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CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND.
VOL. 1.
LONDON : PRINTED BY
8POTTI8WOODE AND CO., NKW-STREET 6QUAMS
AND PARLIAMENT STREET
HISTORY ,
•fM Oh:
CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND.
BT
HENEY THOMAS BUCKLE.
IN THBEH VOLUMES.
VOL. L
NEW EDITION.
LONDON :
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1873.
Ift73
i ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTEE I.
STATEMENT OF THE RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY,
AND PROOFS OF THE REGULARITY OF HUMAN ACTIONS.
THESE ACTIONS ARE GOVERNED BY MENTAL AND PHYSICAL
LAWS : THEREFORE BOTH SETS OF LAWS MUST BE STUDIED,
AND THERE CAN BE NO HISTORY WITHOUT THE NATURAL
SCIENCES.
PAGE
Materials for writing history 1-3
Narrow range of knowledge possessed by historians . -5
Object of the present work ...... 6
Human actions, if not the result of fixed laws, must be
due to chance or to supernatural interference . 8
Probable origin of free-will and predestination . . 9-12
Theological basis of predestination, and metaphysical
basis of free-will 12-16
The actions of men are caused by their antecedents, which
exist either in the human mind or in the external world 1 8-20
Therefore history is the modification of man by nature,
and of nature by man 20-21
Statistics prove the regularity of actions in regard to
murder and other crimes 22-26
Similar proof respecting suicides 27-29
Also respecting the number of marriages annually con-
tracted 31-32
And respecting the number of letters sent undirected . 32
The historian must ascertain whether mind or nature has
most influenced human actions ; and therefore there
can be no history without physical science . . 33-35
Note A. Passages from Kant on free-will and necessity 35-38<
CHAPTER II.
INFLUENCE EXERCI8ED BY PHYSICAL LAWS OVER THE ORGANI-
ZATION OF SOCIETY AND OVER THE CHARACTER OF INDIVIDUALS.
Man is affected by four classes of physical agents ; namely,
climate, food, soil, and the general aspect of nature . 39-41
Operation of these agents on the accumulation of wealth . 41-51
VI ANALYTICAL TABLE OP CONTENTS.
PAGE
Their operation on the distribution of wealth . . . 51-64
Illustrations of these principles from Ireland . . . 65-67
From Hindustan ........ 69-82
From Egypt 82-93
From Central America : 93-94
And from Mexico and Peru 95
Operation of physical laws in Brazil .... 101-108
Influence of the general aspects of nature upon the ima-
gination and the understanding . . . > .118-119
Under some aspects, nature is more prominent than man ;
under others, man more than nature . . . . 120
In the former case the imagination is more stimulated
than the understanding, and to this class all the earliest
civilizations belong 120-121
The imagination is excited by earthquakes and volcanoes 122-124
And by danger generally 126-126
Also by an unhealthy climate making life precarious . 126-130
From these causes the civilizations exterior to Europe are
mainly influenced by the imagination, those in Europe
by the understanding 130-132
This proposition illustrated by a comparison between Hin-
dustan and Greece 132-147
Further illustration from Central America . . . 147-148
Chemical and physiological note on the connection between
food and animal heat 148-151
CHAPTEE III.
EXAMINATION OF THE METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIANS
POR DISCOVEKINe MENTAL LAWS.
In the last chapter, two leading facts have been esta-
blished, which broadly separate Europe from other parts
of the world 154-156
Hence it appears that of the two classes of mental and phy-
sical laws the mental are the more important for the
history of Europe 156-157
Examination of the two metaphysical methods of gene-
ralizing mental laws 158-165
Failure of these methods 165-167
CHAPTER IV.
MENTAL LAWS ARE EITHER MORAL OR INTELLECTUAL. COM-
PARISON OP MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS, AND INQUIRY
INTO THE EPPECT PRODUCED BY EACH ON THE PROGRESS OP
SOCIETY.
The historical method of studying mental laws is su-
perior to the metaphysical method .... 168-174
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Vll
pag a
The progress of society is twofold, moral and intellectual 174-175
Comparison of the moral with the intellectual element . 175
There is no evidence that the natural faculties of man
improve 176-177
Progress, therefore, depends on an improvement in the
circumstances under which the faculties come into play 178
The standard of action having varied in every age, the
causes of action must be variable . . . . 179
But moral truths have not changed . . . . 179
And intellectual truths are constantly changing . . 181
Intellectual truths are the cause of progress . . . 182
Ignorant men are mischievous in proportion to their
sincerity 183-185
Illustrations of this from Rome and Spain . . . 185-188
The diminution of religious persecution is owing to the
progress of knowledge 188-190
The diminution of the warlike spirit is owing to the same
cause 190-192
Illustrations from Russia and Turkey .... 195-197
As civilization advances, men of intellect avoid becoming
soldiers 198
Illustrations of this from ancient Greece and modern
Europe 198-202
The three principal ways in which the progress of know-
ledge has lessened the warlike spirit are :
1. The invention of gunpowder 203-209
2. The discoveries made by political economists . . 210-211
3. The application of steam to purposes of travelling . 219-223
Inference to be drawn as to the causes of social progress . 224-226
CHAPTER V.
INQOTBY INTO THE INFLUENCE EXERCISED BY RELIGION,
LITERATURE, AND GOVERNMENT.
Recapitulation of preceding arguments .... 227
Moral feelings influence individuals, but do not affect
society in the aggregate 228-229
This being as yet little understood, historians have not
collected proper materials for writing history . . 230
Reasons why the present history is restricted to England 231-235
Comparison of the history of England with that of France 235-236
With that of Germany 237-240
With that of the United States of America . . . 240-242
Necessity of ascertaining the fundamental laws of intellec-
tual progress 243
Much may be gained in .that respect from studying the
histories of Germany, America, France, Spain, and
Scotland 244-248
Vlll ANALYTICAL TABLE OP CONTENTS.
PAGB
Deductive spirit in Scotland 246-252
Influence of religion on the progress of society . . 253-266
Illustration from the efforts of missionaries . . . 254-256
Illustration from the Hebrews ..... 257-258
Illustration from the early history of Christianity . . 259-262
And from Sweden and Scotland 263-266
Influence of literature on the progress of society . . 268-272
Influence of government on the progress of society . . 272-287
Illustrated by repeal of the corn-laws . . . .273-274
The best legislation abrogates former legislation . . 275
The interference of politicians with trade has injured trade 276-278
Legislators have caused smuggling with all its attendant
crimes . . . . . . _ . . . 278-280
They have also increased hypocrisy and perjury . . 281-283
By their laws against usury they have increased usury 283-284
By other laws they have hindered the advance of knowledge 284-285
England has been less interfered with in these ways than
other nations, and is therefore more prosperous than
they 286-287
CHAPTEE VI. ,
ORIGIN OF HISTORY, AND STATE OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE
DURING THE MIDDLE AGES.
Conclusions arrived at by the preceding investigations . 288
An inquiry into the changes in historical researches will
throw light on the changes in society .... 289-290
The earliest histories are ballads 291-295
One cause of error in history was the invention of writing 296-300
A change of religion in any country also tends to corrupt
its early history 300-307
But the most active cause of all was the influence of the
clergy 307-308
Absurdities which were consequently believed . . 309-317
Illustration of this from the history of Charlemagne by
Turpin 318-321
And from the history of the Britons by Geoffrey . . 321-325
The first improvement in writing history began in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries .... 325
But credulity was still prevalent, as is seen in Comines . 327-328
And in the predictions of Stceffier respecting the Deluge 330
Also in the work of Dr. Horst on the Golden Tooth . 331-332
CHAPTEE VII.
OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM
THE MIDDLE OF THE SIXTEENTH TO THE END OF THE
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
This absurd way of writing history was the natural re-
sult of the state of the age 333
ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.
IX
The spirit of doubt was a necessary precursor of improve-
ment . 334
Hence the supreme importance of scepticism . . . 335-336
Origin of religious toleration in England ... 337
Hooker contrasted with Jewel 339-343
Scepticism and spirit of inquiry on other subjects . . 343-346
This tendency displayed in Chillingworth . . . 347-350
Chillingworth compared with Hooker and Jewel . . 350
Subsequent movement in the same direction, and increas-
ing indifference to theological matters .... 352-355
Great advantage of this 356-358
Under James I. and Charles I. this opposition to authority
assumes a political character ....'. 359-361
Under Charles II. it takes a frivolous form at court . 363
Influence of this spirit upon Sir Thomas Browne . . 365-367
Its influence upon Boyle 367-370
It causes the establishment of the Royal Society . . 371
Impetus now given to physical science, and attempts of
the clergy to oppose it 372
The clergy are naturally hostile to physical science, because
it lessens their own power 372-373
Illustration of this by the superstition of sailors and agri-
culturists as compared with soldiers and mechanics . 375-380
Legislative improvements in the reign of Charles H. in
spite of political degradation . 380-386
These improvements were due to the sceptical and inquir-
ing spirit 387-388
Aided by the vices of the king 388
And by his dislike of the church 389
He encouraged Hobbes, and neglected the ablest of the
clergy 390-393
The clergy, to recover their ground, allied themselves with
James II. 394-396
This alliance was dissolved by the Declaration of Indul-
gence 397-399
The clergy then united with the dissenters and brought
about the Revolution of 1688 399-400
Importance of the Revolution 401-403
But the clergy regretted it, and repented of their own act 403
Hostility between them and William III. . . . 405-410
Hence a schism in the church ..... 410-413
Fresh encouragement thus given to scepticism . . .413-414
Convocation first despised, and then abolished . . 414-415
After the Revolution the ablest men confine themselves
to secular professions, and avoided entering the church 415
The clergy lost all offices out of the church, and their
numbers diminished in both Houses of Parliament . 416-418
The church rallied for a moment under Anne . . 418-420
But was weakened by the dissenters, headed by Wesley and
Whitefield 420-424
X ANALYTICAL TABLE OP CONTENTS.
' pAgh
Theology separated from morals and from politics . . 424-426
Rapid succession of sceptical controversies . . . 427-429
Knowledge begins to be diffused, and takes a popular form 430-433
Political meetings, and publication of parliamentary debates 433-434
Doctrine of personal representation, and idea of indepen-
dence 436
Corresponding change in the style of authors . . 436-439
Hence great reforms became inevitable .... 439-440
This tendency was aided by George.I. and George II. . 441-443
But discouraged by George III., under whom began a
dangerous political reaction 444-446
Ignorance of George III. 446
Subserviency of Pitt 446-449
Incompetence of other statesmen, and the king's hatred
of great men 449-451
Deterioration of the House of Lords .... 451-455
Ability and accomplishments of Burke .... 458-461
He opposed the views of George HI., and was neglected
by him 462 r 467
Burke's subsequent hallucinations and violence . . 467-476
The king now favoured him 476-477
Policy of George IH. respecting America . . . 478-482
This policy reacted upon England 482-483
Policy in regard to France 483-486
This also reacted upon England 486
And produced arbitrary laws against the liberties of Eng-
land 487-493
Which were zealously enforced by the executive . . 494-496
Gloomy political prospects of England late in the eigh-
teenth century 496-498
But, owing to the progress of knowledge, a counter reaction
was preparing 498-502
To which, and to the increasing power of public opinion,
England owes her great reforms of the nineteenth
century . ... . . 502-505
LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED.
[In order to assist those who wish to verify my references, and also with the
view of indicating the nature and extent of the materials which I have
nsed, I have drawn up the following list of the principal works quoted.
When no edition is mentioned, the size is 8vo el infra. When the name of
the author is enclosed between brackets, the book is anonymous ; but in
such cases I have usually subjoined some authority who gives evidence of
the authorship ]
[Aarsens de Sominerdyck] Voyage d'Espagne, fait en 1'annie 1655.
Paris, 1665. 4to. Barbier (Dictionnaire des Outrages Anonymes,
vol. ii. p. 468, Paris, 1806) refers to an edition of 1666.
Abd-Allatif, Relation do l'Egypte, traduite par Silvestre de Sacy.
Paris, 1810. 4to.
Aberdeen : Extracts from the Council Register of the Burgh of
Aberdeen, from 1398 to 1570, printed for the Spalding Club.
Aberdeen, 1844. 4to.
Ibid., from 1570 to 1625, printed for the Spalding Club. Aberdeen,
1848. 4to.
Abernethy (J.) The Hunterian Oration for the year 1819. Lon-
don, 1819.
Abernethy (M. I.) Physicke for the Soule. London, 1622. 4to.
Acte of the Parliaments of Scotland from 1 124 to 1707. London,
1814-1844. 11 vols, folio.
Acts and Proceedings of the General Assemblies of the Kirk of
Scotland, from 1560 to 1618. Edinburgh, 1839-1845. 3 vols.
4 to.
Acte of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, from 1638
to 1842. Edinburgh, 1843.
Adams (J.) Memoirs of the Life and Doctrines of John Hunter
2nd edit. London, 1818.
Adolphus (J.) History of England from the accession of George IH.
London, 1840-1845. 7 vols.
Aguesseau (Chancelier d') Lettres ineMites. Paris, 1823. 2 vols.
Aikin (L.) Life of Addison. London, 1843. 2 vols.
Albemarle (Earl of) Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham. Lond.
1852. 2 vols.
Alberoni (Cardinal) The History of. London, 1719.
Alison (Sir A.) History of Europe, from the commencement of the
French Revolution to 1815. Edinburgh, 1849, 1850. 14 vols.
Allen (J.) Rise and Growth of the Royal Prerogative in England.
London, 1849.
Xll LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED.
Anderson (J.) Prize Essay on the State of Society and Knowledge
in the Highlands of Scotland. Edinburgh, 1827.
Antequera (D. J. M.) Historia de la Legislacion Espanola. Madrid,
1849.
Argyll (The Duke of) Presbytery Examined. London, 1848.
Arnold (Dr.) Lectures on Modern History. London, 1843.
Arnot (H.) The History of Edinburgh. Edinburgh, 1788. 4to.
Asiatic Kesearches. London and Calcutta, 1799-1836. 20 vols. 4to.
Aubrey (J.) Letters and Lives of Eminent Men. London, 1813.
2 vols.
Audigier (M.) L'Origine des Francois. Paris, 1676. 2 vols.
Azara (E.) Voyages dans l'Am&rique Meridionale. Paris, 1809.
4 vols.
Bacallar (V.) Commentaries de la Guerra de Espana, e Historia de
bu Rey Phelipe V. Genova. 2 vols. 4to (no date).
Bacon (J. F.) Six Years in Biscay. London, 1838.
Baillie (E.) Letters and Journals from 1637 to 1662, edited by D.
Laing. Edinburgh, 1841-1842. 3 vols.
Bain (A.) The Senses and the Intellect. London, 1855.
Bakewell(R.) Introduction to Geology. London, 1838.
Balfour (Sir J.) Historical Works, containing the Annals of Scot-
land. London, 1825. 4 vols.
Balfour (J. H.) A Manual of Botany. London, 1849.
Bancroft (G.) History of the American Kevolution. London, 1852-
1854. 3 vols.
Bannatyne (J.) Journal of Transactions in Scotland, from 1570 to
1573. Edinburgh, 1806.
Barante (M.) Tableau de la Litterature Francaise au XVlII" Siecle.
Paris, 1847.
Barrington (D.) Observations on the Statutes. 5th edit. London,
1796. 4to.
Barruel (L'Abbe) Memoires pour l'Histoire du Jacobinisme. Ham-
bourg, 1803. 5 vols.
Barry (G.) History of the Orkney Islands. Edinburgh, 1805. 4to.
Bassompierre (Marshal de) Memoires. Paris, 1822, 1823.
3 vols.
Bates (G.) Account of the late Troubles in England. London, 1685.
2 vols.
Baxter (R.) Life and Times, by himself. Published by M. Sylves-
ter. London, 1696. Folio. 3 parts.
Bazin (M. A.) Histoire de France sous Louis XIII. Paris, 1838.
4 vols.
Beausobre (M.) Histoire Critique de Manich6e et du Manich&sme.
Amsterdam, 17,34-9. 2 vols. 4to.
Beclard (P. A.) Elements d'Anatomie Gen£rale. Paris, 1852.
Bedford Correspondence, edited by Lord J. Russell. 1842-1846.
3 vols.
Beechey (F. W.) Voyage to the Pacific. London, 1831. 2 vols.
LIST OP AUTHOES QUOTED. xiii
Belsham (W.) History of Great Britain, from 1688 to 1802. Lon-
don, 1805. 12 vols. [Of this work I have used only the last
fleven volumes, which refer to a period for which Belsham was a
contemporary authority. _ The earlier volumes are worthless.]
[Benoist] Histoire de l'Edit de Nantes. Delft, 1693-1695.
5 vols. 4to.
Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne) Works. London, 1843. 2 vols.
Berwick (Marechal de) Memoires ecrits par lui-meme. Paris, 1778.
2 vols.
Bichat (X.) Traite des Membranes. Paris, 1802.
Bichat (X.) Anatomie Generale. Paris, 1821. 4 vols.
Bichat (X.) Recherches sur la Vie et la Mort, edit Magendie.
Paris, 1829.
Binning (H.) Sermons, edited by J. Cochrane. Edinburgh, 1839,
1840. 3 vols.
Biographie Universelle. Paris, 1811-1828. 52 vols.
Birch (T.) Life of Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury. London,
1753.
Bisset (R.) Life of Edmund Burke. 2nd edit. London, 1800. 2 vols.
Black (J.) Lectures on Chemistry, edited by John Robison. Edin-
burgh, 1803. 2 vols. 4to.
Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England. London, 1809.
4 vols.
Blainville (D.) Physiologie Generale et Comparee. Paris, 1833.
3 vols. .
Blair (R.) Autobiography, from 1593 to 1636; with a continuation
to 1680, by W. Row, edited by T. M'Crie for the Wodrow So-
ciety. Edinburgh, 1848. ,
Blanqui (M.) Histoire de l'Ecftnomie Politique en Europe. Paris,
1845. 2 vols.
Bogue (D.) and Bennett (J.) History of the Dissenters, from 1688 to
1808. London, 1808-1812. 4 vols.
Bohlen (P.) Das alte Indien, mit besondererRucksicht auf Aegypten.
Konigsberg, 1830. 2 vols.
[Boisel] Journal du Voyage d'Espagne. Paris, 1669. 4to. See
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Paris, 1844.
Boston (T.) Sermons. Glasgow, 1752.
Boston (T.) Human Nature in its Four-fold State. Reprinted, Lon-
don, 1809.
Bouillaud (J.) Philosophie Medical e. Paris, 1836.
Bouille (M. de) Memoires sur la Revolution Franchise. Paris,
1801-9. 2 vols.
Bouillier (M.) Histoire des divers Corps de la Maison Militaire des
Rois de France. Paris, 1818.
Boulainvilliers (Comte) Histoire de l'Ancien Gouveruemcnt de la
France. La Haye, 1727. 3 vols.
XIV LIST OP AUTHORS QUOTED.
Bourgoing (J. F.) Tableau de l'Espagne Moderne, quatrieme Edition.
Paris, 1807. 3 vols.
Bouterwek (F.) History of Spanish and Portuguese Literature.
London, 1823. 2 vols,
Bowdich (T. E.) Mission to Ashantee. London, 1819. 4to.
Bower (A.) History of the University of Edinburgh. Edinburgh,
1817-1830. 3 vols.
Bowles (G.) Introduction a, la Historia Natural y a la Geografia
Fisica de Espafia. Teroera edicion. Madrid, 1 789. 4to.
Bowles (W. L.) Life of Bishop Ken. London, 1830, 1831. 2 vols.
Boyle (B,.) Works. London, 1744. 5 vols, folio.
Brand (A.) Description of Orkney, Zetland, Pightland-Firth, and
Caithness. Edinburgh, 1701.
Brande (W. T.) A Manual of Chemistry. London, 1848. 2 vols.
Brewster (Sir D.) Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton. Edinburgh, 1855.
2 vols.
Brienne (L. H. de Lomenie) Memoires in&lits. Paris, 1828.
2 vols.
Brissot (J. P.) Memoires. Paris, 1830. 2 vols.
British Association for Advancement of Science, Reports of. Lon-
don, 1833-1853. 21 vols.
Brodie (Sir B.) Lectures on Pathology and Surgery. London, 1846.
Brodie (Sir B.) Physiological Researches. London, 1851.
Brougham (Lord) Sketches of Statesmen in the time of George III.
London, 1845. 6 vols.
Brougham (Lord) Lives of Men of Letters and Science in the time
of George III. London, 1845-1847. 2 vols.
Brougham (Lord) Political Philosophy. 2nd edit. London, 1849.
3 vols.
Broussais (F. J. V.) Examen des Doctrines M6dicales. Paris, 1829-
1834. 4 vols.
Broussais (F. J. V.) Cours de Phrenologie. Paris, 1836.
Brown (A.) History of Glasgow. Glasgow, 1795, and Edinburgh,
1797. 2 vols.
Brown (T.) Lectures on the Philosophy of the Mind. Edinburgh,
1838.
Browne (J.) History of the Highlands and of the Highland Clans.
Glasgow, 1838. 4 vols.
Browne (Sir Thomas) Works and Correspondence, by S. Wilkin.
London, 1836. 4 vols.
Buchanan (F.) Journey through Mysore, Canara, and Malabar.
London, 1807. 3 vols. 4to.
Buchanan (G.) Eerum Scoticarum Historia, cura Man. Abredonise,
1762.
Buchanan (J.) Sketches of the North-American Indians. London,
1824.
Buckingham (Duke of) Memoirs of George III. London, 1853.
2 vela.
Bullock (W.) Travels in Mexico. London, 1824.
LIST OP AUTHORS QUOTED. xv
Bulstrode (Sir B.) Memoirs of Charles I. and Charles II. London,
1721.
Bunbury (Sir H.) Correspondence of Sir Thomas Hanmer. London,
1838.
Bnnsen (C. C. J.) Egypt's Place in Universal History. London,
1848-1854. 2 vols.
Burckhardt (J. L.) Travels in Arabia. London, 1829. 2 vols.
Burdach (C. F.) Traite de Physiologie consideree comme Science
d'Observation. Paris, 1837-1841. 9 vols.
Burke (E.) Correspondence with Laurence. London, 1827.
Burke (E.) Works, by H. Eogers. London, 1841. 2 vols.
Burke (E.) Correspondence between 1744 and 1797. London, 1844.
4 vols.
Burnes (Sir A.) Travels into Bokhara. London, 1834. 3 vols.
Burnet (Bishop G.) History of his own Time. Oxford, 1823.
6 vols.
Burnet (Bishop G-.) Lives and Characters, edit. Jebb. London, 1833.
Burnet (Bishop G>.) Memoirs of the Lives of James and William,
Dukes of Hamilton and Castle-Herald. Oxford, 1852.
Burton (J. H.) Life and Correspondence of David Hume. Edin-
burgh, 1846. 2 vols.
Burton (J. H.) Lives of Simon Lord Lovat, and Duncan Forbes of
Culloden. London, 1847.
Burton (J. H.) Narratives from Criminal Trials in Scotland. Lon-
don, 1852. 2 vols.
Burton (J. H.) History of Scotland, from 1689 to 1748. London,
1853. 2 vols.
Burton (E. F.) Sindh, and the Eaces in the Valley of the Indus.
London, 1851.
Burton (T.) Diary, from 1655 to 1659. London, 1828. 4 vols.
Butler (C.) Memoirs of the English, Lrish, and Scottish Catholics.
London, 1822. 4 vols.
Butler (C.) Eeminiscences. London, 1824-1827. 2 vols.
Cabanis (P. J. G.) Eapports du Physique et du Moral de l'Homme.
Paris, 1843.
Cabarrus (D. F.) Elogio de Carlos III. Madrid, 1789. 4to.
Cabarrus (Condo de) Cartas sobre los Obstaculos que la Naturaleza,
la Opinion, y las Leycs oponen a la Felicidad Publica. Madrid,
1813.
Calamy (E) Account of my own Life, 1631-1731. London, 1829.
2 vols.
Calderwood (D.) History of the Kirk of Scotland, edited by T.
Thomson for the Wodrow Society. Edinburgh, 1842-1849.
8 vols.
Campan (Madame) Memoires sur Marie- Antoinette. Paris, 1826.
3 vols.
Campbell (Lord) Lives of the Lord Chancellors of England. 3rd
edit. London, 1848-1850. 7 vols.
YOL. I. a
XVI LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED.
Campbell (Lord) Lives of the Chief Justices of England. London,
1849. 2 vols.
Campion (H. de) M6moires. Paris, 1807.
[Campomanes] Discurso sobre la Education Popular de los Artesanos.
Madrid, 1775.
[Campomanes] Apendice a la Education Popular. Madrid, 1775-
1777. 4 vols.
Capefigue (M.) Histoire de la Reforme, de la Ligue et du Regne
de Henri IV. Bruxelles, 1834, 1835. 8 vols.
Capefigue (M.) Richelieu, Mazarin et la Fronde. Paris, 1844.
2 vols.
Capefigue (M.) Louis XIV. Paris, 1844. 2 vols.
Capmany (A de) Question es Criticas sobre variosPuntosde Historia
economica, &c. Madrid, 1 807.
Cappe (C.) Memoirs, written by herself. London, 1822.
Carlyle (Rev. Dr. Alexander) Autobiography. 2nd edit. Edinburgh,
1860.
Carlyle (T.) Letters and Speeches of Cromwell. 2nd edit. London,
1846. 3 vols.
Carpenter (W. B.) Principles of Human Physiology. 3rd edit.
London, 1846.
Cartwright (Major) Life and Correspondence. London, 1826.
2 vols.
Carus (C. Gr.) Comparative Anatomy of Animals. London, 1 827.
2 vols.
Carwithen (J. B. S.) History of the Church of England. Oxford,
1849. 2 vols.
Cassagnac (M. A. Gr. de) Causes de la Revolution Franchise. Paris,
1850. 3 vols.
Castro (A.) Examen Filosofico sobre las principales causas de la
Decadencia de Espana. Cadiz, 1 852.
Catlin (G-.) Letters on the North-American Indians. London, 1841.
2 vols.
Chalmers (G.) Caledonia. London, 1807-1824. 3 vols. 4to.
Chalmers (P.) Historical aDd Statistical Account of Dunfermline.
Edinburgh, 1844.
Chambers (R.) Domestic Annals of Scotland, from the Reformation
to the Revolution. Edinburgh, 1858. 2 vols.
Charron (P.) De la Sagesse. Amsterdam, 1782. 2 vols.
Chatham (Earl of ) Correspondence. London, 1838-1840. 4 vols.
Chillingworth (W.) The Religion of Protestants. London, 1846.
Chronicle of Perth (The) from 1210 to 1668. Edinburgh, 1831.
4to. Published by the Maitland Club.
Circourt (A. de) Histoire des Arabes d'Espagne. Paris, 1846.
3 vols.
Clapperton (H.) Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa.
London, 1829. 4to.
Clarendon (Earl of ) State Papers. Oxford, 1767-1786. 3 vols.
folio.
LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED. XV11
Clarendon (Earl of) The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars
in England; also his Life, written by Himself. Oxford, 1843.
Clarendon's Correspondence and Diary, by S. W. Singer. London,
1828. 2 vols. 4to.
Clarke (C.) An Examination of the Internal State of Spain. Lon-
don, 1818.
Clarke (E.) Letters concerning the Spanish Nation, written at
Madrid in 1760 and 1761. London, 1763. 4to.
Cloncnrry (Lord) Recollections and Correspondence. Dublin, 1849.
Clot-Bey (A. B.) De la Peste observed en Egypte. Paris, 1840.
Cloud (A) of Witnesses for the Royal Prerogatives of Jesus Christ.
10th edit. Glasgow, 1779.
Cockburn (J.) Jacob's Vow, or Man's Felicity and Duty. Edinburgh,
1696.
Colebrooke (H. T.) A Digest of Hindu Law. Calcutta, 1801.
3 vols.
Coleman (C.) Mythology of the Hindus. London, 1832. 4to.
Coleridge (S. T.) Literary Remains. London, 1836-1839. 4 vols.
Coleridge (S. T.) The Friend. London, 1844. 3 vols.
Combe (G.) Notes on the United States of North America. Edin-
burgh, 1841. 3 vols.
Comines (P. de) Memoires, £dit. Petitot. 1826. 3 vols.
Comte (A.) Cours de Philosophie Positive. Paris, 1830-1842.
6 vols.
Comte (C.) Traits de Legislation. Paris, 1835. 4 vols.
Conde (J. A.) Historia de la Dominacion de los Arabes en Espafia.
Paris, 1840.
CondiRac (E. B.) Traite des Sensations. Paris, 1798.
Condorcet (Marquis de) Vie de Turgot. Londres, 1786.
Condorcet (Marquis de) Vie de Voltaire, in vol. i. of (Euvres de
Voltaire. Paris, 1820.
Conrart(V.) Memoires. Paris, 1825.
Cook (J.) Three Voyages round the World. London, 1821. 7 vols.
Cook (S. S.) Sketches in Spain, from 1829 to 1832. London, 1834.
2 vols.
Cooke (G. W.} History of Party. London, 1836, 1837. 3 vols.
Coplestion (E.) Inquiry into the Doctrines of Necessity and Predes-
tination. London, 1821.
Costa y Borras (J. D. Obispo de Barcelona) Observaciones sobre el
Presente y el Porvenir de la Iglesia en Espafia. Segunda edicion.
Barcelona, 1857.
Cousin (V.) Cours de l'Histoirede la Philosophie moderne, I" sirie.
Paris, 1846. 5 vols.
Cousin (V.) Cours de l'Histoire de laPhilosophie moderne, II* aerie.
Paris, 1847. 3 vols.
Cowper(W.) Heaven Opened. London, 1631. 4to.
Coxe (W.) Memoirs of the Kings of Spain of the House of Bour-
bon. 2nd edit London, 1815. 5 vols.
Crantz (D.) History of Greenland. London, 1767. 2 vols.
a2
XV111 LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED.
Crawford (G.) The History of the Shire of Eenfrew. Paisley
1782. 3 parts, 4to.
Crawfurd (J.) History of the Indian Archipelago. Edinburgh, 1820.
3 vols.
Crichton (A.) The Life and Diary of Lieut.-CoL J. Blackader.
Edinburgh, 1824.
Croker (E.) Travels through several Provinces of Spain and Portu-
gal. London, 1799.
Crookshank (W.) History of the Church of Scotland, from 1660 to
1688. Edinburgh, 1812. 2 vols.
Cudworth (E.) The True Intellectual System of the Universe. Lon-
don, 1820. 4 vols.
Cullen(W.) Works. Edinburgh, 1827. 2 vols.
Currie (J.) Life and Correspondence, by his Son. London, 1831.
2 vols.
Custine (Marquis de) LaBussie en 1839. Paris, 1843. 4 vols.
Cuvier (G.)Becueil des Eloges Historiques. Paris, 1819-1827. 3 vols.
Cuvier (G.) Le Eegne Animal. Paris, 1829. 5 vols.
Cuvier (G.) Histoire des Sciences Naturelles depuis leur Origine.
Paris, 1831.
Cuvier (G.) Histoire des Progres des Sciences Naturelles depuis
1789. Bruxelles, 1837, 1838. 2 vols.
Dabistan (The) translated from the Persian, byD.Shea and A.Troyer.
Paris, 1843. 3 vols.
Dacier (M.) Eapport sur les Progres de l'Histoire et de la Litera-
ture depuis 1789. Paris, 1810. 4to.
Dalrymple (Sir D.) Annals of Scotland, from 1057 to 1371. 3rd edit.
Edinburgh, 1819. 3 vols.
Dalrymple (J.) History of Feudal Property in Great Britain.
London, 1758.
Dalrymple (J.) Memoirs of Great Britian and Ireland. London,
1790. 3 vols.
Dalrymple (W.) Travels through Spain and Portugal in 1774. Lon-
don, 1777. 4to.
Daniel (G.) Histoire de la MiliceFran9oise. Paris, 1721. 2 vols. 4to.
Daniell (J. F.) Meteorological Essays. London, 1827.
Darwin (C.) Journal of Eesearches in Geology and Natural History.
London, 1840.
[D'Aulnoy (Madame)] Eolation du Voyage d'Espagne. Lyon, 1693.
2 vols. See Ticknor's History of Spanish literature, vol. ii. pp.
320, 321.
Davies (C. M.) History of Holland. London, 1841-1844. 3 vols.
Davila (G. G.) Historia de la Vida y Hechos del Inclito Monarca
Amadoy Santo D. Felipe Tercero. Eeprinted, Madrid, 1771- Folio.
Davis (J. F.) The Chinese. London, 1844. 3 vols.
De Foe (D.) The History of the Union between England and Scot-
land. London, 1786. 4to.
De Lisle (Borne) Essai de Cristallographie. Paris, 1772.
LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED. xix
De Lisle (Rom6) Cristallographie. Paris, 1783. 4 vols. 8vo.
Denham (D.) Travels in Northern and Central Africa. London.
1826. 4to.
Denholm (J.) The History of the City of Glasgow and Suburbs.
3rd edition. Glasgow, 1804.
Descartes (R.) OEuvres, par V. Cousin. Paris, 1824-1826. 11 vols.
Des Maizeaux (P.) Life of Chillingworth. London, 1 725.
Des Reaux (Tallemant) Les Historiettes. Paris, 1840. 10 vols.
De Stael (Madame) Considerations sur la Revolution Franchise,
Paris, 1820. 3 vols.
De Thou (J. A.) Histoire Universelle, depuis 1543 jusqu'en 1607.
Londres, 1734. 16 vols. 4to.
Dickson (D.) A Brief Explication of the first Fifty Psalms. London,
1653.
Dickson (D.) Truth's Victory over Error. Reprinted, Glasgow,
1772.
Diderot (D.) Memoires et Correspondance. Paris, 1830, 1831.
4 vols.
Dillon (J. T.) Travels through Spain. Dublin, 1781.
Diodori Siculi Bibliotheca Histories ; recensione Wesselingii.
Bipont. 1793-1807. 11 vols.
Diogenes Laertius, De Vitis Philosophorum, edit. Meibomius.
Amstel. 1692. 2 vols. 4to.
Disney (J.) Life of Dr. John Jebb, in vol. i. of Jebb's "Works.
London, J 7 87.
Diurnal (A) of Remarkable Occurrents that have passed within the
Country of Scotland, since the Death of James rV. till the year
1575. Published by the Bannatyne Club. Edinburgh, 1833. 4to.
Dobell (P.) Travels in Kamtchatka and Siberia. London, 1830.
2 vols.
Doblado's Letters from Spain (by Rev. B. White). London, 1 822.
Doddridge (P.) Correspondence and Diary. London, 1829-1831.
6 vols.
Doubleday(T.) The True Law of Population. London, 1847^
Dowling (J. G.) Introduction to the Study of Ecclesiastical History.
London, 1838.
D'Oyly (G.) Life of Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury. London,
1840.
Duclos (M.) Memoires secrets sur Louis XTV et Louis XV. Paris,
1791. 2 vols.
Du Deffand (Madame) Correspondance inidite. Paris, 1 809. 2 vols.
Du Deffand (Madame) Lettres a H. Walpole. Paris, 1827. 4 vols.
Dufau (P. A.) Traits de Statistique. Paris, 1840.
Du Mesnil (M.) Memoires sur le Prince Le Brun. Paris, 1828.
Dumont (E.) Souvenirs sur Mirabeau. Londres, 1832.
[Dunham] History of Spain and Portugal. London, 1832. 6 vols.
See Prescott's Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. iii. p. 214.
Dunlop (J.) Memoirs of Spain, from 1621 to 1700. Edinburgh,
1834. 2 vols.
XX LIST OF AUTHOKS QUOTED.
Ouplessis-Mornay (P.) Memoires et Correspondance. Paris, 1824,
1825. 12 vols.
Durham (J.) Exposition of the Song of Solomon. 1669. Beprinted,
Glasgow, 1788.
Durham (J.) The Law Unsealed. 1675. Eeprinted, Glasgow, 1798.
Durham (J.) A Commentarie upon the Book of the Bevelation.
Glasgow, 1680. 4to.
Dutens (L.) Memoires d'un Voyageur qui se repose. Londres, 1806.
3 vols.
Duvernet (J.) Vie de Voltaire. Geneve, 1786.
Duvernet (J.) Histoire de la Sorbonne. Paris, 1791. 2 vols.
Eccleston (J.) Introduction to English Antiquities. London, 1847.
Edwards (M.) Zoologie. Paris, 1841, 1842. 2 parts.
Elliotson (J.) Human Physiology. London, 1840.
Ellis Correspondence (The) 1686-1688, edited by G. A. Ellis.
London, 1829. 2 vols.
Ellis (Sir H.) Original Letters of Literary Men. Camden Soc.
1843. 4to.
Ellis (W.) A Tour through Hawaii. London, 1827.
Ellis (W.) Polynesian Besearches. London, 1831. 4 vols.
Ellis (W.) History of Madagascar. London, 1838. 2 vols.
Elphinstone (M.) The History of India. London, 1849.
Encyclopaedia of tbe Medical Sciences. London, 1847. 4to.
Epinay (Madame d') Memoires et Correspondance. Paris, 1818.
3 vols.
Erichsen (J.) The Science and Art of Surgery. 2nd edit. London,
1857.
Erman (A.) Travels in Siberia. , London, 1848. 2 vols.
Eschbach (M.) Introduction a, l'Etude du Droit. Paris, 1846.
Esquirol (E.) Des Maladies Mentales. Paris, 1838. 2 vols.
Estat (L') de l'Espagne. Geneve, 1681.
Evelyn (J.) Diary and Correspondence. London, 1827. 5 vols.
Extracts from the Presbytery Book of Strathbogie, from 1631 to
1664. Printed for the Spalding Club. Aberdeen, 1843. 4to.
Extracts from the Begisters of the Presbytery of Glasgow, and of
the Kirk Sessions of the Parishes of Cambusnethan, Humbie,
and Stirling. 4to (no date).
Fairfax Correspondence (The) edited by G. W. Johnson and
E. Bell. London, 1848, 1849. 4 vols.
Fanshawe (Lady) Memoirs, written by herself. London, 1830.
Faraday (M.) Discourse on the Conservation of Force. London,
1857.
Fauriel (M.) Histoire de la Gaule Meridionale sous la Domination
des conquerants Germains. Paris, 1836. 4 vols.
Felice (G.) History of the Protestants of France. London, 1853.
Fergusson (J.) A Brief Exposition of the Epistles of Paul. Lon-
don, reprinted from the original editions, 1656-1674.
LIST OF AUTHOES QUOTED. XXI
Feuchtersleben (E.) The Principles of Medical Psychology.
Sydenham Soc. 1847.
Flassan (M.) Histoire de la Diplomatic Eranc^ise. Paris, 1811.
7 vols.
[Fleming (R.)] The Fulfilling of the Scripture, 1681. See Fleming's
Rise and Fall of Rome, edit. London, 1848, p. xi.
Fletcher (A. of Saltoun) Political Works. Glasgow, 1749.
Fleury (M.) Histoire Ecclesiastique. Paris, 1758-1761. 36 vols.
Florez (F. H.) Memorias de las Reynas Catholicas. Madrid, 1761.
2 vols. 4to.
Flourens (P.) Histoire des Travaux de Cuvier. Paris, 1845.
Fontenay-Mareuil (Marquis de) Memoires. Paris, 1826. 2 vols.
Fontenelle (B. de) Eloges, in vols. v. and vi. of (Euvres. Paris,
1766.
Foot (J.) The Life of John Hunter. London, 1794.
Forbes (J.) Oriental Memoirs. London, 1834. 2 vols.
Forbes (J.) Certaine Records touching the Estate of the Kirk, in
1605 and 1606. Published by the Wodrow Society. Edinburgh,
1846.
/ord (R.) Hand-Book for Spain. 2nd edit. London, 1 847.
Fordun (J.) Scotichronicon, cum Supplementis et Continuatione
W. Boweri, cura W. Goodall. Edinburgi, 1775. 2 vols, folio.
Forner (J. P.) Oracion Apolog6tica por la Espafia y su Merito
Literario. Madrid, 1786.
Forry (S.) Climate of the United States, and its Endemic In-
fluences. New York, 1842.
Forster (J.) Life and Times of Goldsmith. 2nd edit. London,
1854. 2 vols.
Fountainhall (Lord) Notes of Scottish Affairs, from 1680 till 1701.
Edinburgh, 1822. 4to.
Fox (C. J.) History of the Early Part of the Reign of James II.
London, 1808. 4to.
Franck (R.) Northern Memoirs, writ in the year 1658. A new
edition. Edinburgh, 1821.
Franklin (B.) Private Correspondence. London, 1817. 2 vols.
Franklin (B.) Life, by himself. London, 1818. 2 vols.
Galfridus Monumetensis, Historia Britonum, edit. Giles. London,
1844.
Gardner (G.) Travels in the Interior of Brazil. London, 1849.
Geddes (M.) Miscellaneous Tracts. 3rd edit. London, 1730. 3 vols.
Genlis (Madame de) Memoires sur le XVHI' Siecle. Paris, 1825.
10 vols.
Gent (T.) Life, by himBelf. London, 1832.
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (I.) Histoire des Anomalies de l'Organisation
chez l'Homme et les Animaux. Bruxelles, 1837. 8 vols.
Georgel (L'Albe) Memoires. Paris, 1817, 1818. 6 vols.
Georget (M.) De la Folie. Paris, 1820.
Gibson (J.) History of Glasgow. Glasgow, 1777.
XX11 LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED.
Gillespie (G.) Aaron's Eod Blossoming, or the Divine Ordinance of
Church Government Vindicated. London, 1646. 4to.
Giraud (C.) Precis de l'Ancien Droit coutumier francais. Paris,
1852.
Godoy (Prince of the Peace) Memoirs, written by himself. London,
1836. 2 vols.
Godwin (W.) Of Population ; or the Power of Increase in Mankind.
London, 1820.
Gordon (P.) A Short Abridgement of Britane's Distemper, from
1639to 1649. Printed for the Spalding Club. Aberdeen, 1844. 4to.
Gothe (J. W.) Wahrheit und Dichtung, in vol. ii. of Werka
Stuttgart, 1837.
Government (The) and Order of the Church of Scotland. 1641.
Eeprinted, Edinburgh, 1690.
Gramont (Le Marshal de) Memoires, edit. Petitot et Monmerque.
Paris, 1826, 1827. 2 vols.
Grant (E.) History of Physical Astronomy. London, 1852.
Grant (E. E.) Comparative Anatomy. London, 1841.
Gray (A.) Great and Precious Promises. Glasgow, 1740.
Gray (A.) The Spiritual Warfare, or Sermons concerning the Nature
of Mortification. Glasgow, 1840.
Green (J. H.) Vital Dynamics. London, 1840.
Gregoire (M.) Histoire des Confesseurs. Paris, 1824.
Gregory (D.) History of the Western Highlands and Isles of Scot-
land, from 1493 to 1625. Edinburgh, 1836.
Grenville Papers (The) edited by W. J. Smith. London, 1852, 1853.
4 vols.
Grierson (Dr.) History of St. Andrews. Cupar, 1838.
Grieve (J.) The History of Kamtschatka, translated from the Rus-
sian. Gloucester, 1764. 4to.
Grimm et Diderot, Correspondance Litteraire. Paris, 1813, 1814.
17 vols. [This important work consists of three parts, besides
a supplement ; but in quoting it I have always followed the
ordinary lettering, making the supplement vol. xvii.]
Grose (F.) Military Antiquities; a History of the English Army.
London, 1812. 2 vols. 4to.
Grosley (M.) A Tour to London. London, 1772. 2 vols.
Grote (G.) History of Greece. London, 1846-1856. 12 vols.
1st edit, of vols. i. ii. iii. iv. ix. x. xi. xii. ; 2nd edit, of vols. v. vi.
vii. viii.
Grove (W. E.) The Correlation of Physical Forces. 3rd edit.
London, 1855.
Guizot (M.) Histoire de la Civilisation en France. Paris, 1846.
4 vols.
Guizot (M.) Histoire de la Civilisation en Europe. Paris, 1846.
Guizot (M.) Essais sur l'Histoire de France. Paris, 1847.
Guthrie (J.) Considerations contributing unto the Discovery of the
Dangers that threaten Eeligion in the Church of Scotland. Re-
print, Edinburgh, 1846.
LIST OF A.UTHOE8 QUOTED. xxiii
Guthry (H. Bishop of Dunkeld) Memoirs. London, 1702.
Halhed (N. B.) Code of Gentoo Laws. London, 1777.
Halkett (J.) Notes respecting the Indians of North America.
London, 1825.
Hallam (H.) Constitutional History of England. London, 1842.
2 vols.
Hallam (H.) Introduction to the Literature of Europe. London,
1843. 3 vols.
Hallam (H.) Europe during the Middle Ages. London, 1846.
2 vols.
Hallam (H.) Supplemental Notes to Europe during the Middle
Ages. London, 1848.
Halyburton (T.) The Great Concern of Salvation. Edinburgh,
1722.
Hamilton ("W.) .ffigyptiaca. London, 1809. 4to.
Hamilton (Sir W.) Notes and Dissertations to Reid. Edinburgh,
1852.
Hamilton (Sir W.) Discussions on Philosophy and Literature.
London, 1852.
Hare's Guesses at Truth. First and second series. London, 1847,
1848. 2 vols.
Harford (J. S.) Life of T. Burgess, Bishop of Salisbury. London,
1841.
Harris (G.) Life of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. London, 1847.
3 vols.
Harris ("W.) Lives of James I., Charles I., Cromwell, and Charles
II. London, 1814. 6 vols.
Hasse (C. E.) An Anatomical Description of the Diseases of the
Organs of Circulation and Respiration. Sydenham Society.
London, 1846.
Hausset (Madame du) Memoires. Paris, 1824.
Haiiy (R. J.) Trait£ de Mineralogie. Paris, 1801. 5 vols.
Hawkins (B.) Elements of Medical Statistics. London, 1829.
Heber (Bishop) Life of Jeremy Taylor, in vol. i. of Taylor's Works.
London, 1828.
Heber (Bishop) Journey through the Upper and Southern Pro-
vinces of India. London, 1828. 3 vols.
Heeren (A. H. L.) Politics, Intercourse, and Trade of the African
Nations. Oxford, 1838. 2 vols.
Heeren (A. H. L.) Politics, Intercourse, and Trade of the Asiatic
Nations. London, 1846. 2 vols.
Helv6tius (C. A.) De l'Esprit. Amsterdam, 1769. 2 volfl.
Henderson (J.) History of Brazil. London, 1821. 4to.
Henle (J.) Traits d'Anatomie Generale. Paris, 1843. 2 vols.
Henslow (J. S.) Descriptive and Physiological Botany. London,
1837.
Herder (J. G.) Ideen zur Geschichte der Menschheit Stuttgart,
1827, 1828. 4 vols.
Herodoti Musse, edit Baehr. Lipsiae, 1830-1835. 4 volt.
XXIV LIST OP AUTHORS QUOTED.
Heron (R.) Observations made in a Journey through the West-
ern Counties of Scotland, in 1792. 2nd edit. Perth, 1799.
2 vols.
Herschel (Sir J.) Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy.
London, 1831.
Hewson (W.) "Works, edited by G. Gulliver for the Sydenham So-
ciety. London, 1846.
Historie (The) and Life of King James the Sext, from 1566 to 1596.
Published by the Bannatyne Club. Edinburgh, 1825. 4to.
Hitchcock (E.) The Religion of Geology. London, 1851.
Hodgson (J.) The Hunterian Oration, delivered at the Royal Col-
lege of Surgeons in 1855. London (no date).
Hodgson (R.) Life of Porteus, Bishop of London. London, 1811.
Hoi croft (T.) Memoirs, by himself : continued by Hazlitt. London,
1816. 3 vols.
Holland (Sir H.) Medical Notes. London, 1839.
Holland (Lord) Memoirs of the Whig Party. London, 1852-1854.
2 vols.
Holies (Lord) Memoirs. London, 1699.
Hollinshead (R.) The Scottish Chronicle. Arbroath, 1805. 2 vols.
4to.
Home (J.) The History of the Rebellion in the year 1745. London,
1802. 4to.
Hooker (R.) Ecclesiastical Polity. London, 1830. 3 vols.
Hoskins (G. A.) Spain as it is. London, 1851. 2 vols.
Howell (J.) Letters. Eleventh edition. London, 1754.
Howie (J.) Biographia Scoticana. 2nd edit. Glasgow, 1781.
Huetius (P. D.) Commentarius de Rebus ad eum pertinentibus.
Amstel. 1718.
Humboldt (A.) Essai sur la Nouvelle Espagne. Paris, 1811. 2 vols.
4to.
Humboldt (A.) Cosmos. London, 1848-1852. 4 vols.
Hume (D.) Commentaries on the Law of Scotland respecting Crimes.
Edinburgh, 1797. 2 vols. 4to.
Hume (D.) Philosophical Works. Edinburgh, 1826. 4 vols.
Hume (D.) Letters of Eminent Persons to. Edinburgh, 1849.
Hume (D. of Godscroft) The History of the House and Race of
Douglas and Angus. Edinburgh, 1743. 2 vols.
Hunt (F. K.) History of Newspapers. London, 1850. 2 vols.
Hunter (J.) Works, edited by J. F. Palmer. London, 1835-1837.
4 vols.
Hunter (J.) Essays and Observations on Natural History, &c.
edited by R. Owen. London, 1861. 2 vols.
Hutcheson (F.) An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty
and Virtue. 4th edit. London, 1738.
Hutcheson (F.) A System of Moral Philosophy ; with the Life of
Hutcheson, by W. Leechman. London, 1755. 2 vols. 4to.
Hutcheson (F.) An Essay on the Nature and Conduct of the Pas-
sions and Affections. 3rd edit. Glasgow, 1769.
LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED. XX7
Hutcheson (G.) Exposition on the Twelve Small Prophets. Lon
don, 1654, 1655. 3 vols.
Hutcheson (G.) An Exposition of the Book of Job, being the sum
of 316 Sermons preached in the City of Edenburgh. London,
1669. Folio.
Hutchinson (Colonel) Memoirs of, by his Widow. London,
1846.
Hutton (J.) Theory of the Earth. Edinburgh, 1795. 2 vols.
Hutton (W.) Life of, by himself. London, 1816.
Ibn Batuta, Travels in the Fourteenth Century, translated from
Arabic by S. Lee. London, 1829. 4to.
Inglis(H. D.) Spain in 1830. London, 1831. 2 vols.
Interest (The) of Scotland considered with regard to Police, Trade,
&c. Edinburgh, 1733.
Irving (J.) The History of Dumbartonshire. 2nd edit. Dumbarton,
1860. 4to.
Ixtlilxochitl, Histoire des Chichimeques ou des anciens Bois de
Tezcuco. Paris, 1840. 2 vols.
Jacobite Memoirs of the Bebellion of 1745, edited, from the Manu-
scripts of the late Bishop Forbes, by B. Chambers. Edinburgh,
1834.
James II., The Life of, from Memoirs by his own hand, by J. S.
Clarke. London, 1816. 2 vols. 4to.
Janer (F.) Condition Social de los Moriscos de Espaiia. Madrid,
1857.
Jefferson (T.) Memoirs and Correspondence, by Bandolph. London,
1829. 4 vols.
Jehangueir (The Emperor) Memoirs, by himself, translated from
Persian by D. Price. London, 1829. 4to.
Jewel (J.) Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanse. London, 1581.
Jobert (A. C. G.) Ideas or Outlines of a New System of Philosophy.
London, 1848, 1849. 2 vols.
Johnston (L. F. C.) Institutes of the Civil Law of Spain. London,
1825.
Johnstone (The Chevalier de) Memoirs of the Bebellion in 1745 and
1746. 3rd edit. London, 1822.
Joly (G.) Memoires. Paris, 1826.
Jones (C. H.) and Sieveking (E. H.) Pathological Anatomy. Lon-
don, 1854.
Jones (B.) Organization of the Animal Kingdom. London, 1855.
Jones (W.) Life of G. Home, Bishop of Norwich. London, 1795.
Jones (Sir W.) Works. London, 1799. 6 vols. 4to.
Journal Asiatique. Paris, 1822-1827. 11 vols.
Journal of the Asiatic Society. London, 1834-1851. 14 vols.
Journal of the Geographical Society. London, 1813 (2nd edit of
vol. i.) to 1853. 23 vols.
Jussieu's Botany, by J. H. Wilson. London, 1849.
XXVI LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED.
Kaemtz (L. F.) Course of Meteorology. London, 1845.
Kant (J.) Werke. Leipzig, 1838, 1839. 10 vols.
Kay (J.) Condition and Education of the People in England and
Europe. London, 1850. 2 vols.
Keith (K.) A Catalogue of the Bishops of Scotland. Edinburgh,
1755. 4to.
Keith (K.) History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland,
from the beginning of the Keformation to 1568. Published by
the Spottiswoode Society. Edinburgh, 1844-1850. 3 vols.
Kemble (J. M.) The Saxons in England. London, 1849. 2 vols.
Ken (Bishop of Bath and Wells) Life of, by a Layman. London,
1854. 2 vols.
Kennedy (W.) Annals of Aberdeen. London, 1818. 2 vols. 4to.
King (Lord) Life of J. Locke. London, 1830. 2 vols.
Kirkton (J.) The Secret and True History of the Church of Scot-
land, from the Restoration to 1678, edited from the MSS. by
C. K. Sharpe. Edinburgh, 1817. 4to.
Klimrath (H.) Travaux sur l'Histoire du Droit Francais. Paris,
1843. 2 vols.
Knox (J.) History of the Reformation in Scotland, edited by
D. Laing, for the Wodrow Society. Edinburgh, 1846-1848.
2 vols.
Koch (M.) Tableau des Revolutions de l'Europe. Paris, 1823.
3 vols.
Kohl (J. G.) Russia. London, 1842.
Labat (P.) Voyages en Espagne et en Italie. Paris, 1730. Vol. i.
containing his travels in Spain.
Laborde (A.) A View of Spain. London, 1809. 5 vols.
Lacretelle (C.) Histoire de France pendant le XVIII> Siecle.
Bruxelles, 1819. 3 vols.
Lafayette (General) Memoires, Correspondance et Manuscrits.
Bruxelles, 1837-1839. 2 vols.
Lafuente (M.) Historia General de Espana. Madrid, 1850-1857.
19 vols.
Laing (M.) The History of Scotland, from 1603 to 1707. 3rd edit
London, 1819. 4 vols.
Laing (S.) Sweden in 1838. London, 1839.
Laing (S.) Notes on the Social and Political State of Europe. Lon-
don, 1842.
Laing (S.) Second Series of Notes on Europe. London, 1850.
Laing (S.) Denmark, being the Third Series of Notes. London,
1852.
Laird (M.) Memoirs of the Life and Experiences, with a Preface by
the Rev. Mr. Cock. 2nd edit. Glasgow, 1781.
Lamartine (A. de) Histoire des Girondins. Bruxelles, 1847.
8 vols.
Lamont (J. of Newton) Diary, from 1649 to 1671. Edinburgh,
1830. 4to.
LIST OF AUTHOBS QUOTED. XXvii
Lankester (E.) Memorials of John Kay. Ray Society, 1846.
Larenaudiere (M. de) Mexique et Guatemala. Paris, 1843.
Lathbury (T.) History of the Convocation of the Church of Eng-
land. London, 1842.
Lathbury (T.) History of the Nonjurors. London, 1845.
Lavallee (T.) Histoire des Francais. Paris, 1847. 4 vols.
Lawrence (W.) Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, and the Natural
History of Man. London, 1844.
Lawson (J. P.) The Eoman Catholic Church in Scotland. Edin-
burgh, 1836.
Lawson (J. P.) The Book of Perth. Edinburgh, 1847.
Le Blanc (L'Abb6) Letters d'un Francois. Lyon, 1758. 3 vols.
Ledwich (E.) Antiquities of Ireland. Dublin, 1804. 4to.
Le Long (J.) Bibliotheque Historique de la France. Paris, 1768—
1778. 5 vols, folio.
Lemontey (P. E.) L'Etablissement Monarchique de Louis XIV.
Paris, 1818.
Lenet (P.) Memoires. Paris, 1826. 2 vols.
Lepan (M.) Vie de Voltaire. Paris, 1837.
Lepelletier (A.) Physiologic Medicalo. Paris, 1831-1833. 4 vols.
Lerminier (E.) Philosophic du Droit. Paris, 1831. 2 vols.
Lesley (J.) The History of Scotland, from 1436 to 1561. Published
by the Bannatyne Club. Edinburgh, 1830. 4to.
Leslie (J.) An Experimental Inquiry into the Nature and Propaga-
tion of Heat, London, 1804.
Leslie (Sir J.) Treatises on Natural and Chemical Philosophy.
Edinburgh, 1838.
Letters from Spain, &c. by an English Officer. London, 1788.
2 vols.
Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland. London, 1815.
2 vols.
Letters of Queen Elizabeth and James VT. of Scotland, edited by
J. Bruce, for the Camden Society. London, 1849. 4to.
Lettice (I.) Letters on a Tour through Various Parts of Scotland in
1792. Edinburgh, 1794.
Le Vassor (M.) Histoire du Regne de Louis XIII. Amst. 1701-
1711. 10 vols.
Lewes (G. H.) The Spanish Drama. London, 1846.
Liebig (J.) Animal Chemistry. London, 1846.
Liebig (J.) Letters on Chemistry in its relation to Physiology. Lon-
don, 1851.
Liebig and Kopp's Reports of the Progress of Chemistry and the
allied Sciences. London, 1849-1853. 4 vols.
Lindley (J.) The Vegetable Kingdom. London 1847.
Lindley (J.) An Introduction to Botany. London, 1848.
2 vols.
Lindsav (R. of Pitscottie) The Chronicles of Scotland. Edinburgh,
1814. 2 vols.
Lingard (J.) History of England. Paris, 1840. 8 vols.
XXV111 LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED.
Lister (M.) An Account of Paris at the close of the Seventeenth
Century. Shaftesbury (no date).
Lister (T. H.) Life and Correspondence of the first Earl of Claren
don. London, 1837, 1838. 3 vols.
Llorente (D. J. A.) Histoire Critique de l'lnquisition d'Espagne.
Paris, 1817, 1818. 4 vols.
Locke (J.) Works. London, 1794. 9 vols.
Lockhart Papers (The). London, 1817. 2 vols. 4to.
Longchamp et Wagniere, Memoires sur Voltaire. Paris, 1826.
2 vols.
London (J. C.) An Encyclopaedia of Agriculture. London, 1844.
Louville (Marquis de) Memoires. Paris, 1818. 2 vols.
Low (H.) Sarawak; its Inhabitants and Productions. London,
1835.
Ludlow (E.) Memoirs. Edinburgh, 1751. 3 vols.
Lyell (Sir C.) Principles of Geology. 9th edit. London, 1853.
Lyon (C. J.) History of St. Andrews. Edinburgh, 1843. 2 vols.
Mably (L'Abbe) Observations sur l'Histoire de France. Paris,
1823. 3 vols.
Macaulay (T. B.) History of England. London, 1849-1855. 1st
edit. 4 vols.
Mackay (R. W.) The Progress of the Intellect in the Religious De-
velopment of the Greeks and Hebrews. London, 1850. 2 vols.
Mackenzie (Sir G.) The Laws and Customs of Scotland in Matters
Criminal. Edinburgh, 1699. Folio.
Mackintosh (Sir J.) History of the Eevolution in England in 1688.
London, 1834. 4to.
Mackintosh (Sir J.) Memoirs, by his Son. London, 1835. 2 vols.
Mackintosh (Sir J.) Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philoso-
phy. Edinburgh, 1837.
[Macky(J.)] A Journey though Scotland. 2nd edit. London, 1732.
See Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica, vol. ii. p. 631, m.
Macpherson (D.) Annals of Commerce. London, 1805. 4 vols.
4to.
Macpherson (J.) Original Papers, from the Restoration to the Ac-
cession of the House of Hanover. London, 1775. 2 vols. 4to.
M'Crie (T.) The Life of Andrew Melville. Edinburgh, 1819.
2 vols.
M'Crie (T.) History of the Progress and Suppression of the Refor-
mation in Spain in the Sixteenth Century. Edinburgh, 1 829.
M'Crie (T.) The Life of John Knox, edited by A. Crichton. 2nd
edit. Edinburgh, 1841.
M'Culloch (J. R.) The Principles of Political Economy. Edinburgh,
1843.
M'Culloh (J. H.) Researches concerning the Aboriginal History of
America. Baltimore, 1829. ■
M'Ure (J.) The History of Glasgow. A new edition. Glasgow,
1830.
LIST OP AUTHORS QUOTED. xxix
M'William (J. 0.) Medical History of the Expedition to the Niger.
London, 1843.
Mahon (Lord) Spain under Charles II., or Extracts from the Cor-
respondence of A. Stanhope, 1690-1699. London, 1840.
Mahon (Lord) History of England, from 1713 to 1783. London,
1853, 1854. 7 vols.
Maintenon (Madame de) Lettres in^dites de, et de la Princesse des
Ursins. Paris, 1826. 4 vols.
Malcolm (Sir J.) History of Persia. London, 1829. 2 vols.
Mallet's Northern Antiquities, edit. Blackwell. London, 1847.
Mallet du Pan, Memoirs and Correspondence. London, 1852.
2 vols.
Mallet (Messrs. E. and J. W.) The Earthquake Catalogue of the
British Association. From the Transactions of the British As-
sociation for the Advancement of Science. London, 1858.
Malthus (T. K.) An Essay on the Principles of Population. Lon-
don, 1826. 2 vols.
Manning (W. 0.) Commentaries on the Law of Nations. London,
1839.
Marchant (J.) The History of the Present Kebellion. London, 1746.
Marchmont Papers, from 1685 to 1750. London, 1831. 3 vols.
Mariana (P. J.) Historia General de Espana, y la Continuacion por
Miniana. Madrid, 1794, 1795. 10 vols.
Mariner (W.) An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands.
London, 1818. 2 vols.
Marmontel (J.F.) Memoires. Paris, 1805. 4 vols.
Marsden (W.) History of Sumatra. London, 1783. 4to.
Martinez de la Mata, Dos Discursos, los publica J. A. Canga.
Madrid, 1 794. This author wrote in the middle of the seven-
teenth century, and supplies some extremely curious information
respecting the economical state of Spain.
Matter (M.) Histoire du Gnosticisme. Paris, 1 828. 2 vols.
Matter (M.) Histoire de l'Ecole d'Alexandrie. Paris, 1840-1844.
2 vols.
Matthsei Paris Historia Major, edit. Wats. London, 1684. Folio.
Matthsei Westmonasteriensis Flores Historiarum. London, 1570.
2 vols, folio.
Maury (L. F. A.) Legendes Pieuses du Moyen Age. Paris, 1843.
May (T.) History of the Long Parliament London, 1647. 3 books,
folio.
Mayo (H.) Outlines of Human Physiology. London, 1837.
Meadley (G. W.) Memoirs of W. Paley. Edinburgh, 1810.
Meiners (E.) Betrachtungen iiber die Fruchtbarkeit &c. der Lander
in Asien. Liibeck, 1795, 1796. 2 vols.
Melvill (J.) Autobiography and Diary, edited by R. Pitcairn for the
Wodrow Society. Edinburgh, 1842.
Mendoza (D. H.) Guerrade Granada que hizo el Rei D. Felipe II.
contra los Moriscos. Valencia, 1776. 4to.
Mercer (A.) The History of Dunfermline. Dunfermline, 1828.
XXX LIST OP AUTHORS QUOTED.
Mercier (M.) J. J. Rousseau consider^ comme l'un des premiers
Auteurs de la Revolution. Paris, 1791. 2 vols.
Meyen (F. J.F.) Outlines of the Geography of Plants. London,
1846.
Meyer (J. D.) Esprit, Origineet Progres des Institutions Judiciaires.
Paris, 1823. 5 vols.
Mezeray (F. E.) Histoire de France. Paris, 1643-1651. 3 vols.
folio.
Michelet (M.) Origines du Droit Francais, in voL ii. of (Euvres.
Bruxelles, 1840.
Mignet (M.) Negociations relatives a la Succession d'Espagne sous
Louis XIV. Paris, 1835-1842. 4 vols. 4to.
Mill (J.) Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind. London,
1829. 2 vols.
Mill (J.) The History of British India, edited by H. H. Wilson.
London, 1848 (the first two vols. only).
Mill (J. S.) Principles of Political Economy. London, 1849.
2 vols.
Mills (C.) History of Chivalry. London, 1825. 2 vols.
Miscellany (The) of the Wodrow Society, edited by D. Laing. Edin-
burgh, 1844.
Moffat (R.) Southern Africa. London, 1842.
Monconys (M de) Voyages de. Paris, 1695. 5 vols.
Monk (Bishop of Gloucester) Life of R Bentley. London, 1833.
2 vols.
Monro (A.) Sermons. London, 1693.
Montaigne (M.) Essais. Paris, 1843.
Montbarey (Prince de) Memoires. Paris, 1826, 1827. 3 vols.
Monteil (A. A.) Histoire des Francais des divers Etats. Bruxelles,
1843. 8 vols.
Montesquieu (C.) OEuvres completes. Paris, 1835.
Montglat (Marquis de) Memoires. Paris, 1825, 1826. 3 vols.
Montlosier (Comte de) La Monarchic Francaise. Paris, 1814.
3 vols.
Montucla (J. F.) Histoire des Math^matiques. Paris, 1799-1802.
4 vols. 4to.
Morellet (L'Abta) Memoires. Paris, 1821. 2 vols.
[Morer (T.)] A Short Account of Scotland. London, 1702. This
work is anonymous. The author was ' chaplain to a Scotch Regi-
ment.' See Records of the Kirk Session, §c, of Aberdeen, edit.
Spalding Club ; Aberdeen, 1846, 4to, pp.lxi. Ixv.
Mosheim (J. L.) Ecclesiastical History. London, 1839. 2 vols.
Motley (J. L.) History of the Rise of the Dutch Republic. London,
1858. 3 vols.
Motteville (Mme.) Memoires, edit. Petitot. Paris, 1824. 5 vols.
Moysie (D.) Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, from 1577 to 1603.
Printed by the Bannatyne Club. Edinburgh, 1830. 4to.
Muirhead (J. P.) The Life of James "Watt. 2nd edit. London, 1859.
Muller (J.) Elements of Physiology. London, 1840-1842. 2 vols.
LIST OF AUTHOES QUOTED.
Murchison (Sir E.) Siluria. London, 1854.
Mure (W.) History of the Language and Literature of Ancient
Greece. London, 1850-1863. 4 vols.
Muriel (A.) Gobierno del SeSor Rey Don Carlos III. Madrid,
1839.
Murray (A.) Life of J. Bruce. Edinburgh, 1808. 4to.
Mussefc-Pathay (V. D.) Vie de J. J. Rousseau. Paris, 1822.
2 vols.
Naphtali, or the Wrestling of the Church of Scotland for the
Kingdom of Christ. Printed in the year 1667.
Napier (M.) The Life and Times of Montrose, illustrated from
original Manuscripts. Edinburgh, 1840.
Navarrete (M. F.) Vida de Cervantes, prefixed to Don Quijote.
Barcelona, 1839.
Navarrete (M. F.) Noticia Biografica del Marques de la Ensenada,
in vol. ii. of Navarrete Opusculos. Madrid, 1848.
Neal (D.) History of the Puritans, from 1517 to 1688. London,
1822. 5 vols.
Neander (A.) History of the Christian Eeligion and Church. Lon-
don, 1850-1862. 8 vols.
Newman (F. W.) Natural History of the SouL as the Basis of
Theology. London, 1849.
Newman (F. W.) Phases of Faith. London, 1850.
Newman (J. H.) Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine.
London, 1845.
Newton (Bishop of Bristol) Life of, by himself. London, 1816.
Nicholls (J.) Recollections. London, 1822. 2 vols.
Nichols (J.) Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century. London,
1812-1816. 9 vols.
Nichols (J.) Illustrations of Literary History of the Eighteenth
• Century. London, 1817-1848. 7 vols.
Nicoll (J.) Diary, from January 1650 to June 1667. Published by
the Bannatyne Club. Edinburgh, 1836. 4to.
Niebuhr (C.) Description de l'Arabie. Amsterdam, 1774. 4to.
Nimmo (W.) History of Stirlingshire. Edinburgh, 1777.
Noailles (Due de)Memoires par 1* Abbe Millot, edit Petitot etMon-
merqu& Paris, 1828, 1829. 4 vols.
Noble (D.) The Brain and its Physiology. London, 1846.
Noble (M.) Memoirs of the House of Cromwell. Birmingham,
1784. 2 vols.
Noble (M.) Lives of the English Regicides. London, 1798,
2 vols. \
North (B.) The Lives of the Norths. London, 1826. 3 vols.
Orme (W.) Life of John Owen. London, 1820.
Ortiz y Sans (D. J.) Compendio Cronologico de la Historia de
Espana. Madrid, 1795-1803. 7 vols.
Otter (W.) Life of E D. Clarke. London, 1825. 3 vols.
VOL. I. b
XSXil LIST OP AUTHORS QUOTED.
Owen (R.) Lectures on the Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of
the Invertebrate Animals. 2nd edit. London, 1855.
Paget (J.) Lectures on Surgical Pathology. London, 1853.
2 vols.
PalgTave (Sir F.) Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth.
London, 1832. 2 vols. 4to.
Palissot (M.) Memoires pour l'Histoire de notre Litterature. Paris,
1803. 2 vols.
Pallme (I.) Travels in Kordofan. London, 1844.
Palmer (W.) A Treatise on the Church. London, 1839. 2 vols.
Park (Mungo) Travels in Africa. London, 1817. 2 vols.
Parker (Bishop) History of his own Time. London, 1727.
Parliamentary History of England, to 1803. London. 36 vols.
Parr (S.) Works. London, 1828. 8 vols.
Patin (G-.) Lettres. Paris, 1846. 3 vols.
Patten (R.) The History of the Late Rebellion. London, 1717.
Peignot (G.) Dictionnaire des Livres condamnes au feu. Paris
1806. 2 vols.
Pellew (G-.) Life and Correspondence of Lord Sidmouth. London.
1847. 3 vols.
Pennant (T.) Tour in Scotland. 4th edit. Dublin, 1775. 2 vols.
Penny (G-.) Traditions of Perth. Perth, 1836.
Pepys (S.) Diary, from 1659 to 1669. London, 1828. 5 vols.
Percival (R.) Account of the Island of Ceylon. London, 1805.
4to.
Peterborough (C. M. Earl of) Memoir of, with Selections from hi.s
Correspondence. London, 1853. 2 vols.
Petrie (G-.) Ecclesiastical Architecture and Round Towers of Ire-
land. Dublin, 1845.
Phillimore (R.) Memoirs of Lord Lyttelton, from 1734 to 1773
London, 1845. 2 vols.
Phillips (B.) Scrofula, its Nature, Causes, and Prevalence. London,
1846.
Pinel (P.) Traite sur 1' Alienation Mentale. 2nd edit. Paris, 1809.
Pinkerton (J.) History of Scotland, from the Accession of the
House of Stuart to that of Mary. London, 1797. 2 vols. 4to.
Pinkerton (J.) An Enquiry into the History of Scotland, preceding
the year 1056. Edinburgh, 1814. 2 vols.
Pitcairn(R.) Criminal Trials in Scotland, from 1488 to 1624. Edin-
burgh, 1833. 3 vols. 4to in four parts.
Playfair (J.) Works. Edinburgh, 1822; the first and fourth
volumes, containing Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory, and
th6 Life of Hutton.
Pontchartrain (P. de) Memoires. Paris, 1822. 2 vols.
Porter (G. R.) The Progress of the Nation. London, 1836-1843*
3 vols.
Pouillet (M.) Elemens de Physique. Paris, 1832. 2 vols.
Presbytery Displayd, 1644. Reprinted, London, 1663. 4to.
LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED. XXX111
Prescott (W. H.) History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.
Paris, 1842. 3 vols.
Prescott (W. H.) History of the Conquest of Mexico. Loudon,
1850. 3 vols.
Prescott (W. H.) History of the Conquest of Peru. London, 1850.
3 vols.
Prescott ("W. H.) History of the Reign of Philip II. London,
1857-1859. 3 vols.
Prichard (J. C.) A Treatise on Insanity. London, 1835.
Prichard (J. C.) Insanity in relation to Jurisprudence. London,
1842.
Prichard (J. C.) Researches into the Physical History of Mankind.
London, 1841-1847. 5 vols.
Priestley (J.) Memoirs by himself, continued by his Son. London,
1806, 1807. 2 vols.
Prior (J.) Life of 0. Goldsmith. London, 1837. 2 vols.
Prior (J.) Memoir of E. Burke. London, 1839.
Prout (W.) Bridgewater Treatise on Chemistry, &c. London, 1845.
Pulteney (R.) Historical Sketches of the Progress of Botany in
England. London, 1700. 2 vols.
Quatremere (E.) Recherches sur la Langue et la Litterature de
l'Egypte. Paris, 1808.
Querard (J. M.) La France Litteraire. Paris, 1827-1839. 10 vols.
Quetelet (A.) Sur l'Homme et la Developpement de ses Facultes.
Paris, 1835. 2 vols.
Quetelet (A.) La Statistique Morale, in vol. xxi. of Mem. de l'Acad.
de Belgique. Bruxelles, 1848. 4to.
Quick (J.) Synodicon in Gallia ; the Acts, &c. of the Councils of
the Reformed Churches in France. London, 1692. 2 vols.
folio.
Quin (M. J.) Memoirs of Ferdinand VII. King of the Spains. Lon-
doD, 1824.
Rabelais (F.) GSuvres. Amsterdam, 1725. 5 vols.
Rae (P.) The History of the Rebellion against George I. 2nd edit.
London, 1746.
Raffles (Sir T. S.) History of Java. London, 1830. 2 vols.
Rammohun Roy, Translations from the Veds and works on Brah-
manical Theology. London, 1 832.
Rammohun Roy on the Judicial and Revenue Systems of India.
London, 1832.
Ramsay (E. B. Dean of Edinburgh) Reminiscences of Scottish Life
and Character. 5th edit. Edinburgh, 1859.
Ranke (L.) Die Romischen Papste. Berlin, 1838, 1839. 3 vols.
Ranke (L.) The Ottoman and the Spanish Empires in the Sixteenth
and Seventeenth Centuries. London, 1843.
Ranke (L.) Civil Wars and Monarchy in France in 16th and 17th
Centuries. London, 1 852. 2 vols.
b2
XXXIV LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED.
Baumer (F. von) History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Cen-
turies, illustrated by original Documents. London. 1835. 2 vols.
Eay (J.) Second Itinerary in 1661, in Memorials of Eay, edited by
E. Lankester for the Eay Societ3 T . London, 1846.
Eay (J.) Correspondence, edited by E. Lankester. Eay Society, 1848.
Eeid (T.) Essays on the Powers of the Human Mind. Edinburgh,
1808. 3 vols.
Eeid (T.) An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of
Common Sense. 7th edit. Edinburgh, 1814.
Eelations des Ambassadeurs Venitiens sur les Affaires de France
au XVI' Sieele. Paris, 1838. 2 vols. 4to.
Eenouard (P. V.) Histoire de la Medecine. Paris, 1846. 2 vols.
Eeports on Botany by the Eay Society. London, 1846.
Eeresby (Sir J.) Travels and Memoirs during the Time of Crom-
well, Charles II. and James II. London, 1831.
Eetz (Cardinal de) Memoires. Paris, 1844. 2 vols.
Eevelations of Spain in 1845, by an English Eesident. London,
1845. 2 vols.
Eey (J. A.) Theorie et Pratique de la Science Sociale. Paris, 1842.
3 vols.
Eeynier (L.) De l'Economie Publique et Eurale des Arabes et des
Juifs. Geneve, 1820.
Eeynolds (Sir J.) Literary Works. London, 1846. 2 vols.
Ehode (J. G-.) Eeligiose Bildung, Mythologie und Philosophic der
Hindus. Leipzig, 1827. 2 vols.
Eicardo (D.) Works. London, 1846.
Eichard (A.) Nouveaux Elements de Botanique. Paris, 1 846.
Eichardson (J.) Travels in the Desert of Sahara. London, 1848.
2 vols.
Eichardson (J.) A Mission to Central Africa. London, 1853.
2 vols.
Eichardson (Sir J.) Arctic Searching Expedition. London, 1851.
2 vols.
Eichelieu (Cardinal) Memoires sur le Eegne de Louis XIII. Paris,
1823. 10 vols.
Eidpath (G.) The Border History of England and Scotland. Ber-
wick, 1848. 4to.
Eig-Veda-Sanhita, translated from Sanscrit by H. H. Wilson.
London, 1850-1854. 2 vols.
Eio (A. F.) Historia del Eeinado de Carlos III. en Espana. Madrid,
1856. 4 vols.
Eipperda (Duke de) Memoirs of. 2nd edit. London, 1740.
Eitchie (T. E.) Life of David Hume. London, 1807.
Eitter (H) History of Ancient Philosophy. London, 1838-1846.
4 vols.
Eivarol (M.) Memoires. Paris, 1824.
Eobe (J.) Narratives of the Extraordinary Work of the Spirit of
God. Glasgow, 1790.
Robertson (W.) Works. London, 1831.
LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED. XXXV
Robertson (W.) History of Scotland, in Robertson's Works. Lon-
don, 1831.
Robertson (W.) History of the Reign of Charles V. with additions
by W. H. Prescott. London, 1857.
Robin (C.) et Verdeil (F.) Traite de Chimie Anajoniique. Paris,
1853. 3 vols.
Rochefoucauld (Due de la) M^moires. Paris, 1826. 2 vols.
Rohan (H. Due de) Memoires. Paris, 1822.
Rokitansky (C.) A Manual of Pathological Anatomy. Published
by the Sydenham Society. London, 1849-1854. 4 vols. #
Roland (Mme.) Memoires. Paris, 1827. 2 vols.
Romilly (Sir S.) Life, written by himself. London, 1842. 2 vols.
Roscoe (H.) The Life of W. Roscoe. London, 1833. 2 vols.
Row (J.) The History of the Kirk of Scotland, from 1558 to 1637,
with a Continuation to July 1639. Published by the Wodrow
Society. Edinburgh, 1842.
Russell (Lord J.) Memorials and Correspondence of C. J. Fox.
London, 1853, 1854. 3 vols.
Russell (M.) History of the Church in Scotland. London, 1834^
2 vols.
Rutherford (S.) Christ Dying. London, 1647. 4to.
Rutherford (S.) A Free Disputation against Pretended Liberty of
• Conscience. London, 1649. 4to.
Rutherford (S.) Three Hundred and Fifty-Two Religious Letters,
between 1638 and 1649. Reprinted, Glasgow, 1824.
Sadler (M. T.) The Law of Population. London, 1830. 2 vols.
Sadler (Sir R.) State Papers and Letters, edited by R. Clifford,
with Notes by W. Scott. Edinburgh, 1809. 2 vols. 4to.'
Sainte-Aulaire (Le Comte de) Histoire de la Fronde. Paris, 1843.
2 vols.
Sainte-Palaye (De la Curne) Memoires sur l'Ancienne Chevalerie.
Paris, 1759-1781. 3 vols.
Schlosser (F. C.) History of the Eighteenth Century. London,
1843-5. 6 vols.
Scot (J.) The Staggering State of the Scots Statesmen, from 1550 to
1660. Edinburgh, 1754.
Scot (W.) An Apologetical Narration of the State and Government
of the Kirk of Scotland, since the Reformation. Published by
the Wodrow Society. Edinburgh, 1846.
Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence. 3rd edit. London, 1719.
Scotland : Reasons for Improving the Fisheries and Linnen Manufac-
ture of Scotland. London, 1727.
Scotland, a Modern Account of, written from thence by an English
Gentleman, printed in the year 1670, in vol. vi. of the Harleian
Miscellany. 1810. 4to.
Scriptores post Bedam Rerum Anglicarum. London, 1596. Folio.
Sdgur (Le Comte de) Memoires ou Souvenirs. Paris, 1825-1827.
3 vols.
XXXVI LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED.
Select Biographies, edited for the Wodrow Society by the Kov. W.
K. Tweedie. Edinburgh, 1845-1847. 2 vols.
Selections from the Minutes of the Synod of Fife, from 1611 to
1687. Printed for the Abbotsford Club. Edinburgh, 1837. 4to.
Selections from ^ie Minutes of the Presbyteries of St. Andrews and
Cupar, from 1641 to 1698. Printed for the Abbotsford Club.
Edinburgh, 1837. 4to.
Selections from the Eegisters of the Presbytery of Lanark, from
1623 to 1709. Printed for the Abbotsford Club. Edinburgh,
. 1839. 4to.
Selections from the Records of the Kirk Session, Presbytery, and
Synod of Aberdeen. Printed for the Spalding Club. Aberdeen,
1846. 4to.
Sempere (M.) Histoire des Cortes d'Espagne. Bordeaux, 1815.
Sempere (M.) Considerations sur les Causes de la Grandeur et de
la Decadence de la Monarchic Espagnole. Paris, 1826. 2 vols.
Sermons by Eminent Divines in the two last Centuries. Edinburgh,
1814.
Sevigne (Madame de) Lettres. Paris, 1 843. 6 vols.
Sewell (W.) Christian Politics. London, 1845.
Sharp (Archbishop of York) Life, edited by T. Newcome. London,
1825. 2 vols.
[Sharp, Sir C] Memorials of the Rebellion of 1569. London,
1840
Sharpe (S.) History of Egypt. London, 1 852. 2 vols.
[Shields (A.) ] A Hind let loose. Printed in the year 1687. See
Howie's Biographia Scoticana, p. 576.
Shields (A.) The Scots Inquisition. Edinburgh, 1745.
Shields (A.) An Enquiry into Church Communion. 2nd edit.
Edinburgh, 1747.
Short (Bishop of St. Asaph) History of the Church of England, to
1688. London, 1847.
Simon (Due de) Memoires publies sur le Manuscrit original. Paris,
1842. 40 vols.
Simon (J.) Lectures on General Pathology. London, 1850.
Simon (J. F.) Animal Chemistry. London, 1845, 1846. 2 vols.
Simpson (T.) Discoveries on the North Coast of America. London,
1843.
Sinclair (G.) Satan's Invisible World Discovered. Reprinted, Edin-
burgh, 1780.
Sinclair (Sir J.) Statistical Account of Scotland. Edinburgh, 1791-
1799. 21 vols.
Sinclair (Sir J.) History of the Public Revenue of the British Em-
pire. London, 1803, 1804. 3 vols.
Sinclair (Sir J.) The Correspondence of. London, 1831. 2 vols.
Sismondi (J. C. L.) Historical View of the Literature of the South
of Europe, with Notes by T. Roscoe. London, 1846. 2 vols.
Sismondi (J. C. L. S. de) Histoire des Francais. Paris, 1821-1844.
31 vols.
LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED. XXXvii
Skene (W. F.) The Highlanders of Scotland, their Origin, History,
and Antiquities. London, 1837. 2 vols.
Smedley (E.) History of the Eeformed Religion in France. London,
1832-1834. 3 vols. 8vo.
Smith (A.) The Theory of Moral Sentiments. London, 1822.
2 vols.
Smith (A.) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the "Wealth
of Nations. Edinburgh, 1839.
Smith (Sir J. E.) Memoir and Correspondence of. London, 1832.
• 2 vols.
Somers Tracts, edited by Sir W. Scott. London, 1809-1815. 13
vols. 4to.
Somerville (Lord) Memorie of the Somervilles. Edinburgh, 1815.
2 vols.
Somerville (M.) Connexion of the Physical Sciences. London, 1 849.
Somerville (M.) Physical Geography. London, 1851. 2 vols.
Sorbiere (M.) A Voyage to England. London, 1709.
Sorel (M. C.) La Bibliotheque Franchise. Paris, 1667.
Soulavie (J. L.)Me moires du Regne de Louis XVI. Paris, 1801.
6 vols.
Southey (R.) Letters written in Spain and Portugal. 2nd edit.
Bristol, 1799.
Southey (B,.) History of Brazil. London, 1819-1822. 3 vols. 4to
(2nd edit, of vol. i.).
Southey (R. V The Life of Wesley. London, 1846. 2 vols.
Southey (R.) Chronicle of the Cid. Lowell, 1846.
Spain, by an American. London, 1831. 2 vols.
Spalding (J.) The History of the Troubles in Scotland and England,
from 1624 to 1645. Edinburgh, 1828-1829. 2 vols. 4to.
Spalding Club Miscellany. Aberdeen, 1841-1852. 5 vols. 4to.
Spence (G.) Origin of the Laws and Political Institutions of Europe.
London, 1826.
Spencer (H.) First Principles. London, 1860-1861. Only three
parts have yet appeared of this able and remarkable work.
Spix (J. B.) and Martius (C. F.) Travels in Brazil. London, 1824.
2 vols.
Spottiswoode (J. Archbishop of St. Andrews) History of the Church
of Scotland. Edinburgh, 1851. 3 vols.
Spottiswoode Miscellany (The) A Collection of Original Papers and
Tracts illustrative of the History of Scotland. Edinburgh, 1844,
1845. 2 vols.
Sprengel (K.) Histoire de la Mddecine. Paris, 1815-1820. 9 vols.
Squier (E G.) Travels in Central America. New York, 1853. 2 vols.
State Papers of the Reign of Henry VIII. London, 1836. 4to;
vols. iv. and v. containing the Correspondence relative to Scot-
land and the Borders.
Statistical Society (Journal of). London, 1839-1855. 18 vols.
Staudlin (C. F.) Geschichte der theologischen Wissenschaften.
Gottingen, 1810, 1811. 2 vols.
xxrvm LIST OF AUTHORS quoted.
Stephens (A.) Memoirs of J. H. Tooke. London, 1813. 2 vols.
Stephens (J. L.) Travels in Central America. London, 1842, 1843.
4 vols.
Stevenson (A.) History of the Church and State of Scotland, from
the Accession of Charles I. to 1649. Reprinted, Edinburgh,
1840.
Stevenson (J.) A Eare Soul-strengthening and Comforting Cordial
for Old and Young Christians. Edited, in 1729, by the Rev.
William Cupples. Paisley, 1786.
Stewart (D.) Biographical Memoirs of Smith, Robertson, and Reid.
Edinburgh, 1811. 4to.
Stewart (D.) Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind.
London, 1792-1827. 3 vols.
Story (J.) Commentaries on the Conflict of Laws. London, 1841.
Sully (Due de) Memoires des Sages et Royales (Economies, edit.
Petitot. Paris, 1820, 1821. 9 vols.
Swainson (W.) Discourse on the Study of Natural History. London,
1834.
Swainson (W.) Geography and Classification of Animals. London,
1835.
Swinburne (H.) Travels through Spain in 1775 and 1776. 2nd edit.
London, 1787. 2 vols.
Swinburne (H.) The Courts of Europe at the close of the last Cen-
tury. London, 1841. 2 vols.
Symes (M.) Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava. 2nd edit. London,
1800. 3 vols.
Talon (Omer) Memoires. Paris, 1827. 3 vols.
Talvi's Historical View of the Languages and Literature of the
Slavic Nations. New York, 1850.
Tapia (E. de) Historia de la Civilizacion Espanola. Madrid, 1840.
4 vols.
Taylor (A. S.) Manual of Medical Jurisprudence. London, 1846.
Temple (Sir W.) Works. London, 1814. 4 vols.
Tennemann (W. G.) Geschichte der Philosophic. Leipzig, 1798-
1819. 11 vols.
Thirl wall (Bishop of St. David's) History of Greece. London, 1835-
1850. 8 vols.
Thomson (J.) Life of William Cullen. Edinburgh, 1832.
Thomson (Mrs.) Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and 1745.
London, 1845, 1846. 3 vols.
Thomson (T.) History of the Royal Society. London, 1812. 4to.
Thomson (T.) Chemistry of Vegetables. London, 1838.
Thomson (T.) Chemistry of Animal Bodies. Edinburgh, 1843.
Thomson (T.) History of Chemistry. 2 vols, (no date).
Thornton (W. T.) Over-Population, and its Remedy. London,
1846.
Ticknor (G.) History of Spanish Literature. London, 1849
3 vols.
LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED. XXX1Z
Timour's Political and Military Institutes, edited by Davy and
White. Oxford, 1783. 4to.
Tocqueville (A. de) De la Democratic en Amerique. Bruxelles,
1840. 5 vols, in 2 parts.
Tocqueville (A. de) L'Ancien Regime et la Revolution. Paris,
1856.
Tocqueville (Le Comte de) Histoire Philosophique du Regne de
Louis XV. Paris, 1847. 2 vols.
Tomline (Bishop of Winchester) Life of W. Pitt. London, 1821.
2 vols. 4to.
Torcy (Le Marquis de) Memoires, edit. Petitot et Monmerque.
Paris, 1828. 2 vols.
Townsend (J.) A Journey through Spain in 1786 and 1787. 2nd
edit. London, 1792. 3 vols.
Trail (W.) Account of the Life and Writings of Robert Simson.
London, 1812. 4to.
Transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay. London, 1819-
1823. 3 vols. 4to.
Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society. London, 1827-1835.
3 vols. 4to.
Travels through Portugal, Spain, &c. by a Gentleman. London,
1702.
Trotter (J. B.) Memoirs of the Latter Years of C. J. Fox. London,
1811.
Tschudi (J. J.) Travels in Peru. London, 1847.
Tucker (G.)'The Life of T. Jefferson. London, 1837. 2 vols.
Tuckey (J. K.) Expedition to the Zaire, in South Africa. 1 81 8. 4to.
Turgot (M.) (Euvres. Paris, 1811. 9 vols.
Turner (E.) Elements of Chemistry. London, 1847. 2 vols.
Turner (Sir J.) Memoirs of his own Life, from 1632 to 1670.
Edinburgh 1829. 4to.
Turner (Samuel) An Embassy to Tibet London, 1800. 4to.
Turner (Sharon) History of England. London, 1839. 12 vols.
Turpinu8, De Vita Caroli Magni, edit. S. Ciampi. Florent. 1822.
Twiss (H.) The Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon. London, 1846.
2 vols.
Twiss (T.) Progress of Political Economy in Europe. London,
1847.
Tytler (P. F.) History of Scotland. 3rd edit. Edinburgh, 1845.
7 toIs.
Udal ap Rhys, A Tour through Spain and Portugal. 2nd edit.
London, 1760.
Ulloa (A.) A Voyage to South America. London, 1772. 2 vols.
Uetariz (Or.) Theorica y Practica de Comercio y de Marina. Tercera
impression. Madrid, 1757. Folio.
Vander Hammen (L.) Don Filipe el Prudente, segundo deste Nona-
bre. Madrid, 1632. 4to.
3d LIST OP AUTHORS QUOTED.
Vattel (M. de) Le Droit des Gens. Paris, 1820. 2 vols.
Vaughan (R.) The Protectorate of Cromwell. London, 1839.
2 vols.
Velazquez (L. J.) Origenes de la Poesia Castellana. Malaga, 1754.
4to.
Vernon (J.) Letters, from 1696 to 1708. London, 1841. 3 vols.
Villars (Madame de) Lettres. Amsterdam, 1759. These letters
were written from Madrid, between 1679 and 1681, by the wife
of the French Ambassador.
Villemain (M.) De la Litterature au XVIII 8 Siecle. Paris, 1846.
4 vols.
Villemarque (T. H.) Chants Populaires de la Bretagne. Paris, 1846.
2 vols. [Introduction only quoted.]
Vishnu Purana ; a System of Hindu Mythology, translated from the
Sanscrit by H. H. Wilson. London, 1 840. 4to.
Vogel (J.) The Pathological Anatomy of the Human Body. Lon-
don, 1847.
Volney (C. F.) Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte. Paris, an VII.
2 vols.
Voltaire, (Euvres completes. Paris, 1820-1826. 70 vols.
Voltaire, Lettres inedites. Paris, 1856. 2 vols.
Voyages faits en Divers Temps en Espagne, &c. par Monsieur
M****. Amsterdam, 1700.
Vyse (H.) Operations at the Pyramids. London, 1840-1842.
3 vols.
Wagner (R.) Elements of Physiology. London, 1841.
Wakefield (G.) Life of, by himself. London, 1804. 2 vols.
Walker (C.) The History of Independency. London, 1660, 1661.
4 parts, 4to.
Walker (Sir E.) A Journal of Affairs in Scotland in 1650, in
Walker's Historical Discourses. London, 1705. Folio.
Walker (P.) Biographia Presbyteriana. Reprinted, Edinburgh,
1827. 2 vols.
Walpole (H.) Letters, from 1735 to 1797. London, 1840. 8 vols.
Walpole (H.) Memoirs of the Reign of George III. London, 1845.
4 vols.
Walpole (H.) Memoirs of George II. London, 1847. 3 vols.
Walsh (R.) Notices of Brazil. London, 1830. 2 vols.
Walton (W.) The Revolutions of Spain, from 1808 to the end of
1836. London, 1837. 2 vols.
Warburton's Letters to Hurd. London, 1809.
Ward (H. G.) Mexico. London, 1829. 2 vols.
Ward (W.) A View of the History, Literature, and Religion of the
Hindoos. London, 1817-1820. 4 vols.
Ward (W. G.) The Ideal of a Christian Church. London, 1844.
Warwick (Sir P.) Memoirs of the Reign of Charles I. London,
1702.
Wast (E.) Memoirs, written by her own hand. Edinburgh, 1724.
LIST OP AUTHOES QUOTED. xli
Watson (K.) Historicall Collections of Ecclesiastick Affairs in Scot-
land. London, 1657.
Watson (E. Bishop of Llandaff ) Life, by himself. London, 1818.
2 vols.
Watson (E.) Observations on Southey's Life of Wesley. London,
1821.
Watson (E.) The History of the Eeign of Philip II. King of Spain.
7th edit. London, 1839.
Watson (E.) The History of the Eeign of Philip III. King of Spain.
3rd edit. London, 1839.
Watson (T.) Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Physic.
4th edit. London, 1857. 2 vols.
Watt (J.) Correspondence, on his Discovery of the Theory of the
Composition of Water, edited by J. P. Muirhead. London, 1846.
Wellsted (J. E.) Travels in Arabia. London, 1838. 2 vols.
Wesley (John) The Journals of. London, 1851.
Whately (Archbishop of Dublin) The Errors of Eomanism traced to
their Origin in Human Nature. London, 1 830.
Whately (Archbishop of Dublin) Essays on some of the. Dangers to
Christian Faith. London, 1 839. _
Wheaton (H.) History of the Northmen, to the Conquest of England
by William of Normandy. London, 1831.
Whewell(W.) History of the Inductive Sciences. London, 1847.
3 vols.
Whewell (W.) Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, founded upon
their History. London, 1847. 2 vols.
Whewell (W.) Bridgewater Treatise. London, 1852.
Whewell (W.) Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy in
England. London, 1852.
Whiston (W.) Memoirs, written by himself. London, 1749.
[White (B.)] Doblado's Letters from Spain. London, 1822.
White (Blanco) Practical and Internal Evidence against Catholicism.
London, 1826.
Whitelocke (Commissioner) Journal of the Swedish Embassy is
1653 and 1654. London, 1772. 2 vols. 4to.
Wilberforce (W.) Life, by his Sons. London, 1838. 5 vols.
Wilkinson (Sir J. G.) Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyp-
tians. 1st series, edit. 1842; 2nd series, edit. 1841. 5 vols.
Williams (C. J. B.) Principles of Medicine. 2nd edit London,
1848.
Wilson (H.) Account of the Pelew Islands. 2nd edit. London, 1788.
4to.
Wilson (H. H.) Specimens of the Theatre of the Hindus, translated
from the Sanscrit. Calcutta, 1827. 3 vols.
Wilson (W.) Memoirs of Daniel Defoe. London, 1830. 3 vols.
Wincklor (E.) Geschicht« der Botanik. Frankfurt-am-M. 1 854.
Winstanley (W.) The Loyal Martyrology. London, 1665.
Winwood (Sir E.) Memorials of Affairs of State, from his Paper*.
London, 1725. 3 vols, folio.
xlii LIST OP AUTHORS QUOTED.
Wishart (G.) Memoirs of James Graham, Marquis of Montrose.
Edinburgh, 1819.
Wodrow (R.) Collections upon the Lives of the Reformers and
Ministers of the Church of Scotland. Edit. Maitland Club.
Glasgow, 1834-1848. 4to. 4 vols, in 2.
Wodrow (R.) History of the Church of Scotland. Glasgow, 1838.
4 vols.
Wodrow (R.) Analecta, or Materials for a History of Remarkable
Providences. Edit. Maitland Club. 1842,1843. 4 vols. 4to.
Wodrow (R.) Life of the Rev. Robert Bruce, prefixed to Brace's
Sermons. Edit. Wodrow Society. Edinburgh, 1843.
Wodrow (R.) Correspondence. Edit. Wodrow Society. Edinburgh,
1842, 1843. 3 vols.
Wordsworth (C.) Ecclesiastical Biography. London, 1839. 4 vols.
Wrangel (F.) Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea. Lon-
don, 1840.
Wright (T.) Biographia Britannica Literaria ; Anglo-Saxon and
Anglo-Norman Periods. London, 1842-1846. 2 vols.
Ximenez (F. J.) Vida y Virtudes del Venerable Siervo de Dios
D. J. de Ribera, Arcobispo de Valencia. Roma, 1734. 4to.
Yafiez (J.) Memorias para la Historia de Don Felipe III. Madrid,
1723. 4to.
Yonge (W.) Diary, from 1604 to 1628, edited by G. Roberts.
Camd. Soc. 1848. 4to.
HISTORY
OP
CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND,
GENERAL INTRODUCTION'.
CHAPTER I.
STATEMENT OF THE RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY, ANT»
PROOFS OF THE REGULARITY OF HUMAN ACTIONS. THESE ACTIONS
ARE GOVERNED BY MENTAL AND PHYSICAL LAWS : THEREFORE
BOTH SETS OF LAWS MUST BE STUDIED, AND THERE CAN BE NO
HISTORY WITHOUT THE NATURAL SCIENCES.
Of all the great branches of human knowledge, his-
tory is that upon which most has been written, and
which has always been most popular. And it seems
to be the general opinion that the success of histo-
rians has, on the whole, been equal to their industry ;
and that if on this subject much has been studied,
much also is understood.
This confidence in the value of history is very
widely diffused, as we see in the extent to which it
is read, and in the share it occupies in all plans of
education. Nor can it be denied that, in a certain point
of view, such confidence is perfectly justifiable. It
cannot be denied that materials have been collected
which, when looked at in the aggregate, have a rich
and imposing appearance. The political and military
annals of all the great countries in Europe, and of
most of those out of Europe, have been carefnlly
compiled, put together in a convenient form, and
the evidence on which they rest has been tolerably
well sifted. Great attention has been paid to tho
VOL. i. B
2 EESOUEOES FOE INVESTIGATING HISTOEY.
history of legislation, also to that of religion : while
considerable, though inferior, labour has been employed
in tracing the progress of science, of literature, of the
fine arts, of useful inventions, and, latterly, of the man-
ners and comforts of the people. In order to increase
our knowledge of the past, antiquities of every kind
have been examined ; the sites of ancient cities have
been laid bare, coins dug up and deciphered, inscrip-
tions copied, alphabets restored, hieroglyphics inter-
preted, and, in some instances, long- forgotten languages
reconstructed and re-arranged. Several of the laws
which regulate the changes of human speech have been
discovered, and, in the hands of philologists, have been
made to elucidate even the most obscure periods in the
early migration of nations. Political economy has been
raised to a science, and by it much light has been
thrown on the causes of that unequal distribution of
wealth which is the most fertile source of social dis-
turbance. Statistics have been so sedulously cultivated,
that we have the most extensive information, not only
respecting the material interests of men, but also re-
specting their moral peculiarities ; such as, the amount
of different crimes, the proportion they bear to each
other, and the influence exercised over them by age,
sex, education, and the like. With this great move-
ment physical geography has kept pace : the pheno-
mena of climate have been registered, mountains
measured, rivers surveyed and tracked to their source,
natural productions of all kinds carefully studied, and
their hidden properties unfolded : while every food
which sustains life has been chemically analysed, its
constituents numbered and weighed, and the nature of
the connexion between them and the human frame has,
in many cases, been satisfactorily ascertained. At the
same time, and that nothing should be left undone
which might enlarge our knowledge of the events by
which man is affected, there have been instituted cir-
cumstantial researches in many other departments ; so
that in regard to the most civilized people, we are now
acquainted with the rate of their mortality, of their
marriages, the proportion of their births, the character
RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY. 3
of their employments, and the fluctuations both in their
wages and in the prices of the commodities necessary
to their existence. These and similar facts have been
collected, methodized, and are ripe for use. Such
results, which form, as it were, the anatomy of a
nation, are remarkable for their minuteness ; and to
them there have been joined other results less minute,
but more extensive. Not only have the actions and
characteristics of the great nations been recorded, but
a prodigious number of different tribes in all the parts
of the known world have been visited and described by
travellers, thus enabling us to compare the condition of
mankind in every stage of civilization, and under every
variety of circumstance. When we moreover add, that
this curiosity respecting our fellow- creatures is appa-
rently insatiable ; that it is constantly increasing ; that
the means of gratifying it are also increasing, and that
most of the observations which have been made are
still preserved ; — when we put all these things toge-
ther, we may form a faint idea of the immense value of
that vast body of facts which we now possess, and by
the aid of which the progress of mankind is to be
investigated.
But if, on the other hand, we are to describe the use
that has been made of these materials, we must draw a
very different picture. The unfortunate peculiarity of
the history of man is, that although its separate parts
have been examined with considerable ability, hardly
any one has attempted to combine them into a whole,
and ascertain the way in which they are connected with
each other. In all the other great fields of inquiry, the
necessity of generalization is universally admitted, and
noble efforts are being made to rise from particular
facts in order to discover the laws by which those facts
are governed. So far, however, is this from being the
usual course of historians, that among them a strange
idea prevails, that their business is merely to relate
events, which they may occasionally enliven by such
moral and political reflections as seem likely to be
useful. According to this scheme, any author who
from indolence of thought, or from natural incapacity,
b2
4 EESOUECES EOE INVESTIGATING HISTOET.
is unfit to deal with the highest branches of knowledge,
has only to pass some years in reading a certain number
of books, and then he is qualified to be an historian ;
he is able to write the history of a great people, and his
work becomes an authority on the subject which it
professes to treat.
The establishment of this narrow standard has led to
results very prejudicial to the progress of our know-
ledge. Owing to it, historians, taken as a body, have
never recognized the necessity of such a wide and pre-
liminary study as would enable them to grasp their
subject in the whole of its natural relations. Hence
the singular spectacle of one historian being ignorant
of political economy ; another knowing nothing of law ;
another nothing of ecclesiastical affairs and changes of
opinion ; another neglecting the philosophy of statistics,
and another physical science : although these topics are
the most essential of all, inasmuch as they comprise the
principal circumstances by which the temper and cha-
racter of mankind have been affected, and in which they
are displayed. These important pursuits being, how-
ever, cultivated, some by one man, and some by another,
have been isolated rather than united : the aid which
might be derived from analogy and from mutual illus-
tration has been lost ; and no disposition has been
shown to concentrate them upon history, of which they
are, properly speaking, the necessary components.
Since the early part of the eighteenth century, a few
great thinkers have indeed arisen, who have deplored
the backwardness of history, and have done everything
in their power to remedy it. But these instances have
been extremely rare : so rare, that in the whole litera-
ture of Europe there are not more than three or four
really original works which contain a systematic attempt
to investigate the history of man according to those
exhaustive methods which in other branches of know-
ledge have proved successful, and by which alone em-
pirical observations can be raised to scientific truths.
Among historians in general, we find, after the six-
teenth century, and especially during the last hundred
years, several indications of an increasing comprehen-
RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY. 5
siveness of view, and of a willingness to incorporate
into their works subjects which they would formerly
have excluded. By this means their assemblage of
topics has become more diversified, and the mere collec-
tion and relative position of parallel facts has occasion-
ally suggested generalizations no traces of which can
be found in the earlier literature of Europe. This has
been a great gain, in so far as it has familiarized histo-
rians with a wider range of thought, and encouraged
those habits of speculation, which, though liable to
abuse, are the essential condition of all real knowledge,
because without them no science can be constructed.
But, notwithstanding that the prospects of historical
literature are certainly more cheering now than in any
former age, it must be allowed that, with extremely
few exceptions, they are only prospects, and that as yet
scarcely anything has been done towards discovering
the principles which govern the character and destiny
of nations. What has been actually effected I shall
endeavour to estimate in another part of this introduc-
tion : at present it is enough to say, that for all the
higher purposes of human thought history is still
miserably deficient, and presents that confused and
anarchical appearance natural to a subject of which
the laws are unknown, and even the foundation un-
settled. 1
Our acquaintance with history being so imperfect,
while our materials are so numerous, it seems desirable
that something should be done on a scale far larger
than has hitherto been attempted, and that a strenuous
effort should be made to bring up this great depart-
ment of inquiry to a level with other departments, in
order that we may maintain the balance and harmony
of our knowledge. It is in this spirit that the present
1 A living writer, who has tive, vol. v. p. 18. There is
done more than any other to mueh in the method and in the
raise the standard of history, conclusions of this great work
contemptuously notices Tinco- with which I cannot agree; but
herente compilation de faits deja it would be unjust to deny its
improprement qualifioe d 1 his- extraordinary merits.
UAre.' Comte, Philosurihifi Po.n-
6 RESOURCES EOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY.
work has been conceived. To make the execution of it
fully equal to the conception is impossible : still I hope
to accomplish for the history of man something equiva-
lent, or at all events analogous, to what has been
effected by other inquirers for the different branches of
natural science. In regard to nature, events apparently
the most irregular and capricious have been explained,
and have been shown to be in accordance with certain
fixed and universal laws. This has been done because
men of ability, and, above all, men of patient, untiring
thought, have studied natural events with the view of
discovering their regularity : and if human events were
subjected to a similar treatment, we have every right
to expect similar results. For it is clear that they who
affirm that the facts of history are incapable of being
generalized, take for granted the very question at issue.
Indeed they do more than this. They not only assume
what they cannot prove, but they assume what in the
present state of knowledge is highly improbable. Who-
ever is at all acquainted with what has been done
during the last two centuries, must be aware that every
generation demonstrates some events to be regular
and predictable, which the preceding generation had
declared to be irregular and unpredictable : so that
the marked tendency of advancing civilization is to
strengthen our belief in the universality of order, of
method, and of law. This being the case, it follows
that if any facts, or class of facts, have not yet been
reduced to order, we, so far from pronouncing them to
be irreducible, should rather be guided by our expe-
rience of the past, and should admit the probability
that what we now call inexplicable will at some future
time be explained. This expectation of discovering
regularity in the midst of confusion is so familiar to
scientific men, that among the most eminent of them it
becomes an article of faith : and if the same expectation
is not generally found among historians, it must be
ascribed partly to their being of inferior ability to the
investigators of nature, and partly to the greater com-
plexity of those social phenomena with which their
studies are concerned.
EESOUECES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTOEY. 7
Both these causes have retarded the creation of the
science of history. The most celebrated historians are
manifestly inferior to the most successful cultivators of
physical science: no one having devoted himself to
history who in point of intellect is at all to be compared
with Kepler, Newton, or many others that might be
named. 2 And as to the greater complexity of the
phenomena, the philosophic historian is opposed by
difficulties far more formidable than is the student of
nature ; since, while on the one hand, his observations
are more liable to those causes of error which arise
from prejudice and passion, he, on the other hand, is
unable to employ the great physical resource of ex-
periment, by which we can often simplify even the
most intricate problems in the external world.
It is not, therefore, surprising that the study of the
movements of Man should be still in its infancy, as
compared with the advanced state of the study of the
movements of Nature. Indeed the difference between
the progress of the two pursuits is so great, that while
in physics the regularity of events, and the power of
predicting them, are often taken for granted even in
cases still unproved, a similar regularity is in history
not only not taken for granted, but is actually denied.
Hence it is that whoever wishes to raise history to a
level with other branches of knowledge, is met by a
preliminary obstacle; since he is told that in the affairs
of men there is something mysterious and providential,
which makes them impervious to our investigations,
and which will always hide from us their future course.
To this it might be sufficient to reply, that such an
assertion is gratuitous; that it is by its nature incapable
of proof ; and that it is moreover opposed by the no-
torious fact that everywhere else increasing knowledge
is accompanied by an increasing confidence in the
uniformity with which, under the same circumstances,
* I speak merely of those who and it evidently cost him no-
have made history their main thing like the thought which h«
pursuit. Bacon wrote on it, but devoted to other aubjecta.
only as a subordinate object;
8 RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY.
the same events must succeed each other. It will,
however, be more satisfactory to probe the difficulty
deeper, and inquire at once into the foundation of the
common opinion that history must always remain in its
present empirical state, and can never be raised to the
rank of a science. We shall thus be led to one vast
question, which indeed lies at the root of the whole
subject, and is simply this : Are the actions of men,
and therefore of societies, governed by fixed laws, or
are they the result either of chance or of supernatural
interference ? The discussion of these alternatives
will suggest some speculations of considerable interest.
For, in reference to this matter, there are two doc-
trines, which appear to represent different stages of
civilization. According to the first doctrine, every
event is single and isolated, and is merely considered
as the result of a blind chance. This opinion, which
is most natural to a perfectly ignorant people, would
soon be weakened by that extension of experience
which supplies a knowledge of those uniformities of
succession and of co-existence that nature constantly
presents. If, for example, wandering tribes, without
the least tincture of civilization, lived entirely by hunt-
ing and fishing, they might well suppose that the
appearance of their necessary food was the result of
some accident which admitted of no explanation. The
irregularity of the supply, and the apparent caprice
with which it was sometimes abundant and sometimes
scanty, would prevent them from suspecting anything
like method in the arrangements of nature ; nor could
their minds even conceive the existence of those general
principles which govern the order of events, and by a
knowledge of which we are often able to predict their
future course. But when such tribes advance into the
agricultural state, they, for the first time, use a food of
which not only the appearance, but the very existence,
seems to be the result of their own act. What they
sow, that likewise do they reap. The provision neces-
sary for their wants is brought more immediately under
their own control, and is more palpably the consequence
of their own labour. They perceive a distinct plan,
RESOURCES FOE INVESTIGATING HISTORY. 9
and a regular uniformity of sequence, in the relation
which the seed they put into the ground bears to the
corn when arrived at maturity. They are now able to
look to the future, not indeed with certainty, but with
a confidence infinitely greater than they could have felt
in their former and more precarious pursuits. 3 Hence
there arises a dim idea of the stability of events ; and
for the first time there begins to dawn upon the mind a
faint conception of what at a later period are called the
Laws of Nature. Every step in the great progress will
make their view of this more clear. As their observa-
tions accumulate, and as their experience extends over
a wider surface, they meet with uniformities that they
had never suspected to exist, and the discovery of which
weakens that doctrine of chance with which they had
originally set out. Yet a little further, and a taste for
abstract reasoning springs up ; and then some among
them generalize the observations that have been made,
and despising the old popular opinion, believe that
every event is linked to its antecedent by an inevitable
connexion, ' that such antecedent is connected with a
preceding fact ; and that thus the whole world forms
a necessary chain, in which indeed each man may play
his part, but can by no means determine what that part
shall be.
Thus it is that, in the ordinary march of society, an
increasing perception of the regularity of nature de-
stroys the doctrine of Chance, and replaces it by that
of Necessary Connexion. And it is, I think, highly
probable that out of these two doctrines of Chance and
Necessity there have respectively arisen the subsequent
dogmas of Free "Will and Predestination. Nor is it
difficult to understand the manner in which, in a more
advanced state of society, this metamorphosis would
occur. In every country, as soon as the accumulation
* Some of the moral conse- History of India, vol. i. pp.
quences of thus diminishing the 180-181. But both these able
precuriousness of food are no- writers have omittod to observo
ticed by M. Charles Comte in that the change facilitates a per-
his TraitS de Legislation, vol. ii. ception of the regularity of
pp. 273-275. Compare Mill's phenomena.
10 RESOURCES FOE, INVESTIGATING HISTORY.
of wealth, has reached a certain point, the produce of
each man's labour becomes more than sufficient for his
own support : it is therefore no longer necessary that
all should work ; and there is formed a separate class,
the members of which pass their lives for the most
part in the pursuit of pleasure ; a very few, however,
in the acquisition and diffusion of knowledge. Among
these last there are always found some who, neglecting
external events, turn their attention to the study of
their own minds ; 4 and such men, when possessed of
great abilities, become the founders of new philosophies
4 On the relation between this
and the previous creation of
wealth, see Tennemann, Ge-
schichte der Philosophic, vol. i.
p. 30 ; ' Ein gewisscr Grad von
Cultur und Wohlstand ist eine
nothwendige aussere Bedingung
der Entwickelimg des philoso-
phisehen Geistes. So lange der
Mensch noch mit den Mitteln
seiner Existenz und der Be-
friedigung seiner thierischen Be-
diirfnisse beschaftiget ist, so
hmge gehet die Entwiekelung
und Bildung seiner Geisteskrafte
nur langsam von statten, und
er nahert sieh nur Schritt vor
Schritt einer freiern Vernunft-
thatigkeit.' ' Daher
find en wir, dase man nur in
denen Nationen anting zu philo-
sophiren, welche sich zu einer
betrachtlichen Stufe des Wohl-
sta,ndes und der Cultur empor-
gehoben hatten.' Henee, as I
shall endeavour to prove in the
next chapter, the immense im-
portance of the physical pheno-
mena which precede and often
eontrol the metaphysical. In
the history of the Greek mind
we can distinctly trace the pas-
sage from physical to metaphysi-
cal inquiries. See Groins History
of Greece, vol. iv. p. 519, edit.
1847. That the atomic doctrine,
in its relation to chance, was a
natural precursor of Platonism,
is remarked in Broussais, Ex-
amen des Doctrines Medicates,
vol. i. pp. 53, 54, an able though
one-sided work. Compare, re-
specting the Chance of the ato-
mists, Ritter's History of Ancient
Philosophy, vol. i. p. 553; an
hypothesis, as Bitter says, 'de-
structive of all inner energy ; '
consequently antagonistic to the
psychological hypothesis which
subsequently sprang up and con-
quered it. That physical re-
searches came first, is moreover
attested by Diogenes Laertius :
Mfpri Si Qi\offO(plas Tpio, <pv<ruthv,
■qdiitbv, Hio.\£Ktik6v • <tivo~iicbv [lev,
to irepl K6ff/Jiov, kcu To>v iv avrw •
7]6ikoi/ 8e, rb irepl fitov Kal rdv
irpbs Tinas' 8ia\fKTiKbv 5e, to
a/ifpOTepuv robs \6yovs irpeafievov
Kal(j.expil*ev'ApxchaovTb (pvffiK.bv
elSos i)i> airb Se 'SocKparovs, ws
irpotlpTiTat, rb t)Qik6v aitb N
TA\vwvos tov 'E\(drov, rb Sia-
\€ktik6v. I)e VUis Philosoplio-
rum Proaem. segm. 18, vol. i.
p. 12: compare lib. ii. segm. 16,
vol i. p. 89.
ItESOUECES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY. II
and new religions, which often exercise immense in-
fluence over the people who receive them. But the
authors of these systems are themselves affected by the
character of the age in which they live. It is impos-
sible for any man to escape the pressure of surrounding
opinions ; and what is called a new philosophy or a new
religion is generally not so much a creation of fresh
ideas, but rather a new direction given to ideas already
current among contemporary thinkers. 5 Thus, in the
case now before us, the doctrine of Chance in the
external world corresponds to that of Free Will in tho
internal: while the other doctrine of Necessary Con-
nexion is equally analogous to that of Predestination ;
the only difference being that the first is a development
by the metaphysician, the second by the theologian. In
the first instance, the metaphysician setting out with
the doctrine of Chance, carries into the study of the
mind this arbitrary and irresponsible principle, which
in its new field becomes Free Will ; an expression by
which all difficulties seem to be removed, since perfect
freedom, itself the cause of all actions, is caused by none,
but, like the doctrine of Chance, is an ultimate fact
admitting of no further explanation. In the second
instance, the theologian taking up the doctrine of
Necessary Connexion recasts it into a religious shape ;
and his mind being already full of conceptions of order
and of uniformity, he naturally ascribes such undeviating
* Beaxisobre has some good die blose gesetzgebende Form
remarks on this in his learned der Maxime allein zum Gesetze
■work Histoire Critique de Mani- dienen kann, ein freier Willc'
chke, vol. i. p. 179, where he says Kritik der praktischen Vernvnft
that the great religious heresies in Kant's Werke, vol. iv. p. 128.
have been founded on previous ' Hat selber fur sich eigent-
philosophies. Certainly no one lich keinen Bestimmungsgrund.'
acquainted with the history of Metaphysik der Sitten in Werke,
opinions will admit the sweeping vol. v. p. 12. 'Die unbedingte
assertion of M. Stahl that ' la Causalitat der Ursache.' Kritik
philosophic d'un peuple a sa ra- der reinen Vemunft in Wirke,
cine dans sa theologie.' K/im- vol. ii. p. 339. See also Prole-
rath, Travaux, vol. ii. p. 454, gnmena zu jeder kilnftigen Mcta-
Paris, 1843. physik in vol. iii. p. 268.
• ' Also ist ein Wille, dem
12 RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY.
regularity to the prescience of Supreme Power ; and
thus to the magnificent notion of One God there is
added the dogma that by Him all things have from
the beginning been absolutely pre-determined and pre-
ordained.
These opposite doctrines of free will and predestina-
tion 7 do, no doubt, supply a safe and simple solution of
the obscurities of our being ; and as they are easily
understood, they are so suited to the average capacity
of the human mind, that even at the present day an
immense majority of men are divided between them ;
and they have not only corrupted the sources of our
knowledge, but have given rise to religious sects, whose
mutual animosities have disturbed society, and too often
embittered the relations of private life. Among the
more advanced European thinkers there is, however, a
growing opinion that both doctrines are wrong or, at
all events, that we have no sufficient evidence of their
truth. And as this is a matter of great moment, it is
important, before we proceed further, to clear up as
much of it as the difficulties inherent in these subjects
will enable us to do.
Whatever doubts may be thrown on the account
which I have given of the probable origin of the ideas
' That these doctrines, when neux (Locke's Works, vol. viii.
treated according to the ordinary p. 305), with the argument in one
methods of reasoning, not only of Bentley's Sermons (Monk's
oppose but exclude each other, Life of Bentley, vol. ii. pp. 7, 8);
would be universally admitted if also Bitter's Hist, of Ancient
it were not for a desire generally Philosophy, vol. iv. pp. 143, 144;
felt to save certain parts of each : Tennemann, Gesch. der Philoso-
it being thought dangerous to phie, vol. iv. pp. 301-304 ; Cople-
give up free will on account of ston's Inquiry into the Doctrines
weakening moral responsibility, of Necessity and Predestination,
and equally dangerous to give pp. 6, 7, 46, 69, 70, 85, 92, 108,
up predestination on account of 136 ; Mosheim's Ecclesiastical
impugning the power of God. Hist., vnl. i. p. 207, vol. ii. p. 96 ;
Various attempts have therefore Ncander's Hist, of the Church,
been made to reconcile liberty vol. iv. pp. 294, 389-391 ; Bishop
with necessity, and make the of Lincoln on Tertullian, 1845,
freedom of man harmonize with p. 323; Hodgson on Buddhism, in
the foreknowledge of the Deity. Transac. of Asiatic Society, voL
Compare on this point a remark- ii. p. 232.
able letter from Locke to Molv-
RESOURCES FOE INVESTIGATING HISTORY. 13
of free will and predestination, there can, at all events,
be no dispute as to the foundation on which those ideas
are now actually based. The theory of predestination t
is founded on a theological hypothesis ; that of free will '
on a metaphysical hypothesis. The advocates of the
first proceed on a supposition for which, to say the least
of it, they have as yet brought forward no good
evidence. They require us to believe that the Author
of Creation, whose beneficence they at the same time
willingly allow, has, notwithstanding His supreme good-
ness, made an arbitrary distinction between the elect
and the non-elect ; that He has from all eternity doomed
t® perdition millions of creatures yet unborn, and whom
His act alone can call into existence : and that He has
done this, not in virtue of any principle of justice, but
by a mere stretch of despotic power. 8 This doctrine f
owes its authority among Protestants to the dark though
powerful mind of Calvin ; but in the early Church it
was first systematically methodized by Augustin, who
appears to have borrowed it from the Manicheans. 9 At
all events r and putting Wde its incompatibility with
other notions which are supposed to be fundamental, 10
8 Even Ambrose, who never pp. 571-576 ; Southej/s Book of
went 60 far as Augustin, states the Church, 1824, vol. i. pp. 301,
this principle in its repulsive 302; Matter, Hist. duGnosticismc,
nakedness : 'Deus quos dignat 1828, vol. i. p. 325. However,
voeat, quos vult religiosos facit.' Beausobre {Histoire de Manichie,
Reander, vol. iv. p. 287. Calvin vol. ii. pp. 33-40) seems to have
declares ' that God, in predesti- proved a difference between the
nating from all eternity one part election of Augustin and that of
of mankind to everlasting happi- Basilides.
ness, and another to endless ,0 On the absurdity of 'an
misery, was led to make this dis- omnipotent arbitrary Deity,' and
tinction by no other motive than on the incongruity of such a
His own good pleasure and free combination with <pv<ru Ka\bv koA
will.' Moshi-im's Ecclcs. Hist., SIkoiov, see Cudworth's Intellect.
vol. ii. p. 103, see also p. 100; Si/st., vol. i. pp. 45, 419, vol. iii.
and Carwithcn's Hist, of the p. 241, vol. iv. p. 160. See also
Church of England, vol.i. p. 552. Thcodicce in Kant's Werke, vol.
■ On the Manichaean origin of vi. pp. 141, 142, and Mttaphyaik
August in's opinions, compare der Sitten in vol. v. p. 332, upon
Potter, Esprit de VF.glisc, vol. ii. ' den gottlichen Zweck in Anse-
p. 171, Paris, 1821 ; Tvmlivcs hung des menschlichen Gesch-
tiefutotion of Calvinism, 1817, leclits.'
14 EESOUECES FOE INVESTIGATING HISTORY.
it must, in a scientific investigation, be regarded as a
barren hypothesis, because, being beyond the province
of our knowledge, we have no means of ascertaining
either its truth or its falsehood.
The other doctrine, which Las long been celebrated
under the name of Free Will, is connected with Armi-
nianism ; but it in reality rests on the metaphysical
dogma of the supremacy of human consciousness.
Every man, it is alleged, feels and knows that he is a
free agent : nor can any subtleties of argument do away
with our consciousness of possessing a free will. 11 Now
the existence of this supreme jurisdiction, which is thus
to set at defiance all the ordinary methods of reasoning,
involves two assumptions : of which the first, though
possibly true, has never been proved ; and the other is
unquestionably false. These assumptions are, that there
is an independent faculty called consciousness, and that
the dictates of that faculty are infallible. But, in the
first place, it is by no means certain that consciousness
is a faculty ; and some of the ablest thinkers have been
of opinion that it is merely a "state or condition of the
mind. 12 Should this turn out to be the case, the argu-
11 Johnson said to Boswell, need not notice the mystical
' Sir, we know our will is free, and proof of Philo (Bitter's Ancient
there's an end on't.' Boswell's Philosophy, vol. iv. p. 447) ; nor
Life of Johnson, edit. Croker, the physical one of the Basilidi an
1848, p. 203. 'La question: monads (Beausobre, Hist, de
Sommes-nous libres? me parait Manichee, vol. ii. p. 23); still
au-dessous de la discussion. Elle less the argument of Bardesanes,
est resolue par le temoignage de who thought to demonstrate
la conscience attestant que dans freedom by the variety of human
certains cas nous pourrions faire customs ! Matter, Hist, du Gnos-
le contraire de ce que nous -ticisme, vol. i. p. 323, which
faisons.' Cousin, Hist, de la should be compared with Bur-
Philosophie, I. Serie, vol. i. pp. dach's Physiologie comme Science
190, 191. 'Die Freiheit des d' Observation,vo\. v. p. 50, Paris,
Menschen, als moralischen "We- 1839.
sens, griindet sich auf das sitt- 12 Mr. James Mill (Analysis of
liche Bewusstseyn.' Tennemann, the Mind, vol. i. pp. 171, 172)
Gesch. der Philosophic, vol. v. p. says that consciousness and belief
161. That this is the only ground are the same, and that great
for believing in the freedom of error has arisen from calling
the will is so evident, that we ' consciousness a feeliug distinct
RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY. 15
ment falls to the ground ; since, even if we admit that
all the faculties of the mind, when completely exercised,
are equally accurate, no one will make the same claim
for every condition into which the mind itself may be
casually thrown. However, waiving this objection, we
may, in the second place, reply, that even if conscious-
ness is a faculty, we have the testimony of all history
to prove its extreme fallibility. 13 All the great stages
from all other feelings.' Ac-
cording to Locke (Essay concern-
ing Human Understanding, book
ii. chap, i., Works, vol. i. p. 89),
■ consciousness is the perception
of what passes in a man's own
mind.' Brown {Philosophy of the
Mind, pp. 67, 68) denies that
consciousness is a faculty : and
Sir W. Hamilton complains of
'Eeid's degradation of conscious-
ness into a special faculty.' Notes
to Eeid's Works, pp. 223, 297,
373. M. Cousin (Hist, de la
Philosophic, II. Serie, vol. i. p.
131) pronounces consciousness
to be ' phenomena complexe ; '
and at p. 94, ' la condition neces-
saire de l'intelligence c'est la
conscience : ' while a still later
writer (Joberts New System of
Philosophy, vol. i. p. 25) declares
that 'we have the consciousness
of our consciousness — this is
certain.' The statement in
Alciphron, Dialogue vii. (Berke-
ley's Works, vol. i. pp. 505, 506)
is equally unsatisfactory: and
what still further perplexes the
question is the existence of what
is now recognised as ' double
consciousness.' See on this ex-
traordinary phenomenon El/iot-
son's Physiology, pp. 367-369,
1165; Mayo's Physiology, pp.
195, 196; PricharoVs Trtatise on
Insanity, pp. 450, 451 ; Carpen~
ter's Human Physiology, p. 379.
13 This requires explanation.
Consciousness is infallible as to
the fact of its testimony ; but
fallible as to the truth. That we
are conscious of certain pheno-
mena, is a proof that those
phenomena exist in the mind, or
are presented to it; but to say
that this demonstrates the truth
of the phenomena is to go a step
further, and not only offer &
testimony, but also pass a judg-
ment. The moment we do this,
we introduce the element of
fallibility ; because conscious-
ness and judgment put together
eannot be always right, inas-
much as judgment is often
wrong.
The late Blanco White, a
thinker of considerable subtlety,
says : ' The important distinc-
tion between libertas a necessitate
and libertas a coactione, is seldom
attended to. Nothing whatever
can force my will: every man is
more or less conscious of that
.fact: but at the same time we
are, or may be, equally conscious
that we are never decided with-
out a motive.' Life of B. White,
by Himself, 1845, vol. iii. p. 90.
But how can a man be conscious
' that nothing whatever can force
his will'? This is not con-
sciousness, but judgment : it is a
judgment of what may be, not
a consciousness of what is. If
16 EESOTJECES FOE INVESTIGATING HISTOET.
through which, in the progress of civilization, the
human race has successively passed, have been charac-
terized by certain mental peculiarities or convictions,
which have left their impress upon the religion, the
philosophy, and the morals of the age. Each of these
convictions has been to one period a matter of faith, to
another a matter for derision; 14 and each of them has,
in its own epoch, been as intimately bound up with the
minds of men, and become as much a part of their
consciousness, as is that opinion which we now term
freedom of the will. Yet it is impossible that all these
products of consciousness can be true, because many of
them contradict each other. Unless, therefore, in dif-
ferent ages there are different standards of truth, it is
clear that the testimony of a man's consciousness is no
proof of an opinion being true ; for if it were so, then
two propositions diametrically opposed to each other
might both be equally accurate. Besides this, another
view may be drawn from the common operations of
ordinary life. Are we not in certain circumstances
conscious of the existence of spectres and phantoms ;
and yet is it not generally admitted that such beings
have no existence at all ? Should it be attempted to
refute this argument by saying that such consciousness
is apparent and not real, then I ask, What is it that
judges between the consciousness which is genuine and
that which is spurious ? 15 If this boasted faculty
there is any meaning in the whereby we may test the truth
word 'consciousness,' it must or falsehood of spectral phe-
refer solely to the present, nomena and dreams. And the
and can never include future only conclusion to which this
contingencies as to what may be . consummate thinker could ar-
or can be. rive, was that whatever appears
14 As Herder says, 'Wasdiese true to the individual mind is
Nation ihrem Gedankenkreise true for him : which, however, is
unentbehrlich halt, daran hat an evasion of the problem, not
jene nie gedacht oder halt es gar a solution of it. See the These-
fiir schadlich.' Ideen zur Gesch. tetus, where Plato, as usual,
der Menschheit, vol. ii. p. 130. puts his own speculations into
1& Plato was struck by the the mouth of Socrates. He
extreme difficulty of finding a opens the question at the begin-
standard in the human mind ning of sec. 39 (Platonis Opera.
RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY. 17
deceives us in sqme things, what security have we that
it will not deceive us in others ? If there is no security,
the faculty is not trustworthy. If there is a security,
then, whatever it may be, its existence shows the neces-
sity for some authority to which consciousness is sub-
ordinate, and thus does away with that doctrine of the
supremacy of consciousness, on which the advocates of
free will are compelled to construct the whole of their
theory. Indeed, the uncertainty as to the existence of
consciousness as an independent faculty, and the manner
in which that faculty, if it exists, has contradicted its
own suggestions, are two of the many reasons which
have long since convinced me that metaphysics will i
never be raised to a science by the ordinary method of I
observing individual minds ; but that its study can only
be successfully prosecuted by the deductive application I
vol. iii. p. 426, edit. Bekker,
Lond. 1826), MJj roivvv avoKl-
■Kai/jiev aaov iWtiirov abrov. \elwe-
tcu Si ivvirvlwv.Tf iript Kal v6awv,
twv re &AA.«f Kal fj.avlas, &C.
These are the supposed sources
of error ; but Socrates, after dis-
cussing them, and entangling
Thesetetus in a maze, sums up
at the end of sec. 45, p. 434,
dAndfo &pa ipol 7) ip)) alcrQnais.
See further, p. 515, on the for-
mation of erroneous judgments ;
and respecting the assertions
made by many of the Greeks
that iraco (pavraala aKnd^s and
■naffa 5u|a oA.tj0}js, compare Cud-
worth, vol. iii. p. 379, vol. iv.
p. 118. For physiological con-
siderations concerning the pre-
servation of consciousness in
dreams and in insanity, see
Broussais, Examen des Doctrines
Mkdicales, vol. i. p. 406 ; his Cours
de Phrinologie, p. 49 ; Esquirol,
Maladies Mentales, vol. i. p. 97,
voL ii. p. 790 ; Simon's Patho-
logy, p. 204 ; Holland's Medical
VOL. I.
Notes, p. 434 ; Henle, Anatomie
Gfoihale, vol. ii. p. 287; Bur-
dock, Traite de Physiologie, vol.
v. p. 223. See, too, the passages
in Tennemann which connect
this difficulty with the theory of
representation ( Geschichte der
Philosophie, vol. i. p. 357, vol. ii.
pp. 119, 159, vol. iii. p. 406, vol.
iv. p. 418} ; and the attempt of
Berkeley ( Works, vol. i. pp. 93,
101, 176) to turn it into a de-
fence of his own system, on the
ground that our belief respecting
the external world may be as
false when we are awake as
when we dream. The solution
offered by the Stoics is merely a
verbal and unproved distinction :
Starptptt tie (pavracia Kal (pdmafffia.
<t>dvra<riJ.a fiev ydp itrri o6kt\(Tis
dtavolas oYa yivtrai Kara rovs
vnvovr <pavraala 5« iffrt rinraxrii
iv tyvyri TovrtffTiv aWototffis, iis
6 Xpvffiinros iv t\) SxMoZtKdrQ *tt*
i//i>X'J s ixpiaraTai. Biog. Latrt.
de Vitis Philos. lib. vii. sogm.
60, vol. i. p. 395.
18 RESOQRCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY.
of laws which must be discovered historically, that is
to say, which must be evolved by an examination of the
whole of those vast phenomena which the long course
of human affairs presents to our view.
Fortunately, however, for the object of this work,
the believer in the possibility of a science of history is
not called upon to hold either the doctrine of pre-
destined events, or that of freedom of the will ; 16 and
the only positions which, in this stage of the inquiry,
I shall expect him to concede are the following : That
when we perform an action, we perform it in con-
sequence of some motive or motives ; that those motives
are the results of some antecedents ; and that, therefore,
if we were acquainted with the whole of the antecedents,
and with all the laws of their movements, we could
with unerring certainty predict the whole of their
immediate results. This, unless I am greatly mistaken,
is the view which must be held by every man whose
mind is unbiased by system, and who forms his opinions
according to the evidence actually before him. 17 If, for
example, I am intimately acquainted with the character
of any person, I can frequently tell how he will act
18 Meaning by free will, a conversant. But Kant has made
cause of action residing in the a most remarkable attempt to
mind, and exerting itself inde- avoid the practical consequences
pendently of motives. If any of this, by asserting that free-
one says that we have this dom, being an idea produced by
power of acting without motives, the reason, must be referred to
but that in the practical exercise transcendental laws of thereason ;
of the power we are always that is, to laws which are re-
guided by motives either con- moved from the domain of expe-
scious or unconscious — if any rience, and cannot be verified by
one says this, he asserts a barren observation. In regard, how-
proposition, which does not in- ever, to the scientific concep-
terfere with my views, and which tions of the understanding (as
may or may not be true, but distinguished from the Reason)
which most assuredly no one has he fully admits the existence
ever yet succeeded in proving. of a Necessity destructive of
17 That is, according to the Liberty. In Note A, at the end
phenomenal evidence presented of this chapter, I shall put to-
to the understanding, and esti- gether the most important pas-
mated by the ordinary logic sages in which Kant unfolds this
with which the understanding is view.
RESOURCES FOE INVESTIGATING HISTORY. 19
under some given circumstances. Should I fail in this
prediction, I must ascribe my error not to the arbitrary
and capricious freedom of his will, nor to any super-
natural pre-arrangement, for of neither of these things
have we the slightest proof ; but I must be content to
suppose either that I had been misinformed as to some
of the circumstances in which he was placed, or else
that I had not sufficiently studied the ordinary opera-
tions of his min'd. If, however, I were capable of
correct reasoning, and if, at the same time, I had a
complete knowledge both of his disposition and of all
the events by which he was surrounded, I should be
able to foresee the line of conduct which, in consequence
of those events, he would adopt. 18
Rejecting, then, the metaphysical dogma of free will,
and the theological dogma of predestined events, 19 we
18 This is,' of course, an hypo-
thetical case, merely given as
an illustration. We never can
know the whole of any man's
antecedents, or even the whole
of our own; but it is certain
that the nearer we approach to
a complete knowledge of the an-
tecedent, the more likely we
shall be to predict the conse-
quent.
19 The doctrine of providential
interference is bound up with
that of predestination, because
the Deity, foreseeing all things,
must have foreseen His own in-
tention to interfere. To deny
this foresight, is to limit the
omniscience of God. Those,
therefore, who hold that, in par-
ticular cases, a special providence
interrupts the ordinary course of
events, must also hold that in
«*ach case the interruption had
been predestined ; otherwise they
impeach one of the Divine attri-
butes. For, as Thomas Aquinas
puts it (Ncandcr's History of the
Church, vol. viii.p. 176), 'know-
ledge, as knowledge, does not
imply, indeed, causality ; but in
so far as it is a knowledge be-
longing to the artist who forms,
it stands in the relation of causa-
lity to that which is produced by
his art.'
The same argument is stated
by Alciphron, though not quite
so conclusively ; Dialogue vii.
sec. 20 in Berkeley's Works, vol.
i. p. 516 : and as to the impos-
sibility of Omniscience having
new knowledge or an after-
thought, see Hitchcock's Religion
of Geology, 1851, pp. 267, 328 ;
an ingenious work, but one which
leaves all the real difficulties
untouched. Compare Bitter's
Hist, of Ancient PhUos. vol. iv.
pp. 326, 327, with Tennemann,
Gesch. der rhilos. vol. vi. pp. 151,
342-345, vol. he. pp. 81-94, vol.
xi. p. 178 ; and in particular, the
question raised (vol. viii. p. 242),
' Ob das Vorherwissen Gottes die
Ursache der kiinftigen Dinge
aey, oder nicht.' It was to meet
all this, that some asserted the
2
20 RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY.
are driven to the conclusion that the actions of men,
being determined solely b y their antecedents, must have
a character of uniformity, that is to say, must, under
precisely the same circumstances, always issue in pre-
cisely the same results. And as all antecedents are
either in the mind or out of it, we clearly see that all
the variations in the results, in other words, all the
changes of which history is full, all the vicissitudes of
the human race, their progress or their decay, their hap-
piness or their misery, must be the fruit of a double
action ; an action of external phenomena upon the mind,
and another action of the mind upon the phenomena.
These are the materials out of which a philosophic
history can alone be constructed. On the one hand, we
have the human mind obeying the laws of its own
existence, and, when uncontrolled by external agents,
developing itself according to the conditions of its
organization. On the other hand, we have what is
called Nature, obeying likewise its laws ; but incessantly
coming into contact with the minds of men, exciting
their passions, stimulating their intellect, and therefore
giving to their actions a direction which they would
not have taken without such disturbance. Thus we
I have man modifying nature, and nature modifying
man; while out of this reciprocal modification all
events must necessarily spring.
The problem immediately before us, is to ascertain
the method of discovering the laws of this double
modification : and this, as we shall presently see, leads
I us into a preliminary inquiry as to which of the two
modifications is the more important ; that is to say,
whether the thoughts and desires of men are more
influenced by physical phenomena, or whether the
physical phenomena are more influenced by them. For
it is evident that whichever class is the more active,
should if possible be studied before the other; and
this, partly because its results will be more prominent,
eternity of matter, and others Beausobre, Histoire de Manichee,
the existence of two original vol. ii. pp. 145, 146, 252, 336.
principles, one good and one evil.
RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY. 21
and therefore more easy to observe ; and partly because
by first generalizing the laws of the greater power we
shall leave a smaller residue of unexplained facts than
if we had begun by generalizing the laws of the lesser
power. But, before entering into this examination, it
will be convenient to state some of the most decisive
proofs we now possess of the regularity with which
mental phenomena succeed each other. By this means
the preceding views will be considerably strengthened ;
and we shall, at the same time, be able to see what
those resources are which have been already employed
in elucidating this great subject.
That the results actually effected are extremely
valuable is evident, not only from the wide surface
which the generalizations cover, but also from the
extraordinary precautions with which they have 4)een
made. For while most moral inquiries have depended
on some theological or metaphysical hypothesis, the in-
vestigations to which I allude are exclusively inductive';
they are based on collections of almost innumerable
facts, extending over many countries, thrown into* the
clearest of all forms, the form of arithmetical tables ;
and finally, they have been put together by men who,
being for the most part mere government officials, 20
had no particular theory to maintain, and no interest
in distorting the truth of the reports they were directed
to make.
The most comprehensive inferences respecting the
actions of men, which are admitted by all parties as
incontestable truths, are derived from this or from
analogous sources ; they rest on gtat^ical^eyidence,
and are expressed in mathematical language. And
whoever is aware of how much has been discovered by
this single method, must not only recognize the uni-
formity with which mental phenomena succeed each
other, but must, I think, feel sanguine that still more
important discoveries will be made, so soon as there
are brought into play those other powerful resources
which even the present state of knowledge will abun-
u Du/au, Traiti de Statittique, pp. 75, 148.
22 RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY.
dantly supply. Without, however, anticipating future
inquiries, we are, for the moment, only concerned with
those proofs of the existence of a uniformity in human
affairs which statisticians have been the first to bring
forward.
The actions of men are by an easy and obvious
division separated into two classes, the virtuous and
the vicious ; and as these classes are correlative, and
when put together compose the total of our moral
conduct, it follows that whatever increases the one, will
in a relative point of view diminish the other ; so that if
we can in any period detect a uniformity and a method
in the vices of a people, there must be a corresponding
regularity in their virtues ; or if we could prove a
regularity in their virtues, we should necessarily infer
an equal regularity in their vices ; the two sets of
actions being, according to the terms of the division,
merely supplementary to each other. 21 Or, to express
this proposition in another way, it is evident that if it
can be demonstrated that the bad actions of men vary
in obedience to the changes in the surrounding society,
we shall be obliged to infer that their good actions,
which are, as it were, the residue of their bad ones,
vary in the same manner ; and we shall be forced to
the farther conclusion, that such variations are the
result of large and general causes, which, working upon
the aggregate of society, must produce certain con-
21 Some moralists have also may therefore be referred to the
established a third class of category to which it inclines; and
actions, which they call indif- certainly every increase of vice
ferent, as belonging neither to diminishes virtue relatively,
virtue nor to vice ; and hence though not always absolutely,
there arose the famous doctrine Among the Greek philosophers
of probability, set up by several there was a schism on this point :
eminent Romish casuists, and 'Apeanei Se avrols (i.e. the Stoics)
hotly attacked by Pascal. But fxriStv nicrov elvai aperris Kal
this, if we put aside its worst /ca/ctos • t&v ittparaTriTiKoov fjara^v
feature, namely its practical aperris Kal rea/ciccs elvai Xeydvruv
bearings, is merely a question of tV irpoKo-n-i)v. Diog. Laert. de
definition ; inasmuch as every Vitis Philosophorum, lib. vii.
indifferent act must lean on the segm. 127, vol. i. p. 445.
side either of evil or of good, and
RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY. 23
sequences, without regard to the volition of those
particular men of whom the society is composed.
Such is the regularity we expect to find, if the
actions of men are governed by the state of the society
in which they occur ; while, on the other hand, if we
can find no such regularity, we may believe that their
actions depend on some capricious and personal prin-
ciple peculiar to each man, as free will or the like. It
becomes, therefore, in the highest degree important to
ascertain whether or not there exists a regularity in the
entire moral conduct of a given society ; and this is
precisely one of those questions for the decision of
which statistics supply us with materials of immense
value.
For the main object of legislation being to protect
the innocent against the guilty, it naturally followed
that European governments, so soon as they became
aware of the importance of statistics, should begin
to collect evidence respecting the crimes they were
expected to punish. This evidence has gone on accu-
mulating, until it now forms of itself a large body of
literature, containing, with the commentaries connected
with it, an immense array of facts, so carefully compiled,
and so well and clearly digested, that more may be
learned from it respecting the moral nature of Man
than can be gathered from all the accumulated expe-
rience of preceding ages. 22 But as it will be impossible
w I say this advisedly : and and Shakespeare ; but these
whoever has examined these sub- extraordinary observers mainly
jects must be aware of the way occupied themselves with the
iu which writers on morals re- concrete phenomena of life ; and
peat the commonplace and hack- if they analyzed, as they pro-
neyed notions of their predeces- bably did, they have concealed
sore; so that a man, after reading the steps of the process, so that
everything that has been written now we can only verify their
on moral conduct and moral phi- conclusions empirically. The
losophy, will find himself nearly great advance made by the sta-
as much in the dark as when his tisticians consists in applying to
studies first began. The most these inquiries the doctrine of
accurate investigators of the averages, which no one thought
human mind have hitherto been of doing before the eighteenth
the poets, particularly Homer century.
24 RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY.
in this Introduction to give anything like a complete
statement of those inferences which, in the actual state
of statistics, we are authorized to draw, I shall content
myself with examining two or three of the most
important, and pointing out the connexion between
them.
Of all offences, it might well be supposed that the
crime of murder is one of the most arbitrary and
irregular. For when we consider that this, though
generally the crowning act of a long career of vice, is
often the immediate result of what seems a sudden
impulse ; that when premeditated, its committal, even
with the least chance of impunity, requires a rare
combination of favourable circumstances for which the
criminal will frequently wait ; that he has thus to bide
his time, and look for opportunities he cannot control ;
that when the time has come his heart may fail him ;
that the question whether or not he shall commit the
crime may depend on a balance of conflicting motives,
such as fear of the law, a dread of the penalties held
out by religion, the prickings of his own conscience,
the apprehension of future remorse, the love of gain,
jealousy, revenge, desperation ; — when we put all these
things together, there arises such a complication of
causes, that we might reasonably despair of detecting
any order or method in the result of those subtle and
shifting agencies by which murder is either caused or
prevented. But now, how stands the fact ? The fact
is, that murder is committed with as much regularity,
and bears as uniform a relation to certain known cir-
cumstances, as do the movements of the tides, and the
rotations of the seasons. M. Quetelet, who has spent
his life in collecting and methodizing the statistics of
different countries, states, as the result of his laborious
researches, that ' in everything which concerns crime,
the same numbers re-occur with a constancy which
cannot be mistaken ; and that this is the case even
with those crimes which seem quite independent of
human foresight, such, for instance, as murders, which
are generally committed after quarrels arising from
circumstances apparently casual. Nevertheless, we
BESOUBCES FOB INVESTIGATING HISTOBT. 25
know from experience that every year there not only
take place nearly the same number of murders, but that
even the instruments by which they are committed are
employed in the same proportion.' 23 This was the
language used in 1835 by confessedly the first statis-
tician in Europe, and every subsequent investigation
has confirmed its accuracy. For later inquiries have
ascertained the extraordinary fact that the uniform
reproduction of crime is more clearly marked, and
more capable of being predicted, than are the physical
laws connected with the disease and destruction of our
bodies. Thus, for instance, the number of persons
accused of crime in France between 1826 and 1844
was, by a singular coincidence, about equal to the male
deaths which took place in Paris during the same
period, the difference being that the fluctuations in the
amount of crime were actually smaller than the fluc-
tuations in the mortality; while a similar regularity
was observed in each separate offence, all of which obeyed
the same law of uniform and periodical repetition. 24
21 'Dans tout ce qui se rap- serrations, the number of persons
porte aux crimes, les mfemes accused of various crimes in
nombres se reproduisent avec France, and registered under
une Constance telle, qu'il serait their respective ages, scarcely
impossible de la m^connaitre, varies at any age from year to
meme pour ceux des crimes qui year, comparing the proportion
sembleraient devoir echapper le per cent, under each age with
plus a toute prevision humaine, the totals. The number of per-
tels que les meurtres, puisqu'ils sons accused in all France, in
Be commettent, en general, a la the years 1826 to 1844, was
suite de rixes qui -naissent sans about equal to the deaths of
motifs, et dans les circonstances, males registered in Paris ; but
en appurence, les plus fortuites. singularly enough, the former
Cependant l'experience prouve results are more regular than
que non-seulement les meurtres the latter, notwithstanding the
sont annuellement a peu pres en accidental causes which might
meme nombre, mais encore que affect them ; — notwithstanding
les instrumens qui servent a les even a revolution in Paris, which
commettre sont employes dans convulsed society and brought in
les memes proportions.' Quetilet a new dynasty.' Brown on tfie
sur I 'Homme, Paris, 1835, vol. i. Uniform Action of the Human
p. 7; see also vol. ii. pp. 164, Will, in The Assurance Maga-
247. tine, no. viii., July 1852, pp.
** « Thus in twenty years' ob- 349, 350. That the variations
26 RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY.
This, indeed, will appear strange to those who believe
that human actions depend more upon the peculiarities
of each individual than on the general state of society.
But another circumstance remains behind still more
striking. Among public and registered crimes there
is none which seems so completely dependent on the
individual as suicide. Attempts to murder or to rob
may be, and constantly are, successfully resisted ; baffled
sometimes by the party attacked, sometimes by the
officers of justice. But an attempt to commit suicide
is much less liable to interruption. The man who is
determined to kill himself is not prevented at the last
moment by the struggles of an enemy ; and, as he
can easily guard against the interference of the civil
power, 25 his act becomes as it were isolated ; it is cut
off from foreign disturbances, aDd seems more clearly
the product of his own volition than any other offence
could possibly be. We may also add that, unlike
crimes in general, it is rarely caused by the instigation
of confederates ; so that men, not being goaded into it
by their companions, are uninfluenced by one great
in crime are less than those of ing : and in our country the
mortality, is also noticed in Sta- interference of legislators is met
tistique Morale, pp. 18, 34, in by the perjury of jurors, since,
Memoires de I'Academie de Bel- as Bentham says, English juries
gique, vol. xxi., Bruxelles, 1848, do not hesitate to violate their
4to. oaths by declaring the suicide to
24 The folly of lawgivers be non compos. Principles of
thinking that by their enact- Penal Law, in Bentham' s Works,
ments they can diminish suicide, edit. Bowring, 1843, vol. i. pp.
is exposed by M. C. Comte in 479, 480. In regard to the de-
his Traite de Legislation, vol. i. termination of the individual,
p. 486. See also some good and the impossibility of baffling
remarks by Jefferson, in his his intention, there are cases
observations on criminal law in recorded of persons who, being
Appendix to Jefferson's Memoirs, deprived of the ordinary means
by Randolph, vol. i. pp. 126, of destruction, put an end to life
127. Heber (Journey through by holding their breath ; while
India, vol. i. pp. 389, 390) others effected their purpose by
found that the English Govern- turning back the tongue so as to
ment had vainly attempted to exclude air from the larynx,
check the suicides frequently Elliotson's Human Physiology,
committed at Benares by drown- pp. 491, 492.
RESOURCES FOE INVESTIGATING HISTORY. 27
class of external associations which might hamper what
is termed the freedom of their will. It may, therefore,
very naturally he thought impracticahle to refer suicide
to general principles, or to detect anything like regu-
larity in an offence which is so eccentric, so solitary,
so impossible to control by legislation, and which the
most vigilant police can do nothing to diminish. There
is also another obstacle that impedes our view : this is,
that even the best evidence respecting suicide must
always be very imperfect. In cases of drowning, for
example, deaths are liable to be returned as suicides
which are accidental ; while, on the other hand, some
are called accidental which are voluntary. 26 Thus it is,
tbat self-murder seems to be not only capricious and
uncontrollable, but also very obscure in regard to proof;
so that on all these grounds it might be reasonable to
despair of ever tracing it to those general causes by
which it is produced.
These being the peculiarities of this singular crime,
it is surely an astonishing fact, that all the evidence we
possess respecting it points to one great conclusion, and
can leave no doubt on our minds that suicide is merely
the product of the general condition of society, and
that the individual felon only carries into effect what is
a necessary consequence of preceding circumstances. 27
*" This also applies to other during which it is possible to
cases besides those of drowning, remain under water. Brodie's
See Taylor's Medical Jurispru- Surgery, 1846, pp. 89-92.
dence, 1846, pp. 587, 597 ; -and " ' Tout semble dependre de
on the difficulty of always dis- causes determines. Ainsi, nous
tinguishing a real suicide from trouvons annuellement a peu
an apparent one, see Enquire-/, pres le meme nombre de suicides,
Maladies Mentales,vo\. i. p. 575. non-seulement en general, mais
From a third to a half of all encore en faisant la distinction
suicides are by drowning. Com- des sexes, celle des Ages, ou
pare Dufau, Traite de Statistiquc, meme celle des instruments em-
p. 304 ; Winslow's Anatomy of ployes pour so detruire. Une
Suicide, 1840, p. 277 ; Quetelet, annee reproduit si fidelement les
Statistique Morale, p. 66. But chiffres de l'annee qui a precede,
among these, many are no doubt qu'on peut prevoir ce qui doit
involuntary ; and it is certain arriver dans l'annee qui va sui-
that popular opinion grossly vre.' Quetelet, Statistique Morale,
exaggerates the length of time 1848, p. 35 ; see also p. 40.
28 RESOURCES FOE INVESTIGATING HISTOET.
In a given state of society, a certain number of persons
must put an end to their own life. This is the general
law ; and the special question as to who shall commit
the crime depends, of course, upon special laws ; which,
however, in their total action, must obey the large social
law to which they are all subordinate. And the power
of the larger law is so irresistible, that neither the love
of life nor the fear of another world can avail anything
towards even checking its operation. The causes of
this remarkable regularity I shall hereafter examine ;
but the existence of the regularity is familiar to who-
ever is conversant with moral statistics. In the different
countries for which we have returns, we find year by
year the same proportion of persons putting an end to
their own existence ; so that, after making allowance
for the impossibility of collecting complete evidence, we
are able to predict, within a very small limit of error,
the number of voluntary deaths for each ensuing period ;
supposing, of course, that the social circumstances do
not undergo any marked change. Even in London, not-
withstanding the vicissitudes incidental to the largest
and most luxurious capital in the world, we find a
regularity greater than could be expected by the most
sanguine believer in social laws ; since political excite-
ment, mercantile excitement, and the misery produced
by the dearness of food, are all causes of suicide, and
are all constantly varying. 28 Nevertheless, in this vast
metropolis, about 240 persons every year make away
with themselves ; the annual suicides oscillating, from
the pressure of temporary causes, between 260, the
highest, and 213, the lowest. In 1846, which was the
great year of excitement caused by the railway panic,
the suicides in London were 266 ; in 1847 began a slight
improvement, and they fell to 256 ; in 1848 they were
M On the causes of suicides, the statement of earlier statisti-
eee Burdach's Traite de Physio- cians, that suicide is more fre-
logie, vol. r. pp. 476-478; and quent among Protestants than
Forty's Climate and its Endemic among Catholics. Casper, Denk-
Influences, p. 329. The latest iviirdigkeiten zur medicinischen
researches of M. Casper confirm Statistik, Berlin, 1846, p. 139.
BESOTJRCES FOE INVESTIGATING HISTORY. 29
247 ; in 1849 they were 213 ; and in 1850 they were
229. 29
Such is some, and only some, of the evidence we now
possess respecting the regularity with which, in the
same state of society, the same crimes are necessarily
reproduced. To appreciate the full force of this evidence,
we must remember that it is not an arbitrary selection
of particular facts, but that it is generalized from an
exhaustive statement of criminal statistics, consisting
of many millions of observations, extending over
countries in different grades of civilization, with dif-
ferent laws, different opinions, different morals, different
habits. If we add to this, that these statistics have
been collected by persons specially employed for that
purpose, with every means of arriving at the truth,
and with no interest to deceive, it surely must be
admitted that the existence of crime according to a
fixed and uniform scheme, is a fact more clearly attested
than any other in the moral history of man. We have
here parallel chains of evidence formed with extreme
care, under the most different circumstances, and all
pointing in the same direction ; all of them forcing us
to the conclusion, that the offences of men are the
result not so much of the vices of the individual offender
as of the state of society into which that individual is
thrown. 30 This is an inference resting on broad and
tangible proofs accessible to all the world ; and as
such cannot be overturned, or even impeached, by any
of those hypotheses with which metaphysicians and
*■ See the tables in the Asm- tion of completing the yearly
ranee Magazine, no. iv. p. 309, returns, but I do not know if
no. v. p. 34, no. viii. p. 350. this has since been done.
These are the only complete *° ' L' experience d^montre en
consecutive returns of London effet, avec toute l'evidence pos-
suicides yet published ; those sible, cette opinion, qui pourra
issued by the police being im- ^embler paradoxale au premier
perfect. Assurance Magazine, abord, que e'est la societl qui
no. v. p. 53. From inquiries prepare le crime, et que le cou-
made for me at the General pable n'est que Vinstrument qui
Register Office, in January 1856, f execute.' Quetelet sur t Homme,
I learnt that there was an intra- vol. ii. p. 325.
30 RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY.
theologians have hitherto perplexed the study of past
events.
Those readers who are acquainted with the manner
in which in the physical world the operations of the
laws of nature are constantly disturbed, will expect to
find in the moral world disturbances equally active.
Such aberrations proceed, in both instances, from minor
laws, which at particular points meet the larger laws,
and thus alter their normal action. Of this, the science
of mechanics affords & good example in the instance of
that beautiful theory called the parallelogram of forces ;
according to which the forces are to each other in the
same proportion as is the diagonal of their respective
parallelograms. 31 This is a law pregnant with great
results ; it is connected with those important mechanical
resources, the composition and resolution of forces :
and no one acquainted with the evidence on which it
stands, ever thought of questioning its truth. But the
moment we avail ourselves of it for practical purposes,
we find that in its action it is warped by other laws,
such as those concerning the friction of air, and the
different density of the bodies on which we operate,
arising from their chemical composition, or, as some
suppose, from their atomic arrangement. Perturbations
being thus let in, the pure and simple action of the
mechanical law disappears. Still, and although the
results of the law are incessantly disturbed, the law
itself remains intact. 32 Just in the same way, the great
81 The diagonal always giving its operation may admit of in-
the resultant when each side re- numerable exceptions. Hence,
presents a force ; and if we look as Dugald Stewart {Philosophy
on the resultant as a compound of the Mind, vol. ii. p. 211)
force, a comparison of diagonals rightly says, we can only refer
becomes a comparison of com- to the laws of nature ' by a sort
pounds. of figure or metaphor.' This is
82 A law of nature being mere- constantly lost sight of even by
ly a generalization of relations, authors of repute ; some of whom
and having no existence except 6peak of laws as if they were
in the mind, is essentially in- causes, and therefore liable to in-
tangible ; and therefore, however terruption by larger causes ;
small the law may be, it can while other writers pronounce
never admit of exceptions, though them to be ' delegated agencies '
RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY. 31
social law, that the moral actions of men are the pro-
duct not of their volition, but of their antecedents, is
itself liable to disturbances which trouble its operation
without affecting its truth. And this is quite sufficient
to explain those slight variations which we find from
year to year in the total amount of crime produced by
the same country. Indeed, looking at the fact that the
moral world is far more abundant in materials than the
physical world, the only ground for astonishment is
that these variations should not be greater ; and from
the circumstance that the discrepancies are so trifling,
we may form some idea of the prodigious energy of
those vast social laws, which, though constantly inter-
rupted, seem to triumph over every obstacle, and which,
when examined by the aid of large numbers, scarcely
undergo any sensible perturbation. 33
from the Deity. Compare
Pr out's Bridgewater Treatise, pp.
318, 435, 495 ; Sadler's Law of
Population, voL ii. p. 67; Bur-
dock's Physiologie, vol. i. p. 160.
Mr. Paget, in his able work,
Lectures on Pathology, vol. i.
p. 481, vol. ii. p. 642, with much
greater accuracy calls such cases
' apparent exceptions ' to laws ;
but it would be better to say,
' exceptions to the operations of
laws.' The context clearly
proves that Mr. Paget distinctly
apprehends the difference ; but
a alight alteration of this kind
would prevent confusion in the
minds of ordinary readers.
M Mr. Rawson, in his Inquiry
into the Statistics of Crime in
England and Wales (published
in the Journal of the Statistical
Society, vol. ii. pp. 316-344),
says, p. 327, 'No greater proof
can be given of the possibility of
arriving at certain constants
with regard to crime, than the
fact which appears in the follow-
ing table, that the greatest varia-
tion which has taken place during
the last three years, in the pro-
portion of any class of criminals
at the same period of life, has
not exceeded a half per cent.'
See also Beport of British
Association for 1839, Transac.
of Sec., p. 118. Indeed, all
writers who have examined the
evidence are forced to admit this
regularity, however they may
wish to explain it. M. Dufau
(Traiti de Statistique, p. 144)
says, ' Les faits de 1 ordre moral
sont, aussi bien que ceux de
1' ordre natursL le produit de
causes constantes et regulieres,'
&c. ; and at p. 367, ' C'est ainsi
que le monde moral se present e
a nous, de ce point de vue, comme
offrant, de meme que le monde
physique, un ensemble continu
d'effets dus a des causes con-
stantes et regulieres, dont il ap-
partient surtout a la statistique
de constater Taction.' See to
the same effect Moreau-Chris-
tophe des Prisons en France, Paris,
1838, pp. 63, 189.
32 RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY.
Nor is it merely the crimes of men which are marked
by this uniformity of sequence. Even the number of
marriages annually contracted, is determined, not by
the temper and wishes of individuals, but by large
general facts, over which individuals can exercise no
authority. It is now known that marriages bear a
fixed and definite relation to the price of corn ; 34 and
in England the experience of a century has proved
that, instead of having any connexion with personal
feelings, they are simply regulated by the average
earnings of the great mass of the people : 35 so that
this immense social and religious institution is not
only swayed, but is completely controlled, by the price
of food and by the rate of wages. In other cases,
uniformity has been detected, though the causes of
the uniformity are still unknown. Thus, to give a
curious instance, we are now able to prove that even
the aberrations of memory are marked by this general
character of necessary and invariable order. The post-
offices of London and of Paris have latterly published
returns of the number of letters which the writers,
through forgetfulness, omitted to direct ; and, making
allowance for the difference of circumstances, the re-
turns are year after year copies of each other. Year
after year the same proportion of letter- writers forget
this simple act ; so that for each successive period
we can actually foretell the number of persons whose
34 ' It is curious to observe returns from France ; and these
how intimate a relation exists fully bear out the view that has
between the price of food and been given.' Porter's Progress
the number of marriages.' .... of the Nation, vol. ii. pp. 244,
'The relation that subsists be- 245, London, 1838.
tween the price of food and the 35 ' The marriage returns of
number of marriages is not con- 1850 and 1851 exhibit the excess
fined to our own country; and which since 1750 has been in-
it is not improbable that, had we variably observed when the
the means of ascertaining the substantial earnings of the people
facts, we should see the like are above the average.' Journal
result in every civilized commu- of Statistical Society, vol. xv. p.
nity. "We possess the necessary 185.
EESOUECES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY. 33
memory will fail them in regard to this trifling and, as
it might appear, accidental occurrence. 36
To those who have a steady conception of the regu-
larity of events, and have firmly seized the great truth
that the actions of men, being guided by their antece-
dents, are in reality never inconsistent, but, however
capricious they may appear, only form part of one vast
scheme of universal order, of which we in the present
state of knowledge can barely see the outline — to those
who understand this, which is at once the key and the
basis of history, the facts just adduced, so far from
being strange, will be precisely what would have been
expected and ought long since to have been known.
Indeed, the progress of inquiry is becoming so rapid
and so earnest, that I entertain little doubt that before
another century has elapsed, the chain of evidence will
be complete, and it will be as rare to find an historian
who denies the undeviating regularity of the moral
world, as it now is to find a philosopher who denies
the regularity of the material world.
It will be. observed, that the preceding proofs of our
actions being regulated by law, have been derived from
statistics ; a branch of knowledge which, though still
in its infancy, 37 has already thrown more light on
M See Somerville's Physical p. 140 ; Dufau, Traitk de Statis-
Geography, vol. ii. pp. 409-411, tique, pp. 9, 10. Even so late
which, says this able writer, as 1800, the Bishop of Llan-
proves that ' forgetfulness as well daff wrote to Sir John Sinclair,
as free will is under constant ' I must think the kingdom is
laws.' But this is using the highly indebted to you for bring-
word ' free will ' in a sense dif- ing forward a species of know-
ferent from that commonly em- ledge (statistics) wholly new in
ployed. this country, though not new in
17 Achenwall, in the middle of other parts of Europe.' Sinclair's
the eighteenth century, is usually Correspondence, vol. i. p. 230.
considered to be the first syste- Sinclair, notwithstanding his in-
matic writer on statistics, and is dustry, was a man of Blend. t
said to have given them their powers, and did not at all under-
present name. See Lewis, Me- stand the real importance of
thods of Observation and Season- statistics, of which, indeed, h<>
ing in Politics, 1852, vol. L p. 72 ; took a mere practical view.
Biographie UniverselU, voL i. Since then statistics have been
VOL. I. D
34 EESOUECES FOE INVESTIGATING HISTOET.
the study of human nature than all the sciences put
together. But although the statisticians have been
the first to investigate this great subject by treating
it according to those methods of reasoning which in
other fields have been found successful ; and although
they have, by the application of numbers, brought to
bear upon it a very powerful engine for eliciting truth —
we must not, on that account, suppose that there are
no other resources remaining by which it may likewise
be cultivated : nor should we infer that because the
physical sciences have not yet been applied to history,
they are therefore inapplicable to it. Indeed, when we
consider the incessant contact between man and the
external world, it is certain that there must be an in-
timate connexion between human actions and physical
laws ; so that if physical science had not hitherto been
brought to bear upon history, the reason is, either that
historians have not perceived the connexion, or else
that, having perceived it, they have been destitute of
the knowledge by which its workings can be traced.
Hence there has arisen an unnatural separation of the
two great departments of inquiry, the study of the
internal and that of the external : and although, in
the present state of European literature, there are
some unmistakable symptoms of a desire to break
down this artificial barrier, still it must be admitted
that as yet nothing has been actually accomplished
towards effecting so great an end. The moralists, the
theologians, and the metaphysicians, continue to pro-
secute their studies without much respect for what they
deem the inferior labours of scientific men ; whose in-
quiries, indeed, they frequently attack, as dangerous to
the interests of religion, and as inspiring us with an
applied extensively to medicine; ii. pp. 665-667 ; Holland's Medi-
and still more recently, and on a cal Notes, pp. 5, 472; VogeVs
smaller scale, to philology and to Pathological Anatomy, pp. 1 5-1 7 ;
jurisprudence. Compare Bouil- Simon's Pathology, p. 180; Phil-
laud, Philosophic Medicate, pp. Upson Scrofula, pp. 70, 118, &c. ;
96, 186; Renouard, Hist, de Prichard's Physical Hist, of Man-
la Medecine, vol. ii. pp. 474, 475 ; kind, vol. iv. p. 414 ; Eschbach,
Esquirol, Maladies Mentales, vol. Etude du Droit, pp. 392-394.
RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY. 35
undue confidence in the resources of the human un-
derstanding. On the other hand, the cultivators of
physical science, conscious that they are an advancing
body, are naturally proud of their own success ; and,
contrasting their discoveries with the more stationary
position of their opponents, are led to despise pursuits
the barrenness of which has now become notorious.
It is the business of the historian to mediate between
these two parties, and reconcile their hostile pretensions
by showing the point at which their respective studies
ought to coalesce. To settle the terms of this coalition,
will be to fix the basis of all history. For since history
deals with the actions of men, and since their actions
are merely the product of a collision between internal
and external phenomena, it becomes necessary to exa-
mine the relative importance of those phenomena ; to
inquire into the extent to which their laws are known ;
and to ascertain the resources for future discovery
possessed by these two great classes, the students of
the mind and the students of nature. This task I
shall endeavour to accomplish in the next two chap-
ters : and if I do so with anything approaching to
success, the present work will at least have the merit
of contributing something towards filling up that
wide and dreary chasm, which, to the hindrance of
our knowledge, separates subjects that are intimately
related, and should never be disunited.
Note A.
'Der Begriff der Freiheit ist ein reiner Vernunftbegriff, der ebea
darum fur die theoretische Philosophic transcendent, d. i. ein solcher
ist, dem kein angemessenes Beispiel in irgend einer mdglichen
Erfiihrung gegeben werden kann, welcher also keinen Gegenstand
<in<T uns mdglichen theoretischen Erkenntniss ausmacht, und
pchlechterdings nicht fur ein constitutives, sondern lediglich als
regulatives, und zwar nur bloss negatives Princip der speculativen
Vernunft gelten kann, im praktisehen Gebrauche der selben aber
seine Realitat durch praktische Grundsatze beweist, die, als Gesetze,
eineCausalitatderreinen Vernunft, unabhangig von alien etnpirischen
Bedingungen (dem Sinnlichen iiberhaupt), die Willkuhr zu bestim-
men, und einen reinen Willen in uns beweisen, in welchem di«»
d2
36 RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY.
sittlichen Begriffe und Gesetze ihren Ursprung haben.' Metaphysik
der Sitten, in Kant's Werke, vol. v. pp. 20, 21. ' Wiirden die Gegen-
stande der Sinnenwelt fiir Dinge an sich selbst genommen, und die
oben angefiihrten Naturgesetze fur Gesetze der Dinge an sicb selbst,
80 ware der Widerspruch ' {i. e. between Liberty and Necessity)
1 unvermeidlich. Ebenso, wenn das Subject der Freiheit gleich den
iibrigen Gegenstanden als blose Erscheinung vorgestellt wiirde, so
konnte ebensowohl der Widerspruch nicht Termieden werden ; denn
es wiirde ebendasselbe von einerlei Gegenstanden in derselben
Bedeutung zugleich bejaht und verneint werden. 1st aber Natur-
nothwendigkeit bloss auf Erscheinungen bezogen, und Freiheit bloss
auf Dinge an sich selbst, so entspringt kein Widerspruch, wenn man
gleich beide Arten von Causalitat annimmt oder zugibt, so schwer
oder unmoglich es auch sein mochte, die von der letzteren Art
begreiflich zu machen.' . . . . ' Natur also und Freiheit eben
demselben Dinge, aber in verschiedener Beziehung, einmal als
Erscheinung, das andre Mai als einem Dinge an sich selbst obne
Widerspruch beigelegt werden konnen.' . . . . ' Nun kann ich
ohne Widerspruch sagen : alle Handlungen vernunftiger Wesen,
sofern sie Erscheinungen sind (in irgend einer Erfahrung angetroffen
werden), stehen unter der Naturnothwendigkcit ; eben dieselben
Handlungen aber, bloss respective auf das verniinftige Subject und
dessen Vermogen, nach blosser Vernunft zu handeln, sind frei.'
Prolegomena zujeder kunftigen Metaphysik, in Kant's Werke, vol.
iiL pp. 268-270. ' Denn ein Geschopf zu sein und als Naturwesen
bloss dem Willen seines Urhebers zu folgen ; dennoch aber als frei-
handelndes Wesen (welches seinen vom ausseren Einfluss unab-
hangigen Willen hat, der dem ersteren vielfaltig zuwider sein kann),
der Zurechnung fahig zu sein, und seine eigene That doch auch
zugleich als die Wirkung eines hoheren Wesens anzusehen : ist eine
Vereinbarung von Begriifen, die wir zwar in der Idee einer Welt,
als des hocbsten Gutes, zusammen denken miissen ; die aber nur der
einsehen kann, welcher bis zur Kenntniss der iibersinnlichen (intel-
ligiblen) Welt durchdringt und die Art einsieht, wie sie der Sinnen-
welt zum Grunde liegt.' Theodicee, in Kants Werke, vol. vi. p. 149.
1 Nun wollen wir annehmen, die durch unsere Kritik nothwendig
gemachte Unterscheidung der Dinge, als Gegenstande der Erfahrung,
von eben denselben, als Dingen an sich selbst, ware gar nicht
gemacht, so miisste der Grundsatz der Causalitat und mithin der
Naturmechanismus in Bestimmung derselben durchaus von alien
Dingen iiberhaupt als wirkenden Ursachen gelten. Von eben
demselben Wesen also, z. B. der menschlichen Seele, wiirde ich nicht
sagen konnen, ihr Wille sei frei, und er sei doch zugleich der
Naturnothwendigkeit unterworfen, d. i. nicht frei, ohne in einen
offenbaren Widerspruch zu gerathen ; weil ich die Seele in beiden
Satzen in eben derselben Bedeutung, namlich als Ding iiberhaupt
(als Sache an sich selbst), genommen habe und, ohne vorhergehende
Kritik, auch nicht anders nehmen konnte. Wenn aber die Kritik
nicht geirrt hat, da sie das Object in zweierlei Bedeutung nehmen
RESOURCES FOR INVESTIGATING HISTORY. 37
lehrt, namlich als Erscheinung, oder als Ding an sich selbst ; wenn
die Deduction ihrer Verstandesbegriffe richtig ist, mithin auch der
Grundsatz der Causalitat nur auf Dinge im ersten Sinne genommen,
namlich so fern sio Gegenstande der Erfahrung sind, geht, eben
dieselben aber nach der zweiten Bedeutung ihm nicht unterworfen
sind, so wird eben derselbe Wille in der Erscheinung (den sicht-
baren Handlungen) als dem Naturgesetze nothwendig gemass und
so fern nicht frei, und doch andererseits, als einem Dinge an sich
selbst angehorig, jenem nicht unterworfen, mithin als frei gedacht,
ohne dass hiebei ein Widerspruch vorgeht.' Kritik der reinen
Vernunft, in Kants Werke, vol. ii. p. 24. ' Und hier zeigtdie zwar
gemeine, aber betriigliche Voraussetzung der absoluten Realitat der
Erscheinungen sogleich ihren nachtheiligen Einfluss, die Vernunft zu
verwirren. Denn sind Erscheinungen Dinge an sich selbst, so ist
Freiheit nicht zu retten. Alsdann ist Natur die vollstandige und
an sich hinreichend bestimmende Ursache jeder Begebenheit, und
die Bedingung derselben ist jederzeic nur in der Reihe der Er-
scheinungen enthalten, die sammt ihrer Wirkung unter dem Natur-
gesetze nothwendig sind. Wenn dagegen Erscheinungen fur Nichts
mehr gelten, als sie in der That sind, namlich nicht fur Dinge an
sich, sondern blosse Vorstellungen, die nach empirischen Gesetzen
zusammenhangen, so miissen sie selbst noch Griinde haben. die nicht
Erscheinungen sind.' . . . . ' Hier habe ich nur die Anmer-
kung machen wollen, dass, da der durchgangige Zusammenhang
aller Erscheinungen in einem Context der Natur ein unnachlassliches
Gesetz ist, dieses alle Freiheit nothwendig umstiirzen miisste, wenn
man der Realitat der Erscheinungen hartnackig anhangen wollte.
Daher auch diejenigen, welche hierin der gemeinen Meinung folgen,
niemals dahin haben gelangen konnen, Natur und Freiheit mit
einander zu vereinigen.' Kritik, in Werke, vol. ii. pp. 419, 420.
Finally, at p. 433, ' Man muss wohl bemerken, dass wir hiedurch
nicht die Wirklichkeit der Freiheit, als eines der Vermogen, welche
die Ursache von den Erscheinungen unserer Sinnenwelt enthalten,
haben darthun wollen. Denn ausser dass dieses gar keine transcen-
dentale Betrachtung, die bloss mit Begriffon zu thun hat, gewesen
sein wiirde, so konnte es auch nicht gelingen, indem wir aus der
Erfahrung niemals auf Etwas, was gar nicht nach Erfahrungsgesetzen
gedacht werden muss, schliessen konnen. Ferner haben wir auch
gar nicht einmal die Moglichkeit der Freiheit beweisen wollen ;
denn dieses ware auch nicht gelungen, weil wir iiberhaupt von
keinem Realgrunde und keiner Causalitat aus blossen Begriffen a
priori die Moglichkeit erkennen konnen. Die Freiheit wird hier
nur als transcendentale Idee behandelt, wodurch die Vernunft die
Reihe der Bedingungen in der Erscheinung durch das sinnlieh
Unbedingte schlechthin aufzuheben denkt, dabci sich in eine Anti-
nomie mit ihren eigcnen Gesetzen, welche sie dem empirischen
Gebrauche des Verstandes vorschreibt, verwickelt. Dass nun diese
Antinomie auf einem blo&ien Scheine beruhe, und dass Natur der
Causalitat aus Freiheit wenigstens nicht widerstreito, das war daa
38 EESOUKCES FOE INVESTIGATING HISTORY.
Einzige, was wir leisten konnten, und woran es uns auch einzig unci
alleiu gelegen war.'
These passages prove that Kant saw that the phenomenal reality
of Free Will is an indefensible doctrine : and as the present work is
an investigation of the laws of phenomena, his transcendental phi-
losophy does not affect my conclusions. According to Kant's view
(and with which I am inclined to agree) the ordinary metaphysical
and theological treatment of this dark problem is purely empirical,
and therefore has no value. The denial of the supremacy of con-
sciousness follows as a natural consequence, and is the result of the
Kantian philosophy, and not, as is often said, the base of it.
39
CHAPTER H.
INFLUENCE EXERCISED BY PHYSICAL LAWS OVER THE ORGANIZATION
OF SOCIETY AND OVER THE CHARACTER OF INDIVIDUALS.
If we inquire what those physical agents are by which
the human race is most powerfully influenced, we shall
find that they may be classed under four heads : namely,
Climate, Food, Soil, and the General Aspect of Nature ;
by which last, I mean those appearances which, though
presented chiefly to the sight, have, through the me-
dium of that or other senses, directed the association of
ideas, and hence in different countries have given rise
to different habits of national thought. To one of these
four classes, may be referred all the external phenomena
by which Man has been permanently affected. The
last of these classes, or what I call the General Aspect
of Nature, produces its principal results by exciting the
imagination, and by suggesting those innumerable
superstitions which are the great obstacles to advancing
knowledge. And as, in the infancy of a people, the
power of such superstitions is supreme, it has happened
that the various Aspects of Nature have caused corre-
sponding varieties in the popular character, and have
imparted to the national religion peculiarities which,
under certain circumstances, it is impossible to efface.
The other three agents, namely, Climate, Food, and
Soil, have, so far as we are aware, had no direct in-
fluence of this sort ; but they have, as I am about to
prove, originated the most important consequences in
regard to the general organization of society, and from
them there have followed many of those large and con-
spicuous differences between nations, which are often
ascribed to some fundamental difference in the various
races into which mankind is divided. But whJ •« such
40 INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
original distinctions of race are altogether hypothetical, 1
the discrepancies which are caused by difference of
climate, food, and soil, are capable of a satisfactory
explanation, and, when understood, will be found to
clear up many of the difficulties which still obscure the
study of history. I purpose, therefore, in the first
place, to examine the laws of these three vast agents
in so far as they are connected with Man in his social
condition ; and having traced the working of those
laws with as much precision as the present state of
physical knowledge will allow, I shall then examine
the remaining agent, namely, the General Aspect of
Nature, and shall endeavour to point out the most im-
portant divergencies to which its variations have, in
different countries, naturally given rise.
Beginning, then, with climate, food, and soil, it is
evident that these three physical powers are in no
small degree dependent on each other : that is to say,
there is a very close connexion between the climate of
a country and the food which will ordinarily be grown
in that country ; while at the same time the food is
itself influenced by the soil which produces it, as also
by the elevation or depression of the land, by the state
of the atmosphere, and, in a word, by all those condi-
tions to the assemblage of which the name of Physical
Geography is, in its largest sense, commonly given. 2
1 I cordially subscribe to the which most assuredly has never
remark of one of the greatest been proved. Some singular
thinkers of our time, who says of instances of this will be found in
the supposed differences of race, Alison's History of Europe,
' of all vulgar modes of escaping vol. ii. p. 336, vol. vi. p. 136.
from the consideration of the vol. viii. pp. 525, 526, vol.
effect of social and moral in- xiii. p. 347 ; where the historian
fluences on the human mind, the thinks that by a few strokes of
most vulgar is that of attribut- his pen he can settle a question
ing the diversities of conduct of the greatest difficulty, con-
and character to inherent natural nected with some of the most
differences.' Mill's Principles of intricate problems in physiology.
Political Economy, vol. i. p. 390. On the supposed relation between
Ordinary writers are constantly race and temperament, see Comte,
falling into the error of assuming Pkilosophie Positive,yol.in. p.355.
the existence of this difference, 2 As to the proper limits of
which may or may not exist but physical geography, see Prichard
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 41
The union between these physical agents being thus
intimate, it seems advisable to consider them not under
their own separate heads, but rather under the separate
heads of the effects produced by their united action.
In this way we shall rise at once to a more compre-
hensive view of the whole question ; we shall avoid the
confusion that would be caused by artificially separating
phenomena which are in themselves inseparable ; and
we shall be able to see more clearly the extent of that
remarkable influence, which, in an early stage of
society, the powers of Nature exercise over the fortunes
of Man.
Of all the results which are produced among a people
by their climate, food, and soil, the accumulation of
wealth is the earliest, and in many respects the most
important. For although the progress of knowledge
eventually accelerates the increase of wealth, it is
nevertheless certain that, in the first formation of
society, the wealth must accumulate before the know-
ledge can begin. As long as every man is engaged in
collecting the materials necessary for his own subsist-
ence, there will be neither leisure nor taste for higher
pursuits ; no science can possibly be created, and the
utmost that can be effected will be an attempt to
economise labour by the contrivance of such rude and
imperfect instruments as even the most barbarous
people are able to invent.
In a state of society like this, the accumulation of
wealth is the first great step that can be taken, because
without wealth there can be no leisure, and without
leisure there can be no knowledge. If what a people
consume is always exactly equal to what they possess,
there will be no residue, and therefore, no capital being
on Ethnology, in Report of the the aggregate of all the external
British Association for 1847, physical circumstances apper-
p. 235. The word ' climate ' I taining to each locality in its
always use in the narrow and relation to organic nature.'
popular sense. Dr. Forry and Fornfs Climate of the United
many previous writers make it States and its Endemic Influences,
nearly coincide with 'physical New York, 1842, p. 127.
geography:' 'Climate constitutes
42 INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
accumulated, there will be no means by which the
unemployed classes may be maintained. 3 But if the
produce is greater than the consumption, an overplus
arises, which, according to well-known principles, in-
creases itself, and eventually becomes a fund out of
which, immediately or remotely, every one is supported
who does not create the wealth upon which he lives.
And now it is that the existence of an intellectual class
first becomes possible, because for the first time there
exists a previous accumulation, by means of which men
can use what they did not produce, and are thus en-
abled to devote themselves to subjects for which at an
earlier period the pressure of their daily wants would
have left them no time.
Thus it is that of all the great social improvements
the accumulation of wealth must be the first, because
without it there can be neither taste nor leisure for that
acquisition of knowledge on which, as I shall hereafter
prove, the progress of civilization depends. Now, it is
evident that among an entirely ignorant people, the
rapidity with which wealth is created will be solely
regulated by the physical peculiarities of their country.
At a later period, and when the wealth has been
capitalized, other causes come into play ; but until this
occurs, the progress can only depend on two circum-
stances : first on the energy and regularity with which
labour is conducted, and secondly on the returns made
to that labour by the bounty of nature. And these two
causes are themselves the result of physical antecedents.
The returns made to labour are governed by the fer-
tility of the soil, which is itself regulated partly by the
admixture of its chemical components, partly by the
extent to which, from rivers or from other natural
causes, the soil is irrigated, and partly by the heat and
humidity of the atmosphere. On the other hand, the
energy and regularity with which labour is conducted,
* By unemployed classes, I strictly speaking inaccurate, the
mean what Adam Smith calls word ' unemployed' seems to
the unproductive classes; and convey more clearly than any
though both expressions are other, the idea in the text.
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 43
will be entirely dependent on the influence of climate.
This will display itself in two different ways. The
first, -which is a very obvious consideration, is, that if
the heat is intense, men will be indisposed, and in some
degree unfitted, for that active industry which in a
milder climate they might willingly have exerted. The
other consideration, which has been less noticed, but is
equally important, is, that climate influences labour not
only by enervating the labourer or by invigorating him,
but also by the effect it produces on the regularity of
his habits. 4 Thus we find that no people living in a
very northern latitude have ever possessed that steady
and unflinching industry for which the inhabitants of
temperate regions are remarkable. The reason of this
becomes clear, when we remember that in the more
northern countries the severity of the weather, and, at
some seasons, the deficiency of light, render it impos-
sible for the people to continue their usual out-of-door
employments. The result is, that the working classes
being compelled to cease from their ordinary pursuits,
are rendered more prone to desultory habits; the
chain of their industry is as it were broken, and they
lose that impetus which long-continued and uninter-
rupted practice never fails to give. Hence there arises
a national character more fitful and capricious than
that possessed by a people whose climate permits the
regular exercise of their ordinary industry. Indeed, so
powerful is this principle, that we may perceive its
operation even under the most opposite circumstances.
It would be difficult to conceive a greater difference in
government, laws, religion, and manners, than that
which distinguishes Sweden and Norway on the one
hand, from Spain and Portugal on the other. But
these four countries have one great point in common.
In all of them, continued agricultural industry is im-
practicable. In the two southern countries, labour is
4 This has been entirely L&gidation. It is also omitted
neglected by the three most in the remarks of M. Guizot on
philosophical writers on climate : the influence of climate, Civili-
Monfesquieu, Hume, and M. nation en Europe, p. 97.
Charles Comte in hiB Traiti de
44 INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
interrupted by the heat, by the dryness of the weather,
and by the consequent state of the soil. In the two
northern countries, the same effect is produced by the
severity of the winter and the shortness of the days.
The consequence is, that these four nations, though so
j different in other respects, are all remarkable for a
certain instability and fickleness of character ; pre-
senting a striking contrast to the more regular and
settled habits which are established in countries
whose climate subjects the working classes to fewer
interruptions, and imposes on them the necessity of a
more constant and unremitting employment. 5
These are the great physical causes by which the
creation of wealth is governed. There are, no doubt,
other circumstances which operate with considerable
force, and which, in a more advanced state of society,
possess an equal, and sometimes a superior, influence.
But this is at a later period ; and looking at the history
of wealth in its earliest stage, it will be found to depend
entirely on soil and climate: the soil regulating the
returns made to any given amount of labour ; the
climate regulating the energy and constancy of the
labour itself. It requires but a hasty glance at past
events, to prove the immense power of these two great
physical conditions. For there is no instance in history
of any country being civilized by its own efforts, unless
it has possessed one of these conditions in a very
favourable form. In Asia, civilization has always been
confined to that vast tract where a rich and alluvial
soil has secured to man that wealth without some share
of which no intellectual progress can begin. This great
region extends, with a few interruptions, from the east
of Southern China to the western coasts of Asia Minor,
of Phoenicia, and of Palestine. To the north of this
5 See the admirable remarks respecting the average loss to
in Laingfs Denmark, 1852, pp. agricultural industry caused by
204, 366, 367 ; though Norway changes in the weather; but no
appears to be a better illustra- notice is taken of the connexion
tion than Denmark. In Bey's between these changes, when
Science Sociale, vol. i. pp. 195, abrupt, and the tone of the
196, there are some calculations national character.
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 45
immense belt, there is a long line of barren country
which has invariably been peopled by rude and
wandering tribes, who are kept in poverty by the un-
genial nature of the soil, and who, as long as they
remained on it, have never emerged from their un-
civilized state. How entirely this depends on physical
causes, is evident from the fact that these same Mon-
golian and Tartarian hordes have, at different periods,
founded great monarchies in China, in India, and in
Persia, and have, on all such occasions, attained a
civilization nowise inferior to that possessed by the
most flourishing of the ancient kingdoms. For in the
fertile plains of Southern Asia, 6 nature has supplied all
the materials of wealth ; and there it was that these
barbarous tribes acquired for the first time some degree
of refinement, produced a national literature, and or-
ganized a national polity ; none of which things tbey,
in their native land, had been able to effect. 7 In the
same way, the Arabs in their own country have, owing
to the extreme aridity of their soil, 8 always been a rude
and uncultivated people ; for in their case, as in all
• This expression has been graphy, vol. i. p. 132, it is said
used by different geographers in that in Arabia there are ' no
different senses ; but I take it in rivers ; ' but Mr. Wellsted
its common acceptation, without {Travels in Arabia, vol. ii. p.
reference to the more strictly 409) mentions one which empties
physical view of Hitter and his itself into the sea five miles west
followers in regard to Central of Aden. On the streams m
Asia. See Prichards Physical Arabia, see Meiners iiber die
History of Mankind, vol. iv. Fruchtbarkcit der Lander, vol. i.
p. 278, edit. 1844. At p. 92, pp. 149, 150. That the sole
Prichard makes the Himalaya deficiency is want of irrigation
the southern boundary of Central appears from Burckhardt, who
An B&ys (Travels in Arabia, vol. i.
7 There is reason to believe p. 240), ' In Arabia, wherever
that the Tartars of Thibet the ground can be irrigated by
received even their alphabet wells, the sands may be soon
from India. See the interesting made productive.' And for a
Essay on Tartarian Coins in striking description of one of the
Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. oases of Oman, which shows
iv. pp. 276, 277 ; and on the what Arabia might have been
Scythian Alphabet, see vol. xii. with a good river system, see
p. 336. Journal of Geographical Society,
■ In Somerville's Physical Geo~ vol. vii. pp. 106, 107.
46
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
others, great ignorance is the fruit of great poverty.
But in the seventh century they conquered Persia ; 9
in the eighth century they conquered the best part of
Spain ; 10 in the ninth century they conquered the
Punjaub, and eventually nearly the whole of India. 11
Scarcely were they established in their fresh settlements,
when their character seemed to undergo a great change.
They, who in their original land were little else than
roving savages, were now for the first time able to ac-
cumulate wealth, and, therefore, for the first time did
they make some progress in the arts of civilization. In
Arabia they had been a mere race of wandering shep-
herds ; 12 in their new abodes they became the founders
of mighty empires — they built cities, endowed schools,
' Mr. Morier {Journal of Geoff.
Soc. vol. vii. p. 230) says, ' the
conquest of Persia by the Sara-
cens a.d. 651.' However, the
fate of Persia was decided by the
battles of Kudseah and Naha-
vund, which were fought in 638
and 641 : see Malcolm's History
of Persia, vol. i. pp. xvi. 139,
142.
10 In 712. Hallanis Middle
Ages, vol. i. p. 369.
11 They were established in
the Punjaub early in the ninth
century, but did not conquer
Guzerat and Malwa until five
hundred years later. Compare
Wilson's note in the Vishnu
Purana, pp. 481, 482, with
Asiatic Researches, vol. ix. pp.
187, 188, 203. On their progress
in the more southern part of the
Peninsula, see Journal of Asiatic
Society, vol. iii. pp. 222, 223,
vol. iv. pp. 28-30.
12 ' A race of pastoral barba-
rians.' Dickinson on the Arabic
Language, in Journal of Asiat.
Society, vol. v. p. 323. Compare
Eeynier, Economie des Arahes,
pp. 27, 28 ; where, however, a
very simple question is needlessly
complicated. The old Persian
writers bestowed on them the
courteous appellation of ' a band
of naked lizard-eaters.' Malcolm's
Hist, of Persia, vol. i. p. 133.
Indeed, there are few things in
history better proved than the
barbarism of a people whom
some writers wish to invest with
a romantic interest. The eulogy
passed on them by Meiners is
rather suspicious, for he con-
cludes by saying, 'die Erober-
ungen der Araber waren hochst
selten so blutig und zerstorend,
als die Eroberungen der Tataren,
Persen, Tiirken, u. s. w. in al-
tera und neuern Zeiten waren. '
Fruchtbarkeit der Lander, vol. i.
p. 153. If this is the best that
can be said, the comparison with
Tartars and Turks does not
prove much ; but it is singular
that this learned author should
have forgotten a passage in
Diodorus Siculus which gives a
pleasant description of them
nineteen centuries ago on the
eastern side : Biblinthec. Hist.
lib. ii. vol. ii. p. 137. ex ov<Tl
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
47
collected libraries ; and the traces of their power are
still to be seen at Cordova, at Bagdad, and at Delhi. 13
Precisely in the same manner, there is adjoining Arabia
at the north, and only separated from it elsewhere by
the narrow waters of the Red Sea, an immense sandy
plain, which, covering the whole of Africa in the same
latitude, extends westward until it reaches the shores
of the Atlantic. 14 This enormous tract is, like Arabia,
5« f}lov \r)(TTpinbv, Kci itoXaV
ttjj 6fj.6pov \tipus KaTarp4xovre>
\T)OTfVVVfflV, &C.
15 The only branch of know-
ledge which the Arabians ever
raised to a science was astronomy,
which began to be cultivated
under the caliphs about the
middle of the eighth century,
and went on improving until ' la
ville de Bagdad fut, pendant le
dixieme siecle, le theltre prin-
cipal de l'astronomie chez les
orientaux.' .Montucla, Histoire
des Mathematiaues, vol. i. pp.
355, 364. The old Pagan Arabs,
like most barbarous people living
in a clear atmosphere, had such
an empirical acquaintance with
the celestial phenomena as was
used for practical purposes ; but
there is no evidence to justify
the common opinion that they
studied this subject as a scion •■• ■.
Dr. Dorn (Transactions of the
Asiatic Society, vol. ii. p. 371)
says, ' of a scientific knowledge
of astronomy among them no
traces can be discovered.' Beau-
sobre (Histoire de Manichec, vol.
i. p. 20) is quite enthusiastic
about the philosophy of the
Arabs in the time of Pythagoras I
and he tells us, that * ces peuples
ont toujours cultive les sciences.'
To establish this fact, he quotes
a long passage from a life of
Mohammed written early in the
eighteenth century by Boulain-
villiers, whom he calls, ' un des
plus beaux genies de France.' If
this is an accurate description,
those who have read the works
of Boulainvilliers will think that
France was badly off for men of
genius ; and as to his life of
Mohammed, it is little better
than a romance : the author was
ignorant of Arabic, and knew
nothing which had not been
already communicated by Maracci
and Pococke. See Biographic
UnivrrseUe, vol. v. p. 321.
In regard to the later Arabian
astronomers, one of their great
merits was to approximate to the
value of the annual precession
much closer than Ptolemy had
done. See Granfs History of
Physical Astronomy, 1852, p.
319.
14 Indeed it goes beyond it :
' the trackless sands of the
Sahara desert, which is even pro-
longed for miles into the Atlantic
Ocean in the form of sandbanks.'
Somerville's Physical Geography,
vol. i. p. 149. For a singular
instance of one of these sand-
banks being formed into an
island, see Journal of Geograph.
Society, vol. ii. p. 284. The
Sahara desert, exclusive of
Bornou and Darfour, covers an
area of 194,000 square leagues ;
that is, nearly three times the
48
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
a barren waste ; 15 and therefore, as in Arabia, the in-
habitants have always been entirely uncivilized,
acquiring no knowledge, simply because they have
accumulated no wealth. 16 But this great desert is, in
its eastern part, irrigated by the waters of the Nile, the
overflowing of which covers the sand with a rich
alluvial deposit, that yields to labour the most abun-
dant, and indeed the most extraordinary, returns. 1 "
The consequence is, that in that spot, wealth was
size of France, or twice the size
of the Mediterranean. Compare
Lyells Geology, p. 694, with
Somcrville's Connexion of the
Sciences, p. 294. As to the pro-
bable southern limits of the
plateau of the Sahara, see Rich-
ardson's Mission to Central
Africa, 1853, vol. ii. pp. 146,
156 ; and as to the part of it
adjoining the Mandingo country,
see Mungo Park's Travels, vol. i.
pp. 237, 238. Respecting the
country south of Mandara, some
scanty information was collected
by Denham in the neighbour-
hood of Lake Tchad. Denham's
Northern and Central Africa,
pp. 121, 122, 144-146.
15 Richardson, who travelled
through it south of Tripoli,
notices its ' features of sterility,
of unconquerable barrenness.'
Richardson's Sahara, 1848, vol.
i. p. 86 ; and see the striking
picture at p. 409. The long and
dreary route from Mourzouk to
Yeou, on Lake Tchad, is de-
scribed by Denham, one of the
extremely few Europeans who
have performed that hazard-
ous journey. Denham's Central
Africa, pp. 2-60. Even on the
shore of the Tchad there is
hardly any vegetation, ' a coarse
grass and a small bell-flower
being the only plants that I
could discover,' p. 90. Compare
his remark on Bornou, p. 317.
The condition of part of the
desert in the fourteenth century
is described in the Travels
of Ibn Batuta, p. 233, which
should be compared with the ac-
count given by Diodorus Siculus
of the journey of Alexander
to the temple of Ammon. Bib-
liothec. Historic, lib. xvii. vol. vii.
p. 348.
16 Eichardson, who travelled
in 1850 from Tripoli to within
a few days of Lake Tchad, was
struck by the stationary charac-
ter of the people. He says,
' neither in the desert nor in the
kingdoms of Central Africa is
there any march of civilization.
All goes on according to a cer-
tain routine established for ages
past.' Mission to Central Africa,
vol. i. pp. 304, 305. See similar
remarks in Pallme's Travels in
Kordofan, pp. 108, 109.
17 Abd-Allatif, who was in
Egypt early in the thirteenth
century, gives an interesting ac-
count of the rising of the Nile,
to which Egypt owes its ferti-
lity. Abd-Allatif, Relation de
I'Egypte, pp. 329-340, 374-376,
and Appendix, p. 504. See also
on these periodical inundations.
Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians,
vol. iv. pp. 101-104; and on the
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
49
rapidly accumulated, the cultivation of knowledge
quickly followed, and this narrow strip of land 18 became
the seat of Egyptian civilization ; a civilization which,
though grossly exaggerated, 19 forms a striking contrast
to the barbarism of the other nations of Africa, none of
which have been able to work out their own progress,
or emerge, in any degree, from the ignorance to which
the penury of nature has doomed them.
half-astronomical half theologi-
cal notions connected with them,
pp. 372-377, vol. v. pp. 291, 292.
Compare on the religious impor-
tance of the Nile Bunseris Egypt,
vol. i. p. 409. The expression,
therefore, of Herodotus (book ii.
chap. V. vol. i. p. 484), hwpov rod
■Korafwv is true in a much larger
sense than he intended ; since to
the Nile Egypt owes all the phy-
sical peculiarities which distin-
guish it from Arabia and the
great African desert. Compare
Heeren's African Nations, vol. ii.
p. 58 ; Reynier, Economie des
Arabes, p. 3 ; Postan's on the Nile
and Indus, in Journal of Asiatic
Society, vol. vii. p. 275 ; and on
the difference between the soil of
the Nile and that of the surround-
ing desert, see Volney, Voyage en
Syrie et en Egypte, vol. i. p. 14.
18 ' The average breadth of the
valley from one mountain-range
to the other, between Cairo in
Lower, and Edfoo in Upper
Egypt, is only about seven miles;
and that of the cultivable land,
whose limits depend on the inun-
dation, scarcely exceeds five and a
half.' Wilkinson's Ancient Egyp-
tians, vol. i. p. 216. According
to Gerard, ' the mean width of
the valley between Syene and
Cairo is about nine miles.' Note
in Heeren's African Nations, vol.
ii. p. 62.
YOL. I. B
19 I will give one instance of
this from an otherwise sensible
writer, and a man too of consi-
derable learning : ' As to the
physical knowledge of the Egyp-
tians, their cotemporaries gave
them credit for the astonishing
power of their magic ; and as we
cannot suppose that the instances
recorded in Scripture were to be
attributed to the exertion of su-
pernatural powers, we must con-
clude that they were in possession
of a more intimate knowledge of
the laws and combinations of
nature than what is professed by
the most learned men of the pre-
sent age.' Hamilton's Aigyp-
tiaca, pp. 61, 62. It is a shame
that such nonsense should be
written in the nineteenth cen-
tury : and yet a still more recent
author (Vyse on the Pyramids,
vol. i. p. 28) assures us that ' the
Egyptians, for especial purpwses,
were endowed with great wisdom
and science.' Science properly
so called, the Egyptians had none;
and as to their wisdom, it was
considerable enough to distin-
guish them from barbarous na-
tions like the old Hebrews, but
it was inferior to that of the
Greeks, and it was of course im-
measurably below that of modern
Europe.
50 INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
These considerations clearly prove that of the two
primary causes of civilization, the fertility of the soil
is the one which in the ancient world exercised most
influence. But in European civilization, the other
great cause, that is to say, climate, has been the most
powerful ; and this, as we have seen, produces an effect
partly on the capacity of the labourer for work, partly
on the regularity or irregularity of his habits. The
difference in the result has curiously corresponded with
the difference in the cause. For, although all civili-
zation must have for its antecedent the accumulation of
wealth, still what subsequently occurs will be in no
small degree determined by the conditions under which
the accumulation took place. In Asia, and in Africa,
the condition was a fertile soil, causing an abundant
return ; in Europe, it was a happier climate, causing
more successful labour. In the former case, the effect
depends on the relation between the soil and its
produce ; in other words, the mere operation of one
part of external nature upon another. In the latter
case, the effect depends on the relation between the
climate and the labourer ; that is, the operation of
external nature not upon itself, but upon man. Of
these two classes of relations, the first, being the less
complicated, is the less liable to disturbance, and there-
fore came sooner into play. Hence it is, that, in the
march of civilization, the priority is unquestionably due
to the most fertile parts of Asia and Africa. But
although their civilization was the earliest, it was very
far, indeed, from being the best or most permanent.
Owing to circumstances which I shall presently state,
the only progress which is really effective depends, not
j upon the bounty of nature, but upon the energy of
man. Therefore it is, that the civilization of Europe,
which, in its earliest stage, was governed by climate,
has shown a capacity of development unknown to
those civilizations which were originated by soil. For
the powers of nature, notwithstanding their apparent
magnitude, are limited and stationary ; at all events,
we have not the slightest proof that they have ever
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 51
increased, or that they will ever be able to increase.
But the powers of man, so far as experience and
analogy can guide us, are unlimited ; nor are we pos-
sessed of any evidence which authorizes us to assign
even an imaginary boundary at which the human in-
tellect will, of necessity, be brought to a stand. And
as this power which the mind possesses of increasing
its own resources, is a peculiarity confined to man, and
one eminently distinguishing him from what is com-
monly called external nature, it becomes evident that
the agency of climate, which gives him wealth by
stimulating his labour, is more favourable to his
ultimate progress than the agency of soil, which like-
wise gives him wealth, but which does so, not by
exciting his energies, but by virtue of a mere phy-
sical relation between the character of the soil and
the quantity or value of the produce that it almost
spontaneously affords.
Thus far as to the different ways in which climate
and soil affect the creation of wealth. But another
point of equal, or perhaps of superior, importance
remains behind. After the wealth has been created, a
question arises as to how it is to be distributed ; that
is to say, what proportion is to go to the upper classes,
and what to the lower. In an advanced stage of
society, this depends upon several circumstances of
great complexity, and which it is not necessary here to
examine. 20 But in a very early stage of society, and
*• Indeed many of them are ments that it is not yet generally
still unknown ; for, as M. Rey adopted ; and even some of its
justly observes, most writers pay advoeates have shown themselves
too exclusive an attention to the unequal to defending their own
production of wealth, and neglect cause. The great law of the ratio
the laws of its distribution. Rey, between the cost of labour and
Science Sociale, vol. iii. p. 271. the profits of stock, is the highest
In confirmation of this, I may generalization we have reached
mention the theory of rent, which respecting the distribution of
was only discovered about half a wealth; but it cannot be con-
century ago, and which is con- sistently admitted by anyone who
nected with so many subtle argu- holds that rent enters into price.
s2
52 INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
before its later and refined complications have begun,
it may, I tbink, be proved tbat tbe distribution of
wealth is, hke its creation, governed entirely by
physical laws ; and that those laws are moreover so
active as to have invariably kept a vast majority of the
inhabitants of the fairest portion of the globe in a con-
dition of constant and inextricable poverty. If this
can be demonstrated, the immense importance of such
laws is manifest. For since wealth is an undoubted
source of power, it is evident that, supposing other
things equal, an inquiry into the distribution of wealth
is an inquiry into the distribution of power, and, as
such, will throw great light on the origin of those
social and political inequalities, the play and opposition
of which form a considerable part of the history of
every civilized country.
If we take a general view of this subject, we may say
that after the creation and accumulation of wealth have
once fairly begun, it will be distributed among two
classes, those who labour, and those who do not labour ;
the latter being, as a class, the more able, the former
the more numerous. The fund by which both classes
are supported is immediately created by the lower
class, whose physical energies are directed, combined,
and as it were economized, by the superior skill of the
upper class. The reward of the workmen is called
their wages ; the reward of the contrivers is called
their profits. At a later period, there will arise what
may be called the saving class ; that is, a body of men
who neither contrive nor work, but lend their accumu-
lations to those who contrive, and in return for the
loan, receive a part of that reward which belongs to
the contriving class. In this case, the members of the
saving class are rewarded for their abstinence in
refraining from spending their accumulations, and this
reward is termed the interest of their money ; so that
there is made a threefold division — Interest, Profits,
and Wages. But this "is~a" subsequent arrangement,
which can only take place to any extent when wealth
has been considerably accumulated ; and in the stage
of society we are now considering, this third, or saving
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 53
class, can hardly be said to have a separate existence. 21
For onr present purpose, therefore, it is enough to
ascertain what those natural laws are, which, as soon as
wealth is accumulated, regulate the proportion in
which it is distributed to the two classes of labourers
and employers.
Now, it is evident that wages being the price paid
for labour, the rate of wages must, like the price of all
other commodities, vary according to the changes in
the market. If the supply of labourers outstrips the
demand, wages will fall ; if the demand exceeds the
supply, they will rise. Supposing, therefore, that in
any country there is a given amount of wealth to be
divided between employers and workmen, every increase
in the number of the workmen will tend to lessen the
average reward each can receive. And if we set aside
those disturbing causes by which all general views are
affected, it will be found that, in the long-run, the.
question of wages is a question of population ; for
although the total sum of the wages actually paid
depends upon the largeness of the fund from which
they are drawn, still the amount of wages received by
each man must diminish as the claimants increase,
unless, owing to other circumstances, the fund itself
should so advance as to keep pace with the greater
demands made upon it. 22
21 In a still more advanced the opponents of Ricardo have
stage, there is a fourth division placed the beginning of rent too
of wealth, and part of the pro- early, by overlooking the fact
duce of labour is absorbed by that apparent rent is very often
rent. This, however, is not an profits disguised,
element of price, but a conse- n ' Wages depend, then, on the
quence of it; and in the ordinary proportion between the number
march of affairs, considerable of the labouring population, and
time must elapse before it can the capital or other funds de-
begin. Rent, in the proper sense voted to the purchase of labour;
of the word, is the price paid for we will say, for shortness, the
using the natural and indestruc- capital. If wages are higher at
tible powers of the soil, and must one time or place than at another,
not be confused with rent com- if the subsistence and comfort of
monly so called ; for this last the class of hired labourers are
also includes the profits of stock, more ample, it is, and can be,
I notice this, because several of for no other reason than because
54 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
To know the circumstances most favourable to the
increase of what may be termed the wages-fund is a
matter of great moment, but is one with which we are
not immediately concerned. The question we have
now before us, regards not the accumulation of wealth,
but its distribution ; and the object is, to ascertain
what those physical conditions are, which, by encou-
raging a rapid growth of population, over-supply the
labour market, and thus keep the average rate of wages
at a very low point.
Of all the physical agents by which the increase of
the labouring classes is affected, that of food is the most
active and universal. If two countries, equal in all
other respects, differ solely in this — that in one the
national food is cheap and abundant, and in the other
scarce and dear, the population of the former country
will inevitably increase more rapidly than the popu-
lation of the latter. 83 And, by a parity of reasoning,
the average rate of wages will be lower in the former
than in the latter, simply because the labour-market
will be more amply stocked. 34 An inquiry, therefore,
capital bears a greater propor- in his Essay on the Influence of
tion to population. It is not a Low Price of Corn, has stated,
the absolute amount of accumu- with his usual terseness, the
lation or of production that is three possible forms of this ques-
of importance to the labouring tion : ' The rise or fall of wages
class; it is not the amount even is common to all states of society,
of the funds destined for dis- whether it be the stationary, the
tribution among the labourers; advancing, or the retrograde state,
it is the proportion between In the stationary state, it is regu-
those funds and the numbers lated wholly by the increase or
among whom they are shared, falling-off of the population. In
The condition of the class can be the advancing state, it depends
bettered in no other way than by on whether the capital or the
altering that proportion to their population advance at the more
advantage ; and every scheme for rapid course. In the retrograde
their benefit which does not pro- state, it depends on whether
ceed on this as its foundation, is, population or capital decrease
for all permanent purposes, a with the greater rapidity. Ri-
delusion.' Mill's Principles of cardo's Works, p. 379.
Political Economy, 1849, vol. i. 2S Thestandardofcomfort.be-
p. 425. See also vol. ii. pp. 264, ingof course supposed the same.
265, and M'Culloch's Political M ' No point is better esta-
Economy, pp. 379, 380. Eicardo, Wished, than that the supply of
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 55
into the physical laws on which the food of different
countries depends, is, for our present purpose, of the
greatest importance ; and fortunately it is one respect-
ing which we are able, in the present state of che-
mistry and physiology, to arrive at some precise and
definite conclusions.
The food consumed by man produces two, and only
two, effects necessary to his existence. These are, first
to supply him with that animal heat without which the
functions of life would stop ; and secondly, to repair
the waste constantly taking place in his tissues, that is,
in the mechanism of his frame. For each of these
separate purposes there is a separate food. The tem-
perature of our body is kept up by substances which
contain no nitrogen, and are called non-azotized ; the
incessant decay in our organism is repaired by what
are known as azotized substances, in which nitrogen is
always found. 26 In the former case, the carbon of non-
azotized food combines with the oxygen we take in,
and gives rise to that internal combustion by which
our animal heat is renewed. In the latter case, nitrogen
having little affinity for oxygen, 96 the nitrogenous or
labourers will always ultimately according to it were by Boussin-
be in proportion to the means of gault ; see an elaborate essay by
supporting them.' Principles of Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert on
Political Economy, chap. xxi. in The Composition of Foods, in
JRicardo's Works, p. 176. Com- JReport of British Association for
pare Smith's Wealth of Nations, 1852, p. 323: but the experi-
book i. chap. xi. p. 86, and ments made by these gentlemen
M'Culloch's Political Economy, are neither numerous nor diver-
p. 222. sified enough to establish a gene-
24 The division of food into ral law ; still less can we accept
azotized and non-azotized is said their singular assertion, p. 346,
to have been first pointed out by that the comparative prices of
Magendie. See Midler's Physio- different foods are a test of the
logy, vol. i. p. 525. It is now nutriment they comparatively
recognised by most of the best contain.
authorities. See, for instance, 28 ' Of all the elements of the
Liebicfs Animal Chemistry, p. animal body, nitrogen has the
134; Carpenter's Human Physio- feeblest attraction for oxygen;
logy, p. 685 ; Brande's Chemis- and, what is still more remark -
try, vol. ii. pp. 1218, 1870. The able, it deprives all combustible
first tables of food constructed elements with which it combines,
56
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
azotized food is, as it were, guarded against com-
bustion ; 27 and being thus preserved, is able to perform
its duty of repairing the tissues, and supplying those
losses which the human organism constantly suffers in
the wear and tear of daily life.
These are the two great divisions of food ; 28 and if
we inquire into the laws which regulate the relation
they bear to man, we shall find that in each division
the most important agent is climate. When men live
in a hot country, their animal heat is more easily kept
up than when they live in a cold one ; therefore they
require a smaller amount of that non-azotized food, the
sole business of which is to maintain at a certain point
the temperature of the body. In the same way, they,
in the hot country, require a smaller amount of azotized
food, because on the whole their bodily exertions are
less frequent, and on that account the decay of their
tissues is less rapid. 29
to a greater or less extent, of
the power of combining with
oxygen, that is, of undergoing
combustion.' Liebig's Letters on
Chemistry, p. 372.
27 The doctrine of what may
be called the protecting power of
some substances is still imper-
fectly understood, and until late
in the eighteenth century, its
existence was hardly suspected.
It is now known to be connected
with the general theory of poi-
sons. See Turner's Chemistry,
vol. i. p. 516. To this we must
probably ascribe the fact that
several poisons which are fatal
when applied to a wounded sur-
face, may be taken into the
stomach with impunity. Brodie's
Physiological Researches, 1851,
pp. 137, 138. It seems more
reasonable to refer this to che-
mical laws than to hold, with
Sir Benjamin Brodie, that some
poisons ' destroy life by para-
lysing the muscles of respiration
without immediately affecting the
action of the heart.'
28 Prout's well-known division
into saccharine, oily, and albu-
minous, appears to me of much
inferior value, though I observe
that it is adopted in the last
edition of Elliotson's Human
Physiology, pp. 65, 160. The
division by M. Lepelletier into
' les alimens solides et les bois-
sons ' is of course purely empi-
rical. Lepelletier, Physiologie
Medicale, vol. ii. p. 100, Paris,
1832. In regard to Prout's clas-
sification, compare Burdach's
Traite de Physiologie, vol. ix. p.
240, with Wagner's Physiology,
p. 452.
29 The evidence of an univer-
sal connexion in the animal
frame between exertion and
decay, is now almost complete.
In regard to the muscular sys-
tem, see Carpenter's Human
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 57
Since, therefore, the inhabitants of hot climates do,
in their natnral and ordinary state, consume less food
than the inhabitants of cold ones, it inevitably follows
that, provided other things remain equal, the growth
of population will be more rapid in countries which are
hot than in those which are cold. For practical pur-
poses, it is immaterial whether the greater plenty of a
substance by which the people are fed arises from a
larger supply, or whether it arises from a smaller con-
sumption. When men eat less, the result will be just
the same as if they had more ; because the same amount
of nutriment will go further, and thus population will
gain a power of increasing more quickly than it could
do in a colder country, where, even if provisions were
equally abundant, they, owing to the climate, would be
sooner exhausted.
This is the first point of view in which the laws of
climate are, through the medium of food, connected
with the laws of population, and therefore with the
laws of the distribution of wealth. But there is also
another point of view, which follows the same line of
thought, and will be found to strengthen the argument
just stated. This is, that in cold countries, not only
are men compelled to eat more than in hot ones, but
Physiology, pp. 440, 441, 581, brain their excretion (by the
edit. 1846: 'there is strong kidneys) is very considerable,
reason to believe the waste or See Paget' s Lectures on Surgical
decomposition of the muscular Pathology, 1853, vol. i. pp. 6, 7,
tissue to be in exact proportion 434 ; Carpenter's Human Physio-
to the degree in which it is logy, pp. 192,193,222; Simon's
exerted.' This perhaps would Animal Chemistry, vol. ii. p.
be generally anticipated even in 426 ; Henle, Anatomie Gbihale,
the absence of direct proof; but vol. ii. p. 172. The reader may
what is more interesting, is that also consult respecting the phos-
the same principle holds good of phorus of the brain the recent
the nervous system. The human very able work of MM. Robin
brain of an adult contains about et Verdeil, Chimie Anatomiqut,
one and a half per cent, of phos- vol. i. p. 215, vol. ii. p. 348,
phorus; and it has been ascer- Paris, 1853. According to these
tained, that after the mind has writers (vol. iii. p. 445), its
been much exercised, phosphates existence in the brain was firpt
are excreted, and that in the announced by Hensing, in 1779-
case of inflammation of the
58
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
their food is dearer, that is to say, to get ib is more
difficult, and requires a greater expenditure of labour.
The reason of this I will state as briefly as possible,
without entering into any details beyond those which
are absolutely necessary for a right understanding of
this interesting subject.
The objects of food are, as we have seen, only two :
namely, to keep up the warmth of the body, and repair
the waste in the tissues. 30 Of these two objects, the
former is effected by the oxygen of the air entering our
lungs, and, as it travels through the system, combining
"With the carbon which we take in our food. 31 This
30 Though both objects are
equally essential, the former is
usually the more pressing ; and
it has been ascertained by expe-
riment, what we should expect
from theory, that when animals
are starved to death, there is a
progressive decline in the tem-
perature of their bodies ; so that
the proximate cause of death by
starvation is not weakness, but
cold. See Williams's Principles
of Medicine, p. 36 ; and on the
connexion between the loss of
animal heat and the appearance
of rigor mortis in the contractile
parts of the body, see Vogets
Pathological Anatomy of the
Human Body, p. 532. Compare
the important and thoughtful
work of Burdach, Physiologie
comme Science d 1 Observation, vol.
v. pp. 144, 436, vol. ix. p. 231.
31 Until the last twenty or
five-and- twenty years, it used
to be supposed that this combi-
nation took place in the lungs ;
but more careful experiments
have made it probable that the
oxygen unites with the carbon
in the circulation, and that the
blood-corpuscules are the car-
riers of the oxygen. Compare
Liebig's Animal Chemistry, p. 78 ;
Letters on Chemistry, pp. 335,
336 ; Turner's Chemistry, vol. ii.
p. 1319; Mutter's Physiology, vol.
i. pp. 92, 159. That the com-
bination does not take place in
the air-cells is moreover proved
by the fact that the lungs are
not hotter than other parts of
the body. See Mutter, vol. i. p.
348; Thomson's Animal Chemis-
try, p. 633; and Brodie's Physiol.
Researches, p. 33. Another argu-
ment in favour of the red corpus-
cules being the carriers of oxygen,
is that they are most abundant
in those classes of the vertebrata
which maintain the highest tem-
perature; while the blood of
invertebrata contains very few of
them ; and it has been doubted if
they even exist in the lower
articulata and mollusca. See
Carpenter's Human Physiol, pp.
109, 532; Grant's Comparative
Anatomy, p. 472; Elliotson's
Human Physiol.]). 159. In regard
to the different dimensions of
corpuscules, see Henle, Anatomie
Generate, vol. i. pp. 457-467, 494,
495 ; Blainville, Physiologie Com-
paree, vol. i. pp. 298, 299, 301-
304; Milne Edwards, Zoologie,
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
59
combination of oxygen and carbon never can occur
"without producing a considerable amount of heat, and
it is in this way that the human frame is maintained at
its necessary temperature. 32 By virtue of a law fami-
liar to chemists, carbon and oxygen, Like all other
eiuments, will only unite in certain definite propor-
tions ; ;t3 so that to keep up a healthy balance, it is
part i. pp. 54-56 ; Fourth Report
of British Association, pp. 117,
118; Simon's Animal Chemistry,
vol. i. pp. 103, 104; and, above
all, the important observations
of Mr. Gulliver {Carpenter, pp.
105, 106). These additions to
our knowledge, besides being
connected with the laws of ani-
mal heat and of nutrition, will,
when generalized, assist specula-
tive minds in raising pathology to
a science. In the mean time I
may mention the relation between
an examination of the corpus-
cules and the theory of inflamma-
tion which Hunter and Broussais
were unable to settle: this is,
that the proximate cause of in-
flammation is the obstruction of
the vessels by the adhesion of
the pale eorpuscules. Respecting
this striking generalization,
which is still on its trial, com-
pare Williams's Principles of
Medicine, 1848, pp. 258-265,
with Pagefs Surgical Pathology,
1853, vol. i. pp. 313-317; Jones
and Sieveking's Pathological
Anatomy, 1854, pp. 28, 105, 106.
The difficulties connected with
the scientific study of inflamma-
tion are evaded in VogeFs Pa-
thological Anatomy, p. 418 ; a
work which appears to me to
have been greatly overrated.
M On the amount of heat
disengaged by the union of car-
bon and oxypen, see the experi-
ments of Dulong, in Liebig's
Animal Chemistry, p. 44; and
those of Despretz, in Thomson's
Animal Chemistry, p. 634. Just
in the same way, we find that
the temperature of plants is
maintained by the combination
of oxygen with carbon : see Bal-
four's Botany, pp. 231, 232, 322,
323. As to the amount of heat
caused generally by chemical
combination, there is an essay
well worth reading by Dr.
Thomas Andrews in Report of
British Association for 1 849, pp.
63-78. See also Report for 1852,
Transac. of Sec. p. 40, and Liebig
and Kopp's Reports on the Pro-
gress of Chemistry, vol. i. p. 34,
vol. Hi. p. 16, vol. iv. p. 20; also
Pouillet, Elimens de Physiqtu,
Paris, 1832, vol. i. parti, p. 411.
M The law of definite propor-
tions, which, since the brilliant
discoveries by Dalton, is the
corner-stone of chemical know-
ledge, is laid down with admira-
ble clearness in Turner's Etemrnts
of Chemistry, vol. i. pp. 146-151.
Compare Brandt's Cliemistry,
vol. i. pp. 139-144; Cuvier, Pro-
gress des Scic7ices, vol. ii. p. 255 ;
S'lmerville's Connexion of the
Sciences, pp. 120, 121. But none
of these writers have considered
the law so philosophically as M.
A. Comte, Philosophie Posititt,
vol. iii. pp. 133-176, one of the
bestchapters in his very profound,
but ill-understood work.
60
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
needful that the food which contains the carbon should
vary according to the amount of oxygen taken in :
while it is equally needful that we should increase the
quantity of both of these constituents whenever a
greater external cold lowers the temperature of the
body. Now it is obvious that in a very cold climate,
this necessity of providing a nutriment more highly
carbonized will arise in two distinct ways. In the first
place, the air being denser, men imbibe at each inspi-
ration a greater volume of oxygen than they would do
in a climate where the air is rarefied by heat. 34 In the
second place, cold accelerates their respiration, and thus
obliging them to inhale more frequently than the inha-
bitants of hot countries, increases the amount of oxygerj
which they on an average take in. 38 On both these
34 'Ainsi, dans des temps
egaux, la quantite d'oxygene
consommee par le meme animal
est d'autant plus grande que la
temperature ambiante est moins
elevee.' Robin et Verdeil, Chimie
Anatomique, vol. ii. p. 44. Com-
pare Simon's Lectures on Patho-
logy, 1850, p. 188, for the
diminished quantity of respi-
ration in a high temperature;
though one may question Mr.
Simon's inference that therefore
the blood is more venous in hot
countries than in cold ones. This
is not making allowance for the
difference of diet, which corrects
the difference of temperature.
35 ' The consumption of oxygen
in a given time may be expressed
by the number of respirations.'
Liebig's Letters on Chemistry, p.
314 ; and see Thomson's Animal
Chemistry, p. 611. It is also
certain that exercise increases
the number of respirations ; and
birds, which are the most active
of all animals, consume more
oxygen than any others. Milne
Edwards, Zoologie, part i. p. 88,
part ii. p. 371 ; Flourens, Tra-
vaux de Cuvier, pp. 153, 154, 265,
266. Compare, on the connexion
between respiration and the
locomotive organs, Beclard, Ana-
tomie Generate, pp. 39, 44 ; Bur-
dock, Traite de Physiologie, vol.
ix. pp. 485, 556-559 ; Cams'
Comparative Anatomy, vol. i. pp.
99, 164, 358, vol. ii.pp. 142, 160;
Grant's Comparative Anatomy,
pp. 455, 495, 522, 529, 537;
Rymer Jones's Animal Kingdom,
pp. 369, 440, 692, 714, 720;
Owen's Invertebrata, pp. 322, 345,
386, 505. Thus too it 'has been
experimentally ascertained, that
in human beings exercise .n-
creases the amount of carbonic-
acid gas. Mayo's Human Phy-
siology, p. 64 ; Liebig and Kopp's
Reports, vol. iii. p. 359.
If we now put these facts
together, their bearing on the
propositions in the text will
become evident; because, on the
whole, there is more exercise
taken in cold climates than in
hot ones, and there must therefore
be an increased respiratory action.
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 61
grounds the consumption of oxygen becomes greater :
it is therefore requisite that the consumption of carbon
should also be greater ; since by the union of these two
elements in certain definite proportions, the tempera-
ture of the body and the balance of the human frame
can alone be maintained. 36
Proceeding from these chemical and physiological
principles, we arrive at the conclusion, that the colder
the country is in which a people live, the more highly
carbonized will be their food. And this, which is a
purely scientific inference, has been verified by actual
experiment. The inhabitants of the polar regions con-
sume large quantities of whale-oil and blubber ; while
within the tropics such food would soon put an end to
life, and therefore the ordinary diet consists almost
entirely of fruit, rice, and other vegetables. Now it
has been ascertained by careful analysis, that in the
polar food there is an excess of carbon ; in the tropical
food an excess of oxygen. Without entering into de-
tails, which to the majority of readers would be, dis-
tasteful, it may be said generally, that the oils contain
about six times as much carbon as the fruits, and that
they have in them very little oxygen; 37 while starch,
For proof that greater exercise inhabitants of southern climes
is both taken and required, com- do not contain, in a fresh state,
pare WrangeFs Polar Expedition, more than 12 per cent, of carbon ;
pp. 79, 102; Richardson 8 Arctic while the blubber and train-oil
Expedition, vol. i. p. 385 ; Simp- which feed the inhabitants of
son's North Coast of America, pp. polar regions contain 66 to 80
49, 88, which should be contrasted per cent, of that element.' Liebig's
with the contempt for such Letters on Chemistry, p. 320 ; see
amusements in hot countries, also p. 375, and Turner's^ Che-
lndeed, in polar regions all this mistry, vol. ii. p. 1315. According
is so essential to preserve a nor- to Prout (Mayo's Human Physiol.
mal state, that scurvy can only p. 136), 'the proportion of carbou
be kept off in the northern part in oily bodies varies from about
of the American continent by 60 to 80 per cent.' The quantity
taking considerable exercise : see of oil and fat habitually con-
Crantz, History of Greenland, sumed in cold countries is
vol. i. pp. 46, 62, 338. remarkable. Wrangel (Polar
M See the note at the end of Expedition, p. 21) says of the
this chapter. tribes in the north-east of Siberia,
* 7 'The fruits used by the 'fat is their greatest delicacy.
62 INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
which, is the most universal, and, in reference to nutri-
tion, the most important constituent in the vegetable
world, 38 is nearly half oxygen. 39
The connexion between this circumstance and the
subject before us is highly curious : for it is a most
remarkable fact, and one to which I would call par-
ticular attention, that owing to some more general law,
of which we are ignorant, highly carbonized food is
more costly than food in which comparatively little
carbon is found. The fruits of the earth, of which
oxygen is the most active principle, are very abundant ;
they may be obtained without danger, and almost
without trouble. But that highly carbonized food,
which in a very cold climate is absolutely necessary to
life, is not produced in so facile and spontaneous a
manner. It is not, like vegetables, thrown up by the
soil ; but it consists of the fat, the blubber, and the oil 40
of powerful and ferocious animals. To procure it, man
must incur great risk and expend great labour. And
although this is undoubtedly a contrast of extreme
cases, still it is evident that the nearer a people approach
They eat it in every possible ii. p. 1236 ; Liebig and Kopp's
shape; raw, melted, fresh, or Beports, vol. ii. pp. 97, 98, 122.
spoilt.' See also Simpson's JDis- S9 The oxygen is 49*39 out of
ooveries on the North Coast of 100. See the table in Liebig's
America, pp. 147, 404. Letters on Chemistry, p. 37*9.
38 ' So common, that no plant Amidin, which is the soluble
is destitute of it.' Lindley's part of starch, contains 53 - 33
Botany, vol. i. p. Ill ; and at p. per cent, of oxygen. See Thom-
121, ' starch is the most common sort's Chemistry of Vegetables,
of all vegetable productions.' p. 654, on the authority of Prout,
Dr. Lindley adds (vol. i. p. 292), who has the reputation of being
that it is difficult to distinguish an accurate experimenter,
the grains of starch secreted by *• Of which a single whale
plants from cytoblasts. See also will yield ' cent vingt tonneaux.'
on the starch-granules, first no- Cuvier, Begne Animal, vol. i. p.
ticed by M. Link, Beports on 297. In regard to the solid food,
'Botany by the Bay Society, pp. Sir J. Kichardson (Arctic Expr-
223, 370 ; and respecting its dition, 1851, vol. i. p. 243) says
predominance in the vegetable that the inhabitants of the Arc-
world, compare Thomson's Che- tic regions only maintain them-
mistry of Vegetables, pp. 650-652, selves by chasing whales and
875; Brande's Chemistry, vol. ii. ' consuming blubber.'
p. 1160; Turner's Chemistry, vol.
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
63
to either extremity, the more subject will they be to
the conditions by which that extremity is governed. It
is evident that, as a general rule, the colder a country is,
the more its food will be carbonized ; the warmer it is,
the more its food will be oxidized. 41 At the same time,
carbonized food, being chiefly drawn from the animal
world, is more difficult to obtain than oxidized food,
which is drawn from the vegetable world. 42 The result
has been that among nations where the coldness of
the climate renders a highly carbonized diet essential,
there is for the most part displayed, even in the infancy
of society, a bolder and more adventurous character,
than we find among those other nations whose ordinary
nutriment, being highly oxidized, is easily obtained,
and indeed is supplied to them, by the bounty of nature,
gratuitously and without a struggle. 43 From this
41 It is said, that to keep a
person in health, his food, even
in the temperate parts of Europe,
should contain ' a full eighth
more carbon in winter than in
summer.' Living's Animal Che-
mistry, p. 16.
42 The most highly carbonized
of all foods are undoubtedly
yielded by animals; the most
highly oxidized by vegetables.
In the vegetable kingdom there
is, however, so much carbon, that
its predominance, accompanied
with the rarity of nitrogen, has
induced chemical botanists to
characterize plants as carbonized,
and animals as azotized. But
we have here to attend to a dou-
ble antithesis. Vegetables are
carbonized in so far as they are
non-azotized ; but they are oxi-
dized in opposition to the highly
carbonized animal food of cold
countries. Besides this, it is
important to observe that the
carbon of vegetables is most
abundant in the woody and un-
nutritious part, which is not
eaten ; while the carbon of ani-
mals is found in the fatty and
oily parts, which are not only
eaten, but are, in cold countries,
greedily devoured.
4 * Sir J. Malcolm {History of
Persia, vol. ii. p. 380), speaking
of the cheapness of vegetables
in the East, says, ' in some parts
of Persia fruit has hardly any
value.' Cuvier, in a striking
passage (Regne Animal, vol. i.
pp. 73, 74), has contrasted vege-
table with animal food, and
thinks that the former, being so
easily obtained, is the more natu-
ral. But the truth is that both
are equally natural: though when
Cuvier wrote scarcely anything
was known of the laws which
govern the relation between cli-
mate and food. On the skill
and energy required to obtain
food in cold countries, see Wran-
gel's Polar Expedition, pp. 70,
71, 191, 192; Simpson's Discove-
ries on the North Coast oj ' America,
64 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
original divergence there follow many other conse-
quences, which, however, I am not now concerned to
trace ; mj present object being merely to point out how
this difference of food affects the proportion in which
wealth is distributed to the different classes.
The way in which this proportion is actually altered
has, I hope, been made clear by the preceding argu-
ment ; but it may be useful to recapitulate the facts on
which the argument is based. The facts, then, are
simply these. The rate of wages fluctuates with the
population ; increasing when the labour-market is
under- supplied, diminishing when it is over-supplied
The population itself, though affected by many other
circumstances, does undoubtedly fluctuate with the
supply of food ; advancing when the supply is plentiful,
halting or receding when the supply is scanty. The
food essential to life is scarcer in cold countries than in
hot ones ; and not only is it scarcer, but more of it is
required ; 44 so that on both grounds smaller encourage-
ment is given to the growth of that population from
whose ranks the labour-market is stocked. To express,
therefore, the conclusion in its simplest form, we may
, say, that there is a strong and constant tendency in hot
countries for wages to be low, in cold countries for
them to be high.
p. 249 ; Crantz, History of Green- Richardson's Central Africa, vol.
land, vol. i. pp. 22, 32, 105, 131, ii. p. 46 ; Richardson's Sahara,
154, ] 55, vol. ii.pp. 203, 265, 324. vol. i. p. 137 ; Denham's Africa, p.
44 ' Cabanis (Rapports du Phy- 37; Journal of Asiatic Society,
sique et du Moral, p. 313) says, vol. v. p. 144, vol: viii. p. 188;
' Dans les temps et dans les pays Burckhardt's Travels in Arabia
froids on mange et Ton agit da- vol. ii. p. 265; Niebuhr, Descri-
vantage.' That much food is Hon de I'Arabie, p. 45; Ulloa'
eaten in cold countries, and little Voyage to South America, vol. i.
in hot ones, is mentioned by pp.403, 408; Journal of 'Geograph.
numerous travellers, none of Society, vol. iii. p. 283, vol. vi. p.
whom are aware of the cause. 85, vol. xix. p. 121; Spix and
See Simpson's Discov. on North Martius's Travels in Brazil, vol.
Coast of America, p. 218; Cus- i. p. 164; Southey's History of
tine's Russie, vol. iv. p. 66 ; Brazil, vol. iii. p. 848 ; Volney,
Wrangel's Expedition, pp. 21, Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte,
327 ; Crantz, History of Green- vol. i. pp. 379, 380, 460 ; Low's
land, vol. i. pp. 145, 360; Sarawak, p. 140.
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 65
Applying now this great principle to the general
course of history, we shall find proofs of its accuracy in
every direction. Indeed, there is not a single instance
to the contrary. In Asia, in Africa, and in America,
all the ancient civilizations were seated in hot climates ;
and in all of them the rate of wages was very low, and
therefore the condition of the labouring classes very
depressed. In Europe, for the first time, civilization
arose in a colder climate : hence the reward of labour
was increased, and the distribution of wealth rendered
more equal than was possible in countries where an
excessive abundance of food stimulated the growth of
population. This difference produced, as we shall
presently see, many social and political consequences of
immense importance. But before discussing them, it
may be remarked that the only apparent exception to ,
what has been stated is one which strikingly verifies !
the general law. There is one instance, and only one,
of a great European people possessing a very cheap
national food. This people, I need hardly say, are
the Irish. .In Ireland the labouring classes have for
more than two hundred years been principally fed by
potatoes, which were introduced into their country late
in the sixteenth, or early in the seventeenth century. 45
Now, the peculiarity of the potato is, that until the
appearance of the late disease, it was and perhaps still
is, cheaper than any other food equally wholesome. If
we compare its reproductive power with the amount of
nutriment contained in it, we find that one acre of
average land sown with potatoes will support twice
as many persons as the same quantity of land sown
with wheat. 46 The consequence is, that in a country
44 Meyen {Geography of Plants, sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to
1846, p. 313) says that the potato be planted in a garden on his
was introduced into Ireland in estate in the vicinity of Youghall.'
1586; but according to Mr. Compare Loudon's Encyclop. of
MHDulloch (Dictionary of Com- AorictUture,Tp.8i5: 'first planted
merce, 1849, p. 1048), 'potatoes, by Sir Walter Raleigh on his
it is commonly thought, were estate of Youghall, near Cork/
not introduced into Ireland till ** Adam Smith (Wealth of
1610, when a small quantity was Nations, book i. chap. xi. p. 6")
VOL. I. F
66 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
where men live on potatoes, the population will, if other
things are tolerably equal, increase twice as fast as in
a country where they live on wheat. And so it has
actually occurred. Until a very few years ago, when
the face of affairs was entirely altered by pestilence and
emigration, the population of Ireland was, in round
numbers, increasing annually three per cent. ; the
population of England during the same period increas-
ing one and a half per cent. 47 The result was, that in
these two countries the distribution of wealth was alto-
gether different. Even in England the growth of popu-
lation is somewhat too rapid ; and the labour-market
being overstocked, the working classes are not suffi-
ciently paid for their labour. 48 But their condition is
one of sumptuous splendour, compared to that in which
only a few years ago the Irish were forced to live.
The misery in which they were plunged has no doubt
always been aggravated by the ignorance of their
rulers, and by that scandalous misgovernment which,
until very recently, formed one of the darkest blots on
supposes that it will support * 7 Malthus, Essay on Popu-
three times as many; but the lation, vol. i. pp. 424, 425,
statistics of this great writer are 431, 435, 441, 442; M'Cul-
the weakest part of his work, loch's Political Economy, pp.
and the more careful calculations 381, 382.
made since he wrote hear out the 48 The lowest agriculttiral
statement in the text. 'It admits wages in our time have been in
of demonstration that ar acre of England about Is. a day; while
potatoes will feed double the from the evidence collected by
number of people that can be fed Mr. Thornton in 1845, the high-
from an acre of wheat.' Loudon's est wages then paid were in
Encyclop. of Agriculture, 5th Lincolnshire, and were rather
edit. 1844, p. 845. So, too, in more than 13s. a week; those in
M'C'ulloch's Diet. p. 1048, 'an Yorkshire and Northumberland
acre of potatoes will feed double being nearly as high. Thornton
the number of individuals that on Over-Population, pp. 12-15,
can be fed from an acre of wheat.' 24, 25. Godwin, writing in 1 820,
The daily average consumption estimates the average at Is. 6d.
of an able-bodied labourer in a day. Godwin on Population,
Ireland is estimated at nine and p. 574. Mr. Phillips, in his
a half pounds of potatoes for work On Scrofula, 1846, p. 345,
men, and seven and a half for says, 'at present the ratio of
women. See Phillip's on Scro- wages is from 9s. to 10s.'
fula, 1846, p. 177.
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
67
the glory of England. The most active cause, however,
was, that their wages were so low as to debar them,
not only from the comforts, but from the common
decencies of civilized life ; and this evil condition was
the natural result of that cheap and abundant food,
which encouraged the people to so rapid an increase,
that the labour-market was constantly gorged. 49 So
far was this carried, that an intelligent observer who
travelled through Ireland twenty years ago, mentioned
that at that time the average wages were fourpence a
day, and that even this wretched pittance could not
always be relied upon for regular employment. 50
Such have been the consequences of cheap food in a
country which, on the whole, possesses greater natural
resources than any other in Europe. 51 And if we inves-
** The most miserable part,
namely Connaught, in 1733,
contained 242,160 inhabitants;
and in 1821, 1,110,229. See
Sadler's Law of Population, vol.
ii. p. 490.
M Mr. Inglis, who in 1834
travelled through Ireland with a
particular view to its economical
state, says, as the result of very
careful inquiries, ' I am quite
confident, that if the whole yearly
earnings of the labourers of Ire-
land were divided by the whole
number of labourers, the result
would be under this sum —
Fourpence a day for the la-
bourers of Ireland.' Inglis, Jour-
ney throughout Ireland in 1834,
Lond. 1835, 2nd edit vol. ii.
p. 300. At Balinasloe, in the
county of Galway, ' A gentleman
with whom I was accidentally in
company offered to procure, on
an hour's warning, a couple of
hundred labourers at fourpence
evn for temporary employment.'
Inglis, vol. ii. p. 17. The same
writer says (vol. i. p. 263), that
at Tralee 'it often happens that
f2
the labourers, after working in
the canal from five in the morn-
ing until eleven in the forenoon,
are discharged for the day with
the pittance of twopence.' Com-
pare, in C/oncurry's Recollections,
Dublin, 1849, p. 310, a letter
from Dr. Doyle written in 1829,
describing Ireland as ' a country
where the market is always over-
stocked with labour, and in
which a man's labour is not
worth, at an average, more than
threepence a day.'
41 It is singular that so acute
a thinker as Mr. Kay should, in
his otherwise just remarks on
the Irish, entirely overlook the
effect produced on their wages
by the increase of population.
Kay's Social Condition of the
People, vol. i. pp. 8, 9, 92* 223,
306-324. This is the more ob-
servable, because the disadvan-
tage! of cheap food have been
noticed not only by several com-
mon writers, but by the highest
of all authorities on population,
Mr. Malthusc see the sixth edi-
tion of his IJssay on Population,
68
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
tigate on a larger scale the social and economical con-
dition of nations, we shall seo tho same principle
everywhere at work. "We shall see that, other things
remaining equal, the food of a people determines the
increase of their numbers, and the increase of their
numbers determines the rate of their wages. "We shall
moreover find, that when the wages are invariably
low, 52 the distribution of wealth being thus very
unequal, the distribution of political power and social
influence will also be very unequal ; in other words, it
will appear that the normal and average relation be-
tween the upper and lower classes will, in its origin,
depend upon those peculiarities of nature, the operations
of which I have endeavoured to indicate. 53 After
vol. i. p. 469, vol. ii. pp. 123,
124, 383, 384. If these things
were of tener considered, we should
not hear so much about the idle-
ness and levity of the Celtic race;
the simple fact being, that the
Irish are imwilling to work, not
because they are Celts, but be-
cause their work is badly paid.
When they go abroad, they get
good wages, and therefore they
become as industrious as any
other people. Compare Journal
of Statistical Society, vol. vii. p.
24, with Thornton on Over-Popu-
lation, p. 425 ; a very valuable
work. Even in 1799, it was
observed that the Irish as soon
as they left their own country
became industrious and ener-
getic. See Parliamentary His-
tory, vol. xxxiv. p. 222. So too,
in North America, 'they are
most willing to work hard.'
LyelVs Second Visit to the United
States, 1849, vol. i. p. 187.
42 By low wages, I mean low
reward of labour, which is of
course independent both of the
cost of labour and of the money-
rate of wages.
88 In a recent work of con-
siderable ingenuity (Doubleday 's
True Law of Population, 1847,
pp. 25-29, 69, 78, 123, 124, &c.)
it is noticed that countries are
more populous when the ordi-
nary food is vegetable than when
it is animal ; and an attempt is
made to explain this on the
ground that a poor diet is more
favourable to fecundity than a
rich one. But though the fact
of the. greater increase of popu-
lation is indisputable, there are
several reasons for being dis-
satisfied with Mr. Doubleday's
explanation.
1st. That the power of pro-
pagation is heightened by poor
living, is a proposition which has
never been established physiolo-
gically; while the observations
of travellers and of governments
are not sufficiently numerous to
establish it statistically.
2nd. Vegetable diet is as
generous for a hot country as
animal diet is for a cold country ;
and since we know that, not-
withstanding the difference of
food and climate, the tempera-
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
CO
putting all these things together, we shall, I trust, be
able to discern, with a clearness hitherto unknown, the
intimate connexion between the physical and moral
world ; the laws by which that connexion is governed ;
and the reasons why so many ancient civilizations
reached a certain stage of development, and then fell
away, unable to resist the pressure of nature, or make
head against those external obstacles by which their
progress was effectually retarded.
If, in the first place, we turn to Asia, we shall see an
admirable illustration of what may be called the collision
between internal and external phenomena. Owing to
circumstances already stated, Asiatic civilization has
always been confined to that rich tract where alone
wealth could be easily obtained. This immense zone
comprises some of the most fertile parts of the globe ;
and of all its provinces, Hindostan is certainly the one
which for the longest period has possessed the greatest
civilization. 84 And as the materials for forming an
ture of the body varies little
between the equator and the
poles (compare Liefng's Animal
Chemistry, p. 19 ; Holland! a Medi-
cal Notes, p. 473 ; Pouillet, fflk-
mens de Physique, voL i. part i.
p. 414; Burdock's Traitk de
Physiologie, vol. ix. p. 663), we
have no reason to believe that
there.is any othtr normal varia-
tion, but should rather suppose
that, in regard to all essential
functions, vegetable diet and ex-
ternal heat are equivalent to
animal diet and external cold.
3rd. Even conceding, for the
sake of argument, that vegetable
food increases the procreative
power, this would only affect
the number of births, and not
the density of population ; for a
greater number of births may
be, and often are, remedied by a
greater mortality ; a point in
regard to which Godwin, in
trying to refute Malthus, falls
into serious error. Godwin on
Population, p. 317.
Since writing the above, I
have found that these views of
Mr. Doubleday's were in a great
measure anticipated by Fourier.
See Bey, Science Sociale, voL i.
p. 185.
44 I use the word ' Hiudostan*
in the popular sense, as extend-
ing south to Cape Comorin;
though.properly speaking, it only
includes the country north of the
Nerbudda. Compare. Mill's His-
tory of India, vol. ii. p. 178 ;
Boh/en, das alte Indien, vol. L
p. 11; Meiners iiber die Lander
in Asien, vol. i. p. 224. The word
itself is not found in the old
Sanscrit, and is of Persian origin.
Halheds Preface to the Gnttoo
Laws, pp. xx. xxi.; Asiatic Be-
searches, vol. iii. pp. 368, 369.
70 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
opinion respecting India' are more ample than those
respecting any other part of Asia, 55 I purpose to select
it as an example, and use it to illustrate those laws
which, though generalized from political economy,
chemistry, and physiology, may be verified by that
more extensive survey, the means of which history
alone can supply.
In India, the great heat of the climate brings into
play that law already pointed out, by virtue of which
the ordinary food is of an oxygenous rather than of a
carbonaceous character. This, according to another
law, obliges the people to derive their usual diet not
from the animal, but from the vegetable world, of which
starch is the most important constituent. At the same
time the high temperature, incapacitating men for
arduous labour, makes necessary a food of which the
returns will be abundant, and which will contain much
nutriment in a comparatively small space. Here, then,
we have some characteristics, which, if the preceding
views are correct, ought to be found in the ordinary
food of the Indian nations. So they all are. From
the earliest period the most general food in India has
been rice, 56 which is the most nutritive of all the
M So that, in addition to works aus denselben als Quellen.'
published on their philosophy, Rhode, Religiose Bildung der
religion, and jurisprudence, a Hindus, vol. i. p. 43.
learned geographer stated several 56 This is evident from the
years ago, that * kein anderes frequent and fanftliar mention of
Asiatisches Reich ist in den letz- it in that remarkable relic of
ten drey Jahrhunderten von so antiquity, the Institutes of Menu,
vielen und so einsichtsvollen See the Institutes, in Works of
Europaern durchreist und be- Sir W. Jones, vol. iii. pp. 87,
schriebenworden,alsHindostan.' 132, 156, 200, 215, 366, 400,
Meiners Lander in Asien, vol. i. 403, 434. Thus too, in the enu-
p. 225. Since the time of Mei- meration of Foods in Vishnu
ners, such evidence has become Purana, pp. 46, 47, rice ia the
still more precise and extensive; first mentioned. See further
and is, I think, too much neg- evidence in Bohlen, das alte In-
lected by M. Ehode in his valu- dien, vol. i. p. 22, vol. ii. pp. 159,
able work on India: 'Dem 160; Wilson's Theatre of the
Zwecke dieser Arbeit gemass, Indus, vol. i. part ii. pp. 15, 16,
betrachten wir hier nur Werke 37, 92, 95, vol. ii. part ii. p. 35,
der Hindus selbst, oder Auszuge part iii. p. 64 ; Notes on the Ma~
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
J
cerealia ; 87 which contains an enormons proportion of
starch ; 88 and which yields to the labourer an average
return of at least sixty fold. 59
Thus possible is it, by the application of a few physical
laws, to anticipate what the national food of a country
will be, and therefore to anticipate a long train of
ulterior consequences. What in this case is no less
remarkable, is that though in the south of the peninsula,
rice is not so much used as formerly, it has been re-
placed, not by animal food, but by another grain called
ragi. 60 The original rice, however, is so suited to the
circumstances I have described, that it is still the most
general food of nearly all the hottest countries of Asia, 61
habharata, in Journal of Asiatic
Society, vol. vii. p. 141 ; Travels
of Ibn Batuta in Fourteenth Cen-
tury, p. 164 ; Colebrookis Digest
of Hindu Law, vol. i. p. 499, vol.
ii. pp. 44, 48, 436, 569, vol. iii.
pp. 11, 148, 205, 206, 207, 266,
364, 530; ■ Asiatic Researches,
vol. vii. pp. 299, 302; Ward on
the Hindoos, vol. i. p. 209, voL
iii. p. 105.
47 ' It contains a greater pro-
portion of nutritious matter than
any of the cerealia.' SomervUle's
Physical Geography, vol. ii. p.
220.
48 It contains from 838 to
8507 percent, of starch. Brande's
Chemistry, vol. ii. p. 1 624 ; Thom-
son's Chemistry of Organic Bo-
dies, p. 883.
49 It is difficult to collect suf-
ficient evidence to strike an ave-
rage; but in Egypt, according
to Savary, rice ' produces eighty
bushels for one.' Loudon's Ency-
clop. of Agriculture, p. 173. In
Tennasserini, the yield is from 80
to 100. Low's History of Ten-
nasserim, in Journal of Asiatic
Society, vol. iii. p. 29. In South
America, 250 fold, according to
Spix and Martius (Travels in
Brazil, vol. ii. p. 79) ; or from
200 to 300, according to Southey
(History of Brazil, vol. iii. pp.
658, 806). The lowest estimate
given by M. Meyen is forty fold ;
the highest, which is marsh rice
in the Philippine Islands, 400
fold. Meyen's Geography of
Plants, 1846, p. 301.
60 E/phinstone's History of In-
dia, p. 7. Ragi is the Cynosurus
Corocanus of Linnaeus ; and, con-
sidering its importance, it has
been strangely neglected by bo-
tanical writers. The best account
I have seen of it is in Buchanan' '*
Journey through the Countries of
Mysore, Canara, and Malabar,
vol. i. pp. 100-104, 285, 286,
375, 376, 403, vol. ii. pp. 103,
104, vol. iii. pp. 239, 240, 296,
297. In the large cities, millet is
generally used ; of which ' a
quantity sufficient for two meals
may be purchased for about a
halfpenny.' Gibson on Indian
Agriculture, in Journal of Asiatic
Society, vol. viii. p. 100.
*' Marsderi s History of Suma-
tra, pp. 56, 59 ; Baffles' History
of Java, vol. i. pp. 39, 106, 119,
72
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
from which at different times it has been transplanted
to other parts of the world. 62
In consequence of these peculiarities of climate, and
of food, there has arisen in India that unequal distri-
bution of wealth which we must expect to find in
countries where the labour-market is always redun-
dant. 63 If we examine the earliest Indian records
which have been preserved — records between two and
three thousand years old — we find evidence of a state
of things similar to that which now exists, and which,
we may rely upon it, always has existed ever since the
129, 240; PercivaVs Ceylon, pp.
337, 364 ; Transac. of Society of
Bombay, vol. ii. p. 155; Transac.
of Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 510 ;
Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. i.
pp. 228, 247, vol. ii. pp. 44, 64,
251, 257, 262, 336, 344, vol. iii.
pp. 8, 25, 300, 340, vol. iv. pp.
82, 83, 104, vol. v. pp. 241, 246;
Asiatic Bese arches, vol. v. pp. 124,
229, vol. xii. p. 148, vol. xvi.pp.
171, 172 ; Journal of Geograph.
Society, vol. ii. p. 86, vol. iii. pp.
124, 295, 300, vol. v. p. 263, vol.
viii. pp. 341, 359, vol. xix. pp.
132, 137.
62 Rice, so far as I have been
able to trace it, has travelled
westward. Besides the historical
evidence, there are philological
probabilities in favour of its
being indigenous to Asia, and
the Sanscrit name for it has been
very widely diffused. Compare
Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. ii. p.
472, with CraufuroVs History of
the Indian Archipelago, vol. i. p.
358. In the fourteenth century,
it was the common food on the
Zanguebar Coast ; and is now
universal in Madagascar. Tra-
vels of Ibn Batuta in Fourteenth
Century, p. 56 ; Ellis's History
of Madagascar, vol. i. pp. 39,
297-304, vol.ii. p. 292; Journal
of Geograph. Society, vol iii. p.
212. From Madagascar its seeds
were, according to JM'Culloctis
Dictionary of Commerce, p. 1105,
carried to Carolina late in the
seventeenth century. It is now
cultivated in Nicaragua (Squier's
Central America, vol. i. p. 38)
and in South America (Hender-
son's Hist, of Brazil, pp. 292,
307, 395, 440, 488), where it is
said to grow wild. Compare
Meyen's Geography of Plants,
pp. 291, 297, with Azara, Voy-
ages dans l' AmiriqueMeridionale,
vol. i. p. 100, vol. ii. p. 80.
The ancient Greeks, though ac-
quainted with rice, did not cul-
tivate it ; and its cultivation was
first introduced into Europe by
the Arabs. SeeHumboldt,Nouvelle
Espagne, vol. ii. pp. 409, 410.
63 So far as food is concerned,
Diodorus Siculus notices the re-
markable fertility of India, and
the consequent accumulation of
wealth. See two interesting pas-
sages in Bibliothec. Hist. lib. ii.
vol. ii. pp. 49, 50, 108, 109. But
of the economical laws of distri-
bution he, like all the ancient
writers, was perfectly ignorant,.
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 73
accumulation of capital once fairly began. "We find
the upper classes enormously rich, and the lower classes
miserably poor. We find those by whose labour the
wealth is created, receiving the smallest possible share
of it ; the remainder being absorbed by the higher
ranks in the form either of rent or of profit. And as
wealth is, after intellect, the most permanent source of
power, it has naturally happened that a great inequality
of wealth has been accompanied by a corresponding in-
equality of social and political power. It is not, there-
fore, surprising that from the earliest period to which
our knowledge of India extends, an immense majority
of the people, pinched by the most galling poverty, and
just living from hand to mouth, should always have
remained in a state of stupid debasement, broken by
incessant misfortune, crouching before their superiors
in abject submission, and only fit either to be slaves
themselves or to be led to battle to make slaves of
others. 64
To ascertain the precise value of the average rate of
wages in India for any long period, is impossible ; be-
cause, although the amount might be expressed in
money, still the value of money, that is, its purchasing
power, is subject to incalculable fluctuations, arising
from changes in the cost of production. 68 But, for our
present purpose, there is a method of investigation
which will lead to results far more accurate than any
statement could be that depended merely on a collection
84 An able and very learned Compare the observations of
apologist for this miserable peo- Charles Hamilton in Asiatic Re-
pie says, ' The servility so gene- searches, vol. i. p. 305.
rally ascribed to the Hindu is " The impossibility of having
never more conspicuous than a standard of value, is clearly
■when he is examined as an evi- pointed out in Turgots Riflex-
dence. But if it be admitted ions sur la Formation et la
that he acts as a slave, why Distribution des Richesses, in
blame him for not possessing the (Euvres, vol. v. pp. 51, 52. Corn-
virtues of a free man ? The op- pare Ricardo's Works, pp. 11,
pression of ages has taught him 28-30, 46, 166, 253, 270, 401,
implicit submission.' Vans Ken- with M'Culloch's Principles of
nedy, in Transactions of the So- Political Economy, pp. 298, 299,
eiety of Bomljay, voL iii. p. 144. 307.
74
INFLUENCE OF PETSICAL LAWS.
of evidence respecting the wages themselves. The
method is simply this : that inasmuch as the wealth of
a country can only be divided into wages, rent, profits,
and interest, and inasmuch as interest is on an average
an exact measure of profits, 66 it follows that if among
any people rent and interest are both high, wages must
be low. 67 If, therefore, we can ascertain the current
interest of money, and the proportion of the produce of
the soil which is absorbed by rent, we shall get a per-
fectly accurate idea of the wages ; because wages are
the residue, that is, they are what is left to the labour-
ers after rent, profits, and interest have been paid.
Now it is remarkable, that in India both interest and
rent have always been very high. In the Institutes of
Menu, which were drawn up about B.C. 900, 68 the lowest
86 Smith's Wealth of Nations,
book i. chap. ix. p. 37 ; where,
however, the proposition is stated
rather too absolutely, since the
risks arising from an insecure
state of society must be taken
into consideration. But that
there is an average ratio between
interest and profits is obvious,
and is distinctly laid down by
the Sanscrit jurists. See Cole-
brooke's Digest of Hindu Law,
vol. i. pp. 72, 81.
67 Eicardo (Principles of Poli-
tical Economy, chap. vi. in Works,
p. 65) says, ' whatever increases
wages, necessarily reduces pro-
fits.' And in chap. xv. p. 122,
' whatever raises the wages of
labour, lowers the profits of
stock.' In several other places
he makes the same assertion,
very much to the discomfort of
the ordinary reader, who knows
that in the United States, for
instance, wages and profits are
both high. But the ambiguity
is in the language, not in the
thought; and in these and
similar passages Eicardo by
wages meant cost of labour, in
which sense the proposition is
quite accurate. If by wages we
mean the reward of labour, then
there is no relation between
wages and profits ; for when rent
is low, both of them may be
high, as is the case in the United
States. That this was the view
of Eicardo is evident from the
following passage: 'Profits, it
cannot be too often repeated,
depend on wages ; not on nominal
but real wages; not on the
number of pounds that may be
annually paid to the labourer,
but on the number of days' work
necessary to obtain those pounds.'
Political Economy, chap, vii.,
Eicardo' s Works, p. 82. Compare
Mill's Principles of Political
Economy, vol. i. p. 509, vol. ii.
p. 225.
68 I take the estimate of Mr.
Elphinstone (History of India,
pp. 225-228) as midway between
Sir William Jones ( Works, vol.
iii. p. 56) and Mr. Wilson (Big
Veda Sanhita, vol. i. p. xlvii.).
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
75
legal interest for money is fixed at fifteen per cent., the
highest at sixty per cent. 69 Nor is this to be considered
as a mere ancient law now fallen into disuse. So far
from that, the Institutes of Menu are still the basis of
Indian jurisprudence ; 70 and we know on very good
authority, that in 1810 the interest paid for the use of
money varied from thirty-six to sixty per cent. 71
Thus much as to one of the elements of our present
calculation. As to the other element, namely, the rent,
we have information equally precise and trustworthy.
In England and Scotland, the rent paid by the cultivator
for the use of land is estimated in round numbers,
taking one farm with another, at a fourth of the gross
produce. 73 In France, the average proportion is about
a third ; 73 while in the United States of North America
** Institutes of Menu, chap,
viii. sec. 140-142, in Works of
Sir W. Jones, vol. iii. p. 295.
The subsequent Sanscrit com-
mentators recognize nearly the
same rate of interest, the mi-
nimum being fifteen per cent.
See Colebrooke's Digest of Hindu
Law, vol. i. pp. 29, 36, 43, 98, 99,
237, vol. ii. p. 70.
70 In Colebrooke's Digest, vol. i.
p. 454, and vol. iii. p. 229, Menu
is called ' the highest authority
of memorial law,' and ' the
founder of memorial law.' The
most recent historian of India,
Mr. Elphinstone, 6ays (Hist, of
India, p. 83) ' the code of Menu
is still the basis of the Hindu
jurisprudence ; and the principal
features remain unaltered to the
present day.' This remarkable
code is also the basis of the laws
of the Burmese, and even of
those of the Laos. Journal of
the Asiatic Society, vol. ii. p. 271,
vol. iii. pp. 28, 296, 332, vol. v.
p. 252.
71 See, in Mill's History of
India, voL i. p. 317, the report of
a committee of the House of
Commons in 1810, in which it is
stated that the ryots paid ' the
heavy interest of three, four,
and five per cent, per month.'
Ward, writing about the same
time, mentions as much as
seventy-five per cent, being
given, and this apparently with-
out the lender incurring any
extraordinary risk. Ward on the
Hindoos, voL ii. p. 190.
72 Compare the table in Lou-
don's Encyclopedia of Agricul-
ture, p. 778, with Mayor's note in
Tusser's Five Hundred Points of
Husbandry, p. 195, Lond. 1812,
and M'Culloch't Statistical Ac-
count of the British Empire,
1847, vol. i. p. 560.
73 This is the estimate I have
received from persons well ac-
quainted with French agriculture.
The rent, of course, varies in
each separate instance, according
to the natural powers of the soil,
according to the extent to which
those powers have been improved,
and according to the facilities
for bringing the produce to mar-
76 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
it is well known to be much less, and, indeed, in some
parts, to be merely nominal. 74 But in India the legal
rent, that is, the lowest rate recognized by the law and
usage of the country, is one-half of the produce ; and
even this cruel regulation is not strictly enforced, since
in many cases rents are raised so high, that the culti-
vator not only receives less than half the produce, but
receives so little as to have scarcely the means of
providing seed to sow the ground for the next harvest. 75
The conclusion to be drawn from these facts is mani-
fest. Rent and interest being always very high, and
interest varying, as it must do, according to the rate of
profits, it is evident that wages must have been very
low ; for since there was in India a specific amount of
wealth to be divided into rent, interest, profits, and
wages, it is clear that the first three could only have
been increased at the expense of the fourth ; which is
saying, in other words, that the reward of the labourers
was very small in proportion to the reward received by
the upper classes. And though this, being an inevitable
inference, does not require extraneous support, it may
be mentioned that in modern times, for which alone we
have direct evidence, wages have in India always been
excessively low, and the people have been, and still are,
ket. But, notwithstanding these Judicial and Bevenue Systems of
variations, there must be in every India, 1832, pp. 59-61, 63, 69,
country an average rent, depend- 92, 94. At p. 69, this high
ing upon the operation of general authority says of the agricultural
causes. peasantry of Bengal : ' In an
74 Owing to the immense sup- abundant season, when the price
ply of land preventing the of corn is low, the sale of their
necessity of cultivating those whole crops is required to meet
inferior soils which older coun- the demands of the landholder,
tries are glad to use, and are leaving little or nothing for seed
therefore willing to pay a rent for or subsistence to the labourer or
the right of using. In the United his family.' In Cashmere, the
States, profits and wages (i.e. the sovereign received half the pro-
reward of the labourer, not the duce of the rice-crop, leaving the
cost of labour) are both high, other half to the cultivator,
which would be impossible if Moorcroffs Notices of Cashmere,
rent were also high. in Journal of Geog. Society, vol.
,s See Bammohun Boy on the ii. p. 266.
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
obliged to work for a sum barely sufficient to meet the
exigencies of life. 70
This was the first great consequence induced in India
by the cheapness and abundance of the national food. 77
78 Heber {Journey through
India, vol. i. pp. 209, 356, 357,
359) gives some curious instances
of the extremely low rate at
which the natives are glad to
work. As to the ordinary wages
in India in the present century,
see Journal of Asiatic Society,
vol. i. p. 255, vol. v. p. 171 ;
Rammohun Roy on the Judicial
and Revenue Systems, pp, 105,
106; Sykes's Statistics of the
Deccan Reports of the British
Association, vol. vi. p. 321 ;
Ward's View of the Hindoos, vol.
iii. p. 207 ; Colebrooke's Digest of
Hindu Law, vol. ii. p. 184. On
wages in the south of India, the
fullest information will be found
in Buchanan's valuable work,
Journey through the Mysore,
Canara, and Malabar, voL i. pp.
124, 125, 133, 171, 175, 216,
217, 298, 390, 415, vol. ii. pp.
12, 19, 22, 37, 90, 108, 132, 217,
218, 315, 481, 523, 525, 562,
vol. iii. pp. 35, 181, 226, 298,
321, 349, 363, 398, 428, 555. I
wish that all travellers were
equally minute in recording the
wages of labour ; a subject of
far greater importance than those
with which they usually fill their
books.
On the other hand, the riches
possessed by the upper classes
have, owing to this mal-distribu-
tion of wealth, been always
enormous, and sometimes in-
credible. See Forbes' 8 Oriental
Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 297 ; Bohlen,
das alt e Indien, voL ii. p. 119;
Travels of Ibn Batuta, p. 41;
Ward's Hindoos, vol. iii. p.
178. The autobiography of the
Emperor Jehangueir contains
such extraordinary statements of
his immense wealth, that the
Editor, Major Price, thinks that
some error must have been made
by the copyist; but the reader
will find in Grote's History of
Greece (vol. xii. pp. 229, 245)
evidence of the treasures which
it was possible for Asiatic rulers
to collect in that state of society.
The working of this unequal
distribution is thus stated by Mr.
Glyn (Tr ansae, of Asiatic Society,
vol. i. p. 482): ' The nations of
Europe have very little idea of
the actual condition of the in-
habitants of Hindustan; they
are more wretchedly poor than
we have any notion of. Europeans
have hitherto been too apt to
draw their opinions of the wealth
of Hindustan from the gorgeous
pomp of a few emperors, sultans,
nawabs, and rajahs; whereas a
more intimate and accurate view
of the real state of society would
have shown that these princes
and nobles were engrossing all
the wealth of the country, whilst
the great body of the people
were earning but a bare subsist-
ence, groaning under intolerable
burdens, and hardly able to
supply themselves with the
necessaries of life, much less
with its luxuries.'
" Turner, who travelled in
1783 through the north-east of
Bengal, says: 'Indeed, the ex-
treme poverty and wretchedness
7» INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
But the evil by no means stopped there. In India, as
in every other country, poverty provokes contempt, and
wealth produces power. When other things are equal,
it must be with classes of men as with individuals, that
the richer they are, the greater the influence they will
possess. It was therefore to be expected, that the
unequal distribution of wealth should cause an unequal
distribution of power ; and as there is no instance on
record of any class possessing power without abusing
it, we may easily understand how it was that the people
of India, condemned to poverty by the physical laws of
their climate, should have fallen into a degradation from
which they have never been able to escape. A few
instances may be given to illustrate, rather than to
prove, a principle which the preceding arguments have,
I trust, placed beyond the possibility of dispute.
To the great body of the Indian people the name of
Sudras is given ; 78 and the native laws respecting them
contain some minute and curious provisions. If a
member of this despised class presumed to occupy the
of these people will forcibly being husbandmen, as they are
appear, -when we recollect how often called, but landlords, own-
little is necessary for the subsist- ers of cattle, and traders. Com-
ence of a peasant in these pare Institutes of Menu, chap. ix.
regions. The value of this can sec. 326-333, in Works of Sir W.
seldom amount to more than Jones, vol. iii. pp. 380, 381, with
one penny per day, even allowing Colebrooke' s Digest, vol. i. p. 15,
him to make his meal of two from which it appears that the
pounds of boiled rice, with a due Vaisyas were always the may-
proportion of salt, oil, vegetables, ters, and that the Sudra was to
fish, and chili.' Turner's Em- ' rely on agriculture for his sub-
bassy to Tibet, p. 11. IbnBatuta, sistence.' The division, there-
who travelled in Hindostan in fore, between 'the industrious
the fourteenth century, says : 'I and the servile' (E/phinstone's
never saw a country in which History of India, p. 12) is too
provisions were so cheap.' Tra- broadly stated, and we must, I
vela of Ibn Batuta, p. 194. think, take the definition of M.
78 The Suuras are estimated Rhode : ' Die Kaste der Sudras
by Ward {View of the Hindoos, umfasst die ganze arbeitende.
vol. iii. p. 281) at 'three-fourths oder um Lohn dienende Classo
of the Hindoos.' At all events, des Volks.' Belig. Bildung d-er
they comprise the whole of the Hindus, vol. ii. p. 561.
working classes ; the Vaisyas not
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
79
same seat as his superiors, he was either to be exiled
or to suffer a painful and ignominious punishment. 79
If he spoke of them with contempt, his mouth was to
be burned; 80 if he actually insulted them, his tongue
was to be slit ; 81 if he molested a Brahmin, he was to
be put to death ; 82 if he sat on the same carpet with a
Brahmin, he was to be maimed for life ; 83 if, moved
by the desire of instruction, he even listened to the
reading of the sacred books, burning oil was to be
poured into his ears; 84 if, however, he committed them
to memory, he was to be killed ; 85 if he were guilty of
a crime, the punishment for it was greater than that
inflicted on his superiors ; 86 but if he himself were
murdered, the penalty was the same as for killing a
dog, a cat, or a crow. 87 Should he marry his daughter
to a Brahmin, no retribution that could be exacted in
this world was sufficient ; it was therefore announced
that the Brahmin must go to hell, for having suffered
contamination from a woman immeasurably his in-
79 ' Either be banished with a
mark on his hinder parts, or the
king shall cause a gash to be
made on his buttock.' Institutes
of Menu, chap. viii. sec. 281, in
Works of Sir W. Jones, vol. iii.
p. 315. See also Wards View of
the Hindoos, vol. iii. p. 67.
88 Menu, chap. viii. sec. 271,
in Jones's Works, vol. iii. p. 314.
81 Menu, chap. viii. sec 270.
n ' If a Sudra gives much and
frequent molestation to a Brah-
min, the magistrate shall put
him to death.' Halhcds Code of
Gentoo Laws, p. 262.
M HalheoVs Code of Gentoo
Laws, p. 207. As to the case of
striking a Brahmin, see Rammo-
hunRoy on the Veds, p. 227, 2nd
edit. 1832.
M ' And if a Sooder listens to
the Beids of the Shaster, then
the oil, heated as before, shall be
poured into hie ears ; and arzeez
and wax shall be melted together,
and the orifice of his ears shall
be stopped up therewith.' Hoi-
ked, p. 262. Compare the pro-
hibition in Menu, chap. iv. sec.
99, chap. x. sec. 109-111, in
Jones's Works, vol. iii. pp. 174.
398.
84 Halhed, p. 262 : ■ the ma-
gistrate shall put him to death.'
In Mrichchakati, the judge says tt>
a Sudra, ' If you expound the Ve-
das, will not your tongue be c*t
out ? ' Witeoris Theatre of the
Hindus, vol. i. part ii. p. 170.
88 Ward's View of the Hindoos,
vol. iv. p. 308. To this the only
exception was in the case of theft.
Mill's History of India, vol. i. pp.
193,260. A Brahmin could ' on
no account be capitally punished.'
Asiatic Researches, vol. xv. p. 44.
87 Menu, chap. xi. sec. 132. m
Works of Sir W. Jones, vol. iii.
p. 422.
80 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
ferior. 88 Indeed, it was ordered that the mere name
of a labourer should be expressive of contempt, so that
his proper standing might be immediately known. 89
And lest this should not be enough to maintain the
subordination of society, a law was actually made for-
bidding any labourer to accumulate wealth ; 90 while
another clause declared, that even though his master
should give him freedom, he would in reality still be a
slave ; ' for,' says the lawgiver — ' for of a state which
is natural to him, by whom can he be divested ? 9l
By whom, indeed, could he be divested ? I ween
not where that power was by which so vast a miracle
could be worked. For in India, slavery, abject, eternal
slavery, was the natural state of the great body of the
people ; it was the state to which they were doomed
by physical laws utterly impossible to resist. The
energy of those laws is, in truth, so invincible, that
wherever they have come into play, they have kept
the productive classes in perpetual subjection. There
is no instance on record of any tropical country, in
88 'A Brahmin, if he take a Verachtung ausdriicken.' So, too,
Sudra to his bed as his first wife, Mr. Elphinstone {History of
sinks to the regions of torment.' India, p. 1 7) : ' the proper name
Institutes of Menu, chap. iii. sec. of a Sudra is directed to be ex-
17, in Jones, vol. iii. p. 121. pressive of contempt.' Compare
Compare the denial of funeral Origines du Droit, in (Euvres de
rites, in Colebrooke's Digest of Michelet, vol. ii. p. 387, Brux-
Hindu Law, vol. iii. p. 328. And elles, 1840.
on the different hells invented by 90 Menu, chap. x. sec. 129, in
the Hindu clergy, see Vishnu Jones, vol. iii. p. 40i. This law
Purana, p. 207 ; Ward's View is pointed out by Mill {History
of the Hindoos, vol. ii. pp. 182, of India, vol. i. p. 195) as an evi-
183; Coleman's Mythology of the dence of the miserable state of
Hindus, p. 113. The curious the people, which, Mr. Wilson
details in Rhode, die Religiose (note in p. 213) vainly attempts
Bildung der Hindus, vol. i. pp. to evade.
392, 393, rather refer to Budd- 9l ' A Sudra, though emanci-
hism, and should be compared pated by his master, is not re-
with Journal Asiatique, I. serie, leased from a state of servitude ;
vol. viii. pp. 80, 81, Paris, 1826. for of a state which is natural to
89 Menu, chap. ii. sec. 31, in him,bywhomcanhebedivested?'
Jones, vol. iii. p. 87 ; also noticed Institutes of Menu, chap. viii. sec.
in Rhode, Relig. Bildung, vol. ii. 414, in Works of Sir W.Jones,
p. 561 : ' sein Name soil schon vol. iii. p. 333.
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 81
which wealth having been extensively accumulated,
the people have escaped their fate ; no instance in
which the heat of the climate has not caused an abun-
dance of food, and the abundance of food caused an
unequal distribution, first of wealth, and then of poli-
tical and social power. Among nations subjected to
these conditions, the people have counted for nothing ;
they have had no voice in the management of the
state, no control over the wealth their own industry
created. Their only business has been to labour;
their only duty to obey. Thus there has been gene-
rated among them, those habits of tame and servile
submission, by which, as we know from history, they
have always been characterized. For it is an un-
doubted fact, that their annals furnish no instance
of their having turned upon their rulers, no war of
classes, no popular insurrections, not even one great
popular conspiracy. In those rich and fertile countries
there have been many changes, but all of them have
been from above, not from below. The democratic
element has been altogether wanting. There have
been in abundance, wars of kings, and wars of dynas-
ties. There have been revolutions in the government,
revolutions in the palace, revolutions on the throne ;
but no revolutions among the people ; 92 no mitigation
of that hard lot which nature, rather than man, as-
signed to them. Nor was it until civilization arose in
Europe, that other physical laws came into operation,
and therefore other results were produced. In Europe,
for the first time, there was some approach to equality,
some tendency to correct that enormous dispropor-
tion of wealth and power, which formed the essential
w An intelligent observer says, country and their own prospe-
' It is also remarkable how little rity.' M'Murdo on the Country
the people of Asiatic countries of Sindh, in Journal of Asiatic
have to do in the revolutions of Society, vol. i. p. 250. Compare
their governments. They are similar remarks in Herder' 8 Ideen
never guided by any great and zur Geschichte, vol. iii. p. 114;
common impulse of feeling, and and even in Alison's History of
take no part in events tho most Europe, vol. x. pp. 419, 420.
interestingand important to their
vol. i. a
82 INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
weakness of the greatest of the more ancient countries.
As a natural consequence, it is in Europe that everything
worthy of the name of civilization has originated ; be-
cause there alone have attempts been made to preserve
the balance of its relative parts. There alone has
society been organized according to a scheme, not
indeed sufficiently large, but still wide enough to in-
clude all the different classes of which it is composed,
and thus, by leaving room for the progress of each, to
secure the permanence and advancement of the whole.
The way in which certain other physical peculiarities
confined to Europe, have also accelerated the progress
of Man by diminishing his superstition, will be indi-
cated towards the end of this chapter ; but as that will
involve an examination of some laws which I have not
yet noticed, it seems advisable, in the first place, to
complete the inquiry now before us ; and I therefore
purpose proving that the line of argument which has
been just applied to India, is likewise applicable to
Egypt, to Mexico, and to Peru. For by thus including
in a single survey, the most conspicuous civilizations
of Asia, Africa, and America, we shall be able to see
how the preceding principles hold good of different
and distant countries ; and we shall be possessed of
evidence sufficiently comprehensive to test the accu-
racy of those great laws which, without such precau-
tion, I might be supposed to have generalized from
scanty and imperfect materials.
The reasons why, of all the African nations, the
Egyptians alone were civilized, have been already
stated, and have been shown to depend on those phy-
sical peculiarities which distinguish them from the
surrounding countries, and which, by facilitating the
acquisition of wealth, not only supplied them with
material resources that otherwise they could never
have obtained, but also secured to their intellectual
classes the leisure and the opportunity of extending
the boundaries of knowledge. It is, indeed, true that,
notwithstanding these advantages, they effected no-
thing of much moment ; but this was owing to cir-
cumstances which will be hereafter explained ; and it
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 83
must, at all events, be admitted that they raised them-
selves far above every other people by whom Africa
was inhabited.
The civilization of Egypt being, like that of India,
caused by the fertility of the soil, and the climate
being also very hot, 93 there were in both countries
brought into play the same laws ; and there naturally
followed the same results. In both countries we find
the national food cheap and abundant : hence the
labour-market over- supplied ; hence a very unequal
division of wealth and power ; and hence all the con-
sequences which such inequality will inevitably pro-
duce. How this system worked in India, I have just
attempted to examine ; and although the materials for
studying the former condition of Egypt are much less
ample, they are still sufficiently numerous to prove the
striking analogy between the two civilizations, and the
identity of those great principles which regulated tho
order of their social and political development.
If we inquire into the most important circumstances
which concerned the people of ancient Egypt, we shall
see that they are exactly the counterpart of those that
have been noticed in India. For, in the first place, as
regards their ordinary food, what rice is to the most
fertile parts of Asia, that are dates to Africa. The
palm-tree is found in every country from the Tigris
to the Atlantic ; 94 and it supplies millions of human
beings with their daily food in Arabia, 95 and in nearly
•* Volney ( Voyage en Egt/pte, dance in the west of Arabia, voL
vol. i. pp. 58-63) has a good i. pp. 103, 157, 238, vol. ii. pp.
chapter on the climate of Egypt. 91, 100, 105, 118, 209, 210, 214,
94 It is, however, unknown in 253, 300, 331. And on the dates
South Africa. See the account of Oman and the east of Arabia,
of the Palmacese in Lindley's see Wellsted's Travels in Arabia,
Vegetable Kingdom, 1847, p. 136, vol. i. pp. 188, 189, 236, 276,
and Meyeris Geog. of Plants, p. 290, 349. Compare Nkbuhr,
337. Description de F Arable, pp. 142,
•* ' Of all eatables used by 296. Indeed, they are so im-
the Arabs, dates are the most portant, that the Arabs have
favourite.' Burckhardfs Travels different names for them accord-
in Arabia, vol. i. p. 56. See ing to the stages of their growth,
niso, for proof of their abun- Djewhari says, 'La denomiua-
84
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
the whole of Africa north of the equator. 96 In many-
parts of the great African desert it is indeed unable
to bear fruit ; but naturally it is a very hardy plant,
and produces dates in such profusion, that towards the
north of the Sahara they are eaten not only by man,
but also by domestic animals. 97 And in Egypt, where
the palm is said to be of spontaneous growth, 98 dates,
tion balah precede le nom bosr ;
car la datte se nomine d'abord
tola, en suite khalal, puis balah,
puis bosr, puis rotab, et enfin
tamr.' Be Sacy's note to Abd-
Allatif, Relation, de VEgypte, p.
74, and see p. 118. Other notices
of the dates of Arabia will be
found in Travels of Ibn Batuta
in Fourteenth Century, p. 66;
Journal of Asiatic Soc. vol. viii.
p. 286 ; Journal of Geograph.
Soc. vol. iv. p. 201, toI. vi. pp.
53, 55, 58, 66, 68, 74, vol. vii.
p, 32, vol. ix. pp. 147, 151.
98 Heeren ( Trade of the Afri-
can Nations, % vol. i. p. 182) sup-
poses that in Africa, dates are
comparatively little known south
of 26° north lat. But this
learned writer is certainly mis-
taken ; and a reference to the
following passages will show that
they are common as far down as
the parallel of Lake Tchad,
which is nearly the southern
limit of our knowledge of Cen-
tral Africa ; Benham's Central
Africa, p. 295 ; Clapperton's
Journal, in Appendix to Benham,
pp. 34, 59; Clapperton's Second
Expedition, p. 159. Further
east they are somewhat scarcer,
but are found much more to the
south than is supposed by
Heeren : see Pallme's Kordofan,
p. 220.
97 'Dates are not only the
principal growth of the Fezzan
oases, but the main subsistence
of their inhabitants. All live
on dates ; men, women, and
children, horses, asses, and
camels, and sheep, fowls, and
dogs.' Richardson's Travels in
the Sahara, vol. ii. p. 323, and
see vol. i. p. 343 : as to those
parts of the desert where the
palm will not bear, see vol. i. pp.
387, 405, vol. ii. pp. 291, 363.
Eespecting the dates of western
Africa, see Journal of Geograph.
Society, vol. xii. p. 204.
98 'It flourished spontaneously
in the valley of the Nile.' Wil-
kinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol.
ii. p. 372. As further illus-
tration of the importance to
Africa of this beautiful plant, it
may be mentioned, that from the
high-palm there is prepared a
peculiar beverage, which in some
parts is in great request. On
this, which is called palm-wine,
see M' William's Medical Expe-
dition to the Niger, pp. 71, 116;
Meredith's Gold Coast of Africa,
1812, pp. 55, 56; Laird and
Oldfield's Expedition into the
Interior of Africa, 1837, vol. ii.
pp. 170, 213; Bowditch, Mission
to Ashantee, pp. 69, 100, 152,
293, 386, 392. But I doubt if
this is the same as the palm-
wine mentioned in Balfour's
Botany, 1849, p. 532. Compare
Tuckey's Expedition to the Zaire ,
pp. 155, 216, 224, 356.
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 85
besides being tbe chief sustenance of the people, are so
plentiful, that from a very early period they have been
given commonly to camels, the only beasts of burden
generally used in that country."
From these facts, it is evident that, taking Egypt as
the highest type of African civilization, and India as
the highest type of Asiatic civilization, it may be said
that dates are to the first civilization what rice is to the
second. Now it is observable, that all the most im-
portant physical peculiarities found in rice are also
found in dates. In regard to their chemistry, it is well
known that the chief principle of the nutriment they
contain is the same in both ; the starch of the Indian
vegetable being merely turned into the sugar of the
Egyptian. In regard to the laws of climate, their
affinity is equally obvious ; since dates, like rice, belong
to hot countries, and flourish most in or near the
tropics. 100 In regard to their increase, and the laws of
their connexion with the soil, the analogy is also exact ;
for dates, just the same as rice, require little labour, and
yield abundant returns, while they occupy so small a
space of land in comparison with the nutriment they
afford, that upwards of two hundred palm-trees are
sometimes planted on a single acre. 101
Thus striking are the similarities to which, in different
countries, the same physical conditions naturally give
rise. At the same time, in Egypt, as in India, the
attainment of civilization was preceded by the possession
of a highly fertile soil ; so that, while the exuberance
of the land regulated the speed with which wealth was
■• Wilkinson's Ancient Egyp- Jwsieu's Botany, edit. Wilson,
tians, vol. ii. pp. 175-178. See 1849, p. 734.
also on the abundance of dates, "" ' In the valley of the Nile,
the extracts from an Arabian a feddan (1$ acre) is sometimes
geographer in Quatrcm >r, Re- planted with 400 trees.' Wilki»-
cherches sur m FEgypte, pp. 220, son's Ancient Egyptian*, vol. ii.
221. p. 178. At Moorzuk an entire
108 On their relation to the date-palm is only worth about a
laws of climate, see the remarks shilling. Richardson's Central
respecting the geographical limits Africa, vol. i. p. 111.
of their power of ripening, in
86
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
created, the abundance of the food regulated the pro-
portions into which the wealth was divided. The most
fertile part of Egypt is the Said ; 102 and it is precisely
there that we find the greatest display of skill and
knowledge, the splendid remains of Thebes, Carnac,
Luxor, Dendera, and Edfou. 103 It is also in the Said,
or as it is often called the Thebaid, that a food is used
which multiplies itself even more rapidly than either
dates or rice. This is the dhourra, which until recently
was confined to Upper Egypt, 104 and of which the
reproductive power is so remarkable, that it yields to
the labourer a return of two hundred and forty for
one. 105 In Lower Egypt the dhourra was formerly
102 On the remarkable fertility
of the Said, see Abd-Allatif,
Relation de PEgypte, p. 3.
103 The superiority of the
ruins in Southern Egypt over
those in the northern part is
noticed by Heeren {African
Nations, vol. ii. p. 69), and must,
indeed, be obvious to whoever
lias studied the monuments. Tn
the Said the Coptic was preserved
longer than in Lower Egypt, and
is known to philologists by the
name of Misr. See Quatremere,
Recherches sur la Langue de
PEgypte, pp. 20, 41, 42. See
also on the Saidic, pp. 134-140,
and some good remarks by Dr.
Prichard {Physical Hist. vol. ii.
p. 202); who, however, adopts
the paradoxical opinion of Georgi
respecting the origin of the
language of the Thebaid.
104 Abd-Allatif {Relation de
PEgypte, p. 32) says, that in his
time it was only cultivated in the
Said. This curious work by Abd-
Allatif was written in a.d. 1203.
Relation, p. 423. Meiners thinks
that Herodotus and other ancient
writers refer to the dhourra
without mentioning it: 'diese
Durra muss daher im Herodot
wiein andern alten Schriftstellern
vorziiglich verstanden werden,
wenn von hundert, zwey hundert,
und mehrfaltigen Eriichten,
welche die Erde trage, die Rede
ist.' Meiners, Fruchtbarkeit der
Lander, vol. i. p. 139. Accord-
ing to Volney, it is the Holcus
Arundinaceus of Linnaeus, and
appears to be similar to millet ;
and though that accurate traveller
distinguishes between them, I
observe that Captain Haines, in
a recent memoir, speaks of them
as being the same. Compare
Haines in Journal of Geog. Soc.
vol. xv. p. 118, with Volney,
Voyage en Egypte, vol. i. p. 195.
105 ' The return is in general
not less than 240 for one ; and
the average price is about 3s. 9d.
the ardeb, which is scarcely 3d.
per bushel.' Hamilton's AEgyp-
tiaca, p. 420. In Upper Egypt,
' the doura constitutes almost the
whole subsistence of the pea-
santry,' p. 419. Atp. 96, Hamilton
says, ' I have frequently counted
3,000 grains in one ear of doura,
and each stalk has in general four
or five ears.' For an account, of.
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
87
unknown ; but, in addition to dates, the people made a
sort of bread from the lotos, which sprang spontaneously
out of the rich soil of the Nile. 106 This must have
been a very cheap and accessible food ; while to it there
was joined a profusion of other plants and herbs, on
which the Egyptians chiefly lived. 107 Indeed so inex-
haustible was the supply, that at the time of the
Mohammedan invasion there were, in the single city of
Alexandria, no less than four thousand persons occupied
in selling vegetables to the people. 108
From this abundance of the national food, there re-
sulted a train of events strictly analogous to those which
took place in India. In Africa generally, the growth
of population, though on the one hand stimulated by
the heat of the climate, was on the other hand checked
by the poverty of the soil. But on the banks of the
Nile this restraint no longer existed, 109 and therefore
the dhourra bread, see Volney,
Voyage en Egypte, vol. i. p. 161.
los 'Eireav- -rr\i)pvs ytvwTai 6
trorafibs, *al Tti ireSla ire\aylo~p,
<t>vtrai iv r<p vSari xplvta iroXAet,
rek Alyfarrtoi Ka\4ov<ri Xidt6w
ravra iirebiv Speipwcrt, abalvovffi
TTpbi VlAtOV Kal e7T€lTO to 4k tov
fietrou tov AcotoC tt] fiiiKwvt ibv
fftcpepes, TTTloavres iroitvvicu 4£
ai>TOV &pTOVS O7TT0VS TTVpl. HeTodot.
ii. 92, vol. i. p. '688.
107 Wilkinson's Ancient Egyp-
tians, vol. ii. pp. 370-372, 400,
vol. iv. p. 59. Abd-Allatif gives
a curious account of the different
vegetables grown in Egypt early
in the thirteenth century. Iiela-
tion, pp. 16-36, and the notes of
De Sacy, pp. 37-134. On the
Kuafios of Herodotus there are
some botanical remarks worth
reading in the Correspondence of
Sir J. E. Smith, vol. ii. pp. 224-
232 ; but I doubt the assertion,
p. 227, that Herodotus ' knew
nothing of any other kind of
Kvafjios in Egypt than that of
the ordinary bean.'
los . When Alexandria was
taken by Amer, the lieutenant
of the Caliph Omer, no less than
4,000 persons were engaged in
selling vegetables in that city.'
Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians,
vol. ii. p. 372, and see vol. i. p
277, vol. iv. p. 60. Niebuhr
(Description de TArabie, p. 136)
says that the neighbourhood of
Alexandria is so fertile, that ' le
froment y rend le centuple.' See
also on its rich vegetation,
MatUr, Histoire de PEcole cTAlex-
andrie, vol. i. p. 52.
109 The encouragement given
to the increase of population by
the fertility arising from the in-
undation of the Nile, is observed
by many writers, but by none so
judiciously as Malthus ; Essay
on Population, vol. i. pp. 161-163.
This great work, the principles
of which have been grossly mis-
represented, is still the beat
88 INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
the laws already noticed came into uncontrolled opera-
tion. By virtue of those laws, the Egyptians were not
only satisfied with a cheap food, but they required that
food in comparatively small quantities ; thus by a double
process, increasing the limit to which their numbers
could extend. At the same time the lower orders were
able to rear their offspring with the greater ease, be-
cause, owing to the high rate of temperature, another
considerable source of expense was avoided ; the heat
being such that, even for adults, the necessary clothes
were few and slight, while the children of the working
class.es were entirely naked ; affording a striking con-
trast to those colder countries where, to preserve ordi-
nary health, a supply of warmer and more costly
covering is essential. Diodorus Siculus, who travelled
in Egypt nineteen centuries ago, says, that to bring up
a child to manhood did not cost more than twenty
drachmas, scarcely thirteen shillings English money ;
a circumstance which he justly notices as a cause of
the populousness of the country. 110
To compress into a single sentence the preceding
remarks, it may be said that in Egypt the people mul-
tiplied rapidly, because while the soil increased their
supplies, the climate lessened their wants. The result
was, that Egypt was not only far more thickly peopled
than any other country in Africa, but probably more so
than any in the ancient world. Our information upon
this point is indeed somewhat scanty, but it is derived
from sources of unquestioned credibility. Herodotus,
who the more he is understood the more accurate he is
which has heen written on the Kcil iravre\ws air'i<TTOv. . . . aw-
important subject of population, nroSiruv 8e twv irhtlffTwv ical
though the author, from a want yvpivwv rpe<pofieyau/ Sta tV
of sufficient reading, often errs in evKpaalav t&v t6tto>v, tV icatrav
his illustrations; while he, un- dandvyv oi yovets, &xp is &«* 6 '*
fortunately, had no acquaintance vM/dai/ (\drj rb t4kvov, ov ir\elw
with those branches of physical TroiovciSpaxfJ-civeiKoa-i. Si'&salrlas
knowledge which are intimately fidXiara tV A-tyinr^ov (rvfxfiaivn
connected with economical in- iroAvavOpanritf. hiaipepeiv, ko.1 dik
quiries. tovto irtelaras ex 6 "' peydtomr
110 Tp(<pov<ri 5e rh iraiXla /te- fy-uivKarao-Kevdi. Bibliothec. Hist.
?d rivos eiixepeias adairdvov, book i. chap. Ixxx. vol. i. p. 238.
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
89
found to be, 111 states that in the reign of Amasis there
were said to have been twenty thousand inhabited
cities. 118 This may, perhaps, be considered an exagge-
ration ; but what is very observable is, that Diodorus
Siculus, who travelled in Egypt four centuries after
Herodotus, and whose jealousy of the reputation of his
great predecessor made him anxious to discredit his
statements, 113 does nevertheless, on this important
point, confirm them. For he not only remarks that
Egypt was at that time as densely inhabited as any
existing country, but he adds, on the authority of
records which were then extant, that it was formerly
the most populous in the world, having contained, he
says, upwards of eighteen thousand cities. 114
These were the only two ancient writers who, from
personal knowledge, were well acquainted with the
state of Egypt; 118 and their testimony is the more
111 Frederick Schlegel (Philos.
of Hist. p. 247, London, 1846)
truly says, .' The deeper and
more comprehensive the re-
searches of the moderns have
been on ancient history, the more
have their regard and esteem for
Herodotus increased.' His minute
information respecting Egypt
and Asia Minor is now admitted
by all competent geographers;
and I may add, that a recent and
very able traveller has given
some curious proofs of his know-
ledge even of the western parts
of Siberia. See Erman's valuable
work, Travels in Siberia, vol. i.
pp. 211, 297-301.
113 'EV 'A/wknos 8* &acri\tos
\eytTcu Alyvirros n&Kio-n. Sii r6re
tiiScunoinjtrcu, ical rh curb rod
nora/xov rjj X&PV yivdjxeva, nal ra
&*b T7JJ X^PW TO«(Tl avOp&irouri.
k<x\ wdAi* iv avrfj ytvfffdat ras
ananas rSrt Swrfiupfa* tat oIk(o-
fiiva*. Herodot. book ii. chap,
clxxvii. vol. i. pp. 881, 882.
"» Diodorus, who, though an
honest and painstaking man, was
in every respect inferior to Hero-
dotus, says, impertinently enough,
8cro (ihv ovv 'HpoSoros Kai rives
tS>v ras AlyvTrrlaiv irpa^eis avv-
Ta£afj.4va>v ^<rx«8i<£Kao'i»', tKovalus
irpoKpivavriS tt)s a\ri6tlas rb
irapaSo^oXoytlv, ical /j.vdovs tt\<£t-
rttv ipvxaywylas 'ivtKa, irapi}ffvfxtv.
Biblioth. Hist, book i. chap.
Ixix. vol. i. p. 207. In other
places he alludes to Herodotus
in the same tone, without actu-
ally mentioning him.
1,4 TloKvavOpanria 8i rb fthu
ira\atbv iro\v irpoiax* irivroiv
tSiv yvajpifaiAtvcov t6tm>v Kara
r))v oiKovfiii^nv, Kai Ka6' fi/xas 8£
ovSevbf rwv &\Kwv 8ok«I \tlvt ertfeu.
iirl yitv yap ribv apx<*^<» v XP^ VU>V
&TX< K<bfias a^to\6yovs, Kai Tr6,\as
irKeiuvs r&v fxvpiuv koI OKTOKiffxi-
AiW, &>S iv rah avaypaipais bpav
IffTi KaraK*x iu 'pi ff l lL * v0V - Diod.
Sir. Biblioth. Hist, book i. chap.
xxxi. vol. i. p. 89.
"* Notwithstanding the posi-
tive assertions of M. Matter
90
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
valuable because it was evidently drawn from different
sources ; the information of Herodotus being chiefly
collected at Memphis, that of Diodorus at Thebes. 116
And whatever discrepancies there may be between
these two accounts, they are both agreed respecting the
rapid increase of the people, and the servile condition
into which they bad fallen. Indeed, the mere appear-
ance of those huge and costly buildings, whicb are still
standing, are a proof of tbe state of the nation that
erected them. To raise structures so stupendous, 117
and yet so useless, 118 there must have been tyranny on
the part of the rulers, and slavery on the part of the
{Hist, de VEcole cV Alexandrie, vol.
ii. p. 285 ; compare Hist, du Gnos-
ticisme, vol. i. p. 48), there is no
good evidence for the supposed
travels in Egypt of the earlier
Greeks, and it is even questionable
if Plato ever visited that country.
(' Whether he ever was in Egypt
is doubtful.' Bunsen's Egypt,
vol. i. p. 60.) The Komans
took little interest in the subject
{Bunsen, vol. i. pp. 152-158);
and, says M. Bunsen, p. 152,
'with Diodorus all systematic
inquiry into the history of Egypt
ceases, not only on the part of
the Greeks, but of the ancients
in general.' Mr. Leake, in an
essay on the Quorra, arrives at
the conclusion, that after the time
of Ptolemy, the ancients made no
additions to their knowledge of
African geography. Journal of
Geographical Society, vol. ii. p. 9.
116 See on this some good re-
marks in Heeren's African Na-
tions, vol. ii. pp. 202-207 ; and
as to the difference between
the traditions of Thebes and
Memphis, see Matter, Histoire
de VEcole d' Alexandrie, vol. i. p.
7- The power and importance
of the two cities fluctuated. ix>th
being at different periods the
capital. Hansen's Egypt, vol.
ii. pp. 54, 55, 244, 445, 446;
Vyse on the Pyramids, vol. iii.
pp. 27, 100 ; Sharpens History of
Egypt, vol. i. pp. 9, 19, 24, 34,
167, 185.
117 Sir John Herschel {Disc,
on Natural Philosophy, p. 60)
calculates that the great pyra-
mid weighs twelve thousand
seven hundred and sixty million
pounds. Compare LyelVs Prin-
ciples of Geology, p. 459, where
the still larger estimate of six
million tons is given. But ac-
cording to Perring, the present
quantity of masonry is 6,316,000
tons, or 82,110,000 cubic feet.
See Bunsen's Egypt, vol. ii. p.
155, London, 1854, and Vyse on
the Pyramids, 1840, vol. ii. p.
113.
118 Many fanciful hypotheses
have been put forward as to the
purpose for which the pyramids
were built; but it is now ad-
mitted that they were neither
more nor less than tombs for
the Egyptian kings ! See Bun-
sen's Egypt, vol. ii. pp. xvii. 88,
105, 372. 389; and Sharpe's
History of Egypt, vol. i. p. 21.
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 91
people. No wealth, however great, no expenditure,
however lavish, could meet the expense which would
have been incurred, if they had been the work of free
men, who received for their labour a fair and honest
reward. 119 But in Egypt, as in India, such considera-
tions were disregarded, because everything tended to
favour the upper ranks of society and depress the lower.
Between the two there was an immense and impassable
gap. 120 If a member of the industrious classes changed
his usual employment, t>r was known to pay attention
to political matters, he was severely punished ; 121 and
under no circumstances was the possession of land
allowed to an agricultural labourer, to a mechanic, or
indeed to any one except the king, the clergy, and the
army. 121 The people at large were little better than
beasts of burden ; and all that was expected from them
was an unremitting and unrequited labour. If they
neglected their work, they were flogged ; and the same
punishment was frequently inflicted upon domestic
servants, and even upon women. 123 These and similar
regulations were well conceived ; they were admirably
suited to that vast social system, which, because it was
based on despotism, could only be upheld by cruelty.
Hence it was that, the industry of the whole nation
119 For an estimate of the ' If any artizan meddled with
expense at which one of the political affairs, or engaged in
pyramids could he huilt in our any other employment than the
time by European workmen, see one to which he had been
Vyse on the Pyramids, vol. ii. brought up, a severe punishment
p. 268. On account, however, was instantly inflicted upon
of the number of disturbing him.' Compare Diod. Sic. Bih-
causes, such calculations have liothec. Hist, book i. chap,
little value. lxxiv. voL i. p. 223.
120 Those who complain that m Wilkinson's Ancient Egyp-
in Europe this interval is still tians, voL i. p. 263, vol. ii. p. 2 ;
too great, may derive a species SharpJs History of Egypt, vol.
of satisfaction from studying the ii. p. 24.
old extrarEuropean civilizations. ia Wilkinson's Ancient Egyp-
m Wilkinsons Ancient Egyp- tians, vol. ii. pp. 41, 42, vol. iii.
tians, vol. ii. pp. 8, 9. 'Nor p. 69, vol. iv. p. 131. Compare
was anyone permitted to meddle Ammianus Marcellinus, in Ha-
with political affairs, or to hold milton's JEgyptiaca, p. 309.
any civil office in the state.' . .
92 INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
being at the absolute command of a small part of it,
there arose the possibility of rearing those vast edifices,
which inconsiderate observers admire as a proof of
civilization, 184 but which, in reality, are evidence of a
state of things altogether depraved and unhealthy ; a
state in which the skill and the arts of an imperfect-
refinement injured those whom they ought to have
benefited ; so that the very resources which the people
had created were turned against the people themselves.
That in such a society as this, much regard should
be paid to human suffering, it would indeed be idle to
expect. 125 Still, we are startled by the reckless prodi-
gality with which, in Egypt, the upper classes squan-
dered away the labour and the lives of the people. In
this respect, as the monuments yet remaining abun-
dantly prove, they stand alone and without a rival. We
may form some idea of the almost incredible waste,
when we hear that two thousand men were occupied
for three years in carrying a single stone from Elephan-
tine to Sais ; 126 that the Canal of the Red Sea alone,
124 Vyse on the Pyramids, vol. den Bau befahlen.' Herder's
i. p. 61, vol. ii. p. 92. Idem zur Geschichte, vol. iii. pp.
125 'Ein Konig ahmte den 103,104: see also p. 293, and
andern nach, oder suchte ihn some admirable remarks in Vol-
zu iibertreffen ; indess das gut- ney's Voyage en Egypte, vol. i.
miithige Volk seine Lebenstage pp. 240, 241. Even M. Bunsen,
am Baue dieser Monumente ver- notwithstanding his admiration,
zehren musste. So entstanden says of one of the pyramids, ' the
wahrscheinlich die Pyramiden misery of the people, already
und Obe.isken Aegyptens. Nur grievously oppressed, was aggra-
in den altesten Zeiten wurden vated by the construction of this
sie gebauet: denn die spatere gigantic building The
Zeit und jede Nation, die ein bones of the oppressors of the
niitzlichesGewerbetreibenlernte, people who for two whole gene-
bauete keine Pyramiden mehr. rations harassed hundreds of
Weit gefehlt also, dass Pyra- thousands from day to day,'
miden ein Kennzeichen von der &c. Bunsen's Egypt, vol. ii.
G-liickseligkeit und Aufklarung p. 176, a learned and enthusias-
des alten Aegyptens seyn soil- tic work.
ten, sind sie ein unwidersprech- I26 Kal tovto iic6ni(ou ph In*
liches Denkmal von dem Aber- erea rpia S.crx^ioi 5e oi irpoo-fre-
glauben und der Gedankenlosig- Ttix ar0 &"5pa ayuyets. Herodot.
keit sowohl der Armen, die da book ii. chap, clxxv. vol. i. p.
baueten, als der Ehrgeizigen, die 897. On the enormous weight of
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
93
cost the lives of a hundred and twenty thousand
Egyptians ; 127 and that to build one of the pyramids
required the labour of three hundred and sixty thousand
men for twenty years. 128
If, passing from the history of Asia and Africa, we
now turn to the New World, we shall meet with fresh
proof of the accuracy of the preceding views. The
only parts of America which before the arrival of the
Europeans were in some degree civilized, were Mexico
and Peru; 129 to which may probably be added that
long and narrow tract which stretches from the south
of Mexico to the Isthmus of Panama. In this latter
country, which is now known as Central America, the
inhabitants, aided by the fertility of the soil, 130 seem to
have worked out for themselves a certain amount of
knowledge ; since the ruins still extant, prove the pos-
session of a mechanical and architectural skill too
considerable to be acquired by any nation entirely
barbarous. 131 Beyond this, nothing is known of their
the stones which the Egyptians
sometimes carried, see Bunseris
Egypt, voL i. p. 379 ; and as to
the machines employed, and the
nse of inclined roads for the
transit, see Vyse on the Pyra-
mids, vol. i. p. 197, vol. iii. pp.
14, 38.
127 Wilkinson's Ancient Egyp-
tians, vol. i. p. 70: but this
learned writer is unwilling to
believe a statement so adverse
to his favourite Egyptians. It
is likely enough that there is
some exaggeration ; still no one
can dispute the fact of an enor-
mous and unprincipled waste of
human life.
I2S Tpidjcoyra fiiv yap Kal ${
uvpiddfs avSpwv, S>s (paat, rats
tuv tpyoov \tiTovpylous irpoffi)-
Sptvffav, rb 84 irav KaTOurKeiourp.a
r^Kos ?<rx« /i6yis irwv dicoffi
Si(\d6vruv. Diod. Sic. Bibliothec.
Hist, book i.ch.lxiii. vol. i.p. 188.
M 'When compared with
other parts of the New World,
Mexico and Peru may be con-
sidered as polished states.' His-
tory of Anurica, book vii. in
Bobertson's Works, p. 904. See,
to the same effect, Journal of
Geograph. Society, vol. v. p. 355.
180 Compare Squier's Central
America, vol. i. pp. 34, 244, 358,
421, vol. ii. p. 307, with Journal,
of Geograph. Society, vol. iii. p.
59, vol. viii. pp. 319, 323.
1,1 Mr. Squier (Central Ame-
rica, vol. ii. p. 68), who explored
Nicaragua, says of the statues,
' the material, in every case, is a
black basalt, of great hardness,
which, with the best of modern
tools, can only be cut with diffi-
culty.' Mr. Stephens (Central
Amirica, vol. ii. p. 356) found
at Palenque ' elegant specimens
of art and models for study.'
See also vol. iii. pp. 276, 389,
04
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
history ; but the accounts we have of such buildings as
Copan, Palenque, and Uxmal, make it highly probable
that Central America was the ancient seat of a civili-
zation, in all essential points similar to those of India
and Egypt ; that is to say, similar to them in respect to
the unequal distribution of wealth and power, and the
thraldom in which the great body of the people conse-
quently remained. 132
But although the evidence from which we might
estimate the former condition of Central America is
almost entirely lost, 133 we are more fortunate in regard
406, vol, iv. p. 293. Of the
paintings at Chichen he says
(vol. iv. p. 311), ' they exhibit a
freedom of touch which could
only be the result of discipline
and training under masters.'
At Copan (vol. i. p. 151), 'it
would be impossible, with the
best instruments of modern times,
to cut stones more perfectly.'
And at Uxmal (vol. ii. p. 431),
throughout, the laying and
polishing of the stones are as
perfect as under the rules of the
best modern masonry.' Our
knowledge of Central America
is almost entirely derived from
these two writers ; and al-
though the work of Mr. Stephens
is much the more minute, Mr.
Squier says (vol. ii. p. 306),
what I believe is quite true, that
until the appearance of his own
book in 1853, the monuments in
Nicaragua were entirely un-
known. Short descriptions of the
remains in Guatemala and Yu-
catan will be found in Lare-
naudUre's Mexique et Guatemala,
pp. 308-327, and in Journal of
Geograph. Society, vol. iii. pp.
60-63.
182 See the remarks on Yuca-
tan in PricharcCs Physical His-
tory of Mankind^ vol. v. p. 348 :
' a great and industrious, though
perhaps, as the writer above
cited (Gallatin) observes, an
enslaved population. Splendid
temples and palaces attest the
power of the priests and nobles,
while as usual no trace remains
of the huts in which dwelt the
mass of the nation.'
133 Dr. M'Culloh {Researches
concerning the Aboriginal History
of America, pp. 272-340) has
collected from the Spanish wri-
ters some meagre statements
respecting the early condition
of Central America; but of its
social state and history, properly
so called, nothing is known ;
nor is it even certain to what
family of nations the inhabitants
belonged, though a recent author
can find ' la civilisation guate-
malienne ou misteco-zapoteque
et mayaquiche vivante pour nous
encore dans les mines de Mitla
et de Palenque.' Mexique et
Guatemala, par Larenaudiere, p.
8, Paris, 1843. Dr. Prichard,
too, refers the ruins in Central
America to 'the Mayan race:'
see Prichard on Ethnology, in
Report of British Association for
1847, p.' 252. But the evidence
for these and similar statements
is very unsatisfactory.
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 95
to the histories of Mexico and Peru. There are still
existing considerable and authentic materials, from
which we may form an opinion on the ancient state of
those two countries, and on the nature and extent of
their civilization. Before, however, entering upon this
subject, it will be convenient to point out what those
physical laws were which determined the localities of
American civilization ; or, in other words, why it was
that in these countries alone, society should have been
organized into a fixed and settled system, while the
rest of the New World was peopled by wild and igno-
rant barbarians. Such an inquiry will be found highly
interesting, as affording further proof of the extraor-
dinary, and indeed irresistible, force with which the
powers of nature have controlled the fortunes of man.
The first circumstance by which we must be struck,
is that in America, as in Asia and Africa, all the ori-
ginal civilizations were seated in hot countries ; the
whole of Peru proper being within the southern tropic,
the whole of Central America and Mexico within the
northern tropic. How the heat of the climate operated
on the social and political arrangements of India and
Egypt, I have attempted to examine ; and it has, I
trust, been proved that the result was brought about
by diminishing the wants and requirements of the
people, and thus producing a very unequal distribution
of wealth and power. But, besides this, there is another
way in which the average temperature of a country
affects its civilization, and the discussion of which I
have reserved for the present moment, because it may
be more clearly illustrated in America than elsewhere.
Indeed, in the New World, the scale on which Nature
works, being much larger than in the Old, and her
forces being more overpowering, it is evident that her
operations on mankind may be studied with greater
advantage than in countries where she is weaker, and
where, therefore, the consequences of her movements
are less conspicuous.
If the reader will bear in mind the immense influenco
which an abundant national food has been shown to
exercise, he will easily understand how, owing to the
96
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
pressure of physical phenomena, the civilization of
.America was, of necessity, confined to those parts where
alone it was found by the discoverers of the New
World. For, setting aside the chemical and geognostic
varieties of soil, it may be said that the two causes
which regulate the fertility of every country are heat
and moisture. 134 Where these are abundant, the land
will be exuberant ; where they are deficient, it will be
sterile. This rule is, of course, in its application sub-
ject to exceptions, arising from physical conditions
which are independent of it ; but if other things are
equal, the rule is invariable. And the vast additions
which, since the construction of isothermal lines, have
been made to our knowledge of geographical botany,
enable us to lay this down as a law of nature, proved
not only by arguments drawn from vegetable physio-
logy, but also by a careful study of the proportions in
which plants are actually distributed in different coun-
tries. 135
184 Respecting the connection
between the vegetable produc-
tions of a country and its geog-
nostic peculiarities, little is yet
known ; but the reader may
compare Meyeris Geography of
Plants, p. 64, with Reports on
Botany by the Bay Society, 1846,
pp. 70, 71. The chemical laws
of soil are much better under-
stood, and have a direct practi-
cal bearing on the use of ma-
nures. See Turner's Chemistry,
vol. ii. pp. 1310-1314 ; Brande's
Chemistry, vol. i. p. 691, vol. ii.
pp. 1867-1869; Balfour's Bo-
tany, pp. 116-122; Liebig and
Kopp's Reports, vol. ii. pp. 315,
328, vol. iii. p. 463, vol. iv. pp.
438, 442, 446.
185 As to the influence of heat
and moisture on the geographical
distribution of plants, see Hen-
slew's Botany, pp. 295-300, and
Balfour's Botany, pp. 560-563.
Meyen (Geog. of Plants, p. 263)
says, 'I, therefore, after allowing
for local circumstances, bring the
vegetation of islands also under
the law of nature, according to
which the number of species
constantly increases with in-
creasing heat and corresponding
humidity.' On the effect of
temperature alone, compare a
note in Erman's Siberia, vol. i.
pp. 64, 65, with Reports on
Botany by the Ray Society, pp.
339, 340. In the latter work, it
is supposed that heat is the most
important of all single agents ;
and though this is probably
true, still the influence of hu-
midity is immense. I may
mention as an instance of this,
that it has been recently ascer-
tained that the oxygen used by
seeds during germination, is not
always taken from the air, but
is obtained by decomposing
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
97
A general survey of the continent of America will
illustrate the connexion between this law and the sub-
ject now before us. In the first place, as regards
moisture, all the great rivers in the New World are on
the eastern coast, none of them on the western. The
causes of this remarkable fact are unknown ; 13C but it
is certain that neither in North, nor in South America,
does one considerable river empty itself into the Pacific ;
while on the opposite side there are numerous rivers,
some of enormous magnitude, all of great importance,
as the Negro, the La Plata, the San Francisco, the
Amazon, the Orinoco, the Mississippi, the Alabama, the
Saint John, the Potomac, the Susquehannah, the Dela-
ware, the Hudson, and the Saint Lawrence. By this
vast water-system the soil is towards the east constantly
irrigated : 137 but towards the west there is in North
America only one river of value, the Oregon ; 138 while
water. See the curious experi-
ments of Edwards and Colin in
Lindlei/s Botany, vol. ii. pp.
261, 262, London, 1848; and
on the direct nourishment which
water supplies to vegetables, see
Burdache's great work, Traite de
Physio/ogie, vol. ix. pp. 254, 398.
136 There is a difference be-
tween the watersheds of the
eastern and western ranges,
which explains this in part, but
not entirely; and even if the
explanation were more satisfac-
tory than it is, it is too proxi-
mate to the phenomenon to have
much scientific value, and must
itself be referred to higher geo-
logical considerations.
'*' Of this irrigation some idea
may be formed from an estimate
that the Amazon drains an area
of 2,500,000 square miles ; that
its mouth is 96 miles wide ; and
that it is navigable 2,200 miles
from its mouth Somerville's
Physical Geography, vol. i. p.
vol. L J
423. Indeed, it is said in an
essay on the Hydrography of
South America (Journal of Geo-
graph. Society, vol. ii. p. 250),
that ' with the exception of one
short portage of three miles,
water flows, and is for the most
part navigable, between Buenos
Ayres, in 35° south latitude, to
the mouth of the Orinoco, in
nearly 9° north. See also on this
river-system, vol. v. p. 93, vol. x.
p. 267. In regard to North Ame-
rica, Mr. Rogers (Geology of
Korth America, p. 8, Brit. Assoc,
for 1834) says, ' the area drained
by the Mississippi and all its
tributaries is computed at
1,099,000 square miles.' Com-
pare Richardson's Arctic Exptdi-
lion, vol. ii. p. 164.
,s " The Oregon, or Columbia
as it is sometimes called, forms
a remarkable botanical line,
which is the boundary of the Cali-
fornian flora. See Reports on
llutanyby t/ui Bay Society, p.113.
98 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
in Sotith America, from the Isthmus of Panama to the
Straits of Magellan, there is no great river at all.
But as to the other main cause of fertility, namely
heat, we find in North America a state of things pre-
cisely the reverse. There we find that while the irri-
gation is on the east, the heat is on the west. 139 This
difference of temperature between the two coasts is
probably connected with some great meteorological
law ; for in the whole of the northern hemisphere, the
eastern part of continents and of islands is colder than
the western. 140 Whether, however, this is owing to
some large and comprehensive cause, or whether each
instance has a cause peculiar to itself, is an alternative,
in the present state of knowledge, impossible to decide ;
but the fact is unquestionable, and its influence upon
the early history of America is extremely curious. In
consequence of it,- the two great conditions of fertility
have not been united in any part of the continent north
of Mexico. The countries on the one side have wanted
heat ; those on the other side have wanted irrigation.
The accumulation of wealth being thus impeded, the
progress of society was stopped ; and until, in the six-
teenth century, the knowledge of Europe was brought
to bear upon America, there is no instance of any people
north of the twentieth parallel, reaching even that
139 For proof that the mean by the Ray Society, p. 8, which
temperature of the western coast should be compared with Forry
of North America is higher than on the Climate of the Unittd
that of the eastern coast, see States and its Endemic Influences,
Journal of Geograph. Society, New York, 1842, p. 89.
vol. ix. p. 380, vol. xi. pp. 168, M0 ' Writers on climate have
216 ; Humboldt, la Nouvelle remarked that the eastern coasts
Espagne, vol. i. pp. 42, 336 ; ' of continents in the northern
Richardson's Arctic Expedition, hemisphere have a lower mean
vol. ii. pp. 214, 218, 219, 259, temperature than the western
260. This is well illustrated by coasts.' Richardson on North
the botanical fact, that on the American Zoology, p. 129, Brit.
west coast the Coniferse grow as Assoc, for 1836 : see also Report
high as 68° or 70° north lati- for 1841, Sections, p. 28; Davis's
tude; while on the east their China, vol. iii. pp. 140, 141;
northern limit is 60°. See an Journal of Geograph. Society,
Essay on the Morphology of the vol. xxii. p. 176.
Coniferse, in Reports on Botany
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
99
imperfect civilization to which the inhabitants of India
and of Egypt easily attained. 141 On the other hand,
south of the twentieth parallel, the continent suddenly
changes its form, and, rapidly contracting, becomes a
small strip of land, until it reaches the Isthmus of
Panama. This narrow tract was the centre of Mexican
civilization ; and a comparison of the preceding argu-
ments will easily show why such was the case ; for the
peculiar configuration of the land secured a very large
amount of coast, and thus gave to the southern part of
North America the character of an island. Hence there
arose one of the characteristics of an insular climate,
namely, an increase of moisture caused by the watery
vapour which springs from the sea. 142 While, therefore,
the position of Mexico near the equator gave it heat,
Ml The little that is known of
the early state of the North-
American tribes has been brought
together by Dr. M'Culloh in his
learned work, Researches con-
cerning America, pp. 119-146.
He says, p. 121, that they ' lived
together without laws and civil
regulations.' In that part of
the world, the population has
probably never been fixed ; and
we now know that the inhabi-
tants of the north-east of Asia
have at different times passed
over to the north-west of
America, as in the case of the
Tschuktschi, who are found in
both continents. Indeed, Dobell
was so struck by the similarity
between the North-American
tribes and some he met with
nearly as far west as Tomsk,
that he believed their origin to
be the same. See DobelVs Travels
in Kamtschatka and Siberia,
1830, vol. ii. p. 112. And on this
question of intercourse between
the two continents, compare
Crants's History of Greenland,
vol. i. pp. 259, 260, with Richurrf-
son's Arctic Expedition, vol. i. pp.
362, 363, and Prichard's Physical
History of Mankind, vol. iv. pp.
458, 463, vol. v. pp. 371, 378.
142 From general physical
considerations, we should suppose
a relation between amount of
rain and extent of coast ; and in
Europe, where alone we have
extensive meteorological records,
the connexion has been proved
statistically. ' If the quantity
of rain that falls in different
parts of Europe is measured, it
is found to be less, other things
being equal, as we recede from
the sea-shore.' Kaemte's Meteoro-
logy, 1845, p. 139. Compare pp.
91, 94. Hence, no doubt, the
greater rarity of rain as we
advance north from Mexico. ' Au
nord du 20°, surtout depuis les
22° au 30° de latitude, les pluies,
quo ne durent que pendant les
mois de juin. de juillet, d'aou*.
et de septembre, sont peu fre-
quentes dans l'interieur du pays.'
Humboldt, la Nouvelle Espagne,
vol. i. p. 46.
100 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
the shape of the land gave it humidity ; and this being
the only part of North America in which these two
conditions were united, it was likewise the only part
which was at all civilized. There can be no doubt that
if the sandy plains of California and southern Columbia,
instead of being scorched into sterility, had been irri-
gated by the rivers of the east, or if the rivers of the
east had been accompanied by the heat of the west, the
result of either combination would have been that
exuberance of soil by which, as the history of the world
decisively proves, every early civilization was preceded.
But inasmuch as, of the two elements of fertility, one
was deficient in every part of America north of the
twentieth parallel, it followed that, until that line was
passed, civilization could gain no resting-place ; and
there never has been found, and we may confidently
assert never will be found, any evidence that even a
single ancient nation, in the whole of that enormous
continent, was able to make much progress in the arts
of life, or organize itself into a fixed and permanent
society.
Thus far as to the physical agents which controlled
the early destinies of North America. But in refe-
rence to South America, a different train of circum-
stances came into play ; for the law by virtue of which
the eastern coasts are colder than the western, is not
only inapplicable to the southern hemisphere, but is
replaced by another law precisely the reverse. North
of the equator, the east is colder than the west ; south
of the equator, the east is hotter than the west. 143 If
now, we connect this fact with what has been noticed
respecting the vast river-system which distinguishes
the east of America from the west, it becomes evident
that in South America there exists that cooperation of
heat and humidity in which North America is deficient.
143 ' The difference between here the west coasts are colder
the climates of the east and than the east, while in the
west coasts of continents and northern hemisphere the east
islands, has also been observed coasts are the colder.' Meyeris
in the southern hemisphere but Geography of Plants, 1846, p. 24.
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 101
The result is, that the soil in the eastern part of South
America is remarkable for its exuberance, not only
within the tropic, but considerably beyond it ; the
south of Brazil, and even part of Uruguay, possessing
a fertility not to be found in any country of North
America situated nnder a corresponding latitude.
On a hasty view of the preceding generalizations,
it might be expected that the eastern side of South
America, being thus richly endowed by nature, 144 would
have been the seat of one of those civilizations, which,
in other parts of the world, similar causes produced.
But if we look a little further, we shall find that what
has just been pointed out, by no means exhausts even
the physical bearings of this subject, and that we must
take into consideration a third great agent, which has
sufficed to neutralize the natural results of the other
two, and to retain in barbarism the inhabitants of what
otherwise would have been the most flourishing of all
the countries of the New World.
The agent to which 1 allude is the trade- wind ; a
striking phenomenon, by whieh, as we shall hereafter
see, all the civilizations anterior to those of Europe
were greatly and injuriously influenced. This wind
covers no less than 56° of latitude ; 28° north of the
equator, and 28° south of it. ,4S In this large tract,
which comprises some of the most fertile countries in
144 Mr. Darwin, who has writ- sec. xiv.) is expressed too
ten one of the most valuable generally, and should be confined
works ever published on South to continents north of the equa-
Ameriea, was struck by this tor.
superiority of the eastern coast ; l4S The trade-winds sometimes
and he mentions that ' fruits reach the thirtieth parallel. See
which ripen well and are very DanielFs Mtteorological Essays,
abundant, such as the grape and p. 469. Dx. Traill {Physical
fig, in latitude 41° on the east Geography, Edin. 1838, p. 200),
coast, succeed very poorly in a says, 'they extend to about 30°
lower latitude on the opposite on each side of the equator:' but
side of the continent.' Darwin's I believe they are rarely found
Journal of Researches, Lond. so high; though Robertson is
1840, p. 268. Compare Meyen's certainly wrong in supposing
Geog. of Plants, pp. 25, 188. that they are peculiar to the
So that the proposit ion of Daniell tropics ; Histori/ of America, book
{Meteorological Essays, p. 104, iv. in Rolxrtsou's Works, p. 781.
102
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
the world, the trade-wind blows, during the whole
year, either from, the north-east or from the south-
east. 146 The causes of this regularity are now well
understood, and are known to depend partly on the
displacement of air at the equator, and partly on the
motion of the earth ; for the cold air from the poles is
constantly flowing towards the equator, and thus pro-
ducing northerly winds in the northern hemisphere,
and southerly winds in the southern. These winda
are, however, deflected from their natural course by
*he movement of the earth, as it revolves on its axis
from west to east. And as the rotation of the earth
is, of course, more rapid at the equator than elsewhere,
it happens that in the neighbourhood of the equator
the speed is so great as to outstrip the movements of
the atmosphere from the poles, and forcing them into
another direction, gives rise to those easterly currents
which are called trade- winds. 147 What, however, we
1,6 ' In the northern hemi-
sphere the trade- wind blows from
the north-east, and in the
southern from the south-east.'
Meyen's Geog. of Plants, p. 42.
Compare Walsh's Brazil, vol. i.
p. 112, vol. ii. p. 494; and on
the ' tropical east-wind ' of the
Gulf of Mexico, see Forty's
Climate of the United States, p.
206. Dr. Forry says that it has
given to the growth of the trees
' an inclination from the sea.'
147 Respecting the causes of
the trade-winds, see SomervUle's
Connexion oftlie Physical Sciences,
pp. 136, 137; Leslie's Natural
Philosophy, p. 518; Daniell's
Meteorological Essays, pp. 44,
102, 476-481; Kaemtz's Meteo-
rology, pp. 37-39 ; Prout's Bridge-
water Treatise, pp. 254-256. The
discovery of the true theory is
often ascribed to Mr. Daniell;
but Hadley was the real dis-
coverer. Note in Prout, p. 257.
The monsoons, which popular
writers frequently confuse with
the trade-winds, are said to be
caused by the predominance of
land, and by the difference
between its temperature and that
of the sea : see Kaemtz,^. 42-45.
On what may be called the
conversion of the trades into
monsoons, according to the laws
very recently promulgated by
M. Dove, see Beport of British
Association for 1847 (Transac. of
Sections, p. 30) and Beport for
1848, p. 94. The monsoons are
noticed in Humboldt's Cosmos,
vol. ii. p. 485 ; Asiatic Besearches,
vol. xviii. part i. p. 261 ; Thirl-
wall's History of Greece, vol. vii.
pp. 13, 55 ; Journal of Geograph.
Society, vol. ii. p. 90, vol. iv. pp.
8, 9, 148, 149, 169, vol. xi. p.
162, vol. xv. pp. 146-149, vol.
xvi. p. 185, vol. xviii. pp. 67, 68,
vol. xxiii. p. 112 ; Low's Sarawak,
p. 30.
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. lOo
are now rather concerned with, is not so much an ex-
planation of the trade-winds, as an account of the way
in which this great physical phenomenon is connected
with the history of South America.
The trade-wind, blowing on the eastern coast of
South America, and proceeding from the east, crosses
the Atlantic Ocean, and therefore reaches the land sur-
charged with the vapours accumulated in its passage.
These vapours, on touching the shore, are, at periodical
intervals, condensed into rain ; and as their progress
westward is checked by that gigantic chain of the
Andes, which they are unable to pass, 148 they pour
the whole of their moisture on Brazil, which, in
consequence, is often deluged by the most destructive
torrents. 149 This abundant supply, being aided by
that vast river-system peculiar to the eastern part of
America, and being also accompanied by heat, has
stimulated the soil into an activity unequalled in any
other part of the world. 150 Brazil, which is nearly as
large as the whole of Europe, is covered with a vege-
M * LyelTs Principles of Geo- are sufficient to compensate even
logy, pp. 201, 714, 715 ; see also the poorest soil; so that ' rocks,
Somerville's Physical Geography, on which scarcely a trace of earth
vol. ii. p. 71. And on this con- is to be observed, are covered
iining power of the Cordillera of with vellozias, tillandsias, me-
the Andes, see Azara, Voyages lastomaceae, cacti, orchidese, and
dans I'Ameriqice Meridionale, ferns, and all in the vigour of
vol. i. p. 33. According to Dr. life.' Gardner's Travels in Bra-
Tschudi, the eastern chain is zil, p. 9. See also on this com-
properly the Andes, and the bination, Walsh's Brazil, vol. ii.
western the Cordillera ; but this pp. 297, 298, acuriousdescriptioii
distinction is rarely made, of the rainy season : ' For eight
Tschudis Travels in Peru, p. 290. or nine hours a day, during some
'*• On the rain of Brazil, see weeks, I never had a dry shirt
Daniell's Mtteorological Kssays, on me; and the clothes I divest. I
p. 335; Darwin's Journal, pp. myself of at night, I put on
11, 33; Spix and Martius's quite wet in the morning. When
Travels in Brazil, vol. ii. p. 113, it did not rain, which was very
Gardner's Travels in Brazil, pp. litre, there shone out in some
53, 99. 114, 175, 233, 394. places a burning sun; and we
140 Dr. Gardner, who looked at went smoking along, the wet
these things with the eye of a exhaling by the heat, as if we
botanist, says that near Rio de were dissolving into vapour.'
Jauuiro the heat and moisture
104 INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
tation of incredible profusion. Indeed, so rank and
luxuriant is the growth, that Nature seems to riot in
the very wantonness of power. A great part of this
immense country is filled with dense and tangled
forests, whose noble trees, blossoming in unrivalled
beauty, and exquisite with a thousand hues, throw out
their produce in endless prodigality. On their summit
are perched birds of gorgeous plumage, which nestle
in their dark and lofty recesses. Below, their base
and trunks are crowded with brushwood, creeping
plants, innumerable parasites, all swarming with life.
There, too, are myriads of insects of every variety;
reptiles of strange and singular form ; serpents and
lizards, spotted with deadly beauty : all of which find
means of existence in this vast workshop and reposi-
tory of Nature. And that nothing may be wanting to
this land of marvels, the forests are skirted by enor-
mous meadows, which, reeking with heat and moisture,
supply nourishment to countless herds of wild cattle,
that browse and fatten on their herbage ; while the
adjoining plains, rich in another form of life, are the
chosen abode of the subtlest and most ferocious ani-
mals, which prey on each other, but which it might
almost seem no human power can hope to extirpate. 181
Such is the flow and abundance of life by which
Brazil is marked above all the other countries of
the earth. 152 But, amid this pomp and splendour of
'•' On the natural history of Gardner's Brazil, pp. 18, 32-34,
Brazil, I haTe compared a few 41-44, 131, 330; Spix and Mar-
notices in Swainsoris Geography tius's Brazil, vol. i. pp. 207-209,
of Animals, pp. 75-87, with 238-248, vol. ii. pp. 131, 160-163.
Cuvier, Begne Animal, vol. i. p. And as to the forests, which are
460, vol. ii. pp. 28, 65, 66, 89, among the wonders of the world,
vol. iv. pp. 51, 75, 258, 320, 394, Somerville's Physical Geog. vol.
485, 561, vol. v. pp. 40, 195, ii. pp. 204-206 ; Prichard's Phy-
272, 334, 553; Azara, Amerique sical History, vol. v. p. 497;
Meridionale, vol. i. pp. 244-388, Darwin's Journal, pp. 11, 24;
and the greater part of vols. iii. Walsh's Brazil, vol. i. p. 145,
andiv.; Winckler, Geschichte der vol. ii. pp. 29, 30, 253.
Botanik, pp. 378, 576-578 ; Sou- 1M This extraordinary richness
they' s History of Brazil, vol. i. has excited the astonishment of
p. 27, vol. iii. pp. 315, 823; all who have seen it. Mr. Walsh,
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 105
Nature, no place is left for Man. He is reduced to
insignificance by the majesty with which he is sur-
rounded. The forces that oppose him are so formid-
able that he has never been able to make head against
them, never able to rally against their accumulated
pressure. The whole of Brazil, notwithstanding its
immense apparent advantages, has always remained
entirely uncivilized ; its inhabitants wandering savages,
incompetent to resist those obstacles which the rery
bounty of Nature had put in their way. For the natives,
like every people in the infancy of society, are averse
to enterprise ; and being unacquainted with the arts by
which physical impediments are removed, they have
never attempted to grapple with the difficulties that
stopped their social progress. Indeed, those difficulties
are so serious, that during more than three hundred
years the resources of European knowledge have been
vainly employed in endeavouring to get rid of them.
Along the coast of Brazil, there has been introduced
from Europe a certain amount of that civilization,
which the natives by their own efforts could never
have reached. But such civilization, in itself very
imperfect, has never penetrated the recesses of the
country ; and in the interior there is still found a state
of things similar to that which has always existed.
The people, ignorant, and therefore brutal, practising
no restraint, and recognizing no law, continue to live
on in their old and inveterate barbarism. 183 In their
who had travelled in some very that he is scarcely able to walk
fertile countries, mentions • the at all.'
exceeding fecundity of nature IM Azara (Amirique MSri-
which characterizes Brazil.' dionale, vol. ii. pp. 1-168) gives a
Walsh's Brazil, vol. ii. p. 19. curious, but occasionally a dis-
And a very eminent naturalist, gusting account of the savage
Mr. Darwin, says(t7owr7ja/,p.29), natives in that part of Brazil
' In England, any person fond of south of 16°, to which his obser-
natural history enjoys in his vations wore limited. And as to
walks a great advantage, by the inhabitants of other parts,
always having something to b*q Henderson's History of Brazil,
attract his attention ; but in these pp. 28,29, 107, 173, 248, 315,
fertile climates, teeming with life, 473; M'Culloh's Researches cam-
the attractions are so numerous cerninq America, p. 77 ; and the
106 INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
country, the physical causes are so active, and do their
work on a scale of such unrivalled magnitude, that it
has hitherto been found impossible to escape from the
effects of their united action. The progress of agri-
culture is stopped by impassable forests, and the har-
vests are destroyed by innumerable insects. 154 The
mountains are too high to scale, the rivers are too
wide to bridge ; every thing is contrived to keep back
the human mind, and repress its rising ambition. It
is thus that the energies of Nature have hampered the
spirit of Man. Nowhere else is there so painful a con-
trast between the grandeur of the external world and
the littleness of the internal. And the mind, cowed by
this unequal struggle, has not only been unable to
advance, but without foreign aid it would undoubtedly
have seceded. For even at present, with all the im-
provements constantly introduced from Europe, there
are no signs of real progress ; while, notwithstanding the
frequency of colonial settlements, less than one-fiftieth
of the land is cultivated. 155 The habits of the people
are as barbarous as ever ; and as to their numbers, it
is well worthy of remark, that Brazil, the country
more recent account of Dr. Mar- time so prolific, that they fre-
tius, in Journal of Geograph. quently dispute possession of the
Society, vol. ii. pp. 191-199. ground with the husbandman
Even in 1817, it was rare to see defy all his skill to extirpate
a native in Kio de Janeiro (Spix their colonies, and fairly compel
and Martius's Travels in Brazil, him to leave his fields unculti-
vol. i. p. 142) ; and Dr. Gardner vated.' Swainson on the Geog-
(Travels in Brazil, pp. 61, 62) raphy and Classification of
says, that ' more than one nation Animals, p. 87. See more about
of Indians in Brazil ' have re- these insects in Darwin's Journal,
turned to that savage life from pp. 37-43 ; Southey's History of
which they had apparently been Brazil, vol. i. pp. 144, 256, 333-
reclaimed. 335, 343, vol. ii. pp. 365, 642,
154 Sir C. Lyell (Principles of vol. iii. p. 876 ; Spix and Mar-
Geology, p. 682) notices ' the tius's Travels in Brazil, vol. i. p.
incredible number of insects 259, vol. ii. p. 117; Cuvier, Regne
which lay waste the crops in Animal, vol. iv. p. 320.
Brazil ; ' and Mr. Swainson, who 155 The cultivated land is
had travelled in that country, estimated at from l£ to 2 per
says ' The red ants of Brazil are cent. See M'Culloch's Geog.
so destructive, and at the same Diet. 1849, vol. i. p. 430.
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 107
where, of all others, physical resources are most power-
ful, where both vegetables and animals are most abun-
dant, where the soil is watered by the noblest rivers,
and the coast studded by the finest harbours — this
immense territory, which is more than twelve times
the size of France, contains a population not exceeding
six millions of people. 156
These considerations sufficiently explain why it is,
that in the whole of Brazil there are no monuments even
of the most imperfect civilization ; no evidence that the
people had, at any period, raised themselves above the
state in which they were found when their country was
first discovered. But immediately opposite to Brazil
there is another country, which, though situated in the
same continent, and lying under the same latitude, is
subjected to different physical conditions, and therefore
was the scene of different social results. This is the cele-
brated kingdom of Peru, which included the whole of the
southern tropic, and which, from the circumstances just
stated, was naturally the only part of South America
where any thing approaching to civilization could be
attained. In Brazil, the heat of the cliruate was accom-
panied by a twofold irrigation, arising first from the im-
mense river-system incidental to the eastern coast; and
secondly, from the abundant moisture deposited by the
trade- winds. From this combination there resulted that
unequalled fertility, which, so far as Man was concerned,
defeated its own ends, stopping his progress by an exu-
berance, which, had it been less excessive, it would hayo
aided. For, as we have clearly seen, when the productive
'*• Duringthe present century, nearly destitute of inhabitant*.'
the population of Brazil has been Walsh's Brazil, voL i. p. 248.
differently stated at different This was in 1828 and 1829,
times ; the highest computation since which the European popu-
being 7,000,000, and the lowest lation has increased; but, on the
4,000,000. Comp. Humboldt, whole, 6,000,000 seems to be a
A'ouv. Espagne, voL ii. p. 855 ; fair estimate of what can only
Gardner's Brazil, p. 12; M'Cid- be known approximatively. In
loi/t's Gvog.Dict. 1849, vol. i. pp. Alison's History, vol. x. p. 229,
430, 434. Mr. Walsh describes the number given is 5,000,000 ;
Brazil as ' abounding in lands of but the area also is rather uuder-
tue most exuberant fertility, but stated.
108 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
powers of Nature are carried beyond a certain point, the
imperfect knowledge of uncivilized men is unable to cope
with tbem, or in any way turn them to their own advan-
tage. If, however, those powers, being very active, are
nevertheless confined within manageable limits, there
arises a state of things similar to that noticed in Asia and
Africa; where the profusion of Nature, instead of hinder-
ing social progress, favoured it, by encouraging that
accumulation of wealth, without some share of which
progress is impossible.
In estimating, therefore, the physical conditions by
which civilization was originally determined, we have to
look, not merely at the exuberance, but also at what may
be called the manageability of Nature ; that is, we have
to consider the ease with which the resources may be
used, as well as the number of the resources themselves.
Applying this to Mexico and Peru, we find that they
were the countries of America where this combination
most happily occurred. For though their resources were
much less numerous than those of Brazil, they were far
more easy to control ; while at the same time the heat
of the climate brought into play those other laws by
which, as I have attempted to show, all the early civili-
zations were greatly influenced. It is a very remarkable
fact, which, I believe, has never been observed, that even
in reference to latitude, the present limit of Peru to the
south corresponds with the ancient limit of Mexico to the
north ; while, by a striking, but to me perfectly natural
coincidence, both these boundaries are reached before the
tropical line is passed ; the boundary of Mexico being
21° N. lat., that of Peru 21£° S. lat. 157
Such is the wonderful regularity which history, when
comprehensively studied, presents to our view. And if
we compare Mexico and Peru with those countries of the
Old World which have been already noticed, we shall find,
157 Vidaca being the most grees of Patagonia. In regard
southerly point of the present to Mexico, the northern limit of
Peruvian coast ; though the con- the empire was 21° on the At-
quests of Peru, incorporated lantic coast, and 19° on the
with the empire, extended far Pacific. Prescott's History of
into Chili, and within a few de- Mtxico, vol. i. p. 2.
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
109
as in all the civilizations anterior to those of Europe, that
their social phenomena were subordinate to their physical
laws. In the first place, the characteristics of their na-
tional food were precisely those met with in the most
flourishing parts of Asia and Africa. For although few
of the nutritious vegetables belonging to the Old World
were found in the New, their place was supplied by
others exactly analogous to rice and dates ; that is to
say, marked by the same abundance, by the same facility
of growth, and by the same exuberant returns ; there-
fore, followed by the same social results. In Mexico and
Peru, one of the most important articles of food has
always been maize, which, wehave every reason to believe,
was peculiar to the American continent. 158 This, like rice
and dates, is eminently the product of a hot climate ; and
although it is said to grow at an elevation of upwards of
7,000 feet, 169 it is rarely seen beyond the fortieth pa-
rallel, 160 and its exuberance rapidly diminishes with the
148 A question has been raised
us to the Asiatic origin of maize:
Reynier, Economie des Arabes, pp.
94, 95. But later and more
careful researches seem to have
ascertained beyond much doubt
that it was unknown before
America was discovered. Com-
pare Meyen's Geography of
Plants, pp. 44, 303, 304 ; Walcke-
naer's note in Azara, Avierique
Meridionale, vol. i. p. 149 ;
Cuvier, Progres des Sciences
Naturelles, vol. ii. p. 354 ; Cuvier,
Eloges Historiques, vol. ii. p. 178 ;
Loudon' 8 Encyclopedia of Agri-
culture, p. 829 ; M'Culloch's
Diet, of Commerce, 1849, p. 831.
The casual notices of maize by
Ixtlilxochitl, the native Mexican
historian, show its general use
as an article of food before the
arrival of the Spaniards : see
Ixtlilxochitl, Histoire des Chichi-
meques, vol. i. pp. 53, 64, 240,
vol. ii. p. 19.
138 ' Maize, indeed, grows to
the height of 7,200 feet abo<e
the level of the sea, but only
predominates between 3,000 and
6,000 of elevation. Lindley's
Vegetable Kingdom, 1847, p. 112.
This refers to the tropical parts
of South America ; but the Zea
Mais is said to have been raised
on the slopes of the Pyrenees
4 at an elevation of 3,000 to
4,000 feet.' See Austen on the.
Forty Pays' Maize, in Report of
Brit. Assoc, for 1849, Trans, of
Sec. p. 68.
160 M. Meyen ( Geog. of Plants,
p. 302) and Mr. Balfour (Botany,
p. 567) suppose that in America
40° is about its limit ; and this
is the case in regard to its exten-
sive cultivation ; but it is grown
certainly as high as 52°, perhaps
as high as 54°, north latitude:
//unison's Arctio Expe-
dition, 1851, vol. ii. pp. 49, 234.
110 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
diminution of temperature. Thus, for example, in New
California, its average yield is seventy or eighty fold ; 161
but in Mexico Proper the same grain yields three or four
hundred fold, and, under very favourable circumstances,
even eight hundred fold. 162
A people who derived their sustenance from a plant
of such extraordinary fecundity, had little need to exer-
cise their industrious energies ; while at the same time
they had every opportunity of increasing their numbers,
and thus producing a train of social and political conse-
quences similar to those which I have noticed in India
and in Egypt. Besides this, there were, in addition to
maize, other kinds of food to which the same remarks are
applicable. The potato, which, in Ireland, has brought
about such injurious effects by stimulating the growth
of population, is said to be indigenous to Peru ; and
although this is denied by a very high authority, 163 there
is, at all events, no doubt that it was found there in great
abundance when the country was first discovered by the
Europeans. 1 64 In Mexico, potatoes were unknown till the
161 'Sous la zone temperee, cents.' Humboldt, Nouv. Es-
entre les 33 et 38 degres de pagne, vol. ii. p. 374. Nearly
latitude, par exemple dans la the same estimate is given by
Nouvelle Californie, le mai's ne Mr. Ward : see Ward's Mexico,
produit, en general, annee com- vol. i. p. 32, vol. ii. p. 230. In
mune, que 70 a 80 grains pour Central America (Guatemala),
un.' Humboldt, la Nouvelle Es- maize returns three hundred for
pagne, vol. ii. p. 375. one. Mexique et Guatemala, par
162 ' La fecondite du Tlaolli, Larenaudiere, p. 257.
ou mai's mexicain, est au-dela l6S ' La pomme de terre n'est
de tout ceque Ton peut imaginer pas indigene au Perou.' Hitm-
en. Europe. La plante, favoris^e boldt, Nouv. Espagne, vol. ii. p.
par de fortes chaleurs et par 400. On the other hand, Cuvier
beaucoup d'humidite, acquiert (Histoiredes Sciences Naturelles,
une hauteur de deux a trois me- part ii. p. 185) peremptorily
tres. Dans les belles plaines says, ' il est impossible de douter
qui s'etendent depuis San Juan qu'elle ne soit originaire du Pe-
del Rio a Queretaro, par exemple rou : ' see also his Eloges His-
dans les terres de la grande toriques, vol. ii. p. 171. Compare
m^tairie de l'Esperanza, une Winckler, Gesch. der Botanik, p.
fanegne de mai's en produit 92: ' Von einem gewissen Carate
quelquefois huit cents. Des unter den Gewachsen Pern's mit
terrains fertiles en donnent, an- dem Namen papas aufgefiihrt.'
nee commune, trois a quatre I64 And has been used ever
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 111
arrival of the Spaniards ; but both Mexicans and Peru-
vians lived to a great extent on the produce of the
banana ; a vegetable whose reproductive powers are so
extraordinary, that nothing but the precise and unim-
peachable testimony of which we are possessed could
make them at all credible. This remarkable plant is, in
America, intimately connected with the physical laws of
climate ; since it is an article of primary importance for
the subsistence of man whenever the temperature passes
a certain point. 165 Of its nutritive powers, it is enough
to say, that an acre sown with it will support more than
fifty persons ; whereas the same amount of land sown
with wheat in Europe will only support two persons. 166
As to the exuberance of its growth, it is calculated that,
other circumstances remaining the same, its produce is
forty-four times greater than that of potatoes, and a hun-
dred and thirty-three times greater than that of wheat. 167
It will now be easily understood why it was that, in
all important respects, the civilizations of Mexico and
Peru were strictly analogous to those of India and Egypt.
In these four countries, as well as in a few others in
since for food. On the Peruvian ,M M'Culloch'sGeograph.Dict.,
potato compare Tschudis Travels 1849, vol. ii. p. 315.
in Peru, pp. 178, 368, 386; '" ' Je doute qu'il existe une
Vlloa's Voyage to South America, autre plante sur le globe, qui,
vol. i. pp. 287, 288. In Southern sur un petit espace de terrain,
Peru, at the height of 13,000 puisse prod uire une masse desub-
or 14,000 feet, a curious process stance nourrissante aussi consi-
takes place, the starch of the derable.' . . . . ' Le produit des
potato being frozen into sac- bananes est par consequent a
charine. See a valuable paper celui du froment comme 133 : 1
by Mr. Bollaert in Journal of — a celui des pommes de terre
Geograph. Society, vol. .xxi. p. comme 44 : 1.' Humboldt, Nouvelle
119. Espagne, vol. ii. pp. 362, 363.
,es Humboldt (Nouv. Espagne, See also Prout's Bridgematir
vol. ii.p.359) says, 'pnrtoutou la Treatise, p. 333, relit. 1845;
chaleurmoyennedel'anneeexcede PrescotfsPeru, vol. i. pp.131, 132;
vingt-quatre degrla centigrades, Prcscott's Mexico, vol. i. p. 114.
le fruit du bananier est un objet Earlier notices, but very imper-
de culture du plus grand interet feet ones, of this remarkable vege-
pour la subsi^tanee de l'homme.' table may be found in Ulloa's
Compare Bullock's Mexico, p. South America, vol. i. p. 74; and
281. in Boyle's Works, vol. iii. p. 590.
112 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
Southern Asia and Central America, there existed an
amount of knowledge, despicable indeed if tried by an
European standard, but most remarkable if contrasted
with the gross ignorance which prevailed among the
adjoining and cotemporary nations. But in all of them
there was the same inability to diffuse even that scanty
civilization which they really possessed ; there was the
same utter absence of any thing approaching to the de-
mocratic spirit ; there was the same despotic power on
the part of the upper classes, and the same contemp-
tible subservience on the part of the lower. For, as we
have clearly seen, all these civilizations were affected
by certain physical causes, which, though favourable to
the accumulation of wealth, were unfavourable to a just
subdivision of it. And as the knowledge of men was still
io. its infancy, 168 it was found impossible to struggle
against these physical agents, or prevent them from pro-
ducing those effects on the social organization which I
have attempted to trace. Both in Mexico and in Peru,
the arts, and particularly those branches of them which
minister to the luxury of the wealthy classes, were cul-
tivated with great success. The houses of the higher
ranks were filled with ornaments and utensils of ad-
mirable workmanship ; their chambers were hung with
splendid tapestries ; their dresses and their personal de-
corations betrayed an almost incredible expense ; their
jewels of exquisite and varied form ; their rich and flow-
ing robes embroidered with the rarest feathers, collected
from the most distant parts of the empire : all supplying
evidence of the possession of unlimited wealth, and of
the ostentatious prodigality with which that wealth was
188 The only science with which Larenaudiere's Mexique, pp.51,
they had much acquaintance was 52 ; Humboldt's Cosmos, vol. iv.
astronomy, which the Mexicans p. 456; Journal of Geoff. Society,
appear to have cultivated with vol. vii. p. 3. However, their as-
considerable success. Compare tronomy, as might be expected,
the remark of La Place, in Hum- was accompanied by astrology :
boldt, Nouvelle Espagne, vol. i. p. see JxtlUxochitl, Histoire des
92, with Prichard's Physical His- Chichimeques, vol. i. p.168, vol. ii.
tori/, vol. v. pp. 323, 329 ; M'Cul- pp. 94, 111.
loch's Besearches, pp. 201-225 •
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
113
wasted. 169 Immediately below this class came the people;
and what their condition was, may be easily imagined.
In Pern the whole of the taxes were paid by them ; the
nobles and the clergy being altogether exempt. 170 But as,
in such a state of society, it was impossible for the people
to accumulate property, they were obliged to defray the
expenses of government by their personal labour, which
was placed under the entire command of the state. 171 At
the same time, the rulers of the country were well aware
that, with a system like this, feelings of personal indepen-
dence were incompatible ; they therefore contrived laws
by which, even in the most minute matters, freedom of
action was controlled. The people were so shackled, that
they could neither change their residence, nor alter their
clothes, without permission from the governing powers
188 The works of art produced
by the Mexicans and Peruvians
are under-rated by Robertson:
who, however, admits that he
had never seen them. History of
America, book vii., in Robertson's
Works, pp. 909, 920. Butduring
the present century considerable
attention has been paid to this
subject: and in addition to the
evidence of skill and costly ex-
travagance collected by Mr. Pres-
cott, History of Peru, vol. i. pp.
28, 142; History of Mexico, vol. i.
pp. 27, 28, 122, 256, 270, 307,
vol. ii. pp. 115, 116), I may re-
fer to the testimony of M. Hum-
boldt, the only traveller in the
New World who has possessed a
competent amount of physical as
well as historical knowledge.
Humboldt, Nouvelle Espagne,
voL ii. p. 483, and elsewhere.
Compare Mr. Pentland's obser-
vations on the tombs in the
neighbourhood of Titicaca {Jour,
of Geog. Soc. vol.'x. p. 654)
with M'CiUloh's Researches,
pp. 364-366 ; Mexique par Lare-
naudiire, pp. 41, 42, 66; Ulloa's
VOL. I.
South America, vol. i. pp. 465,
466.
170 ' The members of the royal
house, the great nobles, even the
public functionaries, and the nu-
merous body of the priesthood,
were all exempt from taxation.
The whole duty of defraying the
expenses of the government be-
longed to the people. Prescotts
History of Peru, vol. i. p. 56
m Ondegardo emphatically
says, ' Solo el trabajo de las per-
sonas era el tributo que se dava,
porque ellos no poseian otra cosa.'
Prcscott's Peru, vol. i. p. 57.
Compart M'Culloh's Researches,
p. 359. In Mexico the Btate of
things was just the same: ' Le
petit peuple, qui ne possedait
point de biens-fonds, et qui ne
faisait point de commerce, payait
sa part des taxes en travaux de
differento genres ; c'etait par lui
que les terres de la couronne
etaient cultivies, les ouvrages
publics executes, et les diverse*
maisons appartcnantes a l'empe-
rour construites ou entretenues.'
Lareiiaudiere' 8 Mexique, p. 39.
114
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
To each man the law prescribed the trade he was to
follow, the dress he was to wear, the wife he was to
marry, and the amusements he was to enjoy. 172 Among
the Mexicans the course of affairs was similar ; the same
physical conditions being followed by the same social
results. In the most essential particular for which history
can be studied, namely, the state of the people, Mexico
and Peru are the counterpart of each other. For though
there were many minor points of difference, 173 both were
agreed in this, that there were only two classes — the
upper class being tyrants, and the lower class being
slaves. This was the state in which Mexico was found
when it was discovered by the Europeans, 174 and towards
which it must have been tending from the earliest period.
And so insupportable had all this become, that we know,
from the most decisive evidence, that the general dis-
affection it produced among the people was one of the
causes which, by facilitating the progress of the Spanish
invaders, hastened the downfall of the Mexican em-
pire. 176
172 Mr. Prescott notices this
•with surprise, though, under the
circumstances, it was in truth
perfectly natural. He says {Hist,
of Peru, vol. i. p. 159), ' Under
this extraordinary polity, a peo-
ple, advanced in many of the
social refinements, well skilled in
manufactures and agriculture,
were unacquainted, as we have
seen, with money. They had no-
thing that deserved to be called
property. They could follow no
craft, could engage in no labour,
no amusement, but such as was
specially provided by law. They
could not change their residence
or their dress without a licence
from the government. They could
not even exercise the freedom
which is conceded to the most
abject in other countries — that
of Selecting their own wives.'
m The Mexicans being, as
Prichard says {Physical History,
vol. v. p. 467), of a more cruel
disposition than the Peruvians;
but our information is too limited
to enable us to determine whether
this was mainly owing to physical
causes or to social ones. Herder
preferred the Peruvian civiliza-
tion : ' der gebildetste Staat dieses
Welttheils, Peru.' Ideen zur G>-
schichte der Menschheit, vol . i. p. 3 3.
1,4 See in Humboldt's Nouvelle
Espagne, vol. i. p. 101, a striking
summary of the state of the
Mexican people at the time of
the Spanish Conquest: see also
History of America, book vii., in
Bobertson's Works, p. 907.
175 Prescott' s History of the
Conquest of Mexico, vol. i. p. 34.
Compare a similar remark on the
invasion of Egypt in Bunseris
Egypt, voL ii. p. 414.
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 115
The further this examination is carried, the more
striking becomes the similarity between tbose civiliza-
tions which flourished anterior to what may be called the
European epoch of the human mind. The division of
a nation into castes would be impossible in the great
European countries ; but it existed from a remote an-
tiquity in Egypt, in India, and apparently in Persia. 176
The very same institution was rigidly enforced in
Peru ; m and what proves how consonant it was to that
stage of society, is, that in Mexico, where castes were
not established by law, it was nevertheless a recognised
custom that the son should follow the occupation of his
father. 178 This was the political symptom of that sta-
tionary and conservative spirit, which, as we shall
hereafter see, has marked every country in which the
upper classes have monopolized power. The religious
symptom of the same spirit was displayed in that in-
ordinate reverence for antiquity, and in that hatred of
change, which the greatest of all the writers on Ame-
rica has well pointed out as an analogy between the
natives of Mexico and those of Hindostan. 179 To this
"• That there were castes in '" Prescotfs History of Peru,
Persia is stated byFirdousi; and vol. i. pp. 143, 156.
his assertion, putting aside its l78 Prescotfs History of Mexico,
general probability, ought to out- toI. i. p. 124.
weigh the silence of the Greek "• ' Les Americains, comme
historians, who, for the most part, les habitans de l'lndoustan, et.
knew little of any country ex- comme tous les peuples qui ont
cept their own. According to gemi long-temps sous le despo-
Malcolm, the existence of caste tisme civil et religieux, tiennent,
in the time of Jemsheed, is con- avec une opiniAtrete extraor-
firmed by some ' Mahomedan dinaire a leurs habitudes, a leurs
authors;' but he does not say moeurs, a leurs opinions
who they were. Malcolm's His- Au Mexique, comme dans l'ln-
tory of Persia, vol. i. pp. 505, 506. doustan, il n'etoit pas permis aux
Several attempts have been made, fideles de changer la moindre
but very unsuccessfully, to ascer- chose aux figures des idoles.
tnin the period in which castes Tout ce qui appartenoit au rite
were first instituted. Compare des Azteques et aes Hindous etoit
Asiatic Besearckes,\o\. vi.p. 251 ; assujeti a des lois immuables.'
Hceren's African Nations, vol. ii. Humboldt, Nouv. Espagne, vol. i.
p. 121 ; Bunsen's Egypt, vol. ii. pp. 95, 97. Turgot {(Euvres, voL
p. 410; Itammohun Boy on the ii. pp. 220, 313, 314) has some
Veds, p. 269. admirable remarks on this fixity
i 2
116
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
may be added, that those who have studied the history
of the ancient Egyptians, have observed among that
people a similar tendency. Wilkinson, who is well
known to have paid great attention to their monuments,
says that they were more unwilling than any other
nation to alter their religious worship ; 180 and Hero-
dotus, who travelled in their country two thousand
three hundred years ago, assures us that, while they
preserved old customs, they never acquired new ones. 181
In another point of view, the similarity between these
distant countries is equally interesting, since it evi-
dently arises from the causes already noticed as com-
mon to both. In Mexico and Peru, the lower classes
being at the disposal of the upper, there followed that
frivolous waste of labour which we have observed in
Egypt, and evidence of which may also be seen in the re-
of opinion natural to certain
states of society. See also
Herder's Ideen zur Geschichte, vol.
iii. pp. 34, 35 ; and for other illus-
trations of this unpliancy of
thought, and adherence to old
customs, which many writers
suppose to be an eastern peculi-
arity but which is far more widely
spread.and is, as Humboldt clear-
ly saw, the result of an unequal
distribution of power, compare
Turner's Embassy to Tibet, p. 41 ;
Forbes' s Oriental Memoirs, vol. i.
pp. 15, 164, vol. ii. p. 236; MUTs
History of India, vol. ii. p. 214 ;
Elphinstone's History of India, p.
48 ; Otter's Life of Clarke, vol.
ii. p. 109 ; Transac. of Asiatic
Society, vol. ii. p. 64 ; Journal of
Asiat. Society, vol. viii. p. 116.
180 ' How scrupulous the Egyp-
tians were, above all people, in
permitting the introduction of
new customs in matters relating
to the gods.' Wilkinson's Ancient
Egyptians, vol. iii. p. 262. Com-
pare p. 275. Thus, too, M. Bunsen
notices the ' tenacity with which
the Egyptians adhered to old
manners and customs.' Bunsen 's
Egypt, vol. ii. p. 64. See also
some remarks on the difference
between this spirit and the love
of novelty among the Greeks, in
Hitter's History of Ancient Philo-
sophy, vol. iv. pp. 625, 626.
181 Herodot. book ii. chap. 79 :
irarpioKTi 8e XP 6( ^l xev01 "Sfioict,
&\\ov ovSeva iiriKrewvTcu : and
see the note in Baehr, vol. i. p.
660 : ' vofinvs priores interpretes
explicarunt cantilenas, hymnos;
Schweighseuserus rectius intel-
lexit instituta ac mores. 1 In the
same way, in Timaeus, Plato re-
presents an Egyptian priest say-
ing to Solon, "EAArji/es ad ira7S4s
icrrf, yipwv 5e "EAXtji/ ovk ecrriv.
And when Solon asked what he
meant, N«'o« iare, was the reply,
ras tyvx&s irdvTes- ovSe/jilav yap iv
abra7s ex (Te ''* °-PX aiav *"«>V
iraA.ajcfcj' 56£av ovSe fxadrifia xp6v<p
iroXibv ovhiv. Chap. v. in Platonis
Opera, vol. vii. p. 242, edit.
Bekker, Lond. 1826.
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 117
mains of those temples and palaces which are still found
in several parts of Asia. Both Mexicans and Peruvians
erected immense buildings, which were as useless as
those of Egypt, and which no country could produce,
unless the labour of the people were ill-paid and ill-
directed. 182 The cost of these monuments of vanity is
unknown ; but it must have been enormous ; since the
Americans, being ignorant of the use of iron, 183 were
unable to employ a resource by which, in the con-
struction of large works, labour is greatly abridged.
Some particulars, however, have been preserved, from
which an idea may be formed on this subject. To
take, for instance, the palaces of their kings : we find
that in Peru, the erection of the royal residence occu-
pied, during fifty years, 20,000 men ; 184 while that of
Mexico cost the labour of no less than 200,000 :
striking facts, which, if all other testimonies had
perished, would enable us to appreciate the condition
of countries in which, for such insignificant purposes,
such vast power was expended. 188
The preceding evidence, collected from sources of
182 The Mexicans appear to cupied in building this palace ;
have been even more wantonly but 200,000 workmen, it is said,
prodigal than the Peruvians, were employed on it. However
See, respecting their immense this may be, it is certain that the
pyramids, one of which, Cholula, Tezcucan monarchs, like those of
had a base ' twice as broad as Asia and ancient Egypt, had the
the largest Egyptian pyramid,' control of immense masses of
M'Ctd/oh'8 Researches, pp. 252- men, and would sometimes turn
256; Bullock' a Mexico, pp. Ill- the whole population of a con-
115, 414; Humboldt 8 Nouvelle quered city, including the women,
Espagne,\o\. i. pp. 240, 241. into the public works. The most
183 Prescott' 8 History of Mexico, gigantic monuments of archi-
vol. i. p. 117, vol. iii. p. 341 ; and tecture which the world has
Prescott 's History of Peru, vol. i. witnessed would never have been
p. 145. See also Haiiy, Traiii d« reared by the hands of free-
Miniralogie, Paris, 1801, vol. iv. men.' The Mexican historian,
p. 372. Ixtlilxochitl, gives a curious ao-
IM Prescott 8 History of Peru, count of one of the royal palaces,
vol. i. p. 18. See his Histoire de Chichimiqt'".
IB Mr. Preicott (History of translated by Ternaux-Comp:ins,
Mexico, vol. i. p. 153) says, 'We Paris, 1840, vol. i. pp. 257-262,
are not informed of the time oc- chap, xxxvii.
118 INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
unquestioned credibility, proves the force of those great
physical laws, which, in the most nourishing countries
out of Europe, encouraged the accumulation of wealth*,
but prevented its dispersion ; and thus secured to the
upper classes a monopoly of one of the most important
elements of social and political power. The result was,
that in all those civilizations the great body of the
people derived no benefit from the national improve-
ments ; hence, the basis of the progress being very
narrow, the progress itself was very insecure. 1 86 When,
therefore, unfavourable circumstances arose from with-
out, it was but natural that the whole system should
fall to the ground. In such countries, society, being
divided against itself, was unable to stand. And there
can be no doubt that long before the crisis of their actual
destruction, these one-sided and irregular civilizations
had begun to decay ; so that their own degeneracy
aided the progress of foreign invaders, and secured the
overthrow of those ancient kingdoms, which, under a
sounder system, might have been easily saved.
Thus far as to the way in which the great civiliza-
tions exterior to Europe have been affected by the
peculiarities of their food, climate, and soil. It now
remains for me to examine the effect of those other
physical agents to which I have given the collective
name of Aspects of Nature, and which will be found sug-
gestive of some very wide and comprehensive inquiries
into the influence exercised by the external world in
predisposing men to certain habits of thought, and thus
giving a particular tone to religion, arts, literature,
and, in a word, to all the principal manifestations of
the human mind. To ascertain how this is brought
188 This may be illustrated Persia, again, when the feeling
by a good remark of M. Matter, of loyalty decayed, so also did
to the effect that when the the feeling of national power.
Egyptians had once lost their Malcolm 's History of Persia, vol.
race of kings, it was found im- ii. p. 130. The history of the
possible for the nation to recon- most civilized parts of Europe
struct itself. Matter, Histoire presents a picture exactly tie
de VFxolc a" Alexandria, vol. i. reverse of this,
p. (38 ; a striking passage. In
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 119
about, forms a necessary supplement to the investiga-
tions just concluded. For, as we have seen that
climate, food, and soil mainly concern the accumu-
lation and distribution of wealth, so also shall we see
that the Aspects of Nature concern the accumulation
and distribution of thought. In the first case, we have
to do with the material interests of Man ; in the other
case with his intellectual interests. The former I have
analyzed as far as I am able, and perhaps as far as the
existing state of knowledge will allow. 187 But the
other, namely, the relation between the Aspects of
Nature and the mind of Man, involves speculations of
such magnitude, and requires such a mass of materials
drawn from every quarter, that I feel very apprehen-
sive as to the result; and I need hardly say, that I
make no pretensions to anything approaching an ex-
haustive analysis, nor can I hope to do more than
generalize a few of the laws of that complicated, but
as yet unexplored, process by which the external world
has affected the human mind, has warped its natural
movements, and too often checked its natural progress.
The Aspects of Nature, when considered from this
point of view, are divisible into two classes : the first
class being those which are most likely to excite the
imagination ; and the other class being those which
address themselves to the understanding commonly so
called, that is, to the mere logical operations of the
intellect. For although it is true that, in a complete
and well-balanced mind, the imagination and the under-
standing each play their respective parts, and are
auxiliary to each other, it is also true that, in a
majority of instances, the understanding is too weak
to curb the imagination and restrain its dangerous
licence. The tendency of advancing civilization is to
remedy this disproportion, and invest the reasoning
powers with that authority, which, in an early stage of
187 I mean in regard to the many deficiencies, particularly
physical and economical geno- in respect to the Mexican and
ralizations. As to the literature Peruvian histories,
of the subject, I am conscious of
120 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
society, the imagination exclusively possesses. Whether
or not there is ground for fearing that the reaction will
eventually proceed too far, and that the reasoning
faculties will in their turn tyrannize over the imagina-
tive ones, is a question of the deepest interest ; but, in
the present condition of our knowledge, it is probably an
insoluble one. At all events, it is certain that nothing
like such a state has yet been seen ; since, even in this
age, when the imagination is more under control than
in any preceding one, it has far too much power ; as
might be easily proved, not only from the superstitions
which in every country still pi'evail among the vulgar,
but also from that poetic reverence for antiquity, which,
though it has been long diminishing, still hampers the
independence, blinds the judgment, and circumscribes
the originality of the educated classes.
Now, so far as natural phenomena are concerned, it
is evident, that whatever inspires feelings of terror, or
of great wonder, and whatever excites in the mind
an idea of the vague and uncontrollable, has a special
tendency to inflame the imagination, and bring under
its dominion the slower and more deliberate operations
of the understanding. In such cases, Man, contrasting
himself with the force and majesty of Nature, becomes
painfully conscious of his own insignificance. A sense
of inferiority steals over him. From every quarter
innumerable obstacles hem him in, and limit his in-
dividual will. His mind, appalled by the indefined and
indefinable, hardly cares to scrutinize* the details of
which such imposing grandeur consists. 188 On the
188 The sensation of fear, even The depth of the valley below,
when there is no danger, becomes the progressive elevation of the
strong enough to destroy the intermediate hills, and the ma-
pleasure that would otherwise jestic splendour of the cloud-
be felt. See, for instance, a capped Himalaya, formed so
description of the great moun- grand a picture, that the mind
tain boundary of Hindostan, was impressed with a sensation
in Asiatic Researches, vol. xi. of dread rather than of pleasure.'
p. 469: 'It is necessary for a Compare vol. xiv. p. 116, Cal-
person to place himself in our cutta, 1822. In the Tyrol, it
situation before he can form a has been observed, that the
just conception of the scene, grandeur of the mountain
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 121
other hand, where the works of Nature are small and
feeble, Man regains confidence ; he seems more able to
rely on his own power ; he can, as it were, pass through
and exercise authority in every direction. And as the
phenomena are more accessible, it becomes easier for
him to experiment on them, or to observe them with
minuteness ; an inquisitive and analytic spirit is en-
couraged, and he is tempted to generalize the appear-
ances of Nature, and refer them to the laws by which
they are governed.
Looking in this way at the human mind as affected
by the Aspects of Nature, it is snrely a remarkable
fact, that all the great early civilizations were situated
within and immediately adjoining the tropics, where
those aspects are most sublime, most terrible, and
where Nature is, in every respect, most dangerous to
Man. Indeed, generally, in Asia, Africa, and America,
the external world is more formidable than in Europe.
This holds good not only of the fixed and permanent
phenomena, such as mountains, and other great natural
barriers, but also of occasional phenomena, such as
earthquakes, tempests, hurricanes, pestilences ; all of
which are in those regions very frequent and very
disastrous. These constant and serious dangers pro-
duce effects analogous to those caused by the sublimity
of Nature, in so far, that in both cases there is a ten-
dency to increase the activity of the imagination. For
the peculiar province of the imagination being to deal
with the unknown, every event which is unexplained,
as well as important, is a direct stimulus to our imagi-
native faculties. In the tropics, events of this kind are
more numerous than elsewhere ; it therefore follows
that in the tropics the imagination is most likely to
triumph. A few illustrations of the working of this
principle will place it in a clearer light, and will prepare
the reader for the arguments based upon it.
Of those physical events which increase the insecurity
scenery imbues the minds of superstitious legends. Alison's
the natives with fear, and has Europe, vol. ix. pp. 79, 80.
caused the invention of many
122
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
of Man, earthquakes are certainly among the most
striking, in regard to the loss of life which they cause,
as also in regard to their sudden and unexpected occur-
rence. There is reason to believe that they are always
preceded by atmospheric changes which strike immedi-
ately at the nervous system, and thus have a direct
physical tendency to impair the intellectual powers. 189
However this may be, there can be no doubt as to the
effect they produce in encouraging particular associa-
tions and habits of thought. The terror wbich they
inspire excites the imagination even to a painful extent,
and, overbalancing the judgment, predisposes men to
superstitious fancies. Arid what is highly curious, is,
that repetition, so far from blunting such feelings,
strengthens them. In Peru, where earthquakes appear
to be more common than in any other country, 190 every
succeeding visitation increases the general dismay ; so
that, in some cases, the fear becomes almost insupport-
able. 191 The mind is thus constantly thrown into a
189 i rj ne augmentation d'elec-
tricite s'y manifest e aussi presque
toujours, et ils sont generalement
annonces par le mugissement
des bestiaux, par l'inquietude
des animaux domestiques, et
dans les hommes par cette sorte
de malaise qui, en Europe,
precede les orages dans les
j)ersonnes nerveuses.' Cuvicr,
Prog, des Sciences, vol. i. p. 265.
See also, on this ' Vorgefuhl,' the
observation of Von Hoff, in Mr.
Mallet's valuable essay on earth-
quakes {Brit. Assoc, for 1850, p.
68; and the 'foreboding' in
Tschudi! s Peru, p. 165 ; and a
letter in Nichols's Elustrations of
the Eighteenth Century, vol. iv.
p. 504. The probable connexion
between earthquakes and elec-
tricity is noticed in BakewelVs
Geology, p. 434.
190 ' Peru is more subject
perhaps than any other country
to the tremendous visitation of
earthquakes.' M'CuUocKs Geog.
Diet. 1849. vol. ii. p. 499. Dr.
Tschudi {Travels in Peru, p.
162) says of Lima, 'at an
average forty-five shocks may
be counted on in the year.' See
also on the Peruvian earth-
quakes, pp. 43, 75, 87, 90.
191 A curious instance of
association of ideas conquering
the deadening effect of habit.
Dr. Tschudi {Peru, p. 170),
describing the panic, says, 'no
familiarity with the phenomenon
can blunt this feeling.' Beale
( South- Sea Whaling Voyage,
Lond. 1839, p. 205) writes, 'it
is said at Peru, that the oftener
the natives of the place feel
those vibrations of the earth,
instead of becoming habituated
to them, as persons do who
are constantly exposed to other
dangers, they become more filled
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
123
timid and anxious state : and men witnessing the most
serious dangers, which they can neither avoid nor un-
derstand, become impressed with a conviction of their
own inability, and of the poverty of their own re-
sources. 192 In exactly the same proportion, the imagi-
nation is aroused, and a belief in supernatural inter-
ference actively encouraged. Human power failing,
superhuman power is called in ; the mysterious and
the invisible are believed to be present ; and there
grow up among the people those feelings of awe and of
helplessness, on which all superstition is based, and
without which no superstition can exist. 193
Further illustration of this may be found even in
Europe, where such phenomena are, comparatively
speaking, extremely rare. Earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions are more frequent and more destructive in
Italy, and in the Spanish and Portuguese peninsula,
than in any other of the great countries ; and it is pre-
with dismay every time the shock
is repeated, so that aged people
often find the terror a slight
shock will produce almost in-
supportable.' Compare Darwin's
Journal, pp. 422, 423. So, too,
in regard to Mexican earth-
quakes, Mr. Ward observes,
that ' the natives are both
more sensible than strangers of
the smaller shocks, and more
alarmed by them.' Ward's
Mexico, vol. ii. p. 55. On the
physiological effects of the fear
caused by earthquakes, see the
remarkable statement by Osi-
ander in Burdock's Physiologie
comme Science a" Observation,
vol. ii. pp. 223, 224. That the
fear should be not deadened by
familiarity, but increased by it,
would hardly be expected by
speculative reasoners unac-
quainted with the evidence ;
and we find, in fact, that
the Pyrrhonism asserted that
ol yovv fffiffjuet -rap' ols awex^*
airoreKovvrat, ov davfj-d^ovrar oiib"
6 %\ws. bri Ka^ T)ix£pav bparat.
Diog. Lacrt. de Vitis Philos. lib,
ix. segm. 87, vol. i. p. 591.
,w Mr. Stephens, who gives
a striking description of an
earthquake in Central America,
emphatically says, ' I never felt
myself so feeble a thing before.'
Stephens's Central America, vol.
i. p. 383. See also the account
of the effects produced on the
mind by an earthquake, in
Transac. of Soe. of Bombay,
vol. iii. p. 98, and the note at p.
105.
,M The effect of earthquakes
in encouraging superstition, is
noticed in Lyell's admirable
work, Principles of Geology, p.
492. Compare a myth on the
origin of earthquakes in Beau-
sol/re, Histoire Critique de Nani-
chie, vol. i. p. 243.
124 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
cisely there that superstition is most rife, and the
superstitious classes most powerful. Those were the
countries where the clergy first established their
authority, where the worst corruptions of Christianity
took place, and where superstition has during the
longest period retained the firmest hold. To this may
be added another circumstance, indicative of the con-
nexion between these physical phenomena and the
predominance of the imagination. Speaking generally,
the fine arts are addressed more to the imagination ;
the sciences to the intellect. 194 Now it is remarkable,
that all the greatest painters, and nearly all, the greatest
sculptors, modern Europe has possessed, have been
produced by the Italian and Spanish peninsulas. In
regard to science, Italy has no doubt had several men
of conspicuous ability ; but their numbers are out of
all proportion small when compared with her artists
and poets. As to Spain and Portugal, the literature of
those two countries is eminently poetic, and from their
schools have proceeded some of the greatest painters
the world has ever seen. On the other hand, the
purely reasoning faculties have been neglected, and the
whole Peninsula, from the earliest period to the present
time, does not supply to the history of the natural
sciences a single name of the highest merit ; not one
man whose works form an epoch in the progress of
European knowledge. 195
194 The greatest men in It is impossible to discuss so
science, and in fact all very great large a question in a note ; but
men, have no doubt been re- to my apprehension, no poet,
markable for the powers of their except Dante and Shakespeare,
imagination. But in art the ever had an imagination more
imagination plays a far more soaring and more audacious than
conspicuous part than in science; that possessed by Sir Isaac
and this is what I mean to Newton.
express by the proposition in ,95 The remarks made by Mr.
the text. Sir David Brewster, Ticknor on the absence of science
indeed, thinks that Newton was in Spain, might be extended
deficient in imagination : ' the even further than he has done,
weakness of his imaginative See Ticknor's History of Spanish
powers.' Brewster's Life of Literature, vol. iii. pp. 222, 223.
Newton, 1855, vol. ii. p. 133. He says, p. 237, that in 1771,
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
12*
The manner in which the Aspects of Nature, when
they are very threatening, stimulate the imagination, 196
and by encouraging superstition discourage knowledge,
may be made still more apparent by one or two addi-
tional facts. Among an ignorant people, there is a direct
tendency to ascribe all serious dangers to supernatural
intervention; and a strong religious sentiment being thus
aroused, 197 it constantly happens, not only that the danger
is submitted to, but that it is actually worshipped. This
is the case with some of the Hindus in the forest of Ma-
labar ; 198 and manysimilar instances will occur to whoever
has studied the condition of barbarous tribes. 199 Indeed,
so far is this carried, that in some countries the inhabit-
ants, from feelings of reverential fear, refuse to destroy
the University of Salamanca
being urged to teach the phy-
sical sciences, replied, ' Newton
teaches nothing that would
make a good logician or meta-
physician, and Gassendi and
Descartes do not agree so well
with revealed truth as Aristotle
does.'
198 In Asiatic Researches, vol.
vi. pp. 35. 36, there is a good
instance of an earthquake giving
rise to a theological fiction. See
also vol. i. pp. 154-157; and
compare Coleman's Mythology of
the Hindus, p. 17.
IW See for example, Asiatic
Researches, vol. iv. pp. 56, 67,
vol. vii. p. 94 ; and the effect
produced by a volcano, in
Journal of Geograph. Society,
vol. v. p. 388. See also vol. xx.
p. 8, and a practical recognition
of the principle by Sextus
Empiricus, in Tennemann's Ge-
schichfe der Philosophie, vol. i.
p. 292. Compare the use the
clergy made of a volcanic erup-
tion in Iceland (Wheatoris
History of the Northmen, p. 42) ;
and see further Raffles' History of
Java,vo\A. pp. 29,274,and Tschu-
dis Peru, pp. 64, 167, 171.
1,8 The Hindus in the Inrtiri
forests, says Mr. Edye, ' worship
and respect everything from
which they apprehend danger.'
Edye on the Coast of Malabar,
in Journal of Asiatic Society,
vol. ii. p. 337.
**• Dr. Prichard (Physical
History, vol. iv. p. 501) says ' The
tiger is worshipped by the Hajin
tribe in the vicinity of the
Garrows or Garrudus. Compare
Transactions of Asiatic Society,
vol. iii. p. 66. Among the
Garrows themselves, this feeling
is so strong, that ' the tiger's nose
strung round a woman's neck
is considered as a great preser-
vative in childbirth.' Coleman's
Mythology of the Hindus, p. 321.
The Seiks have a curious super-
stition respecting wounds in-
flicted by tigers (Burne's
Bokhara, 1834, vol. iii. p. 140) ;
and the Malasir believe that
these animals are sent as
a punishment for irreligion.
Buchanan's Journey through the
Mysore, vol. ii. p. 386.
126 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
wild -beasts and noxious reptiles ; the mischief these ani-
mals inflict being the cause of the impunity they enjoy. 200
It is in this way, that the old tropical civilizations had
to struggle with innumerable difficulties unknown to the
temperate zone, where European civilization has long flou-
rished. The devastations of animals hostile to man, the
ravages of hurricanes, tempests, earthquakes, 201 and
similar perils, constantly pressed upon them, and affected
the tone of their national character. For the mere loss
of life was the smallest part of the inconvenience. The
real mischief was, that there were engendered in the
mind, associations which made the imagination predo-
minate over the understanding ; which infused into the
people a spirit of reverence instead of a spirit of inquiry ;
and which encouraged a disposition to neglect the inves-
tigation of natural causes, and ascribe events to the
operation of supernatural ones.
* Everything we know of those countries proves how
active this tendency must have been. With extremely few
exceptions, health is more precarious, and disease more
200 The inhabitants of Sumatra worship of the serpent, whose
are, for superstitious reasons, wily movements are well calcu-
most unwilling to destroy tigers, lated to inspire fear, and there-
though they commit frightful fore rouse the religious feelings,
ravages. Marsden's History of The danger apprehended from
Sumatra, pp. 149, 254. The noxious reptiles is connected
Russian account of the Kamts- with the Dews of the Zendavesta.
chatkans says, ' ' besides the See Matter's Histoire du Gnosti-
above-mentioned gods, they pay cisme, vol. i. p. 380, Paris, 1828.
a religious regard to several 201 To give one instance of
animals from which they appre- the extent to which these operate,
hend danger.' Grieve' s History it may be mentioned, that in
of Kamtschatka, p. 205. Bruce 1815 an earthquake and volcanic
mentions tbat in Abyssinia, eruption broke forth in Sumbawa,
hyaenas are considered 'en- which shook the ground 'through
chanters;' and the inhabitants an area of 1,000 miles in circum-
' will not touch the skin of a ference,' and the detonations of
hyaena till it has been prayed which were heard at a distance
over and exorcised by a priest.' of 970 geographical miles.
Murray's Life of Bruce, p. 472. Somervtfle's Connexion of the
Allied to this, is the respect paid Physical Sciences, p. 283 ;
to bears (Erman's Siberia, vol. i. Hitchcock's Religion oj Geology,
p. 492, vol. ii. pp. 42, 43); p. 190; Low's Sarawak, -p. 10;
also the extensively-diffused BakewelVs Geology, p. 438.
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 127
common, in tropical climates than in temperate ones.
Now, it has been often observed, and indeed is very
obvious, that the fear of death makes men more prone
to seek supernatural aid than they would otherwise be.
So complete is our ignorance respecting another life, that
it is no wonder if even the stoutest heart should quail
at the sudden approach of that dark and untried future.
Onthis subject the reason is perfectly silent ; the imagina-
tion, therefore, is uncontrolled. The operation of natural
causes being brought to an end, supernatural causes are
supposed to begin. Hence it is, that whatever increases
in any country the amount of dangerous disease, has an
immediate tendency to strengthen superstition, and
aggrandize the imagination at the expense of the under-
standing. This principle is so universal, that, in every
part of the world, the vulgar ascribe to the intervention
of the Deity those diseases which are peculiarly fatal, and
especially those which have a sudden and mysterious
appearance. In Europe it used to be believed that every
pestilence was a manifestation of the divine anger ; 202 and
this opinion, though it has long been dying away, is by
no means extinct, even in the most civilized countries. 203
202 In the sixteenth century, d'une maniere imm&liate par
'Les differentes sectes s'accor- Dieu.' See also pp. 145, 346,
derent neanmoins a regarder lea* 431. Bishop Heber says that
maladies graves et dangereuses the Hindus deprive lepers of
comme un effet immediat de la caste and of the right of possess-
puissanee divine; id£e que Fer- ing property, because they are
nel contribua encore a repandre objects of ' Heaven's wrath. *
davantage. On trouve dans Pare Heber's Journey through India,
plusieurs passages de la Bible, vol. ii. p. 330. On the Jewish
cites pour prouver que la colere opinion, see Jje Clerc, Bibliothequc
de Dieu est la seule cause de la Universelle, vol. iv, p. 402, Am-
peste, qu'elle suffit pour pro- sterdam, 1702. And as to the
voquer ce f!6au, et que sans elle early Christians, see Mauri/,
les causes eloigners ne sauraient Upendes Pieuses, p. 68, Paris,
asrir.' Sprengel, Histoire de la 1 843 : though M. Maury ascribes
Mcdecine, vol. iii. p. 112. Tlio to -'les idees orientales recues
same learned writer says of the par le christianisme,' what is due
Middle Ages (vol. ii. p. 372), to the operation of a much wider
* D'aprcs T'esprit generaloment principle.
repandu dans ces siccles de bar- 2M Under the influence of thf
barie, on croyait la leprp envcyeo inductive philosophy, the theo-
128
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
Superstition of this kind will of course be strongest,
either where medical knowledge is most backward, or
logical theory of disease was
seriously weakened before the
middle of the seventeenth cen-
tury; and by the middle, or at
all events the latter half, of the
eighteenth century, it had lost all
its partisans among scientific
men. At present it still lingers
on among the vulgar ; and traces
of it may be found in the writ-
ings of the clergy, and in the
works of other persons little ac-
quainted with physical know-
ledge. "When the cholera broke
out in England, attempts were
made to revive the old notion ;
but the spirit of the age was too
strong for such efforts to suc-
ceed ; and it may be safely pre-
dicted that men will never re-
turn to their former opinions,
unless they first return to their
former ignorance. As a speci-
men of the ideas which the
cholera tended to excite, and of
their antagonism to all scientific
investigation, I may refer to a
letter written in 1832 by Mrs.
Grant, a woman of some accom-
plishments, and not devoid of
influence {Correspondence of Mrs.
Grant, London, 1844, vol. iii.
pp. 216, 217), where she states
that ' it appears to me great pre-
sumption to indulge so much as
people do in speculation and
conjecture about a disease so
evidently a peculiar infliction,
and different from all other
modes of suffering hitherto
known.' This desire to limit
human speculation is precisely
the feeling which long retained
Europe in darkness ; since it
effectually prevented those free
inquiries to which we are in-
debted for all the real knowledge
we possess. The doubts of Boyle
upon this subject supply a cu-
rious instance of the transitory
state through which the mind
was passing in the seventeenth
century, and by which the way
was prepared for the great libe-
rating movement of the next
age. Boyle, after stating both
sides of the question, namely, the
theological and the scientific,
adds, ' and it is the less likely
that these sweeping and conta-
gious maladies should be always
sent for the punishment of im-
pious men, because I remember
to have read in good authors,
that as some plagues destroyed
both men and beasts, so some
other did peculiarly destroy
brute animals of very little con-
sideration or use to men, as cats,'
&c.
1 Upon these and the like rea-
sons, I have sometimes suspected
that in the controversy about the
origin of the plague, namely,
whether it be natural or super-
natural, neither of the contend-
ing parties is altogether in the
right; since it is very possible
that some pestilences may not
break forth without an extra-
ordinary, though perhaps not
immediate, interposition of Al-
mighty God, provoked by the
sins of men ; and yet other
plagues may be produced by a
tragical concourse of merely na-
tural causes.' Discourse on the
Air, in Boyle's Works, vol. iv. pp.
288, 289. « Neither of the con-
tending parties is altogether in
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
129
where disease is most abundant. In countries where
both these conditions are fulfilled, the superstition is
supreme; and even where only one of the conditions
exists, the tendency is so irresistible, that, I believe, there
are no barbarous people who do not ascribe to their good
or evil deities, not only extraordinary diseases, but even
many of the ordinary ones to which they are liable. 204
Here, then, we have another specimen of the unfavour-
able influence, which, in the old civilizations, external
phenomena exercised over the human mind. For those
parts of Asia where the highest refinement was reached,
are, from various physical causes, much more unhealthy
tlie right ! ' — an instructive pas-
sage towards understanding the
compromising spirit of the seven-
teenth century ; standing mid-
way, as it did, between the cre-
dulity of the sixteenth, and the
scepticism of the eighteenth.
201 To the historian of the
human mind, the whole question
is so full of interest, that I shall
refer in this note to all the evi-
dence I have been able to collect :
and whoever will compare the
following passages may satisfy
himself that there is in every
part of the world an intimate
relation between ignorance re-
specting the nature and proper
treatment of a disease, and the
belief that such disease is caused
by supernatural power, and is to
be cured by it. Burton's Sindh,
p. 146, London, 1851 ; Ellis's
Polynesian Researches, vol. i. p.
395, vol. iii. pp. 36, 41, vol. iv.
pp. 293, 334, 376 ; Cullcn's
Works, Edinb. 1827, vol. ii. pp.
414, 434 ; Esquirol, Maladies
Mentales, vol. i. pp. 274, 482 ;
C'abanis, Rapports du Physique et
dn Moral, p. 277 ; Volney, Voy-
age en Syrie, vol. i. p. 426;
Turner's Embassy to Tibet, p.
VOL. I. ]
104; Syme's Embassy to Ava,
vol. ii. p. 211 ; Ellis' 8 Tour
through Hawaii, pp. 282, 283,
332, 333 ; Renouard, Histoire de
la Medecine, vol. i. p. 398 ;
Broussais, Exanien des Doctrines
Medicates, vol. i. pp. 261, 262 ;
Grote's History of Greece, vol. i.
p. 485 (compare p. 251, and vol.
vi. p. 213); Grieve' s History of
Kamtschatka, p. 217; Journal
of Statist. Soc. vol. x. p. 10 ;
Buchanan's North American In-
dians, pp. 256, 257 ; Halketfs
North American Indians, pp. 36,
37, 388, 393,394; Catlin's North
American Indians, vol. i. pp. 35-
41 ; Briggs on the Aboriginal
Tribes of India, in Report of
Brit. Assoc, for 1850, p. 172;
Transactions of Soc. of Bombay,
vol. ii. p. 30 ; Percivafs Ceylon,
p. 201 ; Buchanan's Journey
through the Mysore, vol. ii. pp.
27, 152, 286, 528, vol. iii. pp. 23,
188, 253 (so, too, M. Geoffroy
Saint Hilaire, Anomalies de V Or-
ganization, vol. iii. p 380, Bays
that when we were quite ignorant
of the cause of monstrous births,
the phenomenon was ascribed to
the Deity, — ' de la aussi l'int, r-
veution supposee de la divinite ; '
130
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
than the most civilized parts of Europe. 205 This fact
alone must have produced a considerable effect on the
national character, 206 and the more so, as it was aided by
those other circumstances which I have pointed out, all
tending in the same direction. To this may be added,
that the great plagues by which Europe has at different
periods been scourged, have, for the most part, proceeded
from the East, which is their natural birthplace, and
where they are most fatal. Indeed, of those cruel diseases
now existing in Europe, scarcely one is indigenous ; and
the worst of them were imported from tropical countries
in and after the first century of the Christian era. 207
Summing up these facts, it may be stated, that in the
and for an exact verification of
this, compare Burdock, Traite de
Physiologic, vol. ii. p. 247, with
Journal of Geog. Soc. vol. xvi.
p. 113) ; Ellis's History of Mada-
gascar, vol. i. pp. 224, 225 ; Pri-
charcTs Physical History, vol. i.
p. 207, vol. v. p. 492 ; Journal of
Asiatic Society, vol. iii. p. 230,
voL iv. p. 158; Asiatic Eesearches,
voL iii. pp. 29, 156, vol. iv. pp.
56, 58,74, vol. xvi. pp. 215,
280 ; Neander's History of the
Church, vol. iii. p. 119 ; Craw-
furd's History of the Indian Ar-
chipelago, vol. i. p. 328 ; Low's
Sarawak, pp. 174, 261; Cook's
Voyages, vol. i. p. 229 ; Mari-
ners Tonga Islands, vol. i. pp.
194, 350-360, 374, 438, vol. ii.
pp. 172, 230; Hue's Travels in
Tartary and Thibet, vol. i. pp.
74-77 ; Bichardson's Travels in
the Sahara, vol. i. p. 27; M'Cul-
loh's Eesearches, p. 105 ; Jour-
nal of Geog. Soc. vol. i. p. 41 ;
voL iv. p. 260, vol. xiv. p. 37.
And in regard to Europe, com-
pare Spence, Origin of the Laws
of Europe, p. 322 ; Turner's Hist,
of England, vol. iii. p. 443 ;
Phillips on Scrofula, p. 255:
Otter's Life of Clarke, vol. i. pp.
265, 266, which may be illus-
trated by the ' sacred ' disease of
Cambyses, no doubt epilepsy ;
see Herodot. lib. iii. chap, xxxiv.
vol. ii. p. 63.
' 20S Heat, moisture, and conse-
quent rapid decomposition of
vegetable matter, are certainly
among the causes of this ; and
to them may perhaps be added
the electrical state of the atmo-
sphere in the tropics. Compare
Holland's Medical Notes, p. 477 ;
M ' William's Medical Expedition
to the Niger, pp. 157, 185 ;
Simon's Pathology, p. 269 ;
Forres Climate and its Endemic
Influences, p. 158. M. Lepelle-
tier says, rather vaguely {1'hy-
siologie Medicate, vol. iv. p. 527),
that the temperate zones are
'favorables a l'exercice complet
et regulier des phenomenes vi-
taux.'
*•* And must have strength-
ened the power of the clergy;
for, as Charlevoix says with
great frankness, ' pestilences are
the harvests of the ministers of
God.' Southey's History of Bra-
zil, vol. ii. p. 254.
207 y or ev id ence of the extra-
European origin of European
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 131
civilizations exterior to Europe, all nature conspired to
increase the authority of the imaginative faculties, and
weaken the authority of the reasoning ones. With the
materials now existing, it would be possible to follow this
vast law to its remotest consequences, and show how in
Europe it is opposed by another law diametrically op-
posite, and by virtue of which the tendency of natural
phenomena is, on the whole, to limit the imagination, and
embolden the understanding : thus inspiring Man with
confidence in his own resources, and facilitating th&
increase of his knowledge, by encouraging that bold,inqui-
sitive,and scientific spirit, which is constantly advancing,
and on which all future progress must depend.
It is not to be supposed that I can trace in detail the
way in which, owing to these peculiarities, the civiliza-
tion of Europe has diverged from all others that pre-
ceded it. To do this, would require a learning and a
reach of thought to which hardly any single man ought
to pretend ; since it is one thing to have a perception
of a large and general truth, and it is another thing to
follow out that truth in all its ramifications, and prove
it by such evidence as will satisfy ordinary readers
Those, indeed, who are accustomed to speculations of
this character, and are able to discern in the history of
man something more than a mere relation of events,
will at Once understand that in these complicated sub-
jects, the wider any generalization is, the greater will
be the chance of apparent exceptions ; and that when
the theory covers a very large space, the exceptions
may be innumerable, and yet the theory remain per-
fectly accurate. The two fundamental propositions
diseases, some of which, such as Wallace's Dissertation on the
the small-pox, have passed from Numbers of Mankind, pp. 81,
epidemics into endemics, com- 82; Huetiana, Amst. 171*3, pp.
pare Encyclop. of the Medical 132-135; Sanders on the Small
Sciences, 4to, 1847, p. 728; P»x, Edinb. 1813, pp. 3-4;
Transactions of Asiatic Society, Wilts' s Hist, of the South of
vol. ii. pp. 64, 65; Michaelis on India, vol. Hi. pp. 16-21 ; Clot-
the Laws of Moses, vol. iii. p. Bey de la Pesti, Paris, 1840, p.
313; Sprengel, Histoire de la 227.
Midemne, vol. ii. pp. 33, 195;
132 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
which I hope to have demonstrated, are, 1st, That there
are certain natural phenomena which act on the hnman
mind by exciting the imagination ; and 2dly, That
those phenomena are much more numerous out of
Europe than in it. If these two propositions are ad-
mitted, it inevitably follows, that in those countries
where the imagination has received the stimulus, some
specific effects must have been produced ; unless, in-
deed, the effects have been neutralized by other causes.
Whether or not there have been antagonistic causes, is
immaterial to the truth of the theory, whi^h is based
on the two propositions just stated. In a scientific
point of view, therefore, the generalization is complete ;
and it would perhaps be prudent to leave it as it now
stands, rather than attempt to confirm it by further
illustrations, since all particular facts are liable to be
erroneously stated, and are sure to be contradicted by
those who dislike the conclusions they corroborate.
But in order to familiarize the reader with the prin-
ciples I have put forward, it does seem advisable that a
few instances should be given of their actual working :
and I will, therefore, briefly notice the effects they have
produced in the three great divisions of Literature,
Religion, and Art. In each of these departments, I
will endeavour to indicate how the leading features
have been affected by the Aspects of Nature ; and with
a view of simplifying the inquiry, I will take the two
most conspicuous instances on each side, and compare
the manifestations of the intellect of Greece with those
of the intellect of India : these being the two countries
respecting which the materials are most ample, and in
which the physical contrasts are most striking.
If, then, we look at the ancient literature of India,
even during its best period, we shall find the most re-
markable evidence of the uncontrolled ascendency of
the imagination. In the first place, we have the striking
fact that scarcely any attention has been paid to prose
composition ; all the best writers having devoted them-
selves to poetry, as being most congenial to the national
habits of thought. Their works on grammar, on law,
on history, on medicine, on mathematics, on geogra-
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
133
phy, and on metaphysics, are nearly all poems, and are
put together according to a regular system of versifica-
tion. 908 The consequence is, that while prose writing
is utterly despised, the art of poetry has been cultivated
so assiduously, that the Sanscrit can boast of metres
more numerous and more complicated than have ever
been possessed by any of the European languages. 209
1,9 ' So verwandelt das geistige
Leben des Hindu sich in wahre
Poesie, und das bezeichnende
Merkmal seiner ganzen Bildung
ist : Herrscbaft der Einbildung-
skraft iiber den Verstand; im
geraden Gegensatz mit der Bil-
dung des Europaers, deren all-
gemeiner Charakter in der Herr-
schaft des Verstandes iiber die
Einbildungskraft besteht. Es
wird dadureh begreiflich, dass
die Literatur der Hindus nur
eine poetische ist ; dass sie iiber-
reich an Dichterwerken, aber
arm am wissenschaftlichen Schrif-
ten sind ; dass ihre beiligen
Schriften, ihre Gesetze und Sagen
poetisch, und grosstentheils in
Versen geschrieben sind ; ja dass
Lehrbiicher der Grammatik, der
Heilkunde, der Mathematik und
Erdbeschreibung in Versen ver-
fasst sind.' Rhode, Religiose
Bildung der Hindus, vol li. p.
626. Thus, too, we are told
respecting one of their most
celebrated metaphysical systems,
that ' the best text of the Sanchya
is a short treatise in verse.'
Colebrooke on the Philosophy of
the Hindus, in Transactions of
Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 23. And
in another place the same high
authority says {Asiatic Researches,
vol. x. p. 439), 'the metrical
treatises on law and other sciences
are almost entirely composed in
this easy verse.' M. Klaproth,
in an analysis of a Sanscrit his-
tory of Cashmere, says, ' comme
presque toutes les compositions
hindoues, il est ecrit en vers.'
Journal Asiatique, I. serie, vol.
vii. p. 8, Paris, 1825. See also,
in vol. vi. pp. 175, 176, the
remarks of M. Burnouf: 'Les
philosophes indiens, comme s'ils
ne pouvaient echapper aux in-
fluences poetiques de leur climat,
traitent les questions de la meta-
physique le plus abstraite par
similitudes et metaphores.' Com-
pare vol. vi. p. 4, ' le genie indien
si poetique et si religieux ; ' and
see Coicsin, Hist. de la
Philosophic, II. serie, vol. i.
p. 27.
209 Mr. Yates says of the
Hindus, that no other people
have ever 'presented an equal
variety of poetic compositions.
The various metres of Greece and
Rome have filled Europe wiih
astonishment ; but what are
these, compared with the ex-
tensive range of Sanscrit metres
under its three classes of poetical
writing?' Yates on Sanscrit
Alliteration, in Asiatic Researches,
vol. xx. p. 159, Calcutta, 1836.
See also un the Sanscrit metres,
p. 321, and an Essay by Cole-
brooke, vol. x. pp. 389-474. On
the metrical system of the Vedas,
see Mr. Wilson's note in the
Rig Veda Sanhita, vol. ii. p.
135.
134 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
This peculiarity in the form of Indian literature is
accompanied by a corresponding peculiarity in its spirit.
For it is no exaggeration to say, that in that literature
every thing is calculated to set the reason of man at
open defiance. An imagination, luxuriant even to
disease, runs riot on every occasion. This is particu-
larly seen in those productions which are most emi-
nently national, such as the Ramayana, the Mahabharat,
and the Puranas in general. But we also find it even
in their geographical and chronological systems, which
of all others might be supposed least liable to ima-
ginative flights. A few examples of the statements
put forward in the most authoritative books, will supply
the means of instituting a comparison with the totally
opposite condition of the European intellect, and will
give the reader some idea of the extent to which cre-
dulity can proceed, even among a civilized people. 210
Of all tbe various ways in which the imagination has
distorted truth, there is none that has worked so much
harm as an exaggerated respect for past ages. This
reverence for antiquity is repugnant to every maxim of
reason, and is merely the indulgence of a poetic senti-
ment in favour of the remote and unknown. It is,
therefore, natural that, in periods when the intellect
was comparatively speaking inert, this sentiment should
have been far stronger than it now is ; and there can
be little doubt that it will continue to grow weaker,
and that in the same proportion the feeling of progress
will gain ground ; so that veneration for the past will
be succeeded by hope for the future. But formerly the
veneration was supreme, and innumerable traces of it
may be found in the literature and popular creed of
every country. It is this, for instance, which inspired
* le In Europe, as we shall see will be taken from the works of
in the sixth chapter of this a lettered people, written in a
volume, the credulity was at one language extremely rich, and so
time extraordinary ; but the age highly polished, that some corn-
was then barbarous, and bar- petent judges have declared it
barism is always credulous. On equal, if not superior, to the
the other hand, the examples Greek,
gathered from Indian literature
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 135
the poets with their notion of a golden age, in which
the world was filled with peace, in which evil passions
were stilled, and crimes were unknown. It is this,
again, which gave to theologians their idea of the pri-
mitive virtue and simplicity of man, and of his subse-
quent fall from that high estate. And it is this same
principle which diffused a belief that in the olden
times, men were not only more virtuous and happy,
but also physically superior in the structure of their
bodies ; and that by this means they attained to a
larger stature, and lived to a greater age, than is pos-
sible for us, their feeble and degenerate descendants.
Opinions of this kind, being adopted by the imagi-
nation in spite of the understanding, it follows that the
strength of such opinions becomes, in any country, one
of the standards by which we may estimate the pre-
dominance of the imaginative faculties. Applying this
test to the literature of India, we shall find a striking
confirmation of the conclusions already drawn. The
marvellous feats of antiquity with which the Sanscrit
books abound, are so long and so complicated, that it
would occupy too much space to give even an outline
of them ; but there is one class of these singular fictions
which is well worth attention, and admits of being
briefly stated. I allude to the extraordinary age which
man was supposed to have attained in former times.
A belief in the longevity of the human race, at an early
period of the world, was the natural product of those
feelings which ascribed to the ancients an universal
superiority over the moderns ; and this we see exempli-
fied in some of the Christian, and in many of the
Hebrew writings. But the statements in these works
are tame and insignificant when compared with what is
preserved in the literature of India. On this, as on
every subject, the imagination of the Hindus distanced
all competition. Thus, among an immense number of
similar facts, we find it recorded that in ancient times
the duration of the life of common men was 80,000
years, 811 and that holy men lived to be upwards of
11 "The limit of life wns vol. xvi. p. 456, Calcutta, 1828.
80,000 years.' Asiatic Ristarcltca This was likewise the estimate
136
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
100,000. 212 Some died a little sooner, others a little
later ; but in the most flourishing period of antiquity,
if we take all classes together, 100,000 years was the
average. 213 Of one king, whose name was Tudhishthir,
it is casually mentioned that he reigned 27,000
years ; 214 while another, called Alarka, reigned
66,000. 2l5 They were cut off in their prime, since
there are several instances of the early poets living to
be about half-a- million. 216 Bat the most remarkable
case is that of a very shining character in Indian his-
tory, who united in his single person the functions of a
king and a saint. This eminent man lived in a
pure and virtuous age, and his days were, indeed, long
in the land ; since, when he was made king, he was two
million years old : he then reigned 6,300,000 years ;
having done which, he resigned his empire, and lingered
on for 100,000 years more. 217
of the Tibetan divines, according
to whom men formerly 'par-
venaient a l'age de 80,000 ans.'
Journal Asiatique, I. serie, vol. iii.
p. 199, Paris, 1823.
212 'Den Hindu macht dieser
Widerspruch nicht verlegen, da
er seine Heiligen 100,000 Jahre
und l&nger leben lasst.' Rhode,
Rclig. Bildung der Hindus, vol.
i. p. 175.
213 In the Babistan, vol. ii. p.
47, it is stated of the earliest
inhabitants of the world, that
'the duration of human life in
this age extended to one hundred
thousand common years.'
* 14 Wilford {Asiatic Researches,
vol. v. p. 242) says, 'When
the Puranics speak of the
kings of ancient times, they
are equally extravagant. Ac-
cording to them, King Yudhish-
thir reigned seven-and-twenty
thousand years.'
2is <]? or sixty thousand and
eixty hundred years no other
youthful monarch except Alarka
reigned over the earth.' Vishnu
Burana, p. 408.
216 And sometimes more. It/
the Essay on Indian Chronology
in Works of Sir W. Jones, vol. i.
p. 325, we hear of 'a con-
versation between Valmic and
Vyasa, two bards whose
ages were separated by a period
of 864,000 years.' This passage
is also in Asiatic Researches,
vol. ii. p. 399.
2 " ' He was the first king, first
anchoret, and first saint ; and is
therefore entitled Prathama-
Eaja, Prathama Bhicshacara,
Prathama Jina, and Prathama
Tirthancara. At the time of his
inauguration as king, his age was
2,000,000 years. He reigned
6,300,000 years, and then re-
signed his empire to his sons:
and having employed 100,000
years in passing through the
several stages of austerity and
sanctity, departed from this
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 137
The same boundless reverence for antiquity made
the Hindus refer every thing important to the most
distant periods ; and they frequently assign a date which
is absolutely bewildering. 218 Their great collection of
laws, called the Institutes of Menu, is certainly less than
3,000 years old ; but the Indian chronologists, so far
from being satisfied with this, ascribe to them an age
that the sober European mind finds a difficulty even in
conceiving. According to the best native authorities,
these Institutes were revealed to man about two thou-
sand million years before the present era. 819
All this is but a part of that love of the remote, that
straining after the infinite, and that indifference to the
present, which characterizes every branch of the Indian
intellect. Not only in literature, but also in religion
and in art, this tendency is supreme. To subjugate the
understanding, and exalt the imagination, is the uni-
versal principle. In the dogmas of their theology, in
the character of their gods, and even in the forms of
their temples, we see how the sublime and threatening
aspects of the external world have filled the mind of
the people with those images of the grand and the
terrible, which they -strive to reproduce in a visible
form, and to which they owe the leading peculiarities
of their national culture.
Our view of this vast process may be made clearer
by comparing it with the opposite condition of Greece.
In Greece, we see a country altogether the reverse of
India. The works of nature, which in India are of
startling magnitude, are in Greece far smaller, feebler,
and in every way less threatening to man. In the
•world on the summit of a einfachen 1 2,000 Jahre schieneit
mountain named Ashtapada.' einem Volke, welches so gerne
Asiatic Researches, vol. ix. p. 305. die hochstmogliche Potenz auf
n * Speculationen iiber Zahlen seine Gottheit ubertragen mogte,
sind dem Inder bo gelaufig, dass viel zu geringezu seyn.' Bohlui,
selbst die Sprache einen Aus- das alte Indien, voL ii. p. 298.
druck hat fur eine Unitat mit 63 21t Elphinstone's History of
Nullen, namlich Asanke, eben India, p. 136, 'a period exceeding
weil die Berechnung der Welt- 4,320,000 multiplied by six
perioden diese enorme Grosson times seventy-one.'
nothwendig machte, denn jeue
138 INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
great centre of Asiatic civilization, the energies of the
human race are confined, and as it were intimidated, by
the surrounding phenomena. Besides the dangers in-
cidental to tropical climates, there are those noble
mountains, which seem to touch the sky, and from
whose sides are discharged mighty rivers, which no
art can divert from their course^ and which no bridge
has ever been able to span. There, too, are impassable
forests, wholo countries lined with interminable jungle,
and beyond them, again, dreary and boundless deserts ;
all teaching Man his own feebleness, and his inability
to cope with natural forces. Without, and on either
side, there are great seas, ravaged by tempests far
more destructive than any known in Europe, and of
such sudden violence, that it is impossible to guard
against their effects. And, as if in those regions every
thing combined to cramp the activity of Man, the whole
line of coast, from the mouth of the Ganges to the ex-
treme south of the peninsula, does not contain a single
safe and capacious harbour, not one port that affords a
refuge, which is perhaps more necessary there than in
any other part of the world. 290
But in Greece, the aspects of nature are so entirely
different, that the very conditions of existence are
changed. Greece, like India, forms a peninsula ; but
while in the Asiatic country every thing is great and
terrible, in the European country every thing is small
and feeble. The whole of Greece occupies a space
somewhat less than the kingdom of Portugal, 221 that is
220 Symes (Embassy to Ava, in which ships can moor in
vol. iii. p. 278) says: 'From the safety at all seasons of the year.'
mouth of the Ganges to Cape PercivaCs Account of Ceylon,
Comorin, the whole range of our pp. 2, 15, 66.
continental territory, there is 221 ' Altogether its area is
not a single harbour capable somewhat less than that of Por-
of affording shelter to a vessel tugal.' Grotis History of Greece,
of 500 tons burden.' Indeed, vol. ii. p. 302 ; and the same
according to Percival, there is remark in ThirlwalVs History of
with the exception of Bombay, Greece, voL i. p. 2, and in
no harbour, ' either on the Heeren's Ancient Greece, 1845,
Coromandel or Malabar coasts, p. 16. M. Heeren says, 'But
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 139
about a fortieth part of what is now called Hindostan. 222
Situated in the most accessible part of a narrow sea, it
had easy contact on the east with Asia Minor, on the
west with Italy, on the south with Egypt. Dangers of
all kinds were far less numerous than in the tropical
civilizations. The climate was more healthy ; 323 earth-
quakes were less frequent ; hurricanes were less disas-
trous ; wild-beasts and noxious animals less abundant.
In regard to the other great features, the same law
prevails. The highest mountains in Greece are less
than one-third of the Himalaya, so that nowhere do
they reach the limit of perpetual snow. 224 As to rivers,
not only is there nothing approaching those imposing
volumes which are poured down from the mountains of
Asia, but nature is so singularly sluggish, that neither
in Northern nor in Southern Greece do we find any
thing beyond a few streams, which are easily forded,
and which, indeed, in the summer season, are frequently
dried up. 228
These striking differences in the material phenomena
even if we add all the islands, even of Thucydides is more
its square contents are a third satisfactory to scholars than to
less than those of Portugal.' pathologists.
'•"'- The area of Hindostan K * 'Mount Guino, the highest
being, according to Mr. M'Cul- point in Greece, and near its
loch (Geoff. Diet. 1849, vol. i. p. northern boundary, is 8,239 feet
993), 'between 1,200,000 and high No mountain in
1,300,000 square miles.' Greece reaches the limit of per-
223 In the best days of Greece, petual snow.' M'Culloch's Geog.
those alarming epidemics, by Diet. 1849, vol. i. p. 924. Com-
which the country was subse- pare the table of mountains in
quently ravaged, were compara- Baker's Memoir on North Greece,
tively little known : see Thirl- in Journal of Geographical So-
ivalUs History of Greece, vol. iii. cutty, vol. vii. p. 94, with Bake-
p. 134, vol. viii. p. 471. This well's Geology, pp. 621, 622.
may be owing to large co.smical *" ' Greece has no navigable
causes, or to the simple fact, river.' M'Culloch's Geog. Diet.
that the different forms of pesti- vol. i. p. 924. ' Most of the
lence had not yet been imported rivers of Greece are torrents in
from the East by actual contact, early spring, and dry before the
On the vague account* we pos- end of the summer.' Grate's
eess of the earlier plagues, see History of Greece, vol. ii. p.
Clot-Bey de la Peste, Paris, 1840. 286.
pp. 21, 46, 184. The relation
140 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
of the two countries gave rise to corresponding differ-
ences in their mental associations. For as all ideas
must arise partly from what are called spontaneous
operations in the mind, and partly from what is sug-
gested to the mind by the external world, it was natural
that so great an alteration in one of the causes should
produce an alteration in the effects. The tendency of
the surrounding phenomena was in India to inspire
fear; in Greece to give confidence. In India Man
was intimidated ; in Greece he was encouraged. In
India obstacles of every sort were so numerous, so
alarming, and apparently so inexplicable, that the
difficulties of life could only be solved by constantly
appealing to the direct agency of supernatural causes.
Those causes being beyond the province of the under-
standing, the resources of the imagination were inces-
santly occupied in studying them ; the imagination
itself was overworked, its activity became dangerous,
it encroached on the understanding, and the equilibrium
of the whole was destroyed. In Greece opposite cir-
cumstances were followed by opposite results. In Greece
Nature was less dangerous, less intrusive, and less
mysterious than in India. In Greec°, therefore, the
human mind was less appalled, and less superstitious ;
natural causes began to be studied; physical science
first became possible ; and Man, gradually waking to a
sense of his own power, sought to investigate events
with a boldness not to be expected in those other
countries, where the pressure of Nature troubled his
independence, and suggested ideas with which know-
ledge is incompatible.
The effect of these habits of thought on the national
religion must be very obvious to whoever has compared
the popular creed of India with that of Greece. The
mythology of India, like that of every tropical country,
is based upon terror, and upon terror, too, of the most
extravagant kind. Evidence of the universality of this
feeling abounds in the sacred books of the Hindus, in
their traditions, and even in the very form and appear-
ance of their gods. And so deeply is all this impressed
on the mind, that the most popular deities are invariably
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 141
those with whom images of fear are most intimately
associated. Thus, for example, the worship of Siva is
more general than any other ; and as to its antiquity,
there is reason to believe that it was borrowed by the
Brahmins from the original Indians. 226 At all events,
it is very ancient, and very popular ; and Siva himself
forms, with Brahma and Vishnu, the celebrated Hindu
Triad. We need not, therefore, be surprised that with
this god are connected images of terror, such as nothing
but a tropical imagination could conceive. Siva is re-
presented to the Indian mind as a hideous being,
encircled by a girdle of snakes, with a human skull in
his hand, and wearing a necklace composed of human
bones. He has three eyes ; the ferocity of his temper
is marked by his being clothed in a tiger's skin ; he is
represented as wandering about like a madman, and
over his left shoulder the deadly cobra di capella rears
its head. This monstrous creation of an awe-struck
fancy has a wife Doorga, called sometimes Kali, and
sometimes by other names. 227 She has a body of dark
blue ; while the palms of her hands are red, to indicate
her insatiate appetite for blood. She has four arms,
w * See Stevenson on The Vishnu, see Bitter's Hint, of
Anti-Brahmanieal Religion of Ancient Philosophy, vol. iv. pp.
the Hindus, in Journal of Asiatic 334, 335 ; and the noticeable
Society, vol. viii. pp. 331, 332, fact (Buchanan's Mysore, vol. ii.
336, 338. Mr. Wilson [Journal, p. 410), that even the Naimar
vol. iii. p. 204) says, 'The pre- caste, whose 'proper deity' is
vailing form of the Hindu re- Vishnu, ' wear on their foreheads
ligion in the south of the penin- the mark of Siva.' As to the wor-
sula was, at the commencement ship of Siva in the time of Alex-
of the Christian era, and some ander the Great, see TldrlwalTs
time before it most probably, History of Greece, vol. vii. p. 36 ;
that of Siva.' See also vol. v. nnd for further evidence of its
E. 85, where it is stated that extent, Bohlen, das alte Indien,
iva 'is the only Hindu god to vol. i. pp. 29, 147, 206, and
whom honour is done at JBllora.' Transac. of Asiatic Society, vol.
Compare Transac. of Soc. of ii. pp. 50, 294.
Bombay, vol. iii. p. 621; Heeren's *" So it is generally Btated
Asiatic Nations, 1846, vol. ii. by the Hindu theologians; but,
pp. 62, 66. On the philosophi- according to Rammohun Roy,
cal relations between the fol- Siva had two wives. See Ram-
lowers of Siva and those of mohun Roy on the Veda, p. 90.
142 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
with one of which she carries the skull of a giant ; her
tongue protrudes, and hangs lollingly from her mouth ;
round her waist are the hands of her victims ; and her
neck is adorned with human heads strung together in
a ghastly row. 228
If we now turn to Greece, we find, even in the in-
fancy of its religion, not the faintest trace of any thing
approaching to this. For, in Greece, the causes of fear
being less abundant, the expression of terror was less
common. The Greeks, therefore, were by no means
disposed to incorporate into their religion those feelings
of dread natural to the Hindus. The tendency of
Asiatic civilization was to widen the distance between
men and their deities ; the tendency of Greek civiliza-
tion was to diminish it. Thus it is, that in Hindostan
all the gods had something monstrous about them ; as
Vishnu with four hands, Brahma with five heads, and
the like. 229 But the gods of Greece were always re-
presented in forms entirely human. 230 In that country,
no artist would have gained attention, if he had pre-
sumed to portray them in any other shape. He might
228 On these attributes and creased powers and faculties, and
representations of Siva and acted as men would do if so cir-
Doorga, see Rhode, Religiose cumstanced, but with a dignity
Bildung der Hindus, vol. ii. p. and energy suited to their nearer
241; Coleman's Mythology of the approach to perfection. The
Hindus, pp. 63, 92 ; Bohlen, das Hindu gods, on the other hand,
alte Indien, vol. i. p. 207 ; Ward's though endued with human pas-
Religion of the Hindoos, vol. i. sions, have always something
pp. xxxvii. 27, 145 ; Transac. of monstrous in their appearance,
Society of Bombay, vol. i. pp. and wild and capricious in their
215, 221. Compare the curious conduct. They are of various
account of an image supposed colours, red, yellow, and blue;
to represent Mahadeo, in Journal some have twelve heads, and
Asiatique, I. serie, vol. i. p. 354, most have four hands. They are
Paris, 1822. often enraged without a cause,
229 Ward on the Religion of and reconciled without a motive.'
the Hindoos, vol. i. p. 35 ; Elphinstone's History of India,
Transac. of Society of Bombay, pp. 96, 97. See also Erskine on
vol. i. p. 223. Compare the gloss the Temple of Elephanta, in
in the Babistan, vol. ii. p. 202. Transac. of Society of Bombay
230 ' The Greek gods were vol. i. p. 246 ; and the Babistan t
formed like ra^n, with greatly in- vol. i. p. cxi.
INFLUENCE OV PHYSICAL LAWS. 143
make them stronger than men, he might make them
more beautiful ; but still they must be men. The
analogy between God and Man, which excited the
religious feelings of the Greeks, would have been fatal
to those of the Hindus.
This difference between the artistic expressions of
the two religions was accompanied by an exactly similar
difference between their theological traditions. In the
Indian books, the imagination is exhausted in relating
the feats of the gods ; and the more obviously impossible
any achievement is, the greater the pleasure with which
it was ascribed to them. But the Greek gods had not
only human forms, but also human attributes, human
pursuits, and human tastes. 231 The men of Asia, to
whom every object of nature was a source of awe, ac-
quired such habits of reverence, that they never dared
to assimilate their own actions with the actions of their
deities. The men of Europe, encouraged by the safety
and inertness of the material world, did not fear to strike
a parallel, from which they would have shrunk had they
lived amid the dangers of a tropical country. It is thus
M1 ' In the material polytheism haben Menschengestalt. . . .
of other leading ancient nations, Haben die Gotter aber nicht nur
the Egyptians, for example, the menschlicheGe8talt,sondernauch
incarnation of the Deity was einen menschlichen Korper, so
chiefly, or exclusively, confined sind sie als Menschen auch
to animals, monsters, or other denselben Unvollkommenheiten,
fanciful emblems In Krankheiten und dem Tode un-
Greece, on the other hand, it terworfen; dieses streitet mit
was an almost necessary result dem Begriffe,' i.e. of Epicurus,
of the spirit and grace with Compare Grote's History of
which the deities were embodied Greece, vol. i. p. 596 : ' The myth-
in human forms, that they should ical age was peopled with a
also be burdened with human mingled aggregate of gods, he-
interests and passions. Heaven, roes, and men, so confounded to-
like earth, had its courts and gether, that it was often impos-
palaces, its trades and profes- sible to distinguish to which
eions, its marriages, intrigues, class any individual name be-
divorces.' Mitre's Bistort/ of the longed.' See also the complaint
Literature of Ancient Grew, voL of Xenophanes, in Midler's Hint
i. pp. 471, 472. So, too, Tenne- of Lit. of Greece, London, I860,
mann (Gesckic/Ue dcr Philosophic, p. 251.
vol. iii. p. 419): ' Diese Gotter
144 INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
that the Greek divinities are so different from those of
the Hindus, that in comparing them we seem to pass
from one creation into another. The Greeks generalized
their observations upon the human mind, and then ap-
plied them to the gods. 232 The coldness of women was
figured in Diana ; their beauty and sensuality in Venus ;
their pride in Juno ; their accomplishments in Minerva.
To the ordinary avocations of the gods the same prin-
ciple was applied. Neptune was a sailor ; Vulcan was
a smith ; Apollo was sometimes a fiddler, sometimes a
poet, sometimes a keeper of oxen. As to Cupid, he was
a wanton boy, who played with his bow and arrows ;
Jupiter was an amorous and good-natured king ; while
Mercury was indifferently represented either as a trust-
worthy messenger, or else as a common and notorious
thief.
Precisely the same tendency to approximate human
forces towards superhuman ones, is displayed in another
peculiarity of the Greek religion. I mean, that in Greece
we for the first time meet with hero-worship, that is, the
deification of mortals. According to the principles already
laid down, this could not be expected in a tropical civi-
lization, where the Aspects of Nature filled Man with a
constant sense of his own incapacity. It is, therefore,
natural that it should form no part of the ancient Indian
religion ; 233 neither was it known to the Egyptians, 234 nor
to the Persians, 235 nor, so far as I am aware, to the Ara-
232 The same remark applies Egyptians, vol. iv. pp. 148, 318;
to beauty of form, -which they and Matter, Histoire de VEcole
first aimed at in the statues of d'Alexandrie, vol. i. p. 2 ; the
men, and then brought to bear ' culte des grands hommes,' which
upon the statues of the gods, afterwards arose in Alexandria
This is well put in Mr. Grote's (Matter, vol. i. p. 54), must have
important work, History of been owing to Greek influence.
Greece, vol. iv. pp. 133, 134, edit. 23S There are no indications of
1847. it in the Zendavesta ; and Hero-
233 ' But the worship of deified dotus says, that the Persians
heroes is no part of that system.' were unlike the Greeks, in so
Colebrooke on the Vedas, in Asiatic far as they disbelieved in a god
Researches, vol. viii. p. 495. having a human form ; book i.
234 Mackay 's Religious Develop- chap, cxxxi. vol. i. p. 308: ovk
ment, vol. ii. p. 53, Lond. 1850. avBpanrocpveas iv6^iaav robs deovs,
Compare Wilkinson's Ancient naronrep oi"E\\rives ehcu.
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
145
bians. 236 But in Greece, Man being less humbled, and,
as it were, less eclipsed, by the external world, thought
more of his own powers, and human nature did not fall
into that discredit in which it elsewhere sank. The con-
sequence was, that the deification of mortals was a recog-
nized part of the national religion at a very early period
in the history of Greece ; 237 and this has been found so
natural to Europeans, that the same custom was after-
wards renewed with eminent success by the Romish
Church. Other circumstances, of a very different cha-
racter, are gradually eradicating this form of idolatry ;
but its existence is worth observing, as one of the innu-
merable illustrations of the way in which European civi-
lization has diverged from all those that preceded it. 23 *
It is thus, that in Greece every thing tended to exalt
the dignity of man, while in India every thing tended to
depress it. 239 To sum up the whole, it may be said that
286 I am not acquainted with
any evidence connecting this
worship -with the old Arabian
religion ; and it was certainly
most alien to the spirit of Mo-
hammedanism.
287 Mure's History of the Lite-
rature of Greece, vol. i. pp. 28,
500, vol. ii. p. 402 : very good
remarks on a subject handled
unsatisfactorily by Coleridge ;
Literary Remains, vol. i. p. 185.
Thirlwall (History of Greece, vol.
i. p. 207) admits that ' the views
and feelings out of which it (the
worship of heroes) arose, seem
to be clearly discernible in the
Homeric poems.' Compare Cud-
worth's Intellectual System, voL ii.
pp. 226, 372. In the Cratylus,
chap, xxxiii., Socrates is repre-
sented as asking, Ovk ol<r0a 8ti
■>)ni8foi ol fipue* ; Platonis Opera,
vol. iv. p. 227, edit. Bekker,
Lond. 1826. And in the next
century, Alexander obtained for
ln's friend, Hephsestion, the right
of being ' worshipped as a hero '
VOL. L L
Grate's History of Greece, vol. xii.
p. 339.
288 The adoration of the dead,
and particularly the adoration of
martyrs, was one great point of
opposition between the orthodox
church and the Manichseans
(Beausobre, Histoire Critique de
Manickie, vol. i. p. 316, vol. ii.
pp. 651, 669); and it is easy to
understand how abhorrent such
a practice must have been to
the Persian heretics.
289 M. Cousin, in his eloquent
and ingenious work (Histoire de
la Philosophic, 3e serie, vol. i.
pp. 183, 187), has some judi-
cious observations on what he
calls Tepoque de 1'innni' of
the East, contrasted with that
' du fini,' which began in Europe.
But as to the physical causes of
this, he only admits the grandeur
of "nature, overlooking those na-
tural elements of mystery and
of danger by which religious
sentiments were constantly ex-
cited.
146 INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS.
the Greeks had more respect for human powers ; the
Hindus for superhuman. The first dealt more with the
known and available ; the other with the unknown and
mysterious. 240 And by a parity of reasoning, the
imagination, which the Hindus, being oppressed by the
pomp and majesty of nature, never sought to control,
lost its supremacy in the little peninsula of ancient
Greece. In Greece, for the first time in the history of the
world, the imagination was, in some degree, tempered
and confined by the understanding. Not that its strength
was impaired, or its vitality diminished. It was broken -
in and tamed; its exuberance was checked, its follies were
chastised. But that its energy remained, we have ample
proof in those productions of the Greek mind which have
survived to our own time. The gain, therefore, was com-
plete ; since the inquiring and sceptical faculties of the
human understanding were cultivated, without destroy-
ing the reverential and poetic instincts of the imagination.
Whether or not the balance was accurately adjusted, is
another question ; but it is certain that the adjustment
was more nearly arrived at in Greece than in any pre-
vious civilization. 241 There can, I think, be little doubt
240 A learned orientalist says, vol. l. p. 8 ; and vol. vi. p. 490,
that no people have made such he says, ' Bei alien diesen Man-
efforts as the Hindus ' to solve, geln und Fehlern sind doch die
exhaust, comprehend, what i3 Griechen die einzige Nation der
insolvable, inexhaustible, incom- alten Welt, welche Sinn fur
prebensible.' Troyer's Prelimi- Wissenschafthatte,undzudiesem
nary Discourse on the Dabistan, Behufe forschte. Sie haben docli
vol. i. p. cviii. die Bahn gebrochen, und den
241 This is noticed by Terme- Weg zur Wissenschaft geebnet.'
mann, who, however, has not To the same effect, Sprengd,
attempted to ascertain the cause : Histoire de la Medecine, vol. i. p.
' Die Einbildungskraft des G-rie- 215. And on this difference
chen war schopferisch, sie schuf between the Eastern and the
in seinem Innern neue Ideen- European mind, see Matter, His-
welten ; aber er wurde doch nie toire du Gnosticisme, vol. i. pp.
verleitet, die idealische Welt mit 18, 233, 234. So, too, Kant
der wirklichen zu verwechseln, (Logi/e, in Kant's WerJce, vol. i.
weil sie immer mit einem rich- p. 350), ' Unter alien Volkern
tigen Verstande und gesunder haben also die Griechen erst
Beurtheilungskraft verbunden angefangen zu philosophiren.
war.' Geschichte der Philosophie, Denn sie haben zuerst versucht,
INFLUENCE OP PHYSICAL LAWS. 147
tliat, notwithstanding what was effected, too much autho-
rity was left to the imaginative faculties, and that the
purely reasoning ones did not receive, and never have
received, sufficient attention. Still, this does not affect
the great fact, that the Greek literature is the first in
which this deficiency was somewhat remedied, and in
which there was a deliberate and systematic attempt to
test all opinions by their consonance with human reason,
and thus vindicate the right of Man to judge for him-
self on matters which are of supreme and incalculable
importance.
I have selected India and Greece as the two terms of
the preceding comparison, because our information re-
specting those countries is most extensive, and has been
most carefully arranged. But every thing we know of
the other tropical civilizations confirms the views I have
advocated respecting the effects produced by the Aspects
of Nature. In Central America extensive excavations
have been made ; and what has been brought to light
proves that the national religion was, like that of India,
a system of complete and unmitigated terror. 242 Neither
there nor in Mexico, nor in Peru, nor in Egypt, did the
people desire to represent their deities in human forms,
or ascribe to them human attributes. Even their temples
are huge buildings, often constructed with great skill,
but showing an evident wish to impress the mind with
fear, and offering a striking contrast to the lighter and
smaller structures which the Greeks employed for reli-
gious purposes. Thus, even in the style of architecture
do we see the same principle at work ; the dangers of the
nicht an dem Leitfaden der Bil- America, voLi.p. 152; at p. 159,
der die Vernunfterkenntnisse zu ' The form of sculpture most
cultiviren, sondern in ahstracto ; generally used was a death's
start dass die anderen Volker head.' At Mayapan (vol. iii. p.
sich die BegrifFe immer nur durch 133), ' representations of human
Bilder in concrete verstandlich figures or animals with hideous
zu machen suchten.' features and expressions, in pro-
2,2 Thus, of one of the idols ducing which the skill of the
at Copan, 'The intention of the artist seems to have heen ex-
sculptor seems to have been to pended;' and again, p. 412,
excite terror.' Stephen's & utral ' unnatural and grotesque facfs.'
l2
148 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
tropical civilization being more suggestive of the infinite,
while the safety of the European civilization was more
suggestive of the finite. To follow out the consequences
of this great antagonism, it would be necessary to indicate
how the infinite, the imaginative, the synthetic, and the
deductive, are all connected ; and are opposed, on the
other hand, by the finite, the sceptical, the analytic, and
the inductive. A complete illustration of this would
carry me beyond the plan of this Introduction and would
perhaps exceed the resources of my own knowledge ; and
I must now leave to the candour of the reader what I
am conscious is but an imperfect sketch, but what may,
nevertheless, suggest to him materials for futurethought,
and, if I might indulge the hope, may open to historians
a new field, by reminding them that every where the
hand of Nature is upon us, and that the history of the
human mind can only be understood by connecting with
it the history and the aspects of the material universe.
Note 36 to p. 61.
As these views have a social and economical importance quite
independent of their physiological value, I -will endeavour, in this
note, to fortify them still further, by showing that the connexion
between carbonized food and the respiratory functions may be
illustrated by a wider survey of the animal kingdom.
The gland most universal among the different classes of animals
is the liver ;• and its principal business is to relieve the system of
its superfluous carbon, which it accomplishes by secreting bile, a
highly carbonized fluid. b Now, the connexion between this process
and the respiratory functions is highly curious. For, if we take a
general view of animal life, we shall find that the liver and lungs
are nearly always compensatory ; that is to say, when one organ is
» ' The most constant gland in the animal kingdom is the liver.' Grant*
Comp. Anat. p. 576. See also Biclard. Anat. Gen. p. 18, and Burdaeh, Traiti, de
Physiol, vol. ix. p. 580. Burdaeh says, ' II existe dans presque tout le regne
animal ; ' and the latest researches have detected the rudiments of a liver even
in the Entozoa and Kotifera. Eymer Jones's Animal Kingdom, 1855, p. 183,
and Owen's Invertebrata, 1855, p. 104.
b Until the analysis made by Demarcay in 1837, hardly anything was known
of the composition of bile ; but this accomplished chemist ascertained that its
essential constituent is choleate of soda, and that the choleic acid contains
nearly sixty-three per cent, of carbon. Compare Thomsons Animal Chemtslry,
pp. 59, 60, 412, 602, with Simon's Chemistry, vol. ii. pp. 17-21.
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 149
small and inert, the other is large and active. Thus, reptiles have
feeble hings, but a considerable liver ; • and thus, too, in fishes,
which have no lungs, in the ordinary sense of the word, the size of
the liver is often enormous.* On the other hand, insects have a
very large and complicated system of air tubes ; but their liver is
minute, and its functions are habitually sluggish." If, instead of
comparing the different classes of animals, we compare the different
stages through which the same animal passes, we shall find further
confirmation of this wide and striking principle. For the law holds
good even before birth ; since in the unborn infant the lungs have
scarcely any activity, but there is an immense liver, which is full
of energy and pours out bile in profusion/ And so invariable is
this relation, that in man the liver is the first organ which is
formed : it is preponderant during the whole period of foetal life ;
but it rapidly diminishes when, after birth, the lungs come into
play, and a new scheme of compensation is established in the
system.*
• ' The size of the liver and the quantity of the bile are not proportionate to
the quantity of the food and frequency of eating ; but inversely to the size and
perfection of the lungs The liver is proportionately larger in
reptiles, which have lungs with large cells incapable of rapidly decarbonizing
the blood.' Goods Study of Medicine, 1829, vol. i. pp. 32, 33. See Cuvier,
Rigne Animal, vol. ii. p. 2, on 'la petitesse des vaiBseaux pulraonaires ' of
reptiles.
• Carus's Comparative Anatomy, vol. ii. p. 230 ; Grant's Comp. Anat. pp. 885,
696 ; Itymer Jones's Animal Kingdom, p. 646.
• Indeed it has been supposed by M. GaeVJe that the ' vaisseaux biliares ' of
some insects were not ' secrC'teurs ; ' but this opinion appears to be erroneous.
See Latreille, in Cuvier, Regne Animal, vol. iv. pp. 297, 298.
f ' La predominance du foie avant la naissance ' is noticed by Bichat
(Anatomie Generate, vol. ii. p. 272), and by many other physiologists ; but Dr.
Elliotson appears to have been one of the first to understand a fact, the ex-
planation of which we might vainly seek for in the earlier writers. ' The
hypothesis, that one great use of the liver was, like that of the lungs, to remove
carbon from the system, with this difference, that the alteration of the capacity
at the air caused a reception of caloric into the blood, in the case of the lungs,
while the hepatic excretion takes place without introduction of caloric, was, I
recollect, a great favourite with me when a student. . . . The Heidelberg
professors have adduced many arguments to the same effect. In the foetus,
for whose temperature the mother's heat must be sufficient, the lungs perform
DO function ; but the liver is of great size, and bile is secreted abundantly, so
that the meconium accumulates considerably during the latter months of
pregnancy.' Elliolson's Human Physiology, 1840, p. 102. In Lepelletier's
J'ltijsiologie indicate, vol. i. p. 466, vol. ii. pp. 14, 546, 650, all this is sadly
confused.
% ' The liver is the first-formed organ in the embryo. It is developed from
the alimentary canal, and at about the third week fills the whole abdomen,
and is one-half the weight of the entire embryo At birth it is of
very large size, and occupies the whole upper part of the abdomen. . . .
The liver diminishes rapidly after birth, probably from obliteration of the
umbilical vein.' Wilson's Human Anatomy, 1851, p. 688. Compare RurduclCs
1'hysiologie, vol. iv. p. 447, where it is said of the liver in childhood, ' Cet organe-
crott avoc lenteur, surtout comparativement anx pouraons ; le rapport da
ceux-ci au foie etant a pen pros de 1 : 8 avant la respiration, il 6talt de 1 : 1 "8*
uprcs l'ttablissement de oette dernic>re fonction.' See also p. 91, and vol. iii.
p. 483 ; and on the predominance of the liver in foetal life, see the xcmarks of
Serres (Geoffray .Saml-l/Haire, Anomalies de I' Organisation , vol. ii. p> lt^vrkOH
generalization is perhaps a little premature.
150 INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS.
These facts, interesting to the philosophic physiologist, are of
great moment in reference to the doctrines advocated in this
chapter. Inasmuch as the liver and lungs are compensatory in the
history of their organization, it is highly probable that they are
also compensatory in the functions they perform ; and that what is
left undone by one will have to be accomplished by the other.
The liver, therefore, fulfilling the duty, as chemistry teaches us, of
decarbonizing the system by secreting a carbonized fluid, we should
expect, even in the absence of any further evidence, that the lungs
would be likewise decarbonizing ; in other words, we should expect
that if, from any cause, we are surcharged with carbon, our lungs
must assist in remedying the evil. This brings us, by another road,
to the conclusion that highly carbonized food has a tendency to tax
the lungs ; so that the connexion between a carbonized diet and
the respiratory functions, instead of being, as some assert, a
crude hypothesis, is an eminently scientific theory, and is corrobo-
rated not only by chemistry, but by the general scheme of the
animal kingdom, and even by the observation of embryological
phenomena. The views of Liebeg, and of his followers, are indeed
supported by so many analogies, and harmonize so well with other
parts of our knowledge, that nothing but a perverse hatred of
generalization, or an incapacity for dealing with large speculative
truths, can explain the hostility directed against conclusions which
have been gradually forcing themselves upon us since Lavoisier,
seventy years ago, attempted to explain the respiratory functions by
subjecting them to the laws of chemical combination.
In this, and previous notes (see in particular notes 30, 31, 35), I
have considered the connexion between food respiration, and ani-
mal heat, at a length which will appear tedious to readers uninte-
rested in physiological pursuits ; but the investigation has become
necessary, on account of the difficulties raised by experimenters,
who, not having studied the subject comprehensively, object to cer-
tain parts of it. To mention what, from the ability and reputation
of the author, is a conspicuous instance of this, Sir Benjamin
Brodie has recently published a volume {Physiological Researches,
1851) containing some ingeniously contrived experiments on dogs
and rabbits, to prove that heat is generated rather by the nervous
system than by the respiratory organs. Without following this
eminent surgeon into all its details, I may be permitted to observe,
1st, That, as a mere matter of history, no great physiological truth
has ever yet been discovered, nor has any great physiological fal-
lacy been destroyed, by such limited experiments on a single class
of animals ; and this is partly because in physiology a crucial in-
stance is impracticable, owing to the fact that we deal with resist-
ing and living bodies, and partly because every experiment produces
an abnormal condition, and thus lets in fresh causes, the operation
of which is incalculable ; unless, as often happens in the inorganic
world, we can control the whole phenomenon. 2nd, That the other
department of the organic world, namely, the vegetable kingdom,
INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL LAWS. 151
has, so far as we are aware, no nervous system, but nevertheless
possesses heat ; and we moreover know that the heat is a product
of oxygen and carbon (see note 82 to chapter ii.). 3d, That the
evidence of travellers respecting the different sorts of food, and the
different quantities of food, used in hot countries and in cold ones,
is explicable by the respiratory and chemical theories of the origin
of animal heat, but is inexplicable by the theory of the nervous
origin of heat.
152
CHAPTER HI.
EXAMINATION OF THE METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIANS FOB
DISCOVEEING MENTAL LAWS.
The evidence that I have collected seems to establish
two leading facts, which, nnless they can be impugned,
are the necessary basis of universal history. The first
fact is, that in the civilizations out of Europe, the
powers of nature have been far greater than in those in
Europe. The second fact is, that those powers have
worked immense mischief; and that while one division
of them has caused an unequal distribution of wealth,
another division of them has caused an unequal distri-
bution of thought, by concentrating attention upon
subjects which inflame the imagination. So far as the
experience of the past can guide us, we may say, that
in all the extra European civilizations, these obstacles
are insuperable : certainly no nation has ever yet over-
come them. But Europe, being constructed upon a
smaller plan than the other quarters of the world —
being also in a colder region, having a less exuberant
soil, a less imposing aspect, and displaying in all her
physical phenomena much greater feebleness — it was
easier for Man to discard the superstitions which
Nature suggested to his imagination ; and it was also
easier for him to effect, not, indeed, a just division of
wealth, but something nearer to it, than was practicable
in the older countries.
Hence it is that, looking at the history of the world
as a whole, the tendency has been, in Europe, to sub-
ordinate nature to man ; out of Europe, to subordinate
man to nature. To this there are, in barbarous
countries, several exceptions ; but in civilized countries
the rule has been universal. The great division, there-
METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIANS. 153
fore, between European civilization and non-European
civilization, is the basis of the philosophy of history,
since it suggests the important consideration, that if
we would understand, for instance, the history of India,
we must make the external world our first study,
because it has influenced man more than man has
influenced it. If, on the other hand, we would under-
stand the history of a country like France or England,
we must make man our principal study, because nature
being comparatively weak, every step in the great pro-
gress has increased the dominion of the human mind
over the agencies of the external world. Even in those
countries where the power of man has reached the
highest point, the pressure of nature is still immense ;
but it diminishes in each succeeding generation, because
our increasing knowledge enables us not so much to
control nature as to foretell her movements, and thus
obviate many of the evils she would otherwise occasion.
How successful our efforts have been, is evident from
the fact, that the average duration of life constantly
becomes longer, and the number of inevitable dangers
fewer ; and what makes this the more remarkable is,
that the curiosity of men is keener, and their contact
with each other closer, than in any former period ; so
that while apparent hazards are multiplied, we find
from experience that real hazards are, on the whole,
diminished. 1
If, therefore, we take the largest possible view of
the history of Europe, and confine ourselves entirely
to the primary cause of its superiority over other
parts of the world, we must resolve it into the encroach-
1 This diminution of casual- see Quetdet, sur F Homme, vol. ii.
ties is undoubtedly one cause, pp. 67, 272 ; Lawrence's Lectures
though a slight one, of the in- on Man, pp. 275, 276 ; Ellis's
creased duration of life ; but Polynesian Researches, vol. i.
the most active cause is a general p. 98 ; Whatelt/s Lectures on
improvement in the physical Political Economy, 8vo. 1831,
condition of man : see Sir B. p. 59 ; Journal of the Statistical
Brodie's Lectures on Pathology Society, vol. xvii. pp. 32, 33 ;
and Surgery, p. 212; and for Dufau, Traiti de Statistigue,
proof that civilized men are p. 107 ; Hawkins's Medical Sta-
stronger than uncivilized ones, tist'ws, p. 232.
154 METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIANS.
ment of the mind of man npon the organic and inorganic;
forces of nature. To this all other causes are sub-
ordinate. 2 For we have seen that wherever the powers
of nature reached a certain height, the national civiliza-
tion was irregularly developed, and the advance of the
civilization stopped. The first essential was, to limit
the interference of these physical phenomena ; and that
was most likely to be accomplished where the pheno-
mena were feeblest and least imposing. This was the
case with Europe ; it is accordingly in Europe alone,
that man has really succeeded in taming the energies
of nature, bending them to his own will, turning them
aside from their ordinary course, and compelling them
to minister to his happiness, and subserve the general
purposes of human life.
All around us are the traces of this glorious and suc-
cessful struggle. Indeed, it seems as if in Europe there
was nothing man feared to attempt. The invasions of
the sea repelled, and whole provinces, as in the case of
Holland, rescued from its grasp , mountains cut through
and turned into level roads ; soils of the most obstinate
sterility becoming exuberant, from the mere advance
of, chemical knowledge ; while, in regard to electric
phenomena, we see the subtlest, the most rapid, and
the most mysterious of all forces, made the medium of
thought, and obeying even the most capricious behests of
the human mind.
2 The general social conse- knowledge of the properties and
quences of this I shall hereafter laws of physical objects shows
consider ; hut the mere eco- no sign of approaching its ulti-
nomical consequences are well mate boundaries ; it is advancing
expressed by Mr. Mill : ' Of the more rapidly, and in a greater
features which characterize this number of directions at once,
progressive economical move- than in any previous age or gene-
ment of civilized nations, that ration, and affording such fre-
which first excites attention, quent glimpses of unexplored
through its intimate connexion fields beyond, as to justify the
with the phenomena of Pro- belief that our acquaintance with
duction, is the perpetual, and, so nature is still almost in its in-
far as human foresight can ex- fancy.' Mill's Principles of Polit.
tend, the unlimited, growth of Economy, vol. ii. pp. 246-7.
man's power over nature. Our
METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIANS. 155
In other instances, where the products of the external
world have been refractory, man has succeeded in de-
stroying what he could hardly hope to subjugate. The
most cruel diseases, such as the plague, properly so
called, and the leprosy of the Middle Ages, 3 have en-
tirely disappeared from the civilized parts of Europe ;
and it is scarcely possible that they should ever again
be seen there. Wild beasts and birds of prey have
been extirpated, and are no longer allowed to infest the
haunts of civilised men. Those frightful famines, by
which Europe used to be ravaged several times in
every century, 4 have ceased ; and so successfully have
we grappled with them, that there is not the slightest
fear of their ever returning with any thing like their
former severity. Indeed, our resources are now so
great, that we could at worst, only suffer from a slight
and temporary scarcity : since, in the present state of
knowledge, the evil would be met at the outset by
remedies which chemical science could easily suggest. 6
It is hardly necessary to notice how, in numerous
other instances, the progress of European civilization has
* What this horrible disease highest living authorities, famine
once was, may be estimated from is, even in the present state of
the fact, 'qu'au treizieme siecle chemistry, 'next to impossible.'
on comptait en France seulement, Herschets Discourse on Natural
deux mille leproseries, et que Philosophy, p. 65. Cuvier (i?e-
l'Europe entiere renfermait en- cueil des Eloges, vol. i. p. 10)
viron dix-neuf mille etablisse- says that we have succeeded ' a
mens semblables.' Sprengel, rendre toute famine impossible.'
Histoire de la Medecine, vol. ii. See also Godwin on Population,
p. 374. As to the mortality p. 500 ; and for a purely eco-
caused by the plague, see Clot- nomical argument to prove the
Bey, de la Peste, Paris, 1840, impossibility of famine, see
pp 62, 63, 185, 292. Mill's Principles of Political
* For a curious list of famines, Economy, vol. ii. p. 258; and
see an essay by Mr. Farr, in compare a note in Ricardo's
Journal of the Statistical Society, Works, p. 191. The Irish
vol. ix. pp. 159-163. He says, famino may seem an exception :
that in the eleventh, twelfth, but it could have been easily
and thirteenth centuries, the baffled except for the poverty
average was, in England, one of the people, which frustrated
famine every fourteen years. our efforts to reduce it to a
* In the opinion of one of the dearth.
156 METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIANS.
been marked by the diminished influence of the external
world : I mean, of course, those peculiarities of the ex-
ternal world which have an existence independent of the
wishes of man, and were not created by him. The most
advanced nations do, in their present state, owe com-
paratively little to those original features of nature which,
in every civilization out of Europe, exercised unlimited
power. Thus, in Asia and elsewhere, the course of trade,
the extent of commerce, and many similar circumstances,
were determined by the existence of rivers, by the facility
with which they could be navigated, and by the number
and goodness of the adjoining harbours. But, in Europe,
the determining cause is, not so much these physical pe-
culiarities, as the skill and energy of man. Formerly the
richest countries were those in which nature was most
bountiful ; now the richest countries are those in which
man is most active. For, in our age of the world, if nature
is parsimonious, we know how to compensate her defi-
ciencies. If a river is difficult to navigate, or a country
difficult to traverse, our engineers can correct the error,
and remedy the evil. If we have no rivers, we make
canals ; if we have no natural harbours, we make artificial
ones. And so marked is this tendency to impair the au-
thority of natural phenomena, that it is seen even in the
distribution of the people, since, in the most civilized
parts of Europe, the population of the towns is every-
where outstripping that of the country ; and it is evident
that the more men congregate in great cities, the more
they will become accustomed to draw their materials of
thought from the business of human life, and the less
attention they will pay to those peculiarities of nature,
which are the fertile source of superstition, and by
which, in every civilization out of Europe, the progress
of man was arrested.
From these facts it may be fairly inferred, that the
advance of European civilization is characterized by a
diminishing influence of physical laws, and an increasing
influence of mental laws. The complete proof of this
generalization can be collected only from history ; and
therefore I must reserve a large share of the evidence on
which it is founded for the future volumes of this work.
METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIANS. 157
But that the proposition is fundamentally true must be
admitted by whoever, in addition to the arguments just
adduced, will concede two premisses, neither of which
seem susceptible of much dispute. The first premiss is,
that we are in possession of no evidence that the powers
of nature have ever been permanently increased; and that
we have no reason to expect that any such increase can
take place. The other premiss is, that we have abundant
evidence that the resources of the human mind have
become more powerful, more numerous, and more able to
grapple with the difficulties of the external world ; be-
cause every fresh accession to our knowledge supplies
fresh means with which we can either control the opera-
tions of nature, or, failing in that, can foresee the conse-
quences, and thus avoid what it is impossible to prevent ;
in both instances, diminishing the pressure exercised on
us by external agents.
If these premisses are admitted, we are led to a con-
clusion which is of great value for the purpose of this
Introduction. For, if the measure of civilization is the
triumph of the mind over external agents, it becomes
clear, that of the two classes of laws which regulate the
progress of mankind, the mental class is more important
than the physical. This, indeed, is assumed by one
school of thinkers as a matter of course, though I am not
aware that its demonstration has been hitherto attempted
by any thing even approaching an exhaustive analysis.
The question, however, as to the originality of my argu-
ments, is one of very trifling moment ; but what we have
to notice is, that in the present stage of our inquiry, the
problem with which we started has become simplified,
and a discovery of the laws of European history is
resolved, in the first instance, into a discovery of the
laws of the human mind. These mental laws, when
ascertained, will be the ultimate basis of the history
of Europe ; the physical laws will be treated as of minor
importance, and as merely giving rise to disturbances,
the force and the frequency of which have, during
several centuries, perceptibly diminished.
If we now inquire into the means of discovering the
laws of the human mind, the metaphysicians are ready
158 METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIAN'S.
with an answer ; and they refer us to their own labours
as supplying a satisfactory solution. It therefore becomes
necessary to ascertain the value of their researches, to
measure the extent of their resources, and, above all, to
test the validity of that method which they always follow,
and by which alone, as they assert, great truths can be
elicited.
The metaphysical method, though necessarily branch-
ing into two divisions, is, in its origin, always the same,
and consists in each observer studying the operations of
his own mind. 6 This is the direct opposite of the his-
torical method ; the metaphysician studying one mind,
the historian studying many minds. Now, the first
remark to make on this is, that the metaphysical method
is one by which no discovery has ever yet been made in
any branch of knowledge. Every thing we at present
know has been ascertained by studying phenomena, from
which all casual disturbances having been removed, the
law remains as a conspicuous residue. 7 And this can
only be done by observations so numerous as to eliminate
the disturbances, or else by experiments so delicate as
to isolate the phenomena. One of these conditions is
essential to all inductive science ; but neither of them
does the metaphysician obey. To isolate the phenomenon
is for him an impossibility ; since no man, into whatever
state of reverie he may be thrown, can entirely cut
himself off from the influence of external events, which
must produce an effect on his mind, even when he is
unconscious of their presence. . As to the other condi-
• 'As the metaphysician car- Human Understanding, in Locke's
ries within himself the materials Works, vol. i, pp. 18, 76, 79,
of his reasoning, he is not under 121, 146, 152, 287, vol. ii. pp.
a necessity of looking abroad for 141, 243.
subjects of speculation or amuse- ' The deductive sciences form,
ment.' Stewart's Philosophy of of course, an exception to this ;
the Mind, vol. i. p. 462 ; and the but the whole theory of meta-
same remark, almost literally physics is founded on its induc-
repeated, at vol. iii. p. 260. tive character, and on the sup-
Locke makes what passes in each position that it consists of
man's mind the sole source of generalized observations, and
metaphysics, and the sole test of that from them alone the science
their truth. Essay concerning of mind can be raised
METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIANS. 159
tion, it is by the metaphysician set at open defiance ; for
his whole system is based on the supposition that, by
studying a single mind, he can get the laws of all minds ;
so that while he, on the one hand, is unable to isolate his
observations from disturbances, he, on the other hand,
refuses to adopt the only remaining precaution — he re-
fuses so to enlarge his survey as to eliminate the dis-
turbances by which his observations are troubled. 8
This is the first and fundamental objection to which
metaphysicians are exposed, even on the threshold of
their science. But if we penetrate a little deeper, we
shall meet with another circumstance, which, though
less obvious, is equally decisive. After the metaphysician
has taken for granted that, by studying one mind, he can
discover the laws of all minds, he finds himself involved
in a singular difficulty as soon as he begins to apply even
this imperfect method. The difficulty to which I allude
is one which, not being met with in any other pursuit,
seems to have escaped the attention of those who are
unacquainted with metaphysical controversies. To un-
derstand, therefore, its nature, it is requisite to give a
short account of those two great schools, to one of which
all metaphysicians must necessarily belong.
In investigating the nature of the human mind,
according to the metaphysical scheme, there are two
methods of proceeding, both of which are equally obvious,
• These remarks are only ap- regarded as hypothesis, which
plicable to those who follow the require verification to raise them
purely metaphysical method of to theories. But, instead of this
investigation. There is, how- cautious proceeding, the almost
ever, a very small number of invariable plan is, to treat the
metaphysicians, among whom M. hypothesis as if it were a theory
Cousin is the most eminent in already proved, and as if there
France, in whose works we find remained nothing to do but to
larger views, and an attempt to give historical illustrations of
connect historical inquiries with truths established by the p6y-
metaphysical ones ; thus recog- chologist. This confusion De-
nizing the necessity of verifying tween illustration and veriflca-
their original speculations. To tion appears to be the universal
this method there can be no failing of those who, like Vico
objection, provided the meta- and Fichte, speculate upon his-
physical conclusions are merely torical phenomena a priori.
160 METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIANS.
and yet both of which lead to entirely different results.
According to the first method, the inquirer begins by
examining bis sensations. According to the other me-
thod, he begins by examining his ideas. These two
methods always have led, and always must lead, to con-
clusions diametrically opposed to each other. Nor are
the reasons of this difficult to understand. In metaphysics,
the mind is the instrument as well as the material on
which the instrument is employed. The means by which
the science must be worked out, being thus the same as
the object upon which it works, there arises a difficulty
of a very peculiar kind. This difficulty is, the impossi-
bility of taking a comprehensive view of the whole of
the mental phenomena; because, however extensive such
a view may be, it must exclude the state of the mind by
which, or in which, the view itself is taken. Hence we
may perceive what, I think, is a fundamental difference
between physical and metaphysical inquiries . In physics,
there are several methods of proceeding, all of which lead
to the same results. But in metaphysics, it will invariably
be found, that if two men of equal ability, and equal
honesty, employ different methods in the study of the
mind, the conclusions which they obtain will also bo
different. To those who are unversed in these matters, a
few illustrations will set this in a clearer light. Meta-
physicians who begin by the study of ideas observe in
their own minds an idea of space. Whence, they ask,
can this arise ? It cannot, tbey say, owe its origin to
the senses, because the senses only supply what is finite
and contingent ; whereas the idea of space is infinite
and necessary. 9 It is infinite, since we cannot conceive
9 Com-p&re Stewarfs Philosophy however, was contrary to the
of the Mind, vol. ii. p. 194, with Vedas. Bammohun Boy on the
Cousin, Hist, de la Philosophic, Teds, 1832, pp. 8, 111. In Spain,
II. serie, vol. ii. p. 92. Among the doctrine of the infinity of
the Indian metaphysicians, there space is heretical. Doblado's
was a sect which declared space Letters, p. 96 ; which should be
to be the cause of all things, .compared with the objection of
Journal of Asiatic Soc. vol. vi. Irenseus against the Valentinians,
pp. 268, 290. See also the in Beausobre, Histoire de Mani-
Dabistan, vol. ii. p. 40 which, chee, vol. ii. p. 275. For the
METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIANS. 161
that space has an end ; and it is necessary, since we can-
not conceive the possibility of its non-existence. Thus
far the idealist. But the sensualist, as he is called, 10 —
he who begins, not with ideas, but with sensations,
arrives at a very different conclusion. He remarks that
we can have no idea of space until we have first had an
idea of objects ; and that the ideas of objects can only be
the results of the sensations which those objects excite.
As to the idea of space being necessary, this, he says,
only results from the circumstance that we never can
perceive an object which does not bear a certain position
to some other object. This forms an indissoluble asso-
ciation between the idea of position and the idea of an
object ; and as this association is constantly repeated
before us, we at length find ourselves unable to conceive
an object without position, or, in other words, without
space. 11 As to space being infinite, this, he says, is a
different theories of space, I may,
moreover, refer to Bitter's Hist,
of Ancient Philosophy, vol. i. pp.
451, 473, 477, vol. ii. p. 314,
vol. iii. pp. 195-204 ; Cudworth's
Intellectual System, vol. i. p. 191,
vol. iii. pp. 230, 472 ; Kritik der
reinen Vemunft, in Kant's Werke,
vol. ii. pp. 23, 62, 81, 120, 139,
147, 256, 334, 347 ; Tennemann,
Geschichte der Philosophic, vol. i.
p. 109, vol. ii. p. 303, vol. iii.
pp. 130-137, vol. iv. p. 284,
vol. v. pp. 384-387, vol. vL p.
99, vol. viii. pp. 87, 88, 683,
vol. ix. pp. 257, 355, 410, vol. x.
p. 79, vol. xi. pp. 195, 385-389.
10 This is the title conferred
by M. Cousin upon nearly all
the greatest English metaphy-
sicians, and upon Condillac and
all his disciples in France, their
system having ' le nom merite de
sonsualisme.' Cousin, Histoire
de la Philosophic, II. serie, vol. ii.
p. 88. The same name is given
to the same school, in Feuchters-
YOL. I.
leben's Medical Psychology, p. 52,
and in RenouaroVs Histoire de la
Medecine, vol. i. p. 346, vol. ii.
p. 368. In Jobert's New System
of Philosophy, vol. ii. p. 334, 8vo.
1849,itiscalled ' sensationalism,'
■which seems a preferable ex-
pression.
11 This is very ably argued
by Mr. James Mill in his
Analysis of the Phenomena of
the Human Mind, vol. ii. pp. 32,
93-95, and elsewhere. Compare
Essay concerning Human Under-
standing, in Locke's Works, vol. i.
pp. 147, 148, 154, 157, and tbe
ingenious distinction, p. 198,
' between the idea of the infinity
of spaco, and the idoa of a space
infinite.' At p. 208, Locke sar-
castically says, ' But yet, after
all this, there being men who
!>ersuade themselves that they
lave clear, positive, comprehen-
sive ideas of infinity, it is fit
they enjoy their privilege; and
I should be very glad (with
162 METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIAN'S.
notion we get by conceiving a continual addition to lines,
or to surfaces, or to bulk, which are the three modifica-
tions of extension. 12 On innumerable other points we
find the same discrepancy between the two schools. The
idealist, 13 for example, asserts that our notions of cause,
of time, of personal identity, and of substance, are uni-
versal and necessary ; that they are simple ; and that not
being susceptible of analysis, they must be referred to
the original constitution of the mind. 14 On the other
hand, the sensationalist, so far from recognizing the sim-
plicity of these ideas, considers them to be extremely
complex, and looks upon their universality and neces-
sity as merely the result of a frequent and intimate
association. 15
some others that I know, who
acknowledge they have none
such) to be better informed by
their communication.'
12 Mill's Analysis of the Mind,
vol. ii. pp. 96, 97. See also the
Examination of Malebranche, in
Locke's Works, vol. viii. pp. 248,
249 ; and Mailer's Elements of
Physiology, vol. ii. p. 1081,
which should be compared with
Comte, Philosophic Positive, vol. i.
p. 354.
13 I speak of idealists in oppo-
sition to sensationalists ; though
the word idealist is often used
by metaphysicians in a very dif-
ferent sense. On the different
kinds of idealism, see Kritik der
reinen Vemunft, and Prole-
gomena zujeder kunftigen Meta-
physik, in Kants Werke, vol. ii.
pp. 223, 389, vol. iii. pp. 204,
210, 306, 307. According to
him, the Cartesian idealism is
empirical.
14 Thus, Dugald Stewart {Philo-
sophical Essay -s,Edin. 1810, p.33)
tells us of ' the simple idea of
personal identity.' And Reid
{Essays on the Powers of the
Mind, vol. i. p. 354) says, ' I
know of no ideas or notions that
have a better claim to be ac-
counted simple and original
than those of space and time.'
In the Sanscrit metaphysics,
time is ' an independent cause.'
See the Vishnu Parana, pp. 10,
216.
Is ' As Space is a comprehen-
sive word, including all positions,
or the whole of synchronous
order, so Time is a comprehen-
sive word, including all succes-
sions, or the whole of successive
order.' Mill's Analysis of the
Mind, vol. ii. p. 100 ; and on
the relation of time to memory,
vol. i. p. 252. In Joberts New
System of Philosophy, vol. i.
p. 33, it is said that 'time is
nothing but the succession of
events, and we know events by
experience only.' See also
p. 133, and compare respecting
time Condillac, Traite des Sm-
sations, pp. 104-114, 222, 223,
331-333. To the same effect is
Essay concerning Human Under-
standing, book ii. chap, xiv., in
Locke's Works, vol. i. p. 163 ;
METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIANS. 163
This is the first important difference which is inevit-
ably consequent on the adoption of different methods.
The idealist is compelled to assert, that necessary truths
and contingent truths have a different origin. 16 The sen-
sationalist is bound to affirm that they have the same
origin. 17 The further these two great schools advance,
the more marked does their divergence become. They
are at open war in every department of morals, of philo-
sophy, and of art. The idealists say that all men have
essentially the same notion of the good, the true, and
the beautiful. The sensationalists affirm that there is no
such standard, because ideas depend upon sensations,
and because the sensations of men depend upon the
changes in their bodies, and upon the external events
by which their bodies are affected.
Such is a short specimen of the opposite conclusions
to which the ablest metaphysicians have been driven,
by the simple circumstance that they have pursued
opposite methods of investigation. And this is the more
important to observe, because, after these two methods
have been employed, the resources of metaphysics
and see his second reply to the non -contingent truths * hare
Bishop of Worcester, in Works, their converse absolutely in-
vol. iii. pp. 414-416 ; and as to cogitable.' But this learned
the idea of substance, see vol. i. writer does not mention how wo
pp. 285-290, 292, 308, vol. iii. are to know when anything is
pp. 5, 10, 17. ' absolutely incogitable.' That
18 Keid (Essays on the Powers we cannot cogitate an idoa, is
of the Mind, vol. i. p. 281) says, certainly no proof of its being
that necessary truths ' cannot be incogitable ; for it may be cogi-
the conclusions of the senses ; tated afr somo later period, when
for our senses testify only what knowledge is more advanced,
is, and not what must neces- " This is asserted by all the
sarily be.' See also vol. ii. followers of Locke ; and one of
pp. 53, 204, 239, 240, 281. The the latest productions of that
same distinction is peremptorily school declares, that ' to say
asserted in WhcwelFs Philosophy that necessary truths cannot bo
of the Inductive Sciences, 8vo, acquired by experience, is to
1847, vol. i. pp. 60-73, 140 ; and dony the most clear evidence of
see Dugald Stewarts Philo- our senses and reason.' Joberfs
sophkal Essays, pp. 123, 124. New System of Philosophy, voL i.
Sir W. Hamilton (Additions to p. 68.
acid's Works, p. 754) says, that
164 METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIAN'S.
are evidently exhausted. 18 Both parties agree that
mental laws can only be discovered by studying indi-
vidual minds, and that there is nothing in the mind
■which is not the result either of reflection or of
sensation. The only croic'e, therefore, they have
to make, is between subordinating the results of
sensation to the laws of reflection, or else subordi-
nating the results of reflection to the laws of sensa-
tion. Every system of metaphysics has been constructed
according to one of these schemes ; and this must
always continue to be the case, because, when the two
schemes are added together, they include the totality
of metaphysical phenomena. Each process is equally
plausible ; l9 the supporters of each are equally confi-
dent ; and, by the very nature of the dispute, it is
impossible that any middle term should be found ; nor
can there ever be an umpire, because no one can
mediate between metaphysical controversies without
being a metaphysician, and no one can be a meta-
physician without being either a sensationalist or an
18 To avoid misapprehension,
I may repeat, that, here and else-
where, I mean by metaphysics,
that vast body of literature which
is constructed on the supposition
that the laws of the human mind
can be generalized solely from
from the facts of individual con-
sciousness. For this scheme, the
word 'metaphysics' is rather in-
convenient, but it will cause no
confusion if this definition of it
is kept in view by the reader.
19 What a celebrated historian
of philosophy says of Platonism,
is equally true of all the great
metaphysical systems : ' Dass sie
ein zusammcnhangendes harmo-
nisches Ganzes ausmachen {i.e.
the leading propositions of it)
fallt in die Augen.' Tenncmann,
GeschicMc der Philosophic, vol. ii.
p. 527. And yet he confesses
(vol. iii. p. 52) of it and the op-
posite system: 'und wenn man
auf die Beweise siehet, so ist der
Empirismus des Aristoteles nicht
besserbegriindetalsderEational-
ismus des Plato.' Kant admits
that there can be only one true
system, but is confident that he
has discovered what all his pre-
decessors have missed. DieMeta-
physik der Sitten, in Kant's WerTce,
vol. v. p. 5, where he raises the
question, 'ob es wohl mehr, als
eine Philosophie geben konne.'
In the Kritilc, and in the Pro-
legomena zujeder Tcunftigen Meta-
p'kt/siTc, he says that metaphysics
have made no progress, and
that the study can hardly be
said to exist. WerTce, vol. ii. pp.
49, 50, vol. iii. pp. 166, 246.
METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIANS. 165
idealist ; in other words, without belonging to one of
those very parties whose claims he professes to judge. 20
On these grounds, we must, I think, arrive at the
conclusion, that as metaphysicians are unavoidably, and
by the very nature of their inquiry, broken up into
two completely antagonistic schools, the relative truth
of which there are no means of ascertaining ; as they,
moreover, have but few resources, and as they use
those resources according to a method by which no
other science has ever been developed, — we, looking at
these things, ought not to expect that they can supply
us with sufficient data for solving those great problems
which the history of the human mind presents to our
view. And whoever will take the pains fairly to esti-
mate the present condition of mental philosophy, must
admit that, notwithstanding the influence it has always
exercised over some of the most powerful minds, and
through them over society at large, there is, neverthe-
less, no other study which has been so zealously prose-
cuted, so long continued, and yet remains so barren of
M We find a curious instance thinker ; while he does not even
of this, in the attempt made by state the arguments of Jame3
M. Cousin to found an eclectic Mill, who, as a metaphysician, is
school ; for this very able and the greatest of our modern sen-
learned man has been quite un- sationalists, and whose views,
able to avoid the one-sided view whether right or wrong, certainly
which is to every metaphysician deserve notice from an eclectic
an essential preliminary ; and he historian of philosophy,
adopts that fundamental dis- Another eclectic, Sir W.Hamil-
tinction between necessary ideas ton, announces (Discussions on
and contingent ideas, by which Philosophy, p. 697) ' an unde-
the idealist is separated from veloped philosophy, which, I am
the sensationalist : ' la grande confident, is founded upon truth,
division des idees aujourd'hui To this confidence I havo come,
etablie est la division des idees not merely through the convic-
contingentes et des idees neces- tions of my own consciousness,
saires. Cousin, Hist, de la Philo- but by finding in this system a
sophie, II. eerie, vol. i. p. 82 : see centre and conciliation for the
also vol. ii. p. 92, and the same most opposite of philosophical
work, I. serie, vol. i. pp. 249, 267, opinions. But, at p. 589, he
268, 311, vol. iii. pp. 51-54. summarily disposes of one of
M. Cousin constantly contradicts the most important of these
Locke, and then says he has re- philosophical opinions as ' the
fated that profound and vigorous superficial edifice of Locke.'
166 METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIANS.
results. In no other department has there been so
much movement, and so little progress. Men of
eminent abilities, and of the greatest integrity of pur-
pose, have in every civilized country, for many cen-
turies, been engaged in metaphysical inquiries ; and yet
at the present moment their systems, so far from ap-
proximating towards truth, are diverging from each
other with a velocity which seems to be accelerated by
the progress of knowledge. The incessant rivalry of
the hostile schools, the violence with which they have
been supported, and the exclusive and unphilosophic
confidence with which each has advocated its own
method, — all these things have thrown the study of
the mind into a confusion only to be compared to that
in which the study of religion has been thrown by the
controversies of the theologians. 21 The consequence is,
that if we except a very few of the laws of association,
and perhaps I may add the modern theories of vision
and of touch, 22 there is not to be found in the whole
compass of metaphysics a single principle of import-
ance, and at the same time of incontestable truth.
Under these circumstances, it is impossible to avoid a
'Suspicion that there is some fundamental error in the
manner in which these inquiries have been prosecuted.
For my own part, I believe that, by mere observation
of our own minds, and even by such rude experiments
a Berkeley, in a moment of logian should get this sentence
candour, inadvertently confesses by heart : ' That we have first
■what is very damaging to the re- raised a dust, and then complain
putation of his own pursuits : we cannot see.'
' Upon the whole, I am inclined 2i Some of the laws of associ-
to think that the far greater part, ation, as stated by Hume and
if not all, of those difficulties Hartley, are capable of historical
which have hitherto amused phi- verification, which would change
losophers, and blocked up the the metaphysical hypothesis into
way to knowledge, are entirely a scientific theory. Berkeley's
owing to ourselves. That we theory of vision, and Brown's
have first raised a dust, and then theory of touch, have, in the
complain we cannot see.' Prin- same way, been verified physio-
ciples of Human Knowledge, in logically ; so that we now know
Berkderfs Works, vol. i. p. 74. what otherwise we could only
Every metaphysician and theo- have suspected.
METHOD EMPLOYED BY METAPHYSICIANS. 167
as we are able to make upon them, it will be impossible
to raise psychology to a science ; and I entertain very
little doubt that metaphysics can only be successfully
studied by an investigation of history so comprehensive
as to enable us to understand the conditions which
govern the movements of the human race. 23
23 In regard to one of the diffi-
culties stated in this chapter as
impeding metaphysicians, it is
only just to quote the remarks of
Kant: 'Wie aberdas Ich, derich
<lenke, vondem Ich, das sich selbst
anschaut, unterschieden (indem
ich mir noch and ere Anschau-
ungsart wenigstens als moglich
vorstellen kann), und doch mit
diesem letzteren als dasselbe
Subject einerlei sei, wie ich also
sagen konne : Ich als Intelligenz
und denkend Subject, erkenne
mich selbst als gedachtes Object,
so fern ich mir noch iiber das in
der Anschauung gegeben bin,
nur, gleich anderen Phanomenen,
nicht wie ich vor dem Verstande
bin, sondem wie ichmirerscheine,
hat nicht mehr auch nicht weniger
Schwierigkeit bei sich, als wie
ich mir selbst uberhaupt ein
Object und zwar der Anschauung
und innerer Wahrnehmungen
sein konne.' Kritik der reinen
Vcrnunft, in KantfsWerke, voL ii.
p. 144. I am very willing to let
the question rest on this: for
to me it appears that both cases
are not only equally difficult,
but, in the present state of our
knowledge, are equally impos-
sible.
168
CHAPTER IV.
MENTAL LAWS ABE EITHER MORAL OR INTELLECTUAL. COMPARISON
OF MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS, AND INQUIRY INTO THE
EFFECT PRODUCED BY EACH ON THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETY.
In the preceding chapter, it has, I trust, been made
apparent, that, whatever may hereafter be the case, we,
looking merely at the present state of our knowledge,
must pronounce the metaphysical method to be unequal
to the task, often imposed upon it, of discovering the
laws which regulate the movements of the human mind.
We are, therefore, driven to the only remaining method,
according to which mental phenomena are to be studied,
not simply as they appear in the mind of the individual
observer, but as they appear in the actions of mankind at
large. The essential opposition between these two plans
is very obvious : but it may perhaps be well to bring
forward further illustration of the resources possessed
by each for the investigation of truth ; and for this
purpose, I will select a subject which, though still im-
perfectly understood, supplies a beautiful instance of
the regularity with which, under the most conflicting
circumstances, the great Laws of Nature are able to
hold their course.
The case to which I refer, is that of the proportion
kept up in the births of the sexes ; a proportion which
if it were to be greatly disturbed in any country, even
for a single generation, would throw society into the
most serious confusion, and would infallibly cause a
great increase in the vices of the people. 1 Now, it has
1 Thus we find that the Europe, increased licentious-
Crusades, by diminishing the ness. See a curious passage in
proportion of men to women in Sprengd, Histoire de la Medecine,
MOEAL AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS COMPARED. 169
always been suspected that, on an average, the male
and female births are tolerably equal ; but, until very
recently, no one could tell whether or not they are
precisely equal, or, if unequal, on which side there is an
excess. 2 The births being the physical result of phy-
sical antecedents, it was clearly seen that the laws of
the births must be in those antecedents ; that is to say,
that the causes of the proportion of the sexes must
reside in the parents themselves. 3 Under these cir-
cumstances, the question arose, if it was not possible to
elucidate this difficulty by our knowledge of animal
physiology ; for it was plausibly said, ' Since physiology
is a study of the laws of the body, 4 and since all births
vol. ii. p. 376. In Yucatan,
there is generally a consider-
able excess of women, and the
result is prejudicial to morals.
Stephens's Central America, vol.
iii. pp. 380, 429. On the other
hand, respecting the state of
society produced by an excess
of males, see Mallet's Northern
Antiquities, p. 259 ; Journal
of Geographical Society, vol. xv.
p. 45, voL xvi. p. 307 ; Southey'a
Commonplace Book, third series,
p. 579.
1 On this question a variety
of conflicting statements may be
seen in the old writers. Good-
man, early in the seventeenth
century, supposed that more
females were born than males.
Southey's Commonplace Book,
third series, p. 696. Turgot
(QHuvres, vol. ii. p. 247) rightly
says, 'il nait un peu plus
d'hommes que de femmes ;' but
the evidence was too incomplete
to make this more than a lucky
guess; and I find that even
Herder, writing in 1785, takes
for granted that tho proportion
was about equal : ' ein ziemliches
Glcichmass in den Geburten
beider Geschlechter ' (Ideen zur
Geschichte, vol. ii. p. 149), and
was sometimes in favour of
girls, 'ja, die Nachrichten
mehrerer Keisenden machen es
wahrscheinlich, dass in manchen
dieser Gegenden wirklich mehr
Tochter als Sonne geboren
werden.'
s A question, indeed, has been
raised as to the influence exer-
cised by the state of the mind
during the period of orgasm. But
whatever this influence may be,
it can only affect the subsequent
birth through and by physical
antecedents, which in every case
must be regarded as the proxi-
mate cause. If, therefore, the
influence were proved to exist,
we should still have to search
for physical laws : though such
laws would of course be con-
sidered merely as secondary ones,
resolvable into some higher
generalization.
* Some writers treat physi-
ology as a study of the laws of
life. But this, looking at the
subject as it now stands, is far
too bold a step, and several
branches of knowledge will have
170
COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
are products resulting from the body, it follows that if
we know the laws of the body, we shall know the laws
of the birth.' This was the view taken by physiologists
of our origin ; 5 and this is precisely the view taken by
metaphysicians of our history. Both parties believed
that it was possible at once to rise to the cause of the
phenomenon, and by studying its laws predict the phe-
nomenon itself. The physiologist said, ' By studying
individual bodies, and thus ascertaining the laws which
regulate the union of the parents, I will discover the
proportion of the sexes, because the proportion is
merely the result to which the union gives rise.' Just
in the same way, the metaphysician says, ' By studying
individual minds, I will ascertain the laws which govern
their movements ; and in that way I will predict the
movements of mankind, which are obviously com-
pounded of the individual movements.' 6 These are the
to be raised from their present
empirical state, before the phe-
nomena of life can be scientifi-
cally investigated. The more
rational mode seems to be, to
consider physiology and ana-
tomy as correlative; the first
forming the dynamical, and
the second forming the statical
part of the study of organic
structure.
s ' Voulez-vous savoir de quoi
depend le sexe des enfants ?
Fernel vous repond, sur la foi
des anciens, qu'il depend des
qualites de la semence du pere
et de la mere.' Benouard,
Histoire de la Medecine, Paris,
1846, vol. ii. p. 106 ; see also,
at p. 185, the opinion of Hip-
pocrates, adopted by Galen; and
similar views in Lepelletier,
Physiologie Medicate, vol. iv. p.
332, and Sprengel, Hist, de la
Medecine, vol. i. pp. 252, 10,
vol. ii. p. 11 5, vol. iv.p. 62. For
further information as to the
opinions which have been held
respecting the origin of sexes,
see Beausobre, Histoire de Mani-
chee, vol. ii. p. 417; Asiatic
Besearchcs, vol. iii, pp. 358, 361 ;
Vishnu Purana, p. 349 ; Works
of Sir William Jones, vol. iii.
p. 126; Bitter's History of
Ancient Philosophy, vol. iii. p.
191 ; JDenham and Clapperton's
Africa, pp. 323, 324 ; Maintenon,
Letires Incdites, vol. ii. p. 62 ;
and the view of Hohl (Burdach's
Physiologie, vol. ii. p. 472), ' que
les femmes chez lesquelles pre-
domine le systeme arteriel pro-
creent des garcons, au lieu que
celles dont le systeme veineux
a la predominance mettent au
monde des filles.' According
to Anaxagoras the question was
extremely simple: kcu &pptva.
fi\v OTrb toov 5€{<ojp, fl^Aea 5e curb
ruu apiartpSiv. Biog. Laert. ii.
9, vol. i. p. 85.
6 'Le metaphysicien se voit
comme la source de 1' evidence et
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS.
171
expectations which have been confidently held out, by
physiologists respecting the laws of the sexes, and by
metaphysicians respecting the laws of history. To-
wards the fulfilment, however, of these promises the
metphysicians have done absolutely nothing ; nor have
the physiologists been more successful, although their
views have the support of anatomy, which admits of
the employment of direct experiment, a resource un-
known to metaphysics. But towards settling the pre-
sent question, all this availed them nothing ; and phy-
siologists are not yet possessed of a single fact which
throws any light on this problem : Is the number of
male births equal to female births — is it greater, or is it
less ?
These are questions to which all the resources of
physiologists, from Aristotle down to our own time,
afford no means of reply. 7 And yet at the present day
le confident de la nature: Moi
seul, dit-il, je puis generaliser
les idees, et decouvrir le germe
des evenements qui se develop-
pent journellementdans le monde
phy6ique et moral ; et c'est par
moi seul que l'homme peut etre
eclaireV Helvetius, de FEsprit,
vol. i. p. 86. Compare Herder,
Ideen tur Geschichte der Mensch-
heit, vol. ii. p. 105. Thus, too,
M. Cousin (Hist, de la Phi-
losophie, II. serie, vol. i. p.
131) says, 'Le fait de la con-
science transport* de l'individu
dans l'espece et dans l'histoire,
est la clef de tous les developpe-
meuts de l'humanitc.'
* Considering the very long
period during which physiology
has boon studied.it is remarkable
how little the physiologists have
contributed towards the great
and final object of all science,
namely, the power of predicting
events. To me it appears that
the two principal causes of this
are, the backwardness of che-
mistry, and the still extremely
imperfect state of the microscope,
which even now is so inaccurate
an instrument, that when a high
power is employed, little con-
fidence can be placed in it ; and
the examination, for instance, of
the spermatozoa has led to the
most contradictory results. In
regard to chemistry, MM. Kobin
and Verdeil, in their recent great
work, have ably proved what
manifold relations there are
between it and the further pro-
gress of our knowledge of the ani-
mal frame ; though I venture to
think that these eminent writers
have shown occasionally an undue
disposition to limit the applica-
tion of chemical laws to physio-
logical phenomena. See Robin et
Verdeif, Chimic Anatomique et
Physiolog iquc, Paris, 1853, vol. i.
pp. 20, 34, 167, 337, 338, 437,
661, vol. ii. pp. 136, 137, 608,
vol. iii. pp. 135, 144, 183, 281,
172
COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
we, by the employment of what now seems a very
natural method, are possessed of a truth which the
united abilities of a long series of eminent men failed to
discover. By the simple experiment of registering the
number of births and their sexes ; by extending this
registration over several years, in different countries, —
we have been able to eliminate all casual disturbances,
and ascertain the existence of a law which, expressed
in round numbers, is, that for every twenty girls there
are born twenty- one boys : and we may confidently
say, that although the operations of this law are of
course liable to constant aberrations, the law itself is so
powerful, that we know of no country in which during
a single year the male births have not been greater
than the female ones. 8
The importance and the beautiful regularity of this
law make us regret that it still remains an empirical
truth, not having yet been connected with the physical
283, 351, 547. The increasing
tendency of chemistry to hring
under its control what are often
supposed to be purely organic
phenomena, is noticed cautiously
in Turners Chemistry, vol. ii. p.
1308, London, 1847 ; and boldly
in Liebig's Letters on Chemistry,
1851, pp. 250, 251. The con-
nexion between chemistry and
physiology is touched on rather
too hastily in Bouilland, Philo-
sophic Medicate, pp. 160, 257;
Broussais, Examen des Doc-
trines Midicales, vol. iii. p.
166 ; Brodie's Lectures on
Pathology, p. 48 ; Henle, Traiti
oVAnatomie, vol. i. pp. 25,
26 ; Feuchtersleben's Medical
Psychology, p. 88; but better in
Holland s Medical Notes, 1839,
p. 270, a thoughtful and sug-
gestive work. On the necessity
of chemistry for increasing our
knowledge of embryology, com-
pare Wagner's Physiology, pp.
131, 132 note, with Burdach,
Traite de Physiologie, vol. iv. pp.
59, 168.
8 It used to be supposed that
some of the eastern countries
formed an exception to this; but
more precise observations have
contradicted the loose statements
of the earlier travellers, and in
no part of the world, so far as
our knowledge extends, are more
girls born than boys ; while in
every part of the world for
which we have statistical returns,
there is a slight excess on the
side of male births. Compare
Marsden's History of Sumatra,
p. 234 ; Baffles 1 History of Java,
vol. i. pp. 81, 82; Sykes on the
Statistics of the Deccan, in Re-
ports of British Association, vol.
vi. pp. 246, 261, 262; Niebuhr,
Description de VArabie, p. 63 ;
Humboldt, Nouv. Espagne, voL i.
p. 139; M' William, Medical
History of Expedition ■ to the
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS.
173
phenomena by which its operations are caused. 9 But
this is immaterial to my present purpose, which is only
to notice the method by which the discovery has been
made. For this method is obviously analogous to that
by which I propose to investigate the operations of the
human mind ; while the old and unsuccessful method
is analogous to that employed by the metaphysicians.
As long as physiologists attempted to ascertain the
laws of the proportion of sexes by individual experi-
ments, they effected absolutely nothing towards the end
Niger, p. 113; Elliotson's Human
Physiology, p. 795 ; Thomson's
Hist, of Royal Society, p. 531 ;
Sadler 'sLaw of Population, vol. i.
pp. 507, 611, vol. ii. pp. 324,
335; Paris and Fonblanque's
Medical Jurisprudence, vol. i.
p. 259 ; Journal of Statist. Soc.
vol. iii. pp. 263, 264, vol. xvii.
pp. 46, 123; Journal of Geo-
graphical Soc. vol. xx. p. 17;
Fourth Report of British Associa-
tion, pp. 687, 689, Report for
1842, pp. 144, 145; Transac. of
Sections for 1840, p. 174, for
1847, p. 96, for 1849, p. 87 ;
Dufau, TraitS de Statistique, pp.
24, 209, 210; Burdach, TraitS
de Physiologic, vol. ii. pp. 56,
57, 273, 274, 281, vol. v. p. 373 ;
Hawkins's Medical Statistics, pp.
221, 222.
9 In Midler's Physiology, vol.
ii. p. 1657, a work of great au-
thority, it is said, that 'the
causes which determine the sex
of the embryo are unknown,
although it appears that the
relative age of the parents has
some influence over the sex of
the offspring.' That the relativo
age of the parents docs affect
the sex of their children, may,
from the immense amount of
evidence now collected, be con-
sidered almost certain; but M.
Miiller, instead of referring to
physiological writers, ought to
nave mentioned that the statis-
ticians, and not the physiologists,
were the first to make this dis-
covery. On this curious ques-
tion, see Carpenter's Human
Physiology, p. 746 ; Sadler's
Law of Population, vol. ii. pp.
333, 336, 342 ; Journal of Sta-
tistical Society, vol. iii. pp. 263,
264. In regard to animals
below man, we find from nume-
rous experiments, that among
sheep and horses the age of the
parents ' has a very great gene-
ral influence upon the sex' of the
offspring. Elliotson's Physiology,
pp. 708, 709 ; and see Cuvier,
Progres des Sciences Naturelles,
vol. ii. p. 406. As to the rela-
tion between the origin of sex
and the laws of arrested develop-
ment, compare Geoffroy Saint-
Hilaire, Hist, des Anomalies de
V Organisation, vol. ii. pp. 33,
34, 73, vol. iii. p. 278, with
Lindley's Botany, vol. ii. p. 81.
In Esquirol, Maladies Mentales,
vol. i. p.- 302, there is a singular
case recorded by Lamotte, which
would seem to connect this ques-
tion with pathological pheno-
mena, though it is uncertain
whether the epilepsy was an effect
or a cognate symptom.
174 COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
they hoped to achieve. But when men became dissatis-
fied with these individual experiments, and instead of
them, began to collect observations less minute, but
more comprehensive, then it was that the great law of
nature, for which during many centuries they had
vainly searched, first became unfolded to their view.
Precisely in the same way, as long as the human mind
is only studied according to the narrow and contracted
method of metaphysicians, we have every reason for
thinking that the laws which regulate its movements
will remain unknown. If, therefore, we wish to effect
anything of real moment, it becomes necessary that we
should discard those old schemes, the insufficiency of
which is demonstrated by experience as well as by
reason ; and that we should substitute in their place
such a comprehensive survey of facts as will enable us
to eliminate those disturbances which, owing to the
impossibility of experiment, we shall never be able to
isolate.
The desire that I feel to make the preliminary views
of this Introduction perfectly clear, is my sole apology
for having introduced a digression which, though add-
ing nothing to the strength of the argument, may be
found useful as illustrating it, and will at all events
enable ordinary readers to appreciate the value of the
proposed method. It now remains for us to ascer-
tain the manner in which, by the application of this
method, the laws of mental progress may be most easily
discovered.
If, in the first place, we ask what this progress is,
the answer seems very simple : that it is a two-fold
progress, Moral and Intellectual ; the first having more
immediate relation to oar duties, the second to our
knowledge. This is a classification which has been
frequently laid down, and with which most persons are
familiar. And so far as history is a narration of re-
sults, there can be no doubt that the division is per-
fectly accurate. There can be no doubt that a people
are not really advancing, if, on the one hand, their in-
creasing ability is accompanied by increasing vice, or
if, on the other hand, while they are becoming more
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 175
virtuous, they likewise become more ignorant. This
double movement, moral and intellectual, is essential to
the very idea of civilization, and includes the entire
theory of mental progress. To be willing to perform
our duty is the moral part ; to know how to perform it
is the intellectual part : while the closer these two
parts are knit together, the greater the harmony with
which they work ; and the more accurately the means
are adapted to the end, the more completely will the
scheme of our life be accomplished, and the more
securely shall we lay a foundation for the further
advancement of mankind.
A question, therefore, now arises of great moment :
namely, which of these two parts or elements of mental
progress is the most important. "For the progress itself
being the result of their united action, it becomes
necessary to ascertain which of them works more
powerfully, in order that we may subordinate the
inferior element to the laws of the superior one. If
the advance of civilization, and the general happiness
of mankind, depend more on their moral feelings than
on their intellectual knowledge, we must of course
measure the progress of society by those feelings ;
while if, on the other hand, it depends principally on
their knowledge, we must take as our standard the
amount and success of their intellectual activity. As
soon as we know the relative energy of these two com-
ponents, we shall treat them according to the usual
plan for investigating truth ; that is to say, we shall
look at the product of their joint action as obeying the
laws of the more powerful agent, whose operations are
casually disturbed by the inferior laws of the minor
agent.
In entering into this inquiry, we are met by a pre-
liminary difficulty, arising from the loose and careless
manner in which ordinary language is employed on
subjects that require the greatest nicety and precision.
For the expression, Moral and Intellectual Progress, is
suggestive of a serious fallacy. In the manner in
which it is generally used, it conveys an idea that the
moral and intellectual faculties of men are, in the
176
COMPARISON" BETWEEN" MORAL
advance of civilization, naturally more acute and more
trustworthy than they were formerly. But this, though
it may possibly be true, has never been proved. It may
be that, owing to some physical causes still unknown,
the average capacity of the brain is, if we compare long
periods of time, becoming gradually greater ; and that
therefore the mind, which acts through the brain, is,
even independently of education, increasing in aptitude
and in the general competence of its views. 10 Such,
however, is still our ignorance -of physical laws, and so
completely are we in the dark as to the circumstances
which regulate the hereditary transmission of character,
temperament, 11 and other personal peculiarities, that
10 That the natural powers of
the human brain are improving
because they are capable of trans-
mission, is a favourite doctrine
with the followers of Gall, and
is adopted by M. A. Comte
{Philosophic Positive, vol. iv. pp.
384, 385) ; who, whoever, admits
that it has never been sufficiently
verified: 'sans quetoutefois 1' ex-
perience ait encore suffisamment
prononce.' Dr. Prichard, whose
habits of thought were very
different, seems, nevertheless,
inclined to lean in this direction;
for his comparison of skulls led
him to the conclusion, that the
present inhabitants of Britain,
' either as the result of many
ages of greater intellectual cul-
tivation, or from some other
cause, have, as I am persuaded,
much more capacious brain-
cases than their forefathers.'
Prichards Physical History of
Mankind, vol. i. p. 305. Even
if this were certain, it would not
prove that the contents of the
crania were altered, though it
might create a presumption ; and
the general question must, I
think, remain unsettled until the
researches begun by Blumen-
bach, and recently continued by
Morton, are carried out upon a
scale far more comprehensive
than has hitherto been attempted.
Compare Burdach, Traite" de
Physiologic, vol. ii. p. 253 ; where,
however, the question is not
stated with sufficient caution.
11 None of the laws of here-
ditary descent connected with
the formation of character, have
yet been generalized; nor is our
knowledge much more advanced
respecting the theory of tem-
peraments, which still remains
the principal obstacle in the
way of the phrenologists. The
difficulties attending the study
of temperaments, and the ob-
scurity in which this important
subject is shrouded, may be
estimated by whoever will com-
pare what has been said upon it
by the following writers : Milller's
Physiology, vol. ii. pp. 1406-1410;
Elliotson's Human Physiology,
pp. 1059-1062; Blainville, Phy-
siologie Gcnerale et Co?nparle,
vol. i. pp. 168, 264, 265, vol. ii.
pp. 43, 130, 214, 328, 329, vol. iii.
pp. 54, 74, 118, 148, 149. 284,
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS.
177
wo must consider this alleged progress as a very doubt-
ful point ; and, in the present state of our knowledge,
we cannot safely assume that there has been any per-
manent improvement in the moral or intellectual
faculties of man, nor have we any decisive ground for
saying that those faculties are likely to be greater in
an infant born in the most civilized part of Europe,
than in one born in the wildest region of a barbarous
country. 12
285; Williams's Principles of
Medicine, pp. 16, 17, 112, 113;
Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, Anomalies
de r Organisation, vol. i. pp. 186,
190 ; Broussais, Examen des
Doctrines Medicates, vol. i. pp.
204, 205, vol. iii. p. 276;
Rcnouard, Hist, de la Medecine,
vol. i. p. 326 ; Sprengcl, Hist, de
la Midecine, vol. i. p. 380 ; vol.
ii. p. 408, vol. iii. p. 21, vol. v.
p. 325, vol. vi. p. 492 ; Esquirol,
Maladies Men tales, vol. i. pp. 39,
226, 429, 594, vol. ii. p. 29;
LepeUctier, Physiol. Medicate, vol.
i. pp. 139, 281, vol. iii. pp. 372-
429, vol. iv. pp. 93, 123, 133,
143, 148,177; Hcnle, Anatomic
Generate, vol. i. p. 474, vol. ii.
pp. 288, 289, 316 ; Bichat,
Anatomic Generate, vol. i. p. 207,
vol. ii. p. 444, vol. iii. pp. 310,
507, vol. iv. pp. 281, 399, 400,
504 ; Bichat sur la Vie, pp. 80,
81, 234, 235 ; Phillips on Scrofida,
p. 9; Fcuchtersleben's Medical
Psychology, pp. 143-145; (Euvres
de Fontencllc, Paris, 1766, vol. v.
p. 110; CitllenS Works, Edinb.
1827, vol. i. pp. 214-221 ;
Cabanis, Rapports du Physique
ct du Moral, pp. 76-83, 229-261,
520-533; Noble on the Brain,
pp. 370-376; Combe's North
America, vol. i. pp. 126-128.
Latterly, attention has been paid
to tho chemistry of the blood as
YOL. I. N
it varies in the various tem-
peraments ; and this seems a
more satisfactory method than
the old plan of merely describing
tho obvious symptoms of the
temperament. Clark on Animal
Physiology, in Fourth Report of
the British Association, p. 126 ;
Simon's Animal Chemistry, voL
i. p. 236 ; Wagner's Physiology,
p. 262.
'- Wo often hear of heroditary
talents, hereditary vices, and
hereditary virtues ; but whoever
will critically examine tho evi-
dence will find that we have no
proof of their existence. Tho
way in which they are commonly
proved is in tho highest degreo
illogical; tho usual course being
for writers to colloct instancos
of some mental peculiarity
found in a parent and in his
child, and then to infer that tho
peculiarity was bequeathed. By
this mode of reasoning we might
demonstrate any proposition ;
since in all largo fields of inquiry
thore aro a sufficient number of
empirical coincidences to make
a plausible case in favour of
whatever view a man chooses to
advocate. But this is not the
May in which truth is discovered ;
and wo ought to inquiro not
only how many instances there
aro of heroditary talents, &c
178
COMPAKISON BETWEEN MORAL
Wliatever, therefore, the moral and intellectual pro-
gress of men may be, it resolves itself not into a pro-
gress of natural capacity, 13 but into a progress, if I
may so say, of opportunity ; that is, an improvement in
the circumstances tinder which that capacity after
birth comes into play. Here, then, lies the gist of the
whole matter. The progress is one, not of internal
power, but of external advantage. The child born in a
civilized land is not likely, as such, to be superior to
one born among barbarians ; and the difference which
ensues between the acts of the two children will be
caused, so far as we know, solely by the pressure of
external circumstances ; by which I mean the surround-
ing opinions, knowledge, associations ; in a word, the
entire mental atmosphere in which the two children
are respectively nurtured.
but how many instances there are
of such qualities not being here-
ditary. Until something of this
sort is attempted, we can know
nothing about the matter in-
ductively : while, until physio-
logy and chemistry are much
more advanced, we can know
nothing about it deductively.
These considerations ought to
prevent us from receiving state-
ments {Taylor's Medical Juris-
prudence, pp. 644, 678, and
many other books) which posi-
tively affirm the existence of
hereditary madness and here-
ditary suicide; and the same
remark applies to hereditary dis-
ease (on which see some admi-
rable observations in Phillips on
Scrofula, pp. 101-120, London,
1846) ; and with still greater
force does it apply to hereditary
vices and hereditary virtues ; in-
asmuch as ethical phenomena
have not been registered as care-
fully as physiological ones, and
therefore our conclusions respect-
ing them are even more pre-
carious.
13 To what has been already
stated, I will add the opinions
of two of the most profound
among modern thinkers. ' Men,
I think, have been much th©
same for natural endowments in
all times.' Conduct of the Un-
derstanding, in Locke's Works,
vol. ii. p. 361. ' Les dispositions
primitives agissent egalement
chez les peuples barbares et chez
les peuples polices; ils sont
vraisemblablement les memes
dans tous les lieux et dans tous les
terns. . . Plus il y aura d'hommes,
et plus vous aurez do grands
hommes ou d'hommes propres a de-
venir grands.' Progres de I' Esprit
Humain, in (Euvres de Turgot,
vol. ii. p. 264. The remarks of
Dr. Brown {Lectures on the
Mind, p. 57), if I rightly un-
derstand his rhetorical language,
apply not to natural capacity,
but to that which is acquired :
see the end of his ninth Lecture.
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 179
On this account it is evident, that if we look at man-
kind in the aggregate, their moral and intellectual con-
duct is regulated by the moral and intellectual notions
prevalent in their own time. There are, of course, many-
persons who will rise above those notions, and many
others who will sink below them. But such cases are
exceptional, and form a very small proportion of the
total amount of those who are nowise remarkable either
for good or for evil. An immense majority of men must
always remain in a middle state, neither very foolish
nor very able, neither very virtuous nor very vicious,
but slumbering on in a peaceful and decent mediocrity,
adopting without much difficulty the current opinions of
the day, making no inquiry, exciting no scandal, causing
no wonder, just holding themselves on a level with their
generation, and noiselessly conforming to the standard
of morals and of knowledge common to the age and
country in which they live.
Now, it requires but a superficial acquaintance with
history to be aware that this standard is constantly
changing, and that it is never precisely the same even
in the most similar countries, or in two successive
generations in the same country. The opinions which
are popular in any nation vary in many respects almost
from year to year ; and what in one period is attacked
as a paradox or a heresy, is in another period wel-
comed as a sober truth ; which, however, in its turn is
replaced by some subsequent novelty. This extreme
mutability in the ordinary standard of human actions
shows that the conditions on which the standard de-
pends must themselves be very mutable; and those
conditions, whatever they may be, are evidently the
originators of the moral and intellectual conduct of the
great average of mankind.
Here, then, we have a basis on which we can safely
proceed. We know that the main cause of human actions
is extremely variable ; we have only, therefore, to
apply this test to any set of circumstances which are
supposed to be tho cause, and if we find that such cir-
cumstances are not very variable, we must infer that
they are not the cause wo are attempting to discover.
h2
180
COMPARISON BETWEEN MOEAL
Applying this test to moral motives, or to the dic-
tates of what is called moral instinct, -we shall at once
see hoAV extremely small is the influence those motives
have exercised over the progress of civilization. For
there is, unquestionably, nothing to be found in the
world which has undergone so little change as those
great dogmas of which moral systems are composed.
To do good to others ; to sacrifice for their benefit your
own wishes ; to love your neighbour as yourself ; to
forgive your enemies ; to restrain your passions ; to
honour your parents ; to respect those who are set over
you : these, and a few others, are the sole essentials of
morals ; but they have been known for thousands of
years, and not one jot or tittle has been added to them
by all the sermons, homilies, and text-books which
moralists and theologians have been able to produce. 14
14 That the system of morals
propounded in the New Testa-
ment contained no maxim which
had not been previously enun-
ciated, and that some of the
most beautiful passages in the
Apostolic writings are quota-
tions from pagan authors, is woll
known to every scholar ; and so
far from supplying, as some sup-
pose, an objection against Chris-
tianity, it is a strong recom-
mendation of it, as indicating
the intimate relation between
the doctrines of Christ and the
moral sympathies of mankind
in different ages. But to assert
that Christianity communicated
to man moral truths previously
unknown, argues, on the part of
the assertor, either gross igno-
rance or else wilful fraud. For
evidence of the knowledge of
moral truths possessed by bar-
barous nations, independently
of Christianity, and for the most
part previous to its promulga-
tion, compare Mackai/s Religious
Development, vol. ii. pp. 376-
380; Mure's Hist, of Greek
Literature, vol. ii. p. 398, vol.
iii. p. 380 ; Prescott's History of
Mexico, vol. i. p. 31 ; Elphin-
stone's History of India, p. 47 ;
Works of Sir W. Jones, vol. i.
pp. 87, 168, vol. iii. pp. 105,
114; Mill's History of India,
vol. i. p. 419 ; Bohlen, das altc
Indien, vol. i. pp. 364-366;
Bcausobre, Histoire de Manichic,
vol. i. pp. 318, 319; Coleman's
Mythology of the Hindus, p. 193 ;
Transac. of Soc. of Bombay, vol.
iii. p. 198 ; Transac. of Asiatic
Society, vol. i. p. 5, vol. iii. pp.
283, 284 ; Asiatic Besearches,
vol. vi. p. 271, vol. vii. p. 40,
vol. xvi. pp. 130, 277, vol. xx.
pp. 460, 461; Tlie Dabistan, vol. i.
pp. 328, 338; Catlin's North-
American Indians, vol. ii. p. 243 ;
Syme's Embassy to Ava, vol. ii.
p. 389 ; Davis's Chinese, vol. i. p.
196, vol. ii. pp. 136, 233 ; Jour-
nal Asiatique, I. serie, vol. iv.
p. 77, Paris, 1824.
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS.
181
But, if we contrast this stationary aspect of moral
truths with the progressive aspect of intellectual truths,
the difference is indeed startling. 16 All the great moral
systems which have exercised much influence have heen
fundamentally the same ; all the great intellectual sys-
tems have been fundamentally different. In reference
to our moral conduct, there is not a single principle
now known to the most cultivated Europeans, which was
not likewise known to the ancients. In reference to
the conduct of our intellect, the moderns have not only
made the most important additions to every department
of knowledge that the ancients ever attempted to study,
but besides this, they have upset and revolutionized the
old methods of inquiry; they have consolidated into one
great scheme all those resources of induction which
Aristotle alone dimly perceived ; and they have created
sciences, the faintest idea of which never entered the
mind of the boldest thinker antiquity produced.
15 Sir James Mackintosh was
so struck by the stationary cha-
i\ictor of moral principles, that
he denies the possibility of their
advance, and boldly affirms that
no further discoveries can be
made in morals: 'Morality ad-
mits no discoveries. . . . More
than three thousand years have
olapsed since the composition of
the Pentateuch; and let any
man, if he is able, tell mo in
what important respect the rule
of life has varied since that
distant period. Let the Insti-
tutes of Menu be explored with
the same viow ; we shall arrive
at the same conclusion. Let tlio
books of false religion be opened ;
it will be found that their moral
system is, in all its grand fea-
tures, the same. . . . The fact is
evident that no improvements
have boon made in practical
morality. . . . The facts which
lead to the formation of moral
rules are as accessible, and must
be as obvious, to the simplest
barbarian as to the most en-
lightened philosopher. . . . The
case of the physical and specu-
lative sciences is directly oppo-
site. Thero tho facts are romote
and scarcely accessible
From the countless variety of
the facts with which they are
conversant, it is impossible to
prescribe any bounds to their
futuro improvement. It is other-
wise with morals. They have
hithorto boon stationary; and,
in my opinion, they are likely
for ever to continuo so.' Life of
Mackintosh, edited by his Son,
London, 1835, vol. i. pp. 119-
122. Condorcet ( Vie de Turgot,
p. 180) says, ' La moralo da
toutos les nations a ete la mi'me ; '
and Kant (Logik, in Kants
Werke, vol. i. p. 356), 'In der
Moral-philosophie sind wir nicht
weiter gokommon, als dio Alton.'
182 COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
These are, to every educated man, recognized and
notorious facts ; and the inference to be drawn from
them is immediately obvious. Since civilization is the
product of moral and intellectual agencies, and since
that product is constantly changing, it evidently cannot
be regulated by the stationary agent ; because, when
surrounding circumstances are unchanged, a stationary
agent can only produce a stationary effect. The only
other agent is the intellectual one ; and that this is tho
real mover may be proved in two distinct ways : first,
because being, as we have already seen, either moral
or intellectual, and being, as we have also seen, not
moral, it must be intellectual; and, secondly, because
the intellectual principle has an activity and a capacity
for adaptation, which, as I undertake to show, is quite
sufficient to account for the extraordinary progress
that, during several centuries, Europe has continued
to make.
Such are the main arguments by which my view is
supported ; but there are also other and collateral
circumstances which are well worthy of consideration.
The first is, that the intellectual principle is not only
far more progressive than the moral principle, but is
also far more permanent in its results. The acquisitions
made by the intellect are, in every civilized country,
carefully preserved, registered in certain well-under-
stood formulas, and protected by the use of technical
and scientific language ; they are easily handed down
from one generation to another, and thus assuming an
accessible, or, as it were, a tangible form, they often
influence the most distant posterity, they become tho
heirlooms of mankind, the immortal bequest of the
genius to which they owe their birth. But the good
deeds effected by our moral faculties are less capable of
transmission ; they are of a more private and retiring
character ; while, as the motives to which they owe
their origin are generally the result of self-discipline
and of self-sacrince, they have to be worked out by
every man for himself; and thus, begun by each anew,
they derive little benefit from the maxims of preceding
experience, nor can they well be stored up for the use
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 183
of future moralists. The consequence is, that although
moral excellence is more amiable, and to most persons
more attractive, than intellectual excellence, still, it
must be confessed that, looking at ulterior results, it is
far less active, less permanent, and, as I shall presently
prove, less productive of real good. Indeed, if we
examine the effects of the most active philanthropy, and
of the largest and most disinterested kindness, we shall
find that those effects are, comparatively speaking, short-
lived ; that there is only a small number of individuals
they come in contact with and benefit ; that they rarely
survive the generation which witnessed their commence-
ment ; and that, when they take the more durable form
of founding great public charities, such institutions
invariably fall, first into abuse, then into decay, and
after a time are either destroyed, or perverted from
their original intention, mocking the effort by which
it is vainly attempted to perpetuate the memory even
of the purest and most energetic benevolence.
These conclusions are no doubt very unpalatable ;
xmd what makes them peculiarly offensive is, that it is
impossible to refute them. For the deeper we pene-
trate into this question, the more clearly shall we see
the superiority of intellectual acquisitions over moral
feeling. 16 There is no instance on record of an ignorant
man who, having good intentions, and supreme power
to enforce them, has not done far more evil than good.
And whenever the intentions have been very eager,
and the power very extensive, the evil has been enor-
mous. But if you can diminish the sincerity of that
man, if you can mix some alloy with his motives, you
will likewise diminish the evil which he works. If ho
is selfish as well as ignorant, it will often happen that
you may play off his vice against his ignorance, and by
exciting his fears restrain his mischief. If, however,
he has no fear, if ho is entirely unselfish, if his solo
object is the good of others, if ho pursues that object
'• One part of the argument is est toujours passager; les verites
woll stated by Cuvicr, who says, qu'on lour laisso sont eternolles.*
'Le bien que Ton fait aux Cuvier, ELoges HistoHquca,\o\.'\u
hommes, quolque grand qu'il soit, p. 304
184 COMPARISON BETWEEN" MOEAL
with enthusiasm, upon a large scale, and "with dis-
interested zeal, then it is that you have no check upon
him, you have no means of preventing the calamities-
which, in an ignorant age, an ignorant man will be
sure to inflict. How entirely this is verified by ex-
perience, we may see in studying the history of religious
persecution. To punish even a single man for his-
religious tenets, is assuredly a crime of the deepest
dye ; but to punish a large body of men, to persecute
an entire sect, to attempt to extirpate opinions, "which,
growing out of the state of society in "which they arise r
are themselves a manifestation of the marvellous and.
luxuriant fertility of the human mind, — to do this is
not only one of the most pernicious, but one of the-
most foolish acts that can possibly be conceived.
Nevertheless, it is an undoubted fact that an over-
whelming majority of religious persecutors have been
men of the purest intentions, of the most admirable
and unsullied morals. It is impossible that this should
be otherwise. For they are not bad-intentioned men,
"who seek to enforce opinions which they believe to be-
good. Still less are they bad men, who are so regard-
less of temporal considerations as to employ all the
resources of their power, not for their own benefit, but
for the pixrpose of propagating a religion which they
think necessary to the future happiness of mankind.
Such men as these are not bad, they are only ignorant ;
ignorant of the nature of truth, ignorant of the con-
sequences of their own acts. But, in a moral point of
view, their motives are unimpeachable. Indeed, it is
the very ardour of their sincerity which warms them-
into persecution. It is the holy zeal by which they
are fired that quickens their fanaticism into a deadly
activity. If you can impress any man with an absorb-
ing conviction of the supreme importance of some
moral or religious doctrine ; if you can make him
believe that those who reject that doctrine are doomed'
to eternal perdition ; if you then give that man power,
and by means of his ignorance blind him to the ulterior
consequences of his own act, — he will infallibly perse-
cute those who deny his doctrine ; and the extent of
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 185
his persecution will bo regulated by tbe extent of his
sincerity. Diminish the sincerity, and you will dimi-
nish the persecution : in other words, by weakening
the virtue you may check the evil. This is a truth of
which history furnishes such innumerable examples,
that to deny it would be not only to reject the plainest
and most conclusive arguments, but to refuse the con-
current testimony of every age. I will merely select
two cases, which, from the entire difference in their
circumstances, are very apposite as illustrations : the
first being from the history of Paganism, the other
from the history of Christianity ; and both proving the
inability of moral feelings to control religious per-
secution.
I. The Roman emperors, as is well known, subjected
the early Christians to persecutions, which, though
they have been exaggerated, were frequent and very
grievous. But what to some persons must appear
extremely strange, is, that among the active authors of
these cruelties, we find the names of the best men who
ever sat on the throne ; while the worst and most in-
famous princes were precisely those who spared tho
Christians, and took no heed of their increase. The
two most thoroughly depraved of all the emperors wero
certainly Commodus and Elagabalus ; neither of whom
persecuted the new religion, or indeed adopted any
measures against it. They were too reckless of the
future, too selfish, too absorbed in their own infamous
pleasures, to mind whether truth or error prevailed;
and being thus indifferent to the welfare of their sub-
jects, they cared nothing about the progress of a creed,
which they, as Pagan emperors, were bound to regard
as a fatal and impious delusion. They, therefore,
allowed Christianity to run its course, unchecked by
those penal laws which more honest, but more mis-
taken, rulers would assuredly have enacted. 17 We find,
" ' The first year of Com- stop to the persecution in the
modus must be the epocha of the first year of his reign
toleration. From all these au- Not one writer, either heathen
thorities, it appears beyond or Christian, makes Commodus
exception, that Commodus put a a persecutor.' Letters concerning
186
COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
accordingly, that the great enemy of Christianity was
Marcus Aurelius : a man of kindly temper, and of fear-
less, unflinching honesty, hut whose reign was charac-
terized hy a persecution from which he would have
refrained had he been less in earnest about the religion
of his fathers. 18 And to complete the argument, it
may he added, that the last and one of the most
strenuous of the opponents of Christianity, who oc-
cupied the throne of the Caesars, was Julian : a prince
of eminent probity, whose opinions are often attacked,
but against whose moral conduct even calumny itself
has hardly breathed a suspicion. 19
the Thundering Legion, mMoyle's
Works, vol. ii. p. 266, London,
1726. ' Heliogabalus also, though
in other respects the most
infamous of all princes, and
perhaps the most odious of all
mortals, showed no marks of
bitterness or aversion to the
disciples of Jesus.' Mosheim's
Eccl. History, vol. i. p. 66 : see
also Milman's Hist, of Christi-
anity, London, 1840, vol. ii.
p. 225.
18 Dr. Milman {History of
Christianity, 1840, vol. ii. p. 159)
says, 'A blameless disciple in
the severest school of philosophic
morality, the austerity of Mar-
cus rivalled that of the Chris-
tians in its contempt of the follies
and diversions of life; yet his
native kindliness of disposition
■was not hardened or embittered
by the severity or the pride of
his philosophy. With Aurelius,
nevertheless, Christianity found
not only a fair and high-minded
competitor for the command of
the human mind ; not only a
rival in the exaltation of the
soul of man to higher views and
more dignified motives; but a
violent and intolerant persecu-
tor/ M. Guizot compares him
■with Louis IX. of Prance ; and
certainly there was in both an
evident connexion between sin-
cerity and persecution : ' Marc
Aurele et saint Louis sont peut-
£tre les deux seuls princes qui,
en toute occasion, aient fait de
leurs croyances morales la
premiere regie de leur conduite :
Marc Aurele, stoicien ; saint
Louis, chretien.' Guizot, Civili-
sation en France, vol. iv. p. 142.
Even Duplessis Mornay {Mem.
vol. iv. p. 374) calls him 'le
meillcur des empereurs payens ; '
and Ititter {Hist, of Philos.
vol. iv. p. 222), 'the virtuous
and noble emperor.'
10 Neander {History of the
Church, vol. i. p. 122) observes,
that the best emperors opposed
Christianity, and that the worst
ones were indifferent to its en-
croachments. The same remark,
in regard to Marcus and Com-
modus, is made by Gibbon
{Decline and Fall, chap. xvi.
p. 220, Lond. 1836). Another
writer, of a veiy different cha-
racter, ascribes this peculiarity
to the wiles of the devil : ' In
the primitive times, it is ob-
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 187
II. The second illustration is supplied by Spain ; a
country of which it must be confessed, that in no other
have religious feelings exercised such sway over tho
affairs of men. No other European nation has pro-
duced so many ardent and disinterested missionaries,
zealous self-denying martyrs, who have cheerfully
sacrificed their lives in order to propagate truths
which they thought necessary to be known. Nowhere
else have the spiritual classes been so long in tho
ascendant ; nowhere else are the people so devout, tho
churches so crowded, the clergy so numerous. But
the sincerity and the honesty of purpose by which tho
Spanish people, taken as a whole, have always been
marked, have not only been unable to prevent religious
persecution, but have proved the means of encouraging
it. If the nation had been more lukewarm, it would
have been more tolerant. As it was, the preservation
of the faith became the first consideration ; and every-
thing being sacrificed to this one object, it naturally
happened that zeal begat cruelty, and the soil was pre-
pared in which the Inquisition took root and flourished.
The supporters of that barbarous institution were not
hypocrites, but enthusiasts. Hypocrites are for the
most part too supple to be cruel. For cruelty is a stern
and unbending passion ; while hypocrisy is a fawning
and flexible art, which accommodates itself to human
feelings, and flatters the weakness of men in order that
it may gain its own ends. In Spain, tho earnestness
of the nation, being concentrated on a single topic,
carried everything before it ; and hatred of heresy be-
coming a habit, persecution of heresy was thought a duty.
The conscientious energy with which that duty was ful-
filled is seen in the history of tho Spanish Church.
Indeed, that the inquisitors were remarkable for an
undeviating and incorruptible integrity, may bo proved
in a variety of ways, and from different and independ-
ent sources of evidence. This is a question to which
served that the best emperors cutore of the Church.' Memoirs
were some of them stirred up by of Colonel Hutchinson, p. 85.
6at&n to be the bitterest perse-
188 COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
I shall hereafter return ; but there are two testimonies
which I cannot omit, because, from the circumstances
attending them, they are peculiarly unimpeachable.
Llorente, the great historian of the Inquisition, and its
bitter enemy, had access to its private papers ; and yet,
with the fullest means of information, he does not even
insinuate a charge against the moral character of the
inquisitors ; but while execrating the cruelty of their
conduct, he cannot deny the purity of their inten-
tions. 20 Thirty years earlier, Townsend, a clergyman of
the Church of England, published his valuable work
on Spain ; 21 and though, as a Protestant and an Eng-
lishman, he had every reason to be prejudiced against the
infamous system which he describes, he also can bring
no charge against those who upheld it ; but having
occasion to mention its establishment at Barcelona,
one of its most important branches, he makes the
remarkable admission, that all its members are men of
worth, and that most of them are of distinguished
humanity. 22
These facts, startling as they are, form a very small
part of that vast mass of evidence which history con-
tains, and which decisively proves the utter inability of
moral feelings to diminish religious persecution. The
way in which the diminution has been really effected
by the mere progress of intellectual acquirements, will
be pointed out in another part of this volume ; when
we shall see that the great antagonist of intolerance is
20 By ■which, indeed, he is p. xxiii.: compare vol. ii. pp.
sorely puzzled. ' On reeon- 267, 268, vol. iv. p. 153.
naitra mon impartiality dans 2l Highly spoken of by the
quelques circonstances ou je fais late Blanco "White, a most com-
remarquer chez les inquisiteurs petent judge. See Doblado's
des dispositions genereuses ; ce Letters from Spain, p. 5.
qui me porte a croire que les 22 ' ft is, however, universally
atroces sentences rendues par le acknowledged, for the credit of
Saint-Office, sont plutot une the corps at Barcelona, that all its
consequence de ses lois organ- members are men of ■worth, and
iques, qu'un effet du caractere most of them distinguished for
particulier de ses membres.' humanity.' Townsend s Journey
Llorente, Histoire Critique de through Spain, in 17 '86 and 1787,
llnquisition SEspagne, vol. i. vol. i. p. 122, Lond. 1792.
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 189
not humanity, but knowledge. It is to the diffusion of
knowledge, and to that alone, that we owe the com-
parative cessation of what is unquestionably the greatest
evil men have ever inflicted on their own species. For
that religious persecution is a greater evil than any
other, is apparent, not so much from the enormous and
almost incredible number of its known victims, 23 as from
the fact that the unknown must be far more numerous,
and that history gives no account of those who have
been spared in the body, in order that they might
suffer in the mind. We hear much of martyrs and con-
fessors — of those who were slain by the sword, or
consumed in the fire ; but we know little of that still
larger number who, by the mere threat of persecution,
have been driven into an outward abandonment of
their real opinions; and who, thus forced into an
apostasy the heart abhors, have passed the remainder of
their life in the practice of a constant and humiliating
hypocrisy. It is this which is the real curse of religious
persecution. For in this way, men being constrained
to mask their thoughts, there arises a habit of securing
safety by falsehood, and of purchasing impunity with
deceit. In this way fraud becomes a necessary of life ;
insincerity is made a daily custom ; the whole tone of
public feeling is vitiated, and the gross amount of vice
23 In 154G, the Venetian am- burned. Prcscotfs History of
bassador at the court of the Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. i.
Emperor Charles V. stated, in an p. 265. In Andalusia alone,
official report to his own govern- during a single year, the Inqui-
ment on his return home, ' that 6ition put to death 2,000 Jews,
in Holland and in Friesland, ' besides 17,000 who underwent
more than 30,000 persons havo some form of punishment less
suffered death at the hands of severe than that of tho stake.'
justice for Anabaptist errors.' Ticknor's History of Spanish
Correspondence of Charles V. Literature, vol. i. p. 410. For
and his Ambassadors, edited by other statistical evidence on this
William Bradford, Lond. 8vo, horrible subject, see Llorente,
1850, p. 471. In Spain, tho Hixtoirc de tlvquisition, voL i.
Inquisition, during the eighteen pp. 160, 229, 238, 239, 279, 280,
years of Torquemada's ministry, 406, 407, 455, vol. ii. pp. 77, 116,
punished, according to the lowest 376, vol. iv. p. 31 ; and, abovo
estimate, upwards of 105,000 all, the summary at pp. 242-
persons, of whom 8,800 wero 273.
190 COMPAEISON BETWEEN MOEAL
and of error fearfully increased. Surely, then, we have
reason to say, that, compared to this, all other crimes
are of small account ; and we may well be grateful for
that increase of intellectual pursuits which has de-
stroyed an evil that some among us would even now
willingly restore.
The principle I am advocating is of such immense
importance in practice as well as in theory, that I will
give yet another instance of the energy with which it
works. . The second greatest evil known to mankind —
the one by which, with the exception of religious perse-
cution, most suffering has been caused — is, unquestion-
ably, the practice of war. That this barbarous pursuit
is, in the progress of society, steadily declining, must
be evident, even to the most hasty reader of European
history. 24 If we compare one country with another, we
shall find that for a very long period wars have been
becoming less frequent ; and now so clearly is the move-
ment marked, that, until the late commencement of hos-
tilities, we had remained at peace for nearly forty years :
a circumstance unparalleled, not only in our own country,
but also in the annals of every other country which has
been important enough to play a leading part in the
affairs of the world. 25 The question arises, as to what
share our moral feelings have had in bringing about this
great improvement. And if this question is answered,
not according to preconceived opinions, but according
to the evidence we possess, the answer will certainly
be, that those feelings have had no share at all. For it
24 On the diminished love of the attention of this eminent
war, which is even more marked philosopher, from his want of
than the actual diminution of acquaintance with the history
war, see some interesting re- and present state of political
marks in Comte, Philosophie economy.
Positive, vol. iv. pp. 488, 713, " b In Pelleufs Life of Sid-
vol. vi. pp. 68, 424-436, where mouth, 1847, vol. iii. p. 137, this
the antagonism between the prolonged peace is gravely as-
military spirit and the indus- cribed to 'the wisdom of the
trial spirit is, on the whole, well adjustment of 1815;' in other
worked out ; though some of the words, to the proceedings of the
leading phenomena have escaped Congress of Vienna !
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 191
surely will not be pretended that the moderns have
made any discoveries respecting the moral evils of war.
On this head nothing is now known that has not
been known for many centuries. That defensive wars
are just, and that offensive wars are unjust, are the
only two principles which, on this subject, moralists
are able to teach. These two principles were as clearly
laid down, as well understood, and as universally ad-
mitted, in the Middle Ages, when there was never a
week without war, as they are at the present moment,
when war is deemed a rare and singular occurrence.
Since, then, the actions of men respecting war have
been gradually changing, while their moral knowledge
respecting it has not been changing, it is palpably evi-
dent that the changeable effect has not been produced
by the unchangeable cause. It is impossible to con-
ceive an argument more decisive than this. If it can
be proved that, during the last thousand years, moralists
or theologians have pointed ont a single evil caused by
war, the existenco of which was unknown to their pre-
decessors, — if this can be proved, I will abandon the
view for which I am contending. But if, as I most
confidently assert, this cannot be proved, then it must
be conceded that, no additions having been made on
tins subject to the stock of morals, no additions can
have been made to the result which the morals pro-
duce. 26
24 Unless more zeal has been inferences from encroaching on
displayed in the diffusion of ethical ones. Indeed, during the
moral and religious principles; Middle Ages, the moral and
in which case it would be possi- religious literature outweighed
ble for the principles to be sta- all the profane literature put
tionary, and yet their effects be together ; and surpassed it, not
progressive. But so far from only in bulk, but also in the
this, it is certain that in the ability of its cultivators. Now,
Middle Ages there were, rela- however, the generalizations of
tively to the population, more moralists have ceased to control
churches than there are now; the affairs of men, and have
the spiritual classes were far made way for the larger doctrine
more numerous, the proselyting of expediency, which includes
spirit far more eager, and there all interests and all classes,
was a much stronger determina- Systematic writers on morals
tion to prevent purely scientific reached their zenith in the thir-
192 COMPARISON BETWEEN" MORAL
Thus far as to the influence exercised by moral feel-
ings in increasing our distaste for war. But if, on the
other hand, we turn to the human intellect, in the nar-
rowest sense of the term, we shall find that every great
increase in its activity has been a heavy blow to the war-
like spirit. The full evidence for this I shall hereafter
detail at considerable length ; and in this Introduction I
can on]y pretend to bring forward a few of those promi-
nent points, which, being on the surface of history j will
be at once understood.
Of these points, one of the most obvious is, that every
important addition made to knowledge increases the
authority of the intellectual classes, by increasing the
resources which they have to wield. Now, the anta-
gonism between these classes and the military class is
evident : it is the antagonism between thought and
action, between the internal and the external, between
argument and violence, between persuasion and force ;
or, to sum up the whole, between men who live by the
pursuits of peace and those who live by the practice of
war. Whatever, therefore, is favourable to one class, is
manifestly unfavourable to the other. Supposing the
remaining circumstances to be the same, it must hap-
pen, that as the intellectual acquisitions of a people
increase, their love of war will diminish ; and if their
intellectual acquisitions are very small, their love of war
will be very great. 27 In perfectly barbarous countries,
t.centh century, fell off rapidly and Coleridge's Friend, vol. iii.
after that period, were, as Cole- p. 104.
ridge well says, opposed by ' the 27 Herder boldly asserts that
genius of Protestantism : ' and, man originally, and by virtue of
by the end of the seventeenth his organization, is peaceably
century, became extinct in the disposed; but this opinion is de-
most civilized countries ; the cisively refuted by the immense
Buctor Dubitantium of Jeremy additions which, since the timo
Taylor being the last compre- of Herder, have been made to
hensive attempt of a man of our knowledge of the feelings
genius to mould society solely and habits of savages. ' Indesseu
according to the maxims of ist's wahr, dass der Bau dos
moralists. Compare two inte- Menschen vorzuglich auf die
resting passages in Mosheim's Vertheidigung, nicht auf deu
Ecclesiast. Hist., vol. i. p. 338, Angriff gerichtet ist : in diesem
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS.
193
there are no intellectual acquisitions ; and the mind
being a blank and dreary waste, the only resource is
external activity, 88 the only merit personal courage.
No account is made of any man, unless he has killed
an enemy ; and the more he has killed, the greater the
reputation he enjoys. 29 This is the purely savage state ;
and it is the state in which military glory is most
esteemed, and military men most respected. 30 From
muss ihm die Kunst zu Hulfe
kommen, in jener aber ist er von
Natur das kraftigste Geschopf
dor Erde. Seine Gestalt selbst
lehret ihn also Friedlichkeit,
nicht rauberische Mordverwiis-
tung, — der Humanitat erstes
Merkmal.' Ideen zur GescJcichte,
vol. i. p. 185.
w Hence, no doubt, that acute-
ness of the senses, natural, and
indeed necessary, to an early
state of society, and which, being
at the expense of the reflecting
faculties, assimilates man to the
lower animals. See Carpenter's
Human Physiology, p. 404 ; and
a fine passage in Herder's Ideen
zur Geschichte, vol. ii. p. 12:
' Das abstehende thierische Ohr,
das gleichsam immor lauscht und
horchet, das kleine scharfe Auge,
das in der weitesten Feme den
kleinsten Rauch oder Staub
gewahr wird, dor weisse hcr-
vorbleckendo, knochenbenagende
Zahn, dor dicke Hals und die
zurttckgebogene Stollung ihres
Kopfes auf demselben.' Com-
pare PrieharcCs Physical Hist, of
Mankind, vol. i. pp. 292, 293;
Azara, Ameriquc Meridionale,
vol. ii. p. 18 ; WrangeCs Polar
Expedition, p. 384 ; Pallme's
Travels in Kordofan, pp. 132,
133.
" ' Among some Macedonian
tribes, the man who had never
VOL. I.
slain an enemy was marked by a
degrading badge.' Grote's His-
tory of Greece, vol. xi. p. 397.
Among the Dyaks of Borneo,
' a man cannot marry until ho
has procured a human head ; and
he that has several may be dis-
tinguished by his proud and
lofty bearing, for it constitutes
his patent of nobility.' Earl's
Account of Borneo, in Journal of
Asiatic Society, vol. iv. p. 181.
See also Crawfurd on Borneo, in
Journal of Geog. Soc., vol. xxiii.
pp. 77, 80. And for similar
instances of this absorption of
all other ideas into warlike ones,
compare Journal of Geog. Soc,
vol. x. p. 357; Mallet's Northern
Antiquities, pp. 158, 159, 195;
Thirlwairs Hist, of Greece, vol. i.
pp. 226, 284, vol. viii. p. 209;
Henderson's History of Brazil,
p. 475; Southey's History of
Brazil, vol. i. pp. 126, 248;
Asiatic Researches, vol. ii. p.
188, vol. vii. p. 193; Trans-
actions of Bombay Society, vol.
ii. pp. 51, 52 ; Hoskins's Travels
in Ethiopia, p. 163 ; Origincs du
Droit, in CEuvrcs deMichelet, vol.
ii. pp. 333, 334 note. So also
the Thracians: yijs 8i 4p-yaT7}v
aTi/xSraTOv. rb (tjv «""& iro\4fxot.
(col \rjtffTvos, ndWiffTov. Hiro-
dotus, book v. chap. 6, vol. iii.
p. 10, edit Baehr.
10 Malcolm (History of Persia,
194 COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
this frightful debasement, even up to the summit of
civilization, there is a long series of consecutive steps ;
gradations, at each of which something is taken from
the dominion of force, and something given to the
authority of thought. Slowly, and one by one, the in-
tellectual and pacific classes begin to arise ; at first
held in great contempt by warriors, but nevertheless
gradually gaining ground, increasing in number and in
power, and at each increase weakening that old mili-
tary spirit, in which all other tendencies had formerly
been absorbed. Trade, commerce, manufactures, law,
diplomacy, literature, science, philosophy, — all these
things, originally unknown, became organized into sepa-
rate studies, each study having a separate class, and
each class insisting on the importance of its own pur-
suit. Of these classes, some are, no doubt, less pacific
than others ; but even those which are the least pacific,
are, of course, more so than men whose associations are
entirely military, and who see in every fresh war that
chance of personal distinction, from which, during
peace, they are altogether debarred. 31
vol. i.p. 204) sa3 r s of the Tartars, 3I To the prospect of personal
' There is only one path to emi- distinction there was formerly
nence, that of military renown.' added that of wealth ; and in
Thus, too, in the Institutes of Europe, during the Middle Ages,
Timour, p. 269: 'He only is war was a very lucrative pro-
equal to stations of power and fession, owing to the custom
dignity, who is well acquainted of exacting heavy ransom for
with the military art, and with the liberty of prisoners. See
the various modes of breaking Barrington's learned work, Ob-
and defeating hostile armies.' servations on the Statutes, pp.
The same turn of mind is shown 390-393. In the reign of Kichard
in the frequency and evident II. 'a war with France was
delight with which Homer relates esteemed as almost the only
battles — a peculiarity noticed in method by which an English
Mure's Greek Literature, vol. ii. gentleman could become rich.'
pp. 63, 64, where an attempt is Compare Turner's Hist, of Eng-
made to turn it into an argument land, vol. vi. p. 21. Sainte Palaye
to prove that the Homeric poems (Memoires sur Vancienne Cheva-
are all by the same author; lerie, vol. i. p. 311) says, 'La
though the more legitimate in- guerre enrichissoit alors par le
ference would be that the poems butin, et par les rancons, celui
were all composed in a barbarous qui ia faisoit avec le plus de
age. valeur, de vigilance et d'activite.
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 195
Thus it is that, as civilization advances, an equipoise
is established, and military ardour is balanced by mo-
tives which none but a cultivated people can feel. But
among a people whose intellect is not cultivated, such a
balance can never exist. Of this we see a good illustration
in the history of the present war. 32 For the peculiarity
of the great contest in which we are engaged is, that it
was produced, not by the conflicting interests of civilized
countries, but by a rupture between Russia and Turkey,
the two most barbarous monarchies now remaining in
Europe. This is a very significant fact. It is highly
characteristic of the actual condition of society, that a
peace of unexampled length should have been broken,
not, as former peaces were broken, by a quarrel between
two civilized nations, but by the encroachments of
the uncivilized Russians on the still more uncivilized
Turks. At an earlier period, the influence of intellectual,
and therefore pacific, habits was indeed constantly in-
creasing, but was still too weak, even in the most
advanced countries, to control the old warlike habits :
hence there arose a desire for conquest, which often
outweighed all other feelings, and induced great nations
like France and England to attack each other on the
slightest pretence, and seek every opportunity of grati-
fying the vindictive hatred with which both contemplated
the prosperity of their neighbour. Such, however, is
now the progress of affairs, that these two nations, laying
aside the peevish and irritable jealousy they once enter-
tained, are united in a common cause, and have drawn
the sword, not for selfish purposes, but to protect the
civilized world against the incursions of a barbarous foe.
This is the leading feature which distinguishes the
present war from its predecessors. That a peace should
La ran9on etoit, ce semble, pour Middle Ages, and was only put
rordinaire,uneanneedesrevenus an end to by the peace of
du prisonnier.' For an analogy Munster, in 1648. Manning's
■with this, see Big Veda Sanhita, Commentaries on the Law of
vol. i. p. 208, sec. 3, and vol. ii. Nations, 1839, p. 162; and oa
p. 265, sec 13. In Europe, the the profits formerly made, pp.
custom of paying a ransom for 157, 158.
prisoners-of-war survived the n I wrote this in 1855.
©2
196 COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
last for nearly forty years, and should then be interrupted,
not, as heretofore, by hostilities between civilized states,
but by the ambition of the only empire which is at once
powerful and uncivilized — is one of many proofs that a
dislike to war is a cultivated taste peculiar to an intellec-
tual people. For no one will pretend that the military
predilections of Russia are caused by a low state of
morals, or by a disregard of religious duties. So far
from this, all the evidence we have shows that vicious
habits are not more common in Russia than in France
or England ; 33 and it is certain that the Russians submit
to the teachings of the church with a docility greater
than that displayed by their civilized opponents. 34 It
is, therefore, clear that Russia is a warlike country, not
because the inhabitants are immoral, but because they
are unintellectual. The fault is in the head, not in the
heart. In Russia, the national intellect being little cul-
tivated, the intellectual classes lack influence ; the mili-
tary class, therefore, is supreme. In this early stage of
society, there is as yet no middle rank, 35 and consequently
the thoughtful and pacific habits which spring from the
middle ranks have no existence. The minds of men,
deprived of mental pursuits, 36 naturally turn to warlike
33 Indeed some have supposed observers, and is, indeed, too
that there is less immorality in notorious to require proof.
Eussia than in Western Europe ; 3J A very observing and in-
but this idea is probably er- telligent writer says, 'Eussia
roneous. See Stirling's Russia, has only two ranks — the highest
Lond. 1841, pp. 59, 60. The and the lowest.' Letters from
benevolence and charitable dis- the Baltic, Lond. 1841, vol. ii.
position of the Eussians are p. 185. 'Les marchands, qui
attested by Pinkerton, who had formeraient une classe moyenne,
good means of information, and sont en si petit nombre qu'ils ne
was by no means prejudiced in peuvent marquer dans l'etat:
their favour. See Pinkerton's cTailleurs presque tous sont
Russia, Lond. 1833, pp. 335, 336. Strangers ; . . . . ou done trouver
Sir John Sinclair also says they cette classe moyenne qui fait la
are 'prone to acts of kindness force desetats?' Custine'sRussie,
and charity.' Sinclair's Corre- vol. ii. pp. 125, 126: see also
spondenec, vol. ii. p. 241. vol. iv. p. 74.
34 The reverence of the Eussian ss A recent authoress, who had
people for their clergy has at- admirable opportunities of study-
tracted the attention of many ing the society of St. Petersburg,
AND INTELLECTUAL LA"WS.
197
ones, as the only resource remaining to them. Hence it
is that, in Russia, all ability is estimated by a military
standard. The army is considered to be the greatest
glory of the country : to "win a battle, or outwit an enemy,
is valued as one of the noblest achievements of life ; and
civilians, whatever their merits may be, are despised by
this barbarous people, as beings of an altogether inferior
and subordinate character. 37
which she estimated with that
fine tact peculiar to an accom-
plished woman, was amazed at
this state of things among classes
surrounded with every form of
luxury and wealth : ' a total ab-
sence of all rational tastes or
literary topics Here it is
absolutely mauvais genre to dis-
cuss a rational subject — mere
pedanterie to be caught upon any
topics beyond dressing, dancing,
and a jolie tournure.' Letters
from the Baltic, 1841, vol. ii. p.
233. M. Custine (La Bussie en
1839, vol. i. p. 321) says 'Regie
generale, personne ne profere
jamais un mot qui pourrait
interesser vivement quelqu'un.'
At vol. ii. p. 195, 'Do toutes les
facultes de l'intelligence, la seule
q'uon estime ici c'est le tact.'
Another writer of ropute, M.
Kohl, contemptuously observes,
that in Eussia, 'the depths of
science are not even guessed
at' KohTs Bussia, 1842, Lond.
p. 142.
" According to Schnitzler,
'Precedence is determined, in
Russia, by miljtary rank ; and an
ensign would take tho pas of a
nobleman not enrolled in the
army, or occupying some situa-
tion giving military rank.'
M'Culloch's Geoff. Diet. 1849,
vol. ii. p. 614. The same thing
is stated in Pinkerton's Bussia,
1833, p. 321. M. Erman, who
travelled through great part of
the Russian empire, says, ' In the
modern language of St. Peters-
burg, one constantly hears a
distinction of the greatest im-
portance, conveyed in the inquiry
which is habitually made respect-
ing individuals of the educated
class: Is he a plain-coat or a
uniform ? ' Erman' s Siberia, voL i.
p. 45. See also on this prepon-
derance of the military classes,
which is the inevitable fruit of
the national ignorance, Kohl's
Bussia, pp. 28, 194; Stirling's
Bussia under Nicholas the First,
p. 7-; Custine's Bussie, vol. i. pp.
147, 152, 252, 266, vol. ii. pp. 71,
128, 309, vol. iii. p. 328, vol. iv.
p. 284. Sir A. Alison {History
of Europe, vol. ii. pp. 391, 392)
says, ' Tho whole energies of the
nation are turned towards the
army. Commerce, the law, and
all civil employments, are held
in no esteem ; the whole youth of
any consideration betake them-
selves to the profession of arms.'
The same writer (vol. x. p. 566)
quotes the remark of Bremner,
that ' nothing astonishes the
Russian or Polish noblemen so
much as seeing the estimation in
which the civil professions, and
especially the bar, are hold in
Great Britain.'
198 COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
In England, on the other hand, opposite causes have
produced opposite results. With us intellectual progress
is so rapid, and the authority of the middle class so great,
that not only have military men no influence in the go-
vernment of the state, but there seemed at one time even
a danger lest we should push this feeling to an extreme ;
and lest, from our detestation of war, we should neglect
those defensive precautions which the enmity of other
nations makes it advisable to adopt. But this at least
we may safely say, that, in our country, a love of war
is, as a national taste, utterly extinct. And this vast
result has been effected, not by moral teachings, nor by
the dictates of moral instinct ; but by the simple fact,
that in the progress of civilization there have been formed
certain classes of society which have an interest in the
preservation of peace, and whose united authority is
sufficient to control those other classes whose interest
lies in the prosecution of war.
It would be easy to conduct this argument further,
and to prove how, by an increasing love of intellectual
pursuits, the military service necessarily declines, not
only in reputation, but likewise in ability. In a backward
state of society men of distinguished talents crowd to
the army, and are proud to enrol themselves in its
ranks. But, as society advances, new sources of activity
are opened, and new professions arise, which, being essen-
tially mental, offer to genius opportunities for success
more rapid than any formerly known. The consequence
is, that in England, where these opportunities are more
numerous than elsewhere, it nearly always happens that
if a father has a son whose faculties are remarkable, ho
brings him up to one of the lay professions, where intel-
lect, when accompaniedby industry, is sure toberewarded.
If, however, the inferiority of the boy is obvious, a suit-
able remedy is at hand : he is made either a soldier or
a clergyman ; he is sent into the army, or hidden in the
church. And this, as we shall hereafter see, is one of
the reasons why, as society advances, the ecclesiastical
spirit and the military spirit never fail to decline. As
soon as eminent men grow unwilling to enter any pro-
fession, the lustre of that profession will be tarnished :
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 199
first its reputation will be lessened, and then its power
will be abridged. This is the process through which
Europe is actually passing, in regard both to the church
and to the army. The evidence, so far as the ecclesias-
tical profession is concerned, will be found in another
part of this work. The evidence respecting the military
profession is equally decisive. For although that profes-
sion has in modern Europe produced a few men of un-
doubted genius, their number is so extremely small, as
to amaze us at the dearth of original ability. That the
military class, taken as a whole, has a tendency to de-
generate, will become still more obvious if. we compare
long periods of time. In the ancient world, the leading
warriors were not only possessed of considerable accom-
plishments, but were comprehensive thinkers in politics
as well as in war, and were in every respect the first
characters of their age. Thus — to give only a few speci-
mens from a single people — we find that the three most
successful statesmen Greece ever produced were Solon,
Themistocles, and Epaminondas, — all of whom were dis-
tinguished military commanders. Socrates, supposed by
some to be the wisest of the ancients, was a soldier ; and
so was Plato ; and so was Antisthenes, the celebrated
founder of the Cynics. Archytas, who gave a new direc-
tion to the Pythagorean philosophy ; and Melissus, who
developed the Eleatic philosophy — were both of them
well-known generals, famous alike in literature and in
war. Among the most eminent orators, Pericles, Alci-
biades, Andocides, Demosthenes, and ./Eschines were all
members of the military profession ; as also were the
two greatest tragic writers, iEschylus and Sophocles.
Archilochus, who is said to have invented iambic verses,
and whom Horace took as a model, was a soldier ; and
the same profession could likewiso boast of Tyrteeus, one
of the founders of elegiac poetry, and of Alcoeus, one of
the best composers of lyric poetry. The most philosophic
of all the Greek historians was certainly Thucydides ;
but he, as well as Xenophon and Poly bins, held high
military appointments, and on more than one occasion
succeeded in changing the fortunes of war. In the midst
of the hurry and turmoil of camps, these eminent men
200 COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
cultivated their minds to the highest point that the know-
ledge of that age would allow : and so wide is the range
of their thoughts, and such the beauty and dignity of
their style, that their works are read by thousands who
care nothing about the sieges and battles in which they
were engaged.
These were among the ornaments of the military pro-
fession in the ancient world ; and all of them wrote in
the same language, and were read by the same people.
But in the modern world this identical profession, includ-
ing many millions of men, and covering the whole of
Europe, has never been able, since the sixteenth century,
to produce ten authors who have reached the first class
either as writers or as thinkers. Descartes is an instance
of an European soldier combining the two qualities ; he
being as remarkable for the exquisite beauty of his style
as for the depth and originality of his inquiries. This,
however, is a solitary case ; and there is, I believe, no
second one of a modern military writer thus excelling in
both departments. Certainly, the English army, during
the last two hundred and fifty years, affords no example
of it, and has, in fact, only possessed two authors,
Raleigh and Napier, whose works are recognized as
models, and are studied merely for their intrinsic merit.
Still, this is simply in reference to style; and these two
historians, notwithstanding their skill in composition,
have never been reputed profound thinkers on difficult
subjects, nor have they added anything of moment to-
the stock of our knowledge. In the same way, among
the ancients, the most eminent soldiers were likewise
the most eminent politicians, and the best leaders of the
army were generally the best governors of the state.
But here, again, the progress of society has wrought so
great a change, that for a long period instances of this
have been excessively rare. Even Gustavus Adolphus
and Frederick the Great failed ignominiously in their-
domestic policy, and showed themselves as short-sighted
in the arts of peace as they were sagacious in the arts
of war. Cromwell, Washington, and Napoleon are, per-
haps, the only first-rate modern warriors of whom it can
be fairly said, that they were equally competent to govern
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 201
a kingdom and command an army. And, if we look at
England as furnishing a familiar illustration, we see this
remark exemplified in our two greatest generals, Marl-
borough and Wellington. Marlborough was a man not
only of the most idle and frivolous pursuits, but was so
miserably ignorant, that his deficiencies made him the
ridicule of his contemporaries ; and of politics he had no
other idea but to gain the favour of the sovereign by
flattering his mistress, to desert the brother of that sove-
reign at his utmost need, and afterwards, by a double
treachery, turn against his next benefactor, and engage
in a criminal, as well as a foolish, correspondence with
the very man whom a few years before he had infamously
abandoned. These were the characteristics of the great-
est conqueror of his age, the hero of a hundred fights,
the victor of Blenheim and of Ramilies. As to our other
great warrior, it is indeed true that the name of Welling-
ton should never be pronounced by an EngHshman with-
out gratitude and respect : these feelings are, however,
due solely to his vast military services, the importance
of which it would ill become us to forget. But whoever
has studied the civil history of England during the pre-
sent century knows fall well that this military chief,
who in the field shone without a rival, and who, to his
still greater glory be it said, possessed an integrity of pur-
pose, an unflinching honesty, and a high moral feeling,
which could not be surpassed, was nevertheless utterly
unequal to the complicated exigencies of political life. It
is notorious, that in his views of the most important legis-
lative measures he was always in the wrong. It is noto-
rious, and the evidence of it stands recorded in our Par-
liamentary Debates, that every great measure which was
carried, every great improvement, every great step in
reform, every concession to the popular wishes, was
strenuously opposed by the Duke of Wellington, became
law in spite of his opposition, and after his mournful
declarations that by such means the security of England
would be seriously imperilled. Yet there is now hardly a
forward schoolboy who docs not know that to these very
measures the present stability of our country is mainly
owing. Experience, the great test of wisdom, has amply
202 COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
proved, that those vast schemes of reform, which the
Duke of Wellington spent his political life in opposing,
were, I will not say expedient or advisable, but were
indispensably necessary. That policy of resisting the
popular will which he constantly advised is precisely the
policy which has been pursued, since the Congress of
"Vienna, in every monarchy except our own. The result
of that policy is written for our instruction : it is written
in that great explosion of popular passion, which in the
moment of its wrath upset the proudestthrones, destroyed
princely families, ruined noble houses, desolated beautiful
cities. And if the counsel of our great general had been
followed, if the just demands of the people had been re-
fused — this same lesson would have been written in the
annals of our own land ; and we should most assuredly
have been unable to escape the consequence of that ter-
rible catastrophe, in which the ignorance and selfishness
of rulers did, only a few years ago, involve a large part
of the civilized world.
Thus striking is the contrast between the military
genius of ancient times, and the military genius of modern
Europe. The causes of this decay are clearly traceable
to the circumstance that, owing to the immense increase
of intellectual employments, few men of ability will now
enter a profession into which, in antiquity, men of ability
eagerly crowded, as supplying the best means of exercis-
ing those faculties which, in more civilized countries,
are turned to a better account. This, indeed, is a very
important change ; and thus to transfer the most power-
ful intellects from the arts of war to the arts of peace,
has been the slow work of many centuries, the gradual,
but constant, encroachments of advancing knowledge.
To write the history of those encroachments would be
to write the history of the human intellect — a task im-
possible for any single man adequately to perform. But
the subject is one of such interest, and has been so little
studied, that though I have already carried this analysis
farther than I had intended, I cannot refrain from noti-
cing what appear to me to be the three leading ways in
which the warlike spirit of the ancient world has been
weakened by the progress of European knowledge.
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS.
203
The first of these arose out of the invention of Gun-
powder ; which, though a warlike contrivance, has in
its results been eminently serviceable to the interests
of peace. 38 This important invention is said to have
been made in the thirteenth century ; 3D but was not in
common use until the fourteenth, or even the begin-
ning of the fifteenth, century. Scarcely had it come
into operation, when it worked a great change in the
whole scheme and practice of war. Before this time,
it was considered the duty of nearly every citizen to be
prepared to enter the military service, for the purpose
either of defending his own country, or of attacking
others. 40 Standing armies were entirely unknown ;
and in their place there existed a rude and barbarous
militia, always ready for battle, and always unwilling
to engage in those peaceful pursuits which were then
universally despised. Nearly every man being a
88 The consequences of the in-
vention of gunpowder are consi-
dered very superficially by Fre-
derick Schlegel {Lectures on the
History of Literature, vol. ii. pp.
37, 38), and by Dugald Stewart
{Philosophy of the Mind, vol. i.
p. 262). . They are examined
•with much greater ability, though
by no means exhaustively, in
Smith's Wealth of Nations, book
v. chap. i. pp. 292, 296, 297;
Herder's Idccn zur Geschichte
<hr Menschheit, vol. iv. p. 301 ;
Hallam's Middle Ages, vol. ii.
p. 470.
38 From the following autho-
rities, it appears impossible to
trace it farther back than the
thirteenth century ; and it is
doubtful whether tho Arabs
were, as is commonly supposed,
the inventors : Humboldt's Cos-
mos, vol. ii. p. 590 ; Koch, Ta-
bleaux des involutions, vol. i.
p. 242 ; Beckmann's History of
Inventions, 1846, vol. ii. p. 505 ;
Histoire Lit. de la France, vol.
xx. p. 236; lliomson's History
of Chemistry, vol. i. p. 36 ;
Hallam's Middle Ages, vol. i. p.
341. The statements in Erman's
Siberia, vol. i. pp. 370, 371, are
more positive than the evidence
we are possessed of will justify ;
but there can be no doubt that a
sort of gunpowder was at an.
early period used in Chita, and
in other parts of Asia.
40 Vattel, Ic Droit des Gens,
vol. ii. p. 129 ; Lingard's History
of England, vol. ii. pp. 356, 357.
Among the Anglo-Saxons, 'all
free men and proprietors of
land, excopt tho ministers of
religion, were trained to the use
of arms, and always hold ready
to take the field at a moment's
warning.' Eccleston's English
Antiquities, p. 62. 'Thoro was
no distinction between tho sol-
dier and the citizen.' Palgravfa
Anglo-Saxon Commonwealth, vol.
i. p. 200.
204 COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
soldier, the military profession, as such, had no
separate existence ; or, to speak more properly, the
whole of Europe composed one great army, in which
all other professions were merged. To this the only
exception was the ecclesiastical profession; but even
that was affected by the general tendency, and it was
not at all uncommon to see large bodies of troops led
to the field by bishops and abbots, to most of whom
the arts of war were in those days perfectly familiar. 41
At all events, between these two professions men were
necessarily divided : the only avocations were war and
theology ; and if you refused to enter the church, you
were bound to serve in the army. As a natural conse-
quence, everything of real importance was altogether
neglected. There were, indeed, many priests and many
warriors, many sermons and many battles. 42 But, on
the other hand, there was neither trade, nor commerce,
nor manufactures ; there was no science, no literature :
the useful arts were entirely unknown ; and even the
highest ranks of society were unacquainted, not only with
the most ordinary comforts, but with the commonest
decencies of civilized life.
n On these warlike ecclesi- would follow that a man became
astics, compare Grose's Military spiritually outlawed if he, even
Antiq. vol. i. pp. 67-8 ; Lin- in self-defence, took a bishop
gard's Hist, of England, vol. ii. prisoner.
pp. 26, 183, vol. iii. p. 14; Tur- *'- As Sharon Turner observes
iter's Hist, of England, vol. iv. of England under the Anglo-
p. 458, vol. v. pp. 92, 402, 406 ; Saxon government, 'war and re-
Mosheim's Eccl. History, vol. i. ligion were the absorbing sub-
pp. 173, 193, 241; Crichton's jects of this period.' Turner's
Scandinavia, Edinb. 1838, vol. i. History of England^ vol. iii. p.
p. 220. Such opponents were 263. And a recent scientific his-
the more formidable, because in torian says of Europe generally:
those happy days it was sacri- ' alle Kiinste und Kenntnisse,
lege for a layman to lay hands die sich nicht auf das edle-
on a bishop. In 1095 his Holi- Kriegs-, Eauf- und Eaubhand-
ness the Pope caused a council werk bezogen, waren iiberflussig
to declare, ' Quod qui appre- und schadlich. Nur etwas The-
henderit episcopum omnino exlex ologie war vonnothen, um die
fiat.' Matthcei Paris Historia Erde mit dem Himmel zu ver-
Major, p. 18. As the context binden.' Winckler, Gcschichte der
contains no limitation of this, it Botanik, 1854, p. 56.
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS.
205
But so soon as gunpowder came into use, there was
laid the foundation of a great change. According to
the old system, a man had only to possess, what he
generally inherited from his father, either a sword or
a bow, and he was ready equipped for the field. 43 Ac-
cording to the new system, new means were required,
and the equipment became more costly and more
difficult. First, there was the supply of gunpowder ; 44
48 In 1181, Henry II. of Eng-
land ordered that every man
should have either a sword or
bow; which he was not to sell, but
leave to his heir : ' caiteri autem
omnes haberent wanbasiam, ca-
pellum ferreum, lanceam et gla-
dium, vel arcum et sagittas : et
prohibuit ne aliquis anna sua
venderet vel invadiaret ; sed
cum moreretur, daret ilia pro-
pinquiori haeredi suo.' Bog. de
Hov. Annal. in Scriptores post
Bedam, p. 348 rev. In the reign
of Edward I., it was ordered
that every man possessing land
to the value of forty shillings
should keep ' a sword, bow and
arrows, and a dagger . . . Those
who were to keop bows and
arrows might have them out of
the forest.' Grose's Military
Antiquities, vol. ii. pp. 301, 302.
Compare Geijcrs History of the
Swedes, part i. p. 94. Even late
in the fifteenth century, there
were at the Universities of Oxford
and Cambridge, ' in each from
four to five thousand scholars,
all grown up, carrying swords
and bows, and in great part
gentry.' Sir William Hamilton
vn the History of Universities, in
Hamilton's Philosoph. Discus-
sions, p. 414. One of the latest
attempts made to rovive archery
was a warrant issued by Eliza-
beth in 1696, and printed by
Mr. Collier in the Egcrton Pa-
pers, pp. 217-220, edit. Camden
Soc. 1 840. In the south-west of
England, bows and arrows did
not finally disappear from the
muster-rolls till 1599 ; and
in the meantime the musket
gained ground. See Yonge's
Diary, edit. Camden Soc. 1848,
p. xvii.
44 It is stated by many writers
that no gunpowder was manu-
factured in England until the
reign of Elizabeth. Camden's
Elizabeth, in Kennetfs History,
vol. ii. p. 388, London, 1719;
Strickland's Queens of England,
voL vi. p. 223, Lond. 1843;
Grose's Military Antiquities, vol.
i. p. 378. But Sharon Turner
(History of England, vol. vi. pp.
490, 491, Lond. 1839) has shown,
from an order of Richard III.
in the Harleian manuscripts,
that it was made in England in
1483 ; and Mr. Eccleston (Eng-
lish Antiquities, p. 182, Lond.
1847) states, that the English
both mado and exported it as
early as 1411 : compare p. 202.
At all events, it long remained
a costly article ; and even in tho
reign of Charles I., I find a
complaint of its dearncss,
' whereby the train-bands are
much discouraged in their ex-
ercising.' Parliament. Hist. vol.
ii. p. 655. In 1686, it appears
206
COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
then there was the possession of muskets, which were
expensive weapons, and considered difficult to manage. 4 *
Then, too, there were other contrivances to which gun-
powder naturally gave rise, such as pistols, bombs,
mortars, shells, mines, and the like. 46 All these things,
by increasing the complication of the military art, in-
creased the necessity of discipline and practice ; while,
at the same time, the change that was being effected
in the ordinary weapons deprived the great majority of
men of the possibility of procuring them. To suit these
altered circumstances, a new system was organized:
and it was found advisable to train up bodies of men
from the Clarendon Correspond-
ence, vol. i. p. 413, that the
wholesale price ranged from
about 21. 10s. to 31. per barrel.
On the expense of making it in
the present century, see Liebig
and Kopp's Reports on Chemistry,
vol. iii. p. 325, Lond. 1852.
44 The muskets were such mi-
serable machines, that, in the
middle of the fifteenth century,
it took a quarter of an hour to
charge and fire one. Hallarris
Middle Ages, vol. i. p. 342.
Grose (Military Antiquities, vol.
i. p. 146, vol. ii. pp. 292, 337)
says, that the first mention of
muskets in England is in 1471 ;
and that rests for them did
not become obsolete until the
reign of Charles I. In the recent
edition of Beckmann's History of
Inventions, Lond. 1846, vol. ii.
p. 535, it is strangely supposed
that muskets were ' first used at
the battle of Pavia.' Compare
Daniel, Histoire de la Milice, vol.
i. p. 464, with Smythe's Military
Discourses, in Ellis's Original
Letters, p. 53, edit. Camden
Society.
46 Pistols are said to have
been invented early in the six-
teenth century. Grose's Military
Anliq. vol. i. pp. 102, 146. Gun-
powder was first employed in
mining towns in 1487. Prcs-
cotfs Hist, of Ferdinand and
Isabella, vol. ii. p. 32 ; Koch,
Tableaux des Revolutions, vol. i-
p. 243 ; Daniel, Histoire de la
Milice Frangaise, vol. i. p. 574.
Daniel (Milice Francaisc, vol. i.
pp. 580, 581) says that bombs
were not invented till 1588 ; and
the same thing is asserted in
Biographie Universelle, vol. xv.
p. 248 : but, according to Grose
(Military Antiq. vol. i. p. 387),
they are mentioned by Valturi-
nus in 1472. On the general
condition of the French artillery
in the sixteenth century, see
Relations des Ambassadeurs Ve-
nitiens, vol. i. pp. 94, 476, 478,
Paris, 1838, 4to: a curious and
valuable publication. There is
some doubt as to the exact pe-
riod in which cannons were first
known ; but they were certainly
used in war before the middle of
the fourteenth century. See
Bohlen, das alte Indien, vol. ii.
p. 63 ; Daniel, Histoire de la
Milice, vol. i. pp. 441, 442.
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 207
for the sole purpose of war, and to separate them as
much as possible from those other employments in
which formerly all soldiers were occasionally engaged.
Thus it was that there arose standing armies ; the first
of which were formed in the middle of the fifteenth
century, 47 almost immediately after gunpowder was
generally known. Thus, too, there arose the custom of.
employing mercenary troops ; of which we find a few
earlier instances, though the practice was not fully
established until the latter part of the fourteenth
century. 48
The importance of this movement was soon seen, by
the change it effected in the classification of European
society. The regular troops being, from their discipline*
more serviceable against the enemy, and also more im-
mediately under the control of the government, it natu-
rally followed that, as their merits became understood,
the old militia should fall, first into disrepute, then be
neglected, and then sensibly diminish. At the same
time, this diminution in the number of undisciplined
soldiers deprived the country of a part of its warlike
resources, and therefore made it necessary to pay more
attention to the disciplined ones, and to confine them
more exclusively to their military duties. Thus it was
that a division was first broadly established between the
soldier and the civilian ; and there arose a separate mili-
tary profession, 49 which, consisting of a comparatively
47 Blackstone's Commentaries, by badges of their leaders' arms,
vol. i. p. 413 ; Daniel, Hist, de similar to those now worn by
la Milice, vol. i. p. 210, vol. ii. watermen.' It was also early in
pp. 491, 493; (Euvresde Turgot, the sixteenth century that there
vol. viii. p. 228. first arose a separate military
48 The leading facts respecting literature. Daniel, Hist, de la
the employment of mercenary Milice, vol. i. p. 380 : ' Lcs
troops are indicated with great autours, qui ont ecrit en detail
judgment by Mr. Hallam, in his sur la discipline militaire : or ce
Middle Ages, vol. i. p. 328-337. n'est gueres que sous Francois I,
49 Orose (Military/ Antiquities, et sous l'Empereur Charles V,
vol. i. pp. 310, 311) says, that que les Italiens, les Francois,
until the sixteenth century, Eng- los Espagnols et les Allemans
lish soldiers had no professional ont commence a ecrire sur ce
dress, but 'were distinguished sujet.
208 COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
small number of the total amount of citizens, left the
remainder to settle in some other pursuit. 50 In this ■way-
immense bodies of men were gradually weaned from
their old warlike habits; and being, as it were, forced
into civil life, their energies became available for the
general purposes of society, and for the cultivation of
those arts of peace which had formerly been neglected.
The result was, that the European mind, instead of
being, as heretofore, solely occupied either with war or
with theology, now struck out into a middle path, and
created those great branches of knowledge to which
modern civilization owes its origin. In each successive
generation this tendency towards a separate organiza-
tion was more marked; the utility of a division of
labour became clearly recognied ; and by this means
knowledge itself advanced, the authority of this middle
or intellectual class correspondingly increased. Each
addition to its power lessened the weight of the other
two classes, and checked those superstitious feelings
and that love of war, on which, in an early state of
society, all enthusiasm is concentrated. The evidence
of the growth and diffusion of this intellectual principle
is so full and decisive, that it would be possible, by
combining all the branches of knowledge, to trace
nearly the whole of its consecutive steps. At present,
it is enough to say, that, taking a general view, this
third, or intellectual, class, first displayed an indepen-
dent, though still a vague, activity in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries ; that in the sixteenth century,
this activity, assuming a distinct form, showed itself in
58 The change from the time ruin to the country which pays
•when every layman was a soldier, the expense of their service.'
is very remarkable. Adam The same proportion is given in
Smith {Wealth of Nations, book Sadler's Law of JPopulation,vol.i.
v. chap. i. p. 291) says, ' Among p. 292; and in Grandeur et Deca-
the civilized nations of modern dence des Eomains, chap. iii. —
Europe, it is commonly com- (Euvres de Montesquieu, p. 130:
puted, that not more than the one- also in Skarpe's History of Egy ft,
hundredth part of the inhabi- vol. i. p. 105 ; and in Alison's
tants of any country can be History of Europe, voL xii.
employed as soldiers, without p. 318.
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 209
religious outbreaks ; that in the seventeenth century,
its energy, becoming more practical, was turned against
the abuses of government, and caused a series of
rebellions, from which hardly any part of Europe
escaped ; and finally, that in the eighteenth and nine-
teenth centuries, it has extended its aim to every
department of public and private life, diffusing educa-
tion, teaching legislators, controlling kings, and, above
all, settling on a sure foundation that supremacy of
Public Opinion, to which not only constitutional
princes, but even the most despotic sovereigns, are
now rendered strictly amenable.
These, indeed, are vast questions ; and, without some
knowledge of them, no one can understand the present
condition of European society, or form the least idea of
its future prospects. It is, however, sufficient that the
reader can now perceive the way in which so slight a
matter as the invention of gunpowder diminished the
warlike spirit, by diminishing the number of persons to
whom the practice of war was habitual. There were, no
doubt, other and collateral circumstances which tended
in the same direction ; but the use of gunpowder was the
most effectual, because, by increasing the difficulty and
expense of war, it made a separate military profession
indispensable ; and thus, curtailing the action of the.
military spirit, left an overplus, an unemployed energy,
which soon found its way to the pursuits of peace,
infused into them a new life, and began to control that
lust of conquest, which, though natural to a barbarous
people, is the great enemy of knowledge, and is the
most fatal of those diseased appetites by which even
civilized countries are too often afflicted.
The second intellectual movement, by which the love
of war has been lessened, is much more recent, and has
not yet produced the whole of its natural effects. I
allude to the discoveries made by Political Economy :
a branch of knowledge with which even the wisest of
the ancients had not the least acquaintance, but which
possesses an importance it would be difficult to ex-
aggerate, and is, moreover, remarkable, as being the
only subject immediately connected with the art of
VOL. I. p
210 COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
government that has yet been raised to a science. The
practical value of this noble study, though perhaps only
fully known to the more advanced thinkers, is gra-
dually beco ming recognized by men of ordinary educa-
tion : but even those by whom it is understood seem
to have paid little attention to the way in which, by
its influence, the interests of peace, and therefore of
civilization, have been directly promoted. 51 The man-
ner in which this has been brought about, I will endea-
vour to explain, as it will furnish another argument
in support of that great principle which I wish to
establish.
It is well known, that, among the different causes of
war, commercial jealousy was formerly one of the most
conspicuous ; and there are numerous instances of quar-
rels respecting the promulgation of some particular
tariff, or the protection of some favourite manufacture.
Disputes of this kind were founded upon the very
ignorant, but the very natural notion, that the advan-
tages of commerce depend upon the balance of trade,
and that whatever is gained by one country must be
lost by another. It was believed that wealth is com-
posed entirely of money ; and that it is, therefore, the
essential interest of every people to import few com-
modities and much gold. Whenever this was done,
affairs were said to be in a sound and healthy state ;
but, if this was not done, it was declared that we were
being drained of our resources, and that some other
country was getting the better of us, and was enrich-
ing itself at our expense. 52 For this the only remedy
41 The pacific tendencies of •which it is laid dawn, that if
political economy are touched our exports exceed our imports,
on very briefly in Blanqui, His- to gain by the trade ; but that,
ioire de VEconomie Politique, if they are less, we lose. Stow's
vol. ii. p. 207 ; and in Twiss's London, edit. Thorns, 1842, p.
Progress of Political Economy, 205. Whenever this balance
p. 240. "was disturbed, politicians -were
SJ This favourite doctrine is thrown into an agony of fear,
illustrated in a curious *Dis- In 1620, James I. said, in one
•ourse,' 'written in 1578, and of his long speeches, ' It's strange
printed in Stow's London, in that my Mint hath not gone this
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS.
211
was to negotiate a commercial treaty, which should
oblige the offending nation to take more of our com-
modities, and give us more of their gold : if, however,
they refused to sign the treaty, it became necessary to
bring them to reason ; and for this purpose an arma-
ment was fitted out to attack a people who, by lessen-
ing our wealth, had deprived us of that money by which
alone trade could be extended in foreign markets. 83
This misconception of the true nature of barter was
eight or nine years ; but I think
the fault of the want of money
is the uneven balancing of trade.
Pari. History, vol. i. p. 1179;
see also the debate "On the
Scarcity of Money,' pp. 1194-
1196. In 1620, the House of
Commons, in a state of great
alarm, passed a resolution, ' That
the importation of tobacco out
of Spain is one reason of the
scarcity of money in this king-
dom.' Pari. Hist. vol. i. p. 1198.
In 1627, it was actually argued
in the House of Commons that
the Netherlands were being
weakened by their trade with the
East Indies, because it carried
money out of the country ! Pari.
Hist. vol. ii. p. 220. Half a
century later, the same principle
was advocated by Sir William
Temple in his Letters, and also
in his Observations upon the
United Provinces. Temples
Works, vol. i. p. 175, vol. ii. pp.
117, 118.
** In 1672, the celebrated Earl
of Shaftesbury, then Lord Chan-
cellor, announced that the time
had come when the English must
go to war with the Dutch ; for that
it was ' impossible both should
stand upon a balance ; and that,
if we do not master their trade,
they will ours. Thoy or wo
must truckle. Ono must and
will give the law to the other.
There is no compounding, where
the contest is for the trade of
the whole world.' Somers' Tracts,
vol. viii. p. 39. A few months
later, 6till insisting on the pro-
priety of the war, he gave as
one of his reasons that it ' was
necessary to the trade of Eng-
land that there should be a fair
adjustment of commerce in the
East Indies.' Pari. Hist. vol. iv.
p. 587. In 1701, Stepney, a
diplomatist and one of the lords
of trade, published an essay,
strongly insisting on the bene-
fits which would accrue to Eng-
lish commerce by a war with
France. Somers 1 Tracts, vol. xi.
pp. 199, 217 ; and he says, p.
205, that one of the consequence*
of peace with France would b*
' the utter ruin and destruction
of our trade.' See also, in vol.
xiii. p. 688, the remarks on the
policy of William III. In 1743,
Lord Hardwicke, one of the
most eminent men of his time,
said, in the House of Lords, ' If
our wealth is diminished, it is
time to ruin the commerce of
that nation which has driven us
from the markets of the Conti-
nent — by sweeping tho seas of
their ships, and by blockading
their porta.' CampbclCs Live*
of the Chancellors, voL v. p. 89.
2
212
COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
formerly universal ; 54 and being adopted even by the
ablest politicians, was not only an immediate cause of
war, but increased those feelings of natural hatred by
which war is encouraged ; each country thinking that
it had a direct interest in diminishing the wealth of its
neighbours. 55 In the seventeenth, or even late in the
sixteenth century, there were, indeed, one or two eminent
thinkers who exposed some of the fallacies upon which
this opinion was based. 56 But their arguments found
04 In regard to the seventeenth
century, seo Mill's History of
India, vol i. pp. 41, 42. To this
I may add, that even Locke had
very confused notions respecting
the use of money in trade. Seo
Essay on Money ;iuLocke' 'sWorks,
vol. iv. ; and in particular pp. 9,
10, 12, 20, 21, 49-52. Berkeley,
profound thinker as he was, fell
into the same errors, and assumes
the necessity of maintaining the
balance of trade, and lessening
our imports in proportion as we
lessen our exports. See the
Querist, Nos. xcix. clxi., in
Berkeley's Works, voL ii. pp.
246, 250 : see also his proposal
for a sumptuary law, in Essay
towards Preventing the Buin of
Great Britain, in Works, vol. ii.
p. 190. The economical views of
Montesquieu {Esprit des Lois,
livre xx. chap. xii. in (Euvres,
p. 353) are as hopelessly wrong;
while Vattel {Droit des Gens,
vol. i. pp. Ill, 117, 118. 206)
goes out of his way to praise the
mischievous interference of the
English government, which he
recommends as" a pattern to other
states.
35 The Earl of Bristol, a man
of some ability, told the House
of Lords, in 1642, that it was a
great advantage to England for
other countries to go to war with
each other ; because by that
means we should get their money,
or, as he called it, their 'wealth.'
See his speech, in Pari. History,
vol. ii. pp. 1274-1279.
58 Serra, who wrote in 1613,
is said to have been the first
to prove the absurdity of dis-
couraging the exportation of
the precious metals. See Twiss
on the Progress of Political
Economy, pp. 8, 12, 13. But I
believe that the earliest approach
towards modern economical dis-
coveries is a striking essay pub-
lished in 1581, and ascribed to
William Stafford. It will be
found in the Harlcian Mis-
cellany, vol. ix. pp. 139-192,
edit. Park, 1812; and the title,
Brief Conceipt of English Policy,
gives an inadequate idea of what
is, on the whole, the most im-
portant work on the theory of
politics which had then appeared :
since the author not only dis-
plays an insight into the nature
of price and value, such as no
previous thinker possessed, but
he points out clearly the causes
of that system of enclosures
which is the leading economical
fact in the reign of Elizabeth,
and is intimately connected
with the rise of the poor-
laws. Some account of this
essay is given by Dr. Twiss ;
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 213
no favour with those politicians by whom European
affairs were then administered. It is doubtful if they
were known ; and it is certain that, if known, they
were despised by statesmen and legislators, who, from
the constancy of their practical occupations, cannot be
supposed to have sufficient leisure to master each new
discovery that is successively made ; and who in con-
sequence are, as a body, always in the rear of their
age. The result was, that they went blundering on in
the old track, believing that no commerce could flourish
without their interference, troubling that commerce by
repeated and harassing regulations, and taking for
granted that it was the duty of every government to
benefit the trade of their own people by injuring the
trade of others. 57
But in the eighteenth century, a long course of
events, which I shall hereafter trace, prepared the way
for a spirit of improvement, and a desire for reform, of
which the world had then seen no example. This great
movement displayed its energy in every department of
knowledge ; and now it was that a successful attempt
bat the original is easily access- surably greater loss upon the
ible, and should be read by evory unprotected interests and trades;
student of English history, while, if the protection is uni-
Among other heretical proposi- versal, the loss will bo universal,
tions, it recommends free trade Some striking instances of tlio
in corn. absurd laws which havo been
57 In regard to the interference passed respecting trade, are col-
of the English legislature, it is lected in Barringtou's Observa-
statod by Mr. M'Culloch (Polit. tions on the Statutes, pp. 279-
Fxon. p. 269), on the authority 285. Indeed, it was considered
of a committee of the Houso of necessary that every parliament
Commons, that before the year should do something in this
1820, 'no fewer than two thou- way ; and Charles II., in ono of
sand laws with respect to com- his speeches, says, 'I pray, con-
inerce had been passed at trivo any good short bills which
different periods.' It may be may improve the industry of the
confidently asserted, that every nation .... and so God
one of those laws was an un- bles your councils.' Pari. Ili.t-
mitigated evil, since no trade, tort/, vol. iv. p. 291. Compare
and indeed no interest of any tho remarks on the fishery-
kind, can bo protected by govern- trade, in So?l^ers , Tracts, vol. xii.
ment without inflicting immea- p. 33.
214 COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
■was first made to raise Political Economy to a science,
by discovering the laws which regulate the creation
and diffusion of wealth. In the year 1776, Adam
Smith published his Wealth of Nations ; which, looking
at its ultimate results, is probably the most important
book that has ever been written, and is certainly the
most valuable contribution ever made by a single man
towards establishing the principles on which govern-
ment should be based. In this great work, the old
theory of protection as applied to commerce was de-
stroyed in nearly all its parts ; 58 the doctrine of the
balance of trade was not only attacked, but its false-
hood was demonstrated ; and innumerable absurdities,
which had been accumulating for ages, were suddenly
swept away. 89
If the Wealth of Nations had appeared in any pre-
ceding century, it would have shared the fate of the
great works of Stafford and Serra ; and although the
principles which it advocated would, no doubt, have
excited the attention of speculative thinkers, they
would, in all probability, have produced no effect on
practical politicians, or, at all events, would only have
exercised an indirect and precarious influence. But
the diffusion of knowledge had now become so general,
that even our ordinary legislators were, in some de-
gree, prepared for these great truths, which, in a
former period, they would have despised as idle
novelties. The result was, that the doctrines of Adam
Smith soon found their way into the House of Com-
mons ; 60 and, being adopted by a few of the leading
ss To this the only exception powers, was inferior to Smith in
of any moment is the view taken comprehensiveness as well as in
of the usury-laws, which Jeremy industry.
Bentham has the honour of 60 The first notice I have
demolishing. observed of the Wealth of
49 Before Adam Smith, the Nations in Parliament is in
principal merit is due to Hume ; 1783; and between then and
but the works of that profound the end of the century it is
thinker were too fragmentary to referred to several times, and
produce much effect. Indeed, latterly with increasing fre-
Hume, notwithstanding his vast quency. See Parliamentary
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS.
215
members, were listened to with astonishment by that
great assembly, whose opinions were mainly regulated
by the wisdom of their ancestors, and who were loth to
believe that anything could be discovered by the moderns
which was not already known to the ancients. But it
is in vain that such men as these always set themselves
up to resist the pressure of advancing knowledge. No
great truth which has once been found has ever after-
wards been lost ; nor has any important discovery yet
been made which has not eventually carried everything
before it. Even so, the principles of Free Trade, as
demonstrated by Adam Smith, and all the consequences
which flow from them, were vainly struggled against by
the most overwhelming majorities of both Houses of
Parliament. Year by year the great truth made its
way ; always advancing, never receding. 61 The
majority was at first deserted by a few men of
ability, then by ordinary men, then it became a
minority, then even the minority began to dwindle ;
History, vol. xxiii. p. 1152, vol.
xxvi. pp. 481, 1035, vol. xxvii.
p. 385, vol. xxix. pp. 834, 905
982, 1065, vol. xxx, pp. 330,
333, vol. xxxii. p. 2, vol. xxxiii.
pp. 353, 386, 522, 548, 549, 563,
774, 777, 778, 822, 823, 824,
825, 827, 1249, vol. xxxiv. pp.
11, 97, 98, 141, 142, 304, 473,
850, 901, 902, 903. It is pos-
sible that ono or two passages
may have been overlooked ; but
I believe that these aro tho
only instances of Adam Smith
being referred to during seven-
teen years. From a passage in
Pcllevls Life of Sidmouth, voL i.
p. 51, it appears that even
Addington •was studying Adam
Smith in 1787.
61 In 1797, Pulteney, in one
of his financial speeches, appealed
to 'tho authority of Dr. Smith,
who, it was well said, would
persuade the present generation
and govern tho next.' Pari. Hist.
vol. xxxiii. p. 778. In 1813,
Dugald Stewart {Philosophy of
the Human Mind,vo\. ii. p. 472)
announced that the doctrine of
free trade ' has now, I believe,
become the prevailing creed of
thinking men all over Europe.'
And in 1816,Ricardo said, 'The
reasoning by which the liberty
of trade is supported is so
powerful, that it is daily obtain-
ing converts. It is with pleasure
that I see the progress which
this great principle is making
amongst those whom we should
have expected tc cling tho longest
to old prejudices.' Proposals
for an Economical Currency, in
Ricardo's Works, p. 407.
216 COMPAEISON BETWEEN MOEAL
and at the present day, eighty years after the publica-
tion of Smith's Wealth of Nations, there is not to bo
found any one of tolerable education who is not ashamed
of holding opinions which, before the time of Adam.
Smith, were universally received.
Such is the way in which great thinkers control the
affairs of men, and by their discoveries regulate the
march of nations. And truly the history of this one
triumph alone should be enough to repress the pre-
sumption of statesmen and legislators, who so exagge-
rate the importance of their craft as to ascribe great
results to their own shifting and temporary contri-
vances. For, whence did they derive that knowledge,
of which they are always ready to assume the merit ?
How did they obtain their opinions ? How did they
get at their principles ? These are the elements of
their success ; and these they can only learn from their
masters — from those great teachers, who, moved by the
inspiration of genius, fertilize the world with their dis-
coveries. Well may it be said of Adam Smith, and
said, too, without fear of contradiction, that this solitary
Scotchman has, by the publication of one single work,
contributed more towards the happiness of man, than
has been effected by the united abilities of all the
statesmen and legislators of whom f history has pre-
served an authentic account.
The result of these great discoveries I am not here
concerned to examine, except so far as they aided in
diminishing the energy of the warlike spirit. And the way
in which they effected this may be easily stated. As long
as it was generally believed that the wealth of a country
consists of its gold, it was of course also believed that
the sole object of trade is to increase the influx of the
precious metals ; it, therefore, became natural that
Government should be expected to take measures by
which such influx could be secured. This, however,
could only be done by draining other countries of their
gold ; a result which they, for precisely the same
reasons, strenuously resisted. The consequence was,
that any idea of real reciprocity was impossible : every
commercial treaty was an attempt made by one nation
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS.
217
to outwit another ; 62 every new tariff was a declara-
tion of hostility ; and that which ought to be the most
peaceable of all pursuits became one of the causes of
those national jealousies and national animosities, by
which war is mainly promoted. 63 But when it was
once clearly understood that gold and silver are not
wealth, but are merely the representatives of wealth ;
when men began to see that wealth itself solely consists
of the value which skill and labour can add to the raw
material, and that money is of no possible use to a nation
except to measure and circulate their riches ; when these
great truths were recognized, 64 all the old notions re-
specting the balance of trade, and the supreme importance
of the precious metals, at once fell to the ground. These
enormous errors being dispersed, the true theory of
barter was easily worked out. It was perceived, that
if commerce is allowed to be free, its advantages will
be shared by every country which engages in it ; that,
in the absence of monopoly, the benefits of trade are of
82 Sir Theodore Janson, in his
General Maxims of Trade, pub-
lished in 1713, lays it down as a
principle universally recognized,
that ' All the nations of Europe
seem to strive who shall outwit
one another in point of trade ;
and they concur in this maxim,
that the less they consume of
foreign commodities, the better
it is for them.' Sowers' Tracts,
vol. xiii. p. 292. Thus, too, in
a Dialogue between an English-
man and a Dutchman, published
in 1700, the Dutchman is repre-
sented as boasting that his
government had ' forced treaties
of commerce exclusive to all
other nations.' Somers' Tracts,
vol. xi. p. 376. This is the sys-
tem of ' narrow selfishness ' de-
nounced by Dr. Story, in his
noble work, Conflict of Laws,
1841, p. 32.
•* ' It cannot, indeed, be denied
that mistaken views of com-
merce, like those so frequently
entertained of religion, have been
the cause of many wars and of
much bloodshed.' M'Culloch's
Principles of Political Economy,
p. 140. See also pp. 37, 38:
' It has made each nation regard
the welfare of its neighbours as
incompatible with its own:
hence the reciprocal desire of
injuring and impoverishing each
other; and hence that spirit of
commercial rivalry, which has
been the immediate or remote
cause of the greater number of
modern wars.'
84 On the rapid diffusion
during the present century of
the principles worked out by the
economists, compare Laing's
Sweden, pp. 356-358, with a
note to the last edition of Mal-
thus on Population, 1826, vol. ii.
pp. 354, 355.
218 COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
necessity reciprocal ; and that, so far from depending
on the amount of gold received, they simply arise from
the facility with which a nation gets rid of those com-
modities which it can produce most cheaply, and re-
ceives in return those commodities which it could only
produce at a great expense, but which the other nation
can, from the skill of its workmen, or from the bounty
of nature, afford to supply at a lower rate. From this
it followed, that, in a mercantile point of view, it would
be as absurd to attempt to impoverish a people with
whom we trade, as it would be in a tradesman to wish
for the insolvency of a rich and frequent customer.
The result is, that the commercial spirit, which for-
merly was often warlike, is now invariably pacific. 65
And although it is perfectly true that not one merchant
out of a hundred is familiar with the arguments on
which these economical discoveries are founded, that
does not prevent the effect which the discoveries them-
selves produce on his own mind. The mercantile class is,
like every other, acted upon by causes which only a few
members of that class are able to perceive. Thus, for
instance, of all the innumerable opponents of protection,
there are very few indeed who can give valid reasons
to justify their opposition. But this does not prevent
the opposition from taking place. For an immense
majority of men always follow with implicit submission
the spirit of their own time ; and the spirit of the
time is merely its knowledge, and the direction that
knowledge takes. As, in the ordinary avocations of
daily life, everyone is benefited, in the increase of his
65 ' The feelings of rival Mill's Political Economy, 1849,
tradesmen, prevailing among vol. ii. p. 221. This great change
nations, overruled for centuries in the feelings of the commercial
all sense of the general com- classes did not begin before the
munity of advantage which com- present century, and has not
mercial countries derive from been visible to ordinary ob-
the prosperity of one another; servers until the last five-and-
and that commercial spirit, which twenty or thirty years ; but it
is now one of the strongest was foretold in a remarkable
obstacles to wars, was during passage written by Herder in
a certain period of European 1787; see his Ideen zur Ges-
history their principal cause.' chichte, vol. iii. pp. 292, 293.
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 219
comforts, and of his general security, by the progress
of many arts and sciences, of which perhaps he does
not even know the name, just so is the mercantile class
benefited by those great economical discoveries which,
in the course of two generations, have already effected
a complete change in the commercial legislation of this
country, and which are now operating slowly, but
steadily, upon those other European states where,
public opinion being less powerful, it is more difficult
to establish great truths and extirpate old abuses.
While, therefore, it is perfectly true, that among
merchants, a comparatively small number are ac-
quainted with political economy, it is not the less true
that they owe a large part of their wealth to the
political economists ; who, by removing the obstacles
with which the ignorance of successive governments
had impeded trade, have now settled on a solid foun-
dation that commercial prosperity which is by no means
the least of our national glories. Most assuredly is it
also true, that this same intellectual movement has
lessened the chance of war, by ascertaining the prin-
ciples which ought to regulate our commercial relations
with foreign countries ; by proving, not only the inu-
tility, but the positive mischief, caused by interfering
with them ; and finally, by exploding those long-estab-
lished errors, which, inducing men to believe that
nations are the natural enemies of each other, en-
couraged those evil feelings, and fostered those national
jealousies, to the strength of which the military spirit
owed no small share of its former influence.
The third great cause by which the love of war has
been weakened, is the way in which discoveries re-
specting the application of Steam to the purposes of
travelling have facilitated the intercourse between dif-
ferent countries, and thus aided in destroying that
ignorant contempt which one nation is too apt to feel
for another. Thus, for instance, the miserable anfj.
impudent falsehoods which a large class of English
writers formerly directed against the morals and
private character of the French, and, to their shame
be it said, even against the chastity of French women,
220 COMPARISON BETWEEN JMOEAL
tended not a little to embitter the angry feelings then
existing between the two first countries of Europe ;
irritating the English against French vices, irritating
the French against English calumnies. In the same
way, there was a time when eveiy honest Englishman
firmly believed that he could beat ten Frenchmen ; a
class of beings whom he held in sovereign contempt, as
a lean and stunted race, who drank claret instead of
brandy, who lived entirely off frogs ; miserable infidels,
who heard mass every Sunday, who bowed down before
idols, and who even worshipped the Pope. On the
other hand, the French were taught to despise us, as
rude unlettered barbarians, without either taste or
humanity ; surly, ill-conditioned men, living in an
unhappy climate, where a perpetual fog, only varied
by rain, prevented the sun from ever being seen ; suf-
fering from so deep and inveterate a melancholy, that
physicians had called it the English spleen ; and under
the influence of this cruel malady constantly commit-
ting suicide, particularly in November, when we were
well known to hang and shoot ourselves by thousands. 66
Whoever has looked much into the older literature
of France and England, knows that these were the
opinions which the two first nations of Europe, in the
ignorance and simplicity of their hearts, held respecting
each other. But the progress of improvement, by
bringing the two countries into close and intimate
contact, has dissipated these foolish prejudices, and
taught each people to admire, and, what is still more
important, to respect each other. And the greater the
68 That there are more suicides have decisive evidence that there
in gloomy weather than in fine are more suicides in summer
•weather used always to be taken than in winter. See Quetelct sicr
for granted, and was a favourite V Homme, vol. ii. pp. 152, 158;
topic with the French wits, who Tissot de la Manie clu Suicide,.
were never weary of expatiating Paris, 1840, pp. 50, 149, 150;
on our love of self-murder, and Journal of Statistical Society,
on the relation between it and vol. i. p. 102; Winston? s Ana-
onr murky climate. Unfortu- tomy of Suicide, 1840, pp. 131,
nately for such speculations, the 1 32 ; Hawkins s Medical Sta-
fact is exactly opposite to what tistics, p. 170.
is generally supposed, and we
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 221
contact, the greater the respect. For, whatever theo-
logians may choose to assert, it is certain that mankind
at large has far more virtue than vice, and that in
every country good actions are more frequent than bad
ones. Indeed, if this were otherwise, the preponderance
of evil would long since have destroyed the human
racej and not even have left a single man to lament the
degeneracy of his species. An additional proof of this
is the fact, that the more nations associate with each
other, and the more they see and know of their fellow-
creatures, the more quickly do ancient enmities dis-
appear. This is because an enlarged experience proves
that mankind is not so radically bad as we from our
infancy are taught to believe. But if vices were really
more frequent than virtues, the result would be, that
the increasing amalgamation of society would increase
our bad opinion of others ; because, though we may
love our own vices, we do not generally love the vices
of our neighbours. So far, however, is this from being
the actual consequence, that it has always been found
that those whose extensive knowledge makes them best
acquainted with the general course of human actions,
are precisely those who take the most favourable view
of them. The greatest observer and the most profound
thinker is invariably the most lenient judge. It is the
solitary misanthrope, brooding over his fancied wrongs,
who is most prone to depreciate the good qualities of
our nature, and exaggerate its bad ones. Or else it is
some foolish and ignorant monk, who, dreaming away
his existence in an idle solitude, flatters his own vanity
by denouncing the vices of others ; and thus declaiming
against the enjoyments of life, revenges himself on
that society from which by his own superstition he is
excluded. These are the sort of men who insist most
strongly on the corruption of our nature, and on the
degeneracy into which we have fallen. The enormous
evil which such opinions have brought about, is well
understood by those who havo studied tho history of
countries in which they are, and havo been, most preva-
lent. Hence it is that, among the innumerable benefits
derived from advancing knowledge, there are few more
222 COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
important than those improved facilities of communi-
cation, 67 which, by increasing the frequency with which
nations and individuals are brought into contact, have,
to an extraordinary extent, corrected their prejudices,
raised the opinion which each forms of the other,
diminished their mutual hostility, and thus diffusing a
more favourable view of our common nature, have
stimulated us to develop those boundless resources of
the human understanding, the very existence of which
it was once considered almost a heresy to assert.
This is precisely what has occurred in modern
Europe. The French and English people have, by the
mere force of increased contact, learned, to think more
favourably of each other, and to discard that foolish
contempt in which both nations formerly indulged.
In this, as in all cases, the better one civilized country
is acquainted with another, the more it will find to
respect and to imitate. For of all the causes of national
hatred, ignorance is the most powerful. When you
increase the contact, you remove the ignorance, and
thus you diminish the hatred. 68 This is the true bond
of charity ; and it is worth all the lessons which mor-
alists and divines are able to teach. They have pursued
their vocation for centuries, without producing the least
effect in lessening the frequency of war. But it may
* T Bespecting -which I will opinion of foreigners; a happy
only mention one fact, in regard illustration of the effect of per-
to our own country. By the re- sonal intercourse in breaking
turns of the Board of Trade, it down prejudices against indivi-
appears that the passengers duals or elasses.' Mr. Elphinstone
annually travelling by railway {History of India, p. 195) says,
amounted in 1842 to nineteen 'Those who have known the
millions ; but in 1 852 they had Indians longest have always the
increased to more than eighty- best opinion of them: but this
six millions. Journal of Statis- is rather a compliment to human
tical Society, vol. xvi. p. 292. nature than to them, since it is
68 Of this, Mr. Stephens (in true of every other j>eoj>le? Com-
his valuable work, Central pare an instructive passage in
America, vol. i. pp. 247-8) re- Darwin's Journal of Researches,
lates an interesting instance in p. 421, with Burdach, Traite de
the case of that remarkable man Physiologie comme Science cC Ob~
Carrera :' Indeed, in no particular servation, vol. ii. p. 61.
had he changed more than in his
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 223
be said without the slightest exaggeration, that every
new railroad which is laid down, and every fresh
steamer which crosses the Channel, are additional
guarantees for the preservation of that long and un-
broken peace which, during forty years, has knit to-
gether the fortunes and the interests of the two most
civilized nations of the earth.
I have thus, so far as my knowledge will permit, en-
deavoured to indicate the causes which have diminished
religious persecution and war : the two greatest evils
with which men have yet contrived to afflict their
fellow-creatures. The question of the decline of reli-
gious persecution I have only briefly noticed, because
it will be more fully handled in a subsequent part of
this volume. Enough, however, has been advanced to
prove how essentially it is an intellectual process, and
how little good can be effected on this subject by the
operation of moral feelings. The causes of the decline
of the warlike spirit I have examined at considerable,
and, perhaps, to some readers, at tedious length, and
the result of that examination has been, that the de-
cline is owing to the increase of the intellectual classes,
to whom the military classes are necessarily antago-
nistic. In pushing the inquiry a little deeper, we
have, by still further analysis, ascertained the existence
of three vast though subsidiary causes, by which the
general movement has been accelerated. These are —
the invention of Gunpowder, the discoveries of Political
Economy, and the discovery of improved means of
Locomotion. Such are the three great modes or chan-
nels by which the progress of knowledge has weakened
the old. warlike spirit ; and the way in which they have
effected this has, I trust, been clearly pointed out.
The facts and arguments which I have brought forward,
have, I can conscientiously say, been subjected to care-
ful and repeated scrutiny ; and I am quite unable to
see on what possible ground their accuracy is to be
impugned. That they will be disagreeable to certain
classes, I am well aware ; but the unpleasantness of a
statement is hardly to be considered a proof of its
falsehood. The sources from which the evidence has
224 COMPARISON BETWEEN MORAL
been derived are fully indicated ; and the arguments, I
hope, fairly stated. And from them there results a most
important conclusion. From them we are bound to
infer, that the two oldest, greatest, most inveterate,
and most widely-spread evils which have ever been
known, are constantly, though, on the whole, slowly,
diminishing ; and that their diminution has been
effected, not at all by moral feelings, nor by moral teach-
ings, but solely by the activity of the human intellect,
and by the inventions and discoveries which, in a long
course of successive ages, man has been able to make.
Since, then, in the two most important phenomena
which the progress of society presents, the moral laws
have been steadily and invariably subordinate to the
intellectual laws, there arises a strong presumption that
in inferior matters the same process has been followed.
To prove this in its full extent, and thus raise the pre-
sumption to an absolute certainty, would be to write,
not an Introduction to history, but the History itself.
The reader must, therefore, be satisfied for the present
with what, I am conscious, is merely an approach
towards demonstration ; and the complete demon-
stration must necessarily be reserved for the future
volumes of this work : in which I pledge myself
to show that the progress Europe has made from
barbarism to civilization is entirely due to its in-
tellectual activity ; that the leading countries have
now, for some centuries, advanced sufficiently far to
shake off the influence of those physical agencies by
which in an earlier state their career might have been
troubled ; and that although the moral agencies are
still powerful, and still cause occasional disturbances,
these are but aberrations, which, if we compare long
periods of time, balance each other, and thus in the
total amount entirely disappear. So that, in a great
and comprehensive view, the changes in every civilized
people are, in their aggregate, dependent solely on
three things : first, on the amount of knowledge pos-
sessed by their ablest men ; secondly, on the direction
which that knowledge takes, that is to say, the sort of
subjects to which it refers : thirdly, and above all, on
AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS. 225
the extent to which the knowledge is diffused, and the
freedom with which it pervades all classes of society.
These are the three great movers of every civilized
country ; and although their operation is frequently dis-
turbed by the vices or the virtues of powerful individuals,
such moral feelings correct each other, and the average
of long periods remains unaffected. Owing to causes of
which we are ignorant, the moral qualities do, no doubt,
constantly vary ; so that in one man, or perhaps even
in one generation, there will be an excess of good in-
tentions ; in another an excess of bad ones. But we
have no reason to think that any permanent change
has been effected in the proportion which those who
naturally possess good intentions bear to those in whom
bad ones seem to be inherent. In what may be called
the innate and original morals of mankind, there is, so
far as we are aware, no progress. Of the different
passions with which we are born, some are more pre-
valent at one time, some at another ; but experience
teaches us that, as they are always antagonistic,
they are held in balance by the force of their own
opposition. The activity of one motive is corrected
by the activity of another. For to every vice there
is a corresponding virtue. Cruelty is counteracted
by benevolence ; sympathy is excited by suffering ;
the injustice of some provokes the charity of others ;
new evils are met by new remedies, and even the most
enormous offences that have ever been known have
left behind them no permanent impression. The
desolation of countries and the slaughter of men are
losses which never fail to be repaired, and at the dis-
tance of a few centuries every vestige of them is effaced.
The gigantic crimes of Alexander or Napoleon become
after a time void of effect, and the affairs of the world
return to their former level. This is the ebb and flow
of history, the perpetual flux to which by the laws of
our nature we are subject. Above all this, there is a
far higher movement ; and as the tide rolls on, now
advancing, now receding, there is, amid its endless fluc-
tuations, one thing, and one alone, which endures for
ever. The actions of bad men produce only temporary
VOL. I. Q
226 MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL LAWS COMPAEED.
evil, the actions of good men only temporary good ;
and eventually the good and the evil altogether subside,
are neutralized by subsequent generations, absorbed
by the incessant movements of future ages. But the
discoveries of great men never leave us ; they are im-
mortal, they contain those eternal truths which survive
the shock of empires, outlive the struggles of rival
creeds, and witness the decay of successive religions.
AH these have their different measures and their dif-
ferent standards ; one set of opinions for one age,
another set for another. They pass away like a dream;
they are as the fabric of a vision, which leaves not a
rack behind. The discoveries of genius alone remain :
it is to them we owe all that we now have, they
are for all ages and all times ; never young, and never
old, they bear the seeds of their own life ; they flow
on in a perennial and undying stream ; they are essen-
tially cumulative, and, giving birth to the additions
which they subsequently receive, they thus influence
the most distant posterity, and after the lapse of cen-
turies produce more effect than they were able to do
even at the moment of their promulgation.
227
CHAPTER V.
INQUIRY INTO THE INFLUENCE EXEBCISED BT RELIGION, UTEHATUBE,
AND GOVERNMENT.
By applying to the history of Man those methods of
investigation which have been found successful in other
branches of knowledge, and by rejecting all preconceived
notions which would not bear the test of those methods,
we have arrived at certain results, the heads of which it
may now be convenient to recapitulate. We have seen
that our actions, being solely the result of internal and
external agencies, must be explicable by the laws of
those agencies ; that is to say, by mental laws and by
physical laws. We have also seen that mental laws are,
in Europe, more powerful than physical laws ; and that,
in the progress of civilization, their superiority is con-
stantly increasing, because advancing knowledge multi-
plies the resources of the mind, but leaves the old resources
of nature stationary. On this account, we have treated
the mental laws as being the great regulators of progress ;
and we have looked at the physical laws as occupying a
subordinate place, and as merely displaying themselves
in occasional disturbances, the force and frequency of
which have been long declining, and are now, on a large
average, almost inoperative. Having, by this means,
resolved the study of what may be called the dynamics
of society into the study of the laws of the mind, we have
subjected, these last to a similar analysis ; and we have
found that they consist of two parts, namely, moral laws
and intellectual laws. By comparing these two parts,
we have clearly ascertained the vast superiority of the
intellectual laws ; and we have seen, that as the progress
of civilization is marked by the triumph of the mental
laws over the physical, just so is it marked by the triumph
q2
228 INFLUENCE OF RELIGION,
of the intellectual laws over the moral ones. This im-
portant inference rests on two distinct arguments. First,
that moral truths being stationary, and intellectual truths
being progressive, it is highly improbable that the pro-
gress of society should be due to moral knowledge, which
for many centuries has remained the same, rather than
to intellectual knowledge, which for many centuries has
been incessantly advancing. The other argument con-
sists in the fact, that the two greatest evils known to
mankind have not been diminished by moral improve-
ment ; but have been, and still are, yielding to the
influence of intellectual discoveries. From all this it
evidently follows, that if we wish to ascertain the con-
ditions which regulate the progress of modern civiliza-
tion, we must seek them in the history of the amount and
diffusion of intellectual knowledge ; and we must consider
physical phenomena and moral principles as causing, no
doubt, great aberrations in short periods, but in long
periods correcting and balancing themselves, and thus
leaving the intellectual laws to act uncontrolled by these
inferior and subordinate agents.
Such is the conclusion to which we have been led by
successive analyses, and on which we now take our
stand. The actions of individuals are greatly affected
by their moral feelings and by their passions ; but these
being antagonistic to the passions and feelings of other
individuals, are balanced by them ; so that their effect
is, in the great average of human affairs, nowhere to be
seen ; and the total actions of mankind, considered as a
whole, are left to be regulated by the total knowledge
of which mankind is possessed. And of the way in
which individual feeling and individual caprice are thus
absorbed and neutralized, we find a clear illustration in
the facts already brought forward respecting the history
of crime. For by those facts it is decisively proved, that
the amount of crime committed in a country is, year
after year, reproduced with the most startling uniformity,
not being in the least affected by those capricious and
personal feelings to which human actions are too often
referred. But if, instead of examining the history of
crime year by year, we were to examine it month by
LITERATURE, AND GOVERNMENT. 229
month, we should find less regularity ; and if we were
to examine it hour by hour, we should find no regularity
at all ; neither would its regularity be seen, if, instead
of the criminal records of a whole country, we only knew
those of a single street, or of a single family. This is
because the great social laws by which crime is governed,
can only be perceived after observing great numbers or
long periods ; but in a small number, and a short period,
the individual moral principle triumphs, and disturbs
the operation of the larger and intellectual law. While,
therefore, the moral feelings by which a man is urged
to commit a crime, or to abstain from it, will produce an
immense effect on the amount of his own crimes, they
will produce no effect on the amount of crimes committed
by the society to which he belongs ; because, in the long-
run, they are sure to be neutralized by opposite moral
feelings, which cause in other men an opposite conduct.
Just in the same way, we are all sensible that moral
principles do affect nearly the whole of our actions ; but
wo have incontrovertible proof that they produce not
the least effect on mankind in the aggregate, or even on
men in very large masses, provided that we take the pre-
caution of studying social phenomena for a period suffi-
ciently long, and on a scale sufficiently great, to enable
the superior laws to come into uncontrolled operation.
The totality of human actions being thus, from the
highest point of view, governed by the totality of human
knowledge, it might seem a simple matter to collect the
evidence of the knowledge, and, by subjecting it to suc-
cessive generalizations, ascertain the whole of the laws
which regulate the progress of civilization. And that
this will be eventually done, I do not entertain the slight-
est doubt. But, unfortunately, history has been written
by men so inadequate to the great task they have under-
taken, that few of the necessary materials have yet been
brought together. Instead of telling us those things
which alone have any value, — instead of giving us infor-
mation respecting the progress of knowledge, and the
way in which mankind has been affeoted by the diffusion
of that knowledge, — instead of these things, the vast ma-
jority of historians fill their works with the most trifling
230 INFLUENCE OF RELIGION,
and miserable details : personal anecdotes of kings and
courts ; interminable relations of what was said by one
minister, and what was thought by another ; and, what is
worse than all, long accounts of campaigns, battles, and
sieges, very interesting to those engaged in them, but
to us utterly useless, because they neither furnish new
truths, nor do they supply the means by which new
truths may be discovered. This is the real impediment
which now stops our advance. It is this want of judg-
ment, and this ignorance of what is most worthy of
selection, which deprives us of materials that ought long
since to have been accumulated, arranged, and stored-up
for future use. In other great branches of knowledge,
observation has preceded discovery ; first the facts have
been registered, and then their laws have been found.
But in the study of the history of Man, the important
facts have been neglected, and the unimportant ones
preserved. The consequence is, that whoever now at-
tempts to generalize historical phenomena must collect
the facts, as well as conduct the generalization. He finds
nothing ready to his hand. He must be the mason as
well as the architect ; he must not only scheme the edifice,
but likewise excavate the quarry. The necessity of per-
forming this double labour entails upon the philosopher
such enormous drudgery, that the limits of an entire life
are unequal to the task ; and history, instead of being
ripe, as it ought to be, for complete and exhaustive
generalizations, is still in so crude and informal a state,
that not the most determined and protracted industry
will enable any one to comprehend the really important
actions of mankind, during even so short a period as two
successive centuries.
On account of these things, I have long since aban-
doned my original scheme ; and I have reluctantly de-
termined to write the history, not of general civilization,
but of the civilization of a single people. While, how-
ever, by this means, we curtail the field of inquiry, we
unfortunately diminish the resources of which the inquiry
is possessed. For although it is perfectly true, that the
totality of human actions, if considered in long periods,
depends on the totality of human knowledge, it must be
LITEEATUEE, AND GOVEENMENT. 231
allowed that this great principle, when applied only to
one country, loses something of its original value. The
more we diminish our observations, the greater becomes
the uncertainty of the average ; in other words, the
greater the chance of the operation of the larger laws
being troubled by the operation of the smaller. The
interference of foreign governments ; the influence exer-
cised by the opinions, literature, and customs of a foreign
people ; their invasions, perhaps even their conquests ;
the forcible introduction by them of new religions, new
laws, and new manners, — all these things are perturba-
tions, which, in a view of universal history, equalize each
other, but which, in any one country, are apt to disturb
the natural march, and thus render the movements of
civilization more difficult to calculate. The manner in
which I have endeavoured to meet this difficulty will be
presently stated ; but what I first wish to point out, are
the reasons which have induced me to select the history
of England as more important than any other, and there-
fore as the most worthy of being subjetced to a complete
and philosophic investigation.
Now, it is evident that, inasmuch as the great advan-
tage of studying past events consists in the possibility
of ascertaining the laws by which they were governed,
the history of any people will become more valuable in
proportion as their movements have been least disturbed
by agencies not arising from themselves. Every foreign
or external influence which is brought to bear upon a
nation is an interference with its natural development,
and therefore complicates the circumstances we seek to
investigate. To simplify complications, is, in all branches
of knowledge, the first essential of success. This is very
familiar to the cultivators of physical science, who are
often able, by a single experiment, to discover a truth
which innumerable observations had vainly searched ;
the reason being, that by experimenting on phenomena,
we can disentangle them from their complications ; and
thus isolating them from the interference of unknown
agencies, we leave them, as it were, to run their own
■course, and disclose the operation of their own law.
This, then, is the true standard by which we must
232 INFLUENCE OP RELIGION,
measure the value of the history of any nation. The
importance of the history of a country depends, not upon
the splendour of its exploits, but upon the degree to
which its actions are due to causes springing out of itself.
Tf, therefore, we could find some civilized people who
had worked out their civilization entirely by themselves ;
who had escaped all foreign influence, and who had been
neither benefited nor retarded by the personal peculiari-
ties of their rulers, — the history of such a people would
be of paramount importance ; because it would present
a condition of normal and inherent development; itwould
-show the laws of progress acting in a state of isolation ;
it would be, in fact, an experiment ready-made, and
would possess all the value of that artificial contrivance
to which natural science is so much indebted.
To find such a people as this is obviously impossible ;
but the duty of the philosophic historian is, to select
for his especial study the country in which the conditions
have been most closely followed. Now, it will be readily
admitted, not only by ourselves, but by intelligent fo-
reigners, that in England, during, at all events, the last
three centuries, this has been done more constantly and
more successfully than in any other country. I say no-
thing of the number of our discoveries, the brilliancy of
our literature, or the success of our arms. These are
invidious topics ; and other nations may perhaps deny
to us those superior merits which we are apt to exag-
gerate. But I take up this single position, that of all
European countries, England is the one where, during
the longest period, the government has been most
quiescent, and the people most active ; where popular
freedom has been settled on the widest basis; where each
man is most able to say what he thinks, and do what he
likes ; where every one can follow his own bent, and
propagate his own opinions ; where, religious persecution
being little known, the play and flow of the human mind
may be clearly seen, unchecked by those restraints to
which it is elsewhere subjected ; where the profession of
heresy is least dangerous, and the practice of dissent
most common ; where hostile creeds flourish side by
side, and rise and decay without disturbance, according
LITERATURE, AND GOVERNMENT. 233
to the wants of the people, unaffected by the wishes of
the church, and uncontrolled by the authority of the
state ; where all interests, and all classes, both spiritual
and temporal, are most left to take care of themselves ;
where that meddlesome doctrine called Protection was
first attacked, and where alone it has been destroyed ;
and where, in a word, those dangerous extremes to which
interference gives rise having been avoided, despotism
and rebellion are equally rare, and concession being re-
cognized as the groundwork of policy, the national pro-
gress has been least disturbed by the power of privileged
classes, by the influence of particular sects, or by the
violence of arbitrary rulers.
That these are the characteristics of English history
is notorious ; to some men a matter of boast, to others
of regret. And when to these circumstances we add,
that England, owing to its insular formation, 1 was,
until the middle of the last century, rarely visited by
foreigners, it becomes evident that, in our progress as
a people, we have been less affected than any other
by the two main sources of interference, namely, the
authority of government, and the influence of foreigners.
In the sixteenth century, it became a fashion, among
the English nobility, to travel abroad ; 2 but it was by
no means the fashion for foreign nobility to travel in
England. In the seventeenth century, the custom of
travelling for amusement spread so much, that, among
1 Coleridge well says, ' it is a In another place, I shall col-
the chief of many blessings de- lect the evidence of the rapidly
rived from the insular character increasing love of travelling in
and circumstances of our country, the sixteenth century ; but it is
that our social institutions have interesting to observe, that du-
formed themselves out of our ring the latter half of the cen-
proper needs and interests.' tury there was first established
Coleridge on tlie Constitution of the custom of appointing travel-
the Church and State, 8vo. 1830, ling tutors. Compare Barring-
pp. 20, 21. The political con- tons Observations on the Statutes,
sequences of this were much p. 218, with a letter from Beza,
noticed at the time of the French written in 1598, in Memoires et
Eevolution. See Mimoires de La Correspondence de Du Plessia
Fayette, vol. i. p. 404, Bruxelles, Mornay, vol. ix. p. 81.
1837.
234 INFLUENCE OF RELIGION,
the rich and idle classes, there were few Englishmen
who did not, at least once in their life, cross the Chan-
nel ; while the same classes in other countries, partly
because they were less wealthy, partly from an invete-
rate dislike to the sea, hardly ever entered our island,
unless compelled to do so on some particular business.
The result was, that in other countries, and particularly
in France and Italy, the inhabitants of the great cities
became gradually accustomed to foreigners, and, like
all men, were imperceptibly influenced by what they
often saw. On the other hand, there were many of
our cities in which none but Englishmen ever set their
feet ; 3 and inhabitants, even of the metropolis, might
grow old without having once seen a single foreigner,
except, perhaps, some dull and pompous ambassador
taking his airing on the banks of the Thames. And
although it is often said that, after the restoration of
Charles II., our national character began to be greatly
influenced by French example, 4 this, as I shall fully
prove, was confined to that small and insignificant part
of society which hung about the court ; nor did it pro-
duce any marked effect upon the two most important
classes, — the intellectual class, and the industrious
class. The movement may, indeed, be traced in the
most worthless parts of our literature, — in the shame-
less productions of Buckingham, Dorset, Etherege,
Killigrew, Mulgrave, Rochester, and Sedley. But
neither then, nor at a much later period, were any
of our great thinkers influenced by the intellect of
3 In regard to the society of on ne comprenoit point, dans
women, this was still more ob- cette classe, les ambassadrices,
servable, even at a much later ni la duchesse de Mazarin, qui
period ; and -when the Countess y dtoient venues par n6cessite7
de Boumers visited England, at Dutens, Memoires d'un Voyageur,
the beginning of the reign of vol. i. p. 217. Compare Memoires
George III., ' on lui faisoit un de Madame de Genlis, vol. viii.
merite de sa curiosite de voir p. 241.
l'Angleterre; car on remarquoit 4 Orme's Life of Owen, p. 288;
qu'elle etoit la seule dame fran- Mahon's History of England,
^oise de qualite qui fut venue en vol. ii. p. 211 ; and many other
voyageuse depuis deux cents ans : writers.
LITERATURE, AND GOVERNMENT.
235
France ; 5 on the contrary, we find in their ideas, and
even in their style, a certain rough and native vigour,
which, though offensive to our more polished neigh-
bours, has at least the merit of being the indigenous
product of our own country. 6 The origin and extent
of that connexion between the French and English
intellects which subsequently arose, is a subject of
immense importance ; but, like most others of real
value, it has been entirely neglected by historians. In
the present work, I shall attempt to supply this defi-
ciency : in the mean time I may say, that although we
have been, and still are, greatly indebted to the French
for our improvement in taste, in refinement, in manners,
* The only Englishman of ge-
nius who, during this period, was
influenced by the French mind,
was Dryden ; but this is chiefly
apparent in his plays, the whole
of which are now deservedly
forgotten. His great works, and,
above all, those wonderful satires,
in which he distances every com-
petitor, except JuvenaL are tho-
roughly national, and, as mere
specimens of English, are, if I
may express my own judgment,
to be ranked immediately after
Shakspeare. In Dryden's writ-
ings there are unquestionably
many Gallicisms of expression,
but few Gallicisms of thought ;
and it is by these last that we
must estimate the real amount
of foreign influence. Sir Walter
Scott goes so far as to say, ' It
will admit of question, whether
any single French word has
been naturalized upon the solo
authority of Dryden.' Scotfs
Life of Dryden, p. 523, 8vo.
1 808. Rather a bold assertion.
As to the opinion of Fox, see
Lord Holland's preface to Foots
James II, 4to. 1808, p. xxxii.
* Another circumstance which
has maintained the independence,
and therefore increased the value,
of our literature, is, that in no
great country have literary men
been so little connected with the
government, or rewarded by it.
That this is the true policy, and
that to protect literature is to
injure it, are propositions for
the proof of which I must refer
to chap. xi. of this volume — on
the system of Louis XIV. In
the mean time, I will quote the
following words from a learned
and, what is much better, a
thoughtful writer : ' Nor must
he who will understand the Eng-
lish institutions leave out of
view the character of the en-
during works which had sprung
from the salient energy of the
English mind. Literature had
been left to develop itself. Wil-
liam of Orange was foreign to
it ; Anne cared not for it ; the
first George knew no English ;
the second not much.' Bancroft's
History of the American Revolu-
tion, vol. ii. p. 48. Comparo
Forster's Life of Goldsmith, 1854,
vol. i. pp. 93-96, vol. ii. p. 480.
236 INFLUENCE OP RELIGION,
and indeed in all the amenities of life, we have bor-
rowed from them nothing absolutely essential, nothing
by which the destinies of nations are permanently
altered. On the other hand, the French have not only
borrowed from us some very valuable political institu-
tions, but even the most important event in French
history is due, in no small degree, to our influence.
Their revolution of 1789 was, as is well known, brought
about, or, to speak more properly, was mainly insti-
gated, by a few great men, whose works, and after-
wards whose speeches, roused the people to resistance ;
but what is less known, and nevertheless is certainly
true, is, that these eminent leaders learnt in England
that philosophy and those principles by which, when
transplanted into their own country, such fearful and
yet such salutary results were effected. 7
It will not, I hope, be supposed, that by these re-
marks I mean to cast any reflection on the French : a
great and admirable people ; a people in many respects
superior to ourselves ; a people from whom we have
still much to learn, and whose deficiencies, such as
they are, arise from the perpetual interference of a long
line of arbitrary rulers. But, looking at this matter
historically, it is unquestionably true that we have
worked out our civilization with little aid from them,
while they have worked out theirs with great aid from
us. At the same time, it must also be admitted, that
our governments have interfered less with us than their
governments have interfered with them. And without
in the least prejudging the question as to which is the
greater country, it is solely on these grounds that I
consider our history more important than theirs : and
I select for especial study the progress of English
civilization, simply because, being less affected by
agencies not arising from itself, we can the more-
clearly discern in it the normal march of society, and
the undisturbed operation of those great laws by which
the fortunes of ma nkin d are ultimately regulated.
7 See, for evidence of this influence of England, chap. v. of the
second volume.
LITERATURE, AND GOVERNMENT. 237
After this comparison between the relative value of
French and English history, it seems scarcely necessary
to -examine the claims which may be put forward for
the history of other countries. Indeed, there are only
two in whose favour any thing can be said : I mean
Germany, considered as a whole, and the United States
of North America. As to tbe Germans, it is un-
doubtedly true, that since the middle of the eighteenth
century they have produced a greater number of pro-
found thinkers than any other country, I might perhaps
say, than all other countries put together. But the
objections which apply to the French are still more
applicable to the Germans. For the protective principle
has been, and still is, stronger in Germany than in
France. Even the best of the German governments
are constantly interfering with the people ; never leav-
ing them to themselves, always looking after their
interests, and meddling in the commonest affairs of
daily life. Besides this, the German literature, though
now the first in Europe, owes it origin, as we shall
hereafter see, to that great sceptical movement, by
which, in France, the Revolution was preceded. Be-
fore the middle of the eighteenth century, the Germans,
notwithstanding a few eminent names, such as Kepler
and Leibnitz, had no literature of real value ; and the
first impetus which they received, was caused by their
contact with the French intellect, and by the influence
of those eminent Frenchmen who, in the reign of
Frederick the Great, flocked to Berlin, 8 a city which
■ Tbe history of this remark- cultivirt worden, anderntheils
able, though short-lived, union wurden diese Schriften auch
between the French and German meistentheils nur von Gelehrten,
intellects will be traced in the und zwar Universitatsgelehrten,
next volume ; but its first great fur welche sie auch haupteach-
efiect, in stimulating, or rather lich bestimmt waren, gelesen.
in creating, the German litera- Gegen die Mitte des achtzehnten
ture, is noticed by one of the Jahrhunderts, als mehrere eng-
most learned of their own lische und franzosische Werke
writers: 'Denn einestheils war gelesen und iibersetzt wurden,
zu diesen Gegenstanden immer und durch die Vorliebe des K6-
dielateinische Sprache gebraucht nigs von Preussen Friedrichs IL,
und die Muttorspraehe zu wenig der von Franzosen gebildet wor-
238
INFLUENCE OP RELIGION,
has ever since been the head- quarters of philosophy
and science. From this there have resulted some very
important circumstances, which I can here only briefly
indicate. The German intellect, stimulated by the
French into a sndden growth, has been irregularly
developed ; and thus hurried into an activity greater
than the average civilization of the country requires.
The consequence is, that there is no nation in Europe
in which we find so wide an interval between the
highest minds and the lowest minds. The German
philosophers possess a learning, and a reach of thought,
which places them at the head of the civilized world.
The German people are more superstitious, more pre-
judiced, and, notwithstanding the care which the
government takes of their education, more really igno-
rant, and more unfit to guide themselves, than are the
inhabitants either of France or of England. 9 This
den war, franzosische Gelehrte
besonders geehrt und angestellt
wurden, entstand ein Wetteifer
der Deutschen, auch in dem
schriftlichen Vortrage nicht zu-
riick zti bleiben, und die Sprache
hob sich bald zu einem hohen
Grade von Vollkommenheit.'
Tennemann, Gcschichte der Phi-
losophic, vol. xi. pp. 286, 287.
9 A popular view of the system
of national education established
in Germany will be found in
Kay's Social Condition and Edu-
cation of the People of Europe,
vol. ii. pp. 1-344. But Mr. Kay,
like most literary men, overrates
the advantages of literary ac-
quirements, and underrates that
education of the faculties which
neither books nor schools can
impart to a people who are de-
barred from the exercise of civil
and political rights. In the his-
tory of the protective spirit
(chaps, ix. and x. of the present
volume), I shall return to this
subject, in connexion with
France ; and in the next volume
I shall examine it in regard to
German civilization. In the
mean time, I must be allowed
to protest against the account
Mr. Kay has given of the results
of compulsory education; an
agreeable picture, drawn by an
amiable and intelligent writer,
but of the inaccuracy of which I
possess decisive evidence. Two
points only I will now refer to :
1st. The notorious fact, that the
German people, notwithstanding
their so-called education, are un-
fit to take any share in political
matters, and have no aptitude
for the practical and adminis-
trative parts of government.
2nd. The fact, equally notorious
to those who have studied the
subject, that ' there are more
popular superstitions in Prussia,
the most educated part of Ger-
many, than there are in England ;
and that the tenacity with which
LITERATURE, AND GOVERNMENT.
239
separation and divergence of the two classes is the
natural result of that artificial stimulus, which a cen-
tury ago was administered to one of the classes, and
which thus disturbed the normal proportions of society.
Owing to this, the highest intellects have, in Germany,
so outstripped the general progress of the nation, that
there is no sympathy between the two parties ; nor are
there at present any means by which they may be
brought into contact. Their great authors address
themselves, not to their country, but to each other.
They are sure of a select and learned audience, and
they use what, in reality, is a learned language ; they
turn their mother-tongue into a dialect, eloquent in-
deed, and very powerful, but so difficult, so subtle, and
so full of complicated inversions, that to their own
lower classes it is utterly incomprehensible. 10 From
men cling to them is greater in
Prussia than in England. For
illustration of the practical work-
ing, in individual cases, of com-
pulsory education, and of the
hardship it causes, see a scan-
dalous occurrence, related in
lAiiiufs Notes of a Traveller, 8vo.
1842, p. 165, first series; and
on the physical evils produced
by German education, see Phillips
on Scrofula, London, 1846, pp.
253, 254, where there is some
useful evidenco of the conse-
quences of 'that great German
sin of over-regulation.'
'• This is well stated by Mr.
Laing, by far the ablest traveller
who has published observations
on European society : ' German
authors, both the philosophic and
the poetic, address themselves
to a public far more intellectual,
and more highly cultivated, than
our reading public. ... In our
literature, the most obscure and
abstruse of metaphysical or phi-
losophical writers take the public
mind in afar lower state, simply
cognisant of the meaning of lan-
guage, and possessed of the
ordinary reasoning powers. . . .
The social influence of German
literature is, consequently, con-
fined within a narrower circle.
It has no influence on the mind
of the lower, or even of the
middle classes in active life, who
have not the opportunity or lei-
sure to screw their faculties up
to the pitch-note of their great
writers. The reading public
must devote much time to ac-
quire the knowledge, tone of
feeling, and of imagination, ne-
cessary to follow the writing
public. The social economist
finds accordingly in Germany
the most extraordinary dulness,
inertness of mind, and igno-
rance, below a certain level, with
the most extraordinary intel-
lectual development, learning,
and genius, at or above it.'
Laing 1 s Notes of a Traveller, first
series, pp. 266, 267. The same
acute observer says, in a later
work (Notes, third series, 8vo.
240 INFLUENCE OP EELIGION,
this, there have arisen some of the most marked pecu-
liarities of German literature. lor, being deprived of
ordinary readers, it is cut off from the influence of
ordinary prejudice ; and hence, it has displayed a bold-
ness of inquiry, a recklessness in the pursuit of truth
and a disregard of traditional opinions, which entitle
it to the highest praise. But, on the other hand, this
same circumstance has produced that absence of prac-
tical knowledge, and that indifference to material and
physical interests, for which the German literature is
justly censured. As a matter of course, all this has
widened the original breach, and increased the distance
which separates the great German thinkers from that
dull and plodding class, which, though it lies imme-
diately beneath them, still remains uninfluenced by
their knowledge, and uncheered by the glow and fire
of their genius.
In America, on the other hand, we see a civilization
precisely the reverse of this. We see a country, of
which it has been truly said, that in no other are there
so few men of great learning, and so few men of great
ignorance. 11 In Germany, the speculative classes and
the practical classes are altogether disunited ; in Ame-
rica, they are altogether fused. In Germany, nearly
every year brings forward new discoveries, new phi-
losophies, new means by which the boundaries of
knowledge are to be enlarged. In America, such in-
quiries are almost entirely neglected : since the time
of Jonathan Edwards no great metaphysician has
appeared; little attention has been paid to physical
i852, p. 12): 'The two classes evidently is, should have failed
speak and think in different Ian- in detecting the cause of this
guages. The cultivated German peculiar phenomenon,
language, the language of Ger- n ' Je ne pense pas qu'il y ait
man literature, is not the Ian- de pays dans le monde ou, pro-
guage of the common man, nor portion gardee avec la popula-
even of the man far up in the tion, il se trouve aussi peu
middle ranks of society, — the d'ignorants et moins de savants
farmer, tradesman, shopkeeper.' qu'en Amerique.' Tocqueville de
See also pp. 351, 352, 354. It la Democratic en Amerique, vol. i.
is singular that so clear and p. 91.
vigorous a thinker as Mr. Laing
LITERATURE, AND GOVERNMENT. 241
science ; and, with the single exception of jurispru-
dence, 12 scarcely anything has heen done for those vast
subjects on which the Germans are incessantly labour-
ing. The stock of American knowledge is small, but
it is spread through all classes ; the stock of German
knowledge is immense, but it is confined to one class.
Which of these two forms of civilization is the more
advantageous, is a question we are not now called upon
to decide. It is enough for our present purpose, that
in Germany, there is a serious failure in the diffusion
of knowledge ; and, in America, a no less serious one
in its accumulation. And as civilization is regulated
by the accumulation and diffusion of knowledge, it is
evident that no country can even approach to a com-
plete and perfect pattern, if, cultivating one of these
conditions to an excess, it neglects the cultivation of
the other. Indeed, from this want of balance and
equilibrium between the two elements of civilization,
there have arisen in America and in Germany those
great but opposite evils, which, it is to be feared, will
not be easily remedied; and which, until remedied,
will certainly retard the progress of both countries,
12 The causes of this exception eminent bookseller, that in no
I shall endeavour to trace in the branch of his business, after
next Tolume ; but it is interest- tracts of popular devotion, were
ing to notice, that, as early as so many books as those on the
1775, Burke was struck by the law exported to the plantations,
partiality of the Americans for The colonists have now fallen
works on law. See Burke's into the way of printing them
Speech, in Parliamentary History, for their own use. I hear that
vol. xviii. p. 495 ; or in Burke's they havo sold nearly as many
Works, vol. i. p. 1 88. He says : of Blackstone's Commentaries in
' In no country perhaps in the America as in England.' Of
world is the law so general a this state of society, the great
study. The profession itself is works of Kent and Story were,
numerous and powerful ; and in at a later period, the natural
most provinces it takes the lead, result. On the respect at pre-
The greater number of the de- sent felt for the legal profession,
fmties sent to the Congress were see LyeWs Second Visit to the.
awyers. But all who read — and United, States, 1 849, vol. i. p. 45 ;
most do read — endeavour to and as to the judges, Combe's A - ,
obtain some smattering in that America, vol. ii. p. 329.
science. I have been told by an
VOL. I K
242 INFLUENCE OP BELIGION,
notwithstanding the temporary advantages which snch
one-sided energy does for the moment always procure.
I have very briefly, bnt I hope fairly, and certainly
with no conscions partiality, endeavoured to estimate
the relative value of the history of the four leading
countries of the world. As to the real greatness of the
countries themselves, I offer no opinion ; because each
considers itself to be first. But, unless the facts I have
stated can be controverted, it certainly follows, that
the history of England is, to the philosopher, more
valuable than any other ; because he can more clearly
see in it the accumulation and diffusion of knowledge
going hand-in-hand ; because that knowledge has been
less influenced by foreign and external agencies ; and
because it has been less interfered with, either for good
or for evil, by those powerful, but frequently incompetent
men, to whom the administration of public affairs is
entrusted.
It is on account of these considerations, and not at
all from those motives which are dignified with the
name of patriotism, that I have determined to write the
history of my own country, in preference to that of
any other ; and to write it in a manner as complete, and
as exhaustive, as the materials which are now extant
will enable me to do. But, inasmuch as the circum-
stances already stated, render it impossible to discover
the laws of society solely by studying the history of a
single nation, I have drawn up the present Introduction
in order to obviate some of the difficulties with which
this great subject is surrounded. In the earlier chap-
ters, I have attempted to mark out the limits of the
subject considered as a whole, and fix the largest pos-
sible basis upon which it can rest. With this view, I
have looked at civilization as broken into two vast
divisions : the European division, in which Man is
more powerful than Nature ; and the non-European
division, in which Nature is more powerful than Man.
This has led us to the conclusion, that national pro-
gress, in connexion with popular liberty, could have
originated in no part of the world except in Europe ;
where, therefore, the rise of real civilization, and the
LITEEATUEE, AND GOVEENMENT. 243
encroachments of the human mind upon the forces of
nature, are alone to be studied. The superiority of the
mental laws over the physical, being thus recognized
as the groundwork of European history, the next step
has been, to resolve the mental laws into moral and
intellectual, and prove the superior influence of the
intellectual ones in accelerating the progress of Man.
These generalizations appear to me the essential pre-
liminaries of history, considered as a science ; and, in
order to connect them with the special history of
England, we have now merely to ascertain the funda-
mental condition of intellectual progress, as, until that
is done, the annals of any people can only present an
empirical succession of events, connected by such stray
and casual links as are devised by different writers,
according to their different principles. The remaining
part of this Introduction will, therefore, be chiefly
occupied in completing the scheme I have sketched,
by investigating the history of various countries in re-
ference to those intellectual peculiarities on which the
history of our own country supplies no adequate infor-
mation. Thus, for instance, in Germany, the accumu-
lation of knowledge has been far more rapid than in
England ; the laws of the accumulation of knowledge
may, on that account, be most conveniently studied in
German history, and then applied deductively to the
history of England. In the same way, the Americans
have diffused their knowledge much more completely
than we have done ; I, therefore, purpose to explain
some of the phenomena of English civilization by those
laws of diffusion, of which, in American civilization,
the workings may be most clearly seen, and hence the
discovery most easily made. Again, inasmuch as France
is the most civilized, country in which the protective
spirit is very powerful, we may trace the occult ten-
dencies of that spirit among ourselves, by studying its
obvious tendencies among our neighbours. With this
view, I shall give an account of French history, in
order to illustrate the protective principle, by showing
the injury it has inflicted on a very able and enlightened
people. And, in an analysis of the French Eevolutian,
s2
244 INFLUENCE OP RELIGION,
I shall point out how that great event was a reaction
against the protective spirit; while, as the materials
for the reaction were drawn from England, we shall
also see in it the way in which the intellect of
one country acts upon the intellect of another ; and
we shall arrive at some results respecting that in-
terchange of ideas which is likely to become the most
important regulator of European affairs. This will
throw much light on the laws of international thought ;
and, in connexion with it, two separate chapters will
be devoted to a History of the Protective Spirit, and
an Examination of its relative intensity in France and
England. But the French, as a people, have, since the
beginning or middle of the seventeenth century, been
remarkably free from superstition ; and, notwithstand-
ing the efforts of their government, they are very averse
to ecclesiastical power : so that, although their history
displays the protective principle in its political form, it
supplies little evidence respecting its religious form ;
while, in our own country, the evidence is also scanty.
Hence, my intention is, to give a view of Spanish
history ; because in it we may trace the fall results of
that protection against error which the spiritual classes
are always eager to afford. In Spain, the church has,
from a very early period, possessed more authority, and
the clergy have been more influential, both with the
people and the government, than in any other country ;
it will, therefore, be convenient to study in Spain the
laws of ecclesiastical development, and the manner in
which that development affects the national interests.
Another circumstance, which operates on the intellec-
tual progress of a nation, is the method of investigation
that its ablest men habitually employ. This method
can only be one of two kinds ; it must be either induc-
tive, or deductive. Each of these belongs to a different
form of civilization, and is always accompanied by a
different style of thought, particularly in regard to
religion and science. These differences are of such
immense importance, that, until their laws are known,
we cannot be said to understand the real history of
past events. Now, the two extremes of the difference
LITEEATUEE, AND GOVEENMENT. 245
are, "undoubtedly, Germany and the United States ; the
Germans being pre-eminently deductive, the Americans
inductive. But Germany and America are, in so many
other respects, diametrically opposed to each other, that
I have thought it expedient to study the operations of
the deductive and inductive spirit in countries between
which a closer analogy exists ; because the greater the
similarity between two nations, the more easily can we
trace the consequences of any single divergence, and the
more conspicuous do the laws of that divergence be-
come. Such an opportunity occurs in the history of
Scotland, as compared with that of England. Here we
have two nations, bordering on each other, speaking
the same language, reading the same literature, and
knit together by the same interests. And yet it is a
truth, which seems to have escaped attention, but the
proof of which I shall fully detail, that, until the last
thirty or forty years, the Scotch intellect has been even
more entirely deductive than the English intellect has
been inductive. The inductive tendencies of the English
mind, and the almost superstitious reverence with which
wo cling to them, have been noticed with regret by a
few, and a very few, of our ablest men. 13 On the other
hand, in Scotland, particularly during the eighteenth
century, the great thinkers, with hardly an exception,
adopted the deductive method. Now, the character-
istic of deduction, when applied to branches of know-
ledge not yet ripe for it, is, that it increases the number
of hypotheses from which we reason downwards, and
brings into disrepute the slow and patient ascent
peculiar to inductive inquiry. This desire to grasp at
truth by speculative, and, as it were, foregone conclu-
sions, has often led tho way to great discoveries ; and
no one, properly instructed, will deny its immense
value. But when it is universally followed, there is
'* Particularly Coleridge and fluence of Bacon in encouraging
Mr. John Mill. But, with tho tho inductive spirit, and too littlo
greatest possible respect for Mr. to those other circumstancos
Mill's profound work on Logic, which gave rise to tho Baconian
I must Tonturo to think that ho philosophy, and to which that
has ascribed too much to tho in- philosophy owes its success.
246 INFLUENCE OF EELIGION",
imminent danger lest the observation of mere empirical
uniformities should be neglected; and lest thinking
men should grow impatient at those small and proxi-
mate generalizations which, according to the inductive
scheme, must invariably precede the larger and higher
ones. Whenever this impatience actually occurs, there
is produced serious mischief. For these lower generali-
zations form a neutral ground, which speculative minds
and practical minds possess in common, and on which
they meet. If this ground is cut away, the meeting is
impossible. In such case, there arises among the scien-
tific classes an undue contempt for inferences which
the experience of the vulgar has drawn, but of which
the laws seem inexplicable ; while, among the practical
classes, there arises a disregard of speculations so wide,
so magnificent, and of which the intermediate and pre-
liminary steps are hidden from their gaze. The results
of this in Scotland are highly curious, and are, in
several respects, similar to those which we find in
Germany ; since in both countries the intellectual classes
have long been remarkable for their boldness of investi-
gation and their freedom from prejudice, and the people
at large equally remarkable for the number of their
superstitions and the strength of their prejudices. In
Scotland this is even more striking than in Germany ;
because the Scotch, owing to causes which have been
little studied, are, in practical matters, not only indus-
trious and provident, but singularly shrewd. This, how-
ever, in the higher departments of life, has availed
them nothing ; and, while there is no country which
possesses a more original, inquisitive, and innovating
literature than Scotland does, so also is there no country,
equally civilized, in which so much of the spirit of the
Middle Ages still lingers, in which so many absurdities
are still believed, and in which it would be so easy
to rouse into activity the old feelings of religions
intolerance.
The divergence, and indeed the hostility, thus estab-
lished between the practical and speculative classes,
is the most important fact in the history of Scotland,
and is partly cause and partly effect of the predomi-
LITERATTJBE, AND GOVERNMENT. 247
nance of the deductive method. For this descending
scheme being opposed to the ascending or inductive
scheme, neglects those lower generalizations which are
tho only ones that both classes understand, and, there-
fore, the only ones where they sympathize with each
other. The inductive method, as popularized by Bacon,
gave great prominence to these lower or proximate
truths ; and this, though it has often made the intellectual
classes in England too utilitarian, has at all events
saved them from that state of isolation in which they
would otherwise have remained. But in Scotland the
isolation has been almost complete, because the deduc-
tive method has been almost universal. Full evidence
of this will be collected in the third volume ; but, that
I may not leave the subject entirely without illustra-
tion, I will notice very briefly the principal instances
that occurred during those three generations in which
Scotch literature reached its highest excellence.
During this period, which comprises nearly a cen-
tury, the tendency was so unmistakable as to form a
striking phenomenon in the annals of the human mind.
The first great symptom was a movement begun by
Simson, professor at the University of Glasgow, and
continued by Stewart, professor at the University of
Edinburgh. These able men made strenuous efforts to
revive the pure Greek geometry, and depreciate the
algebraic or symbolical analysis. 14 Hence there arose
'* Simson was appointed in toire des Mathimatiques, vol. iii.
1711 ; and even before he began p. 12. On the difference between
to lecture, he drew up ' a trans- the ancient and modern schemes,
lation of the three first books of there are some ingenious, though
I/Hospital's Conic Sections, in perhaps scarcely tenable, remarks
which geometrical demonstra- in Dugald Stewart's Philosophy
tions are substituted for the of the Mind, vol. ii. pp. 354 seq.
algebraical of the original, ac- and p. 380. See also Comte,
cording to Mr. Simson's early Philosophie Positive, voL i.
taste on this subject' Traits pp. 383-395. Matthew Stewart,
Life and Writings of Bobert the mathematical professor at
Simson, 1812, 4to. p. 4. This Edinburgh, was the father of
was probably the rudiment of Dugald. See, respecting him
his work on Conic Sections, pub- and bis crusade against the
lished in 1736. Montucla, His- modern analysis, Bower's History
248 INFLUENCE OF RELIGION,
among them, and among their disciples, a love of the
most refined methods of solution, and a contempt for
those easier, hut less elegant ones, which we owe to
algehra. 15 Here we clearly see the isolating and eso-
teric character of a scheme which despises what
ordinary understandings can quickly master, and
which had rather proceed from the ideal to the tan-
gible, than mount from the tangible to the ideal. Just
at the same time, the same spirit was displayed, in-
another branch of inquiry, by Hutcheson, who, though
an Irishman by birth, was educated in the University
of Glasgow, and was professor there. In his celebrated
moral and aesthetic researches, he, in the place of in-
ductive reasoning from palpable facts, substituted de-
ductive reasoning from impalpable principles ; ignoring
the immediate and practical suggestions of the senses,
and believing that by a hypothetical assumption of
certain laws, he could descend upon the facts, instead
of rising from the facts in order to learn the laws. 16
His philosophy exercised immense influence among
metaphysicians ; 17 and his method of working down-
of the University of Edinburgh, Brougham's ; and he had more-
vol. ii. pp. 357-360, vol. iii. over the great advantage of un-
p. 249 ; and a strange passage derstanding the subject upon
in First Report of the British which he wrote.
Association, p. 59. 16 Sir James Mackintosh {Bis-
15 One of Simson's great rea- sertation on Ethical Philosophy,
sons for recommending the old p. 208) says of Hutcheson, '.To
analysis, was that it was ■ more him may also be ascribed that
elegant' than the comparatively proneness to multiply ultimate
modern practice of introducing and original principles in human
algebraic calculations into geo- nature, which characterized the
metry. See TraiTs Simson, 1812, Scottish school till the second
4to. pp. 27, 67 ; a valuable work, extinction of a passion for meta-
which Lord Brougham, in his physical speculation in Scotland.'
hasty life of Simson, calls, ' a There is an able view of Hutche-
very learned and exceedingly son's philosophy in Cousin, His-
ill-written, indeed hardly read- toire de la Philosophic, I. serie,
able' book. Broughanis Men of vol. iv. pp. 31 seq. ; written with.
Letters and Science, vol. i. p. 482, clearness and eloquence, but
8vo. 1845. Dr. Trail's style perhaps overpraising Hutcheson.
is clearer, and his sentences 17 On its influence, see a letter
are less involved, than Lord from Mackintosh to Parr, in
LITERATURE, AND GOVERNMENT.
249
wards, from the abstract to the concrete, was adopted
by another and a still greater Scotchman, the illnstrions
Adam Smith. How Smith favoured the deductive
form of investigation is apparent in his Theory of
Moral Sentiments, likewise in his Essay on Language, 18
and even in his fragment on the History of Astronomy,
in which he, from general considerations, undertook to
prove what the march of astronomical discovery must
have been, instead of first ascertaining what it had
been. 19 The Wealth of Nations, again, is entirely de-
ductive, since in it Smith generalizes the laws of wealth,
not from the phenomena of wealth, nor from statistical
statements, but from the phenomena of selfishness ;
thus making a deductive application of one set of
Memoirs of Mackintosh, by his
Son, vol. i. p. 334. Compare.
Letters from Warburton to
Hurd, pp. 37, 82.
18 Which is added to his
Theory of Moral Sentiments,
edit. 1822, 2 volumes. Comparo
a letter which Smith wrote in
1763 on the origin of language
(in NichoFs Literary Illustrations
of the Eighteenth Century,vo\. iii.
pp. 515, 516), which exhibits, on
a small scale, the same treat-
ment, as distinguished from a
generalization of the facts which
are supplied by a comprehensive
comparison of different lan-
guages. Dr. Arnold speaks
slightingly of such investiga-
tions. He says, ' Attempts to
explain the phenomena of lan-
guage a priori seem to me un-
wise.' Arnold's Miscellaneous
Works, p. 385. This would lead
into a discussion too long for a
note, but it appears to me that
these a priori inferences are, to
tho philologist, what hypotheses
are to the inductive natural
philosopher ; and if this be the
case, they are extremely impor-
tant, because no really fruitful
experiment ever can be made
unless it is preceded by a judi-
cious hypothesis. In tho, absence
of such an hypothesis, men may
grope in tho daTk for centuries,
accumulating facts without ob-
taining knowledge.
19 See, for instance, his attempt
to prove, from general reasonings
concerning the human mind, that
there was a necessary relation in
regard to the order in which
men promulgated the system of
concentric spheres and that of
eccentric spheres and epicycles.
History of Astronomy, in Smith's
Philosophical Essays, 1795, 4to.
pp. 31, 36, which it may be
convenient to compare with
WhewelCs Philosophy of the In-
ductive Sciences, 1847, vol. ii.
pp. 53, 60, 61. This striking
fragment of Adam Smith's is-
probably little read now ; but it
is warmly praised by one of the
greatest living philosophers, M.
A. Comte, in his Philosophy
Positive, vol. vi. p. 319.
250
INFLUENCE OF RELIGION,
mental principles to the whole set of economical facts. 20
The illustrations with which his great book abounds
are no part of the real argument : they are subsequent
to the conception ; and if they were all admitted, the
work, though less interesting and perhaps less in-
fluential, would, in a scientific point of view, be equally
valuable. To give another instance : the works of
Hume, his metaphysical essays alone excepted, are all
deductive ; his profound economical inquiries are essen-
tially a priori, and might have been written without
any acquaintance with those details of trade and finance
from which, according to the inductive scheme, they
should have been generalized. 21 Thus, too, in his
20 The two writers who have
inquired most carefully into the
method which political econo-
mists ought to follow, are Mr.
John Mill (Essays on Unsettled
Questions of Political Economy,
1844, pp. 120-164) and Mr. Kae
{New Principles of Political
Economy, 1834, pp. 328-351).
Mr. Rae, in his ingenious work,
objects to Adam Smith that he
transgressed the rules of the
Baconian philosophy, and thus
prevented his inferences from
being as valuable as they would
have been if he had treated his
subject inductively. But Mr.
Mill, with great force of reason-
ing, has proved that the deduc-
tive plan is the only one by
which political economy can be
raised to a science. He says,
p. 143, political economy is
! essentially an abstract science,
and its method is the method a
priori;' and at p. 146, that the
a posteriori method is ' alto-
gether inefficacious.' To this I
may add, that the modern theory
of rent, which is now the corner-
stone of political economy, was
got at, not by generalizing eco-
nomical facts, but by reasoning
downwards after the manner of
geometricians. Indeed, those
who oppose the theory of rent,
always do so on the ground that
it is contradicted by facts ; and
then, with complete ignorance of
the philosophy of method, they
infer that therefore the theory is
wrong. See, for instance, Jones
on the Distribution of Wealth,
8vo. 1831 : a book containing
some interesting facts, but
vitiated by this capital defect of
method. See also Journal of
Statistical Society, vol. i. p. 317,
vol. vi. p. 322 ; where it is said
that economical theories should
be generalized from statistical
facts. Compare vol. xvii. p. 116,
vol. xviii. p. 101.
21 A striking instance has
lately come to light of the saga-
city with which Hume employed
this method. See Burton's IAfe
and Correspondence of Hume,
vol. ii. p. 486 ; where we find,
that immediately Hume had read
the Wealth of Nations, he de-
tected Smith's error concerning
rent being an element of price :
so that it now appears that Hume
LITEEATUEE, AND GOVEENMENT.
251
Natural History of Religion, he endeavoured simply by
reflection, and independently of evidence, to institute a
purely speculative investigation into the origin of
religious opinions. 22 In the same way, in his History
of England, instead of first collecting the evidence, and
then drawing inferences from it, he began by assuming
that the relations between the people and the govern-
ment must have followed a certain order, and he either
neglected or distorted the facts by which this supposi-
tion was contradicted. 23 These different writers, though
■was the first to make this great
discovery, as far as the idea is
concerned ; though Ricardo has
the merit of proving it.
22 The historical facts he in-
troduces are merely illustrations ;
as any one will see who will read
The Natural History of Religion,
in Hume's PhUos. Works, Edinb.
1826, vol. iv. pp. 435-513. I
may mention, that there is a
considerable similarity between
the views advocated in this re-
markable essay and the religious
stages of Comte's Philosophic
Positive ; for Hume's early form
of polytheism is evidently the
same as M. Comte's fetichism,
from which both these writers
believo that monotheism subse-
quently arose, as a later and
more refined abstraction. That
this was the course adopted by
the human mind is highly pro-
bable, and is confirmed by the
learned researches of Mr. Grote.
See his History of Greece, vol. i.
pp. 462, 497, vol. v. p. 22. The
opposite and more popular opi-
nion, of monotheism preceding
idolatry, was held by most of
the great earlier writers, and is
defended by many moderns, and
among others by Dr. Whewell
{Bridgewater Treatise, p. 256),
■who expresses himself with con-
siderable confidence: see also
Letters from Warburton to Hurd,
p. 239. Compare ThirlwalPs
History of Greece, vol. i. p. 183,
Lond. 1835, with the 'einige
Funken des Monotheismus ' of
Kant, Kritik der reinen Ver-
nunft, in Kanfs Werke, vol. ii.
p. 455.
23 That is to say, he treated
historical facts as merely illus-
trative of certain general prin-
ciples, -which he believed could
be proved without the facts ; so
that, as M. Schlosser {History of
the Eighteenth Century, vol. ii.
p. 76) well says, ' History with
Hume was only a subordinate
Eursuit, only a means by which
e might introduce his philo-
sophy,' &c. Considering how
little is known of the principles
which govern social and political
changes, there can be no doubt
that Hume was premature in
the application of this method ;
but it is absurd to call the
method dirhonest, since the
object of his History was, not to
prove conclusions, but to illus-
trate them: and he therefore
thought himself justified in
selecting the illustrations. I
am simply stating his views,
252 INFLUENCE OF RELIGION,
varying in their principles, and in the subjects they
studied, were all agreed as to their method ; that is tc
say, they were all agreed to investigate truth rather by
descent than by ascent. The immense social impor-
tance of this peculiarity I shall examine in the third
volume, where I shall endeavour to ascertain how it
affected the national civilization, and caused some
curious contrasts with the opposite, and more em-
pirical, character of English literature. In the mean-
time, and merely to state what will be hereafter proved,
I may add, that the deductive method was employed,
not only by those eminent Scotchmen I have mentioned,
but was carried into the speculative History of Civil
Society by Ferguson ; into the study of legislation by
Mill ; into the study of jurisprudence by Mackintosh ;
into geology by Hutton ; into thermotics by Black and
Leslie ; into physiology by Hunter, by Alexander
Walker, and by Charles Bell ; into pathology by
Cullen ; into therapeutics by Brown and Currie.
This is an outline of the plan I purpose to follow in
the present Introduction, and by means of which I hope
to arrive at some results of permanent value. For by
studying different principles in those countries where
they have been most developed, the laws of the prin-
ciples will be more easily unfolded than if we had
studied them in countries where they are very obscure.
And, inasmuch as, in England, civilization has followed
a course more orderly, and less disturbed, than in any
other country, it becomes the more necessary, in writing
its history, to use some resources like those which I
have suggested. What makes the history of England
so eminently valuable is, that nowhere else has the
national progress been so little interfered with, either
for good or for evil. But the mere fact that our civi-
lization has, by this means, been preserved in a more
natural and healthy state, renders it incumbent on as
to study the diseases to which it is liable, by observing
those other countries where social disease is more rife.
■without at all defending them; respect he -was seriously in the
indeed, I believe that in this 'wrong.
LITEEATUEE, AND GOVEENMENT. 253
The security and the durability of civilization must
depend on the regularity with which its elements are
combined, and on the harmony with which they work.
If any one element is too active, the whole composition
will be in danger. Hence it is, that although the laws
of the composition of the elements will be best ascer-
tained wherever we can find the composition most
complete, we must, nevertheless, search for the laws
of each separate element wherever we can find the
element itself most active. While, therefore, I have
selected the history of England, as that in which the
harmony of the different principles has been longest
maintained, I have, precisely on that account, thought
it advisable to study each principle separately in the
country where it has been most powerful, and where,
by its inordinate development, the equilibrium of the
entire structure has been disturbed.
By adopting these precautions, we shall be able to
remove many of the difficulties which still beset the
study of history. Before, however, entering that wide
field which now lies in our way, it will be well to clear
up some preliminary points, which I have not yet
noticed, and the discussion of which may obviate cer-
tain objections that might otherwise be raised. The
subjects to which I allude, are Religion, Literature,
and Government : three topics of vast importance, and
which, in the opinion of many persons, are the prime
movers of human affairs. That this opinion is alto-
gether erroneous will be amply proved in the present
work ; but as the opinion is widely spread, and is very
plausible, it is necessary that we should at once come
to some understanding respecting it, and inquire into
the real nature of that influence, which these three
great powers do actually exercise over the progress of
civilization.
Now, in the first place, it is evident that if a people
were left entirely to themselves, their religion, their
literature, and their government would be, not the
causes of their civilization, but the effects of it. Out of
a certain condition of society certain results naturally
follow. Those results may, no doubt, be tampered with
254 INFLUENCE OF EELIGION,
by some external agency ; but if that is not done, it is
impossible that a highly civilized people, accustomed
to reason and to doubt, should ever embrace a religion
of which the glaring absurdities set reason and doubt
at defiance. There are many instances of nations
changing their religion, but there is no instance of a
progressive country voluntarily adopting a retrogressive
religion ; neither is there any example of a declining
country ameliorating its religion. It is of course true,
that a good religion is favourable to civilization, and a
bad one unfavourable to it. Unless, however, there is
some interference from without, no people will ever
discover that their religion is bad until their reason
tells them so ; but if their reason is inactive, and their
knowledge stationary, the discovery will never be made.
A country that continues in its old ignorance will
always remain in its old religion. Surely nothing can
be plainer than this. A very ignorant people will, by
virtue of their ignorance, inchne towards a religion
full of marvels ; a religion which boasts of innumerable
gods, and which ascribes every occurrence to the imme-
diate authority of those gods. On the other hand, a
people whose knowledge makes them better judges of
evidence, and who are accustomed to that most difficult
task, the practice of doubting, will require a religion less
marvellous, less obtrusive ; one that taxes their credu-
lity less heavily. But will you, therefore, say, that the
badness of the first religion causes the ignorance ; and
that the goodness of the second religion causes the
knowledge ? Will you say, that when one event pre-
cedes another, the one which comes first is the effect,
and the one which follows afterwards is the cause ?
This is not the way in which men reason on the ordi-
nary affairs of life ; and it is difficult to see why they
should reason thus respecting the history of past
events.
The truth is, that the religious opinions which prevail
in any period are among the symptoms by which that
period is marked. When the opinions are deeply rooted,
they do, no doubt, influence the conduct of men ; but
before they can be deeply rooted, some intellectual
LITEEATUEE, AND GOVEENMENT. 255
change must first have taken place. "We may as well
expect that the seed should quicken in the barren rock,
as that a mild and philosophic religion should be estab-
lished among ignorant and ferocious savages. Of this
innumerable experiments have been made, and always
with the same result. Men of excellent intentions, and
full of a fervent though mistaken zeal, have been, and
still are, attempting to propagate their own religion
among the inhabitants of barbarous countries. By
strenuous and unremitting activity, and frequently by
promises, and even by actual gifts, they have, in many
cases, persuaded savage communities to make a pro-
fession of the Christian religion. But whoever will
compare the triumphant reports of the missionaries
with the long chain of evidence supplied by competent
travellers, will soon find that such profession is only
nominal, and that these ignorant tribes have adopted,
indeed, the ceremonies of the new religion, but have by
no means adopted the religion itself. They receive
the externals, but there they stop. They may baptize
their children ; they may take the sacrament ; they
may flock to the church. All this they may do, and
yet be as far removed from the spirit of Christianity as
when they bowed the knee before their former idols.
The rites and forms of a religion he on the surface ;
they are at once seen, they are quickly learned, easily
copied by those who are unable to penetrate to that
which lies beneath. It is this deeper and inward
change which alone is durable ; and this the savage
can never experience while he is sunk in an ignorance
that levels Viim with the brutes by which he is sur-
rounded. Remove the ignorance, and then the religion
may enter. This is the only course by which ultimato
benefit can be effected. After a careful study of the
history and condition of barbarous nations, I do most
confidently assert, that there is no well attested case of
any people being permanently converted to Christianity,
except in those very few instances where missionaries,
being men of knowledge, as well as men of piety, have
familiarized the savage with habits of thought, and, by
thus stimulating his intellect, have prepared him for
256 INFLUENCE OF RELIGION,
the reception of those religious principles, which, with-
out such stimulus, he could never have understood. 24
It is in this way that, looking at things upon a large
scale, the religion of mankind is the effect of their im-
provement, not the cause of it. But, looking at things
upon a small scale, or taking what is called a practical
view of some short and special period, circumstances
will occasionally occur which disturb this general order,
and apparently reverse the natural process. And this,
as in all such cases, can only arise from the peculiarities
of individual men; who, moved by the minor laws which
regulate individual actions, are able, by their genius or
their energy, to interfere with the operation of those
greater laws which regulate large societies. Owing to
circumstances still unknown, there appear, from time
to time, great thinkers, who, devoting their lives to a
single purpose, are able to anticipate the progress of
mankind, and to produce a religion or a philosophy, by
which important effects are eventually brought about.
But, if we look into history, we shall clearly see that,
although the origin of a new opinion may be thus due
24 A writer of great authority est celle ou ils portaient chez lee
has made some remarks on this, peuples convertis les lumieres
which are worth attending to : des lettres, en meme temps que
* Ce fut alors que les J&uites les verites de la religion, et ou
penetrerent dans la Chine pour ils formaient a la fois dans les
y precher l'evangile. Ils ne nations l'ordre le plus eminent
tarderent pas a s'apercevoir et le plus eelaire. Cuvier, Eloges
qu'un des moyens les plus effi- Historiques, vol. iii. p. 170.
eaces pour s'y maintenir, en Even Southey (History of Bra-
attendant le moment que le ciel zil, vol. ii. p. 378) says: 'Mis-
avoit marque pour eclairer ce sionaries have always complained
vaste empire, etoit d'etaler des of the fickleness of their con-
•connoissances astronomiques.' verts ; and they must always
Montucla, Histoire des Mathe- complain of it, till they discover
matiques, vol. i. p. 468 ; and see that some degree of civilization
vol. ii. pp. 586, 587. Cuvier must precede conversion, or at
delicately hints at the same con- least accompany it.' And see
•elusion. He says of Emery : to the same effect, Halketfs Notes
* II se souvenait que l'epoque ou on the North American Indians,
le christianisme a fait le plus de pp. 352, 353 ; and Combe's
conquetes, et ou ses ministres North America, vol. i. p. 250, vol.
ont obtenu le plus de respect, ii. p. 353.
LITERATURE, AND GOVERNMENT. 257
to a single man, the result -which the new opinion pro-
duces will depend on the condition of the people
among whom it is propagated. If either a religion or
a philosophy is too much in advance of a nation, it can
do no present service, but must bide its time, until
the minds of men are ripe for its reception. Of this
innumerable instances will occur to most readers.
Every science and every creed has had its martyrs ;
men exposed to obloquy, or even to death, because they
knew more than their contemporaries, and because
society was not sufficiently advanced to receive the
truths which they communicated. According to the
ordinary course of affairs, a few generations pass away,
and then there comes a period when these very truths
are looked upon as commonplace facts ; and a little
later, there comes another period, in which they are
declared to be necessary, and even the dullest intellects
wonder how they could ever have been denied. This
is what happens when the human mind is allowed to
have fair play, and to exercise itself, with tolerable free-
dom, in the accumulation and diffusion of knowledge.
If, however, by violent, and therefore by artificial,
means, this same society is prevented from exercising
its intellect, then the truths, however important they
may be, can never be received. For why should cer«
tain truths be rejected in one age, and acknowledged in
another ? The truths remain the same ; their ultimate
recognition must, therefore, be due to a change in the
society which now accepts what it had before despised.
Indeed., history is full of evidence of the utter ineffi-
cieincy even of the noblest principles, when they are
promulgated among a very ignorant nation. Thus it
was that the doctrine of One God, taught to the
Hebrews of old, remained for many centuries altogether
inoperative. The people to whom it was addressed
had not yet emerged from barbarism ; they were, there •
fore, unable to raise their minds to so elevated a con-
ception. Like all other barbarians, they craved after a
religion which would feed their credulity with inces-
sant wonders ; and which, instead of abstracting the
Deity to a single essence, would multiply their pods
vol. I. s
258 INFLUENCE OP RELIGION,
until they covered every field, and swarmed in every
forest. This is the idolatry which, is the natural fruit
of ignorance ; and this it is to which the Hebrews were
perpetually recurring. Notwithstanding the most severe
and unremitting punishments, they, at every opportu-
nity, abandoned that pure theism which their minds
were too backward to receive, and relapsed into super-
stitions which they could more easily understand, —
into the worship of the golden calf, and the adoration
of the brazen serpent. Now, and in this age of the
world, they have long ceased to do these things. And
why ? Not because their religious feelings are more
easily aroused, or their religious fears more often ex-
cited. So far from this, they are dissevered from their
old associations ; they have lost for ever those scenes by
which men might well have been moved. They are no
longer influenced by those causes which inspired emo-
tions, sometimes of terror, sometimes of gratitude.
They no longer witness the pillar of cloud by day, or
the pillar of fire by night ; they no longer see the Law
being given from. Sinai, nor do they hear the thunder
rolling from Horeb. In the presence of these great
appeals, they remained idolaters in their hearts, and
whenever an opportunity occurred, they became idola-
ters in their practice ; and this they did because they
were in that state of barbarism, of which idolatry is the
natural product. To what possible circumstance can
their subsequent change be ascribed, except to the
simple fact, that the Hebrews, like all other people,
as they advanced in civilization, began to abstract and
refine their religion, and, despising the old worship of
many gods, thus by slow degrees elevated their minds
to that steady perception of One Great Cause, which,
at an earlier period, it had been vainly attempted to
impress upon them ?
Thus intimate is the connexion between the opinions
of a people and their knowledge ; and thus necessary
is it that, so far as nations are concerned, intellectual
activity should precede religious improvement. If we
require further illustrations of this important truth,
we shall find them in the events which occurred in
LITERATURE, AND GOVERNMENT. 259
Europo soon after the promulgation of Christianity.
The Romans were, with rare exceptions, an ignorant
and barbarous race ; ferocious, dissolute, and cruel.
For such a people, Polytheism was the natural creed ;
and we read, accordingly, that they practised an idolatry
which a few great thinkers, and only a few, ventured
to despise. The Christian religion, falling amoDg these
men, found them unable to appreciate its sublime and
admirable doctrines. And when, a little later, Europe
was overrun by fresh immigrations, the invaders, who
were even more barbarous than the Romans, brought
with them those superstitions which were suited to
their actual condition. It was upon the materials aris-
ing from these two sources that Christianity was now
called to do her work. The result is most remarkable.
For after the new religion seemed to have carried all
before it, and had received the homage of the best part
of Europe, it was soon found that nothing had been
really effected. It was soon found that society was in
that early stage in which superstition is inevitable ; and
in which men, if they do not have it in one form, will
have it in another. It was in vain that Christianity
taught a simple doctrine, and enjoined a simple worship.
The minds of men were too backward for so great a
step, and required more complicated forms, and a more
complicated belief. What followed is well known to
the students of ecclesiastical history. The superstition
of Europe, instead of being diminished, was only
turned into a fresh channel. The new religion was
corrupted by the old follies. The adoration of idols
was succeeded by the adoration of saints ; the worship
of the Virgin was substituted for the worship of Cy-
bele ; 25 Pagan ceremonies were established in Christian
churches ; not only the mummeries of idolatry, but
44 This is curiously illustrated of the gods. Compare Blunts
by the fact, that the 25th of Vestiges of Ancient Manners,
March, which is now called 8vo. 1823, pp. 51-55, with
Lady-day, in honour of the Hampson's Medii JZvi Kale»-
Virgin Mary, was, in Pagan darium, 8ro, 1841, voL i. pp.
times, called Hilaria, and was 66, 177.
dedicated to Cybele, the mother
82
260 INFLUENCE OP RELIGION,
likewise its doctrines, were quickly added, and were
incorporated and worked into the spirit of the new
religion ; until, after a lapse of a few generations,
Christianity exhibited so grotesque and hideous a form,
that its best features were lost, and the lineaments ol
its earlier loveliness altogether destroyed. 26
After some centuries were passed, Christianity slowly
emerged from these corruptions ; many of which, how-
ever, even the most civilized countries have not yet
been able to throw off. 27 Indeed, it was found im-
possible to effect even the beginning of a reform, until
the European intellect was, in some degree, roused from
its lethargy. The knowledge of men, gradually ad-
vancing, made them indignant at superstitions which
they had formerly admired. The way in which their
indignation increased, until, in the sixteenth century,
it broke out into that great event which is well called
the Reformation, forms one of the most interesting
subjects in modern history. But, for our present pur-
pose, it is enough to keep in mind the memorable and
important fact that, for centuries after Christianity
was the established religion of Europe, it failed to bear
its natural fruit, because its lot was cast among a
people whose ignorance compelled them to be super-
stitious, and who, on account of their superstition,
defaced a system which, in its original purity, they
were unable to receive. 28
** On this interesting subject, ment against an ingenious dis-
the two best English books are, tinetion which M. Bunsen has
Middleton's Letter from Borne, made between the change of a
and Priestley's History of the religion and that of a language ;
Corruption of Christianity ; the alterations in a religion being,
former work being chiefly valu- as he supposes, always more
able for ritual corruptions, the abrupt than those in a language,
latter work for doctrinal ones. Bunsen's Egypt, vol. i. pp. 358,
Blunts Vestiges of Ancient Man- 359.
ners is also worth reading ; but 28 It was necessary, says M.
is very inferior to the two trea- Maury, that the church ' se rap-
tises just named, and is con- prochat davantage de l'esprit
ceived in a much narrower spirit, grossier, inculte, ignorant du
27 The large amount of Pagan- barbare.' Maury, Legendes
ism which still exists in every Pieuses du Moyen Age, p. 101.
Christian sect, forms an argu- An exactly similar process has
LITERATURE, AND GOVERNMENT. 261
Indeed, in every page of history, we meet with fresh
evidence of the little effect religious doctrines can pro-
duce upon a people, unless preceded by intellectual
culture. The influence exercised by Protestantism, as
compared with Catholicism, affords an interesting ex-
ample of this. The Catholic religion bears to the
Protestant religion exactly the same relation that the
Dark Ages bear to the sixteenth century. In the
Dark Ages, men were credulous and ignorant ; they
therefore produced a religion which required great
belief and little knowledge. In the sixteenth century,
their credulity and ignorance, though still considerable,
were rapidly diminishing, and it was found necessary
to organize a religion suited to their altered circum-
stances : a religion more favourable to free inquiry ; a
religion less full of miracles, saints, legends, and idols ;
a religion of which the ceremonies were less frequent,
and less burdensome ; a religion which should dis-
courage penance, fasting, confession, celibacy, and those
other mortifications which had long been universal.
All this was done by the establishment of Pro-
testantism; a mode of worship which, being thus
suited to the age, made, as is well known, speedy pro-
gress. If this great movement had been allowed to
proceed without interruption, it would, in the course
of a few generations, have overthrown the old super-
stition, and established in its place a simpler and less
troublesome creed ; the rapidity with which this was
done, being, of course, proportioned to the intellectual
activity of the different countries. But, unfortunately,
the European governments, who are always meddling
in matters with which they have no concern, thought
it their duty to protect the religious interests of the
falcon place in India, where the vol. i. p. 205. So that as M. Max
Puranas are to the Vedas what Muller well expresses it, the
the works of the Fathers are to Puranas are ' a secondary for-
the New Testament. Compare mation of Indian mythology.'
Elphinstone's History of India, Muller on t/ie Languages of
pp. 87, 88, 98 ; Wilson's Preface India, in Reports of British As-
to the Vishnu Parana, p. 7 ; and sociation for 1847, p. 324.
Transaction* of Bombay Society,
262 INFLUENCE OF RELIGION,
people ; and making common cause with the Catholic
clergy, they, in many instances, forcibly stopped the
heresy, and thus arrested the natural development of
the age. This interference was, in nearly all cases,
well intended, and is solely to be ascribed to the igno-
rance of rulers respecting the proper limits of their
functions : but the evils caused by this ignorance it
would be difficult to exaggerate. During almost a
hundred and fifty years, Europe was afflicted by reli-
gious wars, religious massacres, and religious perse-
cutions ; not one of which would have arisen, if the
great truth had been recognised, that the state has no
concern with the opinions of men, and no right to
interfere, even in the slightest degree, with the form
of worship which they may choose to adopt. This
principle was, however, formerly unknown, or at all
events unheeded ; and it was not until the middle of
the seventeenth century that the great religious con-
tests were brought to a final close, and the different
countries settled down into their public creeds ; which,
in the essential points, have never since been per-
manently altered ; no nation having, for more than two
hundred years, made war upon another on account of
its religion ; and all the great Catholic countries having,
during the same period, remained Catholic, all the
great Protestant ones remained Protestant.
From this it has arisen, that, in several of the Euro-
pean countries, the religious development has not fol-
lowed its natural order, but has been artificially forced
into an unnatural one. According to the natural order,
the most civilized countries should all be Protestants,
and the most uncivilized ones Catholics. In the average
of instances this is actually the case ; so that many
persons have been led into the singular error, of ascrib-
ing all modern enlightenment to the influence of Pro-
testantism ; overlooking the important fact, that until.
the enlightenment had begun, Protestantism was never
required. But although, in the ordinary course of affairs,
the advance of the Reformation would have been the
measure, and the symptom, of that advance of knowledge
by which it was preceded, still, in many cases, the autho-
LITERATURE, AND GOVERNMENT. 263
rity of the government and of the church acted as dis-
turbing causes, and frustrated the natural progress of
religious improvement. And, after the treaty of West-
phalia had fixed the political relations of Europe, the love
of theological strife so greatly subsided, that men no
longer thought it worth their while to raise a religions
revolution, and to risk their lives in an attempt to over-
turn the creed of the state. At the same time, govern-
ments, not being themselves particularly fond of revo-
lutions, have encouraged this stationary condition ; and
very naturally, and, as it appears to me, very wisely, have
made no great alteration, but have left the national estab-
lishments as they found them ; that is to say, the Pro-
testant ones Protestant, and the Catholic ones Catholic.
Hence it is, that the national religion professed by any
country at the present moment, is no decisive criterion
of the present civilization of the country ; because the
circumstances which fixed the religion occurred long
since, and the religion remains endowed and established
by the mere continuance of an impetus which was
formerly given.
Thus far as to the origin of the ecclesiastical
establishments of Europe. But, in their practical
consequences, we see some results which are highly
instructive. For many countries owing their national
creed, not to their own proper antecedents, but to the
authority of powerful individuals, it will be invariably
found, that in such countries the creed does not pro-
duce the effects which might have been expected from
it, and which, according to its terms, it ought to pro-
duce. Thus, for instance, the Catholic religion is more
superstitious, and more intolerant, than the Protestant ;
but it by no means follows, that those countries which
profess the former creed, must be more superstitious,
and more intolerant, than those which profess the
latter. So far from this, the French are not only quite
as free from those odious qualities as are the mosc
civilized Protestants, but they are more free from them
than some Protestant nations, as the Scotch and the
Swedes. Of the highly-educated class, I am not here
speaking ; but of the clergy, and of the people gene-
264
INFLUENCE OF RELIGION,
rally, it must be admitted, that in Scotland there is
more bigotry, more superstition, and a more thorough
contempt for the religion of others, than there is in
France. And in Sweden, which is one of the oldest
Protestant countries in Europe, 29 there is, not occasion-
ally, but habitually, an intolerance and a spirit of per-
secution, which would be discreditable to a Catholic
country ; but which is doubly disgraceful when pro-,
ceeding from a people who profess to base their religion
on the right of private judgment. 30
These things show, what it would be easy to prove by
a wider induction, that when, from special, or, as they
are. called, accidental causes, any people profess a reli-
gion more advanced than themselves, it will not produce
29 The doctrines of Luther
were first preached in Sweden in
1519 ; and, in 1527, the principles
of the Reformation were for-
mally adopted in an assembly
of the States at Westeraas,
which enabled Gustavus Vasa to
seize the property of the church.
Geijer's History of the Swedes,
part i. pp. 110, 118, 119 ; Mos-
heim's Ecclesiastical History, vol.
ii. p. 22; Crichton and Wheaton's
History of Scandinavia, vol. i.
pp. 399, 400. The apostasy
proceeded so favourably, that
De Thou (Histoire Univ. vol.
xiii. p. 312) says, in 1598, 'II y
avoit deja, si long-tems que ce
culte etoit etabli en Suede, qu'il
etoit comme impossible de trou-
ver, soit parmi le pouple, soit
parmi les seigneurs, quelqu'un
qui se souvint d'avoir vu dans
ce roiaume l'exercice public de
la religion catholique.'
* On the state of things in
1S38, 6ee some curious, and in-
deed shameful, details in Laing's
Sweden, 8\ T o. London, 1839.
Mr. Laing, though himself a
Protestant, truly says, that in
Protestant Sweden there ' is in-
quisition law, working in the
hands of a Lutheran state-
church, as strongly as in Spain
or Portugal in the hands of a
Roman Catholic Church.' Laing's
Sweden, p. 324. In the seven-
teenth century, it was ordered
by the Swedish Church, and the
order was confirmed by govern-
ment, that ' if any Swedish
subject change his religion, he
shall be banished the kingdom,
and lose all right of inheritance,
both for himself and his de-
scendants. ... If any bring into
the country teachers of another
religion, he shall be fined and
banished.' Burton's Diary, voL
iii. p. 387, 8vo. 1828. To this
may be added, that it was not
till 1781 that Roman Catholics
were allowed to exercise their
religion in Sweden. See Crich-
ton's History of Scandinavia,
Edinb. 1838, vol. ii. p. 320. See
also, on this intolerant spirit,
Whitdockt? s Journal of the
Swedish Embassy, vol. i. pp.
164, 412, vol. ii. p. 312.
LITERATURE, AND GOVERNMENT. 2G5
its legitimate effect. 31 The superiority of Protestantism
over Catholicism consists in its diminution of superstition
and intolerance, and in the check which it gives to eccle-
siastical power. But the experience of Europe teaches
us, that when the superior religion is fixed among an
inferior people, its superiority is no longer seen. The
Scotch and the Swedes, — and to them might be added
some of the Swiss cantons, — are less civilized than the
French, and are therefore more superstitious. This
being the case, it avails them little that they have a
religion better than the French. It avails them little
that, owing to circumstances which have long since
passed away, they, three centuries ago, adopted a creed
to which the force of habit, and the influence of tradition,
now oblige them to cling. Whoever has travelled in
Scotland with sufficient attention to observe the ideas
and opinions of the people, and whoever will look into
Scotch theology, and read the history of the Scotch
Kirk, and the proceedings of the Scotch Assemblies and
Consistories, will see how little the country has bene-
fited by its religion, and how wide an interval there is
between its intolerant spirit and the natural tendencies
of the Protestant Reformation. On the other hand,
whoever will subject France to a similar examination,
11 We see a good instance of a mass of rites and superstitions
this in the case of tho Abys- ■which cannot mend the heart.'
sinians, who have professed Krafs Journal at Ankobar, in
Christianity for centuries ; but, Journal of Geographical Society,
as no pains were taken to culti- vol. x. p. 488 ; see also vol. xiv.
vate their intellect, they found p. 1 3 : and for a similar state of
the religion too pure for them : things in America, see the
they, therefore, corrupted it, account of the Quiche Indians,
and, down to the present mo- in Stephens's Central America,
ment, they have not made the vol. ii. pp. 191, 192. Compare
slightest progress. The accounts Squicr's Central America, vol. i.
given by Bruce of them are well pp. 322, 323, with Halketfs
known ; and a traveller, who North-American Indians, pp.
visited them in 1839, says: 29,212,268. For further con-
' Nothing can bo more corrupt firmationof this view, in another
than the nominal Christianity of part of the world, see Tvckty's
this unhappy nation. It is Expedition to the Zaire, pp. 79,
mixed up with Judaism, Mahom- 80, 165.
niodanism, and idolatry, and is
266 INFLUENCE OP RELIGION,
■will see an illiberal religion accompanied by liberal
views, and a creed full of superstitions professed by a
people among -whom superstition is comparatively rare.
The simple fact is, that the French hare a religion
worse than themselves ; the Scotch have a religion better
than themselves. The liberality of France is as ill suited
to Catholicism, as the bigotry of Scotland is ill suited!
to Protestantism. In these, as in all similar cases, the
characteristics of the creed are overpowered by the cha>,
racteristics of the people ; and the national faith is, im
the most important points, altogether inoperativo, be-
cause it does not harmonize with the civilization of the
country in which it is established. How idle, then, it
is to ascribe the civilization to the creed ; and how
worse than foolish are the attempts of government to
protect a religion which, if suited to the people, will
need no protection, and, if unsuited to them, will work
no good !
If the reader has seized the spirit of the preceding
arguments, he will hardly require that I should analyze
with equal minuteness the second disturbing cause,
namely, Literature. It is evident, that what has already
been said respecting the religion of a people, is, in a great
measure, applicable to their literature. Literature, 32
when it is in a healthy and unforced state, is simply the
form in which the knowledge of a country is registered ;
the mould in which it is cast. In this, as in the other
cases we have considered, individual men may of course
take great steps, and rise to a great height above the
level of their age. But if they rise beyond a certain
point, their present usefulness is impaired ; if they rise
still higher, it is destroyed. 33 When the interval between
82 I use the -word literature, 83 Compare Tocgueville, Dhao-
not as opposed to scienee, but in cratie en Amerique, vol. iL p.
its larger sense, including every- 130, with some admirable re-
thing which is written — ' taking marks on the Sophists in Grote'e
the term literature in its primary History of Greece, vol. virL
sense, of an application of letters p. 481. Sir "W. Hamilton, whose)
to the records of facts or opi- learning respecting the history
nions.' Mitre's History of the of opinions is well known, says,,
Literature of Greece, voL iv. p. 50. ' Precisely in proportion as an
LITEEATUEE, AND GOVEENMENT.
267
the intellectual classes and the practical classes is too
great, the former will possess no influence, the latter
will reap no henefit. This is what occurred in the ancient
world, when the distance between the ignorant idolatry
of the people and the refined systems of philosophers
was altogether impassable ; 34 and this is the principal
reason why the Greeks and Romans were unable to re-
tain the civilization which they for a short time possessed.
Precisely the same process is at the present moment
going on in Germany, where the most valuable part of
literature forms an esoteric system, which, having no-
thing in common with the nation itself, produces no
effect on the national civilization. The truth is, that
although Europe has received great benefit from its
literature, this is owing, not to what the literature has
originated, but to what it has preserved. Knowledge
must be acquired, before it can be written ; and the only
use of books is, to serve as a storehouse in which the
treasures of the intellect are safely kept, and where they
author is in advance of his
ivge, is it likely that his works
will bo neglected.' Hamilton 8
Discussions on Philosophy, p.
186. Thus, too, in regard to the
line arts, Sir Joshua Reynolds
{Fourth Discourse, in Works,
vol. i. p. 363) says, ' Present
time and future may be con-
sidered as rivals ; and he who
solicits the one, must expect
to be discountenanced by the
other.'
31 Hence the intellectually ex-
clusive aud, as M. Neander well
terms it, 'aristocratic spirit of
antiquity.' Niander's History
of the Church, vol. i. pp. 40, 97,
vol. il. p. 31. This is constantly
overlooked by writers who use
the word 'democracy* loosely;
forgetiing that, in the same age,
democracies of politics may bo
\ ery common, while democracies
of thought are very rare. For
proof of the universal prevalence
formerly of this esoteric and
aristocratic spirit, see the follow-
ing passages : Ritter's History of
Ancient Philosophy, vol. i. p.
338, vol. iii. pp. 9, 17; Tenne-
mann, Geschichte der Philosophic,
vol. ii, pp. 200, 205, 220; Rtau-
sobre, Histoire. Critique de Ma-
nichee, vol. ii. p. 41 ; Matter,
Histoire du Gnosticisme, vol. i.
p. 13, vol. ii. pp. 83, 370;
Sprengel, Histoire de la Medccme,
vol. i. p. 250 ; Grote's History of
Greece, vol. i. p. 561, vol. iv.
p. 544 ; ThirlwaWa History of
Greece, vol. ii. p. 150, vol. vi.
p. 96; Warburton'8 Works, vol.
vii. pp. 962, 972, 4to. 1788;
Sharpe a History of Egypt, vol.
ii. p. 174; Cudworth's Intellect.
System, vol. ii. pp. 114, 365,
443, vol. iii. p. 20.
268 INFLUENCE OF RELIGION,
may be conveniently fonnd. Literature, in itself, is but
a trifling matter ; and is merely valuable as being the
armory in winch the weapons of the human mind are
laid up, and from which, when required, they can be
quickly drawn. But he would be a sorry reasoner, who,
on that account, should propose to sacrifice the end, that
he might obtain the means ; who should hope to defend
the armory by giving up the weapons, and who should
destroy the treasure, in order to improve the magazine
in which the treasure is kept.
Yet this is what many persons are apt to do. From
literary men, in particular, we hear too much of the
necessity of protecting and rewarding literature, and Ave
hear too little of the necessity of that freedom and bold-
ness, in the absence of which the most splendid literature
is altogether worthless. Indeed, there is a general tend-
ency, not to exaggerate the advantages of knowledge, —
for that is impossible, — but to misunderstand what that
is in which knowledge really consists. Real knowledge,
the knowledge on which all civilization is based, solely
consists in an acquaintance with the relations which,
things and ideas bear to each other and to themselves ;
in other words, in an acquaintance with physical and
mental laws. If the time should ever come when all
these laws are known, the circle of human knowledge
will then be complete ; and, in the interim, the value of
literature depends upon the extent to which it commu-
nicates either a knowledge of the laws, or the materials
by which the laws may be discovered. The business of
'education is to accelerate this great movement, and thus
increase the fitness and aptitude of men, by increasing
the resources which they possess. Towards this purpose,
literature, so far as it is auxiliary, is highly useful. But
to look upon an acquaintance with literature as one of
the objects of education, is to mistake the order of events,
and to make the end subservient to the means. It is
because this is done, that we often find what are called
highly educated men, the progress of whose knowledge
has been actually retarded by the activity of their edu-
cation. We often find them burdened by prejudices,
which their reading, instead of dissipating, has rendered
LITEEATUEE, AND GOVEENMENT. 269
more inveterate. 36 For literature, being the depository
of the thoughts of mankind, is full, not only of wisdom,
but also of absurdities. The benefit, therefore, which is
derived from literature, will depend, not so much upon
the literature itself, as upon the skill with which it is
studied, and the judgment with which it is selected.
These are the preliminary conditions of success ; and if
they are not obeyed, the number and the value of the
books in a country become a matter quite unimportant.
Even in an advanced stage of civilization, there is always
a tendency to prefer those parts of literature which
favour ancient prejudices, rather than those which oppose
them ; and in cases where this tendency is very strong,
the only effect of great learning will be, to supply the
materials which may corroborate old errors, and confirm
old superstitions. . In our time such instances are not
uncommon ; and we frequently meet with men whose
erudition ministers to their ignorance, and who the more
they read, the less they know. There have been states
of society in which this disposition was so general, that
literature has done far more harm than good. Thus,
A)T example, in the whole period from the sixth to the
tenth centuries, there were not in all Europe more than
three or four men who dared to think for themselves ;
and even they were obliged to veil their meaning in
obscure and mystical language. The remaining part of
society was, during these four centuries, sunk in the most
degrading ignorance. Under these circumstances, the
few who were able to read, confined their studies to
works which encouraged and strengthened their super-
stition, such as the legends of the saints, and the homilies
** Locke has noticed this If this profound writer were now
1 learned ignorance,' for which alive what a war he would wage
many men are remarkable. See against our great universities
a fine passage in the Essay on and public schools, where innu-
Human Understanding, book iii. merablo things are still taught
chap. x. in Locke's Works, vol. which no one is concerned to
ii. p. 27, and similar remarks understand, and which few will
in his Conduct of the Under' take the trouble to remember.
standiny, vol. ii. pp. 350, 364, Compare Condorcet, Vie de Tur-
865, and in his Thouyhts on got, pp. 255, 256 note.
Education, vohviii. pp. 84-87.
270 INFLUENCE OF BELIGION,
of the fathers. From these sources they drew those
lying and impudent fables, of which the theology of that
time is principally composed. 36 These miserable stories
were widely circulated, and were valued as solid and
important truths. The more the literature was read,
the more the stories were believed ; in other words, the
greater the learning, the greater the ignorance. 37 And
I entertain no doubt, that if, in the seventh and eighth
centuries, which were the worst part of that period, 38
all knowledge of the alphabet had for a while been lost,
so that men could no longer read the books in which
they delighted, the subsequent progress of Europe would
have been more rapid than it really was. For when the
progress began, its principal antagonist was that credu-
lity winch the literature had fostered. It was not that
better books were wanting, but it was that the rehsh
for such books was extinct. There was the literature
of Greece and Rome, which the monks not only pre-
served, but even occasionally looked into and copied.
But what could that avail such readers as they ? So
far from recognizing the merit of the ancient writers,
they were unable to feel even the beauties of their style,
and they trembled at the boldness of their inquiries.
At the first glimpse of the light, their eyes were blinded.
58 The statistics of this sort error in connexion with the doc-
of literature -would prove a cu- trine of probabilities, ' C'est a
rious subject for inquiry. No l'influence de l'opinion de ceux
one, I believe, has thought it que la multitude juge les plus
worth while to sum them up ; instruits, et a qui elle a coutume
but M. Gruizot has made an esti- de donner sa confiance sur les
mate that the Bollandist collec- plus importants objets de la vie,
tion contains more than twenty- qu'est due la propagation de ces
five thousand lives of saints ; ' a erreurs qui, dans les temps
en juger par approximation, ils d'ignorance, ont couvert la face
contiennent plus de 25,000 vies du monde.' Bouillaud, Philo-
de saints.' Gruizot, Histoire de sophie Medicate, p. 218.
la Civilisation en France, vol. ii. 3S M. Guizot ( Civilisation en
p. 32. It is said {LedwicKs An- France, vol. ii. pp. 171, 172)
tiquities of Ireland, p. 62) that of thinks that, on the whole, the
St. Patrick alone, there were sixty- seventh was even worse than the
six biographers before Joceline. eighth ; but it is difficult to
87 For, as Laplace observes, in choose between them,
his remarks on the sources of
LITEEATUEE, AND GOVEENMENT. 271
They never turned the leaves of a pagan author without
standing aghast at the risk they were running ; and
they were in constant fear, lest by imbibing any of his
opinions, they should involve themselves in a deadly
sin. The result was, that they willingly laid aside the
great master-pieces of antiquity ; and in their place
they substituted those wretched compilations, which
corrupted their taste, increased their credulity, strength-
ened their errors, and prolonged the ignorance of Eu-
rope, by embodying each separate superstition in a
written and accessible form, thus perpetuating its in-
fluence, and enabling it to enfeeble the understanding
even of a distant posterity.
It is in this way that the nature of the literature pos-
sessed by a people is of very inferior importance, in
comparison with the disposition of the people by whom
the literature is to be read. In what are rightly termed
the Dark Ages, there was a literature in which valuable
materials were to be found ; but there was no one who
knew how to use them. During a considerable period,
the Latin language was a vernacular dialect ; 39 and, if
men had chosen, they might have studied the great
Latin authors. But to do this, they must have been in
a state of society very different from that in which they
actually lived. They, like every other people, measured
merit by the standard commonly received in their own
age; and, according to their standard, the dross was
better than the gold. They, therefore, rejected- the
gold, and hoarded up the dross. What took place then
is, on a smaller scale, taking place now. Every litera-
ture contains something that is true, and much that is
false; and the effect it produces will chiefly depend
upon the skill with which the truth is discriminated
from the falsehood. New ideas, and new discoveries,
possess prospectively an importance difficult to exag-
" Some of the results of Latin 203. The remarks on this custom
being colloquially employed by by Dugald Stewart refer to a
the monks are judiciously stated later period. Stewart's Phifoso-
in Herder's Idem zur Gcschichte phy of the Mind, voL ill. pp.
der Menschhcit, vol. iv. pp. 202, 110, 111.
272 INFLUENCE OF EELIGION
gerate ; but until the ideas are received, and the dis-
coveries adopted, they exercise no influence, and, there-
fore, work no good. No literature can ever benefit a
people, unless it finds them in a state of prehminaiy
preparation. In this respect, the analogy with religious
opinions is complete. If the religion and the literature
of a country are unsuited to its wants, they will be use-
less, because the literature will be neglected, and the
religion will be disobeyed. In such cases, even the
ablest books are unread, and the purest doctrines de-
spised. The works fall into oblivion ; the faith is cor-
rupted by heresy.
The other opinion to which I have referred is, that
the civilization of Europe is chiefly owing to the ability
which has been displayed by the different governments,
and to the sagacity with which the evils of society have
been palliated by legislative remedies. To any one who
has studied history in its original sources, this notion
must appear so extravagant, as to make it difficult to
refute it with becoming gravity. Indeed, of all the
social theories which have ever been broached, there is
none so utterly untenable, and so unsound in all its
parts, as this. In the first place, we have the obvious
consideration, that the rulers of a country have, under
ordinary circumstances, always been the inhabitants of
that country; nurtured by its literature, bred to its
traditions, and imbibing its prejudices. Such men are,
at best, only the creatures of the age, never its creators.
Their measures are the result of social progress, not the
cause of it. This may be proved, not only by specula-
tive arguments, but also by a practical consideration,
which any reader of history can verify for himself. No
great political improvement, no great reform, either
legislative or executive, has ever been originated in any
country by its rulers. The first suggesters of such
steps have invariably been bold and able thinkers, who
discern the abuse, denounce it, and point out how it is
to be remedied. But long after this is done, even the
most enlightened governments continue to uphold the
abuse, and reject the remedy. At length, if circum-
stances are favourable, the pressure from without
LITEKATUBE, AND GOVERNMENT. 273
becomes so strong, that the government is obliged to
give way ; and, the reform being accomplished, the
people are expected to admire the wisdom of their
rulers, by whom all this has been done. That this
is the course of political improvement, must be well
known to whoever has studied the law-books of dif-
ferent countries in connexion with the previous progress
of their knowledge. Full and decisive evidence of this
will be brought forward in the present work ; but, by
way of illustration, I may refer to the abolition of the
corn-laws, undoubtedly one of the most remarkable
facts in the history of England during this century.
The propriety, and, indeed, the necessity, of their abo-
lition, is now admitted by every one of tolerable infor-
mation ; and the question arises, as to how it was
brought about. Those Englishmen who are little
versed in the history of their country will say, that
the real cause was the wisdom of Parliament ; while
others, attempting to look a little further, will ascribe
it to the activity of the Anti- Corn-Law League, and
the consequent pressure put upon Government. But
whoever will minutely trace the different stages
through which this great question successively passed,
will find, that the Government, the Legislature, and the
League, were the unwitting instruments of a power far
greater than all other powers put together. They were
simply the exponents of that march of public opinion,
which on this subject had begun nearly a century before
their time. The steps of this vast movement I shall
examine on another occasion ; at present it is enough
to say, that soon after the middle of the eighteenth
century, the absurdity of protective restrictions on
trade was so fully demonstrated by the poHtical econo-
mists, as to be admitted by every man who understood
their arguments, and had mastered the evidence con-
nected with them. From this moment, the repeal of
the corn-laws became a matter, not of party, nor of
expediency, but merely of knowledge. Those who
knew the facts, opposed the laws ; those who were
ignorant of the facts, favoured the laws. It was, there-
fore, clear, that whenever the diffusion of knowledge
vol,, i. T
274 INFLUENCE OP RELIGION,
reached a certain point, the laws must fall. The merit
of the League was, to assist this diffusion ; the merit of
the Parliament was, to yield to it. It is, however, cer-
tain, that the members both of League and Legislature
could at best only slightly hasten what the progress of
knowledge rendered inevitable. If they had lived a
century earlier, they would have been altogether power-
less, because the age would not have been ripe for their
labours. They were the creatures of a movement which
began long before any of them were born ; and the ut-
most they could do was, to put into operation what
others had taught, and repeat, in louder tones, the
lessons they had learned from their masters. For, it
was not pretended, they did not even pretend them-
selves, that there was anything new in the doctrines
which they preached from the hustings, and dissemi-
nated in every part of the kingdom. The discoveries
had long since been made, and were gradually doing
their work ; encroaching upon old errors, and making
proselytes in all directions. The reformers of our time
swam with the stream : they aided what it would have
been impossible long to resist. Nor is this to be deemed
a slight or grudging praise of the services they un-
doubtedly rendered. The opposition they had to en-
counter was still immense; and it should always be
remembered, as a proof of the backwardness of political
knowledge, and of the incompetence of political legisla-
tors, that although the principles of free trade had
been established for nearly a century by a chain of
arguments as solid as those on which the truths of
mathematics are based, they were to the last moment
strenuously resisted ; and it was only with the greatest
difficulty that Parliament was induced to grant what
the people were determined to have, and the necessity
of which had been proved by the ablest men during
three successive generations.
I have selected this instance as an illustration, be-
cause the facts connected with it are undisputed, and,
indeed, are fresh in the memory of us all. For it was
not concealed at the time, and posterity ought to know,
that this great measure, which, with the exception of
LITEEATUEE, AND GOVEENMENT. 275
the Reform Bill, is by far the most important ever
passed by a British parliament, was, like the Reform
Bill, extorted from the legislature by a pressure from
without ; that it was conceded, not cheerfully, but with
fear ; and that it was carried by statesmen who had
spent their lives in opposing what they now suddenly
advocated. Such was the history of these events ; and
such likewise has been the history of all those improve-
ments which are important enough to rank as epochs in
the history of modern legislation.
Besides this, there is another circumstance worthy
the attention of those writers who ascribe a large part
of European civilization to measures originated by
European governments. This is, that every great
reform which has been effected, has consisted, not in
doing something new, but in undoing something old.
The most valuable additions made to legislation have
been enactments destructive of preceding legislation ;
and the best laws which have been passed, have been
those by which some former laws were repealed. In
the case just mentioned, of the corn-laws, all that was
done was to repeal the old laws, and leave trade to its
natural freedom. When this great reform was accom-
plished, the only result was, to place things on the
same footing as if legislators had never interfered at
all. Precisely the same remark is applicable to another
leading improvement in modern legislation, namely, the
decrease of religious persecution. This is unquestion-
ably an immense boon ; though, unfortunately, it is still
imperfect, even in the most civilized countries. But it is
evident that the concession merely consists in this :
that legislators have retraced their own steps, and un-
done their own work. K we examine the policy of the
most humane and enlightened governments, we shall
find this to be the course they have pursued. The whole
scope and tendency of modern legislation is, to restore
things to that natural channel from which the igno-
rance of preceding legislation has driven them. This
is one of the great works of the present age; and
if legislators do it well, they will deserve the gra-
titude of mankind. But though we may thus bo
T 2
'276 INFLUENCE OP EELIGION,
grateful to individual lawgivers, we owe no thanks to
lawgivers, considered as a class. For since the most
valuable improvements in legislation are those which
subvert preceding legislation, it is clear that the
balance of good cannot be on their side. It is clear,
that the progress of civilization cannot be due to those
who, on the most important subjects, have done so
much harm, that their successors are considered bene-
factors, simply because they reverse their policy, and
thus restore affairs to the state in which they would
have remained, if politicians had allowed them to run
on in the course which the wants of society required.
Indeed, the extent to which the governing classes
have interfered, and the mischiefs which that inter-
ference has produced, are so remarkable, as to make
thoughtful men wonder how civilization could advance,
in the face of such repeated obstacles. In some of the
European countries, the obstacles have, in fact, proved
insuperable, and the national progress is thereby
stopped. Even in England, where, from causes which
I shall presently relate, the higher ranks have for some
centuries been less powerful than elsewhere, there has
been inflicted an amount of evil, which, though much
smaller than that incurred in other countries, is suffi-
ciently serious to form a melancholy chapter in the
history of the human mind. To sum up these evils
would be to write a history of English legislation ; for
it may be broadly stated, that, with the exception of
certain necessary enactments respecting the preserva-
tion of order, and the punishment of crime, nearly
everything which has been done, has been done amiss.
Thus, to take only such conspicuous facts as do not
admit of controversy, it is certain that all the most
important interests have been grievously damaged by
the attempts of legislators to aid them. Among the
accessories of modern civilization, there is none of
greater moment than trade, the spread of which has
probably done more than any other single agent to
increase the comfort and happiness of man. But every
European government which has legislated respecting
trade, has acted as if its main object were to suppress
LITEBATUBE, AND GOVEBNMENT. 277
the trade, and ruin the traders. Instead of leaving the
national industry to take its own course, it has been
troubled by an interminable series of regulations, all
intended for its good, and all inflicting serious harm.
To such a height has this been carried, that the com-
mercial reforms which have distinguished England
during the last twenty years, have solely consisted in
undoing this mischievous and intrusive legislation.
The laws formerly enacted on this subject, and too
many of which are still in force, are marvellous to con-
template. It is no exaggeration to say, that the history
of the commercial legislation of Europe presents every
possible contrivance for hampering the energies of
commerce. Indeed, a very high authority, who has
maturely studied this subject, has recently declared,
that if it had not been for smuggling, trade could not
have been conducted, but must have perished, in con-
sequence of this incessant interference. 40 However
paradoxical this assertion may appear, it will be denied
by no one who knows how feeble trade once was, and
how strong the obstacles were which opposed it. In
every quarter, and at every moment, the hand of
government was felt. Duties on importation, and
duties on exportation ; bounties to raise up a losing
trade, and taxes to pull down a remunerative one ; this
branch of industry forbidden, and that branch of in-
dustry encouraged ; one article of commerce must not
be grown, because it was grown in the colonies ; an-
other article might be grown and bought, but not sold
again, while a third article might be bought and sold,
but not leave the country. Then, too, we find laws to
regulate wages ; laws to regulate prices ; laws to regu-
late profits ; laws to regulate the interest of money ;
custom-house arrangements of the most vexatious
40 ' C'est a la controbande que rapprochait los distances, abais-
le commerce doit de n' avoir pas sait les prix, et noutralisait
peri sous l'influence du regime Taction funeste des monopoles.'
prohibitif ; tandis que ce regime Blanqui, Histoire de PEconomie,
condamnait les peuples a s'ap- Politique en Europe, Paris, 1846,
provisionner aux sources les vol. ii. pp. 25, 26.
plus eloignees, la contrebande
278 INFLUENCE OP RELIGION,
kind, aided by a complicated scheme, which was well
called the sliding-scale, — a scheme of such perverse
•ingenuity, that the duties constantly varied on the
same article, and no man could calculate beforehand
what he would have to pay. To this uncertainty, itself
the bane of all commerce, there was added a severity of
exaction, felt by every class of consumers and producers.
The tolls were so onerous, as to double and often quad-
ruple the cost of production. A system was organized,
and strictly enforced, of interference with markets,
interference with manufactories, interference with
machinery, interference even with shops. The towns
were guarded by excisemen, and the ports swarmed
with tide-waiters, whose sole business was to inspect
nearly every process of domestic industry, peer into
every package, and tax every article ; while, that ab-
surdity might be carried to its extreme height, a large
part of all this was by way of protection : that is to
say, the money was avowedly raised, and the incon-
venience suffered, not for the use of the government,
but for the benefit of the people ; in other words, the
industrious classes were robbed, in order that industry
might thrive.
Such are some of the benefits which European trade
owes to the paternal care of European legislators. But
worse still remains behind. For the economical evils,
great as they were, have been far surpassed by the
moral evils which this system produced. The first
inevitable consequence was, that, in every part of
Europe, there arose numerous and powerful gangs of
armed smugglers, who lived by disobeying the laws
which their ignorant rulers had imposed. These men,
desperate from the fear of punishment, 41 and accus-
41 The 19 Geo. II. c. 34, made France in 1786, says, that when
' all forcible acts of smuggling, any of the numerous smugglers
carried on in defiance of the were taken, ■ some of them are
laws, or even in disguise to hanged, some are broken upon the
evade them, felony without wheel, and some are burnt alive.'
benefit of clergy.' Blackstonds TownsencFs Spain, vol. i. p. 85,
Commentaries, vol. iv. p. 155. edit. 1792. On the general opera-
Townsend, who travelled through tion of the French laws against
LITERATURE, AND GOVERNMENT.
279
tomed to the commission of every crime, contaminated
the surrounding population ; introduced into peaceful
villages vices formerly unknown ; caused the ruin of
entire families ; spread, wherever they came, drunken-
ness, theft, and dissoluteness ; and familiarized their
associates with. those coarse and swinish debaucheries
which were the natural habits of so vagrant and lawless
a life. 42 The innumerable crimes arising from this,* 3
are directly chargeable upon the European governments
by whom they were provoked. The offences were
caused by the laws; and now that the laws are re-
pealed, the offences have disappeared. But *it will
hardly be pretended, that the interests of civilization
have been advanced by such a policy as this. It will
smugglers in the eighteenth cen-
tury, compare Tucker's Life of
Jefferson, vol. i. pp. 213, 214,
with Parliamentary History, vol.
ix. p. 1240.
42 In a work of considerable
ability, the following account is
given of the state of things in
England and France so late as
the year 1824 : • While this was
going forward on the English
coast, the smugglers on the
opposite shore were engaged,
with much more labour, risk,
and expense, in introducing
English woollens, by a vast
system of fraud and lying, into
the towns, past a series of
•custom-houses. In both coun-
tries, there was an utter disso-
luteness of morals connected
with these transactions. Cheat-
ing and lying were essential to
the whole system ; drunkenness
accompanied it ; contempt for all
law grew up under it; honest
industry perished beneath it;
and it was crowned with murder.'
Martinearis History of England
during Thirty Years' Peace, vol.
i. p. 341, 8vo. 1849.
43 For evidence of the extra-
ordinary extent to which smug-
gling was formerly carried, and
that not secretly, but by power-
ful bodies of armed men, see
Parliamentary History, voL ix.
pp. 243, 247, 1290, 1345, vol. x.
pp. 394, 405, 530, 532, vol. xi.
p. 935. And on the number of
persons engaged in it, compare
Tomline's Life of Pitt, vol. 1. p.
359 : see also Sinclair's History
of the Public Revenue, vol. iii. p.
232 ; Otter's Life of Clarke, vol.
i. p. 391. In France, the evil
was equally great. M. Lemon tey
says, that early in the eighteenth
century, 'la contrebande de-
venait une profession ouverte, et
des compagnies do cavalerie
deserterent tout entieres leurs
etendards pour suivre contre le
fisc cette guerre populaire.'
Lemontey, Essai sur CEtablisse-
ment monarchique de Ix>uis %IV,
p. 430. According to Townsend,
there were, in 1786, 'more than
1500 smugglers in the Pyrenees.'
Toumsend's Journey through
Spain, vol. i. p. 84.
280 INFLUENCE OF EELIGION",
hardly be pretended, that we owe much to a system.
which, having called into existence a new class of
criminals, at length retraces its steps ; and, though it
thus puts an end to the crime, only destroys what its
own acts had created.
It is unnecessary to say, that these remarks do not
affect the real services rendered to society by every
tolerably organized government. In all countries, a
power of punishing crime, and of framing laws, must
reside somewhere ; otherwise the nation is in a state of
anarchy. But the accusation which the historian is
bound to bring against every government which has
hitherto existed is, that it has overstepped its proper
functions, and, at each step, has done incalculable
harm. The love of exercising power has been found to
be so universal, that no class of men who have pos-
sessed authority have been able to avoid abusing it.
To maintain order, to prevent the strong from oppress-
ing the weak, and to adopt certain precautions respect-
ing the public health, are the only services which any
government can render to the interests of civilization.
That these are services of immense value, no one will
deny ; but it cannot be said, that by them civilization
is advanced, or the progress of Man accelerated. All
that is done is, to afford the opportunity of progress ;
the progress itself must depend upon other matters.
And that this is the sound view of legislation, is,
moreover, evident from the fact, that as knowledge is
becoming more diffused, and as an increasing experience
is enabling each successive generation better to under-
stand the complicated relations of life; just in the
same proportion are men insisting upon the repeal of
those protective laws, the enactment of which was
deemed by politicians to be the greatest triumph of
political foresight.
Seeing, therefore, that the efforts of government in
favour of civilization are, when most successful, alto-
gether negative ; and seeing too, that when those efforts
are more than negative, they become injurious, — it
clearly follows, that all speculations must be erroneoua
which ascribe the progress of Europe to the wisdom of
LITEBATUEE, AND GOVEENMENT. 281
its rulers. This is an inference which rests not only
on the arguments already adduced, but on facts which
might be multiplied from every page of history. For
no government having recognized its proper limits, the
result is, that every government has inflicted on its
subjects great injuries ; and has done this nearly always
with the best intentions. The effects of its protective
policy in injuring trade, and, what is far worse, in
increasing crime, have just been noticed ; and to these
instances, innumerable others might be added. Thus,
during many centuries, every government thought it
was its bounden duty to encourage religious truth, and
discourage religious error. The mischief this has pro-
duced is incalculable. Putting aside all other con-
siderations, it is enough to mention its two leading
consequences ; which are, the increase of hypocrisy,
and the increase of perjury. The increase of hypocrisy
is the inevitable result of connecting any description
of penalty with the profession of particular opinions.
Whatever may be the case with individuals, it is certain
that the majority of men find an extreme difficulty in
long resisting constant temptation. And when the
temptation comes to them in the shape of honour and
emolument, they are too often ready to profess the
dominant opinions, and abandon, not indeed their 'be-
lief, but the external marks by which that belief is
made public. Every man who takes this step is a
hypocrite ; and every government which encourages
this step to be taken, is an abettor of hyprocrisy and a
creator of hypocrites. Well, therefore, may we say,
that when a government holds out as a bait, that those
who profess certain opinions shall enjoy certain privi-
leges, it plays the part of the tempter of old, and, like
the Evil One, basely offers the good things of this
world to him who will change his worship and deny
his faith. At the same time, and as a part of this
system, the increase of perjury has accompanied the
increase of hypocrisy. For legislators, plainly seeing
that proselytes thus obtained could not be relied upon,
have met the danger by the most extraordinary pre-
cautions; and compelling men to confirm their belief
282 INFLUENCE OF RELIGION,
by repeated oaths, have thus sought to protect the old
creed against the new converts. It is this suspicion as
to the motives of others, which has given rise to oaths
of every kind and in every direction. In England,
even the boy at college is forced to swear about matters
which he cannot understand, and which far riper minds
are unable to master. If he afterwards goes into Par-
liament, he must again swear about his religion ; and
at nearly every stage of political life he must take fresh
oaths ; the solemnity of which is often strangely con-
trasted with the trivial functions to which they are the
prelude. A solemn adjuration of the Deity being thus
made at every turn, it has happened, as might have
been expected, that oaths, enjoined as a matter of
course, have at length degenerated into a matter of
form. What is lightly taken, is easily broken. And
the best observers of English society, — observers too
whose characters are very different, and who hold the
most opposite opinions, — are all agreed on this, that the
perjury habitually practised in England, and of which
government is the immediate creator, is so general,
that it has become a source of national corruption,
has diminished the value of human testimony, and
shaken the confidence which men naturally place in the
word of their fellow-creatures. 44
The open vices, and, what is much more dangerous,
44 Archbishop Whately says, Locke's Works, vol. iv. p. 6 ;
•what hardly any thinking man Berkeley's Works, vol. ii. p. 196;
will now deny, 'If oaths were Whiston's Memoirs, pp. 33, 411-
abolished — leaving the penalties 413 ; Hamilton's Discussions on
for false witness (no unimpor- Philosophy and Literature, pp.
tant part of our security) unal- 454, 522, 527, 528. Sir W.
tered — I am convinced that, on Hamilton sums up : ' But if the
the whole, testimony would be perjury of England stands pre-
more trustworthy than it is.' eminent in the world, the per-
Whately's Elements of Rhetoric, jury of the English Universities,
8vo. 1850, p. 47. See also on and of Oxford in particular,
the amount of perjury caused stands pre-eminent in England,'
by English legislation, Jeremy p. 528. Compare Priestley's Me~
Bentham's Works, edit. Bowring, moirs, vol. i. p. 374 and Baker's
vol. ii. p. 210, vol. v. pp. 191- Life of Sir Thomas Bernard,
229, 454-466, vol. vi. pp. 314, 1819, pp. 188, 189.
315; Orme' s Life of Owen, j>. 195;
LITERATURE, AND GOVERNMENT. 283
the hidden corruption, thus generated in the midst of
society by the ignorant interference of Christian rulers,
is indeed a painful subject ; but it is one which I could
not omit in an analysis of the causes of civilization. It
•would be easy to push the inquiry still further, and to
show how legislators, in every attempt they have made
to protect some particular interests, and uphold some
particular principles, have not only failed, but have
brought about results diametrically opposite to those
which they proposed. We have seen that their laws
in favour of industry have injured industry ; that their
laws in favour of religion have increased hypocrisy;
and that their laws to secure truth have encouraged
perjury. Exactly in the same way, nearly every country
has taken steps to prevent usury, and keep down the
interest of money ; and the invariable effect has been to
increase usury, and raise the interest of money. For,
since no prohibition, however stringent, can destroy
the natural relation between demand and supply, it has
followed, that when some men want to borrow, and
other men want to lend, both parties are sure to find
means of evading a law which interferes with their
mutual rights. 45 If the two parties were left to adjust
their own bargain undisturbed, the usury would depend
on the circumstances of the loan ; such as the amount
of security, and the chance of repayment. But this
natural arrangement has been complicated by the inter-
ference of government. 40 A certain risk being always
45 ' L' observation rigoureuse Alexander ordered that usurers
de cos loix seroit destructive de were not to bo buried : ' Quia
tout commerce; aussi no sont- in omnibus fere locis crimen
clles pas observees rigoureuse- usurarum invaluit; ut multi
ment.' Memoire sur les Prets negotiis pnetermissis quasi licite
(f Argent, sec. xiv., in (Euvres de usuras exorceant ; et qualiter
Turgot, vol. v. pp. 278, 279. utriusque testamenti pagina con-
Compare Iiicardo'a Works, pp. demnetur, non attendunt: ideo
178, 179, with Condorcet, Vie constituimus, ut usurarii mani-
de Turgot, pp. 53, 54, 228. festi nee ad communionem reci-
*• Aided by the church, piantur altaris, ncc Christianam,
Ecclesiastical councils contain si in hoc peccato decesserint,
numerous regulations against nccipiant sepulturam, sed nee
usury; and, in 1179, Popo oblationem eorum quisquam
284 INFLUENCE OF RELIGION,
incurred by those who disobey the law, the usurer,
very properly, refuses to lend his money unless he is
also compensated for the danger he is in from the
penalty hanging over him. This compensation can
only be made by the borrower, who is thus obliged to
pay what in reality is a double interest : one interest
for the natural risk on the loan, and another interest
for the extra risk from the law. Such, then, is the
position in which every European legislature has placed
itself. By enactments against usury, it has increased
what it wished to destroy ; it has passed laws, which
the imperative necessities of men compel them to violate :
while, to wind up the whole, the penalty for such viola-
tion falls on the borrowers ; that is, on the very class
in whose favour the legislators interfered. 47
In the same meddling spirit, and with the same mis-
taken notions of protection, the great Christian govern-
ments have done other things still more injurious. They
have made strenuous and repeated efforts to destroy the
liberty of the press, and prevent men from expressing
their sentiments on the most important questions in
politics and religion. In nearly every country, they,
with the aid of the church, have organized a vast system
of literary police ; the sole object of which is, to abro-
gate the undoubted right of every citizen to lay his
opinions before his fellow-citizens. In the very few
countries where they have stopped short of these ex-
treme steps, they have had recourse to others les&
violent, but equally unwarrantable. For even where
they have not openly forbidden the free dissemination
accipiat.' Rog. de Hoved. Annal. exhaustive a manner, that I
in Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores cannot do better than refer the
post Bedam, p. 335, Lond. 1596, reader to his admirable 'Letters.'
folio. In Spain, the Inquisition A part only of the question is
took cognizance of usury. See discussed, and that very im-
Llorente, Histoire de VInquisi- perfectly, in Reg's Science Sociale,
tion, vol. i. p. 339. Compare vol. iii. pp. 64, 65. On the
Ledwich's Antiquities of Ireland, necessity of usury to mitigate
p. 1 33. the effects of a commercial panic,.
47 The whole subject of the see MilFs Principles of Political
usury laws has been treated by Economy, vol. ii. p. 185.
Bentham in so complete and
LITEEATUEE, AND GOVEENMENT. 285
of knowledge, they have done all that they could to check
it. On all the implements of knowledge, and on all the
means by which it is diffused, such as paper, books,
political journals, and the like, they have imposed duties
so heavy, that they could hardly have done worse if
they had been the sworn advocates of popular igno-
rance. Indeed, looking at what they have actually
accomplished, it may be emphatically said, that they
have taxed the human mind. They have made the
very thoughts of men pay toll. Whoever wishes to
communicate his ideas to others, and thus do what he
can to increase the stock of our acquirements, must first
pour his contributions into the imperial exchequer.
That is the penalty inflicted on him for instructing his
fellow-creatures. That is the blackmail which govern-
ment extorts from literature ; and on receipt of which
it accords its favour,, and agrees to abstain from further
demands. And what causes all this to be the more in-
sufferable, is the use which is made of these and similar
exactions, wrung from every kind of industry, both
bodily and mental. It is truly a frightful consideration,
that knowledge is to be hindered, and that the proceeds
of honest labour, of patient thought, and sometimes of
profound genius, are to be diminished, in order that a
large part of their scanty earnings may go to swell the
pomp of an idle and ignorant court, minister to the
caprice of a few powerful individuals, and too often
supply them with the means of turning against the
people resources which the people called into existence.
These, and the foregoing statements, respecting the
effects produced on European society by political legis-
lation, are not doubtful or hypothetical inferences, but
are such as every reader of history may verify for him-
self. Indeed, some of them are still acting in England;
and, in one country or another, the whole of them may
be seen in full force. When put together, they compose
an aggregate so formidable, that we may well wonder
how, in the face of them, civilization has been able to
advance. That, under such circumstances, it has ad-
vanced, is a decisive proof of the extraordinary energy of
Man ; and justifies a confident belief, that as the pressure
286 INFLUENCE OF RELIGION,
of legislation is diminished, and the human mind less
hampered, the progress will continue with accelerated
speed. But it is absurd, it would be a mockery of all
sound reasoning, to ascribe to legislation any share in
the progress ; or to expect any benefit from future legis-
lators, except that sort of benefit which consists in un-
doing the work of their predecessors. This is what the
present generation claims at their hands ; and it should
be remembered that what one generation solicits as a
boon, the next generation demands as a right. And,
when the right is pertinaciously refused, one of two
things has always happened : either the nation has re-
trogaded, or else the people have risen. Should the
government remain firm, this is the cruel dilemma in
which men are placed. If they submit, they injure
their country ; if they rebel, they may injure it still
more. In the ancient monarchies of the East, their
usual plan was to yield ; in the monarchies of Europe,
it has been to resist. Hence those insurrections and
rebellions which occupy so large a space in modern
history, and which are but repetitions of the old story,
the undying struggle between oppressors and oppressed.
It would, however, be unjust to deny, that in one
country the fatal crisis has now for several generations
been successfully averted. In one European country,
and in one alone, the people have been so strong and
the government so weak, that the history of legislation,
taken as a whole, is, notwithstanding a few aberrations,
the history of slow, but constant concession : reforms
which would have been refused to argument, have been
yielded from fear ; while from the steady increase of
democratic opinions, protection after protection, and
privilege after privilege, have, even in our time, been
torn away ; until the old institutions, though they
retain their former name, have lost their former vigour,
and there no longer remains a doubt as to what their
fate must ultimately be. Nor need we add, that in this
same country, where, more than in any other of Europe,
legislators are the exponents and the servants of the
popular will, the progress has, on this account, been
more undeviating than elsewhere; there has been
LITEEATUEE, AND GOVEENMENT. 287
neither anarchy nor revolution ; and the world has been
made familiar with the great truth, that one main con-
dition of the prosperity of a people is, that its rulers shall
have very little power, that they shall exercise that
power very sparingly, and that they shall by no means
presume to raise themselves into supreme judges of the
national interests, or deem themselves authorized to
defeat the wishes of those for whose benefit alone they
occupy the post entrusted to them.
288
CHAPTER VX
OBIGIN OF HISTOEY, AND STATE OP HISTOEICAL LITEEATUEB
DUBING THE MIDDLE AGES.
I have now laid before the reader an examination of
those conspicuous circumstances to which the progress
of civilization is commonly ascribed ; and I have proved
that such circumstances, so far from being the cause
of civilization, are at best only its effects ; and that
although religion, literature, and legislation do, un-
doubtedly, modify the condition of mankind, they are
still more modified by it. Indeed, as we have clearly
seen, they, even in their most favourable position, can
be but secondary agents ; because, however beneficial
their apparent influence may be, they are themselves
the product of preceding changes, and their results will
vary according to the variations of the society on which
they work.
It is thus that, by each successive analysis, the field
of the present inquiry has been narrowed, until we have
found reason to believe that the growth of European
civilization is solely due to the progress of knowledge,
and that the progress of knowledge depends on the
number of truths which the human intellect discovers,
and on the extent to which they are diffused. In sup-
port of this proposition, I have, as yet, only brought for-
ward such general arguments as establish a very strong
probability ; which, to raise to a certainty, will require
an appeal to history in the widest sense of the term.
Thus to verify speculative conclusions by an exhaustive
enumeration of the most important particular facts, is
the task which I purpose to execute so far as my
powers will allow ; and in the preceding chapter I have
briefly stated the method according to which the in-
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE. 289
vestigation will be conducted. Besides this, it has
appeared to me that the principles which I have laid
down may also be tested by a mode of proceeding
which I have not yet mentioned, but which is inti-
mately connected with the subject now before us. This
is, to incorporate with an inquiry into the progress of
the history of Man, another inquiry into the progress of
History itself. By this means, great light will be
thrown on the movements of society ; since there must
always be a connexion between the way in which men
contemplate the past, and the way in which they con-
template the present ; both views being in fact dif-
ferent forms of the same habits of thought, and there-
fore presenting, in each age, a certain sympathy and
correspondence with each other. It will, moreover, bo
found, that such an inquiry into what I call the history
of history, will establish two leading facts of considera-
ble value. The first fact is, that during the last three
centuries, historians, taken as a class, have shown a
constantly increasing respect for the human intellect,
and an aversion for those innumerable contrivances by
which it was formerly shackled. The second fact is,
that during the same period, they have displayed a
growing tendency to neglect matters once deemed of
paramount importance, and have been more willing to
attend to subjects connected with the condition of the
people and the diffusion of knowledge. These two facts
will be decisively established in the present Introduc-
tion ; and it must be admitted, that their existence cor-
roborates the principles which I have propounded. If
it can be ascertained, that as society has improved, his-
torical literature has constantly tended in one given
direction, there arises a very strong probability in favour
of the truth of those views towards which it is mani-
festly approaching. Indeed, it is a probability of this
sort which makes it so important for the student of any
particular science to be acquainted with its history ;
because there is always a fair presumption that when
general knowledge is advancing, any single department
of it, if studied by competent men, is also advancing,
even when the results may have been so small as to
vol. I. u ,
290 ORIGIN OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
fcseem unworthy of attention. Hence it becomes highly
important to observe the way in which, during suc-
cessive ages, historians have shifted their ground ; since
we shall find that such changes have in the long-run
always pointed to the same quarter, and are, in reality,
only part of that vast movement by which the human
intellect, with infinite difficulty, has vindicated its own
rights, and slowly emancipated itself from those inve-
terate prejudices which long impeded its action.
With a view to these considerations, it seems advi-
sable that, when examining the different civilizations
into which the great countries of Europe have diverged,
I should also give an account of the way in which his-
tory has been commonly written in each country. In
the employment of this resource, I shall be mainly
guided by a desire to illustrate the intimate connexion
between the actual condition of a people and their
opinions respecting the past ; and, in order to keep this
connexion in sight, I shall treat the state of historical
literature, not as a separate subject, but as forming part
of the intellectual history of each nation. The present
volume will contain a view of the principal charac-
teristics of French civilization until the great Revolu-
tion ; and with that there will be incorporated an
account of the French historians, and of the remarkable
improvements they introduced into their own depart-
ments of knowledge. The relation which these im-
provements bore to the state of society from which they
proceeded, is very striking, and will be examined at
some length ; while, in the next volume, the civiliza-
tion and the historical literature of the other leading
countries will be treated in a similar manner. Before,
however, entering into these different subjects, it has
occurred to me, that a preliminary inquiry into the
origin of European history would be interesting, as
supplying information respecting matters which are
little known, and also as enabling the reader to under-
stand the extreme difficulty with which history has
reached its present advanced, but still very imperfect,
state. The materials for studying the earliest condition
of Europe have long since perished ; but the extensive
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE. 291
information we now possess concerning barbarous na-
tions will supply us with a useful resource, because
they have all much in common ; the opinions of extreme
ignorance being, indeed, every where the same, except
when modified by the differences which nature pre-
sents in various countries. I have, therefore, no hesi-
tation in employing the evidence which has been col-
lected by competent travellers, and drawing inferences
from it respecting that period of the European mind,
of which we have no direct knowledge. Such con-
clusions will, of course, be speculative ; but, during the
last thousand years, we are quite independent of them,
inasmuch as every great country has had chroniclers of
its own since the ninth century, while the French
have an uninterrupted series since the sixth century.
In the present chapter, I intend to give specimens of
the way in which, until the sixteenth century, history
was habitually written by the highest European autho-
rities. Its subsequent improvement during the seven-
teenth and eighteenth centuries, will be related under
the separate heads of the countries where the progress
was made ; and as history, previous to the improve-
ment, was little else than a tissue of the grossest
errors, I will, in the first place, examine the leading
causes of its universal corruption, and indicate the
steps by which it was so disfigured that, during several
centuries, Europe did not possess a single man who had
critically studied the past, or who was even able to
record with tolerable accuracy the events of his own
time.
At a very early period in the progress of a people,
and long before they are acquainted with the use of
letters, they feel the want of some resource, which in
peace may amuse their leisure, and in war may stimu-
late their courage. This is supplied to them by the
invention of ballads ; which form the groundwork of
all historical knowledge, and which, in one shape or
another, are found among some of the rudest tribes of
the earth. They are, for the most part, sung by a class
of men whose particular business it is thus to preserve
the stock of traditions. Indeed, so natural is this
292
ORIGIN OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
curiosity as to past events, that there are few nations
to whom these bards or minstrels are unknown. Thus,
to select a few instances, it is they who have pre-
served the popular traditions, not only of Europe, 1 but
also of China, Tibet, and Tartary; 2 likewise of India, 3 of
Scinde, 4 of Belochistan, 5 of Western Asia, 6 of the islands
1 For an account of the ancient
bards of Gaul, see the Benedictine
Hist. Lit. de la France, vol. i. part
i. pp. 25-28. Those of Scotland
are noticed in Barry's Hist, of
the Orkney Islands, p. 89 ; and
for a modern instance in the
island of Col, near Mull, see
Otters Life of Clarke, vol. i. p.
307. As to the Irish bards
in the seventh century, see
Sharon Turner's Hist, of Eng-
land, vol. iii. p. 571. Spenser's
account of them in the sixteenth
century (Somers Tracts, vol. i.
pp. 590, 591) shows that the order
was then falling into contempt;
and in the seventeenth century
this is confirmed by Sir William
Temple ; Essay on Poetry, in
Temple's Works, vol. iii. pp. 431,
432. But it was not till the
eighteenth century that they
became extinct; for Mr. Prior
(Life of Goldsmith, vol. i. pp. 36,
87) says, that Carolan, 'the last
of the ancient Irish bards,' died
in 1738. Without them the
memory of many events would
have been entirely lost; since,
even at the end of ' the seven-
teenth century, there being no
registers in Ireland, the ordinary
means of recording facts were so
little known, that parents often
took the precaution of having
the names and ages of children
marked on their arms with gun-
powder. See Kirkman's Memoirs
of Charles Macklin, 8vo. 1799,
vol. i. pp. 144, 145, a curious
book. Compare, respecting Ca-
rolan, Nichols's Illustrations of
the Eighteenth Century, vol. vii.
pp. 688-694.
2 On these Toolholos, as they
are called, see Hue's Travels in
Tartary, Thibet, and China, vol.
i. pp. 65-67. Hue says, p. 67,
'These poet-singers, who remind
us of the minstrels and rhap-
sodists of Greece, are also very
numerous in China; but they
are, probably, no whero so
numerous or so popular as in
Thibet.'
3 On the bards of the Deccan,
see Wilks's History of the South
of India, 4to. 1810, vol. i. pp. 20,
21, and Tr ansae, of the Bombay
Soc. vol. i. p. 162. For those of
other parts of India, see Heber's
Journey, vol. ii. pp. 452-455 ;
Burnes on the North-west Fron-
tier of India, in Journal of Geog.
Soc. vol. iv. pp. 1 10, 1 1 1 ; Prinsep,
in Journal of Asiat. Soc. vol. viii.
p. 395; Forbes' s Oriental Memoirs,
vol. i. pp. 376, 377, 543; and
Asiatic Researches, vol. ix. p. 78.
They are mentioned in the oldest
Veda, which is also the oldest of
all the Indian books. See Big
Veda Sanhita, vol. i. p. 158.
4 See Burton's Sindh, p. 56,
8vo. 1851.
5 Burton's Sindh, p. 59.
e Burnes's Trawls into Bok-
hara, 8vo. 1834, vol. ii. pp. 107,
115, 116.
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
298
of the Black Sea, 7 of Egypt, 8 of Western Africa, 9 of North
America, 10 of South America, 11 and of the islands in the
Pacific. 12
In all these countries, letters were long unknown; and,
as a people in that state have no means of perpetuating
their history except by oral tradition, they select the
form best calculated to assist their memory; and it will,
I believe, be found that the first rudiments of knowledge
consist always of poetry, and often of rhyme. 13 The
jingle pleases the ear of the barbarian, and affords a
security that he will hand it down to his children in
the unimpaired state in which he received it. 14 This
7 Clarke's Travels, 8vo. 1816,
vol. ii. p. 101.
8 Compare Wilkinson' s Ancient
Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 304, with
Bunsen's Egypt, vol. i. p. 96,
vol. ii. p. 92.
9 I have mislaid my note on
the hards of Western Africa, and
can only refer to a hasty notice
in Mungo Park's Travels, vol. i.
p. 70. 8vo. 1817.
10 Buchanan' 8 Sketches of the
North- American Indians, p. 337.
11 Prescotts History of Peru,
vol. i. pp. 31, 32, 117.
12 Ellis, Polynesian Besearclies,
vol. i. pp. 85, 199, All; Ellis, Tour
through Hawaii, p. 91. Compare
Cook's Voyages, vol. v. p. 237,
with Beeclmja Voyage to the
Pacific, vol. ii. p. 106. Some of
the»e ballads have been collected,
but, I believe, not published.
See Cheever's Sandwich Islands,
8vo. 1851, p. 181.
13 It is a singular proof of the
carelessness with which the his-
tory of barbarous nations has
boon studied, that authors con-
stantly assert rhyme to be a
comparatively recent contrivance ;
and even Pinkerton, writing to
Laing in 1799, says, 'Rhyme
was not known in Earop*
till about the ninth century.'
Pinkerton's Literary Correspon-
dence, vol. ii. p. 92. The truth
is, that rhyme was not only
known to the ancient Greeks and
Romans, but was used, long
before the date Pinkerton men-
tions, by the Anglo-Saxons, by
the Irish, by the Welsh, and, I
believe, by the Bretons. See
Mure' s Hist, of the Literature of
Greece, vol. ii. p. 113; Hallam's
Lit. of Europe, vol. i. p. 31 ;
VUlemarqui, Chants Popidaires
de la Bretagne, vol. i pp. lviii.
lix. compared with Smivcstre, les
Berniers Bretons, p. 143; Turner's
Hist, of England, vol. iii. pp. 383.
643, vol. vii. pp. 324, 328, 330.
Rhyme is also used by the
Pantecs (Bowdich, Mission to
AshanUe, p. 358); by the Per-
sians (Transac. of Bombay Sov.
vol. ii. p. 82); by the Chinese
(Transac. of Asiatic Soc. vol. ii.
pp. 407, 409, and Bavis's Chinese,
vol. ii. p. 269) ; by the Malays
(Asiatic Researches, vol. x. pp.
176, 196); by the Javanese
(CrawfuriTs Hist, of the Indian
Archipelago, vol. ii. pp. 19, 20);
and by the Siamese (Transac. of
Asiatic Soc. vol. iii. p. 299).
•The habit thus acquired,
294
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
guarantee against error increases still further the value of
these ballad.3 ; and instead of being considered as a mere
amusement, they rise to the dignity of judicial authori-
ties. 15 The allusions contained in them, are satisfactory
proofs to decide the merits of rival families, or even to
fix the limits of those rude estates which such a society
can possess. We therefore find, that the professed re-
citers and composers of these songs are the recognized
judges in all disputed matters ; and as they are often
priests, and believed to be inspired, it is probably in this
way that the notion of the divine origin of poetry first
arose. 16 These ballads will, of course, vary, according to
long survives the circumstances
which made it necessary. During
many centuries, the love of versi-
fication was so widely diffused,
that works in rhyme were com-
posed on nearly all subjects, even
in Europe ; and this practice,
which marks the ascendency of
the imagination, is, as I have
shown, a characteristic of the
great Indian civilization, where
the understanding was always
in abeyance. On early French
historians who wrote in rhyme,
see Monteil,Hist. des divers Etats,
vol. vi. p. 147. Montucla (Hist,
des Mathemat. vol. i. p. 506)
mentions a mathematical treatise,
written in the thirteenth century,
•eft vers techniques.' Compare
the remarks of Matter (Hist, de
FEcole cFAlexandrie, vol. ii. pp.
179-183) on the scientific poetry
ofAratus; and on that of Bygin,
p. 250. Thus, too, we find an
Anglo-Norman writing ' the In-
stitutes of Justinian in verse;'
Turner's Hist, of England, vol.
vii. p. 307: and a Polish his-
torian composing ' his numerous
works on genealogy and heraldry
mostly in rhyme.' Talvis Lan-
guage and Literature of the Slavic
Rations, 8vo. 1850, p. 246.
Compare Origines du Droit
Francois, in (Euvresde Michelet,
vol. ii. p. 310.
15 Mr. Ellis, a missionary in
the South-Sea Islands, says of
the inhabitants, 'Their tradi-
tionary ballads were a kind of
standard, or classical authority,
to which they referred for the
purpose of determining any dis-
puted fact in their history.' And
when doubts arose, 'as they had
no records to which they could
at such times refer, they could
only oppose one oral tradition to
another ; which unavoidably in-
volved the parties in protracted,
and often obstinate debates.'
Ellis, Polynesian Researches, voL
i. pp. 202, 203. Compare Elphin-
stone's Hist, of India, p. 66;
Laincfs Heimskringla, 8vo. 1844,
vol. i. pp. 50, 51 ; TwelVs Life
of Pocock, edit. 1816, p. 143.
16 The inspiration of poetry is
sometimes explained by its spon-
taneousness (Cousin, Hist, de la
Philosophie, II" serie, vol. i. pp.
135, 136); and there can be no
doubt that one cause of the
reverence felt for great poets, is
the necessity they seem to ex-
perience of pouring out their
thoughts without reference to
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
295
the customs and temperaments of the different nations,
and according to the climate to which they are accus-
tomed. In the south they assume a passionate and volup-
tuous form ; in the north they are rather remarkable for
their tragic and warlike character. 17 But, notwithstand-
ing these diversities, all such productions have one feature
in common. They are not only founded on truth, but
making allowance for the colourings of poetry, they are
all strictly true. Men who are constantly repeating songs
which they constantly hear, and who appeal to the autho-
rized singers of them as final umpires in disputed ques-
tions, are not likely to be mistaken on matters, in the
accuracy of which they have so lively an interest. 18
This is the earliest, and most simple, of the various
stages through which history is obliged to pass. But,
their own wishes. Still, it will,
I believe, be found, that the no-
tion of poetry being a divine art
is most rife in those states of
society in which knowledge is
monopolised by the bards, and
in which the bards are both
priests and historians. On this
combination of pursuits, com-
pare a note in Malcolm 's Hist, of
Persia, vol. i. p. 90, with Mure's
Hist, of the Lit. of Greece, vol. i.
p. 148, vol. ii. p. 228, and
Petrie's learned work, Ecclesias-
tical Architecture of Ireland,
Dublin, 1845, p. 354. For evi-
dence of the great respect paid
to bards, see Mallets North-
ern Antiquities, pp. 234-236;
Wfieatoris Hist, of the North-
men, pp. 60, 51 ; Wright '« Biog.
Brit. Lit. vol. i. p. 3 ; Warton's
Hist, of English Poetry, 1840
vol. i. pp. xxvi. xl. ; Grate's Hist
of Greece, vol. ii. p. 182, 1st
edit ; and on their important
duties, see the laws of Mcclmund,
Viliemarque, Chants Populaires
de la Bretagne, 1846, vol. i. pp.
V. and vi. ; ThirlwaWs Hist, of
Greece, vol. i. p. 229 ; and Ori-
gines du Broit, in (Euvres de
Michelet, vol. ii. p. 372.
17 Viliemarque, Chants Popu-
laires, vol. i. p. lv.
18 As to the general accuracy
of the early ballads, which has
been rashly attacked by several
writers, and among others by Sir
Walter Scott, see Viliemarque,
Chants Popvlaires,Yo\. i. pp. xxv.-
xxxi., and Talvis Slavic Nations,
p. 150. On the tenacity of oral
tradition, compare Niebuhr's His-
tory of Borne, 1847, vol. i. p.
230, with Laing's Denmark, pp.
197, 198, 350 ; Wheaton's Hist, of
the Northmen, pp. 38, 39, 57-59.
Another curious illustration of
this is, that several barbarous
nations continue to repeat the
old traditions in the old words,
for so many generations, that at
length the very language becomes
unintelligible to the majority
of those who recite them. See
Mdrimrs Account of the Tonga
Islands, voL i. p. 156, vol. ii.
p. 217, and Catlin's North-
American Indiana, vol. i. p. 126.
296 ORIGIN OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
in the course of time, unless unfavourable circumstances
intervene, society advances, and, among other changes,
there is one in particular of the greatest importance : I
mean the introduction of the art of writing, which, be-
fore many generations are passed, must effect a complete
alteration in the character of the national traditions.
The manner in which this occurs has, so far as I am
aware, never been pointed out ; and it will, therefore, be
interesting to attempt to trace some of its details.
The first, and perhaps the most obvious consideration,
is that the introduction of the art of writing gives per-
manence to the national knowledge, and thus lessens the
utility of that oral information, in which all the acquire-
ments of an unlettered people must be contained. Hence
it is, that as a country advances, the influence of tradi-
tion diminishes, and traditions themselves become less
trustworthy. 19 Besides this, the preservers of these
traditions lose, in this stage of society, much of their
former reputation. Among a perfectly unlettered people,
the singers of ballads are, as we have already seen, the
sole depositories of those historical facts on which the
fame, and often the property, of their chieftains princi-
pally depend. But, when this same nation becomes
acquainted with the art of writing, it grows an willing
to intrust these matters to the memory of itinerant
singers, and avails itself of its new art to preserve them
in a fixed and material form. As soon as this is effected,
the importance of those who repeat the national tradi-
tions is sensibly diminished. They gradually sink into
an inferior class, which, having lost its old reputation,
no longer consists of those superior men to whose abili-
ties it owed its former fame. 20 Thus we see, that
although, without letters, there can be no knowledge of
much importance, it is nevertheless true, that their intro-
19 That the invention of letters 20 This inevitable decline m
would at first weaken the me- the ability of the bards is no-
mory, is noticed in Plato's Phae- ticed, though, as it appears to
drus, chap. 1 35 (P/atonis Opera, me, from a •wrong point of view,
vol. i. p. 187, edit. Bekker, Lond. in Mure's Liter at. of Greece,
1826) ; where, however, theargu- vol. ii. p. 230.
nient is pushed rather too far.
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE. 297
duction is injurious to historical traditions in two distinct
ways : first by weakening the traditions, and secondly
by weakening the class of men whose occupation it is to
preserve them.
But this is not all. Not only does the art of writing
lessen the number of traditionary truths, but it directly
encourages the propagation of falsehoods. This is
effected by what may be termed a principle of accumu-
lation, to which all systems of belief have been deeply
indebted. In ancient times, for example, the name of
Hercules, was given to several of those great public
robbers who scourged mankind, and who, if their
crimes were successful, as well as enormous, were sure
after their death to be worshipped as heroes. 21 How
this appellation originated is uncertain ; but it was
probably bestowed at first on a single man, and after-
wards on those who resembled him in the character of
their achievements. 22 This mode of extending the use
of a single name is natural to a barbarous people ; 23
and would cause little or no confusion, as long as the
traditions of the country remained local and uncon-
nected. But as soon as these traditions became fixed
by a written language, the collectors of them, deceived
by the similarity of name, assembled the scattered
facts, and, ascribing to a single man these accumulated
11 Varro mentions forty-four Hercules by the Dorians, see
of these vagabonds, who were all ThirlwalVs Hist, of Greece, vol.
called Hercules. See a learned i. p. 257 ; and compare p. 130.
article in Smith's Biog. and My- " This appears to be the
thology, vol. ii. p. 401, 8vo. opinion of Frederick Schlegel ;
1 846. See also Mackarfs Rcli- Sch/egiFs Lectures on the History
gious Development of the Greeks of Literature, Edinb. 1818, voL L
and Hebrews, vol. ii. pp. 71-79. p. 260.
On the relation between Her- n The habit of generalizing
cules and Melcarth, compare names precedes that more ad-
Matter, Hist, du Gnosticisme, vnnced state of society in which
vol. i. p. 267, with Hetrm's men generalize phenomena. If
Asiatic Nations, vol. i. p. 295, this proposition is universally
8vo. 1846. And as to the Her- true, which I take it to be, it
cules of Egypt, Prichard's Ana- will throw some light on the
lysu of Egyptian Mythology, history of disputes between the
1838, pp. 109, 115-119. As to nominalists and the realists,
the confusion of the different
298 ORIGIN OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
exploits, degraded history to the level of a miraculous
mythology. 24 In the same way, soon after the use of
letters was known in the North of Europe, there was
drawn up by Saxo Grammaticus the life of the cele-
brated Ragnar Lodbrok. Either from accident or
design, this great warrior of Scandinavia, who had
taught England to tremble, had received the same
name as another Ragnar, who was prince of Jutland
about a hundred years earlier. This coincidence would
have caused no confusion, as long as each district pre-
served a distinct and independent account of its own
Ragnar. But, by possessing the resource of writing,
men became able to consolidate the separate trains of
events, and, as it were, fuse two truths into one error.
And this was what actually happened. The credulous-
Saxo put together the different exploits of both Rag-
nars, and, ascribing the whole of them to his favourite
hero, has involved in obscurity one of the most inte-
resting parts of the early history of Europe. 25
The annals of the North afford another curious in-
stance of this source of error. A tribe of Einns, called
Quasns, occupied a considerable part of the eastern
coast of "the Grulf of Bothnia. Their country was known
as Quaenland ; and this name gave rise to a belief that,
to the north of the Baltic, there was a nation of Ama-
zons. This would easily have been corrected by local
knowledge ; but, by the use of writing, the flying
rumour was at once fixed ; and the existence of such a
34 We may form an idea of Ragnar Lodbrok, see Geijer's
the fertility of this source of History of Sweden, part i. pp.
error from the fact, that in Egypt 13, 14 ; Lappenberg's Anglo-
there were fifty-three cities bear- Saxon Kings, vol. ii. p. 31 ;
ing the same name : ' L'auteur Wheatoris Hist, of the Northmen,
du Kamous nous apprend qu'il p. 150; Mallets Northern Anti-
y a en Egypte cinquante-trois quities, p. 383 ; Crichton's Scan-
villes du nom de Schobra : en dinavia, vol. i. p. 116. A com-
effet, j'ai retrouve tous ces noms parison of these passages "will
dans les deux denombremens justify the sarcastic remark of
deja cites.' Quatremere, Becker- Koch on the history of Swedish
ches sur la Langice et la Littera- andDanish heroes ; Koch, Tableau
ture de I 'Egypte, p. 199. dcs Bevolutions, vol. i. p. 57
24 On this confusion respecting note.
OEIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITEEATUEE. 299
people is positively affirmed in some of the earliest
European histories. 26 Thus, too, Abo, the ancient
capital of Finland, was called Turku, which, in the
Swedish language, means a market-place. Adam of
Bremen, having occasion to treat of the countries ad-
joining the Baltic, 27 was so misled by the word Turku,
that this celebrated historian assures his readers that
there were Turks in Finland. 28
To these illustrations many others might be added,
showing how mere names deceived the early histo-
rians, and gave rise to relations which were entirely
false, and might have been rectified on the spot ; but
which, owing to the art of writing, were carried into
distant countries, and thus placed beyond the reach of
contradiction. Of such cases, one more may be men-
tioned, as it concerns the history of England. Richard I.,
the most barbarous of our princes, was known to his
contemporaries as the Lion ; an appellation conferred
upon him on account of his fearlessness, and the fero-
city of his temper. 29 Hence it was said that he had
28 Prichard's Physical Hist, of M ' It was called in Finnish
Mankind, vol. iii. p. 273. The Turku, from the Swedish word
Norwegians still give to the Fin- torg, which signifies a market-
landers the name of Quaener. place. The sound of this name
See Dillon's Lapland and Iceland, misled Adam of Bremen into
8vo. 1840, vol. ii. p. 221. Com- the belief that there were Turks
pare Laing's Sweden, pp. 45, 47. in Finland.' Coolei/s Hist, of
The Amazon river in South Maritime and Inland Discovery,
America owes its name to a London, 1830, vol. i. p. 211.
similar fable. Henderson's Hist. ■ The chronicler of his crusade
of Brazil, p. 453 ; Southej/s Hist, says, that he was called Lion on
of Brazil, vol. i. p. 112; M'Cul- account of his never pardoning
loh's Researches concerning Artie- an offence : ' Nihil injuriarum
rica, pp. 407, 408 ; and Journal r«liquit inultum : unde et unus
of Gcog. Soc. vol. xv. p. 65, for (i.e. the King of France) dictus
an account of the wide diffusion est Agnus a Griffonibus, alter
of this error. Leonis nomeu aoespit.' Chroni-
27 Sharon Turner (Hist, of con Iticardi Diwsiensis de Rebus
England, vol. iv. p. 30) calls him gestis Ricardi Primi, edit. Ste-
' the Strabo of the Baltic ; ' and ronton, Lond. 1838, p. 18. Some
it was from him that most of the of the Egyptian kings received
geographers in the Middle Ages the name of Lion ' from their
derived their knowledge of the heroic exploits.' Vt/se on the
North. I'yi-tintids,\<j\. iii. p. 11(1.
300 ORIGIN Or HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
the heart of a lion ; and the title Coeur de Lion not
only became indissolubly connected with his name, but
actually gave rise to a story, repeated by innumerable
writers, according to which he slew a lion in single
combat. 30 I The name gave rise to the story ; the story
confirmed the name ; and another fiction was added to
that long series of falsehoods of which history mainly
consisted during the Middle Ages.
The corruptions of history, thus naturally brought
about by the mere introduction of letters, were, in
Europe, aided by an additional cause. With the art
of writing, there was, in most cases, also communicated
a knowledge of Christianity ; and the new religion
not only destroyed many of the Pagan traditions, but
falsified the remainder, by amalgamating them with
monastic legends. The extent to which this was car-
ried would form a curious subject for inquiry ; but one
or two instances of it will perhaps be sufficient to satisfy
the generality of readers.
Of the earliest state of the great Northern nations
we have little positive evidence ; but several of the lays
in which the Scandinavian poets related the feats of
their ancestors, or of their contemporaries, are still
preserved ; and, notwithstanding their subsequent cor-
ruption, it is admitted by the most competent judges
that they embody real and historical events. But in
the ninth and tenth centuries, Christian missionaries
found their way across the Baltic, and introduced a
knowledge of their religion among the inhabitants of
Northern Europe. 31 Scarcely was this effected, when
30 See Price's learned Preface History of Greece, vol. vi. p. 305)
to WartorCs History of English were equally fabulous.
Poetry, toI. i. p. 21 ; and on the S1 The first missionary was
similar story of Henry the Lion, Ebbo, about the year 822. .He
Bee Maury, Lkgendes du Moyen was followed by Anschar, who
Age, p. 160. Compare the ac- afterwards pushed his enterprise
count of Duke Godfrey's conflict as far as Sweden. The progress
with a bear, in Matthai Paris was, however, slow; and it was
Historia Major, p. 29, Lond. not till the latter half of the
1684, folio. I should not be 11th century that Christianity
surprised if the story of Alex- was established firmly in the
ander and the Lion ( Tliirl-waWs North. See Neander's Hist, of
ORIGIN OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE. 301
the sources of history began to be poisoned. At the
end of the eleventh century, Saemund Sigfussen, a
Christian priest, gathered the popular, and hitherto
unwritten, histories of the North into what is called
the Elder Edda ; and he was satisfied with adding to
his compilation the corrective of a Christian hymn. 32
A hundred years later, there was made another collec-
tion of the native histories ; but the principle which I
have mentioned, having had a longer time to operate,
now displayed its effects still more clearly. In this
second collection, which is known by the name of the
Younger Edda, there is an agreeable mixture of Creek,
Jewish, and Christian fables ; and, for the first time in
the Scandinavian annals, we meet with the widely
diffused fiction of a Trojan descent. 33
If, by way of further illustration, we turn to other
parts of the world, we shall find a series of facts con-
firming this view. We shall find that, in those countries
where there has been no change of religion, history is
more trustworthy and connected than in those countries
where such a change has taken place. In India, Brah-
manism, which is still supreme, was established at so
early a period, that its origin is lost in the remotest
antiquity. 34 The consequence is, that the native annals
the Church, vol. v. pp. 373, 374, tendency ; so as thereby to con-
379, 380, 400-402 ; Mosheim's secrate and leaven, as it were,
Eccles. Hist. vol. i. pp. 188, 215, the whole mass of Paganism.'
216; Barry's Hist, of the Orkney ss Wheaton's Hist, of the
Islands, p. 125. It is often sup- Northmen, pp. 89, 90 ; Mallets
posed that some of the Danes in Northern Antiquities, pp. 377,
Ireland were Christians as early 378, 485 ; SehlegeVs Lectures on
as the reign of Ivar I. ; but this the History of Literature, vol. i.
is a mistake, into which Ledwich p. 265. Indeed, these interpo-
fell by relying on a coin, which lations are so numerous, that
in reality refers to Ivar II. the earlier German antiquaries
Petrie' 8 Ecclesiastical Architecture believed the Edda to be a for-
of Ireland, p. 225 ; and Ledwich's gery by the northern monks, — a
Antiquities of Ireland, p. 159. paradox which Muller refuted
** Mr. Wheaton (History of more than forty years ago. Note
Northmen, p. 60) says, that Sae- in Wheaton, p. 61. Compare Pal~
mund 'merely added one song grave's English Commonwealth,
of his own composition, of a Anglo-Saxon Period, vol. i.p. 135.
moral and Christian religious * 4 As is evident from the con-
302 ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
have never been corrupted by any new superstition ;
and the Hindus are possessed of historic traditions
more ancient than can be found among any other Asiatic
people. 35 In the same way, the Chinese have for up-
wards of 2000 years preserved the religion of Fo, which
is a form of Buddhism. 36 In China, therefore, though
the civilization has never been equal to that of India,
there is a history, not, indeed, as old as the natives
would wish us to believe, but still stretching back to
several centuries before the Christian era, from whence
it has been brought down to our own times in an unin-
terrupted succession. 37 On the other hand, the Persians,
flicting statements made by the
best orientalists, each of whom
has some favourite hypothesis of
his own respecting its origin. It
is enough to say, that we have
no account of India existing
without Brahmanism ; and as to
its real history, nothing can be
understood, until more steps have
been taken towards generalizing
the laws which regulate the
growth of religious opinions.
35 Dr. Prichard (Physical Hist,
of Mankind, vol. iv. pp. 101—
105) thinks that the Hindus
have a history beginning B.C.
1391. Compare Works of Sir
W. Jones, vol. i. pp. 311, 312.
Mr. Wilson says, that even the
genealogies in the Puranas are,
'in all probability, much more
authentic than has been some-
times supposed.' Wilson's note
in MilVs Hist, of India, vol. i.
pp. 161, 162. See also his pre-
face to the Vishnu Purana, p.
Ixv. ; and Asiatic Bescarches,
voL v. p. 244.
36 Journal of Asiatic Soc.
voL vi. p. 251 ; Herder, Ideen
zur Geschichte, vol. iv. p. 70 ;
Works of Sir W. Jones, vol.).
p. 104. I learn from a note in
Erman's Siberia, vol. ii. p. 306,
that one of the missionaries
gravely suggests that ' Buddhism
originated in the errors of the
Manichseans, and is therefore
but an imitation of Christi-
anity.'
37 M. Bunsen says, that the
Chinese have ' a regular chrono-
logy, extending back 3000 years
b.c' Bunsen's Egypt, vol. i.
p. 240. See also Humlwldt's
Cosmos, vol. ii. p. 475, vol. iv.
p. 455; Benouard, Hist, de la
Medecine, vol. i. pp. 47, 48 ; and
the statements of Klaproth and
R6musat, in Prichard 's Physical
Hist. vol. iv. pp. 476, 477. The
superior exactness of the Chi-
nese annals is sometimes as-
cribed to their early knowledge
of printing, with which they
claim to have been acquainted
in B.C. 1100. Meidinger's Essay,
in Journal of Statistical Society,
vol. iii. p. 163. But the fact is,
that printing was unknown in
China till the ninth or tenth
century after Christ, and move-
able types were not invented
before 1041. Humboldt 's Cos-
mos, vol. ii. p. 623 ; Transac.
of Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 7 ;
ORIGIN OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
303
whose intellectual development was certainly superior
to that of the Chinese, are nevertheless without any-
authentic information respecting the early transactions
of their ancient monarchy. 38 For this I can see no
possible reason, except the fact, that Persia, soon after
the promulgation of the Koran, was conquered by the
Mohammedans, who completely subverted the Parsee
religion, and thus interrupted the stream of the national
traditions. 39 Hence it is that, putting aside the myths
of the Zendavesta, we have no native authorities for
Persian history of any value, until the appearance, in
the eleventh century, of the Shah Nameh ; in which,
however, Ferdousi has mingled the miraculous relations
of those two religions by which his country had been
successively subjected. 40 The result is, that if it were
Journal Asiatique, vol. i. p. 137,
Paris, 1822 ; Davids Chinese,
vol. i. pp. 174, 178, vol. iii. p. 1.
There are some interesting pa-
pers on the early history of
China in Journal of Asiat. Soc.
vol. i. pp. 57-86, 213-222, vol. ii.
pp. 166-171, 276-287.
88 ' From the death of Alex-
ander (323 b.c.) to the reign of
Ardeshir Babegan (Artaxerxes),
the founder of the Sassanian
dynasty (200 a.d.), a period of
more than five centuries, is
almost a blank in the Persian
history.' Troyer's Preliminary
Discourse to the Dahistan, 8vo.
1843, vol. i. pp. lv. lvi. See to
the same effect Erskine on the
Zend-Avesta, in Transac. of Soc.
of Bombay, voL ii. pp. 303-305 ;
and Malcohn's Hist, of Persia,
vol. i. p. 68. The ancient Per-
sian traditions are said to have
been Pehlvi; Malcolm, vol. i.
pp. 501-605; but if so, they have
all perished, p. 555: compare
Rawlinson's note in Journal of
Geog. Soc. vol. x. p. 82.
" On the antagonism between
Mohammedanism and the old
Persian history, see a note in
Grote's Hist, of Greece, vol. i. p.
623. Even at present, or, at all
events, during this century, the
best education in Persia con-
sisted in learning the elements
of Arabic grammar, ' logic, juris-
prudence, the traditions of their
prophet, and the commentaries
on the Koran.' Vans Kennedy
on Persian Literature, in Transac.
of Bombay Society, vol. ii. p. 62.
In the same way the Mohamme-
dans neglected the old history of
India, and would, no doubt, have
destroyed or corrupted it; but
they never had anything like the
hold of India that they had of
Persia, and, above alL they were
unable to displace the native re-
ligion. However, their influence,
so far as it went, was unfavour-
able ; and Mr. Elphinstone (Hist,
of India, p. 468) says, that till
the sixteenth century there was
no instance of a Mussulman care-
fully studying Hindu literature.
40 On the Shah Nameh, see
Works of Sir W. Jones, voL iv.
304 ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
not for the various discoveries which have been made,
of monuments, inscriptions, and coins, we should be
compelled to rely on the scanty and inaccurate details
in the Greek writers for our knowledge of the history
of one of the most important of the Asiatic monarchies. 41
Even among more barbarous nations, we see the same
principle at work. The Malayo-Polynesian race is well
known to ethnologists, as covering an immense series of
islands, extending from Madagascar to within 2000
miles of the western coast of America. 42 The religion
pp. 544, 545, vol. v. p. 594 ;
Mill's Hist, of India, vol. ii. pp.
64, 65 ; Journal of Asiatic So-
ciety, vol. iv. p. 225. It is sup-
posed by a very high authority
that the Persian cuneiform in-
scriptions 'will enable us, in the
end, to introduce something like
chronological accuracy and order
into the myths and traditions
embodied in the Shah Nameh.'
Rawlinson on the Inscriptions of
Assyria and Babylonia, in Jour-
nal of Asiat. Soc. vol. xii. p. 446.
41 On the ignorance of the
Greeks respecting Persian his-
tory, see Vans Kennedy, in
Tr ansae, of Soc. of Bombay, vol.
ii. pp. 119, 127-129, 136. In-
deed, this learned writer says
(p. 138) he is 'inclined to sus-
pect that no Greek author ever
derived his information from any
native of Persia Proper, that is,
of the country to the east of the
Euphrates.' See also on the per-
plexities in Persian chronology,
Grote's Hist, of Greece, vol. vi.
p. 496, vol. ix. p. 3, vol. x. p.
405 ; and Donaldson's New Cra-
tylus, 1839, p. 87 note. As to
the foolish stories which the
Greeks relate respecting Achse-
menes, compare Malcolm's Hist,
of Persia, vol. i. p. 18, with
Heeren's Asiatic Nations, vol. i.
p. 243. Even Herodotus, who
is invaluable in regard to Egypt,
is not to be relied upon for Per-
sia ; as was noticed long ago by
Sir W. Jones, in the preface to
his Nader Shah (Jones's Works,
vol. v. p. 540), and is partly ad-
mitted by Mr. Mure (History if
the Literature of Ancient Greece,
vol. iv. p. 338, 8vo. 1853).
42 That is, to Easter Island,
which appears to be its furthest
boundary (Prichard's Phys. Hist.
vol. v. p. 6) ; and of which there
is a good account in Beechey's
Voyage to the Pacific, vol. i. pp.
43-58, and a notice in Jour, of
Geog. Society, vol. i. p. 195. The
language of Easter Island has
been long known to be Malayo-
Polynesian; for it was under-
stood by a native of the Society
Islands, who accompanied Cook
(Cook's Voyages, vol.iii. pp. 294,
308; and Prichard, vol. v. p.
147: compare Marsden' s History
of Sumatra, p. 164). Ethnolo-
gists have not usually paid suffi-
cient honour to this great naviga-
tor, who was the first to remark the
similarity between the different
languages in Polynesia Proper.
Cook's Voyages, vol. ii. pp. 60, 61,
vol. iii. pp. 230, 280, 290, vol. iv.
p. 305, vol. vi. p. 230, vol. vii. p.
115. As to Madagascar being the
ORIGIN OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
305
of these widely scattered people "was originally Poly-
theism, of which the purest forms were long preserved
in the Philippine Islands. 43 But in the fifteenth cen-
tury, many of the Polynesian nations were converted
to Mohammedanism ; 44 and this was followed by a pro-
cess precisely the same as that which I have pointed
out in other countries. The new religion, by changing
the current of the national thoughts, corrupted the
purity of the national history. Of all the islands in
the Indian Archipelago, Java was the one which
reached the highest civilization. 45 Now, however, the
Javanese have not only lost their historical traditions,
but even those lists of their kings which are extant
are interpolated with the names of Mohammedan
saints. 46 On the other hand, we find that in the
western limit of this vast race of
people, see Asiatic Researches,
vol. iv. p. 222 ; Reports on Eth-
nology by Brit, Assoc, for 1847,
pp. 154, 216, 250; and Ellis's
Hist, of Madagascar, vol. i. p.
133.
** Also the seat of the Tagala
language; which, according to
William Humboldt, is the most
Serfect of all the forms of the
[alayo-Polynesian. PricharoVs
Physical Hist. vol. v. pp. 36, 51,
62.
44 Marsden's History of Suma-
tra, p. 281. Do Thou (Hist.
Univ. vol. xiii. p. 59) supposes
that the Javanese did not become
Mohammedans till late in the
sixteenth century ; but it is now
known that their conversion took
place at least a hundred years
earlier, the old religion being
finally abolished in 1478. See
Crawfurd's Hist, of the Indian
Archipelago, vol. ii. p. 312 ; Low's
Sarawak, p. 96 ; and Raffles'
Hist, of Java, vol. i. pp. 309,
349, vol. ii. pp. 1, 66, 254. The
doctrines of Mohammed spread
VOL. I. 3
quickly; and the Malay pil-
grims enjoy the reputation, in
modern times, of being among
the most scrupulously religious
of those who go to the Hadj.
Burckhardfs Arabia, vol. ii. pp.
96, 97.
45 The Javanese civilization is
examined at great length by Wil-
liam Humboldt, in his celebrated
work, Ueber die Kami Sprachc,
Berlin, 1836. From the evidence
supplied by some early Chinese
writings, which have only re-
cently been published, there are
good grounds for believing that
the Indian Colonies were esta-
blished in Java in the first cen-
tury after Christ. See Wilson
on the Foe Kue Ki, in Journal of
Asiat. Soc. vol. v. p. 137 ; com-
pare vol. vi. p. 320.
44 Crawfur.i's Hist, of the In-
dian Archipelago, vol. ii. p. 297.
Compare with this the exactness
with which, even in the island
of Celebes, the dates were pre-
served ' before the introduc-
tion of Mahomedanism.' Craw-
furd, vol. i p. 306. For similar
306 ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
adjacent island of Bali, where the old religion is still
preserved, 47 the legends of Java are remembered and
cherished by the people. 48
It would be nseless to addnce further evidence re-
specting the manner in which, among an imperfectly
civilized people, the establishment of a new religion will
always affect the accuracy of their early history. I
need only observe, that in this way the Christian priests
have obscured the annals of every European people they
converted, and have destroyed or corrupted the tradi-
tions of the Gauls, 49 of the Welsh, of the Irish, 50 of
the Anglo-Saxons, 51 of the Sclavonic nations, 52 of the
Finns, 53 and even of the Icelanders. 54
instances of royal genealogies
being obscured by the introduc-
tion into them of the names of
gods, see Kemble's Saxons in
England, vol. i. pp. 27, 335.
47 Asiatic Besearches, vol. x.
p. 191, vol. xiii. p. 128. In the
Appendix to Baffles' Hist, of
Java, vol. ii. p. cxlii., it is said,
that ' in Bali not more than one
in two hundred, if so many, are
Mahomedans.' See also p. 65,
and vol. i. p. 530.
48 Indeed, the Javanese ap-
pear to have no other means of
acquiring the old Kawi tradi-
tions than by learning them
from natives of Bah. See note
to an Essay on the Island of
Bali, in Asiatic Besearches, vol.
xiii. p. 162, Calcutta, 1820, 4to.
Sir Stamford Baffles (.Has*, of
Java, vol. i. p. 400) says, ' It is
chiefly to Bali that we must
look for illustrations . of the
ancient state of the Javans.'
See also p. 414.
48 Bespecting the corruption
of Druidical traditions in Caul
by Christian priests, see Vitte-
marque, Chants Populaires de la
Bretagne, Paris, 1846, vol. i.
j:p. xviii. xix.
50 The injury done to the
traditions handed down by
Welsh and Irish bards, is no-
ticed in Dr. Prichard's valuable
■work, Physical Hist, of Man-
kind, vol. iii. p. 184, 8vo, 1841.
See also Warton's Hist, of Eng-
lish Poetry, vol. i. p. xxxvii. note.
51 See the remarks on Beo-
wulf, in Wright's Biog. Brit. Lit.
vol. i. p. 7, 8vo, 1842. See
also pp. 13, 14: and compare
Kemble's Saxons in England,
vol. i. p. 331.
52 Talvi's Language and Lite-
rature of the Slavic Nations,
8vo, 1850, p. 231. The Pagan
songs of the Slovaks, in the
north-west of Hungary, were for
a time preserved ; but even they
are now lost. Talvi, p. 216.
43 The monkish chroniclers
neglected the old Finnish tra-
ditions; and allowing them to
perish, preferred the inventions
of Saxo and Johannes Magnus.
Prichard's Physical Hist. vol. iii.
pp. 284, 285.
54 For an instance in which,
the monks have falsified the old ,
Icelandic traditions, see Mr.
Keightley's learned book on .
Fairy Mythology, 8vo, 1 850, p. 1 59.
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE. 307
Besides all this, there occurred other circumstances
tending in the same direction. Owing to events which
I shall hereafter explain, the literature of Europe,
shortly before the final dissolution of the Roman
Empire, fell entirely into the hands of the clergy, who
were long venerated as the sole instructors of mankind.
For several centuries, it was extremely rare to meet
with a layman who could read or write ; and of course
it was still rarer to meet with one able to compose a
work. Literature, being thus monopolized by a single
class, assumed the peculiarities natural to its new
masters. 85 And as the clergy, taken as a body, have
always looked on it as their business to enforce belief,
rather than encourage inquiry, it is no wonder if they,
displayed in their writings the spirit incidental to the
habits of their profession. Hence, as I have already,
observed, hterature, during many ages, instead of
benefiting society, injured it, by increasing credulity,
and thus stopping the progress of knowledge. Indeed,,
the aptitude for falsehood became so great, that there
was nothing men were unwilling to believe. Nothing
came amiss to their greedy and credulous ears. His-
tories of omens, prodigies, apparitions, strange portents,
monstrous appearances in the heavens, the wildest and
most incoherent absurdities, were repeated from mouth
to mouth, and copied from book to book, with as much
care as if they were the choicest treasures of human
wisdom. 56 That Europe should ever have emerged
M The Rev. Mr. Dowling, p. 56; a work of some talent,
who looks back with great re- but chiefly interesting as a
grct to this happy period, says, manifesto by an active party.
' Writers were almost univer- M Thus, for instance, a cele-
sally ecclesiastics. Literature brated historian, who wrote at
was scarcely anything but a re- the end of the twelfth century,
ligious exercise; for everything says of the reign of William
that was studied, was studied Eufus : ' Ejusdem regis tempore,
with a reference to religion, ut ex parte supradictum e6t, in
The men, therefore, who wrote sole, hina, et stellis multa signa
history, wrote ecclesiastical his- visa sunt, mare quoquo littus
tory.' Bowling's Introduction perssepe egrediebatur, et homines
to the Critical Study of Eecle- et animaba submersit, villas et
siastical History, 8vo, 1838, domos quamplures subvertit.
x2
308 ORIGIN OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
from such a state, is the most decisive proof of the
extraordinary energy of Man, since we cannot even
conceive a condition of society more unfavourable to
his progress. But it is evident, that until the emanci-
pation was effected, the credulity and looseness of
thought which were universal, unfitted men for habits
of investigation, and made it impossible for them to
engage in a successful study of past affairs, or even
record with accuracy what was taking place around
them. 57
If, therefore, we recur to the facts just cited, we may
say that, omitting several circumstances altogether
subordinate, there were three leading causes of the
corruption of the history of Europe in the Middle
Ages. The first cause was, the sudden introduction
of the art of writing, and the consequent fusion of
different local traditions, which, when separate, were
accurate, but when united were false. The second
cause was, the change of religion ; which acted in two
ways, producing not merely an interruption of the old
traditions, but also an interpolation of them. And the
third cause, probably the most powerful of all, was,
that history became monopolized by a class of men
whose professional habits made them quick to believe,
and who, moreover, had a direct interest in increasing
the general credulity, since it was the basis upon which
their own authority was built.
In pago qui Barukeshire no- p. 268. See also the same work,
minatur, ante occisionem regis pp. 356-358 ; and compare Mat-
sanguis de fonte tribus sep- thai Westmonast. Flores Histo-
timanis emanavit. Multis etiam riarum, part i. pp. 266, 289,
Normannis diabolus in hor- part ii. p. 298.
ribili specie se frequenter in S7 Even the descriptions of
silvis ostendens, plura cum eis natural objects which historians
de rege et Ranulfo, et quibus- attempted in the Middle Ages,
dam aliis locutus est. Nee were marked by the same care-
tnirum, nam illorum tempore lessness. See some good ob-
fere omnis legum siluit justitia, servations by Dr. Arnold, on
causisque justitise subpositis, Bede's account of the Solent
6ola in principibus imperabat Sea. Arnolds Lectures on Mo-
pecunia.' Bog. de Hoveden dern History, pp. 102, 103.
Anncd. in Scriptores post Bedam,
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE. 309
By the operation of these causes, the history of
Europe became corrupted to an extent for which we
can find no parallel in any other period. That there
was, properly speaking, no history, was the smallest
part of the inconvenience ; but, unhappily, men, not
satisfied with the absence of truth, supplied its place
by the invention of falsehood. Among innumerable
instances of this, there is one species of inventions
worth noticing, because they evince that love of an-
tiquity, which is a marked characteristic of those
classes by whom history was then written. I allude
to fictions regarding the origin of different nations, in
all of which the spirit of the Middle Ages is very dis-
cernible. During many centuries, it was believed by
every people that they were directly descended from
ancestors who had been present at the siege of Troy.
That was a proposition which no one thought of doubt-
ing. 58 The only question was, as to the details of so illus-
trious a lineage. On this, however, there was a certain
unanimity of opinion ; since, not to mention inferior
** In Le Long's Bibliothique respecting the early history of
Historique de la France, vol. ii. France. The answer is pre-
p. 3, it is said, that the descent served by an historian of the
of the kings of France from the thirteenth century : ' Eegum
Trojans was universally believed potentissime, inquiens, sicutple-
before the sixteenth century : raeque gentes Europae, ita Franci
1 Cette descendance a 6te crue a Trojanis originem duxerunt.'
veritable pres de huit cents ans, Matthai Paris Hist. Major, p.
et soutcnue par tous les ecrivains 59. See also Bog. de Hov. in
de notre histoire ; la fausseto Scrijjiores post Btdam, p. 274.
n'en a et6 reconnue qu'au com- On the descent of the Britons
mencement du seizieme sieelc.' from Priam and iEneas, see
Polydore Vergil, who died in Matthai Wcstmonast. Flores His-
the middle of the sixteenth toriarum, part i. p. 66. Indeed,
century, attacked this opinion in at the beginning of the four-
regard to England, and thereby teenth century, their Trojan
made his history unpopular, origin was stated as a notorious
See Ellis's Preface to Polydore fact, in a letter written to Pope
Vergil, p. xx. 4 to, 1844, pub- Eoniface by Edward I., and
lished by the Camden Society, signed by the English nobility.
'He discarded Brute, as an See Warton's Hist, of English
unreal personage.' In 1128, Poetry, vol. i pp. 131, 132; and
Henry I., king of England, Campbell's Lives of the Chan-
inquired from a learned mun cellars, vol. i. p. 185.
310 ORIGIN OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
countries, it was admitted that the French were de-
, scended from Francus, whom everybody knew to be
the son of Hector ; and it was also known that the
Britons came from Brutus, whose father was no other
than .<Eneas himself. 09
Touching the origin of particular places, the great
historians of the Middle Ages are equally communi-
cative. In the accounts they give of them, as well as
in the lives they write of eminent men, the history
usually begins at a very remote period ; and the events
relating to their subject are often traced back, in an
unbroken series, from the moment when Noah left the
ark, or even when Adam passed the gates of Paradise. 60
On other occasions, the antiquity they assign is some-
what less ; but the range of their information is always
extraordinary. They say, that the capital of France is
called after Paris, the son of Priam, because he fled
there when Troy was overthrown. 61 They also mention
59 The general opinion was,
that Brutus, or Brute, was the
son of JEneas ; but some his-
torians affirmed that he was the
great-grandson. See Turner's
Hist, of England, vol. i. p. 63,
voL vii. p. 220.
60 In the Notes to a Chronicle
of London from 1089 to 1483,
pp. 1831187, edit. 4to, 1827,
there is a pedigree, in which
the history of the bishops of
London is traced back, not only
to the migration of Brutus from
Troy, but also to Noah and
Adam. Thus, too, Goropius, in
his history of Antwerp, written
in the sixteenth century : ' Vond
zoowell de Nederlandsche taal
als de Wysbegeerte van Orpheus
in de ark van Noach.' Van
Kampen, Geschiedenis der Let-
term, 8vo, 1821, vol. i. p. 91;
see also p. 86. In the thirteenth
century, Mathew Paris (Historia
Major, p. 352) says of Alfred,
1 Hujus genealogia in Anglorum
historiis perducitur usque ad
Adam prinmm parentem.' See,
to the same effect, Matthai West-
monast. Flores Historiarum, part
i. pp. 323, 324, 415. In William
of Malmesbury's Chronicle
(Scriptores post Bedam, p. 22
rev.) the genealogy of the Saxon
kings is traced back to Adam.
For other, and similar, instances,
see a note in Lingard's History
of England, vol. i. p. 403. And
Mr. Ticknor {History of Spanish
Literature, vol. i. p. 509) men-
tions that the Spanish chroniclers
present ' an uninterrupted suc-
cession of Spanish kings from
Tubal, a grandson of Noah.'
61 Monteil, in his curious book,
Histoire des divers Etats, vol. v.
p. 70, mentions the old belief
' que les Parisiens sont du sang
des rois des anciens Troyens,
par Paris, fils de Priam.' Even
in the seventeenth century this
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
311
that Tours- owed its name to being the burial- place of
Turonus, one of the Trojans ; 62 while the city of Troyes
was actually built by the Trojans, as its etymology
clearly proves. 63 It was well ascertained that Nuremberg
was called after the Emperor Nero ; 64 and Jerusalem
after King Jebus, 65 a man of vast celebrity in the Middle
Ages, but whose existence later historians have not
been able to verify. The river Humber received its
name because, in ancient times, a king of the Huns
had been drowned in it. 66 The Gauls derived their
origin, according to some, from Galathia, a female
descendant of Japhet; according to others, from Gomer,
the son of Japhet. 67 Prussia was called after Prussus,
idea was not extinct ; and Coryat,
■who travelled in France in 1608,
gives another version of it. He
says, ' As for her name of Paris,
she hath it (as some write) from
Paris, the eighteenth king of
Gallia Celtica, whom some write
to have heen lineally descended
from Japhet, one of the three
■eons of Noah, and to have
founded this city.' Coryafs
Crudities, 1611, reprinted 1776,
vol. i. pp. 27, 28.
w ' Erat ibi quidam Tros
.nomine Turonus Bruti nepos. . .
De nomine ipsius prsedicta civitas
Turonis vocabulum nacta est;
quia ibidem sepultus fuit.' Gal-
frcdi Monumct. Hist. Briton, lib.
i. cap. xv. p. 19. And Mathew
of Westminster, who wrote in
the fourteenth century, says
(Flores Historiarum, part i. p.
17): ' Tros nomine Turnus. . .
De nomine vero ipsius Turono-
rum civitas vocabulum traxit,
quia ibidem, ut testatur Homerus,
sepultus fuit.'
•* ' On convient bien que les
Troyens de notre Troyes sont du
sang des anciens Troyens.' Mon-
tcil, Divers Etats, vol. v. p. 69.
64 Monconys, who was in Nu-
remberg in 1663, found this opi-
nion still held there; and he
seems himself half inclined to
believe it ; for, in visiting a castle,
he observes, 'Mais je ne scai si
c'est un ouvrage de Neron, comme
Ton le dit, et que meme le nom
de Nuremberg en vient.' Voyages
de Monconys, vol. iv. p. 141, edit.
Paris, 1695.
64 ' Deinceps regnante in ea
Jebusseo, dicta Jebus, et sic ex
Jebus et Salem dicta est Jebus-
salem. Unde post dempta b
littera et addita r, dicta est Hie-
rusalem.' Matihcei Paris Historia
Major, p. 43. This reminds me
of another great writer, who was
one of the fathers, and was more-
over a saint, and who, says M.
Matter, ' derive les Samaritains
du roi Samarius, fils de Canaan.'
Matter, Hist, du Gnosticisme,
vol. i. p. 41.
'• ' Humber rex Hunnorum
... ad flumen diffugiens, sub-
morsus est intra ipsum, et nomen
suum flumini r<'liquit.' Matthtei
Westmonast. FUrres Historiarum,
part i. p. 19.
• T These two opinions, which
312
OEIGIN" OF HISTOEICAL LITEEATUEE.
a brother of Augustus. 68 This was remarkably modern ;
but Silesia had its name from the prophet Elisha — from
whom, indeed, the Silesians descended ; 69 while as to
the city of Zurich, its exact date was a matter of dis-
pute, but it was unquestionably built in the time of
Abraham. 70 It was likewise from Abraham and Sarah
that the gipsies immediately sprung. 71 The blood of
the Saracens was less pure, since they were only
descended from Sarah — in what way it is not men-
tioned ; but she probably had them by another marriage,
or, may be, as the fruit of an Egyptian intrigue. 72 At
all events, the Scotch certainly came from Egypt ; for
they were originally the issue of Scota, who was a
daughter of Pharaoh, and who bequeathed to them her
name. 73 On sundry similar matters, the Middle Ages
long divided the learned world,
are stated in Le Long, Biblio-
theque Historique de la France,
vol. ii. pp. 5, 49.
68 See a curious allusion to this
in De Thou, Hist. Univ. vol. viii.
p. 160; •where, however, it is er-
roneously supposed to be a Rus-
sian invention.
69 ' The Silesians are not -with-
out voluminous writers upon their
antiquities; and one of them
gravely derives the name and
descent of his country from the
prophet Elisha.' Adams's Letters
on Silesia, p. 267, Lond. 8vo,
1804.
70 In 1608, Coryat, when in
Zurich, was ' told by the learned
Hospinian that their city was
founded in the time of Abraham.'
Coryat 's Crudities, vol. i. Epistle
to the Reader, sig. d. I always
give the most recent instance
1 have met with, because, in the
history of the European intellect,
it is important to know how long
the spirit of the Middle Ages sur-
vived in different countries.
71 They were 'seuls enfants
legitimes ' of Abraham and Sarah.
Monteil, Divers Etats, vol. v. p. 19.
12 Mathew Paris, who is ap-
prehensive lest the reputation of
Sarah should suffer, says, ' Sara-
ceni perverse se putant ex Sara
dici ; sed verius Agareni dicuntur
ab Agar ; et Ismaelitse, ab Ismaele
filio Abrahae.' Hist. Major, p.
357. Compare a similar passage-
in Mczeray, Histoire de France,
vol. i. p. 127 '• ' Sarrasins, ou de
la ville de Sarai, ou de Sara
femme d' Abraham, duquel il»
se disent faussement legitimes-
heritiers.' After this, the idea,
or the fear of the idea, soon died
away; and Beausobre {Histoire
Critique de Manichee, vol. i. p.
24) says : ' On derive vulgaire-
ment le nom de Sarrasins du mot
arabe Sarah, ou Sarak, qui signi-
fie effectivement voleur.' A good
example of a secular turn given
to a theological etymology. For
a similar case in northern history,
see WhitelocMs Journal of the
Swedish Embassy, vol. i. pp. 190,
191.
n Early in the fourteenth cen-
ORIGIN OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
313
possessed information equally valuable. It was well
known that the city of Naples was founded on eggs ; n
and it was also known, that the order of St. Michael
was instituted in person by the archangel, who was
himself the first knight, and to whom, in fact, chivalry
owes its origin. 75 In regard to the Tartars, that people,
of course, proceeded from Tartarus ; which some theo-
logians said was an inferior kind of hell, but others
declared to be hell itself. 76 However this might be,
the fact of their birth-place being from below was
indisputable, and was proved by many circumstances
tury, this was stated, in a letter
to the Pope, as a well-known his-
torical fact. See Lingards Hist,
of England, vol. ii. p. 187 : ' They
are sprung from Scota the daugh-
ter of Pharaoh, who landed in
Ireland, and whose descendants
wrested, by force of arms, the
northern half of Britain from the
progeny of Brute.'
74 Mr. Wright (Narratives of
Sorcery, 8vo, 1851, vol. i. p. 115)
says, ' The foundation of the city
of Naples upon eggs, and the egg
on which its fate depended, seem
to have been legends generally
current in the Middle Ages ;' and
he refers to Montfaucon, Monu-
vnms de la Man. Fr. vol. ii. p. 329,
for proof, that by the statutes
of the order of the Saint Esprit,
' a chapter of the knights was
appointed to be held annually in
castello ovi incantati in mirabili
periculo.'
Ti * The order of Saint Michael,
in France, pretends to the posses-
sion of a regular descent from
Michael the Archangel, who, ac-
cording to the enlightened judg-
ment of French antiquarians, was
the premier chevalier in the
world; and it was he, they say,
who established the earliest chi-
valric order in Paradise itself.'
Mills's Hist, of Chivalry, vol. i.
pp. 363, 364.
' 8 The etymology of Tartars
from Tartarus is ascribed to the
piety of Saint Louis in Prichard's
Physical History, vol. iv. p. 278 ;
but I think that I have met with
it before his time, though I cannot
now recover the passage. The
earliest instance I remember is
in 1241, when the saint was
twenty-six years old. See a letter
from the emperor Frederick, in
MatthaH Paris Historia Major,
p. 497 : ' Pervenissent dicti Tar-
tar! (imo Tartar ei),' &c; and on
the expression of Louis, see p.
496 : ' Quos vocamus Tartaros ad
suas Tartareas sedes.' Since the
thirteenth century, the subject
has attracted the attention of
English divines ; and the cele-
brated theologian Whiston men-
tions ' my last famous discovery,
or rather my revival of Dr. Giles
Fletcher's famous discovery, that
the Tartars are no other than
the ten tribes of Israel, which
have been so long sought for in
vain.' M&moirs of the Life and
Writings of WUliam Whiston, p.
575. Compare, on the opinions
held respecting the Tartars, Jour-
nal Asiatiquc, 1* serie, voL vi. p.
374, Paris, 1825.
314
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
•which showed the fatal and mysterious influence they
were able to exercise. For the Turks were identical
with the Tartars ; and it was notorious, that since the
Cross had fallen into Turkish hands, all Christian
children had ten teeth less than formerly ; a universal
calamity, which there seemed to be no means of re-
pairing. 77
Other points relating to the history of past events
were cleared up with equal facility. In Europe during
many centuries, the only animal food in general use
was pork ; beef, veal, and mutton, being comparatively
unknown. 78 It was, therefore, with no small astonish-
77 Peignot ( Diet, des Livres, vol.
ii. p. 69, Paris, 1806) says, that
Piigord, in his history of Philip
Augustus, assures his readers
1 que depuis que la vraie croix a
et£ prise par les Turcs, les enfans
n'ont plus que 20 ou 23 dents, au
lieu qu'ils en avaient 30 ou 32
auparavant.' Even in the fif-
teenth century, it was believed
that the number of teeth had
diminished from 32 to 22, or
at most 24. See Sprengel, Hist,
de la Medecine, vol. ii. pp. 481,
482, Paris, 1815. Compare Hecker
on the Black Death, pp. 31, 32, in
his learned work, Epidemics of
the Middle Ages, published by the
Sydenham Society.
78 In the sacred books of the
Scandinavians, pork is repre-
sented as the principal food, even
in heaven. See Mallet's Northern
Antiquities, p. 105. It was the
chief food of the Irish in the
twelfth century: Ledwich, Anti-
quities of Ireland, Dublin, 1804,
p. 370 ; and also of the Anglo-
Saxons at an earlier period:
Turner's Hist, of England, vol. iii.
p. 22. In France it was equally
common, and Charlemagne kept
in his forests immense droves of
pigs. Note in Esprit des Lois,
in (Euvresde Montesquieu, p. 513.
In Spain those who did not like
pork were tried by the Inquisi-
tion as suspected Jews : Llorente,
Hist, de V Inquisition, vol. i. pp.
269, 442, 445. Late in the six-
teenth century, there was a par-
ticular disease, said to be caused
by the quantity of it eaten in Hun-
gary. Sprengel, Hist, de la Mede-
cine, vol. iii. p. 93 ; and even at
present, the barbarous Lettes are
passionately fond of it. Kohl's
Bussia,ipip. 386, 387. In the middle
of the sixteenth century, I find
that Philip II., when in England,
generally dined on bacon; of
which he ate so much, as fre-
quently to make himself very ill.
See Ambassades de Messieurs de
Noailles en Angleterre, vol. v. pp.
240, 241, edit. 1763. The am-
bassador writes, that Philip was
' grand mangeur oultre mesure,'
and used to consume large quan-
tities ' de lard, dont il faict le
plus souvent son principal repas.'
In the Middle Ages, ' les Thurin-
giens payaient leur tribut en
pores, la denree la plus precieuse
de leur pays.' (Euvres deMichelet,
vol. ii. p. 389
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE. 315
ment that the crusaders, on returning from the East,
told their countrymen that they had been among a
people who, like the Jews, thought pork unclean, and
refused to eat it. But the feelings of lively wonder
which this intelligence excited, were destroyed as soon
as the cause of the fact was explained. The subject
was taken up by Mathew Paris, the most eminent his-
torian during the thirteenth century, and one of the
most eminent during the Middle Ages. 79 This cele-
brated writer informs us, that the Mohammedans refuse
to eat pork on account of a singular circumstance which
happened to their prophet. It appears that Mohammed,
having, on one occasion, gorged himself with food and
drink till he was in a state of insensibility, fell asleep
on a dunghill, and, in this disgraceful condition, was
seen by a litter of pigs. The pigs attacked the fallen
prophet, and suffocated him to death ; for which reason
his followers abominate pigs, and refuse to partake of
their flesh. 80 This striking fact explains one great
peculiarity of the Mohammedans; 81 and another fact,
n Sismondi (Hist, des Fran- invenerunt.' Matthai Westmo-
cais, vol. vii. pp. 325, 326) passes nasi. Flores Historiarum, part i.
a high eulogy upon him ; and p. 215.
Mosheim (Ecclesiast. History, n By a singular contradiction,
vol. i. p. 313) says: 'Among the the African Mohammedans now
historians (of the thirteenth ' believe that a great enmity
century), the first place is due to subsists between hogs and Chris-
Mathew Paris ; a writer of the tians.' Mungo ParKs Travels,
highest merit, both in point of vol. i. p. 185. Many medical
knowledge and prudence. authors have supposed that pork
80 Matthai Paris Historia is peculiarly unwholesome in hot
Major, p. 362. He concludes his countries ; but this requires con-
account by saying, ' Unde adhuc firmation : and it is certain, that
Saraceni sues prae caeteris anima- it is recommended by Arabian
libus exosas habent et abomi- physicians, and is more generally
nabiles.' Mathew Paris obtained eaten both in Asia and in Africa
his information from a clergy- than is usually believed. Comp.
man, ' quendam magni nominis Sprengel, Hist, de la Midecine,
celebrem pnedicatorem,' p. 360 vol. ii. p. 323 ; Volney, Voyage en
According to Mathew of West- Syric, vol. i. p. 449 ; Buchanan's
minster, the pigs not only suffo- Journey through the Mysore, vol.
cated Mohammed, but actually ii. p. 88, vol. iii. p. 67; Raffles'
ate the greater part of him : ' In Hist, of Java, vol. ii. p. 5 ;
maxima parte a porcis corrosum EUis's Hist, of Madagascar,
316 OEIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITEEATUEE.
equally striking, explains how it was that their sect
came into existence. For it was well known, that
Mohammed was originally a cardinal, and only became
a heretic because he failed in his design of being elected
pope. 82
In regard to the early history of Christianity, the
great writers of the Middle Ages were particularly
inquisitive ; and they preserved the memory of events,
of which otherwise we should have been entirely igno-
rant. After Froissart, the most celebrated historian
of the fourteenth century, was certainly Mathew of
"Westminster, with whose name, at least, most readers
are familiar. This eminent man directed his attention,
among other matters, to the history of Judas, in order
to discover the circumstances under which the character
of that arch-apostate was formed. His researches seem
to have been very extensive ; but their principal results
were, that Judas, when an infant, was deserted by his
parents, and exposed on an island called Scarioth, from
whence he received the name of Judas Iscariot. To this
the historian adds, that after Judas grew up, he, among
other enormities, slew his own father, and then married
his own mother. 83 The same writer, in another part of
his history, mentions a fact interesting to those who
study the antiquities of the Holy See. Some questions
had been raised as to the propriety of kissing the
vol. i. pp. 201, 403, 416 ; CooKs 82 This idea, which was a
Voyages, vol. ii. p. 265; Burners favourite one in the Middle Ages,
Travels into Bokhara, vol. iii. p. is said to have been a Rabbinical
141. As facts of this sort are invention. See Lettres de Gui
important physiologically and Pat in, vol. iii. p. 127: 'que
socially, it is advisable that they Mahomet, le faux prophete, avait
should be collected; and I there- ete cardinal ; et que, par depit de
fore add, that the North- American n' avoir ete pape, il s'etoit fait
Indians are said to have ' a dis- heresiarque.'
gust for pork.' Journal of the 83 See the ample details in
Geoff. Society, vol. xv. p. 30 ; and Matthcsi Westmonast. Mores
that Dobell {Travels, vol. ii. p. Historiarum, part i. pp. 86, 87;
260, Svo, 1830) says, ' I believe and at p. 88, 'Judas matrem
there is more pork eaten in suam uxorem duxerat, et quod
China than in all the rest of the patrem suum occiderat.'
•world put together.'
OEIGLN - OF HISTOEICAL LITEEATUKE. 317
pope's toe, and even theologians had their doubts
touching so singular a ceremony. But this difficulty
also was set at rest by Mathew of "Westminster, who
explains the true origin of the custom. He says, that
formerly it was usual to kiss the hand of his holiness ;
but that towards the end of the eighth century, a cer-
tain lewd woman, in making an offering to the pope,
not only kissed his hand, but also pressed it. The
pope — his name was Leo — seeing the danger, cut off
his hand, and thus escaped the contamination to which
he had been exposed. Since that time, the precaution
has been taken of kissing the pope's toe instead of his
hand ; and lest any one should doubt the accuracy of
this account, the historian assures us that the hand,
which bad been cut off five or six hundred years be-
fore, still existed in Rome, and was indeed a standing
miracle, since it was preserved in the Lateran in its
original state, free from corruption. 84 And as some
readers might wish to be informed respecting the
Lateran itself, where the hand was kept, this also is
considered by the historian, in another part of his
great work, where he traces it back to the emperor
Nero. For it is said that this wicked persecutor of
the faith, on one occasion, vomited a frog covered with
blood, which he believed to be his own progeny, and
therefore caused to be shut up in a vault, where it
remained hidden for some time. Now, in the Latin
language, latente means hidden, and rana means a
frog ; so that, by putting these two words together,
we have the origin of the Lateran, which, in fact, was
built where the frog was found. 85
M This took place in the year manus abscissa in thesauro
798. Mattfuei Westmonast. Flores lateranensi, quam dominus cus-
Historiarum, part i. p. 293. The todit incorruptam ad laudem
historian thns concludes his re- matris suae.'
lation : ' Et statutum est nunc "*'... Ita ut Nero se puero
quod numquam extunc manus gravidum existimaret. . . . Tan-
Papee ab offerentibus deoscu- dcm dolore nimio vexatus,
laretur, sed pes. Cum ante fuerat medicis ait : Accelerate tempus
consnetudo quod manus, non pes, partus, quia languore vix anheli-
deoscularetur. In hujus miraculi turn habeo respirandi. Tunc
memoriam reservatur adhuc ipsum ad vomitum impotiona-
318 ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
It would be easy to fill volumes with similar notions ;
all of which were devoutly believed in those ages of
darkness, or, as they have been well called, Ages of
Faith. Those, indeed, were golden days for the eccle-
siastical profession, since the credulity of men had
reached a height which seemed to ensure to the clergy
a long and universal dominion. How the prospects of
the church were subsequently darkened, and how the
human reason began to rebel, will be related in another
part of this Introduction, where I shall endeavour to
trace the rise of that secular and sceptical spirit to
which European civilization owes its origin. But, be-
fore closing the present chapter, it may be well to give
a few more illustrations of the opinions held in the
Middle Ages ; and, for this purpose, I will select the
two historical accounts, which, of all others, were the
most popular, exercised most influence, and were most
universally believed.
The histories to which I refer, are those of Arthur
and Charlemagne ; both of which bear the names of
dignitaries of the church, and were received with the
respect due to their illustrious authors. That concern-
ing Charlemagne is called the Chronicle of Turpin,
and purports to be written by Turpin, archbishop of
Rheims, a friend of the emperor and his companion in
war. 86 From some passages it contains, there is reason
to think that it was really composed at the beginning
of the twelfth century ; 87 but, in the Middle Ages,
verunt, et ranam visu terribilem, they appear to have been used by
humoribus infectam, et sanguine heralds as marks of degradation,
edidit cruentatam. . . . Unde See Lankester's Memorials of
et pars ilia civitatis, ut aliqui Bay, -p. 197.
dicunt, ubi rana latuerat, Late- 86 ' . . . Ego Turpinus in valle
raiium, a latente rana, nomen Caroli loco prsefato, astante rege,'
accepit.' Matthcei Westmonast. &c. Be Vita Caroli Magni, p. 74,
part i. p. 98. Compare, the ac- edit. Ciampi.
count given by Eoger of Hove- w Turner {History of England,
den, of a voman who vomited vol. vii. pp. 256-268) has at-
two toads. Script, post Bedam, tempted to prove that it was
p. 457 rev. In the Middle Ages written by Calixtus II. ; but his
there were many superstitions arguments, though ingenious and
respecting these animals, and learned, are not decisive. Warton
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE. 319
men were not nice in these matters, and no one was
likely to dispute its authenticity. Indeed, the name
of an archbishop of Bheims was sufficient recommen-
dation ; and we find accordingly, that in the year 1122
it received the formal approbation of the pope ; 88 and
that Vincent de Beauvais, one of the most celebrated
writers in the thirteenth century, and tutor to the
sons of Louis IX., mentions it as a work of value,
and as being the principal authority for the reign of
Charlemagne. 89
A book thus generally read, and sanctioned by such
competent judges, must be a tolerable standard for
testing the knowledge and opinions of those times.
On this account, a short notice of it will be useful for
our present purpose, as it will enable us to understand
the extreme slowness with which history has improved,
and the almost imperceptible steps by which it ad-
vanced, until fresh life was breathed into it by the
great thinkers of the eighteenth century.
In the Chronicle of Turpin, we are informed that
the invasion of Spain by Charlemagne took place in
consequence of the direct instigation of St. James, the
brother of St. John. 90 The apostle, being the cause of
the attack, adopted measures to secure its success.
When Charlemagne besieged Pamplona, that city made
an obstinate resistance ; but as soon as prayers were
offered up by the invaders, the walls suddenly fell to
the ground. 91 After this, the emperor rapidly overran
(Hist. Eng. Poetry, vol. i. p. 128) ou il puisera ce genre d'instruc-
says it was composed about tion, c'est Turpin qu'il designe
1110. comme le principal kistorien de
88 The pope ' statuit historiam Charlemagne.' Histoirc Litteraire
Sancti Caroli descriptam a beato de la France, vol. xviii. p. 474,
Turpino Remensi Archiepiscopo Paris, 1835, 4to; see also p. 517;
esse authenticam.' Notein Turner, and on its influence in Spain, see
vol. vii. p. 250. Ticknor's History of Spanish
M In his famous Speculum, ' il Literature, vol. i. pp. 222, 223.
recommande specialement les M Caroli Magni Historia, edit,
etudes historiques, dont il parait Ciampi, pp. 3-5.
que la plupart de sps contempo- " ' . . . Muri collapsi funditus
rains meconnaissaient l'utilite ; cqrruerunt.' Be Vita Caroli, p. 5.
mais lorsqu'il indique les sources On this, Ciampi, in his notes on
320 ORIGIN OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
the whole country, almost annihilated the Mohamme-
dans, and bnilt innumerable churches. 92 But, the re-
sources of Satan are inexhaustible. On the side of the
enemy, a giant now appeared, whose name was Fena-
cute, and who was descended from Goliath of old. 93
This Fenacute was the most formidable opponent the
Christians had yet encountered. His strength was
equal to that of forty men ; 94 his face measured one
cubit ; his arms and legs four cubits ; his total height
was twenty cubits. Against him Charlemagne sent
the most eminent warriors ; but they were easily dis-
comfited by the giant ; of whose prodigious force some
idea may be formed from the fact, that the length even
of his fingers was three palms. 95 The Christians were
filled with consternation. In vain did more than twenty
chosen men advance against the giant ; not one returned
from the field ; Fenacute took them all under his arms,
and carried them off into captivity. 96 At length the
celebrated Orlando came forward, and challenged him
to mortal combat. An obstinate fight ensued ; and the
Christian, not meeting with the success he expected,
engaged his adversary in a theological discussion. 97
Here the pagan was easily defeated ; and Orlando,
warmed by the controversy, pressed on his enemy,
smote the giant with his sword, and dealt him a fatal
Turpin, gravely says (pp. 94, K Be Vita Caroli, cap. v. pp.
95): ' Questo fatto della presa di 11, 12; is headed 'De ecclesiis
Pamplona e reso maravigKoso per quas Carolus fecit.'
la subitanea caduta delle mura, a 93 ' Gigas nomine Fenacutus,
somiglianza delle mura di Gerico.' qui fuit de genere Goliat.' Be
This reminds me of a circum- Vita Caroli, p. 39.
stance mentioned by Monconys, M ' Vimxl.fbrtiumpossidebat.'
who, on visiting Oxford in 1663, p. 39.
■was shown a horn which was ■ ' Erat enim statura ejus
preserved in that ancient city, quasi cubitis xx., facies erat longa
because it was said to be made quasi unius cubiti, et nasus illius
in the same way as that by which unius palmi mensurati, et brachia
the walls of Jericho were blown et crura ejus quatuor cubitorum
down: 'Les Juifs tiennent que erant.etdigitiejustribuspalmis.'
leurs ancetres se servirent de pa- p. 40.
reilles pour abbattre les murailles Bs Be Vita Caroli, p. 40.
de Jerico.' Voyages de Monconys, 97 Ibid. pp. 43-47.
vol. ni. p. 95, edit. Paris, 1695.
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITEEATUEE. 321
•wound. After this, the last hope of the Mohamme-
dans was extinct ; the Christian arms had finally
triumphed, and Charlemagne divided Spain among
those gallant followers who had aided him in effecting
its conquest. 98
On the history of Arthur, the Middle Ages possessed
information equally authentic. Different accounts had
been circulated respecting this celebrated king; 99 but
their comparative value was still unsettled, when, early
in the twelfth century, the subject attracted the atten-
tion of Geoffrey, the well-known Archdeacon of Mon-
mouth. This eminent man, in A.D. 1147, published the
result of his inquiries, in a work which he called
History of the Britons. 100 In this book, he takes a
comprehensive view of the whole question ; and not
only relates the life of Arthur, but also traces the cir-
cumstances which prepared the way for the appearance
of that great conqueror. In regard to the actions of
Arthur, the historian waa singularly fortunate, inas-
much as the materials necessary for that part of his
subject were collected by Walter Archdeacon of Oxford,
who was a friend of Geoffrey, and who, like him, took
great interest in the study of history. 101 The work is,
therefore, the joint composition of the two archdeacons ;
and is entitled to respect, not only on this account, but
also because it was one of the most popular of all the
productions of the Middle Ages.
M Be Vita Caroli, p. 62. On whose existence he, of course,
the twelve peers of Charlemagne, entertains no doubt. Indeed, at
in connexion with Turpin, see p. 292, he gives us an account
Sismondi, Hist dcs Frangais, of the discovery, in the twelfth
vol. v. pp. 246, 637, 638, vol. vi. century, of Arthur's body !
p. 634. 10 ° In Turner's Hist, of Eng-
** The "Welsh, however, accused land, vol. vii. pp. 269, 270, it is
Gildas of having thrown his said to have appeared in 1128;
history ■ into the sea.' Pal- but Mr. Wright (Biog. Brit. Lit.
grave's Anglo-Saxon Common- vol. ii. p. 144) seems to have
wealth, vol. i. p. 453. The proved that the real date is
industrious Sharon Turner (Hist. 1 147.
of England, vol. i. pp. 282-296) ,01 Geoffrey says, ' A Gual-
has collected a great deal of toro Oxinefordensi in mult is his-
evidence respecting Arthur; of toriis peritissimo viro audivit*
VOL. I. I
322 ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
The earlier part of this great history is occupied
■with the result of those researches which the Arch-
deacon of Monmouth had made into the state of Britain
before the accession of Arthur. With this we are not
so much concerned ; though it may be mentioned, that
the archdeacon ascertained that, after the capture of
Troy, Ascanius fled from the city, and begat a son,
who became father to Brutus. 102 In those days, Eng-
land was peopled by giants, all of whom were slain by
Brutus ; who, having extirpated the entire race, built
London, settled the affairs of the country, and called
it, after himself, by the name of Britain. 103 The arch-
deacon proceeds to relate the actions of a long line of
kings who succeeded Brutus, most of whom were re-
markable for their abilities, and some were famous for
the prodigies which occurred in their time. Thus,
during the government of BAvallo, it rained blood for
three consecutive days ; 104 and when Morvidus was on
the throne, the coasts were infested by a horrid sea-
monster, which, having devoured innumerable persons,
at length swallowed the king himself. 105
These and similar matters are related by the Arch-
(». e. ille Geoffrey) ' vili licet nomine suo insulam Britanniam,
stylo, breviter tamen propalabit, sociosque suos Britones appellat.'
quae prcelia inelytus ille rex post Galf. Hist. Britonum, p. 20.
victoriam istam, in Britanniam 104 ' In tempore ejus tribus
reversus, cum nepote suo com- diebus cecidit pluvia sanguinea,
miserit.' Galfredi Monumetensis et muscarum affluentia; quibus
Historia Britonum, lib. xi. sec. homines moriebantur.' Hist.
i. p. 200. And in the dedica- Brit. p. 36.
tion to the Earl of Gloucester, 105 ' Advenerat namque ex
p. 1, he says, ' Walterus Oxine- partibus Hibernici maris inau-
fordensis archidiaconus, vir in ditae feritatis bellua, quae incolas
oratoria arte atque in exoticis maritimos sine intermissione
historiis eruditus.' Compare devorabat. Cumque fama aures
Matthsi Westmonast. Mores His- ejus attigisset, accessit ipse ad
toriarum, part i. p. 248. illam, et solus cum sola congres-
102 Galfredi Historia Brito- sus est. At cum omnia tela sua
nvm, pp. 3, 4. in illam in vanum consumpsisset,
113 'Erat tunc nomen insulae acceleravit monstrum illud, et
Albion, quae a nemine, exceptis apertis faucibus ipsum relut
paucis gigantibus, inhabitaba- pisciculum devoravit.' Hist.
Jur. . . . Denique Brutus de Brit. p. 51.
ORIGIN OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE. 323
deacon of Monmouth as the fruit of his own inqniries ;
but in the subsequent account of Arthur, he was aided
by his friend the Archdeacon of Oxford. The two
archdeacons inform their readers, that King Arthur
owed his existence to a magical contrivance of Merlin,
the celebrated wizard ; the particulars of which they
relate with a minuteness which, considering the sacred
character of the historians, is rather remarkable. 106 The
subsequent actions of Arthur did not belie his super-
natural origin. His might nothing was able to with-
stand. He slew an immense number of Saxons ; he
overran Norway, invaded GauL fixed his court at
Paris, and made preparations to effect the conquest of
all Europe. 107 He engaged two giants in single com-
bat, and killed them both. One of these giants, who
inhabited the Mount of St. MichaeL was the terror of
the whole country, and destroyed all the soldiers sent
against him, except those he took prisoners, in order to
eat them while they were yet alive. 108 But he fell a
victim to the prowess of Arthur ; as also did another
giant, named Ritho, who was, if possible, still more
formidable. For Ritho, not content with warring on
men of the meaner sort, actually clothed himself in
furs which were entirely made of the beards of the
kings he had killed. 109
Such were the statements which, under the name of
history, were laid before the world in the twelfth cen-
tury; and that, too, not by obscure writers, but by
high dignitaries of the church. Nor was anything
108 Th* particulars of the in- quos semivivos devorabat.' Hist.
trigue are in Galf. Hist. Brit. Brit. p. 181.
pp. 151, 152. For information ,9 * 'Hie namqne ex barbis
respecting Merlin, see also Mat- regum quos peremerat, fecerat
thai Westmonast. Mores His- sibi pelles, et mandaverat Ar-
toriarum, part i. pp. 161, 162; turo ut barbam suam diligenter
and Naude, Apologie pour les excoriaret, atque excoriatam sibi
Grands Hommes, pp. 308, 309, dirigeret : ut quemadmodum ipse
318, 319, edit. Amsterdam, ceteris praeerat regibus, ita quo-
1712. que in bonorem ejus ceteris
107 Hist. Britonum, pp. 167- barbis ipsam super^cne^t.'
170 ; a brilliant chapter. Galf. Hist. Brit. p. 184.
108 'Sed et plures capiebat
t2
324
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
wanting by which the success of the work might be
ensured. Its vouchers were the Archdeacon of Mon-
mouth, and the Archdeacon of Oxford ; it was dedi-
cated to Robert Earl of Gloucester, the son of Henry I. ;
and it was considered so important a contribution to
the national literature, that its principal author was
raised to the bishopric of Asaph, — a preferment which
he is said to owe to his success in investigating the
annals of English history. 110 A book thus stamped
with every possible mark of approbation, is surely no
bad measure of the age in which it was admired. In-
deed, the feeling was so universal, that, during several
centuries, there are not more than two or three instances
of any critic suspecting its accuracy. 111 A Latin abridg-
ment of it was published by the well-known historian,
Alfred of Beverley; 112 and, in order that it might be
more generally known, it was translated into English
by Layamon, 113 and into Anglo-Norman, first by
110 'It -was partly, perhaps, the
reputation of this book, -which
procured its author the bishopric
of St. Asaph.' Life of Geoffrey
of Monmouth, in Wright's Biog.
Brit. Lit. vol. ii. p. 144, 8vo,
1846. According to the Welsh
writers, he was Bishop of Llan-
daff. See Stephens's Literature
of the Kymry, 8vo, 1849, p. 323.
111 Mr. Wright {Biog. Brit.
Lit. vol.ii. p. 146) says : ' Within a
century after its first publication,
it was generally adopted by
writers on English history ; and
during several centuries, only
one or two rare instances -occur
of persons who ventured to speak
against its veracity.' And Sir
Henry Ellis says of Polydore
Vergil, who wrote early in the
sixteenth century, ' For the re-
pudiation of Geoffrey of Mon-
mouth's history, Polydore Vergil
was considered almost as a man
deprived of reason. Such were
the prejudices of the time.'
Polydore VergiTs English Hist.
vol. i. p. x. edit. Ellis, 1846, 4to.
See also, on its popularity, Lap-
penberg's Hist, of the Anglo-
Saxon Kings, vol. i. p. 102. In
the seventeenth century, which
was the first sceptical century
in Europe, men began to open
their eyes on these matters ; and
Boyle, for example, classes to-
gether ' the fabulous labours of
Hercules, and exploits of Arthur
of Britain.' Boyle's Works, vol. iv.
p. 425.
112 Wrights Biog. Brit. Lit.
vol.. ii. p. 156 ; Turner's Hist, of
England, vol. vii. p. 282.
113 According to Mr. Wright
(Biog. Brit. vol. ii. p. 439), it
was translated through the
medium of Wace. But it would
be more correct to say, that Lay-
amon made the absurdities of
Geoffrey the basis of his work,
rather than translated them ; for
ORIGIN OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE. 325
Gaimar, and afterwards by Wace ; 114 zealous men, who
were anxions that the important truths it contained
should be diffused as widely as circumstances would
allow.
It will hardly be necessary that I should adduce fur-
ther evidence of the way in which history was written
during the Middle Ages ; for the preceding specimens
have not been taken at random, but have been selected
from the ablest and most celebrated authors ; and as
such present a very favourable type of the knowledge
and judgment of Europe in those days. In the four-
teenth and fifteenth centuries, there appeared, for the
first time, faint signs of an approaching change ; n5 but
this improvement was not very marked until late in the
sixteenth century, or even early in the seventeenth.
The principal steps of this interesting movement will
be traced in another part of the Introduction, when I
shall show, that although in the seventeenth century
the progress was unmistakeable, there was no attempt
to take a comprehensive view of history until nearly
the middle of the eighteenth century ; when the subject
was studied, first by the great French thinkers, then
by one or two of the Scotch, and, some years later, by
the Germans. This reformation of history was con-
nected, as I shall point out, with other intellectual
he amplifies 15,000 lines of vol. ii. pp. 151, 207; Hallam's
Wace's Brut into 32,000 of his Literature of Europe, vol. i. p.
own jargon. See Sir F. Madden's 35.
Preface to Layairuriis Brut, 8vo, "* Of which Froissart is the
1847, vol. i. p. xiii. I cannot earliest instance ; since he is the
refrain from bearing testimony first who took a secular view of
to the great philological value of affairs, all the preceding his-
thi3 work of Layamon's, by the torians being essentially theo-
publication of which its accom- logical. In Spain, too, we find,
plished editor has made an late in the fourteenth century,
important contribution towards a political spirit beginning to
the study of the history of the appear among historians. See
English language. So far, how- the remarks on Ayala, in Tick-
ever, as Layamon is concerned, nor's Hist, of Spanish Lit. vol.
we can only contemplate with i. pp. 165, 166 ; where, how-
wonder an age of which he was ever, Mr. Ticknor represents
considered an ornament. Froissart as more unworldly
,u Wright's Biog. Brit. Lit. than he really was.
326 ORIGIN" OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
changes, which corresponded to it, and which affected
the social relations of all the principal countries of
Europe. But, without anticipating what will be found
in another part of this volume, it is sufficient to say,
that not only was no history written before the end of
the sixteenth century, but that the state of society was
such as to make it impossible for one to be written.
The knowledge of Europe was not yet ripe enough to
enable it to be successfully applied to the study of past
events. For we are not to suppose that the deficiencies
of the early historians were caused by a lack of natural
abilities. The average intellect of men is probably
always the same ; but the pressure exercised on them
by society is constantly varying. It was, therefore,
the general condition of society, which, in former days,
compelled even the ablest writers to believe the most
childish absurdities. Until that condition was altered,
the existence of history was impossible, because it
was impossible to find any one who knew what was
most important to relate, what to reject, and what to
believe.
The consequence was, that even when history was
studied by men of such eminent abilities as Macchiavelli
and Bodin, they could turn it to no better account than
to use it as a vehicle for political speculations ; and in
none of their works do we find the least attempt to
rise to generalizations large enough to include all
the social phenomena. The same remark applies to
Comines, who, though inferior to Macchiavelli and
Bodin, was an observer of no ordinary acuteness, and
certainly displays a rare sagacity in his estimation of
particular characters. But this was due to his own
intellect ; while the age in which he lived made him
superstitious, and, for the larger purposes of history,
miserably shortsighted. His shortsightedness is strik-
ingly shown in his utter ignorance of that great intel-
lectual movement, which, in his own time, was rapidly
overthrowing the feudal institutions of the Middle
Ages ; but to which he never once alludes, reserving
his attention for those trivial political intrigues in the
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE. 327
relation of which, he believed history to consist. 116 As
to his superstition, it would be idle to give' many in-
stances of that ; since no man could live in the fifteenth
century without having his mind enfeebled by the
universal credulity. It may, however, be observed,
that though he was personally acquainted with states-
men and diplomatists, and had, therefore, the fullest
opportunity of seeing how enterprises of the fairest
promise are constantly ruined, merely by the incapacity
of those who undertake them, he, on all important
occasions, ascribes such failure, not to the real cause,
but to the immediate interference of the Deity. So
marked, and so irresistible, was the tendency of the
fifteenth century, that this eminent politician, a man of
the world, and well skilled in the arts of life, delibe-
rately asserts that battles are lost, not because the army
is ill supplied, nor because the campaign is ill conceived,
nor because the general is incompetent ; but because
the people or their prince are wicked, and Providence
seeks to punish them. For, says Comines, war is a
great mystery ; and being used by God as the means of
accomplishing his wishes, He gives victory, sometimes
to one side, sometimes to the other. 117 Hence, too,
118 On this, Arnold says, truly Philippe de Comines, vol. ii. pp.
enough, ' Comines's Memoirs are 277, 287, edit. Paris, 1826.
striking from their perfect un- llr He says, that a field of
consciousness: the knell of the battle is 'un des accomplisse-
Middle Ages had been already mens des ceuvres que Dieu a
sounded, yet Comines has no commences aucunes fois par
other notions than such as they petites mouvetez et occasions, et
had tended to foster ; he de- en donnant la victoire aucunes
scribes their events, _their cha- fois a l'un, et aucunes fois a
racters, their relations, as if they l'autre : et est cecy mystere si
•were to continue for centuries.' grand, que les royaumes et
Arnold's Lectures on Modern grandes seigneuries en prennent
History, p. 118. To this I may aucunes fois fins et desolations,
add, that whenever Comines has et les autres accroissement, et
occasion to mention the lower commencement de regner.' Mtm.
classes, which is very rarely the de Comines, vol. i. pp. 361, 362.
case, he speaks of them with Respecting the wanton invasion
great contempt. See two strik- of Italy, he says, that the expe-
ijig instances in Memoires de dition might have been easily
328
ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
disturbances occur in the state, solely by divine dispo-
sition ; and they never would happen, except that
princes or kingdoms, having become prosperous,
forget the source from which their prosperity pro-
ceeded. 118
Such attempts as these, to make politics a mere
branch of theology, 119 are characteristic of the time;
and they are the more interesting, as the work of a man
of great ability, and of one, too, who had grown old in
the experience of public life. When views of this sort
were advocated, not by a monk in his cloister, but by a
distinguished statesman, well versed in public affairs,
we may easily imagine what was the average intellec-
tual condition of those who were every way his inferiors.
It is but too evident, that from them nothing could be
expected; and that many steps had yet to be taken,
before Europe could emerge from the superstition in
ruined if the enemy had thought
of poisoning the wells or the
food : ' mais ils n'y eussent point
failly, s'ils y eussent voulu
essayer ; mais il est de croire
que nostre sauveur et redemp-
teur Jesus-Christ leur ostoit leur
vouloir.' vol. iii. p. 154. So, he
adds, p. 155, ' pour conclure
l'article, semble que nostre sei-
gneur Jesus-Christ ait voulu que
toute la gloire du voyage ait este
attribute a luy.' Compare the
Institutes of Timoicr, p. 7 ; an in-
structive combination of super-
stition and ferocity.
118 ' Mais mon advis est que
cela ne se fait que par disposi-
tion divine ; car quand les princes
ou royaumes ont este en grande
prospente ou ri chesses, et ils ont
mesconnoissance dont procede
telle grace, Dieu leur dresse un
ennemi ou ennemie,. dont nul ne
se douteroit, comme vous pouvez
voir par les rois nommez en la
Bible, et par ce que puis peu
d'annees en avez veu en cette
Angleterre, et en cette maison
de Bourgogne et autres lieux
que avez veu et voyez tous les
jours.' Mem. de Comines, vol. i.
pp. 388, 389. See also his re-
marks on the Duke of Burgundy,
vol. ii. p. 179 ; and in particu-
lar, his extraordinary digression,
livre v. chap, xviii. vol. ii. pp.
290-298.
118 Dr. Lingard (Hist, of Eng-
land, vol. i. p. 357) says, ' From
the doctrine of a superintending
providence, the piety of our
ancestors had drawn a rash but
very convenient inference, that
success is an indication of the
Divine will, and that, of course,
to resist a victorious competitor,
is to resist the judgment of"
heaven:' see also p. 114. The
last vestige of this once univer-
sal opinion is the expression,
which is gradually falling into
disuse, of ' appealing to the God
of Battles.'
OEIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITEEATUEE. 329
•which it was sunk, and break through those grievous
impediments which hindered its future progress.
But, though much remained to be done, there can be
no doubt that the movement onward was uninterrupted,
and that, even while Comines was writing, there were
unequivocal symptoms of a great and decisive change.
Still, they were only indications of what was approach-
ing ; and about a hundred years elapsed, after his death,
before the progress was apparent in the whole of its
results. For, though the Protestant Reformation was
a consequence of this progress, it was for some time
unfavourable to it, by encouraging the ablest men in
the discussion of questions inaccessible to human reason,
and thus diverting them from subjects in which their
efforts would have been available for the general pur-
poses of civilization. Hence we find, that little was
really accomplished until the end of the sixteenth cen-
tury, when, as we shall see in the next two chapters,
the theological fervour began to subside in England
and France, and the way was prepared for that purely
secular philosophy, of which Bacon and Descartes were
the exponents, but by no means the creators. 120 This
epoch belongs to the seventeenth century, and from it.
we may date the intellectual regeneration of Europe ;
just as from the eighteenth century we may date it3
120 See Guizot, Civilisation en quelque sort le sang qui a coule
Europe, p. 166 ; the best passage dans les veines du monde euro-
in that able, but rather unequal peen jusqu'a Bacon et Descartes,
work : ' Parcourez l'histoire du Pour la premiere fois, Bacon en
v* au xvi" siecle ; c'est la theo- Angleterre, et Descartes en
logie qui possede et dirige France, ont jet6 l'intelligenco
l'esprit humain ; toutes les opi- hors des voies de la theologie/
. nions sont empreintes de theo- A noble passage, and perfectly
logie ; les questions philoso- true : but what would have been
phiques, politiques, historiques, the effect produced by Bacon
sont toujours considered sous un and Descartes, if, instead of
point de vue theologique. L'6- living in the seventeenth century,
glise est tellement souveraine they had lived in the seventh ?
dans l'ordre intellectuel, que Would their philosophy have
meme les sciences math^ma- been equally secular; or, being
tiques et physiques sont tenues equally secular, would it have
de se soumettre a ses doctrines, been equally successful ?
L'esprit theologique est en
830 ORIGIN OP HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
social regeneration. But during the greater part of the
sixteenth century, the credulity was still universal,
since it affected not merely the lowest and most ignorant
classes, but even those who were best educated. Of
this innumerable proofs might be given ; though, for
the sake of brevity, I will confine myself to two
instances, which are particularly striking, from the
circumstances attending them, and from the influence
they exercised over men who might be supposed little
liable to similar delusions.
At the end of the fifteenth, and early in the sixteenth
-century, Stceffler, the celebrated astronomer, was pro-
fessor of mathematics at Tubingen. This eminent man
rendered great services to astronomy, and was one of
the first who pointed out the way of remedying the
errors in the Julian calendar, according to which time
was then computed. 121 But neither his abilities nor
his knowledge could protect him against the spirit of
his age. In. 1524, he published the result of some
abstruse calculations, in which he had been long en-
gaged, and by which he had ascertained the remarkable
fact, that in that same year the world would again be
destroyed by a deluge. This announcement, made by a
man of such eminence, and made, too, with the utmost
confidence, caused a lively and universal alarm. 122
News of the approaching event was rapidly circulated,
and Europe was filled with consternation. To avoid
the first shock, those who had houses by the sea, or on
rivers, abandoned them ; 123 while others, perceiving that
121 Compare Biog. Univ. vol. poris doctissimus, cum theologiae,
xliii. p. 577, 'with Montucla, in almo Complutensi gymnasio,
Hist, des Mathematiques, vol. i. lectoris munere fungeretur, et
p. 678. vero multos, ut ipsemet inquit,
122 Naude mentions, that in fluviis vel mari finitimos populos,
France it drove many persons jam stupido metu perculsos,
almost mad : « In Gallia parum domicilia ac sedes mutare vidis-
afuit quin ad insaniam homines set, ac praedia, supellectilem,
non paucos periculi metu (dilu- bonaque omnia, contra justum
vium) adegerit.' Bayle, in voce valorem sub actione distrahere,
Btofflerus, note B. ac alia loca vel altitudine, vel
123 ' Nam Petrus Cirvellus siccitate magis secura requirere,
Hispanorum omnium sui tem- sui officii esse putavit, in publica
ORIGIN OF HISTOEICAL LITERATURE. 331
such measures could only be temporary, adopted more
active precautions. It was suggested that, as a pre-
liminary step, the Emperor Charles V. should appoint
inspectors to survey the country, and mark those places
which, being least exposed to the coming flood, would
be most likely to afford a shelter. That this should be
done, was the wish of the imperial general, who was
then stationed at Florence, and by whose desire a work
was written recommending it. 124 But the minds of
men were too distracted for so deliberate a plan ; and
besides, as the height of the flood was uncertain, it was
impossible to say whether it would not reach the top of
the most elevated mountains. In the midst of these
and similar schemes, the fatal day drew near, and no-
thing had yet been contrived on a scale large enough
to meet the evil. To enumerate the different proposals
which were made and rejected, would fill a long chapter.
One proposal is, however, worth noticing, because it
was carried into effect with great zeal, and is, moreover,
very characteristic of the age. An ecclesiastic of the
name of Auriol, who was then professor of canon law
at the University of Toulouse, revolved in his own
mind various expedients by which this universal dis-
aster might be mitigated. At length it occurred to brm
that it was practicable to imitate the course which, on
a similar emergency, Noah had adopted with eminent
success. Scarcely was the idea conceived, when it was
put into execution. The inhabitants of Toulouse lent
their aid ; and an ark was built, in the hope that some
part, at least, of the human species might be preserved,
to continue their race, and repeople the earth, after the
waters should have subsided, and the land again become
dry.»»
ilia consternatione, quatn de cine, voL iii. p. 251 ; Delambre,
nihilo excitare persuaeum non Hist, de V Astronomie du Moyen
habebat,' &c. Bayle, note B. Age, Paris, 1819, 4to, p. 376;
124 Ibid. Montucla, Hist, des Mathhna-
124 In addition to the account tiques, vol. i. p. 622 ; Diet. Phi-
in Bayle, the reader may refer losoph., article Astrologie, in
to Biog. Univ. vol. iii. p. 88, vol. CEuvres de Voltaire, vol. zxxvii.
xxxi. p. 283, vol. xliii. pp. 677, pp. 148, 149.
678 ; Sprengel, Hist, de la Mide-
332 ORIGIN OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE.
About seventy years after this alarm had passed
away, there happened another circumstance, which for
a time afforded occupation to the most celebrated men
in one of the principal countries of Europe. At the
end of the sixteenth century, terrible excitement was
caused by a report that a golden tooth had appeared in
the jaw of a child born in Silesia. The rumour, on
being investigated, turned out to be too true. It be-
came impossible to conceal it from the public ; and the
miracle was soon known all over Germany, where, being
looked on as a mysterious omen, universal anxiety was
felt as to what this new thing might mean. Its real
import was first unfolded by Dr. Horst. In 1595, this
eminent physician published the result of his researches,
by which it appears that, at the birth of the child, the
sun was in conjunction with Saturn, at the sign Aries.
The event, therefore, though supernatural, was by no
means alarming. The golden tooth was the precursor
of a golden age, in which the emperor would drive the
Turks from Christendom, and lay the foundations of an
empire that would last for thousands of years. And
this, says Horst, is clearly alluded to by Daniel, in his
well-known second chapter, where the prophet speaks
of a statue with a golden head. 126
128 This history of the golden iv., in (Euvres de Fontenelle, vol.
tooth, is partly related by De ii. pp. 219, 220, ed. Paris, 1766;
Thou : see his Hist. Univ. vol. xi. Sprengd, Hist, de la Medecine,
pp. 634, 635. And on the con- vol. iii. pp. 247-249 ; Biog. Univ.
troversy to which it gave rise, vol. xx. p. 579.
compare Hist, des Oracles, chap.
333
CHAPTER VTI.
OUTLINE OF THE HISTOBY OF THE ENGLISH INTELLECT FHOM THE
MIDDLE OF THE SIXTEENTH TO THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTUET.
It is difficult for an ordinary reader, laving in the
middle of the nineteenth century, to understand, that
only three hundred years before he was born, the public
mind was in the benighted state disclosed in the pre-
ceding chapter. It is still more difficult for him to
understand that the darkness was shared not merely
by men of an average education, but by men of con-
siderable ability, men in every respect among the
foremost of their age. A reader of this sort may
satisfy himself that the evidence is indisputable ; he
may verify the statements I have brought forward, and
admit that there is no possible doubt about them ; but
even then he will find it hard to conceive that there
ever was a state of society in which such miserable
absurdities were welcomed as sober and important
truths, and were supposed to form an essential part of
the general stock of European knowledge.
But a more careful examination will do much to dis-
sipate this natural astonishment. In point of fact, so
far from wondering that such things were believed, the
wonder would have been if they were rejected. For
in those times, as in all others, every thing was of a
piece. Not only in historical literature, but in all kinds
of literature, on every subject — in science, in religion,
in legislation — the presiding principle was a blind and
unhesitating credulity. The more the history of Europe
anterior to the seventeenth century is studied, the more
completely will this fact be verified. Now and then a
great man arose, who had his doubts respecting tho
834 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
universal belief ; who whispered a suspicion as to the
existence of giants thirty feet high, of dragons with
wings, and of armies flying through the air; who
thought that astrology might be a cheat, and necro-
mancy a bubble ; and who even went so far as to raise
a question respecting the propriety of drowning every
witch and burning every heretic. A few such men
there undoubtedly were ; but they were despised as
mere theorists, idle visionaries, who, unacquainted with
the practice of life, arrogantly opposed their own reason
to the wisdom of their ancestors. In the state of so-
ciety in which they were born, it was impossible that
they should make any permanent impression. Indeed,
they had enough to do to look to themselves, and pro-
vide for their own security ; for, until the latter part
of the sixteenth century, there was no country in
which a man was not in great personal peril if he
expressed open doubts respecting the belief of his
contemporaries .
Yet it is evident, that until doubt began, progress
was impossible. For, as we have clearly seen, the ad-
vance of civilization solely depends on the acquisitions
made by the human intellect, and on the extent to which
those acquisitions are diffused. But men who are per-
fectly satisfied with their own knowledge, will never
attempt to increase it. Men who are perfectly con-
vinced of the accuracy of their opinions, will never
take the pains of examining the basis on which they
are built. They look always with wonder, and often
with horror, on views contrary to those which they
inherited from their fathers ; and while they are in this
state of mind, it is impossible that they should receive
any new truth which interferes with their foregone
conclusions.
On this account it is, that although the acquisition
of fresh knowledge is the necessary precursor of every
step in social progress, such acquisition must itself be
preceded by a love of inquiry, and therefore by a spirit
of doubt ; because without doubt there will be no in-
quiry, and without inquiry there will be no knowledge.
For knowledge is not an inert and passive principle.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 335
which comes to us whether we will or no ; but it must
be sought before it can be won ; it is the product of
great labour and therefore of great sacrifice. And it
is absurd to suppose that men will incur the labour,
and make the sacrifice, for subjects respecting which
they are already perfectly content. They who do not
feel the darkness, will never look for the light. If on
any point we have attained to certainty, we make no
further inquiry on that point ; because inquiry would
be useless, or perhaps dangerous. The doubt must
intervene, before the investigation can begin. Here,
then, we have the act of doubting as the originator, or,
at all events, the necessary antecedent, of all progress.
Here we have that scepticism, the very name of which
is an abomination to the ignorant ; because it disturbs
their lazy and complacent minds ; because it troubles
their cherished superstitions ; because it imposes on
them the fatigue of inquiry ; and because it rouses
even sluggish understandings to ask if things are as
they are commonly supposed, and if all is really true
which they from their childhood have been taught to
believe.
The more we examine this great principle of scepticism,
the more distinctly shall we see the immense part it
has played in the progress of European civilization.
To state in general terms, what in this Introduction
will be fully proved, it may be said, that to scepticism
we owe that spirit of inquiry, which, during the last
two centuries, has gradually encroached on every
possible subject ; has reformed every department of
practical and speculative knowledge ; has weakened
the authority of the privileged classes, and thus placed
liberty on a surer foundation ; has chastized the des-
potism of princes ; has restrained the arrogance of the
nobles ; and has even diminished the prejudices of the
clergy. In a word, it is this which has remedied the
three fundamental errors of the olden time : errors
which made the people, in politics too confiding ; in
science too credulous ; in religion too intolerant.
This rapid summary of what has actually been effected,
may perhaps startle those readers to whom such large
336 ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
investigations are not familiar. The importance, how-
ever, of the principle at issue is so great, that I purpose
in this Introduction to verify it by an examination of all
the prominent forms of European civilization. Such
an inquiry -will lead to the remarkable conclusion, that
no single fact has so extensively affected the different
nations as the duration, the amount, and above all the
diffusion, of their scepticism. In Spain, the church,
aided by the Inquisition, has always been strong enough
to punish sceptical writers, and prevent, not indeed the
existence, but the promulgation of sceptical opinions. 1
By this means the spirit of doubt being quenched,
knowledge has for several centuries remained almost
stationary ; and civilization, which is the fruit of know-
ledge, has also been stationary. But in England and
France, which, as we shall presently see, are the coun-
tries where scepticism first openly appeared, and where
it has been most diffused, the results are altogether
different ; and the love of inquiry being encouraged,
there has arisen that constantly-progressive knowledge
to which these two great nations owe their prosperity.
In the remaining part of this volume, I shall trace the
history of this principle in France and England, and
examine. the different forms under which it has appeared,
and the way in which those forms have affected the
national interests.- In the order of the investigation,
I shall give the precedence to England ; because, for
the reasons already stated, its civilization must be
deemed more normal than that of France ; and there-
fore, notwithstanding its numerous deficiencies, it ap-
proaches the natural type more closely than its great
1 On the influence of the 120, 133, 231, 232; Lord Hol-
French literature, which, late in land's Foreign Beminiscenccs,
the eighteenth century, crept edit. 1850, p. 76; Southey's Hist.
into Spain in spite of the church, of Brazil, vol. iii. p. 607 ; and
and diffused a considerable an imperfect statement of the
amount of scepticism among the same fact in Alison's Hist, of
most educated classes, compare Europe, vol. x. p. 8. In regard
Llorente, Hist, de V Inquisition, to the Spanish colonies, compare
vol. i. p. 322, vol.ii. p. 543, vol.iv. Humboldt, Nouv. Espagne, vol. ii.
pp. 98, 99, 102, 148; Doblado's p. 818, with Ward' s Mexico, vol. i.
Letters from Spain, pp. 115, 119, p. 83.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 387
neighbour has been able to do. But as the fullest
details respecting English civilization will be found in
the body of the present work, I intend in the Intro-
duction to devote merely a single chapter to it, and to
consider our national history simply in reference to the
immediate consequences of the sceptical movement ;
reserving for a future occasion those subsidiary matters
which, though less comprehensive, are still of great
value. And as the growth of religious toleration is
undoubtedly the most important of all, I will, in the
first place, state the circumstances under which it ap-
peared in England in the sixteenth century ; and I will
then point out how other events, which immediately
followed, were part of the same progress, and were
indeed merely the same principles acting in different
directions.
A careful study of the history of religious toleration
will prove, that in every Christian country where it has
been adopted, it has been forced upon the clergy by the
authority of the secular classes. 2 At the present day,
it is still unknown to those nations among whom the
ecclesiastical power is stronger than the temporal
power ; and as this, during many centuries, was the
general condition, it is not wonderful that, in the early
history of Europe, we should find scarcely a trace of so
wise and benevolent an opinion. But at the moment
when Elizabeth mounted the throne of England, our
country was about equally divided between two hostile
2 Nearly two hundred years played towards each other in
ago, Sir William Temple observed Holland, adds, ' La grande raison
that in Holland the clergy pos- d'une harmonie si parfaite est
sessed less power than in other que tout s'y regie par les seculiers
countries ; and that, therefore, de chacune de ces religions, et
there existed an unusual amount qu'on ny souffriroit pas des
of toleration. Observations upon ministres, dont le zele imprudent
the. United Provinces, in Temple's pourroit detruire cette heureus*
Works, vol. i. pp. 157-162. About correspondance.' Le Blanc, Let-
seventy years later, the same tres dun Francais, vol. i. p. 73.
inference was drawn by another I merely give these as illustra-
acute observer, Le Blanc, who, tions of an important principle,
after meptioning the liberality which I shall hereafter prove,
which the different sects dis-
vor,. 1. Z
338 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
creeds ; and the queen, with remarkable ability, con-
trived during some time so to balance the rival powers,
as to allow to neither a decisive preponderance. This
was the first instance which had been seen in Europe
of a government successfully carried on without the
active participation of the spiritual authority ; and the
consequence was, that for several years the principle of
toleration, though still most imperfectly understood,
was pushed to an extent which is truly surprising for
so barbarous an age. 3 Unhappily, after a time, various
circumstances, which I shall relate in their proper
place, induced Elizabeth to change a policy which she,
even with all her wisdom, perhaps considered to be a
dangerous experiment, and for which the knowledge of
the country was as yet hardly ripe. But although she
now allowed the Protestants to gratify their hatred
against the Catholics, there was, in the midst of the
sanguinary scenes which followed, one circumstance
very worthy of remark. Although many persons were
most unquestionably executed merely for their religion,
no one ventured to state their religion as the cause of
their execution. 4 The most barbarous punishments
were inflicted upon them ; but they were told that they
might escape the punishment by renouncing certain
principles which were said to be injurious to the safety
of the state. 5 It is true, that many of these principles
3 ' In the first eleven years of to my owne knowledge, the late
her reign, not one Boman Ca- queene of famous memory never
tholic was prosecuted capitally punished any Papist for religion.'
for religion.' Neats Hist, of Works of King James, London,
the Puritans, vol. i. p. 444 ; and 1616,folio,p.252. AndCharlesI.
the same remark in Collier's says : ' I am informed, neither
Eccles. Hist. vol. vii. p. 252, edit. Queen Elizabeth nor my father
1840. did ever avow that any priest in
4 Without quoting the impu- their times was executed merely
dent defence which Chief- Justice for religion.' Pari. Hist. vol. ii.
Popham made, in 1606, for the p. 713.
barbarous treatment of the 5 This was the defence set up
Catholics (CampbeWs Chief Jus- in 1583, in a work called The
tices, vol. i. p. 225), I will give Execution of Justice in England,
the words of the two immediate and ascribed to Burleigh. See
successors of Elizabeth. James I. Hallam's Const. Hist. vol. i. pp.
says: 'The trewth is, according 146, 147; and Somers Tracts,
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 339
were such as no Catholic could abandon without at tho
same time abandoning his religion, of which they formed
an essential part. But the mere fact that the spirit of
persecution was driven to such a subterfuge, showed
that a great progress had been made by the age. A
most important point, indeed, was gained when the
bigot became a hypocrite ; and when the clergy, though
willing to burn men for the good of their souls, were
obliged to justify their cruelty by alleging considera-
tions of a more temporal, and, as they considered, a
less important character. 6
A remarkable evidence of the change that was then
taking place, is found in the two most important theo-
logical works which appeared in England during the
reign of Elizabeth. Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity was
published at the end of the sixteenth century, 7 and is
vol. i. pp. 189-208: 'a number
of persons whom they term as
martyrs,' p. 195; and at p. 202,
the ■writer attacks those who
have ' entitled certain that have
suffered for treason to be mar-
tyrs for religion.' In the same
way, the opponents of Catholic
Emancipation in our time, found
themselves compelled to abandon
the old theological ground, and
to defend the persecution of the
Catholics rather by political ar-
guments than by religious ones.
Lord Eldon, who was by far the
most influential leader of the
intolerant party, said, in a speech
in the House of Lords, in 1810,
that ' the enactments against the
Catholics were meant to guard,
not against the abstract opinions
of their religion, but against the
political dangers of a faith which
acknowledged a foreign supre-
macy.' Ttiwss's Life of Eldon,
vol. i. p. 435 ; see also pp. 483,
501, 577-580. Compare Alison's
Hist. vol. vi. pp. 379 seq., a
summary of the debate in 1805.
z2
• Mr. Sewell seems to have
this change in view in his Chris-
tian Politics, 8vo, 1844, p. 277.
Compare Coleridge's note in
Souther/ s Life of Wesley, vol. i.
p. 270. An able writer says of
the persecutions which, in the
seventeenth century, the Church
of England directed against her
opponents : ' This is the stale
pretence of the clergy in all
countries, after they have soli-
cited the government to make
penal laws against those they
call heretics or schismaticks, and
prompted the magistrates to a
vigorous execution, then they lay
all the odium on the civil power
for whom they have no excuse
to allege, but that such men
suffered, not for religion, but for
disobedience to the laws.' So-
mers Tracts, vol. xii. p. 534.
See also Butlers Mem. of th?
Catholics, voL i. p. 389, and vol. ii.
pp. 44-46.
7 The first four books, which
are in every point of view the
most important, were published
340 ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
still considered one of the greatest bulwarks of our
national church. If we compare this work with Jewel's
Apology for the Church of England, which was written
thirty years before it, 8 we shall at once be struck by
the different methods these eminent writers employed.
Both Hooker and Jewel were men of learning and
genius. Both of them were familiar with the Bible,
the Fathers, and the Councils. Both of them wrote
with the avowed object of defending the Church of
England ; and both of them were well acquainted with
the ordinary weapons of theological controversy. But
here the resemblance stops. The men were very
similar ; their works are entirely different. During
the thirty years which had elapsed, the English intel-
lect had made immense progress ; and the arguments
which in the time of Jewel were found perfectly satis-
factory, would not have been listened to in the time of
Hooker. The work of Jewel is full of quotations from
the Fathers and the Councils, whose mere assertions,
when they are uncontradicted by Scripture, he seems to
regard as positive proofs. Hooker, though he shows
much respect to the Councils, lays little stress upon
the Fathers, and evidently considered that his readers
would not pay much attention to their unsupported
opinions. Jewel inculcates the importance of faith ;
Hooker insists upon the exercise of reason. 9 The first
in 1594. Walton's Life of be read by the people.' Aubrey's
Hooker, in Wordsworth's Ecele- Letters, vol. ii. p. 42. The order,
siast. Biog. vol. iii. p. 509. The in regard to Jewel's Defence,
sixth book is said not to be was repeated by James I. and
authentic ; and doubts have been Charles I. Butler's Mem. of the
thrown upon the seventh and Catholics, vol. iv. p. 413.
eighth books ; but Mr. Hallam 9 ' Wherefore the natural mea-
thinks that they are certainly sure whereby to judge our doings
prenuine. Literature of Europe, is, the sentence of Eeason deter-
vol. ii. pp. 24, 25. mining and setting down what is
8 JeweVs Apology was written good to be done.' Eccl. Polity,
in 1561 or 1562. See Words- book i. sec. viii. in Hooker's
worth's Eccles. Biog. vol. iii. p. Works, vol. i. p. 99. He requires
313. This work, the Bible, and of his opponents, 'not to exact
Fotfs Martyrs, were ordered, in at our hands for every action the
the reign of Elizabeth, ' to be knowledge of some place of
fixed in all parish churches, to Scripture out of which we stand
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 341
employs all his talents in collecting the decisions of
antiquity, and in deciding upon the meaning which
they may be supposed to bear. The other quotes the
ancients, not so much from respect for their authority,
as with the view of illustrating his own arguments.
Thus, for instance, both Hooker and Jewel assert the
undoubted right of the sovereign to interfere in ecclesi-
astical affairs. Jewel, however, fancied that he had
proved the right, when he had pointed out that it was
exercised by Moses, by Joshua, by David, and by
Solomon. 10 On the other hand, Hooker lays down
bound to deduce it, as by divers
testimonies they seek to enforce;
but rather, as the truth is, so to
acknowledge, that it sufficeth if
such actions be framed according
to the law of reason.' Book ii.
sec. L Works, vol. i. p. 151.
' For men to be tied and led by
authority, as it were with a kind
of captivity of judgment, and,
though there be reason to the
contrary, not to listen unto it,
but to follow, like beasts, the
first in the herd, they know not
nor care not whither : this were
brutish. Again, that authority
of men should prevail with men,
either against or above Reason,
is no part of our belief. Com-
panies of learned men, be they
never so great and reverend, are
to yield unto Reason.' Book ii.
sec. vii. vol. i. pp. 182, 183. In
book v. sec. viii. vol. ii. p. 23,
he says, that even ' the voice of
the church ' is to be held inferior
to reason. See also a long pas-
sage in book vii. sec. xi. vol. iii.
p. 152 ; and on the application
of reason to the general theory
of religion, see vol. i. pp. 220-
223, book iii. sec. viii. Again,
at p. 226 : ' Theology, what is it,
but the science of things divine?
What scitnce can be attained
unto, without the help of natural
discourse and Reason ? ' And he
indignantly asks those who insist
on the supremacy of faith, 'May
we cause our faith without
Reason to appear reasonable in
the eyes of men ? ' vol. i. p. 230.
10 After referring to Isaiah, he
adds: 'Praeter, inquam, hsec
omnia, ex historiis et optimorum
temporum exemplisvidemuspios
principes procurationem eccle-
siarum ab officio 6uo nunquam
putasse alienam.
' Moses civilis magistratus, ac
ductor populi, omnem religionis,
et sacrorum rationem, et accepit
a Deo, et populo tradidit, et
Aaronem episcopum de aureo
vitulo, et de violata religione,
vehementer et graviter castigavit.
Josue, etei non aliud erat, quam
magistratus civilis, tamen cum
primum inauguraretur et prae-
ficeretur populo, accepit mandata
nominatim de religione, deque
colendo Deo.
■ David rex, cum omnia jam
religio, ab impio rege Saule pror-
sus esset dissipata, reduxit arcam
Dei, hoc est, religionem restituit:
nee tantum adfuit ut admonitor
aut hortator opuris, sed etiam
psalmos et hymnos dedit, et
classes disposuit, et pompom
342
ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
that this right exists, not because it is ancient, but
because it is advisable ; and because it is unjust to sup-
pose that men who are not ecclesiastics will consent to
be bound by laws which ecclesiastics alone have framed. 11
In the same opposite spirit do these great writers con-
duct their defence of their own church. Jewel, like all
the authors of his time, had exercised his memory
more than his reason; and he thinks to settle the
whole dispute by crowding together texts from the
Bible, with the opinions of the commentators upon
them. 12 But Hooker, who lived in the age of Shake-
instituit, et quodammodo praefuit
sacerdotibus.
'Salomon rex sedificavit tem-
plum Domino, quod ejus pater
David animo tantum destinave-
rat : et postremo orationem egre-
giam habuit ad populum de
religione, et cultu Dei ; et Abia-
tharum episcopum postea sum-
movit, et in ejus locum Sadocum
surrogavit.' Apolog. Eccles.
Anglic, pp. 161, 162.
" He says that, although the
clergy may be supposed more
competent than laymen to regu-
late ecclesiastical matters, this
will practically avail them no-
thing: ' It were unnatural not to
think the pastors and bishops of
our souls a great deal more fit
than men of secular trades and
callings ; howbeit, when all which
the wisdom of all sorts can do
is done, for the devising of laws
in the church, it is the general
consent of all that giveth them
the form and vigour of laws;
without which they could be no
more unto us than the counsels
of physicians to the sick.' Eccle-
siastical Polity, book viii. sec. vi.
vol. ih. p. 303. He adds, p. 326 :
'Till it be proved that some
special law of Christ hath for
ever annexed unto the clergy
alone the power to make eccle-
siastical laws, we are to hold it a
thing most consonant with equity
and reason, that no ecclesiastical
laws be made in a Christian com-
monwealth, without consent as
well of the laity as of the clergy,
but least of all without consent
of the highest power.'
12 ' Quod si docemus sacro-
sanctum Dei evangelium, et
veteres episcopos, atque ecclesiam
primitivam nobiscum facere.'
If this be so, then, indeed,
'speramus, neminem illorum'
(his opponents) ' ita negligentem
fore salutis suae, quin ut velit
aliquando cogitationem suscipere,
ad utros potius se adjungat.'
Apolog, Eccles. Anglic, p. 17.
At p. 53, he indignantly asks if
any one will dare to impeach the
Fathers : ' Ergo Origenes, Am-
brosius, Augustinus, Chrysosto-'
mus, Gelasius, Theodoretus erant
desertores fidei catholicse ? Ergo
tot veterum episcoporum et doc-
torum virorum tanta consensio
nihil aliud erat quam conspiratio
haereticorum ? Aut quod turn
laudabatur in illis, id nunc dam-
natur in nobis ? Quodque in
illis erat catholicum, id nunc
mutatis tantum hominum volun-
tatibus, repente factum est
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 343
speare and Bacon, found himself constrained to take
views of a far more comprehensive character. His
defence rests neither upon tradition nor upon commen-
tators, nor ever upon revelation ; but he is content that
the pretensions of the hostile parties shall be decided
by their applicability to the great exigencies of society,
and by the ease with which they adapt themselves to
the general purposes of ordinary life. 13
It requires but little penetration to see the immense
importance of the change which these two great works
represent. As long as an opinion in theology was
defended by the old dogmatie method, it was impossible
schismaticum ? Aut quod olira
erat verum, nunc statim, quia
istis non placet, erit falsum?'
His work is full of this sort of
eloquent, but, as it appears to
our age, pointless declamation.
'* This large view underlies
the whole of the Ecclesiastical
Polity. I can only afford room
for a few extracts, which will be
illustrations rather than proofs :
the proof will be obvious to every
competent reader of the work
itself. ' True it is, the ancienter
the better ceremonies of religion
are; howbeit not absolutely true
and without exception ; but trite
only so far forth as those different
ages do agree in the state of those
things for which, at the first,
those rites, orders, and ceremo-
nies were instituted.' vol. i. p.
36. 'We count those things
perfect which want nothing
requisite for the end whereto
they were instituted.' vol. i. p.
191. 'Because when a thing
doth cease to be available unto
the end which gave it being, the
continuance of it must then of
necessity appear superfluous.'
And even of the laws of God, he
boldly adds: 'Notwithstanding
the authority of their Maker,
the mutability of that end for
which they are made doth also
make them changeable.' vol. i.
p. 236. 'And therefore laws,
though both ordained of God
himself, and the end for which
they were ordained continuing,
may notwithstanding cease, if
by alteration of persons or times
they be found unsufficient to
attain unto that end.' vol. i. p.
238. At p. 240: 'I therefore
conclude, that neither God's
being Author of laws for govern-
ment of his church, nor his com-
mitting them unto Scripture,
is any reason sufficient wherefore
all churches should for ever be
bound to keep them without
change.' See, too, vol. iii. p. 169,
on ' the exigence of necessity.'
Compare pp. 182, 183, and vol" i.
p. 323, vol. ii. pp. 273, 424.
Not a vestige of such arguments
can be found in Jewel ; who, on
the contrary, says {Apologia, p.
114), ' Certe in religionem Dei
nihil gravius dici potest, quam si
ea accusetur novitatis. Ut enim
in Deo ipso, ita in ejus cultu
nihil oportet esse novum.'
344 ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
to assail it without incurring the imputation of heresy.
But when it was chiefly defended by human reasoning,
its support was seriously weakened. For by this means
the element of uncertainty was let in. It might be
alleged, that the arguments of one sect are as good as
those of another ; and that we cannot be sure of the
truth of our principles, until we have heard what is to
be said on the opposite side. According to the old
theological theory, it was easy to justify the most
barbarous persecution. If a man knew that the only
true religion was the one which he professed, and if he
also knew that those who died in a contrary opinion
were doomed to everlasting perdition — if he knew
these things beyond the remotest possibility of a doubt,
he might fairly argue, that it is merciful to punish the
body in order to save the soul, and secure to immortal
beings their future salvation, even though he employed
so sharp a remedy as the halter or the stake. 14 But if
this same man is taught to think that questions of re-
ligion are to be settled by reason as well as by faith, he
can scarcely avoid the reflection, that the reason even
of the strongest minds is not infallible, since it has led
the ablest men to the most opposite conclusions. When
this idea is once diffused among a people, it cannot fail
to influence their conduct. No one of common sense
and common honesty will dare to levy upon another, on
account of his religion, the extreme penalty of the law,
when he knows it possible that his own opinions may
be wrong, and that those of the man he has punished
may be right. From the moment when questions of
religion begin to evade the jurisdiction of faith, and
submit to the jurisdiction of reason, persecution becomes
a crime of the deepest dye. Thus it was in England in
the seventeenth century. As theology became more
reasonable, it became less confident, and therefore more
merciful. Seventeen years after the publication of the
14 Archbishop Whately has traced to their Origin in Human
made some very good remarks on Nature, pp. 237, 238.
this . See his Errors of Bo/nanism
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH OENTUEY. 345
great work of Hooker, two men were publicly burned
by the English bishops, for holding heretical opinions. 18
But this was the last gasp of expiring bigotry ; and
since that memorable day, the soil of England has
never been stained by the blood of a man who has
suffered for his religious creed. 16
We have thus seen the rise of that scepticism which
in physics must always be the beginning of science,
and in religion must always be the beginning of tole-
ration. There is, indeed, no doubt that in both cases
individual thinkers may, by a great effort of original
genius, emancipate themselves from the operation of
this law. But in the progress of nations no such eman-
cipation is possible. As long as men refer the move-
ments of the comets to the immediate finger of God,
and as long as they believe that an eclipse is one of the
modes by which the Deity expresses his anger, they
will never be guilty of the blasphemous presumption
of attempting to predict such supernatural appearances.
Before they could dare to investigate the causes of
these mysterious phenomena, it is necessary that they
should believe, or at all events that they should suspect,
that the phenomena themselves were capable of being
explained by \he human mind. In the same way, until
men are content in some degree to bring their religion
before the bar of their own reason, they never can
understand how it is that there should be a diversity
of creeds, or how any one can differ from themselves
14 Their names were Legat Litchfield.' Const. Hist. vol. i.
and Wightman, and they suffered pp. 611, 612.
in 1611 : see the contemporary 1B It should be mentioned, to
account in Somers Tracts, vol. ii. the honour of the Court of Chan-
pp. 400-408. Compare Black- eery, that late in the sixteenth,
stone's Comment, vol. iv. p. 49; and early in the seventeenth
Harris's Lives of the Stuarts, century, its powers were exerted
vol. i. pp. 143, 144; and note in against the execution of those
Burton' 8 Diary, vol.i. p. 118. Of cruel laws, by which the Church
these martyrs to their opinions, of England was allowed to per-
Mr. Hallam says : ' The first was Becute men who differed from its
burned by King, bishop of Lon- own views. See Cai»j>l>ells Chan-
dun; the second by Neyle, of c< llors, vol. ii. pp. 135, 176, 231.
346
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
without being guilty of the most enormous and unpar-
donable crime. 17
If we now continue to trace the progress of opinions
in England, we shall see the full force of these remarks.
A general spirit of inquiry, of doubt, and even of in-
subordination, began to occupy the minds of men. In
physics, it enabled them, almost at a blow, to throw
off the shackles of antiquity, and give birth to sciences
founded not on notions of old, but on individual obser-
vations and individual experiments. 18 In politics, it
stimulated them to rise against the government, and
eventually bring their king to the scaffold. In religion,
it vented itself in a thousand sects, each of which pro-
claimed, and often exaggerated, the efficiency of private
judgment. 19 The details of this vast movement form
1T ' To tax any one, therefore,
with want of reverence, because
he pays no respect to what we
venerate, is either irrelevant, or
is a mere confusion. The fact,
so far as it is true, is no reproach,
hut an honour ; because to reve-
rence all persons and all things
is absolutely wrong: reverence
shown to that which does not
deserve it, is no virtue ; no, nor
even an amiable weakness, but a
plain folly and sin. But if it be
meant that he is wanting in pro-
per reverence, not respecting
what is really to be respected,
that is assuming the whole ques-
tion at issue, because what we
call divine, he calls an idol ; and
as, supposing that we are in the
right, we are bound to fall down
and worship, so, supposing him
to be in the right, he is no less
bound to pull it to the ground
and destroy it.' Arnolds Lectures
on Modern History, pp. 210, 211.
Considering the ability of Dr.
Arnold, considering his great
influence, and considering his
profession, his antecedents, and
the character of the university
in which he was speaking, it
must be allowed that this is a
remarkable passage, and one well
worthy the notice of those who
wish to study the tendencies of
the English mind during the
present generation.
18 On the connexion between
the rise of the Baconian philoso-
phy and the change in the spirit
of theologians, compare Comte,
Philosophie Positive, vol. v. p.
701, with Whately on Dangers to
Christian Faith, pp. 148, 149. It
favoured, as Tennemann (Gesch.
der Philos. vol. x. p. 14) says,
the ' Belebung der selbstthatigen
Kraft des menschlichen G-eistes ;'
and hence the attack on the
inductive philosophy in Newman's
Development of Christian Doc-
trine, pp. 179-183. But Mr.
Newman does not seem to be
aware how irrevocably we are
now pledged to the movement
which he seeks to reverse.
19 The rapid increase of heresy
in the middle of the seventeenth
century is very remarkable, and
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
347
one of the most interesting parts of the history of
England : hut without anticipating what I must here-
after relate, I will at present mention only one instance,
which, from the circumstances attending it, is very-
characteristic of the age. The celebrated work by
Chillingworth on the Religion of Protestants, is gene-
rally admitted to be the best defence which the Re-
formers have been able to make against the Church of
Rome. 20 It was published in 1637, 21 and the position
of the author would induce us to look for the fullest
display of bigotry that was consistent with the spirit
of his time. Chillingworth had recently abandoned
the creed which he now came forward to attack ; and
he, therefore, might be expected to have that natural
inclination to dogmatize with which apostasy is usually
accompanied. Besides this, he was the godson and the
intimate friend of Laud, 22 whose memory is still loathed,
as the meanest, the most cruel, and the most narrow-
it greatly aided civilization in
England by encouraging habits
of independent thought. In Feb.
1646-7, Boyle writes from Lon-
don, ' There are few days pass
here, that may not justly be ac-
cused of the brewing or broach-
ing of some new opinion. Nay,
some are so studiously changling
in that particular, they esteem
an opinion as a diurnal, after a
day or two scarce worth the
keeping. If any man have lost
his religion, let him repair to
London, and I'll warrant him he
shall find it: I had almost said
too, and if any man has a religion,
let him but come hither now, and
he shall go near to lose it.'
Birch's Lxfe of Boyle, in Boyle 8
Works, vol. i! pp. 20, 21. See
also Bates's Account of the late
Troubles, edit. 1685, part ii. p.
219, on 'that unbridled licen-
tiousness of hereticks which
grew greater tad greater daily.'
Compare to the same effect Car-
lyle's Cromwell, vol. i. p. 289;
Hallam's Const. Hist. vol. i. p.
608; and Carwithcn's Hist, of
the Church of England, vol. ii. p.
203: 'sectaries began to swarm.'
M Not to quote the opinions
of inferior men respecting Chil-
lingworth, it is enough to mention,
that Lord Mansfield said he was
' a perfect model of argumenta-
tion.' Butler's Reminiscences,
vol. i. p. 126. Compare a letter
from Warburton, in Nichols's
I/lustrations of the Eighteenth
Century, vol. IT. p. 849.
*' Des Maizcaux, Life of Chil-
lingworth, p. 141.
*" Aubrey's Letters and Lives,
vol. ii. p. 285 ; Bis Maizeau.v,
Life of Chillingworth, pp. 2, 9.
The correspondence between Laud
and Chillingworth is supposed to
be lost. Des Maizeaux, p. 12.
Carwithen {Hist, of the Church
of England, vol. ii. p. 214) saya,
• Laud was the godfather of Chil-
ling worth.'
348 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
minded man who ever sat on the episcopal bench. 23
He was, moreover, a fellow of Oxford, and was a con-
stant resident at that ancient university, which has
always been esteemed as the refuge of superstition, and
which has preserved to our own day its unenviable
fame. 24 If now we turn to the work that was written
under these auspices, we can scarcely believe that it
was produced in the same generation, and in the same
country, where, only twenty-six years before, two men
had been pubhcly burned because they advocated
"pinions different to those of the established church.
It is, indeed, a most remarkable proof of the prodigious
energy of that great movement which was now going
on, that its pressure should be felt under circumstances
the most hostile to it which can possibly be conceived ;
and that a friend of Laud, and a fellow of Oxford,
should, in a grave theological treatise, lay down princi-
ples utterly subversive of that theological spirit which
for many centuries had enslaved the whole of Europe.
In this great work, all authority in matters of reli-
gion is openly set at defiance. Hooker, indeed, had
appealed from the jurisdiction of the Fathers to the
jurisdiction of reason ; he had, however, been careful
to add, that the reason of individuals ought to bow
before that of the church, as we find it expressed in
great Councils, and in the general voice of ecclesiastical
tradition. 25 But Chillingworth would hear of none of
these things. He would admit of no reservations which
23 The character of Laud is Chillingworth derived his liberal
now well understood and gene- principles/row? Oxford : ' the very
rally known. His odious cruelties same college which nursed the
made him so hated by his con- high intellect and tolerant prin-
temporaries, that after his con- -ciples of Chillingworth.' Bowles's
demnation, many persons shut Life of Bishop Ken, vol. i. p. xxi.
up their shops, and refused to 2S Hooker's undue respect for
open them till he was executed, the Councils of the tkunh is
This is mentioned by Walton, an noticed by Mr. Hallam, Con* .
eye-witness. iSee Walton'* Life Hist. vol. i. p. 213. Compa e
of Sanderson, in Wordsworth's the hesitating remarks in OJ-
Eccles. Biog. vol. iv. p. 429. ridge's Literary Remains, vol. ii..
24 A modern writer suggests, pp. 35, 36.
with exquisite simplicity, that
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 349
tended to limit the sacred right of private judgment.
He not only went far beyond Hooker in neglecting the
Fathers, 26 but he even ventured to despise the Coun-
cils. Although the sole object of his work was to
decide on the conflicting claims of the two greatest
sects into which the Christian Church has broken, he
never quotes as authorities the Councils of that very
church respecting which the disputes were agitated. 27
His strong and subtle intellect, penetrating the depths
of the subject, despised that sort of controversy which
had long busied the minds of men. In discussing the
points upon which the Catholics and Protestants were
at issue, he does not inquire whether the doctrines in
question met the approval of the early church, but he
asks if they are in accordance with human reason ; and
he does not hesitate to say that, however true they may
be, no man is bound to believe them if he finds that
they are repugnant to the dictates of his own under-
standing. Nor will he consent that faith should supply
the absence of authority. Even this favourite principle
of theologians is by Chillingworth made to yield to the
supremacy of the human reason. 28 Reason, he says,
M Heading the Fathers he the different spirit in which some
contemptuously calls travelling ot our clergy consider these mat-
on a ' north-west discovery.' ters. See, for instance, Palm< r
Chillingworth' s Religion of Pro- on the Church, 1839, vol. ii. pp.
testants, p. 366. Even to Angus- 150-171. In no other branch of
tine, who was probably the ablest inquiry do we find this obstinate
of them, Chillingworth pays no determination to adhere to tlieo-
deference. See what he says at ries which all thinking men have
pp. 196, 333, 376 ; and as to the rejected for thelast two centuries,
authority of the Fathers in M Indeed, he attempts to fasten
general, see pp. 252, 346. Chil- the same doctrine upon the
lingworth observed, happily Catholics ; which, if he could
enough, that churchmen ■ account have done, would of course have
them fathers when they are for ended the controversy. He says,
them, and children when they are rather unfairly, ' Your church
against them.' Calamxfs Life, you admit, because you thiik
vol. i. p. 253. you have reason to do so ; so
,T As to the supposed authority that by you, as well as Pro-
of Councils, see Riligion of Pro- testants, all is finally resolved
testants, pp. 132, 463. It affords into your own reason.' R>lig
curious evidence of the slow of Protest, p. 134.
progress of theologians to observe
350 ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
gives tis knowledge ; while faith only gives us belief,
which, is a part of knowledge, and is, therefore, inferior
to it. It is by reason, and not by faith, that we must
discriminate in religious matters ; and it is by reason
alone that we can distinguish truth from falsehood. Fi-
nally, he solemnly reminds his readers, that in religious
matters no one ought to be expected to draw strong
conclusions from imperfect premises, or to credit im-
probable statements upon scanty evidence ; still less,
he says, was it ever intended that men should so pros-
titute their reason, as to believe with infallible faith
that which they are unable to prove with infallible
arguments. 29
No one of ordinary reflection can fail to perceive the
manifest tendenoy of these opinions. But what is more
important to observe is, the process through which, in
the march of civilization, the human mind had been
obliged to pass before it could reach such elevated views.
The Reformation, by destroying the dogma of an infal-
lible church, had of course weakened the reverence
which was paid to ecclesiastical antiquity. Still, such
was the force of old associations, that our countrymen
long continued to respect what they had ceased to
29 'God desires only that we certainty of evidence; but neither
believe the conclusion, as much God doth, nor man may, require
as the premises deserve; that of us, as our duty, to give a
the strength of our faith be equal greater assent to the conclusion
or proportionable to the credi- than the' premises deserve ; to
bility of the motives to it.' build an infallible faith upon
Belig. of Protest, p. 66. ' For motives that are only highly cre-
my part, I am certain that God dible and not infallible ; as it
hath given us our reason to were a great and heavy building
discern between truth and false- upon a foundation that hath not
hood; and he that makes not strength proportionate.' p. 149.
this use of it, but believes things ' For faith is not knowledge, no
he knows not why, I say it is more than three is four, but
by chance that he believes the eminently contained in it; so
truth, and not by choice ; and I that he that knows, believes, and
cannot but fear that God will something more; but he that
not accept of this sacrifice of believes many times does not
fools.' p. 133. ' God's spirit, if know — nay, if he doth barely
he please, may work more, — a and merely believe, he doth never
certainty of adherence beyond a know.' p. 412. See also p. 417.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 351
venerate. Thus it was, that Jewel, though recognizing
the supreme authority of the Bible, had, in cases where
it was silent or ambiguous, anxiously appealed to the
early church, by whose decision he supposed all diffi-
culties could be easily cleared. He, therefore, only
used his reason to ascertain the discrepancies which
existed between Scripture and tradition ; but when
they did not clash, he paid what is now considered a
superstitious deference to antiquity. Thirty years after
him came Hooker; 30 who made a step in advance, and
laying down principles from which Jewel would have
shrunk with fear, did much to weaken that which it
was reserved for Chillingworth utterly to destroy.
Thus it is, that these three great men represent the
three distinct epochs of the three successive generations
in which they respectively lived. In Jewel, reason is,
if I may so say, the superstructure of the system ; but
authority is the basis upon which the superstructure is
built. In Hooker, authority is only the superstructure,
and reason is the basis. 31 But in Chillingworth, whose
writings were harbingers of the coming storm, authority
entirely disappears, and the whole fabric of religion is
made to rest upon the way in which the unaided
reason of man shall interpret the decrees of an omni-
potent God.
80 On the connexion between Jewel's Apology. See Words-
the Reformation and the views worth's Eccl. Biog. voL iii. p.
advocated in the Ecclesiastical 513. Dr. Wordsworth calls this
Polity, compare Newman's Be- ' curious ; ' but it would be much
velopment of Christian Boctrine, more curious if it had not hap-
p. 47, with some able remarks pened. Compare the remarks
Ly Locke, in King's Life of Locke, made by the Bishop of Limerick
vol. ii. pp. 99-101. Locke, who {Parr's Works, vol. ii. p. 470,
was anything but a friend to the Notes on the Spital Sermon), who
church, was a great admirer of says, that Hooker ' opened that
Hooker, and in one place calls him fountain of reason,' &c. ; lan-
' the arch-philosopher.' Essay guage which will hardly be con-
on Government, in Locke's Works, sidered too strong by those who
vol. iv. p. 380. have compared the Ecclesiastical
81 The opposition between Polity with the theological wovks
Jewel and Hooker was so marked, previously produced by the Eng-
that some of the opponents of lish church.
Hooker quoted agiunst him
352 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
The immense success of this great work of Chilling-
worth, must have aided that movement of which it is
itself an evidence. 32 It formed a decisive vindication
of religious dissent ; 33 and thus justified the breaking
up of the Anglican church, which the same generation
lived to witness. Its fundamental principle was adopted
by the most influential writers of the seventeenth cen-
tury, — such as Hales, Owen, Taylor, Burnet, Tillotson,
Locke, and even the cautious and time-serving Temple ;
all of whom insisted upon the authority of private judg-
ment, as forming a tribunal from which no one had the
power of appeal. The inference to be drawn from this
seems obvious. 34 If the ultimate test of truth is indivi-
dual judgment, and if no one can affirm that the judg-
ments of men, which are often contradictory, can ever be
infallible, it follows of necessity that there is no decisive
criterion of religious truth. This is a melancholy, and,
as I firmly believe, a most inaccurate conclusion ; but
it is one which every nation must entertain, before it
can achieve that great work of toleration, which, even
in our own country, and in our own time, is not yet
consummated. It is necessary that men should learn
to doubt, before they begin to tolerate ; and that they
should recognize the fallibility of their own opinions,
before they respect the opinions of their opponents. 3 *
82 Des Maizeaux (Life of Chil- way towards the justifying of
lingworth, pp. 220, 221) says: moderate conformity.' Calamy's
'His book was received with a Life, vol. i. p. 234. Compare
general applause; and, what Palmer on the Church, vol. i.
perhaps never happened to any pp. 267, 268 ; and what is pro-
other controversial work of that bably an allusion to Chilling-
bulk, two editions of it were worth in Doddridge's Correspond.
published within less than five and Diary, vol. ii. p. 81. See
months The quick sale also the opinion of Hobbes, in
of a book, and especially of a Aubrey 's Letters and Lives, vol. ii.
book of controversy, in folio, is pp. 288, 629.
a good proof that the author S4 A short but able view of
hit the taste of his time.' See the aspect which the English
also Biographia Britannica, edit, mind now began to assume, will
Kippis, vol. iii. pp. 511, 512. be found in Staudlin, Geschichte
** Or, as Calamy cautiously der theologischen Wissenschaften,
puts it, Chilli ngworth's work vol. ii. pp. 95 seq.
'appeared to me to go a great * 5 In Whatelys Dangers t*
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 353
This great process is far from being yet completed in.
any country ; and the European mind, barely emerged
from its early credulity, and from an overweening con-
fidence in its own belief, is still in a middle, and, so to
say, a probationary stage. When that stage shall be
finally passed, when we shall have learned to estimate
men solely by their character and their acts, and not
at all by their theological dogmas, we shall then be
able to form our religious opinions by that purely
transcendental process, of which in every age glimpses
have been granted to a few gifted minds. That this is
the direction in which things are now hastening, must
be clear to every one who has studied the progress of
modern civilization. Within the short space of three
centuries, the old theological spirit has been compelled,
not only to descend from its long-established supre-
macy, but to abandon those strongholds to which, in
the face of advancing knowledge, it has vainly at-
tempted to secure a retreat. All its most cherished
pretensions it has been forced gradually to relinquish. 36
And although in England a temporary prominence has
recently been given to certain religious controversies,
still the circumstances attending them show the alter-
ation in the character of the age. Disputes which, a
century ago, would have set the whole kingdom in a
flame, are now regarded with indifference by the vast
Christian Faith, pp. 188-198, ' that same indifference which,
there is a perspicuous statement makes toleration so easy a virtue
of the arguments now commonly with us.' See also Archdeacon
received against coercing men Hare's Guesses at Truth, 2nd
for their religious opinions. But series, 1848, p. 278 ; and Nichols's
the most powerful of these argu- Illustrations of Lit. Hist. vol. v.
ments are based entirely upon p. 817 :' a spirit of mutual tolo-
expediency, which would have ration and forbearance has ap- .
insured their rejection in an age peared (at least one good conse-
of strong religious convictions, quence of religious indifference).'
Some, and only some, of the " It would be idlo to offer
theological difficulties respecting proofs of so notorious a fact;
toleration, are noticed in Cole- but the reader will be interested
ridge's mt. Remains, vol. i. pp. by some striking remarks in
312-315; and in another work Capejigue, Hist, de la Eeformc,
(The Friend, vol. i. p. 73), he vol. i. pp. 228, 229.
mentions, what is the real fact,
VOL. I. A A
354 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
majority of educated men. The complications of modern
society, and the immense variety of interests into which
it is divided, have done much to distract the intellect,
and to prevent it from dwelling upon subjects which a
less- occupied people would deem of paramount impor-
tance. Besides this, the accumulations of science are
far superior to those of any former age, and offer sug-
gestions of such surpassing interest, that nearly all our
greatest thinkers devote to them the whole of their
time, and refuse to busy themselves with matters of
mere speculative belief. The consequence is, that what
used to be considered the most important of all ques-
tions, is now abandoned to inferior men, who mimic
the zeal, without possessing the influence of those really
great divines whose works are among the glories of our
early literature. These turbulent polemics have, in-
deed, distracted the church by their clamour, but they
have not made the slightest impression upon the great
body of English intellect ; and an overwhelming majo-
rity of the nation is notoriously opposed to that monastic
and ascetic religion which it is now vainly attempted
to reconstruct. The truth is, that the time for these
things has gone by. Theological interests have long
ceased to be supreme ; and the affairs of nations are no
longer regulated according to ecclesiastical views. 37 In
37 A -writer intimately ac- 305. It is not surprising to find
qnainted with the social con- that many of the clergy com-
dition of the great European plain of a movement so sub-
countries, says : ' Ecclesiastical versive of their own power,
power is almost extinct as an Compare Wards Ideal of a
active element in the political or Christian Church, pp. 40, 108—
social affairs of nations or of 111,388; SewelFs Christian Poli-
individuals, in the cabinet or in tics, pp. 276, 277, 279 ; Palmer's
the family circle; and a new Treatise on the Church, vol. ii.
clement, literary power, is taking p. 361. It is thus that every-
its place in the government of thing is tending to confirm the
the world.' Laing's Denmark, remarkable prediction of Sir
1852, p. 82. On this natural James Mackintosh, that 'church-
tendency in regard to le-gisla- power (unless some revolution,
tion, see Meyer, Esprit des In- auspicious to priestcraft, should
stitut. Judiciaires, vol. i. p. 267 replunge Europe in ignorance)
note ; and a good summary in will certainly not survive the
Staudlin, Gesch. der theolog. nineteenth century.' Mem. of
Wissenschaften, vol. ii. pp. 304, Mackintosh, vol. i. p. 67.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 355
England, where the march has been more rapid than
elsewhere, this change is very observable. In every
other department we have had a series of great
and powerful thinkers, who have done honour to their
country, and have won the admiration of mankind.
But for more than a century, we have not produced a
single original work in the whole field of controversial
theology. For more than a century, the apathy on this
subject has been so marked, that there has been made
no addition of value to that immense mass of divinity
which, among thinking men, is in every successive
^feneration losing: something: of its former interest. 38
38 ' The " divines " in England
at the present day, her bishops,
professors, and prebendaries, are
not theologians. They are lo-
gicians, chemists, skilled in the
mathematics, historians, poor
commentators upon Greek poets.'
Theodore Parker's Critical and
Miscellaneous Writings, 1 848,
p. 302. At p. 33, the same high
authority says : ' But, within the
present century, -what has been
•written in the English tongue,
in any department of theological
scholarship, which is of value
and makes a mark on the age ?
The Bridgewatcr Treatises, and
the new edition of Foley, — we
blush to confess it, — are the
best things.' Sir William Ha-
milton (Discussions on Philo-
sophy, 1852, p. G99) notices the
decline of ' British theology,'
though he appears ignorant of
the cause of it. The Rev. Mr.
Ward (Ideal of a Christian
Church, p. 405) remarks, that
' we cannot wonder, however
keenly we may mourn, at tho
decline and fall of dogmatic
theology.' See also Lord Jef-
frey's Essays, vol. iv. p. 337 :
' Warburton, we think, was tho
last of our great divines. .
The days of the Cudworths and
Barrows, tho Hookers and Tay-
lors, are long gone by.' I)r.
Parr was the only English theo-
logian since Warburton who
possessed sufficient learning to
retrieve this position ; but he
always refused to do so, being,
unconsciously to himself, held
back by the spirit of his age.
Thus, we find him writing to
Archbishop Magee, in 1823:
1 As to myself, I long ago deter-
mined not to take any active
part in polemical theology.'
Parr's Works, vol. vii. p. 11.
In the same way, since the
early part of the eighteenth
century, hardly any one has care-
fully read the Fathers, except
for mere historical and secular
purposes. The first step wag
taken about the middle of tho
seventeenth century, when tho
custom of quoting them in ser-
mons began to be abandoned.
Burnets Own Time, vol. i. pp.
329, 330 ; Ormc's Life of Owen,
p. 184. After this they rapidly
fell into contempt ; and the Rev.
Mr. Dowling (Study of Eccle-
siast. History, p. 195) asserts,
that 'Watcrland, who died in
1740, was the last of our great
k 2
356
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
These are only some of the innumerable signs, which
must be discerned by every man who is not blinded by
the prejudices of an imperfect education. An immense
majority of the clergy, — some from ambitious feelings,
but the greater part, I believe, from conscientious
motives, — are striving to check the progress of that
scepticism which is now gathering in upon us from
every quarter. 39 It is time that these well-intentioned,
patristical scholars.' To this I
may add, that nine years subse-
quent to the death of Waterland,
the obvious decay of profes-
sional learning struck Warbur-
ton, afterwards Bishop of Glou-
cester, so much, that he wrote
to Jortin, somewhat roughly,
' anything makes a divine among
our parsons.' See his Letter,
written in 1749, in Nichols's Il-
lustrations of Lit. Hist. vol. ii.
p. 173 ; and for other evidence of
the neglect by the clergy of their
ancient studies, see Jones's Me-
moirs of Home, Bishop of Nor-
wich, pp. 68, 184 ; and the com-
plaint of Dr. Knowler, in 1766,
in Nichols's Lit. Anec. vol. ii. p.
130. Since then, attempts have
been made at Oxford to remedy
this tendency ; but such at-
tempts, being opposed by the
general march of affairs, have
been, and must be, futile. In-
deed, so manifest is the inferi-
ority of these recent efforts, that
one of the most active cultiva-
tors in that field frankly admits,
that, in point of knowledge, his
own party has effected nothing ;
and he even asserts, with great
bitterness, that ' it is melancholy
to say it, but the chief, perhaps
the only, English writer who has
any claim to be considered an
ecclesiastical historian, is the
infidel Gibbon.' Newman on the
Develop, of Christ. Loot. p. 5.
39 As some writers, moved by
their wishes rather than by their
knowledge, seek to deny this, it
may be well to observe, that the
increase of scepticism since the
latter part of the eighteenth
century is attested by an im-
mense mass of evidence, as will
appear to whoever will com-
pare the following authorities:
Whateltfs Dangers to Christian
Faith, p. 87 ; Kay's Social Con-
dition of the People, vol. ii. p.
506 ; Tocqueville, de la Demo-
cratic, vol. iii. p. 72 ; J. H.
Newman on Development, pp. 28,
29 ; F. W. Newman's Natural
History of the Soul, p. 197 ;
Parr's Works, vol. ii. p. 5, vol. iii.
pp. 688, 689; Felkin's Moral
Statistics, in Journal of Statist.
Soc. vol. i. p. 541 ; Watson's
Observations on the Life of
Wesley, pp. 155, 194 ; Matter,
Hist, du Gnosticisme, vol. ii. p.
485; Ward' s Ideal of a Christian
Church, pp. 266, 267, 404 ; Tur-
ner's Hist, of England, vol. ii.
pp. 129, 142, vol. iii. p. 509;
Priestley's Memoirs, vol. i. pp.
127, 128, 446, vol. ii. p. 751 ;
Cappe's Memoirs, p. 367 ;
Nichols's Lit. Anec. of Eighteenth
Century, vol. iv. p. 671, vol. viii.
p. 473 ; Nichols's Must, of Lit.
Hist. vol. v. p. 640 ; Combe's
Notes on the United States, vol. ii.
pp. 171, 172, 183.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 357
though mistaken, men should see the delusion under
which they labour. That by which they are so much
alarmed, is the intermediate step which leads from
superstition to toleration. The higher order of minds
have passed through this stage, and are approaching
what is probably the ultimate form of the religious
history of the human race. But the people at large,
and even some of those who are commonly called
educated men, are only now entering that earlier epoch
in which scepticism 40 is the leading feature of the
mind. So far, therefore, from our apprehensions being
excited by this rapidly-increasing spirit, we ought
rather to do everything in our power to encourage that
which, though painful to some, is salutary to all;
because by it alone can religious bigotry be effectually
destroyed. Nor ought we to be surprised that, before
this can be done, a certain degree of suffering must
first intervene. 41 If one age believes too much, it is
40 It has been suggested to
me by an able friend, that there
is a class of persons who will
misunderstand this expression ;
and that there is another class
who, without misunderstanding
it, will intentionally misrepresent
its meaning. Hence, it may be
well to state distinctly what I
wish to convey by the word
'scepticism.' By scepticism I
merely mean hardness of belief;
so that an increased scepticism
is an increased perception of the
difficulty of proving assertions ;
or, in other words, it is an
increased application, and an
increased diffusion, of the rules
of reasoning, and of the laws of
evidence. This feeling of hesi-
tation and of suspended judg-
ment has, in every department
of thought, been the invariable
preliminary to all the intellec-
tual revolutions through which
the human mind has passed;
and without it, there could be
no progress, no change, no civi-
lization. In physics, it is the
necessary precursor of science;
in politics, of liberty ; in theo-
logy, of toleration. These are
the three leading forms of scep-
ticism ; it is, therefore, clear,
that in religion the sceptic steers
a middle course between atheism
and orthodoxy, rejecting both
extremes, because he sees that
both are incapable of proof.
41 What a learned historian
has said of the effect which the
method of Socrates produced on
a very few Greek minds, is appli-
cable to that state through which
a great part of Europe is now
passing: 'The Socratic dialectics,
clearing away from the mind its
mist of fancied knowledge, and
laying bare the real ignorance,
produced an immediate effect,
like the touch of tho torpedo.
The newly»created consciousness
358 ENGLISH INTELLECT FKOM THE
but a natural reaction that another age should believe
too little. Such are the imperfections of our nature,
that we are compelled, by the very laws of its progress,
to pass through those crises of scepticism and of
mental distress, which to a vulgar eye are states of
national decline and national shame ; but which are
only as the fire by which the gold must be purged
before it can leave its dross in the pot of the refiner.
To apply the imagery -of the great allegorist, it is
necessary that the poor pilgrim, laden with the weight
of accumulated superstitions, should struggle through
the Slough of Despond and the Valley of Death, before
he can reach that glorious city, glittering with gold
and with jewels, of which the first sight is sufficient
recompense for his toils and his fears.
During the whole of the seventeenth century, this
double movement of scepticism and of toleration con-
tinued to advance ; though its progress was constantly
checked by the two successors of Elizabeth, who in
every thing reversed the enlightened policy of the great
queen. These princes exhausted their strength in
straggling against the tendencies of an age they were
unable to understand ; but, happily, the spirit which
they wished to quench had reached a height that
of ignorance was alike unex- ' So ist der Skeptizismus ein
pected, painful, and humiliating, Euheplatz fur die menschliehe
— a season of doubt and dis- Vernunft, da sie sich iiber ihre
comfort, yet combined with an dogmatische "Wanderung besin-
internal working and yearning nen und den Entwurf von der
after truth, never before expe- Gegend machen kann, wo sie
rienced. Such intellectual quick- sich befindet, um ihren "Weg
ening, which could never com- fernerhin mit mehrerer Sicher-
mence until the mind had been heit wahlen zu kdnnen, abcr
disabused of its original illusion nicht ein "Wohnplatz zum be-
of false knowledge, was consi- standigen Aufenthalte. ... So
dered by Socrates not merely as ist das skeptische Verfahren
the index and precursor, but as zwar an sich selbst fur die Ver-
the indispensable condition of nunftfragen nicht befriedigend,
future progress.' Grote's Hist, aber doch voriibend, um ihre
of Greece, vol. viii. pp. 614, 615, Vorsichtigkeit zu erwecken und
8vo, 1851. Compare Kritik auf griindliche Mittel zu weisen,
der reinen Vernunft, in Kantfs die sie in ihren rechtm&ssigen
Werke, vol. ii. pp. 572, 577 ' Besitzen sichern konnen.'
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 359
mocked their control. At the same time, the march of
the English mind was still further aided by the nature
of those disputes which, during half a century, divided
the country. In the reign of Elizabeth, the great
contest had been between the church and its opponents ;
between those who were orthodox, and those who were
heretical. But in the reigns of James and Charles,
theology was for the first time merged in politics. It
was no longer a struggle of creeds and dogmas ; but
it was a struggle between those who favoured the
crown, and those who supported the parliament. The
minds of men, thus fixed upon matters of real impor-
tance, neglected those inferior pursuits that had en-
grossed the attention of their fathers. 42 When, at
length, public affairs had reached their crisis, the hard
fate of the king, which eventually advanced the inte-
rests of the throne, was most injurious to those of the
church. There can, indeed, be no doubt that the
circumstances connected with the execution of Charles,
inflicted a blow upon the whole system of ecclesiastical
42 Dr. Arnold, whose keen eye Independency, part i. p. 132.
noted this change, says (Lectures James I. also saw that the
on Modern History, p. 232), Puritans were more dangerous to
' What strikes us predominantly, the state than to the church :
is, that what, in Elizabeth's ' do not so far differ from us in
time, was a controversy between points of religion, as in their
divines, was now a great political confused form of policy and
contest between the crown and parity; being ever discontented
the parliament.' The ordinary with the present government,
compilers, such as Sir A. Alison and impatient to suffer any su-
{Hist. of Europe, vol. i. p. 51), pcriority; which maketh their
and others, have entirely mis- sects insufferable in any well-
represented this movement; an governed commonwealth.' Speech
error the more singular, because of James I., in Pari. Hist. vol. i.
the eminently political character p. 982. See also the observa-
of the struggle was recognized tions ascribed to Do Foe, in
by several contemporaries. Even Somers Tracts, vol. ix. p. 672:
Cromwell, notwithstanding the ' The king and parliament fell
difficult game he had to play, out about matters of civil right ;
distinctly stated, in 1655, that .... the first difference be-
t he origin of the war was not re- tween the king and the English
ligious. See Carlyle's Cromwell, parliament did not respect re-
vol. iii. p. 103; and corroborative ligion, but civil property.'
evidence in Walker's History of
360
ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
authority, from which, in this country, it has never
been able to recover. The violent death of the king
excited the sympathies of the people ; and by thus
strengthening the hands of the royalists, hastened
the restoration of the monarchy. 43 But the mere
name of that great party which had risen to power,
was suggestive of the change that, in a religious point
of view, was taking place in the national mind. It
was, indeed, no light thing, that England should be
ruled by men who called themselves Independents ;
and who, under that title, not only beat back the pre-
tensions of the clergy, but professed an unbounded
contempt for all those rites and dogmas which the
clergy had, during many centuries, continued to amass. 44
43 See Clarendon 's Hist, of the
Rebellion,?. 716. SirW. Temple,
in his Memoirs, observes, that
the throne of Charles II. "was
strengthened by ' what had
passed in the last reign.' Temple's
Works, vol. ii. p. 344. This may
be illustrated by the remarks of
M. Lamartine on the execution
of Louis XVI. Hist, des Giron-
dins, vol. v. pp. 86-7 : ' Sa mort,
au contraire, alienait de la cause
francaise cette partie immense
des populations qiu ne juge les
evenements humains que par le
coeur. La nature humaine est pa-
thetique ; la republique l'oublia,
elle donna a la royaute quelque
chose du martyre, a la liberte
■quelque chose de la vengeance.
Elle prepara ainsi une reaction
contre la cause republicaine, et
mit du cote de la royaute la sen-
sibilite, l'interet, les larmes d'une
partie des peuples.'
44 The energy with which the
House of Commons, in 1646,
repelled the pretensions of ' the
Assembly of Divines,' is one of
many proofs of the determination
of the predominant party not to
allow ecclesiastical encroach-
ments. See the remarkable de-
tails in Pari. Hist. vol. iii. pp.
459-463 ; see also p. 1305. As
a natural consequence, the In-
dependents were the first sect
which, when possessed of power,
advocated toleration. Compare
Orme's Life of Owen, pp. 63-75,
102-111 ; Somers Tracts, vol.
xii. p. 542; Walker's Hist, of
Independency, part ii. pp. 50,
157, part iii. p. 22 ; Clarendon's
Hist, of the Rebellion, pp. 610,
640. Some writers ascribe great
merit to Jeremy Taylor for his-
advocacy of toleration (Heber's
Life of Taylor, p. xxvii. ; and
Parr' 8 Works, vol. iv. p. 417);
but the truth is that when he
wrote the famous Liberty of
Prophesying, his enemies were in
power ; so that he was pleading
for his own interests. When,
however, the Church of England
again obtained the upper hand,
Taylor withdrew the concessions
which he had made in the season
of adversity. See the indignant
remarks of Coleridge {Lit. Re-
mai?is, vol. iii. p. 250), who,.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUBY. 361
True it is, that the Independents did not always
push to their full extent the consequences of their own
doctrines. 45 Still, it was a great matter to have those
doctrines recognized by the constituted authorities of
the state. Besides this, it is important to remark, that
the Puritans were more fanatical than superstitious. 46
They were so ignorant of the real principles of govern-
ment, as to direct penal laws against private vices ;
and to suppose that immorality could be stemmed by
legislation. 47 But, notwithstanding this serious error,
though a great admirer of Taylor,
expresses himself strongly on
this dereliction : see also a re-
cently published Letter to Percy,
Bishop of Dromore, in Nichols's
Elustrations of Lit. History, vol.
vii. p. 464.
45 However, Bishop Short (His-
tory of the Church of England,
8vo, 1847, pp. 452, 458) says,
what is undoubtedly true, that
the hostility of Cromwell to the
church was not theological, but
political. The same remark is
made by Bishop Kennet. Note
in Burton's Diary, vol. ii.p. 479.
See also Vaughan's Cromwell,
vol. i. p. xcvii. ; and on the gene-
rally tolerant spirit of this great
man, see Hallam's Const. Hist.
vol. ii. p. 14; and the evidence
in Harris' 8 Lives of the Stuarts,
vol. iii. pp. 37-47. But the
most distinct recognition of the
principle, is in a Letter from
Cromwell toMajor- GeneralCraw-
ford, recently printed in Car-
lyle's Cromwell, vol. i. pp. 201,
202, 8vo, 1846. In it Cromwell
writes, ' Sir, the state, in choosing
men to serve it, takes no notice
of their opinions ; if they be
willing faithfully to serve it —
that satisfies.' See additional
proof in Carwithen's Hist, of the
ChurchofEngl. vol.ii. pp.245,249.
48 No one can understand the
real history of the Puritans, who-
does not take this into considera-
tion. In the present Introduc-
tion, it is impossible to discuss
so large a subject ; and 1 must
reserve it for the future part of
this work, in which the history
of England will be specially
treated. In the mean time, I
maymention, that the distinction
between fanaticism and super-
stition is clearly indicated, but
not analyzed, by Archbishop
"Whately, in his Errors of Ro-
manism traced to their Origin
in Human Nature, p. 49. This
should be compared with Hume's
Philosophical Works, vol. iii. pp.
81-89, Edinb. 1826, on the dif-
ference between enthusiasm and
superstition ; a difference which
is noticed, but, as it appears to
me, misunderstood, by Maclaine,
in his Additions to Mosheim's
Ecclesiast. Hist. vol. ii. p. 38.
47 Compare Barrington's Ob-
servations on the Statutes, p. 143,
with Burton's Diary of the Par-
liaments of Cromwell, vol. i. pp.
xcviii. 145, 392, vol. ii. pp. 35,
229. In 1650, a second conviction
of fornication was made felony,
without benefit of clergy; but,
after the Restoration, Charles II.
and his friends found this law
362 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
they always resisted the aggressions even of their own
clergy ; and the destrnction of the old episcopal hie-
rarchy, though perhaps too hastily effected, must have
produced many benoficial results. When the great
party by whom these things were accomplished, was at
length overthrown, the progress of events still continued
to tend in the same direction. After the Restoration,
the church, though reinstated in her ancient pomp, had
evidently lost her ancient power. 48 At the same time,
the new king, from levity, rather than from reason,
despised the disputes of theologians, and treated ques-
tions of religion with what he considered a philosophic
indifference. 49 The courtiers followed his example, and
thought they could not err in imitating him, whom they
regarded as the Lord's anointed. The results were
such as must be familiar even to the most superficial
readers of English literature. That grave and measured
scepticism, by which the Independents had been cha-
racterized, lost all its decorum when it was trans-
planted into the ungenial atmosphere of a court. The
men by whom the king was surrounded, were unequal
to the difficulties of suspense ; and they attempted to
fortify their doubts by the blasphemous expression of a
wild and desperate infidelity. With scarcely an excep-
rather inconvenient ; so it was servations on the Life of Wesley,
repealed. See Blackstone's Com- pp. 129-131.
mentaries, vol. iv. p. 65. 49 Buckingham and Halifax,
48 See Life of Ken, by a Lay- the two men who were perhaps
man, edit. 1854, vol. i. p. 51. best acquainted with Charles II.,
At p. 129, the same writer both declared that he was a
says, with sorrow, ' The church deist. Compare LingaroVs Hist.
recovered much of her tern- of Engl. vol. viii. p. 127, with
poral possessions, but not her Harris's Lives of the Stuarts, vol.
spiritual rule.' The power of v. p. 55. His subsequent con-
the bishops was abridged ' by version to Catholicism is exactly
the destruction of the court of analogous to the increased de-
high-commission.' Short's Hist, votion of Louis XIV. during the
of the Church of England, p. later years of his life. In both
595. See also, on the diminished cases, superstition was the natural
influence of the Church-of-Eng- refuge of a worn-out and discon-
land clergy after the Restoration, tented libertine, who had exhaus-
Southey's Life of Wesley, vol. i. ted all the resources of the lowest
pp. 278, 279 ; and Watson's Ob- and most grovelling pleasures.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 363
tion, all those writers who were most favoured by
Charles, exhausted the devices of their ribald spirit, in
mocking a religion, of the nature of which they were
profoundly ignorant. These impious buffooneries
would, by themselves, have left no permanent impres-
sion on the age ; but they deserve attention, because
they were the corrupt and exaggerated representatives
of a more general tendency. They were the unwhole-
some offspring of that spirit of disbelief, and of that
daring revolt against authority, which characterized the
most eminent Englishmen during the seventeenth cen-
tury. It was this which caused Locke to be an innovator
in his philosophy, and an Unitarian in his creed. It
was this which made Newton a Socinian ; which forced
Milton to be the great enemy of the church, and which
not only turned the poet into a rebel, but tainted with
Arianism the Paradise Lost. In a word, it was the
same contempt for tradition, and the same resolution
to spurn the yoke, which, being first carried into philo-
sophy by Bacon, was afterwards carried into politics by
Cromwell ; and which, during that very generation,
was enforced in theology by Chillingworth, Owen, and
Hales ; in metaphysics by Hobbes and Glanvil ; and in
the theory of government by Harrington, Sydney, and
Locke.
The progress which the English intellect was now
making towards shaking off ancient superstitions, 50 was
*° One of the most curious trial of two women for witchcraft,
instances of this may be seen in said to the jury : ' That thero
the destruction of the old notions are such creatures as witches, I
respecting witchcraft. This im- make no doubt at all ; for, first,
portant revolution in our opi- the Scriptures have affirmed so
nions was effected, so far as the much ; secondly, the wisdom of
educated classes are concerned, all nations hath provided laws
between the Restoration and the against such persons, which is
Revolution ; that is to say, in an argument of their confidence
1660, the majority of educated of such a crime.' CampbelTs
men still believed in witchcraft; Lives of the Chief Justices, vol. i.
while in 1688, the majority dis- pp. 565, 566. This reasoning
believed it. In 1665, the old was irresistible, and the witches
orthodox view was stated by were hung; but the change in
Chief-Baron Hale, who, on a public opinion began to affect
364
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
still farther aided by the extraordinary zeal displayed
in the cultivation of the physical sciences. This, like
all great social movements, is clearly traceable to the
events by which it was preceded. It was partly cause,
and partly effect, of the increasing incredulity of the
age. The scepticism of the educated • classes made
them dissatisfied with those long-established opinions,
which only rested on unsupported authority ; and this
gave rise to a desire to ascertain how far such notions
might be verified or refuted by the real condition of
even the judges, and after this
melancholy exhibition of the
Chief-Baron, such scenes became
gradually rarer; though Lord
Campbell is mistaken in sup-
posing (p. 563) that this was
' the last capital conviction in
England for the crime of be-
witching.' So far from this,
three persons were executed at
Exeter for witchcraft in 1682.
See Hutchinson! 's Historical Es-
say concerning Witchcraft, 1720,
pp. 56, 57. Hutchinson says:
'I suppose these are the last three
that have been hanged in Eng-
land.' If, however, one may
rely upon a statement made by
Dr. Parr, two witches were hung
at Northampton in 1705 ; and in
'1712, five other witches suffered
the same fate at the same place.'
Parr's Works, vol. iv. p. 1 82, 8vo,
1828. This is the more shameful,
because, as I shall hereafter
prove, from the literature of that
time, a disbelief in the existence
of witches had become almost
universal among educated men ;
though the old superstition was
still defended on the judgment-
seat and in the pulpit. As to
the opinions of the clergy, com-
pare Cudworth's Intellect. Syst.
vol. iii. pp. 345, 348 ; Vernon
Correspond, vol. ii. pp. 302, 303 ;
Surfs Letters from the North of
Scotland, vol. i. pp. 220, 221 ;
Wesley's Journals, pp. 602, 713.
Wesley, who had more influence
than all the bishops put together,
says : ' It is true, likewise, that
the English in general, and, in-
deed, most of the men of learning
in Europe, have given up all ac-
counts of witches and apparitions
as mere old wives' fables. I am
sorry for it The giving
up witchcraft is, in effect, giving
up the Bible But I can-
not give up, to all the Deists in
Great Britain, the existence of
witchcraft, till I give up the
credit of all history, sacred and
profane.'
However, all was in vain.
Every year diminished the old
belief; and in 1736, a generation
before "Wesley had recorded these-
opinions, the laws against witch-
craft were repealed, and another
vestige of superstition effaced
from the English statute-book.
See Barrington on the Statutes,
p. 407 ; Note in Burton's Diary,
vol. i. p. 26 ; Harris's Life of
HardwicJce, vol. i. p. 307.
To this it may be interesting
to add, that in Spain a witch was-
burned so late as 1781. TicJc-
nor's Hist, of Spanish Literature,.
vol. iii. p. 238.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 365
things. A curious instance of the rapid progress of
this spirit may be found in the works of an author who
was one of the most eminent among the mere literary
men of his time. While the Civil War was barely
decided, and three years before the execution of the
king, Sir Thomas Browne published his celebrated
work, called Inquiries into Vulgar and Common Errors. 61
This able and learned production has the merit of
anticipating some of those results which more modern
inquirers have obtained; 52 but it is chiefly remarkable,
as being the first systematic and deliberate onslaught
ever made in England upon those superstitious fancies
which were then prevalent respecting the external
world. And what is still more interesting is, that the
circumstances under which it appeared make it evident,
that while the learning and genius of the author
belonged to himself, the scepticism which he displayed
respecting popular belief was forced on him by the
pressure of the age.
In or about 1633, when the throne was still occupied
by a superstitious prince ; when the Church of England
was at the height of her apparent power ; and when
men were incessantly persecuted, for their religious
opinions — this same Sir Thomas Browne wrote his
Beligio Medici, 53 in which we find all the qualities of
his later work, except the scepticism. Indeed, in the
Beligio Medici, there is shown a credulity that must
have secured the sympathy of those classes which were
then dominant. Of all the prejudices which at that
time were deemed an essential part of the popular
creed, there was not one which Browne ventured to
deny. He announces his belief in the philosopher's
stone; 54 in spirits, and tutelary angels; 65 and in
41 The first edition was pub- known ; but Mr. Wilkin sup-
lished in 1646. Works of Sir poses that it was written ' be-
Thomas Browne, vol. ii. p. 163. tween the years 1633 and 1635.'
12 See the notes in Mr. Wil- Preface to Beligio Medici, in
kin's edition of Brovmis Works, Browne's Works, vol. ii. p. 4.
Lond. 1836, vol. ii.pp. 284, 360, " Ibid. vol. ii. p. 58.
361. *» Ibid. vol. ii. p. 47.
M The precise date is un-
366 ENGLISH INTELLECT PEOM TEE
palmistry. 56 He not only peremptorily affirms the reality
of witches, hut he says that those who deny their exist-
ence are not merely infidels, but atheists. 57 He care-
fully tells us that he reckons his nativity, not from his
birth, but from his baptism ; for before he was baptized,
he could not be said to exist. 58 To these touches of
wisdom, he moreover adds, that the more improbable
any proposition is, the greater his willingness to assent
to it ; but that when a thing is actually impossible, he
is on that very account prepared to believe it. 59
Such were the opinions put forth by Sir Thomas
Browne in the first of the two great works he presented
to the world. But in his Inquiries into Vulgar Errors,
there is displayed a spirit so entirely different, that if
it were not for the most decisive evidence, we could
hardly believe it to be written by the same man. The
truth, however, is, that during the twelve years which
elapsed between the two works, there was completed
that vast social and intellectual revolution, of which
the overthrow of the church and the execution of the
king were but minor incidents. We know from the
literature, from the private correspondence, and from
the public acts of that time, how impossible it was,
even for the strongest minds, to escape the effects of
the general intoxication. No wonder, then, that
Browne, who certainly was inferior to several of his
56 Or, as he calls it, ' chi- extract. This is the ' credo quia
romancy.' Religio Medici, in impossibile est,' originally one
Browne's Works, vol. ii. p. 89. of Tertullian's absurdities, and
87 * For my part, I have ever once quoted in the House of
believed, and do now know, that Lords by the Duke of Argyle,
there are witches. They that as 'the ancient religious maxim.'
doubt of these, do not only Pari. Hist. vol. xi. p. 802. Corn-
deny them, but spirits ; and are pare the sarcastic remark on this
obliquely, and upon consequence, maxim in the Essay concerning
a sort, not of infidels, but athe- Human Understanding, book iv.
ists.' Ibid. vol. ii. pp. 43, 44. chap, xviii. Locke's Works,
58 • From this I do compute vol. ii. p. 271. It was the spirit
or calculate my nativity.' , Ibid, embodied in this sentence which
vol. ii. p. 64. supplied Celsus with some for-
M Eeligio Medici, sec. ix. in midable arguments against the
Browne's Works, vol. ii. pp. 13, Fathers. Neander's Hist, of the
14: unfortunately too long to Church, vol. i. pp. 227, 228.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 367
contemporaries, should have been affected by a move-
ment which they were unable to resist. It would have
been strange, indeed, if he alone had remained uninflu-
enced by that sceptical spirit, which, because it had
been arbitrarily repressed, had now broken all bounds,
and in the reaction soon swept away those institutions
which vainly attempted to stop its course.
It is in this point of view that a comparison of the
two works becomes highly interesting, and, indeed,
very important. In this, his later production, we hear
no more about believing things because they are impos-
sible ; but we are told of ' the two great pillars of
truth, experience and solid reason.' 60 "We are also
reminded that one main cause of error is ' adherence
unto authority;' 61 that another is, 'neglect of in-
quiry ; ' 62 and, strange to say, that a third is ' credu-
lity.' 63 All this was not very consistent with the old
theological spirit ; and we need not, therefore, be sur-
prised that Browne not only exposes some of the innu-
merable blunders of the Fathers, 64 but, after speaking
of errors in general, curtly adds : ' Many others there
are, which we resign unto divinity, and perhaps deserve
not controversy.' 68
The difference between these two works is no bad
measure of the rapidity of that vast movement which,
in the middle of the seventeenth century, was seen in
every branch of practical and speculative life. After
the death of Bacon, one of the most distinguished
Englishmen was certainly Boyle, who, if compared
with his contemporaries, may be said to rank immedi-
ately below Newton, though, of course, very inferior to
him as an original thinker. 66 With the additions ho
*° Inquiries into Vulgar and errors is the credulity of men.'
Common Errors, book iii. chap. Book i. chap. v. vol. ii. p. 208.
xxviii. in Sroume's Works, voL ii. ** See two amusing instances
p. 534. in vol. ii. pp. 267, 438.
81 Ibid book i. chap. vii. vol. ii. •* Vulgar and Common Errors,
p. 225. book vii. chap, xi., in Browne's
w 'A supinity, or neglect of Works, vol. iii. p. 326.
inquiry.' Ibid, book i. chap. v. *• Monk (Life of Bentley, vol.
vol. ii. p. 211. i. p. 37) says, that Boyle's dis-
m 'A third cause of common coveries 'havo placed his name
>68
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
made to our knowledge we are not immediately con-
cerned ; but it may be mentioned, that he was the first
who instituted exact experiments into the relation be-
tween colour and heat ; 67 and by this means, not only
ascertained some very important facts, but laid a founda-
tion for that union between optics and thermotics, which,
though not yet completed, now merely waits for some
great philosopher to strike out a generalization large
enough to cover both, and thus fuse the two sciences
into a single study. It is also to Boyle, more than to any
other Englishman, that we owe the science of hydro-
statics, in the state in which we now possess it. 68 He
is the original discoverer of that beautiful law, so fertile
in valuable results, according to which the elasticity of
air varies as its density. 69 And, in the opinion of one
in a rank second only to that of
Newton ; ' and this; I believe, is
true, notwithstanding the im-
mense superiority of Newton.
67 Compare Powell on Radiant
Heat {Brit. Assoc, vol. i. p.
287), with Lloyd's Report on
Physical Optics, 1834, p. 338.
For the remarks on colours, see
Boyle's Works, vol. ii. pp. 1-40 ;
and for the account of his ex-
periments, pp. 41-80; and a
slight notice in Brewster's Life
of Newton, vol. i. pp. 155, 156,
236. It is, I think, not generally
known, that Power is said to be
indebted to Boyle for originating
some of his experiments on
colours. See a letter from
Hooke, in Boyle's Works, vol. v.
p. 533.
68 Dr. Whewell (Bridgewater
Treatise, p. 266) well observes,
chat Boyle and Pascal are to
hydrostatics what Galileo is to
mechanics, and Copernicus, Kep-
ler, and Newton to astronomy.
See also on Boyle, as the founder
of hydrostatics, Tlwmson's Hist,
of the Royal Society, pp. 397,
398 ; and his Hist, of Chemistry,
vol. i. p. 204.
68 This was discovered by
Boyle about 1650, and confirmed
by Mariotte in 1676. See
WhewelVs Hist, of the Inductive
Sciences, vol. ii. pp. 557, 588 ;
Thomson's Hist, of Cliemistry,
vol. i. p. 215; Turner's Chemis-
try, vol. i. pp. 41, 200 ; Brande's
Chemistry, vol. i. p. 363. This
law has been empirically veri-
fied by the French Institute,
and found to hold good for a
pressure even of twenty-seven
atmospheres. See Challis on the
Mathematical Theory of Fluids,
in Sixth Report of Brit. Assoc.
p. 226 ; and HerscheVs Nat.
Philos. p. 231. Although Boyle
preceded Mariotte by a quarter
of a century, the discovery is
rather unfairly called the law
of Boyle and Mariotte; while
foreign writers, refining on this,
frequently omit the name of
Boyle altogether, and term it
the law of Mariotte ! See, for
instance, Liebigs Letters on
Chemistry, p. 126; Monteil,
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUEY. 369
of the most eminent modern naturalists 5 it was Boyle
who opened up those chemical inquiries, which went
on accumulating until, a century later, they supplied
the means by which Lavoisier and his contemporaries
fixed the real basis of chemistry, and enabled it for the
first time to take its proper stand among those sciences
that deal with the external world. 70
The application of these discoveries to the happiness
of Man, and particularly to what may be called the
material interests of civilization, will be traced in
another part of this work ; but what I now wish to
observe, is the way in which such investigations harmo-
nized with the movement I am attempting to describe.
In the whole of his physical inquiries, Boyle constantly
insists upon two fundamental principles : namely, the
importance of individual experiments, and the compa-
rative unimportance of the facts which, on these sub-
jects, antiquity has hauded down. 71 These are the
Divers Etats, vol. viii. p. 122 ;
Kaemtzs Meteorology, p. 236 ;
Comte, Pkilos. Pos. vol. i. pp.
583, 645, vol. ii. pp. 484, 615;
Touillct, Elemens de Physique,
vol. i. p. 339, vol. ii. pp. 58,
183.
70 'L'un des createurs de la
physique experimentale, l'illus-
tro Robert Boyle, avait anssi
reconnu, des le milieu du dix-
septieme siecle, une grande
partie des faits qui servent au-
jourd'hui de base a cetto chimie
nouvelle.' Cuvier, Progris des
Sciences, vol. i. p. 30. The
' aussi ' refers to Rey. See also
Cuvier, Hist, des Sciences Natu-
rclles, part ii. pp. 322, 346-349.
A still more recent writer says,
that Boyle ' stood, in fact, on
the very brink of the pneumatic
chemistry of Priestley ; he had
in his hand tho key to the great
discovery of Lavoisier.' John-
ston on Dimorphous Bodies, in
VOL. I. B
Reports of Brit. Assoc, vol. vi.
p. 163. See further respecting
Boyle, Robin et Verdeil, Chimie
Anatomiquc, Paris, 1853, vol. i.
pp. 576, 577, 579, vol. ii. p. 24 ;
and Sprengel, Hist, de la Mede-
cine, vol. iv. p. 177.
" This disregard of ancient
authority appears so constantly
in his works, that it is difficult
to choose among innumerable
passages which might be quoted.
I will select one which strikes
me as well expressed, and is
certainly very characteristic In
his Free Inquiry into the vul-
garly received Notion of Nature,
he says {Boyle's Works, vol. iv.
p. 359), ' For I am wont to judge
of opinions as of coins: I con-
sider much less, in any one that
I am to receive, whose inscrip-
tion it bears, than what metal
it is made of. It is indifferent
enough to me whether it was
stamped many years or ages
B
370
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
two great keys to his method : they are the views
which he inherited from Bacon, and they are also the
views which have been held by every man who, during
the last two centuries, has added anything of moment
to the stock of human knowledge. First to doubt, 72
then to inquire, and then to discover, has been the
process universally followed by our great teachers. So
strongly did Boyle feel this, that though he was an
eminently religious man, 73 he gave to the most popular
of his scientific works the title of The Sceptical Chemist ;
meaning to intimate, that until men were sceptical con-
cerning the chemistry of their own time, it would be
impossible that they should advance far in the career
which lay before them. Nor can we fail to observe
that this remarkable work, in which such havoc was
made with old notions, was published in 1661, 74 the
year after the accession of Charles II., in whose reign
since, or came but yesterday
from the mint.' In other places
he speaks of the ' schoolmen '
and ' gownmen ' with a con-
tempt not much inferior to that
expressed by Locke himself.
52 In his Considerations touch-
ing Experimental Essays, he
says {Boyle's Works, vol. i. p.
197), ' Perhaps you will wonder,
Pyrophilus, that in almost every
one of the following essays I
should speak so doubtingly, and
use so often perhaps, it seems,
it is not improbable, and such
other expressions as argue a
diffidence of the truth of the
opinions I incline to,' &c. In-
deed, this spirit is seen at every
turn. Thus his Essay on Crys-
tals, which, considering the then
state of knowledge, is a re-
markable production, is en-
titled ' Doubts and Experiments
touching the curious Figures of
Salts.' Works, vol. ii. p. 488.
It is, therefore, with good reason
that M. Humboldt terms him
* the cautious and doubting
Eobert Boyle.' Humboldt's Cos-
mos, vol. ii. p. 730.
73 On the sincere Christianity
of Boyle, compare Burnefs Lives
and Characters, edit. Jebb, 1833,
pp. 351-360; Life of Ken, by a
Layman, vol. i. pp. 32, 33;
Whewell's Bridgewater Treatise,
p. 273. He made several at-
tempts to reconcile the scientific
method with the defence of es-
tablished religious opinions. See
one of the best instances of this,
in Boyle's Works, vol. v. pp. 38,
39.
74 The Sceptical Chemist is in
Boyle's Works, vol. i. pp. 290-
371. It went through two edi-
tions in the author's lifetime,
an unusual success for a book
of that kind. Boyle's Works,
vol. i. p. 375, vol. iv. p. 89, vol.
v. p. 345. I find from a letter
written in 1696 (Fairfax Cor-
respondence, vol. iv. p. 344),
that Boyle's works were then*
becoming scarce, and that there
was an intention of reprinting
the whole of them. In regard
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 37l
the spread of incredulity was indeed rapid, since it was
seen not only among the intellectual classes, but even
among the nobles and personal friends of the king. It
is true, that in that rank of society, it assumed an
offensive and degenerate form. But the movement
must have been one of no common energy which, in
so early a stage, could thus penetrate the recesses of
the palace, and excite the minds of the courtiers ; a lazy
and feeble race, who from the frivolity of their habits
are, under ordinary circumstances, predisposed to super-
stition, and prepared to believe whatever the wisdom
of their fathers has bequeathed to them.
In everything this tendency was now seen. Every-
thing marked a growing determination to subordinate
old notions to new inquiries. At the very moment
when Boyle was prosecuting his labours, Charles II.
incorporated the Royal Society, which was formed with
the avowed object of increasing knowledge by direct
experiment. 75 And it is well worthy of remark, that
the charter now first granted to this celebrated institu-
tion declares that its object is the extension of natural
knowledge, as opposed to that which is supernatural. 76
to the Sceptical Chemist, it was " ' From the nature and con-
so popular, that it attracted the stitution of the Royal Society,
attention of Monconys, a French the objects of their attention
traveller, who visited London in wore necessarily unlimited. Tho
1663, and from whom we learn physical sciences, however, or
that it was to be bought for those which are promoted by
four shillings, ' pour quatre experiment, were their declared
chelins.' Voyages de Monconys, objects ; and experiment was
vol. iii. p. 67, edit. 1695 ; a the method which they professed
book containing some very to follow in accomplishing their
curious facts respecting London purpose.' Thomson's Hist, of the
in the reign of Charles II. ; but, Royal Society, p. 6. When the
so far as I am aware, not quoted society was first instituted, ex-
by any English historian. In periments were so unusual, that
SprengeVs Hist, de la Midecine, there was a difficulty of finding
vol. v. pp. 78-9, there is a sum- tho necessary workmen in Lon-
mary of the views advocated in don. See a curious passage in
the Sceptical Chemist, respect- Weld's Hist, of the Royal Society,
ing which Sprengel says, 'Co 1848, vol. ii. p. 88.
fat cependant aussi en Angle- " Dr. Pans (Life of Sir H.
terro quo e'eleverent les pre- Davy, 1831, vol. ii. p. 178) says,
miers doutes sur l'exactitudo ' The charter of tho Royal
dos explications chimiques.' Society states, that it was e6tab-
B B 2
372 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
It is easy to imagine with what terror and disgust
these things were viewed by those inordinate admirers
of antiquity who, solely occupied in venerating past
ages, are unable either to respect the present or hope
for the future. These great obstructors of mankind
played, in the seventeenth century, the same part as
they play in our own day, rejecting every novelty, and
therefore opposing every improvement. The angry
contest which arose between the two parties, and the
hostility directed against the Royal Society, as the first
institution in which the idea of progress was distinctly
embodied, are among the most instructive parts of our
history, and on another occasion I shall relate them at
considerable length. At present it is enough to say,
that the reactionary party T though led by an over-
whelming majority of the clergy, was entirely defeated ;
as, indeed, was to be expected, seeing that their oppo-
nents had on their side nearly all the intellect of the
country, and were moreover reinforced by such aid as
the court could bestow. The progress was, in truth,
so rapid as to carry away with it some of the ablest
members even of the ecclesiastical profession ; their love
of knowledge proving too strong for the old traditions
in which they had been bred. But these were excep-
tional cases, and, speaking generally, there is no doubt
that in the reign of Charles II. the antagonism between
physical science and the theological spirit was such as
to induce nearly the whole of the clergy to array them-
lished for the improvement of History of the Eoyal Society,
natural science. This epithet vol. ii. pp. 481-521. Evelyn
natural was originally intended (Diary, 13 Aug. 1662, vol. ii. p.
to imply a meaning, of -which 195) mentions, that the object
very few persons, I believe, are of the Eoyal Society was ' na-
aware. At the period of the tural knowledge.' See also
establishment of the society, the Aubrey's Letters and Lives, vol.
arts of witchcraft and divina- ii. p. 358 ; Pulteney's Hist of
tion were very extensively en- Botany, vol. ii. pp. 97, 98 ; and
couraged ; and the word natural on the distinction thus estab-
was therefore introduced in lished in the popular mind be-
contradistinction to supematu- tween natural and supernatural,
ral.' The charters granted by compare Boyle's Works, vol. ii.
Charles II. are printed in Weld's p. 455, vol. iv. pp. 288, 359.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 373
selves against the science, and seek to bring it into
discredit. Nor ought we to be surprised that they
should have adopted this course. That inquisitive and
experimental spirit which they wished to check was
not only offensive to their prejudices, but it was also
detrimental to their power. For, in the first place, the
mere habit of cultivating physical science taught men
to require a severity of proof which it was soon found
that the clergy were, in their own department, unable
to supply. -And, in the second place, the additions made
to physical knowledge opened new fields of thought,
and thus tended still further to divert attention from
ecclesiastical topics. Both these effects would of
course be limited to the comparatively few persons
who were interested in scientific inquiries : it is, how-
ever, to be observed, that the ultimate results of such
inquiries must have been extended over a far wider
surface. This may be called their secondary influence ;
and the way in which it operated is well worth our
attention, because an acquaintance with it will go far
to explain the reason of that marked opposition which
has always existed between superstition and know-
ledge.
It is evident, that a nation perfectly ignorant of
physical laws will refer to supernatural causes all the
phenomena by which it is surrounded. 77 But so soon
" The speculative view of this he has collected from other de-
tendency has been recently illus- partments.
trated in the most comprehensive A popular notion of the work-
manner by M. Auguste Comte, ing of this belief in supernatural
in his Philosophic Positive ; and causation may be seen in a cir-
his conclusions in regard to the cumstance related by Combe.
earliest stage of the human mind He says, that in the middle of
are confirmed by everything we the eighteenth century the coun-
know of barbarous nations ; and try west of Edinburgh was so
they are also confirmed, as ho unhealthy, 'that every spring
has decisively proved, by the the farmers and their servants
history of physical science. In were seized with fever and ague.'
addition to the facts he has As long as the cause of this was
adduced, I may mention, that unknown, 'these visitations were
the history of geology supplies believed to bo sent by Provi-
evidence analogous to that which dence ;' but after a time the
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
as natural science begins to do its work, there are
introduced the elements of a great change. Each suc-
cessive discovery, by ascertaining the law that governs
certain events, deprives them of that apparent mystery
in which they were formerly involved. 78 The love of
the marvellous becomes proportionably diminished ;
and when any science has made such progress as to
enable those who are acquainted with it to foretell the
events with which it deals, it is clear that the whole of
those events are at once withdrawn from the jurisdic-
tion of supernatural, and brought under the authority
land was drained, the ague dis-
appeared, and the inhabitants
perceived that what they had
believed to be supernatural was
perfectly natural, and that the
cause was the state of the land,
not the intervention of the
Deity. Combos Constitution of
Man, Edinb. 1847, p. 156.
78 I say apparent mystery,
because it does not at all lessen
the real mystery. But this does
not affect the accuracy of my
remark, inasmuch as the people
at large never enter into such
subtleties as the difference be-
tween Law and Cause ; a differ-
ence, indeed, which is so neg-
lected, that it is often lost sight
of even in scientific books. All
that the people know is, that
events which they once believed
to be directly controlled by the
Deity, and modified by Him, are
not only foretold by the human
mind, but are altered by human
interference. Theattemptswhich
Paley and others have made to
solve this mystery by rising
from the laws to the cause, are
evidently futile, because to the
eye of reason the solution is as
incomprehensible as the problem;
and the arguments of the natural
theologians, in so far as they are
arguments, must depend on rea-
son. As Mr. Newman truly says,
'A God uncaused and existing
from eternity, is to the full as
incomprehensible as a world un-
caused and existing from eter-
nity. We must not reject the
latter theory as incomprehen-
sible ; for so is every other pos-
sible theory.' Newman's Natural
History of the Soul, 1849, p. 36.
The truth of this conclusion is
unintentionally confirmed by the
defence of the old method, which
is set up by Dr. Whewell in his
Bridgewater Treatise, pp. 262-5 j
because the remarks made by
that able writer refer to men
who, from their vast powers,
were most likely to rise to that
transcendental view of religion
which is slowly but steadily
gaining ground among us. Kant,
probably the deepest thinker of
the eighteenth century, clearly
saw that no arguments drawn
from the external world could
prove the existence of a First
Cause. See, among other pas-
sages, two particularly remark-
able in Kritik der reinen Ver-
nunft, Kanfs Werke, vol. ii. pp,
478, 481, on ' der physikothec-
logische Beweis.'
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 375
of natural powers. 79 The business of physical philo-
sophy is, to explain external phenomena with a view to
their prediction ; and every successful prediction which
is recognised by the people causes a disruption of one
of those links which, as it were, bind the imagination
to the occult and invisible world. Hence it is that,
supposing other things equal, the superstition of a
nation must always bear an exact proportion to the
extent of its physical knowledge. This may be in some
degree verified by the ordinary experience of mankind-
For if we compare the different classes of society, we
shall find that they are superstitious in proportion as
the phenomena with which they are brought in contact
have or have not been explained by natural laws. The
credulity of sailors is notorious, and every literature
contains evidence of the multiplicity of their supersti-
tions, and of the tenacity with which they cling to
them. 80 This is perfectly explicable by the principle I
have laid down. Meteorology has not yet been raised
to a science ; and the laws which regulate winds and
storms being in consequence still unknown, it naturally
follows, that the class of men most exposed to their
79 This is tersely expressed by Hcber's Journey through India,
M. Lamennais : ' Pourquoi les vol. i. p. 423 ; Richardson's
corps gravitent-ils les uns vers Travels in the Sahara, vol. i. p
lrsautres? ParcequeDieul'avou- 11; Burckhardts Travels in
lu, disaient les anciens. Parce- Arabia, vol. ii. p. 347 ; Davis's
que les corps s'attirent, dit la Chinese, vol. iii. pp. 16, 17 ;
science.' Maury, Ligendes du Travels of Ibn Batuta in the
Moyen Age, p. 33. See to the Fourteenth Century, p. 43 ; Jour-
same effect Mack-ay's Religious nal of Asiat. Soc. vol. i. p. 9 ;
Development, 1850, vol. i. pp. 5, Works of Sir Thomas Browne,
30, 31, and elsewhere. See also vol. i. p. 130; Alison's Hist, of
a partial statement of the anti- Europe, vol. iv. p. 566 ; Burned*
thesis in Copleston's Inquiry into Travels into Bokhara, vol. iii. p.
Necessity and Predestination, -p. 63 ; Leigh Hunt 's Autobiography,
49; an ingenious but overrated 1850, vol. ii. p. 255; Cumber-
book. land's Memoirs, 1807, vol. i. pp.
80 I much regret that I did 422-425 ; Walsh's Brazil, vol. i.
not collect proof of this at an pp. 96, 97 ; Richardson's Arctic
earlier period of my reading. Expedition, vol. L p. 93 ; Hoi-
But having omitted taking the crofts Memoirs, vol. i. p. 207,
requisite notes, I can only refer, vol. iii. p. 197.
on the superstition of sailors to
376 ENGLISH INTELLECT EROM THE
dangers should be precisely the class which is most
superstitious. 81 On the other hand, soldiers live upon
an element much more obedient to man, and they are
less liable than sailors to those risks which defy the
calculations of science. Soldiers, therefore, have fewer
inducements to appeal to supernatural interference ;
and it is universally observed, that as a body they are
less superstitious than sailors. If, again, we compare
agriculturists with manufacturers, we shall see the
operation of the same principle. To the cultivators of
land, one of the most important circumstances is the
weather, which, if it turn out unfavourable, may at once
defeat all their calculations. But science not having yet
succeeded in discovering the laws of rain, men are at
present unable to foretell it for any considerable period ;
the inhabitant of the country is, therefore, driven to be-
lieve that it is the result of supernatural agency, and we
still see the extraordinary spectacle of prayers offered up
in our churches for dry weather or for wet weather ; a
superstition which to future ages will appear as childish
as the feelings of pious awe with which our fathers
regarded the presence of a comet, or the approach of
an eclipse. We are now acquainted with the laws
which determine the movements of comets and eclipses;
and as we are able to predict their appearance, we have
ceased to pray that we may be preserved from them. 82
81 Andokides, when accused the Baikal, in the autumn, that
before the dikastery at Athens, a man learns to pray from his-
said, ' No, dikasts ; the dangers heart.' Erman's Travels in Si-
of accusation and trial are bcria, vol. ii. p. 186.
human, but the dangers en- 82 In Europe, in the tenth cen-
countered at sea are divine.' tury, an entire army fled before
Grrote's Hist, of Greece, vol. xi. one of those appearances, which
p. 252. Thus, too, it has been would now scarcely terrify a
observed, that the dangers of the child : ' Toute l'armee d'Othon
whale-fishery stimulated the su- se dispersa subitement a l'appa-
perstition of the Anglo-Saxons, rition d'une eclipse de soleil, qui
See Kemble's Saxons in England, la remplit de terreur, et qui fut
vol. i. pp. 390, 391. Erman, regardee comme l'annonce du
who mentions the dangerous malheur qu'on attendait depuis
navigation of the Lake of Baikal, longtemps.' Sjprengel, Hist, de
6ays, ' There is a saying at la Medecine, vol. ii. p. 368. The
Irkutsk, that it is only upon terror inspired by eclipses was
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTTJEY. 377
But because our researches into the phenomena of rain
happen to have been less successful, 83 we resort to the
not finally destroyed before the
eighteenth century; and in the
latter half of the seventeenth
century they still caused great
fear both in France and in Eng-
land. See Evelyn's Diary, vol.
ii. p. 52, vol. iii. p. 372 ; Car-
lyle's Cromwell, vol. ii. p. 366 ;
Lettres de Patin, vol. iii. p. 36.
Compare Voyages de Monconys,
vol. v. p. 104, with Hare's
Guesses at Truth, 2nd series,
pp. 194, 195. There probably
never has been an ignorant
nation whose superstition has
not been excited by eclipses.
For evidence of the universality
of this feeling, see Symcs's Em-
bassy to Ava, vol. ii. p. 296 ;
Raffles' Hist, of Java, vol. i. p.
530 ; Southey's Hist, of Brazil,
vol. i. p. 354, vol. ii. p. 371 ;
Marsden's Hist, of Sumatra, p.
159 ; Niebuhr, Description de
VArabie, p. 105 ; Moffat 's South-
em Africa, p. 337 ; Mungo Park's
Travels, vol. i. p. 414; Moor-
crofts Travels in the Himalayan
Provinces, vol. ii. p. 4 ; Craw-
furd's Hist, of the Indian Archi-
pelago, vol. i. p. 305 ; Ellis's
Polynesian Researches, vol. i. p.
331 ; Mackay's Religious Deve-
lopment, vol. i. p. 425; Works
of Sir W. Jones, vol. iii. p. 176,
vol. vi. p. 16 ; Wilson's Note in
the Vishnu Purana, p. 140 ;
Wilson's Theatre of the Hindus,
vol. i. part ii. p. 90 ; Montucla,
Hist, des Mathematiques, vol. i.
p. 444 ; Asiatic Researches, vol.
xii. p. 484 ; WarcVs View of the
Hindoos, vol. i. p. 101 ; Pres-
cotts Hist, of Peru, vol. i. p.
123; Kohl's Russia, p. 374;
Thirlwall's Hist, of Greece, vol.
iii. p. 440, vol. vi. p. 216 ;.
Murray's Life of Bruce, p. 103 ;
Turner's Embassy to Tibet, p.
289 ; Grote's Hist, of Greece,-
vol. vii. p. 432, vol. xii. pp. 205,
557 ; Journal Asiatique, I" serie,.
vol. iii. p. 202, Paris, 1823;
Clot-Bey, de la Peste, Paris, 1840,
p. 224.
In regard to the feelings in-
spired by comets, and the in-
fluence of Bayle in removing
those superstitions late in the
seventeenth century, compare
Tennemann, Gesch. der Philo-
scph., vol. xi. p. 252 ; Le Vassor r
Hist, de Louis XHI, vol. iii. p.
415 ; Lettres de Sevigne, vol. iv.
p. 336; Autobiography of Sir &.
DEwes, edit. Halliwell, vol. i.
pp. 122, 123, 136.
M On the peculiar complica-
tions which have retarded me-
teorology, and thus prevented us
from accurately predicting the
weather, compare Forbes on Me-
teorology, in Second Report of
British Association,^. 249-251 ;
Cuvier, Progres des Sciences, vol.
i. pp. 69, 248 ; Kaemts's Meteor-
ology, pp. 2-4 ; Proufs Bridge-
water Treatise, pp. 290-295 j
Somerville's Physical Geog. vol.
ii. pp. 18, 19. But all the best
authorities are agreed that this
ignorance cannot last long ; and
that the constant advance which
we are now making in physical
science will eventually enable us
to explain even these phenomena.
Thus, for instance, Sir John
Leslie says, ' It cannot bo dis-
puted, however, that all the-
changes which happen in the-
mass of our atmosphere, in-
volved, capricious, and irregular
378
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
impious contrivance of calling in the aid of the Deity
to supply those deficiencies in science which are the
result of our own sloth ; and we are not ashamed, in
our public churches, to prostitute the rites of religion
by using them as a cloak to conceal an ignorance we
ought frankly to confess. 84 The agriculturist is thus
as they may appear, are yet the
necessary results of principles as
fixed, and perhaps as simple, as
those which direct the revolu-
tions of the solar system. Could
we unravel the intricate maze,
we might trace the action of each
distinct cause, and hence deduce
the ultimate effects arising from
their combined operation. With
the possession of such data, we
might safely predict the state of
the weather at any future period,
as we now calculate an eclipse of
the sun or moon, or foretell a con-
junction of the planets.' Leslie's
Natural Philosophy, p. 405 : see
also p. 185, and the remarks of
Mr. Snow Harris (Brit. Assoc,
for 1844, p. 241), and of Mr.
Hamilton (Journal of Geoff. Soc.
vol. xix. p. xci.) Thus, too, Dr.
Whewell (Bridgewater Treatise,
p. 3) says, that ' the changes of
winds and skies are produced by
causes, of whose rules " no phi-
losophical mind " will doubt the
fixity.'
84 This connexion between
ignorance and devotion is so
clearly marked, that many na-
tions have a separate god for the
weather, to whom they say their
prayers. In countries where men
stop short of this, they ascribe
the changes to witchcraft, or to
some other supernatural power.
See Mariner's Tonga Islands, vol.
ii. pp. 7, 108; Tuckey's Expedit.
to the Zaire, pp. 214, 215 ; Ellis's
Hist, of Madagascar, vol. ii. p.
354; Asiatic Researches, vol. vi.
pp. 193, 194, 297, vol. xvi. pp.
223, 342; Southey's Hist, of
Brazil, vol. iii. p. 187; Davis's
Chinese, vol. ii. p. 154 ; Bcausobre,
Hist, de Manichee, vol. ii. p.
394; Cudworth's Intellect Syst.
vol. ii. p. 539. The Hindus re-
fer rain to supernatural causes
in the Riff Veda, which is the
oldest of their religious books ;
and they have held similar no-
tions ever since. Riff Veda
Sanhita, vol. i. pp. xxx. 10, 19,
26, 145, 175, 205, 224, 225, 265,
266, vol. ii. pp. 28, 41, 62, 110,
153, 158, 164, 166, 192, 199, 231,
258, 268, 293, 329; Journal of
Asiatic Soc. vol. iii. p. 91 ; Cole-
man's Mythol. of the Hindus, p.
Ill; Ward's View of the Hin-
doos, vol. i. p. 38. See further two
curious passages in the Dabistan,
vol. i. p. 115, vol. ii. p. 337 ; and
on the ' Rain-makers,' compare
Catlin's North- American Indians,
vol. i. pp. 134-140, with Bu-
chanan's North- American In-
dians, pp. 258, 260 : also a pre-
cisely similar class in Africa
(Moffat's Southern Africa, pp.
305-325), and in Arabia (Nie-
buhr, Besc. de VArabie, pp. 237,
238).
Coming to a state of society
nearer our own, we find that in
the ninth century it was taken
for granted in Christian countries
that wind and hail were the work
of wizards (Neander's Hist, of the
Church, vol. vi. pp. 118, 139);
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 379
taught to ascribe to supernatural agency the most im-
portant phenomena with which be is concerned ; 85 and
there can be no doubt that this is one of the causes of
those superstitious feelings by which the inhabitants of
the country are unfavourably contrasted with those of
the town. 815 But the manufacturer, and, indeed, nearly
every one engaged in the business of cities, has em-
ployments, the success of which being regulated by his
own abilities, has no connexion with those unexplained
events that perplex the imagination of the cultivators
of the earth. He who, by his ingenuity, works up the
raw material, is evidently less affected by uncontrol-
able occurrences, than he by whom the raw material
is originally grown. Whether it is fair, or whether it
is wet, he pursues his labours with equal success, and
learns to rely solely upon his own energy, and the
cunning of his own arm. As the sailor is naturally
more superstitious than the soldier, because he has to
deal with a more unstable element ; just in the same
way is the agriculturist more superstitious than the
mechanic, because he is more frequently and more
that similar views passed on to ridge has said, is worth attend-
the sixteenth century, and were ing to : see TJie Friend, vol. iii.
sanctioned by Luther {Maury, pp. 222, 223.
Llgendes Pieuses, pp. 18, 19); M M. Kohl, whose acuteness
and finally, that when Swinburno as a traveller is well known,
was in Spain, only eighty years has found that the agricultural
ago, he found the clergy on the classes are the ' most blindly ig-
poiDt of putting an end to the norant and prejudiced' of all.
•opera, because they ' attributed Kohl's Russia, p. 365. And Sir
the want of rain to the influence It. Murchison, who has enjoyed
of that ungodly entertainment.' extensive means of observation,
Swinburne' $ Travels through familiarly mentions the ' credu-
Spain in 1775 and 1776, vol. i. lous farmers.' Murchison's Si-
f. 177, 2nd edit. London, 1787. luria, p. 61. In Asia, exactly
84 See some remarks by the the same tendency has been no-
Kev. Mr. Ward, which strike me ticed : see Marsderis Hist, of
as rather incautious, and which Sumatra, p. 63. Some curious
certainly are dangerous to his evidence of agricultural super-
own profession, as increasing the stitions respecting the weather
hostility between it and science, may be seen in Monteil, Hist.
in Ward's Ideal of a Christian des divers Etats, voL iii. pp. 31,
Church, p. 278. What Cole- 39.
380 ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
seriously affected by events which the ignorance of some
men makes them call capricious, and the ignorance of
other men makes them call supernatural.
It would be easy, by an extension of these remarks,
to show how the progress of manufactures, besides
increasing the national wealth, has done immense
service to civilization, by inspiring Man with a confi-
dence in his own resources ; 87 and how, by giving rise
to a new class of employments, it has, if I may so say,
shifted the scene in which superstition is most likely
to dwell. But to trace this would carry me beyond
my present limits ; and the illustrations already given
are sufficient to explain how the theological spirit must
have been diminished by that love of experimental
science, which forms one of the principal features in
the reign of Charles II. 88
I have now laid before the reader what I conceive to
be the point of view from which we ought to estimate
a period whose true nature seems to me to have been
grievously misunderstood. Those political writers who
judge events without regard to that intellectual develop-
ment of which they are but a part, will find much to
condemn, and scarcely anything to approve, in the
reign of Charles II. By such authors, I shall be cen-
sured for having travelled out of that narrow path in
which history has been too often confined. And yet I
87 In this point of view, the of science, such as it was, degraded
opposite tendencies of agricul- it rather than advanced it. Still,
ture and manufactures are judi- the prevalence of the taste is curi-
ciously contrasted by Mr. Porter, ous ; and in addition to the picture
at the end of his essay on the drawn by Mr. Macaulay {Hist, of
Statistics of Agriculture, Journal England, 1st edit. vol. i. pp. 408-
of the Statist. Soc. vol. ii. pp. 412), I may refer the reader to
295, 296. Monconyi Voyages, vol. iii. p. 31 ;
88 Indeed, there never has been Sorbiere's Voyage to England^
a period in England in which pp. 32, 33 ; Evelyn's Diary, vol.
physical experiments were so ii. pp. 199, 286; Pepys' Diary,
fashionable. This is merely vol. i. p. 375, vol. ii. p. 34, vol.
worth observing as a symptom iii. p. 85, vol. iv. p. 229 ; Bur-
of the age, since Charles II. and nefs Own Time, vol. i. pp. 171,
the nobles were not likely to add, 322, vol. ii. p. 275; Burnet's
and did not add, anything to our Lives, p. 144; Campbell 's Chief -
knowledge ; and their patronage Justices, voL i. p. 582.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 381
am at a loss to perceive how it is possible, except by
the adoption of such a course, to understand a period
which, on a superficial view, is full of the grossest
inconsistencies. This difficulty will be rendered very
obvious, if we compare for a moment the nature of the
government of Charles with the great things which,
under that government, were peaceably effected. Never
before was there such a want of apparent connexion
between the means and the end. If we look only at
the characters of the rulers, and at therryforeign policy,
we must pronounce the reign of Charles II. to be the
worst that has ever been seen in England. If, on the
other hand, we confine our observations to the laws
which were passed, and to the principles which were
established, we shall be obliged to confess that this
same reign forms one of the brightest epochs in our
national annals. Politically and morally, there were to
be found in the government all the elements of con-
fusion, of weakness, and of crime. The king himself
was a mean and spiritless voluptuary, without the
morals of a Christian, and almost without the feelings
of a man. 89 His ministers, with the exception of
Clarendon, whom he hated for his virtues, had not one
of the attributes of statesmen, and nearly all of them
were pensioned by the crown of France. 90 The weight
89 His treatment of his young Parr says, in reference to another
wife immediately after marriage accusation against him, ' There
is perhaps the worst thing re- is little occasion to blacken the
corded of this base and con- memory of that wicked monarch,
temptible prince. Lister's Life Charles II., by the aid of in-
of Clarendon,vo\.\\. pp. 145-153. vidious conjectures.' Notes on
This is matter of proof; but James II. in Parr's Works, vol.
Burnet (Own Time, vol. i. p. 522, iv. p. 477. Compare Fox's His-
and vol. ii. p. 467) whispers a tory of James II. p. 71.
horrible suspicion, which I can- 80 Even Clarendon has been
not believe to be true, even of charged with receiving bribes
Charles II., and which Harris, from Louis XTV. ; but for this
who has collected some evidence there appears to be no good autho-
ofhis astounding profligacy, does rity. Compare Hattam's Const.
not mention, though he quotes Hist. vol. ii. pp. 66, 67 note, with
one of the passages in Burnet. CampbelFs Chancellors, vol. iii.
Harris's Lives of the Stuarts, vol. p. 213.
v. pp. 36-43. However, as Dr.
382
ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
of taxation was increased, 91 while the security of the
kingdom was diminished. 92 By the forced surrender
of the charters of the towns, our municipal rights were
endangered. 93 By shutting the exchequer, our national
credit was destroyed. 94 Though immense sums were
spent in maintaining our naval and military power, we
were left so defenceless, that when a war broke out,
which had long been preparing, we seemed suddenly to
be taken by surprise. Such was the miserable incapa-
city of the government, that the fleets of Holland were
able, not only to ride triumphant round our coasts, but
to sail up the Thames, attack our arsenals, burn our
ships, and insult the metropolis of England. 95 Yet,
notwithstanding all these things, it is an undoubted
fact, that in this same reign of Charles II. more steps
were taken in the right direction than had been taken,
in any period of equal length, during the twelve cen-
91 Lister's Life of Clarendon,
vol. ii. p. 377 ; Harris's Lives of
the Stuarts, vol. iv. pp. 340-344.
92 Immediately after the Re-
storation, the custom began of
appointing to naval commands
incompetent youths of birth, to
the discouragement of those able
officers who had been employed
under Cromwell. Compare Bur-
net's Own Time, vol. i. p. 290,
with Pepys' Diary, vol. ii. p. 413,
vol. iii. pp. 68, 72.
93 Harris's Lives of the Stuarts,
vol. v. pp. 323-328. The court
was so bent on abrogating the
charter of the city of London,
that Saunders was made chief-
justice for the express purpose.
See CampbclVs Chief -Justices,
vol. ii. p. 59. Roger North says
{Lives of the Norths, vol. ii. p.
67), ' Nothing was accounted at
court so meritorious as the pro-
curing of charters, as the lan-
guage then was.' Compare Bul-
strode's Memoirs, pp. 379, 388.
91 The panic caused by this
scandalous robbery is described
by De Foe ; Wilson's Life of Be
Foe, vol. i. p. 52. See also Ca-
lami/ s Life of Himself, vol. i. p.
78 ; Parker's Hist, of his Own
Time, pp. 141-143. The amount
stolen by the king is estimated
at 1,328,526^. Sinclair's Hist,
of the Revenue, vol. i. p. 315.
According to Lord Campbell,
'nearly a million and a half.'
Lives of the Chancellors, vol. iv.
p. 113.
93 There is a very curious ac-
count in Pepys Biary, vol. iii.
pp. 242-264, of the terror felt by
the Londoners on this occasion.
Pepys himself buried his gold (p.
261 and pp. 376-379). Evelyn
{Biary, vol. ii. p. 287) says :
' The alarme was so greate, that
it put both country and citty into
a paniq, feare, and consternation,
such as I hope I shall never see
more ; every body was flying,
none knew why or whither.'
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 383
turies we liad occupied the soil of Britain. By the
mere force of that intellectual movement, which was
unwittingly supported by the crown, there were effected,
in the course of a few years, reforms which changed
the face of society. 96 The two great obstacles by
which the nation had long been embarrassed, consisted
of a spiritual tyranny and a territorial tyranny : the
tyranny of the church and the tyranny of the nobles.
An attempt was now made to remedy these evils ; not
by palliatives, but by striking at the power of the classes
who did the mischief. For now it was that a law was
placed on the statute-book, taking away that celebrated
writ, which enabled the bishops or their delegates to
cause those men to be burned whose religion was diffe-
rent to their own. 97 Now it was that the clergy were
deprived of the privilege of taxing themselves, and
were forced to submit to an assessment made by the
ordinary legislature. 98 Now, too, there was enacted a
** The most important of these
reforms were carried, as is nearly
always the case, in opposition to
the real wishes of the ruling
classes. Charles II. and James II.
often said of the Habeas Corpus
Act, ' that a government could
not subsist with such a law.' Dal-
rymple's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 104.
Lord-Keeper Guilford was even
opposed to the abolition of mili-
tary tenures. ' He thought,' says
his brother, ' the taking away of
the tenures a desperate wound
to the liberties of the people of
England.' Lives of the Norths,
vol. ii. p. 82. These are the sort
of men by whom great nations
are governed. A passage in Life
of James, by Himself, edit. Clarke,
vol. ii. p. 621, confirms the state-
ment in Dalrymple, so far as
James is concerned. This should
be compared with a letter from
Louis XIV., in the Barillon cor-
respondence. Appendix to Fox's
James II. p. cxxiv.
97 Blackstone's Commentaries,
vol. iv. p. 48 ; Campbell 's Chan-
cellors, vol. iii. p. 431. This
destruction of the writ Be Hcere-
tico comburendo was in 1677. It
is noticed in Palmer's Treatise on
the Church, vol. i. p. 500 ; and
in Collier's Ecclesiast. Hist. vol.
viii. p. 478.
98 This was in 1664. See the
account of it in Collier's Eccle-
siast. Hist. vol. viii. pp. 463-466.
Collier, who is evidently dis-
pleased by the change, says :
' The consenting, therefore, to be
taxed by the temporal Commons,
makes the clergy more dependent
on a foreign body, takes away
the right of disposing of their
own money, and lays their es-
tates in some measure at dis-
cretion.' See also, on the injury
this has inflicted on the church,
584
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
law forbidding any bishop, or any ecclesiastical court,
to tender tbe ex-officio oath, by which the church had
hitherto enjoyed the power of compelling a suspected
person to criminate himself." In regard to the nobles,
it was also during the reign of Charles II. that the
House of Lords, after a sharp struggle, was obliged to
abandon its pretensions to an original jurisdiction in
civil suits ; and thus lost for ever an important resource
for extending its own influence. 100 It was in the same
reign that there was settled the right of the people to
be taxed entirely by their representatives ; the House
of Commons having ever since retained the sole power
of proposing money bills, and regulating the amount of
imposts, merely leaving to the Peers the form of con-
senting to what has been already determined. 101 These
were the attempts which were made to bridle the
clergy and the nobles. But there were also effected
Lathbury's Hist, of Convocation,
pp. 259, 260. And Coleridge (Lite-
rary Remains, vol. iv. pp. 152,
153) points this out as charac-
terizing one of the three ' grand
evil epochs of our present
church.' So marked, however,
was the tendency of that time,
that this most important measure
was peaceably effected by an
arrangement between Sheldon
and Clarendon. See the notes
by Onslow in Burnetts Own Time,
vol. i. p. 340, vol. iv. pp. 508,
509. Compare Lord Camden's
statement (Pari. Hist. vol. xvi. p.
169) with the speech of Lord
Bathurst (vol. xxii. p. 77) ; and
of Lord Temple on Tooke's case
(vol. xxxv. p. 1357). Mr. Car-
withen (Hist, of the Church of
England, vol. ii. p. 354, Oxford,
1849) grieves over ' this depri-
vation of the liberties of the
English clergy.'
99 13 Car. II. c. 12. Compare
Stephens's Life of Tooke, vol. i.
pp. 169, 170, with Blackstone's
Commentaries, vol. iii. p. 101.
Mr. Hallam (Const. Hist. vol. i.
pp. 197, 198) has adduced evi-
dence of the way in which the
clergy were accustomed to injure
their opponents by the ex-officio
oath.
100 This was the issue of the
famous controversy respecting
Skinner, in 1669 ; and ' from
this time,' says Mr. Hallam, ' the
Lords have tacitly abandoned all
pretensions to an original juris-
diction in civil suits.' Const.
Hist. vol. ii. p. 184. There is an
account of this case of Skinner,
which was connected with the
East-India Company, in Mill's
Hist, of India, vol. i. pp. 102,
103.
101 Hallam's Const. Hist. vol.
ii. pp. 189-192; and Eccleston's
English Antiquities, p. 326. The
disputes between the two houses
respecting taxation, are noticed
very briefly in Parker's Hist, of
his Own Time, pp. 135, 136.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 385
other tilings of equal importance. By the destruction
of the scandalous prerogatives of Purveyance and Pre-
emption, a limit was set to the power of the sovereign
to vex his refractory subjects. 102 By the Habeas
Corpus Act, the liberty of every Englishman was made
as certain as law could make it; it being guaranteed
to him, that if accused of crime, he, instead of lan-
guishing in prison, as had often been the case, should
be brought to a fair and speedy trial. 103 By the Sta-
tute of Frauds and Perjuries, a security hitherto un-
known was conferred upon private property. 104 By the
102 The ' famous rights of pur-
veyance and pre-emption' were
abolished by 12 Car. II. c. 24.
Hallam's Const. Hist. vol. ii. p.
11. Burke, in his magnificent
speech on Economical Keform,
describes the abuses of the old
system of purveyance. Burke's
Works, vol. i. p. 239. See also
Kemble's Saxons in England, vol.
ii. p. 88, note ; Harrington on the
Statutes, pp. 183-185, 237 ; Lin-
gard's Hist, of England, vol. ii.
pp. 338, 339 ; Sinclair's Hist, of
the Revenue, vol. i. p. 232 ; Pari.
Hist. vol. iii. p. 1299. These
passages will give an idea of the
iniquities practised under this
' right,' which, like most gross
injustices, was one of the good
old customs of the British con-
stitution, being at least as ancient
as Canute. See Allen on the
Royal Prerogative, p. 152. In-
deed, a recent writer of consider-
able learning {Spencc, Origin of
the Laws of Europe, p. 319)
derives it from the Roman law.
A bill had been brought in to
take it away in 1 656. See Bur-
ton's Cromwellian Diary, vol. i.
p. 81. When Adam Smith wrote,
it still existed in France and
Germany. Wealth of Nations,
book iii. chap. ii. p. 161.
VOL. I. C
103 On the Habeas Corpus Act,
which became law in 1679, see
Campbell's Chancellors, vol. iii.
pp. 345-347; Mackintosh, Revolu-
tion of 1688, p. 49 ; and Lin-
gar (Ts Hist, of England, vol. viii.
p. 17. The peculiarities of this
law, as compared with the imita-
tions of it in other countries, are
clearly stated in Meyer, Esprit
des Institutions Judiciaires, vol.
ii. p. 283. Mr. Lister {Life of
Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 454) says :
' Imprisonment in gaols beyond
the seas was not prevented by
law till the passing of the Habeas
Corpus Act, in 1679.'
104 Blackstone {Commentaries,
vol. iv. p. 439) calls this 'a great
and necessary security to private
property ;' and Lord Campbell
{Chancellors, vol. iii. p. 423)
terms it ' tho most important
and most beneficial piece of .
juridical legislation of which we
can boast.' On its effects, com-
pare Jones's valuable Commen-
tary on Isaus { Works of Sir W.
Jones, vol. iv. p. 239) with
Story's Conflict of Laws, pp. 521,
522, 627, 884; and Tayler on
Statute Law, in Journal of
Statistical Society, vol. xvii. p.
150.
386
ENGLISH INTELLECT EEOM THE
abolition of general impeachments, an end was put to &
great engine of tyranny, with which powerful and un-
scrupulous men had frequently ruined their political
adversaries. 105 By the cessation of those laws which
restricted the liberty of printing, there was laid the
foundation of that great Public Press, which, more
than any other single cause, has diffused among the
people a knowledge of their own power, and has thus,
to an almost incredible extent, aided the progress of
English civilization. 106 And, to complete this noble
picture, there were finally destroyed those feudal inci-
dents, which our Norman conquerors had imposed, — the
military tenures ; the court of wards ; the fines for
alienation ; the right of forfeiture for marriage by rea-
son of tenure ; the aids, the homages, the escuages, the
primer seisins ; and all those mischievous subtleties, of
which the mere names sound in modern ears as a wild
and barbarous jargon, but whicb pressed upon our an-
cestors as real and serious evils. 107
105 Lord Campbell {Lives of the
Chancellors, vol. iii. p. 247) says,
that the struggle in 1667 ' put
an end to general impeachments.'
los p r i n ting at first was regu-
lated by royal proclamations ;
then by the Star-chamber; and
afterwards by the Long Parlia-
ment. The decrees of the Star-
chamber were taken as the basis
of 13 and 14 Car. II. c. 33 ; but
this act expired in 1679, and was
not renewed during the reign of
Charles II. Compare BlacJc-
stone's Comment, vol. iv. p. 152,
with Hunt's Hist, of Newspapers,
vol. i. p. 154, and Fox's Hist, of
James II. p. 146.
107 The fullest account I have
seen in any history, of this
great Revolution, which swept
away the traditions and the
language of feudalism, is that
given in Harris's Lives of the
Stuarts, vol. iv. pp. 369-378. But
Harris, though an industrious
collector, was a man of slender
ability, and not at all aware of
the real nature of a change, of
which the obvious and imme-
diately practical results formed
the smallest part. The true point
of view is, that it was a formal
recognition by the legislature
that the Middle Ages were
extinct, and that it was necessary
to inaugurate a more modern and
innovating policy. Hereafter I
shall have occasion to examine
this in detail, and show how it was
merely a symptom of a revolu-
tionary movement. In the mean-
time the reader may refer to the
very short notices in Dalrymple's
Hist, of Feudal Property, p. 89 ;
BlacJcstone's Comment, vol. ii. pp.
76, 77 ; Hallam's Const. Hist. vol.
ii. p. 1 1 ; Pari. Hist. vol. iv. pp.
53, 167, 168; Meyer, Institutions
Judiciaires, vol. ii. p. 58.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 387
These were the things which were done in the reign
of Charles II. ; and if we consider the miserable in-
competence of the king, the idle profligacy of his court,
the unblushing venality of his ministers, the constant
conspiracies to which the country was exposed from
^vithin, and the unprecedented insults to which it was
subjected from without ; if we, moreover, consider that
to all this there were added two natural calamities of
the most grievous description, — a Great Plague, which
thinned society in all its ranks, and scattered confusion
through the kingdom, and a Great Fire, which, besides
increasing the mortality from the pestilence, destroyed
in a moment those accumulations of industry by which
industry itself is nourished ; — if we put all these
things together, how can we reconcile inconsistencies
apparently so gross ? How could so wonderful a pro-
gress be made in the face of these unparalleled dis-
asters? How could such men, under such circumstances,
effect such improvements ? These are questions which
our political compilers are unable to answer ; because
they look too much at the peculiarities of individuals,
and too little at the temper of the age in which those
individuals live. Such writers do not perceive that
the history of every civilized country is the history of
its intellectual development, which kings, statesmen,
and legislators are more likely to retard than to hasten ;
because, however great their power may be, they are
at best the accidental and insufficient representatives
of the spirit of their time ; and because, so far from
being able to regulate the movements of the national
mind, they themselves form the smallest part of it,
and, in a general view of the progress of Man, are only
to be regarded as the puppets who strut and fret their
hour upon a littlo stage ; while, beyond them, and on
every side of them, are forming opinions and principles
which they can scarcely perceive, but by which alone
the wholo course of human affairs is ultimately
governed.
The truth is, that the vast legislative reforms, for
which the reign of Charles II. is so remarkable, merely
form a part of that movement, which, though traceablo
cc2
388 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
to a much earlier period, Bad only for three genera-
tions been in undisguised operation. These important
improvements were the result of that bold, sceptical,
inquiring, and reforming spirit, which had now seized
the three great departments of Theology, of Science,
and of Politics. The old principles of tradition, of
authority, and of dogma, were gradually becoming
weaker ; and of course, in the same proportion, there
was diminished the influence of the classes by whom
thoso principles were chiefly upheld. As the power of
particular sections of society thus declined, the power
of the people at large increased. The real interests of
the nation began to be perceived, so soon as the super-
stitions were dispersed by which those interests had
long been obscured. This, I believe, is the real solu-
tion of what at first seems a curious problem, — namely,
how it was that such comprehensive reforms should
have been accomplished in so bad, and in many
respects so infamous, a reign. It is, no doubt, true,
that those reforms were essentially the result of the
intellectual march of the age ; but, so far from being
made in spite of the vices of the sovereign, they were
actually aided by them. With the exception of the
needy profligates who thronged his court, all classes of
men soon learned to despise a king who was a drun-
kard, a libertine, and a hypocrite ; who had neither
shame nor sensibility ; and who, in point of honour,
was unworthy to enter the presence of the meanest of
his subjects. To have the throne filled for a quarter
of a century by such a man as this, was the surest way
of weakening that ignorant and indiscriminate loyalty,
to which the people have often sacrificed their dearest
rights. Thus, the character of the king, merely con-
sidered from this point of view, was eminently favour-
able to the growth of national liberty. 108 But the
108 Mr. Hallam has a noble of Cleveland, Louisa Duchess of
passage on the services rendered Portsmouth, and Mrs. Eleanor
to English civilization by the Gwyn. We owe a tribute of
vices of the English court : ' We gratitude to the Mays, the Killi-
are, however, much indebted to grews, the Chiffinches, and the
the memory of Barbara Duchess Grammonts. They played a ser-
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 889
advantage did not stop there. The reckless debaucheries
of Charles made him abhor everything approaching to
restraint ; and this gave him a dislike to a class, whose
profession, at least, pre-supposes a conduct of more
than ordinary purity. The consequence was, that he,
not from views of enlightened policy, but merely from
a love of vicious indulgence, always had a distaste for
the clergy ; and, so far from advancing their power,
frequently expressed for them an open contempt. 109
His most intimate friends directed against them those
coarse and profligate jokes which are preserved in the
literature of the time ; and which, in the opinion of
the courtiers, were to be ranked among the noblest
specimens of human wit. From men of this sort the
church had, indeed, little to apprehend ; but their lan-
guage, and the favour with which it was received, are
part of the symptoms by which we may study the temper
of that age. Many other illustrations will occur to most
readers ; I may, however, mention one, which is interest-
ing on account of the eminence of the philosopher
viceable part in ridding the lieve the hierarchy will in a little
kingdom of its besotted loyalty, time be shaken, whether they
They saved our forefathers from will or no ; the king being of-
the Star-chamber and the High- fended with them, and set npoa
commission court ; they laboured it, as I hear.' Evelyn, in a con-
in their vocation against stand- versation with Pepys, noticed
ing armies and corruption ; they with regret such conduct of
pressed forward the great ulti- Charles, ' that a bishop shall
mate security of English freedom never be seen about him, as the
— the expulsion of the House of king of France hath always.'
Stuart.' Hallania Const. Hist. Pepys, vol. iii. p. 201. Evelyn,
vol. ii. p. 50. in his benevolent way, ascribes
109 Burnet (Own Time, vol. i. this to 'the negligence of the
p. 448) tells us that, in 1667, clergy;' but history teaches ua
the king, even at the council- that the clergy have never neg-
board, expressed himself against lected kings, except when the
the bishops, and said, that the king has lirst neglected them,
clergy ' thought of nothing but Sir John Keresby gives a curious
to get good benefices, and to keep account of a conversation Charles
A good table.' See also, on his II. held with him respecting
<:isliko to the bishops, vol. ii. 'mitred heads,' in which the
p. 22 ; and Pepys' Diary, vol. iv. feeling of the king is very
p. 2. In another place, vol iv. apparent. Beresby's Travels and
•p. 42, Pepys writes: 4 And I be- Memoirs, p. 238.
390
ENGLISH INTELLECT FKOM THE
concerned in it. The most dangerous opponent of
the clergy in the seventeenth century, was certainly
Hobbes, the subtlest dialectician of his time ; a writer,
too, of singular clearness, and, among British meta-
physicians, inferior only to Berkeley. This profound
thinker published several speculations very txnfavour-
able to the church, and directly opposed to principles
which are essential to ecclesiastical authority. As a
natural consequence, he was hated by the clergy ; his
doctrines were declared to be highly pernicious ; and
he was accused of wishing to subvert the national
religion, and corrupt the national morals. 110 So far did
this proceed, that, during his life, and for several years
after his death, every man who ventured to think for
himself was stigmatized as a Hobbist, or, as it was
sometimes called, a Hobbian. 111 This marked hostility
on the part of the clergy was a sufficient recommenda-
tion to the favour of Charles. The king, even before
his accession, had imbibed many of his principles ; 112
110 On the animosity of the
clergy against Hobbes, and on
the extent to which he recipro-
cated it, compare Aubrey's Letters
and Lives, vol. ii. pp. 532, 631 ;
Tennemann, Gesch. der Philos.
vol. x. p. Ill ; with the angry
language of Burnet ( Own Time,
vol. i. p. 322), and of Whiston
{Memoirs, p. 251). See also
Wood's Athenm Oxonienses, edit.
Bliss, vol. iii. p. 1211. Mon-
conys, who was in London in
1663, says of Hobbes, ' II me dit
l'aversion que tous les gens
d'eglise tant catholiques que pro-
testans avoient pour lui.' Mon-
conys' Voyages, vol. iii. p. 43;
and p. 115, 'M. Hobbes, que
je trouvai toujours fort ennemi
des pretres catholiques et des
protestans.' About the same
time, Sorbiere was in London;
and ho writes respecting Hobbes:
' I know not how it comes to
pass, the clergy are afraid of
him, and so are the Oxford
mathematicians and their adhe-
rents ; wherefore his majesty
(Charles II.) was pleased to
make a very good comparison
when he told me, he was like a
bear, whom they baited with
dogs to try him.' Sorbiere' s
Voyage to England, p. 40.
111 This was a common ex-
pression for whoever attacked
established opinions late in the
seventeenth, and even early in
the eighteenth century. For in-
stances .of it, see Baxter's Life
of Himself, folio, 1696, part iii.
p. 48 ; Boyle's Works, vol. v.
pp. 505, 510; Monk's Life of
Bentley, vol. i. p. 41 ; Vernon
Correspond, vol. iii. p. 13 ; King's
Life of L^ocke, vol. i. p. 191 ;
Brewster's Life of Newton, vol. ii.
p. 149.
112 Burnet says, they 'made
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 391
and, after the Restoration, he treated the author with
what was deemed a scandalous respect. He pro-
tected him from his enemies ; he somewhat ostenta-
tiously hung up his portrait in his own private room
at Whitehall; U3 and he even conferred a pension on
this, the most formidable opponent who had yet ap-
peared against the spiritual hierarchy. 114
If we look for a moment at the ecclesiastical appoint-
ments of Charles, we shall find evidence of the same
tendency. In his reign, the highest dignities in the
church were invariably conferred upon men who were
deficient either in ability or in honesty. It would per-
haps be an over-refinement to ascribe to the king a
deliberate plan for lowering the reputation of the epis-
copal bench ; but it is certain, that if he had such a
plan, he followed the course most likely to effect his
purpose. For it is no exaggeration to say, that, during
his life, the leading English prelates were, without
exception, either incapable or insincere ; they were
unable to defend what they really believed, or else they
did not believe what they openly professed. Never before
were the interests of the Anglican church so feebly
guarded. The first Archbishop of Canterbury ap-
pointed by Charles was Juxon, whose deficiencies were
notorious ; and of whom his friends could only say,
that his want of ability was compensated by the good-
ness of his intentions. 115 When he died, the king raised
up as his successor Sheldon, whom he had previously
made Bishop of London ; and who not only brought
discredit on his order by acts of gross intolerance, 116
deep and lasting impressions on p. 164, with Lives of the Norths,
the king's mind.' Own Time, vol. iii. p. 339.
vol. i. p. 172. ,u Bishop Burnet says of him,
"* A likeness, by Cooper. Seo at his appointment: * As he was
Wood's Athena Oxonienses, edit, never a great divine, so he was
Bliss, vol. iii. p. 1208. now superannuated.' Own Time,
1,4 Sorbiere's Voyage to Eng- vol. i. p. 303.
land, p. 39 ; Woods Athena na Of which his own friend,
Oxonienses, vol. iii. p. 1208. On Bishop Parker, gives a specimen,
the popularity of the works of See Parker's History of his own
Hobbes in the reign of Charles Time, pp. 31-33. Compare Neata
II. compare Pepys' Diary, vol. iv. Hist, oj the Puritans, vol. iv.
392
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
but who was so regardless of the common decencies
of his station, that he used to amuse his associates, by
having exhibitions in his own house, imitating the way
in which the Presbyterians delivered their sermons. 117
After the death of Sheldon, Charles appointed to the arch-
bishopric Sancroffc ; whose superstitious fancies exposed
him to the contempt even of his own profession, and
who was as much despised as Sheldon had been hated. 118
In the rank immediately below this, we find the same
principle at work. The three Archbishops of York,
during the reign of Charles II., were Frewen, Stearn,
and Dolben ; who were so utterly devoid of ability, that
notwithstanding their elevated position, they are alto-
gether forgotten, not one reader out of a thousand
having ever heard their names. 119
Such appointments as these are indeed striking ; and
what makes them more so, is, that they were by no
means necessary ; they were not forced on the king by
p. 429 ; Wilson's Mem. of De Foe,
vol. i. p. 46.
117 In 1669, Pepys was at one
of these entertainments, which
took place not only at the house,
but in the presence of the arch-
bishop. See the scandalous de-
tails in Pepys' Diary, vol. iv. pp.
321, 322 ; or in Wilson's De Foe,
vol. i. pp. 44, 45.
118 Burnet, who knew Sancroft,
calls him 'a poor-spirited and
fearful man ' (Own Time, vol. iii.
p. 354) ; and mentions (vol. iii.
p. 138) an instance of his super-
stition, which will be easily be-
lieved by whoever has read his
ridiculous sermons, which D'Oyly
has wickedly published. See Ap-
pendix to VOyltfs Bancroft, pp.
339-420. Dr. Lake says that
everybody was amazed when it
was known that Sancroft was to
be archbishop. Lake's Diary,
30th Dec. 1677, p. 18, in vol.'i.
of lie Camden Miscellany, 1847,
4to. His character, so far as he
had one, is fairly drawn by Dr.
Birch : ' slow, timorous, and
narrow-spirited, but at the same
time a good, honest, and well-
meaning man.' Birch's Life of
Tillotson, p. 151. See also re-
specting him, Macaulay's Hist,
of England, vol. ii. p. 616, vol.
iii. p. 77, vol. iv. pp. 40-42.
110 Frewen was so obscure a
man, that there is no life of him
either in Chalmers' Biographical
Dictionary, or in Bose's more
recent, but inferior work. Tho-
little that is known of Stearn,
or Sterne, is unfavourable. Com-
pare Burnet, vol. ii. p. 427, with
Baxter's Life of Himself, folio,
1698, part ii. p. 338. And of
Dolben I have been unable to
collect anything of interest, ex-
cept that he had a good library.
See the traditionary account in
Jones's Memoirs of Bishop Home,
p. 66.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 393
court intrigue, nor was there a lack of more competent
men. The truth seems to be, that Charles was unwill-
ing to confer ecclesiastical promotion upon any one who
had ability enough to increase the authority of the
church, and restore it to its former pre-eminence. At
his accession, the two ablest of the clergy were un-
doubtedly Jeremy Taylor and Isaac Barrow. Both of
them were notorious for their loyalty ; both of them
were men of unspotted virtue ; and both of them have
left a reputation which will hardly perish while the
English language is remembered. But Taylor, though
he had married the king's sister, 120 was treated with
marked neglect ; and, being exiled to an Irish bishopric,
had to pass the remainder of his life in what, at that
time, was truly called a barbarous country. 121 As to
Barrow, who, in point of genius, was probably superior
to Taylor, 122 he had the mortification of seeing tho
most incapable men raised to the highest posts in the-
church, while he himself was unnoticed ; and, notwith-
standing that his family had greatly suffered in the
royal cause, 123 he received no sort of preferment until
five years before his death, when the king conferred on
him the mastership of Trinity College, Cambridge. 124
120 His wife was Joanna said by a respectable authority,
Bridges, a bastard of Charles I. that he was at once ' the great
Compare Notes and Queries, vol. precursor of Sir Isaac Newton,
vii. p. 305, with Heber's Life of and the pride of the English
Jeremy Taylor, in Taylor's Works, pulpit.' Wordsworth's Ecclesiast.
vol. i. p. xxxiv. Bishop Heber, Biog. vol. iv. p. 344. See also,
p. xxxv. adds, 'But, notwith- respecting Barrow, Montucla,
standing the splendour of such Hist, des Mathemat. vol. ii. pp.
an alliance, there is no reason to 88, 89, 359, 360, 504, 605, vol.
believe that it added materially iii. pp. 436-438.
to Taylor's income.' 1M ' His father having suffered
121 Coleridge {Lit. Bemains, greatly in his estate by his at-
vol. iii. p. 208) says, that this tachment to tho royal cause.'
neglect of Jeremy Taylor by Chalmers' Biog. Diet, vol.iv. p. 39.
Charles ' is a problem of which m Barrow, displeased at not
perhaps his virtues present the receiving preferment after the
most probablo solution.' Restoration, wrote the lines :
122 Superior, certainly, in com-
prehensiveness, and in the range ' To *%& ° ptavlt r^ 1 "^ Carol*
of his studies ; so that it is aptly Et sensit nemo te rcdiissc minus.'
394 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
It is hardly necessary to point out how all this must
have tended to weaken the church, and accelerate that
great movement for which the reign of Charles II. is
remarkable. 125 At the same time, there were many
other circumstances which, in this preHminary sketch,
it is impossible to notice, but which were stamped with
the general character of revolt against ancient authority.
In *a subsequent volume, this will be placed in a still
clearer light, because I shall have an opportunity of
bringing forward evidence which, from the abundance
of its details, would be unsuited to the present Intro-
duction. Enough, however, has been stated, to indicate
the general march of the English mind, and supply the
reader with a clue by which he may understand those
still more complicated events, which, as the seventeenth
century advanced, began to thicken upon us.
A few years before the death of Charles II., the
clergy made a great effort to recover their former
power by reviving those doctrines of Passive Obedience
and Divine Right, which are obviously favourable to
the progress of superstition. 126 But as the English in-
Hamilton's Life of Barrow, in which will long survive the
Barrow's Works, Edinb. 1845, aspersions of his puny detractors,
vol. i. p. xxiii. — men who, in point of know-
124 Everything Mr. Maeaulay ledge and ability, are unworthy
has said on the contempt into to loosen the shoe-latchet of him
which the clergy fell in the reign they foolishly attack,
of Charles II. is perfectly accu- 126 Hallam's Const. Hist. vol.
rate; and from evidence which I ii. pp. 142, 143, 153-156; from
have collected, I know that this which it appears that this move-
very able writer, of whose im- ment began about 1681. The
mense research few people aro clergy, as a body, are naturally
-competent judges, has rather favourable to this doctrine ; and
understated the case than over- the following passage, published
stated it. On several subjects I only twelve years ago, will give
should venture to differ from the reader an idea of the views
Mr. Maeaulay; but I cannot that some of them entertain,
refrain from expressing my ad- The Eev. Mr. Sewell ( Christian
miration of his unwearied dili- Politics, Lond. 1844, p. 157) says,
gence, of the consummate skill that the reigning prince is 'a
with which he has arranged his being armed with supreme phy-
materials, and of the noble love sical power by the hand and
of liberty which animates his permission of Providence ; as
«ntire work. These are qualities such, the lord of our property,
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 395
tellect was now sufficiently advanced to reject such
dogmas, this futile attempt only increased the opposi-
tion between the interests of the people as a body, and
the interests of the clergy as a class. Scarcely had
this scheme been defeated, when the sudden death of
Charles placed on the throne a prince whose most earnest
desire was to restore the Catholic church, and rein-
state among us that mischievous system which openly
boasts of subjugating the reason of Man. This change
in affairs was, if we consider it in its ultimate results,
the most fortunate circumstance which could have
happened to our country. In spite of the difference of
their religion, the English clergy had always displayed
an affection towards James, whose reverence for the
priesthood they greatly admired ; though they were
anxious that the warmth of his affections should be
lavished on the Church of England and not on the Church
of Rome. They were sensible of the advantages which
would accrue to their own order, if his piety could be
turned into a new channel. 127 They saw that it was for
his interest to abandon his religion ; and they thought
that to a man so cruel and so vicious, his own interest
the master of our lives, the Nichols's Lit. Ancc. vol. iv. p.
fountain of honour, the dispenser 216. With good reason, there-
of law, before -whom each sub- fore, did Fox tell the House of
ject must surrender his will and Commons, that ' by being a good
conform his actions. . . . Who, churchman, a person might be-
when ho errs, errs as a man, come a bad citizen.' Pari. Hist.
and not as a king, and is re- vol. xxix. p. 1377.
sponsible, not to man, but to m The Archbishop of Canter-
God.' And at p. Ill, the same bury, in 1678, was engaged in
writer informs us that the church, an attempt to convert James ;
' with one uniform, unhesitating and in a letter to the Bishop
voice, has proclaimed the duty of Winchester, he notices the
of " passive obedience." ' See ' happy consequences ' which
also on this slavish tenet, as up- would result from his success,
held by the church, Wordsworth's See this characteristic letter in
Ecclesiast. Biog. vol. iv. p. 668 ; Clarendon Corrcsp. vol. ii." pp.
Life of Ken, by a Lai/man, vol. 465, 466. See also the motives
ii. p. 523 ; Lathbury's Hist, of of the bishops, candidly but
Convocation, p. 228 ; Lathbury's broadly stated, in Mr. Wilson's
Nonjurors, pp. 50, 135, 197; and valuable work, Life of Be Foe^
a letter from Nelson, author of vol. i. p. 74.
the Fasts and Festivals, in
396 ENGLISH INTELLECT EEOM THE
would be the sole consideration. 128 The consequence
•was, that in one of the most critical moments of his
life, they made in his favour a great and successful
effort; and they not only used all their strength to
defeat the bill by -which it was proposed to exclude him
from the succession, but when the measure was re-
jected, they presented an address to Charles, congratu-
lating him on the result. 129 When James actually
mounted the throne, they continued to display the
same spirit. Whether they still hoped for his conver-
sion, or whether, in their eagerness to persecute the
dissenters, they overlooked the danger to their own
church, is uncertain ; but it is one of the most singular
and unquestionable facts in our history, that for some
time there existed a strict alliance between a Protestant
hierarchy and a Popish king. 130 The terrible crimes
which were the result of this compact are but too
notorious. But what is more worthy of attention is,
the circumstance that caused the dissolution of this
conspiracy between the crown and the church. The
ground of the quarrel was an attempt made by the king
to effect, in some degree, a religious toleration. By
the celebrated Test and Corporation Acts, it had been
ordered, that all persons who were employed by govern-
ment should be compelled, under a heavy penalty, to
receive the sacrament according to the rites of the
English church. The offence of James was, that he
128 In a high-church pamphlet, Chancellors, vol. iii. p. 353 ; Car-
published in 1682, against the withen's Hist, of the Church of
Bill of Exclusion, the cause of England, vol. ii. p. 431.
James is advocated ; but the in- 130 At the accession of James
convenience he would suffer by II. ' the pulpits throughout Eng-
remaining a Catholic is strongly land resounded with thanks-
insisted upon. See the wily re- givings ; and a numerous set of
marks in Somers Tracts, vol. viii. addresses nattered his Majesty,
pp. 258, 259. in the strongest expressions,
129 Wordsworth's Ecclcsiast. with assurances of unshaken
Biog. vol. iv. p. 665. On their loyalty and obedience, without
eagerness against the bill, see limitation or reserve.' NeaFf
Harris's Lives of the Stuarts, Hist, of the Puritans, vol. v. p. 2.
vol. v. p. 181; Burnet's Own Time, See also Calamy's Life, vol. i.
vol. ii. p. 246; Somers Tracts, p. 118.
vol. x. pp. 216, 253; CampbeWs
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 397
now issued what was called a Declaration of Indulgence,
in which, he announced his intention of suspending the
execution of these laws. 131 From this moment, the posi-
tion of the two great parties was entirely changed.
The bishops clearly perceived that the statutes which
it was thus attempted to abrogate, were highly favour-
able to their own power ; and hence, in their opinion,
formed an essential part of the constitution of a Chris-
tian country. They had willingly combined with
James, while he assisted them in persecuting men who
worshipped God in a manner different from them-
selves. 132 So long as this compact held good, they were
indifferent as to matters which they considered to be
of minor importance. They looked on in silence, while
the king was amassing the materials with which he
hoped to turn a free government into an absolute mon-
archy. 133 They saw Jeffreys and Kirke torturing their
fellow- subjects ; they saw the gaols crowded with
131 On the 18th March, 1687,
the king announced to the Privy
Council that he had determined
' to grant, hy his own authority,
entire liberty of conscience to
all his subjects. On the 4th
April appeared the memorable
Declaration of Indulgence.'
Macaulaifs Hist, of England,
vol. ii. p. 211 ; and see Life of
James II. , edited by Clarke, vol.
ii. p. 112. There is a summary
of the Declaration in NeaPs Hist,
of the Puritans, vol. v. pp. 30,
31. As to the second Declara-
tion, see MacaiUay, vol. ii. pp.
344, 345 ; Clarendon Correspond.
vol. ii. p. 170.
132 It was in the autumn of
1685, that the clergy and the
government persecuted the dis-
senters with the greatest viru-
lence. See Macaulaifs Hist. vol.
i. pp. 667, 668. Compare Neafs
Hist, of the Puritans, vol. v. pp.
4-12, with a letter from Lord
Clarendon, dated 21st December
1685, in Clarendon Correspond.
vol. i. p. 192. It is said {Burnet's
Own Time, vol.iii. pp. 175, 176),
that on many occasions the church
party made use of the eccle-
siastical courts to extort money
from the Nonconformists ; and
for confirmation of this, see
Mackintosh's 'Revolution of 1688,
pp. 173, 640.
133 It appears from the accounts
in the War Office, that James,
even in the first year of his
reign, had a standing army of
nearly 20,000 men. Mackintosh's
Revolution, pp. 3, 77, 688: 'A
disciplined army of about 20,000
men was, for the first time,
established during peace in this
island.' As this naturally in-
spired great alarm, the king gave
out that the number did not
exceed 1 5,000. Life of James II,
edited by Clarke, vol. ii. pp. 62,
57.
398 ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
prisoners, and the scaffold streaming with blood. 134
They were well pleased that some of the best and ablest
men in the kingdom should be barbarously persecuted ;
that Baxter should be thrown into prison, and that
Howe should be forced into exile. They witnessed
with composure the most revolting cruelties, because
the victims of them were the opponents of the English
church. Although the minds of men were filled with
terror and with loathing, the bishops made no com-
plaint. They preserved their loyalty unimpaired, and
insisted on the necessity of humble submission to the
Lord's anointed. 135 But the moment James proposed
to protect against persecution those who were hostile
to the church ; the moment he announced his intention
of breaking down that monopoly of offices and of
honours which the bishops had long secured for their
own party ; — the moment this took place, the hierarchy
became alive to the dangers with which the country
was threatened from the violence of so arbitrary a
prince. 136 The king had laid his hand on the ark, and
the guardians of the temple flew to arms. How could
134 Compare Burnet, vol. iii. of England, or even a quiet, sub-
pp. 55-62, with BalrympUs Me- missive Catholic, without any
■moirs, vol. i. part i. book ii. pp. zeal for his religion, — confining
198-203. Ken, so far as I re- himself solely to matters of state,
member, was the only one who and having a proper respect for
set his face against these atroci- church property, — he might have
ties. He was a very humane plundered other Protestants at
man, and did what he could to his pleasure, and have trampled
mitigate the sufferings of the upon the liberties of his country,
prisoners in Monmouth's rebel- without the danger of resistance.'
lion ; but it is not mentioned Wilson's Life of Dc Foe, vol. i.
that he attempted to stop the p. 136. Or, as Fox says, 'Thus,
persecutions directed against the as long as James contented him-
innocent Nonconformists, who self with absolute power in civil
were barbarously punished, not matters, and did not make use
because they rebelled, but be- of his authority against the
cause they dissented. Life of church, everything went smooth
Ken, by a Layman, vol. i. p. 298. and easy.' Fox's Hist, of James
135 'From the conduct of the II., p. 165.
clergy in this and the former 13B Compare NeaVs Hist, of the
reign, it is quite clear, that if Puritans, vol. v. p. 58, with Life
the king had been a Protestant, of James II., edit. Clarke, vol. ii.
of the profession of the Church p. 70 ; where it is well said, that
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 399
they tolerate a prince who would not allow them to
persecute their enemies ? How could they support a
sovereign who sought to favour those who differed from
the national church? They soon determined on the
line of conduct it behoved them to take. With an
almost unanimous voice, they refused to obey the order
by which the king commanded them to read in their
churches the edict for religious toleration. 137 Nor did
they stop there. So great was their enmity against
him they had recently cherished, that they actually
applied for aid to those very dissenters whom, only a
few weeks before, they had hotly persecuted ; seek-
ing by magnificent promises to win over to their
side men they had hitherto hunted even to the
death. 138 The most eminent of the Nonconformists
the clergy of the Church of
England ' had preached preroga-
tive and the sovereign power to
the highest pitch, whilo it was
favourable to them ; but when
they apprehended the least dan-
ger from it, they cried out as
soon as the shoe pinched, though
it was of their own putting on.'
See also pp. 113, 164. What
their servility was to the crown,
while they thought that the
crown was with them, may be
estimated from the statement of
De Foe: • I have heard it publicly
preached, that if the king com-
manded my head, and sent his
messengers to fetch it, I was
bound to submit, and 6tand while
it was cut off.' Wilson's Life of
De Foe, vol. i. p. 118.
'" D'Oyly {Life of Sancroft,
p. 164) says, ' On the whole, it
is supposed that not more than
200 out of the whole body of
clergy, estimated at 10,000, com-
plied with the king's requisition.'
•Only seven obeyed in the city
of London, and not above 200
all England over.' Burnet's Own
Time, vol. iii. p. 218. On Sunday,
20th May 1688, Lord Clarendon
writes : ' I was at St. James's
church ; in the evening I had
an account that the Declaration
was read only in four churches
in the city and liberties.' Cla-
rendon Corresp. vol. ii. pp. 172,
173. When this conduct becamo
known, it was observed that the
church 'supported the crown
only so long as she dictated to
it ; and became rebellious at the
moment when she was forbidden
to be intolerant.' Mackintosh's
Revolution of 1688, p. 255.
138 The first advances were
made when the Declaration of
tho king in favour of ' liberty of
conscience ' was on the point of
being issued, and immediately
after the proceedings at Oxford
had shown his determination to
break down the monopoly of
officos possessed by the church.
' The clergy at the same time
prayed and entreated the dis-
senters to appear on their side,
and stand by the Establishment,
making large promises of favour
400 ENGLISH INTELLECT PROM THE
were far from being duped by this sudden affection. 13&
But their hatred pf Popery, and their fear of the ulte-
rior designs of the king, prevailed over every other
consideration ; and there arose that singular combina-
tion between churchmen and dissenters, which has
never since been repeated. This coalition, backed by
the general voice of the people, soon overturned the
throne, and gave rise to what is justly deemed one of
the most important events in the history of England.
Thus it was, that the proximate cause of that great
revolution which cost James his crown, was the publica-
tion by the king of an edict of religious toleration, and
the consequent indignation of the clergy at seeing so
audacious an act performed by a Christian prince. It
is true, that if other things had not conspired, this
alone could never have effected so great a change. But
it was the immediate cause of it, because it was the
cause of the schism between the church and the throne,
and of the alliance between the church and the dis-
senters. This is a fact never to be forgotten. We
ought never to forget, that the first and only time the
Church of England has made war upon the crown, was
when the crown had declared its intention of tolerating,
and in some degree protecting, the rival religions of the
and brotherly affection if ever 134 ; and a Letter from a Dis-
they came into power.' NeaTs seiiter to the Petitioning Bishops,
Hist, of tlie Puritans, vol. v. p. 29. in Somers Tracts, vol. ix. pp.
See also, at pp. 58, 59, the con- 117, 118. The ■writer says :
ciliating letter from the Arch- - ' Pray, my lords, let me ask yon
bishop of Canterbury after the a question. Suppose the king,
Declaration. 'Such,' says Neal, instead of his Declaration, had
' such was the language of the issued out a proclamation, com-
church in distress ! ' Compare manding justices of the peace,
Birch's Life of Tillotson, p. 153; constables, informers, and all
Ellis' s Correspond, vol. ii. p. 63 ; other persons, to be more rigor-
Ellis's Orig. Letters, 2nd series, ous, if possible, against dis-
toI. iv. p. 117; Mackintosh 's Be- senters, and do their utmost to
volution, p. 286 ; Somers Tracts, the perfect quelling and destroy-
vol. ix. p. 132 ; Macaulaifs Hist, ing them ; and had ordered this
of England, vol. ii. pp. 218, 219. to be read in your churches in
139 See the indignant language the time of divine service, —
cf De Foe ( Wilson's Life of Be would you have made any scruple
Foe, vol. i. pp. 130, 131, 133, of that?'
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 401
country. 140 There is no doubt that the Declaration
which was then issued was illegal, and that it was con-
ceived in an insidious spirit. But declarations equally
illegal, equally insidious, and much more tyrannical, had
on other occasions been made by the sovereign, with-
out exciting the anger of the clergy. 141 These are things
which it is good for us to ponder. These are lessons
of inestimable value for those to whom it is given, not,
indeed, to direct, but in some degree to modify, the
march of public opinion. As to the people in general,
it is impossible for them to exaggerate the obligations
which they and all of us owe to the Revolution of 1688.
But let them take heed that superstition does not
mingle with their gratitude. Let them admire that
majestic edifice of national liberty, which stands alone
in Europe like a beacon in the midst of the waters ; but
let them not think that they owe anything to men
who, in contributing to its erection, sought the grati-
fication of their own selfishness, and the consolidation
of that spiritual power which by it they fondly hoped
to secure.
140 That this was the imme-
diate cause, so far as the head
of the . church-party was con-
cerned, is unblushingly avowed
by the biographer and defender
of the then Archbishop of Can-
terbury. ' The order published
from the king in council, May
4th, 1688, directing the arch-
bishops and bishops to send to
the clergy in their respective
dioceses the Declaration for
Liberty of Conscience, to be
publicly read in all the churches
of the kingdom, made it impos-
sible for the Archbishop of Can-
terbury to abstain any longer
from engaging in an open and
doclared opposition to the coun-
sels under which the king was
now unhappily acting.' If Oyli/s
Life of Sancroft, p. 151.
141 Some writers have attempt-
ed to defend the clergy, on the
VOL. I. 1)
ground that they thought it il-
legal to publish a declaration of
this kind. But such a defence
is incompatible with their doc-
trine of passive obedience ; and
besides this, it was contradicted
by precedents and decisions of
their own. Jeremy Taylor, in
his Ductor Dubitantium, their
great work of authority, asserts
that ' the unlawful proclamations
and edicts of a true prince may
be published by the clergy in
their several charges.' Heber's
Life of Taylor, p. ccbccxvi.
Heber adds : ' I wish I had not
found this in Taylor; and I
thank Heaven that the principle
was not adopted by the English
clergy in 1687.' But why was
it not adopted in 1687 ? Simply
becauso in 1687 the king at-
tacked the monopoly enjoyed by
the clergy; and therefore the
402
ENGLISH INTELLECT PKOM THE
It is, indeed, difficult to conceive the full amount of
the impetus given to English civilization by the expulsion
of the House of Stuart. Among the most immediate re-
sults, may be mentioned the limits that were set to the
royal prerogative; 142 the important steps that were
taken towards religious toleration ; 143 the remarkable
and permanent improvement in the administration of
justice ; 144 the final abolition of a censorship over the
press ; 145 and, what has not excited sufficient attention,
clergy forgot their principle, that
they might smite their enemy.
And what makes the motives of
this change still more palpable
is, that as late as 1681, the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury caused the
clergy to read a Declaration is-
sued by Charles II.; and that
in a revised copy of the Liturgy
he had also added to the rubric
to the same effect. See Neal's
Hist, of thePuritans, vol. v. p. 56.
Compare Calamus Own Life,
vol. i. pp. 199, 200 ; Mackintosh's
Revolution, pp. 242, 243; D' Oyly's
Life of Bancroft, p. 152; King's
Life of Locke, vol. i. p. 259; Life
of James II., edit. Clarke, vol. ii.
p. 156.
142 They are summed up in a
popular pamphlet ascribed to
Lord Somers, and printed in
Somers Tracts, vol. x. pp. 263,
264. The diminished respect
felt for the crown after 1688 is
judiciously noticed in Mahon's
Hist, of England, vol. i. p. 9.
143 The Toleration Act was
passed in 1689. A copy -of it is
given by the historians of the
dissenters, who call it their Mag-
na Charta. See Bogue and Ben-
nettfs History of the Dissenters,
vol. i. pp. 187-198. The historian
of the Catholics equally allows
that the reign of William III. is
' the era from which their enjoy-
ment of religious toleration may
be dated.' Butler's Memoirs of
the Catholics, vol. iii. pp. 122 r
139. This is said by Mr. Butler
in regard, not to the Protestant
dissenters, but to the Catholics ;
so that we have the admission of
both parties as to the importance
of this epoch. Even the shame-
ful act forced upon William in
1700 was, as Mr. Hallam truly
says, evaded in its worst pro-
visions. Const. Hist. vol. ii.
pp. 332, 333.
144 Campbell's Chancellors, vol.
iv. pp. 102, 355, and his Chief -
Justices, vol. ii. pp. 95, 116, 118,
136, 142, 143. See also Bar-
rington's Observations on the
Statutes, pp. 23, 102, 558; and
even Alison's Hist, of Europe,
vol. i. p. 236, vol. ix. p. 243 ; an
unwary concession from such an
enemy to popular liberty.
145 This was effected before the
end of the seventeenth century.
See CampbeUs Chancellors,voLiv.
pp. 121, 122. Compare Lord
Camden on Literary Property, in
Pari. Hist. vol. xvii. p. 994;
Hunt's History of Newspapers,
vol. i. pp. 161, 162; Somers
Tracts, vol. xiii. p. 555 ; and a
more detailed account in Macau-
lay's Hist, of England, vol. iv.
pp. 348 seq. 540 seq. ; though
Mr. Macaulay in ascribing, p. 353,
so much to the influence of
Blount, has not, I think, sum-
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 403
the rapid growth of those great monetary interests by
which, as we shall hereafter see, the prejudices of the
superstitions classes have in no small degree been
counterbalanced. 146 These are the main characteristics
of the reign of William III. ; a reign often aspersed,
and little understood, 147 but of which it may be truly
said, that, taking its difficulties into due consideration,
it is the most successful and the most splendid recorded
in the history of any country. But these topics rather
belong to the subsequent volumes of this work ; and at
present we are only concerned in tracing the effects of
the Revolution upon that ecclesiastical power by which
it was immediately brought about.
Scarcely had the clergy succeeded in expelling
James, when the greater number of them repented of
their own act. 148 Indeed, even before he was driven
ciently dwelt on the operation of
larger and more general causes.
I4a Mr. Cooke (Hist, of Party,
vol. ii. pp. 5, 148) notices this
remarkable rise of the monied
classes early in the eighteenth
century ; but he merely observes,
that the consequence was to
strengthen the Whig party.
Though this is undoubtedly true,
the ultimate results, as I shall
hereafter point out, were far
more important than any politi-
cal or even economical conse-
quences. It was not till 1694
that the Bank of England was
established ; and this great insti-
tution at first mot with the
warmest opposition from the ad- •
mirers of old times, who thought
it must be useless because their
ancestors did without it. See
the curious details in Sinclair's
Hist, of the Bevenue, vol. iii.
pp. 6-9 ; and on the connexion
between it and the Whigs, see
MacaxUa'Js Hist, of England,
vol. iv. p. 502. There is a short
account of its origin and progress
D D
in Smith's Wealth of Nations,
book ii. chap. ii. p. 130.
147 Frequently misunderstood,
even by those who praise it.
Thus, for instance, a living writer
informs us that, ' great as have
been the obligations which Eng-
land owes, in many different
views, to the Revolution, it is
beyond all question the greatest,
that it brought in a sovereign
instructed in the art of over-
coming the ignorant impatience
of taxation which is the invaria-
ble characteristic of free com-
munities ; and thus gave it a
government capable of turning
to the best account the activity
and energy of its inhabitants, at
the same time that it had the
means given it of maintaining
their independence.' Alison's
Hist, of Europe, vol. vii. p. 5.
This, I should suppose, is the
most eccentric eulogy ever passed
on William III.
'" On their sudden repentance,
and on the causes of it, see NeaTs
Hist, of the Puritans, voL v. p. 71.
2
404
ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
from the country, several things had occurred to make
them doubt the policy of the course they were pursuing.
During the last few weeks that he was allowed to reign,
he had shown symptoms of increasing respect for the
English hierarchy. The archbishopric of York had
so long been vacant, as to cause a belief that it was the
intention of the crown either to appoint to it a Catholic,
or else to seize its revenues. 149 But James, to the
delight of the church, now filled up this important office
by nominating Lamplugh, who was well known to be a
stanch churchman and a zealous defender of episcopal
privileges. 150 Just before this, the king also rescinded
the order by which the Bishop of London had been
suspended from the exercise of his functions. 151 To
the bishops in general he made great promises of future
favour ; 152 some of them, it was said, were to be called
149 Mackintosh's Revolution of
1688, pp. 81, 191. After the
death of Archbishop Dolben,
'the see was kept vacant for
more than two years,' and Cart-
wright hoped to obtain it. See
Cartwrighfs Diary, by Hunter,
4to, 1843, p. 45. In the same
way, we find from a letter to
the Archbishop of Canterbury
{Clarendon Corresp.vol. i. p. 409)
that in May 1686 uneasiness was
felt because the Irish bishoprics
were not filled up. Compare
Burnet, vol. hi. p. 103. Car-
withen {Hist, of the Ch. of Eng-
land, vol. ii. p. 492) says, that
James had intended to raise the
Jesuit Petre to the archbishopric.
150 Lamplugh was translated
from the bishopric of Exeter to
the archbishopric of York in
November 1688. See the con-
temporary account in the Ellis
Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 303,
and Ellis's Original Letters, se-
cond series, vol. iv. p. 151. He
was a most orthodox man ; and
not only hated the dissenters,
but showed his zeal by persecut-
ing them. Wilson's Life of
Be Foe, vol. i. pp. 94, 95. Com-
pare an anecdote of him in
Baxter's Life of Himself, folio,
1696, part iii. pp. 178, 179.
151 In a letter, dated London,
29th September 1688 {Ellis Cor-
respondence, vol. ii. p. 224, and
Ellis's Orig. Letters, second se-
ries, vol. iv. p. 128), it is stated,
that the Bishop of London's
' suspension is taken off.' See
also Somers Tracts, vol. ix. p. 215.
This is the more observable, be-
cause, according to Johnstone,
there was an intention, in Decem-
ber 1687, of depriving him.
Mackintosh's Revolution, pp. 211,
212.
152 This disposition on the part
of the king again to favour the
bishops and the church became
a matter of common remark in
September 1688. See Ellis Cor-
respond, vol. ii. pp. 201, 202,
209, 219, 224, 225, 226, 227;
Clarendon Correspond, vol. ii.
pp. 188, 192. Sir John Keresby,
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 405
to his privy council ; and, in the meantime, he cancelled
that ecclesiastical commission which, by limiting then*
power, had excited their anger. 153 Besides this, there
occurred some other circumstances which the clergy now
had to consider; It was rumoured, and it was generally
believed, that "William was no great admirer of eccle-
siastical establishments ; and that, being a friend to
toleration, he was more likely to diminish the power
than increase the privileges of the English hierarchy. 154
It was also known that he favoured the Presbyterians,
whom the Church not unreasonably regarded as her
bitterest enemies. 155 And when, in addition to all this,
who was then in London, writes,
in October 1688, that James
' begins again to court the Church
of England.' Beresby's Memoirs,
p. 357. Indeed, the difficulties
of James were now becoming so
great, that he had hardly any
choice.
ni Ellis Correspond, vol. ii.
p. 211 ; IAfe of James II, edit.
Clarke, vol. ii. p. 189.
134 In November 1687, it was
said that he wished the dis-
senters to have ' entire liberty
for the full exercise of their re-
ligion,' and to be freed ' from
the severity of the penal laws.'
Somcrs Tracts, vol. ix. p. 184.
This is the earliest distinct no-
tice I have seen of William's de-
sire to deprive the church of the
power of punishing nonconform-
ists ; but after he arrived in
England his intentions became
obvious. In January 1 688-9 the
friends of the church complainod
' that the countenanco he gave
the dissenters gave too much
causo of jealousy to the Church
of England.' Clarendon Corre'
spond. vol. ii. p. 238. Compare
NeaTs Hist, of the Puritans,
vol. v. p. 81; Boguc and Bamettta
Hist, of the Dissenters, vol. ii.
p. 318 ; Birch's Life of Tillotson,
pp. 156, 157; Somers Tracts,
vol. x. p. 341, vol. xi. p. 108.
Burnet, in his summary of the
character of William, observes
that, ' his indifference as to the
forms of church-government, and
his being zealous for toleration,
together with his cold behaviour
towards the clergy, gave them
generally very ill impressions of
him.' Own Time, vol. iv. p. 550.
At p. 192 the bishop says, ' He
took no notice of the clergy, and
seemed to have little concern in
the matters of the church or of
religion.'
,M Sir John Eeresby, who was
an attentive observer of what
was going on, says, ' The prince,
upon his arrival, seemed more
inclined to the Presbyterians
than to the members of the
church ; which startled the cler-
gy.' Beresby's Me7noirs, p. 375 :
soe also pp. 399, 405 : ' tho
church -people hated the Dutch,
and had rather turn Papists than
receive the Presbyterians among
them.' Compare Evelyn's Diary,
vol. iii. p. 281 : ' tho Presbyte-
rians, our now governors.'
406 ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
William, on mere grounds of expediency, actually
abolished episcopacy in Scotland, it became evident
that, by thus repudiating the doctrine of divine right,
he had directed a great blow against those opinions
on -which, in England, ecclesiastical authority -was
based. 156
"While these things were agitating the public mind,
the eyes of men were naturally turned upon the bishops,
who, though they had lost much of their former power,
were still respected by a large majority of the people
as the guardians of the national religion. But at this
critical moment they were so blinded, either by their
ambition or by their prejudices, that they adopted a
course which of all others was the most injurious to their
reputation. They made a sudden attempt to reverse that
political movement of which they were themselves the
principal originators. Their conduct on this occasion
amply confirms that account of their motives which I
have already given. If, in aiding those preliminary
measures by which the Revolution was effected, they had
been moved by a desire of relieving the nation from
despotism, they would have eagerly welcomed that great
man at whose approach the despot took to flight. This
is what the clergy would have done, if they had loved
their country better than they loved their order. But
they pursued a precisely opposite course ; because they
preferred the petty interests of their own class to the
150 Burnet ( Own Time, vol. iv. tion of episcopacy in Scotland,
p. 50) says of the clergy in 1689 : see a contemporary pamphlet in
' The king was suspected by Somers Tracts, vol. vs.. pp. 510,
them, by reason of the favour 516, where fears are expressed
showed to dissenters ; but chiefly lest William should effect a simi-
for bis abolishing episcopacy in lar measure in England. The
Scotland, and his consenting to writerveryfairlyobserves,p.522,
the setting up presbytery there.' ' For if we give up the^Ms divinum
On this great change, compare of episcopacy in Scotland, we
Bogue and Bennett's History of must yield it also as to England.
Dissenters, vol. ii. pp. 379-384 ; And then we are wholly preca-
Barry's Hist, of the Orkney rious.' See also vol. x. pp. 341,
Islands, p. 257 ; NeaVs Hist, of 503 ; Lathbury's Hist, of Convo-
the Puritans, vol. v. pp. 85, 86 : cation, pp. 27*7, 278 ; and Mac-
and on the indignation felt by phersoris Original Papers, vol. i.
the Anglican clergy at the aboli- p. 509.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 407
welfare of the great body of the people, and because
they would rather that the country should be oppressed
than that the church should be humbled. ^Nearly
the whole of the bishops and clergy had, only a
few weeks before, braved the anger of their sovereign
sooner than read in their churches an edict for religious
toleration, and seven of the most influential of the epis-
copal order had, in the same cause, willingly submitted
to the risk of a public trial before the ordinary tribunals
of the land. This bold course they professed to have
adopted, not because they disliked, toleration, but
because they hated tyranny. And yet when William
arrived in England, and when James stole away from
the kingdom like a thief in the night, this same eccle-
siastical profession pressed forward to reject that great
man, who, without striking a blow, had by his mere
presence saved the country from the slavery with which
it was threatened. We shall not easily find in modern
history another instance of such gross inconsistency, or
rather, let us say, of such selfish and reckless ambition.
For this change of plan, far from being concealed, was
so openly displayed, and the causes of it were so obvious,
that the scandal was laid bare before the wholo country.
Within the space of a few weeks the apostasy was con-
summated. The first in the field was the Archbishop
of Canterbury, who, anxious to retain his office, had
promised to wait upon William. But when he saw the
direction things were likely to take, he withdrew his
promise, and would not recognize a prince who showed
such indifference to the sacred order. 187 Indeed, so
great was his anger, that he sharply rebuked his
chaplain for presuming to pray for William and Mary,
although they had been proclaimed with the full consent
147 Burnet's Own Time, vol. iii. that day his determination nei-
p. 340. Burnet, who had the ther to call on William nor even
best means of information, says, to send to him {Clarendon Cor-
' Though he had once agreed to respond, vol. ii. p. 240) ; and
it, yet would not come.' Lord this resolution appears to have
Clarendon, in his Diary, 3rd been taken deliberately: ' ho was
January 1688-9, writes, that the careful not to do it, for the rea-
archbishop expressed to him on sons he formerly gave me.'
408 ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
of the nation, and although the crown had been delivered
to them by the solemn and deliberate act of a public
convention of the estates of the realm. 158 While such
was the conduct of the primate of England, his brethren
were not wanting to him in this great emergency of
their common fate. The oath of allegiance was refused
not only by the Archbishop of Canterbury, but also by
the Bishop of Bath and Wells, by the Bishop of Chester,
by the Bishop of Chichester, by the Bishop of Ely, by the
Bishop of Gloucester, by the Bishop of Norwich, by the
Bishop of Peterborough, and by the Bishop of Wor-
cester. 159 As to the inferior clergy, our information is
less precise ; but it is said that about six hundred of
them imitated their superiors in declining to recognize
for their king him whom the country had elected. 160
The other members of this turbulent faction were
unwilling, by so bold a measure, to incur that depriva-
tion of their livings with which William would probably
have visited them. They, therefore, preferred a safer
and more inglorious opposition, by which they could
embarrass the government without injuring themselves,
and could gain the reputation of orthodoxy without
incurring the pains of martyrdom.
The effect which all this produced on the temper of
the nation may be easily imagined. The question was
now narrowed to an issue which every plain man could
158 See the account given by was universal among the high-
his chaplain Wharton, in U Oyly's church clergy ; and when public
Life of Sancroft, p. 259, where prayers were offered up for the
it is stated that the archbishop king and queen, they were called
was very irate ('vehementer ex- by the nonjurors 'the immoral
candescens'), and told him, 'that prayers,' and this became a tech-
he must thenceforward desist nical and recognized expression,
from offering prayers for the Life of Ken, by a Layman, vol. ii.
new king and queen, or else pp. 648, 650.
from performing the duties of I5B Lathburxfs Hist, of the
his chapel.' See also Birch's Nonjurors, p. 45 ; D' Oyly's San-
Life of Tillotson, p. 144. Thus croft, p. 260.
too the Bishop of Norwich de- ]S0 Nairne's Papers mention,
clared'that he would not pray in 1693, 'six hundred ministers
for King William and Queen who have not taken the oaths.*
Mary.' Clarendon Correspond. Macpherson's Orig. Papers, vol. k.
vol. ii. p. 263. The same spirit p. 459.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 409
at once understand. On the one side, there was an
overwhelming majority of the clergy. 161 On the other
side there was all the intellect of England, and all her
dearest interests. The mere fact that such an oppo-
sition could exist without kindling a civil war, showed
how the growing intelligence of the people had weak-
ened the authority of the ecclesiastical profession. Be-
sides this, the opposition was not only futile, but it was
also injurious to the class that made it. 162 For it was
now seen that the clergy only cared for the people as
long as the people cared for them. The violence with
which these angry men 163 set themselves against the
181 The only friends "William
possessed among the clergy were
the low-churchmen, as they were
afterwards called ; and it is sup-
posed that they formed barely a
tenth of the entire body in 1689 :
'We should probably overrate
their numerical strength, if we
were to estimate them at a tenth
part of the priesthood.' Macau-
lay's Hist, of England, vol. iii.
p. 74.
162 The earliest allusion I
have seen to the injury the
clergy were inflicting on the
church, by their conduct after
the arrival of William, is in
Evelyn's Diary, vol. iii. p. 273,
— a curious passage, gently hint-
ing at the ' wonder of many,' at
the behaviour of ' the Archbishop
of Canterbury, and some of the
rest.' "With Evelyn, who loved
the church, this was an unplea-
sant subject; but others were
less scrupulous ; and in parlia-
ment, in particular, men did not
refrain from expressing what
must havo been the sentiments
of every impartial observor. In
the celebrated debate, in January
1688-9, when the throne was
declared vacant, Pollexfen said :
' Some of the clergy are for one
thing, some for another ; I think
they scarce know what they
would have.' Pari. Hist. vol. v
p. 55. In February, Maynard,
one of the most influential mom-
bers, indignantly said : ' I think
the clergy are out of their wits ;
and I believe, if the clergy
should havo their wills, few or
none of us should be here again.'
Ibid. vol. v. p. 129. The clergy
were themselves bitterly sensible
of the general hostility; and
one of them writes, in 1694:
' The people of England, who
were so excessively enamoured
of us when the bishops were in
the tower, that they hardly for-
bore to worship us, are now, I
wish I could say but cool and
very indifferent towards us.'
Somers Tracts, vol. ix. p. 525.
The growing indignation against
the clergy, caused by their ob-
vious desire to sacrifice the
country to the interests of the
church, is strikingly displayed in
a letter from Sir Roland Gwyno,
written in 1710, and printed in
Macpherson'8 Orig.Paptrs,\o\.ii.
p. 207.
,M They are so called by
410 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
interests of the nation clearly proved the selfishness of
that zeal against James, of which they had formerly
made so great a merit. They continned to hope for his
return, to intrigue for him, and in some instances tc
correspond with him ; although they well knew that
his presence would cause a civil war, and that he was
so generally hated that he dared not show his face in
England unless protected by the troops of a foreign and
hostile power. 164
But this was not the whole of the damage which, in
those anxious times, the church inflicted upon herself.
When the bishops refused to take the oaths to the new
government, measures were adopted to remove them
from their sees ; and William did not hesitate to eject
by force of law the Archbishop of Canterbury and five
of his brethren. 165 The prelates, smarting under the
insult, were goaded into measures of unusual activity.
They loudly proclaimed that the powers of the church,
which had long been waning, were now extinct. 166
They denied the right of the legislature to pass a law
against them. They denied the right of the sovereign
to put that law into execution. 167 They not only con-
Burnet : ' these angry men, that m D' Oyly's Life of Bancroft,
had raised this flame in the p. 266; Wordsworth' sEccl.Biog.
church.' Own Time, vol. v. iv. p. 683.
p. 17. 166 Sancroft, on his death-bed,
164 Indeed, the high-church in 1693, prayed for the 'poor
party, in their publications, dis- suffering church, which, by this
tinetly intimated, that if James revolution, is almost destroyed.'
were not recalled, he should be jyOyltfs Sancroft, p. 311; and
reinstated by a foreign army. Macpherson's Original Papers,
Somers Tracts, vol. x. pp. 377, vol. i. p. 280. See also Remarks,
405, 457, 462. Compare Mahon's published in 1 693 (Somers Tracts,
Hist, of England, vol. ii. p. 138. vol. x. p. 504) where it is said,
Burnet ( Own Time, vol. iv. pp. that William had, ' as far as
361, 362) says, they were 'con- possible ho could, dissolved the
founded ' when they heard of the true old Church of England ;'
peace of 1697 ; and Calamy (Life and that, ' in a moment of time,
of Himself, vol. ii. p. 322) makes her face was so altered, as scarce
the same remark on the death of to be known again.'
Louis XIV. : ' It very much 167 ' Ken, though deprived,
puzzled the counsels of the never admitted in the secular
Jacobites, and spoiled their pro- power the right of deprivation ;
jects.' and it is well known that he
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 411
tinued to give themselves the title of bishops, but they
made arrangements to perpetuate the schism which
their own violence had created. The Archbishop of
Canterbury, as he insisted upon being called, made a
formal renunciation of his imaginary right into the
hands of Lloyd, 168 who still supposed himself to be
Bishop of Norwich, although William had recently
expelled him from his see. The scheme of these tur-
bulent priests was then communicated to James, who
willingly supported their plan for establishing a per-
manent feud in the English church. 169 The result of
this conspiracy between the rebellious prelates and the
pretended king, was the appointment of a series of men
who gave themselves out as forming the real episco-
pacy, and who received the homage of every one who
preferred the claims of the church to the authority Of
the state. 170 This mock succession of imaginary bishops
studiously retained his title.'
Bowles's Life of Ken, vol. ii.
p. 225. Thus, " too, Lloyd, so
late as 1703, signs himself, 'Wm.
Nor.' (Life of Ken, by a Lay-
man, vol. ii. p. 720) ; though,
having been legally deprived, ho
■was no more bishop of Norwich
than he was emperor of China.
And Sancroft, in tho last of his
letters, published by D'Oyly
{Life, p. 303), signs ' W. C
168 The strange document, by
which he appointed Dr. Lloyd
his vicar-general, is printed in
Latin, in I/Oyly's Sancroft,
p. 295, and in English, in Life
of Ken, by a Layman, vol. ii.
pp. 640.
169 Lathburj/s Hist, of the
Nonjurors, p. 96 ; Life of Ken,
by a Layman, vol. ii. pp. 641,
642.
1,0 The struggle between James
and William was essentially a
struggle between ecclesiastical
interests and secular interests ;
and this was seen as early as
1689, when, as we learn from
Burnet, who was much more a
politician than a priest, ' tho
church was as the word given
out by the Jacobite party, under
which they might more safely
shelter themselves.' Own Time,
vol. iv. p. 57. See also, on this
identification of the Jacobites
with the church, Birch's Life of
Tillotson, p. 222 ; and tho argu-
ment of Dodwell, pp. 246, 247,
in 1691. Dodwell justly ob-
served, that the successors of tho
deprived bishops were schis-
matical, in a spiritual point of
view ; and that, ' if they should
pretend to lay authority as suffi-
cient, they would overthrow tho
being of a church as a society.'
The bishops appointed by Wil-
liam were evidently intruders,
according to church principles;
and as their intrusion could only
be justified according to lay
principles, it followed that the
412
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
continued for more than a century ; 171 and, by dividing
the allegiance of churchmen, lessened the power of the
church. 172 In several instances, the unseemly spectacle
was exhibited of two bishops for the same place ; one
nominated by the spiritual power, the other nominated
by the temporal power. Those who considered the
church as superior to the state, of course attached
themselves to the spurious bishops ; while the appoint-
ments of William were acknowledged by that rapidly
increasing party, who preferred secular advantages to
ecclesiastical theories. 173
success of the intrusion was the
triumph of lay principles over
church ones. Hence it is, that
the fundamental idea of the
rebellion of 1688, is the eleva-
tion of the state above the
church; just as the fundamental
idea of the rebellion of 1642,
is the elevation of the commons
above the crown.
171 According to Dr. D'Oyly
(Life of Sancroft, p. 297), Dr.
Gordon ' died in London, No-
vember 1779, and is supposed to
have been the last nonjuring
bishop.' In Short's Hist, of the
Church of England, p. 583, Lond.
1847, it is also stated, that 'this
schism continued till 1779.'
But Mr. Hallam (Const. Hist.
vol. ii. p. 404) has pointed out a
passage in the State Trials, which
proves that another of the
bishops, named Cartwright, was
still living at Shrewsbury in
1793 ; and Mr. Lathbury (Hist.
of the Nonjurors, Lond. 1845,
p. 412) says, that he died in
1799.
72 Calamv ( Own Life, vol. i.
pp. 328-330," vol. ii. pp.*338, 357,
358) gives an interesting account
of these feuds within the church,
consequent upon the revolution.
Indeed, their bitterness was such,
that it was necessary to coin
names for the two parties ; and,
between 1700 and 1702, we, for
the first time, hear the expres-
sions, high-church and low-
church. See Burnet's Own Time,
vol. iv. p. 447, vol. v. p. 70.
Compare Wilson's Life of Be Foe,
vol. ii. p. 26 ; Pari. Hist. vol. vi.
pp. 162, 498. On the difference
between them, as it was under-
stood in the reign of Anne, see
Somers Tracts, vol. xii. p. 532,
and Macpherson's Orig. Papers,
vol. ii. p. 166. On the dawning
schism in the church, see the
speech of Sir T. Littleton, in
1690, Pari. Hist. vol. v. p. 593.
Hence many complained that
they could not tell which was
the real church. See curious
evidence of this perplexity in
Somers Tracts, vol. ix. pp. 477-
481.
173 The alternative is fairly
stated in a letter written in 1691
(Life of Ken, by a Layman, vol. ii.
p. 599) : ' If the deprived bishop
be the only lawful bishop, then
the people and clergy of his
diocese are bound to own him,
and no other; then all the,
bishops who own the authority
of a new archbishop, and live in
communion with him, are schis-
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 413
Such, were some of the events which, at the end of
the seventeenth century, widened the breach that had
long existed between the interests of the nation and
the interests of the clergy. 174 There was also another
circumstance which considerably increased this aliena-
tion. Many of the English clergy, though they retained
their affection for James, did not choose to brave the
anger of the government, or risk the loss of their
livings. To avoid this, and to reconcile their con-
science with their interest, they availed themselves of
a supposed distinction between a king by right and a
king in possession. 175 The consequence was, that while
with their lips they took an oath of allegiance to
William, they in their hearts paid homage to James ;
and, while they prayed for one king in their churches,
they were bound to pray for another in their closets. 176
matics ; and the clergy who live
in communion with schismatical
bishops are schismatics them-
selves ; and the whole Church of
England now established by law
is schismatical.'
174 LordMahon {Hist, of Eng-
land, vol. ii. p. 245) notices, what
he terms, the ' unnatural aliena-
tion between the church and
state,' consequent upon the Re-
volution of 1688 : and on the
diminished power of the church
caused by the same event, see
Philli7nore's Mem. of Lyttleton,
vol. i. p. 352.
,7i The old absurdity of de
facto and dejure ; as if any man
could retain a right to a throne
which the people would not allow
him to occupy !
178 In 1715, Leslie, by far the
ablest of them, thus states their
position : ' You are now driven
to this dilemma, — swear, or
swear not; if you swear, you
kill the soul ; and if you swear
not, you kill the body, in the
loss of your bread.' Somers
Tracts, vol. xiii. p. 686. The
result of the dilemma was what
might have been expected ; and
a high-church writer, in the reign
of William III., boasts (Somers
Tracts, vol. x. p. 344) that the
oaths taken by the clergy were
no protection to the government :
' not that the government receives
any security from oaths.' Whis-
ton, too, says in his Memoirs,
p. 30 : ' Yet do I too well re-
member that the far greatest
part of those of the university
and clergy that then took the
oaths to the government, seemed
to me to take them with a doubt-
ful conscience, if not against its
dictates.' This was in 1693;
and, in 1710, we find: 'There
are now circumstances to make
us believe that the Jacobite
clergy have the like instructions
to take any oaths, to get posses-
sion of a pulpit for the service
of the cause, to bellow out the
hereditary right, the pretended
title of the Pretendor.' Somers
Tracts, vol. xii. p. 641. A
414
ENGLISH INTELLECT EEOM THE
By this wretched subterfuge, a large body of the clergy-
were at once turned into concealed rebels ; and we-
bave it on the authority of a contemporary bishop, that
the prevarication of which these men were notoriously
guilty was a still further aid to that scepticism, the
progress of which he bitterly deplores. 177
As the eighteenth century advanced, the great move-
ment of liberation rapidly proceeded. One of the most
important of the ecclesiastical resources had formerly
been Convocation ; in wbich the clergy, by meeting in
a body, were able to discountenance in an imposing
manner whatever might be hostile to the church ; and
had, moreover, an opportunity, which they sedulously
employed, of devising schemes favourable to the spi-
ritual authority. 178 But, in the progress of the age,
this weapon also was taken from them. Within a very
few years after the Revolution, "Convocation fell into
general contempt; 179 and, in 1717, this celebrated
knowledge of this fact, or, at all
events, a belief of it, was soon
diffused ; and, eight years later,
the celebrated Lord Cowper,
then lord chancellor, said, in the
House of Lords, ' that his ma-
jesty had also the best part of
the landed, and all the trading
interest; that as to the clergy,
he would say nothing — but that
it was notorious that the majority
of the populace had been poisoned,
and that the poison was not yet
quite expelled.' Pari. Hist. vol. vii.
p. 541 ; also given, but not quite
verbatim, in CampbelVs Chan-
cellors, vol. iv. p. 365.
177 ' The prevarication of too
many in so sacred a matter con-
tributed not a little to fortify the
growing atheism of the present
age.' Burnet's Own Time, vol. iii.
p. 381. See also, to the same
effect, vol. iv. pp. 176, 177 ; and
a remarkable passage in Somers
Tracts, vol. xii. p. 573. I need
hardly add, that it was then
usual to confuse scepticism with
atheism; though the two things
are not only different, but in-
compatible. In regard to the
quibble respecting de facto and
dejure, and the use made of it
by the clergy, the reader should
compare Wilson's Mem. of Be Foe,
vol. i. pp. 171, 172; Somers
Tracts, vol. ix. p. 531 ; Campbell's
Chancellors, vol. iv. p. 409 ; and
a letter from the Kev. Francis
Jessop, written in 1717, in
Nichols's Lit. Elustrations, vol. iv.
pp. 120-123.
178 Among which must be
particularly mentioned tho prac-
tice of censuring all books that
encouraged free inquiry. In this
respect, the clergy were extremely
mischievous. See Lathbury's
Hist, of Convocation, pp. 124,
286, 338, 351 ; and Wilson's Life
of Be Foe, vol. ii. p. 170.
179 In 1704, Burnet (Own
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 415
assembly was finally prorogued by an act of the crown,
it being justly considered that the country had no fur-
ther occasion for its services. 180 Since that period,
this great council of the English church has never been
allowed to meet for the purpose of deliberating on
its own affairs, until a few years ago, when, by the
connivance of a feeble government, it was permitted to
reassemble. So marked, however, has been the change
in the temper of the nation, that this once formidable
body does not now retain even a semblance of its
ancient influence ; its resolutions are no longer feared,
its discussions are no longer studied ; and the business
of the country continues to be conducted without regard
to those interests which, only a few generations ago,
were considered by every statesman to be of supreme
importance. 181
Indeed, immediately after the Revolution, the tend-
ency of things became too obvious to be mistaken, even
by the most superficial observers. The ablest men in
the country no longer flocked into the church, but pre-
ferred those secular professions in which ability was
more likely to be rewarded. 182 At the same time, and
Time, vol. v. p. 138) says of Con- p. 385 ; Mahon's Hist, of Eng-
vocation, ' but little opposition land, vol. i. p. 302 ; Montfs Life
■was made to them, as very little of Bentley, vol. ii. p. 350.
regard was had to them.' In m A letter, -written by the
1700, there was a squabble be- Eev. Thomas Clayton in 1727, is
tween the upper and lower house worth reading, as illustrating
of Convocation for Canterbury ; the feelings of the clergy on this
which, no doubt, aided these subject. He assorts, that one
feelings. See Life of Archbishop of the causes of the obvious de-
Sharp, edited by Newcome, goneracy of the age is, that,
vol. i. p. 348, where this owing to Convocation not being
wretched feud is related with allowed to meet, 'bold and im-
great gravity. pious books appear barefaced to
m Charles Butler (Eeminis- the world without any public
cences, vol. ii. p. 95) says, that censure.' See this letter in
the final prorogation was in 1 720 ; Nichols's Illustrations of the
but, according to all the other Eighteenth Century, vol. iv. pp.
authorities I have met with.it 414-416; and compare with it,
was in 1717. See Hallanis Letters between Warburton and
Const. Hist. vol. ii. p. 395 ; Lath- Hurd, pp. 310-312.
burg's Hist, of Convocation, . 1K On the decline of ability
416
ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
as a natural part of the great movement, the clergy
saw all the offices of power and emolument, which they
had been used to hold, gradually falling out of their
hands. Not only in the dark ages, but even so late as
the fifteenth century, they were still strong enough to
monopolize the most honourable and lucrative posts in
the empire. 183 In the sixteenth century, the tide began
to turn against them, and advanced with such steadi-
ness, that, since the seventeenth century, there has
been no instance of any ecclesiastic being made lord
in ecclesiastical literature, see
note 38 in this chapter. In
1685, a complaint was made that
secular professions were be-
coming more sought after than
ecclesiastical ones. See England? s
Wants, sec. lvi. in Somers Tracts,
vol. ix. p. 231, where the writer
mournfully states, that in his
time ' physic and law, profes-
sions ever acknowledged in all
nations to be inferior to divinity,
are generally embraced by gen-
tlemen, and sometimes by per-
sons nobly descended, and pre-
ferred much above the divine's
profession' This preference was,
of course, most displayed by
young men of intellect; and a
large amount of energy being
thus drawn off from the church,
gave rise to that decay of spirit
and of general power which has
been already noticed ; and which
is also indicated by Coleridge,
in his remarks on the ' apolo-
gising theology ' which succeeded
the Revolution. Coleridge's Lit.
Remains, vol. iii. pp. 51, 52, 116,
117, 119. Compare Stephen's
Essays on Ecclesiast. Biog. 2d edit.
1850, vol. ii. p. 66, on ' this de-
pression of theology ;' and Hare's
Mission of the Comforter, 1850,
p. 264, on the 'intellectually
feebler age.' Evelyn, in 1691,
laments the diminished energy
then beginning to be ob-
served among ' young preachers.'
Evelyn's Diary, vol. iii. p. 309 ;
and for another notice, in 1696,
of this ' dead and lifeless way of
preaching,' see Life of Cudworth,
p. 35, in vol. i. of Cudworth's
Intellect Syst.
183 Sharon Turner, describing
the state of things in England
in the fifteenth century, says,
' Clergymen were secretaries of
government, the privy seals,
cabinet councillors, treasurers of
the crown, ambassadors, com-
missioners to open parliament,
and to Scotland ; presidents of
the king's council, supervisors of
the royal works, chancellors,
keepers of the records, the
masters of the rolls, and even
the physicians, both to the king
and to the duke of Gloucester,
during the reign of Henry VI.
and afterwards.' Turner's Hist,
of England, vol. vi. p. 132. On
their enormous wealth, see Ec-
cleston's English Antiquities,
p. 146 : ' In the early part of
the fourteenth century, it is cal-
culated that very nearly one-half
of the soil of the kingdom was
in the hands of the clergy.'
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 417
chancellor ; 184 and, since the beginning of the eighteenth
century, there has been no instance of one receiving
any diplomatic appointment, or, indeed, holding any
important office in the state. 185 Nor has this increasing
ascendency of laymen been confined to the executive
government. On the contrary, we find in both Houses
of Parliament the same principle at work. In the early
and barbarous periods of our history, one half of the
House of Lords consisted of temporal peers ; the other
half of spiritual ones. 186 By the beginning of the
eighteenth century, the spiritual peers, instead of form-
ing one- half of the upper house, had dwindled away to
one-eighth; 187 and, in the middle of the nineteenth
century, they have still further shrunk to one-four-
teenth : 188 thus supplying a striking numerical instance
of that diminution of ecclesiastical power which is an
essential requisite of modern civilization. Precisely in
,M In 1625, Williams bishop
of Lincoln was dismissed from
his office of lord-keeper; and
Lord Campbell observes (Lives
of the Chancellors, vol. ii. p. 492) :
' This is the last time that an
ecclesiastic has held the great
6eal of England ; and, notwith-
standing the admiration in some
quarters of mediaeval usages, I
E)resume the experiment is not
ikely to be soon repeated.'
'« Monk (Life of Bentley,
vol. i. p. 222) says, that Dr.
John Robinson, bishop of Bristol,
was ' lord privy seal, and pleni-
potentiary at the treaty of
Utrecht ; and is the last eccle-
siastic in England who has held
any of the high offices of state.'
A high-church writer, in 1712,
complains of the efforts that
wero being made to ' thrust the
churchmen out of their places
of power in the government.'
Somers Tracts, vol. xiii. p. 211.
,8 * In and after the reign of
VOL. I. K
Henry III. ' the number of arch-
bishops, bishops, abbots, priors,
and ecclesiastical persons was
for the most part equal to, and
very often far exceeded, the
number of the temporal lords
and barons.' Parry's Parlia-
ments and Councils of England,
London, 1839, p. xvii. Of this
Mr. Parry gives several instances ;
the most remarkable of which is,
that ' in 49 Henry III., 120 pre-
lates, and only 23 temporal lords,
were summoned.' This, of course,
was an extreme case.
187 See an analysis of the
House of Lords, in 1713, in
Makon's Hist, of England, vol. i.
pp. 43-45 ; from which it appears
that the total was 207, of whom
26 were spiritual. This includes
the Catholics.
1W By the returns in Dod for
1854, I find that the House of
Lords contains 436 members, of
whom 30 belong to the episcopal
bench.
418 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
the same way, more than fifty years have elapsed since
any clergyman has been able to take his seat as a re-
presentative of the people ; the House of Commons
having, in 1801, formally closed their doors against a
profession which, in the olden time, would have been
gladly admitted, even by the proudest and most ex-
clusive assembly. 189 In the House of Lords, the bishops
still retain their seats ; but their precarious tenure is
everywhere remarked, and the progress of public
opinion is constantly pointing to a period, which cannot
now be far distant, when the Peers will imitate the
example set by the Commons, and will induce the
legislature to relieve the upper house of its spiritual
members ; since they, by their habits, their tastes, and
their traditions, are evidently unfitted for the profane
exigencies of political life. 190
While the fabric of superstition was thus tottering
from internal decay, and while that ecclesiastical autho-
rity which had formerly played so great a part was
gradually yielding to the advance of knowledge, there
suddenly occurred an event which, though it might
naturally have been expected, evidently took by sur-
prise even those whom it most interested. I allude, of
course, to that great religious revolution, which was a
fitting supplement to the political revolution which
189 For different accounts, and time, and -with regret, by a very
of course different views, of this keen observer. In the discus-
final expulsion of the clergy from sion ' on the Bill to prevent
the House of Commons, see Persons in Holy Orders from
Pettew's Life of Sidmouth, vol. i. sitting in the House of Com-
pp. 419, 420 ; Stephens' s Mem. of mons,' Lord Thurlow ' men-
Tooke, vol. ii. pp. 247-260 ; Hoi- tioned the tenure of the bishops
land's Mem. of the Whig Party, at this time, and said, if the bill
vol. i. pp. 178-180; Campbell's went to disfranchise the lower
Chancellors, vol. vii. p. 148 ; orders of the clergy, it might go
Twiss's Life of Eldon, vol. i. the length of striking at the right
p. 263 ; Adolphus's Hist, of of the reverend bench opposite to
George III., vol. vii. p. 487. seats in that house ; though he
190 That the banishment of knew it had been held that the
the clergy from the lower house reverend prelates sat, in the
was the natural prelude to the right of their baronies, as tempo-
banishment of the bishops from ral peers.' Pari. Hist. vol. xxxv.
the upper, was hinted at the p. 1542.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 419
preceded it. The dissenters, who were strengthened
by the expulsion of James, had by no means forgotten
those cruel punishments which the Church of England,
in the days of her power, had constantly inflicted upon
them ; and they felt that the moment had. now come
when they could assume towards her a bolder front
than that on which they had hitherto ventured. 191
Besides this, they had in the mean time received fresh
causes of provocation. After the death of our great
king "William III., the throne was occupied by a foolish
and ignorant woman, whose love for the clergy would,
in a more superstitious age, have led to dangerous
results. 192 Even as it was, a temporary reaction took
place, and during her reign the church was treated with
a deference which "William had disdained to show. 193 The
"' It is impossible now to
ascertain the full extent to which
the Church of England, in the
seventeenth century, persecuted
the dissenters ; but Jeremy
White is said to have hadalistof
sixty thousand of these sufferers
between 1G60 and 1688, of whom
no less than five thousand died
in prison. Iiogue and Bennett's
Hist, of the Dissenters, vol. i.
p. 108. On the cruel spirit
which the clergy displayed in
the reign of Charles II. compare
Harris's Livs of the Stuarts,
vol. v. p. 106; Orme's Life of
Owen, p. 344 ; Somers Tracts,
voL xii. p. 534. Indeed, Har-
wood frankly said in the House
of Commons, in 1672, 'Our aim
is to bring all dissenting men
615 ; and the statement of De
Foe, in Wilson's Life of Be Foe,
vol. ii. pp. 443-444.
,K Besides the correspondence
which the Duchess of Marl-
borough preserved for the instruc-
tion of posterity, we have some
materials for estimating the
abilities of Anne in the letters
published in Balrt/mple's Me-
moirs. In one of them Anne
writes, soon after the Declara-
tion for Liberty of Conscience
was issued, 'It is a melancholy
prospect that all we of the Church
of England have. All the sec-
taries may now do what they
pleaBe. Every one has the free
exercise of their religion, on
purpose, no doubt, to ruin us,
which I think to all impartial
into the Protestant church, and judges is very plain.' BalrymplJs
he that is not willing to come
into the church should not have
ease.' Pari. Hist. voL iv. p. 630.
On the zeal with which this
principle was carried out, see an
account, written in 1671, in
Somers Tracts,voL vii. pp. 686-
El2
Memoirs, appendix to book v.
vol. ii. p. 173.
,M See a notable passage in
Somers Tracts, vol. xii. p. 658,
which should be compared with
Wilson's Lift of Da Foe, vol. iii.
p. 372.
420
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
natural consequence immediately followed. New mea-
sures of persecution were devised, and fresh laws were
passed against those Protestants who did not conform
to the doctrines and discipline of the English church. 194
But after the death of Anne the dissenters quickly
rallied ; their hopes revived, 195 their numbers continued
to increase, and in spite of the opposition of the clergy,
the laws against them were repealed. 196 As by these
means they were placed more on a level with their
opponents, and as their temper was soured by the in-
juries they had recently received, it was clear that a
great struggle between the two parties was inevitable. 197
194 Bogue and Bennett's His-
tory of the Dissenters, vol. i.
pp. 228-230, 237, 260-277 ; and
Hallam's Const. Hist. vol. ii. pp.
396, 397. Mr. Hallam says, ' It
is impossible to doubt for an in-
stant, that if the queen's life had
preserved the Tory government
for a fe-w years, every vestige of
the toleration would have been
effaced.' It appears from the
Vernon Correspond, vol. iii. p.
228, Lond. 1841, that soon after
the accession of Anne, there was
a proposal ' to debar dissenters
of their votes in elections ;' and
we know from Burnet (Own
Time, vol. v. pp. 108, 136, 137,
218) that the clergy would have
been glad if Anne had displayed
even more zeal against them
than she really did.
m Bogue and Bennetts Hist,
of the Dissenters, vol. iii. p. 118.
In Ivimey's History of the Bap-
tists, it is said that the death of
Anne was an • answer to the dis-
senters' prayers.' Southey's Com-
monplace Book, third series, p.
135 ; see also p. 147, on the joy
of the dissenters at the death
of this troublesome woman.
iM Two of the worst of them,
' the act against occasional con-
formity, and that restraining
education, were repealed in the
session of 1719.' Hallam's Const.
Hist. vol. ii. p. 398. The repeal
of the act against occasional con-
formity was strenuously opposed
by the archbishops of York and of
Canterbury (Bogue and Bennett's
Hist, of the Dissenters, vol. iii.
p. 132); but their opposition
was futile; and when the Bishop
of London, in 1726, wished to
strain the Act of Toleration, he
was prevented by Yorke, the
attorney-general. See the pithy
reply of Yorke, in Harris's Life
of Hardwicke, vol. i. pp. 193,
194.
197 At the end of the seven-
teenth century, great attention
was excited by the way in which
the dissenters were beginning to
organize themselves into societies
and synods. See, in the Vernon
Correspond, vol. ii. pp. 128-130,
133, 156, some curious evidence
of this, in letters written by
Vernon, who was then secretary
of state ; and on the apprehen-
sions caused by the increase of
their schools, and by their sys-
tematic interference in elections,
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 421
For by this time the protracted tyranny of the English
clergy had totally destroyed those feelings of respect
which, even in the midst of hostility, often linger in
the mind ; and by the influence of which, if they had
still existed, the contest might perhaps have been
averted. But such motives of restraint were now de-
spised ; and the dissenters, exasperated by incessant
persecution, 198 determined to avail themselves of the
declining power of the church. They had resisted her
when she was strong ; it was hardly to be expected
that they would spare her when she was feeble. Under
two of the most remarkable men of the eighteenth cen-
tury, Whitefield, the first of theological orators, 183 and
Wesley, the first of theological statesmen, 200 there was
see Life of Archbishop Sharp,
edited by Newcome, vol. i. pp.
125, 358. The church was
eager to put down all dissenters'
schools; and in 1705, the Arch-
bishop of York told the House
of Lords that he 'apprehended
danger from the increase of dis-
senters, and particularly from
the many academies set up by
them.' Pari. Hist. vol. vi. pp.
492, 493. See also, on the in-
crease of their schools, pp. 1351,
1352.
188 In Sowers Tracts, vol. xii.
p. 684, it is stated, that in the
reign of Charles II. 'this hard
usage had begotten in the dis-
senters the utmost animosity
against the persecuting church-
men.' Their increasing discon-
tent, in the reign of Anne, was
observed by Calamy. See Cala-
ray's Own Life, vol. ii. pp. 244,
255, 274, 284, 285.
"• If the power of moving
the passions be the proper test
by which to judge an orator, we
may certainly pronounce White-
field to be the greatest since the
apostles. His first sermon was
delivered in 1736 (Nichols's Lit.
Anec. vol. ii. pp. 102, 122); his
field-preaching began in 1739
{Souther/ s Life of Wesley, vol. i.
pp. 196, 197); and the eighteen
thousand sermons which he is
said to have poured forth du-
ring his career of thirty-four
years (Sout bey's Wesley, vol. ii.
p. 531) produced the most as-
tonishing effects on all classes,
educated and uneducated. For
evidence of the excitement caused
by this marvellous man, and of
the eagerness with which his
discourses were read as well as
heard, see Nichols's Lit. Anec.
vol. ii. pp. 546, 547, and his
Illustrations, vol. iv. pp. 302-
304 ; M(in. of Franklin, by Him-
self, vol. i. pp. 161-167; Dod-
dridge's Correspond, vol. iv. p. 55 ;
Stewarts Philos. of the Mind. vol.
iii. pp. 291, 292; Lady Mary
Montagu's Letters, in her Works,
1803, vol. iv. p. 162; Corres-
pond, between Ladies Poitifnt and
Hartford, 2nd edit. 1806, vol. i.
pp. 138, 160-162; Marchmont
Papers, vol. ii. p. 377.
"• Of whom Mr. Macaulay
422 ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
organized a great system of religion, which bore the
same relation to the Church of England, that the Church
of England bore to the Church of Rome. Thus, after
an interval of two hundred years, a second spiritual
Reformation was effected in our country. In the
eighteenth century the Wesleyans were to the Bishops
what, in the sixteenth century, the Reformers were to
the Popes. 201 It is indeed true, that the dissenters from
the Church of England, unlike the dissenters from the
Church of Rome, soon lost that intellectual vigour for
which at first they were remarkable. Since the death
of their great leaders, they have not produced one man
of original genius ; and since the time of Adam Clarke,
they have not had among them even a single scholar
who has enjoyed an European reputation. This mental
penury is perhaps owing, not to any circumstances
peculiar to their sect, but merely to that general decline
of the theological spirit, by which their adversaries have
been weakened as well as themselves. 202 Be this as it
may, it is at all events certain, that the injury they have
inflicted on the English church is far greater than is
generally supposed, and, I am inclined to think, is
hardly inferior to that which in the sixteenth century
Protestantism inflicted upon Popery. Setting aside the
actual loss in the number of its members, 203 there can
has said (Essays, vol. i. p. 221, 2W They frankly confess that
3rd edit.), that his ' genius for ' indifference has been another
government was not inferior to enemy to the increase of the
that of Richelieu ;' and strongly dissenting cause.' Bogue and
as this is expressed, it will hardly Bennetts Hist, of the Bissenters,
appear an exaggeration to those toI. iv. p. 320. In Newman's
who have compared the success Bevelopment of Christian Boc-
of Wesley with his difficulties. trine, pp. 39-43, there are some
201 It was in 1739 that Wesley remarks on the diminished energy
first openly rebelled against the ofWesleyanism, which Mr. New-
church, and refused to obey the man seems to ascribe to the fact
Bishop of Bristol, who ordered that the Wesleyans have reached
him to quit his diocese. Souther/ s that point in which ' order takes
Life of Wesley, vol. i. pp. 226, the place of enthusiasm.' p. 43.
243. In the same year he began This is probably true; but I still
to preach in the fields. See the think that the larger cause has
remarkable entry in his Journals, been the more active one.
p. 78, 29th March, 1739. 2 <> 3 Walpole, in his sneering
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 423
be no doubt tbat tbe mere formation of a Protestant
faction, unopposed by tbe government, was a dangerous
precedent ; and we know from contemporary bistory
tbat it was so considered by those wbo were most inte-
rested in tbe result. 204 Besides this, the Wesleyans
way, mentions the spread of
Methodism in the middle of the
eighteenth century ( Walpole's
Letters, vol. ii. pp. 266, 272); and
Lord Carlisle, in 1775, told the
House of Lords (Pari. Hist. vol.
xviii. p. 634) ' that Methodism
■was daily gaining ground, par-
ticularly in the manufacturing
towns ; ' while, to come down
6till later, it appears from a letter
by the Duke of Wellington to
LordEldon( Twiss'sLfeofEldon,
voL ii. p. 35) that about 1808
it was making proselytes in the
army.
These statements, though accu-
rate, are somewhat vague ; but
we have other and more precise
evidence respecting the rapid
growth of religious dissent. Ac-
cording to a paper found in one
of the chests of William IIL, and
printed by Dalrymple (Memoirs,
vol. ii. part ii., appendix to chap-
ter i. p. 40), the proportion in
England of conformists to non-
conformists was as 22g to
1. Eighty-four years after the
death of William, the dissen-
ters, instead of comprising only a
twenty-third, were estimated at ' a
fourth part of the whole com-
munity. Letter from Watson
to the Duke of Rutland, written
in 1786, in Life of Watson,
Bishop ofUandaff, vol. i. p. 246.
Since then, the movement has
been uninterrupted ; and the re-
turns recently published by go-
vernment disclose the startling
fact, that on Sunday, 31st March
1851, the members of the Church
of England who attended morn-
ing service only exceeded by one-
half the Independents, Baptists,
and Methodists who attended at
their own places of worship. See
the Census Table, in Journal of
Statist. Soc. vol. xviii. p. 151. If
this rate of decline continues, it
will be impossible for the Church
of England to survive another cen-
tury the attacks of her enemies.
204 The treatment which the
Wesleyans received from the
clergy, many of whom were ma-
gistrates, shows what would have
taken place if such violence had
not been discouraged by the go-
vernment. See Southerns Life of
Wesley, vol. i. pp. 395-406.
Wesley has himself given many
details, which Southey did not
think proper to relate, of the ca-
lumnies and insults to which he
and his followers were subjected
by the clergy. See Wesley' s Jour-
nals, pp. 114, 145, 178, 181, 198.
235, 256, 275, 375, 562, 619, 637,
646. Compare Watson's Obser*
vations on Southey's Wesley, pp.
173, 174; and for other evidence
of the treatment of those who
differed from the church, see Cor-
respondence and Diary of Dod-
dridge, vol. ii. p. 17, vol. iii. pp.
108, 131, 132, 144, 145, 156.
Grosley, who visited England in
1765, says of Whitefield, 'The
ministers of the established reli-
gion did their utmost to baffle
the new preacher; they preached
against him, representing him to
424
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
displayed an organization so superior to that of their
predecessors the Puritans, that they soon became a
centre round which the enemies of the church could
conveniently rally. And, what is perhaps still more
important, the order, regularity, and publicity, by which
their proceedings have usually been marked, distin-
guished them from other sects ; and by raising them
as it were to the dignity of a rival establishment, have
encouraged the diminution of that exclusive and super-
stitious respect which was once paid to the Anglican
hierarchy. 205
But these things, interesting as they are, only formed
a single step of that vast process by which the ecclesi-
astical power was weakened, and our countrymen thus
enabled to secure a religious liberty, imperfect indeed,
but far superior to that possessed by any other people.
Among the innumerable symptoms of this great move-
ment, there were two of peculiar importance. These
were, the separation of theology, first from morals, and
the people as a fanatic, a vision-
ary, &C. &c. ; in fine, they opposed
him with so much success, that
they caused him to be pelted with
stones in every place where he
opened his mouth to the public'
Groslet/s Tour to London, Lond.
1772, vol. i. p. 356.
205 That Wesleyanism encou-
raged dissent by imparting to it
an orderly character, which in
some degree approximated to
church-discipline, is judiciously
observed in Bogue and, Bennetts
History of the Dissenters, vol.
iii. pp.165, 166. Butthese writers
deal rather too harshly with
Wesley; though there is no doubt
that he was a very ambitious man,
and over-fond of power. At an
early period of his career he be-
gan to aim at objects higher than
those attempted by the Puritans,
whose efforts, particularly in
the sixteenth century, he looked
at somewhat contemptuously.
Thus, for instance, in 1747, only
eight years after he had revolted
against the church, he expresses
in his Journal his wonder 'at
the weakness of those holy con-
fessors ' (the Elizabethan Puri-
tans), ' many of whom spent so
much of their time and strength
in disputing about surplice and
hoods, or kneeling at the Lord's
Supper ! ' Journals, p. 249, March
13th, 1747. Such warfare as this
would have ill satisfied the soar-
ing mind of Wesley ; and from
the spirit which pervades his vol-
uminous Journals, as well as from
the careful and far-seeing provi-
sions which he made for manag-
ing his sect, it is evident that
this great schismatic had larger
views than any of his prede-
cessors, and that he wished to
organize a system capable of
rivalling the established church.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 425
then from politics. The separation from morals was
effected late in the seventeenth centnry ; the separation
from politics before the middle of the eighteenth cen-
tnry. And it is a striking instance of the decline of
the old ecclesiastical spirit, that both of these great
changes were begun by the clergy themselves. Cum-
berland, bishop of Peterborough, was the first who
endeavoured to construct a system of morals without
the aid of theology. 206 Warburton, bishop of Gloucester,
was the first who laid down that the state must con-
sider religion in reference, not to revelation, but to
expediency ; and that it should favour any particular
creed, not in proportion to its truth, but solely with a
view to its general utility. 207 Nor were these mere
206 Mr. Hallam (Lit. of Europe,
vol. iii. p. 390) says, that Cum-
berland ' seems to have been the
first Christian writer who sought
to establish systematically the
principles of moral right inde-
pendently of revelation.' See
also, on this important change,
WhewdPs Hist, of Moral Philo-
sophy in England, pp. 12, 54.
The dangers always incurred by
making theology the basis of
morals are now pretty well un-
derstood ; but by no writer have
they been pointed out more clearly
than by M. Charles Comte : see
the able exposition in his TraitS
de Legislation, vol. i.pp. 223-247.
There is a short and unsatis-
factory account of Cumberland's
book in Mackintosh's Ethical Phi-
losophy, pp. 134-137. He was
a man of considerable learning,
and is noticed by M. Quatremere
as one of the earliest students of
Coptic. QuatremeresurlaLangue
et la Littbrature de VEgypte, p. 89.
Ho was made a bishop in 1691,
having published the De Legibus
in 1672. Chalmers's Biog. Diet.
vol. xi. pp. 133, 135.
287 This was in his work
entitled The Alliance between
Church and State, which first
appeared, according to Hurd
(Life of Warburton, 1794, 4to,
p. 13), in 1736, and, as may be
supposed, caused great scandal.
The history of its influence I
shall trace on another occasion ;
in the mean time, the reader
should compare, respecting its
tendency, Palmer on the Church,
vol. ii. pp. 313, 322, 323 ; Parr's
Works,vo\. i. pp. 657, 665, vol. vii.
p. 128 ; Whateley's Dangers to
Christian Faith, p. 190 ; and
Nichols's Lit. Anec. vol. iii. p. 1 8.
In January 1739-40, Warburton
writes to Stukeley (Nichols's Il-
lustrations, vol. ii. p. 53) : ' But
you know how dangerous new
roads in theology are, by the
clamour of the bigots against
me.' See also some letters which
passed between him and the elder
Pitt in 1762, on the subject of
expediency, printed in Chatham
Correspond, vol. ii. pp. 184 seq.
Warburton writes, p. 190, ' My
opinion is, and ever was, that the
state has nothing at all to do
426
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
barren principles, which snbseqnent inquirers were
unable to apply. The opinions of Cumberland, pushed
to their furthest extent by Hume, 208 were shortly
afterwards applied to practical conduct by Paley, 209 and
to speculative jurisprudence by Bentham and Mill; 210
while the opinions of Warburton, spreading with still
greater rapidity, have influenced our legislative policy,
and are now professed, not only by advanced thinkers,
but even by those ordinary men, who, if they had
lived fifty years earlier, would have shrunk from them
with undissembled fear. 211
with errors in religion, nor the
least right so much as to attempt
to repress them.' To make such
a man a bishop was a great feat
for the eighteenth century, and
would have been an impossible
one for the seventeenth.
208 ij Qe rf 4 a f j on between Cum-
berland and Hume consists in the
entirely secular plan according
to which both investigated ethics ;
in other respects, there is great
difference between their conclu-
sions ; but if the anti-theological
method is admitted to be sound,
it is certain that the treatment
of the subject by Hume is more
consequential from the premisses,
than is that by his predecessor. It
is this which makes Hume a con-
tinuator of Cumberland ; though
with the advantage, not only of
coming half a century after him,
but of possessing a more compre-
hensive mind. The ethical specu-
lations of Hume are in the third
book of his Treatise of Human
Nature ( Hume's Philosophical
Works, Edin. 1826, vol. ii.
pp. 219 seq.), and in his Inquiry
concerning the Principles of
Morals, ibid. vol. iv. pp. 237-365.
209 The moral system of Paley,
being essentially utilitarian, com-
pleted the revolution in that field
of inquiry ; and as his work was
drawn up with great ability, it
exercised immense influence in
an age alread}' prepared for its
reception. His Moral and Politi-
cal Philosophy was published in
1785 ; in 1786 it became a stan-
dard book at Cambridge ; and
by 1 805 it had ' passed through
fifteen editions.' Meadley's Me-
moirs of Paley, pp. 127, 145.
Compare Whewell's Hist, of Moral
Philosophy, p. 176.
210 That the writings of these
two eminent men form part of
the same scheme, is well known
to those who have studied the
history of the school to which
they belong; and on the intel-
lectual relation they bore to each
other, I cannot do better than
refer to a very striking letter by
James Mill himself, in Bentham' s
Works, edit. Bowring, vol. x.
pp. 481, 482.
211 The repeal of the Test Act,
the admission of Catholics into
Parliament, and the steadily in-
creasing feeling in favour of the
admission of the Jews, are the
leading symptoms of this great
movement. On the gradual dif-
fusion among us of the doctrine
of expediency, which, on all sub-
jects not yet raised to sciences,
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 427
Thus it was that, in England, theology was finally
severed from the two great departments of ethics and
of government. As, however, this important change
was at first not of a practical, but solely of an intel-
lectual character, its operation was, for many years,
confined to a small class, and has not yet produced the
whole of those results which we have every reason to
anticipate. But there were other circumstances which
tended in the same direction, and which, being known
to all men of tolerable education, produced effects more
immediate, though perhaps less permanent. To trace
their details, and point out the connexion between them,
will be the business of part of the future volumes of this
work : at present, I can only glance at the leading
features. Of these, the most prominent were : The
great Arian controversy, which, rashly instigated by
Whiston, Clarke, and Waterland, disseminated doubts
among nearly all classes; 212 the Bangorian controversy,
which, involving matters of ecclesiastical discipline
hitherto untouched, led to discussions dangerous to
the power of the church ; 213 the great work of
ought to be the sole regulator of Sharp, who was Archbishop of
human actions, see a remarkable, York when the controversy
but a mournful letter, written in began, foresaw its dangerous
1812, in the Life of Wilberforce, consequences. Life of Sharp,
vol. iv. p. 28. See also the speech edited by Newcome, vol. ii. pp. 7,
of Lord Eldon in 1 828, in Twiss's 8,135,136. See further Machine's
Life of Eldon, vol. ii. p. 203. notein Mosheim's Ecclesiast.Hist.
212 From a curious passage in vol ii. pp. 293, 294 ; Lathbury'a
Hutton's Life of Himself, p. 27, Hist, of Convocation, pp. 338,
we learn that, in 1739, the 3 12, 351 ; and a note in Butler's
scepticism of th» Anti-Trini- Beminisc. vol. i. pp. 206, 207.
tarians had penetrated among ai * Mr. Butler (Mem. of the
the tradesmen at Nottingham. Catholics, vol. iii. pp. 182-184,
Compare, respecting the spread 347-350) notices with evident
of this heresy, Nichols's Lit. Ante, pleasure the effect of this famous
vol. viii. p. 375 ; Priestley's Me- controversy in weakening the
moirs, vol. i. pp. 25, 26, 53 ; Anglican Church. Compare
Doddridge's Correspond, and Bogue and Bennetts Hist, of the
Diary, vol. ii. p. 477, note; and Dissenters, vol. iii. pp. 135-141.
on Peiree, who took an active Whiston (Memoirs, p. 244") says :
part, and whom Whiston boasts 'And, indeed, this Bangorian
of having corrupted, see Whis- controversy seemed for a great
ton's Memoirs, pp. 143, 144. while to engross the attention of
428
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
Blackburne on the Confessional, which at one moment
almost caused a schism in the Establishment itself; 214
the celebrated dispute respecting miracles between
Middleton, Church, and Dodwell, continued, with still
larger views, by Hume, Campbell, and Douglas ; 216 the
exposure of the gross absurdities of the Fathers, which,
the public' See more about
it in Lathburt/s Hist, of Convo-
cation, pp. 372-383 ; Nichols's
Lit. Anec. vol. i. p. 152, toI.
ix. pp. 433, 434, 516; Nichols's
Illustrations, vol. i. p. 840 ;
Bishop Newton's Life of Himself ,
pp. 177, 178.
214 The Confessional, a most
able attack on the subscription of
creeds and articles, was published
in 1766 ; and, according to a con-
temporary observer, ' it excited
a general spirit of inquiry.'
Cappe's Memoirs, pp. 147, 148.
The consequence was, that in
1772 a society was instituted by
Blackburne and other clergy of
the Church of England, with the
avowed object of doing away
with all subscriptions in religion.
Nichols's Lit. Anec. vol. i. p. 570;
Illustrations, voL vi. p. 854. A
petition against the Articles was
at once drawn up, signed by 200
clergy (Adolphus's George HI.
vol. i. p. 506), and brought be-
fore the House of Commons. In
the animated debate which fol-
lowed, Sir William Meredith said
that ' the Thirty-nine Articles of
the Church of England were
framed when the spirit of free
inquiry, when liberal and en-
larged notions, were yet in their
infancy.' Pari. Hist. vol. xvii.
p. 246. He added, p. 247:
'Several of the Articles are
absolutely unintelligible, and,
indeed, contradictory and ab-
surd.' Lord George Germain
said : ' In my apprehension, some
of the Articles are incomprehen-
sible, and some self-contradic-
tory ;' p. 265. Mr. Sawbridge
declared that the Articles are
'strikingly absurd;' Mr. Salter
that they are ' too absurd to be
defended;' and Mr. Dunning
that they are 'palpably ridicu-
lous,' p. 294. For further in-
formation on this attempt at
reform, see Disney's Life of Jebb,
pp. 31-36 ; Meadley's Mem. of
Foley, pp. 88-94 ; Hodgson's Life
of Porteus, pp. 38-40 ; Memoirs
of Priestley, vol. ii. p. 582 ; and
a characteristic notice in Palmer's
Treatise on the Church, voL i.
pp. 270, 271.
215 Hume says, that on his re-
turn from Italy in 1 749, he found
'all England in a ferment on
account of Dr. Middleton' s Free
Inquiry.' Hume's Life of Him-
self in his Works, vol. i. p. 7.
See also, on the excitement caused
by this masterly attack, Nichols's
Illustrations of the Eighteenth
Century, vol. ii. p. 176; which
should be compared with Dod-
dridge's Correspond, vol. iv.
pp. 536, 537 : and on the ' mira-
culous controversy' in general,
see Porteus' s Life of Seeker, 1797,
p. 38; Phillimore's Mem. of Lyt-
tleton, vol. i. p. 161; Nichols's
Lit. Anec. vol. ii. pp. 440, 527,
vol. iii. pp. 535, 750, vol. v.
pp. 417, 418, 600; HulF sLetters,
1778, vol. i. p. 109 ; Warburton's
Letters to Hurd, pp. 49, 50.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 429
already begun by Daille and Barbeyrac, was followed
up by Cave, Middleton, and Jortin ; the important and
unrefuted statements of Gibbon, in his fifteenth and
sixteenth chapters ; the additional strength conferred
on tbose chapters by the lame attacks of Davis, Chel-
sum, Whitaker, and "Watson ; 216 while, not to mention
inferior matters, the century was closed amid the con-
fusion caused by that decisive controversy between
Porson and Travis, respecting the text of the Heavenly
Witnesses, which excited immense attention, 217 and was
immediately accompanied by the discoveries of geolo-
gists, in which, not only was the fidelity of the Mosaic
cosmogony impugned, but its accuracy was shown to
be impossible. 218 These things, following each other in
"• Gibbon's Decline and Fall
has now been jealously scruti-
nized by two generations of eager
and unscrupulous opponents; and
I am only expressing the general
opinion of competent judges when
I say, that by each successive
scrutiny it has gained fresh re-
putation. Against his celebrated
fifteenth and sixteenth chapters,
all the devices of controversy
have been exhausted ; but the
only result has been, that while
the fame of the historian is un-
tarnished, the attacks of his
enemies are falling into complete
oblivion. The work of Gibbon
remains ; but who is there who
feels any interest in what was
written against him ?
21 * On the effect produced by
these matchless letters of Porson,
see Harford! 8 Life of Bishop Bur-
gess, p. 374 ; and as to the pre-
vious agitation of the question
in England, see Calamus Own
Life, vol. ii. pp. 442, 443 ; Monk's
Life of Bentley, voL ii. pp. 16-19,
146, 286-289 ; Butler's Remini-
tcences, vol. i. p. 211. Compare
Sorrier s Tracts, vol. xii. p. 137,
vol. xiii. p. 458.
218 The sceptical character of
geology was first clearly exhibited
during the last thirty years of
the eighteenth century. Pre-
viously, the geologists had, for
the most part, allied themselves
with the theologians ; but th»
increasing boldness of public
opinion now enabled them to
institute independent investiga-
tions, without regard to doctrines
hitherto received. In this point
of view, much was effected by
the researches of Hutton, whose
work, says Sir Charles Lyell,
contains the first attempt ' to
explain the former changes of
the earth's crust by reference
exclusively to natural agents.'
LyelVs Principles of Geology,
p. 60. To establish this method
was, of course, to dissolve the
alliance with the theologians;
but an earlier symptom of the
change was seen in 1773, that
is, fifteen years before Hutton
wrote: see a letter in Watson's
Lift of Himself, voL i. p. 402,
430
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
rapid and startling succession, perplexed the faith, of
men, disturbed their easy credulity, and produced effects
on the public mind, which can only be estimated by
those who have studied the history of that time in its
original sources. Indeed, they cannot be understood,
even in their general bearings, except by taking into
consideration some other circumstances with which the
great progress was intimately connected.
For, in the mean time, an immense change had begun,
not only among speculative minds, but also among the
people themselves. The increase of scepticism stimu-
lated their curiosity ; and the diffusion of education
supplied the means of gratifying it. Hence, we find
that one of the leading characteristics of the eighteenth
century, and one which pre-eminently distinguished it
from all that preceded, was a craving after knowledge
on the part of those classes from whom knowledge had
hitherto been shut out. It was in that great age, that
there were first established schools for the lower orders
on the only day they had time to attend them, 219 and
where it is stated that the ' free-
thinkers ' attacked the 'Mosaic
account of the world's age,
especially since the publication of
Mr. Brydone's Travels Through
Sicily and Malta.' According to
~Lowndea(Bibliographer'sManual,
vol. i. p. 279), Brydone's book
was published in 1773 ; and in
1784 Sir William Jones notices
the tendency of these inquiries :
see his Discourse on the Gods of
Greece, Italy, and India, in which
he observes ( Works,xo\. i. p. 233)
with regret, that he lived in ' an
age when some intelligent and
virtuous persons are inclined to
doubt the authenticity of the
accounts delivered by Moses
concerning the primitive world.'
Since then, the progress of geo-
logy has been so rapid, that the
historical value of the writings
of Moses is abandoned by all
enlightened men, even among the
clergy themselves. I need only
refer to what has been said by
two of the most eminent of that
profession, Dr. Arnold and Mr.
Baden Powell. See the obser-
vations of Arnold in Newman's
Phases of Faith, p. 1 1 1 (compare
pp. 122, 123) ; and the still more
decisive remarks in PowelVs Ser-
mons on Christianity without
Judaism, 1856, pp. 38, 39. For
other instances, see LyelVs Second
Visit to the United States, ,1849,
vol. i. pp. 219, 220.
219 It is usually supposed that
Sunday-schools were began by
Baikes, in 1781 ; but, though he
appears to have been the first to
organize them on a suitable scale,
there is no doubt that they were
established by Lindsey, in or
immediately after 1765. See
Cappe's Memoir's, pp. 118, 122;
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 431
newspapers on the only day they had time to read
them. 220 It was then that there were first seen, in our
country, circulating libraries ; 221 and it was then, too,
that the art of printing, instead of being almost con-
fined to London, began to be generally practised in
country-towns. 222 It was also in the eighteenth cen-
HarforoVs Life of Burgess, p. 92 ;
Nichols's Lit. Anec. vol. iii. pp.430,
431, vol. ix. p. 540 ; Chalmers's
Biog. Diet. vol. xxv. p. 485 ; Journ.
of Stat. Soc. vol. x. p. 196, v. xiii.
p. 265 ; Hodgson's Life of Por-
teus, p. 92. It is said, in Spen-
cer's Social Statics, p. 343, that
the clergy of the Church of Eng-
land were, as a body, opposed to
the establishment of Sunday-
schools. (Compare Watson's Ob-
servations on Southey's Wesley,
p. 149.) At all events, they in-
creased rapidly, and by the end
of the century had become com-
mon. See Nichols's Lit. Anec.
vol. v. pp. 678, 679; Nichols's
Illustrations, vol. i. p. 460 ; Life
of WUberforce, vol. i. p. 180,
vol. ii.p. 296 ; Wesley's Journals,
pp. 806, 897.
220 Mr. Hunt (Hist, of News-
papers, vol. i. p. 273) makes no
mention of Sunday newspapers
earlier than a notice by Crabbe
in 1785 ; but in 1799, Lord Bel-
grave said, in the House of Com-
mons, that they first appeared
'about the year 1780.' Pari.
Hist. vol. xxxiv. p. 1006. In
1 799, Wilberforce tried to hare
a law enacted to suppress them.
Life of Wilberforce, vol. ii.
pp. 338, 424.
221 When Franklin came to
London, in 1 725, there was not
a single circulating library in
the metropolis. See Franklin's
Life of Himself, voL i. p. 64;
and, in 1697, 'the only library
in London which approached
the nature of a public library
was that of Sion College, be-
longing to the London clergy.'
Ellis's Letters of Literary Men,
p. 245. The exact date of the
earliest circulating library I have
not yet ascertained ; but, accord-
ing to Southey ( Tfie Doctor, edit.
Warter, 1848, p. 271), the first
set up in London was about the
middle of the eighteenth century,
by Samuel Fancourt. Hutton
(Life of Himself , p. 279) says, 'I
was the first who opened a circu-
lating library in Birmingham, in
1751.' Other notices of them,
during the latter half of the cen-
tury, will be found in Coleridge's
Biographia Liter aria, vol. ii. p.
329, edit. 1847; Leigh Hunt's
Autobiography, vol. i. p. 260;
Nichols's Lit. Anec. vol. iii. pp.
648, 682; Nichols's Illustrations,
vol. i. p. 424 ; WhewelTs Hist, of
Moral Philosophy, p. 190; Sin-
clair's Correspond, vol. i. p. 143.
Indeed, they increased so ra-
pidly, that some wise men pro-
posed to tax them, ' by a licence,
at the rate of 2s. 6d. per 100 vo-
lumes per annum.' Sinclair's
Hist, of the Revenue, voL iii.
p. 268.
222 In 1746, Gent, the well-
known printer, wrote his own
life. In this curious work, he
states, that in 1714 there were
' few printers in England, except
London, at that time ; none then,
I am sure, at Chester, Liverpool,
432
ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
truy, that the earliest systematic efforts were made to
popularize the sciences, and facilitate the acquisition of
their general principles, by writing treatises on them in
an easy and untechnical style : 223 while, at the same
Whitehaven, Preston, Manches-
ter, Kendal, and Leeds, as for
the most part now abound.' Life
of Thomas Gent, pp. 20, 21.
(Compare a list of country print-
ing-houses, in 1724, in Nichols's
Lit. Anec. vol. i. p. 289.) How
this state of things was remedied,
is a most important inquiry for
the historian ; but in this note I
can only give a few illustrations
of the condition of different dis-
tricts. The first printing-office
in Kochester was established
by Fisher, who died in 1786
(Nichols's Lit. Anec. vol. iii. p.
675); the first in Whitby, was
in 1770 (Elustrations, vol. iii.
p. 787); and Kichard Greene,
who died in 1793, 'was the first
who brought a printing-press to
Lichfield' (Ibid, vol.vi. p. 320).
In the reign of Anne, there was
not a single bookseller in Bir-
mingham (Southey's Common-
place Book, 1st series, 1849,
p. 568); but, in 1749, we find a
printer established there (HulVs
Letters, Lond. 1778, vol. i. p. 92);
and, in 17-74, there was a printer
even in Falkirk (Pari. Hist. vol.
xvii. p. 1099). In other parts
the movement was slower ; and
we are told that, about 1780,
' there was scarcely a bookseller
in Cornwall.' Life of Samuel
Brew, by his Son, 1834, pp. 40, 41.
223 Desaguliers and Hill were
the two first writers who gave
themselves up to popularizing
physical truths. At the begin-
ning of the reign of George I.
Desaguliers was 'the first who
read lectures in London on expe-
rimental philosophy.' Southey's
Commonplace Book, 3d series,
1850, p. 77. See also Penny
Cyclopedia, vol. viii. p. 430; and,
on his elementary works, com-
pare Nichols's Lit. Anec. vol. vi.
p. 81. As to Hill, he is said to
have set the example of publish-
ing popular scientific works in
numbers ; a plan so well suited
to that inquisitive age, that, if -
we believe Horace Walpole, he
' earned fifteen guineas a week.'
Letter to Henry Zouch, January
3rd, 1761, in Walpole's Letters,
vol. iv. p. 117, edit. 1840.
In the latter half of the eigh-
teenth century, the demand for
books on the natural sciences
rapidly increased (see, among
many other instances which
might be quoted, a note in Pul-
teney's Hist, of Botany, vol. ii.
p. 180) ; and, early in the reign
of George III., Priestley began
to write popularly on physical
subjects. (Memoirs of Priestley,
vol. i. pp. 288, 289.) Goldsmith
did something in the same direc-
tion (Prior's Life of Goldsmith,
vol.i. pp.414, 469, vol. ii. p. 198);
and Pennant, whose earliest work
appeared in 1766, was ' the first
who treated the natural history
of Britain in a popular and in-
teresting style.' Swainson on the
Study of Natural History, p. 50.
In the reign of George II., pub-
lishers began to encourage ele-
mentary works on chemistry.
Nichols's Lit. Anec. voL ix. p.
763.
8IXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 433
time, the invention of Encyclopaedias enabled their
results to be brought together, and digested in a form
more accessible than any hitherto employed. 224 Then,
too, we first meet with literary periodical reviews ; by
means of which large bodies of practical men acquired
information, scanty indeed, but every way superior to
their former ignorance. 225 The formation of societies
for purchasing books now became general ; 226 and,
before the close of the century, we hear of clubs insti-
tuted by reading men among the industrious classes. 227
In every department, the same eager curiosity was
shown. In the middle of the eighteenth century, de-
bating societies sprung up among tradesmen; 228 and
2 " In 1704, 1708, and 1710,
Harris published his Dictionary
of Arts and Sciences ; and from
this, according to Nichols's Lit.
Anec. vol. Lx. pp. 770, 771, has
'originated all the other dic-
tionaries and cyclopaedias that
have since appeared.' Compare
vol. v. p. 659 ; and Bogue and
Bennett's Hist, of the Dissenters,
vol. iv. p. 500.
225 Late in the seventeenth
century, an attempt was first
made in England to establish
literary journals. Hallam's Lit.
of Europe, vol. iii. p. 539 ; and
Dibdin's Bibliomania, 1842, p. 16.
But reviews, as we now under-
stand the word, meaning a criti-
cal publication, were unknown
before the accession of George II. ;
but, about the middle of his
reign, they began to increase.
Compare Wrights England un-
der the House of Hanover, 1848,
vol. i. p. 304, with Nichols's Lit.
Anec. voL iii. pp. 507, 508. At
an earlier period, the functions
of reviews were performed, as
Monk says, by pamphlets. Monk's
L\fe of Bentley, vol i. p. 112.
224 As we find from many
VOL. I. F
casual notices of book clubs and
book societies. See, for example,
Doddridge's Correspond, vol. ii.
pp. 57, 119 ; Jesse's Life of Sel-
wyn, vol. ii. p. 23 ; Nichols's Il-
lustrations of tlie Eighteenth Cen-
tury, vol. v. pp. 184, 824, 825;
Wakejuid's Life of Himself vol . i .
p. 528 ; Memoirs of Sir J. E.
Smith, vol. i. p. 8 ; Life of Ros-
coe, by his S071, vol. i. p. 228
(though this last was. perhaps a
circulating library).
227 ' Numerous associations or
clubs, composed principally of
reading men of the lower ranks.'
Life of Dr. Curric, by his Son,
vol. i. p. 175.
228 Of which the most remark-
able was that called the Robin-
Hood Society ; respecting which,
the reader should compare Camp-
bells Lives of the Chancellors,
vol. vi. p. 373 ; Grader/ s London,
vol. i. p. 150; Pari. Hist. vol.
xvii. p. 301 ; Southey's Common-
place Book, 4th series, p. 339 ;
Forster's Life of Goldsmith, voL i.
p. 310; Prior's Life of Gold-
smith, vol. i. pp. 419, 420 ; Prior's
Life of Burke, p. 75 ; Nichols'*
Lit. Ante. vol. iii. p. 154.
434
ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
this was followed by a still bolder innovation, for, in
1769, there was held the first public meeting ever
assembled in England, the first in which it was at-
tempted to enlighten Englishmen respecting their poli-
tical rights. 229 About the same time, the proceedings
in our courts of law began to be studied by the people,
and communicated to them through the medium of the
daily press. 230 Shortly before this, political newspapers
arose, 231 and a sharp struggle broke out between them
229 ' From the summer of 1769
is to be dated the first estab-
lishment of public meetings in
England.' Albemarle's Mem. of
Bockingham, vol. ii. p. 93. ' Pub-
lic meetings through
which the people might declare
their newly-acquired conscious-
ness of power, .... cannot
be distinctly traced higher than
the year 1769 ; but they were
now (i.e. in 1770) of daily occur-
rence.' Cooke's Hist, of Party,
vol. iii. p. 187. See also Hallam's
Const. Hist. vol. ii. p. 420.
230 The most interesting trials
were first noticed in newspapers
towards the end of the reign of
George II. Campbell's Chancel-
lors, vol. v. p. 52, vol. vi. p. 54.
231 In 1696, the only news-
papers were weekly; and the
first daily paper appeared in the
reign of Anne. Compare Sim-
monds's Essay on Newspapers, in
Journal of Statist. Society, vol. iv.
p. 113, with Hunt's Hist, of
Newspapers, vol. i. pp. 167, 175,
vol. ii. p. 90 ; and Nichols's Lit.
Anec. vol. iv. p. 80. In 1710,
they, instead of merely commu-
nicating news, as heretofore, be-
gan to take part in ' the discus-
sion of political topics' (Hallam's
Const. Hist. vol. ii. p. 443) ; and,
as this change had been preceded
a rery few years by the introduc-
tion of cheap political pamphlets
(see a curious passage in Wil-
son's Life of JDe Foe, vol. ii.
p. 29), it become evident that a
great movement was at hand in
regard to the diffusion of such
inquiries. "Within twenty years
after the death of Anne, the
revolution was completed; and
the press, for the first time in
the history of the world, was
made an exponent of public
opinion. The earliest notice of
this new power which I have
met with, in parliament, is in a
speech delivered by Danvers, in
1738; which is worth quoting,
both because it marks an epoch,
and because it is characteristic
of that troublesome class to which
the man belonged. ' But I be-
lieve,' says this distinguished
legislator, — 'but I believe the
people of Great Britain are
governed by a power that never
was heard of, as a supreme au-
thority, in any age or country
before. This power, sir, does
not consist in the absolute will
of the prince, in the direction of
parliament, in the strength of an
army, in the influence of the
clergy , neither, sir, is it a pet-
ticoat government : but, sir, it is
the government of the press.
The stuff which our weekly
newspapers are filled with, is
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 435
and the two Houses of Parliament touching the right
of publishing the debates ; the end of which was, that
both houses, though aided by the crown, were totally
defeated ; and, for the first time, the people were able
to study the proceedings of the national legislature, and
thus gain some acquaintance with the national affairs. 232
Scarcely was this triumph completed, when fresh sti-
mulus was given by the promulgation of that great
political doctrine of personal representation, 233 which
must eventually carry all before it ; and the germ of
received with greater reverence
than acts of parliament; and
the sentiments of one of these
scribblers have more weight with
the multitude than the opinion
of the best politician in tho king-
dom.' Pari. Hist. vol. x. p. 448.
232 This great contest was
brought to a close in 1771 and
1772; when, as Lord Campbell
says, 'the right of publishing
parliamentary debates was sub-
stantially established." Camp-
bells Chancellors, vol. v. p. 511,
voL vi. p. 90. For further in-
formation respecting this impor-
tant victory, see Cooke's Hist, of
Party, vol. iii. pp. 179-184;
Almon's Correspond, of Wilkes,
1 805, vol. v. p. 63 ; Stephens's
Mem. of TooJce, vol. i. pp. 329-
351 ; Mahon's Hist, of England,
vol. v. p. 290 ; and, on its con-
nexion with Junius's Letters, see
Forster's Life of Goldsmith,
vol. ii. pp. 183, 184.
George III., always consistent
and always wrong, strenuously
opposed this extension of the
popular rights. In 1771, he
wrote to Lord North : ' It is
highly necessary that this strange
and lawless method of publish-
ing debatos in the papers should
be put a stop to. But is not the
House of Lords the best court to
bring such miscreants before ;
as it can fine, as well as im-
prison, and has broader shoulders
to support the odium of so salu-
tary a measure V App. to Mahon,
vol. v. p. xlviii. ; and note in
Walpole's George III. vol. iv.
p. 280, where the words, ' in the
papers,' are omitted ; but I copy
the letter, as printed by Lord
Mahon. In other respects, both
versions are the same; so that
we now know the idea George III.
had of what constituted a mis-
creant.
233 Lord John Eussell, in his
work on the History of the
English Constitution, says : ' Dr.
Jebb, and after him Mr. Cart-
wright, broached the theory of
personal representation ;' but this
appears to be a mistake, since
the theory is said to have been
first put forward by Cartwright,
in 1776. Compare Russell on
the Constitution, 1821, pp. 240,
241, with Life and Corresp. of
Cartwright, 1826, vol. i. pp. 91,
92. A letter in the Life of Dr.
Carrie, vol.ii. pp. 307-314,shows
the interest which even sober and
practical men were beginning
to feel in the doctrine before
the end of tho century.
f2
436
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
which, may be traced late in the seventeenth century,
when the true idea of personal independence began to
take root and flourish. 234 Finally, it was reserved for
the eighteenth century to set the first example of
calling on the people to adjudicate upon those solemn
questions of religion in which hitherto they had never
been consulted, although it is now universally admitted
that to their growing intelligence these, and all other
matters, must ultimately be referred. 235
In connexion with all this, there was a corresponding
change in the very form and make of our literature.
The harsh and pedantic method, which our great writers
had long been accustomed to employ, was ill suited to
an impetuous and inquisitive generation, thirsting after
knowledge, and therefore intolerant of obscurities for-
merly unheeded. Hence it was that, early in the
eighteenth century, the powerful, but cumbrous, lan-
guage, and the long, involved sentences, so natural to
534 On this I have a philologi-
cal remark of some interest, —
namely, that there is reason to
believe that ' the word " inde-
pendence," in its modern accep-
tation,' does not occur in our
language before the early part
of the eighteenth century. See
Hare's Guesses at Truth, 2nd
series, 1848, p. 262. A similar
change, though at a later period,
took place in France. See the
observations on the word • indi-
vidualisme,' in Tocqueville, Demo-
cratic en Am'erique, vol. iv. p. 1 56;
and in the later work, by the
same author, L'Ancien Regime,
Paris, 1856, pp. 148, 149.
235 Archbishop Whately {Dan-
gers to Christian Faith, pp. 76,
77) says : * Neither the attacks
on our religion, nor the evidences
in its support, were, to any great
extent, brought forward in a
popular form, till near the close
of the last century. On both
sides, the learned (or those who
professed to be such) seem to
have agreed in this, — that the
mass of the people were to ac-
quiesce in the decision of their
superiors, and neither should,
nor could, exercise their own
minds on the qiiestion.' This is
well put, and quite true ; and
should be compared with the
complaint in Wakefield's Life of
Himself, vol. ii. p. 21 ; Nichols's
Lit. Anec. of the Eighteenth Cen-
tury, vol. viii. p. 144; and Hodg-
son's Life of Bishop Porteus,
pp. 73, 74, 122, 125, 126. See
also a speech by Mansfield, in
1781 (Parl.Hist. voLxxii.p. 265),
when an attempt was made
to put down the 'Theological
Society.' The whole debate is
worth reading; not on account
of its merits, but because it sup-
plies evidence of the prevailing
spirit.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTEEY. 437
our ancient authors, were, notwithstanding their beauty,
suddenly discarded, and were succeeded by a lighter
and simpler style, which, being more rapidly under-
stood, was better suited to the exigencies of the age. 236
The extension of knowledge being thus accompanied
by an increased simplicity in the manner of its com-
munication, naturally gavo rise to a greater independ-
ence in literary men, and a greater boldness in literary
inquiries. As long as books, either from the difficulty
238 Coleridge (Lit. Remains,
vol. i. pp. 230 seq.) has made
some interesting remarks on the
vicissitudes of English style; and
he justly observes, p. 238, that,
' after the ^Revolution, the spirit
of the nation became much more
commercial than it had been
before ; a learned body, or
clerisy, as such, gradually dis-
appeared ; and literature in
general began to be addressed
to the common, miscellaneous
public' Ho goes on to lament
this change ; though, in that, I
disagree "with him. See also The
Friend, vol. i. p. 19, where he
contrasts the modern style with
' the stately march and difficult
evolutions ' of the great writers
of the seventeenth century. Com-
pare, on this alteration, the pre-
face to Nader Shah, in Works of
Sir W. Jones, vol. v. p. 544. See
also, in Harford's Life of Burgess,
pp. 40, 41, a curious letter from
Monboddo, the last of our really
great pedants, mourning over this
characteristic of modern com-
position. He terms it con-
temptuously a 'short cut of a
stylo ;' and wishes to return to
' the true ancient taste,' with
plenty of ' parentheses ' !
The truth is, that this move-
ment was merely part of that
tendency to approximate the dif-
ferent classes of society ■which
was first clearly seen in the
eighteenth century, and which
influenced not only the style of
author, but also their social
habits. Hume observes that, in
the ' last age,' learned men had
separated themselves too much
from the -world ; but that, in his
time, they were becoming more
'conversible.' Essay V.,in Hume's
Philosophical Works, vol. iv.
pp. 539, 540. That 'philoso-
phers ' were growing men of the
world, is also noticed in a
curious passage in Alciphron,
dial, i., in Berkeley's Works,
vol. i. p. 312 ; and, respecting
the general social amalgamation,
see a letter to the Countess of
Bute, in 1753, in Works of Lady
Mary Montagu, edit.1803, vol. iv.
pp. 194, 195. As to the influ-
ence of Addison, who led the
way in establishing tho easy, and
therefore democratic, style, and
who, more than any single
writer, made literature popular,
compare Aikin's Life of Addison,
vol. ii. p. 65, with Turner's
Hist, of England, vol. ii. p. 7.
Subsequently a reaction was
attempted by Johnson, Gibbon,
and Parr ; but this, being con-
trary to the spirit of the age, was
short-lived.
438
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
of their style, or from the general incuriosity of the
people, found hat few readers, it was evident that
authors must rely upon the patronage of public bodies,
or of rich and titled individuals. And, as men are
always inclined to natter those upon whom they are
dependent, it too often happened that even our greatest
writers prostituted their abilities by fawning upon the
prejudices of their patrons. The consequence was
that literature, so far from disturbing ancient super-
stitions, and stirring up the mind to new inquiries,
frequently assumed a timid and subservient air, natural
to its subordinate position. But now all this was
changed. Those servile and shameful dedications ; 237
that mean and crouching spirit ; that incessant homage
to mere rank and birth ; that constant confusion be-
tween power and right ; that ignorant admiration for
237 And the servility was, for
the most part, well paid ; indeed,
rewarded far more than it was
worth. During the sixteenth,
seventeenth, and early part of
the eighteenth century, a sum of
money was invariably presented
to the author in return for his
dedication. Of course, the grosser
the flattery, the larger the sum.
On the relation thus established
between authors and men of
rank, and on the eagerness with
which even eminent writers
looked to their patrons for gra-
tuities, varying from 40s. to
1001., see Drake's Shakespeare
and his Times, 1817, 4to. vol. ii.
p. 225 ; Monk's Life of Bentley,
vol. i. pp. 194, 309; Whiston's
Memoirs, p. 203 ; Nichols's Il-
lustrations, vol. ii. p. 709 ; Har-
ris's Life of Hardwicke, vol. iii.
p. 35 ; Bunburi/s Life of Han-
mer, p. 81. Compare a note in
Burton's Diary, vol. iii. p. 52 ;
and as to the importance of fix-
ing on a proper person to whom
to dedicate, see Ellis's Letters
Lit. Men, pp. 231-234 ; and the
matter-of-fact remark in Bishop
Newton's Life, p. 14 ; also,
Hughes's Letters, edit. 1773, vol.
iii. p. xxxi. appendix.
About the middle of the eigh-
teenth century was the turning-
point of this deplorable condi-
tion ; and Watson, for instance,
in 1769, laid it down as a rule,
' never to dedicate to those from
whom I expected favours.' Wat-
son's Life of Himself, vol. i.p. 54.
So, too, Warburton, in 1758,
boasts that his dedication was
not, as usual, ' occupied by trifles
or falsehoods.' See his letter, in
Chatham Correspond, vol.i. p. 3 1 5.
Nearly at the same period,
the same change was effected
in France, where D'Alembert
set the example of ridiculing
the old custom. See Brougham's
Men of Letters, vol. ii. pp. 439,
440 ; Correspond, de Madame
Dudeffand, vol. ii. p. 148; and
CEuvres de Voltaire, vol. xl. p. 41,
vol lxi. p. 285.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 439
everything which is old, and that still more ignorant
contempt for everything which is new : — all these fea-
tures became gradually fainter : and authors, relying
upon the patronage of the people, began to advocate
the claims of their new allies with a boldness upon
which they could not have ventured in any previous
age. 238
From all these things there resulted consequences of
vast importance. From this simplification, independ-
ence, and diffusion 239 of knowledge, it necessarily
happened, that the issue of those great disputes to
which I have alluded became, in the eighteenth cen-
tury, more generally known than would have been pos-
sible in any preceding century. It was now known
that theological and political questions were being con-
stantly agitated, in which genius and learning were on
one side, and orthodoxy and tradition on the other.
It became known that the points which were mooted
were not only as to the credibility of particular facts,
but also as to the truth of general principles, with which
2,8 When Le Blanc visited
England, in the middle of the
reign of George II., the custom of
authors relying upon the patron-
age of individuals was beginning
to die away, and the plan of
publishing by subscription had
become general. See the inte-
resting details in Le Blanc, Let-
tres dun Frangais, vol. i.pp. SOS-
SOS ; and for the former state of
things, see vol. ii. pp. 148-153.
Burke, who came to London in
1750, observes, with surprise,
that ' writers of the first talents
are loft to the capricious patron-
age of the public. Notwith-
standing discouragement, litera-
ture is cultivated to a high
degree.' Prior's Life of Burke,
p. 21. This increasing independ-
ence also appears from the fact
♦hat, in 1762, we find the first
instance of a popular writer
attacking public men by name ;
authors having previously con-
fined themselves ' to the initials
only of the great men whom they
assailed.' Malum' s Hist, of Eng-
land, vol. v. p. 19. The feud
between literature and rank may
be further illustrated by an entry
in Holcroft's Diary for 1798,
Mem. of Holcroft, vol. iii. p. 28.
239 In England, the marked in-
crease in the number of books
took place during the latter half
of the eighteenth century, and
particularly after 1756. See
some valuable evidence in Jour-
nal of the Statistical Society,
vol. iii. pp. 383, 384. To this
I may add, that between 1753
and 1792, the circulation of
newspapers was more than
doubled. Hunts Hist, of News-
papers, vol. i. p. 252.
440 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
the interests and happiness of Man were intimately con*
cerned. Disputes which had hitherto been confined to
a very small part of society began to spread far and
wide, and suggest doubts that served as materials for
national thought. The consequence was, that the spirit
of inquiry became every year more active, and more
general ; the desire for reform constantly increased ;
and if affairs had been allowed to run on in their natu-
ral course, the eighteenth century could not have passed
away without decisive and salutary changes both in the
church and the state. But soon after the middle of
this period, there unfortunately arose a series of poli-
tical combinations which disturbed the march of events.,
and eventually produced a crisis so full of danger, that,
among any other people, it would certainly have ended
either in a loss of liberty or in a dissolution of govern-
ment. This disastrous reaction, from the effects of which
England has, perhaps, barely recovered, has never been
studied with anything like the care its importance
demands ; indeed, it is so little understood, that no his-
torian has traced the opposition between it and that
great intellectual movement of which I have just
sketched an outline. On this account, as also with the
view of giving more completeness to the present chap-
ter, I intend to examine its most important epochs, and
point out, so far as I am able, the way in which they
are connected with each other. According to the
scheme of this Introduction, such an inquiry must, of
course, be very cursory, as its sole object is to lay a
foundation for those general principles, without which
history is a mere assemblage of empirical observations,
unconnected, and therefore unimportant. It must like-
wise be remembered, that as the circumstances about
to be considered were not social, but political, we are
the more liable to err in our conclusions respecting
them ; and this partly because the materials for the
history of a people are more extensive, more indirect,
and therefore less liable to be garbled, than are those
for the history of a government ; and partly because the
conduct of small bodies of men, such as ministers and
kings, is always more capricious, that is to say, less
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 441
regulated by known laws, than is the conduct of those
large bodies collectively called society, or a nation. 240
With this precautionary remark, I will now endeavour
to trace what, in a mere political point of view, is the
reactionary and retrogressive period of English history.
It must bo considered as a most fortunate circum-
stance, that after the death of Anne, 241 the throne should
be occupied for nearly fifty years by two princes, aliens
in manners and in country, of whom one spoke our lan-
guage but indifferently, and the other knew it not at
all. 242 The immediate predecessors of George III. were,
indeed, of so sluggish a disposition, and were so pro-
foundly ignorant of the people they undertook to
govern, 243 that, notwithstanding their arbitrary temper,
there was no danger of their organizing a party to
240 The apparent caprice and
irregularity in .small numbers
arise from the perturbations pro-
duced by the operation of minor
and usually unknown laws. In
large numbers, these perturba-
tions have a tendency to balance
each other ; and this I take to
be the sole foundation of the
accuracy obtained by striking an
average. If we could refer all
phenomena to their laws, we
should never use averages. Of
course, the expression capricious
is, strictly speaking, inaccurate,
and is merely a measure of our
ignorance.
241 The temporary political re-
action under Anne is well related
by Lord Cowper, in his Hist, of
Parties, printed in appendix to
CampbelVs Lives of the Chan-
cellors, vol. iv. p. 411, 412. This
able work of Lord Campbell's,
though rather inaccurate for the
earlier period, is particularly
valuable for the history of the
eighteenth century.
242 See Reminiscences of the
Courts of George I. and George II.
by Horace Walpole, pp. Iv. xciv. ;
and Mahon's Hist, of England^
vol. i. pp. 100, 235. The fault
of George II. was in his bad
pronunciation of English; but
George I. was not even able to
pronounce it badly, and could
only converse with his minister,
Sir Kobert "Walpole, in Latin.
The French court saw this state
of things with great pleasure;
and in December 1714, Madame
de Maintenon wrote to the Prin-
cess des Ursins {Lettres inidites
de Maintenon, voL iii. p. 157) :
' On dit que le nouveau roi d'An-
gleterre se degoute de ses sujets,
et que ses sujets sont degoutes de
lui. Dieu veuille remettre le tout
en meilleur ordre I ' On the effect
this produced on the language
spoken at the English court,
compare Le Blanc, Lettres d'uii
Francais, vol. i. p. 159.
841 In 1715, Leslie writes re-
specting George I., that he is 'a
stranger to you, and altogether
ignorant of your language, your
laws, customs, and constitution.'
Somers Tracts, vol. xiii. p. 703.
442
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
extend the boundaries of the royal prerogative. 244 And
as they were foreigners, they never had sufficient sym-
pathy with the English church to induce them to aid
the clergy in their natural desire to recover their for-
mer power. 245 Besides this, the fractious and disloyal
conduct of many of the hierarchy must have tended to
alienate the regard of the sovereign, as it had already
cost them the affection of the people. 246
244 Great light has been thrown
upon the character of George II.
by the recent publication of
Lord Hcrvey's Memoirs; a curious
work, which fully confirms what
we know from other sources re-
specting the king's ignorance of
English politics. Indeed, that
prince cared for nothing but sol-
diers and women; and his highest
ambition was to combine the re-
putation of a great general with
that of a successful libertine.
Besides the testimony of Lord
Hervey, it is certain, from other
authorities, that George II. was
despised as well as disliked, and
was spoken of contemptuously by
observers of his character, and
even by his own ministers. See
the Marchmont Papers, vol. i.
pp. 29, 181, 187-
In reference to the decline of
the royal authority, it is impor-
tant to observe, that since the
accession of George I. none of
our sovereigns have been allowed
to be present at state delibera-
tions. See Bancrofts American
Revolution, voL ii. p. 47, and
CampbelFs Chancellors, vol. iii.
p. 191.
245 See the remarks said to be
written by Bishop Atterbury, in
Somers Tracts, vol. xiii. p. 534,
contrasting the affection Anne
felt for the church with the cold-
ness of George I. The whole of
the pamphlet (pp. 521-541)
ought to be read. It affords a
curious picture of a baffled
churchman.
246 The ill-feeling which the
Church of England generally
bore against the government of
the two first Georges was openly
displayed, and was so perti-
naceous as to form a leading fact
in the history of England. In
1722, Bishop Atterbury was ar-
rested, because he was known to
be engaged in a treasonable con-
spiracy with the Pretender. As
soon as he was seized, the church
offered up prayers for him.
1 Under the pretence,' says Lord
Mahon, — ' under the pretence of
his being afflicted with the gout,
he was publicly prayed for in
most of the churches of London
and Westminster.' Mahon' s Hist,
of England, vol. ii. p. 38. See
also Pari. Hist. vol. vii. p. 988,
and vol. viii. p. 347.
At Oxford, where the clergy
have long been in the ascendant,
they made such efforts to instil
their principles as to call down
the indignation of the elder Pitt,
who, in a speech in Parliament
in 1754, denounced that univer-
sity, which he said had for many
years ' been raising a succession
of treason — there never was such
a seminary ! ' Walpole's Mem. of
George II. vol. i. p. 413. Com-
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 443
These circumstances, though in themselves they may
be considered trifling, -were in reality of great im-
portance, because they secured to the nation the pro-
gress of that spirit of inquiry, which, if there had been
a coalition between the crown and the church, it would
have been attempted to stifle. Even as it was, some
attempts were occasionally made ; but they were com-
paratively speaking rare, and they lacked the vigour
which they would have possessed, if there had been an
intimate alliance between the temporal and spiritual
authorities. Indeed, the state of affairs was so favour-
able, that the old Tory faction, pressed by the people
and abandoned by the crown, was unable for more than
forty years to take any share in the government. 247
At the same time, considerable progress, as we shall
hereafter see, was made in legislation ; and our statute-
book, during that period, contains ample evidence of
the decline of the powerful party by which England
had once been entirely ruled.
pare the Bedford Correspondence,
vol. i. pp. 594, 595, -with Harris's
Life of Hardwicke, vol. ii. p. 383 ;
and on the temper of the clergy
generally after the death of
Anne, Pari. Hist. vol. vii. pp. 541,
542 ; Bowles's Life of Ken, vol. ii.
pp. 188, 189; Monk's Life of
Bentley, vol. i. pp. 370, 426.
The immediate consequence of
this was very remarkable. For
the government and the dis-
senters, being both opposed by
the church, naturally combined
together: the dissenters using all
their influence against the Pre-
tender, and the government pro-
tecting them against ecclesiasti-
cal prosecutions. See evidence of
this in Doddridge's Correspond,
and Diary, vol. i. p. 30, vol. ii.
p. 321, vol. iii. pp. 110, 125,
vol. iv. pp. 428, 436, 437 ; Hutton's
Life of Himself, pp. 159, 160 ;
Pari. Hist. vol. xxviii. pp. 11,
393, voL xxix pp. 1434, 1463;
Memoirs of Priestley, vol. ii.
p. 506; Life of Wakefield, vol. i.
p. 220.
2,7 'The year 1762 forms an
era in the history of the two
factions, since it witnessed the
destruction of that monopoly of
honours and emoluments which
the Whigs had held for forty-
five years.' Cooke's Hist, of
Party, vol. ii. p. 406. Compare
Albemarle's Memoirs of Bock-
ingham, vol. ii. p. 92. Lord
Bolingbroke clearly foresaw what
would happen in consequence of
the accession of George I. Im-
mediately after the death of
Anne, he wrote to the Bishop of
Rochester : « But the grief of my
soul is this, I see plainly that
the Tory party is gone.' Mac-
2)/icrson's Original Papers, vol. ii.
p. 651.
444
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
But by the death of George II. the political aspect
was suddenly changed, and the wishes of the sovereign
became once more antagonistic to the interests of the
people. What made this the more dangerous was, that,
to a superficial observer, the accession of George HE.
was one of the most fortunate events that could have
occurred. The new king was born in England, spoke
English as his mother tongue, 248 and was said to look
upon Hanover as a foreign country, whose interests
were to be considered of subordinate importance. 249 At
the same time, the last hopes of the House of Stuart
were now destroyed ; 2S0 the Pretender himself was
languishing in Italy, where he shortly after died : and
his son, a slave to vices which seemed hereditary in that
family, was consuming his life in an unpitied and
ignominious obscurity. 251
248 Grosley, who visited Eng-
land only five years after the
accession of George III., men-
tions the great effect produced
upon the English 'when they
heard the king pronounce their
language without ' a foreign ac-
cent.' Groslei/s Tour to London,
vol. ii. p. 106. It is well known
that the king, in his first speech,
boasted of being a Briton ; but
■what is, perhaps, less generally
known is, that the honour was
on the side of the country:
' What a lustre,' said the House
of Lords in their address to him,
— 'what a lustre does it cast
upon the name of Briton when
you, sir, are pleased to esteem it
amongst your glories ! ' Pari.
Hist. vol. xv. p. 986.
249 Pari. Hist. vol. xxix.
p. 955 ; Walpole's Mem. of
George HI. vol. i. pp. 4, 110.
230 The accession of George III.
is generally fixed on as the
period when English Jacobinism
became extinct. See Butlers
Reminiscences, vol. ii. p. 92. At
the first court held by the new
king, it was observed, says
Horace Walpole, that ' the Earl
of Litchfield, Sir Walter Bagot,
and the principal Jacobites went
to court.' Walpole's Mem. of'
George HI. vol. i. p. 14. Only
three years earlier the Jacobites
had been active; and in 1757,
Bigby writes to the Duke of
Bedford : ' Box's election at
Windsor is very doubtful. There
is a Jacobite subscription of
5,0001. raised against him, with
Sir James Dashwood's name at
the head of it.' Bedford Cor-
respond, vol. ii. p. 261.
251 Charles Stuart was so stu»
pidly ignorant, that at the ago
of twenty-five he could hardly
write, and was altogether unable
to spell. Makon's Hist, of Eng-
land, vol. iii. pp. 165, 166, and
appendix, p. ix. After the death
of his father, in 1766, this abject
creature, who called himself king
of England, went to Bome, and
took to drinking. Ibid. vol. iii.
pp. 351-353. In 1779, Swinburne
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 445
And yet these circumstances, which, appeared so
favourable, did of necessity involve the most disastrous
consequences. The fear of a disputed succession being
removed, the sovereign was emboldened to a course on
which he otherwise would not have ventured. 252 All
those monstrous doctrines respecting the rights of
kings, which the Revolution was supposed to have
destroyed, were suddenly revived. 253 The clergy, aban-
doning the now hopeless cause of the Pretender, dis-
played the same zeal for the House of Hanover which
they had formerly displayed for the House of Stuart.
The pulpits resounded with praises of the new king, of
his domestic virtues, of his piety, but above all of his
dutiful attachment to the English church. The result
was, the establishment of an alliance between the two
parties more intimate than any that had been seen in
England since the time of Charles I. 254 Under their
saw him at Florence, where
he used to appear every
night at the opera, perfectly
drunk. Swinburne's Courts of
Europe, vol. i. pp. 253-255 ; and
in 1787, only the year before
he died, he continued the same
degrading practice. See a letter
from Sir J. E. Smith, written
from Naples in March 1787, in
Smith's Correspond. v*l. i. p. 208.
Another letter, written as early
as 1761 (Grenville Papers, vol. i.
p. 366), describes 'the young
Pretender always drunk.'
*** On the connexion between
the decline of the Stuart interest
and the increased power of the
crown under George III., com-
pare Thoughts on the Present
Discontents, in Burke's Works,
vol. i. pp. 127, 128, with Watson's
Life of Himself , vol. i. p. 136;
and for an intimation that this
result was expected, see Grosley's
London, vol. ii. p. 252.
2iS CampbeUs Chancellors, vol.
v. p. 245 : * The divino inde-
feasible right of kings became
the favourite theme — in total
forgetfulness of its incompati-
bility with the parliamentary
title of the reigning monarch.'
Horace Walpole {Mem. of
George III. vol. i. p. 16) says,
that in 1760 ' prerogative be-
came a fashionable word.'
244 The respect George III.
always displayed for church-
ceremonies formed of itself a
marked contrast with the indif-
ference of his immediate prede-
cessors ; and the change was
gratefully noticed. Compare
Mahoris Hist, of England, voL v..
pp. 54, 55, with the extract from
Archbishop Seeker, in Bancrofts
American Revolution, vol. i.
p. 440. For other evidence of the
admiration both parties felt and
openly expressed for each other,
see an address from the bishop
and clergy of St. Asaph (Parr's
Works, vol. vii. p. 352), and a
letter from the king to Pitt
(IiussclFs Memorials of Fbx,
'446 ENGLISH INTELLECT EEOM THE
auspices, the old Tory faction rapidly rallied, and were
soon able to dispossess their rivals of the management
of the government. This reactionary movement was
greatly aided by the personal character of George III. ;
for he, being despotic as well as superstitious, was
equally anxious to extend the prerogative, and strengthen
the church. Every liberal sentiment, everything ap-
proaching to reform, nay, even the mere mention of
inquiry, was an abomination in the eyes of that narrow
and ignorant prince. Without knowledge, without
taste, without even a glimpse of one of the sciences, or
a feeling for one of the fine arts, education had done
nothing to enlarge a mind which nature had more than
usually contracted. 255 Totally ignorant of the history
and resources of foreign countries, and barely knowing
their geographical position, his information was scarcely
more extensive respecting the people over whom he was
called to rule. In that immense mass of evidence now
extant, and which consists of every description of pri-
vate correspondence, records of private conversation
and of public acts, there is not to be found the slightest
proof that he knew any one of those numerous things
which the governor of a country ought to know ; or,
indeed, that he was acquainted with a single duty of
his position, except that mere mechanical routine of
ordinary business, which might have been effected by
the lowest clerk in the meanest office in his kingdom.
The course of proceeding which such a king as this
was likely to follow could be easily foreseen. He
gathered round his throne that great party, who, cling-
ing to the tradition of the past, have always made it
their boast to check the progress of their age. During
the sixty years of his reign, he, with the sole exception
of Pitt, never willingly admitted to his councils a single
vol. iii. p. 251), which should deficiencies, butremained during
be compared with Priestley's his long life in a state of pitia-
Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 137, 138. ble ignorance. Compare Broug-
255 The education of George III. liairis Statesmen,\o\. i. pp. 1 3-15 ;
had been shamefully neglected ; Walpole's Mem,, of George III.
and when he arrived at manhood vol. i. p. 55 ; Mahon's Hist, of
he never attempted to repair its England, vol. iv. pp. 54, 207.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 447
man of great ability ; 256 not one whose name is asso-
ciated with any measure of value either in domestic or
in foreign policy. Even Pitt only maintained his posi-
tion in the state by forgetting the lessons of his illus-
trious father, and abandoning those liberal principles in
which he had been educated, and with which he entered
public life. Because George III. hated the idea of
reform, Pitt not only relinquished what he had before
declared to be absolutely necessary, 257 but did not hesi-
tate to persecute to the death the party with whom he
had once associated in order to obtain it. 258 Because
George HE. looked upon slavery as one of those good
old customs which the wisdom of his ancestors had
consecrated, Pitt did not dare to use his power for pro-
curing its abolition, but left to his successors the glory
of destroying that infamous trade, on the preservation
258 See some good remarks
by Lord John Russell in his
Introduction to the Bedford
Correspondence, vol. iii. p. lxii.
257 In a motion for reform in
Parliamentin 1782, he declared
that it was 'essentially neces-
sary.' See his speech, in Pari.
Hist. vol. xxii. p. 1418. In 1784
he mentioned ' the necessity of
a parliamentary reform,' vol.
xxiv. p. 349 ; see also pp. 998,
999. Compare Disney's Life of
J ebb, p. 209. Nor is it true, as
some have said, that he after-
wards abandoned the cause of
reform because the times were
unfavourable to it. On the con-
trary, he, in a speech delivered
in 1800, said (Pari. Hist. vol.
xxxv. p. 47) : ' Upon this sub-
ioct, sir, I think it right to state
the inmost thoughts of my mind ;
I think it right to declare my
most decided opinion, that, even
if the times were proper for ex-
periments, any, even the slightest,
change in such a constitution
must be considered as an evil.' It
is remarkable that, even as early
as 1783, Paley appears to have
suspected the sincerity of Pitt's
professions in favour of reform.
See Meadley's Memoirs of Paley,
p. 121.
2M In 1794 Grey taunted him
with this in the House of Com-
mons : ' William Pitt, the re-
former of that day, was William
Pitt, the prosecutor, ay and per-
secutor too, of reformers now.'
Pari. Hist. vol. xxxi. p. 532 ;
compare voL xxxiii. p. 659. So
too Lord Campbell (Chief -Jus-
tices, vol. ii. p. 544) : ' He after-
wards tried to hang a few of his
brother reformers who continued
steady in the cause.' See fur-
ther, on this damning fact in the
career of Pitt, CampbclVs Chan-
cellors, vol. vii. p. 105; Broug-
ham's Statesmen, vol. ii. p. 21 ;
Bclsham's History, vol. ix. pp.
79, 242; Life of Cartwright,
vol. i. p. 198 ; and even a letter
from the mild and benevolent
Roscoe, in Life of Boscoe, by his
Son, vol i. p. 113.
448
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
of which his royal master had set his heart. 259 Because
George III. detested the French, of whom he knew as
much as he knew of the inhabitants of Kamtchatka or
of Tibet, Pitt, contrary to his own judgment, engaged
in a war with France by which England was seriously
imperilled, and the English people burdened with a
debt that their remotest posterity will be unable to
pay. 260 But, notwithstanding all this, when Pitt, only
a few years before his death, showed a determination to
concede to the Irish some small share of their undoubted
rights, the king dismissed him from office ; and the
king's friends, as they were called, 261 expressed their
259 Suck was the king's zeal in
favour of the slave-trade, that in
1770 'he issued an instruction
under his own hand commanding
the governor (of Virginia), upon
pain of the highest displeasure,
to assent to no law hy which the
importation of slaves should be
in any respect prohibited or ob-
structed.' Bancroft's American
Revolution, vol. iii. p. 456 : so
that, as Mr. Bancroft indignantly
observes, p. 469, while the courts
of law had decided ' that as soon
as any slave set his foot on Eng-
lish ground he becomes free, the
king of England stood in the path
of humanity, and made himself
the pillar of the colonial slave-
trade.' The shuffling conduct of
Pitt in this matter makes it hard
for any honest man to forgive him.
Compare Brougham's States-
men, vol. ii. pp. 14, 103-105 ;
Russell's Mem. of Fox, vol. iii. pp.
131, 278, 279 ; Belsham's Hist, of
Great Britain, vol. x. pp. 34, 35 ;
Life of Wakefield, vol. i. p. 197 ;
Porter's Progress of the Nation,
vol. iii. p. 426 ; Holland's Mem.
of the Whig Parti/, vol. ii. p. 157 ;
-and the striking remarks of Fran-
cis, in Pari. Hist. vol. xxxii. p. 949.
260 That Pitt wished to remain
at peace, and was hurried into
the war with France by the in-
fluence of the court, is admitted
by the best-informed writers, men
in other respects of different
opinions. See, for instance,
Brougham's Statesmen, vol. ii.
p. 9 ; Rogers's Introduction to
Burke's Works, p. lxxxiv. ;
Nicholls's Recollections, vol. ii.
pp. 155, 200.
261 The mere existence of such
a party, with such a name, shows
how, in a political point of view,
England was recedingduring this
period from the maxims estab-
lished at the Revolution. Re-
specting this active faction, com-
pare the indignant remarks of
Burke (Works,vol.i. p. 133) with
Albemarle's Rockingham, vol. i.
pp. 5, 307 ; Buckingham's Mem. of
George HI. vol. i. p. 284, vol. ii. p.
154 ; RusselVsMem. ofFox,\ol. i.
pp. 61, 120, vol. ii. pp. 50, 77;
Bedford Correspond, vol. iii.
p. xlv. ; Parr's Works, vol. viii.
p. 513; Butler's Reminiscences,
vol. i. p. 74 ; Burke's Correspond.
vol. i. p. 352 ; Walpole's George
HI. vol. iv. p. 315; The Gren-
ville Papers, vol. ii. pp. 33, 34,
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 449
indignation at the presumption of a minister who could
oppose the wishes of so benign and gracious a master. 262
And when, unhappily for his own fame, this great man
determined to return to power, he could only recover
office by conceding that very point for which he had
relinquished it ; thus setting the mischievous example
of the minister of a free country sacrificing his own
judgment to the personal prejudices of the reigning
sovereign.
As it was hardly possible to find other ministers, who
to equal abilities would add equal subservience, it is not
surprising that the highest offices were constantly filled
by men of notorious incapacity. 263 Indeed, the king
seemed to have an instinctive antipathy to everything
great and noble. During the reign of George II. the
elder Pitt had won for himself a reputation which
covered the world, and had carried to an unprecedented
height the glories of the English name. 264 He, however,
vol. iii. p. 57, vol. iv. p. 79, 152,
219, 303; Pari. Hist. voL xvi.
pp. 841, 973, vol. xviii. pp. 1005,
1246, vol. xix. pp. 435, 856,
vol. xxii. pp. 650, 1173.
262 See an extraordinary pas-
sage in Pellew's Life ofSidmouth,
vol. i. p. 334.
263 This decline in the abilities
of official men was noticed by
Burke, in 1770, as a necessary
consequence of the new system.
Compare Thoughts on the Present
Discontents {Burke's WorJcs,\o\. i.
p. 149) with his striking sum-
mary {Pari. Hist. vol. xvi. p. 879)
of the degeneracy during the first
nine years of George III. ' Thus
situated, the question at last was
not, who could do the public
business best, but who would
undertake to do it at all. Men
of talents and integrity would
not accept of employments where
they were neither allowed to
exercise their judgment nor dis-
70L. I. G
play the rectitude of their hearts.
In 1780, when the evil had be-
come still more obvious, the same
great observer denounced it in
his celebrated address to his Bris-
tol constituents. ' At present,'
he 6ays, ' it is the plan of the
court to make its servants insig-
nificant.' Burke's Works, vol. i.
p. 257. See further Parr's Works,
vol. iii. pp. 256, 260, 261.
24 ' The military success of his
administration is related in very
strong language, but not unfairly,
in Mahon's Hist, of England,
vol. iv. pp. 108, 185, 186, and see
the admirable summary in
Brougham's Statesmen, vol. i.
pp. 33, 34 : and for evidence of
the fear with which he inspired
the enemies of England, compare
Mahon ,vol. v. p. 165 note ; Bed-
ford Correspond, vol. iii. pp. 87,
246, 247; Walpole's Letters to
Mann, vol. i. p. 304, edit. 1843 ;
Walpole's Mem. of George HI.
450
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
as the avowed friend of popular rights, strenuously
opposed the despotic principles of the court ; and for
this reason he was hated by George III. with a hatred
that seemed barely compatible with a sane mind. 265
Fox was one of the greatest statesmen of the eighteenth
century, and was better acquainted than any other with
the character and resources of those foreign nations
with which our own interests were intimately con-
nected. 260 To this rare and important knowledge he
added a sweetness and an amenity of temper which
extorted the praises even of his political opponents. 267
But he, too, was the steady supporter of civil and
religious liberty ; and he, too, was so detested by
George III., that the king, with his own hand, struck
his name out of the list of privy councillors, 268 and
vol. ii. p. 232 ; and the reluctant
admission in Georqel, Memoires,
vol. i. pp. 79, 80.
285 Lord Brougham {Sketches
of Statesmen, vol. i. pp. 22, 33)
has published striking evidence
of what he calls ' the truly-
savage feelings' with which
George III. regarded Lord Chat-
ham (compare Bussell's Mem. of
Fox, vol. i. p. 129). Indeed, the
sentiments of the king were even
displayed in the arrangements at
the funeral of the great minister.
Note in Adolphus's Hist, of
George III. vol. ii. p. 568 ; and
for other evidence of ill-will, see
two notes from the king to Lord
North, in Mahon's Hist, of Eng-
land, vol. vi. appendix, pp. lii.
liv. ; The GrenvUle Papers, vol. ii.
p. 386 ; Bancrofts American Re-
volution, vol. i. p. 438.
266 Lord Brougham (Sketches
of Statesmen, vol. i. p. 219) says :
*It may be questioned if any
politician, in any age, ever knew
so thoroughly the various inter-
«sts and the exact position of all
the countries with which his own
had dealings to conduct or rela-
tions to maintain.' See also
Parr's Works, vol. iv. pp. 14, 15 ;
Bussell's Mem. of Fox, vol. i.
pp. 320, 321, vol.ii. pp. 91, 243 ;
Bissefs Life of Burke, voL i.
p. 338.
287 Burke, even after the French
Eevolution, said, that Fox ' was
of the most artless, candid, open,
and benevolent disposition, dis-
interested in the extreme ; of a
temper mild and placable even
to a fault, without one drop of
gall in his whole constitution.'
Speech on the Army Estimates
in 1790, in Pari. Hist. vol. xxviii.
p. 356. For further evidence,
compare Alison's Hist, of Europe,
vol. vii. p. 171 ; Holland's Mem.
of the Whig Party, vol. i. pp. 3,
273; Trotter's Mem. of Fox, pp.
xi. xii., 24, 178, 415.
48S Adolphus's Hist, of George
III. vol. vi. p. 692. A singular
circumstance connected with this
wanton outrage is related in the
Mem. of Holcroft, vol. iii. p. 60.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 451
declared that lie would rather abdicate the throne than
admit him to a share in the government. 269
While this unfavourable change was taking place in
the sovereign and ministers of the country, a change
equally unfavourable was being effected in the second
branch of the imperial legislature. Until the reign of
George III., the House of Lords was decidedly superior
to the House of Commons in the liberality and general
accomplishments of its members. It is true, that in
both houses there prevailed a spirit which must be
called narrow and superstitious, if tried by the larger
standard of the present age. But among the peers
such feelings were tempered by an education that raised
them far above those country gentlemen and ignorant
fox-hunting squires of whom the lower house was then
chiefly composed. From this superiority in their
knowledge, there naturally followed a larger and more
Hberal turn of thought than was possessed by those
who were called the representatives of the people. The
result was, that the old Tory spirit, becoming gradually
weaker in the upper house, took refuge in the lower ;
where, for about sixty years after the Revolution, the
high-church party and the friends of the Stuarts formed
a dangerous faction. 270 Thus, for instance, the two
men who rendered the most eminent services to the
Hanoverian dynasty, and therefore to the liberties of
2,9 Compare Adolphus's Hist. 27 ° In 1725, the Duke of Whar-
of George III. vol. iv. pp. 107, ton, in a letter to the Pretender,
108, with RussclFs Mem. of Fox, after mentioning some proceed-
vol. i. pp. 191, 287, 288, vol. ii. ings in the Commons, adds, 'In
p. 44. Dutens, who had much the House of Lords our number
intercourse with English politi- is so small, that any behaviour
cians, heard of the threat of abdi- there will be immaterial.' Ma-
cationinl784. Dutens' Memoires, hon's Hist, of England, vol. ii.
vol. iii. p. 104. Lord Holland appendix, p. xxiii. See also, re-
says, that during the fatal illness specting the greater strength of
of Fox, ' the king had watched the Tories in the House of Com-
tho progress of Mr. Fox's disor- mons, Somers Tracts, vol. xi.
dor. He could hardly suppress p. 242, vol. xiii. pp. 524, 531;
his indecent exultation at his Campbell's Chancellors, vol. iv-
death.' Hollands Mem. of the p. 158 ; CampbeWs Chief-Jus*
Whig Party, vol. ii. p. 49. tices, vol. ii. p. 156.
go 2
452 ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
England, -were undoubtedly Somers and "Walpole.
Both of them were remarkable for their principles of
toleration, and both of them owed their safety to the
interference of the House of Lords. Somers, early in
the eighteenth century, was protected by the peers from
the scandalous prosecution instituted against him by
the other house of parliament. 271 Forty years after
-this, the Commons, who wished to hunt "Walpole to
the death, carried up a bill encouraging witnesses to
appear against him by remitting to them the penalties
to which they might be liable. 272 This barbarous mea-
sure had been passed through the lower house without
the least difficulty ; but in the Lords it was rejected by
a preponderance of nearly two to one. 273 In the same
way the Schism Act, by which the friends of the church
subjected the dissenters to a cruel persecution, 27,1 was
hurried through the Commons by a large and eager
majority. 276 In the Lords, however, the votes were
nearly balanced ; and although the bill was passed,
amendments were added by which the violence of its
provisions was in some degree softened. 276
271 Compare Vernon Corre- it was said that • the Lords were
spond. vol. iii. p. 149, with Bur- betwixt the devil and the deep
nets Own Time, vol. iv. p. 504. sea,' the devil being Walpole.
Burnet says, ' All the Jacobites Marchmont Papers, vol. ii. p. 59.
joined to support the pretensions Compare Bishop Newton's Life of
of the Commons.' The Commons Hiinself, p. 60.
complained that the Lords had 274 See an account of some of
shown ' such an indulgence to the its provisions- in Mdhon's Hist.
person accused as is not to be of England, vol. i. pp. 80, 81.
paralleled in any parliamentary The object of the bill is frankly
proceedings.' Pari. Hist. vol. v. stated in Pari. Hist. vol. vi.
p. 1294. See also their angry p. 1349, where we are informed
remonstrance, pp. 1314,1315. that 'as the farther discourage-
272 Mahoris Hist, of England, ment and even ruin of the dis-
vol. iii. p. 122. senters was thought necessary
273 ' Content, 47 ; non-content, for accomplishing this scheme, it
92.' Pari. Hist. vol. xii. p. 711. was begun with the famous
Mr. Phillimore (Mem. of Lyttle- Schism Bill.'
ton, vol. i. p. 213) ascribes this 27S By 237 to 126. Pari. Hist.
to the exertions of Lord Hard- vol. vi. p. 1351.
wicke; but the state of parties 276 Mahon's Hist, of England,
in the upper house is sufficient vol. i. p. 83 ; Bunbury's Corre-
explanation; and even in 1735 spond. of Hanmer, p. 48. The
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTTJBY. 453
This superiority of the upper house over the lower
was, on the whole, steadily maintained during the reign,
of George II. ; 277 the ministers not being anxious to
strengthen the high-church party in the Lords, and the
king himself so rarely suggesting fresh creations as to
cause a belief that he particularly disliked increasing
their numbers. 278
It was reserved for George LTL, by an unsparing use
of his prerogative, entirely to change the character of
the upper house, and thus lay the foundation for that
disrepute into which since then the peers have been
constantly falling. The creations he made were numer-
ous beyond all precedent ; their object evidently being
to neutralize the liberal spirit hitherto prevailing, and
thus turn the House of Lords into an engine for re-
sisting the popular wishes, and stopping the progress
of reform. 279 How completely this plan succeeded, is
well known to the readers of our history ; indeed, it
was sure to be successful, considering the character of
the men who were promoted. They consisted almost
entirely of two classes : of country gentlemen, re-
markable for nothing but their wealth, and the num-
ber of votes their wealth enabled them to control; 280
and of mere lawyers, who had risen to judicial appoint-
ments partly from their professional learning, but
bill was carried in the Lords by Pari. Hist. vol. xviii. p. 1418, vol.
77 against 72. xxiv. p. 493, vol. xxvii. p. 1069,
277 ' If we scrutinize the votes vol. xxix. pp. 1334, 1494, vol.
of the peers from the period of xxxiii. pp. 90, 602, 1315.
the revolution to the death of 28 ° This was too notorious to
George II., we shall find a very bo denied ; and in the House of
great majority of the old English Commons, in 1800, Nicholls
nobility to have been the advo- taunted the Government with
catesofWhigprinciples.' Cooke's * holding out a peerage, or eleva-
Hist. of Party, vol. iii. p. 363. tion to a higher rank in the
27i Compare Harris s Life of peerago, to every man who could
Hardwicke, vol. iii. p. 519, with procure a nomination to a certain
the conversation between Sir number of seats in parliament.'
EobertWalpole and Lord Hervey, Pari. Hist. vol. xxxv. p. 762.
in Hervey' s Mem. of George U. So too Sheridan, in 1792, said
vol. ii. p. 251, edit. 1848. (vol. xxix. p. 1333), 'In this
279 Cooke's Hist, of Party, country peerages had been bar-
vol. iii. rp. 363, 361, 365, 463 ; tered for election interest.'
454 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
chiefly from the zeal with which they repressed the
popular liberties, and favoured the royal prerogative. 281
That this is no exaggerated description, may be ascer-
tained by any one who will consult the lists of the new
peers made by George III. Here and there Ave find an
eminent man, whose public services were so notorious
that it was impossible to avoid rewarding them;
but, putting aside those who were in a manner forced
upon the sovereign, it would be idle to deny that the
remainder, and of course the overwhelming majority,
were marked by a narrowness and illiberality of senti-
ment which, more than anything else, brought the
whole order into contempt. 282 "No great thinkers ; no
great writers ; no great orators ; no great statesmen ;
none of the true nobility of the land, — were to be found
among the spurious nobles created by George III. Nor
were the material interests of the country better repre-
sented in this strange composition. Among the most
important men in England, those engaged in banking
and commerce held a high place : since the end of the
seventeenth century their influence had rapidly in-
281 On this great influx of who were more independent in
lawyers into the House of Lords, their position, and cared nothing
most of whom zealously advo- for the chance of future office,
cated arbitrary principles, see expressed themselves in terms
Belsham's Hist, of Great Britain, such as had never before been
vol. vii. pp. 266, 267 ; Adolphus's heard within the walls of Par-
Hist. of George III. vol. iii. liament. Kolle, for instance,
p. 363; Pari. Hist. vol. xxxv. declared that 'there had been
p. 1523. persons created peers during the
282 It was foretold at the time, present minister's power, who
that the effect of the numerous were not fit to be his grooms.'
creations made during Pitt's Pari. Hist. vol. xxvii. p. 1198.
power would be to lower the Out of doors, the feeling of con-
House of Lords. Compare But- tempt was equally strong ; see
ler's Reminiscences, vol. i. p. 76, Life of Cartwright, vol. i. p. 278 ;
with Erskine's speech in Pari, and see the remark even of the
Hist. vol. xxix. p. 1330 ; and see courtly Sir W. Jones, on the
Sheridan's speech, vol. xxxiii. increasing disregard for learning
p. 1197. But their language, shown by 'the nobles of our
indignant as it is, was restrained days.' Preface to Persian Gram-
by a desire of not wholly break- mar, in Jones's Works, vol. ii.
ing with the court. Other men, p. 125.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 455
creased ; while their intelligence, their clear, methodical
habits, and their general knowledge of affairs, made
them every way superior to those classes from whom
the upper house was now recruited. But in the reign
of George III. claims of this sort were little heeded ;
and we are assured by Burke, whose authority on such
a subject no one will dispute, that there never had been
a time in which so few persons connected with com-
merce were raised to the peerage. 283
It would be endless to collect all the symptoms which
mark the political degeneracy of England during this
period ; a degeneracy the more striking, because it was
opposed to the spirit of the time, and because it took
place in spite of a great progress, both social and intel-
lectual. How that progress eventually stopped the
political reaction, and even forced it to retrace its own
steps, will appear in another part of this work ; but
there is one circumstance which I cannot refrain from
noticing at some length, since it affords a most interest-
ing illustration of the tendency of public affairs, while at
the same time it exhibits the character of one of the
greatest men, and, Bacon alone excepted, the greatest
thinker, who has ever devoted himself to the practice of
English politics.
The slightest sketch of the reign of G eorge HI. would
indeed bo miserably imperfect if it were to omit the
name of Edmund Burke. The studies of this extra-
ordinary man not only covered the whole field of poli-
tical inquiry, 284 but extended to an immense variety of
283 In his Thoughts on French made Lord Carrington. Wraxall
Affairs, written in 1791, he says, is an indifferent authority, and
■ ' At no period in the history of there may be other cases ; but
England have so few peers been they were certainly very few, and
taken out of trade, or from I cannot call any to mind,
families newly created by com- "** Nicholls, who knew him,
merce.' Burke's Works, vol. i. says, 'The political knowledge
p. 566. Indeed, according to of Mr. Burke might be consi-
Sir Nathaniel Wraxall (Posthu- dered almost as an encj T elopa?dia;
mous Memoirs, vol. i. pp. 66, 67, every man who approached him
Lond. 1836), the only instance received instruction from hb
when George III. broke this rule stores.' Nicholls s Recollections,
was when Smith the banker was vol. L p. 20.
456
ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
subjects, 'which, though apparently unconnected with
politics, do in reality bear upon them as important
adjuncts ; since, to a philosophic mind, every branch of
knowledge lights up even those that seem most remote
from it. The eulogy passed upon him by one who was-
no mean judge of men, 285 might be justified, and more
than justified, by passages from his works, as well as
by the opinions of the most eminent of his contem-
poraries. 286 Thus it is, that while his insight into the
philosophy of jurisprudence has gained the applause of
lawyers, 287 his acquaintance with the whole range and
theory of the fine arts has won the admiration of art-
ists ; 288 a striking combination of two pursuits, often,
285 'The excursions of his genius
are immense. His imperial fancy
has laid all nature under tri-
bute, and has collected riches
from every scene of the creation,
and every walk of art.' Works
of Robert Hall, London, 1846,
p. 196. So, too, Wilberforce
says of him, ' He had come late
into Parliament, and had had
time to lay in vast stores of
knowledge. The field from which
he drew his illustrations was
magnificent. Like the fabled
object of the fairy's favours,
whenever he opened his mouth
pearls and diamonds dropped
from him.' Life of Wilberforce,
vol. i. p. 159.
286 Lord Thurlow is said to
have declared, what I suppose is
now the general opinion of com-
petent judges, that the fame of
Burke would survive that of Pitt
and Fox. Butler's 'Reminiscences,
vol. i. p. 169. But the noblest
eulogy on *Burke was pronounced
by a man far greater than Thur-
low. In 1790, Fox stated in the
House of Commons, ' that if he
were to piit all the political in-
formation which he had learnt
from books, all which he had
gained from science, and all
which ary knowledge of the
world and its affairs had taught
him, into one scale, and the im-
provement which he had derived
from his right hon. friend's in-
struction and conversation were
placed in the other, he should be
at a loss to decide to which to
give the preference.' Pari. Hist..
vol. xxviii. p. 363.
287 Lord Campbell {Lives of the
Chief -Justices, vol. ii. p. 443)
says, ' Burke, a philosophic states-
man, deeply imbued with the
scientific principles of jurispru-
dence.' See also, on his know-
ledge of law, Butler's Reminis-
cences, vol. i. p. 131; and Bisset's
Life of BurJce, vol. i. p. 230.
2,8 Barry, in his celebrated
Letter to the Dilettanti Society,
regrets that Burke should have
been diverted from the study of
the fine arts into the pursuit of
politics, because he had one of
those 'minds of an admirable
expansion and catholicity, so as
to embrace the whole concerns
of art, ancient as well as modern,
domestic as well as foreign/
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUEY. 457
though erroneously, held to be incompatible with each
other. At the same time, and notwithstanding the occu-
pations of political life, we know on good authority, that
he had paid great attention to the history and filiation
of languages ; 289 a vast subject, which within the last
thirty years has become an important resource for the
study of the human mind, but the very idea of which
had, in its large sense, only begun to dawn upon a
few solitary thinkers. And, what is even more remark-
able, when Adam Smith came to London full of those
discoveries which have immortalized his name, he found
to his amazement that Burke had anticipated conclu-
sions the maturing of which cost Smith himself many
years of anxious and unremitting labour. 290
To these great inquiries, which touch the basis of
social philosophy, Burke added a considerable acquaint-
ance with physical science, and even with the practice
and routine of mechanical trades. All this was so
digested and worked into his mind, that it was ready
on every occasion ; not, like the knowledge of ordinary
politicians, broken and wasted in fragments, but blended
into a complete whole, fused by a genius that gave life
even to the dullest pursuits. This, indeed, was the
Barrtfs Works, vol. ii. p. 538, p. 427. Winstanley writes, ' It
4to, 1809. In the Annual Be- would have been exceedingly
gkter for 1798, p. 329, 2nd edit., difficult to have met with a per-
it is stated that Sir Joshua son who knew more of the phi-
Reynolds ' deemed Burke the losophy, the history, and filiation
best judge of pictures that he of languages, or of the principles
ever knew.' See further Works of etymological deduction, than
of Sir J. Reynolds, Lond. 1846, Mr. Burke.'
vol. i. p. 185; and Bissets Life ^ Adam Smith told Burke,
of Burke, vol. ii. p. 257. A some- 'after they had conversed on
what curious conversation be- subjects of political economy,
tween Burke and Reynolds, on a that he was the only man who,
point of art, is preserved in Hoi- without communication, thought
crofts Memoirs, vol. ii. pp. 276, on these topics exactly as he
277. did.' Bisset's Life o) Burke,
im See a letter from Winstan- vol. ii. p. 429 ; and see Prior's
ley, the Camden Professor of Life of Burke, p. 58 ; and on his
Ancient History, in Bixsct's Life knowledge of political economy,
of Burke, vol. ii. pp. 390, 391, Brougham's Sketches of States-
and in Prior's Life of Burke, men, vol. i. p. 205.
458 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
characteristic of Burke, that in his hands nothing was
barren. Such "was the strength and exuberance of his
intellect, that it bore fruit in all directions, and could
confer dignity upon the meanest subjects, by showing
their connexion with general principles and the part
they have to play in the great scheme of human affairs.
But what has always appeared to me still more
remarkable in the character of Burke, is the singular
sobriety with which he employed his extraordinary
acquirements. During the best part of his life, his
political principles, so far from being speculative, were
altogether practical. This is particularly striking, be-
cause he had every temptation to adopt an opposite
course. He possessed materials for generalization far
more ample than any politician of his time, and he had
a mind eminently prone to take large views. On many
occasions, and indeed whenever an opportunity occurred,
he showed his capacity as an original and speculative
thinker. But the moment he set foot on political
ground, he changed his method. In questions con-
nected with the accumulation and distribution of wealth
he saw that it was possible, by proceeding from a few
simple principles, to construct a deductive science
available for the commercial and financial interests of
the country. Further than this he refused to advance,
because he knew that, with this single exception, every
department of politics was purely empirical, and was
likely long to remain so. Hence it was, that he recog-
nized in all its bearings that great doctrine, which even
in our own days is too often forgotten, that the aim
of the legislator should be, not truth, but expediency.
Looking at the actual state of knowledge, he was forced
to admit, that all political principles have been raised
by hasty induction from limited facts ; and that, there-
fore, it is the part of a wise man, when he adds to the
facts, to revise the induction, and, instead of sacrificing
practice to principles, modify the principles that he may
change the practice. Or, to put this in another way,
he lays it down that political principles are at the best
but the product of human reason ; while political prac-
tice has to do with human nature and human passions,
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 459
of which reason forms but a part ; 291 and that, on this
account, the proper business of a statesman is, to contrive
the means by which certain ends may be effected, leaving
it to the general voice of the country to determine what
those ends shall be, and shaping his own conduct, not
according to his own principles, but according to the
wishes of the people for whom he legislates, and whom
he is bound to obey. 292
291 'Politics ought to be ad-
justed, not to human reasonings,
but to human nature ; of 'which
the reason is but a part, and by
no means the greatest part.'
Observations on a late State of the
Nation, in Burke's Works, vol. i.
p. 113. Hence the distinction he
had constantly in view between
the generalizations of philoso-
phy, which ought to be impreg-
nable, and those of politics,
which must be fluctuating ; and
hence in his noble work, Thoughts
on the Cause of the present Dis-
contents, he says (vol. i. p. 136),
'No lines can be laid down for
civil or political wisdom. They
are a matter incapable of exact
definition.' See also p. 151, on
which he grounds his defence of
the spirit of party ; it being evident
that if truth were the prime object
of the political art, the idea of
party, as such, would be inde-
fensible. Compare with this
the difference between ' la veritd
en soi ' and ' la verite sociale,' as
expounded by M. Rey in his
Science Sociale, vol. ii. p. 322,
Paris, 1842.
282 In 1780 he plainly told
the House of Commons that
'the people are the masters.
They have only to express their
wants at large and in gross. We
are the expert artists; we are
the skilful workmen, to 6hape
their desires into perfect form,
and to fit the utensil to the use.
They are the sufferers, they tell
the symptoms of the complaint ;
but we know the exact seat of
the disease, and how to apply
the remedy according to the
rules of art. How shocking
would it be to see us pervert
our skill into a sinister and ser-
vile dexterity, for the purpose of
evading our duty, and defraud-
ing our employers, who are our
natural lords, of the object of
their just expectations ! ' Burke's
Works, vol. i. p. 254. In 1777,
in his Letter to the Sheriffs of
Bristol (Works, vol. i. p. 216),
' In effect, to follow, not to force,
the public inclination ; to give a
direction, a form, a technical
dress, and a specific sanction, to
the general sense of the commu-
nity, — is the true end of legis-
lature.' In his Letter on the
Duration of Parliament (vol. ii.
p. 430), ' It would be dreadful,
indeed, if there was any power
in the nation capable of resist-
ing its unanimous desire, or even
the desire of any very great and
decided majority of the people.
The people may be deceived in
their choice of an object. But I can
scarcely conceive any choice they
can make to be so very mischievous,
as the existence of any human
force capable of resisting it.' So,
460 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
It is these views, and the extraordinary ability with
which they were advocated, which make the appearance
of Burke a memorable epoch in our political history. 293
"We had, no doubt, other statesmen .before him, who
denied the validity of general principles in politics ;
but their denial was only the happy guess of ignorance,
and they rejected theories which they had never taken
the pains to study. Burke rejected them because he
knew them. It was his rare merit that, notwithstand-
ing every inducement to rely upon his own generaliza-
tions, he resisted the temptation ; that, though rich in
all the varieties of political knowledge, he made his
opinions subservient to the march of events ; that he
recognized as the object of government, not the pre-
servation of particular institutions, nor the propagation
of particular tenets, but the happiness of the people at
large ; and, above all, that he insisted upon an obedience
to the popular wishes, which no statesman before him
had paid, and which too many statesmen since him
have forgotten. Our country, indeed, is still full of
those vulgar politicians, against whom Burke raised
his voice ; feeble and shallow men, who, having spent
their little force in resisting the progress of reform,.
too, he says (vol. i. pp. 125, principles of policy on which it is
214), that when government and supported, because I think them
the people differ, government is extremely dangerous.' Pari. Hist.
generally in the wrong : com- vol. xvii. p. 480.
pare pp. 217, 218, 276, vol. ii. 293 The effect which Burke's
p. 440. And to give only one profound views produced in the
more instance, but a very deci- House of Commons, where, how-
sive one, he, in 1772, when ever, few men were able to un-
speaking on a Bill respecting the derstand them in their full ex-
Importation and Exportation of tent, is described by Dr. Hay,
Corn, said, ' On this occasion I who was present at one of his
give way to the present Bill, not great -speeches ; which, he says,,
because I approve of the mea- * seemed a kind of new political
sure in itself, but because I philosophy.' Burke's Correspond.
think it prudent to yield to the vol. i. p. 103. Compare a letter
spirit of the times. The people from Lee, written in the same
will have it so ; and it is not for year, 1766, in Forster's Life of
their representatives to say nay. Goldsmith, vol. ii. pp. 38, 39 ;
I cannot, however, help entering and in Bunbury's Correspond, of
my protest against the general Hatimcr, p. 458.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 461
find themselves at length, compelled to yield ; and
then, so soon as they have exhausted the artifices of
their petty schemes, and, by their tardy and ungraceful
concessions, have sown the seed of future disaffection,
they turn upon the age by which they have been
bafiled ; they mourn over the degeneracy of mankind ;
they lament the decay of public spirit ; and they weep
for the fate of a people, who have been so regardless of
the wisdom of their ancestors, as to tamper with a
constitution already hoary with the prescription of
centuries.
Those who have studied the reign of George III. will
easily understand the immense advantage of having a
man like Burke to oppose these miserable delusions ;
delusions which have been fatal to many countries, and
have more than once almost ruined our own. 294 They
will also understand that, in the opinion of the king,
this great statesman was, at best, but an eloquent de-
claimer, to be classed in the same category with Fox
and Chatham ; all three ingenious men, but unsafe,
unsteady, quite unfit for weighty concerns, and by no
means calculated for so exalted an honour as admission
into the royal councils. In point of fact, during the
thirty years Burke was engaged in public life, he
never once held an office in the cabinet ; 295 and the
204 Burke was never weary of most flourished : and what, then,
attacking the common argument, can no two things subsist toge-
that, because a country has long ther but as cause and effect ?
flourished under some particular May not a man have enjoyed
custom, therefore the custom better health during the time
must be good. See an admira- that he walkod with an oaken
ble instance of this in his speech stick, than afterwards, when he
on the power of the attorney- changed it for a cane, without
general to filo informations ex supposing, like the Druids, that
officio ; where ■ he likens such there are occult virtues in oak,
reasoners to the father of Scrib- and that the stick and the health
lerus, who 'venerated the rust were cause and effect?' Pari.
and canker which exalted a Hist. vol. xvi. pp. 1190, 1191.
brazen pot-lid into the shield of 29J This, as Mr. Cooke truly
a hero.' He adds: 'But, sir, says, is an instance of aristocratic
we are told that the time during prejudice ; but it is certain that
which this power existed, is the a hint from George III. would
time during which monarchy have remedied the shameful
462
ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
only occasions on which he occupied even a subordi-
nate post, . were in those very short intervals when the
fluctuations of politics compelled the appointment of
a liberal ministry.
Indeed the part taken by Burke in public affairs must
have been very galling to a king who thought every-
thing good that was old, and everything right that was
established. 296 For, so far was this remarkable man in
advance of his contemporaries, that there are few of
the great measures of the present generation which he
did not anticipate, and zealously defend. Not only
did he attack the absurd laws against forestalling and
regrating, 287 but, by advocating the freedom of trade,
he struck at the root of all similar prohibitions. 298 He
supported those just claims of the Catholics, 299 which,
neglect. Cooke's Hist, of Party,
vol. iii. p. 277, 278. _
296 It is easy to imagine how
George III. must have been
offended by such sentiments as
these : ' I am not of the opinion
of those gentlemen who are
against disturbing the public re-
pose; Hike a clamour whenever
there is an abuse. The fire-bell
at midnight disturbs your sleep,
but it keeps you from being
burnt in your bed. The hue
and cry alarms the county, but
preserves all the property of .the
province.' Burke's speech on
Prosecutions for Libels, in 1771,
in Pari. Hist. vol. xvii. p. 54.
297 He moved their repeal.
Pari. Hist. vol. xxvi. p. 1169.
Even Lord Chatham issued, in
1766, a proclamation against
forestallers and regraters, very
much to the admiration of Lord
Mahon, who says, 'Lord Chat-
ham acted with characteristic
energy.' Mahon '& \ Hist, of Eng-
land, vol. v. p. 166. More than
thirty years later, and after
Burke's death, Lord Kenyon,
then chief-justice, eulogised these
preposterous laws. Holland's
Mem. of the Whig Party, vol. i.
p. 167. Compare Adolphus's
Hist, of George III. vol. vii.
p. 406 ; and Cockbvrn's Memo-
rials of his Time, Edinb. 1856,
p. 73.
298 'That liberality in the
commercial system, which, I
trust, will one day be adopted.'
Burke's Works, vol. i. p. 223.
And, in his letter to Burgh {Ibid.
vol. ii. p. 409), 'But that to
which I attached myself the most
particularly, was to fix the prin-
ciple of a free trade in all the
ports of these islands, as founded
in justice, and beneficial to the
whole ; but principally to this,
the seat of the supreme power.'
209 p r ior's Life of Burke,
p. 467 ; Burke's Works, vol. i.
pp. 263-271, 537-561, vol. ii.
pp. 431-447. He refutes (vol. i.
p. 548) the notion that the coro-
nation oath was intended to
bind the crown in its legislative
capacity. Compare Mem. of
Mackintosh, vol. i. pp. 170, 171,
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 463
during his lifetime, were obstinately refused ; but which
were conceded, many years after his death, as the only
means of preserving the integrity of the empire. He
supported the petition of the Dissenters, that they
might be relieved from the restrictions to which, for
the benefit of the Church of England, they were sub-
jected. 300 Into other departments of politics he carried
the same spirit. He opposed the cruel laws against
insolvents, 301 by which, in the time of George III., our
statute-book was still defaced ; and he vainly attempted
to soften the penal code, 302 the increasing severity of
which was one of the worst features of that bad
reign. 303 He wished to abolish the old plan of enlist-
ing soldiers for hie ; 304 a barbarous and impolitic prac-
tice, as the English legislature began to perceive several
years later. 305 He attacked the slave-trade ; 306 which,
being an ancient usage, the king wished to preserve, as
with Butler's Beminiscences,xo\. i.
p. 134.
300 Pari. Hist.rol. xvii. pp.435,
436, vol. xx. p. 306. See also
Bur Ms Correspondence, vol. ii.
pp. 17, 18; and Prior's Life of
Burke, p. 143.
301 Burke's Works, vol. i.
pp. 261, 262, part of his speech
at Bristol.
302 Prior's Life of Burke,
p. 317. See also his admirable
remarks, in Works, vol. ii. p. 417;
and his speech, in Pari. Hist.
vol. xxviii. p. 146.
303 On this increasing cruelty
of the English laws, compare
Parr's Works, vol. iv. pp. 150,
259, with Pari. Hist. vol. xxii.
p. 271, vol. xxiv. p. 1222,
vol. xxvi. p. 1057, vol. xxviii.
p. 143 ; and, in regard to the
execution of them, see Life of
Bomilly, by Himself, vol. i. p. 66 ;
and Alison's Hist, of Europe,
vol. ix. p. 620.
m In one short speech (Pari.
Hist. vol. xx. pp. 150, 151), he
has almost exhausted the argu-
ments against enlistment for life.
3M In 1806, that is nine years
after the death of Burke, parlia-
ment first authorized enlistment
for a term of years. See an ac-
count of the debates in Alison's
Hist, of Europe, vol. vii. pp. 380-
391. Compare Nichols's Illustra-
tions of the Eighteenth Century,
vol. v. p. 475 ; and Holland's
Mem. of the Whig Party, vol. ii.
p. 116.
306 Prior's Life of Burke, p.
316; Pari. Hist. vol. xxvii. p.
502, vol. xxviii. pp. 69, 96 ; and
Life of WUberforce, vol. i. pp.
152, 171, contain evidence of his
animosity against the slave-trade,
and a more than sufficient answer
to the ill-natured, and, what is
worse, the ignorant, remark about
Burke, in the Duke of Bucking-
ham's Mem. of George III. voL i.
p. 350.
464
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
part of the British, constitution. 307 He refuted, 308 but,
owing to the prejudices of the age, was unable to sub-
vert, the dangerous power exercised by the judges,
who, in criminal prosecutions for libel, confined the
jury to the "mere question of publication ; thus
taking the real issue into their own hands, and
making themselves the arbiters of the fate of those who
were so unfortunate as to be placed at their bar. 309
And, what many will think not the least of his merits,
he was the first in that long line of financial reformers
to whom we are deeply indebted. 310 Notwithstanding
the difficulties thrown in his way, he carried through
Parliament a series of bills, by which several useless
places were entirely abolished, and, in the single office
of paymaster-general, a saving effected to the country
of 25,000Z. a year. 31 i
These things alone are sufficient to explain the ani-
307 On the respect which George
III. felt for the slave-trade, see
note 259 to this chapter. I might
also have quoted the testimony
of Lord Brougham : ' The court
was decidedly against abolition.
George III. always regarded the
question with abhorrence, as sa-
vouring of innovation.' Broug-
ham's Statesmen, vol. ii. p. 104.
Compare Combe's North America,
vol. i. p. 332.
308 Burke's Works, vol. ii. pp.
4 90-496 ; Pari. Hist. vol. xvii.
pp. 44-55, a very able speech,
delivered in 1771. Compare a
letter to Dowdeswell, in Burke's
Correspond, vol. i. pp. 251, 252.
309 The arguments of Burke
anticipated, by more than twenty
years, Fox's celebrated Libel
Bill, which was not passed till
1792; although, in 1752, juries
had begun, in spite of the judges,
to return general verdicts on the
merits. See CampbelFs Chancel-
lors, vol. v. pp. 238, 243, 341-
345, vol. vi. p. 210 ; and Meyer,
Institutions Judiciaires, vol. ii.
pp. 204, 205, Paris, 1823.
310 Mr. Farr, in his valuable
essay on the statistics of the civil
service (in Journal of Statist.
Soc. vol xii. pp. 103-125), calls
Burke ' one of the first and ablest
financial reformers in parlia-
ment,' p. 104. The truth, how-
ever, is, that he was not only one
of the first, but the first. He
was the first man who laid before
parliament a general and sys-
tematic scheme for diminishing
the expenses of government ; and
his preliminary speech on that
occasion is one of the finest of all
his compositions.
311 Prior's Life of Burke, pp.
206, 234. See also, on the re-
trenchments he effected, Sinclair's
Hist, of the Bevenue, vol. ii. pp.
84, 85 ; Burke's Correspond, vol.
iii. p. 14 ; and Bissetfs Life of
Burke, vol. ii. pp. 57-60.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 465
mosity of a prince whose boast it was, that lie would
bequeath the government to his successor in the same
state as that in which he had received it. There was,
however, another circumstance by which the royal
feelings were still further wounded. The determina-
tion of the king to oppress the Americans was so
notorious that, when the war actually broke out, it was
called the ' king's war,' and those who opposed it were
regarded as the personal enemies of their sovereign. 312
In this, however, as in all other questions, the conduct
of Burke was governed, not by traditions and princi-
ples, such as George III. cherished, but by large views
of general expediency. Burke, in forming his opinions
respecting this disgraceful contest, refused to be guided
by arguments respecting the right of either party. 313
He would not enter into any discussion as to whether
a mother country has the right to tax her colonies, or
whether the colonies have a right to tax themselves.
Such points he left to be mooted by those politicians
* 12 In 1788, Lord Rockingham
said, in the House of Lords, • In-
stead of calling the war, the war
of parliament, or of the people,
it was called the king's war, his
majesty's favourite war.' Pari.
Hist. vol. xix. p. 857. Compare
Cooke's Hist, of Party, vol. ill.
p. 235, with the pungent re-
marks in Walpole's George III.
vol. iv. p. 114. Nicholls {Recol-
lections, vol. i. p. 35) says : ' The
war was considered as the war of
the king personally. Those who
supported it were called the
king's friends ; while those who
wished the country to pause, and
reconsider the propriety of per-
severing in the contest, were
branded as disloyal.'
*•* ' I am not here going into
the distinction of rights, nor
attempting to mark their boun-
daries. I do not enter into these
metaphysical distinctions ; I
VOL. I. H
hate the very sound of them.
Speech on American taxation in
1774, in Burke's Works, voL i.
p. 173. In 1775 (vol. i. p. 192) :
' But my consideration is narrow,
confined, and wholly limited to
the policy of the question.' At
p. 183 : we should act in regard
to America, not 'according to
abstract ideas of right, by no
means according to mere general
theories of government ; the re-
sort to which appears to me, in
our present situation, no better
than arrant trifling.' In one of
his earliest political pamphlets,
written in 1769, he says, that
the arguments of the opponents
of America ' are conclusive; con-
clusive as to right ; but the very
reverse as to policy and practice,'
vol. i. p. 112. Compare a letter
written in 1775, in Burke's Cor-
respond, vol. ii. p. 12.
n
466 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
who, pretending to be gnided by principles, are, in
reality, subjugated by prejudice. 314 For his own part
be was content to compare the cost with tbe gain.
It was enough for Burke that, considering the power
of our American colonies, considering their distance
from us, and considering the probability of their being
aided by France, it was not advisable to exercise the
power ; and it was, therefore, idle to talk of the right.
Hence he opposed the taxation of America, not because
it was unprecedented, but because it was inexpedient.
As a natural consequence he likewise opposed the
Boston-Port Bill, and that shameful bill, to forbid all
intercourse with America, which was not inaptly called
the starvation plan; violent measures, by which the
king hoped to curb the colonies, and break the spirit of
those noble men, whom he hated even more than he
feared. 315
It is certainly no faint characteristic of those times,
that a man like Burke, who dedicated to politics abilities
equal to far nobler things, should, during thirty years,
have received from his prince neither favour nor re-
ward. But George III. was a king whose delight it
was to raise the humble and exalt the meek. His reign,
314 In 1766, George III. writes impending. But what- is truly
to Lord Kockingham {Albemarle's disgraceful is, that, after the war
BocMngham, vol. i. pp. 271, was over, he displayed this ran-
272) : ' Talbot is as right as I cour on an occasion when, of all
can desire, in the Stamp Act ; others, he was hound to suppress
strong for our declaring our it. In 1786, Jefferson and Adams
right, but willing to repeal ! ' In were in England officially, and,
other words, willing to offend as a matter of courtesy to the
the Americans, by a speculative king, made their appearance at
assertion of an abstract right, court. So regardless, however,
but careful to forego the ad- was George III. of the common
vantage which that right might decencies of his station, that he
produce. treated these eminent men with
315 The intense hatred with marked incivility, although they
which George III. regarded the were then paying their respects
Americans, was so natural to to him in his own palace. See
such a mind as his, that one can Tucker's Life of Jefferson, vol. i.
hardly blame his constant ex- p. 220 ; and Mem. and Corresp.
hibition of it during the time of Jefferson, vol. i. p. 54.
that the struggle was actually
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 467
indeed, was the golden age of successful mediocrity ;
an age in "which little men were favoured, and great
men depressed ; when Addington was cherished as a
statesman, and Beattie pensioned as a philosopher ; and
when, in all the walks of public life, the first conditions
of promotion were, to fawn upon ancient prejudices,
and support established abuses.
This neglect of the most eminent of English politi-
cians is highly instructive ; but the circumstances which
followed, though extremely painful, have a still deeper
interest, and are Well worth the attention of those
whose habits of mind lead them to study the intellectual
peculiarities of great men.
For, at this distance of time, when his nearest rela-
tions are no more, it would be affectation to deny that
Burke, during the last few years of his life, fell into a
state of complete hallucination. When the French
Revolution broke out, his mind, already fainting under
the weight of incessant labour, could not support tho
contemplation of an event so unprecedented, so appal-
ling, and threatening results of such frightful magni-
tude. And, when the crimes of that great revolution,
instead of diminishing, continued to increase, then it
was that the feelings of Burke finally mastered his
reason ; the balance tottered ; the proportions of that
gigantic intellect were disturbed. From this moment,
his sympathy with present suffering was so intense,
that he lost all memory of the tyranny by which the
sufferings were provoked. His mind, once so steady,
so little swayed by prejudice and passion, reeled under
the pressure of events which turned the brains of thou-
sands. 316 And whoever will compare the spirit of his
*'• All great revolutions have caused by tho excitement of tho
a direct tendency to increase in- events which occurred in Franco
sanity, as long as they last, and late in the eighteenth century,
probably for some time after- compare Prichard on Insanity in
■wards: but in this, as in other relation to Jurisprudence, 1842,
respects, the French revolution p. 90 ; his Treatise on Insanity,
stands alone in tho number of 1835, pp. 161, 183, 230, 339;
its victims. On the horrible, but Esquirol, Maladies Mentales,
curious subject of madness, vol. i. pp. 43, 53, 54, 66, 211,
hh 2
468 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
latest works with the dates of their publication, will
see how this melancholy change was aggravated by
that bitter bereavement, from which he never rallied,
and which alone was sufficient to prostrate the under-
standing of one in whom the severity of the reason
was so tempered, so nicely poised, by the warmth of the
affections. Never, indeed, can there be forgotten those
touching, those exquisite allusions to the death of that
only son, who was the joy of his soul, and the pride of
his heart, and to whom he fondly hoped to bequeath
the inheritance of his imperishable name. Never can
we forget that image of desolation under which the
noble old man figured his immeasurable grief ' I live
in an inverted order. They who ought to have suc-
ceeded me, have gone before me. They who should
have been to me as posterity, are in the place of ances-
tors. . . . The storm has gone over me, and I lie
like one of those old oaks which the late hurricane has
scattered about me. I am stripped of all my honours ;
I am torn up by the roots, and lie prostrate on the
earth.' 317
It would, perhaps, be displaying a morbid curiosity,
to attempt to raise the veil, and trace the decay of so
mighty a mind. 318 Indeed, in all such cases, most of
the evidence perishes ; for those who have the best
447, vol. ii. pp. 193, 726 ; Feuch- presence. Pari. Hist. vol. xxvii.
tersleberis Medical Psychology, p. 1249. Compare a letter from
p. 254 ; Georget, Be la Folie, Sir William Young, in Bucking-
p. 156 ; Find, Traite sur I'Alie- ham's Mem. of George III. 1853,
nation Mentale, pp. 30, 108, 109, vol. ii. p. 73 ; ' Burke finished
177, 178, 185, 207, 215, 257, his wild speech in a manner
349, 392, 457, 481 ; Alison's Hist, next to madness.' This was
of Europe, vol. iii. p. 112. in December 1788; and, from
" 7 Burke's Works, vol. ii. that time until his death, it
p. 268. became every year more evident
818 The earliest unmistakable that his intellect was disordered,
instances of those violent out- See a melancholy description of
breaks which showed the pre- him in a letter, written by Dr.
sence of disease, were in the Currie in 1792 {Life of Currie,
debates on the regency bill, in vol. ii. p. 150); and, above all,
February 1789, when Sir Kichard see his own incoherent letter, in
Hill, with brutal candour, hinted 1796, in his Correspond, with
at Burke's madness, even in his Laurence, p. 67.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 469
opportunities of witnessing the infirmities of a great
man, are not those who most love to relate them. But
it is certain, that the change was first clearly seen
immediately after the breaking out of the French Revo-
lution ; that it was aggravated by the death of his son ;
and that it became progressively worse till death closed
the scene. 319 In his Reflections on the French Revolu-
tion ; in his 'Remarks on the Policy of the Allies : in his
Letter to Elliot ; in his Letter to a Noble Lord ; and in his
Letters on a Regicide Peace, we may note the consecutive
steps of an increasing, and at length an uncontrollable,
violence. To the single principle of hatred of the
French Revolution, he sacrificed his oldest associations
and his dearest friends. Fox, as is well known, always
looked up to Burke as to a master, from whose lips he
had gathered the lessons of political wisdom. 320 Burke,
on his side, fully recognized the vast abilities of his
friend, and loved him. for that affectionate disposition,
and for those winning manners, which, it has often
been said, none who saw them could ever resist. But
now, without the slightest pretence of a personal
quarrel, this long intimacy 321 was rudely severed.
Because Fox would not abandon that love of popular
liberty which they had long cherished in common,
Burke, publicly, and in his place in parliament, declared
that their friendship was at an end; for that he
would never more hold communion with a man who
lent his support to the French people. 322 At the same
*'• His eon died in August vpl.iv. pp. 472, 610 ; and a letter
1794 (Burke' s Correspond, vol. iv. from Fox to Parr, in Parr's
p. 224) ; and his most violent Works, vol. vii. p. 287.
•works were written between that ■ It had begun in 1766, when
period and his own death, in July Fox was only seventeen. Rue~
1797. sell's Mem. of Fox, vol. L p. 26.
»2o « This disciple, as he was * w On this painful rupture,
proud to acknowledge himself.' compare with the Parliamentary
Brougham's Statesmen, vol. i. History, Holland's Mem. of the
p. 218. In 1791, Fox said, that Whig Party, vol. i. pp. 10, 11 ;
Burke ' had taught him every- Prior's Life of Burke, pp. 375-
thing he knew in politics.' Pari. 379 ; Tomline's Life of Pitt,
Hist. vol. xxix. p. 379. See also vol. ii. pp. 385-395. The com-
Ado/phus's Hist, of George IH. plete change in Burke's feelings
470 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
time, and indeed the very evening on which this
occurred, Burke, who had hitherto been remarkable for
the courtesy of his manners, 323 deliberately insulted
another of his friends, who was taking him home in his
carriage ; and, in a state of frantic excitement, insisted
on being immediately set down, in the middle of the
night, in a pouring rain, because he could not, he said,
remain seated by ' a friend to the revolutionary doctrines
of the French.' 324
Nor is it true, as some have supposed, that this
mania of hostility was solely directed against the
criminal part of the French people. It would be
difficult, in that or in any other age, to find two men of
more active, or indeed enthusiastic benevolence, than
Condorcet and La Fayette. Besides this, Condorcet
was one of the most profound thinkers of his time, and
will be remembered as long as genius is honoured
among us. 325 La Fayette was no doubt inferior to
Condorcet in point of ability ; but he was the intimate
friend of Washington, on whose conduct he modelled
his own, 326 and by whose side he had fought for the
liberties of America : his integrity was, and still is,
unsullied : and his character had a chivalrous and noble
towards his old friend also ap- temporary relation in Musset-
pears in a very intemperate let- Pathay, Vie de Bousseau, vol. ii.
ter, written to Dr. Laurence in pp. 42-47.
1797. Burke's Correspond, with 3 - 6 This is the honourable
Laurence,^. 152. Compare Parr's testimony of a political oppo-
Works, vol. iv. pp. 67-80, 84-90, nent; who says, that after the
109. dissolution of the Assembly
823 Which used to be contrasted 'La Fayette se conforma a la
with the bluntness of Johnson ; conduite de "Washington, qu'il
these eminent men being the two avait pris pour modele.' Cas-
best talkers of their time. See sagnac, Bevolution Frangaise,
BissefsLifeo/Burke,Yol.i.-p.l27. vol. iii. pp. 370, 371. Compare
* 24 Sogers' s Introduction to the grudging admission of his
Burke's Works, p. xliv. ; Prior's enemy Bouille, Mem. de Bouille,
Life of Burke, p. 384. voL i. p. 125 ; and for proofs of
** There is an interesting the affectionate intimacy between
account of the melancholy death Washington and La Fayette, see
of this remarkable man in Mem. de Lafayette, vol. i. pp. 16,
Lamartine, Hist, des Girondins, 21, 29, 44, 55, 83, 92, 111, 165,
vol. viii. pp. 76-80; and a con- 197, 204, 395, vol. ii. p. 123.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 471
turn, which Burke, in his better days, would have been
the first to admire. 327 . Both, however, were natives of
that hated country whose liberties they vainly attempted
to achieve. On this account, Burke declared Condorcet
to be guilty of ' impious sophistry ; ' 328 to be a * fanatic
atheist, and furious democratic republican ; ' 329 and to
be capable of ' the lowest, as well as the highest and
most determined villainies.' 33 ° As to La Fayette, when
an attempt was made to mitigate the cruel treatment he
was receiving from the Prussian government, Burke
not only opposed the motion made for that purpose in
the House of Commons, but took the opportunity of
grossly insulting the unfortunate captive, who was then
languishing in a dungeon. 331 So dead had he become
* 27 The Duke of Bedford, no
bad judge of character, said in
1794, that La Fayette's 'whole
life was an illustration of truth,
disinterestedness, and honour.'
Pari. Hist. vol. xxxi. p. 664.
So, too, the continuator of Sis-
mondi {Hist, des Francais, vol.
xxx. p. 355), 'La Fayette, le
chevalier de la liberte d'Ame-
xique ; ' and Lamartine {Hist, des
Girondins, vol. iii. p. 200),
' Martyr de la liberte apres en
avoir ete le heros.' Segur, who
was intimately acquainted "with
him, gives some account of his
noble character, as it appeared
when he was a boy of nineteen.
Mfon. de Segur, vol. i. pp. 106,
107. Forty years later, Lady
Morgan met him in France ; and
what she relates shows how '
little he had changed, and
how simple his tastes and the
habits of his mind still were.
Morgan's France, vol. ii. pp. 285-
312. Other notices, from per-
sonal knowledge, will be found
in Life of Itoscoe, vol. ii. p. 178 ;
and in Trotter's Mem. of Fox,
pp. 319 seq.
S28 i The impious sophistry of
Condorcet.' Letter to a Noble
Lord, in Burke's Works, vol. ii.
p. 273.
129 Thoughts on French Affairs
in Burke's Works, vol. i. p.
674.
sso 'Condorcet (though no
marquis, as he styled himself
before the Revolution) is a man
of another sort of birth, fashion,
and occupation from Brissot;
but in every principle and every
disposition, to the lowest as well
as the highest and most deter-
mined villainies, fully his equal.'
Thoughts on French Affairs, in
Burke's Works, vol. i. p. 579.
Ml ' Groaning under the most
oppressive cruelty in the dun-
geons of Magdeburg.' BeUumCs
Hist, of Great Brit. vol. ix.
p. 151. See the afflicting
details of his sufferings, in Mim.
de Lafayette, vol. i. p. 479,
vol. ii. pp. 75, 77, 78, 80, 91, 92 ;
and on the noble equanimity
with which he bore them, see De
Stael, Rev. Francoise, Paris, 1820,
vol. ii. p. 103.
472 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
on this subject, even to the common instincts of our
nature, that, in his place in parliament, he could find no
better way of speaking of this injured and high-souled
man, than by calling him a ruffian : ' I would not,' says
Burke, — ' I would not debase my humanity by support-
ing an application in behalf of such a horrid ruffian.' 332
As to France itself, it is ' Cannibal Castle ; ' 333 it is
' the republic of assassins ;' 334 it is ' a hell ;' 335 its
government is composed of * the dirtiest, lowest, most
fraudulent, most knavish, of chicaners ;' 336 its National
Assembly are ' miscreants ;' 337 its people are ' an allied
army of Amazonian and male cannibal Parisians ;' 338
they are ' a nation of murderers ;' 339 they are ' the
basest of mankind ;' 340 they are ' murderous atheists;' 341
they are ' a gang of robbers ;' 342 they are ' the prostitute
outcasts of mankind ;' 343 they are ' a desperate gang of
plunderers, murderers, tyrants, and atheists.' 344 To
make the slightest concessions to such a country in order
to preserve peace, is offering victims 'on the altars of
blasphemed regicide ;' 345 even to enter into negotiations
is ' exposing our lazar sores at the door of every proud
servitor of the French republic, where the court- dogs
will not deign to lick them.' 346 "When our ambassador
932 It is hardly credible that M4 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 279.
sach language should have been ,M Burke's speech, in Pari.
applied to a man like La Fayette ; Hist. vol. xxxi. p. 379.
but I have copied it from the **■ Burke's Works, vol. ii.
Parliamentary History, vol. xxxi. p. 335.
p. 61, and from Adolf hus, vol. v. M7 Burke's Corresp. vol. iii.
p. 593. The only difference is, p. 140.
that in Adolphus the expression *** Burke's Works, vol. ii.
is ' I would not debase my hu- p. 322.
manity ;' but in the Pari. Hist., * 3 ' Pari. Hist. vol. xxx. p. 115i
'I -would not debauch my hu- * <0 Ibid. p. 112.
manity.' But both authorities s41 Ibid. p. 188.
are agreed as to the term ' horrid ' ,2 Ibid. p. 435.
ruffian ' being used by Burke. * 4 ' Ibid. p. 646 ; the conclude
Compare Burke's Correspondence ing sentence of one of Burke's
with Laurence, pp. 91, 99. speeches in 1793.
333 Burke's Works, vol. ii. s " Ibid. vol. xxxi. p. 426.
p. 319. In every instance I ati Burke's Works, vol. iii.
quote the precise words employed p. 320.
by Burke. " 8 Ibid. p. 286.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 473
was actually in Paris, lie ' had the honour of passing his
mornings in respectful attendance at the office of a
regicide pettifogger ;' 347 and we were taunted with
•having sent a ' peer of the realm to the scum of the
earth.' 348 ' France has no longer a place in Europe ; it
is expunged from the map ; its very name should be for-
gotten. 349 "Why, then, need men travel in it ? Why
need our children learn its language ? and why are we to
endanger the morals of our ambassadors ? who can
hardly fail to return from such a land with their prin-
ciples corrupted, and with a wish to conspire against their
own country.' 350
This is sad, indeed, from such a man as Burke once
was ; but what remains, shows still more clearly how
the associations and composition of his mind had been
altered. He who, with humanity not less than with
wisdom, had strenuously laboured to prevent the
American war, devoted the last few years of his life to
kindle a new war, compared to which that with America
w Ibid. p. 322.
•" /5w*.p.318.
149 Pari. Hist. vol. xxviii. p.
953, vol. xxx. p. 390 ; Adolj>hus,
vol. iv. p. 467.
**° In the Letters on a Regicide
Peace, published the year before
he died, he says, ' These ambas-
sadors may easily return as good
courtiers as they ■went : but can
they ever return from that degrad-
ing residence loyal and faithful
subjects ; or with any true affec-
tion to their master, or true
attachment to the constitution,
religion, or laws of their country?
There is great danger that they
who enter smiling into this Try-
phonian cave, will come out of it
sad and serious conspirators ;
and such will continue as long as
they live.' Burke's Works, vol. ii.
p. 282. He adds in the same
work, p. 381, 'Is it for this bene-
fit we open "the usual relations
of peace and amity 7" Is it for
this our youth of both sexes are
to form themselves by travel?
Is it for this that with expense
and pains we form their lisping
infant accents to the language of-
France? Let it be
remembered, that no young man
can go to any part of Europe
without taking this place of pes-
tilential contagion in his way;
and, whilst the less active part
of the community will be de-
bauched by this travel, whilst
children are poisoned at these
schools, our trade will put the
finishing hand to our ruin. No
factory will be settled in France,
that will not become a club of
complete French Jacobins. The
minds of young men of that de-
scription will receive a taint in
their religion, their morals, and
their politics, which they will in
a short time communicate to the
whole kingdom.'
474 ENGLISH INTELLECT PEOM THE
was a light and trivial episode. In his calmer moments,
no one would have more willingly recognized that the
opinions prevalent in any country are the inevitable
results of the circumstances in which that country had
been placed. But now he sought to alter those opinions
by force. From the beginning of the French Revolu-
tion, he insisted upon the right, and indeed upon the
necessity, of compelling France to change her princi-
ples ; 351 and, at a later period, he blamed the allied sove-
reigns for not dictating to a great people the government
they ought to adopt. 362 Such was the havoc circum-
stances had made in his well-ordered intellect, that to this
one principle he sacrificed every consideration of justice,
of mercy, and of expediency. As if war, even in its mildest
form, were not sufficiently hateful, he sought to give to
it that character of a crusade 363 which increasing know-
ledge had long since banished : and loudly proclaiming
that the contest was religious rather than temporal, he
revived old prejudices in order to cause fresh crimes. 354
He also declared that the war should be carried on for
revenge as well as for defence, and that we must never
lay down our arms until we had utterly destroyed the
851 In Observations on the Con- deranged ; but God knows, when
duct of the Minority, 1793, he the things came to be tried, whe-
says, that during four years he ther the invaders would not find
had wished for ' a general war that their enterprise was not to
against jacobins and jacobinism.' support a party, but to conquer a
Burke's Works, vol. i. p. 611. kingdom.' Burke's Correspond.
S52 j< or) j n f ne fij.gk pi ace> th e vo i # iii. p. 184.
united sovereigns very much in- S53 As Lord J. Russell truly
jured their cause by admitting calls it, Mem. of Fox, vol. iii.
that they had nothing to do with p. 34. See also Schlosser's Eigh-
ths interior arrangements of teenth Century, vol. ii. p. 93,
France.' Heads for Considera- vol. v. p. 109, vol. vi. p. 291;
tiononthe Present Stateof Affairs, Nicholls's Becollections, vol. i.
written in November 1792, in p. 300 ; Parr's Works, voL iii.
Burke's Works, vol. i. p. 583. p. 242.
And that he knew that this was 834 ' We cannot, if we would,
not merely a question of destroy- delude ourselves about the true
mg a faction, appears from the state of this dreadful contest. It
observable circumstance, that is a religious war.' Remarks on
even in January 1 79 1 he wrote to the Policy of the Allies, in Burke's
Trevor respecting war, ' France Works, vol. i. p. 600.
is weak indeed, divided and
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 475
men by whom the Revolution was brought about. 355
And, as if these things were not enough, he insisted
that this, the most awful of all wars, being begun, was
not to be hurried over ; although it was to be carried
on for revenge as well as for religion, and the resources
of civilized men were to be quickened by the ferocious
passions of crusaders, still it was not to be soon ended ;
it was to be durable ; it must have permanence ; it
must, says Burke, in the spirit of a burning hatred, be
protracted in a long war : ' I speak it emphatically, and
with a desire that it should be marked, in a long war. 356
It was to be a war to force a great people to change
their government. It was to be a war carried on for the
purpose of punishment. It was also to be a religious
war. Finally, it was to be a long war. Was there ever
any other man who wished to afflict the human race with
such extensive, searching, and protracted calamities ?
Such cruel, such reckless, and yet such deliberate
opinions, if they issued from a sane mind, would im-
mortalize even the most obscure statesman, because they
would load his name with imperishable infamy. For
where can we find, even among the most ignorant or
most sanguinary politicians, sentiments like these?
Yet they proceed .from one who, a very few years
before, was the most eminent political philosopher Eng-
land has ever possessed. To us it is only given to
mourn over so noble a wreck. More than this no one
should do. We may contemplate with reverence the
mighty ruin ; but the mysteries of its decay let no man
presume to invade, unless, to use the language of the
844 See the long list of pro- the only rational end it can pur-
BCTiTptionsin Burke' s Works, vol. i. sue ; namely, the entire destruc-
p. 604. And tho principle of tion of the desperate horde which
revenge is again advocated in a gave it birth.' Pari. Hist.voL xxxi.
letter written in 1793, in Burke's p. 427.
Correspond, vol. iv. p. 183. And '** Letters on a Beqiddc Peace,
in 1794, he told the House of in Burkes Works,xoL ii. p. 291.
Commons that ' the war must no In this horrible sentence, per-
longer be confined to the vain haps the most horrible ever
attempt of raising a barrier to penned by an English politician,
the lawless and savage power of the italics are not my own ; they
France ; but must be directed to are in the text.
476 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
greatest of our masters, he can tell how to minister to
a diseased mind, pluck the sorrows which are rooted in
the memory, and raze out the troubles that are written
in the brain.
It is a relief to turn from so painful a subject, even
though we descend to the petty, huckstering politics of
the English court. And truly, the history of the treat-
ment experienced by the most illustrious of our poli-
ticians, is highly characteristic of the prince under
whom he lived. While Burke was consuming his life
in great public services, labouring to reform our fi-
nances, improve our laws, and enlighten our commercial
policy, — while he was occupied with these things, the
king regarded him with coldness and aversion. 357 But
when the great statesman degenerated into an angry
brawler ; when, irritated by disease, he made it the
sole aim of his declining years to kindle a deadly war
between the two first countries of Europe, and declared
that to this barbarous object he would sacrifice all
other questions of policy, however important they
might be ; 358 — then it was that a perception of his vast
abilities began to dawn upon the mind of the king.
Before this, no one had been bold enough to circulate
in the palace even a whisper of his merits. Now,
however, in the successive, and eventually the rapid
decline of his powers, he had fallen almost to the level
of the royal intellect ; and now he was first warmed by
the beams of the royal favour. Now he was a man
after the king's own heart. 359 Less than two years
357 ' I know/ said Burke, in should be compared with a letter
one of those magnificent speeches he wrote in 1792, respecting a
which mark the zenith of his in- proposed coalition ministry, Cor-
tellect, — 'I know the map of respond, vol. iii. pp. 519,520:
England as well as the noble ' But my advice was, that as a
lord, or as any other person ; and foundation of the whole, the po-
I know that the way I take is litical principle must be settled
not the road to preferment.' as the preliminary, namely, " a
Pari. Hist. vol. xvii. p. 1269. total hostility to the French sys-
858 See, among many other in- tern, at home and abroad." '
stances, an extraordinary pas- 359 The earliest evidence I have
sage on ' Jacobinism,' in his met with of the heart of George
Works, vol. ii. p. 449, which III. beginning to open towards
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 477
before his death, there was settled upon him, at the
express desire of George III., two considerable pen-
sions ; 360 and the king even wished to raise Vn'm to the
peerage, in order that the House of Lords might benefit
by the services of so great a counsellor. 361
This digression respecting the character of Burke
has been longer than I had anticipated ; but it will not,
I hope, be considered unimportant ; for, in addition to
the intrinsic interest of the subject, it illustrates the
feelings of George III. towards great men, and it shows
what the opinions were which in his reign it was
thought necessary to hold. In the sequel of this
work, I shall trace the effect of such opinions upon the
interests of the country, considered as a whole ; but
for the object of the present Introduction, it will be
sufficient to point out the connexion in one or two more
of those prominent instances, the character of which is
too notorious to admit of discussion.
Of these leading and conspicuous events, the Ameri-
can war was the earliest, and for several years it almost
entirely absorbed the attention of English politicians.
In the reign of George II. a proposal had been made to
increase the revenue by taxing the colonies ; which, as
the Americans were totally unrepresented in parlia-
ment, was simply a proposition to tax an entire people
without even the form of asking their consent. This
scheme of public robbery was rejected by that able and
Burke, is in August 1791 ; see in pensions, estimated to be worth
Burke's Correspondence, vol. iii. 40,000/.' Nicholls's Recollections,
p. 278, an exquisitely absurd voLi. p. 136. Burke was sixty-
account of his reception at the five ; and a pension of 3,700/. a-
levee. Burke must have been year would not be worth 40,000/.,
fallen, indeed, before he could as the tables were then calcu-
writo such a letter. lated. The statement of Mr.
,w ' Said to have originated Prior is, however, confirmed by
in the express wish of the king.' Wansey, in 1794. See Nichols t
Prior's Life of Burke, p. 489. Lit. Anec. of the Eighteenth Cen
Mr. Prior estimates these pen- tury, vol. iii. p. 81.
sions at 3,700/. a-year; but if m Prior's Life of Burke, p.
we may rely on Mr. Nicholla, 460 ; Nichols's Lit. Anec. vol. iii.
the sum was even greater : 'Mr. p. 81 ; Bisset's Life of Burke
Burke was rewarded with two vol ii. p. 414.
478 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
moderate man who was then at the head of affairs ; and
the suggestion, being generally deemed impracticable,
fell to the ground, and seems, indeed, hardly to have
excited attention. 362 But what was deemed by the
government of George II. to be a dangerous stretch
of arbitrary power, was eagerly welcomed by the
government of George III. For the new king, having
the most exalted notion of his own authority, and being,
from his miserable education, entirely ignorant of pub-
He affairs, thought that to tax the Americans for the
benefit of the English, would be a masterpiece of policy.
When, therefore, the old idea was revived, it met with
his cordial acquiescence; and when the Americans
showed their intention of resisting this monstrous in-
justice, he was only the more confirmed in his opinion
that it was necessary to curb their unruly will. Nor
need we be surprised at the rapidity with which such
angry feelings broke out. Indeed, looking, on the one
hand, at the despotic principles which, for the first
time since the Revolution, were now revived at the
English court ; and looking, on the other hand, at the
independent spirit of the colonists, — it was impossible to
avoid a struggle between the two parties ; and the only
questions were, as to what form the contest would take,
and towards which side victory was most likely to
incline. 363
862 ' It had been proposed to bound to believe the assertion of
Sir Robert Walpole to raise the Horace Walpole, who says {Mem.
revenue by imposing taxes on of George II. vol. i. p. 397) that
America; but that minister, who in 1754 he predicted the Ameri-
could foresee beyond the benefit can rebellion. Walpole, though
©f the actual moment, declared a keen observer of the surface of.
it must be a bolder man than society, was not the man to take
himself who should venture on a view of this kind ; unless, as
such an expedient.' Walpole's is hardly probable, he heard an
George III. vol. ii. p. 70. Com- opinion to that effect expressed
pare PhUlimore's Mem. of Lyt- by his father. Sir Robert Wal-
tleton, vol. ii. p. 662; Bancrofts pole may have said something
American Revolution, vol. i. p. respecting the increasing love of
J96; BelsAam's Hist, of Great liberty in the colonies; but it was
Britain, vol. v. p. 102. impossible for him to foresee how
863 That some sort of rupture that love would be fostered by
was unavoidable, must, I think, the arbitrary proceedings of jthe
be admitted ; but we are not government of George IIL
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 479
On the part of the English government, no time was
lost. Five years after the accession of George III., a
bill was brought into parliament to tax the Ameri-
cans; 364 and so complete had been the change in
political affairs, that not the least difficulty was found
in passing a measure which, in the reign of George II.,
no minister had dared to propose. Formerly, such a
proposal, if made, would certainly have been rejected ;
now the most powerful parties in the state were united
in its favour. The king, on every occasion, paid a
court to the clergy, to which, since the death of Anne,
they had been unaccustomed ; he was, therefore, sure
of their support, and they zealously aided him in every
attempt to oppress the colonies. 365 The aristocracy, a
few leading Whigs alone excepted, were on the same
side, and looked to the taxation of America as a means
of lessening their own contributions. 366 As to George
HI., his feelings on the subject were notorious ; 367 and
s " The general proposition was
introduced in 1764 ; the bill
itself early in 1 765. See Mohan's
Hist, of England, vol. v. pp. 82,
85 ; and Grenville Papers, vol. ii.
pp. 373, 374. On the complete
change of policy which this in-
dicated, see Brougham's Polit.
PhUos. part iii. p. 328.
364 The correspondence of that
time contains ample proof of the
bitterness of the clergy against
the Americans. Even in 1777,
Burke wrote to Fox : 'The Tories
do universally think their power
and consequence involved in the
success of this American business.
The clergy are astonishingly warm
in it; and what the Tories are
when embodied and united with
their natural head, the crown,
and animated by their clergy, no
man knows better than yourself.'
Burke's Works, vol. ii. p. 390.
Compare Bishop Newton's Life of
Himself, pp. 134, 157.
*** 'The overbearing aristo-
cracf* desired some reduction of
the land tax, at the expense of
America.' Bancroft's Hist, of
the American Bevolution, vol. ii.
p. 414. The merchants, on the
other hand, were opposed to these
violent proceedings. See, on this
contrast between the landed and
commercial interests, aletterfrom
Lord Shelburne, in 1774, and
another from Lord Camden, in
1775, in Chatham Correspond.
voL iv. pp. 341, 401. See also the
speeches of Trecothick and Vyner,
in Pari. Hist. voL xvi. p. 607,
vol. xviii. p. 1361.
"* 7 It was believed at the time,
and it is not improbable, that the
king himself suggested the taxa-
tion of America, to which Gren-
ville at first objected. Compare
WraxatCs Mem. of his own Time,
vol. ii. pp. Ill, 112,-withNicholls's
Recollections, vol. i. pp. 205, 386.
This may have been merely a
rumour; but it is quite consistent
with everything we know of the
character of George III., and
there can, at all events, be no
480
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
the more liberal party not having yet recovered from
the loss of power consequent on the death of George II.,
there was little fear of difficulties from the cabinet ; it
being well known that the throne was occupied by a
prince whose first object was to keep ministers in strict
dependence on himself, and who, whenever it was
practicable, called into office such weak and flexible
men as would yield unhesitating submission to his
wishes. 368
Everything being thus prepared, there followed those
events which were to be expected from such a combina-
tion. * Without stopping to relate details which are
known to every reader, it may be briefly mentioned
that, in this new state of things, the wise and forbear-
ing policy of the preceding reign was set at naught,
and the national councils guided by rash and ignorant
doubt as to bis feelings respect-
ing tbe general question. It is
certain that be over-persuaded
Lord North to engage in tbe
contest witb America, and in-
duced tbat minister to go to war,
and to continue it even after
success bad become bopeless.
See Bancrofts American Revolu-
tion, vol. iii. pp. 307, 308 ; Bus-
sell's Mem. of Fox, vol. i. pp. 247,
254; and tbe Bedford Correspond.
vol. iii. p. li. See also, in regard
to tbe repeal of tbe Stamp Act,
tbe Grenville Papers, voL iii.
p. 373 ; a curious passage, witb
wbicb Lord Mabon, tbe last
edition of wbose bistory was
pubbsbed in tbe same year
(1853), appears to bave been
unacquainted. Mahon's Hist,
of England, vol. v. p. 139. In
America tbe sentiments of tbe
king were well known. In 1775,
Jefferson writes from Philadel-
phia : ' We are told, and every-
thing proves it true, tbat he is the
bitterest enemy we have.' Jeffer-
son's Correspond, vol. i. p. 153.
And in 1782 Franklin writes to
Livingston, ' The king hates us
most cordially.' Life of Franklin,
voL ii. p. 126.
363 'A court,' as Lord Albe-
marle observes, — 'a court that
required ministers to be, not the
pubbc servants of the state, but
the private domestics of the
sovereign.' Albemarle's Mem. of
Bockingham, vol. i. p. 248. Com-
pare Bancroft's American Revo-
lution, vol. ii. p. 109. In the
same way, Burke, in 1767, writes:
' His majesty never was in better
spirits. He has got a ministry
weak and dependent ; and, what
is better, willing to continue so.'
Burke's Correspond, vol. i. p. 133.
Ten years later, Lord Chatham
openly taunted the king with this
disgraceful peculiarity : ' Thus
to pliable men, not capable
men, was the government of this
once glorious empire intrusted.'
Chatham's Speech in 1777, in
Adolphus, vol. ii. pp. 499, 500.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 481
men, who soon brought the greatest disasters upon the
country, and within a few years actually dismembered
the empire. In order to enforce the monstrous claim
of taxing a whole people without their consent, there
was waged against America a war ill-conducted, un-
successful, and, what is far worse, accompanied by
cruelties disgraceful to a civilized nation. 369 To this
may be added, that an immense trade was nearly anni-
hilated; every branch of commerce was thrown into
confusion ; 370 we were disgraced in the eyes of Eu-
rope; 371 we incurred an expense of i4o,ooo,oooZ. ; 372
869 For some evidence of the
ferocity with which this war was
conducted by the English, see
Tucker's Life of Jefferson, vol. i.
pp. 138, 139, 160; Jefferson's
Mem. and Correspond, vol. i. pp.
352, 429, vol. ii. pp. 336, 337 ;
Almon's Correspond, of Wilkes,
vol. v. pp. 229-232, edit. 1805;
Adolphus's Hist, of George III.
vol. ii. pp. 362, 391. These hor-
rible cruelties were frequently
mentioned in parliament, but
without producing the least effect
on the king or his ministers. See
Pari Hist. vol. xix. pp. 371, 403,
423, 424, 432, 438, 440, 477, 487,
488. 489, 567, 578, 579, 695,
972, 1393, 1394, vol. xx. p. 43.
Among the expenses of the war
which government laid before
parliament, one of the items was
for ' five gross of scalping knives.'
Pari. Hist. vol. xix. pp. 971, 972.
See further Mim. de Lafayette,
vol. i. pp. 23, 25, 99.
,T0 In Manchester, ' in conse-
quence of the American troubles,
nine in ten of the artisans in that
town had been discharged from
employment.' This was stated
in 1766, by no less an authority
than Conway. Mahon's Hist, of
England, vol. v. p. 135. As the
struggle became more obstinate
VOL. I. I
the evil was more marked, and
ample evidence of the enormous
injury inflicted on England will
be found by comparing Franklin's
Correspondence, vol. i. p. 352 ,
Adolphus's Hist, of George III.
vol. ii. p. 261 ; Burke's Works.
vol. i. p. Ill; Pari. Hist. vol.
xviii.pp. 734, 951, 963, 964, vol.
xix. pp. 259, 341, 710, 711, 1072;
Walpole's Mem. of George III.
vol. ii. p. 218.
371 Even Mr. Adolphus, in hif
Tory history, says, that in 1782
' the cause of Great Britain
seemed degraded to the lowest
state ; ill success and the preva-
lent opinion of mismanagement
rendered the espousal of it among
the selfish powers of the conti-
nent almost disreputable.' Hist,
of George III. vol. iii: pp. 391,
392. For proof of the opinions
held in foreign countries respect-
ing this, I cannot do better than
refer to Mem. de Sigur, vol. iii.
pp. 184, 185; Q<h(vrcxde Turgot,
vol.ix. p. 377 ; Soulavie, Mhn. de
Louis XVI. vol. iv. pp. 363, 364 ;
Koch, Tableau des Rivolutions,
vol. ii. pp. 190-194; Mem. of
Mallet du Pan, vol. i. p. 37.
**■ Sir John Sinclair, in his
Hist, of the Revenue, vol. ii. p.
114, says 139.171.876Z,
482 ENGLISH INTELLECT FKOM THE
and we lost by far the most valuable colonies any nation
has ever possessed.
Such were the first fruits of the policy of George III.
But the mischief did not stop there. The opinions
which it was necessary to advocate in order to justify
this barbarous war, recoiled upon ourselves. In order
to defend the attempt to destroy the liberties of America,
principles were laid down which, if carried into effect,
would have subverted the liberties of England. Not
only in the court, but in both houses of parliament,
from the episcopal bench, and from the pulpits of the
church-party, there were promulgated doctrines of the
most dangerous kind — doctrines unsuited to a limited
monarchy, and, indeed, incompatible with it. The
extent to which this reaction proceeded is known to
very few readers, because the evidence of it is chiefly
to be found in the parliamentary debates, and in the
theological literature, particularly the sermons of that
time, none of which are now much studied. But, not
to anticipate matters belonging to another part of this
work, it is enough to say that the danger was so immi-
nent as to make the ablest defenders of popular liberty
believe that everything was at stake ; and that if the
Americans were vanquished, the next step would be to
attack the liberties of England, and endeavour, to
extend to the mother- country the same arbitrary
government which by that time would have been
established in the colonies. 373
373 Dr. Jebb, an able observer, is the smallest part of our con-
thought that the American -war cern. It will become an apt,
' must be decisive of the liberties powerful, and certain engine for
of both countries.' Disney's Life the destruction of our freedom
of Jebb, p. 92. So, too, Lord here.' Burke's Works, vol. ii.
Chatham wrote in 1777, 'poor p. 399. Compare vol. i. pp. 189,
England will have fallen upon 210; Pari. Hist.xol.xyi. pp. 104,
her own sword.' The Grenville 107, 651, 652, vol. xix. pp. 11,
Papers, vol. iv. p. 573. In the 1056, vol. xx. p. 119, vol. xxi. p.
same year, Burke said of the 907. Hence it was that Fox
attempt made to rule the colonies wished the Americans to be vie-
by military force, ' that the es- torious {BusselVs Mem. of Fox,
tablishment of such a power in vol. i. p. 143) ; for which some
America will utterly ruin our fl- writers have actually accused him
nances (thoughits certain effect), of want of patriotism !
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 483
Whether or not these fears were exaggerated, is a
question of considerable difficulty ; but after a careful
study of that time, and a study too from sources not
much used by historians, I feel satisfied that they who
are best acquainted with the period will be the most
willing to admit that, though the danger may have
been overrated, it was far more serious than men are
now inclined to believe. At all events, it is certain
that the general aspect of political affairs was calcu-
lated to excite great alarm. It is certain, that during
many years, the authority of the crown continued to
increase, until it reached a height of which no example
had been seen in England for several generations. It
is certain that the Church of England exerted all
her influence in favour of those despotic principles
which the king wished to enforce. It is also certain
that, by the constant creation of new peers, all holding
the same views, the character of the House of Lords
was undergoing a slow but decisive change ; and that,
whenever a favourable opportunity arose, high judicial
appointments and high ecclesiastical appointments
were conferred upon men notorious for their leaning
towards the royal prerogative. These are facts wliich
cannot be denied ; and, putting them together, there
remains, I think, no doubt, that the American war was
a great crisis in the history of England, and that if the
colonists had been defeated, our liberties would have
been for a time in considerable jeopardy. From that
risk we were saved by the Americans, who with heroic
spirit resisted the royal armies, defeated them at every
point, and at length, separating themselves from tho
mother-country, began that wonderful career, which,
in less than eighty years, has raised them to an un-
exampled prosperity, and which to us ought to be
deeply interesting, as showing what may be effected
by the unaided resources of a free people.
Seven years after this great contest had been
brought to a successful close, and the Americans,
happily for the interests of mankind, had finally
secured their independence, another nation rose up
and turned against its rulers. The history of the
484 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
causes of the • French. Revolution will be found in
another part of this volume ; at present we have only
to glance at the effects it produced, upon the policy of
the English government. In France, as is well known,
the movement was extremely rapid ; the old institu-
tions, which were so corrupted as to be utterly unfit
for use, were quickly destroyed ; and the people,
frenzied by centuries of oppression, practised the most
revolting cruelties, saddening the hour of their triumph
by crimes that disgraced the noble cause for which
they struggled.
All this, frightful as it was, did nevertheless form a
part of the natural course of affairs ; it was the old
story of tyranny exciting revenge, and revenge blind-
ing men to every consequence except the pleasure of
glutting their own passions. If, under these circum-
stances, France had been left to herself, the Revolution,
like all other revolutions, would soon bave subsided,
and a form of government have arisen suited to the
actual condition of things. What the form would
have been, it is impossible now to say ; that, however,
was a question with which no foreign country had the
slightest concern. Whether it should be an oligarchy,
■or a despotic monarchy, or a republic, it was for
France to decide ; but it was evidently not the
business of any other nation to decide for her. Still
less was it likely that, on so delicate a point, France
would submit to dictation from a country which had
always been her rival, and which not unfrequently
had been her bitter and successful enemy.
But these considerations, obvious as they are, were
lost upon George III., and upon those classes which
were then in the ascendant. The fact that a great
people had risen against their oppressors disquieted
the consciences of men in high places. The same evil
passions, and indeed the same evil language, which a
few years before were directed against the Americans,
were now turned against the French ; and it was but
too clear that the same results would follow. 374 In
374 In 1792, and therefore be- few peers who escaped from the
fore the war broke out, Lord prevailing corruption, said, 'The
Lansdowne, one of the extremely present instance recalled to his
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 485
defiance of every maxim of sound policy, the English
ambassador was recalled from France simply because
that country chose to do away with the monarchy, and
substitute a republic in its place. This was the first
decisive step towards an open rupture, and it was
taken, not because France had injured England, but
because France had changed her government. 375 A
few months later, the French, copying the example of
the English in the preceding century, 376 brought their
king to a public trial, sentenced him to die, and struck
off his head in the midst of his own capital. It must
be allowed that this act was needless, that it was cruel,
and that it was grossly impolitic. But it is palpably
evident that they who consented to the execution were
responsible only to God and their country ; and that
any notice of it from abroad, which bore the appear-
ance of a threat, would rouse the spirit of France, would
unite all parties into one, and would induce the nation
to adopt as its own a crime of which it might other-
wise have repented, but which it could not now abjure
•without incurring the shame of having yielded to the
dictation of a foreign power.
In England, however, as soon as the fate of the
king was known, the government, without waiting for
explanation, and without asking for any guarantee as
to the future, treated the death of Louis as an offence
against itself, and imperiously ordei*ed the French
residents to quit the country : 377 thus wantonly
memory the proceedings of this * u Just before the Revolution,
country previous to the American Robert de Saint-Vincent per-
war. The same abusive and tinently remarked, by way of
degrading terms were applied to caution, that the English ' have
the Americans that were now used dethroned seven of their kings,
to the National Convention, — the and beheaded the eighth.' Mem.
same consequences might follow.' of Mallet du Pan, vol. i. p. 146;
Pari. Hist. vol. xxx. p. 155. and we are told in Alison's Europe
•"Compare Belsham's Hist, (vol.ii.pp.199, 296, 315), that in
of Great Britain, vol. viii. p. 490, 1 792 Louis ' anticipated the fate
with Tomline's Life ofIHtt,xo\. of Charles I.' Compare Williams's
ii. p. 548. The letter to Lord Letters from France, 2nd edit.
Gower, the English minister in 1796, vol. iv. p. 2.
Paris, is printed in Pari. Hist. *" Belsham (Hht. of Great
vol. xxx. pp. 143, 144. Its date Britain, vol. viii. p. 625) sup-
is 17th August, 1792. poses, and probably with reason.
486
ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
originating a war which lasted twenty years, cost the
lives of millions, plunged all Europe into cbnfusion, and,
more than any other circumstance, stopped the march
of civilization, by postponing for a whole generation
those reforms, which, late in the eighteenth century,
the progress of affairs rendered indispensable.
The European results of this, the most hateful, the
most unjust, and the most atrocious war, England has
ever waged against any country, will be hereafter
considered ; 378 at present I confine myself to a short
summary of its leading effects on English society.
What distinguishes this sanguinary contest from all
preceding ones, and what gives to it its worst feature,
is, that it was eminently a war of opinions, — a war
which we carried on, not with a view to territorial
acquisitions, but with the object of repressing that
desire for reforms of every kind, which had now become
the marked characteristic of the leading countries of
Europe. 379 As soon, therefore, as hostilities began the
that the English government was
bent upon war even before the
death of Louis ; but it appears
(Tomline's Pitt, vol. ii. p. 599)
that it was not until the 24th of
January 1793, that Chauvelin
was actually ordered ' to leave
England, and that this was in
consequence of ' the British
ministers having received in-
formation of the execution of the
king of France.' Compare Bel-
sham, vol. viii. p. 530. The com-
mon opinion, therefore, seems
correct, that the proximate cause
of hostilities was the execution
of Louis. See Alison's Hist. vol.
ii. p. 522, vol. v. p. 249, vol. vi.
p.656 ; and Newmarch, in Journal
of Statist. Soc. vol. xviii. p. 108.
378 Lord Brougham (Sketches
of Statesmen, vol. i. p. 79) rightly
says of this war, that ' the
youngest man living will not sur-
vive the fatal effects of this
flagrant political crime.' So eager,
however, was George IIL in its
favour, that when Wilberforce
separated himself from Pitt on
account of the war, and moved
an amendment on the subject in
the House of Commons, the king
showed his spite by refusing to
take any notice of "Wilberforce
the next time he appeared at
court. Life of Wilberforce, voL
ii. pp. 10,*72.
379 In 1793 and subsequently,
it was stated both by the opposi-
tion, and also by the supporters
of government, that the war with
France was directed against doc-
trines and opinions, and that one
of its main objects was to dis-
courage the progress of demo-
cratic institutions. See, among
many other instances, Pari. Hist.
vol.xxx. pp.413, 417, 1077, H99,
1200, 1283, vol. xxxi. pp.466,
592, 649, 680, 1036, 1047, vol.
xxxiii. pp. 603, 604; Nicholas
liecollections, vol. ii.pp. 156, 157.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 487
English, government had. a twofold duty to perform •
it had to destroy a republic abroad, and it had to pre-
vent improvement at home. The first of these duties
it fulfilled by squandering the blood and the treasure
of England, till it had thrown nearly every family
into mourning, and reduced the country to the verge
-of national bankruptcy. The other duty it attempted
to execute by enacting a series of laws intended to put
an end to the free discussion of political questions, and
stifle that spirit of inquiry which was every year
becoming more active. These laws were so compre-
hensive, and so well calculated to effect their purpose,
that if the energy of the nation had not prevented
their being properly enforced, they would either have
■destroyed every vestige of popular liberty, or else
have provoked a general rebellion. Indeed, during
several years the danger was so imminent, that, in the
opinion of some high authorities, nothing could have
averted it, but the bold spirit with which our English
juries, by their hostile verdicts, resisted the proceed-
ings of government, and refused to sanction laws
which the crown had proposed, and to which a timid
and servile legislature had willingly consented 380
"We may form some idea of the magnitude of the
crisis by considering the steps which were actually
taken against the two most important of all our
180 Lord Campbell {Lives of the they only consulted eight minutes
Chancellors, vol. vi. p. 449) says, before bringing in a verdict of
that if the laws passed in 1794 acquittal. Stephen's Mem. of
had been enforced, 'the only Home Tooke, vol. ii. p. 147; see
chance of escaping servitude also, on this crisis, L\fe ofCart-
would have been civil war.' Com- ioright, vol. i. p. 210. The people
pare Brougham's Statesmen, vol. sympathised throughout with the
l. p. 237, vol. ii. pp. 63, 64, on our victims ; and while the trial of
'escape from proscription and Hardy was pending, the attorney-
from arbitrary power . . . during general, Scott.was always mobbed
the almost hopeless struggle from when he left the court, and on
1793 to 1801.' Both these writers one occasion his life was in
pay great and deserved honour to danger. Twiss's Life of Eldon,
the successful efforts of Erskino vol. i. pp. 185, 186. Compare
■with juries. Indeed the spirit of Holcro/t'a Memoirs, vol. ii. pp.
■our jurors was so determined, 180, 181.
that in 1794, at Tooke's trial,
488 ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
institutions, namely, the freedom of the public press,
and the right of assembling in meetings for the purpose
of public discussion. These are, in a political point
of view, the two most striking peculiarities which
distinguish us from every other European people. As
long as they are preserved intact, and as long as they
are fearlessly and frequently employed, there will
always be ample protection against those encroach-
ments on the part of government which cannot be
too jealously watched, and to which even the freest
country is liable. To this may be added, that these
institutions possess other advantages of the highest
order. By encouraging political discussion, they
increase the amount of intellect brought to bear
upon the political business of tbe country. They also
increase the total strength of the nation, by causing
large classes of men to exercise faculties which would
otherwise lie dormant, but which by these means are
quickened into activity, and become available for other
purposes of social interest.
But in the period we are now considering, it was
deemed advisable that the influence of the people
should be lessened ; it was, therefore, thought improper
that they should strengthen their abilities by exercis-
ing them. To relate the details of that bitter war,
which, late in the eighteenth century, the English
government carried on against every kind of free dis-
cussion, would lead me far beyond the limits of this
Introduction ; and I can only hastily refer to the
vindictive prosecutions, and, whenever a verdict was
obtained, the vindictive punishments, of men like
Adams, Bonney, Crossfield, Erost, Gerald, Hardy,
Holt, Hodson, Holcrofb, Joyce, Kidd, Lambert,
Margarot, Martin, Muir, Palmer, Perry, Skirving,
Stannard, Thelwall, Tooke, Wakefield, Wardle,.
Winterbotham : all of whom were indicted, and many
of whom were fined, imprisoned, or transported, because
they expressed their sentiments with freedom, and;
because they used language such as in our time is
employed with perfect impunity, by speakers at public
meetings, and by writers in the public press.
As, however, juries in several cases refused to con-
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 489
vict men who were prosecuted for these offences, it wa3
determined to recur to measures still more decisive.
In 1795, a law was passed, by which it was manifestly-
intended to put an end for ever to all popular discus-
sions either on political or religious matters. For by
it every public meeting was forbidden, unless notice of
it were inserted in a newspaper five days beforehand ; 381
such notice to contain a statement of the objects of
the meeting, and of the time and place where it
was to assemble. And, to bring the whole arrange-
ment completely under the supervision of government,
it was ordered, that not only should the notice, thus
published, be signed by householders, but that tho
original manuscript should be preserved, for the infor-
mation of the justices of the peace, who might require
a copy of it : a significant threat, which, in those days,
was easily understood. 382 It was also enacted that,
even after these precautions had been taken, any single
justice might compel the meeting to disperse, if, in his
opinion, the language held by the speakers was calcu-
lated to bring the sovereign or the government into
contempt ; while, at the same time, he was authorized
to arrest those whom he considered to be the offen-
ders. 383 The power of dissolving a public meeting, and
of seizing its leaders, was thus conferred upon a
common magistrate, and conferred too without the
W1 ' Five days at least.' Stat. M2 The inserter of the notice
86 George III. c. 8, §1. Thisap- in the newspaper 'shall cause
plied to meetings ' holden for the such notice and authority to be
purpose or on the pretext of con- carefully preserved, . . . and cause
sidering of or preparing any peti- a true copy thereof (if required)
tion, complaint, remonstrance, or to be delivered to any justice of
declaration, or other address to the peace for the county, city,
the king, or to both houses, or town, or place where such person
either house, of parliament, for shall reside, or where such news-
alteration of matters established paper shall be printed, and who
in church or state, or for the shall require the same.' 36
purpose or on the pretext of George III. c. 8, § 1.
deliberating upon any grievance *•* C. 8, § § 6 and 7, referring
in church or state.' The only to 'meetings on notice;' and to
exceptions allowed were in the persons holding language which,
case of meetings called by magis- shall even ' tend to incite.' These
trates, officials, and the majority two sections are very remarkable,
of tho grand jury.
490 ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
slightest provision against its abuse. In other words,
the right of putting an end to all public discussions on
the most important subjects, was lodged in the hands
of a man appointed by the crown, and removable by
the crown at its own pleasure. To this it was added,
that if the meeting should consist of twelve, or upwards
of twelve persons, and should remain together for one
hour after being ordered to separate, —in such case, the
penalty of death was to be inflicted, even if only twelve
disobeyed this the arbitrary command of a single and
irresponsible magistrate. 384
In 1799, another law was passed, forbidding any
open field, or place of any kind, to be used for lectur-
ing, or for debating, unless a specific license for such
place had been obtained from the magistrates. It was
likewise enacted, that all circulating-libraries, and all
reading-rooms, should be subject to the same provision ;
no person, without leave from the constituted authori-
ties, being permitted to lend on hire in his own house,
newspapers, pamphlets, or even books of any kind. 385
Before shops of this sort could be opened, a license
must first be obtained from two justices of the peace ;
which, however, was to be renewed at least once a year,
and might be revoked at any intermediate period. 386 If
a man lent books without the permission of the magis-
trates, or if he allowed lectures or debates, ' on any
subject whatever,' to be held under his roof, then, for
such grievous crime, he was to be fined 100Z. a-day ;
and every person who aided him, either by presiding
over the discussion, or by supplying a book, was for
each offence to be fined 20 1. The proprietor of so
884 ' It shall be adjudged,' says and no longer, or for any less
the Act, ' felony -without benefit space of time therein to be spe-
of clergy ; and the offenders cified ; and which license it shall
therein shall be adjudged felons, be lawful for the justices of the
and shall, suffer death as in case peace ' &c. ' to revoke and declare
of felony without benefit of cler- void, and no longer in force, by
gy.' 36 George III.c. 8, § 6. any order of such justices ; . . . .
S8S . Stat. 39 George III. c. 79, and thereupon such license shall
§ 15. cease and determine, and be
886 The license ' shall be in thenceforth utterly void and of no
force for the space of one year effect/ 39 George III.c. 79, § 18.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTTTBY. 491
pernicious an establishment was not only to suffer
from these ruinous fines, but was declared liable to still
further punishment as the keeper of a disorderly-
house. 387
To modern ears it sounds somewhat strange, that
the owner of a public reading-room should not only
incur extravagant fines, but should also be punished as
the keeper of a disorderly house ; and that all this
should happen to him, simply because he opened his
shop without asking permission from the local magis-
trates. Strange, however, as this appears, it was, at
all events, consistent, since it formed part of a regular
plan for bringing, not only the actions of men, but
even their opinions, under the direct control of the
executive government. Thus it was that the laws, now
for the first time passed, against newspapers, were so
stringent, and the prosecution of authors so unrelent-
ing, that there was an evident intention to ruin every
public writer who expressed independent sentiments. 388
S8 ' ; Such things are so incredi-
ble, that I must again quote the
■words of the Act : ' Every house,
room, or place, •which shall be
opened or used as a place of
meeting for the purpose of reading
books, pamphlets, newspapers, or
other publications, and to which
any person shall be admitted by
payment of money ' (if not regu-
larly licensed by the authorities),
' shall be deemed a dis-
orderly house;' and the person
opening it shall ' be otherwise
punished as the law directs in
ease of disorderly houses.' 39
George III. c. 79, § 1 5. The germ
of this law may be found in 36
George III. c. 8, § § 12, 13, 14,
15, 16. Nowhere are the weakest
parts of the human mind more
clearly seen than in the history
of legislation.
m See the particulars in Hunt's
Hist, of Newspapers, vol. i. pp.
281-4. Mr. Hunt Bays, p. 284 :
' In addition to all these laws,
directed solely towards the press,
other statutes were made to bear
upon it, for the purpose of re-
pressing the free expression of
popular opinion.' In 1793, Dr.
Currie writes: 'The prosecutions
that are commenced by govern-
ment all over England against
printers, publishers, &c. would
astonish you ; and most of these
are for offences committed many
months ago. The printer of the
Manchester Herald has had seven
different indictments preferred
against him for paragraphs in his
paper; and six different indict-
ments for selling or disposing of
six different copies of Paine, — all
previous to the trial of Paine.
The man was opulent, supposed
worth 20,000/. ; but theso differ-
ent actions will ruin him, as they
wore intended to do.' Currie'a
Life, vol. i. pp. 185, 186. See
also a letter from Koscoe to Lord
492
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
These measures, and others of a similar character,
which will hereafter be noticed, excited such alarm,
that, in the opinion of some of the ablest observers,
the state of public affairs was becoming desperate,
perhaps irretrievable. The extreme despondency with
which, late in the eighteenth century, the best friends
of liberty looked to the future, is very observable, and
forms a striking feature in their private correspon-
dence. 389 And although comparatively few men venture
to express such sentiments in public, Fox, whose fear-
less temper made him heedless of risk, openly stated
what would have checked the government, if any-
thing could have done so. For this eminent statesman,
who had been minister more than once, and was
afterwards minister again, did not hesitate to say, from
Lansdowne, in Life of Eoscoe,
vol. i. p. 124 ; and Mem. of Hol-
croft, vol. ii. pp. 151, 152 : 'Prin-
ters and booksellers all over the
kingdom were hunted out for
prosecution.' See further, Life
of Cartivright, vol. i. pp. 199,
200 ; Adoljphus's Hist, of George
III. vol. v. pp. 525, 526 ; Mem. of
Wakefield, vol. ii. p. 69.
389 In 1793, Dr. Currie, after
mentioning the attempts made
by government to destroy the
liberty of the press, adds : ' For
my part, I foresee troubles, and
conceive the nation was never in
such a dangerous crisis.' Currie 's
Mem. vol. i. p. 186. In 1795,
Fox writes (Russell's Mem. of
ifor.vol.iii.pp. 124, 125): ' There
appears to me to be no choice at
present, but between an absolute
surrender of the liberties of the
people and a vigorous exertion,
attended, I admit, with consider-
able hazard, at a time like the
present. My view of things is, I
own, very gloomy ; and I am con-
vinced that, in a very few years,
this government will become com-
pletely absolute, or that confu-
sion will arise of a nature almost
as much to be deprecated as
despotism itself.' In the same
year, Dr. Eaine writes (Parr's
Works, vol. vii. p. 533): 'The
mischievous conduct of men in
power has long made this country
an uneasy dwelling for the mode-
rate and peaceful man; their
present proceedings render our
situation alarming, and our pros-
pects dreadful.' See also p. 530.
In 1796, the Bishop of Llandaff
writes (Life of Watson, vol. ii.
pp. 36, 37): ' The malady which
attacks the constitution (influence
of the crown) is without remedy;
violent applications might be
used; their success would b&
doubtful, and I, for one, never
wish to see them tried.' Compare
vol. i. p. 222. And, in 1799,
Priestley dreaded a revolution;
but, at the same time, thought
there was ' no longer any hope of
a peaceable and gradual reform.^
Mem. of Priestley, vol.i. pp. 198,
199.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUEY. 493
his place in parliament, in 1795, that if these, and
other shameful laws which were proposed, should be
actually passed, forcible resistance to the government
would be merely a question of prudence ; and that the
people, if they felt themselves equal to the conflict,
would be justified in withstanding the arbitrary
measures by which their rulers sought to extinguish
their liberties. 390
Nothing, however, could stop the government in its
headlong career. The ministers, secure of a majority
in both houses of parliament, were able to carry their
measures in defiance of the people, who opposed them
by every mode short of actual violence. 331 And as the
object of these new laws was, to check the spirit of
390 In this memorable declara-
tion, Fox said, that 'he had a
right to hope and expect that
these bills, which positively re-
pealed the Bill of Eights, and cut
up the whole of the constitution
by the roots, by changing our
limited monarchy into an abso-
lute despotism, would not be
enacted by parliament against
the declared sense of a great
majority of the people. If, how-
ever, ministers were determined,
by means of the corrupt influence
they possessed in the two houses
of parliament, to pass the bills in
direct opposition to the declared
sense of a great majority of the
. nation, and they should be put
in force with all their rigorous
provisions, if his opinion were
asked by the people as to their
obedience, he should tell them,
that it was no longer a question
of moral obligation and duty, but
of prudence. It would, indeed,
be a case of extremity alone which
could justify resistance; and the
only question would be, whether
that resistance was prudent.'
Purl. Hist. vol. xxxii. p. 383. On
this, Windham remarked, and
Fox did not deny, that ' the
meaning obviously was, that the
right hon. gentleman would ad-
vise the people, whenever they
were strong enough, to resist the
execution of the law ; ' and to this
both Sheridan and Grey imme-
diately assented, p. 385-387.
S9i i N cver had there appeared,
in the memory of the oldest man,
so firm and decided a plurality
of adversaries to the ministerial
measures, as on this occasion (i.e.
in 1795): the interest of the
public seemed so deeply at stake,
that individuals, not only of the
decent, but of the most vulgar
professions, gave up a consider-
able portion of their time and
occupations in attending the nu-
merous meetings that were called
in every part of the kingdom, to
the professed intent of counter-
acting this attempt of the minis-
try.' Note in Pari. History, vol.
xxxii. p. 381. It was at this
period that Fox made the decla-
ration which I have quoted in the
previous note.
494
ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
inquiry, and prevent reforms, which the progress of
society rendered indispensable, there were also brought
into play other means subservient to the same end. It
is no exaggeration to say, that for some years England
was ruled by a system of absolute terror. 392 The min-
isters of the day, turning a struggle of party into a war
of proscription, filled the prisons with their political
opponents, and allowed them, when in confinement, to
be treated with shameful severity. 333 If a man was
known to be a reformer, he was constantly in danger
of being arrested ; and if he escaped that, he was
watched at every turn, and his private letters were
opened as they passed through the post-office. 394 In such
cases, no scruples were allowed. Even the confidence
of domestic life was violated. No opponent of govern-
ment was safe under his own roof, against the tales of
eavesdroppers and the gossip of servants. Discord was
introduced into the bosom of families, and schisms
caused between parents and their children. 395 Not
392 It was called at the time
the ' Reign of Terror ; ' and so
indeed it was for every opponent
of government. See CamphelVs
Chancellors, vol. vi. p. 441 ; Mem.
of Wakefield, vol. ii. p. 67 ; and
Trotter's Mem. of Fox, p. 10.
393 ' The iniquitous system of
secret imprisonment, under which
Pitt and Dundas had now filled
all the gaols with parliamentary
reformers ; men who were cast
into dungeons without any public
accusation, and from whom the
habeas-corpus suspension act had
taken every hope of redress.'
Cooke's Hist, of Party, vol. iii.
p. 447. On the cruelty with
which these political opponents
of government were treated when
in prison, see Stephens's Mem. of
Tooke, vol, ii. pp. 121, 125, 423;
Pari. Hist. vol. xxxiv. pp. 112,
113, 126, 129, 170, 515, vol.
xxxv. pp. 742, 743 ; Cloncurry's
Recollections, pp. 46, 86, 87, 140.
225.
394 Lifeof Curric,\o\. ii.p. 160;
Stephens's Mem. of Tooke, vol. ii.
pp. 118, 119.
895 In 1793, Eoscoe writes :
' Every man is called on to be a
spy upon his brother.' Life of
Eoscoe, vol. i. p. 127. Compare
Fox's statment {Pari. Hist. vol.
xxx. p. 21), that what government
had done was, ' to erect every
man ,not m erely into an inqu isitor ,
but into a judge, a spy, an in-
former, — to set father against
father, brother against brother ;
and in this way you expect to
maintain the tranquillity of the
country.' See also vol. xxx. p.
1529; anda remarkable passage,
in Coleridge's Hog. Lit. (vol. i.
p. 192), on the extent of ' secret
defamation,' in and after 1793.
For further evidence of this hor-
rible state of society, see Mem.
ofHolcroft, vol. ii. pp. 150, 151 n
Stephens's Mem. of Home Tooke,
vol. ii. pp. 115, 116.
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 495
only were the most strenuous attempts made to silence
the press, but the booksellers were so constantly prose-
cuted that they did not dare to publish a work if
its author were obnoxious to the court. 396 Indeed,
whoever opposed the government was proclaimed an
enemy to his country. 397 Political associations and
public meetings were strictly forbidden. Every popular
leader was in personal danger; and every popular
assemblage was dispersed, either by threats or by mili-
tary execution. That hateful machinery, familiar to
the worst days of the seventeenth century, was put into
motion. Spies were paid ; witnesses were suborned ;
juries were packed. 398 The coffee-houses, the inns,
and the clubs, were filled with emissaries of the govern-
ment, who reported the most hasty expressions of
common conversation. 399 If, by these means, no sort
S9 « There was even consider-
able difficulty in findingaprinter
for Tooke's great philological
work, The Diversions of Purley.
See Stephens's Mem. of Tooke,
vol. ii. pp. 345-348. In 1798,
Fox wrote to Cartwright {Life of
Cartwright, vol. i. p. 248) : ' The
decision against Wakefield's pub-
lisher appears to me decisive
against the liberty of the press;
and, indeed, after it, one can
hardly conceive how any prudent
tradesman can venture to publish
anything that can, in any way,
be disagreeable to the ministers.'
,97 Those who opposed the
slave-trade were called jacobins,
and ' enemies to the ministers ; '
and the celebrated Dr. Currio
was pronounced to be a jacobin,
and an ' enemy to his country,'
because he remonstrated against
the shameful manner in which
the English government, in 1800,
allowed the French prisoners to
"be treated. Life. ofCurrie, vol. i.
pp. 330, 332 ; Life of Wilherforce,
Tol. i. pp. 342-344, vol. ii. pp. 18,
133; Pari. Hist. vol. xxx. p. 654,
vol. xxxi. p. 467, vol. xxxiii.
p. 1387, vol. xxxiv. pp. 1119,
1485.
398 Life of Cartwright, vol. i.
p. 209 ; Hunt's Hist, of News-
papers, vol. ii. p. 104 ; Belsham's
Hist. vol. ix. p. 227 ; Adolphus's
Hist. vol. vi. p. 264 ; Annual
Register for 1795, pp. 156, 160 :
Stephens's Mem. of Tooke, vol. ii.
p. 118; Life of Currie, vol. i.
p. 172 ; Campbell's Chancellors,
vol. vi. p. 316, vol. vii. p. 316;
Life of Wilherforce, vol. iv.
pp. 369, 377; Pari. Hist. vol.
xxxi. pp. 543, 667, 668, 1067,
vol. xxxii. pp. 296, 302, 366, 367,
374, 664, vol. xxxv. pp. 1538,
1540 ; Holcroft's Memoirs, vol. ii.
p. 190.
*** In addition to the passages
referred to in the preceding not*,
compare Hutton's Life of Him-
self, p. 209, with CamphelV8
Chancellors, vol. vi. p. 441,
vol. vii. p. 104, and Adolphus's
Hist, of George III. vol. vi. p. 45.
In 1798, Caldwell wrote to Sir
496 ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
of evidence could be collected, there was another
resource, which was unsparingly used. For, the habeas-
corpus act being constantly suspended, the crown had
the power of imprisoning without inquiry, and without
binitation, any person offensive to the ministry, but of
whose crime no proof was attempted to be brought. 400
Such was the way in which, at the end of the eigh-
teenth century, the rulers of England, under pretence
of protecting the institutions of the country, oppressed
the people, for whose benefit alone those institutions
ought to exist. !Nbr was even this the whole of the
injury they actually inflicted. Their attempts to stop
the progress of opinions were intimately connected
with that monstrous system of foreign policy, by which
there has been entailed upon us a debt of unexampled
magnitude. To pay the interest of this, and to meet
the current expenses of a profuse and reckless adminis-
tration, taxes were laid upon nearly every product of
industry and of nature. In the vast majority of cases,
these taxes fell upon the great body of the people, 401
who were thus placed in a position of singular hardship.
James Smith (Correspondence of Part. Hist. vol. xxxi. p. 509. In
Sir J. E. Smith, vol. ii.p. 143): 1800, Lord Holland stated, in
• The power of the crown is be- the House of Lords, that, of ' the
come irresistible. The new seven years of the war, the
scheme of inquisition into every habeas-corpus act had been sus-
man's private circumstances is pended five ; and, of the multi-
beyond any attempt I have ever tudes who had been imprisoned
heard of under Louis XIV.' in virtue of that suspension, few
400 j n 1794^ ]? ox said, in his had been brought to trial, and
speech on the habeas-corpus sus- only one convicted.' vol. xxxiv.
pension bill: 'Every man who pp. 1486. See also vol. xxxv.
talked freely, every man who p. 609, 610. On the effect of
detested, as he did from his the suspension of the habeas-
heart, this war, might be, and corpus act upon literature, see
would be, in the hands and at Life of Currie, vol. i. p. 506.
the mercy of ministers. Living 401 See decisive evidence of
under such a government, and this, in Porter's Progress of the
being subject to insurrection, Nation,\o\.\\. pp. 283-285; and,
•comparing the two evils, he con- on the enormous increase of ex-
fessed, he thought the evil they pense and taxation, see Pellew's
were pretending to remedy, was Life of Sidmouth, vol. i. p. 358,
less than the one they were going vol. ii. p. 47.
■to inflict by the remedy itself.'
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 497
For the upper classes not only refused to the rest of the
cation the reforms which were urgently required, hut
compelled the country to pay for the precautions which,
in consequence of the refusal, it was thought necessary
to take. Thus it was that the government diminished
the liberties of the people, and wasted the fruit of their
industry, in order to protect that very people against
opinions which the growth of their knowledge had
irresistibly forced upon them.
It is not surprising that, in the face of these circum-
stances, some of the ablest observers should have
despaired of the liberties of England, and should have
believed that, in the course of a few years, a despotic
government would be firmly established. Even we,
who, looking at these things half a century after they
occurred, are able to take a calmer view, and who more-
over possess the advantages of a larger knowledge, and
a riper experience, must nevertheless allow that, so far
as political events were concerned, the danger was more
imminent than at any moment since the reign of
Charles I. But what was forgotten then, and what is
too often forgotten now, is, that political events form
only one of the many parts which compose the history
of a great country. In the period we have been con-
sidering, the political movement was, no doubt, more
threatening than it had been for several generations.
On the other hand, the intellectual movement was, as
we have seen, highly favourable, and its influenco
was rapidly spreading. Hence it was that, while the
government of the country tended in one direction, tho
knowledge of the country tended in another ; and
while political events kept us back, intellectual events
urged us forward. In this way, the despotic principles
that were enforced were, in some degree, neutralized ;
and although it was impossible to prevent them from
causing great suffering, still the effect of that suffering
was to increase the determination of the people to
reform a system under which such evils could be in-
flicted. For while they felt the evils, the knowledge
whioh they had obtained made them see the remedy.
They saw that the men who wore at the head of affairs
VOL. I. K K
498 ENGLISH INTELLECT FKOM THE
■were despotic ; but they saw, too, that the system must
be wrong, which could secure to such men such autho-
rity. This confirmed their dissatisfaction, and justified
their resolution to effect some fresh arrangement, which
should allow their voices to be heard in the councils of
the state. 402 And that resolution, I need hardly add,
grew stronger and stronger, until it eventually produced
those great legislative reforms which have already
signalized the present century, have given a new tone
to the character of public men, and changed the struc-
ture of the English parliament.
It is thus that, in the latter part of the eighteenth
century, the increase and diffusion of knowledge were
in England, directly antagonistic to the political events
which occurred during the same period. The extent
and the nature of that antagonism I have endeavoured
to explain, as clearly as the complexity of the subject,
and the limits of this Introduction, enable me to do.
We have seen that, looking at our country as a whole,
the obvious tendency of affairs was to abridge the
authority of the church, the nobles, and the crown, and
thus give greater play to the power of the people.
Looking, however, at the country, not as a whole, but
looking merely at its political history, we find that the
personal peculiarities of George HI., and the circum-
stances under which he came to the throne, enabled
him to stop the great progress, and eventually cause a
dangerous reaction. Happily for the fortunes of Eng-
land, those principles of liberty which he and his
supporters wished to destroy, had before his reign
become so powerful, and so widely diffused, that they
402 A careful observer of wars of the reign of George III.,
vrhat was going on late in the is the cause of our embarrass-
eighteenth century, expresses ments ; and that immoderate
what, early in the nineteenth taxation has been occasioned by
century, was becoming the con- the House of Commons being
viction of most men of plain, composed of men not interested
Bound understanding, who had to protect the property of the
no interest in the existing cor- people.' — Nicholls's Recollections,
ruption: 'Immoderate taxation, vol. i. p. 213.
the result of the unnecessary
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUET. 499
not only resisted this political reaction, but seemed to
gain fresh strength from the contest. That the struggle
was arduous, and at one time extremely critical, it is
impossible to deny. Such, however, is the force of
liberal opinions, when they have once taken root in
the popular mind, that notwithstanding the ordeal to
which they were exposed, and notwithstanding the
punishments inflicted on their advocates, it was found
impossible tp stifle them ; it was found impossible
even to prevent their increase. Doctrines subver-
sive of every principle of freedom were personally
favoured by the sovereign, openly avowed by the
government, and zealously defended by the most
powerful classes ; and laws in accordance with these
doctrines were placed on our statute-book, and enforced
in our courts. All, however, was in vain. In a few
years that generation began to pass away ; a better one
succeeded in its place ; and the system of tyranny fell
to the ground. And thus it is, that in all countries
which are even tolerably free, every system must fall
if it opposes the march of opinions, and gives
shelter to maxims and institutions repugnant to the
spirit of the age. In this sort of contest, the ultimate
result is never doubtful. For the vigour of an arbi-
trary government depends merely on a few individuals,
who, whatever their abilities may be, are liable, after
their death, to be replaced by timid and incompetent
successors. But the vigour of public opinion is not
exposed to these casualties ; it is unaffected by the laws
of mortality ; it does not flourish to-day and decline
to-morrow ; and so far from depending on the lives of
individual men, it is governed by large general causes,
which, from their very comprehensiveness, are in short
periods scarcely seen, but on a comparison of long
periods, are found to outweigh all other considerations,
and reduce to insignificance those little stratagems by
which princes and statesmen think to disturb the order
of events, and mould to their will the destinies of a
great and civilized people.
These are broad and general truths, which will
hardly be questioned by any man who, with a competent
ii 2
500 ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
knowledge of history, lias reflected much on the na-
ture and conditions of modern society. But during
the period we have been considering, they were utterly
neglected by our political rulers, who not only thought
themselves able to check the growth of opinions, but
entirely mistook the very end and object of govern-
ment. In those days, it was believed that government
is made for the minority, to whose wishes the majority
are bound humbly to submit. It was believed that the
power of making laws must always be lodged in the
hands of a few privileged classes ; that the nation at
large has no concern with those laws, except to obey
them; 403 and that it is the duty of a wise government
to secure the obedience of the people by preventing
them from being enlightened by the spread of know-
ledge. 404 "We may surely deem it a remarkable cir-
cumstance, that these notions, and the schemes of
legislation founded upon them, should, within half a
century, have died away so completely, that they are
no longer advocated, even by men of the most ordinary
abilities. What is still more remarkable is, that this
great change should have been effected, not by any
external event, nor by a sudden insurrection of the
people, but by the unaided action of moral force, — the
silent, though overwhelming pressure of public opinion.
This has always seemed to me a decisive proof of the
natural, and, if I may so say, the healthy march of
English civilization. It is a proof of an elasticity, and
yet a sobriety of spirit, such as no other nation has ever
403 Bishop Horsley, the great ciple that was reverenced as in-
champion of the existing state disputable by almost the whole
of things, said in the House of adherents of the party in power
Lords, in 1795, that he 'did not sixty, or even fifty, or perhaps
know what the mass of the peo- even forty years ago, it was that
pie in any country had to do the ignorance of the people was
with the laws, but to obey them.' necessary for their obedience to
Cooke's Hist, of Party, vol. iii. the law.' One argument was,
p. 435. Compare Godwin on ' that to extend instruction,
Population, p. 569. would be to multiply the crime
404 Lord Cockburn (Life of of forgery ! ' Porter's Progress
Jeffrey, 1852, vol. i. pp. 67, 68) of the Nation, vol. iii. p. 205.
says : * If there was any prin-
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 501
displayed. No other nation could have escaped from
such a crisis, except by passing through a revolution,
of which the cost might well have exceeded the gain.
The truth, however, is, that in England the course of
affairs, which I have endeavoured to trace since the
sixteenth century, had diffused among the people a
knowledge of their own resources, and a skill and
independence in the use of them, imperfect, indeed,
but still far superior to that possessed by any other of
the great European countries. Besides this, other cir-
cumstances, which will be hereafter related, 405 had, so
early as the eleventh century, begun to affect our
national character, and had assisted in imparting to it
that sturdy boldness, and, at the same time, those
habits of foresight, and of cautious reserve, to which
the English mind owes its leading peculiarities. With
us, therefore, the love of liberty has been tempered by
a spirit of prudence, which has softened its violence,
without impairing its strength. It is this which, more
than once, has taught our countrymen to bear even
considerable oppression rather than run the risk of
rising against their oppressors. It has taught them to
stay their hands ; it has taught them to husband their
force until they can use it with irresistible effect. To
this great and valuable habit we owe the safety of
England late in the eighteenth century. If the people
had risen, they would have staked their all ; and what
the result of that desperate game would have been, no
man can say. Happily for them, and for their posterity,
they were content to wait yet a little ; they were will-
ing to bide their time, and watch the issue of things.
Of this noble conduct their descendants reap the reward.
After the lapse of a few years, the political crisis began
to subside, and the people re-entered on their former
rights. For although their rights had been in abeyance,
they were not destroyed, simply because the spirit still
existed by which they were originally won. Nor can
any one doubt that, if those evil days had been pro-
longed, that same spirit which had animated their
404 See chapters ix. and x., on the history of the protective spirit.
502 ENGLISH INTELLECT FROM THE
fathers in the reign of Charles I. would have again
broken forth, and society have been convulsed by a
revolution, the bare idea of which is frightful to con-
template. In the mean time, all this was avoided ; and
although popular tumults did arise in different parts of
the country, and although the measures of government
caused a disaffection of the most serious kind, 406 still
the people, taken as a whole, remained firm, and
patiently reserved their force till a better time, when,
for their benefit, a new party was organized in the state,
by whom their interests were successfully advocated
even within the walls of parliament.
This great and salutary reaction began early in the
present century ; but the circumstances which accom-
panied it are so extremely complicated, and have been
so little studied, that I cannot pretend in this Introduc-
tion to offer even a sketch of them. It is sufficient to
say, what must be generally known, that for nearly
fifty years the movement has continued with unabated
speed. Everything which has been done, has increased
the influence of the people. Blow after blow has been
directed against those classes which were once the sole
depositaries of power. The Reform Bill, the Emanci-
pation of the Catholics, and the Repeal of the Corn-
laws, are admitted to be the three greatest political
achievements of the present generation. Each of these
vast measures has depressed a powerful party. The
extension of the suffrage has lessened the influence of
hereditary rank, and has broken up that great oligarchy
of landowners, by which the House of Commons had
long been ruled. The abolition of Protection has still
further enfeebled the territorial aristocracy; while
those superstitious feelings by which the ecclesiastical
order is mainly upheld, received a severe shock, first
by the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, and
afterwards by the admission of Catholics into the
t06 Sir A. Alison notices in his were able to keep it in bounds.
History, (vol. iv. p. 213) ' how That, however, is a question
widely the spirit of discontent which writers of his stamp never
was diffused' in 1796; and the consider,
only wonder is, that the people
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUEY. 503
legislature ; steps which are with reason regarded as
supplying precedents of mischievous import for the in-
terests of the Established Church. 407 These measures,
and others which are now obviously inevitable, have
taken, and will continue to take, power from particular
sections of society, in order to confer it upon the people
at large. Indeed, the rapid progress of democratic
opinions is a fact which no one in the present day ven-
tures to deny. Timid and ignorant men are alarmed at
the movement ; but that there is such a movement is
notorious to all the world. No one now dares to talk
of bridling the people, or of resisting their united
wishes. The utmost that is said is, that efforts should
be made to inform them as to their real interests, and
enlighten public opinion ; but every one allows that, so
soon as public opinion is formed, it can no longer be
withstood. On this point all are agreed ; and this new
power, which is gradually superseding every other, is
now obeyed by those very statesmen who, had they
lived sixty years ago, would have been the first to deny
its authority, ridicule its pretensions, and, if possible,
extinguish its liberty.
Such is the great gap which separates the public
men of our time from those who flourished under that
bad system which George III. sought to perpetuate.
And it is evident, that this vast progress was brought
about rather by destroying the system, than by im-
proving the men. It is also evident, that the system
407 Bishop Burgess, in a letter p. 604), ' -were justly regarded as
to Lord Melbourne, bitterly thefirmestbulwarksof the British
complained that Catholic eman- constitution,' the feeling was so
cipation was ' the extinction of strong, that at an episcopal
the purely Protestant character meeting in 1787, there were only
of the British legislature.' Har- two members who were willing
ford's Life of Burgess, p. 606 : see to repeal these persecuting lavs.
also pp. 238, 239, 369, 370. See Bishop Watson's Life of Him-
There can be no doubt that the self, vol. l. p. 262. Lord Eldon,
bishop rightly estimated the who to the last stood up for the
danger to nis own party ; and church, pronounced the bill for
as to the Corporation and Test repealing these acts to be a ' re-
Acts, which, says another bishop volutionary bill.' Ttrias's Life
{Tomline's Life of Pitt, voL ii. of Eldon, vol. ii. p. 202.
504 ENGLISH INTELLECT FEOM THE
perished because it was unsuited to the age ; in other
words, because a progressive people will never tolerate
an unprogressive government. But it is a mere matter
of history, that our legislators, even to the last moment,
were so terrified by the idea of innovation, that they
refused every reform until the voice of the people rose
high enough to awe them into submission, and forced
them to grant what, without such pressure, they would
by no means have conceded.
These things ought to serve as a lesson to our poli-
tical rulers. They ought also to moderate the pre-
sumption of legislators, and teach them that their best
measures are but temporary expedients, which it will
be the business of a later and riper age to efface. It
would be well if such considerations were to check the
confidence, and silence the loquacity, of those super-
ficial men, who, raised to temporary power, think them-
selves bound to guarantee certain institutions, and
uphold certain opinions. They ought clearly to under-
stand, that it does not lie within their function thus to
anticipate the march of affairs, and provide for distant
contingencies. In trifling matters, indeed, this may be
done without danger ; though, as the constant changes
in the laws of every country abundantly prove, it is also
done without benefit. But in reference to those large
and fundamental measures which bear upon the destiny
of a people, such anticipation is worse than useless, —
it is highly injurious. In the present state of know-
ledge, politics, so far from being a science, is one of the
most backward of all the arts ; and the only safe course
for the legislator is, to look upon his craft as consisting
in the adaptation of temporary contrivances to tem-
porary emergencies. 408 His business is to follow the
408 Sir C. Lewis, though in his Seasoning in Politics, 1852,Tol.ii.
learned work he over-estimates pp. 360-362. A writer of repute,
the resources possessed by poli- M. Flassan, says {Hist, de la
ticians, does nevertheless allow Diplomatic, vol. i. p. 19): 'On
that they are rarely able to anti- doit etre tres-indulgent sur les
cipate the manner in which their erreurs de la politique, a cause
measures will work. Lewis on de la facilite qu'il y a a en com-
the Methods of Observation and mettre, erreurs auxquelles la
SIXTEENTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. "
age, and not at all to attempt to lead it. He should I
satisfied with studying what is passing around him;
and should modify his schemes, not according to the
notions he has inherited from his fathers, but according
to the actual exigencies of his own time. For he may
rely upon it, that the movements of society have now
become so rapid, that the wants of one generation ai
no measure of the wants of another ; and that mci ,
urged by asense of their own progress, are growing wear
of idle talk about the wisdom of their ancestors, and are
fast discarding those trite and sleepy maxims which
have hitherto imposed upon them, but by which fchej
will not consent to be much longer troubled.
sagesse meme quelquefois en-
traine.' The first part of this
sentence is true enough ; but it
conveys a truth which ought to
repress that love of interfering
with the natural march of affairs
■which still characterizes politi-
cians, even in the freest eoan
tries.
END OP THE FIRST VOLUME.
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