. By his
+suppleness and audacity he had forced his party through the crises of a
+revolution which they had denounced beforehand, and the consequences of
+which they contemplated with dismay. Over against their fears there was
+nothing to be put but their leader's assurances that everything would
+come right. They had taken "a leap in the dark," they had staked the
+fortunes of the party on the dice-box, and events were to decide the
+issue. When the blow came Mr. Disraeli's reputation for sagacity fell to
+zero. At last the hollowness of his pretensions was detected, and there
+was no mincing of epithets for the man who had befooled and destroyed a
+great party. The Dukes left him to himself, and, according to our
+present informant, their flight was the harbinger of reviving fortunes.
+The heart of provincial conservatism warmed to its deserted chief. The
+patriotic sentiments of the people began to stir. Constitutional
+associations sprang up in the large towns. The reaction grew apace when
+the party was left face to face with one great man. When in 1874 the
+most sanguine prophecies were fulfilled, the Dukes could not have been
+more surprised if Moses and the Prophets had dropt from the clouds to
+chide their unbelief. They made what amends they could for their former
+incivilities. They gathered with prodigious hum about the great man,
+overwhelmed him with disinterested plaudits, and settled down
+comfortably to the feast which his genius had spread. From that moment,
+so we are assured, decay<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> set in. Aristocratic patronage soon paralyzed
+the rude energies which had won the victory. The Carlton again began to
+pay the bills and pull the strings. Then in due time came the black
+night of defeat, when moon and stars disappeared, and Toryism was
+plunged into a deeper gulf than ever. The lesson is plain. Roll up your
+aristocratic trumpery, and give the party a leader. What it wants is a
+man strong enough to pull it out of the slough and set it on its legs
+again.</p>
+
+<p>The burden of the manifesto of the Two Conservatives is the want of a
+leader, and an exhaustive process of exclusion shows among whom he is
+<i>not</i> to be found. The acting chiefs of the party are made to pass in
+file before us, as the sons of Jesse passed before the prophet Samuel
+when he wished to ascertain which of them was the predestined King of
+Israel. Not this man, nor this, nor this, but is there not yet another?
+Yes, there was one among the sheepfolds who little wotted of the
+greatness in store for him. The David of whom the Conservative Samuels
+are in search can pretend perhaps to no such unconsciousness of his
+mission. A genius for opposition pushes him to the front and flashes in
+speech and print. He is content probably to put up with the leadership
+of the Lower House, assured that, with the Conservative commonalty at
+his back, his talents will soon win for him a complete ascendancy.
+Meanwhile it is proved to demonstration that none of the acting chiefs
+are fit for the post. Sir Richard Cross and Mr. W. H. Smith, "great as
+are many of their qualities, do not entirely possess those that are
+necessary to secure the plenary confidence of a party." Sir Michael
+Hicks-Beach comes nearest the mark, "but, either from patience or
+indolence, he has not seen fit since 1880 to put forward his best
+energies." In Lord George Hamilton and Mr. Stanhope "there lurks great
+promise," but they lack years and experience. "Mr. Lowther is daring,
+but not always fortunate in his daring." They may all stand aside. It is
+clear that none of the six will do. There is Mr. Gibson, but "he is a
+lawyer and an Irishman of the Irish." As for Sir Stafford Northcote, he
+is a respectable man, with a host of respectable qualities, but "he is
+too amiable for his ambition, which is great, and in trying to play a
+double part, that of caution and daring, he is at times taxed beyond his
+strength." Besides, the House of Commons did not choose him. He was
+"chosen for them." There is as yet no active disaffection towards him,
+"but of latent dissatisfaction abundance, and of active loyalty none."
+Was there ever such a beggarly account of empty boxes? Did anybody ever
+see such an array of political numskulls? Not among these at any rate is
+the party to find its leader. We must look for him among those whose
+names have been left out of the enumeration. His blushes are certainly
+unseen, though his fragrance may not be wasted on the desert air.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The double manifesto of the mutineers is remarkable for the
+obliviousness it displays of everything higher than personal and party
+interests. It reads like the minute-book of a Caucus. With a few verbal
+alterations it might pass for a description of the quarrels between the
+"Stalwarts" and the "Half-breeds." When Mr. Gibson befools Lord
+Salisbury over the Arrears Bill the comment is, "What a cry for the
+country!" The Egyptian question suggests a hope that Egypt may deliver
+the Conservatives from their Irish connections and enable them to agree
+upon a leader. The preference shown for county over borough members is
+jotted down as a serious grievance. The use made of social influence
+comes in for a share of lamentation. Here we seem to get within the
+smell of soup, the bustle of evening receptions, and the smiles of
+dowagers. The cares which weigh upon this couple of patriot souls cannot
+be described as august. It is hardly among such petty anxieties that the
+upholders of the Empire and the pilots of the State are bred. The men
+who bemoan such wrongs can scarcely aspire to be the sages and ornaments
+of a legislature that gives laws to a fifth part of the human race. It
+is assuredly not in an outburst of wounded egotism that we should expect
+to find any trace of that noble pride which delights in subordination
+for public ends, and is willing to forget and to be forgotten in common
+services rendered to the nation. If we were not assured that we have
+been conversing for half an hour with two fair specimens of the chivalry
+of the land, we should almost suspect that we had been listening to the
+confidences of a couple of retired but aspiring soap-boilers.</p>
+
+<p>The criticisms of the "Two Conservatives" are not wholly destructive. As
+one fabric collapses, we begin to see the graceful outlines of another,
+for which a top-stone is already prepared. The question of the
+leadership is complicated by the requirements of the two Houses, but
+there is not much doubt as to the direction in which the quivering
+needle will finally point. Notwithstanding the gibes which have been
+flung at the aristocrats of the party, an aristocratic chief is
+necessary to lead an aristocratic assembly, and the only possible
+selection is already made. Lord Cairns stands dangerously near the
+centre of power, but the same may be said of him as of Mr. Gibson, "He
+is a lawyer and an Irishman of the Irish." The noble lord, moreover, is
+objectionable on the spiritual side of his character. To a High
+Churchman he smacks a little of the conventicle, and is given to
+"exercises" at unauthorized times and places. His university escutcheon
+is dim and stained compared with that of Oxford's Chancellor. On the
+whole Lord Cairns can never be a serious rival for the first place among
+the peers of England.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Salisbury is equipped with many of the qualifications that are
+necessary or held to be desirable in a party leader. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> is a member of
+the higher aristocracy. He can boast of ancestors who played a
+distinguished part in the politics of Europe three centuries ago. This
+circumstance appeals to the imagination and confers a legitimate
+advantage. He served an apprenticeship in the House of Commons. On
+succeeding to the peerage he did not lose a moment in making his
+influence felt in the Upper House. In one of his earliest speeches he
+startled the peers by telling them that if they did not choose to assert
+their constitutional rights they would consult their dignity by ceasing
+to be a House at all. He has had much experience in State affairs. What
+he did at the India Office and as Foreign Secretary is too well known to
+the world. Lord Salisbury's oratorical gifts are undeniable. He is one
+of a select half-dozen taken from either House who stand first in the
+power of moving a popular assembly. Lord Beaconsfield said that he
+"wanted finish." The remark was more spiteful than true. Lord Salisbury
+could not rival his chief in the neatness and polish of an epigram, but
+just as little could Lord Beaconsfield rival him in the unstudied graces
+of oratory. His speeches have a freedom and a rhythmical flow which
+captivate the hearer. Though he gives full play to his imagination and
+recklessly faces the risks to which an impetuous speaker is exposed, he
+is seldom stilted, and rarely breaks the neck of a sentence. Here,
+perhaps, the favourable side of the catalogue should end. His speeches
+have the great blemish of insolence. They are wanting in geniality, and
+apparently wanting in reflectiveness. They contain too little thought
+and more than enough of gall. Perhaps their cleverness is too obtrusive.
+His hearers are pleased, but they suspect a trick, and levy a discount
+on his argument. The faults of his speeches are his faults as a
+politician. He is headstrong and impulsive. He borrows his ideas from
+his passions, and fancies he is sagacious when he is but following the
+bent of his uppermost desire. He has but little sympathy with modern
+life and but a narrow comprehension of its facts. He is under the spell
+of long-descended traditions, and would prefer, if he could have it so,
+the England of the Tudors to the England of Victoria. Of the people and
+of the spirit which animates them he knows nothing. How should he? Save
+the rustics of Hatfield, he has never seen them, except from a platform.
+His occasional references to such a subject as English Nonconformity
+shows the depth of his benightedness; and his ignorance, the voluntary
+and superb ignorance of the aristocrat and the High Churchman, is the
+source of many of his blunders. Knowing nothing of the ground in front,
+he forces a leap and comes down in the ditch, and his friends with him.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Salisbury is indispensable, and as nothing will cure him of his
+faults the only plan is to keep him out of the path of temptation. The
+way to do this, we are told, is to fill the front bench in the House<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> of
+Commons with the right sort of men. Thus his qualifications for the
+leadership depend upon the choice which may be made of a leader for the
+Lower House. Everything points to that as the one crucial business. The
+"Two Conservatives" seem to have a special grudge against Mr. Gibson,
+perhaps because, unlike Sir Stafford Northcote, he is not too amiable
+for his ambition, and has lately been making a formidable bid for power.
+Hence we are told how absurd it is to think for a moment of Mr. Gibson.
+He is a member for the University of Dublin and might just as well be a
+member of the House of Keys or of the States of Jersey. Lord Salisbury
+would never have made such a humiliating display over the Arrears Bill
+if he had not been misled by Mr. Gibson. Hence it is necessary to keep
+the hon. and learned gentleman in the background if the party is not to
+be doomed to endless blunders, and driven, sheer beyond the range of
+English sympathies.</p>
+
+<p>The attack on Sir Stafford Northcote is conducted with greater caution,
+but with the same fell design. We are told that Lord Salisbury's
+selection for the leadership on Lord Beaconsfield's death was opposed by
+a near relative of Sir Stafford's, and lost by one vote. Then comes the
+suggestion that Mr. Disraeli would not have left the House of Commons
+for the Upper House if he had not believed that Mr. Gladstone had
+finally retired from the leadership of the Opposition. In other words,
+had he foreseen the course of events he would not have entrusted the
+leadership of the House to Sir Stafford Northcote. There is a vicious
+hit in the picture of Sir Stafford sitting between Mr. W. H. Smith and
+Mr. Lowther, yielding by turns to the caution of the one and the daring
+of the other, and showing himself unequal to the double part. Impartial
+observers will, perhaps, admit that Sir Stafford Northcote's chief fault
+is a want of backbone. He has not enough of confidence in himself. He
+would be a better politician if he were not so good a man. He needs to
+be armed either with the power of kicking out, or with imperturbable
+composure. This latter is the more useful and more dignified endowment,
+but it springs from a sense of self-sufficiency which fails him. If he
+had but the gift of epigram he might escape from his tormentors. The
+plague of it is that he never succeeds except when he reasons like a man
+of sense, and weapons forged on this anvil are too blunt to pierce the
+thick hide of impudence.</p>
+
+<p>No evil has befallen Sir Stafford Northcote but such as is common to
+men. It seems but the other day when Lord Robert Cecil was playing the
+same freaks that Lord Randolph Churchill is playing now. Our friend
+Fluellen would perhaps say, "the situations, look you, is both alike."
+Either of the noble names would pass for the other if they were written
+with initials and dashes in eighteenth century style. In those days the
+late Lord Derby was the Conserva<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>tive chief, and Mr. Disraeli led the
+Opposition in the Commons as his lieutenant. This arrangement nettled
+the young blood of the Conservative <i>noblesse</i>. Lord Robert Cecil's
+outlook in the world was not then what it afterwards became. He was a
+younger son with a career to make for himself. Ambition can supply
+spurs, so can prudence, so can necessity, and so can all three combined.
+The younger son of a great house enters upon political life at an
+enormous advantage over humbler rivals. If there is any brilliancy about
+him his fortune is made. Lord Robert Cecil's influence was sufficient to
+produce a succession of small insurrectionary earthquakes on the
+Opposition benches. Old members from the shires nudged each other in
+their bucolic way and asked what was the matter, learning with puzzled
+amusement that there were some who did not think it quite right for the
+gentlemen of England to be led by a Semitic adventurer. But the Semitic
+adventurer had the gifts of his race. He was primed to the throat with
+contempt and scorn, too cold and measured withal for the slightest show
+of insolence. As each hurly-burly ended and the dust settled, he was
+found sitting where he always meant to sit, just as if nothing had
+happened, with the same impassive look and the same indomitable calm. He
+had one great advantage external to himself. He knew that he could place
+unbounded confidence in the loyalty of his chief in the Upper House, and
+so long as Lord Derby stood by him the insurgent school-boys on the
+back-benches could do him no harm. Perhaps Sir Stafford Northcote
+cannot count upon the same support, but then his own resources are
+greater, if he did but know it.</p>
+
+<p>The truth is that Sir Stafford Northcote represents the only type of
+Conservatism that can survive in the present state of political thought
+in England. It is not a brilliant type, but that is the fault of
+history. Enough that it may be a useful one. Toryism has undergone a
+process of inverse development which resembles decay, but which is
+merely an accommodation to the existing conditions of life and health.
+The figments which used to furnish it with sustenance are dead. The
+divine right of kings, which nourished as a sentiment long after it was
+disowned by the laws, has at last gone spark out. The divine rights of
+the Church have followed suit. The legal abuses which were clung to as a
+symbol of the unchangeableness of English institutions are being swept
+away. The monopoly of political power which gave the right of governing
+the realm as a perquisite to a few patrician families has been broken
+down. The compromise which transferred the old privileges of the
+aristocracy to the middle classes has had to be abandoned. The
+"advancing tide of democracy" at which men looked through a telescope
+twenty years ago, wondering at what comparatively remote period it would
+reach our shores, has already reached us, and the waters are still
+rising. The superstitions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> formerly attaching to the possession of land,
+to hereditary descent, to ancestral titles, to the feudal pretensions of
+the squirearchy, are all dissipating into thin air. If it is not yet
+proved whether science is a democratic power, at any rate it asserts the
+predominance of natural laws, and at their fiat artificial distinctions
+must tend to disappear.</p>
+
+<p>In such a state of things what part is left for Conservatism to play?
+Mr. Disraeli asked and answered the same question when he began his
+witches' dance. What have you to conserve? Nothing! The answer is not
+true. There is much that may be conserved for a long time to come, and
+when it can no longer be conserved in its present shape something will
+have to be said as to the altered form it shall assume. One thing is
+certain. Conservatism cannot emancipate itself from the conditions of
+the age. It may indeed turn hermit and shut itself up in parsonages and
+manor-houses, but if it is still to be a political power it can only
+plan and achieve what is possible. It accepts, and cannot but accept,
+the law of progress as the rule of legislation, and the only arbiter to
+whom it can appeal is the national will. But you may advance slowly or
+rapidly, you may resort to modifications and compromises instead of
+sweeping things bodily away. In establishing a preference on these
+questions there is abundant room for popular advocacy. The people are
+not swayed by pure reason. They are actuated to a great extent by their
+prejudices and their passions. They must be taken as they are, and
+recent experience shows that it is difficult to say beforehand what and
+how much may not be made out of them. Unorganized groups of men are so
+helpless, oratory has so much power, the small vices of the mind have so
+strong a tendency to pass into politics, that a wide field will long be
+open to propagandists of every kind. It sometimes seems as if the
+obstacles to be overcome might be too great for the reformers, and that
+the "children of light" must adjourn their efforts till the millennium
+is a little nearer. It is the spread of education and the silent working
+of intellectual influences springing from the higher knowledge of the
+age that puts the better chances on their side. But Conservatism has its
+chances too, only it must not frighten the people with antiquated
+nonsense. It must fall in with current ideas. It must set up on the
+whole similar aims to those of its opponents, merely asking a preference
+for other methods. Above all, it must be modest and sober and give up
+bounce and slap-dash. The people are becoming more serious. They reason
+more on politics and with better lights; a sense of power teaches them
+self-respect, and they resent clap-trap. Perhaps I ought to ask pardon
+for saying so, but they can see through a merely clever man, like Lord
+Salisbury. A Liberal would find Sir Stafford Northcote a more formidable
+antagonist. He might be more eloquent, but eloquence is not everything.
+A gentle persuasiveness, even with a spice of puzzledom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> in it, will go
+further in the end. The Conservative mutineers know not what they are
+doing when they try to demolish this type of Conservatism. Or perhaps
+they do know, but are bent upon objects which, from a personal point of
+view, are attended with compensations. But the future of Conservatism
+does not rest with them unless they change their ideas and manners. The
+staying power and the fitness of things are on the side of those whom,
+with the ribald audacity of youth, they deride as slow-coaches.</p>
+
+<p>The "Two Conservatives" are not prepared to accept this humble <i>r&ocirc;le</i>.
+They meditate something heroic. They say that "if the Conservative party
+is to continue to exist as a power in the State it must become a popular
+party;" "that the days are past when an exclusive class, however great
+its ability, wealth, and energy, can command a majority in the
+electorate." "The liberties and interests of the people at large," they
+say, "are the only things which it is possible now to conserve: the
+rights of property, the Established Church, the House of Lords, and the
+Crown itself, must be defended on the ground that they are institutions
+necessary or useful to the preservation of civil and religious freedom,
+and can be maintained only so far as the people take this view of their
+subsistence." These are the principles of democracy. It is here laid
+down that the people are the only legitimate court of appeal on
+political questions, and that the decision rests, and ought to rest,
+with the numerical majority. Before this court the most venerable
+institutions of the realm may be brought to have their merits sifted,
+and an adverse verdict is to be followed by a writ of execution. The
+only test by which they are to be judged is their utility. If they
+fail to stand it they are to be voted nuisances. The standard of utility
+is not to be the interests or the supposed rights of any person or
+class, but the interests of the whole people. The people themselves are
+to decide what is meant by their liberties, how far they extend, and
+what other interests shall be superadded in making out the standard
+towards which our institutions shall approximate.</p>
+
+<p>If these are the principles of Neo-conservatism, our case is made out
+with a superfluity of proof. Of course there is a pretence of acting on
+these principles already. When a measure is before Parliament it is
+assumed that the sole issue in dispute is its utility. The Conservative
+debater recognizes the decisiveness of this test just as freely as his
+opponents. But these principles have not been openly avowed by the
+Conservatives. The "hypocrisy" with which Mr. Disraeli taunted them
+still flourishes in the form of amiable prepossessions. A vast mass of
+mystic and traditional lumber still enters into the foundations of
+Conservatism, and if all this "wood, hay, and stubble" were to be burnt
+up it would fare ill with the frail fabric overhead. The practical
+policy of Conservatism would not alter, and could not be altered much,
+but its pretensions would have to be pitched in a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> lower key, and the
+excessive modesty of the part which alone remains to it in the politics
+of the future would be put beyond dispute.</p>
+
+<p>It would be interesting to see this theory of Conservatism, quietly
+admitted though it be into the working details of legislation, hawked
+for acceptance among the Opposition benches, and note the result. What
+is this new creed of yours? we can fancy the hon. and gallant member for
+Loamshire ejaculating. That there must be no class influence in
+politics? That any half-dozen hinds on my estate are as good as so many
+dukes? That the will of the people is the supreme political tribunal?
+That if a majority at the polls bid us abolish the Church and toss the
+Crown into the gutter we are forthwith to be their most obedient
+servants? And you tell me that I can profess this horrible creed without
+ceasing to be a Tory! Before I could with a spark of honesty so much as
+parley with it I should have to crave a seat among the red-hot gentlemen
+yonder below the gangway. And the hon. and gallant member would only say
+the truth. Privilege is the mint mark of Toryism, exclusiveness is its
+life and soul. The doctrine of equal rights must be in everlasting
+repugnance to it. Toryism is the political expression of feudalized
+society, with lords and squires at the top, subservient dependants
+half-way down, and a mass of brutalized serfs at the bottom. It has been
+comparatively humanized by modern influences, but nothing can change the
+bent of its genius. With privilege vested interests of all sorts enter
+into ready fellowship. All those good citizens who have reason to
+suspect that if a public inquest sat upon them the verdict would not be
+favourable hasten to edge themselves in as closely as possible towards
+the privileged circle. The village rector, who does his duty with all
+the conscientiousness of a beneficed Christian, but who prizes his glebe
+and tithe, rushes to Cambridge to swell the majority for Mr. Raikes.
+Gentlemen of the long robe who make politics a vocation gravitate for
+some reason or other towards Liberalism; but the lower branch of the
+profession displays an opposite tendency. The county lawyer, who makes
+two-thirds of his income out of the mysteries of conveyancing, has
+reason to dislike such things as the registration of titles, and the
+transfer of estates by a few sentences extracted from a public record.
+The licensed victuallers, tens of thousands strong and with more than a
+hundred millions of invested capital, dread the change which would give
+them a quiet Sunday in return for a seventh of their profits. The
+strength of Toryism lies in this phalanx of vested interests and social
+privileges. The golden chain reaches from squire to Boniface, and still
+lower in the social scale, wherever some snug little peculium is found
+to nestle. The principles of Neo-Conservatism would rend the structure
+from top to bottom. The doctrine that the solution of all our political
+problems and the fate of all our institutions are simply an affair of
+numerical majorities at the ballot-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>box, and that the interests of the
+people are the sole end of legislation, is enough of itself to smash the
+party to atoms.</p>
+
+<p>All sensible politicians admit that if the time should come when a large
+majority of the people are adverse to monarchical institutions it will
+be vain to think of maintaining them by force. It may be added that
+sensible politicians seldom discuss such questions. They have too much
+present work on hand to trouble themselves about the remote and the
+unknown. "What thy hand findeth to do" is their motto, and out of the
+faithful achievements of to-day will the better future spring.
+Nevertheless bare possibilities sometimes present themselves as
+conundrums to be unravelled, and to the conundrum in question there is
+no second answer. But it is one thing to quietly accept a proposition
+and then let it drop out of sight; it is another to run it up to the top
+of the flag-staff as the symbol of a great party. This is what the
+"Neo-conservatives" propose to do with their recent discovery. An
+opinion of the Crown's utility is to determine whether it shall be
+preserved or destroyed. When the majority of the people cry "Away with
+it," away it is to go. As soon as the popular fiat is announced, the
+Sovereign will depart from Windsor, the Life Guards will present arms to
+the President of the Republic, and in the twinkling of an eye, as the
+result of a contested election, the Monarchy of England is to be
+decorously carried to the tomb. This is the doctrine which Tory lords
+and squires are asked to proclaim with sound of trumpet as the
+corner-stone of their political creed. "Only so far as the people take
+this view of its subsistence"&mdash;this is to be the Tory patent for the
+"subsistence" of the Crown. Rather different this from the old cry:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Ere the King's Crown go down there are crowns to be broke."</p></div>
+
+<p>It is true that the peers no longer wear coats of mail, or lead their
+vassals to the field of battle. Of most of them it is hardly
+disrespectful to suppose that on critical occasions they would prefer
+the rear of the army to the van. But the creed is not quite extinct that
+there are things worth fighting for, and that among them are the
+Monarchy of England and the rights of the Crown. For practical purposes,
+perhaps, the creed is obsolete, but it lives in the imagination, and the
+sentiments which spring from it are part of the cement of Toryism. The
+solemn abjuration which is now proposed in the name of Neo-conservatism
+resembles a charge of dynamite.</p>
+
+<p>But in abandoning Tory principles the leaders of the new movement hope
+perhaps to drive a roaring trade by defending Tory institutions. They
+will say that they have been obliged to shift their ground, but that
+they hope to work with better results from their new position. The
+business of the party is to prevail upon Household Suffrage to accept
+the survivals of feudalism, and a verdict in the new court of appeal
+that shall ratify the old creed. It is a creditable enterprise.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> Will it
+succeed? It seems but too likely that the efforts contemplated will only
+serve to weaken the institutions they are meant to defend, and that
+whatever is practicable or desirable in the objects aimed at will be
+secured most easily and most effectually by the Liberal party.</p>
+
+<p>Among the political institutions of an old country there are some which
+certainly would not be set up if the past were obliterated, and the
+nation were beginning afresh. They were suitable to the times in which
+they originated, but they are out of harmony with the tendencies of the
+present day. Perhaps they do some good; at any rate they do not do much
+harm, and the people tolerate them for the sake of old associations.
+From this point of view a great deal may be said in their behalf. They
+make visible the continuity of our national existence, they connect us
+with a distant and romantic past, they lend to the State something of
+dignity and poetic charm. Institutions of this sort may be held in
+veneration by those who can trace them to their origin, and see them in
+perspective from the beginning. But there is one test they will not
+stand. They will not pass unscathed through the crucible of modern
+criticism. They are disfigured by anomalies, they shelter many abuses,
+they involve an expenditure of public money out of proportion to the
+services rendered in return, they consecrate a privileged descent, in
+the transmission of property they violate the rules of natural equity,
+while the principles on which they rest need only to be developed and
+applied with logical consistency to overthrow the fabric of political
+freedom. The best service that can be rendered to such institutions is
+to say as little as possible about them. A wise friend will not utter a
+word in their defence unless they are assailed, and the ground selected
+for defence will then be carefully limited to the dimensions of the
+attack. The next best service will be to remove from them as occasion
+offers all unsightly excrescences, to put an end to any anomaly which is
+beginning to excite remark, and to amend any faults of mechanism which
+are likely to produce a jar. Such a policy of discriminating reserve may
+lengthen out their existence indefinitely. But to force them to the
+front, to exalt them as the ripest product of political wisdom, to hold
+them forth as necessary to the maintenance of the civil and religious
+liberties of the people,&mdash;this can only be the work of designing
+adversaries or of blundering friends. As a basis of party action it
+would be like sand. It would be levelled by the mocking tides of popular
+criticism.</p>
+
+<p>The programme of the "Two Conservatives" begins with a grand item, the
+conservation of the liberties of the people. But why "conserve?" Why not
+extend and advance them? Why should the present stage in the historical
+growth of our liberties be selected as the point at which conservation
+becomes a duty? Would not the party<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> which undertakes the task to-day be
+better pleased if there were fewer of them to conserve? The Tories have
+always been adepts at conservation, but the things they have been most
+willing to conserve were not our liberties but the restrictions put upon
+our liberties. Since the liberties now proposed to be conserved are
+assumed to be threatened by the Liberals, they must be liberties of a
+special sort, such as liberty to spread infection, liberty to dispense
+with vaccination, liberty to send uninspected ships to sea, to keep
+children away from school, or to send them out at any age to work in the
+fields, the factory, or the streets. "Personal rights" have good radical
+sponsors in the hon. members for Stockport and Leicester. Perhaps
+Parliament as a whole is the best sponsor. The Neo-conservative
+programme should tell us what is meant by the liberties of the people.
+The absence of definition may perhaps cover an imposture.</p>
+
+<p>The next object of Neo-conservative devotion is the maintenance of the
+rights of property. Those rights are of no private interpretation, and
+belong to sociology rather than to politics. Every man is interested in
+them who has anything to lose, or who has a chance of acquiring
+anything. Hence they cannot be claimed as an appanage of Toryism. They
+are placed under the common championship of all parties. But the
+exclusive claim set up must have some meaning. The rights of property
+intended may perhaps be the rights of property as understood by the
+landlords, in which sense they may include a right to the property of
+other people; or as understood by the association of which Lord Elcho is
+president, in which sense they stand in opposition to the rights of the
+public. We know what is meant by the rights of landed proprietors, of
+railway corporations, of publicans, of property owners, of shipowners,
+of pawnbrokers and of corporate bodies, such as the guilds of the city
+of London. They represent the pretensions of these classes to have their
+interests preferred to those of the community. It is a case of
+prescription against equity, of the license assumed by special callings
+against the checks and guarantees which Parliament has found it
+necessary to impose for the general welfare. This is a field in which
+Neo-conservatism can reap no harvest. It will be vain to tell the
+working man who is the owner of the house in which he lives, that his
+rights are in the same boat with the right of London companies to
+squander or misapply the wealth which has descended to them from the
+Middle Ages. It will be useless to enter an appeal before the tribunal
+of public opinion in defence of such rights as these on the pretence
+that they are the rights of property. The unsophisticated reason of the
+constituencies will resent the assumption as an attempted fraud.</p>
+
+<p>The political institutions which are to be set forth as necessary to the
+maintenance of the civil and religious liberties of the people are the
+Established Church, the House of Lords, and the Crown. Of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> Crown we
+have already spoken. It is the least vulnerable of the three, and for
+this reason it is the least fitted to furnish a party cry. The strength
+of the Crown resides in its enormous historical <i>prestige</i>, and in the
+constitutional device, old as the monarchy in principle, but modern in
+its machinery, by which it is removed from the sphere of responsibility
+and therefore from party assault. The Crown need not be defended for it
+is not assailed. If it were assailed there are sufficient grounds for an
+adequate, perhaps a triumphant, defence. But in mere truth it would be
+difficult to defend it on the special ground that it is necessary to the
+maintenance of our civil and religious liberties. Everybody knows that
+these liberties were won in despite of the Crown, and in opposition to
+its alleged prerogatives. We had to send a dynasty adrift before we
+could regard our liberties as moderately secure. No greater disservice
+can be done to any institution than to advance exaggerated or
+ill-founded pretensions on its behalf, and this is what Neo-conservatism
+proposes to do for the Crown. It will be well to keep this institution
+off the hustings. To utilize it for party purposes seems like an
+insidious form of treason. The Established Church is fairer game, but
+absolutely worthless as a means of raising the wind for a forlorn party.
+An institution which needs all the support it can get has none to share
+with companions in distress. The Church may have a larger hold upon a
+portion of the middle classes than it had thirty years ago, but the
+working classes are separated from it by a wider gulf. Many who attend
+its services and call themselves Churchmen are utterly indifferent to
+its political fate. It is preposterous to represent the Established
+Church as necessary to the maintenance of civil and religious freedom.
+In the course of her history she has been the unrelenting foe of both,
+and we have no more of either than she could help our having. The want
+of disciplinary powers prevents her from interfering with the belief,
+or, except in grave cases, with the moral conduct of her members, but
+the paralysis of the authority necessary for internal discipline is not
+the same thing as religious freedom. The bondage of the Church is not
+the liberty of the State. Disestablishment has not yet come within the
+range of practical politics, but if a popular statesman felt it his duty
+to bring the question fairly before the electorate, it is at least
+doubtful whether the verdict would not be hostile to the Church. No
+doubt need be entertained as to the result of such an appeal in the case
+of the House of Lords. The constitution of the House as an assembly of
+hereditary legislators is admitted to be indefensible. Its theoretic
+prerogatives are tolerated only on the understanding that they shall
+never be exerted. It exists by virtue of habit and indifference, aided
+by a conviction of its powerlessness. As a decorative institution there
+is no great eagerness to pull it down, but whenever the House forgets<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>
+that its functions are ornamental, and commits itself to a serious issue
+with the Commons, its last hour will be at hand. The step most likely to
+precipitate its doom would be for the Tory party to glorify it as the
+palladium of our liberties, and try to get up popular enthusiasm on its
+behalf. The House of Lords would not long survive that treacherous
+homage. It would be beaten in one campaign.</p>
+
+<p>No: from whatever point of view we consider the question, it is plain
+that the attempt to reconstruct the Tory party on a Democratic basis
+cannot succeed. The open avowal of such an aim would deprive Toryism of
+all backbone and reduce it to the condition of a moribund jelly-fish. It
+is not given to any creature to change its nature and yet continue to
+discharge its old functions. It is true that Toryism in order to get on
+at all with the present age is obliged occasionally to act on Liberal
+principles. The device gives no offence so long as it is adopted
+quietly, and if suspicions are awakened a few heart-stirring speeches in
+the old orthodox vein suffice to allay them. A formal repudiation of old
+ideas is quite another thing. Just as Utopian is the project of
+defending Tory institutions on Democratic principles. There are two
+arsenals from which political combatants may choose their weapons, the
+historical and the scientific. It is from the former that the champion
+equips himself who offers battle on behalf of institutions that have
+descended to us from hoar antiquity. Weapons taken from the latter are
+unfit for such a service. Every blow would recoil upon the institution
+which it was the champion's aim to defend. To abandon the Established
+Church, the House of Lords, and the Crown to the uncovenanted mercies of
+modern political criticism is a rash experiment. The hope which sees in
+such an experiment a fresh lease of life and new chances of ascendency
+for Toryism is absurd.</p>
+
+<p>Yet there is, and always will be, room for a Conservative party in
+English politics, only it must move along the historic lines, and not
+needlessly renounce its old watchwords. We need two brooms to keep our
+constitutional mansion in a tidy state, one in use, the other undergoing
+repairs, or put in pickle, and ready to be brought in when wanted.
+Government by party requires the existence of two parties, and demand is
+apt to generate supply. It is not necessary that the two parties should
+be separated by an impassable gulf. It is only necessary that materials
+for two separate connections should be provided, and in this emergency
+Nature does much to help us. There are opposite moods of mind in
+politics as in literature and art; there are antithetical differences of
+intellect and temperament to be found among men of all countries and all
+times; there is the standing opposition between what is and what ought
+to be, between the actual and the ideal, between the desire of the poor
+human<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> wayfarer to sit down and rest, and the curiosity which ever lures
+him on. Possession and the desire to possess, divine contentment and
+still diviner discontent, self-centreing reflectiveness and impulses
+whose proper object is the welfare of mankind,&mdash;here are agencies which
+play their part in politics as well as in social life. These
+multifarious forces tend to range themselves on opposite sides, the
+sympathetic in each class readily finding out their kinsmen in the rest.
+With such materials to work upon, a Conservatism which chooses to follow
+the ordinary course of things can never be defunct. Extinction can only
+come from an endeavour after some monstrous birth against which both
+Nature and history have pronounced their ban.</p>
+
+<p class="author">
+<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;"><span class="smcap">Henry Dunckley.</span></span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Contemporary Review, January 1883, by Various
+
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+Project Gutenberg's The Contemporary Review, January 1883, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Contemporary Review, January 1883
+       Vol 43, No. 1
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: July 3, 2008 [EBook #25957]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, JANUARY 1883 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW
+
+VOLUME XLIII. JANUARY-JUNE, 1883
+
+ISBISTER AND COMPANY
+
+LIMITED
+
+56, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON
+
+1883
+
+   Ballantyne Press
+
+   BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO., EDINBURGH
+   CHANDOS STREET, LONDON
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS OF VOLUME XLIII.
+
+   JANUARY, 1883.
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+   The Americans. By Herbert Spencer                                   1
+
+   University Elections. By Edward A. Freeman, D.C.L.                 16
+
+   Hamlet: A New Reading. By Franklin Leifchild                       31
+
+   Panislamism and the Caliphate                                      57
+
+   The Bollandists. By the Rev. G. T. Stokes                          69
+
+   England, France, and Madagascar. By the Rev. James Sibree          85
+
+   The Religious Future of the World. I. By W. S. Lilly              100
+
+   Syrian Colonization. By the Rev. W. Wright, D.D                   122
+
+   The Conservative Dilemma. By Henry Dunckley                       141
+
+
+   FEBRUARY, 1883.
+
+   Contemporary Life and Thought in France. By Gabriel Monod         157
+
+   Gambetta. By A German                                             179
+
+   The Art of Rossetti. By Harry Quilter                             190
+
+   The Religious Future of the World. II. By W. S. Lilly             204
+
+   The "Silver Streak" and the Channel Tunnel. By Professor
+     Boyd Dawkins                                                    240
+
+   The Prospect of Reform. By Arthur Arnold, M.P.                    250
+
+   Ancient International Law. By Professor Brougham Leech            260
+
+   A Russian Prison. By Henry Lansdell, D.D.                         275
+
+   Canonical Obedience. By the Rev. Edwin Hatch                      289
+
+   Democratic Toryism. By Arthur B. Forwood                          294
+
+
+   MARCH, 1883.
+
+   County Government. By the Rt. Hon. Sir R. A. Cross, G.C.B., M.P.  305
+
+   Leon Gambetta: A Positivist Discourse. By Frederic Harrison       311
+
+   Discharged Prisoners: How to Aid Them. By C. E. Howard
+     Vincent, Director of Criminal Investigations                    325
+
+   Miss Burney's Own Story. By Mary Elizabeth Christie               332
+
+   The Highland Crofters. By John Rae                                357
+
+   Local Self-Government in India: The New Departure. By Sir
+     Richard Temple, Bart., G.C.S.I.                                 373
+
+   Siena. By Samuel James Capper                                     383
+
+   The Limits of Science. By the Rev. George Edmundson               404
+
+   Land Tenure and Taxation in Egypt. By Henry C. Kay                411
+
+   The Enchanted Lake: An Episode from the Mahabharata.
+     By Edwin Arnold, C.S.I.                                         428
+
+   The Municipal Organization of Paris. By Yves Guyot, Member
+     of the Municipal Council of Paris                               439
+
+
+   APRIL, 1883.
+
+   PAGE
+
+   The English Military Power, and the Egyptian Campaign of 1882.
+     By A German Field-Officer                                       457
+
+   M. Gambetta: Positivism and Christianity. By R. W. Dale, M.A.     476
+
+   The Anti-Vivisectionist Agitation:
+     1. By Dr. E. De Cyon                                            498
+     2. By R. H. Hutton                                              510
+
+   The Gospel According to Rembrandt. By Richard Heath               517
+
+   Conseils de Prud'hommes. By W. H. S. Aubrey                       538
+
+   The Manchester Ship Canal. By Major-General Hamley                549
+
+   The Progress of Socialism. By Emile de Laveleye                   561
+
+   Irish Murder-Societies. By Richard Pigott                         583
+
+   Contemporary Life and Thought: Italian Politics. By Professor
+     Villari                                                         592
+
+
+   MAY, 1883.
+
+   Mrs. Carlyle. By Mrs. Oliphant                                    609
+
+   The Business of the House oL Commons. By the Right
+     Ho. W. E. Baxter, M.P.                                          629
+
+   The Oxford Movement of 1833. By William Palmer                    636
+
+   Radiation. By Professor Tyndall                                   660
+
+   Cairo: The Old in the New. I. By Dr. Georg Ebers                  674
+
+   Responsibilities of Unbelief. By Vernon Lee                       685
+
+   Fiji. By the Hon Sir Arthur H. Gordon, G.C.M.G.                   711
+
+   John Richard Green. By the Rev. H. R. Haweis, M A.                732
+
+   Fenianism. By F. H. O'Donnell, M.P.                               747
+
+
+   JUNE, 1883.
+
+   The Congo Neutralized. By Emile de Laveleye                       767
+
+   Agnostic Morality. By Frances Power Cobbe                         783
+
+   Native Indian Judges: Mr. Ilbert's Bill. By the Right Hon.
+     Sir Arthur Hobhouse, K.C.S.I.                                   795
+
+   The Philosophy of the Beautiful. By Professor John Stuart Blackie 812
+
+   Nature and Thought. By G. J. Romanes, F.R.S.                      831
+
+   Cairo: The Old in the New. II. By Dr. Georg Ebers                 842
+
+   De Mortuis. By C. F. Gordon Cumming                               858
+
+   Wanted, an Elisha. By H. D. Traill, D.C.L.                        870
+
+   Two Aspects of Shakspeare's Art. By T. Hall Came                  883
+
+   Insanity, Suicide and Civilization. By M. G. Mulhall              901
+
+   The New Egyptian Constitution. By Sheldon Amos                    909
+
+
+
+
+THE AMERICANS:
+
+A CONVERSATION AND A SPEECH, WITH AN ADDITION.
+
+BY HERBERT SPENCER.
+
+
+I.--A CONVERSATION: _October 20, 1882_.
+
+     [The state of Mr. Spencer's health unfortunately not permitting him
+     to give in the form of articles the results of his observations on
+     American society, it is thought useful to reproduce, under his own
+     revision and with some additional remarks, what he has said on the
+     subject; especially as the accounts of it which have appeared in
+     this country are imperfect: reports of the conversation having been
+     abridged, and the speech being known only by telegraphic summary.
+
+     The earlier paragraphs of the conversation, which refer to Mr.
+     Spencer's persistent exclusion of reporters and his objections to
+     the interviewing system, are omitted, as not here concerning the
+     reader. There was no eventual yielding, as has been supposed. It
+     was not to a newspaper-reporter that the opinions which follow were
+     expressed, but to an intimate American friend: the primary purpose
+     being to correct the many misstatements to which the excluded
+     interviewers had given currency; and the occasion being taken for
+     giving utterance to impressions of American affairs.--ED.]
+
+Has what you have seen answered your expectations?
+
+It has far exceeded them. Such books about America as I had looked into
+had given me no adequate idea of the immense developments of material
+civilization which I have everywhere found. The extent, wealth, and
+magnificence of your cities, and especially the splendour of New York,
+have altogether astonished me. Though I have not visited the wonder of
+the West, Chicago, yet some of your minor modern places, such as
+Cleveland, have sufficiently amazed me by the results of one
+generation's activity. Occasionally, when I have been in places of some
+ten thousand inhabitants where the telephone is in general use, I have
+felt somewhat ashamed of our own unenterprising towns, many of which, of
+fifty thousand inhabitants and more, make no use of it.
+
+I suppose you recognize in these results the great benefits of free
+institutions?
+
+Ah! Now comes one of the inconveniences of interviewing. I have been in
+the country less than two months, have seen but a relatively small part
+of it, and but comparatively few people, and yet you wish from me a
+definite opinion on a difficult question.
+
+Perhaps you will answer, subject to the qualification that you are but
+giving your first impressions?
+
+Well, with that understanding, I may reply that though the free
+institutions have been partly the cause, I think they have not been the
+chief cause. In the first place, the American people have come into
+possession of an unparalleled fortune--the mineral wealth and the vast
+tracts of virgin soil producing abundantly with small cost of culture.
+Manifestly, that alone goes a long way towards producing this enormous
+prosperity. Then they have profited by inheriting all the arts,
+appliances, and methods, developed by older societies, while leaving
+behind the obstructions existing in them. They have been able to pick
+and choose from the products of all past experience, appropriating the
+good and rejecting the bad. Then, besides these favours of fortune,
+there are factors proper to themselves. I perceive in American faces
+generally a great amount of determination--a kind of "do or die"
+expression; and this trait of character, joined with a power of work
+exceeding that of any other people, of course produces an unparalleled
+rapidity of progress. Once more, there is the inventiveness which,
+stimulated by the need for economizing labour, has been so wisely
+fostered. Among us in England, there are many foolish people who, while
+thinking that a man who toils with his hands has an equitable claim to
+the product, and if he has special skill may rightly have the advantage
+of it, also hold that if a man toils with his brain, perhaps for years,
+and, uniting genius with perseverance, evolves some valuable invention,
+the public may rightly claim the benefit. The Americans have been more
+far-seeing. The enormous museum of patents which I saw at Washington is
+significant of the attention paid to inventors' claims; and the nation
+profits immensely from having in this direction (though not in all
+others) recognized property in mental products. Beyond question, in
+respect of mechanical appliances the Americans are ahead of all nations.
+If along with your material progress there went equal progress of a
+higher kind, there would remain nothing to be wished.
+
+That is an ambiguous qualification. What do you mean by it?
+
+You will understand me when I tell you what I was thinking the other
+day. After pondering over what I have seen of your vast manufacturing
+and trading establishments, the rush of traffic in your street-cars and
+elevated railways, your gigantic hotels and Fifth Avenue palaces, I was
+suddenly reminded of the Italian Republics of the Middle Ages; and
+recalled the fact that while there was growing up in them great
+commercial activity, a development of the arts which made them the envy
+of Europe, and a building of princely mansions which continue to be the
+admiration of travellers, their people were gradually losing their
+freedom.
+
+Do you mean this as a suggestion that we are doing the like?
+
+It seems to me that you are. You retain the forms of freedom; but, so
+far as I can gather, there has been a considerable loss of the
+substance. It is true that those who rule you do not do it by means of
+retainers armed with swords; but they do it through regiments of men
+armed with voting papers, who obey the word of command as loyally as did
+the dependants of the old feudal nobles, and who thus enable their
+leaders to override the general will, and make the community submit to
+their exactions as effectually as their prototypes of old. It is
+doubtless true that each of your citizens votes for the candidate he
+chooses for this or that office, from President downwards; but his hand
+is guided by an agency behind which leaves him scarcely any choice. "Use
+your political power as we tell you, or else throw it away," is the
+alternative offered to the citizen. The political machinery as it is now
+worked, has little resemblance to that contemplated at the outset of
+your political life. Manifestly, those who framed your Constitution
+never dreamed that twenty thousand citizens would go to the poll led by
+a "boss." America exemplifies at the other end of the social scale, a
+change analogous to that which has taken place under sundry despotisms.
+You know that in Japan, before the recent Revolution, the divine ruler,
+the Mikado, nominally supreme, was practically a puppet in the hands of
+his chief minister, the Shogun. Here it seems to me that "the sovereign
+people" is fast becoming a puppet which moves and speaks as wire-pullers
+determine.
+
+Then you think that Republican institutions are a failure?
+
+By no means: I imply no such conclusion. Thirty years ago, when often
+discussing politics with an English friend, and defending Republican
+institutions, as I always have done and do still, and when he urged
+against me the ill-working of such institutions over here, I habitually
+replied that the Americans got their form of government by a happy
+accident, not by normal progress, and that they would have to go back
+before they could go forward. What has since happened seems to me to
+have justified that view; and what I see now, confirms me in it. America
+is showing, on a larger scale than ever before, that "paper
+Constitutions" will not work as they are intended to work. The truth,
+first recognized by Mackintosh, that Constitutions are not made but
+grow, which is part of the larger truth that societies, throughout their
+whole organizations, are not made but grow, at once, when accepted,
+disposes of the notion that you can work as you hope any
+artificially-devised system of government. It becomes an inference that
+if your political structure has been manufactured and not grown, it
+will forthwith begin to grow into something different from that
+intended--something in harmony with the natures of the citizens, and the
+conditions under which the society exists. And it evidently has been so
+with you. Within the forms of your Constitution there has grown up this
+organization of professional politicians altogether uncontemplated at
+the outset, which has become in large measure the ruling power.
+
+But will not education and the diffusion of political knowledge fit men
+for free institutions?
+
+No. It is essentially a question of character, and only in a secondary
+degree a question of knowledge. But for the universal delusion about
+education as a panacea for political evils, this would have been made
+sufficiently clear by the evidence daily disclosed in your papers. Are
+not the men who officer and control your Federal, your State, and your
+Municipal organizations--who manipulate your caucuses and conventions,
+and run your partisan campaigns--all educated men? And has their
+education prevented them from engaging in, or permitting, or condoning,
+the briberies, lobbyings, and other corrupt methods which vitiate the
+actions of your administrations? Perhaps party newspapers exaggerate
+these things; but what am I to make of the testimony of your civil
+service reformers--men of all parties? If I understand the matter
+aright, they are attacking, as vicious and dangerous, a system which has
+grown up under the natural spontaneous working of your free
+institutions--are exposing vices which education has proved powerless to
+prevent?
+
+Of course, ambitious and unscrupulous men will secure the offices, and
+education will aid them in their selfish purposes. But would not those
+purposes be thwarted, and better Government secured, by raising the
+standard of knowledge among the people at large?
+
+Very little. The current theory is that if the young are taught what is
+right, and the reasons why it is right, they will do what is right when
+they grow up. But considering what religious teachers have been doing
+these two thousand years, it seems to me that all history is against the
+conclusion, as much as is the conduct of these well-educated citizens I
+have referred to; and I do not see why you expect better results among
+the masses. Personal interests will sway the men in the ranks, as they
+sway the men above them; and the education which fails to make the last
+consult public good rather than private good, will fail to make the
+first do it. The benefits of political purity are so general and remote,
+and the profit to each individual is so inconspicuous, that the common
+citizen, educate him as you like, will habitually occupy himself with
+his personal affairs, and hold it not worth his while to fight against
+each abuse as soon as it appears. Not lack of information, but lack of
+certain moral sentiment, is the root of the evil.
+
+You mean that people have not a sufficient sense of public duty?
+
+Well, that is one way of putting it; but there is a more specific way.
+Probably it will surprise you if I say the American has not, I think, a
+sufficiently quick sense of his own claims, and, at the same time, as a
+necessary consequence, not a sufficiently quick sense of the claims of
+others--for the two traits are organically related. I observe that they
+tolerate various small interferences and dictations which Englishmen are
+prone to resist. I am told that the English are remarked on for their
+tendency to grumble in such cases; and I have no doubt it is true.
+
+Do you think it worth while for people to make themselves disagreeable
+by resenting every trifling aggression? We Americans think it involves
+too much loss of time and temper, and doesn't pay.
+
+Exactly; that is what I mean by character. It is this easy-going
+readiness to permit small trespasses, because it would be troublesome or
+profitless or unpopular to oppose them, which leads to the habit of
+acquiescence in wrong, and the decay of free institutions. Free
+institutions can be maintained only by citizens, each of whom is instant
+to oppose every illegitimate act, every assumption of supremacy, every
+official excess of power, however trivial it may seem. As Hamlet says,
+there is such a thing as "greatly to find quarrel in a straw," when the
+straw implies a principle. If, as you say of the American, he pauses to
+consider whether he can afford the time and trouble--whether it will
+pay, corruption is sure to creep in. All these lapses from higher to
+lower forms begin in trifling ways, and it is only by incessant
+watchfulness that they can be prevented. As one of your early statesmen
+said--"The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." But it is far less
+against foreign aggressions upon national liberty that this vigilance is
+required, than against the insidious growth of domestic interferences
+with personal liberty. In some private administrations which I have been
+concerned with, I have often insisted that instead of assuming, as
+people usually do, that things are going right until it is proved that
+they are going wrong, the proper course is to assume that they are going
+wrong until it is proved that they are going right. You will find
+continually that private corporations, such as joint-stock banking
+companies, come to grief from not acting on this principle; and what
+holds of these small and simple private administrations holds still more
+of the great and complex public administrations. People are taught, and
+I suppose believe, that the "heart of man is deceitful above all things,
+and desperately wicked;" and yet, strangely enough, believing this, they
+place implicit trust in those they appoint to this or that function. I
+do not think so ill of human nature; but, on the other hand, I do not
+think so well of human nature as to believe it will go straight without
+being watched.
+
+You hinted that while Americans do not assert their own individualities
+sufficiently in small matters, they, reciprocally, do not sufficiently
+respect the individualities of others.
+
+Did I? Here, then, comes another of the inconveniences of interviewing.
+I should have kept this opinion to myself if you had asked me no
+questions; and now I must either say what I do not think, which I
+cannot, or I must refuse to answer, which, perhaps, will be taken to
+mean more than I intend, or I must specify, at the risk of giving
+offence. As the least evil, I suppose I must do the last. The trait I
+refer to comes out in various ways, small and great. It is shown by the
+disrespectful manner in which individuals are dealt with in your
+journals--the placarding of public men in sensational headings, the
+dragging of private people and their affairs into print. There seems to
+be a notion that the public have a right to intrude on private life as
+far as they like; and this I take to be a kind of moral trespassing.
+Then, in a larger way, the trait is seen in this damaging of private
+property by your elevated railways without making compensation; and it
+is again seen in the doings of railway autocrats, not only when
+overriding the rights of shareholders, but in dominating over courts of
+justice and State governments. The fact is that free institutions can be
+properly worked only by men, each of whom is jealous of his own rights,
+and also sympathetically jealous of the rights of others--who will
+neither himself aggress on his neighbours in small things or great, nor
+tolerate aggression on them by others. The Republican form of government
+is the highest form of government; but because of this it requires the
+highest type of human nature--a type nowhere at present existing. We
+have not grown up to it; nor have you.
+
+But we thought, Mr. Spencer, you were in favour of free government in
+the sense of relaxed restraints, and letting men and things very much
+alone, or what is called _laissez faire_?
+
+That is a persistent misunderstanding of my opponents. Everywhere, along
+with the reprobation of Government intrusion into various spheres where
+private activities should be left to themselves, I have contended that
+in its special sphere, the maintenance of equitable relations among
+citizens, governmental action should be extended and elaborated.
+
+To return to your various criticisms, must I then understand that you
+think unfavourably of our future?
+
+No one can form anything more than vague and general conclusions
+respecting your future. The factors are too numerous, too vast, too far
+beyond measure in their quantities and intensities. The world has never
+before seen social phenomena at all comparable with those presented in
+the United States. A society spreading over enormous tracts, while still
+preserving its political continuity, is a new thing. This progressive
+incorporation of vast bodies of immigrants of various bloods, has never
+occurred on such a scale before. Large empires, composed of different
+peoples, have, in previous cases, been formed by conquest and
+annexation. Then your immense _plexus_ of railways and telegraphs tends
+to consolidate this vast aggregate of States in a way that no such
+aggregate has ever before been consolidated. And there are many minor
+co-operating causes, unlike those hitherto known. No one can say how it
+is all going to work out. That there will come hereafter troubles of
+various kinds, and very grave ones, seems highly probable; but all
+nations have had, and will have, their troubles. Already you have
+triumphed over one great trouble, and may reasonably hope to triumph
+over others. It may, I think, be concluded that, both because of its
+size and the heterogeneity of its components, the American nation will
+be a long time in evolving its ultimate form, but that its ultimate form
+will be high. One great result is, I think, tolerably clear. From
+biological truths it is to be inferred that the eventual mixture of the
+allied varieties of the Aryan race forming the population, will produce
+a finer type of man than has hitherto existed; and a type of man more
+plastic, more adaptable, more capable of undergoing the modifications
+needful for complete social life. I think that whatever difficulties
+they may have to surmount, and whatever tribulations they may have to
+pass through, the Americans may reasonably look forward to a time when
+they will have produced a civilization grander than any the world has
+known.
+
+
+
+
+II.--A SPEECH:
+
+_Delivered on the occasion of a Complimentary Dinner in New York, on
+November 9, 1882._
+
+
+Mr. President and Gentlemen:--Along with your kindness there comes to me
+a great unkindness from Fate; for, now that, above all times in my life,
+I need full command of what powers of speech I possess, disturbed health
+so threatens to interfere with them that I fear I shall very
+inadequately express myself. Any failure in my response you must please
+ascribe, in part at least, to a greatly disordered nervous system.
+Regarding you as representing Americans at large, I feel that the
+occasion is one on which arrears of thanks are due. I ought to begin
+with the time, some two-and-twenty years ago, when my highly valued
+friend Professor Youmans, making efforts to diffuse my books here,
+interested on their behalf the Messrs. Appleton, who have ever treated
+me so honourably and so handsomely; and I ought to detail from that time
+onward the various marks and acts of sympathy by which I have been
+encouraged in a struggle which was for many years disheartening. But,
+intimating thus briefly my general indebtedness to my numerous friends,
+most of them unknown, on this side of the Atlantic, I must name more
+especially the many attentions and proffered hospitalities met with
+during my late tour, as well as, lastly and chiefly, this marked
+expression of the sympathies and good wishes which many of you have
+travelled so far to give, at great cost of that time which is so
+precious to the American. I believe I may truly say, that the better
+health which you have so cordially wished me, will be in a measure
+furthered by the wish; since all pleasurable emotion is conducive to
+health, and, as you will fully believe, the remembrance of this event
+will ever continue to be a source of pleasurable emotion, exceeded by
+few, if any, of my remembrances.
+
+And now that I have thanked you, sincerely though too briefly, I am
+going to find fault with you. Already, in some remarks drawn from me
+respecting American affairs and American character, I have passed
+criticisms, which have been accepted far more good-humouredly than I
+could have reasonably expected; and it seems strange that I should now
+propose again to transgress. However, the fault I have to comment upon
+is one which most will scarcely regard as a fault. It seems to me that
+in one respect Americans have diverged too widely from savages, I do not
+mean to say that they are in general unduly civilized. Throughout large
+parts of the population, even in long-settled regions, there is no
+excess of those virtues needed for the maintenance of social harmony.
+Especially out in the West, men's dealings do not yet betray too much of
+the "sweetness and light" which we are told distinguish the cultured man
+from the barbarian. Nevertheless, there is a sense in which my assertion
+is true. You know that the primitive man lacks power of application.
+Spurred by hunger, by danger, by revenge, he can exert himself
+energetically for a time; but his energy is spasmodic. Monotonous daily
+toil is impossible to him. It is otherwise with the more developed man.
+The stern discipline of social life has gradually increased the aptitude
+for persistent industry; until, among us, and still more among you, work
+has become with many a passion. This contrast of nature has another
+aspect. The savage thinks only of present satisfactions, and leaves
+future satisfactions uncared for. Contrariwise, the American, eagerly
+pursuing a future good, almost ignores what good the passing day offers
+him; and when the future good is gained, he neglects that while striving
+for some still remoter good.
+
+What I have seen and heard during my stay among you has forced on me the
+belief that this slow change from habitual inertness to persistent
+activity has reached an extreme from which there must begin a
+counterchange--a reaction. Everywhere I have been struck with the
+number of faces which told in strong lines of the burdens that had to be
+borne. I have been struck, too, with the large proportion of gray-haired
+men; and inquiries have brought out the fact, that with you the hair
+commonly begins to turn some ten years earlier than with us. Moreover,
+in every circle I have met men who had themselves suffered from nervous
+collapse due to stress of business, or named friends who had either
+killed themselves by overwork, or had been permanently incapacitated, or
+had wasted long periods in endeavours to recover health. I do but echo
+the opinion of all the observant persons I have spoken to, that immense
+injury is being done by this high-pressure life--the physique is being
+undermined. That subtle thinker and poet whom you have lately had to
+mourn, Emerson, says, in his essay on the Gentleman, that the first
+requisite is that he shall be a good animal. The requisite is a general
+one--it extends to the man, to the father, to the citizen. We hear a
+great deal about "the vile body;" and many are encouraged by the phrase
+to transgress the laws of health. But Nature quietly suppresses those
+who treat thus disrespectfully one of her highest products, and leaves
+the world to be peopled by the descendants of those who are not so
+foolish.
+
+Beyond these immediate mischiefs there are remoter mischiefs. Exclusive
+devotion to work has the result that amusements cease to please; and,
+when relaxation becomes imperative, life becomes dreary from lack of its
+sole interest--the interest in business. The remark current in England
+that, when the American travels, his aim is to do the greatest amount of
+sight-seeing in the shortest time, I find current here also: it is
+recognized that the satisfaction of getting on devours nearly all other
+satisfactions. When recently at Niagara, which gave us a whole week's
+pleasure, I learned from the landlord of the hotel that most Americans
+come one day and go away the next. Old Froissart, who said of the
+English of his day that "they take their pleasures sadly after their
+fashion," would doubtless, if he lived now, say of the Americans that
+they take their pleasures hurriedly after their fashion. In large
+measure with us, and still more with you, there is not that abandonment
+to the moment which is requisite for full enjoyment; and this
+abandonment is prevented by the ever-present sense of multitudinous
+responsibilities. So that, beyond the serious physical mischief caused
+by overwork, there is the further mischief that it destroys what value
+there would otherwise be in the leisure part of life.
+
+Nor do the evils end here. There is the injury to posterity. Damaged
+constitutions reappear in children, and entail on them far more of ill
+than great fortunes yield them of good. When life has been duly
+rationalized by science, it will be seen that among a man's duties, care
+of the body is imperative; not only out of regard for personal welfare,
+but also out of regard for descendants. His constitution will be
+considered as an entailed estate, which he ought to pass on uninjured,
+if not improved, to those who follow; and it will be held that millions
+bequeathed by him will not compensate for feeble health and decreased
+ability to enjoy life. Once more, there is the injury to
+fellow-citizens, taking the shape of undue disregard of competitors. I
+hear that a great trader among you deliberately endeavoured to crush out
+every one whose business competed with his own; and manifestly the man
+who, making himself a slave to accumulation, absorbs an inordinate share
+of the trade or profession he is engaged in, makes life harder for all
+others engaged in it, and excludes from it many who might otherwise gain
+competencies. Thus, besides the egoistic motive, there are two
+altruistic motives which should deter from this excess in work.
+
+The truth is, there needs a revised ideal of life. Look back through the
+past, or look abroad through the present, and we find that the ideal of
+life is variable, and depends on social conditions. Every one knows that
+to be a successful warrior was the highest aim among all ancient peoples
+of note, as it is still among many barbarous peoples. When we remember
+that in the Norseman's heaven the time was to be passed in daily
+battles, with magical healing of wounds, we see how deeply rooted may
+become the conception that fighting is man's proper business, and that
+industry is fit only for slaves and people of low degree. That is to
+say, when the chronic struggles of races necessitate perpetual wars,
+there is evolved an ideal of life adapted to the requirements. We have
+changed all that in modern civilized societies; especially in England,
+and still more in America. With the decline of militant activity, and
+the growth of industrial activity, the occupations once disgraceful have
+become honourable. The duty to work has taken the place of the duty to
+fight; and in the one case, as in the other, the ideal of life has
+become so well established that scarcely any dream of questioning it.
+Practically, business has been substituted for war as the purpose of
+existence.
+
+Is this modern ideal to survive throughout the future? I think not.
+While all other things undergo continuous change, it is impossible that
+ideals should remain fixed. The ancient ideal was appropriate to the
+ages of conquest by man over man, and spread of the strongest races. The
+modern ideal is appropriate to ages in which conquest of the earth and
+subjection of the powers of Nature to human use, is the predominant
+need. But hereafter, when both these ends have in the main been
+achieved, the ideal formed will probably differ considerably from the
+present one. May we not foresee the nature of the difference? I think we
+may. Some twenty years ago, a good friend of mine, and a good friend of
+yours too, though you never saw him, John Stuart Mill, delivered at St.
+Andrews an inaugural address on the occasion of his appointment to the
+Lord Rectorship. It contained much to be admired, as did all he wrote.
+There ran through it, however, the tacit assumption that life is for
+learning and working. I felt at the time that I should have liked to
+take up the opposite thesis. I should have liked to contend that life is
+not for learning, nor is life for working, but learning and working are
+for life. The primary use of knowledge is for such guidance of conduct
+under all circumstances as shall make living complete. All other uses of
+knowledge are secondary. It scarcely needs saying that the primary use
+of work is that of supplying the materials and aids to living
+completely; and that any other uses of work are secondary. But in men's
+conceptions the secondary has in great measure usurped the place of the
+primary. The apostle of culture as it is commonly conceived, Mr. Matthew
+Arnold, makes little or no reference to the fact that the first use of
+knowledge is the right ordering of all actions; and Mr. Carlyle, who is
+a good exponent of current ideas about work, insists on its virtues for
+quite other reasons than that it achieves sustentation. We may trace
+everywhere in human affairs a tendency to transform the means into the
+end. All see that the miser does this when, making the accumulation of
+money his sole satisfaction, he forgets that money is of value only to
+purchase satisfactions. But it is less commonly seen that the like is
+true of the work by which the money is accumulated--that industry too,
+bodily or mental, is but a means; and that it is as irrational to pursue
+it to the exclusion of that complete living it subserves, as it is for
+the miser to accumulate money and make no use of it. Hereafter, when
+this age of active material progress has yielded mankind its benefits,
+there will, I think, come a better adjustment of labour and enjoyment.
+Among reasons for thinking this, there is the reason that the process of
+evolution throughout the organic world at large, brings an increasing
+surplus of energies that are not absorbed in fulfilling material needs,
+and points to a still larger surplus for the humanity of the future. And
+there are other reasons, which I must pass over. In brief, I may say
+that we have had somewhat too much of "the gospel of work." It is time
+to preach the gospel of relaxation.
+
+This is a very unconventional after-dinner speech. Especially it will be
+thought strange that in returning thanks I should deliver something very
+much like a homily. But I have thought I could not better convey my
+thanks than by the expression of a sympathy which issues in a fear. If,
+as I gather, this intemperance in work affects more especially the
+Anglo-American part of the population--if there results an undermining
+of the physique, not only in adults, but also in the young, who, as I
+learn from your daily journals, are also being injured by overwork--if
+the ultimate consequence should be a dwindling away of those among you
+who are the inheritors of free institutions and best adapted to them;
+then there will come a further difficulty in the working out of that
+great future which lies before the American nation. To my anxiety on
+this account you must please ascribe the unusual character of my
+remarks.
+
+And now I must bid you farewell. When I sail by the _Germanic_ on
+Saturday, I shall bear with me pleasant remembrances of my intercourse
+with many Americans, joined with regrets that my state of health has
+prevented me from seeing a larger number.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[A few words may fitly be added respecting the causes of this
+over-activity in American life--causes which may be identified as having
+in recent times partially operated among ourselves, and as having
+wrought kindred, though less marked, effects. It is the more worth while
+to trace the genesis of this undue absorption of the energies in work,
+since it well serves to illustrate the general truth which should be
+ever present to all legislators and politicians, that the indirect and
+unforeseen results of any cause affecting a society are frequently, if
+not habitually, greater and more important than the direct and foreseen
+results.
+
+This high pressure under which Americans exist, and which is most
+intense in places like Chicago, where the prosperity and rate of growth
+are greatest, is seen by many intelligent Americans themselves to be an
+indirect result of their free institutions and the absence of those
+class-distinctions and restraints existing in older communities. A
+society in which the man who dies a millionaire is so often one who
+commenced life in poverty, and in which (to paraphrase a French saying
+concerning the soldier) every news-boy carries a president's seal in his
+bag, is, by consequence, a society in which all are subject to a stress
+of competition for wealth and honour, greater than can exist in a
+society whose members are nearly all prevented from rising out of the
+ranks in which they were born, and have but remote possibilities of
+acquiring fortunes. In those European societies which have in great
+measure preserved their old types of structure (as in our own society up
+to the time when the great development of industrialism began to open
+ever-multiplying careers for the producing and distributing classes)
+there is so little chance of overcoming the obstacles to any great rise
+in position or possessions, that nearly all have to be content with
+their places: entertaining little or no thought of bettering themselves.
+A manifest concomitant is that, fulfilling, with such efficiency as a
+moderate competition requires, the daily tasks of their respective
+situations, the majority become habituated to making the best of such
+pleasures as their lot affords, during whatever leisure they get. But
+it is otherwise where an immense growth of trade multiplies greatly the
+chances of success to the enterprising; and still more is it otherwise
+where class-restrictions are partially removed or wholly absent. Not
+only are more energy and thought put into the time daily occupied in
+work, but the leisure comes to be trenched upon, either literally by
+abridgment, or else by anxieties concerning business. Clearly, the
+larger the number who, under such conditions, acquire property, or
+achieve higher positions, or both, the sharper is the spur to the rest.
+A raised standard of activity establishes itself and goes on rising.
+Public applause given to the successful, becoming in communities thus
+circumstanced the most familiar kind of public applause, increases
+continually the stimulus to action. The struggle grows more and more
+strenuous, and there comes an increasing dread of failure--a dread of
+being "left," as the Americans say: a significant word, since it is
+suggestive of a race in which the harder any one runs, the harder others
+have to run to keep up with him--a word suggestive of that breathless
+haste with which each passes from a success gained to the pursuit of a
+further success. And on contrasting the English of to-day with the
+English of a century ago, we may see how, in a considerable measure, the
+like causes have entailed here kindred results.
+
+Even those who are not directly spurred on by this intensified struggle
+for wealth and honour, are indirectly spurred on by it. For one of its
+effects is to raise the standard of living, and eventually to increase
+the average rate of expenditure for all. Partly for personal enjoyment,
+but much more for the display which brings admiration, those who acquire
+fortunes distinguish themselves by luxurious habits. The more numerous
+they become, the keener becomes the competition for that kind of public
+attention given to those who make themselves conspicuous by great
+expenditure. The competition spreads downwards step by step; until, to
+be "respectable," those having relatively small means feel obliged to
+spend more on houses, furniture, dress, and food; and are obliged to
+work the harder to get the requisite larger income. This process of
+causation is manifest enough among ourselves; and it is still more
+manifest in America, where the extravagance in style of living is
+greater than here.
+
+Thus, though it seems beyond doubt that the removal of all political and
+social barriers, and the giving to each man an unimpeded career, must be
+purely beneficial; yet there is (at first) a considerable set-off from
+the benefits. Among those who in older communities have by laborious
+lives gained distinction, some may be heard privately to confess that
+"the game is not worth the candle;" and when they hear of others who
+wish to tread in their steps, shake their heads and say--"If they only
+knew!" Without accepting in full so pessimistic an estimate of success,
+we must still say that very generally the cost of the candle deducts
+largely from the gain of the game. That which in these exceptional cases
+holds among ourselves, holds more generally in America. An intensified
+life, which may be summed up as--great labour, great profit, great
+expenditure--has for its concomitant a wear and tear which considerably
+diminishes in one direction the good gained in another. Added together,
+the daily strain through many hours and the anxieties occupying many
+other hours--the occupation of consciousness by feelings that are either
+indifferent or painful, leaving relatively little time for occupation of
+it by pleasurable feelings--tend to lower its level more than its level
+is raised by the gratifications of achievement and the accompanying
+benefits. So that it may, and in many cases does, result that diminished
+happiness goes along with increased prosperity. Unquestionably, as long
+as order is fairly maintained, that absence of political and social
+restraints which gives free scope to the struggles for profit and
+honour, conduces greatly to material advance of the society--develops
+the industrial arts, extends and improves the business organizations,
+augments the wealth; but that it raises the value of individual life, as
+measured by the average state of its feeling, by no means follows. That
+it will do so eventually, is certain; but that it does so now seems, to
+say the least, very doubtful.
+
+The truth is that a society and its members act and react in such wise
+that while, on the one hand, the nature of the society is determined by
+the natures of its members; on the other hand, the activities of its
+members (and presently their natures) are redetermined by the needs of
+the society, as these alter: change in either entails change in the
+other. It is an obvious implication that, to a great extent, the life of
+a society so sways the wills of its members as to turn them to its ends.
+That which is manifest during the militant stage, when the social
+aggregate coerces its units into co-operation for defence, and
+sacrifices many of their lives for its corporate preservation, holds
+under another form during the industrial stage, as we at present know
+it. Though the co-operation of citizens is now voluntary instead of
+compulsory; yet the social forces impel them to achieve social ends
+while apparently achieving only their own ends. The man who, carrying
+out an invention, thinks only of private welfare to be thereby secured,
+is in far larger measure working for public welfare: instance the
+contrast between the fortune made by Watt and the wealth which the
+steam-engine has given to mankind. He who utilizes a new material,
+improves a method of production, or introduces a better way of carrying
+on business, and does this for the purpose of distancing competitors,
+gains for himself little compared with that which he gains for the
+community by facilitating the lives of all. Either unknowingly or in
+spite of themselves, Nature leads men by purely personal motives to
+fulfil her ends: Nature being one of our expressions for the Ultimate
+Cause of things, and the end, remote when not proximate, being the
+highest form of human life.
+
+Hence no argument, however cogent, can be expected to produce much
+effect: only here and there one may be influenced. As in an actively
+militant stage of society it is impossible to make many believe that
+there is any glory preferable to that of killing enemies; so, where
+rapid material growth is going on, and affords unlimited scope for the
+energies of all, little can be done by insisting that life has higher
+uses than work and accumulation. While among the most powerful of
+feelings continue to be the desire for public applause and dread of
+public censure--while the anxiety to achieve distinction, now by
+conquering enemies, now by beating competitors, continues
+predominant--while the fear of public reprobation affects men more than
+the fear of divine vengeance (as witness the long survival of duelling
+in Christian societies); this excess of work which ambition prompts,
+seems likely to continue with but small qualification. The eagerness for
+the honour accorded to success, first in war and then in commerce, has
+been indispensable as a means to peopling the Earth with the higher
+types of man, and the subjugation of its surface and its forces to human
+use. Ambition may fitly come to bear a smaller ratio to other motives,
+when the working out of these needs is approaching completeness; and
+when also, by consequence, the scope for satisfying ambition is
+diminishing. Those who draw the obvious corollaries from the doctrine of
+Evolution--those who believe that the process of modification upon
+modification which has brought life to its present height must raise it
+still higher, will anticipate that "the last infirmity of noble minds"
+will in the distant future slowly decrease. As the sphere for
+achievement becomes smaller, the desire for applause will lose that
+predominance which it now has. A better ideal of life may simultaneously
+come to prevail. When there is fully recognized the truth that moral
+beauty is higher than intellectual power--when the wish to be admired is
+in large measure replaced by the wish to be loved; that strife for
+distinction which the present phase of civilization shows us will be
+greatly moderated. Along with other benefits may then come a rational
+proportioning of work and relaxation; and the relative claims of to-day
+and to-morrow may be properly balanced.--H. S.]
+
+
+
+
+UNIVERSITY ELECTIONS.
+
+
+The late election for the University of Cambridge had an ending which
+may well set many of us a-thinking. That Mr. Raikes should have been
+chosen by an overwhelming majority rather than Mr. Stuart means a good
+deal more than a mere party victory and party defeat. Combined with
+several elections of late years at Oxford, it is enough to make us all
+turn over in our minds the question of University representation in
+general. The facts taken altogether look as if those constituencies to
+which we might naturally look for the return of members of more than
+average personal eminence were committed, in the choice of their
+representatives, not only to one particular political party, but to
+absolute indifference to every claim beyond membership of that
+particular party. It would be unreasonable to expect a conscientious
+Conservative to vote for a Liberal candidate; but one might expect any
+party, in choosing candidates for such constituencies as the
+Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, to put forward its best men. And
+we cannot, after all, think so ill of the great Conservative party as to
+believe that the present representatives of Oxford and Cambridge are its
+best men. We ought indeed not to forget that, whatever Mr.
+Beresford-Hope has since shown himself, he was brought forward, partly
+at least, as a man of scholarship and intellectual tastes, and that he
+received many Liberal votes in the belief that he was less widely
+removed from Liberal ideas than another Conservative candidate. This
+would seem to have been the last trace of an old tradition, the last
+faint glimmering of the belief that the representative of an University
+should have something about him specially appropriate to the
+representation of an University. In Oxford that tradition had, on the
+Conservative side, given way earlier. Another tradition gave way with
+it, one which I at least did not regret, the tradition that an
+University seat should be a seat for life. It sounded degrading when a
+proposer of Mr. Gladstone stooped to appeal to the doctrine, "ut semel
+electus semper eligatur." But be that rule wise or foolish, it was on
+the Conservative side that it was broken down. It gave way to the rule
+that Mr. Gladstone was always to be opposed, and that it did not matter
+who could be got to oppose him. Again I cannot believe that the
+Conservative ranks did not contain better men than the grotesque
+succession of nobodies by whom Mr. Gladstone was opposed. But in the
+course of those elections the rule was established at Oxford, and it now
+seems to be adopted at Cambridge, that anybody will do to be an
+University member, provided only he is an unflinching supporter of the
+party which, as recent elections show, still keeps a large majority in
+both Universities.
+
+Mr. Gladstone was very nearly the ideal University member. I say "very
+nearly," because to my mind the absolutely ideal state of things would
+be if the Universities could catch such men as Mr. Gladstone young, and
+could bring them into Parliament as their own, before they had been laid
+hold of by any other constituency. The late jubilee of Mr. Gladstone's
+political life ought to have been the jubilee of his election, not for
+Newark but for Oxford. The Universities should choose men who have
+already shown themselves to be scholars and who bid fair one day to be
+statesmen. I am not sure about the policy of bringing forward actual
+University officials. There is sure to be a cry against them, and it is
+not clear that they are the best choice in themselves. It may be as well
+however to remember that the example was set, though in rather an
+amusing shape, by the Conservatives themselves. Dr. Marsham, late Warden
+of Merton, who was brought forward thirty years ago in opposition to Mr.
+Gladstone, did not belong to exactly the same class of academical
+officials as Professor Stuart and Professor H. J. S. Smith; still, as an
+academical official of some kind, he had something in common with them,
+as distinguished from either Mr. Gladstone or Mr. Raikes. At the last
+elections both for Oxford and Cambridge, the Liberal candidate was an
+actual Professor. Mr. Stuart indeed is much more than a mere professor;
+he has shown his capacity for practical work of various kinds. But I
+could not but look on the Oxford choice of 1878 as unlucky. Mr. H. J. S.
+Smith was brought forward purely on the ground of "distinction,"
+distinction, it would seem, so great that moral right and wrong went for
+nothing by its side. Just at that moment right and wrong were
+emphatically weighing in the balance; it was the very crisis of the fate
+of South-Eastern Europe. But we were told that Mr. Smith's candidature
+had "no reference to the Eastern Question;" he was, we were told,
+supported by men who took opposite views on that matter. That is to
+say, when the most distinct question of right and wrong that ever was
+put before any people was at that moment placed before our eyes, we were
+asked to put away all thought of moral right and moral duty in the
+presence of the long string of letters after Mr. Smith's name. Better, I
+should have said, to choose, even for the University, a man who could
+not read or write, if he had been ready to strive heart and soul for
+justice and freedom alongside of Mr. Gladstone and the Duke of Argyll.
+Yet no such hard choice was laid upon us. There was a man standing by,
+another bearer of the same great Teutonic name, not young indeed in
+years, but who might have gone fresh to Parliament as the University's
+own choice, one whom it would have been worth some effort to keep within
+the bounds of England and of Europe, one who to a list of "distinctions"
+at least as long as that of the candidate actually chosen, added the
+noblest distinction of all, that of having been, through a life of
+varied experiences, the consistent and unflinching champion of moral
+righteousness. I do not know that Mr. Goldwin Smith would have had a
+greater chance--perhaps he might have had even less chance--of election
+than Mr. H. J. S. Smith. But there would have been greater comfort in
+manly defeat in open strife under such a leader than there could be in a
+defeat which it had been vainly hoped to escape by a compromise on the
+great moral question of the moment. The Oxford Liberals lost, and, I
+must say, they deserved to lose. It is a great gain for an University
+candidate to be "distinguished;" but one would think that it would
+commonly be possible to find a "distinguished" candidate who is at once
+"distinguished" and something better as well.
+
+Still at Oxford in 1878 Mr. H. J. S. Smith was the accepted candidate of
+the Liberal party, and in that character he underwent a crushing defeat.
+It may be, or it may not be, that a candidate of more decided principles
+would have gained more votes than the actual candidate gained; he
+certainly would not have gained enough to turn the scale. Mr. Smith was
+defeated by a candidate who was utterly undistinguished; and who,
+instead of simply halting, like Mr. Smith, between right and wrong, was
+definitely committed to the cause of wrong. Mr. Talbot became member for
+the University on the same principle on which Mr. Gladstone's successive
+opponents were brought forward, the principle that anybody will do, if
+only he be a Tory. Any stick is good enough to beat the Liberal dog.
+When Toryism showed itself in its darkest colours, when it meant the
+rule of Lord Beaconsfield, and when the rule of Lord Beaconsfield meant,
+before all things, the strengthening of the power of evil in
+South-Eastern Europe, a constituency, in which the clerical vote is said
+to be decisive, preferred, by an overwhelming majority, the candidate
+who most distinctly represented the bondage of Christian nations under
+the yoke of the misbeliever. It is quite possible that crowds voted at
+the Oxford election, as at other elections, in support of Lord
+Beaconsfield's ministry, in utter indifference or in utter ignorance as
+to what support of Lord Beaconsfield's ministry meant. The Conservative
+party was conventionally supposed to be the Church party; and so men
+calling themselves Christians, calling themselves clergymen, rushed,
+with the cry of "Church" in their mouths, to do all that in them lay for
+the sworn allies of Antichrist.
+
+A constituency which could return a supporter of Lord Beaconsfield in
+1878 is hopelessly Tory--hopelessly that is, till a new generation shall
+have supplanted the existing one. It is Conservative, not in the sense
+of acting on any intelligible Conservative principle, but in the sense
+of supporting anything that calls itself Conservative, be its principles
+what they may. No measure could be less really Conservative, none could
+more be opposed to the feelings and traditions of a large part of the
+clergy, than the Public Worship Act. A large part of the clergy grumbled
+at it; some voted for the Liberals in 1880 on the strength of it; but it
+did not arouse a discontent so strong or so general as seriously to
+deprive the so-called Conservative party of clerical support. It was
+perhaps unreasonable to expect much change in the older class of
+electors, clerical or lay; but the results of the two elections, of
+Oxford in 1878 and of Cambridge in 1882, are disappointing in another
+way. The Universities, and therewith the University constituencies, have
+largely increased within the last few years. The number of electors at
+Oxford is far greater than it was in the days of Mr. Gladstone's
+elections; at Cambridge the increase must be greater still since any
+earlier election at which a poll was taken. And it was certainly hoped
+that the increase would have been altogether favourable to the Liberal
+side. Among the new electors there was a large lay element, a certain
+Nonconformist element; even among the clergy a party was known to be
+growing who had found the way to reconcile strict Churchmanship with
+Liberal politics, and whose Christianity was not of the kind which is
+satisfied to walk hand-in-hand with the Turk. In these different ways it
+was only reasonable to expect that the result of an University election
+was now likely to be, if not the actual return of a Liberal member, yet
+at least a poll which should show that the Conservative majority was
+largely diminished. Instead of this, both at Oxford in 1878 and at
+Cambridge in 1882 the Conservative candidate comes in by a majority
+which is simply overwhelming. It must however be remembered that it
+would be misleading to compare the poll at either of these elections
+with the polls at any of Mr. Gladstone's contests. The issue was
+different in the two cases. The elections of 1878 and 1880 were far more
+distinctly trials between political parties than the several elections
+in which Mr. Gladstone succeeded or the final one in which he failed.
+First of all, there is a vast difference between Mr. Gladstone and any
+other candidate. This difference indeed cuts both ways. The foremost man
+in the land is at once the best loved and the best hated man in the
+land. Neither Mr. Smith nor Mr. Stuart nor any other candidate that
+could be thought of could call forth either the depth of enthusiasm in
+his supporters or the depth of antagonism in his opponents which is
+called forth by every public appearance of Mr. Gladstone. No other man
+has, in the same measure as he has, won the glory of being the bugbear
+of cultivated "society" and the object of the reverence and affection of
+thinking men. But, apart from this, the issues were different. Mr. Smith
+and Mr. Stuart stood directly as Liberal candidates. Mr. Gladstone, at
+least in his earlier elections, was still in party nomenclature counted
+among Conservatives, and he received but little support from professed
+political Liberals. The constituency was then confined to men who had
+signed the articles of the Established Church, and the election largely
+turned on controversies within the Established Church. I venture to
+think that the High Church party of that day was really a Liberal party,
+one that had far more in common with the political Liberals than with
+the political Conservatives. But it is certain that neither the High
+Churchmen nor the political Liberals would have acknowledged the
+kindred, and the great mass of Mr. Gladstone's supporters in 1847, in
+1852, and even later, would assuredly not have voted for any avowedly
+Liberal candidate. In his later elections Mr. Gladstone received a
+distinct Liberal support; still he was also supported by men who would
+not support a Liberal candidate now. As he came nearer and nearer to the
+Liberal camp, his majorities forsook him till he was at last rejected
+for Mr. Hardy. The two elections of the last four years have turned more
+directly, we may say that they have turned wholly, on ordinary political
+issues. Controversies within the Established Church have had little
+bearing on them. So far as ecclesiastical questions have come in, the
+strife has been between "Church"--that kind of Church which is
+pue-fellow to the Mosque--and something which is supposed not to be
+"Church." These late elections have therefore been far better tests than
+the old ones of the strictly political feelings of the constituencies.
+Looked at in that light, they certainly do not prove that the University
+constituencies are more Conservative now than they were then. They do
+prove that the Liberal growth, the Liberal reaction, or whatever we are
+to call it, in the University constituencies since that time has been
+far less strong than Liberals had hoped that it had been. They do prove
+that the Conservatism of those constituencies is still of a kind which,
+both for quantity and quality, has a very ugly look in Liberal eyes.
+
+Thus far we have been looking at Oxford and Cambridge only. But we must
+not forget that Oxford and Cambridge are not the only Universities in
+the kingdom. The general results of University elections were set forth
+a few weeks back in an article in the _Spectator_. They are certainly
+not comfortable as a whole. We of Oxford and Cambridge may perhaps draw
+a very poor satisfaction from the thought that we are at least not so
+bad as Dublin. But then we must feel in the like proportion ashamed when
+we see how we stand by the side of London. A better comparison than
+either is with the Universities of Scotland. From a Liberal point of
+view, they are much better than Oxford and Cambridge, but still they are
+not nearly so good as they ought to be. The Liberalism of the
+Universities of Scotland lags a long way behind the Liberalism of the
+Scottish people in general. One pair of Universities returns a Liberal,
+the other a Conservative, in neither case by majorities at all like the
+Conservative majorities at Oxford and Cambridge. Speaking roughly, in
+the Scottish Universities the two parties are nearly equally balanced, a
+very different state of things from what we see in the other
+constituencies of Scotland. If then in England and Ireland the
+University constituencies are overwhelmingly Conservative, while in
+Liberal Scotland they are more Conservative than Liberal, it follows
+that there is something amiss either about Liberal principles or about
+University constituencies. And those who believe that Liberal principles
+are the principles of right reason and that so-called Conservative
+principles represent something other than right reason, will of course
+take that horn of the dilemma which throws the blame on the University
+constituencies. For some reason or other, those constituencies which
+might be supposed to be more enlightened, more thoughtful and better
+informed, than any others are those in which the principles which we
+deem to be those of right reason find least favour. Even in the most
+Liberal part of the kingdom, the University constituencies are the least
+Liberal part of the electoral body. The facts are clear; we must grapple
+with them as we can. There is something in education, in culture, in
+refinement, or whatever the qualities are which are supposed to
+distinguish University electors from the electors of an ordinary county
+or borough, which makes University electors less inclined to what we
+hold to be the principles of right reason than the electors of an
+ordinary county or borough. Education, culture, or whatever it is,
+clearly has, in political matters, a weak side to it. There is the fact;
+we must look it in the face.
+
+After all perhaps the fact is not very wonderful. There is no need to
+infer either that Liberal principles are wrong or that University
+education is a bad thing. The _Spectator_ goes philosophically into the
+matter. The Universities give--that is, we may suppose, to those who
+take, only a common degree--only a moderate education, an average
+education, a little knowledge and a little culture springing from it.
+And the effect of this little knowledge and little culture is to make
+those who have it satisfied with the state of things in which they find
+themselves, and to separate themselves from those who have not even that
+little knowledge and little culture. "Education," says the _Spectator_,
+"to the very moderate extent to which a University degree attests it, is
+a Conservative force, because to that extent at all events it does much
+more to stimulate the sense of privilege and caste than it does to
+enlarge the sympathies and to strengthen the sense of justice." That is,
+it would seem, a pass degree tends to make a man a Tory. It does not at
+all follow that even the passman's course is mischievous to him on the
+whole, even if it does him no good politically. For, if it has the
+effect which the _Spectator_ says, the form which that effect takes is,
+in most cases, rather to keep a man a Tory than to make him one. And it
+may none the less do him good in some other ways. But the _Spectator_
+leaves it at least open to be inferred that a higher degree, or rather
+the knowledge and consequent culture implied in the higher degree, does,
+or ought to do, something different even in the political way. And such
+an inference would probably be borne out by facts. If Lord Carnarvon
+looks on all passmen as "men of literary eminence and intellectual
+power," he must be very nearly right in his figures when he says that
+three-fourths of such men are opposed to Mr. Gladstone. But those who
+have really profited by their University work may doubt whether passmen
+as such are entitled to that description. Indeed in the most ideal state
+of an University, though it might be reasonable to expect its members to
+be men of intellectual power, it would be unreasonable to expect all of
+them to be men of literary eminence. If by literary eminence be meant
+the writing of books, some men of very high intellectual power are men
+of no literary eminence whatever. Without therefore requiring the
+University members to be elected wholly by men of literary eminence, we
+may fairly ask that they may be elected by men of more intellectual
+power than the mass of the present electors. We should ask for this,
+even if we thought that Lord Carnarvon was right, if we thought that,
+the higher the standard of the electors, the safer would be the Tory
+seats. But it is perhaps only human nature to ask for it the more, if we
+happen to think that the raising of the standard would have the exactly
+opposite result.
+
+The evil then, to sum up the result of the _Spectator's_ argument, is
+that the University elections are determined by the votes of the
+passmen, and that the mass of the passmen are Tories. Now what is the
+remedy for this evil? One very obvious remedy is always, on such
+occasions as that which has just happened, whispered perhaps rather than
+very loudly proclaimed. This is the doctrine that the representation of
+Universities in Parliament is altogether a mistake, and that it would be
+well if the Universities were disfranchised by the next Reform Bill.
+And, if the question could be discussed as a purely abstract one, there
+is no doubt much to be said, from more grounds than one, against
+University representation. There is only one ground on which separate
+University representation can be justified on the common principles on
+which an English House of Commons is put together. This is the ground
+that each University is a distinct community from the city or borough in
+which it is locally placed, something in the same way in which it is
+held that a city or borough is a distinct community from the county in
+which it locally stands. The University of Oxford has interests,
+feelings, a general corporate being, distinct from the city of Oxford,
+just as the city of Oxford has interests, feelings, a general corporate
+being, distinct from the county of Oxford. So, if one were maliciously
+given, one might go on to argue that the choice of a representative made
+by the borough of Woodstock seems to show that the inhabitants of that
+borough have something in them which makes them distinct from
+University, county, city, or any other known division of mankind.
+Regarding then these differences, the wisdom of our forefathers has
+ruled, not that the county of Oxford, the city, the University, and the
+boroughs of Woodstock and Banbury, should join to elect nine members
+after the principle of _scrutin de liste_, but that the nine members
+should be distributed among them according to their local divisions,
+after the principle of _scrutin d'arrondissement_. On any ground but
+this local one, a ground which applies to some Universities and not to
+others, and which seems to have less weight than formerly in those
+Universities to which it does apply, the University franchise is
+certainly an anomaly. It must submit to be set down as a fancy
+franchise. But it is a fancy franchise which has a great weight of
+precedent in its favour. Besides the original institution of the British
+Solomon, there is the fact that University representation has been
+extended at each moment of constitutional change for a century past. It
+was extended by the Union with Ireland, by the great Reform Bill, and by
+the legislation of fifteen years back. Each of these changes has added
+to the number of University members. And each has added to them in a way
+which more and more forsakes the local ground, and gives to the
+University franchise more and more the character of a fancy franchise.
+Dublin has less of local character than Oxford and Cambridge; London has
+no local character at all. Such a grouping as that of Glasgow and
+Aberdeen takes away all local character from Scottish University
+representation. In short, whatever James the First intended, later
+legislators, down to our own day, have adopted and confirmed the
+principle of the fancy franchise as applied to the Universities. There
+stands the anomaly, with the stamp of repeated re-enactment upon it.
+Some very strong ground must therefore be found on which to attack it.
+Liberals may think that there is a very strong ground in the fact that
+University representation tends to strengthen the Conservative interest,
+and not only to strengthen it, but to give it a kind of credit, as
+stamped with the approval of the most highly educated class of electors.
+But this is a ground which could not be decently brought forward. It
+would not do to propose the disfranchisement of a particular class of
+electors merely because they commonly use their franchise in favour of a
+particular political party. From a party point of view, the
+representation of the cities of London and Westminster is as great a
+political evil as the representation of the Universities of Oxford and
+Cambridge. But we could not therefore propose the disfranchisement of
+those cities. The abstract question of University representation may be
+discussed some time. It may be discussed in our own time on the proposal
+of a Conservative government or a Conservative opposition. It may be
+discussed on the proposal of a Liberal government on the day when all
+University members are Liberals. But the disfranchisement of the
+Universities could not, for very shame, be proposed by a Liberal
+government when the answer would at once be made, and made with truth,
+that the Universities were to be disfranchised simply because most of
+them return Conservative members.
+
+We may therefore pass by the alternative of disfranchisement as lying
+beyond the range of practical politics. I use that famous phrase
+advisedly, because it always means that the question spoken of has
+already shown that it will be a practical question some day or other.
+The other choice which is commonly given us is to confine the franchise
+to residents. After every University election for many years past, and
+not least after the one which has just taken place, we have always heard
+the outcry that the real University is swamped by the nominal
+University, that the body which elects in the name of the University is
+in no way qualified to speak in the name of the University, and that in
+point of fact it does not speak the sentiments of those to whom the name
+of University more properly belongs. Reckonings are made to show that,
+if the election had depended, not on the large bodies of men who are now
+entitled to vote, but on much smaller bodies of residents, above all of
+official residents, professors, tutors, and the like, the result of the
+election would have been different. If then, it is argued, the
+Universities are to keep the right of parliamentary representation, the
+right of voting should be taken away from the mass of those who at
+present exercise it, and confined to those who really represent the
+University, to those who are actually engaged on the spot, in the
+government, the studies, or the teaching of the place.
+
+Now every word of this outcry is true. No one can doubt that the
+electoral bodies of the Universities, as at present constituted, are
+quite unfit to represent the Universities, to speak in their name or to
+express their wishes or feelings. The franchise, at Oxford and
+Cambridge, is in the hands of the two largest bodies known to the
+University constitution, the Convocation of Oxford, the Senate of
+Cambridge. If we look at the University as a commonwealth of the
+ancient, the mediaeval, or the modern Swiss pattern, the election is in
+the hands of the _Ekklesia_, the _Comitia_ of Tribes, the
+_Portmannagemot_, the _Landesgemeinde_, the _Conseil General_. The
+franchise is open to all academic citizens who have reached full
+academic growth, to all who have put on the _toga virilis_ as the badge
+of having taken a complete degree in any faculty. That is to say, it
+belongs to all doctors and masters who have kept their names on the
+books. Now, whatever such a body as this may seem in theory, we know
+what it is in practice. It is not really an academic body. Those who
+really know anything or care anything about University matters are a
+small minority. The mass of the University electors are men who are at
+once non-resident and who have taken nothing more than that common
+degree which the _Spectator_, quite rightly, holds to be of such small
+account. They often, we may believe, keep their name on the books simply
+in order to vote at the University elections.
+
+But what is the remedy? I cannot think that it is to be found in
+confining the election to residents, at Oxford perhaps to members of
+Congregation.[1] By such a restriction we should undoubtedly get a
+constituency with a much higher average of literary eminence and
+intellectual power. We should get a constituency which would far more
+truly represent the University as a local body. But surely we cannot
+look on the Universities as purely local bodies. It has always been one
+of the great characteristics--I venture to think one of the great
+beauties--of the English Universities that the connexion of the graduate
+with his University does not come to an end when he ceases to reside,
+but that the master or doctor keeps all the rights of a master or doctor
+wherever he may happen to dwell. The resident body has many merits and
+does much good work; but it has its weaknesses. It is in the nature of
+things a very changing body; it must change far more from year to year
+than any other electoral body. And, though the restriction to residents
+would undoubtedly raise the general character of the constituency, it
+would get rid of one of its best elements. Surely those who have
+distinguished themselves in the University, who have worked well for the
+University, who are continuing in some other shape the studies or the
+teaching which they have begun in the University, who are in fact
+carrying the University into other places, are not to be looked on as
+cut off from the University merely because they have ceased locally to
+reside in it. Not a few of the best heads and the best professors--I
+suspect we might say the best of both classes--are those who have not
+always lived in the University, but who have been called back to it
+after a period of absence. To the knowledge of local affairs, which
+belong to the mere resident, they bring a wider knowledge, a wider
+experience, which makes them better judges even of local affairs. And
+can men whom the University thus welcomes after absence be deemed
+unworthy even to give a vote during the time of absence? One reads a
+great deal about the real University being swamped by voters running in
+from London clubs, barristers' chambers, country houses, country
+parsonages. And no doubt a great many most incompetent voters do come
+from all those quarters. But some of the most competent come also. The
+restriction to residents would have disfranchised for ever or for a
+season most of our greatest scholars, the authors of the greatest works,
+for the last forty years. Yet surely sad men are the University in the
+highest sense; they are the men best entitled to speak in its name,
+whether they are at a given moment locally resident or not. It would
+surely not be a gain, it would not increase the literary eminence or
+intellectual power of the constituency, to shut out those men, and to
+confine everything to a body made up so largely of one element which is
+too permanent and another which is too fluctuating, of old heads and of
+young tutors. Then too there is a very reasonable presumption in the
+human mind, and specially in the English mind, against taking away the
+rights of any class of men without some very good reason. And in this
+case there are at least as strong arguments against the restriction as
+there are for it. I speak only of the simple proposal to confine the
+election to residents, in Oxford language to transfer it from
+Convocation to Congregation. There are indeed other plans, to let
+Convocation elect one member and Congregation the other--something like
+the election of the consuls at an early stage of the Roman
+commonwealth--or to leave the present members as they are, and to give
+the Universities yet more members to be chosen by Congregation. Now I
+will not say that these schemes lie without the range of practical
+politics, because they show no sign of being ever likely to come within
+it. They may safely be referred to Mr. Thomas Hare.
+
+While therefore I see as strongly as any man the evils of election by
+Convocation, as Convocation is at present constituted,[2] I cannot think
+that restriction to Congregation or to residents in any shape is the
+right remedy for the evil. I venture to think that there is a more
+excellent way. The remedy that I propose has this advantage, that,
+though it would practically lessen the numbers of the constituency, and
+would, gradually at least, get rid of its most incompetent elements, it
+would not be, in any constitutional sense, a restrictive measure. It
+would not deprive any recognized class of men of any right. And it would
+have the further advantage that it would be a change which could be made
+by the University itself, a change which would not be a mere political
+change affecting parliamentary elections only, but a real academical
+reform affecting other matters as well, a reform which would be simply
+getting rid of a modern abuse and falling back on an older and better
+state of things. It is one of three changes which I have looked for all
+my life, but towards which, amidst countless academical revolutions, I
+have never seen the least step taken. I confess that all three have this
+to be said against them, that they would affect college interests and
+would give the resident body a good deal of trouble. But this is no
+argument against the measures themselves; it only shows that it would be
+hard work to get them passed. Of these three the first and least
+important is the establishment of an University matriculation
+examination. (Things change so fast at Oxford that this may have been
+brought in within the last term or two; but, if so, I have not heard of
+it.) Secondly, a rational reconstruction of the Schools, so as to have
+real schools of history and philology--perhaps better still a school of
+history and philology combined--without regard to worn out and
+unscientific distinctions of "ancient" and "modern." Thirdly, the change
+which alone of the three concerns us now, the establishment of some kind
+of standard for the degree of Master of Arts. Through all the changes of
+more than thirty years, I have always said, when I have had a chance of
+saying anything, Give us neither a resident oligarchy nor a non-resident
+mob. Keep Convocation with its ancient powers, but let Convocation be
+what it was meant to be. Let the great assembly of masters and doctors
+go untouched; but let none be made masters or doctors who do not show
+some fitness to bear those titles. Every degree was meant to be a
+reality; it was meant, as the word _degree_ implies, to mark some kind
+of proficiency; a degree which does not mark some kind of proficiency is
+an absurdity in itself. A degree conferred without any regard to the
+qualifications of the person receiving it is in fact a fraud; it is
+giving a testimonial without regard to the truth of the facts which the
+testimonial states. Now this is glaringly the case with the degree of
+Master of Arts as at present given. In each faculty there are two
+stages: the lower degree of bachelor, the higher degree of master or
+doctor. The lower degree is meant to mark a certain measure of
+proficiency in the studies of the faculty; the higher degree is meant to
+mark a higher measure of proficiency, that measure which qualifies a
+man to become, if he thinks good, a teacher in that faculty. The
+bachelor's degree is meant to mark that a man has made satisfactory
+progress in introductory studies; the master's degree is meant, as its
+name implies, to mark that a man is really a master in some subject. The
+bachelor's degree in short should be respectable; the master's degree
+should be honourable. Nowadays we certainly cannot say that the master's
+degree is honourable; it might be almost too much to say that the
+bachelor's degree is respectable. I am far from saying that an
+University education, even for a mere passman, is worthless; I am far
+from thinking so. But the mere pass degree is very far from implying
+literary eminence or intellectual power. Eminence indeed is hardly to be
+looked for at the age when the bachelor's degree is taken; it is only
+one or two men in a generation who can send out "The Holy Roman Empire"
+as a prize essay. But the degree does not imply even the promise or
+likelihood of eminence or power. The best witness to the degradation of
+the simple degree is the elaborate and ever-growing system of
+class-lists, designed to mark what the degree itself ought in some
+measure to mark. The need of having class-lists is the clearest
+confession of the very small value of the simple degree by itself. And,
+whatever may be the value of the bachelor's degree, the value of the
+master's degree is exactly the same. The master's degree proves no
+greater knowledge or skill than the bachelor's degree; it proves only
+that its bearer has lived some more years and has paid some more pounds.
+It is given, as a matter of course, to every one who has taken the
+degree of bachelor--never mind after how many plucks--and has reached
+the standing which is required of a master. The bestowing of two degrees
+is a mere make-believe; the higher degree proves nothing, beyond mere
+lapse of time, which is not equally proved by the lower.
+
+Now this surely ought not to be. That the first degree should be next
+door to worthless, and that the second degree should be worth no more
+than the first, is surely to make University degrees a mockery, a
+delusion, and a snare. Men who do not know how little a degree means are
+apt to be deceived, even in practical matters, by its outward show. Men
+who see that a degree proves very little, but who do not look much
+further, are apt most untruly to undervalue the whole system and studies
+of the University. In common consistency, in common fairness, the
+degrees should mean what their names imply. The bachelor's degree should
+prove something, and the master's degree should prove something more. As
+I just said, the bachelor's degree should be respectable and the
+master's degree should be honourable. I should even like to see the
+bachelor's degree so respectable that we might get rid of the modern
+device of class-lists; but that is not our question at present. The
+immediate business is to make the master's degree a real thing, an
+honest thing, to make it the sign of a higher standard than the
+bachelor's degree, whether the bachelor's standard be fixed high or low.
+Let there be some kind of standard, some kind of test. Its particular
+shape, whether an examination, or a disputation, or the writing of a
+thesis, or anything else, need not now be discussed. I ask only that
+there should be a test of proficiency of some kind, and that there
+should be the widest possible range of subjects in which proficiency may
+be tested. Let a man have the degree, if he shows himself capable of
+scholarly or scientific treatment of some branch of some subject, but
+not otherwise. The bachelor's degree should show a general knowledge of
+several subjects, which may serve as a ground-work for the minuter
+knowledge of one. The master's degree should show that that minuter
+knowledge of some one subject has been gained. The complete degree
+should show, if not the actual presence, at least the very certain
+promise, of literary eminence or intellectual power. We should thus get,
+neither the resident oligarchy nor the non-resident mob; we should have
+a body of real masters and doctors worthy of the name. Men who had once
+dealt minutely with some subject of their own choice would not be likely
+to throw their books aside for the rest of their days, as the man who
+has merely got his bachelor's degree by a compulsory smattering often
+does. We should get a Convocation or Senate fit, not only to elect
+members of Parliament, but to do the other duties which the constitution
+of the University lays on its Convocation or Senate. And I cannot help
+thinking that, if such a change as this had been adopted at the time of
+the first University Commission, it would have been less needful to cut
+down the powers of Convocation in the way which, Convocation being left
+what it is, certainly was needful.
+
+Such a change as I propose would doubtless lessen the numbers of the
+constituency. Possibly it would not lessen them quite so much as might
+seem at first sight. A high standard, but a standard attainable with
+effort, would surely make many qualify themselves who at present do not.
+Still it would lessen the numbers very considerably, and it would be
+meant to do so. Yet it would not be a restrictive measure in the same
+sense in which confining the franchise to Congregation would be a
+restrictive measure. It would not take away the votes of any class. The
+franchise would still be the same, exercised by the same body; only that
+body would be purified and brought back to the character which it was
+originally meant to bear. The purifying would be gradual. The doctrine
+of vested interests, that doctrine so dear to the British mind, would of
+course secure every elector in the possession of his vote as long as he
+lives and keeps his name on the books. But the ranks of the unqualified
+would no longer be yearly reinforced. In course of time we should have
+a competent body. And the great advantage of this kind of remedy is that
+it is so distinctly an academical remedy. It would not come as a mere
+clause in a parliamentary reform bill. It would affect the parliamentary
+constituency; but it would affect it only as one thing among others. It
+would be a general improvement in the character of the Great Council of
+the University, which would make it better qualified to discharge all
+its duties, that of choosing members of Parliament among them. In the
+purely political look-out, we may believe that one result of the change
+would be to make the election of Liberal members for the Universities
+much more likely. But neither this nor any other purely political result
+would be the sole and direct object of the change. Even if it did not
+accomplish this object, it would do good in other ways. If the
+Universities, under such a system, still chose Conservative members, we
+should have no right to complain. We should feel that we had been fairly
+and honourably beaten by adversaries who had a right to speak. It would
+be an unpleasant result if the real Universities should be proved to be
+inveterately Tory. But it would be a result less provoking than the
+present state of things, in which Tory members are chosen for the
+Universities by men who have no call to speak in the name of the
+Universities at all.
+
+   EDWARD A. FREEMAN.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] That is, to all members of Convocation who are either resident or
+hold University office. This, besides the Chancellor and a few other
+great personages, lets in a few professors and examiners who are
+non-resident.
+
+[2] I use Oxford language, as that which I myself best understand; but I
+believe that, all that I say applies equally to Cambridge also. For
+"Convocation" one must of course, in Cambridge language, read "Senate."
+
+
+
+
+HAMLET: A NEW READING.
+
+
+There is a sense in which the stage alone can give the full significance
+to a dramatic poem, just as a lyric finds its full interpretation in
+music; but we prefer that a song of Goethe or Shelley should wait for
+its music, and in the meantime suggest its own aerial accompaniment,
+rather than be vulgarized in the setting. And even when set for the
+voice by a master, although there is a gain in as far as the charm is
+brought home to the senses, yet there is a loss in proportion to the
+beauty of the song; for if it is delicate the finer spiritual grace
+departs, and if it is ardent the passion is liable to scream, and, above
+all, there is a vague but appreciable loss of identity; so that on the
+whole we please ourselves best with the literary form. There is the same
+balance of gain and loss in the relation of the drama to the stage. The
+gain is in proportion to the excellence of the acting, and the loss in
+proportion to the beauty oL the play. It is well then that, as the lyric
+poem no longer demands the lyre, the poetical drama has become, though
+more recently, independent of the stage. Each has its own perspective of
+life, its own idea of Nature, its own brilliancy, its own dulness, and
+finally its own public; and notwithstanding the objections of some
+critics, it will soon be admitted that a work may be strictly and
+intrinsically dramatic, and yet only fit for the study--that is, for
+ideal representation. For there is a theatre in every imagination, where
+we produce the old masterpiece in its simplicity and dignity, and where
+the new work appears and is followed in plot and action, and conflict of
+feeling, and play of character, and rhythm of part with part, if not
+with as keen an excitement, at least with as fair a judgment, as if we
+were criticizing the actors, not the piece. And were all theatres
+closed, the drama--whether as the free and spontaneous outflow of
+observation, fancy, and humour, or as the intense reflection of the
+movement of life in its animation of joy and pain--would remain one of
+the most natural and captivating forms in which the creative impulse of
+the poet can work. When we look at its variety and flexibility of
+structure--from the lyrical tragedy of AEschylus to a "Proverbe" of De
+Musset; at its diversity of spirit--from the exuberance of a comedy of
+Aristophanes and the caprice of an Elizabethan mask to the serenity of
+"Comus" and Tasso, and the terror of "Agamemnon" and "Macbeth;" at its
+range of expression--from, the full-toned Greek and English Iambic to
+the plain but sparkling prose of Moliere, and from that again to the
+intricate harmonies of Calderon, Goethe, and Shelley; with its use of
+all voices, from vociferous mob to melodious daughters of Ocean, and its
+command of all colour, from the gloom of Medea to the splendour of
+Marlowe's Helen,--it is a small matter to remember the connection of
+work or author with the stage--how long they held it, how soon they were
+dispossessed, how and at what intervals and with what uncertain footing
+they returned. We do not accept them because they were popular in their
+day, and we do not reject them because they are not suitable to ours.
+They have lost no vivacity or strength or grace by their exclusion from
+the stage and their exile to literature--to that permanent theatre for
+which the poet, freely using any and every form of dramatic expression,
+should now work.
+
+   "There is the playhouse now, there you must sit....
+   For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our king."
+
+The relevancy of these remarks, as an introduction to a study of one of
+Shakespeare's plays, will presently appear.
+
+
+I.
+
+Shakespeare, although a master of theatrical effect, is often found
+working rather away from it than toward it, and at a meaning and beauty
+beyond the limits of stage expression. This is because he is more
+dramatist than playwright, and will always produce and complete his work
+in its ideal integrity, even if, in so doing, he outruns the sympathy of
+his audience. This disposition may be traced not only in the plays it
+has banished from the stage, including such a masterpiece as "Antony and
+Cleopatra," but in those that are universally popular, such as "The
+Merchant of Venice," where the fifth Act, although it closes and
+harmonizes the drama as a work of art with perfect grace, is but a tame
+conclusion to the theatrical piece; and in the scenes that furnish us
+with the delicate and finished study of Antonio, we find the audience
+intent on the situation and the poet on the character; for we no more
+expect to see the true Antonio on the stage than to see the true
+moonlight shimmering on the trees in Belmont Park. But sometimes the
+play will transcend the limits of stage expression by being too purely
+and perfectly dramatic, as in "Lear." For not only is it, as Lamb points
+out,[3] impossible for the actor to give the convulsions of the father's
+grief, and yet preserve the dignity of the king, but the sustained
+intensity of passion fatigues both voice and ear when they should be
+most impressive and impressed. Had Shakespeare written with a view to
+stage effect, he would not in the first two acts have stretched the
+voice through all the tones and intervals of passion, and then demand
+more thrilling intonations and louder outcries to meet and match the
+tumult of the storm. This greatest of all tragedies is written beyond
+the compass of the human voice, and can only be fully represented on
+that ideal stage, where, instead of hoarse lament and husky indignation,
+we hear each of us the tones that most impress and affect us, and can
+command the true degrees of feeling in their illimitable scale.
+
+But in "Hamlet" the inadequacy of the stage is of another kind. It leads
+to a general displacement of motive, and change of focus, the hero's
+character being obscured in the attempt to make it effective. And for
+this to some extent the stage itself, as a place of popular
+entertainment, and not the actor, is at fault. Some such ambiguity as
+this seems, indeed, only natural, when we recall the circumstances
+attending the composition of the play.
+
+By common consent of the best authorities, "Hamlet" represents the work
+of many years. I make no conjectures, but content myself with Mr.
+Dowden's statement of the case:--"Over 'Hamlet,' as over 'Romeo and
+Juliet,' it is supposed that Shakespeare laboured long and carefully.
+Like 'Romeo and Juliet,' the play exists in two forms, and there is
+reason to believe that in the earlier form, in each instance, we possess
+an imperfect report of Shakespeare's first treatment of his theme,"[4]
+We know also that Shakespeare had before him, at least as early as 1589,
+an old play in which "a ghost cried dismally like an oyster wife,
+'Hamlet! Revenge!'" and Shakespeare worked upon this until from what was
+probably a rather sorry melodrama he produced the most intellectual play
+that keeps the stage. And the very sensational character of the piece
+enabled him to steal into it the results of long and deep meditation
+without hazard to its popularity. He seems to have withdrawn Hamlet from
+time to time for a special study, and then to have restored and
+readjusted the hero to the play, touching and modulating, here and
+there, character and incident in harmony with the new expression. In
+this way a new direction and significance would be given to the plot,
+but in a latent and unobtrusive way, so as not to weaken the popular
+interest. This leads to the ambiguity of which I have spoken. The new
+thought is often not earnestly but ironically related to the old
+material, and the spiritual hero seems almost to stand apart from the
+rude framework of the still highly sensational theatrical piece. This
+has given rise to a rather favourite saying with the Germans, that
+Hamlet is a modern. Hamlet seems to step forth from an antiquated
+time,--with its priestly bigotry, its duels for a province, its
+heavy-headed revels, its barbarous code of revenge, and its ghostly
+visitations to enforce it,--to meet and converse with a riper age. But
+this is because Hamlet belongs wholly and intimately to the poet, while
+the other characters, though informed with new and original expression,
+are left in close relation, to the old plot.
+
+Such being the ambiguity resulting from this continued spiritualization
+of the play, the actor would instinctively endeavour to remove it, and
+to bring the hero in closer relation with the main action of the stage
+piece. Hamlet must not be too disengaged; he must not be too ironical. A
+few omissions, a fit of misplaced fury, a too emphatic accent, a too
+effective attitude, with what is called a bold grasp of character, and
+Shakespeare's latest and finest work on the hero is obliterated.
+
+Now, the great actors who have personated Hamlet have done much, and the
+thrilling treatment of the ghost-story has done more, to stamp upon the
+minds of learned and unlearned alike the impression that _the great
+event of Hamlet's life is the command to kill his uncle_. As he does not
+do this, and as he is given to much meditation and much discussion, it
+is assumed that he thinks and talks in order to avoid acting. And then
+the word "irresolution" leaps forth, and all is explained. This curious
+assumption, that all the pains taken by Shakespeare on the work and its
+hero has no other object but to illustrate this theme--a command to kill
+and a delayed obedience--pervades the criticism even of those who
+consider the intellectual element the great attraction of the play. And
+yet, when you ask what is the dramatic situation out of which this
+speculative matter arises, the German and English critics alike reply in
+chorus, "Irresolution." Each one has his particular shade of it, and
+finds something not quite satisfactory in the interpretations of others.
+Goethe's finished portrait of Hamlet as the amiable and accomplished
+young prince, too weak to support the burden of a great action, did not
+recommend itself either to Schlegel or Coleridge, who take the mental
+rather than the moral disposition to task. Schlegel, with some asperity,
+speaks of "a calculating consideration that cripples the power of
+action;" and Coleridge, with more subtlety, applies Hamlet's antithesis
+of thought and resolution to the elucidation of his own character,
+concluding that Hamlet "procrastinates from thought." Gervinus, while
+following Schlegel as to "the bent of Hamlet's mind to reflect upon the
+nature and consequences of his deed, and by this means to paralyze his
+active powers," adds to this defect a deplorable conscientiousness,
+which unfits Hamlet for the great duty of revenge. And Mr. Dowden, while
+most ably collating these various kinds and degrees of irresolution,
+concludes that Hamlet is "disqualified for action by his excess of the
+reflective faculty." Mr. Swinburne alone resolutely protests against
+this doctrine. He speaks of "the indomitable and ineradicable fallacy of
+criticism which would find the key-note of Hamlet's character in the
+quality of irresolution."[5] And he considers that Shakespeare purposely
+introduces the episode of the expedition to England to exhibit "the
+instant and almost unscrupulous resolution of Hamlet's character in time
+of practical need." I gladly welcome this instructive remark, which,
+although Mr. Swinburne calls it "the voice of one crying in the
+wilderness," is more likely to gain me a patient hearing than any
+arguments I can use. But before I propose my own reading, I will, as I
+have given the genesis or natural history of this theory of
+irresolution, compare it with the general features of Hamlet's mental
+condition throughout the play.
+
+If Hamlet "procrastinates from thought," if "the burden of the action is
+too heavy for him to bear," if "by a calculating consideration he
+exhausts all possible issues of the action," it should at least be
+continually present to his mind. We should look for the delineation of a
+soul harassed and haunted by one idea; torn by the conflict between
+conscience and filial obedience; or balancing advantage and peril in an
+agony of suspense and vacillation; forecasting consequence and result to
+himself and others; and so absorbed in this terrible secret as to
+exclude all other interests. We have two studies of such a state of
+irresolution, in Macbeth and Brutus. Of Macbeth it may truly be said
+that he has an action upon his mind the burden of which is too heavy for
+him to bear. It is constantly before him; he is shaken with it,
+possessed by it, to such a degree that
+
+                             "function
+   Is smother'd in surmise; and nothing is
+   But what is not."
+
+Now "he will proceed no further in this business," and now "he is
+settled and bound up to it," and in one long perturbed soliloquy stands
+before us the very picture of that irresolution which "procrastinates
+from thought." Brutus thus describes his own suspense:--
+
+   "Between the action of a dreadful thing
+   And the first motion, all the interim is
+   Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream:
+   The genius, and the mortal instruments,
+   Are then in council: and the state of man,
+   Like to a little kingdom, suffers then
+   The nature of an insurrection."
+
+But what is the general course and scope of Hamlet's utterance, whether
+to himself or others? We find musings and broodings on the possibility
+of escape from so vile a world alternating with cool and keen analysis,
+polished criticism, and petulant wit; we find a pervading ironical
+bitterness, rising at times to fierce invective, and even to the frenzy
+of passion when his mother is the theme, relapsing again to trance-like
+meditations on the depravity of the world, the littleness of man and the
+nullity of appearance; and when his mind does revert to this "great
+action," this "dread command," which is supposed to haunt it, and to
+keep it in a whirl of doubt and irresolution, it is because it is
+forcibly recalled to it, because some incident startles him to
+recollection, proves to him that he has forgotten it, and he turns upon
+himself with surprise and indignation: Why is it this thing remains to
+do? Am I a coward! Do I lack gall? Is it "bestial oblivion?" or is it
+
+                           "some craven scruple
+   Of thinking too precisely on the event?"
+
+On this text, so often quoted in support of the orthodox "irresolution"
+theory, I will content myself at present with the remark, thats surely
+no one before or after Hamlet ever accounted for his non-performance of
+a duty by the double explanation that he had either entirely forgotten
+it or had been thinking too much about it.
+
+Looking then at the general features of Hamlet's talk, it is plain that
+to make this command to revenge the clue to his mental condition, is to
+make him utter a great deal of desultory talk without dramatic point or
+pertinence; for if, except when surprised by the actors' tears or by the
+gallant bearing of the troops of Fortinbras, he wholly forgets it, what
+does he remember? What is the secret motive of this prolonged criticism
+of the world which "charms all within its magic circle?"
+
+The true centre will be found, I think, by substituting the word
+"preoccupation" for the word "irresolution." And the "preoccupation" is
+found by antedating the crisis of Hamlet's career from the revelation of
+the ghost to the marriage of his mother, and the persistent mental and
+moral condition thus induced. Start from this, as a fixed point, and a
+dramatic situation is gained in which every stroke of satire, every
+curiosity of logic, every strain of melancholy; is appropriate and
+pertinent to the action.
+
+In order to measure the full effect of this strange event, we must bring
+before us the Hamlet of the earlier time, before his father's death, and
+for this we have abundant material in the play.
+
+
+II.
+
+Hamlet was an enthusiast. His love for his father was not an ordinary
+filial affection, it was a hero-worship. He was to him the type of
+sovereignty--
+
+               "The front of Jove himself;
+   An eye like Mars, to threaten and command;"
+
+a link between earth and heaven--
+
+   "A combination, and a form, indeed,
+   Where every god did seem to set his seal,
+   To give the world assurance of a man."
+
+To Hamlet, this "assurance of a man" was the great reality which made
+other things real, which gave meaning to life, and substance to the
+world. That his love for his mother was equally intense, is clearly
+discernible in the inverted characters of his rage and grief. In her he
+reverenced wifehood and womanhood. He sees the rose on
+
+   "the fair forehead of an innocent love."
+
+And of his mother we are told--
+
+           "The queen his mother
+   Lives almost by his looks."
+
+But this enthusiasm was connected with a habit of thought that was
+rather critical than sentimental. Hamlet had a shrewd judgment, a lively
+and caustic wit, an exacting standard, and a turn for satire. He was
+fond of question and debate, an enemy to all illusion, impatient of
+dulness,[typo for dullness?] and not indisposed to alarm and bewilder
+it; and he had brought with him from Wittenberg a philosophy half
+stoical and half transcendental, with whose eccentricities he would
+torment the wisdom of the Court. He looked upon the machinery of power
+as part of the comedy of life, and would be more amused than impressed
+by the equipage of office, its chains and titles, the frowns of
+authority, and the smiles of imaginary greatness. He therefore of all
+men needed a personal centre in which faith and affection could unite to
+give seriousness and dignity to life; and this he had found from his
+childhood in the sovereign virtues of the King and Queen. So that his
+criticism in these earlier days was but the fastidiousness of love, that
+disparages all other excellence in comparison with its own ideal; his
+philosophy was a disallowance of all other reality; and his negations
+only defined and brightened his faith. Doubt, question and speculation,
+mystery and anomaly, the illusions of sense, the instability of natures,
+all that was irrational in life, with its certainties of logic and
+hazards of chance, all that was unproven in religion, dubious in
+received opinion, obscure in the destiny of man, were but glimpses of a
+larger unity, vistas of truth unexplored.
+
+Hamlet's thinking is always marked by that quality of penetration into
+and through the thoughts of others, that is called free-thinking. The
+discovery, as he moved in the spiritual world of established ideas and
+settled doctrines, apparently immovable, that they were of the same
+stuff as his own thoughts--were pliant and yielding, and could be
+readily unwoven by the logic that wove them, would tempt him to move and
+displace, and build and construct, until he might have a collection of
+opinions large enough to be termed a philosophy. But it would be
+gathered rather in the joy of intellectual activity, realizing its own
+energy, and ravelling up to its own form the woof of other minds, than
+with any practical bearing on life. All this was a work in another
+sphere--
+
+   "of no allowance to his bosom's truth."
+
+The light of a sovereign manhood and womanhood was reflected on the
+world around him, and afar on the world of thought---their greatness
+reconciled all the contradictions of life. And in pure submission to
+their control all the various activities of his versatile nature, its
+irony and its earnestness, its shrewdness and its fancy, its piety and
+its free-thinking, harmonized like sweet bells not yet jangled or
+untuned. He lived at peace with all, in fellowship with all; he could
+rally Polonius without malice, and mimic Osric without contempt.
+
+It is plain that Hamlet looked forward to a life of activity under his
+father's guidance. He was no dreamer--we hear of "the great love the
+general gender bear him," and the people are not fond of dreamers. In
+truth, the Germans have had too much their own way with Hamlet, and have
+read into him something of their own laboriousness and phlegm. But
+Hamlet was more of a poet than a professor. He had the temperament of a
+man of genius--impatient, animated, eager, swift to feel, to like or
+dislike, praise or resent--with a character of rapidity in all his
+actions, and even in his meditation, of which he is conscious when he
+says, "as swift as meditation." He did not live apart as a student, but
+in public as a prince--
+
+   "the observed of all observers;"
+
+he was of a free, open, unsuspicious temper--
+
+                                  "remiss,
+   Most generous and free from all contriving."
+
+He was fond of all martial exercises and expert in the use of the sword.
+He was a soldier first, a scholar afterwards; a soldier in his alacrity
+to fight
+
+   "Until his eyelids would no longer wag;"
+
+a soldier even to
+
+   "The glass of fashion, and the mould of form;"
+
+and, above all, a soldier in his sensibility on the point of honour, one
+who would think it well
+
+   "Greatly to find quarrel in a straw,
+   When honour is at stake."
+
+And Fortinbras, type of the man of action, recognized in him a kindred
+spirit--
+
+   "Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;
+   For he was likely, had he been put on,
+   To have proved most royally;"
+
+while Hamlet eyed Fortinbras with the envious longing of one who had
+missed his career. What must have been the felicity of life to such a
+man, whose vivacity no stress of calamity, no accumulation of sorrow
+could tame, whose enthusiasm embraced Nature, art, and literature, and
+whose delight was always fresh and new, "in this excellent canopy the
+air, in this brave o'erhanging firmament,"' and in the spectacle of man
+"so excellent in faculty, in form and moving so express and admirable,
+in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god?"
+
+Without a warning the blow fell. His father was suddenly struck down;
+and while he was indulging a grief, poignant and profound indeed, but
+natural, wholesome, manly, his uncle usurped the crown. This second blow
+would be acutely felt, but it would rather rouse than prostrate his
+energies. There is no passion in Hamlet when there has been no love. And
+he had always held his uncle in slight esteem--foreboded something from
+his smiling insincerity. He never mentions him without an expression of
+contempt, hardly acknowledges him as king; he is a thing--of nothing--a
+farcical monarch--"a peacock"--and, in this particular act, no dread
+usurper, but a "cut-purse of the realm." Whether he designed to wait or
+was prepared to strike, his future was still intact, his energy
+unimpaired. His mother remained to him, now doubly dear and doubly
+great, and with her the tradition of the past. She was, as he gathered
+from her silence, like himself, retired from the world, absorbed in
+grief; but he was assured of her constancy and truth. Even the kind of
+distance between them in age and sex, in mind and character, was no
+barrier to this sympathetic relation. She was there with the expectation
+that makes heroism possible; she was there to watch, if not to further
+his enterprise, and to give it lustre with her praise. We are often
+quite unconscious of the commanding influence exerted on our life by
+those who are least in contact with it. To be cognizant of one steadfast
+and stainless soul is to have encouragement in difficulty and support in
+pain. The mere knowledge of its existence is a light within the mind,
+and a secret incentive to the best action. Though silent and apart, it
+is the witness of what is great, and our life is always seeking to rise
+within its sphere; while, by a secret transference--for souls are not
+retentive of their own goodness--our standards of living and thinking
+are maintained at their highest level, like water fed by a distant
+spring. All this and infinitely more than this was the Queen his mother
+to Hamlet. It is impossible, therefore, to measure the effect upon him
+of her marriage with his uncle. The shock of it is ever fresh throughout
+the play. In the third Act the whole frame of nature is still aghast at
+it:--
+
+                 "Heaven's face doth glow;
+   Yea, this solidity and compound mass,
+   With tristful visage, as against the doom,
+   Is thought-sick at the act."
+
+And this was not only after the revelation of the Ghost, but after the
+confirmation of its truth by the test Hamlet had himself applied. Even
+then the first paroxysm has hardly subsided. You see the whole being
+measured by it, the mind stretched to give it utterance, the world
+called as a witness to its enormity:--
+
+
+III.
+
+But it is at an earlier stage of this impression, when the thought of
+this profanation of the sacredness of life and the sanctity of love
+chills the life-blood of his heart, and then rushes burning through it
+like the shame of a personal insult, that he first stands before us in
+the palace of the King. In appearance nothing is changed. He sees the
+same crowd, the same obsequious attitudes, the same decorous forms; the
+trumpets with their usual flourish announce the arrival of the King and
+Queen; the Ministers of State precede them, and the Court ladies; the
+pretentious gravity of Polonius' brow; the dreamy innocence of Ophelia.
+The sovereigns seat themselves, the Queen looks smilingly around her as
+of old. All is easy, bright, and festive. All goes on as if this
+horrible revolution were the most natural thing in the world. Oh, that
+he could avoid the sight of it! Oh, that he could be quit of it all!
+
+   "Oh! that this too too solid flesh would melt,
+   Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew;
+   Or that the Everlasting had not fixed
+   His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!"
+
+Although the nervous horror of his address to the Ghost is greater,
+there is no speech in which Hamlet betrays so deep an agitation as in
+this. He struggles for utterance, repeats himself, mingles oaths and
+axioms, confuses and then annihilates time in the breathless tumult of
+his soul. "Why, she, _even she_. O Heaven!" What can he say? what is
+vile enough? "A _beast_
+
+                         "that wants discourse of reason,
+   Would have mourned longer--married with my uncle."
+
+In this opening speech we see at once the immediate relation of the
+feeling of life-weariness so prevalent throughout the play to this
+supreme emotion; we see also his comprehensive criticism of the world
+branching from the same root--
+
+   "How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
+   Seems to me all the uses of this world!
+   Fie, on't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden;"
+
+and
+
+   "Frailty, thy name is woman."
+
+These themes are developed Act by Act, we can follow them to the
+graveyard scene, and to the moment before death.
+
+And it is not unnatural that Hamlet's grief should assume a
+comprehensive form. The Queen had drawn the world in her train. Nobles
+and people, councillors and courtiers, the honoured statesman, the
+artless maiden, had joined her, had connived, were her accomplices. They
+had, parted among them, all the vices appropriate to _her_ Court, _her_
+people. The world was betrayed to Hamlet in all its meanness and
+littleness: and he looked at it to see if he could discover the secret
+of his mother's treason, as Lear would anatomize the heart of Regan to
+account for her ingratitude. In attacking it he is attacking her guilt,
+in its inferior forms and obscure disguises. It is the nest of her
+depravity, and the small vices are but hers in the shell, and the whole
+is a vast confederacy of evil. Here are no "superfluous activities," no
+desultory talk; Hamlet's preoccupation is one throughout. He alternates
+between the desire to escape from so vile a world, and the pleasure of
+exposing its vice and fraud. The one gives us soliloquies, the other
+dialogues. Now he looks out at an obscure eternity from a time that was
+more obscure, and now the tension of the mind relieves the tension of
+the heart. On the one side we have all passages of life-weariness,
+whether as the issue of long meditation, or as the outcome of familiar
+talk; and on the other we have the brilliant and discursive criticism of
+man and Nature continued throughout the play. All this is so closely
+connected with the treason of his mother, that we see the very
+attachment of the feeling to the thought.
+
+This explains the particular bitterness with which he attacks the
+Ministers and parasites of the Court. As soon as he sees them he crosses
+the current of their talk, commits them to an argument, confuses them
+with the evolutions of a logic too rapid for their senses to follow, and
+makes their bewilderment a sport. How small their world appears in the
+mirror of his ironical mind! The state-craft, the love-making, the
+"absurd pomp," the "heavy-headed revels," the women that "jig and amble
+and lisp," the nobles that are "spacious in the possession of dirt," the
+sovereign that is a "king of shreds and patches;" as for their opinions,
+"do but blow; them to their trials, and the bubbles are out;" as for
+their ideas of prosperity, it is to act as "sponges and soak up the
+king's countenance, his rewards and authorities;" as for their standard
+of worth, "let a beast be a lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at
+the king's table." It is a disgrace to live in such a world, and
+contemptible to share its pleasures and prizes.
+
+But his quarrel with it does not end here. The flaw runs through the
+whole constitution of things; there is no possible equation between the
+anomalies and dislocations on which he turns the dry light of that
+sceptical philosophy which has usurped the place of faith. Thought is
+good and action is good, but they will not work together. Our reason is
+our glory, but our indiscretions serve us best--we must either be
+cowards or fools. We have a perception of infinite goodness, just
+sufficient to make us conclude that we are "arrant knaves, all of us,"
+and just enough belief in immortality "to perplex our wills." There is
+nothing but disagreement and disproportion--a constant missing of the
+mark, a stretching of the hand for that which is not. How is it possible
+to take seriously such a life if you pause to think?
+
+It is not only irrational but visionary. The evanescence and fluency of
+Nature would matter little, but man himself, with his ingenuities of wit
+and triumphs of ambition, is whirled from form to form in "a fine
+revolution if we had the trick to see it." This is a favourite idea, it
+lends itself so easily to the contempt of the world--
+
+   "Imperious Caesar, dead, and turn'd to clay,
+   Might stop a hole to keep the wind away,"
+
+is only a variation of "a man may fish with the worm that has eat of a
+king, and eat of the fish that has fed on the worm."
+
+In this collision with the world, alone and unsupported, Hamlet's
+natural buoyancy returns. It is the moment of isolation, but it is the
+moment also of intellectual freedom. It is desertion, but it is also
+independence. Every incongruity feeds his fanciful and inventive humour.
+He follows vanity and affectation with irony and mimicry, removes a mask
+with the point of his dexterous wit, and exposes the pretence of virtue
+or conceit of knowledge with sarcastic glee, while there is a savour of
+retribution in his chastisement of vice. The vivacity of this running
+comment, critical and satirical, on the ways and works of men adds much
+to the charm of the play, but it is a charm that properly belongs to
+the best comedy. And Shakespeare has marked this disengagement of his
+hero from the sanguinary plot by reserving the exaltation of verse to
+the expression of personal feeling, while the lithe and nimble movement
+of his prose follows with its undulating rhythm every turn of Hamlet's
+wayward mind, in subtlety of argument or caprice of fancy.
+
+Such is the "preoccupation" of Hamlet, emotional and intellectual. I
+have purposely made it seem a separate study, as thus alone could this
+fatal "thought-sickness," in which Heaven and Earth seemed to partake,
+be treated with the requisite clearness and fulness.
+
+We can see at once that no other claim to the command of his spirit is
+likely to succeed. His mind is already haunted. No Ghost can be more
+spiritual than his own thoughts, or more spectral than the world around
+him. No revelation of a particular crime can rival the revelation lately
+made to him of sin in the most holy place--the seat of virtue itself and
+heavenly purity. He may acknowledge the ties of filial obedience and the
+duty of revenge, but there is no place, nor obligation to
+hold, no world to which it may be attached, no faith or interest strong
+enough within him to give it vitality, no fruit of good result to be
+looked for without. The place is occupied:
+
+   "For where the greater malady is fixed
+   The lesser scarce is felt."
+
+When Hamlet says, "There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it
+so," he confesses himself an idealist--that is, one to whom ideas are
+not images or opinions, but the avenues of life. They garner up
+happiness and they store the harvest of pain; they make the "majestical
+roof fretted with golden fire" and the "pestilential cloud." The basis
+on which Hamlet's happiness had rested had been suddenly removed, and
+with the sanctity of the past the promise of the future had disappeared;
+the sky and the earth. He could say to his mother:
+
+   "Du hast sie zerstoert
+     Die schoene Welt;"
+
+but the new world is built of the same materials--that is, absorbing
+ideas. The shadow descends till it measures the former brightness; the
+revulsion is as great as the enthusiasm.
+
+
+IV.
+
+Why, then, does he accept the mission of the Ghost? To answer this fully
+we must accompany him to the platform.
+
+In this scene Hamlet exhibits in perfection all the elements of
+courage--coolness, determination, daring. He is singularly free from
+excitement; and this is not because he is absorbed in his own thoughts,
+for he easily falls into conversation, and treats the first subject that
+comes to hand with his usual felicity and fulness, rising from the
+private instance to a public law, and applying it to large and larger
+groups of facts till his father's spirit stands before him. Thrilled and
+startled he pauses not, "harrowed with fear and wonder like Horatio on
+the previous night, but at once addresses it, as he said he would,
+though hell itself should gape." No more dignified rebuke ever shamed
+terror from the soul than Hamlet administers to his panic-stricken
+friends, and when they would forcibly withhold him from following the
+Ghost, the steady determination with which he draws his sword is marked
+by the play upon words:
+
+   "By Heav'n, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me."
+
+In the presence of his father the old life is rekindled within his
+filial awe and affection, unquestioned obedience, daring resolve. He
+will "sweep to his revenge,"
+
+   "And thy commandment all alone shall live
+   Within the book and volume of my brain,
+   Unmixed with baser matter."
+
+And this commandment had forbidden him to taint his mind against his
+mother.
+
+But what is his first exclamation when he is released from physical
+horror, and his thoughts regain the living world? It is
+
+   "O! most pernicious woman!"
+
+This singular phrase is one of Shakespeare's final touches, as does not
+appear in the quarto of 1603; and it marks, therefore, his deliberate
+intention, and is of the highest significance. He who will hereafter be
+so often amazed at his own forgetfulness has already forgotten.
+
+When his friends reappear, Hamlet is in a half-ironical humourous and
+assuming an astonishing superiority over ghost and mortal alike informs
+them--
+
+   "It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you."
+
+But when this honest ghost plays sepulchral tricks, Hamlet shows small
+respect to it, and at last, in a tone of almost command, cries--
+
+   "Rest! rest! perturbed spirit!"
+
+Does Hamlet slight the command of the Ghost? By no means. He never
+repudiates it or even calls it in question. There is no hesitation,
+cavil, or debate in the acceptance of it as a duty. But the purpose
+cools. It cools even on the platform. What passes within him is hardly a
+process of thought, otherwise some intimation of it would be given in
+his numerous self-communings. But there is a process prior to thought
+in which the relations of things are felt before they are defined, and a
+conclusion is reached, and a disposition decided, without the mediation
+of the reason. There is a vague attraction this way or that, a blind
+forecast and correlation of issues, and the whole being is so influenced
+that, while there is no register of result in the memory, there is a
+direction of the will and a determination of conduct. From the shadow of
+the future that passes thus before his spirit he shrinks averse. To
+scramble for a throne--to lord it over such a crew--to be linked to them
+as by chains--to return to that polluted Court--to be the centre of
+intrigues and hatreds--and for what? To leave the darker deeper evil
+untouched. Some process such as this may account for the change from
+"sweeping to his revenge" to
+
+   "The time is out of joint;--O cursed spite!
+   That ever I was born to set it right!"
+
+In the meantime, in the well-lit chambers of consciousness, no note is
+taken of this shadowy logic. This may appear paradoxical: but the last
+of the changes from love to indifference, from faith to doubt, is the
+avowal of change. When the ties of habit and tradition are inwardly
+outgrown, we bend and intend with our whole being in a new direction
+without the purpose or even the desire to move. So Hamlet silently
+evades the obligation he so readily undertakes, and sinks back into that
+more powerful interest that almost at once regains possession of his
+mind. Still, before he quits the scene of this ghastly disclosure, he
+resolves to counterfeit madness--and this for two reasons: he will seem
+(to himself) to be conspiring, and he will gain a license to speak his
+mind without offence. This is the only use to which he puts this mask of
+madness, as Coleridge has remarked. But why should he instinctively seek
+to gain more latitude of speech? Because since the marriage of his
+mother he had suffered from an enforced silence with regard to the
+proceedings of the Court, as he distinctly tells us in the first
+soliloquy--
+
+   "But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue!"
+
+From his first utterances after he had left the platform, we at once
+infer that the mission of the Ghost had failed. There is nothing that
+Hamlet would sooner part with "than his life." There is, therefore, no
+prospect before his mind, no awakening energy, no latent enterprise.
+With what relief, on the contrary, does he turn from the real to the
+ideal world! How cordially does he welcome the players, and how
+gracefully, so that we seem for the first time to make acquaintance with
+his natural tone and manner. Here at least is man's world, whose reality
+can never be undermined. He plies them with questions, indulges in
+literary criticism, and asks for a recitation. Suddenly he sees tears
+in the actors' eyes. He hurries them away, and when he is alone breaks
+out--
+
+   "Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!"
+
+He is jealous of the players' tears. Here again is no debate, but simply
+surprise at his own apathy. He tries to lash himself to fury but fails,
+and falls back on the practical test he is about to apply to the guilt
+of the king which he must appear to doubt, or this pseudo-activity
+would be too obviously superfluous.
+
+In the interval between the instruction to the players and the play,
+Hamlet's mind, unless absorbed by some strong preoccupation, would
+naturally turn to the issue of the plot; and he would reveal, if he
+admitted us to the secret workings of his mind, if not resolution, at
+least irresolution, something to mark the vacillation of which we hear
+so much. But we find that the whole matter has dropped from his mind,
+and that he has drifted back to the theme of--
+
+   "Oh! that this too too solid flesh would melt!"
+
+It is now recast more in the tone of deliberate thought than of excited
+feeling: he asks not which is best for him, but which is "nobler in the
+mind,"--an impersonal, a profoundly human question, which so fascinates
+our attention that we forget its irrelevance to the matter in hand or
+what we assume to be the matter in hand. It is as if he had never seen
+the Ghost. In his profound preoccupation he speaks of the "bourne from
+which no traveller returns," and of "evils that we know not of,"
+although the Ghost had told him "of sulphurous and tormenting flames."
+Hamlet muses, "To sleep! perchance to dream,--ay, there's the rub," but
+the Ghost had said--
+
+                        "I am thy father's spirit,
+   Doomed for a certain term to walk the night,
+   And, for the day, confined to fast in fires."
+
+It is plain that the "traveller" that had returned was not present at
+all to his mental vision nor his tale remembered. In his former
+meditation he had accepted the doctrine of the church; here he
+interrogates the human spirit in its still place of judgment; and he
+gives its verdict with a sigh of reluctance--
+
+   "Thus conscience does make cowards of us all."
+
+Considering that this and the succeeding lines occur at the end of a
+soliloquy on suicide,--that there is not only the absence of any
+reference to the ghostly action, but positive proof that the subject was
+not present to his thoughts, it is nothing less than astonishing that
+this passage should be quoted as Hamlet's witness to his own
+"irresolution." He would willingly take his own life; conscience forbids
+it; therefore conscience makes us cowards: and then with a still
+further generalization he announces the opposition of thought and
+resolution, causing the failure of
+
+   "enterprises of great pith and moment."
+
+Now the only enterprise on which lie was engaged--the testing of the
+king's conscience--was in a fair way of success, and did, in fact,
+ultimately succeed.
+
+The scene with Ophelia that immediately follows is the development of
+another theme in the first soliloquy, "Frailty! thy name is woman."
+Ophelia is inseparably connected with the queen in Hamlet's mind. She is
+a Court maiden, sheltered, guarded, cautioned, and, as we see in the
+warnings of Polonius and Laertes, cautioned in a tone that is suggestive
+of evil. What scenes she must have witnessed--the confusion on the death
+of the king, the exclusion of Hamlet from the throne, the marriage of
+the queen to the usurper! Yet she takes it all quite sweetly and
+subserviently. She is as docile to events as she is to parental advice.
+To such a one every circumstance is a fate, and she bows to it, as she
+bows to her father: "Yes, my lord, I will obey my lord." She denies
+Hamlet's access to her though he is in sorrow; though he has lost all,
+she will "come in for an after loss." One would rather leave her
+blameless in the sweetness of her maiden prime and the pathos of her
+end, but to place her, as some do, high on the list of Shakespeare's
+peerless women fastens upon Hamlet unmerited reproach. There is a love
+that includes friendship, as religion includes morality, and such was
+Portia's for Bassanio. There is a love whose first instinctive movement
+is to share the burden of the loved one, and such was Miranda's love for
+Ferdinand. And there is a love that reserves the light of its light and
+the perfume of its sweetness for the shadowed heart and the sunless
+mind. How would Cordelia have addressed this king and queen--how would
+she have aroused the energy of Hamlet and rehabilitated his trust, with
+that voice, soft and low indeed, but firmer than the voice of Cato's
+daughter claiming to know her husband's cause of grief! As Hamlet talks
+to Ophelia, you perceive that the marriage of his mother is more present
+to him than the murder of his father. He discourses on the frailty of
+woman and the corruption of the world; "Go to, it hath made me mad. We
+will have no more marriages."
+
+The play is acted. The king is "frighted with false fire," and Hamlet is
+left with the feeling of a dramatic success and the proof of his uncle's
+guilt. He sings snatches of song. Horatio falls in with his mood. "You
+might have rhymed," he says. The only effect of the confirmation of the
+ghost's story, as at its first hearing, is a fresh blaze of indignation
+against his mother. When Polonius has delivered his message that the
+queen would speak with him, Hamlet presently says, "Leave me, friend;"
+and then his mind clouds like the mind of Macbeth before he enters the
+chamber of Duncan--
+
+   "'Tis now the very witching time of night,
+   When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out
+   Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,
+   And do such bitter business as the day
+   Would quake to look on."
+
+As he passes to the Queen's closet in this tense and dangerous mood, he
+sees the king on his knees. His brow relaxes in a moment; he stops,
+looks curiously at him, and says, familiarly--
+
+   "Now might I do it, pat, now he is praying."
+
+He did not mean to do it, because he was on his way to his mother's
+closet, but some reason must be found. The word "praying" suggests it.
+"This would be scanned;" and he scans it, and decides to leave him for
+another day. As he enters the closet to speak the words "like daggers,"
+his quick decisive gesture and shrill peremptory tones alarm the queen.
+She rises to call for help; he seizes her roughly: "Come, come, and sit
+you down." Nothing can mark Hamlet's awful resentment more than his
+persistence through two interruptions that would have unnerved the
+bravest, and checked the most relentless spirit. As he looks at his
+mother there is that in his countenance bids her cry aloud for
+assistance. There is a movement behind the arras. Hamlet lunges at once.
+Is it the king? No; it is but Polonius. Had it been the king, it would
+not have diverted him from his purpose. He is no more afraid of killing
+than he is afraid of death, and is as hard to arrest in his reproof of
+his mother as in his talk with his father:
+
+   "Leave wringing of your hands; peace, sit you down."
+
+His mother confesses her guilt. Hamlet is not appeased. He vilifies her
+husband with increasing vehemence; the Ghost rises as if to protect the
+queen. "Do not forget," he cries, although the king's name was at that
+moment on Hamlet's lips in terms of bitterest contempt. But it was
+understood between the two spirits that it was the queen's husband and
+not his father's murderer that he was thus denouncing. After the
+disappearance of the ghost, he turns again to his mother; and on leaving
+her almost reluctantly, without further punishment, asks pardon of his
+own genius--"Forgive me this my virtue," more authoritative to Hamlet
+than a legion of spirits.
+
+This scene is the spiritual climax of the play, and from it the whole
+tragedy directly proceeds. The death of Polonius leads on the one side
+to the madness of Ophelia, on the other to the revenge of Laertes and
+the final catastrophe. Hamlet's apathy at the death of Polonius is of
+the same character as his oblivion of the ghost's command, and has the
+same origin. For there is no apathy like that of an over-mastering
+passion, whether it be love or jealousy, or a new faith, or a terrible
+doubt. It draws away the life from other duties and interests, and
+leaves them pale and semi-vital. Men thus possessed acknowledge the
+duties they evade, let slip occasion, are "lapsed in time and passion,"
+and are surprised at their own oblivion.
+
+This happens again to Hamlet as he is leaving Denmark. His own inaction
+is flashed back upon him by the sight of the gallant array of
+Fortinbras, and his first words--
+
+   "How all occasions do inform against me,"
+
+disclose that the duty of revenge has its obligations and sanctions, not
+in the inward but the outward world; not in the genius of the
+man--secret, individual, detached--but in the outward mind of inherited
+opinion and ancestral creed, that we share with others in unreflecting
+fellowship. The world has charge of it, and reflects it back upon him
+new in the actor's tears, and now--
+
+   "In this army of such mass and charge,
+   Led by a delicate and tender prince."
+
+This speech must be read, like a Spartan despatch, on the [Greek:
+skutale] or counterpart of Hamlet's personality. He begins, as after the
+player's recitation, with a confession, and ends with an excuse. He is
+startled into an avowal, which he qualifies by a subtle
+after-thought--"What is a man," he cries, who acts as I have acted, who
+allows
+
+   "That capability and god-like reason,
+   To fust in him unused?"
+
+"A beast, no more." But as he looks at Fortinbras and his soldiers,
+another thought strikes him. These men act because they do not pause to
+think. I must have been thinking, _not too little, but too much_; and
+with that he turns short round upon his first confession, escapes from
+the charge of "bestial oblivion," and takes refuge in an imaginary
+"thinking too precisely on the event;" which indeed, as he remembers,
+had more than once prevented him taking his own life. But he condemns
+himself without cause; he cannot now return to that earlier stage of
+unreasoning activity in appointed paths, and the joy and grace of
+unconscious obedience.
+
+When Hamlet returns from England, he takes Horatio apart to recount his
+adventures and unfold the plot of the king; but before he utters a word
+of this his settled mood is revealed to us in the graveyard scene.
+Hamlet, ever prone to belittle the world, is not loth to watch the
+making of a grave. There is the limit and boundary of what can be done
+or suffered; there the triumph is ended, and there the enmity is stayed.
+He advances step by step to look closely at the ruins of mortality; to
+slight the great names of kings and follow heroes to the dust. As he
+sees the skull tossed out of the grave, the king is already dead to him.
+"How the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were Cain's jawbone,
+that did the first murder. This might be the pate of a politician, which
+this ass now o'erreaches; one that would circumvent God, might it not?"
+He is not satisfied till he takes the skull in his hand, and is
+sarcastic on beauty and festive wit, and the base uses to which we may
+come; when, from the other side, the procession of Ophelia advances. The
+grace and allurement of Ophelia had awakened in the imaginative Hamlet a
+feeling stronger and warmer indeed, but of the same relation to his
+capacity of loving as that of Romeo for Rosaline, and as easily lost in
+the glow or shadow of a deeper passion. That it was without depth and
+sacredness is plain from his delighting to ridicule and torment her
+father, and from his careless and equivocal jesting with her at the
+play. But though not a deep experience, it was of a quality different
+from that of other life. And the death of Ophelia had gathered into one
+the records of the hours of love; the first and the last; the meetings
+and the partings; the gifts, and flowers, and snatches of song. On these
+tender memories the hollow clamour of Laertes breaks with a discord so
+intolerable that Hamlet, who had with his usual reserve received the
+news of her death with the cold exclamation, "What! the fair Ophelia!"
+suddenly breaks into a fury and leaps into her grave.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In this study of Hamlet in relation to the ghost-story, we have seen
+that the effect, both of the first recital and of its subsequent
+confirmation, was to whet his mind against his mother; and that the
+passages in which this is expressed are among the _final touches_ of the
+master; that the deed of revenge is only flashed upon him from without;
+and that, in the intervals between such awakenings of memory, he
+relapses to the thought-sickness of the first soliloquy; that on the
+only occasion when the bitterness of his sorrow leads him to meditate
+self-destruction, there is no question of the ghost, the murder, or the
+king; that the only ungovernable bit of fury is in the presence of his
+mother; and that from this scene the drama is developed, and the final
+catastrophe ensues.
+
+
+V.
+
+Supposing this "preoccupation" proved, what is the particular value and
+significance of the fact? Before we can answer this we must set the
+character of Hamlet in this new light clearly before us.
+
+Shakespeare gives to him the rare nobility of feeling with the keenness
+of personal pleasure and pain, the presence or absence of moral beauty.
+He is one to whom public falsehood is private affliction, to whom
+goodness in its purity, truth in its severity, honour in its brightness,
+are the only goods worth a man's possessing, and the rest but a dream
+and the shadow of a dream. Hamlet bears his private griefs with proud
+composure. We have no lamentation on the death of his father, on the
+defection of Ophelia, on his exclusion from the throne. Among the images
+of horror and distress that crowd upon his mind in his mother's closet
+there is one on which he is silent then, and throughout the play, and
+that is her heartless desertion of his cause, as natural successor to
+the crown. To make it entirely clear that we have here no type of morbid
+weakness and excess, but the portrait of a representative man, we have
+only to look at the careful way in which all the other characters are
+touched and modelled so as to allow and enhance Hamlet's superiority,
+This is true even of Horatio. We have already remarked that in their
+scenes with the ghost the manhood of Hamlet is of a higher strain and
+dignity. And not only in resolution, but in that other manly virtue of
+self-reliance, his superiority is incontestable. Horatio follows Hamlet
+at a distance as Lucilius follows Brutus, content if from time to time
+he may stand at his side. Whatever is Hamlet's mood he reflects it, for
+to him Hamlet is always great. Horatio never questions, presumes not to
+give advice, echoes the scorn or laughter of his friend, is equally
+contemptuous of the king, and, as he never urges to action, is, if his
+friend is supposed to procrastinate, accomplice in his delay. Hamlet
+detaches himself from the world and follows his own bent; he will admit
+no guidance, and be subject to no dictation. He is not the man to be
+hag-ridden like Macbeth, or humoured into remorseful deeds like Brutus.
+The strong dramatic feature of his character, the secret of his
+attraction on the stage, is his pure and independent personality. Who
+has a word of solace from him, but when does he claim it? Who leaves any
+mark or dint of intellectual impact on that firm and self-determined
+mind? And if he is superior to Horatio, how much more to Laertes? Had
+Shakespeare wished to exalt the quality of resolution at Hamlet's
+expense, he would not have chosen so ignoble a representative of it as
+this man. A true son of Polonius, a prater of moral maxims, while he is
+all for Paris and its pleasures; violent, but weak; who, when he is told
+of the tragic and untimely death of his sister, can find nothing better
+to say than--
+
+   "Too much of water, hast thou, dear Ophelia?"
+
+who, like Aufidius, has the outward habit and encounter of honour, but
+is a facile tool of treacherous murder in the hands of the king. Compare
+the conduct of the two when they are brought into collision, and the
+final impression they leave. The readiness with which Hamlet undertakes
+to fence for his uncle's wager is one of the most surprising strokes in
+the play. What! with the foil in his hand, no plot, no project, not even
+a word, not a look between him and Horatio that the occasion might be
+improved! What absolute freedom from the malice which in another mind
+is preparing his death. The treachery of Laertes is the more odious in
+this, that the success of his plot depends on the generous confidence of
+his victim. Polonius is handled in the same way with special reference
+to Hamlet. His thinking is marked by slowness and insincerity, and when
+he comes in contact with the rapid current of Hamlet's mind he is
+benumbed; he can only mutter, "If this is madness, there is method in
+it." What little portable wisdom was given to him in the first Act is
+soon withdrawn--he stammers in his deceit, and the old indirectness
+having no material of thought to work upon becomes a circumlocution of
+truisms. As the play proceeds he is made, as if with a second intention,
+more and more the antithesis, as he is the antipathy, of the prince. It
+is the careful portrait of what Hamlet would hate--a remnant of senile
+craft in the method with folly in the matter--a shy look in the dull and
+glazing eye, that insults the honesty of Hamlet as much as the
+shrivelled meaning with its pompous phrase insults his intelligence. So
+with the other characters; they are all made to justify his demeanour
+towards them. The queen is heard to confess her guilt, Ophelia is seen
+to act as a decoy; his college friends attempt his death.
+
+In as far then as Hamlet is right in his verdicts, blameless in his
+aims, lofty in his ideal, and just in his resentment, he is a
+representative man; and we have not the study of a special affliction,
+but the fundamental drama of the soul and the world. This, whatever we
+may call it, was the work at which Shakespeare laboured so long, and for
+which he withdrew Hamlet from time to time for special study, every
+fresh touch telling in this direction.
+
+
+VI.
+
+How far is such an interpretation consonant with the genius and method
+of Shakespeare? Certainly I should hardly have found courage to add
+another to the many studies of Hamlet had it not been for the hope of
+bringing out a characteristic of our great national poet that is rather
+unobtrusive than obscure. I mean a singular unworldliness of thought and
+feeling; a cherished idealism; an inborn magnanimity. Not the
+unworldliness of the study and the cloister, or the other-worldliness of
+such poets as Dante and Milton, but the unworldliness of a man of the
+world, the idealism that is closely allied with humour. And it is in
+this union and not elsewhere that the "breadth" of Shakespeare, of which
+we hear so much, is found. This unworldliness is elusive, ubiquitous,
+full of disguise. Now it is militant, and now observant; now it is
+fastidious in its scorn, and now it is piercing in its dissection; now
+it is satire, and now it is melancholy. He gives the most knightly
+chivalry of friendship to a merchant, and the most exquisite fidelity of
+service to a fool, and makes the ingrained worldliness of Cleopatra die
+before her love. He not only scatters through his pages rebukes of the
+arrogance of power and the more pitiable pride of wealth, but makes his
+kings deride their own ceremonies and mock their own state. Who has not
+observed the easy and effortless way in which his heroes and heroines
+move from one station to the other, from authority to service like Kent,
+from obscurity to splendour like Perdita, or to the greenwood from the
+palace like Rosalind. The change affects their happiness no more than
+the change of their position in the sky affects the brightness of the
+stars. It is all so truthful and clear that we grow more simple as we
+read. Lear utters but one cry of joy, and that is when he is entering a
+prison with Cordelia:
+
+                        "Come, let's away to prison!
+   We two alone will sing like birds in a cage;"
+
+while the Queen of France has just said:
+
+   "For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down,
+   Myself could else outfrown false fortune's frown."
+
+In these two lines the magnanimity of Shakespeare is pure, unveiled, as
+he gives us the last words of his favourite heroine: we must read them
+backwards and forwards to catch the portrait they enclose. We see the
+unconscious elevation of Cordelia's mind, not so much superior as
+invulnerable to mortal ills; we see this dignity and lovely pride cast
+down by pity and love, and then in answer to Lear's troubled and anxious
+look we hear in measured and steadfast tones the reassurance of perfect
+peace.
+
+Remark too Shakespeare's habit of looking upon the world as a masque or
+pageant, not to be treated with too much respectful anxiety as if it
+were as real as ourselves. He who can give so perfectly the texture of
+common life, the solidities of common sense, likes to wave his wand over
+the domain of sturdy prose and incontrovertible custom, and to show how
+plastic it is, and how easily pierced, and how readily transformed. He
+has a malicious pleasure in confusing the boundaries of nature and
+fancy, and mocking the purblind understanding. In the "Midsummer Night's
+Dream" we have an ambiguous and bewildering light, with the horizon
+always shifting, and the boundaries of fact and fable confused with an
+inseparable mingling of forms; both outwardly, as when Theseus enters
+the forest on the skirts of the fairy crew; and inwardly in the memories
+of the lovers. And we are expressly told after the enchantment of the
+"Tempest" that this summary dealing with the solid world was not merely
+by way of entertainment but was a presentation of truth. And Macbeth,
+after grasping all that life could offer of tangible reward or palpable
+power, pronounces it
+
+   "such stuff as dreams are made of."
+
+No doubt something will be said on the other side, of Shakespeare's
+broad and indulgent humanity, and of his toleration even of vice itself
+when it is convivial and amusing. It should be remembered, however, that
+his comedies while more realistic are not so real as his tragedies. They
+are, as he himself insists, entertainments; to which jovial sensuality,
+witty falsehood, and even hypocrisy when it is not morose are admitted,
+as diverting in their very aberration from the mean rule of life. So
+that a touch of rascality is a genuine element in comedy, as a touch of
+danger in sport, and the provocation of the moral sense is part of the
+fun. But they are all under guard. The moment they pass a certain
+boundary and break into reality, the moment that intemperance leads to
+disorder, and vice to suffering, as in real life, then suddenly Harry
+turns upon Falstaff, or Olivia on Sir Toby, and vice is called by its
+right name.
+
+And as life awakens and reality enters, either the grace or the
+sentiment or the passion of unworldliness is more and more distinctly
+present. And in the tragedies even the pleasant vices are seen as part
+of a world-wide corruption that wrongs, debases, and betrays.
+Shakespeare has painted every phase of antagonism to the world, from the
+pensive aloofness of Antonio to the impassioned misanthropy of Timon.
+Every excited feeling emits light into the dark places of the earth, and
+every suffering is a revelation of more than its own injury. It is as if
+the soul, fully aroused, became aware by its own light of the oppression
+and injustice abroad upon the earth.
+
+But there is a more vague and general disaffection to the world than is
+the outcome of any particular experience. It may be called a spiritual
+discontent which few have felt as a passion, but many have known as a
+mood: when that average goodness of human nature which we have found so
+companionable, and to which we have so pleasantly adapted ourselves,
+becomes "very tolerable and not to be endured;" when the world seems to
+be made of our vices, and our virtues seem to be looking on, or if they
+enter into the fray are too tame and conventional for the selfish fire
+and unscrupulous industry of their rivals; and when to our excited
+sensibility there is a taint in the moral atmosphere, and we long to
+escape if only to breathe more freely. This is more than a mood with
+Shakespeare, and is present in those slight but distinctive touches that
+mark the unconscious intrusion of character in an artist's work; and is
+frankly confessed in one of his Sonnets:---
+
+   "Tired with all these; for restful death I cry;
+   As to behold desert a beggar born,
+   And needy nothing drest in jollity,
+   And purest faith unhappily forsworn.....
+   Tired with all these, from, these would I be gone."
+
+We find, then, scattered through the dramas of Shakespeare a
+disaffection to the world as deep-grained as it is comprehensive; and we
+find the various elements of it--the contempt of fortune, the ideal
+virtue, the disinterested passion, the mysticism, the fellowship with
+the oppressed, the distaste of the world's enjoyment and the weariness
+of its burden--concentrated in Hamlet for full and exhaustive study;
+thus presenting what I have called the interior or fundamental drama of
+the soul and the world.
+
+But the tragedy of "Hamlet" includes more than this. It is not merely
+the doom of suffering on a soul above a certain strain, still less is it
+the accidental death of a sluggard in revenge; it is the implication of
+a noble mind in the intrigues and malignities of a world it has
+renounced. In vain Hamlet contracts his ambition till it is bounded by a
+nutshell; he is ordered to strike for a throne. No abnegation clears him
+from entanglement. The world permits not his escape, but drags him back
+with those crooked hands of which Dante speaks, which pierce while they
+hold. This is the tragedy in all its fulness, the involution of the
+inward and outward drama to the immense advantage of both. For while the
+spiritual agony of Hamlet gives an incomparable dignity to the
+ghost-story, yet by the very interruptions and checkings and crossings
+of it through the accidents and oppositions of the plot, its physiognomy
+is more distinctly and delicately revealed. Instead of the majestic but
+monotonous declamation of Timon, we have every variety of that ironical
+humour (indicating some yet unconquered province of the soul) that
+guards and embalms the purer strength of feeling, keeps it airy and
+spiritual, and frees it from moan and heaviness. Here we have no
+insistance on suffering, no literary heart-breaks, no dilettante
+pessimism; but those indefinable harmonies of freedom and law, of the
+ascendency of the soul and the sovereignty of fate, of Nature and the
+spaces of the mind, that in the works of the great masters represent, if
+they do not explain, the mystery of life.
+
+The religion of Hamlet is that faith in God which survives after the
+extinction of the faith in man. Losing the light of human worth and
+dignity through which, alone the soul can reach to the idea of what is
+truly divine, and with it the link between earth and heaven, Hamlet's
+religion is reduced to its elements again; to the vague and fragmentary
+hints of Nature, and instincts of the spirit; to intimations of
+limitless power, of mysterious destiny, of a "something after death,"
+of a "divinity that shapes our ends;" and with these, gleams of a
+transcendent religion of humanity, for devotion to which he was
+suffering; and on the other side, binding him to the stage-plot, relics
+of childish superstition, half-beliefs, inherited opinions, "_our_
+circumstance and course of thought," which he adopted when he
+pleased,--as, for instance, when he feared lest he should dismiss the
+murderer to heaven, or half-believed that his blameless father was
+tormented in sulphurous flames for having endured a horrible death. But
+however obscure and indefinite the religion of Hamlet may be, and partly
+because it is so, and hence of universal experience, it adds reach and
+depth to his struggle with the world. His soul flies out of bounds and
+away in airy liberty on these excursions to the vast unknown, and
+escapes at last victorious with the light through the darkness of
+conscious immortality, and the lamp in his hand of "the readiness is
+all." There is always a certain vacuity in the positive or realistic
+treatment of passion, in which it is confined to the area of mortality,
+and after a sultry strife delivered over to the mercy of its enemies.
+But the world cannot so beset and beleaguer the soul as to block up the
+access and passage of invisible allies, or intercept the communications
+of infinite strength and infinite charity, or follow to its distant
+haunts and inaccessible refuges the migrations of thought--
+
+   "In the hoar deep to colonize."
+
+   FRANKLIN LEIFCHILD.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[3] "To see Lear acted, to see an old man tottering about the stage with
+a walking-stick, turned out of doors by his daughters in a rainy night,
+has nothing in it but what is painful and disgusting."--_Lamb's Essays._
+
+[4] "Shakspere: His Mind and Art," p. 96.
+
+[5] "A Study of Shakespeare," p. 166.
+
+
+
+
+PANISLAMISM AND THE CALIPHATE.[6]
+
+
+I use the word "Panislamism," simply because it is one of the political
+catchwords of the day. The prefix _Pan_ is supposed to have some great
+and terrible significance. It is not long since Europe exerted all her
+power to save Islam from the jaws of Panslavism, but now that a _Pan_
+has been added to Islam, it has become in its turn the bugbear of
+Europe. It is even supposed that England was fighting with this new
+monster, when she put down the revolution in Egypt. England could never
+have so far forgotten her liberality as to take up arms against Islam,
+but Panislam must be crushed by a new crusade. Such is the wondrous
+power of a prefix. So far as I can understand the mysterious force of
+this word, it is designed to express the idea that the scattered
+fragments of the Mohammedan world have all rallied around the Caliph to
+join in a new attack upon Christendom, or that they are about to do so.
+There is just enough of truth in this idea to give it currency, and to
+make it desirable that the whole truth should be known. Most of the
+mistakes of Europe in dealing with the Ottoman empire, during the
+present century, have come from a misapprehension of the forces of
+Islam, and the position, and influence of the Sultan of Turkey. There is
+danger now of such a misapprehension as may lead to the most unfortunate
+complications.
+
+The first essential point, which must always be kept in mind by those
+who would understand the movements of the Mohammedan world, is the exact
+relation of the Ottoman Sultans to the Caliphate. The word Caliph means
+the vicar or the successor of the Prophet. The origin and history of the
+Caliphate is well known, but it may be well to give a brief _resume_ of
+it here. During the life of the Prophet it was his custom to name a
+Caliph to act for him when he was absent from Medina. During his last
+illness he named his father-in-law, Abou-Bekir, and after his death this
+appointment was confirmed by election. Omar, Osman, and Ali were
+successively chosen to this office, and these four are recognized by all
+orthodox Mohammedans as perfect Caliphs. The Persians and other Shiites
+recognize only Ali. It is said that the Prophet predicted that the true
+Caliphate would continue only thirty years. His words are quoted: "The
+Caliphate after me will be for thirty years. After this there will be
+only powers established by force, usurpation, and tyranny." The death of
+Ali and the usurpation of Mouawiye came just thirty years after the
+death of the Prophet, and this was the end of the true and perfect
+Caliphate. The sixty-eight imperfect Caliphs who followed were all of
+the family of the Prophet, although of different branches, but they
+fulfilled the demand of the sacred law, that the Caliph must be of the
+family of Koreish, who was a direct descendant from Abraham. Mouawiye
+and the Ommiades, fourteen in all, were of the same branch as Osman, the
+third Caliph. The Abassides of Kufa, Bagdad, and Cairo, fifty-four in
+all, descended from Abas, the great-uncle of the Prophet. There were
+many others who at different times usurped the name of Caliph, but these
+seventy-two are all who are recognized as universal Caliphs. Mohammed
+XII., the last of these died in obscurity in Egypt in 1538. The power of
+the Caliphs gradually decayed, until for hundreds of years it was little
+more than nominal, and exclusively religious.
+
+The claim of the Ottoman Sultans to the Caliphate dates back to the time
+of Sultan Selim I. This Sultan conquered Egypt and over-threw the
+dynasty of the Mamelukes. He found at Cairo the Caliph Mohammed XII.,
+and brought him as a prisoner to Constantinople. He was kept at the
+fortress of the Seven Towers for several years, and then sent back to
+Egypt with a small pension. While Selim was in Cairo, the Shereeff of
+Mecca presented to him the keys of the holy cities, and accepted him as
+their protector. In 1517 Mohammed XII. also made over to him all his
+right and title to the Caliphate. This involuntary cession, and the
+voluntary homage of the Shereeff of Mecca are the only titles possessed
+by the Ottoman Sultans to the Caliphate, which, according to the word of
+the Prophet himself, must always remain in his own family. If the
+Ommiades and the Abassides were imperfect Caliphs, it is plain that the
+Ottoman Sultans must be doubly imperfect. It was easy, however, for an
+all-powerful Sultan to obtain an opinion from the Ulema that his claim
+was well-founded; and it has been very generally recognized by orthodox
+Mohammedans, in spite of its essential weakness. When the time comes,
+however, that the Ottoman Sultans are no longer powerful, it will be
+still more easy to obtain an opinion that the Shereeff of Mecca, who is
+of the family of the Prophet, is the true Caliph.
+
+The Ottoman Sultans have also assumed the other and more generally used
+title of _Imam-ul-Mussilmin_, which may be roughly translated Grand
+Pontiff of all the Moslems, although, strictly speaking, the functions
+of an Imam are not priestly. This title is based upon an article of the
+Mohammedan faith which says--"The Mussulmans ought to be governed by an
+Imam, who has the right and authority to secure obedience to the law, to
+defend the frontiers, to raise armies, to collect tithes, to put down
+rebels, to celebrate public prayers on Fridays, and at Beiram," &c. This
+article of faith is based upon the words of the Prophet--"He who dies
+without recognizing the authority of the Imam of his time, is judged to
+have died in ignorance and infidelity."
+
+The law goes on to say--"All Moslems ought to be governed by one Imam.
+His authority is absolute, and embraces everything. All are bound to
+submit to him. No country can render submission to any other."
+
+Under this law the Ottoman Sultans claim absolute and unquestioning
+obedience from all Moslems throughout the world; but their right to this
+title rests upon the same foundation as that upon which is based the
+title of Caliph. The Prophet himself said, and the accepted law repeats,
+that the Imam-ul-Mussilmin must be of the family of Koreish. The Ottoman
+Sultans belong not only to a different family, but to a different race.
+
+With this evident weakness in their title to the Caliphate, and the
+accompanying rank of universal Imam, it is a question of interest on
+what grounds the doctors of Mohammedan law have justified their claims,
+and how far these have been recognized.
+
+In addition to the rights said to have been conferred by the Caliph
+Mohammed XII. and by the Shereef of Mecca upon Sultan Selim I., and by
+him transmitted to his posterity, the Mohammedan doctors make use of a
+very different argument. They say--
+
+     "The rights of the house of Othman are based upon its power and
+     success, for one of the most ancient canonical books declares that
+     the authority of a prince who has usurped the Caliphate by force
+     and violence, ought not the less to be considered legitimate,
+     because, since the end of the perfect Caliphate, the sovereign
+     power is held to reside in the person of him who is the strongest,
+     who is the actual ruler, and whose right to command rests upon the
+     power of his armies."
+
+This statement presents the real basis of the claims of the Sultans to
+the Caliphate. It is the right of the strongest. Any man who disputes
+it, does so at his peril; and, since 1517, the Ottoman Sultans have been
+able to command the submission of the Mohammedan world. Their title has
+not been seriously disputed.
+
+But the title has this weak point in it. It is good only so long as the
+Sultan is strong enough to maintain it. It has not destroyed the rights
+of the family of Koreish. It only holds them in abeyance, until some
+one of that family is strong enough to put an end to the Turkish
+usurpation. The power of the Sultan does not depend upon the title, but
+the title depends upon his power. This is a point the political
+importance of which should never be overlooked.
+
+We come now to our second question. How far is the claim of the Ottoman
+Sultans to the Caliphate now recognized in the Mohammedan world? Except
+with the Shiites, who have never acknowledged it, there is no open
+rebellion against it. But the decay of the Ottoman Empire during the
+last hundred years has been obvious to all the world. Not only has it
+been gradually dismembered, not only have many of its Mohammedan
+subjects been brought under the dominion of Christian Powers, and many
+of its Christian subjects set free, not only have its African
+possessions become practically independent, except Tripoli, but the
+house of Othman exists to-day, only because Christian Europe interfered
+to defend it against its own Mohammedan subjects. The house of Mohammed
+Ali would otherwise have taken its place. Again and again have the
+Sultans shown their inability to defend the frontiers of Islam. Since
+the advent of the present Sultan, the process of dismemberment has gone
+on more rapidly than ever.
+
+The influence of these facts upon the Mohammedan world has been very
+marked. I cannot speak from personal knowledge of the people of India
+and Central Asia, but from the best information that I can obtain, I
+conclude that while they have lost none of their interest in Islam,
+while they are still interested in the fate of their Turkish brethren,
+they would not lift a finger to maintain the right of the Sultan to the
+Caliphate against any claimant of the family of the Prophet. The feeling
+of the Arabic-speaking Mohammedans is well known. Islam is an Arab
+religion; the Prophet was an Arab; the Caliph should be an Arab. The
+Ottoman Sultans are barbarian usurpers, who have taken and hold the
+Caliphate by force. The Arabs have been ready for open revolt for years,
+and have only waited for a leader of the house of the Prophet. Their
+natural leader would be the Shereef of Mecca; and it is understood that
+the Shereef who has just been deposed by the Sultan, as well as his
+predecessor who was mysteriously assassinated, was on the point of
+declaring himself Caliph. The new Shereef is a young man of the same
+family.
+
+So far as the Turkish, Circassian, and Slavic Mohammedans are concerned,
+their interests are bound up with those of the Sultan. They do not
+distinguish between the Caliphate and the Sultanat. Their ruler is the
+Imam-ul-Mussilmin, their law is the Sheraat, their country is the
+Dar-Islam; and when they are fighting for their Sultan they are fighting
+for their faith. They know nothing of any other possible Caliph. But if
+a new Caliph should appear at Mecca, and declare the Sultan a usurper
+and a Kaffir, it is very doubtful whether they would stand by the
+Sultan. They would not know what to do.
+
+Another element enters just now into the question of the Caliphate, of
+which so much has been written of late that it is only necessary to
+mention it here. The Mohammedan world is looking for the coming of the
+Mehdy. The time appointed by many traditions for his appearance has
+already come, the year of the Hedjira 1300. Other traditions, however,
+fix no definite time--they only say "towards the end of the world," and
+many impostors have already appeared at different times and places
+claiming to be the Mehdy. According to Shiite tradition, it is the
+twelfth Imam of the race of Ali who is to appear. At the age of twelve
+he was lost in a cave, where he still lives, awaiting his time.
+According to the Sunnis, the _Mehdy_ is to come from Heaven with 360
+celestial spirits, to purify Islam and convert the world. He will be a
+perfect Caliph, and will rule over all nations.
+
+It is impossible for any Christian to speak with absolute certainty of
+the real feeling of Mohammedans; but it is evident that this expected
+Mehdy is talked of by Mohammedans everywhere, and that there is more or
+less faith in his speedy appearance. No one who anticipates his coming,
+can have any interest in the claims of the Sultan to be the Caliph.
+Should any one appear to fulfil the demands of the tradition, and meet
+with success in rousing any part of the Mohammedan world, the excitement
+would become intense, especially in Africa and Arabia. The claims of the
+Sultan would be repudiated at once. Still I think it probable that too
+much has been made of this Mehdy in Europe. I do not think that the
+Pachas of Constantinople have any more faith in his coming than Mr.
+Herbert Spencer has in the second coming of Christ. They only fear that
+some impostor may take advantage of the tradition to create division in
+the empire. This is the real danger.
+
+It has been evident for many years that the Sultans have felt that their
+influence in the Mohammedan world was declining. They have seen that
+beyond their own dominions the Caliph has no real authority; that
+whatever influence they have depends upon the strength of their own
+empire. Abd-ul-Medjid and Abd-ul-Aziz seem to have had a pretty clear
+conception of their weakness, and of the necessity of restoring the
+vitality of the Ottoman empire, by the introduction of radical reforms.
+There is no reason to suppose that the Hatt-i-houmayoun and the other
+innumerable Hatts issued by these Sultans, were all intended simply to
+blind the eyes of Europe. None knew better than they that the empire
+must be reformed or lost. But they were Caliphs as well as Sultans, and
+what they would do as Sultans they could not do as Caliphs. The very
+nature of their claims to the Caliphate made them more timid. They could
+not execute the reforms which they promised, without encountering the
+opposition of the whole body of the Ulema, the most powerful and the
+best organized force in the empire. If they could have saved their
+empire by resigning the Caliphate, they might possibly have been willing
+to do it; but they were made to believe that in surrendering the
+Caliphate they would lose the support of the only part of the nation
+upon which they could fully depend. So they hesitated, promising much
+and doing little, raising hopes on one side which could never be
+forgotten, and raising fears on the other which they could not allay;
+seeing clearly the need of reform, but seeing no way in which to
+accomplish it. They could decide upon nothing, and drifted on until
+Abd-ul-Aziz was deposed and assassinated by his own ministers, and the
+empire was on the verge of ruin.
+
+The next Sultan was overwhelmed by the burdens which fell upon him, and
+in a few months was deposed as a lunatic. Sultan Hamid came to the
+throne under these trying circumstances, and it seemed for a time that
+he might be the last of the Sultans. He was but little known, as he had
+been forced to live in retirement, and it was supposed that he would
+follow meekly in the steps of his predecessors; but it very soon became
+evident to those about him that he had a mind and a will of his
+own--more than this, that he had a policy which he was determined to
+carry out. A Sultan with a fixed policy was a new thing, and to this day
+Europe is somewhat sceptical about it; but it very soon became apparent
+to close observers at Constantinople. Sultan Hamid was determined to be
+first of all the Caliph, the Imam-ul-Mussilmin, and to sacrifice all
+other interests to this. His education had been exclusively religious,
+and in his retirement he had lived a serious life, associating much with
+the Ulema, who, no doubt, pointed out to him the vacillating policy of
+his predecessors, and the danger that there was that the Caliphate and
+the empire would be lost together. He determined to strengthen his
+empire by restoring the influence of the Caliphate, and rallying the
+Mohammedan world once more around the throne of Othman. Judged from a
+European standpoint, this policy is at once reactionary and suicidal. It
+ignores the fact that the Ottoman empire is dependent for its existence
+upon the good-will of Europe; that it has measured its strength with a
+single Christian Power, and been utterly crushed in a year. It ignores
+the principle that a government can never be strong abroad which is weak
+at home. It ignores the history of the last hundred years. It may be
+doubted whether it is a policy which can be justified from the
+standpoint of Islam. Turkey is the last surviving Mohammedan Power of
+any importance. Its influence depends upon its strength, and its
+strength upon the prosperity of its people, and this upon a wise and
+enlightened administration of the government. It would seem that the
+best thing the Sultan could have done for Islam, would have been not to
+excite the fears of Europe by the phantom of a Panislamic league, but to
+have devoted all his energies to the reformation of his government.
+
+But Sultan Hamid chose the path of Faith rather than of Reason, and,
+however we may think the choice unwise, we are bound to treat it with
+respect. It is easy to say that it was a mere question of policy, and
+very bad policy; it certainly was, but I think we have good reason to
+believe that the Sultan was actuated by religious rather than political
+motives, that he is a sincere and honest Moslem, and feels that it is
+better to trust in God than in the Giaour. I have a sincere respect and
+no little admiration for Sultan Hamid. Had he been less a Caliph and
+more a Sultan, with his courage, industry, and pertinacity, he might
+have done for Turkey what he has failed to do for Islam. He might have
+revived and consolidated the empire. It is possible that he may do it
+yet, and should he attempt it he will have the sympathy of the world.
+
+But thus far, having transferred the seat of government from the Porte
+to the Palace, having secured a declaration from the Ulema that his will
+is the highest law, and that as Caliph he needs no advice, he has
+sought, first of all, to make his influence felt in every part of the
+Mohammedan world, to revive the spirit of Islam, and to unite it in
+opposition to all European and Christian influences. Utterly unable to
+resist Europe by force of arms, he has sought to outwit her by diplomacy
+and finesse. I know of nothing more remarkable in the history of Turkey
+than the skill with which he made a tool of Sir Henry Layard. Sir Henry
+could not be bought; but he could be flattered and blinded by such
+attentions as no Ottoman Sultan ever bestowed upon any Ambassador
+before; and to accomplish this object, the Sultan did not hesitate to
+ignore all Mohammedan ideas of propriety. His demonstrations of
+friendship for Germany is another illustration of his diplomatic skill.
+But while ready to yield any point of etiquette to accomplish his ends,
+he has resisted to the last every attempt to induce him to do anything
+to repress or punish any development of Moslem fanaticism. All Europe
+combined could not force him to punish the murderer of Colonel
+Coumaroff, the secretary of the Russian Embassy, who was shot down in
+the street like a dog by a servant of the Palace; nor, so far as I know,
+has he ever suffered a Moslem to be punished for murdering a Christian.
+
+His agents have done their best to rouse the Mohammedans of India and
+Central Asia. He has armed the tribes of Northern Africa against France,
+and encouraged them to resist to the end. He has given new life to
+Mohammedan fanaticism in Turkey. The change from the days of Abd-ul-Aziz
+is very marked. The counsellors of the Sultan are no longer the
+Ministers, but the astrologers, eunuchs, and holy men of the Palace. No
+Mussulman could now change his faith in Constantinople without losing
+his life. Firmans can no longer be obtained for Christian churches, and
+it is extremely difficult to obtain permission to print a Christian
+book, even in a Christian language. The greatest care is taken to seize
+books of every description in the Custom House. It is not long since the
+Life of Mr. Gladstone was seized as a forbidden book. It is a curious
+fact in this connection that the fanaticism of the Government is far in
+advance of the fanaticism of the people. There is no fear of the people,
+except as they are encouraged and pushed forward by those in authority.
+If left to themselves, Turks and Christians would have no difficulty in
+living together amicably.
+
+The relation of the Sultan to the rebellion in Egypt is not perfectly
+clear, and probably never will be. In one sense he was no doubt the
+cause of it. It was a direct result of the agitation which his policy
+had roused. But it was not intended by Arabi to strengthen the power of
+a Turkish Caliph. It was originally anti-Turkish, and looked to the
+revival of the Arab Caliphate, as well as to the personal advantage of
+Arabi himself. The Sultan could not oppose it without exciting the
+enmity of those whom he most wished to conciliate, so he sought to
+control it and turn it to his own advantage. He gave Arabi all possible
+aid and support. There is no reason to suppose that Arabi and his
+friends were deceived by this; but it was for their interest to avoid a
+conflict with the Sultan as long as possible, and to get what aid from
+him they could. But for the intervention of England, Arabi would no
+doubt have won the game against the Turk. He might even have caused the
+downfall of the Sultan; for it is a well-known fact that so great was
+the enthusiasm of the Moslems in Syria and Arabia for Arabi, that they
+were with difficulty restrained by the Turkish authorities from breaking
+out into open rebellion. This spirit had been fostered by the Sultan;
+but it naturally turned, not to the Turkish Caliph, but to the
+successful Arab adventurer. Even in Asia Minor and Constantinople the
+enthusiasm for Arabi was universal, and had he been allowed to triumph
+unmolested, it seems probable the Sultan would have been forced either
+to unite with him in a crusade against Christendom, or to send an army
+to put him down. Either of these courses would have been fatal; for no
+Moslem army would have fought against Arabi under such circumstances,
+and as against Europe the Sultan could have accomplished nothing.
+
+It is no doubt perfectly legitimate for a Caliph, especially for one
+whose title depends upon the strength of his sword, to stir up the
+enthusiasm of his people and attract their attention to himself as their
+leader. He cannot be blamed for improving every occasion to defend their
+rights and interfere in their behalf. If he is strong enough to do so,
+it is no doubt in full accord with the example and teaching of the
+Prophet that he should lead them against the infidels. It is not strange
+that a man of faith should be so dazzled by the possibility of such a
+crusade as to forget his own weakness. As he sits in his palace
+to-night,[7] and hears the roar of the guns announcing the great
+festival of Courban Beiram, and thinks that more than two hundred
+millions of the faithful are uniting with him in the sacrifice, and
+confessing their faith in the Prophet of whom he claims to be the
+successor and representative, it will be strange if he does not dream of
+what might be if he could but rally them round his throne; strange if he
+does not catch something of the inspiration of the Prophet himself, who,
+with God on his side, dared alone to face all Mecca, and with a few
+half-naked Arabs to brave the world. There is nothing in the Palace
+unfavourable to such a dream as this, and there will be nothing in the
+pomp and ceremony of the homage to be paid to him to-morrow morning to
+recall him from it. What a contrast it will be to come back from such a
+dream of universal dominion, and the triumph of the true faith, to the
+discussion of the sixty-first Article of the Treaty of Berlin and the
+rights of the Armenians! It is perfectly legitimate for a Caliph to have
+such dreams, and perfectly natural for him to prefer to try to realize
+them, rather than to give his attention to the reform of his empire; but
+without blaming the Caliph we may well doubt whether it is altogether
+wise for the Sultan of Turkey to indulge in such dreams.
+
+I believe that it would be better not only for Turkey but for Islam
+also, if the Sultan would give up his doubtful title to the Caliphate,
+and pass it over to the descendant of the Prophet who is Shereef of
+Mecca. As for Turkey, this is the only hope of the empire; and the
+experience of the Pope of Rome has made it clear that the loss of
+temporal power tends rather to strengthen than to weaken a great
+religious organization. There is no inclination in any part of the world
+to persecute Mohammedans, or interfere in any way with their faith. Only
+a very small minority of them are under the government of the Sultan,
+and those who are not enjoy as much religious liberty as those who are.
+This is not from fear of the Sultan, but it is in accord with the spirit
+of the age, and the manifest interest of other Governments. As a Caliph
+cannot by any possibility restore the strength of the Ottoman empire, so
+a Sultan of Turkey cannot be the spiritual leader of millions who are
+not in any way under his control. I see no reason to suppose that the
+transfer of the Caliph to Mecca would in any way weaken the faith of
+Moslems or diminish their zeal. Mohammedans in India and in Russia show
+no more inclination to abandon their faith than those who reside at
+Constantinople under the shadow of the Caliph; on the contrary, there is
+more unbelief in Constantinople than there. What is more, there is every
+reason to believe that such a transfer would gratify the great majority
+of Mohammedans, probably a majority of those living in the Turkish
+Empire, certainly all the Arabic-speaking population. In one way or
+another this change is sure to come, however it may be resisted by the
+Sultan; the very effort that he has made to arouse the spirit of Islam
+has made it more apparent than before that he is really powerless to
+defend any Mohammedan country against aggression. He could do nothing
+for Tunis against France. He could do nothing for Arabi against England.
+The very encouragement that he gave in these cases was an injury to
+them. The Arabs are all ready to assert their rights to the Caliphate
+and defend them against the Sultan. If he does not surrender the title
+voluntarily, sooner or later they will take it by force, and that part
+of the empire along with it.
+
+The Sultan complains of the interference of Europe in the affairs of his
+empire; but, in fact, he owes not only his throne, but his continued
+possession of the Caliphate, to their protection. Let it be known in
+Mecca to-day that Europe would favour such a change and encourage an
+insurrection in Syria and Arabia, and the new Shereef of Mecca would
+celebrate the Courban Beiram as Caliph amidst such enthusiasm as has not
+been known there for a hundred years.
+
+In spite of all this, however, in spite of the imperfection of his
+title, and the coolness or discontent of Mohammedans throughout the
+world, in spite of the growing weakness of the empire and his failure to
+defend those whom he has encouraged to resist Europe, it is not probable
+that Sultan Hamid will voluntarily surrender the Caliphate. Abd-ul-Aziz
+might have done it to save his empire, but Sultan Hamid is too religious
+a man; he values his title of Imam-ul-Mussilmin too highly to give it up
+without a struggle. It is safe to conclude that he will cling to it
+until it is taken by force by a stronger man.
+
+I have already mentioned incidentally the relation of Europe to the
+Caliphate. England and France are most directly interested in this
+question, and hitherto their policy has been to sustain the claims of
+the Sultans. They seem to be quite as anxious to maintain the Caliphate
+of Constantinople as the Sultans themselves, and its continuance has
+been due in great measure to their protection. As the interest of France
+in this question is only secondary, I will confine myself to the policy
+of England. It is not strange that England, with her Indian Empire and
+40,000,000 Mohammedan subjects, should be deeply interested in the
+question of the Caliphate. It must be a question of vital importance to
+her whether it is better for the peace of India to have the Caliphate in
+the hands of a temporal sovereign at Constantinople or of a Shereef of
+Mecca in Arabia. So long as she was in close alliance with the Sultan,
+and her influence at Constantinople was supreme, there could not be any
+doubt on this subject, for a Caliph at Mecca would be practically beyond
+her reach; but since the Crimean war English influence has seldom been
+paramount at Constantinople. Still, English statesmen have probably
+reasoned that, even if he were decidedly unfriendly, it was better to
+have a Caliph who had something to lose, and who, on occasion, could be
+reached by a British fleet and bombarded in his palace, than one in the
+deserts of Arabia, who could not be reached by pressure of any kind,
+either diplomatic or military, who might proclaim a holy war without
+fear of being called to account for it. There is always a great
+practical advantage in dealing with a responsible person. Then, again,
+the late Sultans have manifested no inclination to rouse the fanaticism
+of Mohammedans against Christendom. They have been only anxious that
+Christendom should forget them, and leave them to manage their own
+affairs in their own way. Under these circumstances no English interest
+has demanded the consideration of the question of the Caliphate. It is a
+religious question which no Christian Government could wish to take up
+unless forced to do so. Whatever the Turks may believe, it is certain
+that no European Power has any inclination to enter upon a crusade
+against the Mohammedan religion. Even the Pope of Rome, who in former
+days decreed crusades against the Moslem, is now on terms of the most
+friendly intimacy with the Caliph. England not only carefully protects
+the rights of Mohammedans in India, but she has used all her influence
+for years to strengthen the Ottoman Empire and discourage all agitation
+against the Caliphate of the Sultan.
+
+Such has been the policy of the past. But circumstances have changed,
+and long-cherished hopes have been disappointed. The effort to reform
+and strengthen the Turkish empire has failed chiefly because the Sultans
+have been unwilling or unable to abandon the strictly religious
+constitution of the Government, and to distinguish between their duties
+as Caliphs, and their duties as civil rulers over a mixed population of
+various sects. This failure has led to most unhappy complications in
+Europe, to the dismemberment of European Turkey, and to a great
+development of the influence of Russia, the Power most unfriendly to the
+existence of the Turkish Empire. It is now clear to all the world that
+Turkey cannot be reformed by a Caliph. In addition to this, the present
+Sultan, departing from the prudent course of his predecessors, has
+undertaken to rouse the hostility of Islam against Christendom, and to
+encourage fanatical outbreaks, not only in Africa, but in Asia as well.
+As Caliph he is no longer the friendly ally of the Christian Powers,
+but, as far as he dares, is acting against them. Under these changed
+circumstances the question must arise whether it is any longer for the
+interest of England to defend the Caliphate of Constantinople. It is not
+a question of deposing one Caliph and setting up another. This is not
+the work of a Christian Power. It is for Mohammedans to settle this
+question among themselves. If they prefer to continue to recognize the
+Sultan as Caliph, they should be free to do so. But the policy of
+England has not hitherto been one of neutrality. It has been the active
+support of the Sultan. The question now is whether this support should
+not be withdrawn, and the Arabs made to understand that if they prefer
+an Arab Caliph at Mecca, England will not interfere to prevent it.
+
+This is a very serious question, and the plan is open to the objection
+already suggested of the inaccessibility of Mecca. It is also to be
+considered that the Arabs are more fanatical and more easily excited
+than the Turks. But, on the other hand, it may be doubted whether the
+influence of the Shereef of Mecca would be greatly increased by his
+assuming the title of Caliph. It would not be recognized by the Turks,
+and Constantinople would be even more opposed to Mecca than it is now.
+The nature of the new Caliph's influence would be the same that it is
+now as Shereef of Mecca--a purely moral influence.
+
+Another thing to be considered is the fact that this is only a question
+of time. Sooner or later this change is sure to come. As the power of
+the Sultan continues to decline, he will be less and less able to resist
+the progress of this Arab movement. It is not easy to see exactly what
+England will gain by postponing this change. Certainly not the
+friendship of the Arabs. I cannot speak with authority of the feeling in
+India; but it is understood that Indian Mohammedans sympathize with the
+Arabs rather than the Turks. I cannot presume to give a decided opinion
+on this question; but the new responsibilities assumed by the British
+Government in Egypt, make it one of immediate practical importance. Are
+the real interests of England with the Turk or the Arab?
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[6] We have received this article from a valued correspondent, whose
+name, for obvious reasons, is not given.--ED.
+
+[7] The eve of Courban Beiram.
+
+
+
+
+THE BOLLANDISTS:
+
+THE LITERARY HISTORY OF A MAGNUM OPUS.
+
+
+The majority of educated people have, from time to time, in the course
+of their historical reading, come across some mention of the "Acta
+Sanctorum," or "Lives of the Saints;" while but few know anything as to
+the contents, or authorship, or history of that work. Yet it is a very
+great, nay a stupendous monument of what human industry, steadily
+directed for ages towards one point, can effect. Industry, directed for
+ages, I have said--an expression, which to some must seem almost like a
+misprint, but which is quite justified by facts, since the first volume
+issued by the company of the Bollandists, is dated Antwerp, 1643; and
+the last, Paris, A.D. 1875. Two hundred and forty years have thus
+elapsed, and yet the work is not concluded. Indeed, as it has taken
+well-nigh two centuries and a half to narrate the lives of the Saints
+commemorated in the first ten months of the year, it may easily happen
+that the bones of the present generation will all be mingled with the
+dust, before those Saints be reached who are celebrated on the 31st of
+December. Some indeed--prejudiced by the very name "Acta Sanctorum"--may
+be inclined to turn away, with a contempt bred of ignorance, from the
+whole subject. But if it were only as a mental and intellectual tonic
+the contemplation of these sixty stately folios, embracing about a
+thousand pages each, would be a most healthy exercise for the men of
+this age. This is the halcyon period of primers, introductions,
+handbooks, manuals. "Knowledge made Easy" is the cry on every side. We
+take our mental pabulum just as we take Liebig's essence of beef, in a
+very concentrated form, or as hom[oe]opathists imbibe their medicine, in
+the shape of globules. I do not desire, however, to say one word against
+such publications. The great scholars of the seventeenth century, the
+Bollandists, Casaubon, Fabricius, Valesius Baluze, D'Achery, Mabillon,
+Combefis, Vossius, Canisius, shut up their learning in immense folios,
+which failed to reach the masses as our primers and handbooks do,
+penetrating the darkness and diffusing knowledge in regions inaccessible
+to their more ponderous brethren. But at the same time their majestic
+tomes stand as everlasting protests on behalf of real and learned
+inquiry, of accurate, painstaking, and often most critical research into
+the sources whence history, if worth anything, must be drawn.
+
+I propose in this paper to give an account of the origin, progress,
+contents, and value of the work of the Bollandists, regarded as the
+vastest repertory of original material for the history of mediaeval
+times. This immense series is popularly known either as the "Acta
+Sanctorum" or the Bollandists. The former is the proper designation. The
+latter, however, will suit best as the peg on which we shall hang our
+narrative. John Bolland, or Joannes Bollandus as it is in Latin, was the
+name of the founder of a Company which, more fortunate than most
+literary clubs, has lasted well-nigh three centuries. To him must be
+ascribed the honour of initiating the work, drawing the lines and laying
+the foundations of a building which has not yet been completed. That
+work was one often contemplated but never undertaken on the same
+exhaustive principles. Clement, the reputed disciple of the Apostles
+Peter and Paul, is reported--in the "Liber Pontificalis" or "Lives of
+the Popes;" dating from the early years of the sixth century--to have
+made provision for preserving the "Acts of the Martyrs." Apocryphal as
+this account seems, yet the honest reader of Eusebius must confess that
+the idea was no novel one in the second century, as is manifest from the
+well-known letter narrating the sufferings of the martyrs of Lyons and
+Vienne. Space would now fail us to trace the development of hagiography
+in the Church. Let it suffice to say that century after century, as it
+slowly rolled by, contributed its quota both in east and west. In the
+east even an emperor, Basil, gave his name to a Greek martyrology; while
+in both west and east the writings of Metaphrastes, Mombritius, Surius,
+Lipomanus, and Baronius, embalmed abundant legends in many a portly
+volume. Still the mind of a certain Heribert Rosweid, a professor at
+Douai, a Jesuit and an enthusiastic antiquarian, was not satisfied.
+Rosweid was a typical instance of those Jesuits, learned and devout, who
+at a great crisis in the battle restored the fallen fortunes of the
+Church of Rome. As the original idea of the "Acta Sanctorum" is due to
+him, we may be pardoned in giving a brief sketch of his career, though
+he was not in strictness a member of the Bollandist Company.
+
+Rosweid was born at Utrecht, in 1569, and entered the Society of Jesus
+in 1589, the year when all Europe, and the world at large, was ringing
+with the defeat of the Armada and the triumph of Protestantism. He
+studied and taught first at Douai and then at Antwerp, where, also after
+the manner of the Jesuits, he entered upon active pastoral work, in
+which he caught a contagious fever, of which he died A.D. 1629. His
+literary life was very active, and very fruitful in such literature as
+delighted that age. Thus he produced editions of various martyrologies,
+the modern Roman, the ancient Roman, and that of Ado; he discussed the
+question of keeping faith with heretics; took an active share in the
+everlasting controversy concerning the "Imitatio Christi," wherein he
+espoused the side of A-Kempis and the Augustinians, as against Gerson
+and the Benedictines; published the lives of the Eastern Ascetics, who
+were the founders of modern monasticism; debated with Isaac Casaubon
+concerning Baronius; and published, in 1607, the "Lives of the Belgic
+Saints," where we find the first sketch or general plan of the "Acta
+Sanctorum." The idea of this great work suggested itself to Rosweid
+while living at Douai, where he used to employ his leisure time in the
+libraries of the neighbouring Benedictine monasteries, in search of
+manuscripts bearing on the lives of the Saints. It was an age of
+criticism, and he doubtless felt dissatisfied with all existing
+compilations, content as they were to repeat, parrot-like and without
+any examination, the legends of earlier ages. It was an age of research,
+too--more fruitful in some respects than those which have followed--and
+he felt that an immense mass of original material had never yet been
+utilized. It was at this period of his life he produced the work above
+mentioned, which we have briefly named the "Lives of the Belgic Saints,"
+but the full title of which is, "Fasti Sanctorum quorum Vitae in Belgicis
+Bibliothecis Manuscriptae." He intended it as a specimen of a greater and
+more comprehensive work, embracing the lives of all the Saints known to
+the Church throughout the world. He proposed that it should embrace
+sixteen volumes, divided in the following manner:--The first volume
+dealing with the life of Christ and the great feasts; the second with
+the life of the Blessed Virgin and her feasts; the third to the
+sixteenth with the lives of the Saints according to the days of the
+month, together with no less than thirteen distinct indexes,
+biographical, historical, controversial, geographical, and moral; so
+that the reader might not have any ground for the complaint so often
+brought against modern German scholars, that they afford no apparatus to
+help the busy student when consulting their works. Rosweid's idea as to
+the manner in which those volumes should be compiled was no less
+original. He proposed first of all to bring together all the lives of
+Saints that had been ever published by previous hagiographers; which he
+would then compare with ancient manuscripts, as he was convinced that
+considerable interpolation had been made in the narratives. In addition,
+he desired to seek in all directions for new materials; and to
+illustrate all the lives hitherto published or unpublished, by
+explaining obscurities, reconciling difficulties, and shedding upon
+their darker details the light of a more modern criticism. Rosweid's
+fame was European in the first quarter of the seventeenth century; and
+his proposal attracted the widest attention. To the best judges it
+seemed utterly impracticable. Cardinal Bellarmine heard of it, and
+proved his keenness and skill in literary criticism by asking what age
+the man was who proposed such an undertaking. When informed that he was
+about forty, "Ask him," said the learned Cardinal, "whether he has
+discovered that he will live two hundred years; for within no smaller
+space can such a work be worthily performed by one man,"--an unconscious
+prophecy, which has found in fact a most ample fulfilment; for death
+snatched away Rosweid before he could do more towards his great
+undertaking than accumulate much precious material; while more than two
+hundred years have elapsed, and yet the work is not completed.
+
+After the death of Rosweid, the Society of Jesus, which now regarded the
+undertaking as a corporate one, entrusted its continuation to Bollandus.
+He was thirty-three years of age, and had distinguished himself in every
+branch of the Society's activity as a teacher, a divine, a scholar, and
+an orator. In this last capacity, indeed, it was his duty to address
+Latin sermons to the aristocracy of Antwerp, a fact which betokens a
+much more learned audience than now falls to any preacher's lot. He was
+a wise director of conscience too, a sphere of duty in which the Jesuits
+have always delighted. A story is told illustrating his skill in this
+direction. One of the highest magistrates of the city, being suddenly
+seized with a fatal illness, despatched a messenger for Bollandus, who
+at once responded to the call, only however to find the sick man in
+deepest trouble, on account of the sternness with which he had exercised
+his judicial functions. He acknowledged that he had often been the means
+of inflicting capital punishment when the other judges would have passed
+a milder sentence in the belief that he was rescuing the condemned from
+greater crimes, which they would inevitably commit, and securing the
+salvation of their souls through the repentance to which their ghostly
+adviser would lead them prior to their execution. Bollandus at once
+perceived that he had to deal with the over-scrupulous conscience of one
+who had striven, according to his light, to do his duty. He therefore
+produced his breviary, and proceeded to read and expound the hundred and
+first psalm, "I will sing of mercy and judgment;" making such a very
+pertinent application of it to the magistrate's case, as led him to cry
+out with tears, "What comfort thou hast brought me, Father! now I die
+happy." A consideration of these numerous and apparently inconsistent
+engagements may not be without some practical use in this age. Looking
+at the varied occupations of Bollandus and his fellows, and at the
+massive works which they at the same time produced, who can help smiling
+at the outcry which the advocates for the endowment of research, as they
+style themselves, raised some time ago against the simple proposal of
+the Oxford University Commission, that well-endowed professors should
+deliver some lectures on their own special subjects? Such a practice,
+they maintained, would utterly distract the mind from all original
+investigation of the sources. Such certainly was not the case with the
+Bollandists, who yet could make time carefully--far more carefully than
+most modern historians--to investigate the sources of European history.
+But then the Bollandists were real students, and had neither lawn tennis
+nor politics to divert them from their chosen career.
+
+Bollandus again is a healthy study for us moderns in the triumph
+exhibited by him of mind over matter, of the ardent student over
+physical difficulties. His rooms were no pleasant College chambers,
+lofty, commodious, and well-ventilated; on the contrary the apartments
+where the volumes commemorating the saints of January saw the light were
+two small dark chambers next the roof, exposed alike to the heat of
+summer and the cold of winter, in the Jesuit House at Antwerp. In them
+were heaped up, for such is the expression of his biographer, the
+documents accumulated by his Society during forty years. How vast their
+number must have been is manifest from this one fact that Bollandus
+possessed upwards of four hundred distinct Lives of Saints, and more
+than two hundred histories of cities, bishoprics, and monasteries in the
+Italian language alone, whence our readers may judge of the size of the
+entire collection which dealt with the saints and martyrs of China,
+Japan, and Peru, as well as those of Greece and Home.
+
+Bollandus was summoned to his life's work in 1629. He at once entered
+upon a vigorous pursuit of fresh manuscripts in every quarter of the
+globe, wherein he was mightily assisted by the organization of the
+Jesuit Society, and by the liberal assistance bestowed upon his
+undertaking by successive abbots of the great Benedictine Monastery of
+Liessies, near Cambray, specially by Antonius Winghius, the friend and
+patron, first of Rosweid, and then of Bollandus. Indeed, it was the
+existence and rich endowments of those great monasteries which explains
+the publication of such immense works as those of Bollandus, Mabillon,
+and Tillemont, quite surpassing any now issued even by the wealthiest
+publishers among ourselves, and only approached, and that at a distance,
+by Pertz's "Monumenta" in Germany.
+
+New material was now poured upon him from every quarter, from English
+Benedictines even and Irish Franciscans; though indeed, as regards the
+latter, Bollandus seems to have cherished a wholesome suspicion as to
+the genuineness of many, if not most, of the Irish legends. But
+Bollandus, though he worked hard, and knew no other enjoyment save his
+work, was only human. He soon found the labour was too great for any one
+man to perform, while, in addition, he was racked and torn with disease
+in many shapes; gout, stone, rupture, all settled like harpies upon his
+emaciated frame, so that in 1635 he was compelled to take Henschenius as
+his assistant. This was in every respect a fortunate choice, as
+Henschenius proved himself a man of much wider views as to the scope of
+the work than Bollandus himself. Bollandus had proposed simply to
+incorporate the notices of the Saints found in ancient martyrologies and
+manuscripts, adding brief notes upon any difficulties of history,
+geography, or theology, which might arise. To Henschenius was allotted
+the month of February. He at once set to work, and produced under the
+date of Feb. 6, exhaustive memoirs of SS. Amandus and Vedastus, Gallic
+bishops of the sixth and eleventh centuries whose lives present a
+striking picture of those troubled times, amid which the foundations of
+French history were laid. Henschenius scorned the narrow limits within
+which his master would fain limit himself. He boldly launched out into a
+discussion of all the aspects of his subject, discussing not merely the
+men themselves, but also the history of their times, and doing that in a
+manner now impossible, as the then well stored, but now widely scattered
+muniment rooms of the abbeys of Flanders and Northern France lay at his
+disposal. Bollandus was so struck with the success of this innovation
+that he at once abandoned his own restricted ideas, and adopted the more
+exhaustive method of his assistant, which of course involved the
+extension of the work far beyond the sixteen volumes originally
+contemplated. The first two volumes appeared in 1643, and the next
+three, including the "Saints of February," in 1658. About this time the
+reigning Pontiff, Alexander VII., who had been the life-long friend and
+patron of Bollandus, pressed upon him, an oft-repeated invitation to
+visit Rome, and utilize for his work the vast stores accumulated there
+and in the other libraries of Italy. Bollandus had hitherto excused
+himself. In fact, he possessed already more material than he could
+conveniently use. But now that larger apartments had been assigned to
+him, and proper arrangements and classifications adopted in his
+library--due especially to the skill of Henschenius--he felt that such a
+journey would be most advantageous to his work. As, however, he could
+not go in person, owing to his infirmities, which were daily increasing,
+he deputed thereto Henschenius and Daniel Papebrock, a young assistant
+lately added to the Company, and destined to spend fifty-five years in
+its service. The history of that literary journey is well worth reading.
+The reader, curious on such points, will find it in the "Life of
+Bollandus," prefixed to the first volume of the "March Saints," chap.
+xiii.--xx. Still more interesting, were it printed, would be the diary
+of his journey kept by Papebrock, now preserved in the Burgundy Library
+at Brussels, and numbered 17,672. Twenty-nine months were spent in this
+journey, from the middle of 1659 to the end of 1661. Bollandus
+accompanied his disciples as far as Cologne, where they were received
+with almost royal honours. After parting with their master, his
+followers proceeded up the Rhine and through Southern Germany, making a
+very thorough examination of the libraries, to all of which free access
+was given; the very Protestant town of Nuremberg being most forward to
+honour the literary travellers, while the President of the Lutheran
+Consistory assisted them even with his purse. Entering Italy by way of
+Trent, they arrived at Venice towards the end of October, where they
+found the first rich store of Greek manuscripts, and whence also they
+despatched by sea to Bollandus the first fruits of their toil. From
+Venice they made a thorough examination of the libraries of North-east
+Italy, at Vicenza, Verona, Padua, Bologna; whence they turned aside to
+visit Ravenna, walking thither one winter's day, November 18--a journey
+of thirty miles--and Henschenius, be it observed, was now sixty years of
+age.[8] They spent the greater part of the year 1661 at Rome, at
+Naples--where the blood and relics of St. Januarius were specially
+exhibited to them, an honour only conferred on kings and their
+ambassadors--and amid the rich libraries of the numerous abbeys of
+Southern Italy. But even when absent from Rome their work there went on
+apace. They enjoyed the friendship of some wealthy merchants from their
+own land, who liberally supplied them with money, enabling them to
+employ five or six scribes to copy the manuscripts they selected; while
+the patronage of two eminent scholars, even yet celebrated in the world
+of letters, Lucas Holstenius and Ferdinand Ughelli, backed by the still
+more powerful aid of the Pope, placed every library at their command.
+The Pope, indeed, went so far as to remove, in their case, every
+anathema forbidding the removal of books or manuscripts from the
+libraries. Lucas Holstenius, in his boyhood a Lutheran, in his later age
+an agent in the conversion of Queen Christina of Sweden, and one of the
+greatest among the giants of the black-letter learning of the age, rated
+the Bollandists and their work so highly that, at his decease, which
+took place while they were in Rome, he used their ministry alone in
+receiving the last sacraments of the Roman Church. Encouraged and
+supported thus, the Bollandists economized and utilized every moment.
+They were in the habit of rising before day to say their sacred offices;
+and then prosecuted, with their secretaries, their loved work till ten
+or eleven o'clock at night. When leaving Rome they were enabled
+therefore to send to Bollandus, by sea, a second consignment of three
+chests of manuscripts, in addition to a large store which they carried
+home themselves.
+
+On their return journey they visited Florence and Milan, spending more
+than half a year in these libraries, and then proceeded through France
+to Paris, where they met scholars like Du Cange, Combefis, and Labbe.
+They finally arrived at home December 21, 1661, to find Bollandus in a
+very precarious state of health, which terminated in his death in 1665.
+The life of Bolland is a type of the lives led by all his disciples and
+successors. Devout, retired, studious, they gave themselves up,
+generation after generation, to their appointed task, the elders
+continually assuming to themselves one or two younger assistants, so as
+to preserve their traditions unimpaired. And what a work was theirs! How
+it dwarfed all modern publications! Bollandus worked at eight of those
+folios, Henschenius at twenty-four, Papebrock at nineteen, Janningus his
+successor at thirteen; and so the work went on, aided by a subsidy from
+the Imperial House of Austria, till the suppression of the Jesuits,
+which was followed soon after by the dissolution of the Bollandists in
+1788. Their library became then an object of desire to many foreigners,
+who would undoubtedly have purchased it, had it not been for the
+opposition of the local government, and of several Belgian abbeys. It
+was finally bought by Godfrey Hermans, a Praemonstratensian abbat, under
+whose auspices the publication of the work continued for seven years
+longer, till, on the outburst of the wars of the French Revolution, the
+library was dispersed, part burnt, part hidden, part hurried into
+Westphalia. At length, after various chances, a great part of the
+manuscripts was obtained for the ancient library of the House of
+Burgundy, now forming part of the Royal Library at Brussels, while
+others of them were reclaimed for the library of the New Bollandists at
+Louvain, where the work is now carried on. After the dissolution of the
+old Company, two attempts at least, one in 1801 and the other in
+1810--this last under the all-powerful patronage of Napoleon--were made,
+though without success, to revive the work. Better fortune attended a
+proposal made in 1838 by four members of the Jesuit Society--viz., J. B.
+Boone, J. Vandermocre, P. Coppens, and J. van Hecke. Since that time the
+publication of the volumes has steadily proceeded; we may even hope that
+the progress of the work in the future will be still more rapid, as the
+Company has lately added to its ranks P. C. de Smedt, one of the most
+learned and laborious ecclesiastical historians in the Roman
+Communion.[9]
+
+After this sketch of the history of the Bollandists, which the literary
+student can easily supplement from the various memoirs of deceased
+members scattered through the volumes of the "Acta Sanctorum," we
+proceed to a consideration of the results of labours so long, so varied,
+and so strenuous. We shall now describe the plan of the work, the helps
+all too little known towards the effective use thereof, and then offer
+some specimens illustrating its critical value. When an ordinary reader
+takes up a volume of the "Acta Sanctorum,"' he is very apt to find
+himself utterly at sea. The very pagination is puzzling, two distinct
+kinds being used in all of the volumes, and even three in some. Then
+again lists, indexes, dissertations, acts of Saints, seem mingled
+indiscriminately. This apparent confusion, however, is all on the
+surface, as the reader will at once see, if he take the trouble to read
+the second chapter of the general preface prefixed to the first volume
+of the "January Saints,"' where the plan of the work is elaborately set
+forth. Let us briefly analyze a volume. The daily order of the Roman
+martyrology was taken as the basis of Bolland's scheme. Our author first
+of all arranged the saints of each day in chronological order,
+discussing them accordingly. A list of the names belonging to it is
+prefixed to the portion of the volume devoted to each separate day, so
+that one can see at a glance the lives belonging to that day and the
+order in which they are taken. A list then follows of those rejected or
+postponed to other days. Next come prefaces, prolegomena, and "previous
+dissertations," examining the lives, actions, and miracles of the
+Saints, authorship and history of the manuscripts, and other literary
+and historical questions. Then appear the lives of the Saints in the
+original language, if Latin; if not, then a Latin version is given;
+while of the Greek _menologion_, which the Bollandists discovered during
+their Roman journey, we have both the Greek original and a Latin
+translation. Appended to the lives are annotations, explaining any
+difficulties therein; while no less than five or six indexes adorn each
+volume: the first an alphabetical list of Saints discussed; the second
+chronological; the third historical; the fourth topographical; the fifth
+an onomasticon, or glossary; the sixth moral or dialectic, suggesting
+topics for preachers.
+
+Prefixed to each volume will be found a dedication to some of the
+numerous patrons of the Bollandists, followed by an account of the life
+and labours of any of their Company who had died since their last
+publication. Thus, opening the first volume for March, we find, in
+order, a dedication to the reigning Pope, Clement IX; the life of
+Bollandus; an alphabetical index of all the Saints celebrated during the
+first eight days of March; a chronological list of Saints discussed
+under the head of March 1; the lives of Saints, including the Greek ones
+discovered by Henschenius during his Italian tour, ranged under their
+various natal days, followed by five indexes as already described. But,
+the reader may well ask, is there no general index, no handy means of
+steering one's way through this vast mass of erudition, without
+consulting each one of those fifty or sixty volumes? Without such an
+apparatus, indeed, this giant undertaking would be largely in vain; but
+here again the forethought of Bollandus from the very outset of his
+enterprise made provision for a general index, which was at last
+published at Paris, in 1875. We possess also in Potthast's "Bibliotheca
+Historica Medii Aevi," a most valuable guide through the mazes of the
+"Acta Sanctorum," while for a very complete analysis of every volume,
+joined with a lucid explanation of any changes in arrangement, we may
+consult De Backer's "Bibliotheque des Ecrivains de la Compagnie de
+Jesus," t. v., under the name "Bollandus."
+
+But some may say, what is the use of consulting these volumes? Are they
+not simply gigantic monuments of misplaced and misapplied human
+industry, gathering up every wretched nursery tale and village
+superstition, and transmitting them to future ages? Such certainly has
+been the verdict of some who knew only the backs of the books, or who at
+farthest had opened by chance upon some passage where--true to their
+rule which compelled them to print their manuscripts as they found
+them--the Bollandists have recorded the legendary stories of the Middle
+Ages. Yet even for an age which searches diligently, as after hid
+treasure, for the old folk-lore, the nursery rhymes, the popular songs
+and legends of Scandinavia, Germany, and Greece, the legends of mediaeval
+Christendom might surely prove interesting. But I regard the "Acta
+Sanctorum" as specially valuable for mediaeval history, secular as well
+as ecclesiastical, simply because the authors--having had unrivalled
+opportunities of obtaining or copying documents--printed their
+authorities as they found them; and thus preserves for us a mine of
+historical material which otherwise would have perished in the French
+Revolution and its subsequent wars. Yet it is very strange how little
+this mine has been worked. We must suppose indeed that it was simply due
+to the want of the helps enumerated above--all of which have come into
+existence within the last twenty-five years--that neither of our own
+great historians who have dealt with the Middle Ages, Gibbon or Hallam,
+have, as far as we have been able to discover, ever consulted them.
+
+Yet the very titles of even a few out of the very many critical
+dissertations appended to the "Lives of the Saints," will show how very
+varied and how very valuable were the purely historical labours of the
+Bollandists. Thus opening the first volume of the "Thesaurus
+Antiquitatis," a collection of the critical treatises scattered through
+the volumes published prior to 1750, the following titles strike the
+eye:--"Dissertations on the Byzantine historian Theophanes," on the
+"Ancient Catalogues of the Roman Pontiffs," on the "Diplomatic Art"--a
+discussion which elicited the famous treatise of Mabillon, "De Re
+Diplomatica," laying down the true principles for distinguishing false
+documents from true--on certain mediaeval "Itineraries in Palestine," on
+the "Patriarchates of Alexandria and Jerusalem," on the "Bishops of
+Milan to the year 1261," on the "Mediaeval Kings of Majorca" and no less
+than three treatises on the "Chronology of the early Merovingian and
+other French Kings." Let us take for instance these last mentioned
+essays on the early French kings. In them we find the Bollandists
+discovering a king of France, Dagobert II., whose romantic history,
+banishment to Ireland, restoration to his kingdom by the instrumentality
+of Archbishop Wilfrid, of York, and tragic death, had till their
+investigations lain hidden from every historian. As soon, indeed, as
+they had brought this obscure episode to light, and had elaborately
+traced the genealogy of the Merovingians, their claim to the discovery
+was disputed by Hadr. Valesius, the historiographer to the French Court,
+who was of course jealous that any one else should know more about the
+origins of the French monarchy than he did. His pretension, however, was
+easily refuted by Henschenius, who showed that he had himself discovered
+this derelict king twelve years before Valesius turned his thoughts to
+the subject, having published in 1654 a dissertation upon him distinct
+from those embodied in the "Acta Sanctorum." Hallam, in his "History of
+the Middle Ages," introduces this king, and notices that his history had
+escaped all historians till discovered by some learned men in the
+seventeenth century, for it is in this vague way he alludes to the
+Bollandists--and then refers for his authority to Sismondi, who in turn
+knows nothing of the Bollandists' share in the discovery, but attributes
+it to Mabillon when treating of the "Acts of the Benedictine Saints."
+Let us again take up Hallam, and we shall in vain search for notices of
+the kings of Majorca, a branch of the Royal family of Arragon, who
+reigned over the Balearic Islands in the thirteenth and fourteenth
+centuries. Let any one, however, desirous of a picture of the domestic
+life of sovereigns during the Middle Ages, take up Papebrock's treatise
+on the "Palatine Laws" of James II., King of Majorca, A.D. 1324, where
+he will see depicted--all the more minutely because from the size of his
+principality the king had no other outlet for his energy--the ritual of
+a mediaeval Court, illustrated, too, with pictures drawn from the
+original manuscript. In this document are laid down with painful
+minuteness, the duties of every official from the chancellor and the
+major-domo to the lowest scullions and grooms, including butlers, cooks,
+blacksmiths, musicians, scribes, physicians, surgeons, chaplains,
+choir-men, and chamberlains. Remote, too, as these kings of Majorca and
+their elaborate ceremonial may seem to be from the England of to-day, a
+careful study of these "Palace Laws" would seem to indicate either that
+our own Court Ritual was derived from it, or else that both are deduced
+from one common stock. The point of contact, however, between our own
+Court etiquette and that of Majorca is not so very hard to find. The
+kings of Arragon, acting on the usual principle, might is right,
+devoured the inheritance of their kinsmen, which lay so tantalizingly
+close to their own shores, during the lifetime of the worthy legislator,
+James II. But as Greece led captive her conqueror, Rome, so too Arragon,
+though superior in brute force, bowed to the genius of Majorca, at least
+on points of courtly details, and adopted _en bloc_ the laws of James
+II., which were published as his own by Peter IV., King of Arragon, A.D.
+1344. Thence they passed over to the United Kingdom of Castile and
+Arragon, and so may have easily found their way to England; for surely,
+if a naturally ceremonious people like the Spaniards needed instruction
+on such matters from the Majorcans, how much more must colder northerns
+like ourselves. This incident illustrates the special opportunities
+possessed by the Bollandists for consulting ancient documents, which
+otherwise would most probably have been lost for ever. Their manuscript
+of those Majorcan laws seems to have been originally the property of the
+legislator himself. When King James was dispossessed of his kingdom, he
+fled to Philip VI. of France, seeking redress, and bearing with him a
+splendid copy of his laws as a present, which his son and successor John
+in turn presented to Philip, Duke of Burgundy. After lying there a
+century it found its way to Flanders, in the train of a Duchess of
+Burgundy, and thus finally came into the possession of the Antwerp
+Jesuits.
+
+Again, the study of the Bollandists throws light upon the past history
+and present state of Palestine. Thus the indefatigable Papebrock,
+equally at home in the most various kinds of learning, discusses the
+history of the Bishops and Patriarchs of Jerusalem, in a tract
+preliminary to the third volume for May. But, not content with a subject
+so wide, he branches off to treat of divers other questions relating to
+Oriental history, such as the Essenes and the origin of Monasticism, the
+Saracenic persecution of the Eastern Christians, and the introduction of
+the Arabic notation into Europe. On this last head the Bollandists
+anticipate some modern speculations.[10] He maintains, on the authority
+of a Greek manuscript in the Vatican, written by an Eastern monk,
+Maximus Planudes, about 1270, that, while the Arabs derived their
+notation from the Brahmins of India, about A.D. 200, they only
+introduced it into Eastern Europe so late as the thirteenth century.
+Upon the geography of Palestine again they give us information. All
+modern works of travel or survey dealing with the Holy Land, make
+frequent reference to the records left us by men like Eusebius and
+Jerome, and the itineraries of the "Bordeaux Pilgrim," of Bishop
+Arculf, A.D., 700, Benjamin of Tudela, A.D. 1163, and others. In the
+second volume for May, we have presented to us two itineraries, one of
+which seems to have escaped general notice. One is the record of
+Antoninus Martyr, a traveller in the seventh century. This is well known
+and often quoted. The other is the diary of a Greek priest, Joannes
+Phocas, describing "the castles and cities from Antioch to Jerusalem,
+together with the holy places of Syria, Ph[oe]nicia, and Palestine," as
+they were seen by him in the year 1185. This manuscript, first published
+in the "Acta Sanctorum," was discovered in the island of Chios, by Leo
+Allatius, afterwards librarian of the Vatican. It is very rich in
+interesting details concerning the state of Palestine and Christian
+tradition in the twelfth century. The Bollandists again were the first
+to bring prominently forward in the last volume of June the "Ancient
+Roman Calendar of Polemeus Silvius." This seems to have been a combined
+calendar and diary, kept by some citizen of Rome in the middle of the
+fifth century. It records from day to day the state of the weather, the
+direction of the wind, the birthdays of eminent characters in history,
+poets like Virgil, orators like Cicero, emperors like Vespasian and
+Julian; and is at the same time most important as showing the large
+intermixture of heathen ideas and fashions which still continued
+paramount in Rome a century and a half after the triumph of
+Christianity.
+
+The new Bollandists, indeed, do not produce such exhaustive monographs
+as their predecessors did; but we cannot join in the verdict of the
+writer in the new issue of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," who tells us
+that the continuation is much inferior to the original work. Some of
+their articles manifest a critical acquaintance with the latest modern
+research, as, for instance, their dissertation on the Homerite Martyrs
+and the Jewish Homerite kingdom of Southern Arabia, wherein they display
+their knowledge of the work done by the great Orientalists of England
+and Germany, while in their history of St. Rose, of Lima, A.D. 1617,
+they celebrate the only American who was ever canonized by the Roman
+Catholic Church, and, at the same time, give us a fearful picture of the
+austerities to which fanaticism can lead its victims. Perhaps to some
+readers one of the most interesting points about this great work, when
+viewed in the light of modern history, will be the complete change of
+front which it exhibits on one of the test questions about Papal
+Infallibility. One of the great difficulties in the path of this
+doctrine is the case of Liberius, Pope in the middle of the fourth
+century. He is accused--and to ordinary minds the accusation seems
+just--of having signed an Arian formula, of having communicated with the
+Arians, and of having anathematized St. Athanasius. He stood firm for a
+while, but was exiled by the Emperor. During his absence Felix II. was
+chosen Pope. Liberius, after a time was permitted to return; whereupon
+the spectacle, so often afterwards repeated, was witnessed of two Popes
+competing for the Papal throne. Felix, however he may have fared in
+life, has fairly surpassed his opponent in death, since Felix appears in
+the Roman Martyrology as a Saint and a Martyr under the date of July
+29; while Liberius is not admitted therein even as a Confessor. This
+would surely seem to give us every guarantee for the sanctity of Felix,
+and the fallibility of Liberius, as the Roman Martyrology of to-day is
+guaranteed by a decree of Pope Gregory XIII., issued "under the ring of
+the Fisherman." In this decree "all patriarchs, archbishops, bishops,
+abbots, and religious orders," are bidden to use this Martyrology
+without addition, change, or subtraction; while any one so altering it
+is warned that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of the
+Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul. The earlier Bollandists, with this
+awful anathema hanging over them, most loyally accepted the Roman
+Martyrology, and therefore most vigorously maintained, in the seventh
+volume for July, the heresy of Liberius, as well as the orthodoxy and
+saintship of Felix. But, as years rolled on, this admission was seen to
+be of most dangerous consequence; and so we find, in the sixth volume,
+for September, that Felix has become, as he still remains in current
+Roman historians, like Alzog, a heretic, a schismatic, and an anti-Pope,
+while Liberius is restored to his position as the only valid and
+orthodox Bishop of Rome. But then the disagreeable question arises, if
+this be so, what becomes of the Papal decree of Gregory XIII. issued
+_sub annulo piscatoris_, and the anathemas appended thereto? With the
+merits of this controversy, however, we are, as historical students, in
+a very slight degree concerned; and we simply produce these facts as
+specimens of the riches contained in the externally unattractive volumes
+of the "Acta Sanctorum." Space would fail us, did we attempt to set
+forth at any length the contents of these volumes. Suffice it to say
+that even upon our English annals, which have been so thoroughly
+explored of late years, the records of the Bollandists would probably
+throw some light, discussing as they do, at great length, the lives of
+such English Saints as Edward the Confessor and Wilfrid of York; and yet
+they are not too favourably disposed towards our insular Saints, since
+they plainly express their opinion that our pious simplicity has filled
+their Acts with incredible legends and miracles, more suited to excite
+laughter than to promote edification.
+
+But, doubtless, our reader is weary of our hagiographers. We must,
+therefore, notice briefly the controversies in which their labours
+involved them. Bollandus, when he died, departed amid universal regret:
+Dominicans, Franciscans, Carmelites, all joined with Jesuits in regret
+for his death, and in prayers for his eternal peace. A few years
+afterwards the Society experienced the very fleeting character of such
+universal popularity. During the issue of the first twelve volumes, they
+had steered clear of all dangerous controversies by a rigid observance
+of the precepts laid down by Bollandus. In discussing, however, the life
+of Albert, at first Bishop of Vercelli, and afterwards Papal Legate and
+Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, in the beginning of the thirteenth
+century, Papebrock challenged the alleged antiquity of the Carmelite
+Order, which affected to trace itself back to Elijah the Tishbite. This
+piece of scepticism, brought down a storm upon his devoted head, which
+raged for years and involved Popes, yea even Princes and Courts, in the
+quarrel. Du Cange threw the shield of his vast learning over the honest
+criticism of the Jesuits. The Spanish Inquisition stepped forward in
+defence of the Carmelites; and toward the end of the seventeenth century
+condemned the first fourteen volumes of the "Acta Sanctorum" as
+dangerous to the faith. The Carmelites were very active in writing
+pamphlets in their own defence, wherein after the manner of the time
+they deal more in hard words and bad names than in sound argument. Thus
+the title of one of their pamphlets describes Papebrock as "the new
+Ishmael whose hand is against every man and every man's hand is against
+him." It is evident, however, that they felt the literary battle going
+against them, inasmuch as in 1696 they petitioned the King of Spain to
+impose perpetual silence upon their adversaries. As his most Catholic
+Majesty did not see fit to interfere, they presented a similar memorial
+to Pope Innocent XIII., who in 1699 imposed the _cloture_ upon all
+parties, and thus effectually terminated a battle which had raged for
+twenty years. Papebrock again involved himself at a later period in a
+controversy touching a very tender and very important point in the Roman
+system. In discussing the lives of some Chinese martyrs, he advocated
+the translation of the Liturgy into the vulgar tongue of the converts;
+which elicited a reply from Gueranger in his "Institutions
+Theologiques;" while again between the years 1729 and 1736 a pitched
+battle took place between the Bollandists and the Dominicans touching
+the genealogy of their founder, St. Dominic. All these controversies,
+with many other minor ones in which they were engaged, will be found
+summed up in an apologetic folio which the Bollandists published. In
+looking through it the reader will specially be struck by this
+instructive fact, that the bitterness and violence of the controversy
+were always in the inverse ratio of the importance of the points at
+issue. This much also must any fair mind allow: the Society of Jesus,
+since the days of Pascal and the "Provincial Letters," has been regarded
+as a synonym for dishonesty and fraud. From any such charge the student
+of the "Acta Sanctorum" must regard the Bollandists as free. In them we
+behold oftentimes a credulity which would not have found place among men
+who knew by experience more of the world of life and action, but, on
+the other hand, we find in them thorough loyalty to historical truth.
+They deal in no suppression of evidence; they give every side of the
+question. They write like men who feel, as Bollandus their founder did,
+that under no circumstances is it right to tell a lie. They never
+hesitate to avow their own convictions and predilections. They draw
+their own conclusions, and put their own gloss upon facts and documents;
+but yet they give the documents as they found them, and they enable the
+impartial student--working not in trammels as they did--to make a
+sounder and truer use of them. They display not the spirit of the mere
+confessor whose tone has been lowered by the stifling atmosphere of the
+casuistry with which he has been perpetually dealing; but, the braced
+soul, the hardy courage of the historical critic, who having climbed the
+lofty peaks of bygone centuries, has watched and noted the inevitable
+discovery and defeat of lies, the grandeur and beauty of truth. They
+were Jesuits indeed, and, like all the members of that Society, were
+bound, so far as possible, to sink all human affections and consecrate
+every thought to the work of their order. If such a sacrifice be lawful
+for any man, if it be permitted any thus to suppress the deepest and
+holiest affections which God has created, surely such a sacrifice could
+not have been made in the pursuance of a worthier or nobler object than
+the rescue from destruction, and the preservation to all ages, of the
+facts and documents contained in the "Acta Sanctorum."
+
+   GEORGE T. STOKES.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[8] Henschenius was a man of great physical powers. He always delighted
+in walking exercise, and executed many of his literary journeys in Italy
+on foot, even amid the summer heats. Ten years later, when close on
+seventy, he walked on an emergency ten leagues in one day through the
+mountains and forests of the Ardennes district, and was quite fresh next
+day for another journey. He was a man of very full complexion. According
+to the medical system of the time, he indulged in blood-letting once or
+twice a year.
+
+[9] Since this paper was written the Bollandists have issued a
+prospectus of an annual publication called "Analecta Bollandiana." From
+this document we learn that disease and death have now reduced the
+company very low. De Smedt has had to retire almost as soon as elected.
+
+[10] Cf., for instance, Colebrooke's "Life and Essays," i. 309. iii.
+360, 399, 474; W[oe]pke, "Memoir on the Propagation of Indian Cyphers in
+Jour. Asiatique," 1863.
+
+
+
+
+ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND MADAGASCAR.
+
+
+The present difficulties between France and Madagascar, and the recent
+arrival of a Malagasy Embassy in this country, have made the name of the
+great African island a familiar one to all readers of our daily journals
+during the last few weeks. For some time past we have heard much of
+certain "French claims" upon Madagascar, and alleged "French rights"
+there; and since the envoys of the Malagasy sovereign are now in England
+seeking the friendly offices of our Government on behalf of their
+country, it will be well for Englishmen to endeavour to understand the
+merits of the dispute, and to know why they are called to take part in
+the controversy.
+
+Except to a section of the English public which has for many years taken
+a deep interest in the religious history of the island and given
+liberally both men and money to enlighten it, and to a few others who
+are concerned in its growing trade, Madagascar is still very vaguely
+known to the majority of English people; and, as was lately remarked by
+a daily journal, its name has until recently been almost as much a mere
+geographical expression as that of Mesopotamia. The island has, however,
+certain very interesting features in its scientific aspects, and
+especially in some religious and social problems which have been worked
+out by its people during the past fifty years; and these may be briefly
+described before proceeding to discuss the principal subject of this
+article.
+
+Looking sideways at a map of the Southern Indian Ocean, Madagascar
+appears to rise like a huge sea monster out of the waters. The island
+has a remarkably compact and regular outline; for many hundred miles its
+eastern shore is almost a straight line, but on its north-western side
+it is indented by a number of deep land-locked gulfs, which include some
+of the finest harbours in the world. About a third of its interior to
+the north and east is occupied by an elevated mountainous region, raised
+from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea, and consisting of Primary
+rocks--granite, gneiss, and basalt--probably very ancient land, and
+forming during the Secondary geological epoch an island much smaller
+than the Madagascar of to-day. While our Oolitic and Chalk rocks were
+being slowly laid down under northern seas, the extensive coast plains
+of the island, especially on its western and southern sides, were again
+and again under water, and are still raised but a few hundred feet above
+the sea-level. From south-east to north and north-west there extends a
+band of extinct volcanoes, connected probably with the old craters of
+the Comoro Group, where, in Great Comoro, the subterranean forces are
+still active. All round the island runs a girdle of dense forest,
+varying from ten to forty miles in width, and containing fine timber and
+valuable gums and other vegetable wealth--a paradise for botanists,
+where rare orchids, the graceful traveller's-tree, the delicate
+lattice-leaf plant, the gorgeous flamboyant, and many other elsewhere
+unknown forms of life abound, and where doubtless much still awaits
+fuller research.
+
+While the flora of Madagascar is remarkably abundant, its fauna is
+strangely limited, and contains none of the various and plentiful forms
+of mammalian life which make Southern and Central Africa the paradise of
+sportsmen. The ancient land of the island has preserved antique forms of
+life: many species of lemur make the forest resound with their cries;
+and these, with the curious and highly-specialized Aye-aye, and peculiar
+species of Viverridae and Insectivora, are probably "survivals", of an
+old-world existence, when Madagascar was one of an archipelago of large
+islands, whose remains are only small islands like the Seychelles and
+Mascarene Groups, or coral banks and atolls like the Chagos, Amirante,
+and others, which are slowly disappearing beneath the ocean. Until two
+or three hundred years ago, the coast-plains of Madagascar were trodden
+by the great struthious bird, the AEpyornis, apparently the most gigantic
+member of the avi-fauna of the world, and whose enormous eggs probably
+gave rise to the stories of the Rukh of the "Arabian Nights." It will be
+evident, therefore, that Madagascar is full of interest as regards its
+scientific aspects.
+
+When we look at the human inhabitants of the island there is also a
+considerable field for research, and some puzzling problems are
+presented. While Madagascar may be correctly termed "the great _African_
+island" as regards its geographical position, considered ethnologically,
+it is rather a Malayo-Polynesian island. Though so near Africa, it has
+but slight connection with the continent; the customs, traditions,
+language, and mental and physical characteristics of its people all tend
+to show that their ancestors came across the Indian Ocean from the
+south-east of Asia. There are traces of some aboriginal peoples in
+parts of the interior, but the dark and the brown Polynesians are
+probably both represented in the different Malagasy tribes; and although
+scattered somewhat thinly over an island a thousand miles long and four
+times as large as England and Wales, there is substantially but one
+language spoken throughout the whole of Madagascar. Of these people, the
+Hova, who occupy the central portion of the interior high-land, are the
+lightest in colour and the most civilized, and are probably the latest
+and purest Malay immigrants. Along the western coast are a number of
+tribes commonly grouped under the term Sakalava, but each having its own
+dialect, chief, and customs. They are nomadic in habits, keeping large
+herds of cattle, and are less given to agriculture than the central and
+eastern peoples. In the interior are found, besides the Hova, the
+Sihanaka, the Betsileo, and the Bara; in the eastern forests are the
+Tanala, and on the eastern coast are the Betsimisaraka, Tamoro, Taisaka,
+and other allied peoples.
+
+From a remote period the various Malagasy tribes seem to have retained
+their own independence of each other, no one tribe having any great
+superiority; but about two hundred years ago a warlike south-western
+tribe called Sakalava conquered all the others on the west coast, and
+formed two powerful kingdoms, which exacted tribute also from some of
+the interior peoples. Towards the commencement of the present century,
+however, the Hova became predominant; having conquered the interior and
+eastern tribes, they were also enabled by friendship with England to
+subdue the Sakalava, and by the year 1824 King Radama I. had established
+his authority over the whole of Madagascar except a portion of the
+south-west coast.
+
+A little earlier than the date last named--viz., in 1820--a Protestant
+mission was commenced in the interior of the island at the capital city,
+Antananarivo. This was with the full approval of the king, who was a
+kind of Malagasy Peter the Great, and ardently desired that his people
+should be enlightened. A small body of earnest men sent out by the
+London Missionary Society did a great work during the fifteen years they
+were allowed to labour in the central provinces. They reduced the
+beautiful and musical Malagasy language to a written form; they gave the
+people the beginnings of a native literature, and a complete version of
+the Holy Scriptures, and founded several Christian churches. Many of the
+useful arts were also taught by the missionary artisans; and to all
+appearance Christianity and civilization seemed likely soon to prevail
+throughout the country.
+
+But the accession of Queen Ranavalona I. in 1828, and, still more, her
+proclamation of 1835 denouncing Christian teaching, dispelled these
+pleasing anticipations. A severe persecution of Christianity ensued,
+which, however, utterly failed to prevent its progress, and only served
+to show in a remarkable manner the faith and courage of the native
+Christians, of whom at least two hundred were put to death. The
+political state of the country was also very deplorable during the
+queen's reign; almost all foreigners were excluded, and for some years
+even foreign commerce was forbidden.
+
+On the queen's death, in 1861, the island was reopened to trade and to
+Christian teaching, both of which have greatly progressed since that
+time, especially during the reign of the present sovereign, who made a
+public profession of Christianity at her accession in 1868. By the
+advice and with the co-operation of her able Prime Minister numerous
+wise and enlightened measures have been passed for the better government
+of the country; idolatry has entirely passed away from the central
+provinces; education and civilization have been making rapid advances;
+and all who hope for human progress have rejoiced to see how the
+Malagasy have been gradually rising to the position of a civilized and
+Christian people.
+
+The present year has, however, brought a dark cloud over the bright
+prospects which have been opening up for Madagascar. Foreign aggression
+on the independence of the country is threatened on the part of France,
+and a variety of so-called "claims" have been put forward to justify
+interference with the Malagasy, and alleged "rights" are urged to large
+portions of their territory.
+
+It is not perfectly clear why the present time has been chosen for this
+recent ebullition of French feeling, since, if any French rights ever
+existed to any portion of Madagascar, they might have been as justly (or
+unjustly) urged for the last forty years as now. Some three or four
+minor matters have no doubt been made the ostensible pretext,[11] but
+the real reason is doubtless the same as that which has led to French
+attempts to obtain territory in Tongking, in the Congo Valley, in the
+Gulf of Aden, and in Eastern Polynesia, viz., a desire to retrieve
+abroad their loss of influence in Europe; and especially to heal the
+French _amour propre_, sorely wounded by their having allowed England to
+settle alone the Egyptian difficulty.
+
+It is much to be wished that some definite and authoritative statement
+could be obtained from French statesmen or writers as to the exact
+claims now put forward and their justification, with some slight
+concession to the request of outsiders for reason and argument. As it
+is, almost every French newspaper seems to have a theory of its own, and
+we read a good deal about "our ancient rights," and "our acknowledged
+claims," together with similar vague and rather grandiose language. As
+far as can be ascertained, four different theories seem to be held:--(1)
+Some French writers speak of their "ancient rights," as if the various
+utter failures of their nation to retain any military post in
+Madagascar in the 17th and 18th centuries were to be urged as giving
+rights of possession.
+
+(2) Others talk about "the treaties of 1841" with two rebellious
+Sakalava tribes as an ample justification of their present action.
+
+(3) Others, again, refer to the repudiated and abandoned "Lambert
+treaty" of 1862 as, somehow or other, still giving the French a hold
+upon Madagascar. And (4) during the last few days we have been gravely
+informed that "France will insist upon carrying out the treaty of 1868,"
+which gives no right in Madagascar to France beyond that given to every
+nation with whom a treaty has been made, and which says not one word
+about any French protectorate.[12]
+
+It will be necessary to examine these four points a little in detail.
+
+1. Of what value are "ancient French rights" in Madagascar? These do not
+rest upon _discovery_ of the country, or prior occupation of it, since
+almost every writer, French, English, or German, agrees that the
+Portuguese, in 1506, were the first Europeans to land on the island.
+They retained some kind of connection with Madagascar for many years;
+and so did the Dutch, for a shorter period, in the early part of the
+seventeenth century; and the English also had a small colony on the
+south-west side of the island before any French attempts were made at
+colonization. Three European nations therefore preceded the French in
+Madagascar.
+
+During the seventeenth century, from 1643 to 1672, repeated efforts were
+made by the French to maintain a hold on three or four points of the
+east coast of the island. But these were not colonies, and were so
+utterly mismanaged that eventually the French were driven out by the
+exasperated inhabitants; and after less than thirty years' intermittent
+occupation of these positions, the country was abandoned by them
+altogether for more than seventy years.[13] In the latter part of the
+eighteenth century fresh attempts were made (after 1745), but with
+little better result; one post after another was relinquished; so that
+towards the beginning of the present century the only use made of
+Madagascar by the French was for the slave-trade, and the maintenance of
+two or three trading stations for supplying oxen to the Mascarene
+Islands.[14] In 1810 the capture of Mauritius and Bourbon by the British
+gave a decisive blow to French predominance in the Southern Indian
+Ocean; their two or three posts on the east coast were occupied by
+English troops, and were by us given over to Radama I., who had
+succeeded in making himself supreme over the greater portion of the
+island. The French eventually seized the little island of Ste. Marie's,
+off the eastern coast, but retained not a foot of soil upon the
+mainland; and so ended, it might have been supposed, their "ancient
+rights" in Madagascar.[15]
+
+It is, however, quite unnecessary to dwell further on this point, as the
+recognition by the French, in their treaty with Radama II., of that
+prince as _King of Madagascar_ was a sufficient renunciation of their
+ancient pretensions. This is indeed admitted by French writers. M.
+Galos, writing in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_(Oct. 1863, p. 700), says,
+speaking of the treaty of Sept. 2, 1861:--
+
+     "By that act, in which Radama II. appears as King of Madagascar, we
+     have recognized without restriction his sovereignty over all the
+     island. In consequence of that recognition two consuls have been
+     accredited to him, the one at Tananarivo, the other at Tamatave,
+     who only exercise their functions by virtue of an _exequatur_ from
+     the real sovereign."
+
+Again he remarks:--?
+
+     "We see that France would not gain much by resuming her position
+     anterior to 1861; also, we may add, without regret, that it is no
+     longer possible. We have recognized in the King of Madagascar the
+     necessary quality to enable him to treat with us on all the
+     interests of the island. It does not follow, because he or his
+     successors fail to observe the engagements that they have
+     contracted, that therefore the quality aforesaid is lost, _or that
+     we should have the right to refuse it to them for the future_."[16]
+
+And the treaty of 1868 again, in which the present sovereign is
+recognized as "Reine de Madagascar," fully confirms the view of the
+French writer just cited.[17]
+
+2. Let us now look for a moment at the Lambert treaty, or rather
+charter, of 1862. On his accession to the throne in 1861, the young
+king, Radama II., soon fell into follies and vices which were not a
+little encouraged by some Frenchmen who had ingratiated themselves with
+him. A Monsieur Lambert, a planter from Reunion, managed to obtain the
+king's consent to a charter conceding to a company to be formed by
+Lambert very extensive rights over the whole of Madagascar. The king's
+signature was obtained while he was in a state of intoxication, at a
+banquet given at the house of the French Consul, and against the
+remonstrances of all the leading people of the kingdom. But the
+concession was one of the principal causes of the revolution of the
+following year, in which the king lost both crown and life; and it was
+promptly repudiated by the new Sovereign and her Government, as a
+virtual abandonment of the country to France. Threats of bombardment,
+&c., were freely used, but at length it was arranged that, on the
+payment of an indemnity of a million francs by the native Government to
+the company, its rights should be abandoned. It is said that this
+pacific result was largely due to the good sense and kindly feeling of
+the Emperor Napoleon, who, on being informed of the progress in
+civilization and Christianity made by the Malagasy, refused to allow
+this to be imperilled by aggressive war. There would seem, then, to be
+no ground for present French action on the strength of the repudiated
+Lambert treaty.
+
+3. As already observed, several French public prints have been loudly
+proclaiming that France is resolved "to uphold the treaty of 1868 in its
+entirety."[18] It may with the same emphasis be announced that the
+Malagasy Government is equally resolved to uphold it, so far at least as
+they are concerned, especially its first article, which declares that
+"in all time to come the subjects of each power shall be friends, and
+shall preserve amity, and shall never fight." But it should be also
+carefully noted that this 1868 treaty recognizes unreservedly the Queen
+as Sovereign _of Madagascar_, makes no admission of, or allusion to, any
+of these alleged French rights, much less any protectorate; and is
+simply a treaty of friendship and commerce between two nations,
+standing, as far as power to make treaties is concerned, on an equal
+footing. If French statesmen, therefore, are sincere in saying that they
+only require the maintenance of the treaty of 1868 in its integrity, the
+difficulties between the two nations will soon be at an end.
+
+But it is doubtful whether the foregoing is really a French "claim," as
+far more stress has been laid, and will still doubtless be laid, upon
+certain alleged treaties of 1841. What the value of these is we must now
+consider.
+
+4. The facts connected with the 1841 treaties are briefly these:--In the
+year 1839 two of the numerous Sakalava tribes of the north-west of the
+island, who had since the conquest in 1824 been in subjection to the
+central government, broke into rebellion. It happened that a French war
+vessel was then cruising in those waters, and as the French had for some
+time previously lost all the positions they had ever occupied on the
+east coast, it appeared a fine opportunity for recovering prestige in
+the west. By presents and promises of protection they induced, it is
+alleged, the chieftainess of the Iboina people, and the chief of the
+Tankarana, further north, to cede to them their territories on the
+mainland, as well as the island of Nosibe, off the north-west coast.
+These treaties are given by De Clercq, "Recueil de Traites," vol. iv.
+pp. 594, 597; but whether these half-barbarous Sakalava, ignorant of
+reading and writing, knew what they were doing, is very doubtful. Nosibe
+was, however, taken possession of by the French in 1841, and has ever
+since then remained in their hands; but, curiously enough, until the
+present year, no claim has ever been put forward to any portion of the
+mainland, or any attempt made to take possession of it. But these
+treaties have been lately advanced as justifying very large demands on
+the part of the French, including (_a_) a protectorate over the portions
+ceded; (_b_) a protectorate over all the northern part of the island,
+from Mojanga across to Aritongil Bay; (_c_) a protectorate over all the
+western side of the island; finally (_d_), "general rights" (whatever
+these may mean) over all Madagascar! Most English papers have rightly
+considered these treaties as affording no justification for such large
+pretensions, although one or two[19] have argued that the London press
+has unfairly depreciated the strength of French claims. Is this really
+so?
+
+The Malagasy Government and its envoys to Europe have strenuously denied
+the right of a rebellious tribe to alienate any portion of the country
+to a foreign power; a right which would never be recognized by any
+civilized nation, and which they will resist to the last. The following
+are amongst some of the reasons they urge as vitiating and nullifying
+any French claim upon the mainland founded upon the 1841 treaties:--
+
+i. The territory claimed had been fairly conquered in war in 1824 by the
+Hova, and their sovereign rights had for many years never been disputed.
+
+ii. The present queen and her predecessors had been acknowledged by the
+French in their treaties of 1868 and 1862 as sovereigns of Madagascar,
+without any reserve whatever. (See also _Revue des deux Mondes_, already
+cited.)
+
+iii. Military posts have been established there, and customs duties
+collected by Hova officials ever since the country was conquered by
+them, and these have been paid without any demur or reservation by
+French as well as by all other foreign vessels. Some years ago
+complaints were made by certain French traders of overcharges; these
+were investigated, and money was refunded.
+
+iv. All the Sakalava chiefs in that part of the island have at various
+times rendered fealty to the sovereign at Antananarivo.
+
+v. These same Sakalava, both princes and people, have paid a yearly
+poll-tax to the Central Government.
+
+vi. The French flag has never been hoisted on the mainland of
+Madagascar, nor, for forty years, has any claim to this territory been
+made by France, nothing whatever being said about any rights or
+protectorate on their part in the treaties concluded during that period.
+
+vii. The Hova governors have occasionally (after the fashion set now and
+then by governors of more civilized peoples) oppressed the conquered
+races. But the Sakalava have always looked to the Queen at Antananarivo
+for redress (and have obtained it), and never has any reference been
+made to France, nor has any jurisdiction been claimed by France or by
+the colonial French authorities in the matter.
+
+viii. British war-vessels have for many years past had the right
+(conceded by our treaty of 1865) to cruise in these north-western bays,
+creeks, and rivers, for the prevention of the slave trade. The British
+Consul has landed on this territory, and in conducting inquiries has
+dealt directly with the Hova authorities without the slightest reference
+to France, or any claim from the latter that he should do so.
+
+ix. The French representatives in Madagascar have repeatedly blamed the
+Central Government for not asserting its authority more fully over the
+north-west coast; and several years ago, in the reign of Ranavalona I.,
+a French subject, with the help of a few natives, landed on this coast
+with the intention of working some of the mineral productions, and built
+a fortified post. Refusing to desist, he was attacked by the Queen's
+troops, and eventually killed. No complaint was ever made by the French
+authorities on account of this occurrence, as it was admitted to be the
+just punishment for an unlawful act. Yet it was done on what the French
+now claim as their territory.
+
+x. And, lastly, France has quite recently (in May of this year) extorted
+a heavy money fine from the Malagasy Government for a so-called
+"outrage" committed by the Sakalava upon some Arabs from Mayotta,
+sailing under French colours. These latter were illegally attempting to
+land arms and ammunition, and were killed in the fight which ensued. The
+demand was grossly unjust, but the fact of its having been made would
+seem to all impartial persons to vitiate utterly all French claims to
+this territory, as an unmistakable acknowledgment of the Hova supremacy
+there.
+
+Such are, as far as can be ascertained, the most important reasons
+recently put forth for French claims upon Madagascar, and the Malagasy
+replies thereto; and it would really be a service to the native
+Government and its envoys if some French writer of authority and
+knowledge would endeavour to refute the arguments just advanced.
+
+Another point of considerable importance is the demand of the French
+that leases of ninety-nine years shall be allowed. This has been
+resisted by the Malagasy Government as most undesirable in the present
+condition of the country. It is, however, prepared to grant leases of
+thirty-five years, renewable on complying with certain forms. It
+argues, with considerable reason on its side, that unless all powers of
+obtaining land by foreigners are strictly regulated, the more ignorant
+coast people will still do as they are known to have done, and will make
+over, while intoxicated, large tracts of land to foreign adventurers for
+the most trifling consideration, such as a bottle of rum, or a similar
+payment.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The question now arises, what have Englishmen to do in this matter, and
+what justifies our taking part in the dispute?
+
+Let us first frankly make two or three admissions. We have no right to
+hinder, nor do we seek to prevent, the legitimate development of the
+colonial power of France. So far as France can replace savagery by true
+civilization, we shall rejoice in her advances in any part of the world.
+And further, we have no right to, nor do we pretend to the exercise of,
+the duty of police of the world. But at the same time, while we ought
+not and cannot undertake such extensive responsibilities, we have, in
+this part of the Indian Ocean, constituted ourselves for many years a
+kind of international police for the suppression of the slave-trade, in
+the interests of humanity and freedom; and this fact has been expressly
+or tacitly recognized by other European Powers. The sacrifices we have
+made to abolish slavery in our own colonies, and our commercial
+supremacy and naval power, have justified and enabled us to take this
+position. And, as we shall presently show, the supremacy of the French
+in Madagascar would certainly involve a virtual revival of the
+slave-trade.
+
+It may also be objected by some that, as regards aggression upon foreign
+nations, we do not ourselves come into court with clean hands. We must
+with shame admit the accusation. But, on the other hand, we do not carry
+on religious persecution in the countries we govern; and, further, we
+have restored the Transvaal, we have retired from Afghanistan, and,
+notwithstanding the advocates of an "Imperialist" policy in Egypt, we
+are not going to retain the Nile Delta as a British province. And, as
+was well remarked in the _Daily News_ lately, "such an argument proves a
+great deal too much. It would be fatal to the progress of public opinion
+as a moral agent altogether, and might fix the mistaken policy of a
+particular epoch as the standard of national ethics for all time."
+
+What claim, then, has England to intervene in this dispute, and to offer
+mediation between France and Madagascar?
+
+(_a_) England has greatly aided Madagascar to attain its present
+position as a nation. Largely owing to the help she gave to the
+enlightened Hova king, Radama I., from 1817 to 1828, he was enabled to
+establish his supremacy over most of the other tribes of the island,
+and, in place of a number of petty turbulent chieftaincies, to form one
+strong central government, desirous of progress, and able to put down
+intestine wars, as well as the export slave-trade of the country. For
+several years a British agent, Mr. Hastie, lived at the Court of Radama,
+exercising a powerful influence for good over the king, and doing very
+much for the advancement of the people. In later times, through English
+influence, and by the provisions of our treaty with Madagascar, the
+import slave-trade has been stopped, and a large section of the slave
+population--those of African birth, brought into the island by the Arab
+slaving dhows--has been set free (in June,1877).
+
+(_b_) England has done very much during the last sixty years to develop
+civilization and enlightenment in Madagascar. The missionary workmen,
+sent out by the London Missionary Society from 1820 to 1835, introduced
+many of the useful arts--viz., improved methods of carpentry,
+iron-working, and weaving, the processes of tanning, and several
+manufactures of chemicals, soap, lime-burning, &c.; and they also
+constructed canals and reservoirs for rice-culture.
+
+From 1862 to 1882 the same Society's builders have introduced the use of
+brick and stone construction, have taught the processes of brick and
+tile manufacture and the preparation of slates, and have erected
+numerous stone and brick churches, schools, and houses; and these arts
+have been so readily learned by the people that the capital and other
+towns have been almost entirely rebuilt within the last fifteen years
+with dwellings of European fashion. England has also been the principal
+agent in the intellectual advance of the Malagasy; for, as already
+mentioned, English missionaries were the first to reduce the native
+language to a grammatical system, and to give the people their own
+tongue in a written form. They also prepared a considerable number of
+books, and founded an extensive school system.[20] If we look at what
+England has done for Madagascar, a far more plausible case might be made
+out--were we so disposed--for "English claims" on the island, than any
+that France can produce.
+
+(_c_) England has considerable political interests in preserving
+Madagascar free from French control. These should not be overlooked, as
+the influence of the French in those seas is already sufficiently
+strong. Not only are they established in the small islands of Ste. Marie
+and Nosibe, off Madagascar itself, but they have taken possession of two
+of the Comoro group, Mayotta and Mohilla. Reunion is French; and
+although Mauritius and the Seychelles are under English government, they
+are largely French in speech and sympathy. And it must be remembered
+that the first instalment of territory which is now coveted includes
+five or six large gulfs, besides numerous inlets and river mouths, and
+especially the Bay of Diego Suarez, one of the finest natural harbours,
+and admirably adapted for a great naval station. The possession of
+these, and eventually of the whole of the island, would seriously affect
+the balance of power in the south-west Indian Ocean, making French
+influence preponderant in these seas, and in certain very possible
+political contingencies would be a formidable menace to our South
+African colonies.
+
+
+(_d_) We have also commercial interests in Madagascar which cannot be
+disregarded, because, although the island does not yet contribute
+largely to the commerce of the world, it is a country of great natural
+resources, and its united export and import trade, chiefly in English
+and American hands, is already worth about a million annually. Our own
+share of this is fourfold that of the French, and British subjects in
+Madagascar outnumber those of France in the proportion of five to one;
+and our valuable colony of Mauritius derives a great part of its
+food-supply from the great island.
+
+But apart from the foregoing considerations, it is from no narrow
+jealousy that we maintain that French preponderance in Madagascar would
+work disastrously for freedom and humanity in that part of the world. We
+are not wholly free from blame ourselves with regard to the treatment of
+the coolie population of Mauritius; but it must be remembered that,
+although that island is English in government, its inhabitants are
+chiefly French in origin, and they retain a great deal of that utter
+want of recognition of the rights of coloured people which seems
+inherent in the French abroad. So that successive governors have been
+constantly thwarted by magistrates and police in their efforts to obtain
+justice for the coolie immigrants. A Commission of Inquiry in 1872,
+however, forced a number of reforms, and since then there has been
+little ground for complaint. But in the neighbouring island of Reunion
+the treatment of the Hindu coolies has been so bad that at length the
+Indian Government has refused to allow emigration thither any longer.
+For some years past French trading vessels have been carrying off from
+the north-west Madagascar coast hundreds of people for the Reunion
+plantations. Very lately a convention was made with the Portuguese
+authorities at Mozambique to supply coloured labourers for Reunion, and,
+doubtless, also with a view to sugar estates yet to be made in
+Madagascar--a traffic which is the slave-trade in all but the name. The
+French flag is sullied by being allowed to be used by slaving dhows--an
+iniquity owing to which our brave Captain Brownrigg met his death not
+long ago. Is it any exaggeration to say that an increase of French
+influence in these seas is one of sad omen for freedom?
+
+And, further, a French protectorate over a part of the island would
+certainly work disastrously for the progress of Madagascar itself. It
+has been already shown that during the present century the country has
+been passing out of the condition of a collection of petty independent
+States into that of one strong Kingdom, whose authority is gradually
+becoming more and more firmly established over the whole island. And all
+hope of progress is bound up in the strengthening and consolidation of
+the central Hova Government, with capable governors representing its
+authority over the other provinces. But for many years past the French
+have depreciated and ridiculed the Hova power; and except M. Guillain,
+who, in his "Documents sur la Partie Occidentale de Madagascar," has
+written with due appreciation of the civilizing policy of Radama I.,
+there is hardly any French writer but has spoken evil of the central
+government, simply because every step taken towards the unification of
+the country makes their own projects less feasible. French policy is,
+therefore, to stir up the outlying tribes, where the Hova authority is
+still weak, to discontent and rebellion, and so cause internecine war,
+in which France will come in and offer "protection" to all rebels. Truly
+a noble "mission" for a great and enlightened European nation!
+
+After acknowledging again and again the sovereign at Antananarivo as
+"Queen of Madagascar," the French papers have lately begun to style Her
+Majesty "Queen of the Hovas," as if there were not a dozen other tribes
+over whom even the French have never disputed her authority; while they
+write as if the Sakalava formed an independent State, with whom they had
+a perfect right to conclude treaties. More than this: after making
+treaties with at least two sovereigns of Madagascar, accrediting consuls
+to them and receiving consuls appointed by them, a portion of the French
+press has just discovered that the Malagasy are "a barbarous people,"
+with whom it would be derogatory to France to meet on equal terms.[21]
+Let us see what this barbarous Malagasy Government has been doing during
+the last few years:--
+
+i. It has put an end to idolatry in the central and other provinces, and
+with it a number of cruel and foolish superstitions, together with the
+use of the _Tangena_ poison-ordeal,[22] infanticide, polygamy, and the
+unrestricted power of divorce.
+
+ii. It has codified, revised, and printed its laws, abolishing capital
+punishment (formerly carried out in many cruel forms), except for the
+crimes of treason and murder.
+
+iii. It has set free a large portion of the slave population, indeed
+all African slaves brought from beyond the seas, and has passed laws by
+which no Malagasy can any longer be reduced to slavery for debt or for
+political offences.
+
+iv. It has largely limited the old oppressive feudal system of the
+country, and has formed a kind of responsible Ministry, with departments
+of foreign affairs, war, justice, revenue, trade, schools, &c.
+
+v. It has passed laws for compulsory education throughout the central
+provinces, by which the children in that part of the island are now
+being educated.
+
+vi. It has begun to remodel its army, putting it on a basis of short
+service, to which all classes are liable, so as to consolidate its power
+over the outlying districts, and bring all the island under the action
+of the just and humane laws already described.
+
+vii. It has made the planting of the poppy illegal, subjecting the
+offender to a very heavy fine.
+
+viii. It has passed several laws forbidding the manufacture and
+importation of ardent spirits into Imerina, and is anxious for powers in
+the treaties now to be revised to levy a much heavier duty at the ports.
+
+We need not ask if these are the acts of a barbarous nation, or whether
+it would be for the interests of humanity and civilization and progress
+if the disorderly elements which still remain in the country should be
+encouraged by foreign interference to break away from the control they
+have so long acknowledged. It is very doubtful whether any European
+nation has made similar progress in such a short period as has this Hova
+Government of Madagascar.
+
+It may also be remarked that although it has also been the object of the
+French to pose as the friends of the Sakalava, whom they represent as
+down-trodden, it is a simple matter of fact that for many years past
+these people have been in peaceable subjection to the Hova authority.
+The system of government allows the local chiefs to retain a good deal
+of their former influence so long as the suzerainty of the Queen at
+Antananarivo is acknowledged. And a recent traveller through this
+north-west district, the Rev. W. C. Pickersgill, testifies that on
+inquiring of every tribe as to whom they paid allegiance, the invariable
+reply was, "To Ranavalo-manjaka, Queen of Madagascar." It is indeed
+extremely probable that, in counting upon the support of these
+north-westerly tribes against the central government, the French are
+reckoning without their host, and will find enemies where they expect
+allies.[23] In fact, the incident which was one of the chief pretexts
+for the revival of these long-dormant claims--the hoisting of the
+Queen's flag at two places--really shows how well disposed the people
+are to the Hova Government, and how they look to the Queen for justice.
+
+It will perhaps be asked, Have we any diplomatic standing-ground for
+friendly intervention on behalf of the Malagasy? I think there are at
+least two considerations which--altogether apart from our commercial and
+political interests in the freedom of the country, and what we have done
+for it in various ways--give us a right to speak in this question. One
+is, that there has for many years past been an understanding between the
+Governments of France and England that neither would take action with
+regard to Madagascar without previous consultation with each other.[24]
+We are then surely entitled to speak if the independence of the island
+is threatened. Another reason is, that we are to a great extent pledged
+to give the Hova Government some support by the words spoken by our
+Special Envoy to the Queen Ranavalona last year. Vice-Admiral Gore-Jones
+then repeated the assurance of the understanding above-mentioned, and
+encouraged the Hova Government to consolidate their authority on the
+west coast, and, in fact, his language stimulated them to take that
+action there which the French have made a pretext for their present
+interference.[25]
+
+In taking such a line of action England seeks no selfish ends. We do not
+covet a foot of Madagascar territory; we ask no exclusive privileges;
+but I do maintain that what we have done for Madagascar, and the part we
+have taken in her development and advancement, gives us a claim and
+imposes on us an obligation to stand forward on her behalf against those
+who would break her unity and consequently her progress. The French will
+have no easy task to conquer the country if they persist in their
+demands; the Malagasy will not yield except to overwhelming force, and
+it will prove a war bringing heavy cost and little honour to France.
+
+May I not appeal to all right-minded and generous Frenchmen that their
+influence should also be in the direction of preserving the freedom of
+this nation?--one of the few dark peoples who have shown an unusual
+receptivity for civilization and Christianity, who have already advanced
+themselves so much, and who will still, if left undisturbed, become one
+united and enlightened nation.
+
+It will be to the lasting disgrace of France if she stirs up aggressive
+war, and so throws back indefinitely all the remarkable progress made by
+the Malagasy during the past few years; and it will be hardly less to
+our own discredit if we, an insular nation, jealous of the inviolability
+of our own island, show no practical sympathy with another insular
+people, and do not use every means that can be employed to preserve to
+Madagascar its independence and its liberties.
+
+   JAMES SIBREE, Jun.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[11] The single act which led to the revival of these long-forgotten
+claims upon the north-west coast, was the hoisting of the Queen's flag
+by two native Sakalava chieftains in their villages. These were hauled
+down, and carried away in a French gun-boat, and the flag-staves cut up.
+
+[12] This last claim must be preferred either in perfect ignorance of
+what the 1868 treaty really is, or as an attempt to throw dust in the
+eyes of the newspaper-reading public.
+
+[13] It is true that during these seventy years various edicts claiming
+the country we issued by Louis XIV.; but as the French during all that
+time did not attempt to occupy a single foot of territory in Madagascar,
+these grandiloquent proclamations can hardly be considered as of much
+value. As has been remarked, French pretensions were greatest when their
+actual authority was least.
+
+[14] See "Precis sur les Etablissements Francais formes a Madagascar."
+Paris, 1836, p.4.
+
+[15] For fuller details as to the character of French settlements in
+Madagascar, their gross mismanagement and bad treatment of the people,
+see Statement of the Madagascar Committee; and _Souvenirs de
+Madagascar_, par M. le Dr. H. Lacaze: Paris, 1881, p. xviii.
+
+[16] The italics are my own.
+
+[17] See also letter of Bishop Ryan, late of Mauritius, _Daily News_,
+Dec. 16.
+
+[18] See _Daily News_, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1; _La Liberte_, Nov. 29, and
+_Le Parlement_ of same date. Both these French journals speak of an "Act
+by which the Tananarivo Government cancelled the Treaty of 1868" (_Le
+Parlement_), and of its being "annulled by Queen Ranavalona of her own
+authority" (_La Liberte_). It is only necessary to say that no such
+"Act" ever had any existence, save in the fertile brains of French
+journalists, and it is now brought forward apparently with a view to
+excite animosity towards the Malagasy in the minds of their readers.
+
+[19] _E.g., The Manchester Guardian_, Dec. 1st., 5th., and 6th.
+
+[20] Almost all Malagasy words for military tactics and rank are of
+English origin, so are many of the words used for building operations,
+and the influence of England is also shown by the fact that almost all
+the words connected with education and literature are from us, such as
+school, class, lesson, pen, copybook, pencil, slate, book, gazette,
+press, print, proof, capital, period, &c., grammar, geography, addition,
+&c.
+
+[21] See _Le Parlement_, Dec. 15, and other French papers.
+
+[22] Among the many unfair statements of the Parisian press is an
+article in _Le Rappel_, of Oct. 29, copied by many other papers, in
+which this Tangena ordeal is described as if it was now a practice of
+the Malagasy, the intention being, of course, to lead its readers to
+look upon them as still barbarous; the fact being that its use has been
+obsolete ever since 1865 (Art. XVIII. of English Treaty), and its
+practice is a capital offence, as a form of treason. The Malagasy Envoys
+are represented as saying that their Supreme Court often condemned
+criminals to death by its use!
+
+[23] See Tract No. II. of the Madagascar Committee.
+
+[24] See Lord Granville's speech in reply to the address of the
+Madagascar Committee, Nov. 28.
+
+[25] The Admiral, so it is reported on good authority, congratulated the
+Queen and her Government on having solved the question of Madagascar by
+showing that the Hova could govern it. He also said that France and
+England were in perfect accord on this point, and on the wisdom of
+recognizing Queen Ranavalona as sovereign of the whole island. See
+_Daily News_, Dec. 14. This will no doubt be confirmed by the
+publication of the official report which has been asked for by Mr. G.
+Palmer, M.P.
+
+
+
+
+THE RELIGIOUS FUTURE OF THE WORLD.
+
+PART THE FIRST.
+
+
+I.
+
+I suppose there are few students of man and of society to whom the
+present religious condition and apparent religious prospect of the world
+can seem very satisfactory. If there is any lesson clear from history it
+is this; that, in every age religion has been the main stay both of
+private life and of the public order,--"the substance of humanity," as
+Quinet well expresses it, "whence issue, as by so many necessary
+consequences, political institutions, the arts, poetry, philosophy, and,
+up to a certain point, even the sequence of events."[26] The existing
+civilization of Europe and America--I use the word civilization in its
+highest and widest sense, and mean by it especially the laws,
+traditions, beliefs, and habits of thought and action, whereby
+individual family and social life is governed--is mainly the work of
+Christianity. The races which inhabit the vast Asiatic Continent are
+what they are chiefly from the influence of Buddhism and Mohammedanism,
+of the Brahminical, Confucian, and Taosean systems. In the fetichism of
+the rude tribes of Africa, still in the state of the childhood of
+humanity, we have what has been called the _parler enfantin_ of
+religion:--it is that rude and unformed speech, as of spiritual babes
+and sucklings, which principally makes them to differ from the
+anthropoid apes of their tropical forests: "un peuple est compte pour
+quelque chose le jour ou il s'eleve a la pensee de Dieu."[27] But the
+spirit of the age is unquestionably hostile to all these creeds from the
+highest to the lowest. In Europe there is a movement--of its breadth and
+strength I shall say more presently--the irreconcilable hostility of
+which to "all religion and all religiosity," to use the words of the
+late M. Louis Blanc, is written on its front. Thought is the most
+contagious thing in the world, and in these days pain unchanged, but
+with no firm ground of faith, no "hope both sure and stedfast, and which
+entereth into that within the vail," no worthy object of desire whereby
+man may erect himself above himself, whence he may derive an
+indefectible rule of conduct, a constraining incentive to
+self-sacrifice, an adequate motive for patient endurance,--such is the
+vision of the coming time, as it presents itself to many of the most
+thoughtful and competent observers.
+
+
+II.
+
+In these circumstances it is natural that so thoughtful and competent an
+observer as the author of "Ecce Homo" should take up his parable. And
+assuredly few who have read that beautiful book, so full of lofty
+musing, and so rich in pregnant suggestion, however superficial and
+inconsequent, will have opened the volume which he has recently given to
+the world without high expectation. It will be remembered that in his
+preface to his former work, he tells us that he was dissatisfied with
+the current conceptions of Christ, and unable to rest content without a
+definite opinion regarding Him, and so was led to trace His biography
+from point to point, with a view of accepting those conclusions about
+Him which the facts themselves, weighed critically, appeared to warrant.
+And now, after the lapse of well-nigh two decades, the author of "Ecce
+Homo" comes forward to consider the religious outlook of the world.
+Surely a task for which he is in many respects peculiarly well-fitted.
+Wide knowledge of the modern mind, broad sympathies, keen and delicate
+perceptions, freedom from party and personal ends, and a power of
+graceful and winning statement must, upon all hands, be conceded to him.
+What such a man thinks on such a subject, is certain to be interesting;
+and, whether we agree with it or not, is as certain to be suggestive. I
+propose, therefore, first of all to consider what may be learnt about
+the topic with which I am concerned, from this new book on "Natural
+Religion," and I shall then proceed to deal with it in my own way.
+
+The author of "Natural Religion" starts with the broad assumption that
+"supernaturalism" is discredited by modern "science." I may perhaps, in
+passing, venture to express my regret that in an inquiry demanding, from
+its nature and importance, the utmost precision of which human speech is
+capable, the author has in so few cases clearly and rigidly limited the
+sense of the terms which he employs. "Supernaturalism," for example, is
+a word which may bear many different meanings; which, as a matter of
+fact, does bear, I think, for me a very different meaning from that
+which it bears for the author of "Natural Religion." So, again,
+"science" in this book, is tacitly assumed to denote physical science
+only: and what an assumption, as though there were no other sciences
+than the physical! This in passing. I shall have to touch again upon
+these points hereafter. For the present let us regard the scope and aim
+of this discourse of Natural Religion, as the author states it. He finds
+that the supernatural portion of Christianity, as of all religions, is
+widely considered to be discredited by physical science. "Two opposite
+theories of the Universe" (p. 26) are before men. The one propounded by
+Christianity "is summed up," as he deems, "in the three propositions,
+that a Personal Will is the cause of the Universe, that that Will is
+perfectly benevolent, that that Will has sometimes interfered by
+miracles with the order of the Universe" (p. 13). The other he states as
+follows:--"Science opposes to God Nature. When it denies God it denies
+the existence of any power beyond or superior to Nature; and it may deny
+at the same time anything like a _cause_ of Nature. It believes in
+certain laws of co-existence and sequence in phenomena, and in denying
+God it means to deny that anything further can be known" (p. 17). "For
+what is God--so the argument runs--but a hypothesis, which religious men
+have mistaken for a demonstrated reality? And is it not precisely
+against such premature hypotheses that science most strenuously
+protests? That a Personal Will is the cause of the Universe--this might
+stand very well as a hypothesis to work with, until facts should either
+confirm it, or force it to give way to another, either different or at
+least modified. That this Personal Will is benevolent, and is shown to
+be so by the facts of the Universe, which evince a providential care for
+man and other animals--this is just one of those plausibilities which
+passed muster before scientific method was understood, but modern
+science rejects it as unproved. Modern science holds that there may be
+design in the Universe, but that to penetrate the design is, and
+probably always will be, beyond the power of the human understanding.
+That this Personal Will has on particular occasions revealed itself by
+breaking through the customary order of the Universe, and performing
+what are called miracles--this, it is said, is one of those legends oL
+which histories were full, until a stricter view of evidence was
+introduced, and the modern critical spirit sifted thoroughly the annals
+of the world" (p. 11). These, in our author's words, are the two
+opposite theories of the Universe before the world: two "mortally
+hostile" (p. 13) theories; the one "the greatest of all affirmations;"
+"the other the most fatal of all negations," (p. 26) and the latter, as
+he discerns, is everywhere making startling progress. "The extension of
+the _methods_ of physical science to the whole domain of human
+knowledge," he notes as the most important "change of system in the
+intellectual world" (p. 7). "No one," he continues, "needs to be told
+what havoc this physical method is making with received systems, and it
+produces a sceptical disposition of mind towards primary principles
+which have been of steam locomotion and electric telegraphs, of cheap
+literature and ubiquitous journalism, ideas travel with the speed of
+light, and the influences which are warring against the theologies of
+Europe are certainly acting as powerful solvents upon the religious
+systems of the rest of the world. But apart from the loud and fierce
+negation of the creed of Christendom which is so striking a feature of
+the present day, there is among those who nominally adhere to it a vast
+amount of unaggressive doubt. Between the party which avowedly aims at
+the destruction of "all religion and all religiosity," at the delivery
+of man from what it calls the "nightmare" or "the intellectual whoredom"
+of spiritualism, and those who cling with undimmed faith to the religion
+of their fathers, there is an exceeding great multitude who are properly
+described as sceptics. It is even more an age of doubt than of denial.
+As Chateaubriand noted, when the century was yet young, "we are no
+longer living in times when it avails to say 'Believe and do not
+examine:' people will examine whether we like it or not." And since
+these words were written, people have been busily examining in every
+department of human thought, and especially in the domain of religion.
+In particular Christianity has been made the subject of the most
+searching scrutiny. How indeed could we expect that it should escape?
+The greatest fact in the annals of the modern world, it naturally
+invites the researches of the historian. The basis of the system of
+ethics still current amongst us, it peremptorily claims the attention of
+the sociologist. The fount of the metaphysical conceptions accepted in
+Europe, until in the last century, before the "uncreating word" of
+Lockian sensism,
+
+   "Philosophy that leaned on Heaven before
+   Sinks to her second cause, and is no more,"
+
+it challenges the investigation of the psychologist. The practical
+result of these inquiries must be allowed to be, to a large extent,
+negative. In many quarters, where thirty or forty years ago we should
+certainly have found acquiescence, honest if dull, in the received
+religious systems of Europe, we now discern incredulity, more or less
+far-reaching, about "revealed religion" altogether, and, at the best,
+"faint possible Theism," in the place of old-fashioned orthodoxy. And
+earnest men, content to bear as best they may their own burden of doubt
+and disappointment, do not dissemble to themselves that the immediate
+outlook is dark and discouraging. Like the French monarch they discern
+the omens of the deluge to come after them; a vast shipwreck of all
+faith, and all virtue, of conscience, of God; brute force, embodied in
+an omnipotent State, the one ark likely to escape submersion in the
+pitiless waters. A world from which the high sanctions of religion,
+hitherto the binding principle of society, are relegated to the domain
+of old wives' fables; a march through life with its brief dream of
+pleasure and long reality of thought to lie deeper than _all_ systems.
+Those current abstractions, which make up all the morality and all the
+philosophy of most people, have been brought under suspicion. Mind and
+matter, duties and rights, morality and expediency, honour and interest,
+virtue and vice--all these words, which seemed once to express
+elementary and certain realities, now strike us as just the words which,
+thrown into the scientific crucible, might dissolve at once. It is thus
+not merely philosophy which is discredited, but just that homely and
+popular wisdom by which common life is guided. This too, it appears,
+instead of being the sterling product of plain experience, is the
+overflow of an immature philosophy, the redundance of the uncontrolled
+speculations of thinkers who were unacquainted with scientific method"
+(p. 8). And then, moreover, there is that great political movement which
+has so largely and directly affected the course of events and the
+organization of society on the Continent of Europe, and which in less
+measure, and with more covert operation, has notably modified our own
+ways of thinking and acting in this country. Now the Revolution in its
+ultimate or Jacobin phase, is the very manifestation, in the public
+order, of the tendency which in the intellectual calls itself
+"scientific." It bitterly and contemptuously rejects the belief in the
+supernatural hitherto accepted in Europe. It wages implacable war upon
+the ancient theology of the world. "It delights in declaring itself
+atheistic"[28] (p. 37). It has "a quarrel with theology as a doctrine.
+'Theology,' it says, even if not exactly opposed to social improvement,
+is a superstition, and as such allied to ignorance and conservatism.
+Granting that its precepts are good, it enforces them by legends and
+fictitious stories which can only influence the uneducated, and
+therefore in order to preserve its influence it must needs oppose
+education. Nor are these stories a mere excrescence of theology, but
+theology itself. For theology is neither more nor less than a doctrine
+of the supernatural. It proclaims a power behind nature which
+occasionally interferes with natural laws. It proclaims another world
+quite different from this in which we live, a world into which what is
+called the soul is believed to pass at death. It believes, in short, in
+a number of things which students of Nature know nothing about, and
+which science puts aside either with respect or with contempt.
+
+These supernatural doctrines are not merely a part of theology, still
+less separable from theology, but theology consists exclusively of them.
+Take away the supernatural Person, miracles, and the spiritual world,
+you take away theology at the same time, and nothing is left but simple
+Nature and simple Science" (p. 39). Such, as the author of "Ecce Homo"
+considers, is "the question between religion and science" now before the
+world. And his object[29] in his new work is not to inquire whether the
+"negative conclusions so often drawn from modern scientific discoveries
+are warranted," still less to refute them, but to estimate "the precise
+amount of destruction caused by them," admitting, for the sake of
+argument, that they are true. His own judgment upon their truth he
+expressly reserves, with the cautious remarks, that "it is not the
+greatest scientific authorities who are so confident in negation, but
+rather the inferior men who echo their opinions:"[30] that "it is not on
+the morrow of great discoveries that we can best judge of their negative
+effect upon ancient beliefs:" and that he is "disposed to agree with
+those who think that in the end the new views of the Universe will not
+gratify an extreme party quite so much as is now supposed."[31]
+
+The argument, then, put forward in "Natural Religion," and put forward,
+as I understand the author, tentatively, and for what it is worth, and
+by no means as expressing his own assured convictions, is this:--that to
+banish the supernatural from the human mind is "not to destroy theology
+or religion or even Christianity, but in some respects to revive and
+purify all three:"[32] that supernaturalism is not of the essence but of
+the accidents of religion; that "the _unmiraculous_ part of the
+Christian tradition has a value which was long hidden from view by the
+blaze of supernaturalism," and "that so much will this unmiraculous part
+gain by being brought, for the first time into full light ... that faith
+may be disposed to think even that she is well rid of miracle, and that
+she would be indifferent to it, even if she could still believe it" (p.
+254). That religion in some form or another is essential to the world,
+the author apparently no more doubts than I do: indeed he expressly
+warns us that "at this moment we are threatened with a general
+dissolution of states from the decay of religion" (p. 211). "If religion
+fails us," these are his concluding words, "it is only when human life
+itself is proved to be worthless. It may be doubtful whether life is
+worth living, but if religion be what it has been described in this
+book, the principle by which alone life is redeemed from secularity and
+animalism, ... can it be doubtful that if we are to live at all we must
+live, and civilization can only live, by religion?" And now let us
+proceed to see what is the hope set before us in this book: and consider
+whether the Natural Religion, which it unfolds, is such a religion as
+the world can live by, as civilization can live by.
+
+
+III.
+
+The author of "Natural Religion," it will be remembered, assumes for the
+purposes of his argument, that the supernatural portion of Christianity
+is discredited, is put aside by physical science; that, as M. Renan has
+somewhere tersely expressed it, "there is no such thing as the
+supernatural, but from the beginning of being everything in the world of
+phenomena was preceded by regular laws." Let us consider what this
+involves. It involves the elimination from our creed, not only of the
+miraculous incidents in the history of the Founder of Christianity,
+including, of course, His Resurrection--the fundamental fact, upon
+which, from St. Paul's time to our own, His religion has been supposed
+to rest--but all the beliefs, aspirations, hopes, attaching to that
+religion as a system of grace. It destroys theology, because it destroys
+that idea of God from which theology starts, and which it professes to
+unfold. This being so, it might appear that religion is necessarily
+extinguished too. Certainly, in the ordinary sense which the word bears
+among us, it is. "Religio," writes St. Thomas Aquinas, "est virtus
+reddens debitum honorem Deo."[33] And so Cardinal Newman, somewhat more
+fully, "By religion I mean the knowledge of God, of His will, and of our
+duties towards Him;" and he goes on to say that "there are three main
+channels which Nature furnishes us for our acquiring this
+knowledge--viz., our own minds, the voice of mankind, and the course of
+the world, that is, of human life and human affairs."[34] But that, of
+course, is very far from being what the author of "Ecce Homo" means by
+religion, and by natural religion, in his new book. Its key-note is
+struck in the words of Wordsworth cited on its title-page:--" We live by
+admiration."[35] Religion he understands to be an "ardent condition of
+the feelings," "habitual and regulated admiration" (p. 129), "worship of
+whatever in the known Universe appears worthy of worship" (p. 161). "To
+have an individuality," he teaches, "is to have an ideal, and to have an
+ideal is to have an object of worship: it is to have a religion" (p.
+136). "Irreligion," on the other hand, is defined as "life without
+worship," and is said to consist in "the absence of habitual
+admiration, and in a state of the feelings, not ardent but cold and
+torpid" (p. 129). It would appear then that religion, in its new sense,
+is enthusiasm of well-nigh any kind, but particularly the enthusiasm of
+morality, which is "the religion of right," the enthusiasm of art, which
+is "the religion of beauty," and the enthusiasm of physical science,
+which is "the religion of law and of truth" (p. 125).[36] "Art and
+science," we read, "are not secular, and it is a fundamental error to
+call them so; they have the nature of religion" (p. 127). "The popular
+Christianity of the day, in short, is for the artist too melancholy and
+sedate, and for the man of science too sentimental and superficial; in
+short, it is too melancholy for the one, and not melancholy enough for
+the other. They become, therefore, dissenters from the existing
+religion; sympathizing too little with the popular worship, they worship
+by themselves and dispense with outward forms. But they protest at the
+same time that, in strictness, they separate from the religious bodies
+around them, only because they know of a purer or a happier religion"
+(p. 126). It is useful to turn, from time to time, from the abstract to
+the concrete, in order to steady and purge our mental vision. Let us
+therefore, in passing, gaze upon Theophile Gautier, the high priest of
+the pride of human form, whose unspeakably impure romance has been
+pronounced by Mr. Swinburne to be "the holy writ of beauty;" and, on the
+other, upon Schopenhauer, the most thorough-going and consistent of
+physicists, who reduces all philosophy to a cosmology, and consider
+whether, the author of "Ecce Homo" himself being judge, the religion of
+the one can be maintained to be purer or that of the other to be
+happier, than the most degraded form of popular Christianity. I proceed
+to his declaration, which naturally follows from what has been said,
+that the essence of religion is not in theological dogma nor in ethical
+practice. The really religious man, as we are henceforth to conceive of
+him, is, apparently, the man of sentiment. "The substance of religion is
+culture," which is "a threefold devotion to Goodness, Beauty, and
+Truth," and "the fruit of it the higher life" (p. 145). And the higher
+life is "the influence which draws men's thoughts away from their
+personal existence, making them intensely aware of other existences, to
+which it binds them by strong ties, sometimes of admiration, sometimes
+of awe, sometimes of duty, sometimes of love" (p. 236). And as in the
+individual religion is identified with culture, so, "in its public
+aspect" "it is identical with civilization" (p. 201), which "expresses
+the same threefold religion, shown on a larger scale, in the character,
+institutions, and ways of life of nations" (p. 202). "The great
+civilized community" is "the modern city of God" (p. 204).
+
+But what God? Clearly not that God spoken of by St. Paul--or the author
+of the Epistle to the Hebrews, whoever he was--"the God of Peace that
+brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that Great Shepherd
+of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant;" for that
+God, the Creator, Witness, and Judge of men--is assuredly _Deus
+absconditus_, a hidden God, belonging to "the supernatural;" and the
+hypothesis upon which the author of "Ecce Homo" proceeds in his new work
+is that men have "ceased to believe in anything beyond Nature" (p. 76).
+The best thing for them to do, therefore, he suggests, if they must have
+a God, is to deify Nature. But "Nature, considered as the residuum that
+is left after the elimination of everything supernatural, comprehends
+man with all his thoughts and aspirations, not less than the forms of
+the material world" (p. 78). God, therefore, in the new Natural
+Religion, is to be conceived of as Physical "Nature, including Humanity"
+(p. 69), or "the unity which all things compose in virtue of the
+universal presence of the same laws" (p. 87), which would seem to be no
+more than a Pantheistic expression, its exact value being all that
+exists, the totality of forces, of beings, and of forms. The author of
+"Natural Religion" does not seem to be sanguine that this new Deity will
+win the hearts of men. He anticipates, indeed, the objection "that when
+you substitute Nature for God you take a thing heartless and pitiless
+instead of love and goodness." To this he replies, "If we abandoned our
+belief in the supernatural, it would not be only inanimate Nature that
+would be left to us; we should not give ourselves over, as is often
+rhetorically described, to the mercy of merciless powers--winds and
+waves, earthquakes, volcanoes, and fire. The God we should believe in
+would not be a passionless, utterly inhuman power." "Nature, in the
+sense in which we are now using the word, includes humanity, and
+therefore, so far from being pitiless, includes all the pity that
+belongs to the whole human race, and all the pity that they have
+accumulated, and, as it were, capitalised in institutions political,
+social and ecclesiastical, through countless generations" (pp. 68-9).
+
+He, then, who would not "shock modern views of the Universe" (p. 157)
+must thus think of the Deity. And so Atheism acquires a new meaning. "It
+is," we read, "a disbelief in the _existence_ of God--that is, a
+disbelief in _any_ regularity in the Universe to which a man must
+conform himself under penalties" (p. 27); a definition which surely is a
+little hard upon the _libres-penseurs_, as taking the bread out of their
+mouths. I remember hearing, not long ago, in Paris, of a young Radical
+diplomatist who, with the good taste which characterizes the school now
+dominant in French politics, took occasion to mention to a well-known
+ecclesiastical statesman that he was an Atheist. "O de l'atheisme a
+votre age," said the Nuncio, with a benign smile: "pourquoi, quand
+l'impiete suffit et ne vous engage a rien?" But with the new
+signification imposed upon the word, a profession of Atheism would
+pledge one in quite another sense: it would be equivalent to a
+profession of insanity; for where, except among the wearers of
+strait-waistcoats or the occupants of padded rooms, shall we find a man
+who does not believe in some regularity in the universe to which he must
+conform himself under penalties? But let us follow the author of
+"Natural Religion" a step further in his inquiry. "In what relation does
+this religion stand to our Christianity, to our churches, and religious
+denominations?" (p. 139). Certainly, we may safely agree with him that
+"it has a difficulty in identifying itself with any of the organized
+systems," and as safely that the "conception of a spiritual city," of an
+"organ of civilization," of an "interpreter of human society," is
+"precisely what is now needed" (p. 223). "The tide of thought,
+scepticism, and discovery, which has set in ... must be warded off the
+institutions which it attacks as recklessly as if its own existence did
+not depend upon them. It introduces everywhere a sceptical condition of
+mind, which it recommends as the only way to real knowledge; and yet if
+such scepticism became practical, if large communities came to regard
+every question in politics and law as absolutely open, their
+institutions would dissolve, and science, among other things, would be
+buried in the ruin. Modern thought brings into vogue a speculative
+Nihilism ... but unintentionally it creates at the same time a practical
+Nihilism.... There is a mine under modern society which, if we consider
+it, has been the necessary result of the abeyance in recent times of the
+idea of the Church" (p. 208). In fact, as our author discerns, the
+existence of civilization is at stake. "It can live only by religion"
+(p. 262). "On religion depends the whole fabric of civilization, all the
+future of mankind" (p. 218). The remedy which he suggests is that the
+Natural Religion which we have been considering, the new "universal
+religion," should "be concentrated in a doctrine," should "embody itself
+in a Church" (p. 207). "This Church," we are told, "exists already, a
+vast communion of all who are inspired by the culture and civilization
+of the age. But it is unconscious, and perhaps, if it could attain to
+consciousness, it might organize itself more deliberately and
+effectively" (p. 212). The precise mode of such organization is not
+indicated, but its main function it appears would be to diffuse an
+"adequate doctrine of civilization," and especially to teach "science,"
+in "itself a main part of religion, as the grand revelation of God in
+these later times," and also the theory "of the gradual development of
+human society, which alone can explain to us the past state of affairs,
+give us the clue to history, save us from political aberrations, and
+point the direction of progress" (p. 209). Of the _clerus_ of the new
+Natural Church we read as follows:--
+
+     "If we really believe that a case can be made out for civilization,
+     this case must be presented by popular teachers, and their most
+     indispensable qualification will be independence. They perhaps will
+     be able to show, that happiness or even universal comfort is not,
+     and never has been, within quite so easy reach, that it cannot be
+     taken by storm, and that as for the institutions left us from the
+     past they are no more diabolical than they are divine, being the
+     fruit of necessary development far more than of free-will or
+     calculation. Such teachers would be the free clergy of modern
+     civilization. It would be their business to investigate and to
+     teach the true relation of man to the universe and to society, the
+     true Ideal he should worship, the true vocation of particular
+     nations, the course which the history of mankind has taken
+     hitherto, in order that upon a full view of what is possible and
+     desirable men may live and organize themselves for the future. In
+     short, the modern Church is to do what Hebrew prophecy did in its
+     fashion for the Jews, and what bishops and Popes did according to
+     their lights for the Roman world when it laboured in the tempest,
+     and for barbaric tribes first submitting themselves to be taught.
+     Another grand object of the modern Church would be to teach and
+     organize the outlying world, which for the first time in history
+     now lies prostrate at the feet of Christian civilization. Here are
+     the ends to be gained. These once recognized, the means are to be
+     determined by their fitness alone" (p. 221).
+
+
+IV.
+
+So much must suffice to indicate the essential features of the religion
+which would be left us after the elimination of the supernatural. And
+now we are to consider whether this religion will suffice for the wants
+of the world; whether it is a religion "which shall appeal to the sense
+of duty as forcibly, preach righteousness and truth, justice and mercy,
+as solemnly and as exclusively as Christianity itself does" (p. 157).
+Surely to state the question is enough. In fact the author of "Natural
+Religion" quite recognizes that "to many, if not most, of those who feel
+the need of religion, all that has been offered in this book will
+perhaps at first seem offered in derision" (p. 260), and frankly owns
+that "whether it deserves to be called a faith at all, whether it
+justifies men in living, and in calling others into life, may be
+doubted" (p. 66). He tells us that "the thought of a God revealed in
+Nature," which he has suggested, does not seem to him "by any means
+satisfactory, or worthy to replace the Christian view, or even as a
+commencement from which we must rise by logical necessity to the
+Christian view" (p. 25) and it must be hard not to agree with him. It is
+difficult to suppose that any one who considers the facts oL life, who
+contemplates not the _individua vaga_ of theories, but the men and women
+of this working-day world can think otherwise. Surely no one who really
+surveys mankind as they are, as they have been in the past, and, so far
+as we are able to judge, will be in the future, can suppose that this
+Natural Religion, even if embodied in a Natural Church, and equipped
+with "a free clergy," will meet their wants, or win their affections, or
+satisfy those "strange yearnings" of which we read in Plato, and which,
+in one form or another, stir every human soul; which we may trace in
+the chatterings of the poor Neapolitan crone to her Crucifix, or in the
+hallelujahs of "Happy Sal" at a Salvationist "Holiness Meeting," as
+surely as in the profoundest speculations of the Angelic Doctor, or in
+the loftiest periods of Bossuet. Can any one, in this age of all others,
+when, as the revelations of the physical world bring home to us so
+overwhelmingly what Pascal calls "the abyss of the boundless immensity
+of which I know nothing, and you know nothing," man sinks to an
+insignificance which, the apt word of the author of "Natural Religion"
+"petrifies" him, can--can any one believe that the compound of
+Pantheistic Positivism and Christian sentiment--if we may so account of
+it--set forth in these brilliant pages, will avail to redeem men from
+animalism and secularity? But, indeed, we need not here rest in the
+domain of mere speculation. The experiment has been tried. Not quite a
+century ago, when Chaumette's "Goddess of Reason," and Robespierre's
+"Supreme Being," had disappeared from the altars of France, La
+Reveillere-Lepeaux essayed to introduce a Natural Religion under the
+name of Theophilanthropy[37] to satisfy the spiritual needs of the
+country over which he ruled as a member of the Directory, Chernin
+Dupontes, Dupont de Nemours and Bernardin de St. Pierre constituting
+with himself the four Evangelists of the new cult. The first mentioned
+of these must, indeed, be regarded as its inventor, and his "Manuel des
+Theophilanthrophiles" supplies the fullest exposition of it. But it was
+La Reveillere-Lepeaux whose influence gave form and actuality to the
+speculations of Chemin, and whose credit obtained for the new sect the
+use of some dozen of the principal churches of Paris, and of the choir
+and organ of Notre Dame. The formal _debut_ of the new religion may,
+perhaps, be dated from the 1st of May, 1797, when La Reveillere read to
+the Institute a memoir in which he justified its introduction upon
+grounds very similar to those urged in our own day against "the
+theological view of the universe." Moreover, he insisted that
+Catholicism was opposed to sound morality, that its worship was
+antisocial, and that its clergy--whom he contemptuously denominated _la
+pretraille_, and whom he did his best to exterminate--were the enemies
+of the human race. In its leading features the new Church resembled very
+closely the system which we have just been considering, offered to the
+world by the author of "Ecce Homo." It identified the Deity with
+Nature:[38] religion, considered subjectively, with sentiment, and
+objectively, with civilization; and it regarded Atheists and the
+adherents of all forms of faith--with the sole exception of Catholics
+--as eligible for its communion. Its dogmas, if one may so speak, were a
+hotchpotch of fine phrases about beauty, truth, right, and the like,
+culled from writers of all creeds and of no creed. Its chief public
+function consisted in the singing of a hymn to "the Father of the
+Universe," to a tune composed by one Gossee, a musician much in vogue at
+that time, and in lections chosen from Confucius, Vyasa, Zoroaster,
+Theognis, Cleanthes, Aristotle, Plato, La Bruyere, Fenelon, Voltaire,
+Rousseau, Young, and Franklin, the Sacred Scriptures of Christianity
+being carefully excluded on account, as may be supposed, of their
+alleged opposition to "sound morality." The priests of the "Natural
+Religion" were vested in sky-blue tunics, extending from the neck to the
+feet, and fastened at the waist by a red girdle, over which was a white
+robe open before. Such was the costume in which La Reveillere-Lepeaux
+exhibited himself to his astonished countrymen, and having the
+misfortune to be--as we are told--"petit, bossu, et puant," the
+exhibition obtained no great success. It must be owned, however, that
+the Natural Church did its best to fill the void caused by the
+disappearance of the Christian religion. It even went so far as to
+provide substitutes for the Sacraments of Catholicism. At the rite which
+took the place of baptism, the father himself officiated, and, in lieu
+of the questions prescribed in the Roman Ritual, asked the godfather,
+"Do you promise before God and men to teach N. or M. from the dawn of
+his reason to adore God, to cherish (_cherir_) his fellows, and to make
+himself useful to his country?" And the godfather, holding the child
+towards heaven, replied, "I promise." Then followed the inevitable
+"discourse," and a hymn of which the concluding lines were:
+
+   "Puisse un jour cet enfant honorer sa patrie,
+   Et s'applaudir d'avoir vecu."
+
+So much must suffice as to the Natural Church during the time that it
+existed among men as a fact, or, in the words of the author of "Ecce
+Homo," as "an attempt to treat the subject of religion in a practical
+manner." But, backed as it was by the influence of a despotic
+government, and _felix opportunitate_ as it must be deemed to have been
+in the period of its establishment, very few were added to it.
+Whereupon, as the author of "Ecce Homo" relates, not without a touch of
+gentle irony, La Reveillere confided to Talleyrand[39] his
+disappointment at his ill-success. "'His propaganda made no way,' he
+said, 'What was he to do?' he asked. The ex-bishop politely condoled
+with him, feared indeed it was a difficult task to found a new
+religion--more difficult than could be imagined, so difficult that he
+hardly knew what to advise! 'Still'--he went on, after a moment's
+reflection--'there is one plan which you might at least try: I should
+recommend you to be crucified, and to rise again the third day'" (p.
+181). Is the author of "Ecce Homo" laughing in his sleeve at us? Surely
+his keen perception must have suggested to him, as he wrote this
+passage, "mutato nomine, deme." It may be confidently predicted
+that, unless he is prepared to carry out Talleyrand's suggestion, the
+Natural Religion which he exhibits "to meet the wants of a sceptical
+age" will prove even a more melancholy failure than it proved when
+originally introduced a century ago by La Reveillere-Lepeaux.
+
+
+V.
+
+Are we then thrown back on Pessimism--"the besetting difficulty of
+Natural Religion" (p. 104), as the author of "Ecce Homo" confesses? Is
+that after all the key to the enigma of life? And is the prospect before
+the world that "universal darkness" which is to supervene, when, in the
+noble verse of the great moral poet of the last century--the noblest he
+ever wrote--
+
+   "Religion, blushing, veils her sacred fires,
+   And unawares morality expires;
+   Nor public flame, nor private, dares to shine,
+   Nor human spark is left, nor glimpse divine."
+
+I venture to think otherwise. And as with regard to the subject of which
+I am writing, it may be said that "egotism is true modesty," I shall
+venture to say why I think so, even at the risk of wearying by a
+twice-told tale, for I shall have to go over well-worn ground, and I
+must of necessity tread more or less in the footprints of others. The
+reasons which satisfy me have satisfied, and do satisfy, intellects far
+more subtle, acute, and penetrating than mine. All I can do is to state
+them in the way in which they present themselves to my own mind. I shall
+be genuine, if not original, although indeed I might here shelter myself
+under a dictum--profoundly true it is--of Mr. Ruskin: "That virtue of
+originality that men so strive after is not newness, as they vainly
+think (there is nothing new) it is only genuineness."
+
+Cardinal Newman, in writing to me a few weeks ago, suggests the pregnant
+inquiry, "Which is the greater assumption? that we can do without
+religion, or that we can find a substitute for Christianity?" I have
+hitherto been surveying the substitute for Christianity which the author
+of "Ecce Homo" has exhibited to the world in his new book. I shall now
+briefly consider the question whether the need for such a substitute
+does in truth exist. The book, as I have already more than once noted,
+assumes that it does. It takes "the scientific view frankly at its
+worst"[40] as throwing discredit upon the belief "that a Personal Will
+is the cause of the Universe, that that Will is perfectly benevolent,
+that that Will has sometimes interfered by miracles with the order of
+the Universe," which three propositions are considered by its author to
+sum up the theological view of the universe. "If," he writes, "these
+propositions exhaust [that view] and science throws discredit upon all
+of them, evidently theology and science are irreconcilable, and the
+contest between them must end in the destruction of one or the other"
+(p. 13). I remark in passing, first, that no theologian--certainly no
+Catholic theologian--would accept these three propositions as exhausting
+the theological view of the universe; and secondly, that if we were
+obliged to admit that physical science throws discredit upon that view,
+it would by no means necessarily follow that physical science and
+theology are irreconcilable, for ampler knowledge might remove the
+discredit.
+
+   "What do we see? Each man a space,
+   Of some few yards before his face.
+   Can that the whole wide plan explain?
+   Ah no! Consider it again."
+
+But is it true, as a matter of fact, that physical science throws
+discredit upon these three propositions? Let us examine this question a
+little. I must of necessity be brief in the limits to which I am here
+confined, and I must use the plainest language, for I am writing not for
+the school but for the general reader. Brevity and plainness of speech
+do not, however, necessarily imply superficiality, which, in truth, is
+not unfrequently veiled by a prolix parade of pompous technicalities.
+
+First, then, as to causation. The shepherd in the play, when asked by
+Touchstone, "Hast any philosophy in thee?" replies, "No more but that I
+know that the property of rain is to wet, and fire to burn; that good
+pasture makes fat sheep: and that a great cause of the night is lack of
+the sun," and upon the strength of this knowledge is pronounced by the
+clown to be "a natural philosopher." Well, is not in truth the "science"
+of the mere physicist, however accomplished, _in pari materia_ with that
+of honest Corin? He observes certain sequences of facts, certain
+antecedents and consequents, but of the _nexus_ between them he knows no
+more than the most ignorant and foolish of peasants. He talks, indeed,
+of the laws of Nature, but the expression, convenient as it is in some
+respects, and true as it is in a sense--and that the highest--is
+extremely likely to mislead, as he uses it ordinarily. What he calls a
+law of Nature is only an induction from observed phenomena, a formula
+which serves compendiously to express them. As Dr. Mozley has well
+observed in his Bampton Lectures, "we only know of law in Nature, in
+the sense of recurrences in Nature, classes of facts, _like_ facts in
+Nature:"[41]
+
+   "In vain the sage with retrospective eye
+   Would from the apparent what conclude the why;"
+
+physical "science has itself proclaimed the truth that we see no causes
+in nature"[42]--that is to say, in the phenomena of the external world,
+taken by themselves. We read in Bacci's "Life of St. Philip Neri" that
+the Saint drew men to the service of God by such a subtle irresistible
+influence as caused those who watched him to cry out in amazement,
+"Father Philip draws souls, as the magnet draws iron." The most
+accomplished master of natural science is as little competent to explain
+the physical attraction as he is to explain the spiritual. He cannot get
+behind the _fact_, and if you press him for the reason of it--if you ask
+him why the magnet draws iron--the only reason he has to give you is,
+"Because it does." It is just as true now as it was when Bishop Butler
+wrote in the last century that "the only distinct meaning of the word
+[natural] is, stated, fixed, or settled," and it is hard to see how he
+can be refuted when, travelling beyond the boundaries of physics, he
+goes on to add, "What is natural as much requires and presupposes an
+intelligent agent to render it so--_i.e._, to effect it continually, or
+at stated times--as what is supernatural or miraculous does to effect it
+for once."[43] Then, again, the indications of design in the universe
+may well speak to us of a Designer, as they spoke three thousand years
+ago to the Hebrew poet who wrote the Psalm "_C[oe]li enarrant_," as they
+spoke but yesterday to the severely disciplined intellect of John Stuart
+Mill, who, brushing aside the prepossessions and prejudices of a
+lifetime, has recorded his deliberate judgment that "there is a large
+balance in favour of the probability of creation by intelligence."[44]
+Sir William Thomson, no mean authority upon a question of physical
+science, goes further, and speaks not of "a large balance of
+probability," but of "overpowering proofs." "Overpowering proofs," he
+told the British Association, "of intelligence and benevolent design,
+lie all around us; and if ever perplexities, whether metaphysical or
+scientific, turn us away from them for a time, they come back upon us
+with irresistible force, showing to us through Nature the influence of a
+free will, and teaching us that all living beings depend upon one
+ever-acting Creator and Ruler."[45] And, once more, it is indubitable
+that matter is inert until acted upon by force, and that we have no
+knowledge of any other primary[46] cause of force than will. Whence, as
+Mr. Wallace argues in his well-known work, "it does not seem improbable
+that all force may be will-force, and that the whole universe is not
+merely dependent upon, but actually is, the will of higher intelligences
+or of one Supreme Intelligence."[47]
+
+If then things are so--as who can disprove?--we may reasonably demur to
+the assertion that physical science throws discredit upon the position
+that a Personal Will is the cause of the universe. Let us now glance at
+the last of the propositions supposed to be condemned by the researches
+of the physicists--namely, that this Personal Will has sometimes
+interfered by miracles with the order of the universe. Now, here, as I
+intimated in an earlier portion of this article, I find myself at
+variance with the author of "Natural Religion" upon a question, and a
+very important question, of terminology. I do not regard the
+supernatural as an interference with, or violation of, the order of the
+universe. I adopt, unreservedly, the doctrine that "nothing is that errs
+from law." The phenomena which we call supernatural and those which we
+call natural, I view as alike the expression of the Divine Will: a Will
+which acts not capriciously, nor, as the phrase is, arbitrarily, but by
+law, "attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter suaviterque disponens
+omnia." And so the theologians identify the Divine Will with the Divine
+Reason. Thus St. Augustine, "Lex aeterna est ratio divina vel voluntas
+Dei,"[48] and St. Thomas Aquinas, "Lex aeterna summa ratio in Deo
+existens."[49] It is by virtue of this law that the sick are healed,
+whether by the prayer of faith or the prescription of a physician, by
+the touch of a relic or by a shock from a galvanic battery; that the
+Saint draws souls and that the magnet draws iron. The most ordinary
+so-called "operations of Nature" may be truly described in the words of
+St. Gregory as God's daily miracles;[50] and those events, commonly
+denominated miraculous, of which we read in the Sacred Scriptures, in
+the Lives of the Saints, and elsewhere, may as truly be called natural,
+using the word in what, as I just now observed, Bishop Butler notes as
+its only distinct meaning--namely, stated, fixed, or settled;[51] for
+they are the normal manifestations of the order of Grace--an order
+external to us, invisible, inaccessible to our senses and reasonings,
+but truly existing and governed by laws, which, like the laws of the
+physical and the intellectual order, are ordained by the Supreme
+Lawgiver. Once purge the mind of anthropomorphic conceptions as to the
+Divine Government, and the notion of any essential opposition between
+the natural and the supernatural disappears. Sanctity, which means
+likeness to God, a partaking of the Divine nature, is as truly a force
+as light or heat, and enters as truly into the great order of the
+universe. There is a passage in M. Renan's "Vie de Jesus" worth citing
+in this connection. "La nature lui obeit," he writes; "mais elle obeit
+aussi a quiconque croit et prie; la foi peut tout. Il faut se rappeler
+que nulle idee des lois de la nature ne venait, dans son esprit ni dans
+celui de ses auditeurs, marquer la limite de l'impossible.... Ces mots
+de 'surhumain' et de 'surnaturel,' empruntes a notre theologie mesquine,
+n'avaient pas de sens dans la haute conscience religieuse de Jesus. Pour
+lui, la nature et le developpement de l'humanite n'etaient pas des
+regnes limites hors de Dieu, de chetives realites assujetties aux lois
+d'un empirisme desesperant. Il n'y avait pas pour lui de surnaturel, car
+il n'y avait pas pour lui de nature. Ivre de l'amour infini, il oubliait
+la lourde chaine qui tient l'esprit captif; il franchissait d'un bond
+l'abime, infranchissable pour la plupart, que la mediocrite des facultes
+humaines trace entre l'homme et Dieu."[52] These words seem to me to
+express a great truth. The religious mind conceives of the natural, not
+as opposed to the supernatural, but as an outlying province of it; of
+the economy of the physical world as the complement of the economy of
+Grace. And to those who thus think, the great objection urged by so many
+philosophers, from Spinoza downwards--not to go further back--that
+miracles, as the violation of an unchangeable order, make God contradict
+himself, and so are unworthy of being attributed to the All-Wise, is
+without meaning. The most stupendous incident in the "Acta Sanctorum"
+is, as I deem, not less the manifestation of law than is the fall of a
+sparrow.[53] The budding of a rose and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
+are equally the effect of the One Motive Force, which is the cause of
+all phenomena, of the Volition of the Maker, Nourisher, Guardian,
+Governor, Worker, Perfecter of all. Once admit what is involved in the
+very idea of God as it exists in Catholic theology--as it is set forth,
+for example, in the treatise of St. Thomas Aquinas "De Deo"--and the
+notion of miracles as abnormal, as infractions of order, as violations
+of law, will be seen to be utterly erroneous.
+
+And now one word as to the bearing of physical science upon the doctrine
+of the Divine goodness[54]--the second of the theological positions
+which, as we have seen, the author of "Natural Religion" assumes to be
+discredited by physical science. No doubt he had in his mind what has
+been so strongly stated by the late Mr. Mill: "Not even on the most
+distorted and contracted theory of good, which ever was framed by
+religious or philosophical fanaticism, can the government of Nature be
+made to resemble the work of a being at once good and omnipotent."[55]
+Now there can be no question that physical nature gives the lie to that
+shallow optimism, which prates of the best of all conceivable worlds,
+and hardly consents to recognize evil, save as "a lower form of good;"
+unquestionably recent researches of physicists have brought out with
+quite startling clearness what St. Paul calls the subjection of the
+creature to vanity. Ruin, waste, decay are written upon every feature of
+the natural order. All that is joyful in it is based on suffering; all
+that lives, on death; every thrill of pleasure which we receive from the
+outward world is the outcome of inconceivable agonies during
+incalculable periods of time. But how does this discredit the teaching
+of theology as to God's goodness? Theology recognizes, and recognizes
+far more fully than the mere physicist, the abounding misery that is in
+the world, the terribleness of that "unutterable curse which hangs upon
+mankind," for it sees not only what he sees, but what is infinitely
+sadder and more appalling, the vision of moral evil presented by the
+heart and conscience of man, by every page in the history of the
+individual and of the race. It was not reserved for professors of
+physical science in the nineteenth century to bring to light the fact
+that "the world is out of joint," and thereby to discredit the
+theological view of the universe. Theology knows only too well that life
+is "a dread machinery of sin and sorrow." It is the very existence of
+the vast aboriginal calamity, whatever it may have been, in which the
+human race, the whole creation, is involved, that forms the ground for
+the need of the revelation which Christianity professes to bring. If
+there were no evil, there would be no need of a deliverance from evil.
+Of course, why evil has been suffered to arise, why it is suffered to
+exist, by the Perfect Being, of whom it is truly said that He is God,
+because he is the highest Good, we know not, and no search will make us
+know. All we know is that it is not from Him, of whom, and for whom, and
+by whom, are all things; "because it has no substance of its own, but is
+only the defect, excess, perversion, or corruption of that which has
+substance." The existence of evil is a mystery--one of the countless
+mysteries surrounding human life--which, after the best use of reason,
+must be put aside as beyond reason. But it is also a fact, and a fact
+which is so far from discrediting the theological view of the universe,
+that it is a primary and necessary element of that view.
+
+
+VI.
+
+Thus much as to physical science and the propositions in which the
+author of "Natural Religion" supposes the theological view of the
+universe to be summed up. But, as he notes, the case urged in the
+present day against Christianity does not rest merely upon physical
+science, properly so called; but upon the extension of its methods to
+the whole domain of knowledge (p. 7), the practical effect being the
+reduction of religion to superstition, of anthropology to physiology, of
+metaphysics to physics, of ethics to the result of temperament or the
+promptings of self-interest, of man's personality to the summation of a
+series of dynamic conditions of particles of matter. I shall proceed to
+state the case, as I often hear it stated, and I shall put it in the
+strongest way I can, and to indicate the answer which, at all events,
+has satisfied one mind, after long and patient consideration, and in
+spite of strong contrary prepossessions. And this evidently has the most
+direct bearing on my theme. If Christianity be irrational, its claims to
+the world's future may at once be dismissed. But if, as I very strongly
+hold, the achievements of the modern mind, whether in the physical
+sciences, in psychology, in history, in exegetical criticism, have not
+in the least discredited Christianity, as rightly understood, here is a
+fact which is a most important factor in determining our judgment as to
+the religious prospect of mankind. What I have to say on this grave
+question I must reserve for the Second Part of this article. I end the
+First Part with one observation. It seems to me that the issue before
+the world is between Christianity and a more or less sublimated form of
+Materialism--not necessarily Atheistic, nay, sometimes approximating to
+"faint possible Theism"--which is most aptly termed Naturalism; a system
+which rejects as antiquated the ideas of final causes, of Providence, of
+the soul and its immortality; which allows of no other realities than
+those of the physical order, and makes of Nature man's highest ideal:
+and this issue is not in the least affected by decking out Naturalism in
+some borrowed garments of Spiritualism, and calling it "Natural
+Christianity."
+
+   W. S. LILLY.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[26] "La Genie des Religions," l. i. c. i.
+
+[27] _Ibid._, c. iv.
+
+[28] The author of "Natural Religion" thinks it mistaken in so declaring
+itself. "Its invectives against God and against Religion do not prove
+that it is atheistic, but only that it thinks itself so. And why does it
+think itself so? Because God and Religion are identified in its view
+with the Catholic Church; and the Catholic Church is a thing so very
+redoubtable that we need scarcely inquire why it is passionately hated
+and feared" (p. 37). But this is an error. God and Religion are not
+identified, in the view of the Revolution, with the Catholic Church. It
+will be evident to anyone who will read its accredited organs that it is
+as implacably hostile to religious Protestantism as to Catholicism.
+Perhaps I may be allowed to refer, on this subject, to some remarks of
+my own in an article entitled "Free Thought--French and English,"
+published in this REVIEW, in February last, p. 241.
+
+[29] See his Preface to the Second Edition.
+
+[30] Warburton, a shrewd observer enough, expressed the same view a
+hundred years ago, with characteristic truculence:--"Mathematicians--I
+do not mean the inventors and geniuses amongst them, whom I honour, but
+the Demonstrators of others' inventions, who are ten times duller and
+prouder than a damned poet--have a strange aversion to everything that
+smacks of religion."--_Letters to Hurd_, xix.
+
+[31] Preface to Second Edition, p. vii.
+
+[32] _Ibid._, p. v.
+
+[33] Summa, 1^ma 2^de qu. 60, art. 3.
+
+[34] "Grammar of Assent," p. 389. 5th ed.
+
+[35] What Wordsworth says is--
+
+"We live by Admiration, Hope, and Love, And, even as these are well and
+wisely fixed, In dignity of being we ascend."
+
+This is widely different from the nude proposition that "we live by
+admiration."
+
+[36] See also p. 127.
+
+[37] A good deal of information about Theophilanthropy and the
+Theophilanthropists, in an undigested and, indeed, chaotic state, will
+be found in Gregoire's "Histoire des Sectes Religieuses," vol. i.
+
+[38] The Theophilanthropists were most anxious that the object of their
+worship should not be supposed to be the Christian God. Thus in one of
+their hymns their Deity is invoked as follows:--
+
+"Non, tu n'es pas le _Dieu_ dont le pretre est l'apotre, Tu n'as point
+par la Bible enseigne les humains."
+
+[39] The author of "Natural Religion" says, Talleyrand; I do not know on
+what authority. Gregoire writes:--"Au Directoire meme on le raillait sur
+son zele theophilantropique. Un de ses collegues, dit-on, lui proposait
+de se faire pendre et de ressusciter le troisieme jour, comme
+l'infaillible moyen de faire triompher sa secte, et Carnot lui decoche
+dans son _Memoire_ des epigrammes sanglantes a ce sujet."--_Histoire des
+Sectes Religieuses_, vol. I. p. 406. Talleyrand was never a member of
+the Directory.
+
+[40] Preface to second edition.
+
+[41] "Eight Lectures on Miracles," p. 50.
+
+[42] _Ibid._ See Dr. Mozley's note on this passage.
+
+[43] "Analogy." Part I. c. i. I give, of course, Bishop Butler's words
+as I find them, but, as will be seen a little later, I do not quite take
+his view of the supernatural.
+
+[44] "Three Essays on Religion," p. 174.
+
+[45] "Address to the British Association," 1871.
+
+[46] I say "_primary_ cause;" of course I do not deny _its own proper
+causality_ to the non-spiritual or matter.
+
+[47] "Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection," p. 368. I am,
+of course, aware of Mr. Mill's remarks upon this view in his "Three
+Essays on Religion" (pp. 146-150). The subject is too great to be
+discussed in a footnote. But I may observe that he rests, at bottom,
+upon the assumption--surely an enormous assumption--that causation is
+order. Cardinal Newman's argument upon this matter in the "Grammar of
+Assent" (pp. 66-72, 5th ed.) seems to me to be unanswerable; certainly,
+it is unanswered. I have no wish to dogmatize--the dogmatism, indeed,
+appears to be on the other side--but if we go by experience, as it is
+now the fashion to do, our initial elementary experience would certainly
+lead us to consider will the great or only cause. To guard against a
+possible misconception let me here say that I must not be supposed to
+adopt Mr. Wallace's view in its entirety or precisely as stated by him.
+Of course, the analogy between the human will and the Divine Will is
+imperfect, and Mr. Mill appears to me to be well founded in denying that
+_our_ volition originates. My contention is that Matter is inert until
+Force has been brought to bear upon it: that all Force must be due to a
+Primary Force of which it is the manifestation or the effect: that the
+Primary Force cannot exert itself unless it be self-determined: that to
+be self-determined is to be living: that to be primarily and utterly
+self-determined is to be an infinitely self-conscious volition: _ergo_,
+the primary cause of Force is the Will of God. This is the logical
+development of the famous argument of St. Thomas Aquinas. He contends
+that whatever things are moved must be moved by that which is not moved:
+_a movente non moto_. But Suarez and later writers complete the argument
+by analyzing the term _movens non motum_, which they consider equivalent
+to _Ens a se, in se, et per se_, or _Actus Purissimus_.
+
+[48] "Contra Faustum," 22.
+
+[49] Summa, 1, 2, qu. 83, art. 1. But on this and the preceding
+quotation, see the note on page 118.
+
+[50] "Quotidiana Dei miracula ex assiduitate vilescunt."--_Hom. xxvi. in
+Evan_.
+
+[51] "Stated, fixed, or settled" is a predicate common to natural and
+supernatural, not the _differentia_ of either. And here let me remark
+that the expression, "Laws of Nature," is a modern technical expression
+which the Catholic philosopher would require, probably, to have defined
+before employing it. "Natura," in St. Thomas Aquinas, is declared to be
+"Principium operationis cujusque rei," the Essence of a thing in
+relation to its activity, or the Essence as manifested _agendo_. Hence
+"Natura rerum," or "Universitas rerum" (which is the Latin for Nature in
+the phrase "Laws of Nature") means the Essences of all things created
+(finite) as manifested and related to each other by their proper
+inherent activities, which of course are stable or fixed. But since it
+is not a logical contradiction that these activities should be
+suspended, arrested, or annihilated (granting an Infinite Creator), it
+will not be contrary to _Reason_ should a miraculous intervention so
+deal with them, though their suspension or annihilation may be
+described, loosely and inaccurately, as against the Laws of Nature. By
+_Reason_ is here meant the declarations of necessary Thought as to
+possibility and impossibility, or the canons of contradiction, the only
+proper significance of the word in discussions about miracles. Hence, to
+say that miracles have their laws, is not to deny that they are by the
+Free Will of God. For creation is by the Fiat of Divine Power and
+Freedom, and yet proceeds upon law--that is to say, upon a settled plan
+and inherent sequence of cause and effect. But it is common with Mr.
+Mill and his school to think of law as _necessary inviolable_ sequence;
+whereas it is but a fixed mode of action whether _necessarily or freely_
+determined; and it is a part of law that some activities should be
+liable to suspension or arrestment by others, and especially by the
+First Cause.
+
+[52] "Vie de Jesus," p. 247.
+
+[53] When Mr. Mill says ("Three Essays on Religion," p. 224), "The
+argument that a miracle may be the fulfilment of a law in the same sense
+in which the ordinary events of Nature are fulfilments of laws, seems to
+indicate an imperfect conception of what is meant by a law and what
+constitutes a miracle," all he really means is that this argument
+involves a conception of law and of miracle different from his own,
+which is undoubtedly true. Upon this subject I remark as follows: There
+is a necessary will (_spontaneum non liberum_) and a free will(_liberum
+non spontaneum_); and these are in God on the scale of infinite
+perfection, as they are in man finitely. With Mr. Mill, as I have
+observed in a previous note, Law is taken to signify "invariable,
+necessary sequence;" and its test is, that given the same circumstances,
+the same thing will occur. But it is essential to Free Will (whether in
+God or man) that given the same circumstances, the same thing need not,
+may not, and perhaps will not, occur. However, an act may be free _in
+causa_ which _hic et nunc must_ happen; the Free Will having done that
+by choice which brings as a necessary consequence something else. For
+there are many things which would involve contradiction and so be
+impossible, did not certain consequences follow them. This premised, it
+is clear that the antithesis of Mr. Mill's "Law" is Free Will. Law and
+antecedent necessity to Mr. Mill are one and the same. But Law in
+Catholic terminology means the Will of God decreeing freely or not
+freely, according to the subject-matter; and is not opposed to
+Free-Will. It guides, it need not coerce or necessitate, though it may.
+Neither in one sense, is Law synonymous with Reason, for that is
+according to Reason, simply, which does not involve a contradiction,
+whether it be done freely or of necessity; and many things are possible,
+or non-contradictives, that Law does not prescribe. Nor again does
+Free-Will mean lawless in the sense of irrational; or causeless, in the
+sense of having no motive: "contra legem," "praeter legem" is not "contra
+rationem," "prater rationem." The Divine Will, then, may be free, yet
+act according to Law, namely, its own freely-determined Law. And it may
+act "not according to Law," and yet act according to Reason. In this
+sense, then, theologians identify the Divine Will with the Divine
+Reason--I mean, they insist that God's Will is always according to
+Reason--in this sense, but, as I think, not in any other. For the Divine
+Will is antecedently free as regards all things which are not God; but
+the Divine Intellect is not free in the same way. St. Augustine always
+tends to view things in the concrete, not distinguishing their "rationes
+formales," or distinguishing them vaguely. And Ratio with him does not
+mean Reason merely, but living Reason or the Reasoning Being, the Soul.
+When St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of Lex AEterna he means the Necessary Law
+of Morality, concerning which God is not free, because in decreeing it,
+He is but decreeing that there is no Righteousness except by imitation
+of Him.
+
+The root of all these difficulties and of all the confusion in speech
+which they have brought forth is this: the mystery of Free-Will in God,
+the Unchangeable and Eternal, The great truth taught in the words of the
+Vatican Council, "Deus, _liberrimo consilio_ condidit universa," must
+ever be borne in mind. Undoubtedly, there are no afterthoughts in God.
+But neither is there a past in which He decreed once for all what was to
+be and what was not to be. He is the Eternal Now. But still all events
+are the fulfilment of His Will, and contribute to the working out of the
+scheme which He has traced for creation. Feeble is human speech to deal
+with such high matters, serving, at the best, but dimly to adumbrate
+ineffable truths. As Goethe somewhere says, "Words are good, but not the
+best: the best cannot be expressed in words. My point, however, is that
+there is, on the one hand, a connection of events with events all
+through creation and an intelligible sequence, while, on the other, the
+Free-Will of man is a determining force as regards his own spiritual
+actions, as is the Free-Will of God in respect of the whole creation,
+and that miracles are neither afterthoughts, nor irregularities, nor
+contradictions, but at once free and according to law. Miracles are not
+abnormal, unless Free-Will is a reduction of Kosmos to Chaos, and the
+negation of Reason altogether."
+
+[54] I say "the doctrine of the Divine goodness," because that is, as I
+think, what the author of "Natural Religion" means. As to the "simple,
+absolute benevolence"--"benevolence," indeed, is a milk-and-water
+expression; "God is love"--which "some men seem to think the only
+character of the Author of Nature," it is enough to refer to Bishop
+Butler's striking chapter on "The Moral Government of God," (Analogy,
+Part I. c. iii). I will here merely observe that although, doubtless,
+God's attribute is Love of the creation, He is not only Love, but
+Sanctity, Justice, Creative Power, Force, Providence; and whereas,
+considered as a Unit He is infinite, He is not infinite--I speak under
+correction--viewed in those aspects, abstractions, or attributes which,
+separately taken, are necessary for our subjective view of Him. I allow
+that God's power and His "benevolence" may in some cases work out
+different ends, as if separate entities, but still maintain--what the
+author of "Natural Religion" ignores--that God in His very essence is
+not only "Benevolence," but Sanctity, &c. also; _all as One in His
+Oneness_.
+
+[55] "Three Essays on Religion," p. 38.
+
+
+
+
+SYRIAN COLONIZATION.
+
+
+During the past few years many proposals have been made, and schemes
+formed, for repeopling the wastes of Syria and Palestine with the
+surplus population of Europe. These schemes, sometimes philanthropic,
+sometimes commercial, are always advocated on the assumption that the
+current of European emigration and capital might be turned to Syria and
+Palestine in accordance with sound economic and financial
+considerations. In this paper I propose--
+
+_First._ To take a survey of the agricultural resources of the country.
+
+_Second._ To draw attention to the difficulties which immigrants would
+experience in obtaining secure titles to landed property.
+
+_Third._ To give a summary of the different kinds of land tenure, and
+the burdens on agriculture.
+
+_Fourth._ To point out some of the dangers and inconveniences to which
+immigrants would be exposed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I. In the first place we may say broadly that the natural resources of
+Syria and Palestine are agricultural. On the eastern slopes of Mount
+Hermon there are a few bitumen pits from which a small quantity of ore
+of excellent quality is yearly exported to England. Small deposits of
+coal and iron exist in several localities, and there are chemical
+deposits about the shores of the Dead Sea. Gypsum and coloured marble
+are found in Syria, and along the coast opposite the Lebanon range
+sponges are fished annually to the value of L20,000. Hot sulphur springs
+exist at Palmyra and the Sea of Galilee, and there are ruined baths on
+the way between Damascus and Palmyra and in the Yarmuk Valley; but none
+of these natural products are of sufficient importance to attract
+European labour or capital.
+
+Forests can scarcely be said to exist in Syria or Palestine. A few
+groves of cedars of Lebanon, which escaped the axes of Hiram, are fast
+disappearing. On the limestone ridges and in some of the valleys there
+are clumps of pine, and throughout a great part of the country there is
+a considerable quantity of scrub oak which the peasants reduce to
+charcoal, and carry into the cities. In Galilee one comes on places
+where the trees give a pleasing character to the landscape. On Mount
+Carmel there are jungles and thickets of oak, and on the slopes towards
+Nazareth there are considerable groves, but the nearest approach to a
+forest is where the oaks of Bashan, which recall the beauties of an
+English park, assert their ancient supremacy.
+
+Rows of poplars mark the courses of rivers and streams throughout the
+land, and supply beams for flat-roofed houses; but when churches or
+other important buildings have to be roofed, or timber is required for
+domestic purposes, it has to be imported from America, and carried into
+the interior on the backs of animals. There remain trees enough in some
+places to lend beauty to the landscape, and to show what the country may
+once have been, as well as to suggest what it may again become; but
+there are no forests to attract labour or capital.
+
+The few manufactories of wool and cotton and soap and leather are
+chiefly limited to local want. Besides these there are the silk-spinning
+factories in the Lebanon, managed by Frenchmen and natives, and a
+manufactory of cotton thread on one of the rivers of Damascus.
+
+The popular accounts of the agricultural resources of Syria and
+Palestine are very different. As instances of extremes:--Mark Twain
+tells us he saw the goats eating stones in Syria, and he assures us that
+he could not have been mistaken, for they had nothing else to eat; while
+Mr. Laurence Oliphant saw even in the Dead Sea "a vast source of wealth"
+for his English Company. We read in his "Land of Gilead" these words:
+"There can be little doubt, in fact, that the Dead Sea is a mine of
+unexplored wealth which only needs the application of capital and
+enterprise to make it a most lucrative property."[56]
+
+The tourists who traverse the country in spring, immediately after the
+latter rains, when there is some vegetation in the barest places, and
+when their horses are up to the fetlocks in flowers, never forget the
+beauty of the landscape. Others, who have been picturing to themselves a
+land flowing with milk and honey, hills waving with golden grain, and
+green meadows dappled with browsing flocks, and who pass through the
+land in autumn, find themselves bitterly disappointed. As they trudge
+along the white glaring pathways, and through the roadless and flinty
+wilderness, breasting the hot beating waves of a Syrian noonday, with
+only an ashy chocolate-coloured landscape around them, scorched as if by
+the breath of a furnace, they get an impression of dreary and blasted
+desolation which time can never efface. They looked for the garden of
+the Lord, and they find only the "burning marl." It was my fate, during
+a long residence in Syria, to hear autumn tourists criticize books
+written by spring tourists, and spring tourists criticize books written
+by autumn tourists, and generally in a manner by no means complimentary
+to the authors' veracity;--the fact being that the writers had given
+their impression of what they saw, with perhaps a little of American
+wit, which consists in exaggerating "the leading feature."
+
+I think, however, that to most English travellers, who have no hobbies
+to ride, the barren appearance of Syria and Palestine is a
+disenchantment. Accustomed to their own moist climate and green fields,
+they are not prepared for the dry and parched, and abandoned appearance
+of the greater part of the country. With us an abundance of water spoils
+the crops; in Syria and Palestine the case is reversed, for unless water
+can be poured over the land the crops are stunted and uncertain. For six
+or seven months in the year scarcely any rain falls, and scarcely a
+cloud darkens the sky. In October the early rain commences, with much
+thunder and lightning; and in April the latter rain becomes light and
+uncertain, and generally ceases altogether. Then the sky becomes
+intensely blue, and the sun comes out in all his glory, or rather in all
+her glory, for with the Arabs the sun is feminine. Suddenly grass and
+vegetation wither up and become dry for the oven. The level country,
+except where there are rivers, becomes parched. The stones stick up out
+of the red soil like the white bones of a skeleton. Limestone, flint,
+and basalt, and thorny shrubs, cover the face of the wilderness country.
+Here and there you may see a dwarf oak, or an olive tree, or a wild fig
+tree, and among the mountains you may notice little patches scratched
+and cultivated by the _fellahin_; but, unless on the great plains of
+Bashan and Esdraelon and Hamath, and on the uplands of Gilead, or where
+there is water for irrigation, you may ride for hours along the zigzag
+paths, over mountain and high-land, and before and behind extend the
+limestone and flinty rocks, white and blinding, and broken into
+fragments or burnt into powder. It thus happens that few tourists who
+pass along the beaten tracks of Syria and Palestine have any just
+conception of the vast agricultural resources of the land.
+
+The most striking features in the Syrian landscape are two parallel
+mountain ranges, which appear on the map like two centipedes, running
+north and south. These are the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges. Lebanon
+proper lies along the shore of the Mediterranean. The narrow strip of
+land between the mountain and the sea was the home of the Ph[oe]nicians,
+who steered their white-winged ships to every land, and dipped their
+oars in every sea, before the Britons were heard of. The gardens of
+Sidon, luxuriant with bananas, oranges, figs, lemons, pomegranates,
+peaches, apricots, &c., extend across the plain for two miles to the
+mountain, and show what Ph[oe]nicia may once have been. The palm trees
+that adorn the fertile gardens of Beyrout are doubtless survivors of the
+groves from which the strip of land once took its name.[57]
+
+By the exertions of Lord Dufferin in 1860, a Christian governor was
+placed over the Lebanon in a semi-independent position. Since then the
+terraced mountain has been marvellously developed, and every foothold
+has been planted with vines and figs and mulberries. The industrious
+peasantry, comparatively safe from Turkish rapacity, have cultivated the
+ledges among its crags and peaks, and enjoy the fruits of their
+industry, sitting under their vines and fig trees. The bloodthirsty and
+turbulent Druzes, restrained by law, and unable to hold their own in a
+field of fair competition, are being rapidly civilized off the mountain,
+and betake themselves to remote regions in Bashan where no law is
+acknowledged but that of the strong arm.
+
+Between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon stretches for seventy miles
+C[oe]lo-Syria or Buka'a, a well-watered and fertile plain, containing
+about 500 square miles and 137 agricultural villages, and marked by such
+ruins as those of Chalcis and Baalbek.
+
+The Anti-Lebanon consists of a series of mountain ranges, some of which
+run parallel with Lebanon, and flatten into the plain at "the gathering
+in of Hamath," while some bend off in a more easterly direction, and
+shoot out boldly into the desert. The westward end of this mountainous
+range rises into Mount Hermon. The eastward end sinks into Palmyra.
+North of the Anti-Lebanon, the narrow plain of C[oe]lo-Syria expands
+into the great rolling country of high-land, river, lake, and plain,
+where for more than a thousand years the Hittite kings rolled back the
+tide of Egyptian and Assyrian invasion, and where, in later years, the
+Selucidae kings pastured their elephants and steeds of war.
+
+Among the ranges and spurs of the Anti-Lebanon are many green spots of
+great picturesque beauty. Wherever there are fountains the habitations
+of men are clustered together at the water, seemingly jostling and
+struggling like thirsty flocks to get to its margin. The cottages cling
+to the edges of fountains and rivers in the most perilous positions.
+Sometimes they are stuck to the rocks like swallows' nests, and
+sometimes they are placed on beetling cliffs like the home of the eagle
+above the chasm. No solitary houses are met throughout the country. The
+people build together for safety, and near the water for life, and by
+the village fountains and wells cluster the fairest scenes of Eastern
+poetry, as well Arab and Persian as Hebrew, and around them have taken
+place some of the fiercest of Oriental battles.
+
+At the villages a little water is drawn off from the rivers, and
+carefully apportioned among the different families and factions. By
+means of this water, carefully conducted to the various gardens, apples
+and plums, grapes and pomegranates, melons and cucumbers, corn and
+onions, olives and egg plants are cultivated; and such is the bounty of
+Nature, that with the least effort existence is possible wherever there
+is water. A little rancid oil and a few vegetables are sufficient to
+sustain life, and these can be had by a few hours labour in the cool of
+the day. The rest of the time may be spent squatting cross-legged by the
+water, or smoking and dozing in the shade. This is existence, but not
+life; yet why should the _fellah_ labour for anything beyond what is
+absolutely necessary, when the slightest sign of wealth would create
+anxious solicitude on the part of the Turk?
+
+A ride of seventy-two miles across Ph[oe]nicia, Lebanon, C[oe]lo-Syria,
+and Anti-Lebanon, brings us, by French diligence, to Damascus. Abana and
+Pharpar break through a sublime gorge, about 100 yards wide, down the
+middle of which the French road winds its serpentine course, the rivers
+on either side being fringed with silver poplar and scented walnut. As
+we look eastward from the brow of the hill, the great plain of Damascus,
+encircled by a framework of desert, lies before us. The river, escaped
+from the rocky gorge, spreads out like a fan, and, after a run of three
+miles, enters Damascus, where it flows through 15,000 houses, sparkles
+in 60,000 marble fountains, and hurries on to scatter wealth and
+fertility far and wide over the plain. Those who have gazed on this
+scene are never likely to forget its supreme loveliness. Its beauty is
+doubtless much enhanced by contrast. The eye has been wandering over a
+chocolate-coloured and heated landscape throughout a weary day;
+suddenly, on turning a corner, it rests on Eden.
+
+The city is spread out before you, embowered in orchards, in the midst
+of a plain of 300 square miles. Around the pearl-coloured, city--first
+in the world in point of time, first in Syria and Western Asia in point
+of importance--surge, like an emerald sea, forests of apricots and
+olives and apples and citrons, and "every tree that is pleasant to the
+sight and good for food," with all their variety of colour and tint,
+according to their season, sometimes all aglow with blossoms, sometimes
+golden and ruddy with fruit, and sometimes russet with the mellowing
+tints of autumn. Beyond the city the water conveys its wealth by seven
+rivers to shady gardens and thirsty fields; and, as far as cultivation
+extends, two or three splendid crops during the same year reward the
+industry of the husbandman. But even in the plain of Damascus the land
+is cultivated for only a few miles beyond the gates of the city. The
+water that would fertilize the whole plain flows uselessly into
+pestiferous marshes, and the wide plain within sight of the Damascus
+garrison is abandoned to the Bedawin of the Desert and the wild boars of
+the jungle.[58]
+
+In Palestine there is the great plain of Esdraelon, now, to a large
+extent, in the hands of a Greek firm at Beyrout, and partially
+cultivated, but capable of producing wheat and maize and cotton and
+barley, throughout its whole extent. On the southern side of Carmel
+spreads out the extensive plain of Sharon, a vast expanse of
+pasture-land, ablaze with flowers in early spring, and rank with
+thistles in the time of harvest; and further south extends the still
+more fertile regions of Philistia.
+
+Looking south, from the southern slopes of Mount Hermon, the green plain
+of the Huleh, with Lake Merom glassed in its centre, forms a beautiful
+picture. Mr. Oliphant here first saw an enchanting location for his
+colony. "I felt," he says, "a longing to imitate the example of the men
+of Dan; for there can be no question that if, instead of advancing upon
+it with six hundred men, and taking it by force, after the manner of the
+Danites, one approached it in the modern style of a joint-stock company
+(limited), and recompensed the present owners, keeping them as
+labourers, a most profitable speculation might be made out of the 'Ard
+el Huleh.'" The lake "might, with the marshy plain above it, be easily
+drained; and a magnificent tract of country, nearly twenty miles long by
+from five to six miles in width, abundantly watered by the upper
+affluents of the Jordan, might then be brought into cultivation. It is
+only now occupied by some wandering Bedawin and the peasants of a few
+scattered villages on its margin."[59]
+
+East of the Jordan are the corn-growing table-land of Bashan and the
+beautiful and fertile high-lands of Gilead. In the former I have ridden
+for hours, with an unbroken sea of waving wheat as far as I could see
+around me, and as regards the "land of Gilead," I can confirm Mr.
+Oliphant's most enthusiastic descriptions of its beauty, fertility, and
+desolation.
+
+Nor are the agricultural resources of Syria and Palestine limited to the
+great irrigated plains and broad trans-Jordanic table-lands. Throughout
+the country there are numerous villages shut in among bare hills, with
+apparently no resource; but on closer inspection it turns out that there
+are a few cultivated terraces, where tobacco and grape-vines and
+vegetables are cultivated, and on a still closer inspection it is
+evident that the bare mountains all around were once terraced, and
+doubtless clothed with the vine.
+
+I was once crossing a series of undulating ranges abutting on Mount
+Hermon with an English tourist who was making merry at the utterly
+barren appearance of "the promised land." It turned out, however, that
+his attempted wit served to sharpen our observation, and we found that
+all the hill-sides had once been terraced by human hands. A few miles
+further on we came to Rasheiya, where the vineyards still flourish on
+such terraces, and we had no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that
+the bare terraces, from which lapse of time had worn away the soil, were
+once trellised with the vine, the highest emblem of prosperity and joy.
+Similar terraces were noticed by Drake and Palmer in the Desert of
+Judea, far from any modern cultivation.
+
+It is rash to infer that because a place is desolate now, it must always
+have been so, or must always remain so. The Arab historian tells us that
+Salah-ed-Din, before the battle of Hattin, set fire to the forests, and
+thus encircled the Crusaders with a sea of flame. Now there is scarcely
+a shrub in the neighbourhood.
+
+In wandering through that sacred land, over which the Crescent now
+waves, one is amazed at the number of ruins that stud the landscape, and
+show what must once have been the natural fertility of the country.
+Whence has come the change? Is the blight natural and permanent? or has
+it been caused by accidental and artificial circumstances which may be
+only temporary? Doubtless, each ruin has its tale of horror, but all
+trace their destruction to Islamism, and especially to the blighting and
+desolating presence of the Turk.
+
+That short, thick, beetle-browed, bandy-legged, obese man, that so many
+fresh tourists find so charming, is a Turkish official. He and his
+ancestors have ruled the land since 1517. A Wilberforce in sentiment, he
+is the representation of "that shadow of shadows for good--Ottoman
+rule." The Turks, whether in their Pagan or Mohammedan phase, have only
+appeared on the world's scene to destroy. No social or civilizing art
+owes anything to the Turks but progressive debasement and decay.
+
+That heap of stones, in which you trace the foundations of temples and
+palaces, where now the owl hoots and the jackal lurks, was once a
+prosperous Christian village. Granted that the Christianity was pure
+neither in creed nor ritual; yet it had, even in its debased form, a
+thew and sinew that brought prosperity to its possessors. The history of
+that ruin is the history of a thousand such throughout the empire. Its
+prosperity led to its destruction. The insolent Turk, restrained by no
+public opinion, and curbed by no law, would wring from the villagers the
+fruits of their labour. Oppression makes even wise men mad, and the
+Christians, goaded to madness, turned on their oppressors. Then followed
+submission, on promise of forgiveness. The Christians surrendered their
+arms, and the flashing scymitar of Islam fell upon the defenceless; and
+the place became a ruin amid horrors too foul to narrate. No greater
+proof of the exhaustless fertility of the soil of Syria and Palestine
+could be furnished than this: that the spoiler, unrestrained, has been
+in it for 365 years, and that he has not yet succeeded in reducing it
+all to a howling wilderness.
+
+
+II. Those who embark capital in land, with a view to securing a home for
+themselves and their children, should look closely to the character of
+their title-deeds. The foremost Englishman in the Levant assured me that
+he never invested money in houses or land because there was no such
+thing as security of title in the Turkish Empire. My own opinion, based
+on an experience of ten years, is that it is impossible to know whether
+or not you have a title in Syria. Unfortunately this judgment does not
+rest on mere opinions as to what might happen, but it is fortified by
+the authoritative Commercial Reports of Her Majesty's Consuls throughout
+Syria and Palestine, and by a series of facts of daily occurrence.
+
+Vice-Consul Jago, of Beyrout, in a report dated July 11, 1876, thus
+writes:--
+
+     "Efforts made by wealthy native Christians and Europeans to employ
+     capital in agriculture have been invariably met by great obstacles,
+     the apparent impossibility of getting _incontestable title-deeds_
+     being one of the many, although such documents may have emanated
+     from the highest authority in the land. Actions of ejectment have
+     invariably followed such efforts, to which the fact of the
+     Government itself being often the seller opposed no bar."
+
+The same Vice-Consul, writing from Damascus, under date March 13, 1880,
+referring to the difficulty of investing capital in agricultural
+enterprise, says:--
+
+     "Unfortunately, the present judicial system is of a nature to
+     permit, if not to foster, the thousand and one intrigues and
+     vexations which seem to be almost inseparably connected with the
+     possession of land in Syria, and additional facilities for such are
+     to be found, if wanting, in the state in which the land registry
+     offices are kept. Erasures, irregular entries, at the request of
+     the interested, change of one name for another as the legitimate
+     owner, resulting often in persons finding their names down in the
+     Government books as owners of property, the existence of which was
+     unknown to them, and _vice versa_, cause the validity of
+     title-deeds, issued as they are by various courts in the country,
+     to be a fertile source of litigation, and fraudulent action.... The
+     fact, however, that title-deeds can be set aside by verbal
+     testimony perhaps sufficiently accounts for the little value they
+     practically possess."
+
+I could cite many instances in illustration of Mr. Jago's statements. An
+effort made by the Rev. E. B. Frankel, of Damascus, to secure the
+title-deeds of a worthless piece of barren rock without resorting to the
+degrading practices of the country, is interesting, not only as an
+illustration in point, but also as showing that an honest man would
+suffer loss rather than gain his point by questionable means. I was
+privy to the transactions as they occurred, but as Mr. Frankel has
+kindly furnished me with a brief history, I shall give it in his own
+words:--
+
+     "During my residence in Damascus, I tried one or two villages in
+     the neighbourhood as a summer retreat, and at length fixed upon a
+     village called Maraba, as being at a convenient distance from the
+     city to ride there in the morning and return at night. Finding,
+     however, that the native houses were scarcely habitable, I
+     determined to have a small house built, close to, yet not
+     overlooking, the village. To carry out my plan I had first of all
+     to apply to the Vali for permission to do so. His Highness, with an
+     outburst of Oriental liberality, declared his readiness to give me
+     not only a piece of ground but a garden as well. This I declined
+     with thanks, knowing the value of such an offer, but showed him on
+     paper the spot I had chosen, consisting of a barren rock, and asked
+     him to send a competent person to the place to examine the site and
+     value it, and at the same time see from the plan that none of my
+     windows would overlook my neighbours. In the course of a few days,
+     I received a notice that a commission of six officials would meet
+     me on the spot and settle the matter at once. I provided a luncheon
+     _al fresco_, to which the sheikh of the village was invited to
+     negotiate on the part of the villagers.
+
+     "After a long preamble, setting forth the value of land in general,
+     and of this spot in particular, he offered at length to sell the
+     site for 5,000 piastres (a piastre is equal to 2_d._).
+
+     "'Fifty piastres,' wrote down the scribe. 'By the life of your
+     father, it is too little--say 3,000.' 'Seventy-five,' said the
+     scribe. 'Say 1,000--by Allah, it is worth 5,000; but Allah is
+     great.' 100 piastres was the sum agreed to at last, and I had the
+     permission to begin building at once.
+
+     "When the house was half finished, an order came to stop, on the
+     ground that it was built over the tomb of a Moslem saint, and that
+     the departed spirit might not relish the vicinity of Christians,
+     and avenge himself by doing us some bodily harm for which the Vali
+     would be responsible.
+
+     "After a great deal of trouble and investigation, his Highness was
+     convinced that the existence of such a tomb was a myth. The next
+     charge brought against me was, that whilst I pretended to build a
+     house, I was in reality building a convent in the midst of a
+     Mohammedan population. I had a hard struggle to convince him that
+     Protestants had no such institutions.
+
+     "Now all these charges had been trumped up by the officials in the
+     hope of receiving the usual bribe, which I was determined not to
+     give--having made up my mind to carry the business through honestly
+     and legally. One more effort was made to annoy me, or rather to
+     force me to give the customary 'backsheesh,'--viz., that the house
+     was built over a road leading from the village to the stream to the
+     great inconvenience of the villagers. The Consul had at length to
+     interfere; the Government engineer was sent to investigate the
+     matter and report upon it, which was to the effect that there was
+     no vestige of road or foot-path in the vicinity of the house.
+
+     "After this, I was left in peaceful possession so far, that no one
+     could turn me out of the house, but not having the title-deeds, I
+     could scarcely expect to find a purchaser in case I wished to sell
+     it. My next effort was to secure the necessary papers. Month after
+     month I applied in vain for them. The Governor pretended to be
+     shocked to hear that his orders had not been carried out, he sent
+     for the scribe, and threatened him with his fiercest displeasure if
+     such an act of negligence should ever again be reported against
+     him. The scribe pleaded a sprained wrist as an excuse for the
+     delay, but by the life of the Prophet, he would write the document
+     at once. I took a hasty leave of the Vali, and rushed off after the
+     scribe, determined not to lose sight of him again; he had, however,
+     disappeared, as if the earth had swallowed him up. These scenes
+     were repeated over and ever again, till at the end of twelve
+     months, having to leave Damascus, I had to sell the house at a
+     great loss, not having the title-deeds. The purchaser, the American
+     Vice-Consul, trusting to his official position, hoped to be able to
+     succeed where I had failed.
+
+     "I have no doubt but that by following the usual Oriental custom of
+     backsheesh, and dividing L10 or L20 among the officials, every
+     obstacle would have been removed to my obtaining the title-deeds of
+     a property for which I paid the sum of 16_s._ 8_d._"
+
+There are a few most interesting groups of German colonists in
+Palestine, who belong to a religious order called "The Temple;" and who
+assume to be a Spiritual Temple in the Holy Land. As far as I had
+opportunity of judging, the colonists were men who, as colonists, would
+succeed in any land, except perhaps Syria. There were among them masons
+and carpenters and blacksmiths and shoemakers and doctors. They were all
+accustomed to work with their hands, and they were prepared to do, not
+only whatever hard work was to be done in their own colony, but also to
+do any jobs for their neighbours, wherever their superior skill might be
+employed. They were strong, patient, sober, devout, and they entered on
+their work with lofty but calm enthusiasm. One branch settled at Jaffa,
+on the ruins of an American colony which had been led there by a Mr.
+Adams, and which ended in sad disaster. Another has settled "under the
+shadow of Mount Carmel," about a mile out of Haifa, and a third near
+Jerusalem. Besides settling in these places, some of the girls were
+prepared to go out as servants, with results, in some cases, that cannot
+be detailed. The first batch of these colonists settled near Nazareth in
+1867, and all died of malarious fever.[60] But the German colonists were
+not daunted by preliminary disaster, and they have been since battling
+with the difficulties of the situation with a patient energy bordering
+on heroism.
+
+Mr. Oliphant visited the colonies at Jerusalem and Haifa, and after
+describing the streets and gardens and homesteads created by German
+industry, he adds, "The colonists have scarcely any trouble in their
+dealings with the Government."
+
+Captain Conder, who spent much time among the colonists, gives a more
+realistic picture. He says--
+
+     "The Turkish government is quite incapable of appreciating their
+     real motives in colonization, and cannot see any reason beyond a
+     political one for the settlement of Europeans in the country. The
+     colonists have therefore _never obtained title-deeds to the land
+     they have bought_, and there can be little doubt that should the
+     Turks deem it expedient they would entirely deny the right of the
+     Germans to hold their property. Not only do they extend no favour
+     to the colony, though its presence has been most beneficial to the
+     neighbourhood, but the inferior officials, indignant at the
+     attempts of the Germans to obtain justice, without any regard to
+     'the customs of the country' (that is, to bribery), have thrown
+     every obstacle they can devise in the way of the community, both
+     individually and collectively."[61]
+
+The two most successful agricultural enterprises in Palestine are those
+of Bergheim and Sursuk, and as these are often referred to with a view
+to induce Englishmen to embark capital in similar enterprises, a few
+words about each may not be superfluous. Captain Conder, writing with
+full and accurate information, says:--
+
+     "Probably the most successful undertaking of an agricultural kind
+     in Palestine is the farm at Abu Shusheh, belonging to the
+     Bergheims, the principal banking firm in Jerusalem. The lands of
+     Abu Shusheh belong to this family, and include 5,000 acres; a fine
+     spring exists on the east, but in other respects the property is
+     not exceptional. The native inhabitants are employed to till the
+     land, under the supervision of Mr. Bergheim's son; a farmhouse has
+     been built, a pump erected, and various modern improvements have
+     been introduced. The same hindrance is, however, experienced by the
+     Bergheims which has paralyzed all other efforts for the improvement
+     of the land. The difficulties raised by the venal and corrupt
+     under-officials of the Government have been vexatious and
+     incessant, being due to the determination to extort money by some
+     means or other, or else to ruin the enterprise from which they
+     could gain nothing. The Turkish Government recognizes the right of
+     foreigners to hold land, subject to the ordinary laws and taxes;
+     but there is a long step between this abstract principle and the
+     practical encouragement of such undertakings, and nothing is easier
+     than to raise groundless difficulties, _on the subject of title_,
+     or of assessment, in a land where the judges are as corrupt as the
+     rest of the governing body."[62]
+
+More important still is the estate of seventy square miles in the plain
+of Esdraelon, now in the hands of Mr. Sursuk, a wealthy banker at
+Beyrout. Mr. Oliphant gives an account of the enterprise. "The
+investment," he adds, "has turned out eminently successful; indeed, so
+much so, that I found it difficult to credit the accounts of the
+enormous profits which Mr. Sursuk derives from his estate."[63]
+
+From Mr. Oliphant's description, I turn to the excellent Commercial
+Report, written by Vice-Consul Jago, in plain prose, and I find he thus
+speaks of the undertaking:--
+
+     "Some few years ago, the wealthiest native Christian in the
+     country, tempted by the low price of land near Acre offered for
+     sale by the Government, purchased a large tract, containing thirty
+     villages, for L18,000. The revenue accruing to the Government was,
+     prior to the purchase, between LT.1,500 and LT.2,000 per annum,
+     owing to the poverty of the peasants, and consequently little
+     production.
+
+     "Large sums were spent in importing labour from other districts for
+     cultivation, and in providing the peasants with proper means. Under
+     judicious management the speculation paid well, as much as thirty
+     per cent. on capital, besides increasing the taxes paid to the
+     Government to L5,000. The peasantry likewise benefited, being
+     assured of protection and prompt return for their labours. This
+     state of prosperity produced local intrigue and jealousies. Actions
+     of ejectment were brought to which _the government title-deeds
+     proved no bar_. Journeys to Constantinople, and endless special
+     commissions were the result, and it was only after a liberal
+     expenditure of money, time, and labour, that the judicial courts of
+     the country gave a decision, which, it is hoped, has set the matter
+     finally at rest.... In short, a capitalist wishing to employ money
+     in agriculture must be prepared to light his way, as it were, inch
+     by inch, and that, too, with the weapons of the country."[64]
+
+Apparently Mr. Oliphant would have no objection to use the weapons of
+the country. At least he seems ready to base the successful launching of
+his Company on such considerations. Looking out over the province of
+Ajlun, which is a fertile region about forty miles long by twenty-five
+in width, he exclaims: "I feel no moral doubt that L50,000, partly
+expended judiciously in bribes at Constantinople, and partly applied to
+the purchase of land, not belonging to the State, from its present
+proprietors, would purchase the entire province, and could be made to
+return a fabulous interest on the investment."[65]
+
+I need only suggest that where investors embark their capital in
+philanthropic undertakings for "fabulous interest," it might be well if
+they reflected on the character of their proposed security and the means
+used to secure it.
+
+
+III. Tenure of land in Syria and Palestine is regulated by Mohammedan
+law as administered in the Ottoman Empire. That law contemplates land
+under a five-fold classification.
+
+_First._ Crown lands set apart at the time of the conquest as the
+personal share of the Sultan and the Mussulman nation. These crown lands
+were farmed to the highest bidders, and the rent paid for them was known
+as _Miri_. Several changes at different times were introduced with
+respect to the _Miri_, and in 1864 these were superseded by the _Tapoo_
+code, the effect of which was to give titles of possession to those who,
+for ten years previously, had cultivated the crown lands, on condition
+of their paying five per cent. of the value of the land against the
+issue of their title-deeds. Under the _Tapoo_ system the crown lands
+become subject to two fixed taxes--the _Verghoo_, about four per mil. on
+the estimated value of the land; and the _Ushr_ or tithe, which should
+be a tenth part of the produce of the soil.
+
+_Second._ _Wakoof_ lands dedicated to the maintenance of holy places at
+Mecca, or to charitable institutions and sacred sanctuaries.
+
+_Third._ _Mulk_, or freehold property. This is subdivided into four
+categories, which I need not enumerate. Such lands are owned and
+cultivated by private individuals, without payment to the Government.
+The owners of such lands are free to dispose of them as they please, and
+at their deaths they pass to their descendants in accordance with the
+rules of inheritance prescribed by Mohammedan law.
+
+_Fourth._ Waste lands.
+
+_Fifth._ Lands abandoned through non-cultivation.
+
+The above classification has the advantage of being theoretically
+simple, and easily understood by the people; and the different items of
+taxation, as laid down by law, cannot be said to be onerous. The
+following are the chief heads:--
+
+_Verghi._--A rate of four per mil., as stated above.
+
+_Ushr._--A tenth of the produce of the soil. This is sometimes raised to
+12-1/2 per cent., and in the manner in which it is collected it
+sometimes amounts to 20 or 30 per cent.
+
+_Income Tax._--Which amounts to 3 per cent. on the estimated income of
+those engaged in trade.
+
+_Military Exoneration Tax._--Payable by Jews, Christians, and other
+non-Moslems, at the rate of LT.50 for every 182 males of all ages. There
+is a new law limiting this payment to males between the ages of 15 and
+60, but it has not yet come into operation.
+
+_Military Exemption Tax._--Payable by Moslems who are drawn by
+conscription, but wish to escape service, at the rate of LT.50 each.
+
+_Tax on the Registration of Real Property._
+
+_Sheep and Goat Tax_ of sixpence per head (3 piastres).
+
+Besides these there are stamp duties:--auction fees of 2-1/2 per cent.,
+fees on contracts of 2-1/2 per cent., on sale of all animals 2-1/2 per
+cent., on recovery of debts 3 per cent., on transfer of real estate 1
+per cent.; import duties of 8 per cent., export duties of 1 per cent.,
+and a charge of 8 per cent. on all native produce and manufactures when
+carried by sea from one part of the Turkish Empire to another. There are
+also the duties on tobacco, liquors, salt, &c. In addition to these
+Vice-Consul Jago, in his Commercial Report, dated Beyrout, July 11,
+1876, gives a summary of seventeen agricultural burdens, which are
+worthy of the consideration of all who feel disposed to embark in
+agriculture in Syria under its present rulers.
+
+
+IV. European emigrants, on landing in Syria, would find themselves in an
+unhealthy climate. The whole of the first batch of German settlers, and
+a very large number of the American emigrants who preceded them, fell
+victims to the fevers of the country. Captain Conder, referring to the
+difficulties of the German colonists, says:--
+
+     "There are other reasons which militate against the idea of the
+     final success of the Colony. The Syrian climate is not adapted to
+     Europeans, and year by year it must infallibly tell on the Germans,
+     exposed as they are to sun and miasma. It is true that Haifa is,
+     perhaps, the healthiest place in Palestine, yet even here they
+     suffer from fever and dysentery, and if they should attempt to
+     spread inland, they will find their difficulties from climate
+     increase tenfold."[66]
+
+The privations and discomforts of Syrian peasant life would be
+intolerable to European emigrants. The men would work by day under a
+blistering sun, and sleep at night the centre of attraction for
+sand-flies and mosquitoes, and all the other nameless tormentors that
+leap and bite. Mr. Oliphant speaks feelingly of a night spent at Kefr
+Assad:--
+
+     "No sooner had the sounds of day died away, and the family and our
+     servants gone to roost, than a pack of jackals set up that
+     plaintive and mournful wail by which they seem to announce to the
+     world that they are in a starving condition. They came so close to
+     the village that all the dogs in it set up a furious barking. This
+     woke the baby, of whose vocal powers we had been till then unaware.
+     Fleas and mosquitoes innumerable seemed to take advantage of the
+     disturbed state of things generally to make a combined onslaught.
+     Vainly did I thrust my hands into my socks, tie handkerchiefs round
+     my face and neck, and so arrange the rest of my night attire as to
+     leave no opening by which they could crawl in. Our necks and wrists
+     especially seemed circled with rings of fire. Anything like the
+     number and voracity of the fleas of that 'happy village' I have
+     never, during a long and varied intimacy with the insect,
+     experienced."[67]
+
+These experiences were made near the troglodyte village es-Sal; and as
+Mr. Oliphant peeped into the subterranean dwellings and dark caves, with
+a view to his colonization company, he exclaimed,
+
+     "Indeed, there is probably no country in the world where an
+     immigrant population would find such excellent shelter all ready
+     prepared for them, or where they could step into the identical
+     abodes which had been vacated by their occupants at least 1,500
+     years ago, and use the same doors and windows."[68]
+
+It is just possible, however, that emigrants might not care to have
+their necks and wrists circled with rings of fire, and their bodies
+covered with swarms of loathsome insects, for the romantic delights of
+living in underground dens that had not been occupied for 1,500 years.
+
+Mr. Oliphant's scheme only contemplates Jewish emigrants, to whom such
+conditions would not be altogether novel.
+
+     "I should not," he says, "expect men to come from England or
+     France, but from European and Asiatic Turkey itself, as well as
+     from Russia, Galicia, Roumania, Servia, and the Slav countries."
+
+He has, however, his eye on the whole Jewish race throughout the world
+when he says:--
+
+     "As the area of land which I should propose, in the first instance,
+     for colonization would not exceed a million, or, at most, a million
+     and a half acres, it would be hard if, out of nearly 7,000,000 of
+     people attached to it by the tradition of former possession, enough
+     could not be found to subscribe a capital of L1,000,000, or even
+     more, for its purchase and settlement, and if, out of that number,
+     a selection of emigrants could not be made, possessing sufficient
+     capital of their own to make them desirable colonists."[69]
+
+This article is not a review of Mr. Oliphant's interesting book, and
+therefore I shall not follow him into the details of his colonization
+scheme, where he narrows it, first, to Oriental Jews exclusively, and
+second to the elevation of such Jews into petty landlords.
+
+     "It has been objected," he says, "that the Jews are not
+     agriculturists, and that any attempts to develop the agricultural
+     resources of the country through their instrumentality must result
+     in failure. In the first instance, it is rather as landed
+     proprietors than as labourers on the soil, that I should invite
+     them to emigrate into Palestine, where they could lease their own
+     land at high prices to native farmers if they preferred, instead of
+     lending money on crops at 20 or 25 per cent. to the peasants, as
+     they do at present."[70]
+
+This is the point to which Mr. Oliphant's fine enthusiasm dwindles
+down--the floating of a joint-stock company, limited, with one million
+sterling capital, for the purpose of transforming into "landed
+proprietors" a number of Oriental Jews, who would neither have the heart
+to work themselves nor the skill to direct the labour of others. Those
+who have read modern history, or political economy, will not require an
+elaborate exposure of a scheme which aims at setting up in Gilead, under
+the guise of philanthropy, the rack-renting and ornamental landlording
+which have received such severe rebukes in Europe. We refer to the
+general outline of Mr. Oliphant's fascinating scheme, inasmuch as he has
+reduced to practical shape what others vaguely theorize about.
+
+He gives us a map of the proposed colony, connected by railways and
+tram-cars with the outer world. It embraces "the plains of Moab and the
+land of Gilead," from the Jabok to the Annon. I know the country well.
+It is even more beautiful and fertile than Mr. Oliphant describes it to
+be. It is impossible to pass through it without the constant thought of
+what it might be in the hands of an Anglo-Saxon race. Mr. Oliphant was
+struck with the beauty of the girls of Ajlun, one of whom tried in vain
+to remove the vermin from his blankets. Dr. Thomson and I lay on a
+grassy slope, a whole afternoon, at the village of es-Souf, watching
+the children pelting each other with flowers, and we both agreed that we
+had never seen an assemblage of merrier or lovelier children. "I cannot
+make them out," said Dr. Thomson, with unwonted enthusiasm; "they seem
+to be English children."
+
+Supposing the land for the proposed colony were secured, on Mr.
+Oliphant's plan, partly by judicious bribing at Constantinople, and
+partly by buying out the interest of the present proprietors, and that
+the undertaking proved to be the "sound and practical scheme containing
+all the elements of success" which its promoters predict--the very
+success of the colony would expose the colonists to a great and terrible
+danger. Travellers must have noticed that the _fellahin_ cultivate their
+fields with long guns slung over their shoulders, and an armoury of
+pistols and daggers in their belts. Why is this? Because, as the
+proverb, tested by experience, has it--"A Turkish judge may be bribed by
+three eggs, two of them rotten; and a _fellah_ may be murdered for his
+jacket without a button upon it."
+
+Mr. Oliphant came upon Circassians re-occupying deserted villages in the
+midst of the Bedawin, and he takes the fact as "valuable evidence that
+the problem of colonization by a foreign element, so far as the Arabs
+are concerned, is by no means insoluble."[71] He seems to forget that
+the traveller with empty pockets may whistle in the face of the
+highwayman. The Circassians are settling in abandoned villages by the
+wish of the authorities. They have the deep sympathy of all Moslems on
+account of their sufferings. Besides, they have nothing to lose which
+would compensate the Bedawin for the alienation of the Turkish
+Government.
+
+The case would be far different with a rich and prosperous colony of
+foreigners supported by foreign capital.
+
+In his hurried tour beyond Jordan, Mr. Oliphant came upon the Fudl Arabs
+with 2,000 fighting men, and in their midst a colony of 300 Circassians.
+In another place he came on a colony of 3,000 Circassians in the midst
+of the Naim Arabs, who muster 4,000 fighting men. "The Anezeh Arabs, who
+control," he says, "an area of about 40,000 square miles, and who can
+bring over 100,000 horsemen and camel-drivers into the field," would be
+on the borders of the colony, and the Druzes, who are born warriors, and
+who inhabit Jebel-ed-Druze, he places at 50,000. Besides these there are
+the Beni Sukhr, and other local tribes, whose fanaticism and cupidity
+would be moved by the presence of a prosperous colony of foreigners.
+
+On April 12, 1875, Dr. Thomson and I started from Der'a in a
+southwesterly direction over wavy hills covered with splendid wheat, the
+sides of the way ablaze with anemones. As we approached Remthey, we saw
+what in the miragy atmosphere seemed a row of trees fifteen or twenty
+miles long. I had been over the path before, and I was struck with this
+new feature in the landscape. Soon it seemed to us that the line, as far
+as we could see, was in motion, and as we approached closer to it, we
+found that it was composed of camels. We spurred our horses, and soon we
+found ourselves by the side of the great living stream of the Wuld 'Aly
+Arabs moving from the Arabian Desert to the pastures of Jaulan. The
+procession marched six or seven abreast, and in families of from 20 to
+150. The camels had curious baskets fixed on their humps, and in these
+were stowed women and children, and kids and dogs, while cooking
+utensils were hung all round the baskets, and by the sides of their dams
+trotted little baby camels. The stream flowed past silent and orderly,
+with here and there a spearman riding by the side of his family. At
+short intervals flocks of sheep and goats marched parallel with the
+living stream.
+
+A party of Arab horsemen were reclining on a little hill with their
+spears stuck in the ground watching their people pass. We rode up to
+them, and their chief received us with great courtesy, and urged us to
+await the arrival of the cavalry with the Sheikh, to whom I had once
+done a favour which they remembered. We remained about an hour, and
+still the stream flowed past. The Arabs told us they had begun to move
+at an early hour, and would continue on the march for days, and as far
+as we could see, looking north and south, the procession was without
+break or pause. They told us they could bring into the field 100,000
+fighting men, and their people, they said, was "like the sand of the
+sea." Never before or since have I seen such a swarm of human beings--"a
+multitude that no man could number." Any trans-Jordanic colony would
+have to calculate on the proximity of this horde, whose power has never
+been broken, not even by Joshua nor Ibrahim Pasha, and whose rule in
+their own land is supreme in virtue of their resistless might. Even the
+Turkish Government bribe the Arabs in this region to let the Mohammedan
+pilgrims pass to Mecca! How much black-mail would the prosperous colony
+of infidels have to pay for permission to exist in the land of the
+faithful? And supposing arrangements could be made to secure the
+tolerance of the Bedawin, there would still remain the Druzes and
+Circassians, and local sub-tribes and aggrieved _fellahin_, who would
+form combinations to which an agricultural colony could offer no
+effective resistance.
+
+Mr. Oliphant speaks of driving the Arabs "back across the _Hadj_ road,
+where a small cordon of soldiers, posted in the forts which now exist
+upon it, would be sufficient to keep them in check." Turkish soldiers
+would not be the slightest protection to a prosperous colony of
+infidels, nor would a small cordon of any soldiers suffice, should the
+colony ever become a tempting prize.
+
+In the spring of 1874, a small party of us were returning from Palmyra,
+and a few miles beyond Karyetein we passed close by a desperate battle
+in progress between the Giath and Amour Arabs, and a powerful caravan
+proceeding from Baghdad to Damascus. The camels of the caravan were
+formed into a circular rampart, the head of one camel being made fast to
+the next; and from behind this living rampart the hardy villagers, who
+were bringing provisions for their families from beyond the Euphrates,
+defended themselves throughout a long summer day--the sound of the
+battle being distinctly heard by the Turkish garrison at Karyetein. The
+Bedawin galloped round the circle, making a feint here and an attack
+there until the villagers were worn out and their ammunition exhausted.
+Near sunset a wounded camel staggered and fell, and broke the line. The
+circle opened out and became a crescent. Quick as lightning the Bedawin
+rushed in at the breach, the camels fled in panic in all directions, and
+the wiry Arabs with their flashing spears decided the victory in a few
+minutes. I had full details of the fight afterwards from the victors and
+the vanquished. The Bedawins took possession of 120 loads of butter, and
+a large amount of tobacco, dates, Persian carpets, horses, mules, and
+camels, valued at L4,000. All the caravan people, dead and alive, were
+stripped naked in the desert. What did the Bedawin do with 120 loads of
+butter? They had it brought into Damascus and sold publicly. What did
+the Bedawin do with the splendid carpets from the looms of Persia and
+Cashmere? They distributed them among their powerful friends in
+Damascus, in return for efficient protection, and some of the best found
+their way into the gorgeous saloons of those whose duty it was to
+administer justice. One of my friends found three of his camels in the
+hands of the robbers' friends, and though he got several orders from the
+Government for the restoration of his property, he could never get them
+carried out. The above incident, of which I have complete details, may
+be interesting to those who have any idea of entrusting their lives and
+property to the Bedawin hordes and the protecting Turk.
+
+And what is true of the land of Gilead is true of all lands bordering
+the Desert. In the north-east of Syria there is as fine a peasantry as
+is to be found anywhere. They are handsome and courteous, though
+picturesque in rags. They are thrifty and frugal, but penniless and
+starving. They are comparatively truthful and honest, but without credit
+or resources. They have broad acres which only require to be scratched
+and they bring forth sixty-fold; but they cultivate little patches
+surrounded with mud walls and within range of their matchlocks. During
+the greater part of the year these poor people dare not walk over their
+own fields for fear of being stripped of their tattered rags. And yet
+these are the most heavily taxed peasantry in the world. They pay
+_black-mail_ to the Bedawin, who plunder them notwithstanding; and they
+pay taxes to the Turks, who give them no protection. The Bedawin enforce
+their claims by cutting off the ears of any straggling villagers from
+defaulting villages, who fall within their power, and by carrying off
+for ransom a number of village children into the Desert. The Turks
+enforce their claims by imprisoning the Sheikhs of the villages till
+they have paid the uttermost farthing. With protection and fair
+government, the peasantry of Northern Syria would be among the happiest
+in the world. But in their land, what the Turkish caterpillar leaves the
+Bedawy locust devours.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From the foregoing remarks it is evident that the agricultural resources
+of Syria and Palestine are very great, and capable, under good
+government, of being largely developed: that the difficulties
+encountered by those who invest capital in land in Syria and Palestine
+are such as to deter immigrants from embarking in agricultural
+enterprises under Turkish rule in that land: and that immigrants in
+Syria and Palestine would be exposed to great personal dangers, which
+would increase in proportion to the success of their labours.
+
+   WM. WRIGHT.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[56] "The Land of Gilead," p. 295.
+
+[57] Ph[oe]nicia, the Greek [Greek: phoinike], has been by some derived
+from [Greek: phoinix], a palm tree.
+
+[58] Vice-Consul Jago, writing from Damascus, March, 1880, says:--"With
+regard to the property near the Damascus Lakes, it is on the edge of the
+Desert where no authority exists, and therefore exposed to Bedawin
+raids." He summarizes the agricultural products of the neighbourhood of
+Damascus as:--"Wheat, barley, maize (white and yellow), beans, peas,
+lentils, kerane, gelbane, bakie, belbe, fessa, borake (the last seven
+being green crops for cattle food), aniseed, sesame, tobacco, shuma,
+olive, and liquorice root. The fruits are grapes, hazel, walnut, almond,
+pistachio, currant, mulberry, fig, apricot, peach, apple, pear, quince,
+plum, lemon, citron, melon, berries of various kinds, and a few oranges.
+The vegetables are cabbage, potatoes, artichokes, tomatoes, beans, wild
+truffles, cauliflower, egg-plant, celery, cress, mallow, beetroot,
+cucumber, radish, spinach, lettuce, onions, leeks, &c."--_Report_, dated
+Damascus, March 14, 1881. To these might be added numerous other
+products, such as bitumen, soda, salt, hemp, cotton, madder-root, wool,
+&c.
+
+[59] "The Land of Gilead," p. 19.
+
+[60] "Tent Work in Palestine," p. 355.
+
+[61] "Tent Work in Palestine," p. 361.
+
+[62] _Ibid._ p. 372.
+
+[63] "The Land of Gilead," p. 330.
+
+[64] Beyrout, July 11, 1876.
+
+[65] "The Land of Gilead," p. 131.
+
+[66] "Tent Work in Palestine," p. 361.
+
+[67] "The Land of Gilead," p. 146.
+
+[68] _Ibid._ p. 103.
+
+[69] "Land of Gilead," p. 21.
+
+[70] _Ibid._ p. 23.
+
+[71] "The Land of Gilead," p. 255.
+
+
+
+
+THE CONSERVATIVE DILEMMA.
+
+
+All is not as well as it should be with the Conservative party. Just
+when a succession of misfortunes has lowered its credit with the world,
+it is harassed with mutiny in the camp. Both sides have taken the public
+into their confidence. "Two Conservatives" lately figured on a
+distinguished rostrum and retailed their grievances. A month later "Two
+other Conservatives" stood up on the same spot and answered the
+impeachment. These dual appearances are rather puzzling. In the case of
+the first couple it may be that they fixed upon the figure "2" as a neat
+divisor, and while sending one-half of their force to the front kept the
+other half in reserve to defend the rear. This explanation will not hold
+good for the second couple. The party loyalists can hardly have been
+reduced to such insignificant proportions. Why, then, should they have
+hit upon the odd device of delivering their apologetics in pairs? Is
+suspicion so rampant in their ranks that no one man can be trusted? Is
+the drawing up of a reply to the insurgents so ticklish a business that
+two heads are needed for its satisfactory performance? Or are we to see
+in this circumstance merely another sign of the fatal dualism which
+pervades the party, and has already rent Elijah's mantle in twain?
+
+Instead of attempting to solve these mysteries let us turn to the
+indictment. There, at any rate, are certain things set down in black and
+white, and some progress may be made in useful knowledge without any
+desire to be wise above what is written. The manifesto drawn up by the
+"Two Conservatives" is not altogether edifying reading. At a first
+glance it reminds us of a round-robin got up in the servants' hall for
+the purpose of springing a mine upon the steward and housekeeper, or of
+the whisperings sometimes heard in the lower ranks of a mercantile
+establishment where a conviction prevails that nothing but discreet
+promotion will save the firm. Some of the complaints set forth fall far
+beneath this level. They deal with tiffs and slights and rebuffs.
+Services have not been compensated according to the estimate of those
+who rendered them. Good things have been given to the wrong men, while
+modest merit has been left out in the cold. Lord Beaconsfield had, it
+seems, a Figaro in his employ who fed him with judicious doses of
+flattery and ministered to his blameless vices. The Figaro system has,
+we are given to understand, been kept up, and the great men of the party
+take care to live in an atmosphere of adulation. The Dukes meet with
+hard treatment. It is difficult to see how these unhappy beings are to
+give satisfaction. They are faithless to their principles if they stand
+aloof; they do wrong if they come down to scatter their smiles and their
+patronage among the crowd. Their absence looks like treason while their
+presence demoralizes. In both cases they are mischievous. What are they
+to do?
+
+On the whole it is held to be best for the welfare of the party that the
+aristocratic chiefs should forthwith perform the "happy despatch." They
+saved it by their secession from its councils in 1868; they ruined it in
+1874 when they rushed back to claim their share of the spoils. There is
+some truth in the representation. It is not easy to forget the pathetic
+spectacle which Mr. Disraeli presented at the former period. By his
+suppleness and audacity he had forced his party through the crises of a
+revolution which they had denounced beforehand, and the consequences of
+which they contemplated with dismay. Over against their fears there was
+nothing to be put but their leader's assurances that everything would
+come right. They had taken "a leap in the dark," they had staked the
+fortunes of the party on the dice-box, and events were to decide the
+issue. When the blow came Mr. Disraeli's reputation for sagacity fell to
+zero. At last the hollowness of his pretensions was detected, and there
+was no mincing of epithets for the man who had befooled and destroyed a
+great party. The Dukes left him to himself, and, according to our
+present informant, their flight was the harbinger of reviving fortunes.
+The heart of provincial conservatism warmed to its deserted chief. The
+patriotic sentiments of the people began to stir. Constitutional
+associations sprang up in the large towns. The reaction grew apace when
+the party was left face to face with one great man. When in 1874 the
+most sanguine prophecies were fulfilled, the Dukes could not have been
+more surprised if Moses and the Prophets had dropt from the clouds to
+chide their unbelief. They made what amends they could for their former
+incivilities. They gathered with prodigious hum about the great man,
+overwhelmed him with disinterested plaudits, and settled down
+comfortably to the feast which his genius had spread. From that moment,
+so we are assured, decay set in. Aristocratic patronage soon paralyzed
+the rude energies which had won the victory. The Carlton again began to
+pay the bills and pull the strings. Then in due time came the black
+night of defeat, when moon and stars disappeared, and Toryism was
+plunged into a deeper gulf than ever. The lesson is plain. Roll up your
+aristocratic trumpery, and give the party a leader. What it wants is a
+man strong enough to pull it out of the slough and set it on its legs
+again.
+
+The burden of the manifesto of the Two Conservatives is the want of a
+leader, and an exhaustive process of exclusion shows among whom he is
+_not_ to be found. The acting chiefs of the party are made to pass in
+file before us, as the sons of Jesse passed before the prophet Samuel
+when he wished to ascertain which of them was the predestined King of
+Israel. Not this man, nor this, nor this, but is there not yet another?
+Yes, there was one among the sheepfolds who little wotted of the
+greatness in store for him. The David of whom the Conservative Samuels
+are in search can pretend perhaps to no such unconsciousness of his
+mission. A genius for opposition pushes him to the front and flashes in
+speech and print. He is content probably to put up with the leadership
+of the Lower House, assured that, with the Conservative commonalty at
+his back, his talents will soon win for him a complete ascendancy.
+Meanwhile it is proved to demonstration that none of the acting chiefs
+are fit for the post. Sir Richard Cross and Mr. W. H. Smith, "great as
+are many of their qualities, do not entirely possess those that are
+necessary to secure the plenary confidence of a party." Sir Michael
+Hicks-Beach comes nearest the mark, "but, either from patience or
+indolence, he has not seen fit since 1880 to put forward his best
+energies." In Lord George Hamilton and Mr. Stanhope "there lurks great
+promise," but they lack years and experience. "Mr. Lowther is daring,
+but not always fortunate in his daring." They may all stand aside. It is
+clear that none of the six will do. There is Mr. Gibson, but "he is a
+lawyer and an Irishman of the Irish." As for Sir Stafford Northcote, he
+is a respectable man, with a host of respectable qualities, but "he is
+too amiable for his ambition, which is great, and in trying to play a
+double part, that of caution and daring, he is at times taxed beyond his
+strength." Besides, the House of Commons did not choose him. He was
+"chosen for them." There is as yet no active disaffection towards him,
+"but of latent dissatisfaction abundance, and of active loyalty none."
+Was there ever such a beggarly account of empty boxes? Did anybody ever
+see such an array of political numskulls? Not among these at any rate is
+the party to find its leader. We must look for him among those whose
+names have been left out of the enumeration. His blushes are certainly
+unseen, though his fragrance may not be wasted on the desert air.
+
+The double manifesto of the mutineers is remarkable for the
+obliviousness it displays of everything higher than personal and party
+interests. It reads like the minute-book of a Caucus. With a few verbal
+alterations it might pass for a description of the quarrels between the
+"Stalwarts" and the "Half-breeds." When Mr. Gibson befools Lord
+Salisbury over the Arrears Bill the comment is, "What a cry for the
+country!" The Egyptian question suggests a hope that Egypt may deliver
+the Conservatives from their Irish connections and enable them to agree
+upon a leader. The preference shown for county over borough members is
+jotted down as a serious grievance. The use made of social influence
+comes in for a share of lamentation. Here we seem to get within the
+smell of soup, the bustle of evening receptions, and the smiles of
+dowagers. The cares which weigh upon this couple of patriot souls cannot
+be described as august. It is hardly among such petty anxieties that the
+upholders of the Empire and the pilots of the State are bred. The men
+who bemoan such wrongs can scarcely aspire to be the sages and ornaments
+of a legislature that gives laws to a fifth part of the human race. It
+is assuredly not in an outburst of wounded egotism that we should expect
+to find any trace of that noble pride which delights in subordination
+for public ends, and is willing to forget and to be forgotten in common
+services rendered to the nation. If we were not assured that we have
+been conversing for half an hour with two fair specimens of the chivalry
+of the land, we should almost suspect that we had been listening to the
+confidences of a couple of retired but aspiring soap-boilers.
+
+The criticisms of the "Two Conservatives" are not wholly destructive. As
+one fabric collapses, we begin to see the graceful outlines of another,
+for which a top-stone is already prepared. The question of the
+leadership is complicated by the requirements of the two Houses, but
+there is not much doubt as to the direction in which the quivering
+needle will finally point. Notwithstanding the gibes which have been
+flung at the aristocrats of the party, an aristocratic chief is
+necessary to lead an aristocratic assembly, and the only possible
+selection is already made. Lord Cairns stands dangerously near the
+centre of power, but the same may be said of him as of Mr. Gibson, "He
+is a lawyer and an Irishman of the Irish." The noble lord, moreover, is
+objectionable on the spiritual side of his character. To a High
+Churchman he smacks a little of the conventicle, and is given to
+"exercises" at unauthorized times and places. His university escutcheon
+is dim and stained compared with that of Oxford's Chancellor. On the
+whole Lord Cairns can never be a serious rival for the first place among
+the peers of England.
+
+Lord Salisbury is equipped with many of the qualifications that are
+necessary or held to be desirable in a party leader. He is a member of
+the higher aristocracy. He can boast of ancestors who played a
+distinguished part in the politics of Europe three centuries ago. This
+circumstance appeals to the imagination and confers a legitimate
+advantage. He served an apprenticeship in the House of Commons. On
+succeeding to the peerage he did not lose a moment in making his
+influence felt in the Upper House. In one of his earliest speeches he
+startled the peers by telling them that if they did not choose to assert
+their constitutional rights they would consult their dignity by ceasing
+to be a House at all. He has had much experience in State affairs. What
+he did at the India Office and as Foreign Secretary is too well known to
+the world. Lord Salisbury's oratorical gifts are undeniable. He is one
+of a select half-dozen taken from either House who stand first in the
+power of moving a popular assembly. Lord Beaconsfield said that he
+"wanted finish." The remark was more spiteful than true. Lord Salisbury
+could not rival his chief in the neatness and polish of an epigram, but
+just as little could Lord Beaconsfield rival him in the unstudied graces
+of oratory. His speeches have a freedom and a rhythmical flow which
+captivate the hearer. Though he gives full play to his imagination and
+recklessly faces the risks to which an impetuous speaker is exposed, he
+is seldom stilted, and rarely breaks the neck of a sentence. Here,
+perhaps, the favourable side of the catalogue should end. His speeches
+have the great blemish of insolence. They are wanting in geniality, and
+apparently wanting in reflectiveness. They contain too little thought
+and more than enough of gall. Perhaps their cleverness is too obtrusive.
+His hearers are pleased, but they suspect a trick, and levy a discount
+on his argument. The faults of his speeches are his faults as a
+politician. He is headstrong and impulsive. He borrows his ideas from
+his passions, and fancies he is sagacious when he is but following the
+bent of his uppermost desire. He has but little sympathy with modern
+life and but a narrow comprehension of its facts. He is under the spell
+of long-descended traditions, and would prefer, if he could have it so,
+the England of the Tudors to the England of Victoria. Of the people and
+of the spirit which animates them he knows nothing. How should he? Save
+the rustics of Hatfield, he has never seen them, except from a platform.
+His occasional references to such a subject as English Nonconformity
+shows the depth of his benightedness; and his ignorance, the voluntary
+and superb ignorance of the aristocrat and the High Churchman, is the
+source of many of his blunders. Knowing nothing of the ground in front,
+he forces a leap and comes down in the ditch, and his friends with him.
+
+Lord Salisbury is indispensable, and as nothing will cure him of his
+faults the only plan is to keep him out of the path of temptation. The
+way to do this, we are told, is to fill the front bench in the House of
+Commons with the right sort of men. Thus his qualifications for the
+leadership depend upon the choice which may be made of a leader for the
+Lower House. Everything points to that as the one crucial business. The
+"Two Conservatives" seem to have a special grudge against Mr. Gibson,
+perhaps because, unlike Sir Stafford Northcote, he is not too amiable
+for his ambition, and has lately been making a formidable bid for power.
+Hence we are told how absurd it is to think for a moment of Mr. Gibson.
+He is a member for the University of Dublin and might just as well be a
+member of the House of Keys or of the States of Jersey. Lord Salisbury
+would never have made such a humiliating display over the Arrears Bill
+if he had not been misled by Mr. Gibson. Hence it is necessary to keep
+the hon. and learned gentleman in the background if the party is not to
+be doomed to endless blunders, and driven, sheer beyond the range of
+English sympathies.
+
+The attack on Sir Stafford Northcote is conducted with greater caution,
+but with the same fell design. We are told that Lord Salisbury's
+selection for the leadership on Lord Beaconsfield's death was opposed by
+a near relative of Sir Stafford's, and lost by one vote. Then comes the
+suggestion that Mr. Disraeli would not have left the House of Commons
+for the Upper House if he had not believed that Mr. Gladstone had
+finally retired from the leadership of the Opposition. In other words,
+had he foreseen the course of events he would not have entrusted the
+leadership of the House to Sir Stafford Northcote. There is a vicious
+hit in the picture of Sir Stafford sitting between Mr. W. H. Smith and
+Mr. Lowther, yielding by turns to the caution of the one and the daring
+of the other, and showing himself unequal to the double part. Impartial
+observers will, perhaps, admit that Sir Stafford Northcote's chief fault
+is a want of backbone. He has not enough of confidence in himself. He
+would be a better politician if he were not so good a man. He needs to
+be armed either with the power of kicking out, or with imperturbable
+composure. This latter is the more useful and more dignified endowment,
+but it springs from a sense of self-sufficiency which fails him. If he
+had but the gift of epigram he might escape from his tormentors. The
+plague of it is that he never succeeds except when he reasons like a man
+of sense, and weapons forged on this anvil are too blunt to pierce the
+thick hide of impudence.
+
+No evil has befallen Sir Stafford Northcote but such as is common to
+men. It seems but the other day when Lord Robert Cecil was playing the
+same freaks that Lord Randolph Churchill is playing now. Our friend
+Fluellen would perhaps say, "the situations, look you, is both alike."
+Either of the noble names would pass for the other if they were written
+with initials and dashes in eighteenth century style. In those days the
+late Lord Derby was the Conservative chief, and Mr. Disraeli led the
+Opposition in the Commons as his lieutenant. This arrangement nettled
+the young blood of the Conservative _noblesse_. Lord Robert Cecil's
+outlook in the world was not then what it afterwards became. He was a
+younger son with a career to make for himself. Ambition can supply
+spurs, so can prudence, so can necessity, and so can all three combined.
+The younger son of a great house enters upon political life at an
+enormous advantage over humbler rivals. If there is any brilliancy about
+him his fortune is made. Lord Robert Cecil's influence was sufficient to
+produce a succession of small insurrectionary earthquakes on the
+Opposition benches. Old members from the shires nudged each other in
+their bucolic way and asked what was the matter, learning with puzzled
+amusement that there were some who did not think it quite right for the
+gentlemen of England to be led by a Semitic adventurer. But the Semitic
+adventurer had the gifts of his race. He was primed to the throat with
+contempt and scorn, too cold and measured withal for the slightest show
+of insolence. As each hurly-burly ended and the dust settled, he was
+found sitting where he always meant to sit, just as if nothing had
+happened, with the same impassive look and the same indomitable calm. He
+had one great advantage external to himself. He knew that he could place
+unbounded confidence in the loyalty of his chief in the Upper House, and
+so long as Lord Derby stood by him the insurgent school-boys on the
+back-benches could do him no harm. Perhaps Sir Stafford Northcote
+cannot count upon the same support, but then his own resources are
+greater, if he did but know it.
+
+The truth is that Sir Stafford Northcote represents the only type of
+Conservatism that can survive in the present state of political thought
+in England. It is not a brilliant type, but that is the fault of
+history. Enough that it may be a useful one. Toryism has undergone a
+process of inverse development which resembles decay, but which is
+merely an accommodation to the existing conditions of life and health.
+The figments which used to furnish it with sustenance are dead. The
+divine right of kings, which nourished as a sentiment long after it was
+disowned by the laws, has at last gone spark out. The divine rights of
+the Church have followed suit. The legal abuses which were clung to as a
+symbol of the unchangeableness of English institutions are being swept
+away. The monopoly of political power which gave the right of governing
+the realm as a perquisite to a few patrician families has been broken
+down. The compromise which transferred the old privileges of the
+aristocracy to the middle classes has had to be abandoned. The
+"advancing tide of democracy" at which men looked through a telescope
+twenty years ago, wondering at what comparatively remote period it would
+reach our shores, has already reached us, and the waters are still
+rising. The superstitions formerly attaching to the possession of land,
+to hereditary descent, to ancestral titles, to the feudal pretensions of
+the squirearchy, are all dissipating into thin air. If it is not yet
+proved whether science is a democratic power, at any rate it asserts the
+predominance of natural laws, and at their fiat artificial distinctions
+must tend to disappear.
+
+In such a state of things what part is left for Conservatism to play?
+Mr. Disraeli asked and answered the same question when he began his
+witches' dance. What have you to conserve? Nothing! The answer is not
+true. There is much that may be conserved for a long time to come, and
+when it can no longer be conserved in its present shape something will
+have to be said as to the altered form it shall assume. One thing is
+certain. Conservatism cannot emancipate itself from the conditions of
+the age. It may indeed turn hermit and shut itself up in parsonages and
+manor-houses, but if it is still to be a political power it can only
+plan and achieve what is possible. It accepts, and cannot but accept,
+the law of progress as the rule of legislation, and the only arbiter to
+whom it can appeal is the national will. But you may advance slowly or
+rapidly, you may resort to modifications and compromises instead of
+sweeping things bodily away. In establishing a preference on these
+questions there is abundant room for popular advocacy. The people are
+not swayed by pure reason. They are actuated to a great extent by their
+prejudices and their passions. They must be taken as they are, and
+recent experience shows that it is difficult to say beforehand what and
+how much may not be made out of them. Unorganized groups of men are so
+helpless, oratory has so much power, the small vices of the mind have so
+strong a tendency to pass into politics, that a wide field will long be
+open to propagandists of every kind. It sometimes seems as if the
+obstacles to be overcome might be too great for the reformers, and that
+the "children of light" must adjourn their efforts till the millennium
+is a little nearer. It is the spread of education and the silent working
+of intellectual influences springing from the higher knowledge of the
+age that puts the better chances on their side. But Conservatism has its
+chances too, only it must not frighten the people with antiquated
+nonsense. It must fall in with current ideas. It must set up on the
+whole similar aims to those of its opponents, merely asking a preference
+for other methods. Above all, it must be modest and sober and give up
+bounce and slap-dash. The people are becoming more serious. They reason
+more on politics and with better lights; a sense of power teaches them
+self-respect, and they resent clap-trap. Perhaps I ought to ask pardon
+for saying so, but they can see through a merely clever man, like Lord
+Salisbury. A Liberal would find Sir Stafford Northcote a more formidable
+antagonist. He might be more eloquent, but eloquence is not everything.
+A gentle persuasiveness, even with a spice of puzzledom in it, will go
+further in the end. The Conservative mutineers know not what they are
+doing when they try to demolish this type of Conservatism. Or perhaps
+they do know, but are bent upon objects which, from a personal point of
+view, are attended with compensations. But the future of Conservatism
+does not rest with them unless they change their ideas and manners. The
+staying power and the fitness of things are on the side of those whom,
+with the ribald audacity of youth, they deride as slow-coaches.
+
+The "Two Conservatives" are not prepared to accept this humble _role_.
+They meditate something heroic. They say that "if the Conservative party
+is to continue to exist as a power in the State it must become a popular
+party;" "that the days are past when an exclusive class, however great
+its ability, wealth, and energy, can command a majority in the
+electorate." "The liberties and interests of the people at large," they
+say, "are the only things which it is possible now to conserve: the
+rights of property, the Established Church, the House of Lords, and the
+Crown itself, must be defended on the ground that they are institutions
+necessary or useful to the preservation of civil and religious freedom,
+and can be maintained only so far as the people take this view of their
+subsistence." These are the principles of democracy. It is here laid
+down that the people are the only legitimate court of appeal on
+political questions, and that the decision rests, and ought to rest,
+with the numerical majority. Before this court the most venerable
+institutions of the realm may be brought to have their merits sifted,
+and an adverse verdict is to be followed by a writ of execution. The
+only test by which they are to be judged is their utility. If they
+fail to stand it they are to be voted nuisances. The standard of utility
+is not to be the interests or the supposed rights of any person or
+class, but the interests of the whole people. The people themselves are
+to decide what is meant by their liberties, how far they extend, and
+what other interests shall be superadded in making out the standard
+towards which our institutions shall approximate.
+
+If these are the principles of Neo-conservatism, our case is made out
+with a superfluity of proof. Of course there is a pretence of acting on
+these principles already. When a measure is before Parliament it is
+assumed that the sole issue in dispute is its utility. The Conservative
+debater recognizes the decisiveness of this test just as freely as his
+opponents. But these principles have not been openly avowed by the
+Conservatives. The "hypocrisy" with which Mr. Disraeli taunted them
+still flourishes in the form of amiable prepossessions. A vast mass of
+mystic and traditional lumber still enters into the foundations of
+Conservatism, and if all this "wood, hay, and stubble" were to be burnt
+up it would fare ill with the frail fabric overhead. The practical
+policy of Conservatism would not alter, and could not be altered much,
+but its pretensions would have to be pitched in a lower key, and the
+excessive modesty of the part which alone remains to it in the politics
+of the future would be put beyond dispute.
+
+It would be interesting to see this theory of Conservatism, quietly
+admitted though it be into the working details of legislation, hawked
+for acceptance among the Opposition benches, and note the result. What
+is this new creed of yours? we can fancy the hon. and gallant member for
+Loamshire ejaculating. That there must be no class influence in
+politics? That any half-dozen hinds on my estate are as good as so many
+dukes? That the will of the people is the supreme political tribunal?
+That if a majority at the polls bid us abolish the Church and toss the
+Crown into the gutter we are forthwith to be their most obedient
+servants? And you tell me that I can profess this horrible creed without
+ceasing to be a Tory! Before I could with a spark of honesty so much as
+parley with it I should have to crave a seat among the red-hot gentlemen
+yonder below the gangway. And the hon. and gallant member would only say
+the truth. Privilege is the mint mark of Toryism, exclusiveness is its
+life and soul. The doctrine of equal rights must be in everlasting
+repugnance to it. Toryism is the political expression of feudalized
+society, with lords and squires at the top, subservient dependants
+half-way down, and a mass of brutalized serfs at the bottom. It has been
+comparatively humanized by modern influences, but nothing can change the
+bent of its genius. With privilege vested interests of all sorts enter
+into ready fellowship. All those good citizens who have reason to
+suspect that if a public inquest sat upon them the verdict would not be
+favourable hasten to edge themselves in as closely as possible towards
+the privileged circle. The village rector, who does his duty with all
+the conscientiousness of a beneficed Christian, but who prizes his glebe
+and tithe, rushes to Cambridge to swell the majority for Mr. Raikes.
+Gentlemen of the long robe who make politics a vocation gravitate for
+some reason or other towards Liberalism; but the lower branch of the
+profession displays an opposite tendency. The county lawyer, who makes
+two-thirds of his income out of the mysteries of conveyancing, has
+reason to dislike such things as the registration of titles, and the
+transfer of estates by a few sentences extracted from a public record.
+The licensed victuallers, tens of thousands strong and with more than a
+hundred millions of invested capital, dread the change which would give
+them a quiet Sunday in return for a seventh of their profits. The
+strength of Toryism lies in this phalanx of vested interests and social
+privileges. The golden chain reaches from squire to Boniface, and still
+lower in the social scale, wherever some snug little peculium is found
+to nestle. The principles of Neo-Conservatism would rend the structure
+from top to bottom. The doctrine that the solution of all our political
+problems and the fate of all our institutions are simply an affair of
+numerical majorities at the ballot-box, and that the interests of the
+people are the sole end of legislation, is enough of itself to smash the
+party to atoms.
+
+All sensible politicians admit that if the time should come when a large
+majority of the people are adverse to monarchical institutions it will
+be vain to think of maintaining them by force. It may be added that
+sensible politicians seldom discuss such questions. They have too much
+present work on hand to trouble themselves about the remote and the
+unknown. "What thy hand findeth to do" is their motto, and out of the
+faithful achievements of to-day will the better future spring.
+Nevertheless bare possibilities sometimes present themselves as
+conundrums to be unravelled, and to the conundrum in question there is
+no second answer. But it is one thing to quietly accept a proposition
+and then let it drop out of sight; it is another to run it up to the top
+of the flag-staff as the symbol of a great party. This is what the
+"Neo-conservatives" propose to do with their recent discovery. An
+opinion of the Crown's utility is to determine whether it shall be
+preserved or destroyed. When the majority of the people cry "Away with
+it," away it is to go. As soon as the popular fiat is announced, the
+Sovereign will depart from Windsor, the Life Guards will present arms to
+the President of the Republic, and in the twinkling of an eye, as the
+result of a contested election, the Monarchy of England is to be
+decorously carried to the tomb. This is the doctrine which Tory lords
+and squires are asked to proclaim with sound of trumpet as the
+corner-stone of their political creed. "Only so far as the people take
+this view of its subsistence"--this is to be the Tory patent for the
+"subsistence" of the Crown. Rather different this from the old cry:--
+
+     "Ere the King's Crown go down there are crowns to be broke."
+
+It is true that the peers no longer wear coats of mail, or lead their
+vassals to the field of battle. Of most of them it is hardly
+disrespectful to suppose that on critical occasions they would prefer
+the rear of the army to the van. But the creed is not quite extinct that
+there are things worth fighting for, and that among them are the
+Monarchy of England and the rights of the Crown. For practical purposes,
+perhaps, the creed is obsolete, but it lives in the imagination, and the
+sentiments which spring from it are part of the cement of Toryism. The
+solemn abjuration which is now proposed in the name of Neo-conservatism
+resembles a charge of dynamite.
+
+But in abandoning Tory principles the leaders of the new movement hope
+perhaps to drive a roaring trade by defending Tory institutions. They
+will say that they have been obliged to shift their ground, but that
+they hope to work with better results from their new position. The
+business of the party is to prevail upon Household Suffrage to accept
+the survivals of feudalism, and a verdict in the new court of appeal
+that shall ratify the old creed. It is a creditable enterprise. Will it
+succeed? It seems but too likely that the efforts contemplated will only
+serve to weaken the institutions they are meant to defend, and that
+whatever is practicable or desirable in the objects aimed at will be
+secured most easily and most effectually by the Liberal party.
+
+Among the political institutions of an old country there are some which
+certainly would not be set up if the past were obliterated, and the
+nation were beginning afresh. They were suitable to the times in which
+they originated, but they are out of harmony with the tendencies of the
+present day. Perhaps they do some good; at any rate they do not do much
+harm, and the people tolerate them for the sake of old associations.
+From this point of view a great deal may be said in their behalf. They
+make visible the continuity of our national existence, they connect us
+with a distant and romantic past, they lend to the State something of
+dignity and poetic charm. Institutions of this sort may be held in
+veneration by those who can trace them to their origin, and see them in
+perspective from the beginning. But there is one test they will not
+stand. They will not pass unscathed through the crucible of modern
+criticism. They are disfigured by anomalies, they shelter many abuses,
+they involve an expenditure of public money out of proportion to the
+services rendered in return, they consecrate a privileged descent, in
+the transmission of property they violate the rules of natural equity,
+while the principles on which they rest need only to be developed and
+applied with logical consistency to overthrow the fabric of political
+freedom. The best service that can be rendered to such institutions is
+to say as little as possible about them. A wise friend will not utter a
+word in their defence unless they are assailed, and the ground selected
+for defence will then be carefully limited to the dimensions of the
+attack. The next best service will be to remove from them as occasion
+offers all unsightly excrescences, to put an end to any anomaly which is
+beginning to excite remark, and to amend any faults of mechanism which
+are likely to produce a jar. Such a policy of discriminating reserve may
+lengthen out their existence indefinitely. But to force them to the
+front, to exalt them as the ripest product of political wisdom, to hold
+them forth as necessary to the maintenance of the civil and religious
+liberties of the people,--this can only be the work of designing
+adversaries or of blundering friends. As a basis of party action it
+would be like sand. It would be levelled by the mocking tides of popular
+criticism.
+
+The programme of the "Two Conservatives" begins with a grand item, the
+conservation of the liberties of the people. But why "conserve?" Why not
+extend and advance them? Why should the present stage in the historical
+growth of our liberties be selected as the point at which conservation
+becomes a duty? Would not the party which undertakes the task to-day be
+better pleased if there were fewer of them to conserve? The Tories have
+always been adepts at conservation, but the things they have been most
+willing to conserve were not our liberties but the restrictions put upon
+our liberties. Since the liberties now proposed to be conserved are
+assumed to be threatened by the Liberals, they must be liberties of a
+special sort, such as liberty to spread infection, liberty to dispense
+with vaccination, liberty to send uninspected ships to sea, to keep
+children away from school, or to send them out at any age to work in the
+fields, the factory, or the streets. "Personal rights" have good radical
+sponsors in the hon. members for Stockport and Leicester. Perhaps
+Parliament as a whole is the best sponsor. The Neo-conservative
+programme should tell us what is meant by the liberties of the people.
+The absence of definition may perhaps cover an imposture.
+
+The next object of Neo-conservative devotion is the maintenance of the
+rights of property. Those rights are of no private interpretation, and
+belong to sociology rather than to politics. Every man is interested in
+them who has anything to lose, or who has a chance of acquiring
+anything. Hence they cannot be claimed as an appanage of Toryism. They
+are placed under the common championship of all parties. But the
+exclusive claim set up must have some meaning. The rights of property
+intended may perhaps be the rights of property as understood by the
+landlords, in which sense they may include a right to the property of
+other people; or as understood by the association of which Lord Elcho is
+president, in which sense they stand in opposition to the rights of the
+public. We know what is meant by the rights of landed proprietors, of
+railway corporations, of publicans, of property owners, of shipowners,
+of pawnbrokers and of corporate bodies, such as the guilds of the city
+of London. They represent the pretensions of these classes to have their
+interests preferred to those of the community. It is a case of
+prescription against equity, of the license assumed by special callings
+against the checks and guarantees which Parliament has found it
+necessary to impose for the general welfare. This is a field in which
+Neo-conservatism can reap no harvest. It will be vain to tell the
+working man who is the owner of the house in which he lives, that his
+rights are in the same boat with the right of London companies to
+squander or misapply the wealth which has descended to them from the
+Middle Ages. It will be useless to enter an appeal before the tribunal
+of public opinion in defence of such rights as these on the pretence
+that they are the rights of property. The unsophisticated reason of the
+constituencies will resent the assumption as an attempted fraud.
+
+The political institutions which are to be set forth as necessary to the
+maintenance of the civil and religious liberties of the people are the
+Established Church, the House of Lords, and the Crown. Of the Crown we
+have already spoken. It is the least vulnerable of the three, and for
+this reason it is the least fitted to furnish a party cry. The strength
+of the Crown resides in its enormous historical _prestige_, and in the
+constitutional device, old as the monarchy in principle, but modern in
+its machinery, by which it is removed from the sphere of responsibility
+and therefore from party assault. The Crown need not be defended for it
+is not assailed. If it were assailed there are sufficient grounds for an
+adequate, perhaps a triumphant, defence. But in mere truth it would be
+difficult to defend it on the special ground that it is necessary to the
+maintenance of our civil and religious liberties. Everybody knows that
+these liberties were won in despite of the Crown, and in opposition to
+its alleged prerogatives. We had to send a dynasty adrift before we
+could regard our liberties as moderately secure. No greater disservice
+can be done to any institution than to advance exaggerated or
+ill-founded pretensions on its behalf, and this is what Neo-conservatism
+proposes to do for the Crown. It will be well to keep this institution
+off the hustings. To utilize it for party purposes seems like an
+insidious form of treason. The Established Church is fairer game, but
+absolutely worthless as a means of raising the wind for a forlorn party.
+An institution which needs all the support it can get has none to share
+with companions in distress. The Church may have a larger hold upon a
+portion of the middle classes than it had thirty years ago, but the
+working classes are separated from it by a wider gulf. Many who attend
+its services and call themselves Churchmen are utterly indifferent to
+its political fate. It is preposterous to represent the Established
+Church as necessary to the maintenance of civil and religious freedom.
+In the course of her history she has been the unrelenting foe of both,
+and we have no more of either than she could help our having. The want
+of disciplinary powers prevents her from interfering with the belief,
+or, except in grave cases, with the moral conduct of her members, but
+the paralysis of the authority necessary for internal discipline is not
+the same thing as religious freedom. The bondage of the Church is not
+the liberty of the State. Disestablishment has not yet come within the
+range of practical politics, but if a popular statesman felt it his duty
+to bring the question fairly before the electorate, it is at least
+doubtful whether the verdict would not be hostile to the Church. No
+doubt need be entertained as to the result of such an appeal in the case
+of the House of Lords. The constitution of the House as an assembly of
+hereditary legislators is admitted to be indefensible. Its theoretic
+prerogatives are tolerated only on the understanding that they shall
+never be exerted. It exists by virtue of habit and indifference, aided
+by a conviction of its powerlessness. As a decorative institution there
+is no great eagerness to pull it down, but whenever the House forgets
+that its functions are ornamental, and commits itself to a serious issue
+with the Commons, its last hour will be at hand. The step most likely to
+precipitate its doom would be for the Tory party to glorify it as the
+palladium of our liberties, and try to get up popular enthusiasm on its
+behalf. The House of Lords would not long survive that treacherous
+homage. It would be beaten in one campaign.
+
+No: from whatever point of view we consider the question, it is plain
+that the attempt to reconstruct the Tory party on a Democratic basis
+cannot succeed. The open avowal of such an aim would deprive Toryism of
+all backbone and reduce it to the condition of a moribund jelly-fish. It
+is not given to any creature to change its nature and yet continue to
+discharge its old functions. It is true that Toryism in order to get on
+at all with the present age is obliged occasionally to act on Liberal
+principles. The device gives no offence so long as it is adopted
+quietly, and if suspicions are awakened a few heart-stirring speeches in
+the old orthodox vein suffice to allay them. A formal repudiation of old
+ideas is quite another thing. Just as Utopian is the project of
+defending Tory institutions on Democratic principles. There are two
+arsenals from which political combatants may choose their weapons, the
+historical and the scientific. It is from the former that the champion
+equips himself who offers battle on behalf of institutions that have
+descended to us from hoar antiquity. Weapons taken from the latter are
+unfit for such a service. Every blow would recoil upon the institution
+which it was the champion's aim to defend. To abandon the Established
+Church, the House of Lords, and the Crown to the uncovenanted mercies of
+modern political criticism is a rash experiment. The hope which sees in
+such an experiment a fresh lease of life and new chances of ascendency
+for Toryism is absurd.
+
+Yet there is, and always will be, room for a Conservative party in
+English politics, only it must move along the historic lines, and not
+needlessly renounce its old watchwords. We need two brooms to keep our
+constitutional mansion in a tidy state, one in use, the other undergoing
+repairs, or put in pickle, and ready to be brought in when wanted.
+Government by party requires the existence of two parties, and demand is
+apt to generate supply. It is not necessary that the two parties should
+be separated by an impassable gulf. It is only necessary that materials
+for two separate connections should be provided, and in this emergency
+Nature does much to help us. There are opposite moods of mind in
+politics as in literature and art; there are antithetical differences of
+intellect and temperament to be found among men of all countries and all
+times; there is the standing opposition between what is and what ought
+to be, between the actual and the ideal, between the desire of the poor
+human wayfarer to sit down and rest, and the curiosity which ever lures
+him on. Possession and the desire to possess, divine contentment and
+still diviner discontent, self-centreing reflectiveness and impulses
+whose proper object is the welfare of mankind,--here are agencies which
+play their part in politics as well as in social life. These
+multifarious forces tend to range themselves on opposite sides, the
+sympathetic in each class readily finding out their kinsmen in the rest.
+With such materials to work upon, a Conservatism which chooses to follow
+the ordinary course of things can never be defunct. Extinction can only
+come from an endeavour after some monstrous birth against which both
+Nature and history have pronounced their ban.
+
+   HENRY DUNCKLEY.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Contemporary Review, January 1883, by Various
+
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