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the Unitarians have had neither religion nor love , neither the religious life nor its divinest product whence -were they to acquire that invincible enthusiasm , that valiant purpose , that sublime disregard of danger , that self-forgetting and self * denying consecration of the entire being to the service of mankind in a more comprehensive form than mere works and institutions of mercy involve , which a great idea , when baptized in the fervours of affection inspires ? An idea by itself is perfectly barren . Supreme intelligence could not have created the universe . Supreme intelligence is but an instrument for the fecund and instinctive force of the Infinite G od . The Unitarians have had abundance of ideas : but these have never __ > H > . 1 _ ^_ _ J _ j * m * m _
risen above the rank of cold and banen abstractions . They have had no necessary relation to each other ; they have never been fused into a faith ; they have never been gladdened by phantasy , never taken redhot from the fires of passion and hammered into the weapons of conquest and redemption . When Paul the Apostle went from land to land preaching the gospel , it was not the idea he carried with him , but the heat and pith which he put into the idea which enabled him . to achieve such marvellous results . It was religion , glorifying , sanctifying , and impregnating love which made him mighty to vanquish and to save . Indeed , it is never some new idea , but some new fact , which regenerates the world . In the Reformation what was the new idea ? I am not aware
of any ; but the new fact was Luther , terrible and yet beautiful , shaking like a flowing and flaming mane his grand Teutonic plenitude of gifts and ot potencies . In Christianity itself what was the new idea ? Christianity was a revelation of spiritualism , the irresistible rebellion of the human heart against the materialism which had so long enslaved it . Yet had there not been either as religions or as philosophies numberless outbursts of spiritualism before ? But the new fact was Christ himself , with his Godlike radiance and his wealth of human sensibilities . And ever since Christ appeared it is the Christian facts , and the associations and sympathies growing out of them , and not the Christian dogmas , which have moulded and leavened the existence of Christian
communities . What to the Roman Catholic is the doctrine of Papal infallibility , compared to the beaming brow , the bountiful lips , the angelic lustre of the Virgin , an ecstatic vision whose heavenly odours lovingly linger long after the spotless garments and the melodious smile of the most blessed of mothers have vanished from the adoring imagination ? A sect , then , cannot teach by ideas alone ; neither from ideas alone can it draw aught of martyr and missionary heroism . If you warm men effectually they will not quarrel with you about the nature of the fuel ; but , if without warming them you flood them with
light , what they are surest to see is your defects ; and , dwelling on these , how are they likely to be incited , even by your most eloquent appeals , to rush forth with the humility of saints , the simplicity of apostles , the ardour of prophets , into a career whose every step is to be marked by sacrifice ? The mass of men need no other light tfmn that which comes from the flame that warms them ; and , perhaps none uf us need or ought to seek any other . The Unitarians have been of a different opinion . They have been piofuso in farthing candles ; but they have never had a vast blaze , fit for Thor or Odin to sit by ,
roaring on the hearth . The notion of bearing your cross with a farthing candle in your hand , to show you the way , is one so exquisitely absurd , that it could have occurred to none but Unitarians . A Unitarian martyrology would be a list of broken shins and bloody noses through the occasional extinction of the farthing candle . Furthermore , the Scriptures tell us that God is a consuming fire ; and consuming fires must likewise his servants be . The same conflagration which rises high as the stars to give warmth and
light to our race must also devour the iniquities and abominations of earth . Martyr and missionary heroism , therefore , must be a power to destroy ns well as a power to create—a voice of cursing as well as a voice of blessing . We hate in the precise degree that we love ; deep as is the fountain of our tenderness , so strong and crushing will be the vehemence of our denunciations . If , consequently , Unifafianism has produced no martyrs , no missionary heroes , it is as much because it has been incapable of sacred wrath as because it has been destitute of the
religious life and of the spirit of mercy . A martyr is not a milksop ; the heroic missionary of a primordial truth is not a phrasemonger . But if by your possession of the religious life you would appear to Unitavianism fanntical or mystical—if by your manifestation of the spirit of mercy you would appear to it a dreamer or a fool—it would deem you violent and turbulent if you uttered one word of righteous indignation at wrong . I once heard the chief person
in a Unitarian country congregation say that a minister was committing a grave fault in rebuking f > r even in mentioning men ' s vices from the pulpit : he was there to tell them their duties , but not to of Fond them by an allusion to their sins . This declaration will furnish an idea how little the ma terials tf > r martyr and missionary heroism are to be found in the Unitarian sect , even if that heroism were limited only to the overthrow of evil . Atticus .
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Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and trj- to enforce them .. —Edinburgh Review .
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There is a vulgar error very current that Critics do not read the books they review . They do not always read the books that are sent for review , hut we assure our excellent friends that the notion we speak of is entirely erroneous , and that Critics are , on the whole , men as honest as their neighbours , and perform a very thankless task with a due sense of its responsibility . We have no wish to exalt Journalism unduly ; but we are bound to say that in the present age Journalists—with rare exceptions —( and there are hlack sheep in every profession )—do their duty conscientiously . If Critics did not " read the hooks it would soon be found
out , especially by authors . Another popular error is , that when a book is greatly praised the Critic is a friend . Friendship , of course , operates in Literature , as elsewhere ; why should it not ? how can it be avoided ? But friendship , though it may incline the Critic to be pleased , cannot make an honourable man say that bad is good , if he do not think it ; if he do think it , we must accept that , as we must accept other influences which determine his taste and judgment . Critics themselves , however , foster this error by occasional disclaimers of any knowledge of the author under review . An article in the last Examiner
—evidently by a new hand—calls forth these remarks , by disclaiming any personal friendship for the poet it lauds , thus implying that praise must proceed from friendship . The evil of this error is that all your friends claim praise as due to friend - ship , and quarrel with you if you hint a fault !
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Punch is a man of wit , and appreciates expression , he will , therefore , thank us , we hope , for rectifying the quotation given in his last number , where , writing from a vague remembrance of the passage , he says : — " II n ' y a pas de sot dans ce monde qui ne peut trouver un plus grand sot que lui-meme . " Compare the weakness and inelegance of this with the epigrammatic force of the original : — " Un . sot trouve toujours un plus sot qui l ' admire . " The line is in Boilbau—we believe in the Art Poetique .
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In the opening number of the new journal , The Friend of the People , there is an article by Mr . Holyoake , with the furious title of " Down with the Tyrants , " which , for good sense , courage , and practical philosophy , deserves to be largely quoted and distributed among all Democrats fond of tirades . " Down with the Tyrants " is no call to arms . It does not hoist the red banner ; it preaches war—but war against the tyrant , Ignorance : " it makes us impotent : it hides from us our power : it prevents us getting improvement : it makes us make war on our friends by blinding us from
seeing who they really are : it keeps us from seeing the opportunities which lie at our feet , whereby we might emancipate ourselves half as fast again as we do . Ignorance , therefore is a Tyrant , and I say , * Down with that Tyrant ! ' Prejudice is a Tyrant . It prevents us working with each other : it prevents us working with many who might and would help us well : it makes us work only in one way , and , what is worse , suspect all who would work in a different way , although for the same end . Therefore Prejudice is a pernicious Tyrant , and I say , Down with that Tyrant . ' "
thing , he of course removes it ; but he never thinks of ' knocking * it down . That would be a great waste . He takes it to pieces , and uses up the materials for some nevr fabric . That ' s the way I would serve all tyrannies . I would not knock them down . I would take them to piece —then they can never get together again J I would use them up—then they could not get on their legs again and use me up . *' We call that writing in the true spirit of a " Friend of the People . "
Supineness also is a Tyrant ; but a still greater is Indignation : — " Indignation is a Tyrant : because a man who ^ is merely indignant is not good for much . So many think that , if they are indignant at wrong , that is enough . It is not enough . I know as well as any Chartist in the land that the working classes have reason enough to be indignant . But it is no good being indignant . It is not enough to hate Tyranny—we must put it down ; and I am so resolved to put it down , that I can't find time to vent my indignation . Now , many Chartists waste their time in venting their indignation . Indignation , therefore , delays redress—Indignation , therefore , is a Tyrant ,
and I say , ' Down with that Tyrant also ! " Class legislator * are Tyrants , who ought to be put down . ButAotof One way is to knock them down , and that is the only mode many people think of . But that 8 not the only way—besides , it ' a a wasteful way . It s not a good way , because , if you knock them down , they sometimes qet up again , as they have done in Frnnce . ine fact is , it ' s a worn-out way . Any savage can take that way . We have found out other ways , and , I think , belter ways . "When a builder finds an old house good for no-
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In France there is little stirring , Auber ' s new opera , L'Enfant Prodigue , usurping the gossip of the week , so that we have only to mention the sum paid to Lamartine for his Histoire du Directoire , at which he works fourteen to sixteen hours a-day , and that sum is 120 , 000 f ., equal to ' about six thousand pounds of our money—a very pretty honorarium ! George Sand has just completed a new drama for Bocage , which , from the title , La Famille du Charpentier , we suspect to be taken out of her delightful Compagnon du Tour de France . Our admiration for Sand is so
great that we cannot withhold our regret at the idea of her following thus in the footsteps of Dumas , and arranging her novels into dramas ; it is surely unworthy of a genius thus to descend to a marchand litteraire J
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The proposed press law for Saxony will produce either a revolution or the ruin of the country . Leipsig subsists by its book trade . What cotton goods are to Manchester , what hardware is to Sheffield , that is the book trade to Leipsig . This Saxony town is the emporium of Germany—nay of the whole world , as far as German literature is concerned ; yet the new law renders this trade impossible . If the Government persist , the Leipsig
booksellers have an easy remedy—they will make Brunswick their Leipsig ! Brunswick has many advantages , and the inestimable advantage of the mildest press law in Germany . The infatuation of the Saxon Government is inconceivable . It opens the new law with a paragraph which says "The censorship is abolished , * and every succeeding paragraph shows it to be derisory . What think you of such a clause as this ?
" § 6 . The Minister of the Interior may prohibit all books not published in Saxony ; any one selling such prohibited books to be fined 50 to 100 thalcrs , or from one week to three months' imprisonment . " Conceive the possibility of commission business on such terms ! At Leipsig the booksellers receive parcels from all parts of Germany to send them to all parts of the world ; they act as mere agents , but the Government now proposes toanake them responsible for the contents of their parcels ! All
journals Lave to pay caution money , which is forfeited on the slightest ground of complaint—3000 tlmlers for a daily paper , 1000 if twice a week , 500 if weekly . Moreover , the Post-office will be commanded not to supply any paper which the Minister of the Interior may designate—a ruinous clause to all opposition papers , as the Postroflice supplies the whole of Germany . Imagine Lord John signifying to the Post -office that henceforward the Dispatch or the Leader must not be forwarded ! But the gem of the whole is
this' * & 27 . Every one concerned in the publication of a book " or paper ( editor , author , publisher , printer , seller ) is commanded to ascertain that the publication contains nothing contrary to the Press laws . " We remember in the height of 18 4 S , when men ' s hopes and fears were swayed by every telegraph from the Continent , Douglas Jerrold emphatically declaring that , come what might , one great blessing had been effected for ever by the
revolutions abroad , and that blessing was A Free Press J It seemed so then ; and his eager enthusiasm was animated with sublime hopes which no one could gainsay . We shared those hopes . We little knew the power of reaction ; we little knew the invincible stupidity of governments . Us n ' ont rien apprisJ No , Jkurold , no ; we have not yet conquered freedom of Thought , or the world would be ours !
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Most readers , but especially those who have the honour and delight of a personal acquaintance with HuMUOLDT will feel peculiar satisfaction when we announce to them the expected publication of his Biography b y Dr . H . Klbncke , for which the illustrious philosopher has provided the materials . The interest excited by the announcement in Germany has been so great that the demands already exceed the number of copies struck off , so that a new edition has to be commenced even before the printing of the first is completed . If Dr . Klencke have but the requisite artistic power ( alas ! we doubt
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Dec . 14 , 1850 . ] ® ft * Slgfrer . 903 m- ^ ma ^^^
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 14, 1850, page 903, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1862/page/15/
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