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diff --git a/39459.txt b/39459.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..db71da0 --- /dev/null +++ b/39459.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9771 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October +1879, 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/license + + +Title: The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October 1879 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: April 16, 2012 [EBook #39459] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, OCTOBER 1879 *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Nigel Blower and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's Notes: + +The first part of this volume (September 1879) was produced as Project +Gutenberg Ebook #30048. The relevant part of the table of contents has +been extracted from that document, and a brief title page added. + +_Italic words_ have been enclosed in underscores. Greek letters have +been transliterated and enclosed in equals signs, e.g. =psyche=. + +As the oe ligature cannot be included in this format, it has been +replaced with the separate letters, e.g. "Phoenician". Also note that on +page 247, the original text shows a breve above the letter "e" in the +Persian word for desert, "meru". + +A few minor typographical errors have been silently corrected. Some +inconsistent hyphenation and accents have been retained.] + + + + + THE + CONTEMPORARY + REVIEW + + VOLUME XXXVI. OCTOBER, 1879 + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + OCTOBER, 1879. + PAGE + India and Afghanistan. By Lieut.-Colonel R. D. Osborn 193 + + Critical Idealism in France. By Paul Janet 212 + + On the Moral Limits of Beneficial Commerce. By Francis W. Newman 232 + + The Myths of the Sea and the River of Death. By C. F. Keary 243 + + Mr. Macvey Napier and the Edinburgh Reviewers. By Matthew Browne 263 + + The Supreme God in the Indo-European Mythology. By James + Darmesteter 274 + + Lazarus Appeals to Dives. By Henry J. Miller 290 + + The Forms and Colours of Living Creatures. By Professor St. + George Mivart 313 + + Contemporary Life and Thought in Turkey. By an Eastern Statesman 334 + + Contemporary Books:-- + + I. History and Literature of the East, under the Direction + of Professor E. H. Palmer 350 + + II. Classical Literature, under the Direction of Rev. + Prebendary J. Davies 359 + + III. Essays, Novels, Poetry, &c.under the Direction of + Matthew Browne 366 + + + + +INDIA AND AFGHANISTAN. + + +When the news arrived that Major Cavagnari and his companions had fallen +victims to the fury of the Kabul populace, the _Daily Telegraph_ "called +aloud, before Heaven, for a punishment which should ring from end to end +of the Continent of Asia." It is a pity that so much fine and eloquent +indignation should be expended on the Afghans instead of those who are +truly responsible for the catastrophe which has evoked it. If ever there +was a future event which might be predicted with absolute certainty, it +was that Major Cavagnari and his companions would perish precisely as +they have done. Twice, within forty years, have we invaded Afghanistan, +although on both occasions we have frankly avowed that with the +inhabitants of the country we had no cause of quarrel whatever. +Nevertheless, we carried fire and sword wherever we went, cutting down +their fruit trees, burning their villages, and leaving their women and +children shelterless under a winter sky. What could we expect as the +fruit of such acts, except that our victims--knowing, as we did, that +they were revengeful, passionate, and too ignorant to forecast the +consequences of their actions--should retaliate in kind the moment that +they had the opportunity? The first invasion of Afghanistan is now known +by general consent as "the iniquitous war;" but it is open to question +if even that war was so elaborately contrived, or so long laboured for +as this--the first act of which has terminated in the slaughter of Major +Cavagnari and his escort. + +The circumstances which preceded it are briefly these. For eighteen +months Lord Lytton had attempted, by alternate threats and cajolery, to +prevail upon the Ameer Shere Ali to make a surrender of his +independence, and become a vassal of the Indian Empire. These attempts +having failed, war was declared against him on the pretence that he had +insulted us before all Asia by declining to receive a "friendly" mission +sent by the Indian Government. This mission was _not_ friendly. It was +notorious throughout India that it would go to Kabul charged with an +_ultimatum_ which offered the Ameer the choice of war, or the sacrifice +of his independence. But even this mission the Ameer never refused to +receive--nay, it is certain that he would have received it if the +opportunity had been given to him, so great was the value he attached to +English friendship. But what the Government of India desired was not the +reception of the mission, but a pretext for making war upon the Ameer. +It knew that the policy which it meditated in Afghanistan would so +completely destroy the sovereignty of the Ameer, that it was impossible +he should agree to it. At the same time, it was impossible to declare +war against an independent prince, simply because he declined to divest +himself of his independence. The war must, somehow or another, be made +to appear as if it were due to some act of the Ameer. Consequently, +almost from the hour in which the announcement was made that the mission +was to start, the Ameer was plied with insults and menaces which, if +they were not intended to drive him to some act of overt hostility, had +no purpose at all. And when these proved unavailing, Lord Lytton +directed Sir Neville Chamberlain to attempt to force his way through the +Khyber Pass, without waiting for the permission of the Ameer. In the +most courteous manner the Afghan officer, in command at the Khyber, +intimated to the mission that, without the sanction of his master, it +was impossible to allow it to proceed; and this refusal was instantly +telegraphed to England as a deliberate insult which must be wiped out in +blood. From first to last, so far as his conduct towards us is +concerned, the Ameer was absolutely blameless. During his entire reign +his consistent endeavour had been to draw closer the ties of amity +between himself and us. The Russian mission had forced its way to Kabul, +despite of all his endeavours to hinder its advance; and there can be no +question that but for the previous action of Lord Lytton that mission +would never have come to Afghanistan. But eighteen months before that +occurrence Lord Lytton had withdrawn our Native Agent from the Court of +the Ameer. This had been done as a mark of displeasure, and a proof that +no alliance of any kind existed between the two States. This proceeding +Lord Lytton followed up by the occupation of Quetta, although he was +well aware that such an occupation would be interpreted--and rightly--by +the Ameer, as a menace to his independence, and the harbinger of war. So +it came about that when the Russian mission knocked for admission at the +doors of his capital, the Ameer found himself on the one side threatened +by Russia, and on the other abandoned and threatened by Lord Lytton. +Lord Lytton, in point of fact, is as directly responsible for the entry +of the Russian mission to Kabul as he is for the dispatch of his own. + +But if Lord Lytton's treatment of the Ameer was cruel and ungenerous, +criminal, at least to an equal extent, was his treatment of the people +over whom he ruled. At that time there was an appalling amount of +suffering all over India. The country had been ravaged by a series of +famines. In the Punjab prices were abnormally high. The North-West +Provinces were still unrecovered from a dearth, during which the +Government of India had exhibited a rapacity and indifference to human +suffering which would, with difficulty, be credited in England. Terrible +as is the mortality resulting from a famine in India, the death-roll +represents but a tenth part of the suffering which such visitations +inflict. For every human being that dies, ten are left, without money +and without physical strength, to struggle feebly for existence on the +margin of the grave. They cannot give a fair day's work for a fair day's +wage. They may reckon themselves fortunate if their enfeebled powers can +earn just sufficient to keep body and soul together. For all these +wretched beings--and last year in Upper India they numbered many +millions--the smallest rise of price in the necessities of life means +death from hunger. A war, therefore, with the enormous rise of prices +which it would immediately produce, was nothing less than a sentence of +torture and death passed upon tens of thousands of our own subjects. +Undeterred, however, by the warnings of experience, deaf to +considerations of humanity and justice, the Government of India started +on its wild-goose chase after a "Scientific Frontier." The victims whom +it trampled to death in this mad chase have never been numbered--they +never can be numbered. The Afghans who died in defence of their village +homes form but a hundredth part of them. The residue was composed of our +own mute and uncomplaining subjects. + +A war thus wantonly commenced resulted in a failure as ignominious as it +deserved. Long before the Treaty of Gundamuck the ambitious policy of +the Government had become an object of contempt and ridicule all over +India. It was known that Lord Lytton and his advisers were at their +wit's end to discover something which might be made to do duty as a +"Scientific Frontier," and so bring a misjudged enterprise to a +conclusion. But it is the peculiarity of our Ministers to believe that +they can arrest the inexorable sequence of cause and effect by a +dexterous manipulation of the faculty of speech. Lord Beaconsfield +appears to have imparted to his colleagues his own belief in the +omnipotence of phrases to remove mountains, and make rough places +smooth. So the Treaty of Gundamuck was no sooner signed than Ministers +and Ministerial journals raised a great hymn of triumph over the +wondrous things which they had wrought in Afghanistan. The one solid +national advantage to be derived from the sacrifice of Cavagnari and his +comrades, is that this method of treating facts will have to be laid +aside. Lord Lytton is not likely to appeal again to his "carefully +verified facts" as a proof that he is a much wiser man than Lord +Lawrence. Lord Cranbrook will not again express his conviction that the +"objections (to an English Resident) expressed by Shere Ali will be +shown to have been without substantial foundation." Yakoub Khan and his +five attendants are all that remain of that "strong, friendly, and +independent Afghanistan" which Mr. Stanhope informed the House of +Commons had been created by the war. The anguished cry of the _Daily +Telegraph_ "for a punishment which shall ring from end to end of the +Continent of Asia" is the latest expression of the "results incalculably +beneficial to the two countries" which, according to Lord Lytton, were +to flow from the Peace of Gundamuck. + +A failure in policy more signal and more complete than this it is +impossible to imagine. But it is to be noted that the Ministerial +journals are doing their utmost to save the "Scientific Frontier" from +the destruction which has overtaken the projects of the Ministry. And so +long as a belief in this Frontier is cherished anywhere, the return to a +safe and rational policy is obstructed. In the following pages, +therefore, I shall, firstly, endeavour to show that the (so-called) +"Scientific Frontier" is as purely fictitious as the "strong, friendly, +and independent Afghanistan" which we were told had been created out of +chaos by means of the war. And, secondly, I shall discuss the various +lines of conduct which lie open to us, when we have occupied Kabul, in +order to determine which is best fitted to ensure the stability of our +Indian Empire and the contentment of its inhabitants. + + +The Scientific Frontier. + +In all the discussions on this Frontier question, a very obvious, but +all-important, fact has been persistently forgotten. It is that British +rule in India is a rule based upon military supremacy; and that, +therefore, our Indian army--English as well as native--is primarily a +garrison, having its duties upon the places where it is quartered. We +could not withdraw our troops from any part of India without incurring +the risk of an outbreak in the districts thus denuded. The "Punjab +Frontier Force" has always been a force distinct from the "Army of +India," and recognized as having special duties of its own. So far as I +know, in the discussions on a "Scientific Frontier" no reference has +been made to the above circumstance. The Indian army has been spoken of +as if it were so much fighting power, which we were free to concentrate +at any point we pleased. And to this oversight is due the hallucination +that an improved frontier would enable us to diminish the strength of +the Indian garrison (properly so called). The fact is, that before this +last war we had almost the very frontier which our situation in India +required. If the authority of the Ameer had extended up to the +boundaries of our Empire, troubles between the two States must have +occurred, resulting inevitably in the extinction of the weaker. The evil +of such an extension of territory no one denies; we should not only have +had to hold Afghanistan with a strong garrison--certainly not less than +twenty thousand men--but we should have been compelled to maintain a +frontier force, to guard against aggression from without, either from +Russia or Persia. Forty thousand men would have been needed for this +double duty, in addition to the pre-existing garrison of India. But by a +piece of supreme good fortune the authority of the Ameer did not begin +where ours left off. Between us and him were interposed the tribes which +dwell in the hills along our North-Western frontier. These tribes +acknowledged allegiance neither to him nor to us. Broken up and divided +amongst themselves, the worst they could inflict upon us was an +occasional raid into our territories; and these we could repress without +having to call the Ameer to an account for the lawlessness of his +subjects. A few regiments of horse and foot were all that we needed for +the defence of our frontier; while as against foreign invasion we +possessed a frontier that needed no defence at all. That frontier +consisted of the foodless deserts and inaccessible hills of Afghanistan. +These were impenetrable to an invader, so long as we retained the +friendship and the confidence of the people who dwell among them. +Consequently, to quote the language of Sir Henry Rawlinson, "our main +object has ever been, since the date of Lord Auckland's famous Simla +Manifesto of 1838, to obtain the establishment of a strong, friendly, +and independent Power on the North-Western frontier of India, without, +however, accepting any crushing liabilities in return." We all know the +manner in which Lord Auckland set about obtaining the "strong, friendly, +and independent Power," and the "crushing liabilities" we had to accept +in consequence. Tutored by experience, we adopted a wiser and more +righteous policy, which was producing admirable results. + +The difficulty of establishing a stable friendship with Afghanistan +arises from the character of the people. It is the habitation, not of a +nation, but of a collection of tribes, and the nominal ruler of +Afghanistan is never more than the ruler of a party which, for the time, +chances to be strongest. Consequently there never existed an authority, +recognized as legitimate throughout the country, with which we could +enter into diplomatic relations. At the same time, their divided +condition crippled the Afghans for all offensive purposes. We had, +therefore, nothing to fear in the way of unprovoked aggression, and our +obvious policy was to win the confidence of these wild tribes and their +chiefs, by carefully abstaining from encroachments on their +independence. Such, in fact, has been the policy which every +Governor-General has pursued in the interval which divides the +"plundering and blundering" of Lord Auckland from the like achievements +of Lord Lytton. And it had been attended with the greater success, +because under the firm guidance of two remarkable men, Afghanistan had +progressed considerably towards the status of an organized kingdom. +Shere Ali had diligently trod in the footsteps of his father, the Dost, +and it is in these terms that the Government of India describes the rule +and policy of the Ameer in the year 1876: + + "Those officers of our Government who are best acquainted with the + affairs of Afghanistan, and the character of the Ameer and his + people, consider that the hypothesis that the Ameer may be + intimidated or corrupted by Russia (even supposing there was any + probability of such an attempt being made) is opposed to his + personal character and to the feelings and traditions of his race, + and that any attempt to intrigue with factions in Afghanistan, + opposed to the Ameer, would defeat itself, and afford the Ameer the + strongest motive for at once disclosing to us such proceedings. + Whatever may be the discontent created in Afghanistan by taxation, + conscription, and other unpopular measures, _there can be no + question that the power of the Ameer Shere Ali Khan has been + consolidated throughout Afghanistan in a manner unknown since the + days of Dost Mahomed, and that the officers entrusted with the + administration have shown extraordinary loyalty and devotion to the + Ameer's cause_. It was probably the knowledge of the Ameer's + strength that kept the people aloof from Yakoub Khan, in spite of + his popularity. At all events, Herat fell to the Ameer without a + blow. The rebellion in Salpoora in the extreme West was soon + extinguished. The disturbances in Budukshan in the North were + speedily suppressed. _Nowhere has intrigue or rebellion been able to + make head in the Ameer's dominions._ Even the Char Eimak and the + Hazara tribes are learning to appreciate the advantages of a firm + rule.... But what we wish specially to repeat is that, from the date + of the Umballa Durbar to the present time, _the Ameer has + unreservedly accepted and acted upon our advice to maintain a + peaceful attitude towards his neighbours_. We have no reason to + believe that his views are changed." + +This "strong, friendly, and independent Power"--this edifice of order +and increasing stability--the British Government deliberately destroyed +in the insane expectation of finding a "Scientific Frontier" hidden +somewhere in the ruins. It is difficult to conceive of an action more +impolitic or more cruel. In a month the labours of forty years were +obliterated, old hatreds rekindled, and the wounds of 1838, which the +wise and gentle treatment of former Viceroys had almost healed, were +opened afresh. + +We come next to the inquiry as to what this "Scientific Frontier" is, in +order to obtain which this act of vandalism was perpetrated. This is a +question involved in some obscurity. The _Times_ is the great champion +of the "Scientific Frontier," but in its columns, as also in Ministerial +speeches, it changes colour like a chameleon. Sometimes it is called the +"possession of the three highways leading to India," thereby rendering +the Empire "invulnerable." At other times it is recommended to us +because it protects the trade through the Bolan Pass, and enables us to +threaten Kabul. The fact is that the (so-called) "Scientific +Frontier"--meaning thereby the frontier we acquired by the Treaty of +Gundamuck--is a make-believe, an imposture. It is not the "Scientific +Frontier" in pursuit of which we "hunted the Ameer to death" and reduced +his territories to a condition of anarchy. + +Those who have followed the history of the war with attention will +remember that in September of last year the Calcutta correspondent of +the _Times_ was smitten with a really marvellous admiration for Lord +Lytton. "India," he wrote, "is fortunate in the possession at the +present time of a Viceroy specially gifted with broad statesmanlike +views, the result partly of most vigilant and profound study, partly of +the application of great natural intellectual capacity to the close +cultivation of political science and the highest order of statecraft." +Here we have the portrait of the lion painted by himself; and it is not +surprising that this superb creature should have regarded with +considerable scorn the policy of his predecessors who never claimed to +be "specially gifted" for the exercise of "the highest order of +statecraft." "The present measure," the correspondent went on to say, +"for the despatch of a mission to Kabul forms but a single move in an +extensive concerted scheme for the protection of India, which is the +outcome of a long-devised and elaborately worked-out system of defensive +policy." Here we have a fine example of the "puff preliminary." In the +issue of the _Times_ for the 10th September this "extensive concerted +scheme for the protection of India" is detailed at length, and is there +plainly set forth as intended for a barrier against Russia:-- + + "The Indian Government are most anxious to avoid adopting any policy + which would bear even the semblance of hostility towards Russia, but + the extreme probability of a collision sooner or later cannot be + overlooked. It is necessary, therefore, to provide for a strong + defensive position to guard against eventualities. From this point + of view it is indispensable that we should possess a commanding + influence over the triangle of territory formed on the map by Kabul, + Ghuznee, and Jellalabad, together with power over the Hindoo + Khosh.... This triangle we may hope to command with Afghan + concurrence if the Ameer is friendly. The strongest frontier line + which could be adopted would be along the Hindoo Khosh, from Pamir + to Bamian, thence to the south by the Helmund, Girishk, and + Kandahar, to the Arabian Sea. It is possible, therefore, that by + friendly negotiations some such defensive boundary may be adopted." + +Such were the moderate designs entertained by the Indian Government when +they dispatched what they called a "friendly mission" to the Court of +the Ameer. If Lord Lytton imagined that "friendly negotiations" would +obtain these tremendous concessions from the Ameer, it would show that a +training in "the highest order of statecraft" does not preserve even a +"specially gifted" Viceroy from the credulousness of an infant. But his +acts show that he entertained no such belief. He felt, as every one must +feel who reads the extract I have made, that demands such as these must +be preceded by a war. Hence the menacing letters addressed to the Ameer; +hence the rude and insulting manner in which Sir Neville Chamberlain was +ordered to attempt an entrance into Afghanistan without awaiting the +permission of the Ameer; and hence, finally, the monstrous fiction of a +deliberate "insult" inflicted upon us, when, in point of fact, we had +been the "insulters" all along. The obvious intention throughout was to +obtain a pretext for declaring war, because without a war the +"Scientific Frontier" was manifestly unattainable. Lastly, when war had +been determined upon, the same "official" correspondent came forward in +the _Times_ to make known the objects of the impending campaign. "We +have," he wrote, "been driven into what will probably be a costly war +entirely against our will, and all our endeavours to avoid it. The +occasion, therefore, will now be seized to secure for ourselves the +various passes piercing the mountain ranges along the whole frontier +from the Khyber to the Bolan; and further _strategic measures will be +adopted to dominate entirely the Suleiman range and the Hindoo Khosh_." + +It is impossible not to admire the hardihood of this remarkable +correspondent when he alleges that the war was "entirely against our +will, and all our endeavours to avoid it." But this is not the matter +with which I am at present concerned. The official character of these +communications will be denied by no one, and they make it clear that the +"Scientific Frontier" was intended as a barrier against Russia, and +would have made the Hindoo Khosh the external boundary of the Indian +Empire. Such a frontier is manifestly the dream of a military +specialist, to whose mental vision the Indian Empire, with all its +diverse interests, has no existence except as a frontier to be defended +against the Russians. And it illustrates the ignorance and precipitate +folly which has plunged us in our present difficulties that a project so +wild should have been seriously entertained. To have carried it out the +subjugation of Afghanistan would have been an indispensable preliminary, +and then the civilizing of it, by means of a system of roads and strong +garrisons throughout the country; the entire cost of these vast +operations being defrayed by a country already taxed to the last point +of endurance, heavily burdened with an increasing debt, and ravaged by +periodical famines. Such, however, was the "Scientific Frontier" for +which a "specially gifted Viceroy," trained in "the highest order of +political statecraft," declared war against the Ameer. But the frontier +which we obtained at the close of the war, and which Ministers and +Ministerial journals would have us believe is the genuine article which +they wanted from the beginning, is not only not this frontier, but it +has not the smallest resemblance to it. + +The new frontier does not differ from the old except in three +particulars. We hold the Khyber Pass as far as Lundi Kotal, and we have +acquired the right to quarter troops in the Kurram Valley and the Valley +of Peshin. Of these the Kurram Valley is a mere _cul-de-sac_, leading +nowhere. But I will not ask of my readers to accept of my judgment on +this matter. Among the best known advocates for a forward and aggressive +policy in Afghanistan is Dr. Bellew. An accomplished linguist and an +experienced traveller, he accompanied Colonel Lumsden's mission to +Kandahar in 1857; he was also a member of the mission entrusted with the +settlement of the Seistan boundary question, and no man living is better +acquainted with the geography and people of Afghanistan. I believe it +will not be denied that Lord Lytton, during the recent war, trusted +largely in his knowledge and suggestions. He has thus expressed himself +on the policy of occupying the Kurram Valley:-- + + "The Kurram Valley would involve the addition of about one hundred + and fifty miles of hill frontage to our border, and would bring us + into contact with the independent Orakzais, Zaimukhts, Toris, + Cabul-Khel, Waziris, and others, against whose hostility and inroads + here, as in other parts of the border, we should have to protect our + territory. By its possession, as we are now situated, we should be + committed to the defence of a long narrow strip of land, a perfect + _cul-de-sac_ in the hills, hemmed in by a number of turbulent + robber-tribes, who are under no control, and acknowledge no + authority. In ordinary times its acquisition would add to the + serious difficulties of our position. In times of trouble or + disturbance on the border, its possession would prove a positive + source of weakness, a dead weight upon our free action. In it we + should run the risk of being hemmed in by our foes in the + overhanging hills around, of being cut off from our communications + with the garrison of Kohat, by the Orakzais on the one side, by the + Waziris on the other. These are the disadvantages of the step. In + return what advantages should we derive? Not one. With Kurram in our + possession we certainly could not flank either the Khyber or the + Goleri Pass, because between it and the one, intervenes the + impassable snowy range of Sufed Koh; and between it and the other, + intervenes the vast routeless hilly tract of the Waziris. From + Kurram we could neither command Kabul nor Ghazni, because the route + to either is by a several days' march, over stupendous hills and + tortuous defiles, in comparison with which the historical Khyber and + Bolan Passes, or even the less widely-known Goleri Pass, are as + king's highways." + +This, I think, is sufficient to dispose of the Kurram Valley. If the old +frontier has been rendered "invulnerable," it is not the acquisition of +the Kurram Valley which has made it so. There remains the Peshin Valley. +This valley is an open tract of country lying almost midway on the line +of march between Quetta and Kandahar, but nearer to the former than the +latter. Three easy marches from Quetta suffice to place a traveller in +the centre of it. It cannot accurately be described as an extension of +our frontier, because it is dissevered from it by more than two hundred +miles of difficult country. Between the valley and British territory, +the lands of the Khan of Khelat are interposed in one direction, and +numerous robber-tribes--Kakers, Murrees, Bhoogtees--in another. Until +the valley is securely linked to the Indus by a railway from Sukkur to +the Bolan Pass--a costly work, which could not be executed in less than +seven years--it will be impossible to quarter more than a few thousand +men in it--and these for six months of the year will be as completely +detached from their base of supply and reinforcement in India, as if a +tract of empty space ran between them. So far from ensuring any +increased security to India by our premature occupation of this valley, +we have only enhanced the chances of a hostile collision with the rulers +and people of Afghanistan. We were already in military occupation of +Quetta, and until easy and rapid communication had been established +between Quetta and the Indus, nothing was to be gained by a yet further +advance from our base. As a barrier against Russia this frontier is +without meaning, and no better proof of this fact could be adduced than +Sir Henry Rawlinson's commentary upon its merits in the Article on the +"Results of the Afghan War" which recently appeared in the _Nineteenth +Century_:-- + + "The Afghan settlement is a very good settlement as far as it goes, + but it is not immaculate--_it is not complete_. To yield us its full + measure of defence, the Treaty must be supplemented by all + legitimate precautions and supports. _Persia must be detached from + Russia coute que coute._ Russia herself must not be left in any + uncertainty as to our intentions. She must be made to understand ... + _that she will not be permitted unopposed to establish herself in + strength ... even at Abiverd_, nor to commence intrigues against the + British power in India. She might indeed be warned that, if + necessary, we were prepared in self-defence to support the + Turcomans--with whom she has no legitimate quarrel--with arms or + money, or even to turn the tables on her by encouraging the efforts + of the Uzbegs to recover their liberty.... _It would be almost + fatuity at such a moment to withdraw our garrison from Candahar...._ + Yacub Khan must be made to see that it is as much for his interest + as our own to hold an efficient body of troops in such a position + that, on the approach of danger ... _they might, with military + alacrity, occupy Herat as an auxiliary garrison_." + +And what is implied in detaching Persia from Russia he explains in +another part of his Essay. + + "If Russia, as there is strong reason to believe, is now pushing on + to Merv or Sarakhs ... with the ultimate hope of occupying Herat, + then it might very possibly be a sound policy to extend to Persia + the provisions of the Asia Minor Protectorate, or even to support + her actively in vindicating her rights upon the frontier of + Khorassan." + +From all which it would appear that our "Scientific Frontier" is simply +good for nothing until it has been supplemented by an offensive and +defensive alliance with the barbarian enemies of Russia all over the +world. In order to ensure the safety of India, we must protect not only +our own "Scientific Frontier," but we must guarantee the Sultan all his +Asiatic possessions; we must be ready at any moment to fight for the +"integrity and independence" of Persia; we must be prepared to march our +troops to Herat, and to show a front against the Russians on the Oxus; +we must provide the Tekeh-Turcomans with arms and money, and assist the +Uzbegs in their attempts to recover their liberty. Such are the +"legitimate precautions and supports" which are requisite to render the +new frontier immaculate and complete. But if with a "Scientific +Frontier" we remain liable to such tremendous demands as these, it +passes imagination to conjecture in what respect we could have been +worse off when our frontier was "haphazard." + + +The Circumstances of the Peace. + +I shall next endeavour to show the circumstances which compelled the +Indian Government to acquiesce in a peace which thus left the avowed +object of the war unfulfilled. The preparations for the invasion of +Afghanistan were on a scale corresponding to the magnitude of the +enterprise as explained by the "official" correspondent of the _Times_. +Troops were set in motion for the North-West frontier from garrisons in +the extreme south of India. Men were sent from England to man heavy gun +batteries. In addition to the troops under General Roberts, no less than +three columns were formed to invade Afghanistan via Sukkur and the +Bolan, and the same number to advance through the Khyber. The force +which marched to Kandahar was supplied with four heavy gun batteries, +and a fifth was sent up subsequently, although, except upon the +supposition that permanent entrenched camps were to be formed in +Afghanistan, these heavy guns were simply an encumbrance and a source of +danger. But the campaign had barely commenced before the Government +became aware that it had utterly miscalculated its cost and difficulty. +It is easy enough for an army to enter Afghanistan; it is next to +impossible for it to subsist when it has got there. It is easy enough to +scatter the Afghans when collected in battle array; it is next to +impossible to subjugate them because they never are _so_ collected. From +these causes our raid into Afghanistan was but little removed from an +ignominious failure. If we had not made peace we should have been +compelled to evacuate the country from the enormous costliness of +retaining troops in it. Under such circumstances, a peace was needed too +urgently to allow the Government to stand out for any extraordinary +concessions. They took what they could get, which proved to be, as we +have seen, the right to place garrisons in the two valleys of Kurram and +Peshin. But having gone to war in search of a "Scientific Frontier," no +alternative was left to them except to frankly confess that they had not +found it; or to affirm that these two valleys constituted it. + +We come now to the causes of our failure. These are all-important, and +ought to dissipate for ever the fear of an invasion of India by Russia +or any other Power. The plan of the campaign required that Afghanistan +should be invaded from three points; but the most important operation +was understood to be the advance of General Stewart upon Kandahar. As +soon as hostilities appeared inevitable, a small force under General +Biddulph had been sent forward to secure Quetta against a sudden attack. +General Stewart followed later on, and the two columns numbered upon +paper about 20,000 men, with 60 guns. Meanwhile, a third column was +ordered to assemble at Sukkur in support, and placed under the command +of General Primrose. These extensive preparations were supposed to +indicate the determination of the Indian Government to push on as far as +Herat. The distance which had to be traversed between Sukkur and +Kandahar is, roughly speaking, about four hundred miles, but the country +presents extraordinary difficulties. From Sukkur to Jacobabad extends a +level tract which, during the rains, is flooded to a depth of seven +feet. Between Jacobabad and Dadur--a town situated at the entrance of +the Bolan Pass--extends the Sinde desert. Any large force marching +across this desert would have to take with them, not only food and +forage, but water, for only at intervals of fifteen or twenty miles is +the parched and barren soil pierced by a few brackish springs, which +just suffice for the needs of the hamlets which have sprung up around +them. For six months of the year this desert is literally impassable. A +hot wind sweeps across it, which is fatal to man and beast. Only once +did the Indian Government venture to send troops across it after this +"blast of death" (as the natives call it) had begun to blow. This was in +the last Afghan war. Some hundreds of native troops were sent as an +escort in charge of supplies, and in four days one hundred Sepoys +perished, three hundred camp followers, and (I think) nine officers out +of fourteen. Beyond Dadur is the Bolan Pass. This Pass is about eighty +miles in length; regular road there is none; what purports to be a road +is merely the bed of a stream, which, during the rainy weather, is +filled from bank to bank with a volume of rushing water. Neither food +nor forage is obtainable in the Pass, and even the camels, when starting +from Dadur, had to carry a seven days' supply of food for themselves. +Between Quetta and Kandahar the country is open, but neither is food +procurable for a large force, nor forage for the horses and camels. From +first to last General Stewart's troops were almost wholly fed from +India. The winter, luckily, was one of unprecedented mildness. But for +this, in place of a march upon Kandahar, a terrible catastrophe could +hardly have been averted. In ordinary seasons the snows fall heavily in +and around Quetta early in November, and the cold is intense. The Bolan +Pass is swept from end to end by hurricanes of wind and rain and snow. +At the very time when these storms usually occur we had a dozen +regiments and batteries straggling along the whole length of the Bolan +Pass. Last year, however, there was neither snow nor hurricane, and our +troops got through the Pass in safety. There was no opposition offered +to our advance on Kandahar, but, from the want of food and the hardships +which had to be endured, no less than twenty thousand camels perished +upon the march. This mortality decided the campaign. When General +Stewart reached Kandahar the situation was as follows:--The magazines at +Quetta were nearly empty. Four months' food was collected at Sukkur, but +awaited carriage for its transport to Quetta. The third column under +General Primrose was assembling on the Indus, and needed ten thousand +camels to enable it to advance. To supply all these wants there were at +Sukkur about 1600 camels. In order to lessen the pressure on the +Commissariat, General Stewart divided his forces, despatching one column +to hunt for supplies in the direction of Giriskh, and sending another +with the same object to Khelat-i-Ghilzie. These movements caused the +death from cold and hunger of a large additional number of camels, and +demonstrated that there was not food in that part of Afghanistan +sufficient for a force so large as that collected at Kandahar. Sinde, +meanwhile, had been swept so bare of camels that it was impossible to +collect a sufficient number for the carriage of food to Quetta before +the hot weather had set in, and the march across the desert was barred +by "the blast of death." Immediate action was necessary if General +Stewart's troops were not to starve; and eight thousand men returned to +India, reducing the garrison left at Kandahar to four thousand. This +number, it was trusted, the Commissariat would be able to feed during +the hot weather. But even this small force was so scantily supplied with +carriage that it could not have moved, in a body, for fifty miles in any +direction. It was, so to speak, nailed to the spot on which it was +encamped. This want of food, far more than the physical difficulties of +the country, is and always will be the insuperable obstacle to carrying +on extensive military operations in Afghanistan. The people obtain no +more from the soil than just suffices for their own wants; and for days +together an invading army has to pass over huge wastes with hardly a +trace of human habitation, and consequently destitute of food. + +Not a little amusing was the revulsion of feeling caused throughout +India by the lame and impotent conclusion of the advance on Kandahar. It +was a demonstration of the impossibility of an invasion which convinced +those who were most reluctant to be convinced. If when we had all India +from which to draw our supplies, and with no enemy to oppose us, our +utmost efforts had merely sufficed to place four thousand men in +Kandahar, and leave them there, isolated and defenceless, it was +chimerical to suppose that the Russians could march for double that +distance an army capable of attempting the conquest of India. +"Kandahar," writes a military correspondent to the _Pioneer_--the +official journal of India--"is acknowledged to be a mistake, and it is +hoped that a British army will never again be dispatched in that +direction; it is a mere waste of men, money, and means, and an +unsuitable line for either attack or defence." + +And the _Pioneer_, the very purpose of whose existence is to preach the +infallibility of the Indian Government, thus endorses the remarks of its +correspondent: "The theories about Kandahar are by this time exploded; +indeed, there are many critics who have refused to adopt them from the +very beginning; believing against General Hamley, that the main road +into Afghanistan, whether we march as defenders of the Kabul Ameer or as +avengers, must lie past Peshawur and Jelalabad." + +The failure on the Kandahar side placed the Indian Government in an +extremely difficult position. An advance on Herat was plainly out of the +question; even one on Ghuznee was beyond the power of General Stewart +and his troops. Elsewhere the aspect of affairs was hardly less +cheering. The expedition in the Kurram Valley had resulted in the +somewhat ignominious retreat out of Khost. We had about 15,000 men +holding the line from the Khyber to Jelalabad; but in effecting this, +14,000 camels had perished, and several of the regiments had been more +than decimated from sickness and exposure. We had not subjugated a rood +of territory on which our troops were not actually encamped. The main +strength of the Ameer's army was untouched, while all along our +Trans-Indus frontier the hill tribes were in a state of dangerous +unrest. The hot weather was coming on apace, when cholera and typhoid +fever would be added to the number of our enemies. Thirty thousand +troops had been set in motion, the garrisons in the interior of India +dangerously weakened; three millions of money expended; and this was all +that had been achieved. If now Yakoub Khan refused to come to terms, +what was to be done? General Brown might be ordered to force his way +from Jelalabad to Kabul, but what was he to do when he got there? The +cost in money would be certainly heavy--the cost in men, not improbably, +heavy also. And if, on our arrival at his capital, Yakoub Khan retired +to either Balkh or Herat, we were powerless to follow him. Yakoub Khan, +in fact, had the game in his hands. We had shot our bolt and failed. He +had simply to decline to make peace, and keep out of our reach. We +should then have been compelled either to evacuate the country, or to +occupy it with the certainty that a little later on we should be +compelled to withdraw, when the drain on the finances of India became +too heavy to endure. Sir Henry Rawlinson rightly says, that a very small +force can march from one end of Afghanistan to another; but a very large +force is requisite permanently to hold it. The tribal divisions which +hinder unity of resistance hinder also the achievement of any decisive +victory. Each tribe is an independent centre of life, which requires a +separate operation for its extinction. + +Such was the dilemma in which the Government found themselves involved. +It was almost equally disastrous either to withdraw or to advance. If +the troops were withdrawn, they would return burdened with the ignominy +of failure. If they advanced, it would be into a tangle of military and +political embarrassments, the issue of which it was impossible to +foresee. There was only one way of escape possible, and that was to +relinquish the ambitious projects from which the war originated, and +acquiesce in any settlement which the adversary would agree to. The +result was the Treaty with Yakoub Khan--a Treaty which I have no +hesitation in saying has placed in peril the existence of our Indian +Empire. + +It is, indeed, impossible to account for the infatuation or the +obstinacy which caused the Indian Government to stipulate for the +reception of an undefended British Envoy at the Court of a prince in the +position of Yakoub Khan. It would have been so easy to have introduced a +clause in the Treaty, to the effect that as soon as Yakoub Khan's +authority was firmly established an English Envoy should be accredited +to Kabul. This would have saved the political consistency of the +Government without exposing the Indian Empire to the tremendous strain +and peril of a second Afghan expedition. There was absolutely nothing to +be gained, either in India or England, by immediately forcing an English +Envoy on the luckless Yakoub; while it enormously enhanced the +difficulties with which he had to cope. Nevertheless, in the face of +historic precedents, in defiance of multiplied warnings, Lord Lytton +deliberately resolved to reproduce, for the edification of Asia, the +tragedy of Shah Soojah and Sir William Nacnaghten, the only difference +being that on this occasion the principal parts were played by Yakoub +Khan and Major Cavagnari. The fact is that from first to last in this +bad business the chief agents were moving in a world of their own +imagining. They appear to have persuaded themselves that they had but to +refuse to _see_ facts, and the facts would vanish. They had but to +publish in the _Times_ that Lord Lytton was a "Viceroy specially +gifted," and forthwith he would become what he was described to be. They +had but to assert that the Afghans had no objection to the presence of a +British Envoy at Kabul, and immediately their objections would +disappear. The mischief is done now past recall. Hardly even in 1857 was +our Indian Empire in a position of greater peril than it is now. The +persistent opposition between official acts and official language which +has been the distinguishing characteristic of Lord Lytton's +administration has created an universal disbelief in the sincerity of +our speech and the equity of our intentions. In the circle which +surrounds the Viceroy, it seems, indeed, to have become an accepted +maxim that it is a matter of indifference whether or not the natives are +heartily loyal to our rule. And Sir Alexander Arbuthnot, in his Minute +on the Repeal of the Cotton Duties, notes the fact as "a grave political +danger." It is a maxim which could not have been formulated except by +the agents of a Government who felt that they had forfeited, past hope +of recovery, the confidence of those they were set to rule over. Of the +alienation itself there can be no question. The loyalty of the native +has, probably, never been at a lower ebb since 1857. And any reverse in +Afghanistan might kindle a flame that would spread from one end of India +to the other. + +But there is nothing to be gained by anticipating greater difficulties +than already beset us. I will assume that no additional complications +occur--that General Roberts has succeeded without much difficulty in the +occupation of Kabul--that General Stewart has possession of Kandahar, +and that all we have to determine is what to do with Afghanistan now we +have got it. There are but three courses of conduct possible--withdrawal +from the country altogether, a return to the arrangements formulated in +the Treaty of Gundamuck, or annexation. I will consider the last first. + + +Annexation. + +Nobody, so far as I know, desires to annex Afghanistan. But there are, I +apprehend, but few who are aware of what is involved in "the annexation +of Afghanistan," and the danger is that we may drift almost unwillingly +into annexation, to discover the full consequences only when too late. +Everybody is agreed that India cannot defray the costs. This is set down +by the supporters of Government at a sum of five millions annually. I +believe it would be much larger; but we will assume that five millions +is a correct estimate. By no possibility could we screw this additional +sum from the people of India. Already the expenses of the administration +increase at a far quicker rate than the revenues which have to meet +them. The costs of governing Afghanistan, therefore, would have to be +defrayed from the English Exchequer. But assuming this to be arranged, +the pecuniary difficulty is the smallest which has to be encountered. To +garrison the interior and frontier of Afghanistan we should require not +less than forty thousand men--one-half of whom would have to be English +soldiers. For, until the interior of Afghanistan is completely opened +out by roads which can be traversed throughout the year, the garrisons +holding the country would have to be sufficiently strong to be +independent of reserves and supports during the winter. And if we +attempted to hold Balkh and Herat, twenty thousand English soldiers +would not suffice. Now where are these English soldiers to come from? An +addition of at least forty thousand men to our regular army would be +required in order to supply them. But the English part of our +Afghanistan garrison does not present so insuperable a difficulty as the +native. It would not be safe, at least for many years, to organize our +native garrison from the Afghans themselves. The regiments would have to +be recruited in India specially for this service--but out of what races? +The natives of the Southern parts of India have not the physique capable +of enduring the severities of an Afghanistan winter. The Sikhs or +Hindoos of Upper India would certainly not enlist in a service which +carried them so far from their homes into the midst of an alien people +and an alien faith. The only recruits we should obtain in large numbers +would be Muhammadans. The danger, then, is obvious. In India the fierce +fanaticism of the Moslem creed is mitigated by its contact with the +milder tenets of Hindooism; but remove an Indian Moslem to Afghanistan, +and he would very soon become inspired by the religious zeal of his +co-religionists around him. We should be exposed to the risk, +perpetually, of our native garrison combining with the people of the +country to expel the infidel intruders from the land, and restore the +supremacy of the Prophet. But even these dangers dwindle into +insignificance when we contemplate the main result of an annexation of +Afghanistan. That result would be that the hills and deserts of +Afghanistan would no longer extend between the Russian Power and our +own. We should have given to Russia the power to interfere directly in +the internal concerns of India. + +I have never supposed Russia to have any sinister designs upon India. +After much reading I have failed to discover any proof of such designs. +Those who suspect Russia obtain their evidence by a very simple process. +They reject as incredible the objects assigned by the Russian Government +as guiding its policy, and substitute their own fixed preconception in +place of them. I believe that neither Russia nor any other Power would +accept of India as a free gift. I cannot imagine a rational statesman +coveting for his country so burdensome and unprofitable a +responsibility. But that a Russian Government should ever attempt the +invasion and conquest of India is to me beyond the power of belief. What +Mr. Cobden wrote in 1835 appears to me as convincing at this day as it +was then. + + "China," he wrote, "affords the best answer to those who argue that + Russia meditates hostile views towards our Indian possessions. China + is separated from Russia by an imaginary boundary only; and that + country is universally supposed to contain a vast deposit of riches + well worthy of the spoiler's notice. Besides, it has not enjoyed the + '_benefit_' of being civilized by English or other Christian + conquerors--an additional reason for expecting to find a wealthy + Pagan community, waiting, like unwrought mines, the labours of some + Russian Warren Hastings. Why, then, does not the Czar invade the + Chinese Empire, which is his next neighbour, and contains an + unravaged soil, rather than contemplate, as the alarmist writers and + speakers predict he does, marching three thousand miles over regions + of burning deserts and ranges of snowy mountains to Hindostan, where + he would find that Clive and Wellesley had preceded him?" + +Apart, however, from the question of motives, it is not possible to +march an army from Herat to the Indus. And we must always bear in mind +that even if the Russian army reached the Indus, their real work, +instead of being over, would only then commence. With that vast extent +of hill and desert behind them they would have before them some sixty +thousand British troops in an entrenched position. Even a victory would +leave the invader begirt about with dangers and difficulty; a defeat +would be his utter annihilation. Not a soldier of the army of invasion +would return to tell the tale. It is impossible to divine where or how +Russia could raise the money for so gigantic an enterprise; and if the +money was forthcoming it is not credible that any Government should +fling it away on such a hopeless undertaking. In assuming that Russia +will refrain from an attack upon India, there is no need to credit +either the Government or the people with more than that ordinary common +sense which hinders men and nations from attempting to achieve the +impossible. + +The danger to India arises not from the existence of any Russian designs +against our Empire, but from the belief that such exist. This belief +will, so to speak, hybernate for a season; then all at once we find it +in full activity, and creating a panic in every heart of which it takes +possession. These are the critical moments for the well-being and +security of our Indian Empire. In such a period of panic we rushed into +the disastrous war in Afghanistan in 1838. Under the influence of like +feelings we involved ourselves in the inglorious raid the first act of +which has just terminated. On both occasions we have been guilty of +assailing a Prince whose only desire was to form an intimate alliance +with us. On both occasions we have carried fire and sword among a people +with whom we frankly avowed that we had no assignable cause of quarrel. +But so long as Afghanistan extended between us and the Russian dominions +in Asia it was physically impossible to declare war against Russia. In +our unreasoning panic we fell upon the Ameer and his people, because +there was no one else to attack. But if we make the Hindoo Khosh our +military frontier, then Russia, by assembling a few thousand men upon +the Oxus, can, whenever she pleases, agitate India from one end to the +other. She will not need to attack. The menace will be sufficient. For +we must remember that the undisputed supremacy of British rule in India +depends, in the main, upon two conditions, both of which are destroyed +if we annex Afghanistan. The one is, that no heavier burden be laid upon +the people than they are willing to bear; and the other, the absence of +any hope of deliverance. The cost of maintaining our supremacy in +Afghanistan _will_ make the burden of our rule utterly intolerable alike +to our native soldiers and our civil population; the assembling of a +Russian army on the frontiers of Afghanistan will provide the hope of +deliverance. The hazards and uncertainties of the situation would keep +the natives in a state of perpetual unrest. The ambitious and the +disaffected would engage in intrigue and conspiracy; trade would +languish; the internal development of the country be abruptly arrested; +and the Empire would assuredly be wrested from our hands on the occasion +of the first European war in which we became involved. + + +The Treaty of Gundamuck. + +Annexation being impossible, is it wise, or is it practicable, to return +to the provisions of the Treaty of Gundamuck? It is neither wise nor +possible, for the simple reason that this Treaty was based upon a +fiction. It was grounded upon the utterly false assumption that there +existed in Afghanistan a central authority, acknowledged as legitimate +by all the people of Afghanistan, with whom we could establish permanent +diplomatic relations. There is no such authority. Instances have been +adduced of attacks made upon European Embassies in other Oriental +countries, and the argument has been put forward, that as, +notwithstanding such outbreaks, diplomatic relations have been +maintained with Turkey and Persia, there is no reason to conclude from +the fate of Major Cavagnari that they are impossible in Afghanistan. The +cases are not parallel. The Ameer of Kabul has no such authority in his +capital or throughout his dominions as the Sultan or the Shah. It is +possible, though not very probable, that a British Envoy might reside in +Kabul without being murdered, but the measure of his utility would +depend upon the fluctuating fortunes of the Ameer to whom he was +accredited. The only way to obviate this would be to place a force at +the disposal of the Envoy, sufficient to put down all insurrectionary +movements against the Ameer. But if we undertook this duty, we should +become responsible for the character of the civil administration. We +could not punish the victims of a cruel or rapacious Ameer, without at +the same time cutting off at their source the cruelty and rapacity, by +the deposition of an unworthy ruler. And thus, in a very brief time, we +should find that virtually we had annexed the country. Facts are +stubborn things, and it is worse than useless to fight against them. +Those who contend that the murder of Major Cavagnari ought not to be +allowed to overturn what they term the "settled policy" of the Ministry, +are bound to show in what way this "settled policy" can be carried out. +How do they propose to obtain an Ameer towards whom all the sections of +the Afghans shall practise a loyal obedience? And if no such Ameer can +be obtained, with whom or with what are we to establish diplomatic +relations? + + +The Policy of Withdrawal. + +There remains the policy of withdrawal. The surest barrier against +foreign aggression in India is to be obtained in the contentment and +prosperity of the people. A people thus situated are prompt to repel +invasion, and secret intrigue is deprived of the conditions essential to +its success. But in order that the people of India should be prosperous +and contented, it is absolutely necessary that the financial burdens +they have to carry--and especially the military charges--should not be +enhanced. It is not possible to advance our military frontier--even to +the extent of the (so-called) "Scientific Frontier"--without an enormous +enhancement of our military expenditure. And all military expenditure is +unprofitable, in the sense that it takes so much from the tax-payer and +brings him no material equivalent. Consequently, whatever else this +forward policy accomplishes, it cannot fail to impoverish the people and +stimulate their discontent. Moreover, the incidents of the war have +demonstrated that an invasion of India from Central Asia is physically +impossible. We started from the Indus, firmly resolved to march to +Herat, if necessary; but when we had reached Kandahar, we found it +impossible to advance further. It would be equally impossible for a +Russian army to march from Herat to the Indus. There is, therefore, no +such reason for a change of frontier as was alleged in justification of +the war. + +In all probability there is not even a Tory in England who does not in +his heart approve of a policy of withdrawal; but there are, he would +say, difficulties in the way. There are. After all the glowing eulogies +they have pronounced upon themselves, it will not be pleasant or easy +for Ministers to transfer these eulogies to their opponents. It will be +extremely disagreeable for a "specially gifted Viceroy" to have to +confess that his chiefest gift was a gigantic capacity for blundering. +But if India is to be preserved to the nation, there is no escape from +this unpleasant alternative. Either Ministers must acknowledge an error +that is now patent to all the world, or India must be saddled with the +heavy costs and the incalculable risks of an annexation of Afghanistan. +These risks, it must be remembered, are not transitory, but enduring; +and if we accept them, we must be prepared for a doom of absolute +effacement in the politics of Europe. The argument which will be urged +against withdrawing from Afghanistan is, of course, the old familiar +one--the loss of prestige. This is an argument impossible to refute +because the exact worth of prestige is an unknown quantity, as to which +no two people are agreed. But whatever be its value, to rush upon ruin +and destruction in order to preserve our prestige is an act of insanity. +It is as if a man should commit suicide in order to preserve his +reputation for courage. When we retired from Afghanistan in 1842, we +frankly confessed the mistake we had committed, and I am not aware that +any evil resulted from the confession. The wrongs that we had done left +behind them a legacy of evil, but not the confession of those wrongs. +And so it is now. The frontier policy of Lord Lytton has ruined our +reputation for justice, truthfulness, and generosity, and the stain of +that policy must cling to us for ever. We shall not conceal or efface it +by laying a crushing burden upon our native subjects and upon future +generations of Englishmen, in order to evade the humiliation of a +confession. On the contrary, we make what reparation is still in our +power when, in the interests of both, we refuse to annex Afghanistan. + + ROBERT D. OSBORN, + _Lieutenant-Colonel_. + + + + +CRITICAL IDEALISM IN FRANCE. + + _La Science positive et la Metaphysique._ Par LOUIS LIARD, + Professeur a la Faculte des Lettres de Bordeaux. (Ouvrage couronne + par l'Institut de France.) Paris, 1879. + + +For some years past there has been observable in France, outside of and +in opposition to Positivism, a growing movement in favour of idealism in +general, and of the critical idealism of Kant in particular. This +philosophy, which had previously found very few adherents in our +country, has now begun to make its way into our teaching and our +Universities. Berkeley and Kant have been the subjects of special works, +and an attempt has been made to translate and reproduce their ideas by +harmonizing them with the principal doctrines of spiritualism. We have +here a movement full of promise and well deserving of attention.[1] +Among the different productions affording some notion of this +philosophical tendency, we make choice--as being both the most recent +and the most complete--of a remarkable work, distinguished and crowned +by the French Institute, _Positive Science and Metaphysic_, by a young +and learned professor of Bordeaux, M. Louis Liard. + +To begin with, M. Liard's work is well composed, its plan being simple, +severe, and lucid. It divides itself into three parts. The first is +devoted to determining the nature and limits of positive sciences--that +is, of the sciences properly so called--and to showing that they cannot +pretend to abolish or replace metaphysics. In this portion of his book +the author discusses the three forms of the experimental philosophy of +our day, namely--Positivism, the philosophy of association, and that of +evolution. + +In the second part, the author examines what he calls Criticism--that is +to say, the philosophy of Kant. The preceding discussion having +demonstrated that the human mind is incapable of departing from certain +forms, certain laws, without which experience itself would be +impossible,--the author now resolves these into five fundamentals: +space, time, substance, cause, the Absolute. But are these forms or laws +of the mind the laws of things as well? Have they an objective +authority? We know that metaphysics hang upon the solution of this +question. We know, too, what is the solution given by Kant to this great +problem. In recognizing the necessary existence of these forms as laws +of the mind he disputes their external reality; hence he only admits +critical, not real and dogmatic metaphysic. Now, as regards this point +the author of the book under our notice, instead of dissenting from +Criticism as he had done from Positivism, appears on the contrary to +accept it by its own name, and to admire and endorse its conclusions. He +seems to grant or even to affirm that if Positivism is wrong, Criticism +is right, and that, strictly speaking, metaphysic is not a science. + +And yet if metaphysic were not a science in the strict sense of the +word--that is to say, in the sense of objective sciences--would it +follow that it was nothing, or nothing more than criticism itself? By no +means: our author does not stop at that apparent solution; metaphysic +according to him has an object that criticism has not reached, has not +shaken; metaphysic has its own proper function, in which criticism can +never take its place. Only instead of founding it on the object, we must +found it on the subject. The mind must turn away from the external world +and re-enter itself. It is there that, without need of forms or +categories of which criticism has demonstrated the fallacy, the subject +grasps itself not only in its phenomena but in its being, and determines +itself in conformity to an end. This end is goodness: and this is the +only notion we can form to ourselves of the Absolute. Thus, metaphysic +is not the science of the object, but that of the subject; or if the +name of science be still withheld, it is at least the study of the +subject, and it is founded on and completed by morality. Thus, the +author ends by an evolution very similar to that of Kant, but with +certain differences which it will be our part to point out. + +These constitute the three parts of the work. We will now take them up +in succession. + + +I. + +Let us first of all consider the characteristics of positive science. It +has for its object the conversion of facts into laws, or in other words +the resolving the composite into the simple, the particular into the +universal, the contingent into the necessary. But let us observe with +our author that we are only dealing here with a relative simplicity, a +partial universality, a conditional necessity. None of these characters +present themselves in a really absolute manner. The simple is invariably +composed of several terms; the universal only applies itself to a +certain class of phenomena; the necessary is so only with relation to +the consequences of a law, but the law itself always remains contingent. +Thus, no positive science can ever attain to the absolute. It is the +same with methods. These methods are induction and deduction. Now, +however precise these processes be, however marvellous the sequence and +interdependence of the propositions they discover and demonstrate, their +data are never more than particular and contingent facts; consequences, +then, can only be proportioned to those data. Hence it is certain that +the positive sciences cannot go beyond a relative universality or +necessity. It may seem as though we ought to make an exception in favour +of mathematics. But by a subtle discussion which it would be difficult +to give summarily, the author shows that they too come under the same +law, whence it follows that the domain of positive science properly +so-called is contained within the relative. + +From this consideration there has sprung up in our day a philosophy that +reduces all sciences without exception to the knowledge of relation, and +by so doing has declared all metaphysics impossible: and this philosophy +is called Positivism. "Any proposition," says Auguste Comte, "which is +not finally reducible to the simple enunciation of a particular or +general fact, is incapable of holding a real or intelligible meaning." +"There is nothing absolute," says the same philosopher, "if it be not +this very proposition that there is nothing absolute." As to the proof +of this proposition, it lies, according to the school in question, in +the celebrated law which reduces all progress of the human mind in all +orders of research to three phases: the theological phase, in which +facts are explained by causes and supernatural agents; the metaphysical, +in which they are explained by abstract and ontological entities; and, +finally, the positive, in which phenomena are verified by experience and +referred to their laws--that is to say, to constant and always +verifiable relations of coincidence and succession. + +Our author, having expounded this doctrine with much precision, proceeds +to criticize it with equal sagacity. He points out what is illusory in +this law of the three states; shows that it confuses metaphysic with +scholasticism; and proves, finally, that, in aiming at merging mind in +knowledge, and subordinating, as he says, the subjective to the +objective, Positivism does not understand what it is speaking of, since +all knowledge is ultimately referable to facts of consciousness--that is +to say, to something subjective, which is in effect, as Descartes has +pointed out, the only order of absolutely certain truths. Besides which, +let positive science, or rather the positive philosophy, in the name of +positive facts, proscribe metaphysic as it will, is it not evident that +the fundamental conceptions of all science--number, atom, force, matter, +cause, law--are metaphysical conceptions? Is it not evident that all +science whatever is impossible without a certain number of principles or +notions,--in a word, of intellectual laws, which even govern experience +itself? As yet the positive school has not answered the learned +demonstration of Kant on the necessity of the _a priori_ principle, or +rather it has ignored it. It has made no addition to that old +empiricism which the school of Leibnitz and of Kant had refuted. + +But since the Positivism of Auguste Comte, too little versed in +metaphysical knowledge to discuss it authoritatively, there have arisen +two important schools, the one of association, the other of evolution. +The former has endeavoured to base experience on an experimental and +positive law; the latter has generalized this law, and made of it a +particular case of a more general law embracing the whole of +Nature--namely, the law of evolution. + +The doctrine of association may be referred to the fundamental law that +all ideas rising simultaneously or successively in the human mind, tend +invariably to recall each other in the same order; this is what is +called association of ideas. When any two ideas have thus been +constantly associated without ever being separated (as, for instance, +form and colour), they unite indissolubly and thus become necessary +laws. Now, of all these necessary connections, the most universal is +this: no phenomenon ever appears without having been preceded by some +other phenomenon, which is always the same under the same circumstances. +This law is that of causality, which is both the supreme principle and, +at the same time, the result of all experience. To this doctrine of J. +S. Mill and Alexander Bain our author opposes the two following +objections:--1st, How does it explain the generalization? 2nd, How does +it explain the necessity of the laws of the understanding? On the first +point the English School appeals to a law that it calls the law of +_similarity_ or faculty of identifying the like in the different. But +this is indeed, strictly speaking, a fact of association? Should not +association, properly understood, be reduced to the law of +contiguity--that is to say, to the fact of our ideas only becoming +associated through relations of time? To admit the faculty of +recognizing similarity in diversity, what is this but to admit mind, +intelligence--something, in short, which is other than a simple external +association? As to the second point, can we reduce the rational +necessity that Kant and Leibnitz have laid down as the criterion of _a +priori_ principles to a pure necessity of habit--that is to say, to the +automatic expectation of the future inscribed on the past? Where is the +scientific guarantee in this hypothesis? Why should Nature bend to our +habits? "Who can assure us that we do not dream in thinking of the +future, and that the next sensation may not interrupt our dream by an +unforeseen shock?" We see how far-reaching this doubt is; it affects not +only metaphysic but science as well. + +As to the philosophy of evolution, we know that, with regard to the +origin of the principles of thought, it consists in linking the +experience of present generations to that of generations past; in +substituting secular for individual experience--in a word, in filling up +by the accumulation of ages on ages the interval existing between +particular and contingent facts and the universality of principles. This +hypothesis is always at bottom no other than that of the _tabula rasa_, +only it is no longer the individual who is this _tabula rasa_, since +each one has, by heredity, received a pre-formed intelligence. +Nevertheless, under pain of contradicting the hypothesis, we are forced +to admit that there was a first subject who, prior to the action of the +object, must have been this _tabula rasa_. But here the objections of +Leibnitz reappear. What can a pure, abstract, and unmodified subject be? +And again, before any meeting of subject with object, we have to admit a +pure object having nothing subjective, just as the subject had nothing +objective. What shall we affirm of this pure object? Let us divest it if +you will of colour, heat, sound; must we not at least conceive it as +extended, as existing in time, conceive it, that is, according to the +necessary forms that are supposed to be suppressed? For to say that it +has been capable of existing without having anything in common with +these forms, and that out of this unknown and nameless condition have +arisen, by way of transformation, the notions of which we treat, were to +admit that something _can_ come out of nothing. We must therefore +acknowledge that universal notions do at least exist as germs at the +origin of evolution. It is not evolution that has created them, +evolution has only developed them, and be they ever so attenuated, they +still remain conditions without which nothing can be thought. + +Such is the gist of the first part of M. Liard's book, and we have +nothing to add to it but our approbation. We can but admire the skilful +analysis with which it begins, and the vigorous discussion accompanying +that analysis. The three stages traversed by the experimental philosophy +of our days--namely, Positivism, the Associative Philosophy, and that of +Evolution--are competently and precisely summed up. The discussion is +cogent, solid, and could not be further developed without injury to the +unity of the work. No doubt it requires close attention to follow it; +but it is lucid and well sustained. Whatever the difficulty metaphysic +may encounter in constituting itself a science, and getting recognized +as such, it has been established that empiricism is not a tenable +position, since it has been found necessary to pass from positivism to +association, from association to evolution; while evolution itself still +supposed some pre-formation. One thing is certain, intelligence +invariably contains a something that does not come from without--namely, +intelligence itself. + + +II. + +The criticism of Positivism has taught us that there is no knowledge +possible without _a priori_ elements--that is to say, without laws +inherent in thought, which impose themselves upon phenomena, so as to +constitute veritable knowledge. This is the system of Kant, and thus +that system avoids not only empiricism, but scepticism as well, though +commonly confounded with it. For without necessary laws phenomena only +form an arbitrary succession, entirely dependent upon the organization +of the individual; we have no longer anything but individual +sensations. In the Kantian philosophy, however, the individual is +subjected to laws that are superior to himself; these are the laws of +human thought, and even, perhaps, of all thought whatever. These laws +impose themselves on each one of us in a necessary and universal manner, +and by so doing communicate to phenomena an objective reality in this +sense at least, that they are for individuals veritable objects; and +thus it is that mathematical truths are objects to the intellect, even +supposing they should be nowhere realized in any existence independent +of thought. + +But are these laws of thought anything else than laws of thought? Do +they really attain to objective reality--to _things in themselves_. Kant +has denied that they do, and our author, in following in his steps, +agrees, or seems to agree, with the "Kritik" of Kant. + +Let us then resolve the fundamental laws of the human intellect into +five principal concepts: these are, space and time, forms of +sensibility, substance and cause, laws of external experience, and, +lastly, the Absolute, the final and supreme condition of all knowledge. +Now, according to Kant and our author, these notions, at least the four +first, are at the same time necessary as subjective conditions of +thought, and contradictory so soon as we seek to realize them outside of +thought. + +For example, that space and time are found by implication in every +internal or external representation, that they are not the result of +abstraction and generalization, this has been firmly established by +Kant; for the elements from which some have sought to derive them +already imply them. But, at the same time, they are only internal +conditions, of which the objects are unrealizable outside of ourselves, +and the reason of this is given by M. Liard, as follows:--Space and time +have three essential characteristics, they are homogeneous, continuous, +and unlimited. Now, if we seek to make of space and time _things in +themselves_ we may doubtless conceive them as homogeneous and +continuous, but not as unlimited, for no actual magnitude is unlimited; +all magnitude is expressed in numbers, and numbers are necessarily +finite, an infinite number involving a contradiction. + +We will not enter into a question here mooted by the author, leading to +what Leibnitz calls the labyrinth of the continued (_Labyrinthus +continui_), or of invisibles; we will content ourselves with pointing +out that the reason here given is not by any means in conformity with +the ideas of Kant--indeed, that it contradicts them. In fact, our author +here applies to the two forms of sensibility the objection that Kant +raised only about real things and the sensible world. The world, indeed, +being composed of parts, can only be conceived as infinite by adding +these parts to each other, and by thus supposing the actual reality of +an infinite number. But it is not so with space, which, not being +composed of parts, is consequently not representable by numbers. "There +is only one single space, there is only one single time," says Kant. The +notion of space is therefore not formed by the infinite addition of +small portions of space and time. These are unities, not numbers. Hence +illimitableness is given with the very intuition. "Space," says Kant, +"is represented as a given infinite magnitude," _als eine gegebene +unendliche Quantitaet_. Now, so soon as the infinite is _given_, instead +of _being made_ by a mental addition, it seems to us that the above +difficulty vanishes. + +Let us pass to the notion of substance and to that of cause. These two +notions are necessary to render possible the connection of phenomena in +the human mind. Our perceptions are, in fact, diverse; if they were only +diverse, and had no unity, there would be no passage from one phenomenon +to another; consciousness would arise and disappear with each +phenomenon, to arise and die anew with the next, and so on. But then +there would be no thought, for in order that thought should exist there +must be at least two different things presented to the unity of +consciousness. In other terms, we should be incapable of perceiving a +changing thing without something that was changeless. Hence this is a +necessary condition of knowledge. Now, let us see whether this condition +can be rendered objective. According to our author it cannot, for if we +subtract from surrounding things all the phenomena that fall under the +domain of the senses, what remains? Nothing. Common-sense, indeed, +believes in substance, but does not mean thereby an abstract and +metaphysical entity, it means the whole of what strikes the senses; when +the phenomenon is opposed to substance nothing is meant but that a new +phenomenon has just added itself to preceding ones. Wood burns; here +wood is the substance, combustion the phenomenon. This is how +common-sense understands the matter; but if we separate from the idea of +wood all that characterizes it as wood, nothing remains but a pure +abstraction, of which common-sense takes no account, and has never so +much as thought. Our author further combats the idea of substance by +appealing to the metaphysical difficulties that it suggests. Is there +only one substance, or are there several? Either hypothesis is equally +difficult to sustain. In other words, substance is nothing more than +that law in virtue of which the mind connects phenomena in one and the +same act of thought. + +Here, again, we are obliged to say that the preceding arguments against +the objectivity of the notion of substance are, in our opinion, far from +conclusive. In the first place, it seems to us a false philosophical +method to exclude an object from the human mind because it suggests +difficulties that we are incapable of solving. Every object must be +presented to us as existing before we can judge of the possibility of +that object. Perhaps we do not possess the means of solving all the +questions which the existence of an object may suggest, but this is no +reason why it should not exist. The existence of things cannot be +subordinated to the limits of our understanding; it is this very +principle which seems to us soundest of all in the "Kritik" of Kant. +Even should we be for ever incapable of knowing whether there is one +substance or whether there are many, even should we be for ever doomed +to doubt as to this point, it would not follow that the existence of one +or of many substances were thereby done away with. Moreover, the +criticism of our author goes much further than the imperilling the +objectivity of substance; it really bears against the very notion +itself. If, in fact, every phenomenon being withdrawn, nothing remains +any longer in my mind, it is not merely objective substance that +vanishes, it is the notion itself. What, indeed, is a notion which, +analyzed, comes to naught? And what is this necessary law which is a +nonentity? Our author tells us that if we remove all the accidents there +remains "nothing perceptible to the senses." This is mere tautology, for +it is too evident that nothing sensible ought to remain in the notion, +all sensible accidents having been withdrawn; but what does remain is +that without which phenomena could not be connected. And this is no +empty concept, for how should an empty concept have any uniting power? +And, lastly, when the author, correcting himself, as we think, says that +the notion of substance reduces itself to what he calls a "fundamental +phenomenon," he does nothing but change the word, and in reality reverts +to what we call substance. For in what sense does anything +fundamental--that is to say, that to which other phenomena ultimately +reduce themselves, and which cannot be reduced to any other--still +preserve the name of phenomenon? All this, therefore, is but admitting +under one name what has been denied under another. + +The criticism of the notion of cause is quite similar to that of the +notion of substance. It is a notion necessary to the mind, for just as +without substance there can be no mental connection between simultaneous +phenomena, in the same way without cause there can be no connection +between successive phenomena. Causality is the necessary law that +connects each phenomenon with its anterior conditions. Without this law +there could be no science, no induction, no experience. It cannot, +consequently, be derived from experience, since it is the very condition +of it. But do we seek to render cause objective as well as substance? If +so, we must understand it in a different sense. Cause is no longer +merely a phenomenon anterior to another, the antecedent of a consequent. +It is something quite different, it is force, the active power, that +initiates the movement, and of which we find the type in our own +consciousness. Hence, to render cause objective is nothing less than to +spiritualize the universe, to suppose everywhere causes similar to +ours--it is a kind of universal Fetichism. And, further, we fall into +the same difficulties as we did with regard to substance. Is there only +one cause or many causes? Lastly, causation thus understood is of no use +whatever to science, for science has no need at all of metaphysical +forces, that which is necessary to science, and employed by it under the +name of force, being a measurable quantity which it disengages from +phenomena and from experience. + +On this new ground the difficulty that confronts critical idealism is +the same as that affecting the notion of substance. It lies in +defending the position against empiricism, from which are borrowed all +the arguments against the reality of the cause, while attempting, +nevertheless, to preserve the notion of it. How succeed in retaining as +an _a priori_ law what empiricism declares to be only an acquired habit? +How explain a law of mind imposing a determined order on external +phenomena? How can the entirely subjective need of relation determine +phenomena to produce themselves in the order desired by our +intelligence? The thunder rolls: my mind, in virtue of an innate law, +insists on this phenomenon being connected with a certain totality of +antecedent phenomena--namely, heat, the formation of clouds charged with +electricity of different kinds, the meeting of these clouds, and the +combination of the two electricities, &c. How and why have these +phenomena produced themselves in order to satisfy my mind? Our author +somewhere reproaches the partisans of innate ideas with supposing ideas +on one side and phenomena on the other. How can he exonerate Kant's +system from this objection? No philosopher ever insisted more than he on +the opposition between matter and form, the former being, as he says, +"given _a posteriori_," the latter ready prepared _a priori_ in the +mind. No philosopher, not even Leibnitz, has more radically separated +sensibility which is passive from the understanding whose principle is +spontaneity. How do these two opposite principles happen to agree? Even +were it pointed out that our senses themselves are innate, since our +sensations are but the manifestation of the specific activity of each +one of them--light, of the optic nerve, sound, of the acoustic--it still +remains certain that our sensations are only subjective as regards their +content and not as regards their origin; they arise in virtue of causes +to us unknown. How should understanding, by aid of a purely mental law, +and in order to its own satisfaction, evoke sensible phenomena from +nothingness, and if it had such a power, it could only be in virtue of +an active force, that is, of a veritable causality? You say that you +require relation, without which there could be no knowledge. And why +must there be knowledge because you feel the need of it? And why should +there not be in the understanding a need of unity and relation that +sensibility does not satisfy? To say that the mind at the same time that +it thinks the law produces phenomena conformable to that law, is to make +the mind itself the cause in the objective and metaphysical sense of the +word--is no other than that universal spiritualism that the author began +by refuting. We are therefore very far from admitting his criticism of +the principles of causality. Let us go on to the notion of the absolute. + +M. Liard begins very properly by pointing out the confusion too often +made between the notion of the infinite and that of the absolute. He +says that the infinite can only be strictly understood in the +mathematical sense, but that hence, as Leibnitz has said, the true +infinite is the absolute. He admits the existence in the mind of the +notion of the absolute in so far as it is inseparable from that of the +relative. The Scotch philosopher, Hamilton, had endeavoured to suppress +this notion, and had reproached Kant for not having completely exorcised +the phantom of the absolute,[2] and for having retained it in the +character of _idea_ while contesting its objective existence. It is +remarkable that on this point, so decisive for metaphysics, Hamilton +should have been opposed and refuted by the more modern English +philosophers, who often pass for having pushed the critical and negative +spirit further than he, when, indeed, on this point it is just the +contrary. Herbert Spencer especially is one whom it is interesting to +consult here. He maintains against Hamilton the notion of the absolute +as positive, not negative, "as the correlative notion of the relative, +as the substratum of all thoughts"--I quote verbally--"as the most +important element of our knowledge."[3] He also maintains in opposition +to Hamilton that the affirmation of the absolute is "a knowledge and not +a belief." Only according to him this object that underlies all our +thoughts is absolutely indeterminable by us. We know that it _is_, not +_what_ it is. It is the incomprehensible, the unknowable. + +M. Liard seems to us substantially to admit all these conclusions. +"Existence by others," he says, "is not to be understood without +self-existence." "Without the spur of the notion of the absolute, how +comprehend the obstinate persistence of the human mind in transcending +the limits of the relative? Is not this a proof that the relative is not +sufficient to itself?" It is one thing to affirm the absolute, another +to determine its nature. Even granting that we be powerless to speak as +to the essence of the absolute, and that it can never be for us other +than the indeterminable and unknowable, "is it nothing to be assured of +the existence of an unknowable? At all events religious beliefs might in +default of scientific certainty find in an irremovable basis this +conviction." + +We see therefore that our author agrees with Mr. Herbert Spencer in +granting the existence of the absolute; he does not seem to reduce it, +as Kant does, to a mere idea. He confines himself to saying that it +cannot be determined. He shows that none of the notions that have been +previously examined can fill up the concept of the absolute. Neither +space, nor time, nor substance, nor cause, nor the totality of +phenomena, can be raised to the notion of absolute. It is therefore +indeterminable. Now, as the absolute is the proper object of +metaphysics, it follows that metaphysics lack an object, having nothing +to say thereon. Hence it is self-condemned, and consequently metaphysics +is not a science. + +Such is the conclusion of the second part. The first appeared to raise +us above phenomena by establishing the necessity of thought and of its +fundamental law. But the second confines us within the domains of +thought, and forbids us to go beyond. There is, indeed, a science of +thought, but this science is criticism, not metaphysics. Have we, then, +only escaped from positivism to fall into the abyss of scepticism? + +Before explaining in what manner the author has endeavoured to escape +from this abyss, there is room for an important remark on the previous +discussion as to the notion of the absolute. Scepticism on this point +may assume three forms. Either, first, we do not even possess the notion +of it, our notion is entirely negative,--the absolute is the +non-relative, is indeed the relative with a negation: such is the view +of Sir W. Hamilton. Or else, secondly, we have the notion of the +absolute, of being in itself and by itself, of the superlatively real +being, _ens realissimum_, as Kant expresses it, but it is only a notion, +we cannot affirm the existence: this is Kant's doctrine. Or, thirdly, we +have indeed a positive notion of the absolute, and we necessarily affirm +its existence, only we are unable to determine its nature: this is the +conclusion arrived at by Herbert Spencer. Now, of these three doctrines +the two first alone, in our opinion, belong to what may be called +criticism. The third is manifestly a return to dogmatism. The more or +less of determination in the notion of the absolute is only the second +problem of metaphysic; the first is the existence of that absolute. And, +moreover, the doctrine of the divine incomprehensibility has always been +maintained by the greatest metaphysicians as well as the greatest +theologians. All mystics incline to it. There may therefore be room for +debate as to the more or less approximative character of our concepts of +the absolute. That any of these are adequate, or absolutely adequate, is +what no philosopher has ever thought himself obliged to maintain. No +doubt, to define the absolute as the unknowable, is to express the +doctrine under a very rigorous form, but one could hardly refuse to +allow the absolute to be the incomprehensible. + +Consequently, then, if the author, as appears to be the case from the +passages we have quoted, thinks with Mr. Herbert Spencer that the notion +of the absolute corresponds to an existence, and if he contents himself +with maintaining its indeterminability, we may, if we like, consider +this to be a singularly attenuated metaphysic, but we are not entitled +to deny that it amounts to a departure from criticism and a return to +metaphysic. If, on the other hand, criticism does at least suppose one +fundamental datum,--thought, namely, and with the thought the +thinking,--we are still forced to grant to Descartes, and consequently +to metaphysic, the existence of the thinking subject; and hence that +science which our author declares not to be one would be found already +in possession of the claim by the single fact of what he has called the +criticism of two fundamental postulates: I think, I am--I think the +absolute, the absolute is. And is this then nothing? + +We are therefore of opinion that M. Liard ought to have concluded the +second part of his work as he did the first--that is to say, that he +ought to have shown the insufficiency of criticism as he did that of +positivism. To our mind, criticism supposes metaphysic, as positivism +supposes criticism. Metaphysic contains the reason of criticism, as +criticism does that of positivism. Instead, then, of saying that +metaphysic is not a science, we should rather call it the culminating +point of science. But in place of following this natural order, which +is, indeed, only his own method, our author has preferred to prove +criticism right in the second part of his book, and metaphysic right in +the third, by a sort of _saltus_, not contained in what goes before. He +has chosen to appear nearer to Kant than he really is; has chosen to +carry on his own evolution in Kant's manner, and to rebuild on different +bases what he had demolished; but we shall see that this evolution is in +reality quite different from that of Kant, and that his justification of +criticism is only apparent, or at least if he defends it, this is really +only in order subsequently to undermine it. + + +III. + +Kant's evolution, which makes dogmatism to result from scepticism, was +an entirely moral evolution, substituting for speculative the authority +of practical reason. The evolution we have now to deal with is of a +quite different character; it consists in passing from objective to +subjective knowledge, from the object to the subject. Even if all that +has been just said on the side of criticism were true, there is at least +invariably one existence that remains untouched by it: this existence is +that of the thinking subject, and this existence is incontestable. What +appears to us as a circle to the circumference are objects, in the +centre is the subject. We do not confound ourselves with our sensations, +we distinguish between them and ourselves. Can, then, this consciousness +of the thinking subject be no more than the transformation of external +events? No; for all exterior events reduce themselves to one--_i.e._, +motion; and all interior events to one--_i.e._, thought. There is no +transition or transformation possible between one of these phenomena and +the other. "We acknowledge," says a distinguished savant, Professor +Tyndall, "that a definite thought and a molecular action of the brain +occur simultaneously, but we do not possess the essential organ, nor +even a rudiment of the organ we should require in order to pass by +reasoning from the one to the other." Thus, then, the subject exists and +is not reducible to the object. Shall we say that this subject is +nothing more than a sum of phenomena? But what adds up these phenomena? +A common bond is needed. Have we any consciousness of such a bond? +"Yes," replies our author, "we call internal states of consciousness, +past, present, or possible; we attribute them to ourselves, we say that +they take place within us. What does this mean if the _ego_ to which we +refer them is only their succession? How comprehend the continuity of +consciousness?" In a word, our author admits absolutely that the _ego_ +has a consciousness of its own being, as distinct from its sensations +and from external objects. "It is," he says, "an activity constantly +modified, but yet always one, which dominating its states refers them +to the unity of one same consciousness." + +Here, then, we have, without possibility of mistake, the fundamental +doctrine of the spiritualistic philosophy of Descartes, Leibnitz, Maine +de Biran, and Jouffroy. By laying down this principle the author +believes himself enabled to reinstate that metaphysic which criticism +had condemned. We, for our part, have no doubt of this; but we fail to +see how the author can at the same time hold this principle and the +Kantian principle of idealism. The "Kritik" of Kant bears upon the +subject as well as the object; according to it both the one and the +other are unknowable and incomprehensible noumena. The human mind is but +a complex compound of sensations and categories, the unity of which is +reached by the same process as the unity of external objects. No doubt +Kant is, indeed, obliged to concede something to the _ego_, the _cogito_ +as he calls it; but he does not very clearly say what it is; it is not a +substance, not a category, not a result. "It is," says he, "the vehicle +of all categories." What can be more vague? The metaphor shows both how +little disposed Kant was to assign its due part to the _ego_--how vague +and uncertain he left it, and at the same time how he was forced to take +it into account. The _ego_, the active, continuous, self-conscious +_ego_, is the rock ahead to Kant's philosophy. For how dispute the +consciousness of substance and of cause, when one admits "a continuous +activity dominating all states of consciousness and reducing them to +unity?" + +What, then, is substance, according to our author? It is, he says, +something that does not change considered as the necessary condition of +that which changes. What is cause? Is it not the power of initiating any +given movement? Now, this same consciousness which gives us the _ego_ as +a continuous activity, does it not in so doing give it us as the +condition of phenomena and as the productive cause of movement in +voluntary efforts? Consequently, to grant that the _ego_ knows itself as +_ego_, and as activity, is in point of fact to restore the notions of +cause and substance which had been done away with. At most all that has +been gained from criticism is the difficulty of comprehending substance +and cause without objective, that is, material form. Its results, then, +amount only to the incomprehensibility of matter. But the cause of +metaphysic is not to be confounded with that of matter; metaphysic is +not tied to the existence of materialism; and were it even led in +self-defence to deny the very existence of matter altogether, one does +not see that such a negation need cost it much. Descartes did not +hesitate to place the existence of bodies in doubt, in order to save the +existence of spirit. Malebranche did not believe that the existence of +bodies could be proved except by revelation. Leibnitz did not think that +bodies were more than phenomena, the reality of which was spiritual. +There is, then, no common cause between the interests of metaphysic, or +of what Kant calls _dogmatism_, and the question of material +objectivity, which may be left open without compromising the +fundamental basis of things. How, then, can our author appear to assign +the victory to criticism while in reality depriving it of its chief +support by restoring to the _ego_ the immediate consciousness of itself +as a being, one, active, permanent, and continuous? Kant may have played +this game, because, in effect, outside of criticism, he only admits +moral reasons for reinstating dogmatism. But although our author follows +him too on that ground, he nevertheless enters in point of fact upon an +entirely different path when he invokes immediate consciousness as a +guarantee of the existence and activity of the mind. These are not moral +and practical, but metaphysical reasons. Metaphysic, then, independently +of morality, has its own proper foundation, which, far from being +affected by criticism, is the very foundation of criticism itself. This +foundation once admitted, are we entitled to declare metaphysic no +science? We hold that we are not. Doubtless, if by science be meant an +absolutely adequate knowledge of the object, such as mathematics +affords, metaphysic cannot pretend to such knowledge; but we have here +only a question of degree. The perfection of a science is not the same +thing as its existence. A science is what it is by reason of the +difficulties its objects present, and the imperfections of its method; +but it is science none the less if it possesses a given object and a +solid foundation. Now, such a foundation is admitted by our author when +he admits the intuition of the _ego_ by itself; and hence it is no +longer a mere question of words to refuse the name of science to the +series of deductions that may be drawn from a principle which has been +admitted valid. + +If our author grants the foundation of metaphysics by adhering to the +Cartesian principle of the immediate knowledge of the mind by itself, he +at the same time acknowledges its most elevated term by defending the +existence of an absolute perfection, a supreme type of spirituality. "If +in ourselves," he says, "relatively perfect ideas realize themselves in +virtue of their relative perfection, why should not the total perfection +from whence they are derived exist? There is nothing contradictory in +such an absolute." Is not this to admit the doctrine of the perfect +being as the Cartesian School has constantly expressed it? but is it +enough _to_ say that the total perfection _may_ exist, enough to inquire +why it should not exist? Should we not go further, and say with Bossuet, +"On the contrary, perfection is the reason of being." Here we are forced +to allow, in the views, or at all events in the expressions of our +author, a fluctuation and uncertainty which now impel him towards the +critical, and now towards the metaphysical position, without his +arriving at a sufficiently decided conclusion. "The absolute," he says, +"would then be the ideal of moral perfection. But by such a definition +do we not compromise its reality?" To which doubt he replies that the +"true reality is precisely the ideal." Now, this is an equivocal and +obscure reply, demanding explanation. No doubt the reality claimed for +the perfect being is not a sensible and material reality. But there is +another than material reality--there is a spiritual, such as is +manifested to us in the reality of consciousness, in the immediate +activity and intuition of our being. We may, indeed, style this sort of +existence _ideal_, in opposition to material existence; but the +expression is incorrect, for that which, properly speaking, is an ideal +existence is one merely represented to the mind when thinking of +something that no longer exists, does not yet exist, nor ever will +exist. Now, the question is, whether the moral absolute, of which we +have just had the definition given, belongs to the first or to the +second of these ideals; whether it exists for itself, or only for us, in +so far as we think it, and while we think it. For a mode of existence +like this, dependent on our own thought, is very far from being the +supreme reality; it is only a modal and subjective reality. Thus our +author, we see, expresses himself too uncertainly. Nevertheless, his own +principles sufficiently authorized him to declare himself with more +precision. Indeed, we have seen, on the one hand, that he, with Mr. +Herbert Spencer, affirms the existence of the absolute; and, on the +other hand, that he acknowledges the concept of total perfection to be +in nowise contradictory. Granting so much, must not absolute perfection +be the reason of the existence of the absolute, as relative perfection +is the reason of the existence of the relative? If, however, any choose +to call that supreme perfection the _Idea_, with Hegel--as Plato calls +it the _Good_, Aristotle the pure _Act_, Descartes the _Infinitely +Perfect Being_--we have nothing to object, so long as it be clearly +understood that the _idea_ shall signify the identity of the thought and +the being, and not merely a subjective conception of the human mind. + +To sum up: it results from what has been already said, that spite of his +powers of thought, the author has not been able to escape a certain +fluctuation between criticism and spiritualism, and has only arrived at +a contradictory compromise between the two conceptions. From criticism +he borrows the ideality of the notions of space, time, substance, cause, +and the idea of a moral absolute founded on purely moral motives. From +spiritualism he borrows the existence of the absolute as the necessary +correlative of the relative, and the consciousness of the subject which +perceives itself in its continuity as the cause of its phenomena; and, +finally, the idea of a total perfection, which may, without involving +any contradiction, have the reason of its existence in itself. These two +orders of conception are not so closely connected as they should be; too +much is conceded to criticism, too little to metaphysic; and M. Liard +inclines overmuch to give to morality the exorbitant privilege of +deciding between the two. + + +IV. + +But is this equivalent to saying that we blame our author for his +enterprise, and for the attempt he has made to reconcile criticism with +dogmatism? By no means; for we are inclined to believe that this is the +very aim that all metaphysic should set before itself at the present +day. How, indeed, could we possibly admit that so powerful, so lofty an +intellectual effort as that initiated by Kant, which under the name of +criticism, of subjective or objective idealism, or even of positivism, +has but been the development of his primary thought; that so prodigious +a mental movement as this should be absolutely void of meaning, and +destined to leave no trace in science? How believe that since the days +of Descartes the human intellect has gone mad? Would not this be to +express ourselves in the same way as those who, including Descartes +himself in this condemnation, have maintained that since St. Thomas the +whole course of human thought has been only one long error? Can there be +anything more contrary to the laws of the human mind than this +hypothesis of absolute truth discovered once for all, leaving no room +beside it for anything but error? And besides, what more did Kant do +than, under the form of a system (a defective form, no doubt, but +hitherto the only one known to philosophy)--what more, we ask, did he +than develop and render prominent what had been implicitly contained in +the teaching of all preceding metaphysicians? Had not they all assigned +a share in human consciousness to the subjective and relative, and very +often a larger share than we are led to think, if we only regard their +conclusions? Has there, for example, been since the days of Plato a +single metaphysician who has denied the knowledge of the senses to be +relative, and has the full scope and bearing of this principle been +accurately measured? Can that be denied which has been scientifically +demonstrated, which Descartes already affirmed, _i.e._, that light and +sound--Nature's two great languages--are only the products of our +physical organization, and that outside of the eye that sees, and the +ear that hears, there is nothing external to us but a series of +vibrations and undulations, which are neither luminous nor sonorous? +Reduced to itself, without the presence of men or animals, matter is +merely darkness and silence! What sort of matter may this be, and how +little resembling the one we know? But is not, it may be said, the +reality of that matter attested at least by resistance, by impact? The +reality--yes; but is the very nature of the external thing, as it is in +itself, manifested thereby? What is impact, what is resistance, if not a +mode of our sensations? To be assured of this, we have but to turn to +all that metaphysicians teach us as to the nature of God. All agree in +saying that God has no sensations. If God be cognizant of matter, as is +indubitable, it follows that He does not know it through sensations +similar to ours. The _argumentum baculinum_ which appears so convincing +to Sganarelle, would be powerless with regard to a pure spirit, still +more an infinite spirit. Now is not this as much as to say that impact +is the mode of action bodies exercise on each other, and by which +sentient beings are made aware of their existence, but that it is a mode +purely relative to the sensibility of finite beings? Say that, we at +least admit with Descartes the reality of extension. But what is the +real size of the extended things by which we are surrounded, and which +according to the shape of our lenses we see enlarged, diminished, or +even distorted in a thousand ways? Were it to please God, as Leibnitz +has said, to collect the immensity of worlds into a walnut-shell, while +preserving the proportion of objects, we should never find it out; and +such diminution might be carried on infinitely, without ever reaching +any term of smallness. 'We grant it,' will be the reply--'all sensible +knowledge is relative; Plato, Malebranche, Leibnitz, have sufficiently +told us this; but above the senses there is the understanding, which +alone is made for truth. Our senses give us the appearance of things, +our understanding makes us see them as they are in themselves.' Nothing +more true, and this is the basis of metaphysics. But the question is, to +what point the understanding is separated and separable from +sensibility, and reciprocally, to what point sensibility enters into the +understanding. Is there anything in us which can really be called +understanding pure? Understanding--yes; but pure--no! Man cannot think +without images, says Aristotle; this alone demonstrates that our +understanding is always obliged to sensibilize its most abstract +concepts. Moreover, between pure concepts and the data of sensibility +there is still a debatable and obscure region--that, namely, of space +and time. And here it is that Kant has made his mark ineffaceably. It is +by so doing that he renovated metaphysics. He believed, thought, that +both these domains belonged to sensibility and not to intelligence, that +they too were only modes of representation--that is to say, modes purely +relative to the nature of our mind. On this point also traditional +metaphysics came to his support, at least as regards time. For is it not +said by all schools whatever that God is not in time, that He is an +eternal _Now_, that past and future are nothing to Him? Is it not this +conception which is constantly appealed to as affording the solution of +the conflict between divine prescience and human liberty? Now to affirm +that God is not in time, and that He sees all portions of time in one +sole and eternal present, is not this as much as to say that time is +only the mode of representation of finite beings with regard to +themselves; that, consequently, it is an image belonging to their +finitude, but not to what they are in themselves, since God, who must +see them as they are, sees them in an absolutely and radically different +manner? Let us add another difference between the human and divine +intelligence, pointed out by Bossuet, when he said, "We see things +because they are, but they are because God sees them." Therefore in God +intelligence is anterior to things, in us posterior. Now, though we can, +through artistic creation, form some idea of an intelligence anterior to +things, the analogy is, after all, a coarse one, since in us creative +imagination only deals with materials borrowed from without. Hence it +follows that our intelligence is but a very imperfect image of the +divine. Now, as the latter alone can be the type of veritable +intelligence, we can only attribute to ourselves a relative +intelligence, subordinated to the conditions of the creature. But does +not this amount precisely to saying that we only see things in a +subjective and human manner, and that, consequently, we do not know them +as they are in themselves? Let us go further still; let us raise +ourselves to conceptions of the perfect being, the divine being. Here, +too, all metaphysicians agree in acknowledging that we have only an +entirely relative view of the Divinity. Is there one who admits that we +can, without anthropomorphism, understand literally all the attributes +that we impute to the Deity? Has not God Himself defined Himself in +Scripture as _Deus absconditus_, and does not the doctrine of mysteries +in every great religion imply that the true essence of the Deity is +unknown to us, and that, consequently, the philosophic doctrine of the +attributes of God is a purely human conception, by which we strive to +represent to ourselves the unrepresentable, and to bring within the +grasp of our sensibility and our imagination the august and sublime +notion that confounds all created substance? + +This is what we are taught by all metaphysic doctrine whatever, and not +only by that of Kant, Plato, St. Augustine, St. Thomas, Descartes, +Malebranche, Leibnitz, Fenelon: all alike teach us that the senses are +but a confused and relative knowledge, that space and time are modes of +finite existence, that God can only be conceived of by analogy, and not +in His essence. Are such conceptions as these very different from those +of Kant? And if he has taken them up again under another form, if by +isolating he has exaggerated them, his is the merit of having brought +them into prominence, of reminding us of them, and forcing us to assign +them a more important place in our doctrines. Despite the warnings of +the greatest minds, and of all great minds, are we not ceaselessly +tempted to yield to the automatic instinct which makes us believe things +to be as we see them, makes us suppose the existence of a matter, solid, +coloured, sonorous, cold, or hot, such as the senses acquaint us with; +makes us believe in an absolute space and time, with which we no longer +know how to deal when we think of the true Absolute; makes us conceive +of this true Absolute or Goodness as of a species of great man, that we +strip of a body, without even reflecting whether we have really the +power of representing to ourselves anything absolutely incorporeal? It +is against this vulgar current dogmatism, which philosophy has so much +trouble in getting rid of, that not only Kant, but every metaphysician, +protests. Kant only expounded, under a rigorous and systematic form, all +the critical portion of previous metaphysics. To us it seems +impossible--with more or less reservation, and without insisting at +present too rigidly on the share of the relative and subjective in human +knowledge--impossible, we say, not to allow this share, and +consequently, in a certain measure, not to give in our adherence to +transcendental criticism and idealism. There is, however, as we have +seen above, something which escapes from this relativity of all human +knowledge: it is the very fact of knowing. This fact has in itself +something absolute. I know not whence it comes, I cannot explain it; I +marvel that a being should be met with in whom at one time or other what +we call knowledge has appeared; but this fact cannot exist without being +known by the knower. All knowledge supposes, then, a subject that knows +itself--that is to say, who is internally present to himself. Here +knowledge comes from within, not from without. Whatever is objective can +only _appear_ to me, and is consequently a _phenomenon_. I only see its +outside, and it is only in relation to myself that I can grasp even that +outside. But the conscious _ego_ sees itself from within. Shall we say +that it appears to itself? I am willing to say so, but as it appears to +itself that appearance is a reality, for the form that I give it is my +own form. In order that it should become _me_, _I_ must be _me_. Every +other object has to be given in the first instance before it is +perceived; in order that I should see a house, a house must be there. It +is not so with the _ego_. For if at the moment it is given me it is not +already me, how is it to become so? How shall I know it as such? And if +it be already me, it is already perceived as such. Hence it follows that +the external thing may be represented without being, as happens in +sleep, while I cannot think without thinking myself, or think myself +without existing. All subjectivism, all relativism, all criticism, +therefore, are baffled in presence of the _ego_. + +It is from this solid and immovable foundation laid by Descartes at the +entrance of science that we may set out to extend the sphere of our +knowledge. Everything, it is said, is relative. What matter if that +relative be connected by precise and fixed relations with the unknown, +if that which is given be a strictly faithful projection of that which +is thought? For instance, we do not know the souls of other men in +themselves, we have never seen a soul such as it is in itself; those +even which are dearest to us are unknown like the rest. But if we +suppose all the signs by which they manifest themselves to be sincere, +is it not to know them truly and in the only way intelligible to us, to +hear their voices, and understand their words, and interpret their +actions? No doubt nothing external to ourselves can be known internally +by us; but if the exterior be the expression of the interior, is not the +one the equivalent of the other? And to ask more would amount to asking +to be more than man. Science teaches us that all appearances have a +fixed and precise relation to reality. The visible apparent sky is +strictly what it ought to be to express the real sky. The deeper our +knowledge of things goes, the more we see the perfect conformity of the +apparent to the real, the more faithfully do phenomena translate +noumena. Are we not, therefore, justified in supposing that these +relative noumena, which are still no more than appearances, could be +translated in their turn, if only we had the key to them, into other +noumena of which they are the form and image? I may say the same about +the anthropomorphic representations of Deity. I admit that the Absolute +is in its essence above all human representations. But these +representations, when we disengage them as much as possible from all +sensible elements, are none the less the true expression of that +incomprehensible essence in so far as it appears to a human +consciousness. If not God in Himself, it is God in relation to me; and +it is with only this last that we have to do so long as we are but men. + +We do not, therefore, consider it impossible to assign to the critical +element its part in metaphysic without denying the objective reality of +knowledge. We think that the famous old distinction between being and +phenomena, the intelligible and the sensible, still endures, despite the +"Kritik" of Kant; or rather, this very "Kritik" itself is, in our eyes, +only a hyperbolical but striking manner of expressing this great truth. + + PAUL JANET. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] We already endeavoured to make this philosophy known at its earliest +appearance, by an article that appeared in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_ +of the 19th October, 1873, under the title, "A New Phase of +Spiritualism." We are now dealing with the most recent form of this new +school. + +[2] Hamilton's "Discussions: Cousin, Schelling." + +[3] Herbert Spencer's "First Principles," First Part p. 18. + + + + +ON THE MORAL LIMITS OF BENEFICIAL COMMERCE. + + +When a Professor of _Political Economy_ was first established in the +University of Oxford, a controversy presently arose in the academical +common rooms concerning the just meaning of the phrase. Among elder and +conservative men, the most active-minded insisted that it ought to +receive the full width of meaning attached to it by Aristotle in his +Treatise on Economy, which, with him, was essentially the economy of the +State--that is, in pure Greek, _political_ economy, although this +epithet is not annexed to his title. By this interpretation, the science +naturally and necessarily became implicated with moral considerations, +which never can be excluded from the statesman's view. But the actual +students and professors of the new science--eminently Mr. Nassau Senior +and Dr. Whately, shortly afterwards Archbishop of Dublin--naturally +feared that by such an interpretation political economy would become +confounded with politics; would, indeed, cease to be a science; and by +so great an enlargement of its area, would fail to receive that special +and definite cultivation which Adam Smith had bestowed on it, as the +theory of national wealth. Whately indeed, to avoid this inconvenient +extension of the sense, proposed to call the topic, not political +economy, but _Catallactics_--that is, the science of exchanges. +Excellent in many respects as the last title was, it might have seemed +to exclude the whole doctrine of taxation, and still more decisively all +discussion of Malthus's theory of population, which belongs to politics +or to morals, not at all to the doctrine of exchange. In the end, the +economists ruled that their science does not at all teach what _ought_ +to be, but simply what _is_, what _goes on_, and _will go on_, as an +inevitable result of individuals holding exchangeable right in definite +articles. Thus they seemed to have driven moral considerations out of +their science, as much as out of gardening or medicine. To call their +political economy, on that account, _heartless_ (as so many have done) +may seem ridiculous; but this form of attack on it arose from a +perception or belief that its professors were claiming for it an +_imperative_ force, while disclaiming morality, and were assuming that +it was a sufficient and supreme rule for political action. + +Of late it has been maintained on a special ground that moral +considerations cannot wholly be excluded from political economy. Dr. W. +B. Hodgson, first holder of a new chair in Edinburgh as Professor of +_Mercantile_ Economy, has urged that, in so far as morality or +immorality in individuals affects wealth and the markets, we do not +exhaust the discussion on exchanges while we neglect this consideration. +Perhaps indeed no one, in discussing taxation, has omitted to consider +what taxes lead to fraudulent evasion or to smuggling; but economists +hitherto, with great unanimity, have resolved that, in their character +of economists, they will not notice moral evils from an opium trade, or +from sale of deadly weapons and ammunition, or from traffic in +intoxicants; nor can one in general discover from their writings that +they know vice to be wasteful, or national expenditure on needless and +foolish objects undesirable. They have a right to select what topics +they will treat, and what they will not treat. They have a right to say: +"Such and such considerations belong to morals, not to _our_ political +economy." But, on the one hand, if they are resolved that their science +shall be as unmoral as engineering or navigation, they must not claim +for it any decisive weight in State-politics; on the other hand, the +topics which they neglect need, so much the more urgently, to be treated +by others, especially since we have no professors of practical morals, +and (for more reasons than one) questions of the market are not thought +suitable to the pulpit. + +That an exchange of one thing for another does, on the whole, _please_ +both parties to the exchange, is evidently testified by the fact that +each acts voluntarily; hence, the inference is too lightly made that +each is _benefited_ by the transaction. Not only so, but from an +increasing magnitude of exchanges increase of wealth is inferred, +without any reference to the nature of the things exchanged. In a rough +estimate, this reasoning has, no doubt, a _prima facie_ weight, for we +may not dictate to the tastes of others, nor assume that tastes which +are not ours are therefore silly. Yet, evidently things which perish in +the using quickly cease to be wealth, and things which are not likely to +be approved continuously cannot long command the same high price. No +article could fetch a price at all if it were not intended to be +enjoyed, used, or consumed; the final purchase is called expenditure, +and all expenditure is liable to moral judgment, approving or censuring. +When we censure expenditure, not merely because it is excessive, but +because it is essentially foolish or evil, we necessarily deplore and +deprecate the traffic which feeds it--the traffic which it encourages; +hence, some vicious trades are even forbidden by law. Short of this, +there is necessarily a large margin of trades which law does not, and +perhaps cannot successfully, forbid, which nevertheless may be justly +regretted, censured, and, as far as may be, discountenanced. Economists +are not here blamed if they (disowning moral considerations) do nothing +of the kind; but they must not be allowed to blind us to the fact that +some trades, not forbidden by law, are so far from promoting wealth and +weal as to be gravely pernicious. To rejoice in their magnitude, to +announce it triumphantly as a proof of national prosperity, is something +worse than a mistake. + +No reader, it is believed, will complain that the last sentence is +mysterious or obscure. Our manufacturers of cotton and woollen have of +late loudly deplored the falling off of their home trade, while the +consumption of intoxicating drink continues to increase. They believe +that if the labouring classes spent less on the brewer and distiller, +they would spend more on the clothier. The most fanatical devotee of +alcohol cannot deny that too much of it is drunk, in face of the +long-continued avowal of the judges that drink is by far the greatest +cause of crime--drink, short of evident and provable drunkenness. +Indeed, it is not from those who are outright drunk, but from those who +have been drinking, that the worst and most numerous outrages come, +while the foot and the eye are steady, though the brain and the passions +are perverted. To boast and rejoice in the magnitude of the drink +traffic, legal as it undoubtedly is, has no moral defence. The topic is +here adduced, not in order to push that argument further, but in order +to insist that the mere increase of a trade does not _in itself_ denote +an increase of wealth; is not _in itself_ necessarily a thing to be +applauded either by the economist or by the moralist. In each case we +must look into detail, and consider whether this or that prosperous +trade, like a huge weed in a garden, dwarfs or kills other growths, +which, but for it, might thrive. + +An avowed ardent disciple of Mr. Cobden--a gentleman in some eminence of +place and rank--has recently dissuaded taxes on wine and tobacco for the +sake of revenue, _not_ on the ground which one might expect--viz., that +a Government ought not to base a revenue on what may chance to be public +vice, _but_ on the ground that "the grower of wine in France and of +tobacco in America" can reasonably refuse to trade with us, if "we will +not accept payment in _the only coin_ which he has to offer--namely, in +his wine or his tobacco."[4] As if we were not competent to reply: "Of +wine and tobacco we quickly get more than enough. Preserve your grapes +in sawdust, or make them into raisins, and you will not find our people +averse to enjoy them, nor will you encounter any unreasonable duty from +our Custom-houses. As to tobacco, surely the rich land which alone can +raise it, can raise no end of other products which we are certain to +value." This well-informed writer, in his whole argument, seems to +account wine the only food-product which we receive from France (to +silks and elegant articles he once slightly alludes); but he cannot be +ignorant that the solid food which France sends us in eggs, cheese, +butter, vegetables, chickens, and dry fruit is enormous; she would in +ordinary years send us wheat, did not America, Russia, and Australia +make it needless. To speak of wine as _the only coin_ of France is a +wonderful straining of argument. But the reason for quoting it here is +to illustrate how completely the School of Cobden wishes the State to +ignore moral considerations in trade. Yet the State deserves no +reverence, if it be not moral. Laws and enactments, framed by minds +reckless of morality, are apt to be, on the one side unjust and +oppressive, on the other eminently corrupting. A State which gains +revenue from a vicious trade, such as gambling and debauchery, +demoralizes its people so effectually as to deserve reprobation rather +than reverence. According to the ancients, the lawgiver begins to +civilize society and to earn veneration by establishing marriage and +sanctifying the family. Are we to say, "We have changed all that now; +let the Church care for morality: it is no concern of the State?" Who +first taught such sentiment as wise policy, it is not easy to say; but +it certainly has, in practice, if not in theory, attained a deadly +currency. It never was the doctrine of Adam Smith. It is obviously a +sure road to ruin, if its development be unopposed. + +A legislator, of course, ought not to guide his enactments by the +morality of any one school. If, in Greek fashion, we were to set up an +Epimenides, a Solon, a Lycurgus, as plenipotentiary to start us in a new +course, there might be some little danger of one-sided and conceited +morals; yet not much, even so; for a very one-sided or very stupid man +would hardly be elected: every lawgiver wishes his new institutions to +be permanent, and is sure to have some regard to the friction which they +would encounter in working. But where the legislation must have +sanction, not from one man, but from a thousand men, of whom six hundred +are elected from different circles of mixed ranks, from diverse +localities, where forms and schools of religion, based on variety of +thought, prevail, it is evidently impossible that in the laws +collectively approved any moral ideas should dominate, except those +which are common to all who are morally cultivated. To dread moral +considerations in the debates of an English Parliament, lest the +morality prevailing in its laws become one-sided and arbitrary, pedantic +and ascetic, is so baseless, so wanting in good sense, as scarcely to +seem sincere. When people tell us, "We shall be liable to have laws +against dancing and cardplaying, or laws compelling us to go to church, +if we insist that legislation ought to study for the public virtue," +they not only make themselves ridiculous, they even force us to suspect +that they fear lest vice be repressed in ways inconvenient to the +vicious. So much is premised, lest it be imagined or pretended that in +pointing at moral limits to beneficial commerce any morality is desired +less broad than that which all noble and well-reputed schools +accept--the morals of mankind. At the same time, what is here advanced +is intended to bear less immediately on law than on the general tenor of +public opinion and practical writing. + +Many economists write, as assuming that it is a step forward in +civilization when a barbarous people learns artificial wants. If a New +Zealander, instead of being satisfied with a mat for his back, which, +made by himself, will last him for years, betakes himself to an English +coat, which he must buy with a price,--which indeed less effectually +shields him from wet, and sooner wears out,--he does that which is +convenient to the English trader, but to him is a very doubtful gain: +perhaps rather he brings on himself colds, cough, and consumption. If a +thousand Maoris did the same, the commerce might figure in a Maori +budget, and a Maori economist might point to the new trade as a step +forward in national prosperity. The Zulus, as described by Englishmen +who have travelled in Zululand or lived in the midst of them in Natal, +are an upright, generous, faithful, honest race; and strange to say, +Englishmen, who have such experience of them, are found to corroborate +the utterance of Cetewayo, "A Zulu trained by a missionary is a Zulu +spoiled"--that is, when trained in our habits they lose their national +virtues. How can this be? why should it be? Apparently, because from us +they learn artificial wants. While an apron suffices a Zulu for +clothing, and a very simple hut for shelter, he can in many ways afford +to be hospitable and generous. A man with very few wants has all the +feelings of superfluity and wealth while surrounded by possessions so +slender that we count him very poor: and when with an amount of toil +which to his hardihood is not at all severe, he can always calculate on +providing for himself and family all that their simple habits need, he +is not deterred from present generosity by studying for his own future. +But if he learn to covet and count necessary a number of articles which +require from him threefold labour, he feels himself no longer rich, but +poor; then, instead of giving small favours gratuitously, he claims to +be paid for everything; instead of being princely, he becomes mercenary +and stingy. If he imitate the dress, he is liable to envy the wealth of +the Englishman, and in schemes of laying up for the future he easily +becomes avaricious, perhaps fraudulent. Such are the steps by which one +may justly calculate that some or many barbarians degenerate from the +normal goodness of their fellows. The artificial wants which they learn +when housed with our missionaries, or imbibe from the crafty allurements +of traders, are not (_prima facie_) a benefit at all, do not conduce to +independence, to the sense of wealth, nor to the practice of virtue. +They are simply a convenience to the European trader. If a Maori or Zulu +chief frown upon such trade, which judgment does he deserve--to be +scolded as barbarous, or to be praised as sagacious? With them, perhaps +also with us, to account but few things necessary is a foundation for +many virtues. Our economists often reverse the picture. + +No stress is here laid on the fact that the historical saints of +Christendom thought it an excellence to be satisfied with a minimum of +external appliances for the comfort of the body. So much of arbitrary +opinion may be imputed reasonably to them, and so much of fancy and +credulity to their biographers, that it does not occur to the present +writer to account their practices or principles any support to his +argument. But the case of Socrates, and many other Greek philosophers, +is different, and much to the point. With them, high thought, cheap +feeding, and mean circumstantials frequently went together; and perhaps +even those philosophers, who were somewhat mercenary and rich, would +vehemently have renounced the idea that it is a good thing to acquire +habits and tastes which make necessary to us things previously needless. +But there is danger of drawing the reader's thoughts into a new channel +by this allusion to Greek philosophers when an argument of national +economy is chiefly intended, not of personal virtues. As it is better +for an individual to be satisfied with supplies that are sufficient, +close at hand, and easy of attainment, than to have fastidious tastes +which cannot be supplied without considerable effort and labour, so it +is better for a nation to have a taste for its native products, so far +as our lower wants are concerned. If we can get all that the health and +strength of the body needs from our own soil, and with small +expenditure, this is better for us than to be enslaved to artificial +tastes, which multiply labours for mere bodily supply. To fix ideas, let +me illustrate the principle here contained by discussing those popular +beverages, tea and coffee. + +Tea undoubtedly, as superseding beer, cider, and wine, has wrought much +benefit to England, even if it have been (when heavily taxed) dearer +than our native intoxicants. When taken with little food, in strong and +frequent cups, it may often have weakened the nerves; but it does not, +like alcohol, pervert the brain and inflame the mind, thus leading to +folly, vice, and crime. The present writer is, and always has been, a +tea drinker; nor have the many assaults on this beverage which have been +sent to him shaken his belief that, taken in moderation, it has no evil +comparable to its good. The present argument does not aim to prove that +tea is in itself bad, only that the too-exclusive addiction to it has +hurtfully excluded the trial of native beverages, which are perhaps +better, certainly cheaper, and far more accessible. + +Rigid enemies of alcoholic drink often assure us, in poetical and +ecstatic language, that water is the only reasonable and right drink for +man, as for other animals; but the water which they recommend and +describe as gushing and sparkling in mountain rills does not come to the +hearth and home of every mountain dweller, much less is it attainable by +the inhabitants of cities or boggy plains. The hardy beasts of the +field, if they can get the water pure, manage to endure its coldness in +all seasons; so perhaps might we, if we could recover robustness of the +stomach without losing any advantage of a developed brain. That such +recovery is impossible is not here asserted, but simply that, under the +existing circumstances, the water (through its impurities or its +coldness) often needs to be cooked, to be warmed, to have then some +taste superadded which shall overcome mawkishness. When this is +conceded, the question arises, will no native botany suffice? Are we of +necessity driven to import tea from China or Assam? Such are the +wonderful and deep harmonies of Nature that in each long-inhabited +country the constitution of animals becomes adapted to its plants as +well as to its climate, and finds among them not only its food, but its +remedies for disease. Native herbs are often found more health-restoring +than pretentious foreign drugs; nor is it extravagant to imagine that +native leaves and berries might adapt themselves as well to the palate +of Englishmen as tea and coffee, and better to their stomachs, if, +instead of buying from the foreigner, we had duly studied our home +resources. In the case of coffee, it curiously happens that there are +persons among us who prefer what is called dandelion coffee to the +coffee of Arabia; and that the preference is sincere seems proved by the +accident that the dandelion thus prepared is dearer than the best Mocha. +Nor does this dearness weigh against our argument. Twenty years ago +brown bread was charged by bakers as fancy bread; ten years ago lentils +were double their present price; in each case because the demand was so +uncertain. The price of dandelion would quickly come down if it were in +large and daily request. As substitutes for tea many leaves may be named +which will not be called simply medicinal, prominently those of the +sweet bay, the peach, and the black currant. If we were by any cause cut +off from tropical markets, some combination would soon be discovered +which carried off public preference; and when a national taste in it had +once been established, every good purpose would have been attained +without the foreign article. Should we not in that case moralize with +wonder over the vast apparatus of great ships, which had been built, and +manned, and stored, and sent to sea, with loss of sailors' lives, +entailing widowhood and orphanhood, for no better reason than to bring +back leaves, for which adequate substitutes abound at home? This +argument undertakes not to prove, but to illustrate. It is not specially +confined to the case of tea or coffee. It does not make positive +assertion that we can now change the English taste, nor does it urge a +transition which would be violent, if at all sudden. It merely points to +reasonable probabilities, as showing that a vast trade with a distant +country to gratify an artificial want, if it prove how much we can +afford to spend without being ruined, yet does not at all prove that we +enrich ourselves by the exchange. At the same time, so great is the +facility for making drinks, that we might assume higher ground and press +our argument farther. The deliciousness of Oriental sherbet is no matter +of doubt or controversy. Its basis is simply barley-water; to flavour +it, the foreigner, of course, uses some of his own fruits, but we have +plenty of substitutes at hand, at least while sugar abounds to us. It +may be warmed, if necessary: so little need we depend on the Chinese. +Besides, some among us are satisfied with, and warmly applaud, the drink +prepared from simple oatmeal. If we all had this taste, we should +nationally be richer. + +It may be retorted, "Did you not name _Sugar_? Do you advocate making +sugar of beetroot?" But no general renunciation of foreign commerce is +for a moment here suggested as expedient. While we can bring sugar made +from cane, and save our lands for other uses than beetroot, we presume +this commerce to conduce to wealth. Not but that we may suspect the +cheapness of sugar to conspire with other causes in slackening our zeal +for _Honey_. Bees do not occupy and use up arable land. An abundance of +cottage gardens and little rockeries satisfy them. Their depredations do +not lessen the sweetness of flowers, nor the savour of herbs. They add +to our wealth, at very small expense. They greatly add to the +fertilization of plants. By all means let us get from the foreigner what +we need; only let us not therefore neglect and forget our native +resources. + +In other and greater matters a like topic recurs. When the controversy +against the Corn Laws was at its height, the advocates of repeal were +taunted with wishing to explode native wheat. They replied, "Wheat is +now largely sown in England where the climate or soil is unfavourable; +in such fields only, the culture will be discouraged; where it can be +produced and ripened with greater certainty it will still be grown, and +the price will no longer be forced up; the lands less suited to wheat +may well yield, either some other grain in rotation, or other needful +crop." Valid as this reply seemed, grand and glorious as are the results +of opening our ports to foreign corn, the retrospect of thirty years +nevertheless suggests new lines of thought. Want of food in Ireland when +the potato crop failed was the argument which converted Sir Robert Peel; +but the desire of selling cotton and woollen fabrics, or hardware, to +those whose "chief coin" was wheat, gave an earlier impetus to the +Anti-Corn Law League. Cobden and his associates were in the right, and +performed well the task of the day; but the existing state of our +agriculture is now discerned to be highly unsatisfactory. Every year +widens and deepens the conviction that our laws of Land Tenure are +fundamentally wrong; indeed, they are diverse from those of all the +world; if they are not signally better than those of all other nations, +they are gravely and lamentably worse; and the idea now presents itself, +that the temporary relief given to us by the free importation of wheat +has proved a buttress to an evil system of land laws, and has blinded us +to the essential evils contingent on a perpetual increasing ratio of the +population in great towns to that of the rustic districts. Much +wealthier, no doubt, we are, and our poorer classes are less +hard-worked. To dwell on the drawbacks through higher expectations, +artificial wants, higher prices of coal, bricks, and houses--not to +mention worse matters--might lead into too long digression. But, to +bring out the idea here pointed at, we may speculate as to the results +which must have followed, if no foreign markets had been able to give +us permanent supplies of necessary food. Suppose that barely we had been +able in 1847 to save from starvation as many poor Irishmen as we did +save, but that in succeeding years the United Kingdom had been cast on +its own resources for grain and cattle; will any one maintain that by a +proper use of the land we could not have fed our own population? + +If any one is of that opinion, let him consider the phenomena of French +agriculture. A century ago France seemed unable to feed her inhabitants. +Thousands of the population died of starvation, even the king's own +servants. Misery among the peasants and the poorer classes in towns was +universal. No one imagined that the country could afford to export food, +or had any idea of its vast capacity of production. Her climate is not +now superior to what it was; her area is somewhat enlarged by the +sagacious plantings on dunes of sand; the soil is improved by a +century's tillage; the produce is more valuable, because the peasants +have been taught many secrets of fruit culture. Most important of all, +millions of peasants are owners of small freeholds. The "magic of +property" has made them industrious, saving and ever vigilant to +increase and improve the crops. We in England censure and deplore the +compulsion on a French parent to divide his petty freehold and his gains +equally among his children. If this be a grave evil, yet so much the +more remarkable are the marvellous results of the union in one man of +landlord, farmer, and labourer: for we see that by the universal and +untiring industry which this fact elicits, not only were the great +extravagances of the Second Empire and its wars sustained, but, in spite +of the scarcely calculable losses of the Franco-German war, the fine of +two hundred and fifty millions sterling, which France had to pay, was +paid within four or five years, while a larger army than ever was raised +and maintained. No one can dispute that the unexampled buoyancy of +French finance is due mainly to the sound conditions of French landed +tenure. Ireland, Scotland, and England all await a similar development, +and never can be satisfied without it: but we have postponed the day of +necessary reform by buying our food of almost every kind, in dangerous +amount, from foreign countries, while our own arable land goes back into +grass and pasture. + +And what reply does the Right Hon. John Bright make, when addressed with +a claim of reformed landed tenure? His name is here adduced for honour, +as an eminent type of the Cobden School; but the habitual reply is, +"Good! we are in favour of Free Trade in land:" as though Free Trade +were in itself a charm which can scare away all evils; as though the +existing freedom to accumulate land to any extent by purchase were not +one of our greatest mischiefs. Men cannot live in the air. Land for a +dwelling is as essential as air and water. Land is very limited in +quantity, especially land conveniently situated, with favourable +conditions. Land primitively belongs to a nation, and no man naturally +has any right to more of it than he can himself cultivate and use. Large +landed estates are a vast power, social and political. Their possession +was originally in England an official trust, coupled with political +duties and customary dues in payment: but without right of ejectment +while those dues were paid. The commercial idea of land is a perversion +and abuse. Those who fancy that the abolition of entails and +primogeniture and whatever makes conveyances expensive, will bring about +the desirable reform, boast that their remedy will hoist up the market +price of land; in other words, it would make an effective purchase by +the State more and more difficult, more and more burdensome to the +community. Nay, it might even delay the necessary reform, until the +patience of a nation under a landlord Parliament broke down, and such a +revolution followed as that of France under Louis XVI. As there is a +moral limit to the magnitude of beneficial commerce with the foreigner, +much more is there a moral limit to the beneficial magnitude of landed +estates. Happily some despots are philanthropic; yet we are not in love +with despotism. Some great landowners are philanthropic: higher honour +be to them! but we must calculate that very many will covet power over +all who reside on the estate, and will use the power not always kindly; +or will employ it as a political engine to win state-offices and +salaries for their families; others, more directly and unblushingly +mercenary, will think chiefly how to raise rent, and will forbid both +crops and inhabitants, if wealthy lovers of occasional sport outbid +ordinary farmers. If from mere pride and love of the romantic a landlord +make his estate a wilderness, the nation still suffers the damage. Its +population is cooped into towns or driven into exile, its markets are +starved, its military force is lowered. While the Cobden School +pertinaciously connives at these great evils, and juggles with the +phrase "Free Trade" as if land were an article which ought to be on the +same footing as moveables, they are playing into the hands of their +nominal adversaries. + +The first measure which we need is not one which shall facilitate the +purchase of new and new estates by the over-wealthy, who, if they are +not gamblers or otherwise vicious, often know not what to do with their +vast incomes; but much rather a measure which shall set a maximum area +for estates. The mildest thing to do is, not in the first instance to +pass any new _Act_, but only a resolution or _Vote_ of the Commons, +declaring that it is against the public interest for any individual to +possess more than a thousand acres of rustic land, or more than five +acres of town land; and that whoever bequeaths to one person more than +the above-named, ought to be subjected to a heavy and special land tax. +In the same direction we need other special votes of the House, to the +effect--that by legislation, by purchase, and by taxation the recovery +of the national soil for the nation from year to year ought to be +systematically pursued, wherever now held in large masses by bodies of +men or by individuals; and that in order to give to cultivators the full +results of their own industry, it is expedient that the State, out of +its own present or future domains, carve out numerous small farms to be +held under it as by copyright tenure, not subject to rise of rent. +Space does not permit further detail, or reply to objections; but the +idea intended is to work in the direction of _virtual_ freeholds, ever +increasing in number, which cannot be bought out of the hands of the +cultivators by tempting prices from the rich, because they are legally +State property, and destined to remain as areas of small culture. By +buying up from time to time the lands possessed by large charities, by +legacy taxes directed to discourage bequests of land in great mass, and +by direct purchases of land or rather by taking the legacy tax in land +itself, the State would beneficently in the course of many generations +undo the injustices and frauds of the past. + +Land is so far from being a desirable object of unlimited commerce +(called by the Cobden School Free Trade), that, especially under the +modern interpretation which makes the lord (or chief man) _owner_ of the +land, the most jealous limitations ought to be imposed on it by the +State. So long, indeed, as a man holds no more of it than one family can +cultivate, jealousy is needless; for the holder (especially if he pay a +quit-rent for it) is sure to cultivate it, and cannot offend by +excluding population. Town land ought, as soon as possible, to become +town property; and, meanwhile, as early as possible, all town building +to be subjected to a public veto for sanitary reasons. To make away into +mercenary hands, as an article of trade, the whole solid area on which a +nation lives, is astonishing as an idea of statesmanship. There is +another matter connected with land as to which the State may justly feel +great jealousy--namely, as to the consumption and exportation of +material which cannot be reproduced. It is said that Sicily, under the +Romans first, was largely deteriorated by the perpetual exportation of +corn, exhausting even very fertile soil. Ireland in the past may have +suffered by the constant sending out of cattle and pigs, with no +back-current of commerce to restore all that their bones and flesh took +out of the earth. Virginia and other States of the American Union +largely ruined their soil by unceasing exportation of tobacco and other +products. But to come closer home, no crops of coal can be grown in +England and Wales. We reap where we have not sown, where we cannot sow. +We export in enormous mass what we cannot reproduce. We allow +individuals to become, out and out, proprietors of the national coal, +and then sanction their unlimited exportation of it, with the high +probability that this may cripple industry in the near future of +England. This surely is a commerce, the benefit of which is very +doubtful even in a cosmopolitan view. It may seem better to stimulate +other nations to search for coal on their own soil than to use up what +we cannot replace. And as for some other articles of immense commerce, +as tobacco, it may seem doubtful which nation loses more by it--the +importers or the exporters. Surely in all these cases the quality of the +things bought and sold must be considered carefully, before we regard +the magnitude of any trade a national benefit or a source of national +wealth. + + F. W. NEWMAN. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[4] "Reciprocity," by Sir Louis Mallet, C.B., 1879: Printed for the +Cobden Club. + + + + +THE MYTHS OF THE SEA AND THE RIVER OF DEATH. + + +At the present time, when theologians and those who have most aptitude +for such discussions are arguing "in thoughts more elevate" of the +soul's future life, and its rewards and punishments therein, the +pre-historic student is tempted to let _his_ thoughts wander backwards +over a different aspect of the same subject, in an effort to link again +the chain of belief concerning heaven and hell, which joins this present +with a long-forgotten past. The difficulty which we feel in uniting +ourselves in thought with past ages, arises surely more often from the +imperfection of our sympathies than from the deficiency of our positive +knowledge. So many questions which were once new have long been settled, +so many experiments have been tried, such experiences have been lived +through since then; it is so impossible that the earlier conditions of +life and society should return; and we cannot bring ourselves to make +the effort of imagination necessary to place us in harmony with bygone +times. But there are some few questions which seem as far from +settlement now as they ever were; one of these is the question +concerning the destiny of man after death, the character of his journey +into that undiscovered country, and the sort of life he will lead when +there. + + "A riddle which one shrinks + To challenge from the scornful sphinx." + +Some would dissuade us from the continuance of these (so they say) +unfruitful speculations; but it is very certain that man must change his +nature before they will lose their fascination for him; and until he +does so, he cannot read without sympathy the guesses which past +generations of men have made towards the solution of the same problems. +For them, indeed, these solutions have lost their interest, as ours will +soon do for us. Whatever lot that new condition may hold in store, +eternal pleasure or eternal pain, they have tried it now; whatever +scene the dark curtain hides, they have passed behind it. This is very +certain: as that we soon must. But so long as we remain here upon this +upper earth, we must be something above or below humanity if we refuse +ever to let our thoughts wander toward the changes and chances of +another life. + +Not, indeed, that questions of this sort have ever had for the majority +of men in one age, or for the collective mass of human kind, an +all-absorbing interest. If we choose to look closely into the matter, +and to test men's opinion as it is displayed in their actions (the only +real opinion), we shall at first perhaps be struck by the slight belief +which they possess in a future state. For it is slight compared to their +"notional assent," that which they think they believe concerning it. +With the majority, faith upon this point is at best but shadowy, of an +otiose character suitable for soothing the lots of others, and +sometimes, alas! called into requisition to relieve us from the stings +of conscience on account of the pain which our own misconduct or neglect +has introduced therein. And as it is with us, so, save under exceptional +conditions, it has always been with men in the full vigour and enjoyment +of life. There have been times when one aspect of the future--its +terror--has been realized with an intensity, and has exercised an +influence upon life and conduct, such as is unknown in our days. But +these times have not been ordinary ones, and we are apt, I think, even +to over-estimate the force of faith during the Middle Ages. That term, +"dark ages," overrides our fancy; "we can never hear mention of them +without an accompanying feeling as though a palpable obscure had dimmed +the face of things, and that our ancestors wandered to and fro +groping."[5] But, then, neither have the most light-hearted and +sceptical of people been able to shut their eyes utterly to the warnings +of death. We are wont to think of the Greeks as of just such a +light-hearted, and in a fashion sceptical, temperament, and to contrast +the spirit of Hellas with the spirit of mediaeval Europe. Scarcely any +thought of death, or of judgment after death, disturbs the serenity of +Greek art, such as it has come down to us. Thanatos is not to be +found;[6] even the tombs are adorned with representations of war and of +the chase, or with figures of the dancing Hours. And yet Greek art was +not without its darker side. It had, like mediaeval poetry, its +Dante--Polygnotus, namely--who adorned the pilgrims' house at Delphi +with frescoes representing the judgment and the tortures of the +damned,--a Greek Campo Santo. He would have given us a different +impression of the Greek mind in presence of the fact of mortality, and +shown us how easily we are led to exaggerate the divergence in thought +between different nations and different times. + +So we find as far back as we can test the belief of men, certain +theories touching the fate of the soul after death, which represent, in +the germ at least, the prevalent opinions of our own day; and out of +some of which these opinions have sprung. First among these, probably in +point of time, stands the purely sceptical theory which takes its rise +from the earliest efforts of language to give expression to the unseen. +Casting about for a name for the essential part of man, the life or soul +of him, language finds at first that it has no suitable word, and then +supplies its want by using the breath--the =psyche=, _spiritus_--in this +sense. Like the vital spark itself, the breath is seen to depart when +the man dies. Whither has it gone? The purely negative, the purely +sceptical answer would be, "It has disappeared." The answer actually +given in most religious creeds is, "It has gone to the unseen _place_," +or the concealed _place_; as the Greeks said, to Hades (=A-ides=); or, +as our Northern ancestors said, to Hel.[7] Thus, out of pure negation we +have the beginning of a myth: the _spirit_ becomes something definite, +and the place it has gone to is partly realized. The unseen place is +underground, gained by a dark valley which stretches there from the +upper earth. Enough of the old belief remains to keep this home of the +dead itself dark and shadowy and lifeless. "The senseless dead, the +simulacra of mortals," as Homer says. And we remember how even a hero +like Achilles "would rather be on earth and serve for hire to a man of +mean estate, than rule a king among the dead." + +The same thought is expressed by the Hebrew poet,[8] + + "Sheol shall not praise thee, Jehovah, + The dead shall not celebrate thee; + They that go down unto the pit shall not hope for thy truth; + The living, the living, shall praise thee, as I do this day." + +No people have held up this _destructive_ side of death, this negative +theory of a future, with sharper outline than the Greeks and Hebrews. +What a contrast to the teaching of modern religions is that line, "They +that go down unto the pit shall not hope for thy truth!" Other people +have found themselves unable to rest at this point; they have endowed +their place with a personality, but, still strongly impressed with its +horrors, this personality is grim and fearful. Even with the Greeks, +Hades is a person, not a place; with the Teutons, Hel has gone through +the same transformation: and a thousand other images of horror to be met +with in different creeds, devouring dragons, dogs who, like Cerberus, +threaten those who are journeying to the underground kingdom, can be +shown by their names to have sprung from merely negative images of +death, the unseen, the coverer, the concealer, the cave of night. + +In contrast therefore with all these myths stand those which, after +death, send the soul upon a journey to some paradise, believed generally +to lie in the west. If these first are myths of hell, the second series +may be fairly described as myths of heaven. Nor can it be certainly +proved that the more cheerful view of the other world is of a later +growth in time than the first which seems so primitive. We see +indications of it in the interments of old stone-age grave mounds. While +among historical people the older Hebrews are the exponents of the +gloomier Sheol, the most hopeful picture of the soul's future finds +expression in the ritual service of the Egyptians. There we have a +complete history of the dead man's journey across the Nile and through +the twilight region of Apap, king of the desert, until at last it +reaches the home of the sun. And, to come nearer home, among all those +peoples with whom we are allied in blood, the Indo-European family of +nations, we shall find the evidences of a double belief, the belief in +death as of a dim underground place or as a devouring monster, and the +contrasting faith in death as a journey undertaken to reach a new +country where everything is better and happier than upon earth. + +This is the myth of an earthly paradise, not, like our heaven, +disconnected altogether from the world, but a distant land lying +somewhere in the west, and forming part of the imaginary geography of +those times: so the belief is, more than others, a realistic one, +mingling with the daily experience of men and influencing deeply their +daily life. The necessary portal of death is even sometimes lost sight +of altogether, as when in the Middle Ages we find men undertaking more +than one expedition in search of the earthly paradise, and when we find +the current belief that in certain weathers was visible from the west +coast of Ireland that happy island to which St. Brandon and his +disciples had been carried when they left this world. For this reason, +though the notion of the western paradise is essentially the same for +all the human race, its local colouring constantly varies, changing with +the geographical position of each people: if they change their homes and +advance, as they will probably do, towards the land of promise, it moves +away before them, as the rainbow moves from us. The Egyptians had their +myth of the soul's journey, drawing all its distinctive features from +the special character of their land, chiefly from the commanding +influence which a great neighbouring desert exercised upon their +imagination. But for our ancestors, the parents of the Indo-European +races, the place of the desert was supplied by the sea. + +The most probable conjecture has fixed the cradle of our race in that +corner of land which lies westward the steep range of the Beloot Tagh +mountains, an off-shoot of the Himalayas, and northward from the high +barren land of Cabul. This country, the ancient Bactriana, is the most +habitable district to be found anywhere in Central Asia. There the hills +stretch out in gentle slopes towards the west, and enclose fertile +valleys, whose innumerable streams, fed by the mountains east and south, +all go to swell the waters of the Oxus, now called the Jihon. Farther +north lies another fruitful country, watered by the Jaxartes, separated +from the first by a range of hills much inferior to those which divide +both lands from Yarkand and Cashgar on the east, and from Cabul on the +south. Both the great rivers empty themselves into the Sea of Aral, +between which and the Caspian, sharply cutting off the fertile country +from that sea, stretches the Khiva desert, a barren land affording a +scanty nourishment to the herds of wandering Turkic tribes. There is +good reason to believe, however, that this desert did not always exist, +but that in times not extraordinarily remote the Caspian Sea, joined to +the Sea of Aral, extended over a much larger area than it at present +covers: it is known even now to be sinking steadily within its banks. +With such a contraction of the great sea the desert would grow by a +double process, by the laying bare its sandy bed and by the withdrawal +of a neighbouring supply of moisture from the dry land. So it may well +have been that the fruitful territory wherein in remotest ages were +settled our Aryan ancestors, stretched so far west as to border upon a +large inland Asiatic sea. It has even been conjectured that the turning +of so much fertile land into desert was the proximate cause of those +migrations which sent the greater part of the Aryan races westward--to +people, at last, all the countries of Europe. The root which is common +to the European languages for the names of the sea, means, in the Indian +and Iranian languages, a desert: how can we account for this fact better +than by supposing that after the European nations had left their early +home, their brethren, who remained behind and who long afterwards +separated into the people of India and Persia, came to know as a desert +the district which their fathers had once known as the sea? + +Thus, these ancient Aryans stood with their backs toward the mountains +and their faces toward the sea. All their prospect, all their future, +seemed to be that way; when their migrations began they were undertaken +in that direction--towards the west. Most important of all in the +formation of a creed, their sun-god, or sun-hero,[9] was seen by many of +them quenching his beams in the waters; the home of the sun is always +likewise the home of souls. What more natural, nay, what so necessary, +as that the Aryan paradise should lie westward beyond the sea? It has +been said just now that the Indian word for desert corresponds +etymologically with the European word for sea: that word must have been, +in the old Aryan, something like _mara_, from which we get the Persian +_meru_, desert, the Latin _mare_, the Teutonic (German and English) +_meer_. But from identically the same root we likewise get the Sanksrit +and the Zend (old Persian) _mara_, death, the Latin _mors_, the old +Norse _mordh_, the German _mord_, our _murder_, all signifying +originally the same thing.[10] What, then, does this imply? The word +which the old Aryans used for sea they used likewise for death. How +would this be possible, unless this, their first sea, were likewise the +sea of death, the necessary stage upon the road to paradise? + +It might have been expected that such a connection of ideas would have +endowed the sea with an entirely terrible character, precluding any +attempt to explore its solitudes, or the lands which lay beyond. It has +been already said that as a matter of experience we find that the +_earthly_ paradise often comes to be realized so vividly that men lose +the fear which should attach to any attempt at finding it. They were not +religious, heavenward-looking men who, in Mr. Morris's poem, set out in +quest of the happy land; and no doubt the bard has been guided by a true +instinct, and that of all those mediaeval mariners who were lost in their +search after St. Brandon's isle, none knew that they had found what they +were seeking--Death. The Greeks eagerly cherished delusions of the same +kind; and long before they had summoned up courage sufficient to +navigate the Mediterranean they had invented the myths of their western +islands of the blest, to which yellow-haired Rhadamanthus was taken when +expelled from Crete by his brother Minos, or of those gardens kept by +the daughters of the west,[11] where decay and death could not enter. It +is likely enough that for the Aryans _their_ western sea did long retain +its more fearful meaning, _a death_; but that they at last gained +courage to look upon it only as _the road_[12] to the land of which they +had long been dreaming. + +How much more weighty a position the sea takes in men's thoughts than is +warranted by their real familiarity with it! Into the mass of sedentary +lives--the vast majority--it enters but seldom as an experience, +provided a man live only a few miles inland. And yet of all countries +which possess a sea-board, how full is the literature of reference to +this one phenomenon of physical nature! The sun and the moon, and all +the heavenly bodies, the familiar sights and sounds of land, are the +property of all; and yet allusions to these are not more common in +literature than allusions to the sea: one might fancy that man was +amphibious, with a power of actually living _upon_, and not only _by_, +the water. Charles Lamb acutely penetrates the cause of a certain +disappointment we all feel at the sight of the sea for the first time. +We go with the expectation of seeing all the sea at once, the +commensurate antagonist of the earth. All that we have gathered from +narratives of wandering seamen, what we have gained from true voyages, +and what we cherish as credulously from romances and poetry, come +crowding their images, and exacting strange tributes from expectation. +Thus we are imbued with thoughts of the sea before we have had any sight +of it ourselves, merely by the sea's great influence acting through the +total experience of humanity. "We think of the great deep and of those +who go down unto it: of its thousand isles, and of the vast continents +it washes; of its receiving the mighty Plata, or Orellana, into its +bosom, without disturbance or sense of augmentation; of Biscay swells +and the mariner-- + + "For many a day and many a dreadful night, + Incessant labouring round the stormy cape; + +of fatal rocks and the 'still-vexed Bermoothes;' of great whirlpools and +the water-spout; of sunken ships and sumless treasures swallowed up in +the unrestoring depths." We must not narrow the influence of the sea in +mythology within the compass of man's mere experience of it. Few among +the Aryans lived by the Caspian shore; but the Sea of Death appears in +one form or another in the religious belief of all the Aryan people. The +tradition of the sea, its real wonders, and greater fancied terrors, +must have passed from one to another, from the few who lived within +sight and sound of the waters to others quite beyond its horizon, to +whom it was not visible even as a faint silvery line. + +It is natural that, in early myths, no accurate distinction should have +been drawn between the sea and rivers with which the Aryans were +familiar. The Caspian was imagined a broad river bounding the habitable +earth, the origin of the Oceanus of the Greeks; and the sea of death is, +in its earliest form, a river of death. All after-forms of mythical +geography, moreover, such as we find among Indians, Greeks, or Norsemen, +are but graftings upon this central idea. As the Aryans changed their +homes, the new experiences gradually blotted out the old. The Greek +transferred his thoughts about the Caspian to the Mediterranean, and +when his geography extended, the Oceanus was pushed farther and farther +away, until the later Euhemerist geographers came to confound it with +the Atlantic. Thus it is but by accident that we give to ocean the +meaning which it now bears. The first ocean was the mythical river which +flowed round the earth, and the real physical forerunner of the myth was +not the Atlantic or any of our oceans, but the Caspian Sea as it +stretched before the eyes of the ancient Aryan folk. + +The Norseman, especially the Icelander,[13] lived so close to the ocean, +that the older myth was forgotten beside the aspect of nature so +familiar to him. In the middle of his earth stood a high mountain, on +which was a strong city, Asgaard, the house of the AEsir or gods. Below +Asgaard lay the green and fruitful earth, man's home. Then outside +flowed or lay the great mid-earth ocean, just like the Greek ocean in +character, despite all differences of climate and country. At other +times the mid-earth sea is personified as a devouring monster, +Joermungandr ("great monster"), the name of the mid-gaard serpent who +lies at the bottom of the encircling sea, shaking the earth when he +moves.[14] Beyond, lies the ice-bound land of giants--Joetunheim, giant's +home--dark like the Cimmerian land, and peopled with beings as weird and +terrible as the Cyclops or the Gorgons. + +Gradually the myths of the river of death and the sea of death from +being one became two. The second was confined to those nations who lived +upon the sea-shore, and lost in great part its early shape; but neither +Indians, Greeks, nor Norsemen forgot the myth of the mortal river. The +Indian retained it singly; for when his turn for wandering came, he +passed over the eastern mountains and reached a land where no sea was +any longer to be seen or heard of. In the mythical language of the +Vedas, the mortal river is called Vaitera_n_i; it lies "across the +dreadful path to the house of Yama,"[15] the god of Hell. + +From the belief in the river of death no doubt arose also the practice +of committing the dead to the care of the sacred Ganges; for just as the +Hindus kindle a funeral fire in the boat which bears the dead down this +visible stream of death, so used the Norsemen to place their hero's body +in his ship, and then having lighted it send it drifting out seawards +with the tide. In conjunction with that thought of the other world which +placed the final resting-place in a dark kingdom underground, the river +is seen in Greek mythology transferred to Hades; but it is multiplied +into four, which have all grown out of one, inasmuch as they were +feigned to flow out of the upper-earth river Oceanus:-- + + "Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate; + Sad Acheron, of sorrow, black and deep; + Cocytus named of lamentation loud + Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon + Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage." + +These pictures are not quite in character with the Hellenic thought +about the future state. But it is certain that the more gloomy images of +death are preserved in connection with the rivers of Hades, with Hades +itself, and all that it contains. So it is with the northern Styx, +Gjoell,[16] as it is called in the Eddas. This, too, is an underground +stream lying, like the Indian, on the road to the gates of death. + +Thus a separation arises between the sea and the river myths. If we wish +for something more cheerful than the pictures of Styx and Gjoell and +Vaitera_n_i, we must look, for the tales of an earthly paradise which +sprang up when men had lost their first terror of the sea, but had not +lost the beliefs to which their earliest thoughts about that sea gave +birth. + +Such beliefs are those which lie enshrined in the Odyssey. This poem is +full of images of death, but they are not self-conscious ones, only +mythical expressions first applied to the passage of the soul from life, +and then made literal and physical by their transference to the +unexplored western sea. What the Caspian may have been to the ancient +Aryan, such was the Mediterranean to the Greek. The AEgean was his +home-like water; there he might pass from island to island without +losing sight of land; and he soon learnt to trust himself to its care, +and to know its currents and its winds. Long before he had navigated +beyond Cape Malea, all the coasts of the AEgean had become parts of his +familiar world: outside this was the region of the unknown. The Iliad +tells us what the early Greeks thought about the first. Myths may have +mingled with the legend of the fall of Troy, but the story in Homer is +essentially realistic, rationalistic even. The very powers of the +immortals and their doings seem petty and limited. The Odyssey, on the +other hand, is the product of the Greek imagination working in fields +unturned by experience, free from any guiding impulse of knowledge; and +here step in those monstrous shapes and strange adventures which differ +altogether from the probable events of the Iliad. We feel at once that +we are in a new world, a world not so much of supernatural beings as of +magic; lands of glamour and illusion, most like the giant-land of the +Norsemen; for we are getting towards the twilight regions of the earth +and the borders of Hades. + +Some writers have attempted to explain the Odyssey as nothing more than +a myth of the sun's course through heaven. But surely there is too much +solidity about the story, too thorough an atmosphere of belief around +it, to suit a tale relating such airy unrealities as those. The Greeks +who first sung the ballads must have been thinking of a real journey +upon this solid earth. But it is easy to see how many images and notions +which had first been applied only to the sun-god would creep into such a +history as that of Odysseus. Undoubtedly the sun-myth had first pointed +out the home of the dead as lying in the west; and nothing is more +natural than that a people whose thoughts and hopes carried them in the +track of the wandering sun should, when they came to construct an epos +of travel, make the imaginary journey lie the same way. They would +interweave in the story such truths--or such sailors' yarns--as +Phoenician mariners or adventurous Greeks brought home from the distant +waters, with many images which had been first made of the sun's heavenly +voyage, and others which had been first applied to death. Their +geography would, indeed, be mythical; for they could have no accurate +notions of the lands which they spoke of; but it would not be without a +kernel of reality. Justin and Augustine may look upon the garden of the +Hesperides or the garden of Alcinoues as a reminiscence of Paradise; +Strabo may assign them an exact position on the coast of Libya; and both +may be right. The myth of the two gardens--the Hebrew and the Greek +paradises--sprang up in obedience to an identical faculty of belief, and +therefore the two stories are in origin the same. But each myth +supported itself upon so much of reality as it could lay hold of: and it +is likely enough that the famous golden apples which Hercules was sent +to fetch owed their origin to the first oranges brought by Phoenician +merchantmen to Greece. + +Besides some such slender thread of reality, the adventures of Odysseus +are built upon what men's imagination told them might lie in the western +seas. Now in reality there was only one thing which at the bottom of +their hearts they believed actually did lie there--namely, death; and +beyond that, the home of the departed. Therefore their stories of +adventure in the Mediterranean do all, upon a minute inspection, resolve +themselves into a variety of mythical ways of describing death; and upon +this as a dark background the varied colours of the tale are painted. +It need take away no jot of our pleasure in the brilliant picture to +acknowledge this. Nay, it gather adds to it, for behind the graceful air +of the poem, sung as a poem only, we hear a deeper note telling of the +passionate, obstinate questionings of futurity which belonged not more +to Greece three thousand years ago than they now belong to us. + +Any one acquainted with the genesis of myth would at once be disposed to +see in the Odyssey the combination of two different legends; for one +series of adventures comes as a tale told during the course of the +second. We first see our hero on the island of Calypso, the sea-nymph; +and when Hermes has brought from the gods the command for his release, +he is carried thence by storms to the land of the Phaeaceans. There +Nausicaa finds him and brings him to her father Alcinoues, by whom he is +hospitably entertained, and at last sent back to Ithaca, his home. This +forms one complete legend, the simplest and probably the first, because +_into_ it is woven the account of Odysseus' earlier adventures. In the +halls of Alcinoues the wanderer tells what happened to him before he +reached the cave of Calypso, and in this narrative we follow him to the +island of the Lotus-eaters, to the island of the Cyclops, thence to the +house of Circe, and from there to the very borders of hell itself. And +we guess that we have here got hold of a later amplified legend built up +out of the earlier myth. We find just such changes as this in Norse +mythology; a story told in a few lines by the elder Edda, is expanded +into an elaborate history in the younger. Looking again more closely at +the Odyssey, we discover that many circumstances in the expanded tale +bear close resemblance to one or other of the adventures in the shorter +category. Take, for instance, the life with Calypso and with Circe. Both +Calypso and Circe are nymphs, enchantresses; each lives alone upon her +island: with each Odysseus passes a term of years, living with her as +her husband, longing all the while to return to his own wife and his own +home, and yet unable to do so: from each Hermes is the deliverer. What +if Calypso and Circe both repeat in reality the same myth; and what if +Odysseus' other great adventure, the voyage to the Phaeaceans, have +likewise its counterpart in the expanded story? The question of the real +identity or difference of the two stories can only be decided when we +have seen how much significance there is in the points of their apparent +likeness. + +Who is Calypso? Her name bespeaks her nature not ambiguously. It is from +=kalyptein=, to cover or conceal. She is the shrouder, or the shrouded +place, answering exactly therefore to Hel, which, as has before been +said, comes from the verb _helja_, "to hide." How, then, can Calypso be +anything else than death, as she dwells there in her cave, by the shores +of the sea? How can Odysseus' life with her, his sleep in her cave, be +anything else than an image of dying? The gods have determined that the +hero shall not remain in this mortal sleep for ever; so Hermes is sent +to command Calypso to let Odysseus go. Hermes is the god whose mission +it is to lead souls down to the realm of Hades--the psychopomp, as in +this office he is called. But sometimes he may come upon an opposite +message, to restore men to life; the staff which closes the eyes of men +may likewise open them when asleep. On such a task he comes-- + + "Wind-like beneath, the immortal golden sandals + Bare up his flight o'er the limitless earth and the sea; + And in his hand that magic wand he carried, + Wherewith the eyes of men he closes in slumber, + Or wakens from sleeping." + +He comes like the breath of morning awakening the world, to rouse our +hero from the embrace of death; and the whole scene is beautifully +attuned to an image of returning life. Therefore the interference of +Hermes between Odysseus and Calypso is full of significance. We +accordingly meet the same episode in the Circe tale. That this last is a +later widening of the first story appears from many things; chiefly in +this, that there is more moral in the history; for the truest myth is +content to follow the actual workings of nature, without attempting to +adorn a story with extraneous incident, or to convert its simplicity +into the complexities of allegory. That turning the companions into +swine was a punishment for luxury--that points the moral; the original +Circe, we may be sure, only touched her lovers with her sleepy magic +rod. It was the same wand with the "slepy yerde"[17] of Hermes, and she +used it not wantonly but only because all whom she embraces must fall +into the unwakeful slumber. If Circe's name does not reveal her nature +so nakedly as Calypso's does, this is but consistent with the fact of +her later creation. Nevertheless, we easily recognise by it death in one +of its many types--a ravenous animal or bird, a hawk or wolf.[18] + +When Odysseus is freed from the fatal embrace of Calypso, he is not at +once restored to the common earth, but from his descent into hell goes +heavenwards, or at least to the happy islands of the blessed. The land +of the Phaeaceans, Scheria, can scarcely be anything else than this +Paradise, to which, according to one myth, Rhadamanthus fled from his +brother Minos when he reigned in Crete. The Phaeaceans, too, have had +dealings with "yellow-haired Rhadamanthus," whom they carried back in +their swift barques to Euboea. The name of their island is merely land, +shore;[19] perhaps at first only the farther coast of the sea of death. + + "Far away do we live at the end of the watery plain, + Nor before now have we ever had dealings with other mortals; + But now there comes some luckless wanderer hither. + Him it is right that we help; for all men, fellows and strangers, + Come from Zeus; in his sight the smallest gift is pleasing."[20] + +They live close to the gods, and in familiar converse with them. It is a +place where decay and death cannot enter. In the gardens of Alcinoues +flowers and fruit do not grow old and disappear; winter does not succeed +to summer; all is one continuous round of blossoming and bearing fruit; +in one part of the garden the trees are all abloom; in another they are +heavy with clusters. There it _is_, as in that wizard's tower of +Middle-Age legend it only _seemed_ to be-- + + "That from one window men beheld the spring, + And from another saw the summer glow, + And from a third the fruited vines arow."[21] + +In name the Phaeaceans appear as beings of the twilight--=phaiax=, +strengthened from =phaios=, dusky, dim. Their most wondrous possessions +are their ships, which know the thoughts of men, and sail swifter than a +bird or than thought. "No pilots have they, no rudders, no oarsmen, +which other ships have, for they themselves know the thoughts and minds +of men. The rich fields they know, and the cities among all men, and +swiftly pass over the crests of the sea, shrouded in mist and +gloom."[22] Yet the Phaeaceans themselves live remote from human +habitation, unused to strangers. It would seem, therefore, that the +ships travel alone on their dark voyages. For what purpose? It is not +difficult to guess. Their part is to carry the souls of dead men over to +the land of Paradise.[23] We can imagine them sailing in every human +sea; calling at every port, familiar with every city, though in their +shroud of darkness they are unseen by men. They know all the rich lands, +for every land has its tribute to pay to the ships of death. They are +the exact counterparts of the "grim ferryman which poets write of;" only +that the last plies his business in the ancient underground Hades, while +the Phaeacean mariners are really believed to be inhabitants of the upper +earth; albeit they can pass from this life to the other. + +Their business with Odysseus is to bring him back to the common world of +Greece--to beloved Ithaca. He has passed to the cave of Hel, and emerged +from it to visit the land of Paradise; now he returns, that his +adventures may be sung in the homes of Greece. How could men ever tell +tales of that strange country, if it really were a shore from which no +traveller returned? Accordingly, this traveller is laid to sleep in the +black barque of the Phaeaceans, "a sweet sleep, unwakeful, nearest like +to death; and as arose the one brightest star to herald the morning, the +sea-troubled ship touched the shore."[24] Thus end the adventures of the +wanderer; and, as far as regards the belief concerning the sea of death, +this is all his adventures can tell us. His doings with the Cyclops, +with the Lotus-eaters, have their relationship with the same belief; but +they scarcely bring in any new elements; they only change the method of +their treatment and symbolize them in a new way. Hades is more +distinctly treated of in the second series; and this is enough to show +us that the mortal character of the whole journey has been lost sight of +more completely than in the first myths; so we noticed before, that the +significance of Calypso's name is half forgotten when her part is +assigned to Circe. The journey to Hades from Circe's island, AEaea, +tallies exactly with the journey to Scheria from the island of Calypso; +only, for the island of the blest is substituted the underground home of +souls; and when Odysseus addresses there his companion, Elpenor, whom he +had but a little while ago left dead on Circe's island, and asks him how +he could have come under the dark west more quickly on foot than +Odysseus did sailing in a black ship, we see that the meaning of the +ocean journey is forgotten, and that a sort of confusion has arisen +between the Hades under men's feet, to which the souls of the dead +descend, and the Hades at the end of the journey lying far away. This +part, then, is not significant of the Greek belief concerning an earthly +Paradise. The learned Welcker, who first showed how these Phaeacean ships +were the carriers of souls,[25] wishes also to connect the myth with +some non-Hellenic source. He supposes it to have been gathered from the +Teutons. But surely we are not obliged to go so far, unless we are +prepared to consider Charon non-Hellenic also; and no one can really +pretend that. For the Phaeacean myth is in many ways truer than the myth +of Charon and Styx. Styx is but the earth-river (or sea), Oceanus, +transferred to beneath the earth; and the story of the ferryman is a +compromise between the two creeds--that of the _under_-world and that of +the western paradise beyond sea; while the myth of the Phaeaceans is a +simple expression of the last. The connection which we find between +Greek and German in these beliefs is derivable only from their common +ancestry--not from a contact in later days. Certainly these legends have +their close counterparts in Norse mythology; the two series only require +to be stripped of local colouring, and some unessential details, to +display very clearly their common brotherhood. How curious, for +instance, is it to see that Calypso corresponds literally in name with +the Northern goddess of the dead, Hel! Another myth, the story of the +burning of Baldur, repeats the same images of death which we trace in +the legend of Odysseus. + +Baldur is quite evidently the sun-god. Less of a hero, more of a god, +than Odysseus, he is nevertheless mortal--as, indeed, all the Norse gods +are--and falls pierced by the hand of his own brother, Hoedur. Then his +corpse is placed upon his ship, Hringhorn, and sent out upon this, as on +a pyre, drifting into the ocean. We can imagine how to the Norsemen upon +their stormy seas, the image of the sun dying red upon the western +waters recalled the story of Baldur's burning ship. The Viking imitated +his god in this, and when his time came ordered his funeral fire to be +lighted in like manner upon a ship and himself to be set sailing, as +Baldur was. After this we are brought in the myth to the underground +kingdom of Hel, and there the goddess entertains Baldur, as Calypso +entertained Odysseus, making ready her best to do him honour, and +seating him in the highest place in her hall. Then the gods take +counsel how Baldur is to be brought back again, and one of them, +Hermoedr,[26] the messenger, like Hermes, is sent to beg Hel to let +Baldur out of Helheim. Fate and death are more powerful in northern +lands than they are in Greece. The gods cannot command that this Calypso +should let her prisoner go; and alas! they do not even obtain an answer +to their prayer save on conditions which they are unable to fulfil. Hel +will set Baldur free, if all things, both living and dead, weep for him; +but if one thing refuses to weep, then he must remain in the +under-world. Thereupon the gods sent messengers over the whole earth, +commanding all things, living and lifeless, to weep Baldur out of +Helheim; all things freely complied with the request, both men and +stones, and trees and metals; until as the messengers were returning, +deeming that their mission was accomplished, they met an old witch +sitting in a cave, and she refused to weep, saying, "Let Hel keep her +own."[27] This old witch is Calypso or Circe in another guise. Her name +is Thokk, that is, darkness (doekkr). + +The Teutonic people had many myths and stories about the carrying the +dead across the sea. We have signalized the belief in such a passage as +the origin of those countless mediaeval legends of the earthly Paradise: +doubtless it is the parent of the modern superstition that ghosts will +not cross the running water. Side by side with the story of the +Phaeaceans we may place the superstition which Procopius records touching +our own island. The Byzantine historian of Justinian seems to have had +but vague ideas of the position of Britain, which, by the tide of +Teutonic invasion across the Rhine, had long been cut off from +intercourse with the Empire. These Easterns were careless and ignorant +of the remote West. So Procopius speaks of Britannia as lying opposite +to Spain; and then he mentions another island, Brittia--evidently in +reality our island--which faces the northern coast of Gaul, and of this +he tells the following strange story:--There is, he declares, an island +called Brittia, which lies in the Northern Seas. It is separated into +two divisions by a wall;[28] and on one side of this wall the air is +healthy and the land fertile and pleasant, and all things most apt for +human habitation. But on the other side the air is so noxious that no +one can breathe in it for an hour: it is given up to serpents and +poisonous animals and plants. Yet not entirely; for this is the home of +the dead. Then he goes on to relate how the fishermen who inhabit the +coast opposite this part of Brittia have to perform the strange duty of +carrying the souls across the strait. Each does his office in rotation; +when the man's night has come he is awoke by a knocking at his door, but +when he opens it, sees no one. He goes down to the shore, and finds +there strange vessels, which, though empty to mortal eyes, lie deep in +the water as though weighed down by some freight. Stepping in, each +fisherman takes his rudder, and then by an unfelt wind the vessels are +wafted in one night across the channel, a distance which, with oar and +sail, they could usually scarce accomplish in eight. Arrived at the +opposite side--our coast--the fishermen heard names called over and +voices answering in rota, and they felt the boats becoming light. Then, +when all the ghosts were landed, they were carried back to Gaul. We may +picture them returning to the habitable world in the first glow of +morning, or with the one bright morning star which shone on Odysseus +landing at Ithaca. + +So much for the myth of the sea, or river, of death. A most important +change was wrought in belief when the custom of burning the dead was +introduced. It would seem that our Aryan ancestors were the beginners of +this rite. Whence it arose we cannot say; but if the God of Fire was a +prominent divinity, the thought of committing the dead into his charge +seems a simple and natural one. Among the Aryan people the only deep +traces of fire-worship are to be seen in the Vedic and Iranian +religions,[29] while the fire-burial survived in all: but the former may +well have held a prominent place in their older creed. Or--and this is +far from unlikely--the custom of fire-burial may have arisen out of the +sun myth, just as the belief in the soul's journey after death was +suggested by watching the sun's journey to the west. The two great +fire-funerals mentioned in Greek and Teutonic mythology are the funerals +of sun-gods. Heracles burning on Mount OEta, on the western coast of the +AEgean, may have been first thought of by Greeks who saw the sun setting +in fire over that sea; and Baldur's bale on the ship _Hringhorn_ is +evidently the Norse edition of the same story, his blazing ship the +blaze in the sky, as the sun sinks into the water. Burning the dead +never seems to have been a universal practice; rather a special honour +paid to kings and heroes. But then we must remember that immortality +itself was not, in ancient belief, granted to all men indiscriminately, +only to the greatest. + +We see at once that with the use of fire-burial many of the old beliefs +had to be given up; all those, for instance, which depended upon the +preservation of the bodily remains. Of old time men had buried treasures +with the corpse in the expectation that they would be of some kind of +use to it; the body itself was at first imagined to descend to the +under-world or to travel the western journey to the home of the sun. But +now the body is visibly consumed upon the funeral pile, where, too, are +placed, by a curious survival of old custom, the precious things which +would formerly have been buried with it in the ground. The body and +these things have been consumed, are gone; where have they gone? Have +they perished utterly, and is there nothing more left than the earliest +belief of an =A-ides=--a nowhere; is nothing true of all those myths of +the soul passing away to a home of bliss? Instead of giving up this +faith, the Aryan people have only spiritualized it, robbed it of the too +literal and earthly clothing which in earlier times it wore. The thought +which had once identified the life with the breath comes again into +force, or, if some material representation is still wished for, we have +the smoke of the funeral pyre, which rises heavenwards like an ascending +soul. In this spirit we find in long after years, in the description of +the funeral fire of Beowulf the Goth, it is said that the soul of the +hero _wand to wolcum_, "curled to the clouds," imaging the smoke which +was curling up from his pyre. There is even a curious analogy between +the words for _smoke_ and _soul_ in the Aryan languages, showing how +closely the two ideas were once allied. From a primitive root _dhu_, +which means to shake or blow, we get both the Sanskrit root _dhuma_, +smoke, and the Greek =thymos=, the immaterial part of man, his thought +or soul. =Thymos= is not a mere abstraction like our word mind, but that +which could live when the body was killed or wasted to death by +disease.[30] + +Evidently, therefore, even the inanimate things, the weapons and +treasures which are burnt with the dead, survive in a land of essences +for the use of the liberated soul. To the question, Where does man's +essence go to when it rises from the funeral fire? the answer, if the +wish alone urged the thought, would be "To the gods." But with the +majority of burying people the belief in future union with the gods was +not strongly insisted upon. The islands of the blest are certainly not +to be confounded with Olympus; although the Phaeaceans claim to live very +near the gods.[31] Yet with the use of burning, and among the Aryan +people, the hope gains a measure of strength. The gods of the Aryan +were, before everything, gods of the air. As the soul and the smoke +mounted upwards, "curled to the clouds," the belief of its having gone +to join the gods--chief god, Dyaus, the air--was impressed more vividly +upon his mind. And as the notion of the western journey to the home of +the sun was not abandoned, a natural compromise would be to send the +soul upwards to the path of the sun, and make its voyage a voyage in +heaven, led by the sun or by the wind. But his path still lay westward; +the home of the dead ancestors lay beyond the western boundary; there +was still an Oceanus to be crossed, and a dark Cimmerian land to be +passed through. + +The heavenly path taken by the soul becomes, in the eye of mortals, a +_bridge_ spanning the celestial arch, and carrying them over the river +of death; and men would soon begin asking themselves where lay this +heavenly road. Night is necessarily associated with thoughts of +death--"Death, and his brother Sleep"--and of the other world. The +heavens wear a more awful aspect than by day. The sun has forsaken us, +and is himself buried beneath the earth; and a million dwellers in the +upper regions, who were before unseen, now appear to sight--the stars, +who in so many mythologies are associated with souls. Among the stars we +see a bright, yet misty, bow bent overhead: can this be other than the +destined bridge of souls? The ancient Indians called this road +gods'-path, because besides that it was the way for souls to God, it was +also the way from gods to men. They also called it the +cow-path--_gopatha_, meaning possibly cloud-path--from which it is +likely we derive our name for it, "the Milky-way." The Low-German name +for the Milky-way is _kau-pat_--_i.e., kuh-pfad_, cow-path. But in their +hymns the Indians oftenest speak of it as the path of Yama, the way to +the house of Yama, the god of the dead:-- + +"A narrow path, an ancient one, stretches there, a path untrodden by +men, a path I know of: + +"On it the wise who have known Brahma ascend to the world Svarga, when +they have received their dismissal," sings a Sanskrit poet.[32] + +Another (R. V. i. 38. 5) prays the Maruts, the gods of the wind, not to +let him wander on the path of Yama, or, when he does so--that is, when +his time shall come--to keep him that he fall not into the hands of +Nirrtis, the Queen of Naraka (Tartarus). In another place we find as +guardians of the bridge two dogs, the dogs of Yama, and the dead man is +committed to their care:-- + +"Give him, O king Yama, to the two dogs, the watchers, the four-eyed +guardians of the path, guardians of men: grant him safety and freedom +from pain." + +Thus stands out in its complete development the myth of the Bridge of +Souls: a narrow path spanning the arch of heaven, passing over the +dwelling of Nirrtis, the Queen of Tartarus (perhaps not clearly +distinguishable from the river of death), and reaching at last the +country of the wise Pitris, the "fathers" of the tribe, who have gone to +heaven before, and who since their death have not ceased to keep watch +over the descendants of their race. This road is guarded by two dogs, +the dogs of Yama, both wardens of the bridge and likewise psychopomps, +or leaders of the soul up the strait road. + +This was essentially an Indian myth--or perhaps an Indian and +Iranian--and took the place of the myth of the sea journey, as it was +conceived by Greeks and Germans. The Indians and Iranians had never a +sea of death, so they could not have such ferrymen as the Phaeaceans, or +legends such as the voyages of Odysseus and the burning of Baldur. In +the place of them, and with their mortal _river_, they adopted this +Bridge of Souls. The guardians are manifold in their nature; for their +names show them related both to Cerberus, who guards Hades, and to +Hermes, who leads the souls of the dead below; and, so far as we can +gather from the Vedas, these dogs of Yama discharged both offices, +sometimes keeping the bridge and sometimes conducting souls along it. +"Give him," says the prayer, "O Yama, to the two dogs." No doubt their +terrors were for the wicked only, and they are thus apt images of +death:-- + + "Death comes to set thee free; + Oh, meet him cheerily + As thy true friend."[33] + +Still, as we see from their appearance, the dreadful aspect of death +predominates. In like forms, as dogs or wolves, they return time out of +mind in Norse mythology and in Middle-Age legend. + +It has been said that this myth of the Bridge of Souls was essentially +Indian and Iranian (old Persian). It is often most difficult to +ascertain what were the ancient Persian beliefs: but in this case the +myth has been handed down to us from the Persians through the Arabs, a +people possessing of right no part or lot in its construction. It is +generally acknowledged that Mohammed took from the Persians that famous +bridge so vividly described in the Koran.[34] Es-Sirat is the bridge's +name. It is finer than a hair and sharper than the edge of a sword, and +is, besides, guarded with thorns and briars along all its length. +Nevertheless, when, at the last day, the good Muslim comes to cross it, +a light will shine upon him from heaven, and he will be snatched across +like lightning or like the wind; but when the wicked man or the +unbeliever approaches, the light will be hidden, and, from the extreme +narrowness of the bridge and likewise becoming entangled in the thorns, +he will fall headlong into the abyss of fire that is beneath. This is +the fragment of our old Aryan mythology which the Mohammedan has taken +to himself to form an image of hell and of punishment after death. It is +significant that from the Persians should have been inherited the most +gloomy myth concerning the Bridge of Souls. For from the same source we +(Christians) gain our fearfullest notions of the Devil. + +The bridge cannot be always the Milky-way. In at least one Sanskrit hymn +we learn-- + +"Upon it, they say, there are colours, white, and blue, and brown, and +gold, and red. + +"And this path Brahma knows, and he who has known Brahma shall take it; +he who is pure and glorious." + +Here the singer is evidently describing the rainbow. Now in the Norse +cosmology the rainbow had the same name as the Indian _patha-devayano_, +gods'-path. The Eddas call it As-bru, the bridge of the AEsir, or gods. +Its other name, Bifroest, the trembling mile, it may even have inherited +from the Milky-way, for that, when we look at it, seems to be always +trembling. Asbru or Bifroest, then, is the bridge whereby the gods +descend to earth. One end of it reaches to the famous Urdar fount, where +sit the weird sisters three--the Nornir, or fates. "Near the fountain +which is under the ash stands a very fair house, out of which come +three maidens, named Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld (Past, Present, Future). +These maidens assign the lifetime of men, and are called Norns."[35] To +their stream the gods ride every day along Bifroest to take counsel. For +in the Norse creed the gods know not the hidden things of the future, +nor have power to ward them off. Fate and death, the Twilight of the +Gods, lies ahead for them also, as these things lie ahead of mortals. + +It is possible that a trace of the rainbow bridge is to be seen in the +Greek myth of the asphodel meadows, which are a part of the infernal +regions. But no other trace of the Bridge of Souls--if this be one--is +to be found throughout the range of Hellenic mythology. + +The Eddas have nothing to say of the Milky-way. But we have clear +evidence that it was considered by the German people a path for the +dead. Indeed, in the scanty legends which survive, we can trace the +characteristic features of the Indian myth of the bridge guarded by +Yama's dogs, and the souls led along it by the wind-god. The wind-god of +the north is the father of gods, none less than Odin himself; and this +is why Odin is described as riding with his Valkyriur to the +battle-fields, to choose from the dead the heroes who shall go with him +to Valhoell, the hall of the chosen. It is because, as the wind-god, he +collects the breath of the departed. Odin and Freyja (Air and Earth) +divide the slain, says one legend--that is, the bodies go to earth, the +breath goes to heaven. Now, in the Middle Ages, when Odin-worship had +been overthrown, the gods of Asgaard descended to Helheim; from being +deities they were turned into fiends. Odin still pursued his office as +leader of the souls; but now he was huntsman of hell. One of the +commonest appearances of this fiend, therefore, is as a huntsman--called +the Wild Huntsman. He is heard by the peasants of the wild mountain +districts at this day. He is companioned by _two dogs_, and his chase +goes on along the Milky-way all the year through, save during the twelve +nights which follow Christmas. During that time he hunts on earth, and +the peasant will do well to keep his door well-barred at night. If he +does not, one of the hell-hounds will rush in and lie down in the ashes +of the hearth. No power will move him during the ensuing year, and for +all that time there will be trouble in the house. When the hunt comes +round again he will rise from his couch and rush forth, wildly howling, +to join his master. + +A gentler legend is that which we find preserved in a charming poem of +the Swede, Torpelius, called "The Winter Street"--another of the names +for the Milky-way. With this, in the form in which it has been rendered +into English,[36] we may end our list of legends connected with the Sea +of Death or the Bridge of Souls. The story is of two lovers:-- + + "Her name Salami was, his Zulamyth; + And each so loved, each other loved. Thus runs the tender myth: + + "That once on earth they lived, and, loving there, + Were wrenched apart by night, and sorrow, and despair; + And when death came at last, with white wings given, + Condemned to live apart, each reached a separate heaven. + + * * * * * + + "Yet loving still upon the azure height, + Across unmeasured ways of splendour, gleaming bright, + With worlds on worlds that spread and glowed and burned, + Each unto each, with love that knew no limit, longing turned. + + "Zulamyth half consumed, until he willed + Out of his strength one night a bridge of light to build + Across the waste--and lo! from her far sun, + A bridge of light from orb to orb Salami had begun. + + "A thousand years they built, still on, with faith, + Immeasurable, quenchless, so my legend saith, + Until the winter street of light--a bridge + Above heaven's highest vault swung clear, remotest ridge from + ridge. + + "Fear seized the Cherubim; to God they spake-- + 'See what amongst thy works, Almighty, these can make!' + God smiled, and smiling, lit the spheres with joy-- + 'What in my world love builds,' he said, 'shall I, shall Love + itself destroy?'" + + * * * * * + + C. F. KEARY. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[5] Elia. + +[6] Unless indeed we are to except a figure upon the Ephesian drum +(Artemisium) now in the British Museum, which some have imagined to +represent Thanatos. + +[7] Hel is from the Icl. _helja_ "to conceal." + +[8] Isaiah xxxviii. 18, 19; cf. also Genesis xxxvii. 35; 1 Samuel +xxviii. 19. Sheol is misrendered "grave" in our version. It means the +place of the dead, not of bodies only. + +[9] The fact that the sun dies every day militates against his claim to +the rank of a god: otherwise he would probably always receive the +greatest meed of worship. As it is, he is often worshipped rather as a +hero or demigod than a true immortal. + +[10] Fick. "Verg. Woerterbuch der I.-G. Sp." s.v. _mara_. + +[11] Hesperides. They are, however, called the daughters of Night by +Hesiod and others. + +[12] =Pontos= is from the same root as the Skr. _patha_, a _path_, +_pfad_, &c. One might suppose from this that the Greeks were the first +adventurers upon the deep waters. While the other Aryan folks called the +sea "a death," they called it a "road." + +[13] There can be no doubt that the cosmology of the Eddas is to some +extent infected by the source from which we derive it. The picture of +earth, with its mountain Asgard and its surrounding sea, is nearly +exactly the picture of Iceland. + +[14] So Poseidon, the god of the sea, is the earth-shaker; earthquakes +being apparently attributed to the water under the earth. + +[15] Weber in Chambr., 1020. + +[16] "The sounding," from _gialla_, to sound (yell). + +[17] Chaucer. + +[18] =Kirkos= (whence =Kirke=) is given as both hawk and wolf in L. & S. +It is most likely from a root _krik_, meaning to make a grating sound, +and therefore probably applied originally to the bird (cf. our +nightjar). The Latin _quercus_ seems to be from the same root--from its +rustling? We may compare Circe with Charon, which means "an eagle." + +[19] From =scheros=. + +[20] Od. vi. 204, _sqq._ + +[21] "Earthly Paradise." + +[22] Od. viii. 562. + +[23] Justin Martyr identifies the gardens of Alcinoues with Paradise. +"Cohort. ad Graec." xxix. + +[24] Od. xiii. 79, 88. + +[25] "Rheinisches Museum fuer Philologie," vol. i. N.S. p. 219. _Die +Homerische Phaeaken._ + +[26] Hermoedr (heer-muth, kriegsmuth) was originally one of the names of +Odin, and therefore originally the wind. We easily see the connection +between the rushing wind, and the battle's rage. Hermes is likewise the +wind, and means "the rusher" (=hormao=, and cf. Sarameyas of the Vedas). + +[27] Edda Snorra, Daemisaga, 49. + +[28] Procopius, Bel. Goth. iv. The wall identifies the island with +Britain. + +[29] The Iranian religion, as it has come down to us, is the historical +one founded by Zarathustra, who swept away most of the traces of the old +Aryan faith. There is difficulty, therefore, in obtaining the evidence +of a belief which was shared by the old Persians. + +[30] + =kad' d'epes' en koniesi makon, apo d' eptato thymos.=--Od. x. 163. + + =oute tis, oun moi nousos epelythen, hete malista + tekedoni stygere meleon exeileto thymon.=--Od. xi. 200. + +[31] We are here speaking of beliefs which sprang originally from the +days of burial in the earth. Of these were all that class which included +the journey of the soul. + +[32] V_r_hadara_n_ayaka. Ed. Pol. iii 4-7. + +[33] Fouque. + +[34] Sale's Koran, Introd. p. 91. The Persian bridge was called Chinvat. + +[35] See Edda den Eldra, Grimnismal 44, and Edda Snorra, D. 15. That +Bifroest did not tremble through weakness we may gather from the fact +that it is the "best of bridges," "the strongest of all bridges" +(Simrock, D.M. 28), and that it will only be broken at the day of +judgment. + +[36] By E. Keary: _Evening Hours_, vol. iii. + + + + +MR. MACVEY NAPIER AND THE EDINBURGH REVIEWERS. + + _Selection from the Correspondence of the late Macvey Napier, Esq._ + Edited by his son, MACVEY NAPIER. London: Macmillan & Co. + + +Mr. Macvey Napier, who succeeded Francis Jeffrey in the editorship of +the great Whig Review, had, of course, a perfect right to preserve the +letters which are published in this volume, and to study them in private +as much as he pleased. Indeed, for anything that appears to the contrary +in the "Introduction" by his son, the present Mr. Macvey Napier, they +may have been bequeathed by the original recipient with instructions +that they should some day be published. An edition, privately circulated +a short time ago, led to "representations that a correspondence of so +much interest ought to be made more accessible," and the present volume +is the result; but it might be maintained that the writers of such +letters would, if they could have been consulted, have objected to their +publication; and that to send them forth to the world in all their +nakedness was, at all events, not a delicate or magnanimous thing to do. +"Much might be said on both sides." Paley, in his chapter on the +original character of the Christian Morality, remarked that though a +thousand cases might be supposed in which the use of the golden rule +might mislead a person, it was impossible in fact to light on such a +case. That was a hazardous observation, for the truth is that when we +once get beyond elementary conditions of being and doing, we find human +beings differ so very widely, and in such utterly incalculable ways, +that it is in vain to poll the monitor in the breast on questions that +do in fact arise daily--five hundred in a thousand will vote one way, +and five hundred in another. "How would you like it yourself?" is a +question that elicits the most discordant replies. I have a very +positive feeling that I should have left many of these letters in the +portfolio, or put them into the fire; but when I look about me for a +standard which I could take in my hand to Mr. Napier, I am baffled--he +might produce one of his own that would silence me on the spot. And +when one has taken up a book to comment upon it with as little reserve +as may be, it seems idle, if not Irish, to begin by saying that the most +amusing or most fertile things in it ought never to have seen the light. + +This point may recur before we have done; and in the meantime it should +be remarked that nothing very momentous, either to the honour or the +disgrace of human nature in general, or literary human nature in +particular, can be extracted from this correspondence. A late essayist +used to tell a true anecdote of a distinguished statesman who had lived +many years and seen as many changes as Ulysses. A friend asked him +something like this: "Well, now, you have had a great deal to do with +mankind, and you have outlived the heats and prejudices of youth; what +do you think of men in general?" And the veteran replied: "Oh, I like +them--very good fellows; but"--and here we shall mollify his language a +little--"but condemnably vain, you know." And really that is about the +worst thing you can find it in your heart to say of literary men after +running through these letters--"very good fellows, but very vain, you +know." + +Another point which lies less near the surface, and has at least the +look of novelty, would perhaps be this. It is the most frequent and most +voluminous of the writers who unconsciously tell us the most about +themselves; and who, with the pleasing exception of Jeffrey, show us the +most of their unamiable sides. But there is comfort for impulsive people +in the fact that it is not always the most self-controlled and +inoffensive of the writers who win upon us. The Brougham-Macaulay feud +runs sprawling through these pages till we are tired of it; and some of +poor Brougham's letters are downright venomous. But the total absence of +disguise and the blundering boyish inconsistency disarm us. Taking the +letters one by one, the moral superiority is with Macaulay on Brougham +as against Brougham on Macaulay, but taking the correspondence in the +lump, it is something like Charles Surface against Joseph Surface, in +another line--only, of course, there is no hypocrisy. While you come to +feel for Brougham in his spluttering rages, you feel also that Macaulay, +in his too-admirable self-continence, can do very well without your +compassion, whatever he may have to complain of. It is easy to discern +that Brougham honestly believed in his own superiority to the young +rival who outshone him, and yet that he was inwardly tormented. +Macaulay's forbearance was of the kind _qui coute si peu au gens +heureux_. The editor, Mr. Napier, was, we may conjecture, the greatest +sufferer of the three. Much was owed to Brougham as a man of enormous +intellectual force; to which, apart from his past services, great +respect was due: but Macaulay was by far the best writer, and (to employ +a bull which is common enough) incomparably the most attractive +contributor. The strength of his hold upon the Review and its editor is +apparent on every tenth page of the book, and comes out forcibly enough +in a letter from Sir James Stephen to Mr. Napier. Mr. Napier had +written to Sir James, expressing some delicate surprise that no article +from his pen had reached the Review for a long time. Sir James excuses +himself in this fashion:-- + + "I know that many of your contributors must be importunate for a + place; that you must be fencing and compromising at a weary rate; + that there are many interests of the passing day which you could not + overlook; and that we should all have growled like so many fasting + bears if denied the regular return of the Macaulay diet, to which we + have been so long accustomed." + +Sir James was an exceedingly busy man, and he was not professedly a man +of letters like Macaulay; but we may, if we like, read between the lines +in these excuses and find a little pique there, as well as a just sense +of an editor's difficulties. + +Another point which lies broadly and prominently upon the surface in +these letters is a very unpleasant one. It is scarcely credible how much +dull conceit and sheer ignorant arbitrariness there often is in the +minds of able and cultivated men. It does not seem even to occur to them +that their own range may be limited, and their judgments upon many (or +even a few) topics not worth ink or breath. It should hardly be +offensive to an ordinary man to be told, or at least to find it tacitly +assumed, that he could not have invented fluxions, painted like +Rembrandt, or sung like Pindar. Why, then, should it be difficult for +any cultivated specialist, of more than ordinary faculties, to make the +reflection that he must be deficient in some direction or other? Yet we +find in practice that it is not only difficult, but impossible, in the +majority of cases. Mr. Napier seems to have invited, or at all events +not to have repelled, free criticisms on his Review from the +contributors in general, and the outcome is little short of appalling. +If ever there was an able man it was Mr. Senior, yet these are the terms +in which he allows himself to speak of an article on Christopher +North--or rather of Christopher North himself:--"The article on +Christopher North is my abomination. I think him one of the very worst +of the clever bad writers who infest modern literature; full of bombast, +affectation, conceit, in short, of all the _vitia_, _tristia_, as well +as _dulcia_. I had almost as soon try to read Carlyle or Coleridge." Now +Mr. Senior was, of course, entitled to dislike Christopher North, and +there is plenty to be said against him in the way of criticism; but the +charge of "affectation" is foolish, and the whole passage pitched in the +most detestable of all literary key-notes. John Wilson was a man of +genius, whose personal likings and rampant animal spirits led him most +mournfully astray. He was wanting also in love of truth for its own +sake; but he was as much superior to Mr. Senior as Shakspeare was to +_him_. And the addition about Carlyle or Coleridge--_or_ Coleridge!--is +just the gratuitous insolence of one-eyed dulness. There is enough and +to spare of blame ready in any balanced mind for either of these great +writers, but they can do without the admiration of wooden-headed prigs, +however able. The point, however, is that it never dawns upon the mind +of even so clever and cultivated a man as Mr. Senior, that his head may +have gaps in it. + +Another instance to the same purport may be selected from a letter from +Mr. Edwin Atherstone, the poet--for it would perhaps be hard and +grudging to deny him the title, since he found an audience, and I have a +vague recollection of having once read verses of his about Nineveh or +Babylon which had in them power of the picturesque-meditative order. +Now, this is the way in which Mr. Edwin Atherstone speaks of Dr. Thomas +Brown, the metaphysician:--"For myself, I know not a writer, with the +exception of Shakspeare, Milton, Homer, and Scott, from whom I have +derived such high delight as from Dr. Brown." + +Was ever such a category put on paper before? It is as if a man should +say his favourite musical instruments were the organ, the harp, the +trumpet, the violin, and the sewing-machine. Brown was one of the most +readable of metaphysicians; he made some acute hits, and he wrote +elegant verses; but his position in Mr. Atherstone's list is as +inexplicably quaint as that of "Burke, commonly called the Sublime," in +the epitaph on the lady who "painted in water-colours," and "was first +cousin to Lady Jones." + +The worst examples of all, however, come from the letters of Francis +Jeffrey himself. Jeffrey has been underrated, and he was a most amiable +man; but some of the verdicts he thought fit to pronounce upon articles +in the _Edinburgh_, when edited by Mr. Napier, are _saugrenus_. In one +case he is about suggesting a contributor, to deal with a certain topic, +and is so polite as to say that the name of Mr. John Stuart Mill had +struck him:--"I once thought of John Mill, but there are reasons against +him too, independent of his great unreadable book and its elaborate +demonstrations of axioms and truisms." + +There might be weighty "reasons against" Mr. Mill, but what his "Logic" +could have to do with the question is not clear. It never seems to have +crossed Jeffrey's mind that he _might_ be totally disqualified for +forming an opinion of a book like that; and, having called it +"unreadable" (though to a reader with any natural bent towards such +matters it is deeply interesting), he actually puts forward the fact +that Mill had written it as a reason against his being entrusted with +the treatment of a political topic in a Whig Review. Editors are human, +and the editorial position is a very troublesome one. An editor may lose +his head, as an overworked wine-taster may lose his palate. In a word, +allowances must be made; but, after a disclosure or two like this, it is +difficult not to conclude that the Review owed no more of its success to +its former editor than it might have owed to any intelligent clerk. But +we cannot let Jeffrey go yet. The following passage relates to an +article on Victor Cousin:-- + + "Cousin I pronounce beyond all doubt the most unreadable thing that + ever appeared in the _Review_. The only chance is, that gentle + readers may take it to be very profound, and conclude that the + fault is in their want of understanding. But I am not disposed to + agree with them. It is ten times more _mystical_ than anything my + friend Carlyle ever wrote, and not half so agreeably written. It is + nothing to the purpose that he does not agree with the worst part of + the mysticism, for he affects to understand it, and to explain it, + and to think it very ingenious and respectable, and it is mere + gibberish. He may possibly be a clever man. There are even + indications of that in his paper, but he is not a _very_ clever man, + nor of much power; and beyond all question he is not a good writer + on such subjects. If you ever admit such a disquisition again, order + your operator to instance and illustrate all his propositions by + cases or examples, and to reason and explain with reference to + these. This is a sure test of sheer nonsense, and moreover an + infinite resource for the explication of obscure truth, if there be + any such thing." + +Now, the writer of the article in question was Sir William Hamilton. "He +may possibly be a clever man, but beyond all question he is not a good +writer on such subjects." So much for Jeffrey. + + "Nec sibi coenarum quivis temere arroget artem, + Non prius exacta tenui ratione saporum." + +Poor Mr. Carlyle is again dragged in, and Sir William is pronounced "ten +times more _mystical_" than he--"mystical" in italics. When a writer, +using the word mystical opprobriously, prints it in italics, it is +usually safe to decide that he knows nothing of metaphysics. The +concluding sentences are instructive examples of editorial +self-confidence: "If ever you admit such a disquisition again, _order +your operator to_" do so-and-so. Thus, the treatment of Mill and +Hamilton being equally ignorant and inept, there is no escape for the +ex-editor. Both verdicts were after the too-celebrated +"this-will-never-do" manner, and that is all. + +In the communications from literary men there are some fine instances of +just self-consciousness. Tom Campbell writes, with great warmth and +alertness, to promise an article upon a new work about the Nerves; but +shortly afterwards writes again, candidly confessing that he had found, +upon looking again at the work, that his aptitude for scientific detail +was not great enough to enable him to do justice to the subject. A +letter from William Hazlitt is so striking, both for its truthfulness +and its clear-headedness, as to deserve quoting in full. He had been +written to by Mr. Napier for some contributions to the _Encyclopaedia +Britannica_, and he replies, from his well-known retreat at Winterslow +Hut, in these terms:-- + + "I am sorry to be obliged, from want of health and a number of other + engagements, which I am little able to perform, to decline the + flattering offer you make me. I am also afraid that I should not be + able to do the article in question, or yourself, justice, for I am + not only without books, but without knowledge of what books are + necessary to be consulted on the subject. To get up an article in a + Review on any subject of general literature is quite as much as I + can do without exposing myself. The object of an Encyclopaedia is, I + take it, to condense and combine all the facts relating to a + subject, and all the theories of any consequence already known or + advanced. Now, where the business of such a work ends, is just where + I begin--that is, I might perhaps throw in an idle speculation or + two of my own, not contained in former accounts of the subject, and + which would have very little pretensions to rank as scientific. I + know something about Congreve, but nothing at all of Aristophanes, + and yet I conceive that the writer of an article on the Drama ought + to be as well acquainted with the one as the other." + +The honesty of this is quite refreshing. There is one more letter, of a +similar order, which deserves to be signalized. In August, 1843, +Macaulay, being pressed for more frequent contributions, writes from the +Albany that he can promise, at the very utmost, no more than two +articles in a year:-- + + "I ought to give my whole leisure to my History; and I fear that if + I suffer myself to be diverted from that design as I have done, I + shall, like poor Mackintosh, leave behind me the character of a man + who would have done something if he had concentrated his powers + instead of frittering them away. There are people who can carry on + twenty works at a time. Southey would write the history of Brazil + before breakfast, an ode after breakfast, then the history of the + Peninsular War till dinner, and an article for the _Quarterly + Review_ in the evening. But I am of a different temper. I never + write so as to please myself until my subject has for the time + driven away every other out of my head. When I turn from one work to + another a great deal of time is lost in the mere transition. I must + not go on dawdling and reproaching myself all my life." + +There is something melancholy in this, admirable as it is. Macaulay had +begun to watch the shadow on the dial too closely to permit him to do +much miscellaneous work with an easy mind. There is an important lesson +for men of letters in the sentence,--"When I turn from one work to +another, a great deal of time is lost in the mere transition." Here lies +the great difference between serious literary work and that of ordinary +business, where the mind is solicited by one thing after another in +rapid succession. In the first case, time and energy have to be expended +in evolving from within a fresh impulse for every topic. The most +readable writings of Southey are those which he produced fragment by +fragment, on topics for which little renewal of impulse was required. To +write a great poem in scraps, all by the clock, was a task which only a +very conceited and rather wooden man would have attempted; and the +result we know, though there are fine things in Southey's longer poems. +A powerful passage by Cardinal Newman on the difficulties of literary +work is almost too well known to bear quoting, but a living poet, Mrs. +Augusta Webster, has put the case so fairly that Macaulay's shade--which +is, of course, a shade that reads everything--may be gratified by seeing +in a handy way a few of her sentences:-- + + "Occupations of study, scientific research, literary production--of + brain-work of any kind that is carried on in the worker's private + home with no visible reminder of customer or client--are taken to be + such as can lightly be done at one time as well as another, and + resumed after no matter what interruptions, like a lady's + embroidery, which she can take up again at the very stitch she left + her needle in. Professions of this sort not only admit, but in many + instances require, considerable variation in the amount of daily + time directly bestowed on them,--_directly_, for the true student is + not at his work only when he is ostensibly employed, but whenever + and wherever he may have his head to himself,--and there is no + measure of visible quantity for the more or less results of + application.... The literary man probably fares the worst of all. He + is not merely not protected by the manual part of his processes, but + it is his danger. It is so easy--what anybody can do at any time!... + Of course the simple fact is that it is more difficult for this + class of persons to practise their vocations under the drawback of + perpetual breaks, actual and (what comes to nearly the same thing) + expected, than it is for 'business men.' Let the attention of the + solicitor, for instance, busied on the points of an intricate case, + be perforce diverted to another matter, there is lost from that case + just the time diverted, and a little extra to allow for the mind + which returns to any interrupted course of thought, never returning + to it exactly at the point at which it was forced to leave it. But + there are the recorded facts; the direct conclusions to be drawn + remain unaltered; nothing has disappeared, nothing has lost its + identity. But suppose, let us say, a dramatist, devising his crisis + after hours, perhaps days, of gradual growth, to the moment when he + sees it before him as a reality.... Force his attention away, and he + has lost, not merely the time he needed to complete a spell of + works, with something over for the difficulty of resuming, but the + _power_ of resuming. All has faded into a haze; and the fruit of + days, may be, has been thrown away at the ripening, for such moments + do not come twice." + +There are but few of Mr. Napier's own letters in this volume, so that we +have only indirect means of measuring his idea of his editorial rights +or duties as against contributors. There is one case in which Macaulay +complains strongly of certain excisions, and there is another in which +he defends certain phrases of his own which appear to have offended the +taste of Mr. Napier, who found them undignified, if not slightly vulgar. +He submits of course--all the mutilated ones submit--and he says he +submits "willingly;" but all the while we can too plainly see the wry +faces he is making. Mr. Napier was, apparently, a purist in the matter +of style; but there is something almost grotesque in the spectacle of a +man of his quality correcting Macaulay. It reminds one of _cet imbecile +Buloz_.[37] The case of Leigh Hunt was very different, for he sometimes +went to the extreme verge of decorum--quarterly review decorum, that +is--and beyond it. But we may safely conclude that Macaulay knew much +better than his editor how to turn a sentence, or when the use of a +French locution was desirable for ends of literary effect. Upon this +subject of imported phrases Mr. Napier was, it seems, very punctilious, +for with Mr. G. H. Lewes he must have had a brisk correspondence about +it. Mr. Lewes, who was then a young writer, anxious to get his feet well +planted, submits, with every possible expression of acquiescence, one +might almost say, of abject agreement; but it is easy to see that his +compliance was forced. Macaulay in his discussion of this little matter +with Napier, easily and decisively lays down the true guiding +principle:--"The first rule of all writing,--that rule to which every +other rule is subordinate,--is that the words used by the writer shall +be such as most fully and precisely convey his meaning to the great body +of his readers. All considerations about the purity and dignity of style +ought to bend to this consideration." + +This, indeed, exhausts the subject; and leaves the editor only one +question to solve--namely, whether the writer whom he employs has +presumably a meaning fit to be conveyed to the readers of his +periodical. Upon that point he must use his own judgment; but it was +idle for a man like Mr. Napier to criticize the phrasing of a man like +Macaulay, who had ten thousand times his reading. For it is upon the +"reading" that the matter very largely turns. The force of a quotation +or a phrase imported from a foreign tongue depends, not upon the bare +meaning of the words, but upon the suggestiveness of certain +associations. This does not necessarily imply that the precise context +is recalled, or certain hackneyed trifles from Lucretius and Horace, and +a score of such chips in porridge, would be indecent. If it be said that +all this implies that an editor should be omniscient, or at lowest an +omnivorous reader, the reply is, that it certainly does--unless the +principle adopted in the conduct of the periodical be the more recent +one of choosing contributors largely on account of their names, and then +leaving them to answer for their own sins, if any. One thing is clear, +that if a man like Jeffrey--or like Napier--could be shown the number of +blunders he made in mutilating the writings of his contributors, he +would feel very much humiliated. Thackeray complains very bitterly of +the suppression of some of his touches of humour, and his sufferings at +the hands of a critic like Mr. Napier (able man as he was) must have +been terrible indeed. + +The system recently adopted of having every article signed, has not +yielded the results which were predicted or expected by those who so +long struggled to get it introduced. It has led to "starring" more +outrageous and more audacious than any that was ever seen upon the +stage, and to mischief far more serious. The worst of these is the +substitution of a spurious sort of authority for the natural influence +or weight of the writing, even upon some of the most important topics +which can engage the human mind. The opinion, for example, of a +versatile politician, or traveller, or physicist, on a question of +religion or morals may be of no more value than that of the first man +you meet on passing into the streets. But it will attract attention in +proportion to the notoriety of the author, and though wise men may know +that it is weak or foolish, they may wait a long while for the chance of +saying so from any pulpit worth preaching in, because the platforms are +pre-engaged; and also because, the "organs of opinion" being bound to +live by keeping up a succession of attractive names in their pages, it +will not do to offend the owners of such names. One other result of the +recent system (not everywhere and always, of course, but generally and +most frequently) is a want of freshness in periodical literature. This +evil our American friends manage to escape; only they are much bolder +than we are, and do not stand in terror of the charge of levity. But, as +a rule, writers who are fit for starring purposes lose freshness in a +very short time; and then they do a still farther mischief by striking +that key-note of second-hand thought which is so prevalent, or at least +so common in even our better literature. + +It is amusing enough to recall the superstition of secrecy which +inspired the policy of the first Edinburgh Reviewers. Lord Jeffrey has +told us how the conspirators, Brougham, Sydney Smith, Horner, and +himself, used to meet by night in the back room of a printing-office, +and steal to their work by winding paths and back stairs, like +assassins. This was folly, though not inexcusably without rational +ground or motive, and one cannot resist the belief that the more modern +plan will work well some day, if it does not now. But the difference in +the results is not so great as might have been hoped for. Men of letters +do not now openly insult each other for differences of opinion in +politics or theology; but it is not any variation of mechanism which has +made the change, and, though less brutality of phrasing is now +permitted, it would be difficult to surpass in bitterness or unfairness +some of the signed and accredited criticism of our own day. On the +whole, it comes to this,--you can get no more out of given moral +conditions than there is in them. If public writers are clique-ish (a +word to disturb Mr. Napier in his grave, and certainly an ugly one) and +unjust to each other, it is because you cannot change the spots of the +leopard. A man who loves the truth will employ his pen conscientiously +and kindly, whether he writes anonymously or otherwise. To this it may +be added that there is something extremely quaint in one thing that we +may see taking place every week--the greater part of our newspaper +writing is still unsigned, and, considering what a hastily got-up +miscellany a newspaper necessarily is, it can hardly be otherwise. A +column of reviews in a newspaper is sometimes the work of as many hands +as there are books reviewed in it. But it might certainly have been +expected beforehand that reviewers who write without signature should be +both careful and moderate in attacking writers who sign, and who, +presumably, take more time over their work than contributors to +newspapers can generally do. Yet the newspaper columns in which +quarterly and monthly periodicals are reviewed are "too often" (we must +round the corner with the help of that commonplace) models of flippancy +and dogmatism. + +On the whole, it is not from any mechanical changes of method that we +must expect improvement in Review literature. Of course, in largeness, +fulness, richness, and versatility the Review-writing of to-day is +immeasurably superior to that of the days when Macaulay and Brougham +fought for precedence in the _Edinburgh_. But so is the literature +reviewed--one is a big "rolling miscellany," and so is the other. It +does not seem to some of us that, _other things being made equal_, the +literature of our modern Reviews (using the word widely) is either +superior or inferior to that of the _Edinburgh_, for example. The +growth, however, of literature generally in force, colour, range, and +effectiveness, is something astounding. We note this, or rather it +overwhelms us, in turning over such a book as the Memoirs of Harriet +Martineau; and there is more than the insolence of new-fangled tastes in +putting such a question as--where would Campbell's "Pleasures of Hope" +be if it were published to-morrow? One day when Brougham had just left +(for London) a country-house where he had been staying, Rogers, who was +a fellow-guest with him, made some such remark as this--"In that +post-chaise went away this morning, Bacon, Newton, Demosthenes, and +Solon." It is not recorded that Rogers meant this as a joke; but where +would Brougham be after a little manipulation by Mr. Jevons or Mr. +Goldwin Smith? It would be tiresome to dwell upon this, and wrong to +suggest that the men were smaller because the outlook was less; but this +view, if anything, helps us to see the direction in which one of our +best hopes for literature must lie--namely, in its ever-increasing +volume. There will always be hostile camps, and there will always be +warriors of low _morale_, but as each camp enlarges, the _average_ pain +of those who suffer from injustice or neglect will be lessened. And this +observation is by no means addressed to mere questions of reviewing in +the minor sense, but rather to literature in the mass as representing +the culture of the time. + +Since the time when Jeffrey ruled the _Edinburgh Review_, and even since +the death of Mr. Napier, "the advertising element," and commercial +elements in general, have played a great and new part, an increasing +part, too, in the fortunes, and thus in regulating the quality and +tendency, of current literature. One result of this state of things is +an ever-increasing tendency to compromise in the expression of opinion. +In spite of the spirit of tolerance of which we hear so much, there was +perhaps never a time in which the expression of opinion was so much +emasculated in the higher periodical literature, or in which so much +trickery of accommodated phraseology was going forward. This will last +for a long time yet--as long as periodical literature is a matter of +commercial speculation. It is an evil omen that the greatest amount of +freedom now displayed is in political and scientific discussion. It is +difficult to see where the remedy is to come from in discussions of +another kind. Probably we shall have a lesson by the cataclysmic method +before very long. There is in this volume a letter from Brougham to +Napier, in which Brougham is very angry about an indirect disclosure of +Romilly's heterodoxy, and he goes off at a tangent to express a doubt +whether Macaulay was any better than Romilly, but is very anxious that +conventional conformity should be strictly maintained in the Review, +even to the length of concealing from the general reader as far as +possible such facts as that a man so good and "religious" as Romilly +could be a disbeliever in this, that, or the other. We have now got +beyond that; the accredited policy is in a vague way to trump the cards +of the dangerous people, and then nobody shows his hand fairly and +freely. Meanwhile, everybody feels uneasy, from a latent sense of +insincerity; and, when once the excitement is off, the natural +perception that out of nothing nothing can come, reassumes its sway. +The game cannot go on in this way for ever, though no one can foresee by +what accident the lights will be blown out, the tables thrown over, and +the stakes roughly dealt with at last. + +A great difference, as might be expected, arises from the incredible +widening of what might be called the constituencies of opinion. +Political articles of the "inspired" order do not count as they did, or +were supposed to do, in the days of "Coningsby" even, much less as they +did a decade or two sooner. The effective currents of thought are far +too numerous and far too massive to be guided--nay, too numerous and too +massive for even the most conceited of propagandists or prophets to +fancy he could calculate them. What sort of figure as a publicist or +"inspired" political writer would a man like Croker cut at this end of +the century? It must have been a dolorous day for such as he when they +first felt sure the tides were coming up which were to sweep them and +their works into oblivion, or at least into limbo, and make successors +to their function impossible in future. We do not affirm that the +present phase of change is for the best; no theory of progress will +justify statements of that kind. In fact, things are quite bad enough; +but some security against certain evils there must be, in the fact that +these are days in which it is difficult to hide a wrong, or an error, +which has an immediate sinister bearing upon ends cherished by any +school of opinion. Who on earth would now think of calling the _Times_ +the Thunderer? Just when middle-aged men of to-day were babies it was +thought finely argumentative, if not conclusive, to call the London +University "Stinkomalee"--in the interest of Church and King; but the +"hard hitting" of our own time is done in other fashion. Even if the +Marquis of Salisbury were to edit a paper he would not be able to make +much out of Titus Oates. But the allusion to that episode in another +sphere of action may remind us of the late Lord Derby, who might almost +be called the last of the old school of politicians. The mere mention of +his name seems to flash light upon the gulf we have traversed since the +days when the world was divided between a Whig organ and a Tory organ. + +Simultaneously with the incalculable increase of devotion to science, we +have had an increase of devotion to ends held to be practical, and this +has largely governed our literature. The subject now barely hinted at is +well worth extended treatment. It is, however, no more than the truth +that there has been recently a great diminution of speculative +enthusiasm of all kinds, with a largely increased tendency to make +things pleasant for all parties. Convenience, in fact, becomes more and +more the governing factor of life; this tells upon our better +literature; and until the wind sets again from the old quarters--as it +certainly will some day--we shall feel the want of certain elements of +freshness, individuality, and moral impulse which touch us more closely +than we at first recognize in reading the old Edinburgh Reviewers. + + MATTHEW BROWNE. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[37] One, at least, of the contributors whom Buloz tortured (Georges +Sand wrote that she wished him "_au diable_" ten times a day, only he +held her purse-strings) used to date his letters in this style:--"_A +vingt-cinq lieues de cet imbecile Buloz._" + + + + +THE SUPREME GOD IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN MYTHOLOGY. + +Comparative Mythology.[38] + + +Towards the end of the last century the men of letters of Europe were +astonished to hear that in Asia, on the banks of the Ganges, a more +ancient and richer language had been found than that of Homer. It +offered in its words and forms striking analogies with the languages of +Rome and Athens. Interest once roused, systematic comparisons were made, +and comparative grammar was founded. The sphere of comparisons widened +and the group of Aryan languages was established. + +It was thus ascertained that the languages of the Romans, of the Greeks, +of the Gauls, of the Germans, of the Lithuanians, and of the Slavs in +Europe, of the Hindoos and Persians in Asia, are made out of the same +materials and cast in the same mould; that they are only varieties of +one primitive type. The precise laws which regulated the formation of +each of these varieties were discovered, so that it is both possible to +proceed from one of these languages to the other, and to trace all of +them to the original type whence they come, to the lost type which they +reproduce. This lost type, the source of all the idioms of nearly the +whole of Europe and of a third of Asia, science has reconstructed: with +an almost absolute certainty, it has described the grammar, drawn up the +lexicon of that language, of which no direct echo remains, not the +fragment of an inscription on a broken stone, of that language of which +the life and the death are pre-historic, and which was spoken at a +period when there were as yet neither Romans, nor Hindoos, nor Greeks, +nor Persians, nor Germans, nor Celts, and when the ancestors of all +those nations were still wandering as one tribe, one knows not where, +one knows not when. + +Closely following comparative grammar, almost at the same time rose up +comparative mythology, and with the ancient words awoke the gods that +they had sung, the beliefs that they had fostered. It was recognized +that if the Indo-Europeans spoke essentially the same language, they +also worshipped essentially the same gods and believed in the same +things. As comparative grammar, on hearing the sister-tongues, caught up +the echo of the mother, whose voice they repeat, so comparative +mythology, in its turn, on looking at the sister religions, has tried to +see through them the original image which they reflect. As the one +restored the words and forms of the language which lived on the lips of +the Aryans at the moment of the breaking up of the Aryan unity, the +other endeavoured to restore the gods and beliefs which lived in their +souls at the moment when, with the unity of the race, the identity of +language and belief passed away. This restoration of the pre-historic +gods and of the pre-historic beliefs is the final object of comparative +mythology, just as the reconstruction of words and forms is the final +object of comparative grammar. The object was analogous and so was the +method. It is the comparative method, which by comparing kindred +divinities and kindred beliefs, finds the original divinity and the +original belief which gave birth to them, and which are reproduced in +them. To sketch the picture of the original mythology, it is sufficient +to separate from the various derivative mythologies the essential +characteristics common to them. Every characteristic common to the +secondary religions will be legitimately referred to the primitive one, +whenever it is essential--that is to say neither borrowed from one of +the kindred religions nor due to an identical, but quite independent +development. If, for instance, the various Indo-European mythologies +agree in naming the gods _Daiva_, "the shining ones," it follows that in +the primitive mythology, in the religion of the period of unity, they +were known already as beings of light and called thus. It is a great +deal easier to admit that the seven derived religions have faithfully +repeated what has been handed down to them from their common source, +than to imagine that once separated they have created the same +conception, each one on its side, and have clothed it with the same +expression: the former hypothesis is a simple and natural induction: the +second is in reality made up of seven hypotheses, and implies seven +chances agreeing together, seven miracles. + +Our object in the following pages is to give a sketch of one of the +chapters of the Aryan mythology. We try to show that the religion of the +Indo-European unity recognized a Supreme God, and we try to find the +most ancient form and the earliest origin of that conception among the +Aryans, and to follow out the transformations it has undergone in the +course of ages. + + +The Supreme God: Zeus, Jupiter, Varuna, Ahura Mazda. + +The Aryan Gods are not organized as a Republic: they have a king. There +is over the gods a Supreme God. + +Four of the Aryan mythologies have preserved a clear and precise notion +of this conception: they are those of Greece, of Italy, of ancient +India, and of ancient Persia. This Supreme God is called Zeus in Greece, +Jupiter in Italy, Varuna in ancient India, Ahura Mazda in ancient +Persia. Let us then listen to Zeus, to Jupiter, to Varuna, and to Ahura +Mazda each in his turn. + +_Zeus and Jupiter._[39]--About three centuries before our era a Greek +poet thus addressed Zeus:-- + + "Oh! Thou most glorious of immortals, whose names are many, for ever + Almighty, Zeus, Thou who rulest nature, directing all things + according to a law, hail! To Thee all this universe moving round the + earth yields obedience, following whither thou leadest, and submits + itself to Thy rule.... So great in Thy nature, King Supreme above + all things, no work is achieved without Thee, neither on the earth, + nor in the celestial regions of ether, nor on the sea, but those + which the wicked accomplish in their folly." + +This is the Zeus of the philosophers, of the Stoics, of Cleanthes: but +he was already the Zeus of the ancient poets. Powerful, omniscient, and +just is the god of AEschylus, as that of Cleanthes: he is the king of +kings, the blessed of the blessed, the sovereign power among all powers, +the only one who is free among the gods, who is the master of the +mightiest, who is subservient to no one's rule; above whom no one sits, +no one to whom from below he looks with awe; every word of his is +absolute; he is the God of deep thoughts, whose heart has dark and +hidden ways, impenetrable to the eye, and no scheme formed within his +mind has ever miscarried. Finally, he is the Father of Justice, Dike, +"the terrible virgin who breathes out on crime anger and death," it is +he who from hell raises vengeance with its slow chastisement against the +bold wayward mortal. Terpander proclaims in Zeus the essence of all +things, the god who rules over everything. Archilochus sings Zeus +father, as the God who rules the heavens, who watches the guilty and +unjust actions of men, who administers chastisements to monsters, the +God who created heaven and earth. The old man of Ascra knows that Zeus +is the father of gods and of men, that his eye sees and comprehends all +things and reaches all that he wishes. In short, as far back as the +Greek Pantheon appears in the light of history, even from Homer, Zeus +towers above the nation of gods which surrounds him. He himself +proclaims, and the other gods proclaim after him, that, unrivalled in +power and strength, he is the greatest of all; the gods, at his behest, +silently bow down before him; he would hurl into the gloomy depths of +Tartarus whomsoever should dare to disobey him: he would hurl him down +into the uttermost depths of the subterranean abyss: alone against them +all, he would master them. Should they let fall from the sky a golden +chain on which all the gods and goddesses might be suspended, they still +would be powerless, however hard they might strain to drag him from the +heavens to the earth; and if it pleased him, he could draw them up even +with the earth, even with the sea, and he would then fix the chain on +the ridge of Olympus, and suspend on it the whole universe; so much is +he above mankind, above the gods. Not only is he the most powerful, but +also he is the wisest--the =metietes=; he is all wisdom and he is +likewise all justice. It is from him that the judges of the sons of the +Achaeans have received their laws: very good, very great, he holds +learned conversations with Themis (the law) who sits at his side; +prayers are his daughters, whom he avenges for all the insults of the +wicked. + +Thus, power, wisdom, justice, belonged from all time to Zeus, to the +Zeus of Homer as well as to the Zeus of Cleanthes; to the Zeus of the +poets as to him of the philosophers, in the remotest period of paganism +as at the approach of the religion of Christ. A providential god rules +the Pantheon of the Hellenes. + +What Zeus is in Greece, Jupiter is in Italy: the God who is above all +the gods. The identity of the two deities is so striking that the +ancients themselves, forestalling comparative mythology, recognized it +from the very first. He is the God, great and good amongst them all: +_Jupiter, optimus, maximus_. + +_Varuna._--The most ancient of the religions of India, which the Vedas +have made known to us, has also a Zeus, whose name is Varuna.[40] + + "Truly admirable for grandeur are the works of Him who has separated + the two worlds and fixed their vast extent: of Him who has set in + motion the high and sublime firmament, who has spread out the + heavens above and the earth beneath. + + "These heavens and this earth which reach so far, flowing with milk, + so beautiful in form, it is by the law of Varuna that they remain + fixed, facing each other, immortal beings with fertile seed. + + "This Asura,[41] who is acquainted with all things, has propped up + these heavens, he has fixed the boundaries of the earth. He is + enthroned above all the worlds, universal king; all the laws of the + world are the laws of Varuna. + + "In the bottomless abyss the king Varuna has lifted up the summit of + the celestial tree.[42] It is the king Varuna who has traced out to + the sun the broad path he is to follow: to footless creatures he has + given feet so that they may run. + + "Those stars, which illumine the night, where were they during the + day? Infallible are the laws of Varuna: the moon kindles itself and + walks through the night. + + "Varuna has traced out paths for the sun: he has thrown forwards the + fluctuating torrent of rivers. He has dug out the wide and rapid + beds where the waves of the days, let loose, unroll themselves in + their order. + + "He has put strength into the horse, milk into the cow, intellect + into the heart, Agni[43] into the waters, the sun in the sky, + soma[44] into the stone. + + "The wind is thy breath, O Varuna! which roars in the atmosphere, + like the ox in the meadow. Between this earth and the sublime heaven + above, all things, O Varuna, are of thy creation." + +There is an order in nature, there is a law, a habit, a rule, _a Rita_. +This law, this _Rita_, it is Varuna who has established it. He is the +god of the Rita, the god of Order, the guardian of the Rita; he is the +god of efficient and stable laws; in him rest as in a rock the fixed +immovable laws. + +Organizer of the world, he is its master. He is the first of the Asuras, +"of the lords;" he is _the Asura_, "the Lord;" he is the sovereign of +the whole world, the king of all beings, the universal king, the +independent king; no one amongst the gods dares to infringe his laws; +"it is thou, Varuna, who art the king of all." + +As he has omnipotence, he has omniscience too, he is "the Lord who knows +all things," the _Asura vicva-vedas_. He is the sage who has supreme +wisdom, in whom all sciences have their centre; when the poet wishes to +praise the learning of a god, he compares it to that of Varuna. "He +knows the place of the birds which fly in the air, he knows the ships +which are sailing on the ocean, he knows the twelve months and what they +will bring forth, he knows every creature that is born. He knows the +path of the sublime wind in the heights, he knows who sits at the +sacrifice. The God of stable laws, Varuna, has taken his place in his +palace to be the universal king, the god with the wondrous intellect. +Hence, following in his mind all these marvels, he looks around him at +what has happened and what will happen." + +As he is the universal witness, he is also the universal judge, the +infallible judge whom nothing escapes: none can deceive him, and from +above he sees the evil done below and strikes it: he has sevenfold bands +to clasp thrice round the liar by the upper, by the middle, and by the +lower part of the body. The man, smitten by misfortune, implores his +pity, and feels that he has sinned, and that the hand which strikes is +also the hand that punishes: + + "I ask Thee, O Varuna, because I wish to know my fault: + + "I come to Thee, to question Thee who knowest all things. All the + sages, with one voice, said to me, Varuna is angry with thee. + + "What great crime have I committed, O Varuna, that thou shouldst + want to kill thy friend, thy bard. Tell me, O Lord, O infallible + one, and I will then lay my homage at thy feet. + + "Free me from the bonds of my crime, do not sever the thread of the + prayer that I am weaving, do not deliver me over to the deaths that, + at thy dictate, O Asura, strike him who has committed a crime: send + me not into the gloomy regions far from the light. + + "Let me pay the penalty of my faults; but let me not suffer, O King, + for the crime of others; there are so many days that have not dawned + yet! Let them dawn for us also, O Varuna!" + +Such is the supreme God of the Vedic religion, an organizing God, +almighty, omniscient, and moral. The following is a Vedic hymn which +sums up with singular force the essential attributes of the God:-- + + "He who from on high rules this world sees every thing as if it were + before him. That which two men, seated side by side are plotting, is + heard by king Varuna, himself the third. + + "This earth belongs to the king Varuna, and this sky, these two + sublime worlds with their remote limits; the two seas[45] are the + belly of Varuna, and he rests also even in this small pool of water. + + "He who should leap over the sky and beyond it, would not escape the + king Varuna: he has his spies, the spies of the heavens, who go + through the world; he has his thousand eyes which look on the earth. + + "The king Varuna sees everything, all that which is between the two + worlds and beyond them: he reckons the winking of the eye of all + creatures: + + "The world is in his hand like the dice in the hand of the gamester. + + "Let thy sevenfold bands, O Varuna, let thy bands of wrath which are + thrice linked together, let them enfold the man with a lying tongue, + let them leave free the man with a truthful tongue!" + +_Ahura Mazda._[46]--Ancient Persia opposes to Zeus, to Jupiter, to +Varuna, her Ormazd or Ahura Mazda.[47] "It is through me," he said to +his prophet, Zoroaster, "that the firmament, with its distant +boundaries, hewn from the sparkling ruby, subsists without pillars to +rest upon; it is through me that the earth, through me that the sun, the +moon, and the stars take their radiant course through the atmosphere; it +was I who formed the seeds in such a manner that, when sown in the +earth, they should grow, spring up, and appear on the surface; it was I +who traced their veins in every species of plants, who in all beings put +the fire of life which does not consume them; it is I who in the +maternal womb produce the new-born child, who form the limbs, the skin, +the nails, the blood, the feet, the ears; it was I who gave the water +feet to run; it was I who made the clouds, which carry the water to the +world," &c. This development, taken from a recent book of the Ghebers, +the Bundahish, is to be found entire, in the very first words of their +oldest and holiest book, the Avesta: "I proclaim and worship Ahura +Mazda, the _Creator_." As far as history can be traced, he was already +what he is now. Near the ruins of the ancient Ecbatana, the traveller +may read, on the red granite of the mountain of Alvand, these words, +which were engraved by the hand of Darius, the king of kings, nearly +five centuries before the birth of Christ:-- + + "A powerful God is Auramazda! + 'Twas he who made this earth here below! + 'Twas he who made that heaven above! + 'Twas he who made man!" + +This God, who made the world, rules it. He is the sovereign of the +universe, the _Ahura_,[48] "the Lord." "He is a powerful god," exclaims +Xerxes; "he is the greatest of all the gods." It is to his favour that +Darius, inscribing upon the rock of Behistun the narrative of his +nineteen victories, ascribes both his elevation and his triumphs. It is +to his supreme care that he confides Persia: "This country of Persia, +which Auramazda has given me, this beautiful country, beautiful in +horses, beautiful in men, by the grace of Auramazda, and through me, +king Darayavus, has nothing to fear from any enemy. May Auramazda and +the gods of the nation bring me their help! May Auramazda protect this +country from hostile armies, from barrenness and evil! May this country +never be invaded by the stranger, nor by hostile armies, nor by +barrenness, nor by evil! This is the favour which I implore from +Auramazda and the gods of the nation!" + +This world which he has organized is a work of intelligence; by his +wisdom it began, and by his wisdom it will end. He is the mind which +knows all things, and it is to him that the sage appeals in order to +penetrate the mysteries of the world. + + "Reveal to me the truth, O Ahura! What was the beginning of the good + creation? + + "Who is the father, who, at the beginning of time, begat Order? + + "Who has traced for the sun and the stars the paths that they must + follow? + + "Who makes the moon increase and decrease? + + "O Ahura! I would learn those mysteries and many more! + + "Who has fixed the earth and the immovable stars to establish them + firmly, so that they might not fall? Who has fixed the waters and + the trees? + + "Who has directed the rapid course of the wind and of the clouds? + What skilful artist has made the light and the darkness? + + "What skilful workman has made sleep and wakefulness? Through whom + have we dawn, noon, and night? From whom do they learn the law which + is traced out for them? Who endeared the son to his father so that + he should train him? Those are the things that I wish to ask Thee, O + Mazda, O beneficent Spirit, O Creator of all things!" + +In his omniscience are embraced all human actions. He watches over all +things, and is far-seeing, and never sleeping. He is the infallible one; +"it is impossible to deceive him, the Ahura, who knows all things." He +sees man, and judges and chastises him, if he has not followed his law, +for from him comes the law of man, as well as the law of the world; from +him comes the science supreme among all other sciences, that of duty, +the knowledge of those things we ought to think, say, and do, and of +those things we ought neither to think, nor say, nor do. To the man who +has prayed well, thought, spoken, and acted well, he opens his +resplendent paradise; he opens hell to him who has not prayed and who +has thought, spoken, and done evil. + + +The Supreme God, the God of Heaven. + +Thus the Aryans of Greece, of Italy, of India, and of Persia agree in +giving the highest place in their Pantheon to a supreme God who rules +the world and who has founded order, a God sovereign, omniscient, and +moral. Has this identical conception been formed in each of these cases +by four independent creations, or is it a common inheritance from the +Indo-European religion, and did the Aryan ancestors of the Greeks, of +the Latins, of the Hindoos, and of the Persians already know a supreme +God, an organizing, a sovereign, an omniscient, a moral God? + +Although the latter hypothesis is more simple and more probable than the +former, it cannot, however, be taken at once as certain; because an +abstract and logical conception of this kind may very well have +developed itself at the same time among several nations, in an identical +and independent manner. To whomsoever looks upon it at any time and in +any place, the world can reveal the existence of a Supreme maker: +Socrates is not the disciple of the psalmist; yet the heavens reveal to +him, as to the Hebrew poet, the glory of the Lord. But if it be found +that the abstract conception is closely connected with a naturalistic +and material conception, and that the latter is identical in the four +religions, as it is known, on the other hand, that these four religions +have a common past, the hypothesis that this abstract conception is a +heritage of this past, and not a creation of the present, may rise to a +certainty. + +Now, these Gods who organize the world, rule it and watch over it; this +Zeus, this Jupiter, this Varuna, this Ahura Mazda are not the +personifications of a simple abstract conception; they emerge from a +former naturalism, from which they are not yet quite detached; they +commenced by being gods of the heavens. + +Zeus and Jupiter have never ceased to be gods of the heavens, and to be +conscious of it. When the world was shared among the gods, "Zeus +received the boundless sky in the ether and the clouds for his share." +It is as the God of heaven that sometimes he shines luminous, calm, and +pure, enthroned in the ethereal splendour, and that sometimes he becomes +gloomy and gathers clouds (=nephelegeretes=), causing the rain to fall +from heaven (=ombrios=, =hyetios=), hurling upon the earth the eddy of +fierce winds, drawing forth the hurricane from the summit of the ether, +brandishing the lightning and the thunderbolt (=keraunios=, =astrapaios=). +This is why the thunderbolt is his weapon, his attribute, "the +thunderbolt with its never-tiring foot," which he hurls in the heights; +why he rolls on a resounding chariot, brandishing in his hand the fiery +trident, or dashing it on the wings of the eagle, or on Pegasus, the +aerial steed of the lightning. This is why he is the husband of Demeter, +"the mother Earth," whom he impregnates with his torrents of rain; this +is why he sent forth, from his brow according to some, from his belly +according to others, from the clouds according to the Cretan legend, +Athene, the resplendent goddess with the penetrating glance, who came +forth, shaking golden weapons, with a cry which made heaven and earth +resound, as she is the incarnation of the stormy light which breaks +forth from the brow of heaven, from the belly of heaven, from the bosom +of the cloud, filling space with its splendour and with the crash of its +stormy birth. Lastly, the very name of Zeus (genitive _Dios_, formerly +_Divos_) is, in conformity with the laws of Greek phonetics, the literal +representative of the Sanscrit Dyaus, heaven (genitive _Divas_), and the +union of =Zeus pater= with =Demeter= is the exact counterpart of the +Vedic union of _Dyaus pitar_ with _Prithivi matar_, of the Heaven-Father +with Earth-Mother. The word =Zeus= is an ancient synonym of =Ouranos=, +which became obsolete as a common noun; still, in a certain number of +expressions, it retains something of its former meaning. Thus it is, +when the Earth prays Zeus to let rain fall upon her; when the Athenian +in praying exclaims: "O dear Zeus, rain thou on the field of the +Athenians and on the plains"--"Zeus has rained the whole night," says +Homer: =hye Zeus pannychos=. In all these expressions Zeus may be +literally translated as a common noun, _sky_. + +Jupiter, identical with Zeus in his functions, is identical with him in +his material attributes. + +The word Jupiter, or better Jup-piter, is for Jus-piter, composed of +_pater_ and of _Jus_, the Latin contraction of the Sanscrit _Dyaus_, of +the Greek =Zeus=: Juppiter is then the exact equivalent of =Zeus pater=, +and the word has even preserved more strongly than Zeus the sense of its +early meaning; _sub Jove_ signifies "under the heavens;" the hunter +awaits the marsian boar, heedless of the cold or snow, _sub Jove +frigido_, "under the cold Jupiter, under the cold sky." Dyaus is also in +Latin, as it is in Sanscrit, the name of the brilliant sky: "Behold," +exclaims old Ennius, "above thy head this luminous space which all +invoke under the name of Jupiter:" + + "Aspice hoc sublime candens quem invocant omnes Jovem." + +Varuna, like his European brethren, has been, and is yet, a material +god, and a material god of the same kind, a god of heaven. This is why +the sun is his eye, why the sun, "the beautiful bird which flies in the +firmament," is "his golden-winged messenger;"[49] why the celestial +rivers flow in the hollow of his mouth, as in the hollow of a reed; why +everywhere visible, by turns full of light and of darkness, by turns he +infolds himself in the night, and irradiates the dawns, and by turns +clothes himself in the white garments and in the black ones. Like Zeus, +and from the same cause, he gathers together the clouds, he turns the +sack that contains the rains, and lets it loose upside down on the two +worlds; he inundates the heaven and the earth, he clothes the mountains +with a watery garb, and his blood-red eyes unceasingly furrow the watery +dwelling with their twinkling flashes. As Zeus is the father of Athene, +he is the father of Atharvan, "the Fire-God," of Bhrigu, "the +Thunderer"--that is to say, of Agni, of the lightning. Agni himself is +brought forth "from his belly in the waters," like a male Athene. +Finally, like Zeus, like Jupiter, he bears in his very name the +expression of what he is; and the Sanscrit Varuna is the exact phonetic +representative of =Ouranos=, sky. + +In fine, the sovereign god of Persia, notwithstanding the character of +profound abstraction which he has acquired and which is reflected in his +name Ahura Mazda, "the omniscient Lord," can himself be recognized as a +god of the heavens. The ancient formulae of the litanies still show that +he is luminous and corporeal; they invoke the creator Ahura Mazda, +resplendent, very great, very beautiful, corporeally beautiful; white, +luminous, seen from afar; they invoke the entire body of Ahura Mazda, +the body of Ahura which is the greatest of bodies; they say that the sun +is his eye, and that the sky is the garment embroidered with stars with +which he arrays himself; lastly, the most abstract of the Aryan gods has +preserved a trait which shows him more closely tied than the others to +the material world from which they have freed themselves; he is called +"the most solid of the gods," because "he has for clothing the very +solid stone of the sky." Like Varuna, like Zeus, the lightning is in his +hands, "the molten brass which he causes to flow down on the two +worlds;" like them he is the father of the god of lightning, Atar. +Lastly, the most ancient historical evidence confirms the inductions of +mythology, as at the very time when the Achaemenian kings proclaim the +sovereignty of Auramazda, Herodotus wrote: "The Persians offer up +sacrifices to Zeus,[50] going up on the highest summit of the mountains, +as they call _Zeus the entire orb of the sky_." + +Thus the supreme gods of the four great religions of Greece, of Italy, +of India, and of Persia, are at the same time, or have begun by being +gods of the skies. By the side of these four, Svarogu, the god of the +ancient pagan Slavs, should no doubt equally be placed. Like Zeus, like +Jupiter, like Varuna, like Ahura Mazda, he is the master of the +universe, the gods are his children, and it is from him that they have +received their functions; like them he is the god of the heavens, he is +the thunderer, and like them he is the father of the Fire, Svarojitchi, +"the son of heaven."[51] + + +His Origin.[52] + +How did the god of the heavens become the organizing god, the supreme +God, the moral God? How was the abstract conception grafted on the +naturalistic conception? What is the connection between his material +attribute and his abstract function? The Vedas give the solution of this +problem. + +As far as the eye can reach, it can never reach beyond the sky; whatever +is, is under the immense vault; all that which is born and dies, is born +and dies within its bounds. Now, whatever takes place in it, takes place +according to an immutable law. The dawn has never failed to appear at +her appointed place in the morning, never forgotten where she is to +appear again, nor the moment at which she is to reanimate the world. +Darkness and light know their appointed hour, and always at the desired +moment "the black One has given way to the white." Linked together by +the same chain in the endless path open before them, they follow their +way onwards, the two immortals, directed by a God, absorbing each +other's tints. The two fertile sisters do not clash with one another; +they never stop, dissimilar in form, but alike in spirit. Thus run the +days with their suns, the nights with their stars, season following +season. The sky has always in regular course ushered in by turn the day +and the night. The moon has always lit up at the fixed hour. The stars +have always known where they should go during the day. The rivers have +always flowed into the one ocean without making it full. + +This universal order is either the motion of the heavens, or it is the +action of the God of heaven, according as we think of the body or the +soul, and view in the heavens the thing or the God. Thus, in the +Rig-Veda, to say "everything is _in_ Varuna"--that is, "in the +heavens"--and to say "everything is _through_ Varuna"--that is, "through +the heaven-God"--are one and the same thing; and in these formulae of the +Veda, so clear in their uncertainty, theism is ever found side by side +with unconscious pantheism, of which it is only an expression. "The +three heavens and the three earths rest in Varuna," says a poet, and +immediately afterwards, giving personality to his God: "It is the +skilful king Varuna who makes this golden disc shine in heaven." The +wind which whistles in the atmosphere is his breath, and all that exists +from one world to the other was created by him. "From the king Varuna +come this earth below, and yonder heaven, too, these two worlds with +remote limits; the two seas are the belly of Varuna, and he rests also +even in the small pool of water." + +This pantheistic theism, which makes no clear distinction between the +God of heaven and the universe over which he rules, or which is +comprised in him, penetrates Jupiter as well as Varuna. The Latin poets +offer the equivalent of the vacillating formulae of Vedism. "The +mortals," says Lucretius, explaining the origin of the idea of God, "the +mortals saw the regular motions of the heavens and the various seasons +of the year succeed each other in a fixed order, without being able to +discover the causes. They had, therefore, no other alternative than to +attribute all to the gods, who made everything go according to their +will, and it was in the sky that they placed the seat and domain of the +gods, because it is there that may be seen revolve the night and the +noon, the day and the gloomy planets of the night; the nocturnal lights +wandering in the sky, and the flying flames, the clouds, the sun, the +rain, the snow, the winds, the thunderbolts, the hail, the sudden +convulsions, and the great threatening rumblings."[53] + +This view of the heavens as the universal centre of the movements of +Nature might just as well have led to pantheism as to theism. The line +of the poet: "Juppiter est quodcunque vides, quocunque +moveris"--"Jupiter is everything that thou seest, everywhere that thou +movest"--does not refer only to the Jupiter of the metaphysicians of the +Porch; it also expresses one of the aspects of the Jupiter of primitive +mythology. It was not by a deviation from his earlier nature that Zeus +was confounded with Pan; he was Pan by birth; and if the epopee and the +drama show us only a personal Zeus, it is because by their very nature +they could and should see him only under this aspect, and had nothing to +obtain from the impersonal Zeus, although in this form he was as old as +in the other. And the Orphic theologian is not quite unfaithful to the +earlier tradition of religion, when he sings of the universal Zeus:-- + + "Zeus was the first, Zeus is the last, Zeus the thunderer; + Zeus is the head, Zeus is the middle; it is by Zeus that all things + are made; + Zeus is the male, Zeus is the immortal female; + Zeus is the base of both the earth and the starry sky; + Zeus is the breath of the winds, Zeus is the jet of the + unconquerable flame; + Zeus is the root of the sea, Zeus is the sun and the moon.... + The whole of this universe is stretched out within the great body + of Zeus." + +In the same manner, although Persia has in general preserved the +personality of her Supreme god, yet she suffers him, especially in the +sects, to become confounded with the Infinity of matter through which he +first revealed himself to the mind of his worshippers. After having +invoked the heavens as the body of Ahura Mazda, the most beautiful of +bodies, she placed above Ahura himself, and before him, the luminous +space, where he manifests himself, what the theologians called "the +Infinite light," and then by a new and higher abstraction declared +_Space_[54] to have been at the beginning of the world. Between this +wholly metaphysical principle and the naturalistic principle of the +primitive religion, there is only the distance of two abstractions: +Space is only the bare form of the luminous Infinite, and the luminous +Infinite, again, is an abstraction from the Infinite and luminous sky, +which was identical with Ahura. + +Thus, accordingly as the heavens were considered as the seat or as the +cause of things, the god of the heavens became the matter of the world +or the demiurge of the world. From the period of Aryan unity, he was +without doubt the one and the other in turn; but it is probable that the +theistic conception was more clearly defined than the other, as it is so +in the derived mythologies; it has besides deeper roots in the human +heart and human nature, which in every movement and in every phenomenon +sees a Living Cause, a Personality. + +This god of the heavens, having organized the world, is all wisdom; he +is the skilled artisan who has regulated the motion of the worlds. His +wisdom is infinite, for of all those mysteries which man tries in vain +to fathom he has the key, he is the author. But it is not only as the +Creator of the world that he is omniscient: he knows all things, +because, being all light, he sees all things. In the naturalistic +psychology of the Aryans, to see and to know, light and knowledge, eye +and thought, are synonymous terms. With the Hindoos, Varuna is +omniscient because he is the Infinite light; because the sun is his eye; +because from the height of his palace with its pillars of red brass, his +white looks command the world; because under the golden mantle that +covers him, his thousands, his myriads of spies, active and untiring +agents, sunbeams during the day, stars during the night, search out for +him all that which exists from one world to the other, with eyes that +never sleep, never blink. And in the same way, if Zeus is the +all-seeing, the =panoptes=, it is because his eye is the sun, this +universal witness, the infallible spy of both gods and men (= Theon +skopon ede kai andron=). The light knows the truth, it is all truth; +truth is the great virtue which the god of heaven claims; and lying is +the great crime which he punishes. In Homer, the Greek taking an oath, +raises his eyes towards the expanse of heaven and calls Zeus and the sun +to witness; in Persia, the god of heaven resembles in body the light, +and in soul the truth: Aryan morality came down from heaven in a ray of +light. + + +His Destiny. + +Thus, the Indo-European religion knew a supreme God, and this God was +the God of the heavens. He has organized the world and rules it, +because, as he is the heaven, all is in him, and all passes within him, +according to his law; he is omniscient and moral, because, being +luminous, he sees all things and all hearts. + +This God was named by the various names of the sky--Dyaus, Varana, Svar, +which, according to the requirements of the thought, described either +the object or the person, the heavens or the God. Later on, each +language made a choice, and fixed the proper name of the God on one of +these words; by which its ancient value as a common noun was lost or +rendered doubtful: thus, in Greek _Dyaus_ became the name of the +heaven-god (Zeus) and Varana (=Ouranos=) was the name of the heavens, as +a thing; in Sanscrit _Dyaus_ or _Svar_ was the material heavens; the +heaven-god was Varana (later changed into Varuna); the Slavs fixed on +the word Svar, by means of a derivative, Svarogu, the idea of the +celestial god; the Romans made the same choice as the Greeks with their +_Jup-piter_, and set aside the other names of the heavens; lastly, +Persia described the god by one of his abstract epithets, the Lord, +Ahura, and obliterated the external traces of his former naturalistic +character. + +This god, who reigned at the time of the breaking up of the religion of +Aryan unity, was carried away, with the various religions which sprang +up from it, to the various regions where chance brought the Aryan +migrations. Of the five religions over which he ruled, three remained +faithful to him to the last, and only forsook him at the moment when +they themselves perished;--they are those of the Greeks, of the Romans, +and of the Slavs, with whom Zeus, Juppiter, and Svarogu preserved the +titles and attributes of the Supreme god of the Aryans, as long as the +national religion lasted. They succumbed to Christ; "Heaven-father" gave +way to the "Father who is in Heaven." + +India, on the contrary, very soon forgot that god for whose origin and +formation, however, she accounts much better than any other Aryan +religion does; and it was not a foreign god who dethroned him--a god +from without--but a native god, a god of his own family, Indra, the hero +of the tempest. + +In fact, the supreme god of the Aryans was not a god of unity; the +Asura, the Lord, was not the Lord in the same sense as Adonai. There +were by the side of him, within himself, a number of gods, acting of +their own accord, and often of independent origin. The wind, the rain, +the thunder; the fire under its three forms--the sun in the heavens, the +lightning in the cloud, the terrestrial fire on the altar; the prayer +under its two forms--the human prayer, which ascends from the altar to +heaven, and the heavenly prayer, which resounds in the din of the storm, +on the lips of a divine priest, and descends from the heights with the +torrents of libations poured from the cup of heaven, all the forces of +nature, both concrete and abstract, appealing at once to the eye and to +the imagination of man, were instantly deified. If the god of the +heavens, greater in time and space, always present and everywhere +present, easily rose to the supreme rank, carried there by his double +Infinity, yet others, with a less continuous, but more dramatic action, +revealing themselves by sudden, unexpected events, maintained their +ancient independence, and religious development might lead to their +usurping the power of the king of the heavens. Already during the middle +of the Vedic period, Indra, the noisy god of the storm, ascends the +summit of the Pantheon, and eclipses his majestic rival by the din of +his resounding splendour. + +He is the favourite hero of the Vedic Rishis; they do not tire of +telling how he strikes with his bolt the serpent of the cloud, which +enfolds the light and the waters; how he shatters the cavern of Cambara, +how he delivers the captive Auroras and cows, who will shed torrents of +light and milk on the earth. It is he who makes the sun come out again; +it is he who makes the world, annihilated during the night, reappear; it +is he who recreates it, he who creates it. In a whole series of hymns he +ascends to the side of Varuna, and shares the empire with him; at last +he mounts above him, and becomes the Universal King:-- + + "He, who, as soon as he was born, a god of thought, has surpassed + the gods by the power of his intellect, he whose trembling made the + two worlds quake by the power of his strength--O man, it is Indra! + + "He, who has firmly established the tottering earth and arrested the + quivering mountains; he who has fixed the extent of the + wide-stretching atmosphere, and who has propped up the sky,--O man, + it is Indra! + + "He, who, after slaying the serpent, unpenned the seven rivers; who + brought forth the cows from their hiding-place in the cavern; he, + who, by the clashing of the two stones, has engendered Agni,--O man, + it is Indra! + + "He, who made all these great things; he, who struck down the demon + race, driving it to concealment; he, who, like a fortunate gamester + who wins at play, carries off the wealth of the impious,--O man, it + is Indra! + + "He, who gives life to both rich and poor, and to the priest his + singer who implores him; the god with beautiful lips; the protecting + god who brings the stones together to press out the soma,--O man, it + is Indra! + + "He, who has in his hands the herds of horses and cows, the cities + and the chariots of war; he, who has created the Sun and the dawn; + he, who rules the waters,--O man, it is Indra! + + "He, who is invoked by the two contending armies, by the enemies + facing each other, either triumphant or beaten; he, whom, when they + meet in the struggle on the same chariot, during the onslaught, they + invoke against each other,--O man, it is Indra! + + "He, who discovered Cambara in the mountains where he had been + hidden forty years; he, who killed the serpent in his full strength, + who struck him dead on the body of Danu,[55]--O man, it is Indra! + + "Heaven and earth bow down before him; when he shakes, the mountains + tremble; the drinker of soma, look at him! bearing the bolt in his + arm, the bolt in his hand,--O man, it is Indra!" + +But the usurper does not enjoy his triumph long; in the heat of his +victory he is already stung to the heart, mortally wounded by a new and +mystic power which is growing at his side, the power of prayer, of +sacrifice, of worship, of _Brahma_, whose reign begins to dawn towards +the end of the Vedic period, and which is still in existence. + +What Indra did in India during an historical period, Perkun and Odin did +in a pre-historical period, the one among the Lithuanians, the other +among the Germans. Perkun and Odin are the Indras of these two nations, +and have each dethroned the god of the heavens. Perkun was the god of +the thunder with the Lithuanian pagans, and one can recognize in him a +twin brother of the Hindoo _Parjanya_, one of the forms of the god of +the storm in Vedic mythology. This king of the Lithuanian Pantheon is a +king of recent date; what proves it is that the Slavs, so closely +related to the Lithuanians in their beliefs, as well as in their +language, and who also knew the god Perkun, have still as their Supreme +god the Supreme god of the ancient Aryan religion, the god of the +heavens, Svarogu. + +The same revolution took place in Germany, but in a more remote period. +The god of the heavens has vanished; he is replaced by the god of the +stormy atmosphere, Odin, or Wuotan, the Vata of India, the warrior god +who is heard in the din of the tempest, leading his dishevelled bands of +warriors, or letting loose on a celestial quarry the howling packs of +the wild chase. + +Thus did the Greeks, the Romans, and the Slavs allow their god to be +vanquished by a foreign god; the Germans, the Lithuanians, and the +Hindoos themselves forsook him for an inferior creation. Only in one +single nation he finds worshippers faithful to the last. They are not +numerous, but they have not allowed their belief to be encroached upon +either by time or by man. We mean the few thousands of Ghebers or +Parsis, who, during the great political and religious shipwreck of +Persia, fleeing before the victorious sword of the Prophet, kept from +Islam the treasure of their old belief, and who to this day, in the year +1879 of the Christian era, in the fire temples in Bombay, offer up +sacrifices to the very same god who was sung by the unknown ancestors of +the Aryan race at a time which eludes the grasp of history. + + JAMES DARMESTETER. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[38] Cf. Max Mueller: "Lectures on the Science of Language," and +"Lectures on the Science of Religion;" Michel Breal, "Melanges de +Mythologie et de Linguistique." + +[39] Maury, "Histoire des Religions de la Grece;" Preller, "Griechische +Mythologie." + +[40] See Muir, "Sanscrit Texts," v. 58; Max Mueller, "Lectures on the +Origin and Growth of Religion," p. 284. + +[41] "This Lord." + +[42] The cloud often compared to a tree branching out in the sky. + +[43] The fire (Ignis) which is born in the waters of heaven in the form +of lightning. + +[44] A sacred plant whose sap is offered to the gods. It is pressed +between two stones to extract the sacred liquor. + +[45] The sea of the earth and the sea of the clouds. + +[46] See J. Darmesteter, "Ormazd et Ahriman," Sec.Sec. 18-59. + +[47] Ormazd is the modern name, contracted from the ancient Ahura Mazda. + +[48] Which is the same word as the Sanskrit Asura. + +[49] The sun is also the bird of Zeus (AEschylus, the Suppliants). + +[50] That is to say "to their Supreme God." + +[51] G. Klek, "Einleitung in die Slavische Literatur-Geschichte." + +[52] "Ormazd et Ahriman," Sec.Sec. 62, sq. + +[53] + Praeterea, coeli rationes ordine certo + Et varia annorum cernebant tempora vorti; + Nec poterant quibus id fieret cognoscere causis. + Ergo perfugium sibi habebant omnia Diveis + Tradere, et ollorum nutu facere omnia flecti. + In coeloque Deum sedes et templa locarunt, + Per coelum volvi quia nox et luna videtur, + Luna, dies, et nox et noctis signa severa, + Noctivagaeque faces coeli, flammaeque volantes, + Nubila, sol, imbres, nix, ventei, fulmina, grando, + Et rapidei fremitus, et murmura magna minarum.--v. 1187. + +[54] In other systems, having regard to the eternity of the God and no +longer to his immensity, boundless Time became the first principle +(Zarvan Akarana). + +[55] His mother. + + + + +LAZARUS APPEALS TO DIVES. + + +The elaborate schemes which have been propounded in attempts to solve +the much-vexed riddle how best and most effectually to ameliorate the +condition of the working-classes--such as Owenism, Fourierism, and such +like--have had their inception in the minds of philanthropists outside +and above our circle. They have been conceived for the most part with a +genuine feeling of the immense importance of this, the most burning and +momentous question of modern days, and illumined in many cases with deep +philosophic insight; yet, as it is almost impossible for any but a born +proletarian to understand the needs, the wants and the daily lives of +the proletarian, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the absence of +this special knowledge may have contributed somewhat to the +unworkableness of the various systems proposed. Beyond this, however, it +strikes me that most of them contained a fatal flaw, inherent in their +constitutions. They were too ambitious, aimed at too much, and were +altogether of so revolutionary and subversive a character as to alarm +the great majority of those whose goodwill must be obtained before it +can be possible to reduce any theory to experiment on a sufficiently +extended scale to enable an unprejudiced observer to pronounce +decisively on the result accomplished. + +Were it not that the accident of my having been thrown by birth and +association amongst the very poorest of the poor ("but indifferent +honest") community of a large city may enable me to supplement to some +extent the ideas enunciated by benevolent theorists belonging to the +upper strata of society, I should not have the temerity to seek to pass +out of the region of the "eternal silences." Moreover, I do not announce +a new and perfect evangel to be ushered in by loud flourish of trumpets. +I aim at nothing more ambitious than to be allowed to offer a few hints +as to the direction which I conceive future gospels of humanity must +take in order to be of practical utility. + +Having thus endeavoured to justify myself for rushing in where sometimes +"angels fear to tread," I have no intention of apologizing for the +crudeness of my ideas, or my lack of grace in literary composition. +Taking into consideration the small amount of elementary education +drilled into me at a charity school for a brief period of my very +juvenile days, and the continued absence of any duly qualified +instructor since, "all that goes without saying." + +One more egotistical, or egoistical, remark, and I proceed. I am in no +sense a _specialist_. I am neither a Good Templar nor a Convivial Toper; +neither a disciple of Nihilism, nor any other school of advanced thought +(so called), nor a bigoted sectarian. I am a private in neither the +ranks of bovine Toryism nor of rabid Radicalism; but I write simply as +one of that common ruck of ordinary practical working men, which in +reality forms the great staple of our plebiscite, although certain very +noisy and turbulent minorities may possibly have led to a contrary +inference. + +In the erection of my little structure, I, like all other architects, +require a good foundation as the basis of operations; and in the present +case the foundation required is simply a desire on the part of those +bipeds who stand erect on pedestals for an increased knowledge of their +fellows who crawl and kneel and lie in a thousand and one contorted +postures on the miry clay. Enlarged knowledge will bring enlarged +sympathy for each other on the part of high and low alike. As matters +now stand, those above us never really see us in undress. When they come +across us we are either too slavishly sycophantic or too ruggedly +independent,--both being masks donned for the occasion,--and not in any +sense our natural selves; and I have a dim kind of suspicion that on the +few occasions when gentlemen voluntarily come forward and try to make us +believe that they are taking us into their confidence--on the hustings, +say, for instance--some disguise of the same kind may be adopted, and +that the features we then see are not altogether the real ones. If I am +right in this assumption, how is it possible for either class to have +anything like a competent knowledge of the other? Indeed, I do not think +I should be far wrong in saying that the manners and customs of the +Fijian Islanders and other aborigines of distant lands are better known +generally to the upper ten thousand than those of the lower native +millions; and, of course, the converse holds equally good. Domestic +servants, perhaps, may be said to form exceptions to this latter rule, +seeing that they often have peeps into the innermost arcana; but as they +are for the most part--the male portion of them at all events--more +utterly inexplicable beings than their masters, the general fund of +information is not much increased through that channel. Flunkeydom is +much more insufferable and incomprehensible to the general run of us +than swelldom itself. + +Granted, however, the desire for a better acquaintance with their +humbler brethren on the part of our aristocracy and plutocracy (for +this, like all other good things, must _descend_ from above), it will be +found that, as a mutual understanding of each other's peculiarities is +increased, the rich man (in this paper, as in an Act of Parliament, +words denoting persons of the masculine gender shall be construed as +including persons of the feminine gender also) will bestow a little less +careful thought and attention on--shall I say partridges?--and more on +his fellow-man; and the bitter class-prejudice which undoubtedly exists +among the needy against the prosperous and well-fed will gradually die +out. Then, and then only, will a new and brighter era dawn on "poor +humanity;" and, I may say, that I hold optimist views with reference to +this consummation. I think I observe a growing acknowledgment of the +claims of humble folk in the literature of the day; and as literature is +universally regarded as an outcome of the prevalent tone of feeling, I +look upon this as a good omen. + +Having worked myself into this happy frame of mind, I am emboldened to +request that consideration may be given to a few examples of the ideas +which, "in the stillness of the night," and otherwise, have intruded +themselves upon me--ideas embryonic and unformed, I doubt not, but +genuine as far as they go. From the multitude of these shadowy phantoms +which have now for a long time past oppressed me, I select those which +strike me as having special reference to the improvement of our poor +populations in four of the salient matters of life--viz., in health, +pocket, mind, and amusements; and these I will deal with _seriatim_. + + +Health. + +This, amongst all sublunary blessings, is undoubtedly the one of +paramount importance, and, seeing how things now stand with us, it is +imperative that it should be _the_ question to receive earliest +attention. + +I think it is the Rev. Harry Jones who, in one of his warm-hearted +essays, liken as rotten, worn-out, filthy habitation to a lump of putrid +carrion, exhaling poison all around, and which should be as +remorselessly cut out from amongst the dwellings of human beings as a +fly-blown spot is cut out from a carcass. This simile, perhaps, is not a +very savoury one, but it possesses a much greater merit, that of being +_absolutely true_--slightly vulgar, but astonishingly correct. I could +illustrate its verity by many pertinent instances which have come within +my own experience, but I feel that this is not the place to do so. What +then is the remedy? Obviously to re-enact the present "Artizans' +Dwellings Improvement Act" as a _compulsory_ statute, and not as an +optional one. Let the squalid, crazy, tumble-down rookeries which exist +in every town in the kingdom be ruthlessly demolished, care, of course, +being taken that suitable dwellings are cotemporaneously built on better +sanitary principles for those whom it will be necessary to evict in +order to carry out such improvements. And I would suggest, as a branch +of the pervading idea which forms the centre and core of my suggestions +(of which more anon), that the Municipal Corporations of our cities and +towns should be themselves in their official capacity the landlords of +such new and improved dwellings, and should employ their own tradesmen +to build them. And, furthermore, that in the erection of whatever new +cottages may be found necessary for the purpose indicated, the +latter-day style of running them up all alike, as uniform as so many +squares of glass in a sash, should be abandoned, and a little variety of +style, if only in trifling particulars, introduced. Human nature, even +the human nature of the uneducated poor, rebels against this painful +monotony, and grows intensely weary of over-much regularity, which, if a +virtue at all, is one of so starched and rigid a character, that it +takes a considerable amount of resolution, and a far higher degree of +culture than we can lay claim to, to enable us to fall in love with it. +To our uninstructed eyes, diversity of form is much more pleasing than +undeviating rectangularity. + +Again, the most painstaking care must be taken that these substituted +domiciles be properly and thoroughly drained. Unhappily, although this +is a truism and a self-evident proposition, it is, through carelessness +or indifference, frequently neglected--a fact too sadly attested by the +ravages of fever from time to time in our outlying districts, where, +twenty years ago, the bricklayer and hodman had not arrived upon the +scene. To obviate this it is absolutely necessary that the most skilled +science should be employed, and the most searching local legislation +strictly enforced, to secure the carrying out of approved sewerage and +drainage systems. + +Furthermore, I would suggest that no horse or cattle slaughterer, +tallow-melter, manure-merchant, tanner, or other person plying any of +the trades known as noisome or offensive, should be allowed to continue +such trades without a special licence, and that by the terms of such +licence they should be prohibited, under heavy penalties, from carrying +on their businesses outside the limits of a certain area to be expressly +set aside for that purpose, at such a distance from the centre of every +town as may be judged desirable by the sanitary authorities. Within this +area pig-styes and fowl-houses should be erected, and no swine, ducks, +or geese be permitted to be kept outside its boundary. An inspector +should be appointed specially for this quarter of the town, who should +direct all his energies to seeing that the best principles of +ventilation, smoke-consumption, drainage, use of disinfectants, &c. &c., +are adopted throughout his domain; and all ill-conditioned recusants +against the decrees of the local senate should be mulcted in heavy +damages. On the part of the senate itself there must be no apathy, no +supineness, no dilettanteism, but a stern, vigorous determination +stringently and impartially to enforce prompt obedience to its edicts. + +No doubt this would be somewhat of a hardship upon certain individuals, +on the score of inconvenience and increased cost of production; but I +doubt not they would take care to indemnify themselves. Even were it +otherwise, however, the aggregate gain in so important a matter as the +public health must swamp all minor considerations. Private interests +must inevitably be sacrificed in the advancement of the general weal. +All the Mrs. Partingtons that ever existed, with all their mops (whether +such mops are called monopolies, vested rights, or what not), must +perforce recede before the rising tide of the ocean of civilization. + +Having well drained our streets and habitations, and consecrated a +_quartier_ for the purposes last mentioned, the next step must be to +increase the number of our iron hospitals; and, disregarding +sentimentality, immediately to isolate and put in quarantine all persons +suffering from infectious diseases. Firmly grasp this nettle the moment +it crops up, and without a shadow of doubt you will reduce to a minimum +the high rate of mortality at present existing in our overcrowded cities +through a total neglect of proper precaution. All textile fabrics, +bedding, books, &c., which have come in contact with the patient, to be +consumed by fire. Even Vandalism is excusable, nay, commendable, in +certain circumstances. + +Finally, on this branch of the subject, I submit for the consideration +of municipalities the following recommendations:-- + +1. Preserve or procure open spaces, sufficient to form recreation +grounds for your communities--say an acre for every thousand +inhabitants. Regard this to be quite as imperative a necessity as the +acquisition of further land to add to the cemeteries in which you inter +the bodies of those who have "gone over to the majority." Let the quick +share your care and attention on equal terms with the dead in the matter +of requisite space and accommodation. + +2. Cause your common lodging-houses and your still worse haunts to be +under the most vigilant supervision; and that _constantly_, and not +fitfully and spasmodically. The more severe and restrictive your +regulations are with reference to these matters the better it will be +for all decent, quiet citizens. + +3. Provide every householder within your jurisdiction with a _filter_, +to insure to him and his the opportunity of enjoying water free from +organic and other impurities. + +4. Furnish him also with two boxes, varying in size according to the +dimensions of his domicile: one to form a receptacle for dust, cinders, +old rags, broken bottles, and what is generically known as "dry dirt;" +and the other for decayed vegetables, the entrails of fish, and that +kind of refuse that we rather uneuphoniously call "muck." Such boxes to +be taken away once a week and empty ones left in their stead. As a +corollary to this, forbid him, under penalties, to continue his present +practice of pitching derelicts into the street, as the readiest means of +being quit of them; and make him responsible for the cleanliness of his +doorsteps and the pavement in front of his dwelling. + +5. Send round carts of chloride of lime, at short intervals during warm +or "muggy" weather, and direct a bucketful to be delivered to every +housewife, to remove stenches from sinks, water-closets, &c. + +6. Erect a furnace in some convenient locality, to serve the same +purpose as that known as the "Queen's tobacco-pipe" at the London Docks +does or did--_i.e._, to reduce to ashes all infected or condemned +articles. + +The foregoing list of recommendations might be extended indefinitely; +but perhaps the above will be sufficient to begin with. + +There are, no doubt, two objections at least which may be raised against +the adoption of any scheme founded on these hints: first, one on the +score of increased expenditure; secondly, one condemning increased +centralization. With regard to the former, my answer is that health, +especially the health of the aggregate mass of the body politic, cannot +possibly be bought too dear; and that nothing really is so costly to any +community as pestilence and death. As to the latter, I have no other +defence to urge than my firm conviction that, much as it is railed +against, centralization is as nearly an unmixed good as it is possible +for anything in this sublunary (and marvellously complex) sphere to be. +Everybody knows how inadequate the very best isolated efforts are to +exterminate any widespread evil; and even organizations which are +independent of, and do not radiate from or gravitate to, a common +centre, frequently cross each other's paths, and to some extent defeat +each other's purposes; occasioning a great waste of wholesome energy, +which, well directed, might achieve marvellous results. As cosmos is +greater than chaos--as a well-spliced rope is stronger than its separate +strands--so is centralization and cohesion greater and stronger than +individualism and segregation. + + +Pocket. + +Many a vigorous arm has applied the axe to that dense and matted jungle, +the indigence of the lower orders; but little more has been accomplished +than the blunting of the hatchet and the exhaustion of the pioneer who +wielded it. + +This being the case, it would be the height of folly for me, with my far +feebler frame and my puny weapon, to attempt to do more than to peer +cautiously around the deep shades, and try to find out, as a dweller +_within_ those murky woods, if here a little path and there a little +opening, into which a gleam of sunlight penetrates at times, be not +discoverable, half hidden, perchance, by clumps of brushwood, which it +will cost but little trouble to clear away. I shall therefore restrict +myself to indicating such of these openings as I see, or fancy I see, +from whence operations might, according to my notion, be directed +towards the demolition of portions at all events of this swart and +gloomy forest. + +One of the largest of these clearings is undoubtedly, I think, +_Co-operation_, of which there are two kinds--viz., combinations between +masters and men in the shape of limited partnerships, a per-centage on +profits, &c.; and combinations amongst the wage-earners themselves for +certain specified purposes. + +With regard to the first named, I am rather inclined to doubt the +probability of its ever becoming an important factor in the sum of human +progress, on account of the unlikelihood of its being generally adopted +either in the near or distant future, and I am still more sceptical as +to its efficacy as a panacea, even if it were universally reduced to +practice, especially in these days of commercial disasters. + +Coming, then, to the other mode of co-operation--associations of manual +workers--this also divides itself into two branches, having two distinct +objects--namely, the receipt of higher wages for labour performed, and +the obtaining greater value in commodities in the disbursement of such +wages. Both these are, no doubt, laudable aspirations; and, although at +the first glance they may appear incompatible with, if not altogether +antagonistic to, each other,--inasmuch as increased remuneration to the +producer means an increase in the price of the thing produced,--yet it +will be seen, on mature reflection, that as a very large proportion of +operatives are employed in the manufacture of articles of luxury, of +which they are not consumers or purchasers, so much of the increase in +the price of such articles as finds its way into the pockets of the +artificer in the shape of added wages is a net gain to that portion of +the labouring classes, and will inevitably exude from such portion to +the benefit of the whole, in the same manner as what may be called in +contradistinction their normal earnings. + +I should like to say one word about combinations of workmen in this +place, which may be distasteful to unqualified panegyrists of the +system: such combinations should invariably be in accordance with our +recognized code of morals, and they must be in obedience to the ordinary +laws of Nature; and it is to be feared that these desiderata to +perfection in co-operation have at times been lost sight of in the past. +I am compelled to blush for my order when I find them seizing the +opportunity of their employers being under a heavy time-contract for the +execution of important public or other works to organize a strike: this +is clearly an infraction of all the ethics of morality. Neither can I +appreciate their sense of the fitness of things when I hear them laying +it down as a sound axiom that wages should be equalized, so that the +stupid, idle, or inferior workman should be on a par with the skilled +and industrious one. This is a blunder against one of the most immutable +of Nature's laws--that of variety and infinite gradation; the suggestion +implies a yearning after the utterly unattainable, which it is +astonishing men of otherwise sound judgment should seriously entertain +for one moment. As a comrade of mine pithily observed, not long since, +when we were discussing the possibility of devising a scheme by which +all men should receive the same amount of remuneration for their labour, +and, when received, be enabled to make it go equally far--"You might as +well try to make men all o' one height." + +Remove these excrescences from our combinations, and when it is found we +can be practical as well as earnest, co-operation will have acquired a +new vigour, and will be able to accomplish greater results. The main +citadel will be none the less impregnable because our forces are not +scattered abroad in various directions, in the vain endeavour to +strengthen totally indefensible frontiers. + +But, after all, it is from the other branch of co-operation--the +_co-operative store system_--that the greatest advantages may be +expected to accrue. This is growing into favour yearly, still growing +(despite recent diatribes in the newspapers), and is extending its +ramifications into quite primitive districts. The knowledge that this is +an undoubted fact should afford gratification to the well-wishers of the +poor. + +Yet this gratification is subject to some modification when it is seen +that this, not the least important birth of the nineteenth century, +though growing and bearing within itself the germs of almost infinite +possibilities, is at present of too tiny dimensions to grapple with that +colossal ogre--the wasteful expenditure of the impecunious. It is +Hercules indeed, but Hercules still in swaddling clothes before the +strangling of the serpent. The amount of dealings at these stores by the +class to whom they are calculated to prove the greatest boon, when +compared with dealings by this same class with _very_ retail shopkeepers +and at other places where the practice of paying "through the nose" +(pardon the vulgarity) so extensively prevails, will be found to be +almost infinitesimal. The question therefore arises, may it not be +possible to replace these pine torches by Edisonian lights, so as to +eliminate from wider tracts the thick darkness enwrapping the minds of +the sons and daughters of toil as to what constitutes their true +interests? It appears to me that there is one way of rendering this +feasible, which I deferentially submit for consideration. It may be +quite impracticable; and, if practicable, may contain such flaws as to +be futile. If so, on defects being pointed out which I am not able, +unassisted, to discover, I can only say I am open to conviction. I have +no desire to be charged with an ineradicable attachment to that peculiar +feat of horsemanship known as "riding a hobby to death." My plan is +simply this: first, let every town of say over 10,000 inhabitants +possess an internal government complete in itself, with plenary +administrative powers; let groups of villages, in such numbers as may be +determined on (the present Poor-Law Union Divisions might be taken as a +basis), form cordons round themselves in like manner, and with the like +objects; let every care be taken to select the very best men of every +social grade to form the local senate, and let the members of which it +is composed be paid for their services out of the public (local) funds, +be subject to re-election at short intervals, and be required to give +good accounts of their stewardship. Further, let it be clearly +understood that the only condition on which a man could hope to be +enrolled in this representative band, or, being enrolled, expect to be +allowed to continue his official existence, would be his distinct and +unquestioning recognition of _personal_ responsibility, as far as is +humanly possible, for, and his unwavering resolution to secure, the +well-being of _all_ his constituents, physically, pecuniarily, mentally, +and morally. + +These preliminaries being supposed to be satisfactorily settled, such +incorporation or assembly of chosen ones might (always supposing my +views happened to find favour in their sight) open as many co-operative +stores--so many for each trade--as would be sufficient to supply the +needs of the entire community, selecting competent men from each trade +to manage the different departments, and paying them by an agreed salary +in the same manner as rate collectors and relieving officers are paid. A +certain specified per-centage to be added to the prime cost of the +various articles to defray the estimated expenses of management, +advertising, rent (if necessary, though it would be better if the local +legislators were also the landlords), wear and tear, depreciation in +stock, and miscellaneous expenses for the year; and sales to be made to +the consumer _for cash only_. The urban or rural chancellor of the +exchequer would, in his annual budget, soon learn to adjust the amount +of his tax (for so the per-centage may be considered), over and above +the original cost price, according to the probable exigencies of the +ensuing year, by the light afforded by the transactions of the preceding +one. + +Seeing how many millions of pounds are annually disbursed for the barest +sustenance and most absolute necessaries of life by the poor of the +three kingdoms, from most of whom exorbitant rates of profit are +wrung,--for the fact need not be expatiated on here that the more +indigent the purchaser, and the more his penury drives him to live from +hand-to-mouth, the less value he receives for his money, to say nothing +of the further irruptions made into his income by the only +partially-slain "truck system," or by the payment of interest to the +accommodating successors of the Lombards, whose golden balls proclaim +them to serve the honourable office of jackal-purveyors to the lions of +the gin-palaces,--seeing this, I say, shall I be stigmatized as a +dreamer, a half-crazy Utopian, if I anticipate magnificent results to +follow from fair trial of a scheme designed to stem the frightful +torrent of improvidence at present obtaining amongst the working +classes, and to enable them to occupy the new position of being +participators in the benefits of a sound commercial undertaking? + +Here, however, as elsewhere, there are tares amongst the wheat--if, +indeed, it be wheat. An awkward inquiry obtrudes itself unbidden. What +is to become of the thousands of deserving folks, too old for the most +part to begin life _de novo_, who have earned a tolerably honest +livelihood as small shopkeepers, and who would probably find themselves, +under the system just recommended, "improved off the face of the earth?" +Partially the difficulty might be met by the employment of the most +active or most experienced of them in the borough stores. A little more +might be accomplished in this direction also by giving some of them +appointments to the numerous new offices it will be found necessary to +create if our municipal authorities ever do wake up and bestir +themselves, and aspire to becoming something more suitable to the spirit +of the age than mere assemblies for palaver. But when all this is done, +there will still be the residuum, and that residuum composed almost +exclusively of the feeble, the aged, the halt, the lame, and the blind, +who will be more or less thrown upon their own resources. For these, the +only gleam of light I can discern is the fact that a remnant of their +old customers will not find out all at once the error of their ways, and +will go on in their accustomed grooves for some time after the +centralized co-operative store shall have become _un fait accompli_, and +so their decline into pauperism will be slow and gradual. Heaven only +knows how some of these small shopkeepers contrive to exist even now by +vending pennyworths and halfpennyworths of this, that, and the other; it +can only be by imposing extravagant profits on the article vended. One +cannot help thinking that their case can hardly very well be worse than +it is, in any event. But be this as it may, care for their particular +interests must not be permitted to dominate over due consideration for +those of the vast aggregate mass forming the rest of our _clientele_, +innumerable as "leaves in Vallambrosa,"--and, like other and greater +folks, superfluous retailers must submit to be sacrificed for the +benefit of the common weal. + +It is impossible to deal even in the most cursory manner with this +"pocket" question without just glancing at the important bearing which +the question of temperance must exercise upon it. To place a further +spending power in the hands of an incurably intemperate populace would +obviously mean only to increase and intensify the vice of intemperance. +While deprecating any intention of making this paper the vehicle for a +furious tirade against drunkenness, I feel bound to say in passing that, +little as I love total abstinence, I regard it as a much lesser evil +than the unrestrained indulgence of dipsomania; and if any man feels +that he is so much a slave to his degraded appetite that he cannot keep +up a nodding acquaintance with John Barleycorn without wallowing under +his influence in the mud of inebriety, I respect that man for signing +the pledge. My optimist instincts, however, buoy me up again on this +subject also, for I sincerely believe that, high authority for the +assertion though there be, mankind are _not_ mostly fools; and that when +they have begun to realize the fact that they have a choice as to the +kind of investment they may obtain for their money, the great majority +of them will be looking out for some more substantial advantage than the +questionable luxury of seeking temporary oblivion from carking cares and +the grisly spectre of hopeless indigence. It may, I think, be relied on +with certainty that an improvement in the pecuniary circumstances of the +poor would beget increased self-respect, and self-respect would proclaim +drunkenness _unfashionable_, and that now vigorous and lusty giant would +ere long find himself as decrepit and infirm as Bunyan's Giant Pope. +Those of us who have read of the bacchanalian orgies of the great no +further back than the days of the Regency of George IV., and contrast it +with the sobriety which is said to prevail amongst them in our days, +cannot be accused of being groundlessly sanguine if we augur the +percolation downwards of this stream of moderation under happier +auspices, and that, too, in no remote future. + +A third means of lightening the strain upon our _ouvriers_ is to +multiply the facilities for emigration. I would even go so far as to say +that I think an _International_ Emigration and Immigration League +between all the civilized nations of the world, for the purpose of +drafting overplus populations into thinly inhabited districts, would be +rather a good thing than otherwise, the inconveniences attending +differences of language, manners, and so forth, being quite +surmountable; whereas the difficulties attendant upon the possession of +more hands to labour than there is work to perform, and consequently +more hungry stomachs than there is food to fill, is altogether +insurmountable. With regard to the affliction of _mal du pays_, from +which undoubtedly many of the expatriated would suffer at intervals, +that would be found to be a much more tolerable burden to bear, combined +with a sufficiency of victuals and clothing, than the pangs of +starvation or semi-starvation even on one's "native heather." + +But as it is no part of my programme to move too fast, or too far at +once, I do not insist upon any international arrangement of the kind I +have hinted at during, say, the present decade. I do, however, earnestly +entreat all whom it may concern to try their best to place the matter of +Emigration on a proper footing. I unhesitatingly maintain that whilst +Great Britain possesses untold thousands of acres of virgin soil, and +practically unlimited untried possibilities, in her numerous colonies, +this our "sea-girt isle" ought not to suffer from a plethora of willing +workers. The existing facilities held out to our overcrowded populations +to induce them to venture upon "fresh fields and pastures new" might be +multiplied a hundred-fold. + +Surely it ought to be part of the fundamental policy of a +State--especially of a State whose real governing body is elected by +household suffrage--to take the most active measures for insuring the +weal of all its citizens: the humblest as well as the highest. Does not +this, indeed, form the very quintessential attribute of good government? +Has it not been rightly said that a State represents the totality of all +the individuals composing it? I assume these are sound political axioms; +and if I am right in this assumption, may I not suggest, as the most +certain way of attaining the desired end, that our Representative +Government should formally acknowledge our claims upon them by +appointing a Minister for "the Condition of the People," with a seat in +the Cabinet? The next step would be easy, for when once the whole +surroundings were fairly brought within the range of vision, the vital +importance of Emigration as a principal means of amelioration would be +recognized; and it would be discovered that an able Secretary for +Emigration would prove an invaluable auxiliary in the effective working +of the department. + +It would be necessary, I apprehend, to select for this latter office a +man eminent as well for good temper as for a capacious intellect, as the +multiplicity of the functions he would have to perform would render such +office by no means a sinecure; and the involved and complex matters he +would have to deal with might, at times, go far in the direction of +ruffling the serenest imperturbability. + +The eye of fancy depicts him in the active performance of his +multifarious duties, surrounded by numerous painstaking subordinates, +some of whom bear to him huge tomes, containing a full alphabetical list +(compiled from the census returns and other sources) of the populations, +industries, and assessments of the United Kingdom, divided into areas of +certain dimensions, showing the age, sex, occupation, and earnings or +incomings of every person; the number of houses (with their rentals or +estimated yearly value), workshops, or other business establishments of +every kind, specifying how many hands are employed in each and the +amount of wages paid; and also showing the number of persons in receipt +of out-door relief, and approximate number of vagrants in each district. +Other attentive satellites open before him the various domesday books, +containing reports by competent surveyors as to the quantity, and the +latent riches or irredeemable poverty, of uncultivated lands throughout +those vast dominions of ours on which the sun never sets; with copious +notes by skilled mercantile men and geographers, pointing out the places +where commodious ports might be formed, railways constructed, or +manufactories erected. Our much-worried Secretary, whose heart is in his +work, compares notes, and directs some of his chief clerks to prepare +digests of, for instance, the information contained in pp. 420 to 446 of +the 17th volume of the first set of books, and pp. 97 to 104 of the 32nd +volume of the second set, ready for his consideration on the day but one +following. He then takes up similar digests, which have previously been +prepared in like manner, and sees clearly that one hundred artisan +families of various specified trades, full particulars of which are +before him, may, with advantage to all parties, be transplanted, passage +free, from the blind alleys of Flintchester to the new settlement of +Hornihand in Australasia, with the authorities of which place the usual +arrangement will be made to assist them on their _debut_, and lend them +a helping hand until they get fairly settled down. Day after day this +kind of thing goes on throughout the year, except for some two months +during the late summer and autumn vacation, when the hard-worked +Secretary and his staff are enjoying a well-earned holiday. + +The more I ruminate on this matter of Emigration the more I am convinced +that it is indispensable; it should run on wider lines, and cover a far +more extended area than is possible under anything short of Governmental +intervention. Seeing the utter inutility and inefficacy of isolated +exertions to deal with the mighty problems which our complex +civilization presents for solution, I should, on behalf of myself and my +class, hail with joy the prospect of State interference in our +interests. Sneers may continue to be directed against, and witty +sarcasms levelled at, a "Paternal Government," "infringement of that +liberty of the subject which is the inherent privilege and birthright of +every Briton," and other like cuckoo-cries. But meantime we starve; we +increase and multiply in obedience to the law of Nature, and our +opportunities of earning subsistence do _not_ increase and multiply in a +corresponding ratio. And without by any means desiring to steep my pen +in midnight blackness in order to portray possible portentous +consequences, yet it is a proposition not to be controverted that the +ever-increasing preponderance of born toilers over any quantity of +remunerative toil which can by any possibility be created within the +limits of Great Britain proper must inevitably cause such consequences +to be calamitous. For some time past the dark shadow of over-population +has been looming on the horizon of "Merrie England," at first no bigger +than a man's hand, but later advancing nearer and still more near and +assuming colossal proportions; and the time cannot be far distant when +it will obstinately refuse to be ignored any longer, even by the most +unreflective, but will assert itself in a manner little to be desired. +How, then, to avert this evil? How to postpone the advent of the fateful +day? Are not these queries of vital interest to all ranks of society? I +for one feel them to be so: hence the above gropings after gleams of +daylight in the midst of the gathering shades. I do not pretend to aver +that I have found the sunshine, that I have discovered an absolute cure +for all the ills that "flesh is heir to." Too well I know what mistakes +and blunders are interwoven in the best-devised schemes of human origin. +Nevertheless, I hold that the free expression and ventilation of +opinions, even though they may be erroneous, is often eventually +productive of good, by serving to dispel vagueness of thought and loose +generalization, and solidifying the abstract into the concrete; until +which process has been accomplished no thing soever can be dealt with +satisfactorily. Therefore, as a firm _dis_believer in the Malthusian +philosophy, as also in the recommendations for checking the increase of +population more recently scattered broadcast amongst us, and being +deeply impressed with the imperative necessity of confronting the +difficulty at once--_now_, in these days when the heavens above us +appear to be hardening into brass, and the earth beneath us to be +corrugating into iron--I have requested the Editor of this REVIEW to +afford me the opportunity of giving publicity to my views. + +Closely allied to this division of my paper, if not actually of it, is +the subject of _Charity_. Here, again, what a lamentable waste of vital +force, what an invertebrate entity crying aloud to be overhauled, +remodelled, jointed, and braced! Contrast the grand sum total yearly +given in charity with the paucity of definite results attained--the +well-worn comparison of the Nasmyth hammer and the nut instantaneously +recurs to one's mind. Except when subscriptions are raised for some +specific object outside the usual round altogether, how little there is +to show for the expenditure! Why is this so? And what is the remedy? +Obviously, I opine, the cause is individualism, isolation, caprice,--and +as obviously, I ween, the only cure is combination, organization, +system. Where we have now hundreds of little benevolent societies, with +their honorary secretaries and treasurers and fussy committees, each +neutralizing the others, let us have two or three established on a broad +basis, with a central committee who, when the "sinews of war" are +collected in one focus, will be strong enough to enter on paths at +present untrodden, and wise enough to understand that almost innumerable +differentiations in the nature of gifts will be necessary to cope +successfully with the almost illimitable diversities in the nature of +requirements, and who will insist on being invested with discretionary +powers in matters of occasional aids and supplemental benevolences. Then +it will be no longer possible for the shameless pauper, flaunting his +rags and sores in the marketplace, or the whining sycophantic hypocrite, +to monopolize the coals of one society, the blankets of a second, the +soup of a third, and so on _ad infinitum_, not seldom exchanged for +means of procuring beer to give additional zest to the utterance of the +sentiment--"What fools these gentlefolks be." The most searching +inquiries would be instituted, and perchance succour afforded to those +to whom it would prove an inestimable boon, but who, from constitutional +timidity or _mauvaise honte_, now starve and drop and die in silence, +overlooked by almoners who take the first miserable-looking object who +comes to hand, the most self-asserting or the most "'umble," and +straightway pour out the contents of their cornucopias upon shams, +making a miserable travesty of the sacred name of Charity. + + +Mind. + +It is refreshing to know that so far as this branch of the subject is +concerned, our governors, having by the force of circumstances been +compelled to realize the fact of our existence, and our claim to be +considered as veritably part and parcel of the body politic, with rights +of common citizenship, have further, within the last few years, by the +passing of the Compulsory Education Act, shown themselves possessed of +political sagacity, by thus taking steps to insure that our descendants, +when their turn comes to exercise and enjoy the civil privileges now +granted to them, shall at least have a ploughed and manured soil in +which to sow the seeds of love for law and order with some chance of due +fructification, instead of the rough, hibbly-hobbly cinder-heap of their +forefathers, which acknowledged no fertilizing influence but gross +bribery, and partially justified the political ostracism and exclusion +of its owners from all share in electoral privileges. + +All hail, then, to the School Board system as a great step in the right +direction. Undeniably true as are some of the accusations brought +against it, alleging that many blunders and useless extravagances, and +much disregard for the susceptibilities of well-meaning but mistaken +opponents, have marked its progress onward in too many instances; yet as +the general idea is laudable and eminently conducive to promoting the +highest interests of the entire population, and as in the nature of +things it may be expected that greater experience will bring greater +wisdom, and the faults charged against the movement gradually become +"small by degrees and beautifully less," let us heartily wish it +God-speed. + +Yet, why does the good work stop here? Why should not provision be made +for building upon the foundation thus laid? Why should totally unformed +intelligences be the only ones to profit by this guardian care, and why +should they be led a little way on the road and then left to flounder +along by themselves, and lose themselves in interminable mazes? Why, in +short, should education be confined to children, and not extended to +adults? + +It is true that the University Extension Scheme, as now carried out in +many of our larger provincial towns to a very, very limited and only +faintly appreciable extent, tends to show that the wind is just +beginning to blow in this direction also. Something, however, much more +comprehensive is needed. The masses are not reached, as will be patent +to any one who will take the trouble to attend any of the courses of +lectures delivered in connection with this extension system. The +neophytes seeking initiation into this or that special branch of +learning will be found to be composed principally of what we call +"better class" people, with a sprinkling of pupil teachers and sucking +governesses. + +Nor is this the fault of the masses themselves, as may perhaps be +conjectured; the mere circumstance of the prices charged for admission +in itself forming an insuperable barrier to the great majority having +any part or lot in the matter, to say nothing of the fact that the whole +apparatus is professedly set in motion for the benefit of the +middle-class public solely. + +But however inadequate this minute increase in the volume of the +fertilizing waters of Literature and Science may be for the mighty task +of irrigating the parched and arid desert which stretches out in +measureless extent before us, yet I am fain to regard it as a favourable +omen--as a symptomatic indication that the "fountains of the great +deeps" of human ignorance are beginning to be broken up, and that the +tide _is_ rising which, when it has reached its full height, will +disseminate the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge far and wide over the +landscape so that the lowly equally with the high-born may pluck and eat +thereof. The monster Cerberus has received a buffet on one of its three +heads, and the Hesperidean Gardens may ere long, I am sanguine enough to +hope, be entered by any thirsty passer-by without fear of molestation. + +All this, however, is dreamy, unsubstantial verbiage. That it is not +also mere chimerical nonsense, which will not bear the strain of +practical application, I will attempt to show--always supposing as a +necessary preliminary, as in all the hypothetical propositions +throughout this paper, that that portion of the community who are nursed +in the lap of fortune are imbued with sympathetic feelings towards the +less favoured sharers of their common humanity, and do not object to +take a little trouble and bear a little charge by way of displaying +their fellow-feeling. + +Grant this premiss, and what follows, or something better, may easily be +rendered an accomplished fact. + +The first step will be the formation of a council or committee, after +the manner before suggested, save that in this case we shall want an +infusion of men of culture who at the same time shall be good workers +and good philanthropists (a rare combination, but not an impossible one, +I venture to think, notwithstanding the seductions a life of Sybaritic +ease and delicate refinement specially offers to the scholar), in every +considerable town or group of villages throughout the length and breadth +of the land, with power over the district purse-strings, and with no +superior authority except the Minister or Secretary of State for +Education at Whitehall--for, of course, such a functionary will in those +happy times be quite as much a necessity as a Master of the +Buckhounds--who alone will have power to veto their proceedings and +issue general rules for their guidance. + +If I had the ear of this all-important official, I should whisper to him +that in my view the best mode of enlightening the working classes would +be to take possession of three already-existing institutions, and +enlarge their dimensions so as to make of them real forces, distinctly +visible, instead of the hole-and-corner obscure trivialities they are +now. These three institutions are--1st, Free Libraries; 2nd, Lecture +Halls; 3rd, Class Rooms. + +1. To Free Libraries I have accorded the first place, because in all +probability it is there that the beneficial results will be more +immediately apparent, and the advantages offered will, in the first +instance, be most considerably made use of. The major portion of the +huge and unwieldy mass to be operated on would fly off at a tangent from +the exactness and method necessarily incident to formal lectures, and in +a still greater degree to class-work. It must first be left to itself to +sprawl and struggle at its own free-will; the restraining chain must not +be too soon brought into view; gradually and insensibly the quickening +influence must be brought to bear; the change from density to +clear-headedness, from sluggish inertness to mental activity, will not +be effected in a moment; not all at once will the spiritual part of the +long-benighted assert its claim to an equality with the animal part; +desultory reading only will impart a love for reading; odd waifs and +strays of information picked up just anyhow will alone create the desire +for the acquisition of further knowledge, and by imperceptible degrees +the naturally well-regulated mind will reject vagueness and demand +exactness; having reached which stage it will be fit to undergo the +further regimen prescribed. A good starting-point, however, will have +been gained when our operatives generally are imbued with a genuine love +of books and obtain a somewhat varied, if superficial, knowledge anent +the salient features of English literature. + +These words, "_English_ literature," are used advisedly; for while I +would have every town of over 5000 inhabitants possessed of a Free +Library (varying in size according to the population), and every village +have its book-loan society, it would be well to insist on the greatest +and best of our own writers being well represented upon the shelves of +every institution of this character before venturing on translations +either of the ancient classics or modern foreign authors, even of +European reputation. Homer, Thucydides, AEschylus, Plato, Virgil, and the +rest, as well as Dante, Cervantes, Goethe, and the innumerable host of +Continental immortals, can very well wait a bit. We want to inspire +_British_ operatives with a love of letters. In endeavouring to effect +this, shall we not give the foremost place to the productions of +_British_ genius? We have to _form_ a taste. Is it not desirable that, +to begin with at all events, this should be a _national_ taste? But is +not this the very way, it may be asked, to foster insular prejudices, +narrowness, and bigotry? I reply, not necessarily, as many of our ablest +_litterateurs_ have not hesitated to attack the various abuses, follies, +and weaknesses which crop up in these islands from time to time--some +hurling denunciations at them aglow with all the fervour of passion and +intellect; others piercing them with the sharp spear of satire; and +others yet again calmly but pitilessly holding them up to contempt in a +train of close reasoning. Many, too, in addition to lashing the vices +peculiar to their native country, have, in terms of generous eloquence, +eulogized the virtues of our neighbours. Therefore, the man who is +disposed to wrap himself up in a mantle of national self-glorification +and self-righteousness will not find that the hierarchs of our national +literature are at all times compliant enough to fasten the clasp for +him. + +But I have a further answer--_i.e._, independently altogether of the +question whether the perusal of English works solely will or will not +have a tendency to nip the growing flower of cosmopolitanism in the bud, +the one essential point in training the English subject to think is to +train him to think in his own vernacular--to show him of what mighty +things his mother-tongue is capable, and to satisfy him that + + "Age cannot weary, nor custom stale + Its infinite variety;" + +and that if ever he, individually, wants to raise up his voice and make +himself heard on any subject that interests him or his fellows, he must +not fritter away his attention on more distant objects, but concentrate +his gaze on those which immediately surround him. + +This view may appear somewhat contradictory to the one expressed when +dealing with the subject of Emigration; but really it is not so. The +leaving behind the special spot of earth where one drew one's first +breath, played as a boy, saw his first sweetheart, and grew up to +manhood, the parting from old friends and long-familiar objects, may +and does entail a severe struggle, and inflict many a bitter pang; but +it is unavoidable, and so must be submitted to. It is otherwise with +home ideas, habits, modes of thought, literature. These will serve to +mitigate the poignancy of separation from one's native land, will +intertwine themselves more closely round one's affections by reason of +that very separation, and be the means of causing miniature Englands to +arise in far-off regions, and in various degrees of latitude and +longitude. While releasing as cheerfully as may be what we _must_ let +go, let us hug more closely still that which we _can_ retain. + +To return: In a well-equipped Free Library no standard British author +should be conspicuous by his absence. The poets, from Chaucer and Gower +to Tennyson and Browning; the dramatists, from Marlowe and Shakspeare to +W. S. Gilbert and Tom Taylor; the _modern_ historians, from Hume and +Gibbon to Froude and Freeman; the modern theologians, from Hooker and +Jeremy Taylor to Canon Farrar and the Dean of Westminster; the modern +essayists, from the projectors of the _Tatler_ and _Spectator_ to the +contributors to the current Reviews and Magazines; the philosophers, the +leaders in all departments of science, should be there; the best writers +of prose fiction, also, from Fielding and Goldsmith to Trollope and +George Eliot, should be well represented. The most profound and the most +volatile will alike find sufficient to occupy their attention here for +some time. The "Anglican paddock" (to misapply a now well-known term) +will afford plenty of grazing ground to cattle of moderate appetites for +a considerable period; and when it is exhausted, why, then, there are +toothsome grasses in endless profusion to be cropped over the boundary +fence. + +2. With reference to Lecture Halls, these ought to be nearly as +plentiful as churches both in town and country, and can with proper +management be made to serve two ends--the carrying forward the work +begun at the Free Library, and the rousing from torpidity those whom +even that useful institution would fail to reach; for as many would only +be led to attend the lecture through the library, so there are many with +whom the contrary would hold good, as many a dormant, beer-sodden soul +would consent to be carried off for an hour or two to a lecture hall who +could never be persuaded to sit down in cold blood to the perusal of a +book, although such book might be written in the most fascinating and +brilliant style imaginable: the unused eyes would soon begin to ache, +the palsied brain soon begin to numb; whereas the speaker, if a good +one, and his heart in his subject, would contrive to rivet the man's +attention, despite of himself, by the magnetism of enthusiasm, and he +would carry away with him some sort of idea--muddled and distorted +probably, but still an _idea_--of what it was all about. + +Penny Readings interspersed with music have been very much derided by +our erudite critics, I think without sufficient cause. These really +harmless, if not very high-class gatherings, blending together the +ingredients of a certain kind of instruction and of entertainment, were +doubtlessly called forth by a genuine desire to familiarize the lower +orders of the people with some of the more dramatic passages in our +literature, and to render visible to them a higher intellectual standard +than the tap-room and the music-hall had made them acquainted with. It +was a happy thought to mingle singing and playing with the readings. The +introduction of these not only served to take off a possible monotony +which might otherwise have been felt, but added attractions really +elevating in their influence, the status and general surroundings of the +auditory being taken into consideration. There is no need to pry too +curiously into the petty vanities which prompted this elocutionist or +that vocalist to make an appearance in public, nor to speculate too +closely upon the disproportion between the ludicrous extravagance of the +efforts often made by incompetent aspirants to obtain fame, and the very +modest modicum and evanescent character of that article vouchsafed in +return. All this is nothing to the purpose. The simple query is,--Have +these things, known as "Penny Readings," in ever so slight a degree, +fulfilled the object of their existence as that object is generally +understood? If an affirmative answer can be given (as I certainly +believe it can) to that question, then are they entitled to honest +praise, and not to supercilious contempt. + +However, having deposited my little offering at this humble shrine as I +passed by, I am free to confess that if we never get any further than +this on the road towards the mental improvement of the million, the +march of intellect will be a very short march indeed. But it will +not--it cannot stop here. The universal law of progress forbids the +idea; and in some form or another the irresistible impetus to advance +will be felt and obeyed. + +Meantime, no better means, so far as I see, appearing for the moment to +be available, I fall back upon my pet project of lectures, to be +delivered every night (Sundays excepted) from the middle of September to +the middle of May in every year, in every one of the multitudinous halls +built for the purpose, by men or women well versed in the several +subjects upon which they discourse. + +Failing the possibility of procuring a sufficient number of lecturers +who could spare the time necessary to compose original matter for the +purpose, it would be by no means a bad plan, I think, to employ good and +experienced hands to condense and compress standard works on different +subjects into such a compass as to occupy two or three evenings, and +hand these digests over to practised elocutionists to be _read_. Take +history, for example. Prescott's "Conquests of Mexico and Peru," +Motley's "Rise of the Dutch Republic," Irving's "Conquest of Granada," +Carlyle's "French Revolution," or Hepworth Dixon's "Her Majesty's +Tower," are peculiarly well adapted to undergo this process. The +absorbing interest of the incidents described could not fail to engage +the attention of the audience; and I cannot help thinking that the +offended _manes_ of such of the above-named great ones as have departed +from amongst us would be appeased when it was represented to them that +this mutilation of their invaluable legacies to posterity had been +conducted with due reverence, and solely for the purpose of introducing +them to a far wider (and, perchance, not less appreciative) audience +than even their exalted talents could otherwise have commanded. As to +the still-living ones, perhaps before taking the liberty suggested with +their literary offspring, it might be courteous to ask their permission, +and I feel confident they would not be churlish enough to withhold it. I +may be reminded that there would still be publishers and owners of +copyright to be dealt with; but I leave suggestions as to the best means +of negotiating with these awful entities to persons of greater +experience than myself. + +Obviously this lecture-hall business, like most of my other theories, +necessarily involves considerable expenditure; but if anything is to be +done, opulence must feel for indigence not only in heart but in pocket. + +3. A thorough and unstinted employment of the means above indicated will +accomplish much towards the emancipation of our helots from that +thraldom of ignorance which gives to the more galling thraldom of caste +its sole _raison d'etre_. But there is yet one thing needed, the +_utilization_ of knowledge acquired, and this can only be attained by +dint of laborious and unintermitting class-work. The sacred flame may be +kindled in the breast by desultory and omnivorous reading, but the light +emitted is as uncertain as that of a wandering marsh-fire--it wants +_focussing_ to be of any use to its possessor or his species. And it is +in the _class_, under the guidance of a gifted and genial teacher, that +this operation can best be performed. It is here that the finishing +touch must be applied; here the rounding-off take place; here the +heterogeneous be brought into homogeneity, and the discordant be reduced +to harmony and system. + +If these things are so, the problems which present themselves to be +resolved are:--Given certain millions of untrained intellects in crying +need of class tuition scattered over certain thousands of square miles +in unequal proportions--how to provide sufficient building accommodation +to meet the exigencies of the case? and given an uncertain but +confessedly immense mass of torpidity and stagnation--how to infuse the +necessary leaven into it to quicken it and arouse its latent forces? + +I answer as to the first proposition--Require the architects of the +multitudinous lecture halls aforesaid to submit plans to you, which +shall comprise sections not only of the main building but of three or +four adjuncts thereto suitable for class-rooms, after the style of the +chapels nestling under the wings of our old cathedrals, or the annexes +thrown out at convenient angles from our modern industrial exhibitions +for the display of specialities. These would add comparatively little to +the original cost of the structure, and save a great deal of time and +trouble in hunting up eligible sites, and, when found, negotiating terms +of purchase. As to the second proposition, make a _liberal_ distribution +of prizes part of your system, so liberal that not only proficiency +would be certain of obtaining a reward, but plodding and persevering +mediocrity also. Constant attendance, combined with such written answers +to questions as evinced that the pupil was making an effort, should, +however imperfectly the answers were framed, insure the possession of a +prize at the end of every session. With such materials to work upon, a +free use of stimulants to exertion must form no inconsiderable part of +the programme. + +Again, no charge whatever must be made for admission to the classes. +Indeed, the entire domain of adult poor education must be as free as +United Italy--free from the Alps of the library to the Adriatic of the +class-room. + +Lastly, no restriction should be made as to the age or sex of the +scholar. I am of opinion that no greater incentive to emulation can be +offered to either man or woman than the consciousness that they are +associated with co-workers or competitors of the opposite sex. + +It would be travelling out of the record were I ever so faintly to +attempt to enter into details as to the mode in which class-teaching +could most advantageously be conducted, or to endeavour to shadow forth +what I conceive to be the regulations best adapted for the purpose. No +general rules would be found competent to meet ever-varying special +conditions. All this must inevitably be left to conform itself to the +peculiarities of the respective groups of the taught and the +idiosyncrasies of the individual teachers. + + +Amusements. + +On this last, but not least, division of the subject, I need not dilate +at very great length. Much has been written with reference to it of late +with which I cordially agree. + +No one can help being sensible of the melancholy fact that the tendency +of many of our so-called entertainments is debasing and degrading in the +last degree. It is difficult to imagine anything much more demoralizing +in every aspect--anything which appears to be more utterly without +redeeming features--than our music-halls. Dances, which are simply +unnatural contortions on the part of the male performers, and indelicate +exhibitions on the part of the female ones; songs, which are utterly +idiotic and meaningless, except when their meaning is indecency, +sounding the very lowest depths of imbecility, and having no literary +merit save _double entendres_ of the most vulgar description; the whole +taking place in an atmosphere redolent with the fumes of beer, gin, and +tobacco,--such is the pabulum provided for our delectation through this +particular medium. Much the same poisonous mixture is administered at +our tea-gardens and other places where we most do congregate. Is it a +marvel, then, that our young men waste their strength in drunkenness, +and our young women stray from the narrow path? Is it wonderful that +when you respectables meet us abroad on Bank Holidays, or Derby or Boat +Race days, we comport ourselves in ruffianly fashion, and greet the ears +of your dames and damsels with expressions which it is not good for them +to hear? + +Ultra-exclusives! those of you who are most deeply impressed with the +desirability of keeping us in our proper places, and are offended if we +pass "between the wind and your nobility," to you most of all do I +address myself, and take the liberty of saying that on _you_ rests the +onus of providing better and more healthy recreations for us; for needs +must that at times the most fastidious of you will find yourselves in +the midst of us, and it will interest you even more deeply than others +that we should not sink into unmitigated and universal rascaldom, the +only natural goal at which the pursuit of such pleasures as those +above-named is likely to land us. Give us attractions of a less baneful +character, and wean us from these cesspools of infamy. To you it is +specially important that this matter should receive attention. Do not, +however, seek to do the work half-way; do not attempt to take away the +means of recreation we have--evil as they are--until substitutes are +furnished; it will not be convenient to you that the people should have +too much time to _brood_; it will be safer for you that we should be +_mercurial_ rather than that we should be _morose_; in one mood or the +other, however you may strive to ignore us, we shall continue to exist +in tangible form and be distinctly visible to your perceptions. + +I like not threats or innuendoes, however, and say no more concerning +this matter. + +Time was when holy-days were frequent, when gorgeous pageants feasted +the eyes of our forefathers--times of Maypoles and morrice-dancers, of +roasted oxen and sheep, of conduits running with wine and milk: I say +not I wish these to return. Much I fear that all was not pure, pastoral, +Arcadian simplicity amidst these poetic scenes, fascinating as they are +to the imagination. I doubt not the taint of vice was there, and the +ghastly presence of misery and sorrow, and I do not regret them--let +them go. + +What, then, do I suggest? Aware of the risk I run in having it imputed +to me that my suggestions have already been too numerous, I will, with +brevity, venture yet one more. + +Repetition is vexatious; notwithstanding which, unification is +imperative, and committees must again be called into requisition. + +Cricket-clubs, quoit-clubs, bowling-clubs, even skittle-clubs _ad +libitum_, in summer; ballad concerts, dramatic performances, &c., in +winter, under the same auspices. Membership extended to all comers, fee +payable one shilling per annum in monthly instalments; the expulsion or +suspension for a longer or shorter term--according to the more or less +heinous nature of the offence--of any member for bad language, +intoxication, or other misbehaviour; the gradual unbending of the rich +and the cultured, and their condescending to grace the sports with their +occasional presence, thereby infusing a spirit of refinement into them; +the prohibition of betting or _over_-drinking,--these are, shortly and +imperfectly stated, the remedies I would suggest. + +To conclude the whole matter. We, the industrious poor of this +realm--the hard-working classes--are in pressing need of help now, in +this present time. This, I believe, is confessed on all hands, diverse +and contradictory as the theories how such help could best be given may +be. The question at issue is not whether ameliorations are desirable or +the contrary, but in what manner to bring them about, and how to be +certain that it is bread which is bestowed, and not a stone. + +I do not claim to have solved this enigma, or to have invented a +millennium. I simply assert my belief that some of my propositions may +contain germs capable of being nurtured into hopeful possibilities. + +As I have selected four principal points in which improvements are +required--health, pocket, mind, and amusements--so have I striven to +indicate four principal modes which I think best calculated to attain +the desired end, and which for the most part must come from _without_ +our borders--namely, sympathy, earnestness, money, and centralized +organization--all being essential; the last-named especially being so, +for it may be regarded as an irrefragable verity that every movement to +be really efficacious must be _national_, and not parochial. + +I look for many objections on both sides of the temperate zone, on the +waters of which alone I elect to voyage. The frigid will aver that I +expect too much, that my notions are Utopian and chimerical to the last +degree, and the nostrums prescribed empirical and baneful; that it is +not to be supposed sensible people will take all this trouble, and rush +into such reckless expenditure in a project so visionary. To such my +only answer is,--Where the return is to be great the investment must be +great also. The torrid, on the other hand, will say I am not +sufficiently thorough; that the only means of elevating the poor is by +lugging the wealthy down to their level, abrogating dignities, +distributing riches, abolishing ownership in lands and corporeal +hereditaments. To these my reply will be,--Evil will the day be which +shall dawn on such devil's-sabbath employments as these. Levelling +_up_wards is laudable; levelling _down_wards is execrable. I would in +nowise interfere with the least of these institutions. The overthrow of +dynasties will not advantage us, nor will a general scramble conduce to +our lasting welfare. I am a sceptic as to the benefits to be derived +from revolution, although professing myself a warm admirer of +reformation, as I understand the word--_re_-formation. + +Neither do I anticipate that the time will ever come, under the best +devised systems, when poverty will altogether cease out of the land. +Evil will there be, and good also, while the world stands. This, +however, should be no excuse for indifferentism in the work of lessening +the sum-total of the evil, and increasing the sum-total of the good. + +And so Lazarus unmoors his fragile boat, and launches it, unmanned and +untended, on the bosom of the stream,--to meet its fate. + + HENRY J. MILLER. + + + + +THE FORMS AND COLOURS OF LIVING CREATURES. + + +In the Essay on Animals and Plants, which appeared in the September +Number of this Review, the names were given of the principal groups in +which the prodigious multitude of living creatures (existing or known to +have existed) have been classified by naturalists. It was therein also +indicated that these various groups, and all the subdivisions of such +groups, are distinguished one from another by variations in the forms +and structures of the creatures which compose them. This fact alone +would prove that very many differences in form must exist; but, indeed, +a very slight knowledge and a very cursory examination of animals and +plants would suffice to show this even to any one who knew nothing of +the scope or nature of biological classification. In truth, to the +non-scientific observer who feels an interest in living things, the +difficulty may seem to be rather how to find general resemblances than +how to detect differences between creatures which seem so totally +diverse as do humming birds from whales, bees from buffaloes, or the +numerous African herds of antelopes from the grasses on which they feed. + +Nevertheless it was pointed out in the second Essay of this series[56] +that all living creatures do agree to a certain extent in the form and +structure of their bodies, inasmuch as their bodies are always bounded +by curved lines and surfaces, while, if we divide the body of any animal +or plant its structure may always be seen to be heterogeneous--that is +to say, composed of different substances, even the simplest showing a +variety of minute particles (granules) variously distributed throughout +its interior. It has also been pointed out[57] that all living creatures +agree in beginning life in the form of a small rounded mass of +protoplasm. But all animals and plants further agree in that each kind +has its own proper size, shape, structure, and colour, and each (as we +shall hereafter see) shows a positive unity in its fundamental +constitution, co-existing with the heterogeneity above referred to. + +But though each kind has its own proper size, shape, structure, and +colour, yet these vary more or less in different individuals, and the +degrees of variability are different in different kinds both of animals +and plants. + +As to size, although most living creatures have certain limits which +they rarely exceed or fall below, yet many organisms vary greatly in +this respect. Thus, that familiar weed, the common centaury (_Erythraea +centaurium_), may vary in height--according to the soil and other +external conditions--from half an inch to five feet. + +As to figure and structure there is more constancy, and the amount of +variation which may in these respects be found between different +individuals of the same animal species, is generally but slight. In +plants and in plant-like animals much greater differences exist as to +external configuration; but even in them the internal structure of each +species varies but little. + +Colour is a character which some readers may be disposed to regard as +extremely inconstant. We are familiar with many differently coloured +varieties of our cultivated flowers; and white blackbirds, and black +leopards are not very uncommon objects. Nevertheless, colour is really a +character of much constancy, and is one not only constantly present in +different individuals of one kind of plant or animal, but is one +constantly present in particular groups of kinds. + +Thus, for example, all the English plants of the dandelion order which +have opposite leaves, have yellow flowers, with the single exception of +the eupatory (_Eupatorium cannabinum_), and whole groups of butterflies +are respectively characterized as being blue, or white, or yellow. + +We have seen that the life of every living being is accompanied by, and +may be described as, a series of adjustments of action and structure to +external conditions which surround it. Accordingly we may expect to find +that the sizes, shapes, structures, and colours of living beings bear +relations, which are in very many cases obvious, to their external +circumstances, as directly favouring their nutrition, reproduction, or +preservation from external injury. + +Every living creature must be either fixed (like a rooted tree), or +capable of spontaneously moving, or of being passively drifted from +place to place, and must have a structure and figure suitable to one or +other of these conditions. + +Again, every living creature, whether free or fixed, is either a +terrestrial, an aquatic, or an aerial organism; and it may be fitted to +live in any two, or even in all three of these conditions--as, for +example, is the swan. If terrestrial, it may inhabit the surface of the +earth only, or it may occasionally or habitually dwell beneath it. The +structure, forms, and even colours of organisms are in most cases +plainly adapted to their modes of life in the above respects. + +Thus, any living creature, which is fixed to the surface of the earth, +must either adhere to it by having one side or portion of its body +spread out and adjusted to irregularities in the supporting surface, or +else by sending prolongations of its substance into the substance of the +supporting body, as a plant sends its roots into the soil. Such +prolongations, moreover, must (in order to hold fast) either sink deeply +or else expand, at a slight depth, into a rounded or discoidal mass, or +into radiating processes whereby the whole structure may be securely +anchored. + +This special modification of form, again, may or may not be accompanied +by certain further modifications of structure, according as such rooting +parts are to serve, as mere holdfasts, simply for attachment, or (as in +most plants) for the absorption of food also. + +Another modification is also correlated with these conditions. We have +seen[58] that an interchange of gases takes place between each organism +and its surrounding medium. But such interchange cannot take place in +the subterranean part of the body, and a corresponding difference of +structure between such subterranean part and other parts must therefore +obtain. + +Again, as to colour, we find differences which are evidently related to +the different degrees in which different parts of a living body are +exposed to the influence of light. Such contrasts notoriously exist, not +only between the green parts of plants above the soil and the lighter +coloured roots, but between the foliage of a plant which is exposed to +sun light and another of the same kind kept in a dark cellar. Many +animals which live in permanent darkness are colourless, as, _e.g._, the +_Proteus_;[59] but yet this is not an invariable rule, some, as the +mole, being of a dark colour. + +The forms of organisms are evidently often directly related to +surrounding influences. A plant or plant-like animal fixed to the soil +may be so fixed that light, air, food, friends and enemies can have +access equally on all sides or not. Thus, a tree so placed that light +and air are excluded on one side, will not grow freely towards that +side, but only in directions from whence light and air have access. A +coral reef increases much more rapidly towards the open sea (the waves +of which bring in food and facilitate gaseous interchange) than towards +an adjacent shore. + +The mere contiguity of parts will often affect the form of organisms. +Thus, in many flowers parts which are adjacent become dwarfed, while +others which are freely exposed become fully developed, as we see in the +flowers of many _Umbelliferae_, or plants of the parsley, fennel, and +hemlock order. + +The shapes of flowers bear relation (as we shall see later) to their +need for attracting insects which by their visits effect the development +of seed, and for repelling others the access of which would be hurtful. + +The avoidance of enemies may be so effected by an organism that their +access may be made impossible save in one direction, the extent of +vulnerable surface even in that direction being minimized. We have an +example of such a condition in those worms which live in calcareous +tubes, and which are some of those called "tubicolous annelids."[60] + +Again, the medium in which an organism lives--whether aerial or +aqueous--has an important relation with its form. A delicate seaweed, +the beautifully radiating form of which is a just object of admiration +as long as it is supported by its denser natural medium (the sea water), +collapses into an amorphous mass when withdrawn thence into the thin +air. Obviously a much greater rigidity and strength of structure is +needed to support an aerial organism than an aquatic one, unless the +former can support itself on other solid structures, such as rocks or +trees. In the latter case the form attained may be very elongated and +slender, as in the many creeping and climbing plants, which are so often +furnished with processes for grasping (tendrils) to aid them in their +mode of life. + +An aerial fixed organism, if it does not rise from the surface of the +earth, cannot spread itself very far without developing other points of +support--without rooting again. This re-rooting is a familiar phenomenon +in many plants, as, _e.g._, the strawberry. But even a shrub like the +common bramble (which is not itself prostrate, but which sends out +extraordinarily prolonged branches) is aided by such a process. The ends +of its long branches apply themselves to the ground and begin to pierce +its surface, the incipient leaves of its terminal bud becoming +metamorphosed into roots. + +An aquatic fixed organism, however, may extend to a very great length, +freely floating without effecting any such fresh attachment. Thus the +seaweed _Laminaria digitata_[61] will spread over a circle 12 feet in +diameter, while _L. longicornis_ grows in the form of an elongated +riband, from 8 to 12 feet in length and 2 or 3 feet wide. The giant form +_Macrocystis_ (with a much more subdivided outline) may extend to the +extraordinary length of 700 feet. + +The conditions under which needful gaseous interchange can be effected +and food obtained by different living creatures, govern in various other +ways the forms of their bodies. + +Thus, if it is helpful to the life of a creature to submit as large a +surface of its body as possible to the influence of light, or to the +action of air or water, then for this purpose its body must be expanded +and its expanded parts divided and subdivided as they extend in +different directions. It is for this reason that trees branch, and that +their branches and twigs divide and subdivide as they do. It is for this +reason also that their branches do not grow out one above another in +precisely the same direction, but, on the contrary, grow in such a +manner that each one may overshadow those immediately beneath as little +as may be. Similarly and for the same reason leaves are developed mostly +in an alternating fashion, so that each may be able to expose its green +surface to the light and air as much as possible. + +Plant-like animals which grow up in an arborescent manner from a fixed +base do not generally branch in so regularly alternating a mode as do +plants, and in some cases their successive branches may even be +regularly superimposed. This is due to their not requiring, as plants +do, that their surface should be very extensively exposed to light, +neither their gaseous interchange nor their nutrition being impaired by +such superposition. The water which carries to them both the nutritious +particles on which they feed and the gases they respire, will act with +nearly or quite the same efficiency in either arrangement of their +parts. + +If the exigences of life require any organism to retain much fluid +within it, this circumstance may lead to its assumption of a dilated +more or less globular form, as in the melon cactus, and, to a less +degree, in the leaves of the common stonecrop. + +But the conditions under which alone certain fixed organisms can obtain +their food may govern also their internal structure. Thus, we shall see +that in plants which feed by absorbing matters through their roots, an +internal arrangement has to be effected for distributing material thus +obtained, and conveying it upwards through the stem. So, again, many +fixed animals need a greater supply of food and gases than they can +obtain from the water which bathes or may reach them without effort on +their parts. Such animals may be provided with special internal +structures, which cause currents of water to flow towards them, and very +often to penetrate within them, as in the shell _Mya_ or the razor +shell.[62] + +Fixed subterranean creatures are rare, but such do exist, as, for +example, the truffle (_Tuber cibarium_). Surrounding influences must in +such instances be alike on all sides, while the imbedded position of +such organisms render superfluous the development of any elongated +process for the purpose of fixing them. Such creatures, then, have a +spheroidal figure, and neither internally nor externally are their +structures developed in special directions.[63] + +The fixed organisms which are the most aerial in their habits are +attached to elevated objects, such as trees, and necessarily have a +portion of their frame set apart to fix them to the object which +supports them. The most conspicuous creatures of this kind are, perhaps, +the plants termed "Epiphytes," on account of this habit. Amongst them +may be mentioned the beautiful orchids called "air plants," and the +familiar mistletoe. Other vegetable organisms--the multitude of +creeping plants--rear themselves to great heights by the aid of their +more robust brothers, but they can hardly be reckoned as aerial +organisms.[64] + +The colours which plants display have sometimes a singular relation to +the mountain elevations or geographical positions they inhabit, but +these considerations will be aptly treated of in the relations borne by +living creatures to physical conditions and to one another. + +Living creatures which are capable of moving or being freely moved +about, present us with similar but more marked differences. + +Certain aquatic creatures drift passively about (borne by streams or +currents) with no permanent relation between any fixed portion of their +bodies and the medium which transports them. Such creatures being +equally acted on on all sides by surrounding agencies might be expected +(like the subterranean truffle) to exhibit a spheroidal figure, with +only one kind of surface upon their whole exterior. This is just what we +find to be the case in a variety of more or less minute organisms, such, +_e.g._ as _Myxastrum radians_ and _Magosphaera planula_.[65] + +The former of these consists, at one stage of its existence, of a small +globular mass of protoplasm, from the whole periphery of which a +multitude of fine pseudopodia radiate. When about to reproduce, the +creature retracts its pseudopodia, and forms around its exterior a +structureless coat or cyst, an action which takes place frequently in +lowly organisms, and is called their process of _encystment_. The +contents of the cyst then divides into separate bodies, which escape by +the rupture of the cyst. Each of these bodies is enclosed in a silicious +case with an aperture at one end, whence its contained protoplasm +issues, and, having so issued, assumes a spherical shape. + +_Magosphaera_ is another small creature which goes through a remarkable +series of changes, the greater number of which exemplify the ball-like +shape of body alike on all sides. + +Wherever the surface of the body is covered by pseudopodia, those +processes, inasmuch as they have a power of spontaneous movement, enable +the creatures possessing them slightly to aid or to resist the drifting +action of the water in which they float. + +But a living organism may be devoid of any definite shape whatever, as +in _Protamoeba_,[66] which consists of a mere particle of protoplasm, +from which irregular-shaped processes of unequal size are irregularly +protruded in every direction, so that the form of the creature may be +said to be quite indeterminate. + +The bodies of almost all organisms have, however, more or less definite +forms, which may be all classed under seven morphological categories. + +(1). The simplest form of all exemplifies _spherical symmetry_, and is +that which we have seen in the truffle, the radiolarian, the volvox, +_Myxastrum_ and _Magosphaera_. In this spherical form any number of axes +drawn through the creature in any direction are equal. + +(2). The next organic form is one in which the body sphere is more or +less elongated at its poles, the latter being equal and similar. In such +an organism we have one axis longer than any one of the others and +central, while from this axis symmetrical radii can be drawn in all +directions. This form may be said to exemplify _equipolar symmetry_, and +such is found in some radiolarians, in some small parasites +(_Gregarinida_),[67] and others. + +(3). The next morphological category may be spoken of as _unipolar +symmetry_. Bodies which exemplify it are like those included in the last +category, save that the two poles of the body are not alike. + +Instances of this symmetry are to be sought in creatures which have one +end of their body fixed, or which always or mostly move with the same +end of the body in front, and thus have their two extremities in more or +less constantly different relations to surrounding influences. + +The lowest worms and sponges may serve as examples of this symmetry in +its simplest expression. As also may the curious compound tunicary +called _Pyrosoma_.[68] In all such creatures the body does not extend +out in the form of lateral prolongations. + +But in many others it does send out processes on all sides, and in +various directions, as in most trees and all plants which have a +definite axis of growth, so that unipolar symmetry is the predominant +symmetry in the vegetable kingdom. + +(4). But unipolar symmetry with diverging outgrowths leads us to the +next category which may be called _radial symmetry_. Under this head are +included the forms of such creatures as possess unipolar bodies from +which equal and corresponding outgrowths radiate in different +directions. + +We have examples of this in the starfishes, in the sea anemones, and in +such plants as the melon cactus. But the outgrowths may project in only +four directions, each being at right angles with the two neighbouring +outgrowths. We thus get a crucial form of radiation, in which the body +may be described as having one main axis (in the direction of motion) +crossed by two other shorter but equal axes at right angles to it and to +each other. + +We have an example of this in _Tetraplatia volitans_,[69] an aquatic +creature with an elongated body, which presents four distinguishable +longitudinal surfaces, of which each opposite and corresponding pair is +hardly distinguishable from one another. + +(5). This form leads us directly to that kind of symmetry which is +predominant in the animal kingdom and which is called _bilateral +symmetry_. Forms of this kind exhibit four aspects which may be +distinguished as right and left, dorsal and ventral. The body here +presents a long axis (in the direction of motion) crossed by two shorter +axes at right angles to it and to each other. Of these shorter axes, one +connects the dorsal and ventral surfaces, while the other connects the +lateral (right and left) surfaces, and these two axes may be, and +generally are, unequal. All worms, insects, mollusks, fishes, birds, +reptiles, and beasts, are examples of creatures with bilateral symmetry. +The dorsal and ventral aspects of the body generally differ in +correspondence with the different relations to surrounding conditions +which they usually bear, as notably in snakes and creatures which glide +with their bellies applied to the surface of the ground. + +(6). The last kind of symmetry which here needs notice is that termed +_serial symmetry_. In the creatures which exhibit it we have a body +which is not only almost always bilaterally symmetrical but which is +made up of a succession of similar parts, forming a series along its +main or longitudinal axis. Insects, crabs, lobsters, and other allied +forms give us examples of serial symmetry, but this is perhaps best seen +in such animals as thousand legs and hundred legs--millipedes and +centipedes. + +Besides the fundamental distinctions which depend upon the kind of +symmetry governing the form of any living being, other subordinate +differences exist respectively related to the conditions under which the +various activities necessary for life have to be carried on. Such +activities are the needful gaseous interchange, the processes of +reproduction, and the acquisition of food. Thus, the most intimate +relation exists between the form of the body and the manner in which +locomotion has to be effected, whether by the whole body or by processes +projecting from it. If the latter, then whether by paddling or jumping; +if by the whole body, then whether by lateral or vertical bendings of +that body. + +Thus, we see that fishes, which swim by lateral flexure of the body, +have the tail expanded vertically; while in porpoises, which require +vertical flexions (to come rapidly to the surface to breathe), the tail +is expanded horizontally. On the other hand, creatures which swim not by +either kind of body flexure, but by a paddling action only, have the +tail shortened, as we see in swans and turtles. Further details of this +kind will be more appropriately treated of in an Essay devoted +exclusively to the consideration of the forms of animals. + +There are a multitude of aquatic creatures which cannot be properly +spoken of as either "fixed" or "mobile," for they are in fact both. They +are creatures which move about by the help of others, being themselves +fixed to other creatures which are actively locomotive. + +Thus, sea-snails, lobsters, fishes, whales, and even ships, bear about +with them sometimes lowly-organized plants; but often other animals, +permanently fixed to and growing parasitically upon them and having the +shape of their body suited to their peculiar situation. + +Often such parasites form flattened encrustations on their involuntary +hosts--as is the case with the acorn shells or sessile barnacles.[70] +Others have elongated bodies, which stream through the water with the +motions of the creatures carrying them. We see this in confervoid +growths, also in ordinary barnacles, and in certain modified crab-like +creatures, such as _Lerneocera_.[71] + +These creatures fix themselves to their movable supports by means +similar to those by which other creatures secure themselves to +stationary supports. Thus, some of these do so by means of expanded +disks, which fit accurately to the supporting surface, while certain +parasites fix themselves by means of ingrowing prolongations or +root-like processes, as in the _Rhizocephala_.[72] Others, again, adhere +by the intervention of hooks and suckers, and this is especially the +case with such as fix themselves internally and live perpetually bathed +(as the tape-worms[73] do) in the nutritious fluids contained within the +bowels of the creatures they infest. + +Terrestrial mobile organisms can, of course, only be moved by their own +efforts, or by the efforts of other organisms. + +The simplest terrestrial locomotion is like that of the aquatic +_Amoeba[74] primitiva_, and is performed by land _Amoebae_; and the +curious plant _Myxomycetes_[75] also moves in a substantially similar +manner. This very curious organism consists of a net-work of +protoplasmic threads, which spread over decaying leaves and stems. The +threads exhibit streams of granules flowing within them, and they give +out processes like pseudopodia, while the whole complex mass can slowly +creep over a supporting surface, which it thus slowly flows over by its +branching processes. + +Other lowly plants propel themselves by means of a pair of filamentary +protoplasmic threads, which vibrate actively, and are therefore called +vibratile cilia. As an example may be mentioned the _Protococcus[76] +nivalis_, the little spheroidal alga, which abounds on Alpine summits +and in Arctic regions. + +As in aquatic, so in terrestrial organisms, external form is intimately +related to modes of motion. Thus, locomotion may be effected by +undulations of the whole body, as often in serpents and terrestrial +vermiform animals. It may, on the contrary, be effected by the action of +levers projecting from the surface of the body, _i.e._, by limbs, and +these may be multitudinous and minute, as in hundred legs and thousand +legs, or few and large, as in beasts. Moreover, the motions may be +movements of pulling or of pushing, or by combinations of these, or by +jumps, which may be effected in various manners, the consideration of +which will find a fitting place in an Essay devoted to "Motion." + +Again, terrestrial, like aquatic, organisms often involuntarily carry +about with them other living creatures which have fixed themselves to +their bodies. Thus, the fruits, or seeds, of many plants (as, _e.g._, +those of the common Agrimony, _Agrimonia eupatoria_) are beset with +hooks or bristles which readily adhere to the coats of passing animals, +and so gain a greater diffusion than they could otherwise obtain. A very +remarkable form of the kind is _Martynia proboscidea_ (called Testa di +_Quaglia_ by the Italians), which has a pair of curved and pointed +processes like the tusks of an elephant, which are several inches long. +It is notorious for adhering to clothes, &c. Other noteworthy plants are +_Uncaria procumbeus_, or the grapple plant of South Africa and +_Harpagophytum_,[77] the fruit of which is provided with hooked +processes. Those of _Harpagophytum_ spread out in all directions, and +are of different lengths, with sharp hooks, variously turned, so that +its power of clinging is extreme. The seed, with all its processes, is +so large as to fill the hand when grasped. It is said to cause the death +of the lion. Having adhered to that beast's skin, the irritation +produced and the impossibility of getting it off at last induces the +lion to bite it, and once in his mouth he cannot remove it, and so the +animal dies miserably. + +Some animals fix themselves much as these seeds of plants do. Amongst +them are the parasites known as tics which fix themselves with great +tenacity by the appendages of their mouths. Other parasites--like the +itch insect[78] and forms allied to it--have hooked processes and stiff, +hard bristles, which are at once very irritating and very adherent. +Creatures are also carried about inside others, as is the case with the +seeds of many plants. These are disseminated by birds which have +swallowed but have not digested such seeds, and in an analogous manner +the great tape-worm group becomes also widely diffused. + +Moving subterranean organisms, inasmuch as they must penetrate through a +dense and highly-resisting substance, must evidently either have forms +which offer little resistance--reducing friction to a minimum--or must +be provided with special means of penetrating such substance. Evidently +the least resisting form is presented by a body much elongated, rounded, +and more or less attenuated at the advancing end, which end has to +effect the requisite penetration. This is the form of the earth-worm--a +form which is approximated to by a variety of creatures which have not +the least affinity of nature with it, but only more or less resemble it +as regards its dwelling-place and mode of locomotion. + +Such, for example, are the curious serpents called _Typhlops_,[79] and +such are the legless lizards[80] (_Anguis_), and such, again, are the +simpler vermiform animals allied to frogs, called _Caeciliae_.[81] + +In order to burrow quickly and easily by means of processes of the body, +it is evidently a necessary condition that the earth should be rapidly +removed by the powerful action of parts situated towards the body's +anterior end. The similarity of effect of similar conditions in +creatures which are most widely divergent in nature is exemplified by +the mole and the mole-cricket, which are each provided with a strong and +broadened-out pair of anterior digging-limbs. + +Living creatures may be sustained in the air for a longer or shorter +time at one or another stage of their existence. The reproductive +particles of the lowest forms of animals and plants are so excessively +minute that they float in the air with the greatest ease, without +needing any complication of structure--their spheroidal form harmonizing +with the equal action upon them of influences on all sides of them. +Reproductive parts which, though less minute than these, are still very +small, may also be diffused by floating in the atmosphere. Such are the +pollen grains of those trees which are fertilized merely by the action +of the winds, such as the hazel, poplar, birch, and of lowly plants, as +the grasses. It is by the wind that the pollen grains of these plants +are accidentally brought into contact with the appropriate surfaces for +their reception. Conspicuous in the spring of the year are the clouds of +yellow dust, pollen grains, given off by fir trees, which are plants +also wind-fertilized. But here we find a slight complication; for to +facilitate the dispersion of such particles the outer coat of each of +their pollen grains is produced into a short wing-like process on each +side, and these processes help at once to sustain it in the air, and to +aid its propulsion by offering more surface to the force of the aerial +currents. + +Very much more conspicuous are the wing-like expansions of many +seeds--such, for example, as those of the maple. These expansions serve +to diffuse the seeds which bear them, as do also the delicate cottony +filaments which surround the seeds of a variety of plants of widely +different natures and affinities, as some kinds of spider float through +the air by the aid of the delicate filaments which they send forth to +serve as an aerial float. Familiar to every one is the delicate little +parachute-like structure of radiating filaments on the seeds of such +plants as the dandelion--which seeds most children have at some time +helped to diffuse by blowing. + +Aerial progress by actual effort is effected by a limited group of +organisms, and only in certain cases (bats, birds, and insects) does it +take the form of true flight in creatures now existing. In other +creatures, such as so-called flying fishes, squirrels, opossums, and the +little flying dragon, the more or less prolonged aerial sustentation is +effected by expansions of skin, which act as parachutes in ways be later +described in detail. + +True flight seems to need a definite mechanism of one kind--namely, a +mechanism which shall give rapid and reiterated blows to the air from a +point towards the dorsal side, and head end of the body, by structures +of considerable superficial extent, and capable of rapid and delicate +inclinations of surface. Such structures must be light and therefore +delicate, and yet possess very considerable strength to resist the +strain of the body's prolonged sustentation, and to effect its +occasionally very rapid progress, as in the swift and in dragon-flies. +These conditions which we find fulfilled in all existing flying +organisms were also fulfilled organisms which have for ages passed away +from the surface of this by planet, such as the extinct flying reptiles +called _Pterosauria_ or _Pterodactyles_.[82] + +In all such rapidly flying creatures the form of the body is necessarily +modified so as to throw the centre of gravity where it may be best +sustained. It is this which packs what are practically a bird's teeth in +its belly, and thickens so greatly the muscles on its breast which are +formed in such a way as to serve both the usual purposes of +breast-muscles, and also that which is effected in most cases by muscles +of the back, which in birds are very greatly diminished in volume and +extent. + +But there are living creatures which have relations with two media; +which, though they are aquatic, yet by the help of the air rise and +float, so as to be partly bathed in the atmosphere; while others carry +down a portion of that atmosphere below the surface of water, so as to +be sub-aqueously aerial. Examples of the last-mentioned condition are +afforded by such spiders as have the habit of enclosing a bubble of air +within the meshes of their self-woven network, and going down with it, +being thus able there to maintain themselves as in a diving-bell. The +reverse condition obtains in such plants as _Valisneria_,[83] which +secrete air within expanded bladder-like receptacles, and, thus aided, +rise to the surface and float. Another example is that of certain polyp +animals, such as the Portuguese man of war, which also rise and swim +upon the surface of the sea by the aid of floats in the form of +bladders, which are also filled with air by means of their own life +processes. The same also is the case in many seaweeds. + +Thus, these multitudinous forms of living creatures, both animals and +plants, are reducible to certain categories in harmony with their modes +of life, and the relations existing between them and all surrounding +influences. We may see that, without compliance with certain of such +laws, their existence would be impossible, and we see that there is a +general correspondence between their shape and structure on the one +hand, and their environment (that is, the totality of all surrounding +agencies and influences) on the other. Are we to consider that such +influences are the _causes_ of their form and structure? Obviously the +biological facts before us, as yet, are insufficient to enable us to +give a satisfactory answer to this question. It will for the present be +enough to bear in mind that by some writers the environment _is_ deemed +the one and sufficient cause of all the characters of living creatures. +But as yet we have not even seen what _is_ the environment. Evidently +physical influences--the earth, sea, or air, light, heat, and motion--do +not exhaust it. One important factor would be omitted if we neglected to +note the share taken in the environment of each living creature by a +multitude of other living creatures which are in various ways related to +it. This question must occupy us later. + +But by the forms of living creatures is not meant merely their external +form. Some general notion then should here at starting be obtained of +their internal form--that is, of their essential structure. + +The minutest and probably the simplest forms of living creatures +(whether plant or animal) are such as are presented by _Bacteria_,[84] +the yeast-plant and _Protoccus_. Bacteria are those minute creatures the +mode of origin of which in sealed infusions has been so much of late +disputed, but the activity of which in promoting the decomposition of +dead substances is undisputed. A _bacterium_ is a particle of +protoplasmic matter, either spheroidal or oblong, or like a short rod, +or shaped like a corkscrew, and bacteria may also be in the form of a +short chain of spheroids, or of oblong particles, or of rods united in a +zigzag manner. + +Their breadth may vary from the 1/30000 to 1/10000 of an inch. They may +also assume quite another appearance, by surrounding themselves with a +gelatinous envelope, which condition is called their _zooglaea_ state of +existence. + +They may be readily obtained by making some hay tea, and keeping it for +a day or two, when they will be found to abound in the scum which forms +on the surface, and to be in active motion. In the corkscrew form, +_Spirillum volitans_, each end of the body is produced into a minute +hair-like process or _cilium_, and it is by the lashings of these cilia +that the minute organism moves about. + +Other as simple but larger organisms may consist of a minute mass of +semi-fluid protoplasm, containing granules, as we find to be the case in +the plant _Vaucheria_,[85] and many other _Algae_, and in the animal +_Amoeba primitiva_.[86] + +An organism of this simplest kind or a fragment of a higher organism +which presents this simplest condition is called a cell.[87] Very +generally such cell has within it a more or less distinctly marked +generally denser and spheroidal body called a _nucleus_, within which, +again, other minute spots may appear called _nucleoli_. + +Even in this simplest of all possible conditions of life a slight +difference appears between its most external film and its inner +substance--just as a cup of broth left to stand will form for itself a +filmy outermost layer. This incipient difference between what is inner +and what is outer is one which is constantly maintained in all higher +organisms, as we shall soon see abundantly. But the distinction into +outer and inner is, as has been said, shown in a much more marked way in +the constituent units, or _cells_, which build up the bodies of plants +generally; for these consist of an inner part of protoplasm, enclosed in +a distinct external cellulose envelope or _cell-wall_. As has also been +shown, many of the lowest animals take on occasionally the _encysted_ +condition when they also consist of a particle of bioplasm enclosed in a +distinct cell-wall or _cyst_, though one not made of cellulose. + +The protoplasmic contents of the cell may attract watery fluid thus +forming clearer spaces or _vacuoles_ within it, and these may become so +extended that the protoplasm may be reduced to a thin layer lining the +cell wall, thread-like processes or remnants of protoplasm often passing +across the cell from one part of the protoplasmic lining to another. A +cell, almost always a nucleated cell, is the original form of every +living creature without exception; and a great number of small, and some +considerably sized living beings, never get beyond this unicellular +condition, however much their cell may become enlarged or complicated in +shape. Such creatures form the lowest of all animals and plants; but the +overwhelming majority of living creatures are formed of aggregations of +cells which cohere and fuse together in various ways. As an example of a +unicellular and typically cellular living creature we may take the yeast +plant (_Saccharomyces cerevisiae_), which consists of a particle of +bioplasm enclosed in a cell-wall of cellulose, the whole being globular +or oval in shape, and generally about 1/3000 of an inch in diameter. +Within its bioplasm a clear space or vacuole may often be distinguished. +Often these organisms appear with a more complicated outline, due to the +growth of new saccharomycetes from its outer wall, and the budding forth +of others again from the side of such protruding processes, all of which +ultimately become detached as independent saccharomycetes, though they +often continue adherent for a long time, forming strings or other +temporary aggregations of such organisms. + +In _Protococcus_ we meet with one of the lowest order. Its colour is +green, which, as in all other higher plants also, is due to the presence +in its protoplasm of a colouring matter called _chlorophyll_, either +diffused or aggregated in certain denser granules of protoplasmic +substance. Protococcus may be smaller or much larger than the yeast +plant, it is spheroidal, and its protoplasm is enclosed in a tough case +of cellulose, which, however, it may not nearly fill, while the long +cilia may protrude through it and propel the whole organism by their +reiterated lashings. + +It has been already said that a vegetable may temporarily exist as a +particle of bioplasm without any cell-wall, and such is the case with +_Protococcus_, the cellular envelope of which occasionally disappears. +More remarkable still is the form already referred to under the name +_Myxomycetes_,[88] which, for part of its existence, is the form of an +indefinitely-shaped, naked protoplasmic mass.[89] + +Living creatures which consist of a single cell may present, +nevertheless, a considerable complication of structure. Thus, an +organism as simple as the _amoeba primitiva_, before noticed, may have +the power of forming, or, as it is technically called, _secreting_, from +its own substance and its surrounding medium a most complex supporting +skeleton of calcareous or silicious nature. It may have its outer +envelope so markedly differentiated from its inner as to require a +distinct designation as _exosarc_, while it may give rise in its +interior not only to a nucleus and nucleolus, but to two regularly +formed cavities with the power of rythmical pulsation, and one definite +portion of its external wall may be perforated to form a permanent mouth +instead of as in such forms as _Amoeba_, any part serving indifferently +as a mouth and every portion having similar functions without +differentiation. All these and other complications of structure may +arise by direct growth and transubstantiation of the single cell into +the various physically and chemically different parts. + +Again, a living creature which is fixed may so extend itself as to +simulate stem, roots, and branches, and yet remain essentially simple, +consisting merely of one greatly enlarged and complicated cell. + +Thus, a unicellular plant may take on a great complexity of form while +still remaining purely unicellular. It may assume the form of a stem +with roots and leaves. An example of such we may see in the genus +_Caulerpa_,[90] which, although unicellular, simulates in its outline +the fern called _Blechnum_. + +The next grade of structural complication in living creatures is +produced by the lowly plants, such as _Protococcus_, which multiply by +spontaneous self-division or _fission_. This process may take place +repeatedly and at the same time incompletely, in this way producing an +apparently compound organism. Thus, we have the second grade of +structural complication in living creatures--namely, the aggregation of +cells into a loosely joined mass. + +Other simple forms are those presented by the minute organisms Diatoms +and Desmids, the former enclosed in silicious cases, and some presenting +the only exception to the general law that organic bodies are bounded by +curved lines and surfaces. + +Wonderful is the minute ornamentation presented by the surfaces of these +microscopic plants. Some of them cohere by imperfect division in the +second grade of structural complication just described; they may form +longitudinal series of cells, or they may be arranged round a common +centre. + +One of the best examples of this secondary grade of complication is +presented by the spherically aggregated cells of _Volvox_.[91] These +present us with a good example of the way in which the shape of the +individual cells may spontaneously alter, to suit the mode of their +aggregation. Originally spherical, the adjacent sides of these cells +become flattened, and thus the cells acquire a polygonal figure. + +Other instances of the coherence of the cells of unicellular organisms +into indefinite and inconstant aggregations is presented by some +radiolarians, individuals which cohere into what are called _colonies_. + +From such incomplete aggregation, the next step is to definite and +stable aggregations, in which the life of the constituent parts is more +or less plainly subservient to, and dominated by, the life of the whole. +Such we find in all but the lowest _Fungi_,[92] and _Algae_, in +sponges,[93] and _Hydrae_, and also in all higher organisms. In such +permanent aggregations, the dominant life of the whole is shown partly +in greater constancy of external form and partly in the setting apart of +separate portions of the whole, either for the nourishment of the entire +creature or for the reproduction of fresh individuals, or for effecting +gaseous interchange, or (in animals) for ministering to feeling and +locomotion. + +Thus, the overwhelming majority of living creatures are, as has been +said, formed of aggregation of cells, which cohere or fuse together in +various ways--and not only of aggregation of cells but of aggregation of +aggregations of cells or "tissues." Each tissue is a structure formed by +the aggregation, or by aggregation and metamorphoses, of certain sets of +cells. Thus, every higher plant or animal is made of an inconceivable +multitude of cells, together with tissues which are not cellular, but +which have originated by metamorphosis of cells, and every such higher +plant or animal at first consists entirely of an aggregate of plainly +distinct cells; and, first of all, of one single cell only, whence its +whole structure, however complex, has originally sprung, though +generally not until it has had at least a portion of another cell mixed +with it. + +This transformation of cells, at first all alike, into distinct orders +of cells or _tissues_, whence different organs with different functions +arise, is characteristic of all living creatures above those which each +consist throughout life of one cell only. + +We have seen that unicellular organisms may unite into a cylindrical or +spheroidal colony, as in some _Radiolaria_, or into a spheroid of +closely-adjusted cells, forming one layer, as in _Volvox_. But however +large or complex such aggregation may be, it never forms sets of united +cells or tissues. The whole of these lower creatures, therefore, may be +spoken of as unicellular organisms; as though they may consist of many +cells, those cells retain their individuality. Such creatures are all +the lowest animals--those called _Hypozoa_[94] or _Protozoa_, and also +the lowest cryptogamic[95] plants. + +All other animals and all the higher plants are multicellular. The +description of one animal (which is placed as it were on the boundary +between the multicellular and the unicellular division), the little +parasitic worm _Dicyema_,[96] must for the present be postponed, as its +significance could not yet be understood. + +Before leaving the consideration of the forms of living creatures, a +further distinction should be made clear--that is to say, a distinction +in the nature of resemblances which may exist between various parts. + +There are two different relations which may exist between a part or +organ in one animal or plant, and another part or organ in another +animal or plant. One of these relations is called _analogy_ and the +other _homology_, and it is very desirable to bear clearly in mind the +distinction which exists between these two relations. + +_Analogy_ refers to the use to which any part or organ is put--that is, +it refers to its function. + +Thus, the flower of the daisy is, as we shall see, analogous to that of +the buttercup. The spathe of an arum is analogous to the corolla of the +dead nettle (for both serve to shelter the essential parts of the +flower). + +The foot of a horse is analogous to the foot of a man, and the shell of +a tortoise to the shell of an armadillo; for the two former serve for +support and locomotion, while the latter two are solid protecting +envelopes to the body. So also the flying organ or wing of a bat is +analogous to the flying organ or wing of a beetle. + +_Homology_ refers to essential similarity in position compared with all +the other parts or organs of the body, and must be considered apart from +function. + +Thus, as we shall see in the next Essay a single floret of the daisy is +homologous with the whole flower of the buttercup. The spathe of an arum +is the homologue of any bract,[97] however insignificant in size and +apparently devoid of function. The foot of a horse is homologous (as we +shall see later) to the middle toe only of man, while the shell of the +tortoise is in part homologous with the shell of the armadillo and in +part with the ribs of the latter animal. + +There is no relation of homology, however remote, between the wings of a +bat and of a beetle, and these two animals (as will shortly appear) have +the parts and organs of their bodies so fundamentally different, that it +is doubtful whether any definite relations of homology can be +established between them. + +A special term has been devoted to signify a resemblance between two +parts in two different animals and plants, which resemblance has been +induced by or is directly related to their common needs, and the +similarity of external influences. This term is "homoplasy," and +structures which may thus be supposed to have grown alike in obedience +to the influence of similar external causes acting on similar innate +powers have been called _Homoplasts_. + +Such, then, are the more general conditions as to structure and figure +which living creatures present, and (as has been said) with great +differences as to the amount of possible variation, most kinds have a +definite limit as to size. It remains only to make general observations +on the colours of living creatures. + +But a few years ago, hardly any few general remarks of really scientific +interest and value could have been made respecting the varied hues and +markings which organisms present. No rational relation was even +suspected to exist between the colours of plants and the busy insect +life which swarms about their blossoms or about the varied colours of +birds, and the details of their habits and modes of existence. + +It was known, of course, that Arctic foxes and hares became white in +winter, and that each benefited by its change, and suffered from the +change of the other; the snow tint which enabled the hare to escape also +facilitating the unobserved approach of the fox. It was also known that +many desert animals were of the colour of the sandy plain they wandered +over, and that tree-snakes and tree-frogs were often green. But it +seemed incredible that the varied shades or bright adornments of the +living world should each and all be governed by rigid laws, generally +connected with the welfare of the organisms so furnished. Here, if +anywhere, the reign of utilitarianism in Nature appeared to be at an +end, and creative fancy to have full play, regardless but of the harmony +and beauty thus revealed to appreciating eyes. The labours and fruitful +thoughts of Bates and Wallace have, however, opened up a wide field for +most interesting inquiry. They have made it evident that in many +instances the most direct utility accompanies colour both in animals +and plants. The colours of flowers serve to attract insects and birds, +by the visits of which they are fertilized or their fertility is greatly +augmented. It is this relation between attractiveness and insect +fertilization which explains the absence of colour from the flowers of +plants which are fertilized only by the wind, such as the fir trees +before-mentioned, oaks, beeches, nettles, sedges, and many others. It +also explains the conspicuousness of the flowers of many oceanic +islands, such as those of the Galapagos archipelago. But it also +explains, as Mr. Wallace has pointed out, the remarkable beauty of +Alpine flowers, by their need of attracting insects from a distance, the +conspicuous patches of bright colour serving thus to attract wandering +butterflies upwards from the valleys. + +But more remarkable still is the explanation given to the semblance +borne by the colours of some creatures to those of others of quite a +different kind, as of some moths to bees, and some harmless flies to +wasps. For now it is clear that by this mimicry they escape the attacks +of many enemies, who avoid such apparently dangerous forms. On the other +hand, the bright liveries of such offensive creatures are highly useful +to the wearers, for such tints act as a warning to enemies, and so save +them from their being pounced on by creatures which might fatally wound +them, though unable to swallow them. But the beautiful liveries of such +powerful predatory kinds as tigers and leopards do not serve as +warnings. They serve their wearers, however, none the less, though it is +by aiding their concealment, and so allowing their prey to approach them +unsuspectingly to fatal nearness. For the vertical stripes of the tiger +resemble the vertical shadows of the grasses of the jungle amongst which +it lurks, as the scattered spots of the leopard agree with the scattered +spots of shadow amongst the foliage of trees on the boughs of which it +lies in wait. But to say more on this head would be to anticipate +remarks to come, when the relations of living beings to one another are +under consideration, and the subject is too extensive to be here treated +in full. Moreover, it must be noted that such relations do not by any +means serve to explain all the phenomena of organic colour. Direct +action is in some curious way exerted upon many organisms, by +surrounding tints, and similarly different geographical districts and +varieties of locality affect directly the colour of both animals and +plants, but these questions will be fully treated of under the head of +the relations of animals to the physical world. Suffice it here to note +that the phenomena of colour no less than the phenomena of form are in +harmony with (whether or not the result of) the active agencies of all +environing conditions. But colour of some kind is a universal attribute +of all material things. Though apparently most irregularly distributed +through the world of life, yet order underlies the seeming confusion. Of +certain large groups certain tints are characteristic, as has already +been remarked with respect to the great order to which the dandelion +belongs. But the same remark may be made of various others, as, for +example, of the order _Cruciferae_ (to which the wallflower and turnip +belong), the flowers of which are generally white, pink, or yellow, +while the gentians, again, are noteworthy for exhibiting pure colours. + +But the colours which predominate in the whole mass of living creatures +of all kinds are tints of green, brown, or reddish-yellow. Bright +colours, such as blue, scarlet, crimson, gold, or silver are +exceptional, and the colour blue is especially rare. The borrowed +radiance of the inorganic world, in the form of metallic brightness, is +especially a characteristic of those living gems, the humming birds; but +not a few other animals also exhibit it. Thus, of birds more or less +gifted with metallic radiance, though in a less degree than humming +birds, may be mentioned the sunbirds, the trogons, and the beautiful +family of pheasants; and many insects and many fishes shine with +metallic tints. + +Brightness of this kind (though the leaves of a few plants have a +coppery lustre) is unknown in the world of plants, in which shades of +green are overwhelmingly predominant, and are universally present, +except in a few exceptional forms, notably the fungi.[98] + +Various aquatic animals belonging to very different groups agree in +possessing a perfectly glass-like transparency. Amongst them are fish +which live in the ocean; for example, the Teleostean[99] fish +(_Leptocephalus_), also mollusca of all kinds, including even perfectly +transparent cuttle fishes.[100] There are also glass-like +crustaceans,[101] and also planarians[102] and sea anemones.[103] +Plants, however, never present this character, although by it they +might, as well as animals, escape being preyed upon. + +Most fishes which inhabit the deep sea are of a dull black colour, +though some are white, and the majority of all deep-sea animals, +considered as a whole, are more or less decidedly coloured, many +brightly so.[104] + +Luminosity is a character of many lowly animals, and it is the presence +of minute creatures possessing this character which so often causes the +spray dashed from the prow of an advancing ship to appear like a shower +of sparks, while glowing bodies traverse the water beneath its surface. +Many insects, such as fire-flies and glow-worms, are notoriously +luminous. In the vegetable world, however, this character is very rarely +present, being only so in certain fungi, some of which exhibit a +wonderful luminosity. Humboldt relates that he found this to be +especially splendid in mines. + +As like phenomena of colour characterize certain groups of living +creatures, so also like phenomena of colour may characterize certain +geographical regions being common to creatures of very different kinds +which inhabit such regions, as we shall hereafter see. The brightest of +living things, the humming birds, have their true home in the equatorial +region of America, to which continent they are exclusively confined. But +it is in the equatorial region of the whole earth that we find the most +brilliant birds of other kinds, the most brightly coloured reptiles and +fishes, the largest and many of the loveliest butterflies, moths and +beetles, the most beautiful orchids, the largest of all flowers and of +all clusters of flowers. + +But neither the temperate, nor even the Arctic nor Antarctic climes are +denied the glory of bright tints in the long days of their brief, but +sometimes fervid, summer. Indeed, the golden burst of gorse and glow of +heather in our temperate zone have, in their way, an unequal charm; +while every here and there Arctic lands and Alpine heights exhibit +beauties of colour which are hardly elsewhere presented by the field of +animated nature to the eye of man. + + ST. GEORGE MIVART. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[56] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for July, 1879, p. 678. + +[57] Loc. cit., p. 704. + +[58] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for July, 1879, p. 703. + +[59] _Ibid._ for September, 1879, p. 27. + +[60] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 33 and 43. + +[61] One of the _Melanospermeae_; _Ibid._ p. 36. + +[62] Creatures belonging to the class _Lammellibranchiata_; see +CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 30 and 43. + +[63] The truffle may be generally regarded rather as the fruit of a +plant than as an entire plant, and yet in some of the group the rest of +the plant (which is called the _Mycelium_) is quite rudimentary, or even +absent. + +[64] There are climbers in Brazil, the roots of which, descending around +the trunk of the tree supporting them, clasp the latter with such a +deadly embrace that it dies and decays. In the meantime, the descending +roots (having become fixed in the ground) swell and meet so as to form a +new and irregularly-shaped trunk of solid wood, which has thus (by an +inverted process) grown downwards instead of upwards. There are other +such creepers in the East which have a wide-spreading downward growth +(see Wallace's "Malay Archipelago," vol. i. p. 131). + +[65] Creatures belonging to the group _Rhizopoda_; see CONTEMPORARY +REVIEW for September, 1879, pp. 35 and 43. + +[66] One of the lowest of the _Rhizopoda_; _Ibid._ p. 36. + +[67] A class of _Hypozoa_; see CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for September, 1879, +pp. 35 and 43. + +[68] _Ibid._ pp. 31 and 43. + +[69] _Ibid._ p. 35, and _Archiv fuer Mikroskop. Anatomie_, vol. xv. Heft +3, plate xx. + +[70] See CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 31. + +[71] One of the _Copepoda_; see loc. cit., p. 31. + +[72] See loc. cit., p. 31. + +[73] Of the class _Cestoidea_; see loc. cit., pp. 34 and 43. + +[74] Loc. cit., p. 36. + +[75] Loc. cit., p. 37. + +[76] Loc. cit., p. 36. + +[77] All these three plants belong to the _Dicotyledonous_ order +_Sesameae_, which would come between the _Lobiatae_ and the _Orobanchaceae_ +of the list given on p. 42 in the CONTEMPORARY REVIEW for September, +1879. This order contains the _Sesamum orientale_, the seeds of which +yield sesamum or gingilie oil, principally used in the manufacture of +soap. 58,940 tons of these seeds were imported into France in 1855. + +[78] This and the tics belong to the class _Arachnida_; see CONTEMPORARY +REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 32 and 43. + +[79] For the _Typhlopsidae_, see CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. +26. + +[80] Loc. cit., p. 24. + +[81] Belonging to the class _Ophiomorpha_; see loc. cit., pp. 27 and 43. + +[82] See CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 25. + +[83] _Valisneria spiralis_: these are distinct male and female flowers. +The male flowers are on short stalks, which break and allow their +flowers to rise to the surface and there float, scattering their pollen. +The female flowers grow on long coiled stalks, which uncoil and allow +them to rise to the surface to be fertilized, after which the stalks +recoil and withdraw them again below. This is a monocotyledonous plant +of the order _Hydrocharideae_. + +[84] See CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 37. + +[85] Loc. cit., p. 37. + +[86] Loc. cit., p. 36. + +[87] There is an ambiguity in the use of the word "cell." By some +writers it is only used to denote a particle of protoplasm with a +nucleus (whether or not it is enclosed in a "cell-wall"), while such a +particle without a nucleus is called by them a _Cytod_. By others it is +used to denote any particle of protoplasm enclosed in a cell-wall, and +by others, again, as denoting any distinct particle of protoplasm with +or without a nucleus, and with or without a cell-wall. It is in this +widest sense that it is here proposed to use the term "cell," +distinguishing, where needful, those with a nucleus or envelope as "a +nucleated" or "a walled" cell. + +As yet the two natures and functions of the nucleus and nucleolus are by +no means cleared up. The nucleus often appears to contain a complexity +of fibrils, transitory aggregations of which have been supposed to cause +the appearance of nucleoli. The apparently simplest protoplasm is +probably of really very complex, most minute structure. + +[88] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 37. + +[89] Here reference may be made to the name _Bathybius_, which was given +by Professor Huxley to a material found at the sea bottom, of great +extent and indefinite shape, and which was supposed by him to be the +remains of a mass of once living protoplasm, but which there is much +reason now to suppose was really but inorganic material. Reference is +here made to this, because some persons seem to imagine that if +_Bathybius_ were a lowly animal some important speculative consequences +would follow. But this is an utter mistake. It is generally admitted +already that there are living structureless protoplasmic organisms of no +definite shape, and of which detached particles can live and grow. It +would make no real difference whatever to the known facts of life if a +creature of the kind should be found as large as the Pacific Ocean, with +its portions exceptionally detachable and its shape irregular in the +extreme. + +[90] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 37. + +[91] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 36. + +[92] Loc. cit., pp. 37 and 43. + +[93] Loc. cit., p. 34. + +[94] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, September, 1879, pp. 35 and 43. + +[95] For explanation of this application of this term see loc. cit., p. +38. + +[96] Loc. cit., p. 35. + +[97] A kind of leaf the nature of which as well as of spathes, florets, +and flowers, will be explained in the next Essay. + +[98] CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, loc. cit., pp. 37 and 43. + +[99] Teleostean fishes are generally bony, but the bones are represented +by cartilages in _Leptocephalus_. As to teleosteans, see CONTEMPORARY +REVIEW, September, 1879, p. 27. + +[100] _Ibid._, loc. cit., p. 30. + +[101] _Ibid._, loc. cit., pp. 31 and 43. + +[102] _Ibid._, loc. cit., pp. 33 and 43. + +[103] _Ibid._, loc. cit., p. 34. As examples of transparent sea +anemones, Nautactis and its allies, belonging to the _Actinozoa_, may be +mentioned. + +[104] See Moseley's "Challenger," p. 592. + + + + +CONTEMPORARY LIFE AND THOUGHT IN TURKEY. + + + CONSTANTINOPLE, _Sept. 9th, 1879_. + +Three months have elapsed since my last letter, and were it not for the +suffering people we might treat of the history of the Turkish Government +during these months as so many acts in a comedy; but human suffering is +never ridiculous, and those who live in the midst of it find nothing +amusing in the obstinate stupidity which causes it. It is not pleasant +to live among the ruins of a crumbling Empire, however picturesque these +ruins may appear at a distance, and however much it may be for the +interest of foreign politicians to leave them undisturbed. Whatever may +be the course of contemporary thought in England, where the fate of +Turkey has unfortunately become a party question, the people of Turkey +can only think of it as it affects their own interests, and they desire +above all things that the people of England, without distinction of +party, should understand their condition as it is. This is a reasonable +desire, whether anything can be done for them or not; and these letters +are intended to represent contemporary life and thought _in Turkey_. + + +The Fall of Khaireddin Pacha. + +Khaireddin Pacha commenced life as a Circassian slave in Tunis. He came +to Constantinople last year as an exiled Prime Minister of the Bey, but +possessed of immense wealth which he had accumulated while in office, +and with a high reputation for learning, skill as an administrator, and +devotion to the faith of Islam. He was well received by the Sultan, who +often consulted him in regard to political affairs; and finally, through +the influence of France and England, he was appointed Grand Vizier. But +he made no friends among the Turkish Pachas, and had no party in the +country. Even the most liberal of the governing class regarded him as an +interloper, who had neither the ability nor the experience necessary to +fit him for the place which he had secured by European influence. He +reciprocated their distrust, and spoke of them freely as a band of +bandits. He was too good a Mussulman to attempt to build up a party +among the Christians. He depended simply upon his personal influence +over the Sultan and the support of the French and English Ambassadors. +He succeeded in exiling all the ex-Grand Viziers, but he had still more +dangerous enemies among his own colleagues, who thwarted him at every +step, worked upon the fears of the Sultan, and brought the affairs of +the Government to a dead-lock. He finally proposed to the Sultan a plan +of Government which, under the name of reform, involved an abdication of +his supreme power in favour of the Grand Vizier. This was supported by +all the influence of France, England, and Austria, but opposed by the +Ulema and almost the whole governing class. It led to a formal decision +on the part of the Ulema, which is of far greater importance than the +fall of the Grand Vizier which was the first result of it. It declared +that the Sultan ruled the Empire as Caliph, that he was bound by the +Sheriat or sacred law, and that he could not delegate his authority to +another. Under this decision there can be no such thing as civil +government in Turkey. Civil law can never take the place of the Sheriat, +and the emancipation of the Christian subjects of the Porte is an +impossibility. The Ulema admit the necessity of administrative reform, +and recognize the fact that the Empire is in peril; but it must be a +return to ancient customs, and not a recognition of the principles of +European civilization. They are in favour of limiting the power of the +Sultan, but it must be limited by an extension of the influence of the +Ulema. This triumph of the Ulema is the one important feature of the +Ministerial crisis. As Khaireddin had no party, there are few who regret +his fall. As few had any faith in the influence of English moral suasion +applied to the Sultan by Sir A. H. Layard, there are few who are +disappointed at its failure; but it may be well to note that Sir A. H. +Layard and Khaireddin Pacha have both attempted to control the Turkish +Government by their personal influence over the Sultan, and have both +been defeated by the stronger influence of palace intrigue. There are no +doubt certain advantages in maintaining intimate personal relations with +an absolute sovereign, but, in fact, no sovereign is so absolute that he +cannot be to a great extent controlled by his Ministers; and the +Ambassador who is intimate with the Sultan, and seeks to control his +actions, is certain to excite the jealousy and opposition of the +Ministers and the palace. Even with the Sultan himself, he is obliged to +assume a very different tone from that which he would use in dealing +with a Minister. He may smile, but he cannot frown--he may suggest, but +he cannot threaten--he may persuade, but he cannot dictate--he may +secure a promise, but he cannot exact its fulfilment. In the present +case he has certainly failed to keep his own _protege_ in office, and, +what is more important, he has failed to secure any modifications in the +system of government. + +The Ulema who have triumphed in this conflict are the most powerful, +compact, and thoroughly organized body in Turkey. They represent all the +wealthy and influential Turkish families. They monopolize the two great +departments of law and religion, and the revenues of the higher orders +of the hierarchy are immense. Those who are not fanatics by nature or +conviction are so by profession, and their idea of reform is a return to +the good old days of the Caliph of Bagdad. The Sultan is afraid of them, +and he has reason to be so. When the crisis came it was much easier and +safer for him to yield to them than to follow the counsels of Sir A. H. +Layard, or to abdicate in favour of Khaireddin Pacha. He could invite +the former to dinner oftener than ever, and give the latter a pension. +He had nothing to fear from either. + +The office of Grand Vizier was abolished for the second time within two +years, and a Prime Minister appointed who could be trusted to do +nothing; and it is a curious fact that this office is now abolished for +the sake of increasing the power of the Sultan, while it was given up +two years ago for the purpose of limiting his authority and +strengthening that of the Ministry. It was Achmet Vefik Pacha, the most +determined and independent man in Turkey, who was then appointed Prime +Minister. It is Arifi Pacha, a man who never had an idea of his own, who +is now selected to fill the place; while men of strong will and +reactionary proclivities like Osman Pacha and Said Pacha continue to +hold their places as Ministers of War and Justice. + + +Sultan Murad. + +It must not be supposed that all the Turks are satisfied with this +triumph of the Ulema, and the rule of Osman Pacha. Those who are out of +office are, of course, dissatisfied. But beyond this there is a strong +party at Constantinople which favours a radical change in the Government +as the only hope of saving the Empire from destruction. They would limit +the power of the Sultan by a genuine Constitution, and a Representative +Assembly; but they believe that this can never be accomplished under the +present Sultan. The fate of Mithad Pacha is always before their eyes. +Their plan is to dethrone Hamid and reinstate Murad, whose liberal views +are well known, and whose health is such that he could not resist +radical measures even if he did not favour them. I have no means of +knowing the real strength of this party, or exactly who are its leaders, +nor do I know anything more of the health of Sultan Murad than the fact +that his partisans declare that he is quite as sane and strong as his +brother. But there is such a party, and it is confident of ultimate +success. Of course, it is not supported by the British Ambassador, as +Mithad Pacha was in the overthrow of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz; but it may have +other foreign influence behind it, and it would, no doubt, result in the +immediate recall of Mithad Pacha to the capital. As I am +constitutionally a Conservative and opposed to revolution, I have not +much sympathy with this movement; but I have no doubt that, if Turkey is +to be left to herself to work out her own destiny, there is more to be +hoped from a Representative Assembly than from any other possible +modification of the Government. Mithad Pacha's Parliament was a surprise +to the world, and not least to those who devised it. His Constitution +was a fraud designed to deceive Europe. The members of his Assembly were +selected by the Government, its acts were ignored. It was finally +disbanded, and many of its members were imprisoned. But in spite of all +this it demonstrated the fact that there was material in Turkey for an +independent Assembly, which would be qualified by a little experience to +control the Government, and would favour radical reforms in the +administration. The governing class at Constantinople is hopelessly +corrupt and effete, but men came up to this Assembly from the interior, +who might in time have supplanted the present rulers, and infused new +life into the administration. Those who now favour an Independent +Parliament believe that the present Sultan will never consent to it, and +therefore propose to reinstate Murad; but it is possible that if English +moral suasion were turned in this direction, it might meet with more +success than it has obtained thus far. The Ulema would probably oppose +it, although they accepted it as part of the plan of Mithad Pacha. +Circumstances have changed, and their experience of the last Assembly +was not satisfactory. + +There is no reason to suppose that Sultan Murad himself has any part in +this plan, or any knowledge of it. He is kept a close prisoner, and +guarded from all outside influences with the greatest care, but his name +is powerful, for his misfortunes and the well-known amiability of his +character have roused the sympathy of the common people in his behalf. +They are inclined to regard him as their rightful sovereign, and to +believe that he might save them from their present misery. They may be +mistaken, but all the world sympathizes with their kindly feeling +towards this unhappy prince, whose mind gave way under the burden of +responsibility which was suddenly forced upon him, and the shock which +he experienced at the death of his uncle and his Ministers, who was +himself deposed before he had regained his faculties, and who, for no +fault of his own, is doomed to spend his life as a prisoner of State. + + +The Progress of Reform. + +We are officially assured that the change in the Ministry will in no way +impede the progress of reform, which has already been carried out in the +Department of Justice, and which is soon to be applied to the civil +administration. The plan has already been elaborated. It has been sent +to the Valis for their approval, and will soon be submitted to the +Eastern Roumelia Commission, after which it will be considered by the +Sultan and, if approved by him, will be proclaimed in the form of a new +_Hatt_. It professes to be a plan for a reorganization of the Vilayets, +on the principle of decentralization and local self-government. It does +not seem to excite much interest in any quarter, probably for the reason +that all this exists already _on paper_, and that if Aali Pacha could +not execute the elaborate scheme, which he proclaimed when the Vilayets +were organized, there is not much probability that the new _Hatt_ will +be any more effective. The people of Turkey have no faith in paper +reforms. They are issued as easily as paper money, and are as easily +repudiated; they are like leading articles in the daily papers--they are +written, read, and forgotten, alike by the author and the reader, within +the twenty-four hours. There is an old proverb current among the Turks +which says, "The decrees of the Sultan last three days--the day they are +made, the day they are kept, and the day they are forgotten." If the +proverb were a new one, the second day would be omitted. + +The reforms which have been completed by Said Pacha, the Minister of +Justice, are not of a nature to encourage the hopes of the people. A +large number of new officials have been appointed, but they are of the +same class as those already in office. Indeed, there seems to have been +a special purpose in these appointments of making it known to the people +that no change was to be expected in the method of administering the +law. Only seventeen out of one hundred and eighty-three of these new +officials are Christians, and the Turkish papers take pains to declare +that it is absurd to suppose that Christians are competent to hold these +offices. This is the result of the demand of Lord Salisbury that the +Courts of the Empire should be reorganized under European control. They +will continue to be what they have been, and it will be but a small +consolation to the suffering people of Turkey to know that they have +been condemned in strong terms by the British Government. The worst +feature of the case is that the law offers no man any protection against +arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. A man may be thrown into prison and +kept there for years without any trial or any knowledge of the charges +brought against him. Such cases are very common. Or he may he beaten by +the police, or chained in a dungeon, on the most frivolous charge. I +knew a case the other day of a Greek who was severely beaten because he +requested a police officer to arrest a Turk who was plundering his shop +in broad day. All this was done in the presence of a European gentleman, +too. There are several Armenians in prison now in Constantinople whose +only offence was the wearing of hats in place of the fez. At the same +time, crimes of every description are committed with impunity without +any apparent effort on the part of the authorities to discover the +perpetrators. Almost in sight of Constantinople, and under the immediate +jurisdiction of the capital, is a district where for months the peaceful +inhabitants of Adabazar have been plundered and murdered by the +Circassians. They have appealed again and again to Constantinople for +protection. They have tried to interest the Ambassadors in their behalf. +They sent a deputation to the Grand Vizier. He had no time to see them, +but turned them over to another official who requested them to present +him in writing a statement of the reforms which they thought were needed +in the Empire! A few hundred soldiers, or even one determined man sent +from Constantinople, would have restored order; but nothing could be +done. Five men were murdered while the deputation was in this city. The +whole Turkish coast of the Black Sea is infested with brigands who +plunder at will. They are well known, but no one thinks of arresting or +punishing them. Travellers are only secure when they are provided with a +safe-conduct from the leaders. The Reports of the new Consuls in Asia +Minor acknowledge a state of things which is almost too bad to be +believed. There is no security in the administration of the law for +person, property, or life, and there seems to be no prospect of any +improvement. Some more radical reform is needed than the appointment of +one hundred and sixty-six new Turkish judges. + +A scheme of financial reform has also been projected, and the foreign +Embassies have been invited to nominate a certain number of persons as +inspectors to superintend the collection of the revenue; but this is +nothing new. The Imperial Ottoman Bank has nominally held this position +for many years, and at times has exercised some control, no doubt with +advantage to the Government. A new system of taxation, carried out under +the control of honest and responsible Europeans, would increase the +revenue of the Government without adding to the burdens of the people; +but the place where reform is most needed is in the expenditure rather +than the collection of the revenue. The present scheme does not command +confidence in Constantinople in regard to the collection of the taxes, +and it offers no security for the control of the expenses of the +Government. The truth is that the whole financial system is hopelessly +corrupt, and, however it may be patched or mended, it will be rotten +still. There is no hope for the Turkish Government until it is ready to +put its finances into the hands of competent Europeans who shall have +absolute control over everything connected with expenditure as well as +collection; and I am sorry to say that there seems to be no present +prospect of any such arrangement. The enormous expenditure of the Palace +is unlimited and uncontrolled, and the Sultan will not submit to any +control. Financial reform must begin there, or it will amount to +nothing. The present Sultan before he came to the throne was known to be +a very careful and economical man, and no doubt he would be glad to be +so now, but he has not the courage to break with the traditions of the +past--give up his thousands of slaves, women, and palace officials, and +live like a European sovereign rather than an Oriental despot. So long +as he maintains the present system he must have money, no matter who +starves for want of it; and he must continue to take money, on his +personal order, from whatever department of the Government may be so +happy as to have any in its treasury. + +The Government is bankrupt; its revenues are not half enough to meet its +current expenses; its army is starving; its civil service forced to live +on plunder; its income mortgaged for years in advance to secure loans on +which it is paying thirty or forty per cent. interest in one form or +another; but still no one would dare to suggest to the Sultan the +possibility of his reducing his own expenses to a sum equal to that +expended by the Queen of England. Thus far all talk of financial reform +is prompted by the desire to borrow more money in Europe to meet the +present wants of the Government. These difficulties once surmounted, +everything would go on as before. It is no friendship to Turkey to lend +her money, until such time as the Sultan and his Ministers are ready for +a real reform, beginning at the Palace, and conducted under the control +of Europeans appointed and supported by their own Governments. But there +is no prospect of any such arrangement. + +The Turks do not appreciate the dangers which beset them. They see that +the country is in an unsettled state, and they feel the want of money; +but the evils of which the people complain are nothing new. They exist +now in an aggravated form, on account of the war and the confusion which +has reigned for several years at Constantinople; but the Turks see no +reason why they should not be reduced to a normal state, and be quietly +endured for centuries to come, as they have been for centuries past. +Their attention is directed exclusively to their foreign relations, and +whatever is said or done about reform is intended solely to conciliate +public opinion in Europe. Could the rulers here be brought face to face +with a really independent Representative Assembly, freely chosen by the +people, they would be made to think less of Europe and more of Turkey. +They would see that their rule has become well-nigh intolerable, even to +the Mussulman population of the Empire. Then there would be some hope of +genuine administration and financial reform. It is even possible that +the Christian element in such an Assembly might be strong enough to +secure, in time, the emancipation of the non-Mussulman population--and +it should never be forgotten that this must come in some form. England +does not insist upon it now, but she will, and so will all Europe. It +would be far better for Turkey if it could be brought about by the +Christians themselves; but if it is not, it will be forced upon the +Turks by direct European intervention, or possibly by the overthrow of +the Empire. + + +The Egyptian Crisis. + +The affairs of Egypt have been so fully discussed in England that it is +unnecessary for me to do more than to indicate the course of thought on +this subject at Constantinople. At the outset, the Sultan and his +Ministers sympathized with the Khedive. They feared that European +intervention at Cairo would pave the way for a similar intervention +here; and when he appealed to the Sultan he had reason to expect his +support. But the Turks thought they saw their opportunity to regain +their hold on Egypt, and the Khedive was summarily removed. The Turkish +papers here did not hesitate to rejoice over it as a "new conquest of +Egypt," and it is still believed here that this view of the subject was +encouraged by England, that it was the purpose of Lord Beaconsfield to +escape from the embarrassing demands of France by restoring Egypt to the +control of the Sultan. + +But when the Turks found that they had been misled or mistaken, and that +Egypt was less than ever under their control, they regretted the steps +which had been taken, and began once more to sympathize with the Khedive +whom they had deposed. He was very liberal in his expenditure of money +at Constantinople, and always found it for his interest to maintain a +host of retainers here; but the new Khedive will have no money to spend +here, and will need agents in Paris and London rather than in +Constantinople. The tribute-money no longer comes here, but is paid to +bondholders in England and France. There is no hope of putting any more +Turks into lucrative offices in Egypt. In short, the connection of that +country with Turkey is no longer anything more than nominal, and the +Turks feel their disappointment very keenly. They have now but one hope +left. They understand very well the difficulties which must arise from a +joint protectorate by France and England, and hope that the mutual +jealousies of these Powers may throw Egypt once more into the hands of +Turkey. The tone of the French press, even of so cautious and +conservative a periodical as the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, gives them +some ground for this hope; but the Khedive lost his throne by giving too +much importance to this mutual jealousy, which manifested itself much +more plainly in Egypt than it did in Europe; and it is to be hoped that +the Turks will be equally disappointed. Every one in the East regards +the present situation as impracticable and temporary, but it may result +in the independence of Egypt under a general European protectorate, or +in a further division of the Ottoman Empire by the annexation of Egypt +to England and Syria to France. The opportunity of annexing Egypt +without compensation to France was lost when England refused to listen +to the suggestions of Germany three years ago, because, as Lord Derby is +reported to have said, it would have shocked the moral sense of the +world. + + +The Greek Question. + +The Greek Question is not a simple one. Very few questions connected +with the East are simple. The aspirations of the kingdom of Greece are +natural. Her appeal to Europe was justifiable, and there can be no +question of the advantage which it would be to Greece, and to the +populations of Epirus, Thessaly, and Crete, if these provinces were +annexed to the kingdom. If this were all, they would be annexed, and all +the world would rejoice. It is to be regretted that the Congress of +Berlin did not shut its eyes to other considerations and settle it +off-hand in this way; but they did not, and no Power now exists which +can do so. + +These provinces belong to Turkey, and she cannot see that it is for her +interest to give them up. Greece cannot possibly offer her anything in +return for them, and, as against Turkey, she has no claim upon them. The +Congress of Berlin advised Turkey to arrange, by friendly negotiation, +for the cession of a part of them; but there is really no ground upon +which a negotiation can be based. Turkey is ready to yield something out +of respect to Europe, but she naturally wishes to give up as little as +possible. Then there are other Powers interested. Austria and Italy, but +especially the former, have their own views of the destiny of European +Turkey, and their own plans of aggrandizement. Albania and Macedonia +have to be considered. England, France, and Russia, also, are looking +forward to the future, and questioning how the settlement of this +question will affect their plans for the final solution of the Eastern +Question. Here is room for intrigues without end, and complications +without limit. + +The Greeks are indignant, especially against England and Austria; and +their papers here have used some very disagreeable language. They are +now solemnly protesting against the right of Sir A. H. Layard and Count +Zichy to take a short vacation, so long as this question remains +unsettled. Some of them seem to believe that Osman Pacha really +contemplates a reconquest of Greece itself, and that England might +consent to it. All this is absurd; but there can be no doubt about the +fact that England and Austria have thus far opposed the claims of +Greece, and that Austria and Turkey have, each in her own way, +contributed to excite discontent in Albania, and keep up a state of +anarchy in Macedonia. A leading paper in Vienna, ten days ago, openly +declared that it was the intention of Austria to push on to Salonica, +after taking possession of Novi Bazaar. She certainly has very little +sympathy with Greece, and if this question is to be settled at all she +will keep the Greeks as far from Salonica as possible. + +The Turkish papers are allowed to discuss this question with perfect +freedom, and one of the most moderate, the _Djeridei-Havadis_, says:-- + + "If the Hellenic Kingdom is desirous of avoiding a war with the + Albanians, it ought to follow the line of conduct proposed by the + Porte. If it acts in opposition to it, a war will follow which can + only result in ruin, as has happened before. If the Porte had only + to satisfy Greece, it is probable that it would show itself + yielding, but the Imperial Government cannot, with a light heart, + provoke a conflict and see the blood of its subjects poured out, for + the Albanians have decided to defend their country, arms in hand. It + is astonishing that Europe, in seconding the demands of Greece, + completely forgets the rights of the Albanians." + +The Commission appointed to settle this question is now in session at +Constantinople, and some arrangement may be made, but the current +opinion in the city, among both Greeks and Turks, is that neither party +will yield anything. Another meeting is to be held to-morrow; and if +the Greeks are ready to give up Janina, a settlement is possible--in +spite of the Albanians. The impression is that they will not fight, +although the Greeks in Thessaly and Epirus have roused their hostility, +and have failed to do anything to conciliate them in past years. They +have an honest fear of being Hellenized by force, and although they have +little sympathy for the Turkish Government, and are constantly +quarrelling among themselves, they still have a strong national pride, +and they may take up arms in good earnest. If they do, it will be a +serious matter for Greece. + + +The Principality of Bulgaria. + +Bulgaria is enjoying a brief period of comparative repose. The Russians +have left the country. The Prince has assumed the reins of Government. +The people are busy with their harvests, and, except in certain +districts where the disbanded soldiers of the Turkish army have taken to +brigandage, there is peace and quiet everywhere, and there is no reason +to fear anything more disquieting than the excitement of a general +election. + +The Principality has a great advantage over Eastern Roumelia, in that it +has secured its independence, and can work out its destiny by itself, +without any interference on the part of the Turks or of an European +Commission; but both Prince and people are without experience, and there +are no popular leaders who have any practical knowledge of government. +The people are jealous of their newly-acquired rights, and naturally +opinionated and disputatious. The coming elections will no doubt cause +great political excitement, and the new Assembly will not be very easily +managed, or be likely to win the admiration of Europe by its wisdom. It +should be remembered, however, that this lack of experience is the +misfortune and not the fault of the Bulgarians, and that Europe has not +dealt with them in a way to win their confidence and command their +respect. It has left them with a grievance which they can never forget +for a moment, which must influence all their political action, and which +forces them to maintain intimate relations with Russia, which is not a +country where they can learn political wisdom, although it has given +them a Constitution which is a model of liberality. There was nothing in +the Russian administration of the province which was adapted to prepare +them for such a Constitution, or teach them how to conduct a free and +liberal government. Prince and people have to begin everything for +themselves. Indeed, they are probably worse off than they would have +been if there had been no civil administration attempted in the province +by the Russians. An army of occupation of any country is unfitted for +the organization of civil government. This was attempted on a grand +scale in the Southern States of America after the civil war, and under +exceptionally favourable circumstances, but all these civil governments, +established and fostered by military force, were unsatisfactory while +they continued, and disappeared when the army was withdrawn. If this was +a work which could not be accomplished by the United States, and by an +army which was made up chiefly of civilians, it is not strange that, +with all possible goodwill, the Czar of Russia failed to establish a +satisfactory civil administration in Bulgaria. He gave them as good a +Prince as was to be found in the German market, and as liberal a +Constitution as any in Europe. He maintained order and protected all +classes as long as his soldiers remained in the country; but the whole +administration was necessarily Russian in its spirit and methods, and +altogether unlike what it ought to be under the new Constitution. The +Bulgarians who were trained under it will have to unlearn much that they +have learned, and begin anew, or they will fail to satisfy the people. +All this is the misfortune rather than the fault of the nation, and it +has a right to expect that Europe will be patient and friendly, while it +gains by experience the wisdom which no nation has ever acquired in any +other way. + +Prince Alexander is young, and as inexperienced as his people, but those +who know him best have confidence in his good sense, and he is said to +be not unlike the late Prince Albert in character. He will need all his +good qualities to attain success; and if successful, he will certainly +deserve to be ranked with the Prince Consort and King Leopold. His work +certainly involves more self-denial than either of theirs, and not less +tact and good sense. He was no doubt elected through the influence of +Russia; but he is no mere creature of the Czar, and has no desire to act +as a Russian agent. On the contrary, he is heartily in sympathy with the +liberal ideas of the West, and anxious to secure the goodwill of +England. Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Palgrave, the English +Consul-General, this does not seem to the Bulgarians so hopeless a task +as it once did. + +The Prince was received by his people with the greatest enthusiasm. No +sovereign was ever more heartily welcomed, and each stage of his journey +was a new triumph. He probably appreciated this all the more from the +fact that his visit to Constantinople was made as disagreeable as +possible. He was first refused permission to come at all, on the +pretence that his life would be in danger. This plea was too absurd to +deceive any one, but it might have caused serious difficulty if he had +not appealed to the Great Powers, and at the same time manifested a +disposition to conciliate the Porte by proposing to limit his stay at +Constantinople to a visit of a few hours. He arrived in the Bosphorus in +the morning, and left in the afternoon. He was received by the Sultan, +but was told that owing to the pressure of business his Firman was not +ready, and could not be delivered to him. No Bulgarian was allowed to +approach him, and no boat allowed to go out to his steamer. Large bodies +of troops were stationed along his route and about the Russian Embassy, +and he was treated very much like a prisoner of State. It is not easy to +understand why this farce was played by the Turks, or what they expected +to gain by it. They probably refused the permission in the first place +with the intention of treating him as an ordinary Turkish Vali, and +sending his Firman to be read in public at Tirnova by a Turkish +official; but after the failure of this plan there was no obvious reason +for treating him as they did at Constantinople. Some have supposed that +it was intended as a studied insult to the Prince, others that it was an +elaborate practical joke played upon the Russian Embassy, which had at +one time suggested that it was unnecessary for the Prince to come to +Constantinople, as other vassal Princes had always done. But whatever +may have been the motive which prompted this singular treatment, it only +served to make the reception of the Prince the next day at Varna more +impressive, and to give more importance to the wild enthusiasm of his +new subjects, who could not have received him with greater joy if he had +himself just delivered them from the hated rule of the Turks. He was +inaugurated at Tirnova, the ancient capital, and then went at once to +Sofia, the new seat of government. His first difficulty was the choice +of a Ministry. Two parties had already been developed in the +Constitutional Assembly which adopted the Constitution and elected the +Prince. They grew out of a difference of opinion in regard to religious +liberty, freedom of the press, the right of association, with other +similar questions, and at once assumed the names, Conservative and +Liberal. The Conservative party included the clergy of the Bulgarian +Church, and some of the best educated and most enlightened Bulgarians, +who felt that too much liberty was a dangerous thing for a people +brought so suddenly from bondage to freedom--who feared that the country +would be flooded with Nihilism, Socialism, and all other isms. The +Liberal party, however, had a large majority in the Assembly, and was +led with considerable skill by two or three experienced politicians, who +were wise enough to avoid extreme measures. When the Prince arrived, he +attempted to form a Ministry which should include the leaders of both +these parties; but for some reason the majority of those selected were +Conservatives, and the Liberals declined to serve with them, so that he +has a Conservative Ministry, with the probability that the new Assembly +will have a strong Liberal majority. This is an unfortunate beginning, +as the party conflict which is likely to ensue will probably weaken the +influence of some of the best men in the nation, who are really Liberal +in their views, but who fear that absolute liberty will degenerate into +license and sap the foundations of religion and morality. They do not +think that the people are ready for "a free Church in a free State." +They fail to see that the influence of the Church can only be +strengthened by educating the clergy and reviving their spiritual life. +The Bulgarians are naturally a religious people; but, both while they +were under the Greek Patriarch, and since they have received their +independence, their Church has been an essentially political +organization. It needs now to be spiritualized. The best men of both +parties acknowledge this; but, as in all other countries, there is a +difference of opinion as to how far it should be defended and supported +by the State. + +I have said that this division of parties was an unfortunate beginning +for this new State, but after all it is far better that there should be +real living questions before the people than that politics should +degenerate into a new struggle for office. The very discussion of these +questions will tend to educate the people and revive the Church, and it +will probably be found that when a new Liberal Ministry is formed the +responsibilities of office will make it as conservative in most respects +as the present Government. The Prince has the confidence of all the +people, and will no doubt accept the result of the coming elections as a +Constitutional sovereign, and then direct the attention of the people to +other questions of the utmost importance concerning the organization of +the various departments of the Government. No doubt serious difficulties +will be encountered and mistakes will be made, but the spirit of the +people is good. They desire good order, peace, and quiet, and they will +make every effort to secure it. They merit the sympathy and goodwill of +all civilized nations, and especially of those who believe in free +government and liberal institutions. + + +Eastern Roumelia. + +The condition of affairs in Eastern Roumelia is much less hopeful, as +the difficulties encountered in the organization of the Government are +very much greater and more numerous. North of the Balkans they are only +such as might be experienced by any new Representative Government in any +civilized country, but in the nondescript province of Roumelia the +people are suffering from evils inflicted upon them by the Congress of +Berlin. Everything is unsettled. No one knows who rules the country, or +what is the form of government. It seems to be for the interest of +certain parties to prolong this state of things and introduce as much +disorder as possible. The people are kept in a constant state of +excitement, and no one knows what to expect from one day to another. The +Congress of Berlin is primarily responsible for this, and no doubt it +was for the interest of Austria to keep up a state of anarchy and +confusion in European Turkey. It was her plan to absorb the European +provinces herself, and the way must be kept open to Salonica and if +possible to Constantinople. It is believed here that England went to +Berlin with a secret agreement to support these pretensions of Austria, +but no one sees exactly how England is to profit by this arrangement. It +is certain that no one in Turkey gained anything by the division of +Bulgaria, but the evils which have resulted would have been much less if +in addition to this division the Congress had not devised the +extraordinary scheme of giving different forms of Government to the two +Bulgarias. This plan, of course, insured the permanent discontent of the +whole Bulgarian nation, but, worse than this, it made the impression +upon the Turks and Greeks that the arrangement for Eastern Roumelia was +only a temporary one, and that by skilful agitation they might overturn +it. They have not failed to improve this opportunity. The Phanariote +and Roumelian Greeks are doing everything in their power to create +disturbance and cause difficulty in Eastern Roumelia. An unceasing +torrent of abuse is poured out upon the Bulgarians by the Greek papers +and their French organ the _Phare du Bosphore_. They are full of false +statements and misrepresentations of every kind, and a portion of the +Greeks in the province act in full sympathy with these papers. Free +Greece does not sympathize with this crusade, and an attempt was made a +few weeks since to induce the Greeks here to come to an understanding +with the Bulgarian Church, by withdrawing the excommunication and +arranging for harmonious co-operation. It is understood that the +Patriarch was in favour of this, but the Greek papers here opposed it +with a violence which was incomprehensible to the uninitiated. They +declared that "the maintenance of the schism was the only hope of +Hellenism," and appealed to the Porte to prevent by force a +reconciliation "which would inevitably result in the union of Greeks and +Bulgarians to drive out the Turks and divide the country between them," +This opposition on the part of the Phanariotes prevented the execution +of the plan. + +The Turks also are doing what they can to create disturbance in the +province, and find some excuse for occupying it with their army. This +was, of course, to be expected, and is in some degree excusable. They +naturally wish to regain possession of this rich province, and they feel +that they have cause of complaint against the Bulgarians, who do not +receive the returning refugees with much cordiality. There are real +difficulties on both sides which cannot fail to give rise to serious +trouble. It is a pity that the whole arrangement could not have been +left to a really impartial Commission, free to act on principles of +equity and common sense. The difficulties are such as these, for +example. There are many towns where the Bulgarian quarter was burned by +the Turks. When the Turks fled and the Bulgarians returned, they +occupied the Turkish houses, and they are now naturally disinclined to +give them up to the refugees and camp in the fields. Again, there are +many cases where the Bulgarians were deprived of their lands in the most +iniquitous manner some years ago, under the pretence of a new law in +regard to title-deeds. These lands were seized by rich Turks, who fled +during the war, but now come back to claim them. The Bulgarians have the +original titles and the Turks new ones. To whom do the lands rightly +belong? + +There are other cases where Turks return who are known to have taken +part in the massacres. There has been a general amnesty, but it can +hardly be expected that these persons will be well received. These are +only a few of the many difficulties connected with the return of the +refugees which irritate the Turks and the Bulgarians both; and in some +cases both parties merit our sympathy. + +In addition to these deliberate attempts to make trouble on the part of +the Turks, Greeks, and also of some few hot-headed Bulgarians who are +foolish enough to suppose that a disturbance might hasten their union +with the Principality, the confusion in the Government is a source of +constant trouble. No one knows what the Government is. The Porte claims +supreme authority, and sends peremptory orders to the Pacha. The Pacha +naturally considers himself the head of the Government. The European +Commission claims the right to exercise control whenever it sees fit. +The Consuls assume the right to intrigue or to dictate in the name of +their respective Governments. The Administrative Council, a majority of +which is Bulgarian, considers itself to be responsible for the +administration, and there is a Constitution of hundreds of articles +which is theoretically the law of the land. A National Assembly is soon +to be added to the list. The militia have been under the command of a +Levantine Frenchman, who was not responsible to the Governor, and who +does not appear to have had a single qualification for his office. +Happily he has just been replaced by a better man. + +Having inflicted all this confusion upon Eastern Roumelia, the European +Powers are complaining that the people do not know how to govern +themselves! Perhaps they do not, but as yet they have had no opportunity +to make the experiment. If peace and quiet is ever to be restored to +this unhappy province, the Government must be simplified and +consolidated; it must be left to manage its own affairs, and to make the +best it can of the elaborate Constitution which Europe has conferred +upon it. Alecko Pacha is not a great man, but he was the best man +available for his position, and he is a man who is much more likely to +throw up his office in disgust at the trouble which it gives him than to +lend himself to any scheme for resisting the will of Europe. He ought to +be encouraged and supported. The Bulgarians, who constitute the majority +of the population, are discontented at the arbitrary action which +separated them from the Principality, but they are satisfied that they +have nothing to gain from any present agitation of this question, and +they only desire to be left to govern themselves in accordance with the +decision of Europe, and to be assured that they will not be turned over +again to the tender mercies of the Turkish Government. The fear of this +is universal, and it is this fear which keeps them in a state of +constant excitement. It is not without reason. A large Turkish army is +camped on their borders. The Porte is seeking some excuse for entering +the province. Certain European representatives at Philippopolis are +always threatening this, and the people believe that they are intriguing +to bring it about. Everything is in confusion and uncertainty in regard +to the Government, and nothing seems settled. There can be no peace and +quiet in a country which is in constant fear of invasion, and something +ought to be done to remove this fear from Eastern Roumelia. The Turkish +army should certainly be removed, and the Porte should be warned to let +Alecko Pacha alone and allow him to organize his Government as best he +can. If this source of fear and irritation were removed, the Bulgarians +would accept the situation and make the best of it. It would be for +their interest to do so, and an industrious, thrifty population is +always quick to see what is for its interest. + +The gymnastic clubs, which were originally formed for another purpose, +are now kept up and supported by sober, conservative men, simply from +this fear of a Turkish invasion. If the fear were removed these +associations would be dissolved at once, as they ought to be; for +Bulgarian merchants are not in the habit of spending money for anything +which is not essential to their well-being. These clubs are not +revolutionary, but they might become a source of disorder if they were +made permanent. + +It is not probable that the European Powers will allow any invasion of +the country; but the Turks have always in hand the pretence of sending +troops to occupy the Balkans, and this fact to some extent justifies the +fears of the Bulgarians. If there were danger of another Russian +invasion, the Turks would be fully justified in occupying the passes at +once, and there is nothing in Eastern Roumelia to prevent or even delay +such an occupation; but under present circumstances, when there is +nothing to be feared from Russia--when peace and quiet is the thing of +all others to be desired--the occupation of the Balkans would be a +crime. + + AN EASTERN STATESMAN. + + + + +CONTEMPORARY BOOKS. + + +I.--HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF THE EAST. + +(_Under the Direction of_ Professor E. H. PALMER.) + + +Colonel Malleson certainly did well to claim permission to rewrite Sir +John Kaye's last volume (_History of the Indian Mutiny_, by Colonel +Malleson, Vol. I., London: W. H. Allen & Co.), and comparison of the two +may afford to the historian of the future valuable aid in interpreting +the volumes yet to come. A great part of the present must be held to be +the work of the virulent pamphleteer and violent partisan rather than of +the historian; and if the quotations of, and references to, the Red +Pamphlet indicate relations between Colonel Malleson and its author, the +publishers cannot be held to have exercised a wise discretion in their +choice. + +The task of the reviewer of such a book is unusually heavy. Book for +book, almost chapter for chapter, it is intended to replace Sir John +Kaye's work, and the reviewer therefore needs to study the two +carefully, and to compare them minutely. Colonel Malleson, no doubt, had +access to Sir John Kaye's materials, but within a certain field seems to +have been unable to see the other side of any question. To arm, to leave +Sepoys armed, is simply to detain European troops to watch them; it is +nothing that to disarm them is to drive them, and all their connections, +wild with terror as sheep marked for the slaughter; yet he cannot be +ignorant of the cases in which a few bad men committed a regiment, and +how whole regiments "went" in terror of their masters' vengeful +distrust.[105] In saying, as he does so confidently, that by enrolling +the Calcutta Volunteers on their first offer, on 20th May, Lord Canning +would have set free half a European regiment, Colonel Malleson must have +been thinking of what the Volunteers might have been fit to do had they +been enrolled and drilled six months before,--provided they had been +willing to take the day-work of garrison duty, and to think more of the +State than of the house and furniture at Ballygunj: the real profit of +the enrolment was the confidence and cheerfulness organization gave to +the Europeans themselves. And--to take a more important instance--the +"Gagging Act" was an insolent expression of distrust of Englishmen, an +attempt to prevent their opinions reaching England _in print_. For +distrust of their discretion English editors had given cause enough, and +for influencing English opinion, as Indian newspapers may be said to be +unknown in England in their original sheets, a letter from the editor of +the _Friend of India_ to any English paper would have been as sure of +English readers, and of as much weight with them, as if it had been set +up in the damp printing-house at Serampore. + +Colonel Malleson quotes from the "Red Pamphlet," as Sir John Kaye had +done before him, a smart description of "Panic Sunday." From Colonel +Cavanagh's report it seems pretty clear that the higher classes--the +"society"--of Calcutta were not among the refugees in the fort, and as +Secretaries to Government and Members of Council may be counted on the +fingers, it would be as well if the historian would name the fugitives +before death takes all who could answer the charge. We have had access +to the diary of a young civilian, then a guest of the Member of Council +who lived furthest from Government House, away in Alipore, beyond the +house of the Lieutenant-Governor and the great jail of Alipore and the +lines of the native regiment which was the great terror of Calcutta: on +that Sunday, host and guest went to the Cathedral twice as usual, and +after the evening service the guest returned home, while the host drove +to Calcutta to call on some cousins; as the cousins had driven to +Alipore, and the visitors at both houses waited a while those households +at least were afoot till a later hour than usual, and at last went to +bed as usual without closing an extra door. + +The second chapter closes with an impassioned peroration, wherein the +removal of Mr. William Tayler from his post at Patna is likened to the +judicial murder of Lally, and the starvation of Dupleix. It is clear +enough, from Colonel Malleson's account, that Mr. Tayler liked to carry +out his own plans too well to risk interference by over-frankness to his +superiors. In the face of an enemy such concealment may be as +mischievous as disobedience, and Sir John Kaye reminds us that at an +earlier date confidence in Mr. Tayler's judgment had been shaken; and +his report of his message to his district officers, the report which +immediately preceded, and probably led to, his suspension, says nothing +of the clause which sets the treasure above anything save human life. +Under any circumstances Mr. Tayler's defence is not helped by sharp +censures on Mr. Money, or by blindness to the fact that the best +intelligence made a march to Patna seem more perilous than the far +longer one through a jungle country to Calcutta. Wise after the event, +indeed, we may see that Mr. Tayler's forecast was sounder than Mr. +Halliday's; but the Lieutenant-Governor, and Lord Canning too, could +only act on the circumstances known to them, and Mr. Tayler was replaced +by an officer of yet higher rank in the official hierarchy, and probably +forestalled renewed promotion by resigning the Service as soon as he +could get a pension. But why were not his services rewarded? asks +Colonel Malleson, ready with the hard word "intrigue." But who were the +sharers in the intrigue, and who was to profit by it? Men whom Lord +Canning sharply rebuked and degraded were yet recommended by him for +honour, and no courteous letter from Mr. Talbot can do away with the +fact that the Viceroy, writing when all heat of strife was over and all +facts known, yet did not obtain for Mr. Tayler any distinction. + +On one point, however, we are bound to protest against Sir John Kaye's +harsh judgment: to him the arrest of the Wahabi leaders was a scandalous +breach of the usages of war. But they were unquestionably subjects of +the British Crown, and the question surely is--would they have resisted +arrest by ordinary process or not? If not, they had to thank Mr. Tayler +for courteous consideration in arresting them himself, and detaining +them in honourable captivity; in resisting they would have been guilty +of that rebellion against their sovereign in which there was too good +reason to believe them sharers. + +On the many points whereon both authors are in substantial accord it +would be waste of space to touch, and we pass to the other important +episode in which Colonel Malleson traverses Sir John Kaye's judgment, +and here our verdict is with the later author: in treating of Durand's +conduct at Indore, Colonel Malleson seems to have risen above the region +of personal feeling, if not of personal knowledge; so that while his +full and vivid narrative shows plainly the difficulties, political and +strategical, of Durand's position and also of his retreat, he shows as +clearly that it is no simple case of Durand _versus_ Holkar, but one in +which each may be commended without loss of credit to the other. + +So much space has been of necessity devoted to the chief points on which +the two authors are at variance, that none is left for the transactions +which Colonel Malleson's changed arrangement brings into the present +volume, though Kaye had intended for them a place in some later one. His +work in the new field makes us only the more regret that he did not +bring to his task the unbiassed mind of a man who had never known the +author of the Red Pamphlet or Mr. William Tayler. But we would, in a +concluding word, beg him to revise his Indian spelling; to a man who has +once felt the charm of a fancy rule the claims of established usage go +for nothing, but at all events he may be decently consistent; why does +Colonel Malleson double so many letters which in Urdu are single, and +why does he spell the name of the ancient and famous, if now obscure, +town of Jaunpore as though it were "the City of Life"? + +Captain Low's _History of the Indian Navy_ (2 vols., London: Bentley & +Son) has long been reproachfully demanding notice; it is easy to say +something about such a work, not easy to treat it worthily. A man could +hardly put together 1100 pages of small type without recording many +noteworthy facts, but all matters of interest might have been packed in +much smaller compass, and so packed would have found more readers and a +more favourable verdict. + +The two volumes trace the rise and fall of the Navy from its germ in the +"ten grabs and galivats" taken up for the defence of the factory and +shipping of Surat in 1615, through the period of its glory when its +ships bore the Company's flag alongside of the Royal Navy on many +hard-fought days, through its decline, when they carried mails or +transported troops with rare enjoyment of a brush, to its abolition in +our own time, when, less fortunate than its sister service, it fell a +victim to mutiny and disorders in which it had no share. + +The first period in its history ends with the year 1759, when, with the +capture of Gheriah, and the destruction of Angria's power, piracy as a +business of State came to an end, and when the ruin of the Seedee, and +the substitution of the Company as High Admiral of the Mogul Empire, +placed the local Marine first among the maritime powers of India. Its +first serious service was in the operations which broke the power of the +Portuguese in the Gulf, and in 1622 reduced Ormuz from an emporium of +proverbial wealth and magnificence to its normal condition of a poor +barren island, and for many years the Portuguese found it as much +occupation as the pirates who might well have been its first concern. No +doubt the captains of well-armed India-men, whose crews were borrowed +for service on grabs and galivats, looked down on the latter as a sort +of coastguard, but the aid of such light craft was invaluable against +the shoals of small vessels which beset new-comers fore and aft, pouring +down crowds of well-armed men from their long overhanging prows. For in +the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the shores of the Indian Ocean +swarmed with pirates, kept down indeed by the Portuguese in the heyday +of their power, but making head again till, by the middle of the +seventeenth century, according to Italian travellers, they feared none +but Dutch and English, and these only for a pestilent practice of firing +the magazine rather than surrender. Yet to the Mogul governor of Surat +probably the pirate of home growth was less objectionable than the +intrusive trader; and indeed the Nuwab was not without excuse if he +regarded the European as a more powerful pirate, seeing that some +commanders took by force goods which the native owner would not sell, +others ransacked ships not said to belong to the Mogul's ports, the +mutinous crews of others became open pirates; and lastly, we find +Captain Kidd, and other heroes of the black flag, practising their +vocation in these seas. The native pirate, the European rival, and the +professional rover, kept the local marine pretty well employed, but it +is not always easy to distinguish between the services of this body and +the Company's armed trading ships. + +Of more interest to the Mogul Government than foreign trade were the +vessels in which Mahomedan pilgrims of all ranks sailed to Arabian and +Persian shrines, and for their benefit it came to terms with the Seedee, +better known to us as the Hubshi of Jinjirah, the boldest of the +pirates, giving him a large allowance and high rank to secure his +convoy. The Company made more than one attempt to supplant him, and +indeed furnished ships to guard the Mocha-Jeddah fleet in 1698, but the +Seedee kept his office till 1759; in the general decay of the central +power he first neglected, then openly defied, the Governor of Surat, and +instead of protecting trade became its chief oppressor; till at last, in +1759, after much negotiation, the Nuwab induced the Bombay Government to +intervene, and as a reward obtained for the Company the Seedee's office. +What direct profit the Company derived from the appointment Captain Low +does not tell us; the omission can hardly be the consequence of the +lamented destruction of papers which followed the sale of the old India +House, for he records that in 1694 the Seedee's subsidy amounted to four +lacs, no doubt considerably bettered by presents, and in 1735 the money +allowance was but a lac and a half: the revenues of the districts and +customs assigned to the Company went to support the Surat squadron, but +the fees of office granted to the officer who was its deputy amounted, +to near a lac of rupees a year; it is well to remember that the holder's +gross pay was but Rs.1,000 a year, that the Governor of Bombay had but +some L500, and that till near the end of the century private trade was +allowed: no one, however, was permitted to enjoy this great prize for a +second year. Whatever were the profits to the Company, the Nuwab could +see that it did more for its wages than the Seedee, for in the next nine +years the Surat squadron destroyed near a hundred pirate vessels of the +Gulfs of Cutch and Cambay. + +After another seventy years the Bombay Marine became in name what, as +the only local armed fleet, it had long been in fact--the Indian Navy. +Wherever round the basin of the Indian Ocean there had been fighting in +those years, the vessels of the Bombay Marine had borne the British flag +with honour, though the services of officers and crews, both afloat and +ashore, had been too sparingly recognised. And in those years was +commenced the series of surveys which are still the chief authorities +for the navigation of the Eastern seas, and have given the names of +Rennie, Moresby, Haines, and Taylor a permanent place in history. But +men who entered the Bombay Marine were still serving efficiently when +the Indian Navy was abolished, in the belief that ships of the Royal +Navy would carry on the police of the seas as efficiently, but at less +annual cost, and that other arrangements might be made for the business +of inland navigation and transport; the necessity for recurrent shore +surveys seems not to have been foreseen, though already a special +department has been created and placed under a retired officer of the +Indian Navy. It is impossible not to admit that, through its want of +influential friends, the Service was treated unjustly. The guarantee of +"Colonel Sykes's clause" has, through repeated agitation, been made so +effectual for officers of the Indian Army that men of forty have retired +as full colonels, because all their regimental seniors had joined the +Staff Corps, while the officers of the Indian Navy were forced to retire +without appeal on something like the pension of their rank. But they +must have felt a grim satisfaction in knowing that they had outlived the +piracy which had been the scourge of Western India and the first cause +of the creation of the force; their last serious service was in +administering a final pounding to their old enemies the Waghers, the +last survivors of the flourishing pirate communities of Kattyawar. + +Besides surveys of the Eastern seas, European nations trading with India +are indebted to the Indian Navy for the opening up of the Overland +Route, and so, indirectly, for the construction of the Suez Canal. +Without steam, indeed, the Red Sea could never have become a highway of +commerce, while with its extended use that great canal could not for +ever be closed; but the _Hugh Lindsay_ of the Indian Navy, the first +steamer constructed in the East, which, after thirty years of service, +was still staunch enough for work as a tug at Kurachi, was the first +steamer to appear on its waters, making the voyage to and from Suez in +1830, under the command of Captain John Lindsay. The expense of the +voyage, however, was so great that, after seven trips, the Court bade +the Government of Bombay only repeat it in case of emergency, and it was +reserved for Lieutenant Waghorn, also of the Indian Navy, by sacrifice +of his private fortune and professional prospects and ten years' +unceasing labour, to prove that communication with India through the Red +Sea was not only a luxury of State, but a profitable commercial +enterprise. From his labours all have profited save himself and his +family, and the only public acknowledgment of his services is a bust in +the Canal Garden at Suez. + +With some labour, caused by the want of an index, many notices of +interest might be quarried from Captain Low's pages. The early history +of Bombay, the antecedents of the rulers of Muscat and Zanzibar, the +settlement at Aden, the true story of Perim, the achievements of the +Sepoy Marines, who are now represented by two regular regiments of the +Bombay Army, all invite notice, but our space is exhausted. Yet we must +find room to mention the self-denial of Commodore Hayes, who, rather +than embroil the Company with China, released two junks captured in +running the blockade from Batavia with Dutch property, and so sacrificed +his large share of L600,000 lawful prize; and the gallantry of +Midshipman Denton, who, unable to board a proa, lashed her bowsprit to +the taffrail of his gunboat, and so continued his course, fighting her +all the time. And for contrast with the experience of the Bay of Bengal, +where we believe that the full pressure of a great cyclone has never +been recorded, as the anemometers have broken with a pressure of sixty +pounds, we may note that, in the cyclone of November, 1854, so famous at +Bombay, the pressure did not exceed thirty-five pounds to the square +foot: with such a storm as that which raged in Calcutta in October, +1864, the whole native town of Bombay would come down like a house of +cards. We are sorry not to have been able to notice Captain Low's +labours more favourably; particular points which we had noted for +objection we will pass over in silence. + + * * * * * + +Captain Richard Burton is _facile princeps_ of modern travellers. There +scarcely any part of the world which he has not visited, and wherever he +goes he seems to have the history, geography, and ethnology of the +country at his fingers' ends. His last important contribution to +geographical science is the account of his visit to the Land of Midian, +whither he went, commissioned by the ex-Khedive of Egypt, in search of +the gold mines of which the ancient Arab geographer and others speak. +The results of his expeditions are published in two works: _The +Gold-Mines of Midian and the Ruined Midianite Cities_ (London: C. Kegan +Paul & Co., 1878) and _The Land of Midian (Revisited)_, 2 vols., issued +by the same publishers during the present year. Having received an +invitation from the ex-Viceroy, Captain Burton proceeded to Cairo in +March, 1877, where an expedition was organized for the purpose of +exploring the auriferous region. The author's comparison of the Cairo of +the present time with the city as he knew it in his old pilgrim days, +and as it is described in Lane's "Modern Egyptians," forms, although +only incidental, a very interesting portion of the book. The chapter on +Suez also is a good specimen of Captain Burton's style, and contains at +once a topographical sketch, an archaeological and historical +description, and a chatty and amusing account of the modern city, its +society, and surroundings. Midian, called nowadays by its inhabitants, +as by the mediaeval Arabic geographers, _Arz Maydan_, the Land of Midian, +is that part of Arabia which occupies the east coast of the Gulf of +Akabah, and extends some two degrees further to the south. The borders +are somewhat difficult to ascertain, and it is probable that the ancient +Midianites, like some of the larger and more powerful Bedawin tribes of +the present day, wandered far and wide, and that their limits shrunk or +extended according to their numbers, or the resisting power of their +neighbours. The ancient history of the land is told by Captain Burton in +a most exhaustive manner, the Biblical accounts being supplemented by +copious references to Greek, Latin, Jewish, and Arabic writers of all +ages. The quantity of gold, silver, and other metals mentioned in +Numbers xxxi. 22, as being produced by Midian, was curiously borne out +by the results of the expedition. A lengthy and learned notice is also +given of the Nabathaeans, whose former rock-cut capital, Petraea, is still +one of the marvels of Arabia; whose king, or ethnarch, Aretas (in +Arabic, El Hareth), is mentioned in the New Testament; and whose rule +embraced so large a portion of Syria and Arabia, and extended late into +Christian times. + +The discovery that gold existed in Midian was in the first place due to +Haji Wali, familiar to the readers of Captain Burton's "Pilgrimage to +Mecca and Medina" as the companion of the author in the caravanserai at +Cairo while preparing for the journey to Hejjaz. The old Haji was once +returning from a visit to Mecca, when halting by the shore of the Gulf +of Akabah he scooped up a handful of granitic sand which sparkled in the +bed of the wady and took it with him to Alexandria. There he took his +specimen to an assayer, and, although the glitter which had attracted +him proved only to be produced by the presence of mica, his sand when +smelted in a crucible yielded a comparatively large portion of pure +gold. The information of the discovery was not received with +encouragement by the official to whom Haji Wali communicated it, and the +latter ceased to think more of the subject. The assayer, however, set +out for the new Eldorado and lost his life, probably murdered by the +Bedawin. Captain Barton believes that the secret of the gold has never +been really lost, and that the washing of sand has always been +clandestinely carried on. Be that as it may, Captain Burton, believing +the Haji's story, endeavoured to recommend his discovery to the notice +of the Egyptian authorities, who _pooh-pooh'd_ the whole thing, and +merely remarked that gold was becoming too common. For nearly a quarter +of a century Captain Burton kept the secret to himself, but at length he +again sought out his old friend Haji Wali, obtained from him more exact +information as to the locality, and carried him off with the expedition, +the means for organizing which Ismail Pasha furnished. The results of +the expedition, which was only a pioneer one, were sufficient to +corroborate all that the Haji had said, and to confirm Captain Burton's +own prognostications drawn from the ancient sources which his extensive +learning enabled him to consult. The adventures of the party fill the +remainder of the first of his two books and form extremely pleasant +reading. + +The second of the two books contains somewhat less antiquarian research, +but more practical information than the first. It is a record of the +second expedition (also equipped at the expense of the Egyptian +Government by order of the ex-Khedive), and is full of pleasant +travel-talk and adventure. Setting out from Cairo in a sickly season and +under the most unfavourable circumstances--the resources of the country +being drained by distress at home and the Turkish-Russian war +abroad--they at length got under way once more for the desert, not +without encountering hair-breadth escapes from the bursting of some of +the tubes of the engine of their steamer. Once landed, the initial +difficulties of desert travel had to be encountered. "It had been +reported," says Captain Burton, "that I was the happy possessor of +L22,000, mostly to be spent in El-Muwaylah. The unsettled Arabs plunder +and slay; the settled Arabs slander and cheat." These, however, were +soon smoothed over by the commander's tact and firmness, the rival +claims of two tribes to act as escort were disposed of, and the work of +the expedition then began. + +The first march, through Madyan proper (North Midian), occupied +fifty-four days. The country was essentially a mining district, and very +rich in mineral wealth, though, strange to say, it had not been much +worked by the ancients. The first expedition found free gold in the +basalt, but the researches of the second yielded none. The second march, +through South Midian, lasted eighteen days. Its principal object was to +ascertain the depth from east to west of the quartz formations, and to +explore the virgin region towards the east. Here, however, they were +stopped by the exactions and turbulent conduct of the Maazeh, who tried +to pick quarrels with their Huweitat guides, and made it impossible for +Captain Burton to proceed without such loss of time and other +inconveniences as must have sacrificed the other and more important +objects of the expedition. The last journey was through the southern +portion of Midian, and lasted twenty-four days. This part of the country +has been systematically worked in former times, and it is here that the +gold and silver mines are placed by the mediaeval Arab geographers. + +Throughout Midian, ruined towns, villages, mining stations, and smelting +furnaces were found, testifying to the former mining industry of the +country, and described by Captain Burton in his usual graphic and +careful style. + +That Midian abounds in mineral wealth, and that gold and silver may be +found in plenty there, is clear both from the documentary evidence of +the author and from the testimony of the physical and geological +features of the country. The very first reconnaissance showed a +formation exactly reproducing "the conditions which Australia shows, and +which produced the huge 'welcome nugget' of Ballarat." The country also +closely resembles the known gold-working sites of Ancient Egypt, but +with _filons_ of larger size. Some of these "Ophirs of Egypt Proper" +yielded the treasury of Ramses the Great the enormous sum of L90,000,000 +a year, as hieroglyphic inscriptions tell us. Herodotus, too, tells us +of the immense wealth in the precious metals possessed by some of the +Pharaohs. The modern Bedawins have legends of "gold pieces, square as +well as round, bearing, by way of inscription, 'prayers' to the Apostle +of Allah," which Captain Burton suspects to be "the Tibr, or 'pure +gold-dust,' washed from the sands and cast probably in rude moulds." The +close proximity to the sea and the facilities of the country for +transport, it being "prepared by Nature to receive a tramway," remove +half the difficulties of working. + +That the specimens brought back by Captain Burton's expedition did not +actually yield a larger proportion of the precious metals is in all +probability due to the fact that they had no expert with them, and did +not, therefore, sufficiently seek for and select stone from the +auriferous rocks, but brought away much that the ancients had rejected, +or left as unworkable. He is, however, convinced, as the impartial +reader of his work must also be, that the gold land of Midian is still a +fine field for commercial enterprise, which would soon restore to it the +advantages which all ancient authorities declare that it once possessed. + + * * * * * + +"The Land of Midian" attracted another explorer besides Captain +Burton--namely, the late Dr. Beke, an account of whose labours has been +given to the world by his widow in a bulky volume on the subject. His +object was to discover the "true Mount Sinai," which he identified with +a certain Jebel Barguir, otherwise the "Mountain of Light," on the +Eastern shore of the Gulf of Akaba, and in which he fancied he saw the +"volcano," the existence of which he had previously conjectured in his +pamphlet, "Mount Sinai a Volcano." To make this theory accord with the +Scriptural account, he had not only to shift the scene of the Law-giving +from the Sinaitic Peninsula to the other side of the Gulf, but he was +obliged to find another Mizraim than Egypt, and boldly sacrificed +hieroglyphic, Biblical, and classic testimony, as well as that of +tradition, to his own hypothesis. In confirmation of his theory, he +found indications that the Mountain of Light was regarded as a holy +place, and discovered ancient inscriptions near the summit, of which he +brought copies home in triumph. Unfortunately, however, the name +_Barguir_ turns out to be his own corruption of _Bakir_, a well-known +Mohammedan name, and, in the present instance, that of the petty Arab +saint whose tomb gives the only sanctity the mountain may possess, while +the proper name of the mountain is Jebel el Yitm; the inscriptions are +only the ordinary Nabathaean _graffiti_ and Arab-tribe marks, which are +so common all over Arabia Petraea; and lastly, there is no volcano at +all. The volume is interesting, as it contains much topographical +information about a country the ancient history and future prospects of +which render it of the highest importance; but as a contribution to the +literature of the much-vexed question of the Exodus the late Dr. Beke's +work is absolutely useless. Whether the so-called Peninsula of Sinai is +really the scene of the early portion of that drama, the recent Egyptian +researches of Dr. Brugsch Bey have rendered very doubtful; but wherever +Mount Sinai has ultimately to be placed, it is not that discovered by +Dr. Beke. + + * * * * * + +As Mrs. Burton supplemented the "Unexplored Syria" of her husband and +the late C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake with her own more personal but none the +less interesting "Inner Life of Syria," so she has now embodied her own +impression of the various localities which she and Captain Burton have +visited during the last few years in a pleasant book entitled, _A. E. +I.: Arabia, Egypt, and India_ (London: W. Mullan & Son, 1879). Mrs. +Burton's pages are eminently readable, her powers of observation are +keen, and her descriptions always fresh and vivid. If the spots she +writes about have been often before depicted by pen and pencil, she yet +finds something new to say, and some interesting and little-known +historical incident to narrate, concerning them. The latter part of the +book, containing a history and description of the old Portuguese +settlement of Goa, and a minutely-detailed account of the life and works +of St. Francis Xavier, the Apostle of the Indies, will be new to most +readers and read with interest by all. The book is one which may be +taken up at any moment with the certainty of finding something to amuse, +instruct, or furnish food for earnest thought. + + * * * * * + +_Egypt to Palestine_, by S. C. Bartlett, though bearing the name and +address of a London publisher (Sampson Low, Marston, & Co.) on the +title-page, is evidently the production of an American firm, the name of +which, indeed, appears on some of the maps. The book is well got up, and +as a description of the localities, their antiquities and history, is +equal to the average of such publications. It is, however, entirely +composed of materials collected from the works of other authors, taken +often without acknowledgment, and is profusely illustrated by pictures +and maps copied from other works, the sources of which are never +acknowledged at all. The only passages at all original in the work are +those which describe Mr. Bartlett's own journey, the highest interest of +which consists in an occasional enumeration of the hymns he and his +companions sang to the Arabs (cf. p. 193), and which would have much the +same effect on the Tiyahah as the performances of the howling dervishes +have upon an American tourist. + + * * * * * + +Sir Lewis Pelly has published, in two handsome volumes, a literal +translation of the text of the _Miracle Play of Hasan and Husein_ +(London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1879), as performed throughout India and +Persia during the month of Mohurram, by the Shiah Mohammedans. The +progress of Islam in its early days was so rapid that, in a short time, +it had overwhelmed Persia, Egypt, Syria, and a large portion of the rest +of the Byzantine Empire in its tide of conquest. The death of Mohammed +naturally brought forward rival claimants to the supreme authority, and +the dispute ultimately resolved itself into one between Ali, the cousin +and son-in-law of the Prophet, and representative of the Hashimi clan, +and Moawiyeh, the representative of the Ommayeh family, between whom and +the Hashimis an old feud existed, originating in their rival claims to +be the hereditary guardians of the Kaabeh Temple at Mecca. These two +parties offered an obvious rallying point for the two opposing factions +in El Islam, the conquered Persians and the conquering Arabs, the former +of whom resisted the traditional ceremonial law with which their Semitic +co-religionists would have trammelled them. The consequence was that the +Aryan faction rallied round Ali, and the Arabs round Moawiyeh. The +latter proved the stronger party, and were known as Sunnis, followers of +the Sunnah or traditional law, while the adherents of the former were +designated Shiahs or Sectarians, and thus originated the first great +schism in Mohammedanism. The struggles of Ali's party for supremacy, his +own murder, and the subsequent massacre of his sons, Hasan and Husein, +who lost their lives under circumstances of peculiar atrocity, are the +incidents on which the drama is founded, and the memory of which has +kept alive the rancorous ill-feeling between the two sects. In the play +itself the historical element is largely mixed with the marvellous and +legendary, and the dramatic unities are wholly neglected; but it +nevertheless exhibits enough of the real facts to give it an intense +living interest, while the antiquated language and strange incidents +that are introduced carry us back to the remotest times. An admirable +introduction contains a notice by Dr. Birdwood, C.S.I., of the origin +of the Shiah schism, and of the ceremonies with which the Mohurram +festival is celebrated throughout India and Persia; and Mr. A. N. +Wollaston, of the India Office, has both edited the text and illustrated +it with some concise and appropriate notes. + + * * * * * + +Dr. Charles Riew has just issued the first volume of his _Catalogue of +the Persian MSS. in the British Museum_ (London: 1879), containing +Christian and Mohammedan Theology, and the works on History and +Geography of which the Museum has a large and important collection. +Amongst these are the _Jami ut tawarikh_, written in the seventh--eighth +centuries of the Hejra, and comprising the histories of all the +principal Turkish and Mongol dynasties; the _Tarikh i Rashidi_, a +history of the Khans of Mogolistan and of the Amirs of Kashgar; and the +_Zafar Namah_, the earliest authentic history of Timur, written by his +order in 1404 A.D. A brief but complete analysis of each manuscript is +given, enabling scholars to refer at once and without difficulty to any +portion of the histories without the labour of looking through an often +voluminous manuscript. The value of such a scholar-like production as +this Catalogue is cannot be over-estimated; it has, in fact, placed +within reach of the student of history most important and authentic +works, the very existence of which was unknown except to a few +Orientalists. The second volume is already complete in MS., and will be +shortly published. We shall look forward to it with great interest, as +the British Museum possesses a magnificent collection of Persian +poetical and other works. + + * * * * * + +A _Pahlavi Dictionary_, by Dastur Jamaspji Minocheherji Jamasp Asana, of +which the first two volumes have just appeared (London: Truebner and Co., +1879), supplies a want long felt by students of the old Persian speech. +Pahlavi is the name applied to the old Persian tongue, and more +particularly to that phase of it which was spoken during the reigns of +the Sassanian kings. It is of great interest to the philologist, +inasmuch as it contains a large admixture of Semitic words, derived, +however, from a different source than the Arabic element in modern +Persian, and appears to be akin to the Assyrian. It is sometimes called +_Huzvaresh_, though this word seems to be more properly applied to a +particular method of reading, by which, when a Semitic word occurs in +the text, the priest _reads_ the Aryan equivalent, just as we in English +say "pounds, shillings, and pence" when we meet with the signs L s. d., +and _read_ "namely," though we write and print "videlicet" or "viz." +Dastur Jamaspji Asana interprets the word _Huzvaresh_ to mean the +"language of Assyria," a suggestion which, if correct, throws some light +on the origin of the language. The etymology of the word Pahlavi has +been the subject of much discussion, but the latest as well as the most +reasonable conjecture is that of Dr. Haug (followed by the author of +this Dictionary), that it is identical with _Parthva_, the Parthia of +the classical writers; that most warlike and important nation having +given its name to the language, just as the province of Pars has given +the name to the language of modern Iran. The great difficulty in +compiling such a dictionary as the present, apart from the +unsatisfactory nature of the available texts, is that the alphabet is so +very vague and confused. The language contains a very great number of +sounds which the alphabet, borrowed from the Semitic, is incapable of +expressing; the same letter, therefore, is often used for different +sounds, and combinations of the various letters again often express +simple sounds. This makes the arrangement very difficult, but the author +of this work has adopted the only safe method, that of arranging the +words according to the alphabetical order of the letters rather than in +order of sounds. A table, in which the various combinations of the +letters are explained, also much simplifies reference. The author has in +all cases followed the traditional reading and interpretation of words, +leaving to the more critical scholars of Europe the task of +investigating them from a scientific point of view. + + * * * * * + +Dr. Haug's _Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the +Parsis_ (Truebner's Oriental Series, 1878) is another most important +contribution to comparative theology and philology. The nature of the +doctrines of Zoroaster and the rites and ceremonies of the Magians had +for centuries exercised the uninitiated. The earliest mention of them +occurs in the Prophet Jeremiah (xxxix. 3), who speaks of the _rab mag_ +(chief of the Magi) as forming part of the retinue of Nebuchadnezzar at +his entry into Jerusalem; Ezekiel calls the Persian king Cyrus (who +professed the religion of the Magi) the "anointed of the Lord;" the New +Testament speaks of Magi from the East--translated "wise men" in our +version--as the first to pay homage to our Lord; and the old Persian +language has supplied, through the New Testament also, the name +Paradise, which is universally employed to represent heaven throughout +the civilized world. Herodotus also mentions them, and testifies to the +purity of their worship and their morals, and other Greek as well as +Latin writers have treated at more or less length on the subject of the +Magi. But these scattered and incomplete notices were all that scholars +had until Hyde, the celebrated Oxford scholar, in 1700, collected all +the ancient sources of information into a volume _Historia religionis +veterum Persarum eorumque Magorum_. The original texts of the Zend +Avesta, &c., however, of which some manuscripts had been brought to +Europe, were still sealed books, and the Parsi priests in India and +Persia strictly refrained from affording any information upon their +contents. At length, in 1754, Anquetil Duperron, an enterprising +Frenchman, undertook a journey to India with the express intention of +procuring manuscripts and learning the Zend language, in both of which +purposes he succeeded, and published ten years later the first known +translation of the Zend Avesta. His work was by many scholars, Sir +William Jones and Richardson, the Persian lexicographer, amongst the +number, regarded as worthless, Richardson maintaining that the texts +themselves were forgeries, while Sir William Jones endeavoured to prove +that Anquetil had been the victim of priestly fraud and deception. +Nearly a century later Eugene Burnouf, an eminent French Sanscrit +scholar, proved his countryman's work to be genuine, corrected many of +his faults, and placed the study on a sounder scientific basis. Others, +especially German and Scandinavian _savants_, followed in the same path, +forming, however, different schools of interpretation, until at last Dr. +Martin Haug brought order into the confusion, and succeeded in bringing +the study of Zend within the limits of exact philological science. The +foundation of all these studies must of course necessarily be the +traditional interpretation handed down by the Parsi priests, but this +would have been comparatively useless without the investigation of +European scholars. Many of the Avesta texts are furnished with Pahlavi +translations and comments, but the Pahlavi itself was but imperfectly +understood, and the whole subject was for a long time in hopeless +confusion; the reader may, however, take up Dr. Haug's Essays with the +full assurance that he has the most trustworthy account of the Parsis, +their Scriptures, history, and religious rites, that can be now +ascertained. Anything like a _resume_ of such a work would be out of +place here, but we can cordially recommend it as, with all its recondite +erudition, a most readable book. + +Mr. Bernard Quaritch, of Piccadilly, has published a romance in modern +Arabic, entitled, _The Autobiography of the Constantinople +Story-teller_, edited by Mr. J. Catafago, a well-known Arabic scholar, +and said to be the work of an Englishman, Colonel Rous. It is +principally as a curiosity of literature that it will be read, as it +does not narrate any very novel or original adventures, and the style is +very simple and unpretending. It, however, contains some clear and +concise descriptions of many localities in the East which are but little +known to the ordinary reader, and will be welcome to the student of +Arabic as an easy text-book of the language. + + * * * * * + +Professor James Sanua, late of Cairo, is an enthusiastic politician and +an original satirist. We have just received thirty numbers of an Arabic +comic paper, written, illustrated, and published by him in Paris, and +directed against the ex-Khedive of Egypt, whose misgovernment he +mercilessly exposes, and whose deposition it was his avowed object to +bring about. The editor, a native of Egypt, and a Copt by religion, was +for many years engaged in tuition in some of the highest families of +Cairo. Possessing a keen sense of humour and a great mastery over the +Arabic language, he used to pass his evenings in improvising a sort of +dramatic entertainment, in which he himself sustained all the +characters, and in which he satirized the social foibles of his +fellow-countrymen. The originality of his _seances_ soon attracted large +audiences, and amongst the visitors and admirers were the Khedive and +the princes of his family. The opportunity was too good to be lost, and +Professor Sanua passed from mere social topics, and administered sound +and severe castigations to his august visitor for his misgovernment and +oppression of the fellaheen. This boldness drew down upon him the +displeasure of Ismail Pasha, and Abu Naddara Zerka (the Father of Blue +Spectacles), as he was nicknamed, found it convenient to withdraw to +Paris, where he published his paper. It is written for the most part in +the vulgar Egyptian dialect, and contains articles upon, and +illustrations of, the principal events of the latter part of the reign +of the deposed prince. The pictures, which are rude, but full of force, +are explained in a French introduction, which is prefixed to the +collected thirty numbers, and form a very interesting and curious record +of modern Egyptian history. + + * * * * * + +A new paper, literary and political, has just been advertised at +Constantinople. It is to be written in the Arabic language, and edited +by M. G. Dellal, a native of Aleppo, and an accomplished Arabic scholar +and poet. Modern Arabic literature is exceedingly plentiful at the +present time, and Beyrout has long been a centre of activity. Sheikh +Nasyf el Yazji, who died some few years ago, gave a great impulse to the +study of Arabic by his "Majma' el Bahrain," a book in imitation of the +"Macamat" of Hariri, and containing in a small compass more information +on the Arabs of the classical period, their customs, histories, +proverbs, &c., than perhaps any other work. Dr. Butrus Bustani, of the +same town, earned for himself a lasting name by his Arabic lexicon, +"Muhit el Muhit," which has not only a native but a European reputation; +and the same eminent scholar has established a press, from which have +emanated many standard Arabic works, and numerous translations of +valuable European works on science and history. A magazine entitled _El +Jinan_, "The Garden of Paradise," is also published there fortnightly, +and contains, besides political articles and general news, a great deal +of interesting miscellaneous information. The last important publication +of the "Matba' al Maarif," or "Scientific Press," as it is called, is an +Encyclopaedia in the Arabic language, on the plan of the European +Conversation-lexicons. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[105] The Sixth was never heard of after the massacre of its officers; a +dozen men were enough for that work, and there are those still living +who believe that the per-centage of traitors in its ranks was small. At +Benares, too, the mess-guard held the mess-premises against all comers +till the station was quiet, and then through sheer terror marched off +without plunder. + + + + +II.--CLASSICAL LITERATURE. + +(_Under the Direction of the_ Rev. Prebendary J. DAVIES, M.A.) + + +One of the most useful volumes for classical students which has seen the +light this year is the solid collection of _Specimens of Roman +Literature, illustrative of Roman Thought and Style_, edited by Messrs. +Cruttwell and Banton, of Bradfield College, and published by C. Griffin +and Co. Mr. Cruttwell is creditably known for his compendious History of +Roman Literature, and it is a happy afterthought of himself and his +composition-master to supplement that manual by the present collection +of extracts from Latin prose and poetry, designed as models for +composition, samples to be learnt by rote, and exercises in unseen +translation. The work contains above 900 passages, illustrative (1) of +Roman thought in the fields of religion, philosophy, art, and letters; +and (2) of Roman style, from the earliest date to the times of the +Antonines. Edited of necessity, by reason of their bulk, sans note or +comment, these selections are availably grouped in a preliminary +synopsis, happily headed with descriptive and apposite English titles, +and further adapted to English reference by an index of authors classed +in their periods, and another of subjects and titles of passages. It is +hard to conceive a completer or handier repertory of specimens of Latin +thought and style, and it is but fair to add that no small proportion of +the contents is comparatively novel and unhackneyed, a boon at the same +time to the exhausted composition tutor and to the acquisition-seeking, +wideawake pupil. For example, among descriptions selected in +illustration of style, we come upon passages from Ennius, Pacuvius, and +Accius, preserved in Cicero's De Divinatione and De Natura Deorum, +followed by epigrams of those elder poets, Valerius OEdituus, Porcius +Licinus, and Quintus Lutatius Catulus, embalmed in the antiquarian pages +of Aulus Gellius. The literature of Roman agriculture is represented (Sec.Sec. +31-4) by specimens of Varro de Re Rustica, directing how to choose the +best oxen for draught, or slaves for farm work; how to make a duck-pond, +or prepare a snail-bed; as well as of Columella and, of course, Virgil. +Pliny's natural history is taxed largely for characteristic +contributions: the letters of his nephew, as well as of Seneca and +Cicero, for epistolary style, as well as for philosophy, religious +views, and the like. Lucretius and Catullus are excellently represented: +as in the field of Roman drama are Plautus and Terence, with fragments +of elder playwrights. Nor is scant justice done to the purely Roman +field of satire, as is seen in apt extracts from Horace, Juvenal, and +Persius, whilst a happy selection is made of producible specimens of +Petronius. Even Roman parody is not overlooked, nor yet an insight into +Roman gastronomy. In fact, we know not where to turn for defaults in the +presence of such assiduous and various compilations. Here and there may +be detected careless printers' errors, such as _Tar_ for _Ter_. (the +abbreviation of Terence); and it would have been neater to head the +hortatory or suasory orations, illustrated in pp. 567-8, Sec.Sec. 73-5, with +an English title, rather than to describe each in mingled and maimed +speech as "a suasoria" (_i.e._, "suasoria oratio.") But the work is so +calculated to be useful to scholars and editors that we must trust its +value will be enhanced in future editions by the most careful revision. + + * * * * * + +A volume of somewhat kindred use and purpose, though of additional value +as suggestive of a standard of translation indisputably sound and high, +is the collection of _Translations_, by Professor Jebb, Mr. Jackson, and +Mr. Currey, of Trinity, Cambridge, published by Deighton, Bell, & Co., +Cambridge, and George Bell & Sons, London, just a year ago. Its +usefulness is enhanced by a fourfold applicability to the wants of +translators into Greek and Latin, and out of those languages into +English, whether in prose or poetry. The samples are, of course, limited +considerably by the area of the field they cover, but they will be +admitted to be amply sufficient for models and patterns, and no tiro, or +even advanced student, can fail to be benefited by the variety, +excellent choice, scholarly handling, brief but seasonable annotation, +and general accommodation to student-use, of the selections which form +the four divisions of this practical manual. The rule of "Ne quid nimis" +has been sufficiently respected to forbid tedious reiteration of types +of the same style, so that in Greek verse into English only three +examples of Theocritus occur, one a sweet piece of idyllic description, +a second illustrative of the mimes of Sophron, a third breathing the +Alexandrian tone of poetic stimulus to the halting liberality of the +would-be literary Ptolemies. The proportion of extracts from Homer and +the dramatists is scarcely larger, and rather guides the reader to form +a criterion of style for himself than helps him to be armed beforehand +for passages which may be set in this or that examination. In +translation the canon of accuracy and fidelity is tendered in preference +to that of liveliness and effect, though it cannot be said that Messrs. +Jebb and Jackson's translations from Plautus and Terence, or those of +Jebb and Currey from Martial, Juvenal, and Ausonius, are deficient in +the life and spirit suggested by the originals. As much may be said +without controversy for the prose models in either language; nor is it +to be lightly regarded that the aim of the editors has been to help +classical students to train themselves in preparation for examination. +Not to be prolix in notice of a volume which may be referred to again +and again in our examination of texts and school-books to follow in our +chronicle, it may be admissible to quote in Latin and English some six +lines of Professor Jebb's translation from the Phormio (pp. 140-1) as a +type of the neatness and spirit of the average of these translations. +Phormio is explaining how, with all his ebullitions, he has never been +indicted for assault:-- + + "Quia non rete accipitri tenditur neque miluo, + Qui male faciunt nobis: illis qui nihil faciunt tenditur; + Quia enim in illis fructus est, in illis opera luditur. + Aliis aliunde est periclum unde aliquid abradi potest: + Mihi sciunt nihil esse. Dices, ducent damnatum domum: + Alere nolunt hominem edacem: et sapiunt, mea quidem sententia, + Pro maleficio si beneficium summum nolunt reddere." + _Phorm._, act. ii. 2. + +"Because we do not spread nets for hawks and kites that do us harm; the +net is spread for the harmless birds. The fact is, pigeons may be +plucked: hawks and kites mock our pains. Various dangers beset people +who can be pilfered--I am known to have nothing. You will say, 'They +will get a writ of _habeas corpus_.' They would rather not keep a large +eater: and I certainly think they are right to decline requiting a bad +turn with a signal favour." + + * * * * * + +From a summary notice of these two volumes of wider range and scope, it +is an easy leap to such noteworthy classical translations and texts of +the year or season as lie on our table for review. Of the former we note +with satisfaction a new and very readable version of _The Letters of the +Younger Pliny_, literally translated by John Delaware Lewis, M.A. +(London: Trubner & Co., 1879), whose version of Juvenal's Satires some +years back was accurate, lively, and well-achieved. In approaching +another author of the silver age, well deserving of a more modern +English transcript than those of Melmoth and Lord Orrery, Mr. Lewis has +been minded to present this pleasantest of gossips, and most cultured of +letter-writers, in a guise as little as possible encumbered with notes +or excursions, and in such wise that the volume is admirably adapted for +the library table, whether the object be comparison with the Latin text, +or refreshment of the memory, anent this or that sentiment of the +many-sided and voluminous man of law and letters. Under the conviction +that enough has been done to present Pliny himself to his readers in the +volumes by Church and Brodribb (in the Ancient Classics), and by +Pritchard and Bernard, as well as the notices of life and letters by W. +S. Teuffel and English bibliographers, Mr. Lewis has confined himself to +the briefest of introductions, and been content to bestow most pains on +apt and parallel English counterparts to the expressions and idioms of +the Latin. Thus the task undertaken has been made to assume an easy, +unaffected form, at the same time that it is calculated to stand close +examination by the criterion of the Latin text. A good specimen both of +the gossiping author and his latest translator might be cited from Book +II. 6 to Avitus, in which is described the triple-graded dinner given by +a shabby, purse-proud host (=a=) to himself and his intimates, (=b=) to +his lesser friends, (=g=) to his freedmen at the same board, but of fare +graduated according to degree. Pliny tells his correspondent that he +demurred to this procedure to his next neighbour at table, and +propounded his own practice on this wise: "I invite people to dine, not +to be invidiously ticketed, and I treat as my entire equals in all +respects those whom I have already made my equals by inviting them at my +table." And this equality, for the time being, he extended to his +freedmen, on the sensible point of view that they were then his guests, +not his freedmen. In the same book (letter 15) occurs a letter of Pliny +to Valerianus, brief enough for quotation, and yet expressing with +lively brevity more than one home truth for those who realize Horace's +sketch, "O si angulus iste proximus accedat." "How," he asks, "does your +old Marsian property treat you? And your new purchase? Are you pleased +with the estate now that it is your own? Indeed, nothing is so agreeable +when you have once got it, as it was when you longed to have it. As for +me, the farms which I inherited from my mother treat me but so-so: yet +they delight me as coming from my mother; and besides, long endurance +has hardened me: constant growling comes to this at last, that one is +ashamed to growl." Next but one to this letter comes one of those +charming descriptions which are, _par excellence_, Pliny's _chefs +d'oeuvre_, minutely detailing the features and attractions of his +villas. These constitute to the young student so many _loci classici_, +by no means to be overlooked in preparation for facing the test-paper of +a scholarship examination, and it is sound counsel to candidates for +such to avail themselves of a translation like Mr. Lewis's for general +purposes, taking such letters as the one alluded to (II. xvii.) for +special study and comparison with its original. Here, as elsewhere, Mr. +Lewis adds pertinent and sensible notelets in cases of difficulty; but +it is only fair to say _a propos_ of the, as he would seem to imply in +his preface, long-since shelved translation of Melmoth, that in Bohn's +Classical Library (George Bell & Sons) will be found a revision and +correction of _The Letters of Caius Plinius Coecilius Secundus_, as +translated by Melmoth, annotated and otherwise accommodated to modern +reading by the Rev. F. C. T. Bosanquet, B.A., of Gonville and Caius +College, Cambridge, which will be found in all respects excellently +suited for the need of the current reader. Whilst here and there the +style of Melmoth strikes us as forgetting itself for a brief space, +where the modern editor has felt bound to interpose a more literal +rendering, and in such cases it is simpler to refer to the uniform +translation of Lewis, it is certainly a real boon to have the notes of +Bosanquet's Melmoth's Pliny to consult, whether they represent the +explanatory and illustrative labour of Melmoth, and his literary or +antiquarian contemporaries, or the careful supplementary illustrations +of his accommodator to modern eyes. So much explanation is due to one of +the best recent volumes of Bohn's Classical Series (1878). + + * * * * * + +The feeling is more mixed with which we touch upon Mr. T. Hart Davies's +_Translation of Catullus into English Verse_ (London: C. Kegan Paul & +Co., 1879), the author of which is a quondam Oxonian in the Indian Civil +Service. Fully persuaded that Catullus is very untranslatable, and that +the subtle charm of his dainty versification evaporates, it is evidence +alike of Mr. Hart Davies's courage and culture that, afar from classical +libraries, he has recreated his mind and tastes with the reproduction of +one of the most genuine classical poets; given us anew the touching +songs to Lesbia, and the unequalled nuptial songs (lxi. and lxii.); and +rendered with more or less success the pictorial epic, in petto, of the +marriage of Peleus and Thetis, and the pathetic allusions to an +early-lost brother in the poem to Hortalus. He deserves, too, the praise +of having read carefully the recent literature of the subject, and +guaged with creditable acuteness and discrimination the lucubrations of +Professor R. Ellis, the criticisms of Mr. Munro, and the critical essays +of Schwabe, Heyse, and Couat. He hesitates, however, it would seem, to +accept Munro's well-sustained rehabilitation of Caesar and Mamurra (_a +propos_ of Poem xxix. on Caesar), and in two or three passages seems to +us to err in point of prolixity, which is as foreign as can be conceived +to the style of his original, as well as, in one or two places, in +misconception of his sense. In either aspect, he cannot be regarded as +competing (which indeed he does not aspire to do) with Theodore Martin: +but we cannot honestly say that we regard his version of the Atys as an +improvement in readableness on that of one of the ablest of critics, but +most puzzling and hopeless of verse-translators, Professor Robinson +Ellis. Indeed, it is a question whether he has imported any improvement +into the rendering of his Galliambics by adopting the Tennysonian rather +than the Catullian rhythm and measure. Mr. Hart Davies is mostly happy +in his shorter versions. The invitation to Caecilius is bright and brisk +(p. 33): there is a touching sadness in the lines to Cornificius (p. +35). The stanzas to the poet's self on the "Coming of Spring" (p. 43) +breathe much of the tiptoe of expectation and love of adventure infused +into the original lines. And as a neat sample of the translator's muse +may be quoted the transcript of the "Lines to Sirmio," adequately +executed, and endorsed with some of the original pathos and +picturesqueness-- + + "Sirmio, fairest of all isles that be, + Or all peninsulas that ocean laves, + Whether around them roll the mighty sea, + Or a lake's placid waves. + Thee with what joy, what rapture do I view, + Returned from Thynia and Bithynia's plain! + I scarce can credit that the bliss is true + Thee to behold again. + Oh! what more blessed is than labours past! + In weary wanderings abroad we roam, + Then spent with toil we come again at last, + Seeking our rest at home. + This for our toils the sole reward is found, + Hail, lovely Sirmio, and thou Lydian mere! + And now, my home, let all thy laughter sound, + Now is thy master here." + +Mr. Hart Davies's temporary exile has obviously the solace of +scholarship. + + * * * * * + +If a wide divergence from the beaten track into fresh fields and +pastures new be a merit, as it must be to jaded schoolmasters, if not to +school-boys, some praise should be accorded to Mr. Heitland, a Fellow +and Lecturer of St. John's, Cambridge, and his coadjutor, Mr. Raven, for +having furnished the Pitt Press Series with so good an edition of that +part of the _History of Quintus Curtius_, which relates to the Indian +expedition of Alexander the Great. The subject, author, and hero are to +modern readers novel and unhackneyed: and there is that suspicion of +imperfect knowledge attaching to all three which sets the mind on the +qui vive to acquire what is knowable about them. For such an undertaking +no better guides could be needed. An introduction primes the student +with the needful information (=a=) as to Curtius and his book; (=b=) as +to Alexander's career; while Appendix D (187-9) supplements from Mr. +Talboy Wheeler's "History of India from the Earliest Ages" the general +and current information as to the plan of his Indian campaign. Anent the +date and authorship of Curtius's history, it is shown to be the work of +Q. Curtius Rufus, a rhetorician of the reign of Claudius, and referable +to the silver age of Latin literature. His transparent imitation of Livy +has suggested the not improbable supposition that he may have been even +that historian's pupil, nor is it an impertinent criticism of the +editors' that in common with that master Curtius seems to ignore the +"high aims and farsightedness which give its grandeur to Alexander's +character." The string of notable usages in Curtius's style, given in +pp. 14-15, exhibits more than one palpable Livianism; and the use of +poetical language bespeaks his attentive study of Virgil. Tiros will be +comforted by hearing that "if Curtius is less pleasant to read than +Livy, he is also less difficult." The criticisms of the editors on the +grounds of his historical value at the revival period are interesting +and perspicuous, and the special interest of the particular portion of +history adopted as a specimen of the author needs no apology in a +country where the reigning sovereign has the collateral title of Empress +of India. Six chapters of the eighth Book bring the reader through the +country west of the Indus to the bank of that river, its passage, and +the ensuing battle on the eastern bank, with the defeat of the army of +Porus; whilst the ninth Book embraces Alexander's advance through the +Punjab, his operations in descending the Jhelam and Chenab, his descent +of the Indus, and exploration of its mouth, with an account also of the +homeward march; and the least that can be said of Messrs. Heitland and +Raven's editorial work, whether critical or explanatory, is, that no +difficulty of text is overlooked or imperfectly handled, no discrepancy, +as comparing Curtius with parallel authorities, ignored. A test-passage, +wherein to prove this statement, may be taken in the fourteenth chapter +of the eighth Book, the battle between Alexander and Porus, which is +described with unflagging care and zeal from first to last, the +situations and details being compared, and, where possible, reconciled +with Arrian, the poetical phrases characteristic of Curtius pointed out +and illustrated, and the unusual words, _e.g., copidas_ ("choppers" like +a Goorka knife, the =kopis= from the same root as =kopto=), clearly +though succinctly explained. On Alexander's order to Coenus in Sec.Sec. 15 of +the battle chapter, "ipse dextrum move et turbatis signa infer" (advance +the right wing, &c.), an excellent note, for which Mr. Heitland +undertakes the sole responsibility, accredits him, in our judgment, as a +most sound historical commentator, by the exhaustiveness wherewith he +reconciles Arrian and Curtius's view of Alexander's position and +movements, and those of Coenus. The former with the main body took the +Indian horse in flank, before they could change their front, and enabled +Coenus to fall on what had been their front but was now their disordered +flank: and as to the difficulty in the way of this explanation, that +according to Arrian the war-chariots were in front of the Indian horse, +it is justly deemed easier to conceive Coenus eluding these clumsy +adversaries, than Alexander expecting him to see from the Macedonian +left the right moment for his own charge, and then wheel round the whole +Indian army, and execute his orders opportunely. With the same lucidity +is the whole narrative commented on: and every geographical, historical, +or military difficulty investigated, with a commendable eye both to +ancient and modern references and authorities. Equally interesting, too, +will be found the elucidations of questions of style, such as in viii. +Sec.Sec. 10, where "igni _alita_ sepulchra" reveals a certainly post-Augustan +but doubtfully Ciceronian form; or as in viii. 14 Sec.Sec. 41 the use of +"malum" (plague take you) borrowed interjectionally from the comic poets +and, as is shown in the notes ad loc., from Cicero De Off. ii. Sec.Sec. 53. +Students, however, must search this volume minutely to understand aright +the helps it affords to their just estimate of Quintus Curtius Rufus as +a rhetorical moralist and historian, worthy of perusal in the wake of +Livy and of Seneca. Maps, indices, and list of names, are given, which +will be found of service. + + * * * * * + +For our next topic of criticism recourse must be had to Ciceronian +Latin, and to the famous speech of Rome's greatest orator, which is +generally reckoned the first of his public and political orations. +Called in the MSS. the speech "De imperio Gnaei Pompeii" "apud Quirites" +it is better known as the oration _pro lege Manilia_, and because there +is no compendious school edition of this speech, apart from others of +the same orator in the hands of English school-boys, Professor Wilkins, +of Owens College, has judiciously undertaken to prepare an edition of +it, with the cognizance, sanction, and assistance of Karl Halm, of +Munich, and his smaller edition for English students. The English +professor's name is a sufficient earnest of his work's thoroughness, and +though it might be matter of doubt whether his historical introduction +of over forty pages is not unnecessarily circumstantial (we note that in +Chambers' preface to the same oration in the "Ciceronis Selectae +Orationes," 1849, of their Educational Course, it is limited to two), it +must be admitted that a complete preliminary summary has the result of +shortening afterwork by admitting of copious references to it in the +notes in place of explanation. Such is certainly the case with Mr. +Wilkins's present task (_M. Tullii Ciceronis De Imperio Gnoei Pompeii +Oratio ad Quirites_, by A. S. Wilkins, M.A., Professor of Latin in the +Owens College, Manchester. London: Macmillan & Co., 1879), where the +introduction traces consecutively the career and campaigns and varying +fortunes of Mithridates, during over twenty years, through his struggles +with Lucullus, and his easy resistance to Acilius Glabrio, down to the +period when the tribune Manilius proposed a Bill to commit the conduct +and consummation of the war to the then favourite of fortune, Pompey +the Great. Against this Bill were arrayed the Moderate Republicans, and +the talents of the orator Hortensius, whilst on behalf of it spoke +Julius Caesar, either with an eye to a future precedent in his own case, +or perhaps to create a reaction. It is probable, however, that the +masterly eloquence of Cicero in defence of the Bill, and his exhaustive +demonstration of Pompey's fitness for the supreme command against +Mithridates, were the causes of the general and irresistible acceptance +of the Manilian proposal. As Mr. Wilkins notes at the close of his +introduction, this speech contains the best example from antiquity of +the regular arrangement of a speech of the deliberate class, while the +third section of the argument presents a model of demonstrative oratory +scarcely paralleled in the days of the Republic, except in the funeral +orations. As has been already remarked, the fulness of Professor +Wilkins's introduction tends to disencumber his commentary and its notes +of digressive and indirect matter; and the result is highly favourable +to the due mastery of the sense and gist of the oration by the patient +student. Every passage has its critical difficulties explained; every +uncommon construction or use of a word is noted; every antithesis is +pointed out by the observant editor. In the first class may be instanced +the use in c. ii. of _vectigalibus_ in the masculine gender for +_tributaries_, which has its parallel in Sec. 45; in the third the contrast +in c. iii., between "In Asiae luce h.e," "in the foreground of Asia," +_lux_ being used of what is present to the eyes of all, and open to +extensive commerce, as opposed to "_Ponti latebris_," as the +hiding-place of Mithridates is termed just before. In the same chapter +there is an antithesis, as is well shown in the description of past +generals having carried off _insignia victoriae, non victoriam_, "only +triumphs, not a victory;" and as a sample of other notes dealing with +fiscal duties and such like, we may notice those in c. vi., on "ubertate +agrorum" "magnitudine pastionis," and the sources of revenue farmed by +the "publicani." In the same passage _scriptura_ is the "rent for +pasturage," and _custodiis_ (Sec. 16) = "coastguard posts, to prevent +vessel unloading unless at the emporia where there were custom-houses." +For _publicanis omissis_, a despaired-of reading in c. vii. Sec. 18, the +editor adopts the conjecture _publicanorum bonis_ or _fortunis amissis_; +and indeed seldom fails in the likeliest cure for a corrupt word or +text. Incidentally he is rich in rules for orthography, as where on "tot +milibus" he cites Lachmann (Lucret. i. 313) for the use of the single +_l_ where a long _i_ is followed by a short one in the next syllable; +nor does he fail to note any memorable change of construction, _e.g._, +where in c. xiii. in the sentence, "_Hiemis_ enim non _avaritiae_ +perfagium majores nostri in sociorum atque amicorum tectis esse +voluerunt," we have a change from the objective to the subjective +genitive, "a refuge _from_ the winter, not _for_ avarice." But enough +has been said to signify the merit of this handbook; and we must deal +more briefly with such other Latin volumes as are still on our list. + + * * * * * + +Among these perhaps Mr. Reid's Laelius (_M. Tullii Ciceronis Laelius de +Amicitia_, by James S. Reid, M.L.: Cambridge University Press, 1879) is +the most notable, an edition based mainly on Seyffert's elaborate +edition, yet evidently strengthened by seasonable comparison with the +best German editions. Mr. Reid disowns acquaintance with any English +edition of the Laelius, having only heard of that of Mr. Arthur Sidgwick, +when his own was far advanced through the press. The object and purpose +of the edition is twofold, viz. (1) elucidation of the subject-matter +and comparison of the editor's own conclusions touching it with those of +other editing scholars; and (2) a thorough elucidation of the Latinity +of the dialogue, a task to which all who are cognizant of his edition of +Cicero's speeches for Archias and for Balbus will admit his eminent +fitness. A fourfold introduction summarises the salient points of +Cicero, as a writer of philosophy; the scope of this treatise on +"Friendship:" the structure, personages, and other circumstances of the +dialogue, and a quasi-dramatic analysis of the same. It will be found +that Cicero, whilst having no sympathy with the Epicurean philosophy of +his day, sided mainly with the Peripatetics, though inclining in a few +points of detail to the Stoics. An instructive disquisition on the +sources of the dialogue opens out various clues to inquiring students, +and suggests particularly minuter testing of the question how far Cicero +directly imitated Plato's Lysis, which is perhaps more probable than +that he used for it the Nicomachean Ethics, although, in form, beyond a +doubt the Laelius is more Aristotelian than Platonic. The "mitis +sapientia Laeli" in the dialogue stands out in contrast with the genial +learning of Mucius Scaevola and the severer cultivation of Gaius Fannius. +An interesting passage in the dialogue is that in which Laelius states a +question relating to friendship, in which he was to some extent at issue +with Scipio, viz., the difficulty of friendship enduring a whole +lifetime. Scipio held the negative view, and Laelius demurred to it, and +in c. x., xi., &c., the occurrences which tend to break off friendship +are enumerated. In the tenth chapter are to be found two or three very +apt elucidations of the text, such as that on the construction of +"contentione condicionis," and the sense of condicio (not "conditio") in +Sec. 34, but one note (16) on "optimis quibusque" stands out as a sample of +exhaustive criticism. The argument of Laelius is that there is no greater +curse in friendships than, in the run of men, the desire of money; in +the best, the desire of honour and glory: "in optimis quibusque honoris +certamen et gloria." Let us see how Mr. Reid examines this last clause, +which he compares with the sentiment, "optimus quisque gloria maxime +ducitur," in the oration for Archias. The best authors, it is shown, use +only the _neuter_ plural of _quisque_, and that with a superlative; Cic. +Fam. vii. 33, where we have "literas longissimas quasque," being +exceptional, because literae, "an epistle," has no singular. Mr. Reid +instances, indeed, from the De Officiis ii. 75, "Leges et proximae quaeque +duriores," but only to propose an emendation to a senseless reading, +viz., "Leges, et proxima quaeque"--_i.e._, "laws, and harsher each of +them than its predecessor." In the present case, he adds, "quibusque" +may be used for =hekastois= in the sense of "each set of people," or the +plural may be due merely to assimilation with "plerisque." In a note on +the difficult passage, p. 41, "et minime tum quidem Gaius frater, nunc +idem acerrimus," Mr. Reid, rightly, it should seem, adopts the +interpretation of Madvig, Opusc., 2, 281, that _minime_ qualifies _acer_ +to be supplied from "acerrimus." This sample of interpretational tact +must suffice from a copious inventory; and with reference to helpful +elucidation of matter and illustration of proper names, quotations, +adagia, and what not, it need only be said that it is in this edition +always sound and seasonable. + + * * * * * + +For the same employers, the Syndics of the Pitt Press, Mr. A. G. +Peskett, M.A., of Magdalen College, has carefully edited the fourth and +fifth books of Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War, _Gai Juli Caesaris +De Bello Gallico Commentariorum, IV. V._ (Cambridge University Press, +1879), with a helpful commentary derived from study of German and +English editors, and speculations on the topographical, geographical, +and astronomical problems involved in Caesar's account. These books, it +will be remembered, contain _inter alia_ the description of Caesar's +Bridge over the Rhine, his preparations for invading Britain, his first +somewhat abortive attempts, and then, after a winter in Italy and +Illyricum, his maturer arrangements, and landing--not without damage to +his fleet--on the shore of Britain. The second of these campaigns +embraces the narrative of the treachery of Ambiorix and the utter defeat +of the Romans, v. 36-7. In the fourth book, one of the most interesting +problems is the construction of Caesar's Rhine Bridge, c. 17; whether +Caesar's method of strengthening the four bearing piles with their +transverse beams was (as Kraner and Heller practically agree) by four +fibulae at each junction of the beam with the piles (eight in all), or, +as Cohausen believes, by two fibulae at each end, one serving instead of +cross-piece c, in fig. 1, for the beam to rest upon. Napoleon's view of +the fibulaae, given in fig. 4, p. 63, is far less tenable, and the most +reasonable view is that of Heller. In c. 36, Book V., note, we have good +examples of the actual words of Ambiorix to Titurius, as they may be +gathered from the _oratio obliqua_ in which the historian casts them. In +c. 37, it should seem that the reading _lapsi_ has less likelihood, +though better authority, than "elapsi," and Napoleon's identification of +the site of the battle is shown to be accurate, in a note discussing the +topography of Tongres, the Geer, and the village of Lowaige. From a +cursory examination of this edition of two interesting books of Caesar's +Gallic War we should be disposed to congratulate the young student of +intelligence, into whose hands a volume at once so helpful and so lucid +may fall. There remains on our list only one Latin volume, the third +part of Professor Mayor's Juvenal for Schools, containing Satires X. and +XI. But this, as well as a batch of recent editions of Greek plays and +Greek authors, such as Xenophon, Lucian, &c., must be postponed until +another time. + + + + + + +III.--ESSAYS, NOVELS, POETRY, &c. + +(_Under the Direction of_ MATTHEW BROWNE.) + + +In referring to two more of Messrs. Macmillan and Co.'s _English Men of +Letters_ we shall reproduce, reckless of the charge of "damnable +iteration," the charge we have made before. Here is _Burke_, by Mr. John +Morley, and _Hume_, by Professor Huxley, each volume containing over two +hundred close pages; and most admirable volumes they are. But let us +turn again to the prospectus and note its language: "These Short Books +are addressed to the general public with a view both of stirring and +satisfying an interest in literature and its great topics in the minds +of those who have to run as they read." This language is both wide and +careful; the old metaphor may be read more or less loosely, of course; +and it may be said that those who care much for Burke and Hume must be +provided for in the series, and that the writers who deal with them have +treated their topics as pleasantly as may be. We do not deny this, and +the little volumes are substantial additions to the literature of the +day. But they are not for readers who have to run with their books in +their hand. + +Mr. John Morley's estimate of Burke is known to us all, and it is what +might be expected. As a philosophical politician, and as a speculative +writer in general, Burke, of course, pleases Mr. Morley by the positive +tendencies of his mind. We are pleased to see that he assigns its due +rank to the too often underrated Inquiry about the Sublime and +Beautiful. But Mr. Morley has perhaps the fault which Sterne told his +friend the Count belonged especially to the French; he is "too serious." +Of course, Burke is a great man, and one must not cut jokes in a memoir +of him--at least one must not if one can't. But it is quite certain +Sydney Smith would have done it; and there are many ways in which a page +may be lit up. Well worth notice, as an amusing touch, was that passage +in the Inquiry in which Burke speaks deprecatingly of Bunyan, because he +did not write like Virgil, and though the present work "is biographical +rather than critical," we miss a number of amusing anecdotes. This may +be the result of literary fastidiousness on Mr. Morley's part, but, if +so, we submit that the fastidiousness is carried too far. There is a +little story that some one (we forget the name at the moment) who had +lost largely by investing in some West Indian property, alleged that he +had been induced to invest by Burke's glowing descriptions of the +country, and that Burke replied, "Ods boddikins! must one swear to the +truth of a song?"--or in very similar language. Now this is really +illustrative. We can by no means agree with Mr. Morley that Burke was +free from the vicious tendencies of the rhetorician, not to say the +rhetorical Celt. He had the Celtic leaning towards forlorn hopes, and +the Celtic want of truthfulness. Of course, the Dr. Richard Price, who +is so contemptuously treated in the "Reflections," was a much smaller +man than Burke, but he had more love of truth and more capacity of +adhering to principle in his little finger than Burke had in his whole +nature. Mr. John Morley does his friendly and ingeniously reticent best +for him; but students who reject the "positive" method (except as an +auxiliary or a check) will persist in thinking that the painful tangles +of the great man's life, and the blind alleys and other faults of his +writings, were the result of his deficiency on the side of truthfulness. +It will be doing anything but injustice to Burke, Mr. Morley, or the +reader, if we call particular attention to p. 173 and so on to p. 177 +inclusive. They give a bird's-eye view of the most important part of the +subject; they contain instructive comparisons between Burke, Sir Thomas +More, and Turgot: and they seem to us to contain large proof in small +compass of what Mr. Morley will of course not admit--namely, Burke's +want of love for the truth, and his incapacity for abstract speculation. + +As a reasoned account of the life and writings of the subject of the +book, Professor Huxley's _Hume_ is one of the very best of the +series--we were going to pronounce it the best, but remembered in good +time that we had not seen them all. In any case it is excellent. It does +not seem to us that Hume's "Description of the Will" is grammatically +open to the criticism on p. 181. But comment like this would be useless +unless we gave the reader an opportunity of judging. This is Hume's +"description of the Will," as quoted by Professor Huxley:-- + + "Of all the immediate effects of pain and pleasure there is none + more remarkable than the _will_; and though, properly speaking, it + be not comprehended among the passions, yet as the full + understanding of its nature and properties is necessary to the + explanation of them, we shall here make it the subject of our + inquiry. I desire it may be observed that, by the _will_, I mean + nothing but _the internal impression we feel and are conscious of, + when we knowingly give rise to any new motion of our body, or new + perception of our mind_. This impression, like the preceding ones of + pride and humility, love and hatred, it is impossible to define, and + needless to describe any further."--(ii. p. 150.) + +And this is Professor Huxley's comment:-- + + "This description of a volition may be criticized on various + grounds. More especially does it seem defective in restricting the + term "will" to that feeling which arises when we act, or appear to + act, as causes: for one may will to strike, without striking; or to + think of something which we have forgotten." + +But is not this met by the last six of the words which Professor Huxley +has italicised? They are certainly very wide, and one might ask, in +addition, what word of absolute "restriction" is employed by Hume in +this passage? He indicates what he means by the word "Will," by saying +that it is what we are conscious of upon certain occasions, and this +gives a clue to the quality of the sensation; but it was obvious, and +did not need saying, that the quality of the sensation might remain, +though its complete outcome were baulked. + +In presenting and criticizing Hume's views upon such topics as Theism, +Immortality and Miracles, Necessary Truth, &c., Professor Huxley is, so +far as we have discovered, both accurate and candid. It is only +necessary to suggest that the reader should keep his eyes open--for +there is really not one new word to be written upon these matters. + +It is not often that you are told what a man died of. You are put off +with some such phrase as "a painful malady," or a "family complaint." +Yet, it is often just what we desire to know, because the illness from +which a man suffers stands in direct relation to his power of work and +his capacity of endurance. Consumption, except in its later stage, is +not usually painful. Nor does it necessarily make work difficult. The +same may be said of maladies which come on paroxysmally, and leave those +blessed intervals of ease of which Paley, himself a sufferer, writes +with such unaccustomed tenderness. In the _Gibbon_ of this series, Mr. +Morison slurred over the very curious, perhaps unexampled fact, that +Gibbon had long concealed a bad hernia and had done nothing for it. It +finally killed him, but that with his amazing corpulence he could live a +long time with a serious rupture, and keep his general health and his +placidity, is very interesting. Professor Huxley tells us point-blank +what Hume died of, and it is quite as well for biographers to be +specific in such matters. We may just inquire, in passing, where the +Professor got his "_solid_ certainty of waking bliss"? It seems pedantic +to notice every trifle of this sort, but if small errors in quotation +were, so to speak, nipped in the bud, many logomachics would be saved. +How much discussion, in pulpits and out of them, has been wasted upon +the supposition that Pope wrote that "an honest man's the _noblest_ work +of God." Whereas Pope wrote "noble," and it was Burns, in the "Cotter's +Saturday Night," who started the error. Now "solid" is as good sense as +"sober," but the latter is what suits the verse best, and it is what +Milton made Comus say. + + * * * * * + +The "run" upon Dante continues. Here is _Dante: Six Sermons_, by Philip +H. Wicksteed, M.A. (C. Kegan Paul & Co.) "In allowing," says Mr. +Wicksteed-- + + "the publication of this little volume, my only thought is to let it + take its chance with other fugitive productions of the pulpit that + appeal to the press as a means of widening the possible area rather + than extending the period over which the preacher's voice may + extend; and my only justification is the hope that it may here and + there reach hands to which no more adequate treatment of the subject + was likely to find its way." + +The sermons were delivered first at Little Portland Street Chapel, where +Mr. Wicksteed succeeded Dr. Martineau, and afterwards at the Free +Christian Church at Croydon, where the Rev. Rodolph R. Suffield formerly +preached, but where the Rev. E. M. Geldart is now (we believe) the +minister. The book contains only about 160 pages, and gives a very +readable and complete account both of Dante and his poetry. The style is +that of the pulpit, iterative, florid, and full of amplifications; but +that was natural. It is a serious matter, however, that the author keeps +up his strain of eulogy from end to end at a pitch which has an almost +_falsetto_ sound with it. It seems hardly fair to leave unnoticed the +charges of artificiality and worse which have been abundantly made +against Dante and his poetry, especially as this book is intended for +popular use; and it is a pity that Mr. Wicksteed should go out of his +way to settle difficult questions in this off-hand way:-- + + "It is often held and taught, that a strong and definite didactic + purpose must inevitably be fatal to the highest forms of art, + must clip the wings of poetic imagination, distort the symmetry of + poetic sympathy, and substitute hard and angular contrasts for the + melting grace of those curved lines of beauty which pass one into + the other. Had Dante never lived, I know not where we should turn + for the decisive refutation of this thought; but in Dante it is + the very combination said to be impossible that inspires and + enthrals us. A perfect artist guided in the exercise of his art by + an unflagging intensity of moral purpose; a prophet, submitting + his inspirations"-- + +and so forth, in the same strained and insistent key. But no wise critic +has ever said that "a strong and definite didactic purpose must +inevitably be fatal to the highest forms of art." What is maintained on +_that_ side of the debate is that the "purpose" must not be permitted to +shape the poem; that the poem itself must be moulded upon lines of +beauty and not of "moral purpose"--though the "moral purpose" may be +immanent in the work. But who is bound to take Mr. Wicksteed's word for +the statement that Dante's great poem is not the very strongest +confirmation in all literature of the truth that a _controlling_ and +_interfering_ moral purpose injures a poem, Milton's "Paradise Lost" +being the next strongest? + + * * * * * + +A well-known, and also imperfectly known, "nook in the Apennines" is the +Republic of San Marino, about which there is a good deal of information +in _A Freak of Freedom; or, The Republic of San Marino_, by J. Theodore +Bent (Longman, Green & Co.) It appears to be partly the record of a +visit paid by the author to the spot in 1877, and is illustrated by +fifteen woodcuts from the author's own drawings, to say nothing of a +map. Mr. Bent was presented with the freedom of the Republic, and we do +not know that any one, except another citizen of it, or some near +neighbour, could criticize his little book to much advantage. But we +trust he will permit us to remark that he might have made his work more +amusing and instructive. There is a good deal about the place in +Addison, and this is referred to (among other interesting matters) in an +article in Knight's "Penny Magazine" for May 31st, 1834. But, though we +have not time to make references, we have a strong impression that there +are many descriptions, new and old, of San Marino, which it would have +been refreshing to quote. We know, however, of no work which gives so +much information as Mr. Bent's. + + * * * * * + +It might be the subject of a very plausible doubt whether French novels +of a high order ought to be translated into English, since those who are +really capable of understanding and enjoying them will be certain to +understand French, and since, moreover, the finest qualities of the +writing must disappear in the process of translation. Then, with regard +to French novels of a much lower class, they are not worth the trouble +of turning into English; are more likely in themselves to do harm than +good; and their reproduction in our language cannot tend to encourage +"native talent." We have before us, from Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston, +Searle, & Rivington, _The Cat and Battledore, and other Tales_, by +Honore de Balzac, translated into English by Philip Kent, B.A. (3 vols.) +Perhaps it was not a bad idea to give the merely English reader some +chance of appreciating the extraordinary qualities of the author of "Le +Pere Goriot," "Le Peau de Chagrin," and "La Recherche de l'Absolu" +(neither of which is, the general reader may be told, in this +collection): but Balzac is not a writer with a soul in him, and the +experiment need not be carried any further. Those who know nothing of +Balzac, and who read novels simply for excitement, will be glad of these +three volumes, and the glimpse they give of an unique writer; but to +studious readers Balzac's novels have an interest which is mainly +psychological. The preface (here translated) to the "Comedie Humaine" is +a strange presumptuous medley, which raises, like all the author's most +characteristic works, the question of perfect sanity--a question which +Mr. Leslie Stephen once opened very acutely, and dismissed too curtly. +To have read through a story of Balzac's is to have passed through one +of those wonderfully vivid dreams which leave you puzzled and lost at +the moment of awaking. It seems to be generally admitted that his +writings do not tend to make his readers "immoral" in the usual sense of +the adjective, but there is something ineffably droll in his patronage +of "Christianity, especially Catholic Christianity," and that defence of +his own writings which the reader may amuse himself by studying in the +preface. He is not only conservative, he is monarchical, and objects to +representative Government, if it "hands us over to the rule of the +masses." But what chiefly concerns those who buy novels, or send for +them to the libraries, is the quality of the stories, and they may +depend upon getting a full measure of excitement, with some instruction, +out of "La Maison du Chat qui pelote" and the companion stories. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, +October 1879, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, OCTOBER 1879 *** + +***** This file should be named 39459.txt or 39459.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/4/5/39459/ + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Nigel Blower and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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