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diff --git a/39459-h/39459-h.htm b/39459-h/39459-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fbbc23c --- /dev/null +++ b/39459-h/39459-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9964 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Contemporary Review, October 1879, Vol 36, No. 2 + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + +h1,h2,h3,h4 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + +p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + +hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + +table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 80%;} +.condat {text-align: center;} +.conpgh {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom; font-size: 80%; padding-left:2em;} +.concht {text-align: left;} +.conchb {text-align: left; padding-left: 3em;} +.conpag {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} + +.pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: 70%; text-align: right;} + +.blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + +.center {text-align: center;} +.right {text-align: right;} +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} +.lowercase {text-transform: lowercase;} +.author {text-align: right; margin-right: 5%} +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right; text-decoration: none;} +.fnanchor {vertical-align: top; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; font-weight:normal;} +.greek {font-size: 90%; border-bottom: 1px dotted #666;} + +.poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} +.poem br {display: none;} +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} +.poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} +.poem hr {margin-left: 10%; margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;} +.poem .author {text-align: left; margin-left: 15em;} + +div.notes {background-color: #eeeeee; color: #000; border: 1px solid black; + padding-top: 0em; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; + margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 4em; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 90%;} + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +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: UTF-8 + +*** 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 + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="notes"> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>This e-text includes characters that will only display in UTF-8 (Unicode) +file encoding, including Greek words, e.g. <span class="greek" title="psychê">ψυχη</span>. +If any of these characters do not display properly, or if the apostrophes and quotation marks +in this paragraph appear as garbage, you may have an incompatible browser or unavailable fonts. +First, make sure that the browser’s “character set” or “file encoding” +is set to Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change your browser’s +default font. All Greek words have mouse-hover transliterations.</p> + +<p>A few minor typographical errors have been silently corrected. +Some inconsistent hyphenation and accents have been retained.</p> +</div> + +<h1>THE<br />CONTEMPORARY<br />REVIEW</h1> +<h3>VOLUME XXXVI. OCTOBER, 1879</h3> + +<hr /> + +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +<table summary="Contents"> + <tr> + <th class="condat" colspan="2">OCTOBER, 1879.</th></tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td class="conpgh">PAGE</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class="concht">India and Afghanistan. By Lieut.-Colonel R. D. Osborn</td> + <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr> + <tr> + <td class="concht">Critical Idealism in France. By Paul Janet</td> + <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td></tr> + <tr> + <td class="concht">On the Moral Limits of Beneficial Commerce. By Francis W. + Newman</td> + <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td></tr> + <tr> + <td class="concht">The Myths of the Sea and the River of Death. By C. F. + Keary</td> + <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td></tr> + <tr> + <td class="concht">Mr. Macvey Napier and the Edinburgh Reviewers. By Matthew + Browne</td> + <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_263">263</a></td></tr> + <tr> + <td class="concht">The Supreme God in the Indo-European Mythology. By James + Darmesteter</td> + <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_274">274</a></td></tr> + <tr> + <td class="concht">Lazarus Appeals to Dives. By Henry J. Miller</td> + <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_290">290</a></td></tr> + <tr> + <td class="concht">The Forms and Colours of Living Creatures. By Professor St. + George Mivart</td> + <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_313">313</a></td></tr> + <tr> + <td class="concht">Contemporary Life and Thought in Turkey. By an Eastern + Statesman</td> + <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_334">334</a></td></tr> + <tr> + <td class="concht">Contemporary Books:—</td></tr> + <tr> + <td class="conchb">I. History and Literature of + the East, under the Direction of Professor E. H. Palmer</td> + <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_350">350</a></td></tr> + <tr> + <td class="conchb">II. Classical Literature, + under the Direction of Rev. Prebendary J. Davies</td> + <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_359">359</a></td></tr> + <tr> + <td class="conchb">III. Essays, Novels, Poetry, + &c. under the Direction of Matthew Browne</td> + <td class="conpag"><a href="#Page_366">366</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> + +<h2>INDIA AND AFGHANISTAN.</h2> + +<p>When the news arrived that Major Cavagnari and his companions +had fallen victims to the fury of the Kabul populace, the <i>Daily +Telegraph</i> “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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +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 <i>not</i> friendly. +It was notorious throughout India that it would go to Kabul charged +with an <i>ultimatum</i> 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.</p> + +<p>But if Lord Lytton’s treatment of the Ameer was cruel and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +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 <i>Daily Telegraph</i> “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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h4>The Scientific Frontier.</h4> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p> +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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, <i>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</i>. 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. <i>Nowhere has intrigue or +rebellion been able to make head in the Ameer’s dominions.</i> 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, <i>the Ameer has unreservedly accepted and acted +upon our advice to maintain a peaceful attitude towards his neighbours</i>. We have +no reason to believe that his views are changed.”</p></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Times</i> 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.</p> + +<p>Those who have followed the history of the war with attention will +remember that in September of last year the Calcutta correspondent of +the <i>Times</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +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 <i>Times</i> 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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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.”</p></div> + +<p>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 <i>Times</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> +further <i>strategic measures will be adopted to dominate entirely the Suleiman +range and the Hindoo Khosh</i>.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>cul-de-sac</i>, +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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +<i>cul-de-sac</i> 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.”</p></div> + +<p>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 <i>Nineteenth Century</i>:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“The Afghan settlement is a very good settlement as far as it goes, but it is +not immaculate—<i>it is not complete</i>. To yield us its full measure of defence, the +Treaty must be supplemented by all legitimate precautions and supports. <i>Persia +must be detached from Russia coûte que coûte.</i> Russia herself must not be left +in any uncertainty as to our intentions. She must be made to understand ... +<i>that she will not be permitted unopposed to establish herself in strength ... +even at Abiverd</i>, nor to commence intrigues against the British power in India. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +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.... <i>It would be almost fatuity at such a moment +to withdraw our garrison from Candahar....</i> 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 ... <i>they might, with +military alacrity, occupy Herat as an auxiliary garrison</i>.”</p></div> + +<p>And what is implied in detaching Persia from Russia he explains in +another part of his Essay.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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 Khorassán.”</p></div> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<h4>The Circumstances of the Peace.</h4> + +<p>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 <i>Times</i>. +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 viâ +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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +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 <i>so</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Pioneer</i>—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.”</p> + +<p>And the <i>Pioneer</i>, 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.”</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>see</i> facts, and the facts would vanish. +They had but to publish in the <i>Times</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h4>Annexation.</h4> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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 ‘<i>benefit</i>’ 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?”</p></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>will</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<h4>The Treaty of Gundamuck.</h4> + +<p>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?</p> + +<h4>The Policy of Withdrawal.</h4> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Robert D. Osborn</span>,<br /> +<i>Lieutenant-Colonel</i>.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CRITICAL IDEALISM IN FRANCE.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>La Science positive et la Métaphysique.</i> Par <span class="smcap">Louis Liard</span>, +Professeur à la Faculté des Lettres de Bordeaux. (Ouvrage +couronné par l’Institut de France.) Paris, 1879.</p></div> + +<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +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, <i>Positive Science and Metaphysic</i>, by a young +and learned professor of Bordeaux, M. Louis Liard.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>These constitute the three parts of the work. We will now take +them up in succession.</p> + +<h4>I.</h4> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>à priori</i> +principle, or rather it has ignored it. It has made no addition to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +that old empiricism which the school of Leibnitz and of Kant had +refuted.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>similarity</i> +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 <i>à priori</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>tabula rasa</i>, only it is no +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +longer the individual who is this <i>tabula rasa</i>, 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 <i>tabula rasa</i>. 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 <i>can</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h4>II.</h4> + +<p>The criticism of Positivism has taught us that there is no knowledge +possible without <i>à priori</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>But are these laws of thought anything else than laws of thought? +Do they really attain to objective reality—to <i>things in themselves</i>. Kant +has denied that they do, and our author, in following in his steps, agrees, +or seems to agree, with the “Kritik” of Kant.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>things in themselves</i> 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.</p> + +<p>We will not enter into a question here mooted by the author, leading +to what Leibnitz calls the labyrinth of the continued (<i>Labyrinthus +continui</i>), 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +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,” <i>als eine gegebene unendliche +Quantität</i>. Now, so soon as the infinite is <i>given</i>, instead of <i>being made</i> +by a mental addition, it seems to us that the above difficulty vanishes.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>On this new ground the difficulty that confronts critical idealism is +the same as that affecting the notion of substance. It lies in defending +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +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 <i>à priori</i> +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 <i>à posteriori</i>,” the latter ready prepared <i>à priori</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +Scotch philosopher, Hamilton, had endeavoured to suppress this notion, +and had reproached Kant for not having completely exorcised the phantom +of the absolute,<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +and for having retained it in the character of <i>idea</i> +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.”<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> 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 <i>is</i>, not <i>what</i> it is. It is the incomprehensible, +the unknowable.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +thought, but this science is criticism, not metaphysics. Have we, then, +only escaped from positivism to fall into the abyss of scepticism?</p> + +<p>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, <i>ens +realissimum</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> +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 <i>saltus</i>, 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.</p> + +<h4>III.</h4> + +<p>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>i.e.</i>, motion; and all interior events to one—<i>i.e.</i>, 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 <i>ego</i> to which we refer them is only their succession? +How comprehend the continuity of consciousness?” In a word, our +author admits absolutely that the <i>ego</i> 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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +which dominating its states refers them to the unity of one same +consciousness.”</p> + +<p>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 <i>ego</i>, the <i>cogito</i> 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 <i>ego</i>—how vague and uncertain he left it, and at the same +time how he was forced to take it into account. The <i>ego</i>, the active, +continuous, self-conscious <i>ego</i>, 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?”</p> + +<p>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 <i>ego</i> 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 <i>ego</i> knows itself +as <i>ego</i>, 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 +<i>dogmatism</i>, and the question of material objectivity, which may be left +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> +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 <i>ego</i> 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 <i>ego</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>to</i> say that the total perfection <i>may</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> +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 <i>ideal</i>, 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 <i>Idea</i>, with Hegel—as Plato calls it the <i>Good</i>, Aristotle the +pure <i>Act</i>, Descartes the <i>Infinitely Perfect Being</i>—we have nothing to object, +so long as it be clearly understood that the <i>idea</i> shall signify the identity +of the thought and the being, and not merely a subjective conception +of the human mind.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h4>IV.</h4> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> +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>i.e.</i>, +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 <i>argumentum baculinum</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +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 <i>Now</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +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 <i>Deus absconditus</i>, 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?</p> + +<p>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, Fénelon: 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> +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 <i>appear</i> to me, and is +consequently a <i>phenomenon</i>. I only see its outside, and it is only in relation +to myself that I can grasp even that outside. But the conscious <i>ego</i> +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 <i>me</i>, <i>I</i> must be <i>me</i>. 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 <i>ego</i>. 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 <i>ego</i>.</p> + +<p>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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Paul Janet.</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> +We already endeavoured to make this philosophy known at its earliest appearance, +by an article that appeared in the <i>Revue des Deux Mondes</i> 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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> +Hamilton’s “Discussions: Cousin, Schelling.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> +Herbert Spencer’s “First Principles,” First Part p. 18.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> + +<h2>ON THE MORAL LIMITS OF BENEFICIAL COMMERCE.</h2> + +<p>When a Professor of <i>Political Economy</i> 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, <i>political</i> 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 <i>Catallactics</i>—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 +<i>ought</i> to be, but simply what <i>is</i>, what <i>goes on</i>, and <i>will go on</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> +political economy, on that account, <i>heartless</i> (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 <i>imperative</i> force, +while disclaiming morality, and were assuming that it was a sufficient +and supreme rule for political action.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Mercantile</i> 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 <i>our</i> +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.</p> + +<p>That an exchange of one thing for another does, on the whole, <i>please</i> +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 +<i>benefited</i> 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 <i>primâ facie</i> 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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>in itself</i> denote an increase +of wealth; is not <i>in itself</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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, <i>not</i> 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, <i>but</i> 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 <i>the only coin</i> which +he has to offer—namely, in his wine or his +tobacco.”<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +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 <i>the only coin</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 (<i>primâ facie</i>) 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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>It may be retorted, “Did you not name <i>Sugar</i>? 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 <i>Honey</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Act</i>, but only a resolution or <i>Vote</i> 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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> +Space does not permit further detail, or reply to objections; but the +idea intended is to work in the direction of <i>virtual</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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) <i>owner</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="author"><span class="smcap">F. W. Newman.</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> +“Reciprocity,” by Sir Louis Mallet, C.B., 1879: Printed for the Cobden Club.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE MYTHS OF THE SEA AND THE RIVER OF DEATH.</h2> + +<p>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 <i>his</i> 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.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“A riddle which one shrinks<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To challenge from the scornful sphinx.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.”<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> 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 +mediæval 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;<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> +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 mediæval 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +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 <span class="greek" title="psychê">ψυχη</span>, <i>spiritus</i>—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 <i>place</i>,” or +the concealed <i>place</i>; as the Greeks said, to Hades (<span class="greek" title="A-idês">Ἀ-ίδης</span>); +or, as our Northern ancestors said, to +Hel.<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> +Thus, out of pure negation we have the +beginning of a myth: the <i>spirit</i> 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.”</p> + +<p>The same thought is expressed by the Hebrew +poet,<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“Sheol shall not praise thee, Jehovah,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The dead shall not celebrate thee;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They that go down unto the pit shall not hope for thy truth;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The living, the living, shall praise thee, as I do this day.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>No people have held up this <i>destructive</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> +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?</p> + +<p>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,<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> 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 <i>mara</i>, from which we +get the Persian <i>mĕru</i>, desert, the Latin <i>mare</i>, the Teutonic (German and +English) <i>meer</i>. But from identically the same root we likewise get the +Sanksrit and the Zend (old Persian) <i>mara</i>, death, the Latin <i>mors</i>, the +old Norse <i>mordh</i>, the German <i>mord</i>, our <i>murder</i>, all signifying originally +the same thing.<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> +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?</p> + +<p>It might have been expected that such a connection of ideas would +have endowed the sea with an entirely terrible character, precluding any +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> +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 +<i>earthly</i> 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 mediæval 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,<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> where +decay and death could not enter. It is likely enough that for the +Aryans <i>their</i> western sea did long retain its more fearful meaning, +<i>a death</i>; but that they at last gained courage to look upon it only as <i>the +road</i><a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> +to the land of which they had long been dreaming.</p> + +<p>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 <i>upon</i>, and not only <i>by</i>, 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—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“For many a day and many a dreadful night,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Incessant labouring round the stormy cape;<br /></span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The Norseman, especially the +Icelander,<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> +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 Æsir 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, Jörmungandr (“great monster”), +the name of the mid-gaard serpent who lies at the bottom of the encircling +sea, shaking the earth when he +moves.<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> +Beyond, lies the ice-bound land +of giants—Jötunheim, giant’s home—dark like the Cimmerian land, +and peopled with beings as weird and terrible as the Cyclops or the +Gorgons.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> +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<i>n</i>i; it lies “across the dreadful path to the house of +Yama,”<a name="FNanchor_15" id="FNanchor_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> the god of Hell.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sad Acheron, of sorrow, black and deep;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Cocytus named of lamentation loud<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>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, +Gjöll,<a name="FNanchor_16" id="FNanchor_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> +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.</p> + +<p>Thus a separation arises between the sea and the river myths. If we +wish for something more cheerful than the pictures of Styx and Gjöll +and Vaitera<i>n</i>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.</p> + +<p>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 Ægean 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 Ægean 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 Phœnician +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 Alcinoüs 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 Phœnician +merchantmen to Greece.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 Phæaceans. There +Nausicaa finds him and brings him to her father Alcinoüs, 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 <i>into</i> it is woven the account of Odysseus’ earlier adventures. In +the halls of Alcinoüs 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 +Phæaceans, 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.</p> + +<p>Who is Calypso? Her name bespeaks her nature not ambiguously. +It is from <span class="greek" title="kalyptein">καλύπτειν</span>, 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 <i>helja</i>, “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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> +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—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“Wind-like beneath, the immortal golden sandals<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bare up his flight o’er the limitless earth and the sea;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And in his hand that magic wand he carried,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wherewith the eyes of men he closes in slumber,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or wakens from sleeping.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>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”<a name="FNanchor_17" id="FNanchor_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> 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.<a name="FNanchor_18" id="FNanchor_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>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 Phæaceans, 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 Phæaceans, too, have +had dealings with “yellow-haired Rhadamanthus,” whom they carried +back in their swift barques to Eubœa. The name of their island is +merely land, shore;<a name="FNanchor_19" id="FNanchor_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> +perhaps at first only the farther coast of the sea of +death.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“Far away do we live at the end of the watery plain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor before now have we ever had dealings with other mortals;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But now there comes some luckless wanderer hither.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Him it is right that we help; for all men, fellows and strangers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come from Zeus; in his sight the smallest gift is +pleasing.”<a name="FNanchor_20" id="FNanchor_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a><br /></span> +</div> + +<p>They live close to the gods, and in familiar converse with +them. It is a place where decay and death cannot enter. In the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> +gardens of Alcinoüs 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 <i>is</i>, as in that +wizard’s tower of Middle-Age legend it only <i>seemed</i> to be—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“That from one window men beheld the spring,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from another saw the summer glow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And from a third the fruited vines +arow.”<a name="FNanchor_21" id="FNanchor_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a><br /></span> +</div> + +<p>In name the Phæaceans appear as beings of the twilight—<span class="greek" title="phaiax">φαίαξ</span>, +strengthened from <span class="greek" title="phaios">φαιός</span>, 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.”<a name="FNanchor_22" id="FNanchor_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> +Yet the Phæaceans 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.<a name="FNanchor_23" id="FNanchor_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> +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 Phæacean mariners are really believed to be inhabitants of the upper +earth; albeit they can pass from this life to the other.</p> + +<p>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 Phæaceans, “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.”<a name="FNanchor_24" id="FNanchor_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> 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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +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, Ææa, +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 Phæacean ships were the carriers of +souls,<a name="FNanchor_25" id="FNanchor_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> +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 Phæacean 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 +<i>under</i>-world and that of the western paradise beyond sea; while the +myth of the Phæaceans 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.</p> + +<p>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, Hödur. 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> +counsel how Baldur is to be brought back again, and one of them, +Hermödr,<a name="FNanchor_26" id="FNanchor_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> +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.”<a name="FNanchor_27" id="FNanchor_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> This old witch +is Calypso or Circe in another guise. Her name is Thokk, that is, +darkness (dökkr).</p> + +<p>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 mediæval 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 Phæaceans 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;<a name="FNanchor_28" id="FNanchor_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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,<a name="FNanchor_29" id="FNanchor_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> +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 Œta, on the western +coast of the Ægean, 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 +<i>Hringhorn</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class="greek" title="A-idês">Ἀ-ίδης</span>—a nowhere; is nothing true of all those myths +of the soul passing away to a home of bliss? Instead of giving +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> +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 <i>wand to wolcum</i>, “curled to the clouds,” +imaging the smoke which was curling up from his pyre. There is +even a curious analogy between the words for <i>smoke</i> and <i>soul</i> in the +Aryan languages, showing how closely the two ideas were once allied. +From a primitive root <i>dhu</i>, which means to shake or blow, we get both +the Sanskrit root <i>dhuma</i>, smoke, and the Greek <span class="greek" title="thymos">θυμός</span>, the immaterial +part of man, his thought or soul. <span class="greek" title="Thymos">Θυμός</span> 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.<a name="FNanchor_30" id="FNanchor_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p> + +<p>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 Phæaceans claim to live +very near the gods.<a name="FNanchor_31" id="FNanchor_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> +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, Dyâus, 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.</p> + +<p>The heavenly path taken by the soul becomes, in the eye of mortals, a +<i>bridge</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> +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—<i>gôpatha</i>, +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 <i>kau-pat</i>—<i>i.e., kuh-pfad</i>, 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:—</p> + +<p>“A narrow path, an ancient one, stretches there, a path untrodden by +men, a path I know of:</p> + +<p>“On it the wise who have known Brahma ascend to the world Svarga, +when they have received their dismissal,” sings a Sanskrit +poet.<a name="FNanchor_32" id="FNanchor_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +Phæaceans, or legends such as the voyages of Odysseus and the burning +of Baldur. In the place of them, and with their mortal <i>river</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“Death comes to set thee free;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh, meet him cheerily<br /></span> +<span class="i0">As thy true +friend.”<a name="FNanchor_33" id="FNanchor_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a><br /></span> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +Korân.<a name="FNanchor_34" id="FNanchor_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> +Es-Sirât 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.</p> + +<p>The bridge cannot be always the Milky-way. In at least one Sanskrit +hymn we learn—</p> + +<p>“Upon it, they say, there are colours, white, and blue, and brown, +and gold, and red.</p> + +<p>“And this path Brahma knows, and he who has known Brahma shall +take it; he who is pure and glorious.”</p> + +<p>Here the singer is evidently describing the rainbow. Now in the +Norse cosmology the rainbow had the same name as the Indian <i>patha-devayano</i>, +gods’-path. The Eddas call it As-bru, the bridge of the Æsir, +or gods. Its other name, Bifröst, 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 Bifröst, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +which come three maidens, named Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld (Past, +Present, Future). These maidens assign the lifetime of men, and are +called Norns.”<a name="FNanchor_35" id="FNanchor_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> +To their stream the gods ride every day along Bifröst +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 Valhöll, 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 <i>two dogs</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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,<a name="FNanchor_36" id="FNanchor_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> +we may end our list of legends connected with +the Sea of Death or the Bridge of Souls. The story is of two lovers:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> +<span class="i2">“Her name Salami was, his Zulamyth;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And each so loved, each other loved. Thus runs the tender myth:<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“That once on earth they lived, and, loving there,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Were wrenched apart by night, and sorrow, and despair;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And when death came at last, with white wings given,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Condemned to live apart, each reached a separate heaven.<br /></span> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Yet loving still upon the azure height,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Across unmeasured ways of splendour, gleaming bright,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With worlds on worlds that spread and glowed and burned,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each unto each, with love that knew no limit, longing turned.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Zulamyth half consumed, until he willed<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Out of his strength one night a bridge of light to build<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Across the waste—and lo! from her far sun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A bridge of light from orb to orb Salami had begun.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“A thousand years they built, still on, with faith,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Immeasurable, quenchless, so my legend saith,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Until the winter street of light—a bridge<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Above heaven’s highest vault swung clear, remotest ridge from ridge.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Fear seized the Cherubim; to God they spake—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">‘See what amongst thy works, Almighty, these can make!’<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God smiled, and smiling, lit the spheres with joy—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">‘What in my world love builds,’ he said, ‘shall I, shall Love itself destroy?’”<br /></span> +</div> +<hr /> +<p class="author"><span class="smcap">C. F. Keary.</span></p> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> +Elia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> +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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> +Hel is from the Icl. <i>helja</i> “to conceal.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> +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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> +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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> +Fick. “Verg. Wörterbuch der I.-G. Sp.” s.v. <i>mara</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> +Hesperides. They are, however, called the daughters of Night by Hesiod and others.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> +<span class="greek" title="Pontos">Πόντος</span> is from the same root as the Skr. <i>patha</i>, a <i>path</i>, <i>pfad</i>, &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.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> +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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> +So Poseidôn, the god of the sea, is the earth-shaker; earthquakes being apparently +attributed to the water under the earth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15" id="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> +Weber in Chambr., 1020.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16" id="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> +“The sounding,” from <i>gialla</i>, to sound (yell).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17" id="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> +Chaucer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18" id="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> +<span class="greek" title="Kirkos">Κίρκος</span> (whence <span class="greek" title="Kirkê">Κίρκη</span>) +is given as both hawk and wolf in L. & S. It is most likely +from a root <i>krik</i>, meaning to make a grating sound, and therefore probably applied originally +to the bird (cf. our nightjar). The Latin <i>quercus</i> seems to be from the same root—from its +rustling? We may compare Circe with Charôn, which means “an eagle.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19" id="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> +From <span class="greek" title="scheros">σχερός</span>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20" id="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> +Od. vi. 204, <i>sqq.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21" id="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> +“Earthly Paradise.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22" id="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> +Od. viii. 562.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23" id="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> +Justin Martyr identifies the gardens of Alcinoüs with Paradise. “Cohort. ad Græc.” xxix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24" id="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> +Od. xiii. 79, 88.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25" id="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> +“Rheinisches Museum für Philologie,” vol. i. N.S. p. 219. <i>Die Homerische Phäaken.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26" id="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> +Hermödr (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” (<span class="greek" title="hormaô">ὁρμάω</span>, and cf. +Sârameyas of the Vedas).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27" id="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> +Edda Snorra, Dæmisaga, 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28" id="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> +Procopius, Bel. Goth. iv. The wall identifies the island with Britain.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29" id="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> +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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30" id="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> +</p> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="greek" title="kad' d' epes' en koniêsi makôn, apo d' eptato thymos.">κὰδ’ δ’ ἔπεσ’ ἐν κόνιῃσι μακὼν, ἀπὸ δ’ ἔπτατο θυμός.</span>—Od. x. 163.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><span class="greek" title="oute tis, oun moi nousos epêlythen, hête malista">οὔτε τίς, οὖν μόι νοῦσος ἐπήλυθεν, ἥτε μάλιστα</span><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><span class="greek" title="têkedoni stygerê meleôn exeiletô thymon.">τηκεδόνι στυγερῇ μελέων ἐξείλετο θυμόν.</span>—Od. xi. 200.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31" id="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> +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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32" id="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> +V<i>r</i>hadâra<i>n</i>ayaka. Ed. Pol. iii 4-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33" id="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> +Fouque.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34" id="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> +Sale’s Koran, Introd. p. 91. The Persian bridge was called Chinvat.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35" id="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> +See Edda den Eldra, Grimnismâl 44, and Edda Snorra, D. 15. That Bifröst 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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36" id="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> +By E. Keary: <i>Evening Hours</i>, vol. iii.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p> + +<h2>MR. MACVEY NAPIER AND THE EDINBURGH REVIEWERS.</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><i>Selection from the Correspondence of the late Macvey +Napier, Esq.</i> Edited by his son, <span class="smcap">Macvey Napier</span>. +London: Macmillan & Co.</p></div> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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 +<i>qui coûte si peu au gens heureux</i>. 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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.”</p></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>vitia</i>, <i>tristia</i>, as well as <i>dulcia</i>. 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 <i>him</i>. +And the addition about Carlyle or Coleridge—<i>or</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +the mind of even so clever and cultivated a man as Mr. Senior, that +his head may have gaps in it.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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 <i>Edinburgh</i>, when edited by Mr. Napier, are <i>saugrenus</i>. +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.”</p> + +<p>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 <i>might</i> 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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Cousin I pronounce beyond all doubt the most unreadable thing that ever +appeared in the <i>Review</i>. The only chance is, that gentle readers may take it to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +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 <i>mystical</i> 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 <i>very</i> +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.”</p></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“Nec sibi cœnarum quivis temere arroget artem,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Non prius exacta tenui ratione saporum.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>Poor Mr. Carlyle is again dragged in, and Sir William is pronounced +“ten times more <i>mystical</i>” 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, <i>order your operator to</i>” 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Encyclopædia +Britannica</i>, and he replies, from his well-known retreat at Winterslow +Hut, in these terms:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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 Encyclopædia 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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> +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.”</p></div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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 <i>Quarterly Review</i> 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.”</p></div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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,—<i>directly</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> +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 <i>power</i> 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.”</p></div> + +<p>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 <i>cet imbécile +Buloz</i>.<a name="FNanchor_37" id="FNanchor_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> +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.”</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></p> +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> +by striking that key-note of second-hand thought which is so prevalent, +or at least so common in even our better literature.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Edinburgh</i>. 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, <i>other things being made equal</i>, the +literature of our modern Reviews (using the word widely) is either +superior or inferior to that of the <i>Edinburgh</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> +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 <i>morale</i>, but as each camp enlarges, the +<i>average</i> 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.</p> + +<p>Since the time when Jeffrey ruled the <i>Edinburgh Review</i>, 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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Times</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Matthew Browne.</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37" id="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> +One, at least, of the contributors whom Buloz tortured (Georges Sand wrote that she +wished him “<i>au diable</i>” ten times a day, only he held her purse-strings) used to date his +letters in this style:—“<i>A vingt-cinq lieues de cet imbécile Buloz.</i>”</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE SUPREME GOD IN THE INDO-EUROPEAN MYTHOLOGY.</h2> + +<h4>Comparative Mythology.<a name="FNanchor_38" id="FNanchor_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p> +<p>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 <i>Daiva</i>, “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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h4>The Supreme God: Zeus, Jupiter, Varuna, Ahura Mazda.</h4> + +<p>The Aryan Gods are not organized as a Republic: they have a king. +There is over the gods a Supreme God. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><i>Zeus and Jupiter.</i><a name="FNanchor_39" id="FNanchor_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a>—About +three centuries before our era a Greek poet thus addressed Zeus:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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.”</p></div> + +<p>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 Æschylus, 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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> +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 +<span class="greek" title="mêtietês">μητιέτης</span>; he is all wisdom and he is likewise all justice. It is from him +that the judges of the sons of the Achæans 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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: +<i>Jupiter, optimus, maximus</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Varuna.</i>—The most ancient of the religions of India, which the Vedas +have made known to us, has also a Zeus, whose name is +Varuna.<a name="FNanchor_40" id="FNanchor_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“This Asura,<a name="FNanchor_41" id="FNanchor_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> +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.</p> + +<p>“In the bottomless abyss the king Varuna has lifted up the summit of the +celestial tree.<a name="FNanchor_42" id="FNanchor_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> +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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“He has put strength into the horse, milk into the cow, intellect into the heart, +Agni<a name="FNanchor_43" id="FNanchor_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> +into the waters, the sun in the sky, +soma<a name="FNanchor_44" id="FNanchor_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> into the stone.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p></div> + +<p>There is an order in nature, there is a law, a habit, a rule, <i>a Rita</i>. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> +This law, this <i>Rita</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>Organizer of the world, he is its master. He is the first of the +Asuras, “of the lords;” he is <i>the Asura</i>, “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.”</p> + +<p>As he has omnipotence, he has omniscience too, he is “the Lord who +knows all things,” the <i>Asura viçva-vedas</i>. 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.”</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“I ask Thee, O Varuna, because I wish to know my fault:</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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!”</p></div> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p> + +<p>“This earth belongs to the king Varuna, and this sky, these two sublime worlds with their remote limits; the two +seas<a name="FNanchor_45" id="FNanchor_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> +are the belly of Varuna, and he rests also even in this small pool of water.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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:</p> + +<p>“The world is in his hand like the dice in the hand of the gamester.</p> + +<p>“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!”</p></div> + +<p><i>Ahura Mazda.</i><a name="FNanchor_46" id="FNanchor_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a>—Ancient +Persia opposes to Zeus, to Jupiter, to Varuna, her Ormazd or Ahura +Mazda.<a name="FNanchor_47" id="FNanchor_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> +“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 <i>Creator</i>.” 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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“A powerful God is Aurâmazda!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">’Twas he who made this earth here below!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">’Twas he who made that heaven above!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">’Twas he who made man!”<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>This God, who made the world, rules it. He is the sovereign of the +universe, the <i>Ahura</i>,<a name="FNanchor_48" id="FNanchor_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> +“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 Aurâmazda has given me, this beautiful country, beautiful +in horses, beautiful in men, by the grace of Aurâmazda, and through +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> +me, king Darayavus, has nothing to fear from any enemy. May +Aurâmazda and the gods of the nation bring me their help! May +Aurâmazda 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 Aurâmazda and the gods of the nation!”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Reveal to me the truth, O Ahura! What was the beginning of the good +creation?</p> + +<p>“Who is the father, who, at the beginning of time, begat Order?</p> + +<p>“Who has traced for the sun and the stars the paths that they must follow?</p> + +<p>“Who makes the moon increase and decrease?</p> + +<p>“O Ahura! I would learn those mysteries and many more!</p> + +<p>“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?</p> + +<p>“Who has directed the rapid course of the wind and of the clouds? What +skilful artist has made the light and the darkness?</p> + +<p>“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!”</p></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h4>The Supreme God, the God of Heaven.</h4> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>Although the latter hypothesis is more simple and more probable +than the former, it cannot, however, be taken at once as certain; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 (<span class="greek" title="nephelêgeretês">νεφεληγερέτης</span>), causing the rain +to fall from heaven (<span class="greek" title="ombrios">ὄμβριος</span>, +<span class="greek" title="hyetios">ὑέτιος</span>), 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 +(<span class="greek" title="keraunios">κεραύνιος</span>, +<span class="greek" title="astrapaios">ἀστραπαῖος</span>). +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 aërial steed of +the lightning. This is why he is the husband of Dêmêter, “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, Athênê, 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 <i>Dios</i>, formerly <i>Divos</i>) is, in +conformity with the laws of Greek phonetics, the literal representative +of the Sanscrit Dyaus, heaven (genitive <i>Divas</i>), and the union of +<span class="greek" title="Zeus patêr">Ζεὺς πατήρ</span> with +<span class="greek" title="Dêmêtêr">Δημήτηρ</span> is the exact counterpart of the Vedic union of +<i>Dyaus pitar</i> with <i>Prithivî mâtar</i>, of the Heaven-Father with Earth-Mother. +The word <span class="greek" title="Zeus">Ζεύς</span> is an ancient synonym +of <span class="greek" title="Ouranos">Οὐρανός</span>, which +became obsolete as a common noun; still, in a certain number of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> +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: <span class="greek" title="hye Zeus pannychos">ὕε Ζεὺς πάννυχος</span>. In all these expressions Zeus may be literally +translated as a common noun, <i>sky</i>.</p> + +<p>Jupiter, identical with Zeus in his functions, is identical with him in +his material attributes.</p> + +<p>The word Jûpiter, or better Jup-piter, is for Jus-piter, composed of +<i>pater</i> and of <i>Jus</i>, the Latin contraction of the Sanscrit <i>Dyaus</i>, of the +Greek <span class="greek" title="Zeus">Ζεύς</span>: Juppiter is then the exact +equivalent of <span class="greek" title="Zeus patêr">Ζεὺς πατήρ</span>, and the +word has even preserved more strongly than Zeus the sense of its early +meaning; <i>sub Jove</i> signifies “under the heavens;” the hunter awaits +the marsian boar, heedless of the cold or snow, <i>sub Jove frigido</i>, “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:”</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“Aspice hoc sublime candens quem invocant omnes Jovem.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>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;”<a name="FNanchor_49" id="FNanchor_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> 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 Athênê, 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 Athênê. 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 <span class="greek" title="Ouranos">Οὐρανός</span>, sky.</p> + +<p>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 formulæ of the litanies still +show that he is luminous and corporeal; they invoke the creator Ahura +Mazda, resplendent, very great, very beautiful, corporeally beautiful; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> +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 Achæmenian +kings proclaim the sovereignty of Aurâmazda, Herodotus wrote: “The Persians offer up sacrifices to +Zeus,<a name="FNanchor_50" id="FNanchor_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> +going up on the highest summit of the mountains, as they call <i>Zeus the entire orb of the sky</i>.”</p> + +<p>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.”<a name="FNanchor_51" id="FNanchor_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p> + +<h4>His Origin.<a name="FNanchor_52" id="FNanchor_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>in</i> Varuna”—that is, “in +the heavens”—and to say “everything is <i>through</i> Varuna”—that is, +“through the heaven-God”—are one and the same thing; and in +these formulæ 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.”</p> + +<p>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 formulæ 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.”<a name="FNanchor_53" id="FNanchor_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></p> + +<p>This view of the heavens as the universal centre of the movements +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> +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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“Zeus was the first, Zeus is the last, Zeus the thunderer;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Zeus is the head, Zeus is the middle; it is by Zeus that all things are made;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Zeus is the male, Zeus is the immortal female;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Zeus is the base of both the earth and the starry sky;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Zeus is the breath of the winds, Zeus is the jet of the unconquerable flame;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Zeus is the root of the sea, Zeus is the sun and the moon....<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The whole of this universe is stretched out within the great body of Zeus.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>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 <i>Space</i><a name="FNanchor_54" id="FNanchor_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> +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 <span class="greek" title="panoptês">πανόπτης</span>, it is because his eye is the sun, this universal witness, +the infallible spy of both gods and men +(<span class="greek" title="Theôn skopon êde kai andrôn">Θεῶν σκοπὸν ἠδὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν</span>). +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.</p> + +<h4>His Destiny.</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Dyaus</i> became the name of the +heaven-god (Zeus) and Varana (<span class="greek" title="Ouranos">Οὐρανός</span>) was the name of the heavens, +as a thing; in Sanscrit <i>Dyaus</i> or <i>Svar</i> 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 <i>Jup-piter</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> +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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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! +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p> + +<p>“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!</p> + +<p>“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!</p> + +<p>“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!</p> + +<p>“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!</p> + +<p>“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!</p> + +<p>“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!</p> + +<p>“He, who discovered Çambara 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 Dânu,<a name="FNanchor_55" id="FNanchor_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a>—O man, +it is Indra!</p> + +<p>“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!”</p></div> + +<p>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 <i>Brahma</i>, whose reign begins to dawn towards +the end of the Vedic period, and which is still in existence.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Parjanya</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 Vâta 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.</p> + +<p>Thus did the Greeks, the Romans, and the Slavs allow their god to be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p class="author"><span class="smcap">James Darmesteter.</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38" id="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> +Cf. Max Müller: “Lectures on the Science of Language,” and “Lectures on the +Science of Religion;” Michel Bréal, “Mélanges de Mythologie et de Linguistique.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39" id="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> +Maury, “Histoire des Religions de la Grèce;” Preller, “Griechische Mythologie.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40" id="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> +See Muir, “Sanscrit Texts,” v. 58; Max Müller, “Lectures on the Origin and Growth +of Religion,” p. 284.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41" id="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> +“This Lord.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42" id="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> +The cloud often compared to a tree branching out in the sky.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43" id="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> +The fire (Ignis) which is born in the waters of heaven in the form of lightning.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44" id="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> +A sacred plant whose sap is offered to the gods. It is pressed between two stones to +extract the sacred liquor.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45" id="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> +The sea of the earth and the sea of the clouds.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46" id="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> +See J. Darmesteter, “Ormazd et Ahriman,” §§ 18-59.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47" id="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> +Ormazd is the modern name, contracted from the ancient Ahura Mazda.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48" id="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> +Which is the same word as the Sanskrit Asura.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49" id="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> +The sun is also the bird of Zeus (Æschylus, the Suppliants).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50" id="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> +That is to say “to their Supreme God.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51" id="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> +G. Klek, “Einleitung in die Slavische Literatur-Geschichte.”</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52" id="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> +“Ormazd et Ahriman,” §§ 62, sq.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53" id="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">Praeterea, coeli rationes ordine certo<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Et varia annorum cernebant tempora vorti;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nec poterant quibus id fieret cognoscere causis.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ergo perfugium sibi habebant omnia Diveis<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tradere, et ollorum nutu facere omnia flecti.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In cœloque Deum sedes et templa locarunt,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Per cœlum volvi quia nox et luna videtur,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Luna, dies, et nox et noctis signa severa,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Noctivagaeque faces cœli, flammaeque volantes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nubila, sol, imbres, nix, ventei, fulmina, grando,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Et rapidei fremitus, et murmura magna minarum.—v. 1187.<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54" id="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> +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).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55" id="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> +His mother.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p> + +<h2>LAZARUS APPEALS TO DIVES.</h2> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> +offer a few hints as to the direction which I conceive future gospels +of humanity must take in order to be of practical utility.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>One more egotistical, or egoistical, remark, and I proceed. I am in +no sense a <i>specialist</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 <i>descend</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>seriatim</i>.</p> + +<h4>Health.</h4> + +<p>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 <i>the</i> question to receive earliest attention.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>absolutely true</i>—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 <i>compulsory</i> 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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>No doubt this would be somewhat of a hardship upon certain individuals, +on the score of inconvenience and increased cost of production; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Having well drained our streets and habitations, and consecrated a +<i>quartier</i> 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.</p> + +<p>Finally, on this branch of the subject, I submit for the consideration +of municipalities the following recommendations:—</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>2. Cause your common lodging-houses and your still worse haunts +to be under the most vigilant supervision; and that <i>constantly</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>3. Provide every householder within your jurisdiction with a <i>filter</i>, +to insure to him and his the opportunity of enjoying water free from +organic and other impurities.</p> + +<p>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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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>i.e.</i>, to reduce to ashes all infected or condemned +articles.</p> + +<p>The foregoing list of recommendations might be extended indefinitely; +but perhaps the above will be sufficient to begin with.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h4>Pocket.</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>within</i> 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.</p> + +<p>One of the largest of these clearings is undoubtedly, I think, +<i>Co-operation</i>, of which there are two kinds—viz., combinations between +masters and men in the shape of limited partnerships, a per-centage on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> +profits, &c.; and combinations amongst the wage-earners themselves for +certain specified purposes.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.” +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But, after all, it is from the other branch of co-operation—the +<i>co-operative store system</i>—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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>very</i> +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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> +expect to be allowed to continue his official existence, would be his +distinct and unquestioning recognition of <i>personal</i> responsibility, as far as is +humanly possible, for, and his unwavering resolution to secure, the well-being +of <i>all</i> his constituents, physically, pecuniarily, mentally, and morally.</p> + +<p>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 <i>for cash only</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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 <i>de novo</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +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 <i>un fait +accompli</i>, 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 <i>clientèle</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>not</i> 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 <i>unfashionable</i>, and that now +vigorous and lusty giant would ere long find himself as decrepit and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>A third means of lightening the strain upon our <i>ouvriers</i> is to +multiply the facilities for emigration. I would even go so far as to +say that I think an <i>International</i> 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 <i>mal du pays</i>, 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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>début</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> +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 <i>not</i> +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 <i>dis</i>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—<i>now</i>, 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 <span class="smcap">Review</span> to afford me the opportunity of giving publicity to my +views.</p> + +<p>Closely allied to this division of my paper, if not actually of it, is the +subject of <i>Charity</i>. 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> +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 <i>ad infinitum</i>, +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 <i>mauvaise honte</i>, 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.</p> + +<h4>Mind.</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>is</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>Grant this premiss, and what follows, or something better, may +easily be rendered an accomplished fact.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> +somewhat varied, if superficial, knowledge anent the salient features of +English literature.</p> + +<p>These words, “<i>English</i> 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, Æschylus, 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 +<i>British</i> operatives with a love of letters. In endeavouring to effect +this, shall we not give the foremost place to the productions of <i>British</i> +genius? We have to <i>form</i> a taste. Is it not desirable that, to begin +with at all events, this should be a <i>national</i> 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 <i>littérateurs</i> +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.</p> + +<p>But I have a further answer—<i>i.e.</i>, 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</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“Age cannot weary, nor custom stale<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Its infinite variety;”<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> +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 <i>must</i> let go, let us hug more +closely still that which we <i>can</i> retain.</p> + +<p>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 <i>modern</i> 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 <i>Tatler</i> and +<i>Spectator</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>idea</i>—of what it was all about.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>read</i>. 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 <i>manes</i> of such of the above-named great ones as have +departed from amongst us would be appeased when it was represented +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>raison d’être</i>. But there is yet one thing +needed, the <i>utilization</i> 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 <i>focussing</i> to be of any use to its possessor or his species. +And it is in the <i>class</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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 <i>liberal</i> distribution of +prizes part of your system, so liberal that not only proficiency would be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h4>Amusements.</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>double entendres</i> 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? +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p> + +<p>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 <i>you</i> 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 <i>brood</i>; it will be safer for you that we should be +<i>mercurial</i> rather than that we should be <i>morose</i>; 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.</p> + +<p>I like not threats or innuendoes, however, and say no more concerning +this matter.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Repetition is vexatious; notwithstanding which, unification is imperative, +and committees must again be called into requisition.</p> + +<p>Cricket-clubs, quoit-clubs, bowling-clubs, even skittle-clubs <i>ad libitum</i>, +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 <i>over</i>-drinking,—these are, shortly +and imperfectly stated, the remedies I would suggest.</p> + +<p>To conclude the whole matter. We, the industrious poor of this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>without</i> 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 <i>national</i>, and not parochial.</p> + +<p>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 <i>up</i>wards is laudable; +levelling <i>down</i>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—<i>re</i>-formation.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>And so Lazarus unmoors his fragile boat, and launches it, unmanned +and untended, on the bosom of the stream,—to meet its fate.</p> + +<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Henry J. Miller.</span></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span></p> + +<h2>THE FORMS AND COLOURS OF LIVING CREATURES.</h2> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless it was pointed out in the second Essay of this +series<a name="FNanchor_56" id="FNanchor_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> +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<a name="FNanchor_57" id="FNanchor_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> +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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 (<i>Erythræa +centaurium</i>), may vary in height—according to the soil and other +external conditions—from half an inch to five feet.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 (<i>Eupatorium cannabinum</i>), and whole groups of +butterflies are respectively characterized as being blue, or white, or yellow.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Again, every living creature, whether free or fixed, is either a +terrestrial, an aquatic, or an aërial 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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Another modification is also correlated with these conditions. We +have seen<a name="FNanchor_58" id="FNanchor_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> +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.</p> + +<p>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, <i>e.g.</i>, the +<i>Proteus</i>;<a name="FNanchor_59" id="FNanchor_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> but yet +this is not an invariable rule, some, as the mole, being of a dark colour.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Umbelliferæ</i>, or plants of the parsley, fennel, and +hemlock order.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The avoidance of enemies may be so effected by an organism that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> +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.”<a name="FNanchor_60" id="FNanchor_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<p>Again, the medium in which an organism lives—whether aërial 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 aërial 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.</p> + +<p>An aërial 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, <i>e.g.</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>An aquatic fixed organism, however, may extend to a very great +length, freely floating without effecting any such fresh attachment. Thus the seaweed +<i>Laminaria digitata</i><a name="FNanchor_61" id="FNanchor_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> +will spread over a circle 12 feet in diameter, while <i>L. longicornis</i> grows in the form of an elongated +riband, from 8 to 12 feet in length and 2 or 3 feet wide. The giant +form <i>Macrocystis</i> (with a much more subdivided outline) may extend to +the extraordinary length of 700 feet.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Mya</i> or the +razor shell.<a name="FNanchor_62" id="FNanchor_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p> + +<p>Fixed subterranean creatures are rare, but such do exist, as, for +example, the truffle (<i>Tuber cibarium</i>). 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.<a name="FNanchor_63" id="FNanchor_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> + +<p>The fixed organisms which are the most aërial 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> +plants—rear themselves to great heights by the aid of their +more robust brothers, but they can hardly be reckoned as aërial +organisms.<a name="FNanchor_64" id="FNanchor_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Living creatures which are capable of moving or being freely moved +about, present us with similar but more marked differences.</p> + +<p>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, <i>e.g.</i> +as <i>Myxastrum radians</i> and +<i>Magosphæra planula</i>.<a name="FNanchor_65" id="FNanchor_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> + +<p>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 <i>encystment</i>. 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.</p> + +<p><i>Magosphæra</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>But a living organism may be devoid of any definite shape whatever, +as in <i>Protamœba</i>,<a name="FNanchor_66" id="FNanchor_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> +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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> +The bodies of almost all organisms have, however, more or less +definite forms, which may be all classed under seven morphological +categories.</p> + +<p>(1). The simplest form of all exemplifies <i>spherical symmetry</i>, and +is that which we have seen in the truffle, the radiolarian, the volvox, +<i>Myxastrum</i> and <i>Magosphæra</i>. In this spherical form any number of +axes drawn through the creature in any direction are equal.</p> + +<p>(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 <i>equipolar symmetry</i>, +and such is found in some radiolarians, in some small parasites +(<i>Gregarinida</i>),<a name="FNanchor_67" id="FNanchor_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> +and others.</p> + +<p>(3). The next morphological category may be spoken of as <i>unipolar +symmetry</i>. Bodies which exemplify it are like those included in +the last category, save that the two poles of the body are not alike.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The lowest worms and sponges may serve as examples of this symmetry +in its simplest expression. As also may the curious compound +tunicary called <i>Pyrosoma</i>.<a name="FNanchor_68" id="FNanchor_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> +In all such creatures the body does not +extend out in the form of lateral prolongations.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>(4). But unipolar symmetry with diverging outgrowths leads us to +the next category which may be called <i>radial symmetry</i>. Under this +head are included the forms of such creatures as possess unipolar bodies +from which equal and corresponding outgrowths radiate in different +directions.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>We have an example of this in +<i>Tetraplatia volitans</i>,<a name="FNanchor_69" id="FNanchor_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> +an aquatic creature with an elongated body, which presents four distinguishable +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> +longitudinal surfaces, of which each opposite and corresponding pair +is hardly distinguishable from one another.</p> + +<p>(5). This form leads us directly to that kind of symmetry which is +predominant in the animal kingdom and which is called <i>bilateral +symmetry</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>(6). The last kind of symmetry which here needs notice is that +termed <i>serial symmetry</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Often such parasites form flattened encrustations on their involuntary +hosts—as is the case with the acorn shells or sessile +barnacles.<a name="FNanchor_70" id="FNanchor_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> 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 <i>Lerneocera</i>.<a name="FNanchor_71" id="FNanchor_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> + +<p>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 <i>Rhizocephala</i>.<a name="FNanchor_72" id="FNanchor_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> +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<a name="FNanchor_73" id="FNanchor_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> do) in the +nutritious fluids contained within the bowels of the creatures they infest.</p> + +<p>Terrestrial mobile organisms can, of course, only be moved by their +own efforts, or by the efforts of other organisms.</p> + +<p>The simplest terrestrial locomotion is like that of the aquatic +<i>Amœba<a name="FNanchor_74" id="FNanchor_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> primitiva</i>, +and is performed by land <i>Amœbæ</i>; and the curious +plant <i>Myxomycetes</i><a name="FNanchor_75" id="FNanchor_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Protococcus<a name="FNanchor_76" id="FNanchor_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> +nivalis</i>, the little spheroidal alga, which abounds on Alpine summits and +in Arctic regions.</p> + +<p>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>i.e.</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> +jumps, which may be effected in various manners, the consideration of +which will find a fitting place in an Essay devoted to “Motion.”</p> + +<p>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, <i>e.g.</i>, those of the +common Agrimony, <i>Agrimonia eupatoria</i>) 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 <i>Martynia proboscidea</i> (called Testa di <i>Quaglia</i> 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 <i>Uncaria +procumbeus</i>, or the grapple plant of South Africa and +<i>Harpagophytum</i>,<a name="FNanchor_77" id="FNanchor_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> +the fruit of which is provided with hooked processes. Those of <i>Harpagophytum</i> +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.</p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor_78" id="FNanchor_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> +Such, for example, are the curious serpents called +<i>Typhlops</i>,<a name="FNanchor_79" id="FNanchor_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> and such +are the legless lizards<a name="FNanchor_80" id="FNanchor_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> +(<i>Anguis</i>), and such, again, are the simpler +vermiform animals allied to frogs, called +<i>Cæciliæ</i>.<a name="FNanchor_81" id="FNanchor_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 aërial currents.</p> + +<p>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 aërial 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.</p> + +<p>Aërial 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> +dragon, the more or less prolonged aërial sustentation is effected by +expansions of skin, which act as parachutes in ways be later described +in detail.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Pterosauria</i> or +<i>Pterodactyles</i>.<a name="FNanchor_82" id="FNanchor_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +aërial. 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 +<i>Valisneria</i>,<a name="FNanchor_83" id="FNanchor_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> +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 <i>causes</i> 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 <i>is</i> deemed the one and +sufficient cause of all the characters of living creatures. But as yet we +have not even seen what <i>is</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The minutest and probably the simplest forms of living creatures +(whether plant or animal) are such as are presented by +<i>Bacteria</i>,<a name="FNanchor_84" id="FNanchor_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> the +yeast-plant and <i>Protoccus</i>. 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 <i>bacterium</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>zooglæa</i> +state of existence.</p> + +<p>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, <i>Spirillum volitans</i>, each end of the body is produced into a minute +hair-like process or <i>cilium</i>, and it is by the lashings of these cilia that the +minute organism moves about.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Vaucheria</i>,<a name="FNanchor_85" id="FNanchor_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> +and many other <i>Algæ</i>, and in the animal +<i>Amœba primitiva</i>.<a name="FNanchor_86" id="FNanchor_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a></p> + +<p>An organism of this simplest kind or a fragment of a higher organism +which presents this simplest condition is called a +cell.<a name="FNanchor_87" id="FNanchor_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> Very generally +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> +such cell has within it a more or less distinctly marked generally denser +and spheroidal body called a <i>nucleus</i>, within which, again, other minute +spots may appear called <i>nucleoli</i>.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>cells</i>, 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 <i>cell-wall</i>. As has also been shown, many of the lowest animals +take on occasionally the <i>encysted</i> condition when they also consist of a +particle of bioplasm enclosed in a distinct cell-wall or <i>cyst</i>, though one +not made of cellulose.</p> + +<p>The protoplasmic contents of the cell may attract watery fluid thus +forming clearer spaces or <i>vacuoles</i> 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 (<i>Saccharomyces cerevisiæ</i>), 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.</p> + +<p>In <i>Protococcus</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> +protoplasm of a colouring matter called <i>chlorophyll</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<i>Protococcus</i>, the cellular envelope of which occasionally disappears. +More remarkable still is the form already referred to under the name +<i>Myxomycetes</i>,<a name="FNanchor_88" id="FNanchor_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> +which, for part of its existence, is the form of an indefinitely-shaped, +naked protoplasmic mass.<a name="FNanchor_89" id="FNanchor_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a></p> + +<p>Living creatures which consist of a single cell may present, nevertheless, +a considerable complication of structure. Thus, an organism as +simple as the <i>amœba primitiva</i>, before noticed, may have the power of +forming, or, as it is technically called, <i>secreting</i>, 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 <i>exosarc</i>, 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 <i>Amœba</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Caulerpa</i>,<a name="FNanchor_90" id="FNanchor_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> +which, although unicellular, simulates in its outline the +fern called <i>Blechnum</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> +The next grade of structural complication in living creatures is +produced by the lowly plants, such as <i>Protococcus</i>, which multiply by +spontaneous self-division or <i>fission</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>One of the best examples of this secondary grade of complication is +presented by the spherically aggregated cells of +<i>Volvox</i>.<a name="FNanchor_91" id="FNanchor_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>colonies</i>.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Fungi</i>,<a name="FNanchor_92" id="FNanchor_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> +and <i>Algæ</i>, in sponges,<a name="FNanchor_93" id="FNanchor_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> +and <i>Hydræ</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>This transformation of cells, at first all alike, into distinct orders of +cells or <i>tissues</i>, whence different organs with different functions arise, is +characteristic of all living creatures above those which each consist +throughout life of one cell only.</p> + +<p>We have seen that unicellular organisms may unite into a cylindrical +or spheroidal colony, as in some <i>Radiolaria</i>, or into a spheroid of closely-adjusted +cells, forming one layer, as in <i>Volvox</i>. 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 +<i>Hypozoa</i><a name="FNanchor_94" id="FNanchor_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> +or <i>Protozoa</i>, and also the lowest +cryptogamic<a name="FNanchor_95" id="FNanchor_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> +plants.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Dicyema</i>,<a name="FNanchor_96" id="FNanchor_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> +must for the present be postponed, as its +significance could not yet be understood.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>analogy</i> and the other +<i>homology</i>, and it is very desirable to bear clearly in mind the distinction +which exists between these two relations.</p> + +<p><i>Analogy</i> refers to the use to which any part or organ is put—that is, it +refers to its function.</p> + +<p>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).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><i>Homology</i> refers to essential similarity in position compared with all +the other parts or organs of the body, and must be considered apart +from function.</p> + +<p>Thus, as we shall see in the next Essay a single floret of the daisy is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> +homologous with the whole flower of the buttercup. The spathe of an +arum is the homologue of any +bract,<a name="FNanchor_97" id="FNanchor_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Homoplasts</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Cruciferæ</i> (to which +the wallflower and turnip belong), the flowers of which are generally +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> +white, pink, or yellow, while the gentians, again, are noteworthy for +exhibiting pure colours.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_98" id="FNanchor_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a></p> + +<p>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<a name="FNanchor_99" id="FNanchor_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> fish +(<i>Leptocephalus</i>), also mollusca of all kinds, including even perfectly +transparent cuttle fishes.<a name="FNanchor_100" id="FNanchor_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> +There are also glass-like +crustaceans,<a name="FNanchor_101" id="FNanchor_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> and +also planarians<a name="FNanchor_102" id="FNanchor_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> +and sea anemones.<a name="FNanchor_103" id="FNanchor_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> +Plants, however, never present +this character, although by it they might, as well as animals, escape +being preyed upon.</p> + +<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_104" id="FNanchor_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="author"><span class="smcap">St. George Mivart.</span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56" id="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> +<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span> for July, 1879, p. 678.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57" id="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> +Loc. cit., p. 704.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58" id="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> +<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span> for July, 1879, p. 703.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59" id="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> +<i>Ibid.</i> for September, 1879, p. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60" id="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> +<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, pp. 33 and 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61" id="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> +One of the <i>Melanospermeæ</i>; <i>Ibid.</i> p. 36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62" id="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> +Creatures belonging to the class <i>Lammellibranchiata</i>; see <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, +September, 1879, pp. 30 and 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63" id="Footnote_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> +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 <i>Mycelium</i>) is +quite rudimentary, or even absent.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64" id="Footnote_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> +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).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65" id="Footnote_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> +Creatures belonging to the group <i>Rhizopoda</i>; see <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span> for September, +1879, pp. 35 and 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66" id="Footnote_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> +One of the lowest of the <i>Rhizopoda</i>; <i>Ibid.</i> p. 36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67" id="Footnote_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> +A class of <i>Hypozoa</i>; see <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span> for September, 1879, pp. 35 and 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68" id="Footnote_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> +<i>Ibid.</i> pp. 31 and 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69" id="Footnote_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> +<i>Ibid.</i> p. 35, and <i>Archiv für Mikroskop. Anatomie</i>, vol. xv. Heft 3, plate xx.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70" id="Footnote_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> +See <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71" id="Footnote_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> +One of the <i>Copepoda</i>; see loc. cit., p. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72" id="Footnote_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> +See loc. cit., p. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73" id="Footnote_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> +Of the class <i>Cestoidea</i>; see loc. cit., pp. 34 and 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74" id="Footnote_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> +Loc. cit., p. 36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75" id="Footnote_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> +Loc. cit., p. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76" id="Footnote_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> +Loc. cit., p. 36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77" id="Footnote_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> +All these three plants belong to the <i>Dicotyledonous</i> order <i>Sesameæ</i>, which would come +between the <i>Lobiatæ</i> and the <i>Orobanchaceæ</i> of the list given on p. 42 in the <span class="smcap">Contemporary +Review</span> for September, 1879. This order contains the <i>Sesamum orientale</i>, 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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78" id="Footnote_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> +This and the tics belong to the class <i>Arachnida</i>; see <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, +September, 1879, pp. 32 and 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79" id="Footnote_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> +For the <i>Typhlopsidæ</i>, see <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 26.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80" id="Footnote_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> +Loc. cit., p. 24.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81" id="Footnote_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> +Belonging to the class <i>Ophiomorpha</i>; see loc. cit., pp. 27 and 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82" id="Footnote_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> +See <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 25.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83" id="Footnote_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> +<i>Valisneria spiralis</i>: 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 <i>Hydrocharideæ</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84" id="Footnote_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> +See <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85" id="Footnote_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> +Loc. cit., p. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86" id="Footnote_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> +Loc. cit., p. 36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87" id="Footnote_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> +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 <i>Cytod</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88" id="Footnote_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> +<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89" id="Footnote_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> +Here reference may be made to the name <i>Bathybius</i>, 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 <i>Bathybius</i> 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.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90" id="Footnote_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> +<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 37.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91" id="Footnote_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> +<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92" id="Footnote_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> +Loc. cit., pp. 37 and 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93" id="Footnote_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> +Loc. cit., p. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94" id="Footnote_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> +<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, pp. 35 and 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95" id="Footnote_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> +For explanation of this application of this term see loc. cit., p. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96" id="Footnote_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> +Loc. cit., p. 35.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97" id="Footnote_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> +A kind of leaf the nature of which as well as of spathes, florets, and flowers, will be +explained in the next Essay.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98" id="Footnote_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> +<span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, loc. cit., pp. 37 and 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99" id="Footnote_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> +Teleostean fishes are generally bony, but the bones are represented by cartilages in +<i>Leptocephalus</i>. As to teleosteans, see <span class="smcap">Contemporary Review</span>, September, 1879, p. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100" id="Footnote_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> +<i>Ibid.</i>, loc. cit., p. 30.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101" id="Footnote_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> +<i>Ibid.</i>, loc. cit., pp. 31 and 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102" id="Footnote_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> +<i>Ibid.</i>, loc. cit., pp. 33 and 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103" id="Footnote_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> +<i>Ibid.</i>, loc. cit., p. 34. As examples of transparent sea anemones, Nautactis and its +allies, belonging to the <i>Actinozoa</i>, may be mentioned.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104" id="Footnote_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> +See Moseley’s “Challenger,” p. 592.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CONTEMPORARY LIFE AND THOUGHT IN TURKEY.</h2> + +<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Constantinople</span>, <i>Sept. 9th, 1879</i>.</p> + +<p>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 <i>in Turkey</i>.</p> + +<h4>The Fall of Khaireddin Pacha.</h4> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> +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 <i>protégé</i> in office, and, what is +more important, he has failed to secure any modifications in the system +of government. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h4>Sultan Murad.</h4> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h4>The Progress of Reform.</h4> + +<p>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 <i>Hatt</i>. It professes to be a plan for a reorganization of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> +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 <i>on paper</i>, 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 +<i>Hatt</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h4>The Egyptian Crisis.</h4> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Revue des Deux Mondes</i>, 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.</p> + +<h4>The Greek Question.</h4> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> +off-hand in this way; but they did not, and no Power now exists which +can do so.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>The Turkish papers are allowed to discuss this question with perfect +freedom, and one of the most moderate, the <i>Djeridei-Havadis</i>, says:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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.”</p></div> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<h4>The Principality of Bulgaria.</h4> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> +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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span></p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h4>Eastern Roumelia.</h4> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span> +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 <i>Phare du Bosphore</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="author"><span class="smcap">An Eastern Statesman.</span></p> + +<hr /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span></p> + +<h2>CONTEMPORARY BOOKS.</h2> + +<h3>I.—HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF THE EAST.</h3> + +<p class="center">(<i>Under the Direction of</i> Professor <span class="smcap">E. H. Palmer</span>.)</p> + +<p>Colonel Malleson certainly did well to claim permission to rewrite Sir +John Kaye’s last volume (<i>History of the Indian Mutiny</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.<a name="FNanchor_105" id="FNanchor_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> +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 <i>in print</i>. 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 <i>Friend of India</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>versus</i> Holkar, but one in which each may be commended without loss of +credit to the other.</p> + +<p>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”? +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span></p> + +<p>Captain Low’s <i>History of the Indian Navy</i> (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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 £500, 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.</p> + +<p>After another seventy years the Bombay Marine became in name what, as the only +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Hugh Lindsay</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +£600,000 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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Captain Richard Burton is <i>facile princeps</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> +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: <i>The Gold-Mines +of Midian and the Ruined Midianite Cities</i> (London: C. Kegan Paul & Co., +1878) and <i>The Land of Midian (Revisited)</i>, 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 archæological +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 +mediæval Arabic geographers, <i>Arz Maydan</i>, 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 Nabathæans, whose former rock-cut capital, Petræa, 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>pooh-pooh’d</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 +£22,000, mostly to be spent in El-Muwaylah. The unsettled Arabs plunder and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<p>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 mediæval Arab geographers.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>filons</i> of larger size. Some of these “Ophirs of Egypt Proper” yielded the +treasury of Ramses the Great the enormous sum of £90,000,000 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>“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 <i>Barguir</i> turns out to be his own corruption of +<i>Bakir</i>, 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 Nabathæan <i>graffiti</i> and Arab-tribe marks, which are so common all over +Arabia Petræa; 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>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, <i>A. E. I.: Arabia, Egypt, and India</i> (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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p><i>Egypt to Palestine</i>, 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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Sir Lewis Pelly has published, in two handsome volumes, a literal translation of the +text of the <i>Miracle Play of Hasan and Husein</i> (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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> +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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Dr. Charles Riew has just issued the first volume of his <i>Catalogue of the Persian +MSS. in the British Museum</i> (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 <i>Jámi ut tawárikh</i>, +written in the seventh—eighth centuries of the Hejra, and comprising the histories +of all the principal Turkish and Mongol dynasties; the <i>Táríkh i Rashídí</i>, a history +of the Khans of Mogolistan and of the Amirs of Kashgar; and the <i>Zafar Namah</i>, +the earliest authentic history of Timur, written by his order in 1404 <span class="smcap lowercase">A.D.</span> 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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>A <i>Pahlavi Dictionary</i>, by Dastur Jamaspji Minocheherji Jamasp Asana, of which +the first two volumes have just appeared (London: Trübner 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 <i>Huzvaresh</i>, 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 <i>reads</i> the Aryan equivalent, just as +we in English say “pounds, shillings, and pence” when we meet with the signs +£ s. d., and <i>read</i> “namely,” though we write and print “videlicet” or “viz.” Dastur +Jamaspji Asana interprets the word <i>Huzvaresh</i> 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 <i>Parthva</i>, 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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Dr. Haug’s <i>Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the +Parsis</i> (Trübner’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 <i>rab mag</i> (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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> +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 <i>Historia religionis veterum Persarum eorumque Magorum</i>. 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 <i>savants</i>, 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 <i>résumé</i> 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.</p> + +<p>Mr. Bernard Quaritch, of Piccadilly, has published a romance in modern Arabic, +entitled, <i>The Autobiography of the Constantinople Story-teller</i>, 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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>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 +<i>séances</i> 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 Naddára 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span> +a French introduction, which is prefixed to the collected thirty numbers, and form a +very interesting and curious record of modern Egyptian history.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>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 Harírí, 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, “Muhít el Muhít,” 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 <i>El Jinán</i>, +“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 Encyclopædia in the Arabic language, on the plan of +the European Conversation-lexicons.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105" id="Footnote_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> +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.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr /> +<h3>II.—CLASSICAL LITERATURE.</h3> + +<p class="center">(<i>Under the Direction of the</i> Rev. Prebendary <span class="smcap">J. Davies</span>, M.A.)</p> + +<p>One of the most useful volumes for classical students which has seen the light +this year is the solid collection of <i>Specimens of Roman Literature, illustrative +of Roman Thought and Style</i>, 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 Naturâ Deorum, followed by epigrams of those elder poets, +Valerius Œdituus, Porcius Licinus, and Quintus Lutatius Catulus, embalmed in the +antiquarian pages of Aulus Gellius. The literature of Roman agriculture is represented +(§§ 31-4) by specimens of Varro de Re Rusticâ, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> +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 <i>Tar</i> for <i>Ter</i>. (the abbreviation of Terence); +and it would have been neater to head the hortatory or suasory orations, illustrated +in pp. 567-8, §§ 73-5, with an English title, rather than to describe each in mingled +and maimed speech as “a suasoria” (<i>i.e.</i>, “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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>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 +<i>Translations</i>, 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:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“Quia non rete accipitri tenditur neque miluo,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Qui male faciunt nobis: illis qui nihil faciunt tenditur;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Quia enim in illis fructus est, in illis opera luditur.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Aliis aliunde est periclum unde aliquid abradi potest:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mihi sciunt nihil esse. Dices, ducent damnatum domum:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Alere nolunt hominem edacem: et sapiunt, meâ quidem sententia,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pro maleficio si beneficium summum nolunt reddere.”—<i>Phorm.</i>, act. ii. 2.<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>“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 <i>habeas corpus</i>.’ +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.”</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>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 <i>The Letters of the Younger Pliny</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> +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 (<span class="greek" title="a">α</span>) to himself and his intimates, +(<span class="greek" title="b">β</span>) to his lesser friends, +(<span class="greek" title="g">γ</span>) 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, <i>par excellence</i>, +Pliny’s <i>chefs d’œuvre</i>, minutely detailing the features and attractions of his +villas. These constitute to the young student so many <i>loci classici</i>, 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 <i>à propos</i> 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 <i>The Letters of Caius Plinius +Cœcilius Secundus</i>, 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).</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>The feeling is more mixed with which we touch upon Mr. T. Hart Davies’s <i>Translation +of Catullus into English Verse</i> (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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> +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 Cæsar and Mamurra (<i>à propos</i> of Poem xxix. on Cæsar), 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 Cæcilius 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—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“Sirmio, fairest of all isles that be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or all peninsulas that ocean laves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Whether around them roll the mighty sea,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Or a lake’s placid waves.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thee with what joy, what rapture do I view,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Returned from Thynia and Bithynia’s plain!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I scarce can credit that the bliss is true<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thee to behold again.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh! what more blessed is than labours past!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In weary wanderings abroad we roam,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Then spent with toil we come again at last,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Seeking our rest at home.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">This for our toils the sole reward is found,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Hail, lovely Sirmio, and thou Lydian mere!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And now, my home, let all thy laughter sound,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Now is thy master here.”<br /></span> +</div> + +<p>Mr. Hart Davies’s temporary exile has obviously the solace of scholarship.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>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 <i>History of Quintus Curtius</i>, 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 (<span class="greek" title="a">α</span>) as to Curtius +and his book; (<span class="greek" title="b">β</span>) 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> +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, <i>e.g., +copidas</i> (“choppers” like a Goorka knife, the <span class="greek" title="kopis">κοπὶς</span> +from the same root as <span class="greek" title="koptô">κόπτω</span>), +clearly though succinctly explained. On Alexander’s order to Cœnus in §§ 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 Cœnus. The former with the main body took +the Indian horse in flank, before they could change their front, and enabled Cœnus +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 Cœnus 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. §§ 10, where “igni <i>alita</i> sepulchra” reveals a certainly post-Augustan but doubtfully +Ciceronian form; or as in viii. 14 §§ 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. §§ 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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>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 Gnæi +Pompeii” “apud Quirites” it is better known as the oration <i>pro lege Maniliâ</i>, 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 Selectæ 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 (<i>M. Tullii Ciceronis De Imperio Gnœi Pompeii +Oratio ad Quirites</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> +Great. Against this Bill were arrayed the Moderate Republicans, and the talents of +the orator Hortensius, whilst on behalf of it spoke Julius Cæsar, 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 <i>vectigalibus</i> in the masculine gender for <i>tributaries</i>, which has its parallel +in § 45; in the third the contrast in c. iii., between “In Asiæ luce h.e,” “in the foreground +of Asia,” <i>lux</i> being used of what is present to the eyes of all, and +open to extensive commerce, as opposed to “<i>Ponti latebris</i>,” 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 <i>insignia victoriæ, non +victoriam</i>, “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 <i>scriptura</i> is the “rent for pasturage,” and <i>custodiis</i> (§ 16) = “coastguard +posts, to prevent vessel unloading unless at the emporia where there +were custom-houses.” For <i>publicanis omissis</i>, a despaired-of reading in c. vii. § 18, +the editor adopts the conjecture <i>publicanorum bonis</i> or <i>fortunis amissis</i>; 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 <i>l</i> where a long <i>i</i> is followed by a short one in the next syllable; +nor does he fail to note any memorable change of construction, <i>e.g.</i>, where in +c. xiii. in the sentence, “<i>Hiemis</i> enim non <i>avaritiæ</i> perfagium majores nostri in sociorum +atque amicorum tectis esse voluerunt,” we have a change from the objective to the +subjective genitive, “a refuge <i>from</i> the winter, not <i>for</i> 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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Among these perhaps Mr. Reid’s Lælius (<i>M. Tullii Ciceronis Lælius de Amicitia</i>, +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 Lælius, 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 Lælius is more Aristotelian than +Platonic. The “mitis sapientia Læli” in the dialogue stands out in contrast with +the genial learning of Mucius Scævola and the severer cultivation of Gaius Fannius. +An interesting passage in the dialogue is that in which Lælius 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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> +and Lælius 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 § 34, but one +note (16) on “optimis quibusque” stands out as a sample of exhaustive criticism. +The argument of Lælius 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 <i>neuter</i> plural of <i>quisque</i>, and that with a superlative; Cic. Fam. vii. 33, +where we have “literas longissimas quasque,” being exceptional, because literæ, “an +epistle,” has no singular. Mr. Reid instances, indeed, from the De Officiis ii. 75, +“Leges et proximæ quæque duriores,” but only to propose an emendation to a senseless +reading, viz., “Leges, et proxima quæque”—<i>i.e.</i>, “laws, and harsher each of +them than its predecessor.” In the present case, he adds, “quibusque” may be used +for <span class="greek" title="hekastois">ἑκάστοις</span> 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 <i>minime</i> qualifies <i>acer</i> 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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>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 Cæsar’s +Commentaries on the Gallic War, <i>Gai Juli Cæsaris De Bello Gallico Commentariorum, +IV. V.</i> (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 Cæsar’s account. +These books, it will be remembered, contain <i>inter alia</i> the description of Cæsar’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 Cæsar’s Rhine Bridge, c. 17; +whether Cæsar’s method of strengthening the four bearing piles with their transverse +beams was (as Kraner and Heller practically agree) by four fibulæ at each junction +of the beam with the piles (eight in all), or, as Cohausen believes, by two fibulæ at +each end, one serving instead of cross-piece c, in fig. 1, for the beam to rest upon. +Napoleon’s view of the fibulaæ, 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 +<i>oratio obliqua</i> in which the historian casts them. In c. 37, it should seem that the +reading <i>lapsi</i> 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 Cæsar’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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span></p> + +<hr /> +<h3>III.—ESSAYS, NOVELS, POETRY, &c.</h3> + +<p class="center">(<i>Under the Direction of</i> <span class="smcap">Matthew Browne</span>.)</p> + +<p>In referring to two more of Messrs. Macmillan and Co.’s <i>English Men of Letters</i> we +shall reproduce, reckless of the charge of “damnable iteration,” the charge we have +made before. Here is <i>Burke</i>, by Mr. John Morley, and <i>Hume</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As a reasoned account of the life and writings of the subject of the book, Professor +Huxley’s <i>Hume</i> 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:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“Of all the immediate effects of pain and pleasure there is none more remarkable than +the <i>will</i>; 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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> +by the <i>will</i>, I mean nothing but <i>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</i>. 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.)</p></div> + +<p>And this is Professor Huxley’s comment:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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.”</p></div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>Gibbon</i> 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 “<i>solid</i> 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 <i>noblest</i> 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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>The “run” upon Dante continues. Here is <i>Dante: Six Sermons</i>, by Philip H. +Wicksteed, M.A. (C. Kegan Paul & Co.) “In allowing,” says Mr. Wicksteed—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>“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.”</p></div> + +<p>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 <i>falsetto</i> 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:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span></p><div class="blockquot"><p>“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”—</p></div> + +<p>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 <i>that</i> 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 <i>controlling</i> and <i>interfering</i> moral purpose +injures a poem, Milton’s “Paradise Lost” being the next strongest?</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>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 <i>A Freak +of Freedom; or, The Republic of San Marino</i>, 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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>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, +<i>The Cat and Battledore, and other Tales</i>, by Honoré 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 Père 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 “Comédie 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.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +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-h.htm or 39459-h.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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