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FIELD-MA11SHAL THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.*
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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A NY man who should attempt to form a have the deeds of Wellington for-thi'ir theme , would speedily find that the shelves of his library must bo considerably extended . English , French , and Prussian writers innumerable have combined to perpetuate the memory of his career ; even at this moment we have the publications of Briahnont and Gloig , and now comes Mr . Duke Yonge with two huge volumes of regular and digni / ied biography , gravely starting with the observation that Arthur Wellcsley was the third surviving son of the first Earl of Mornington . aad steadily pursuing his way through all the well-known detail ^ of buttles , military and parliamentary , as if his task were one which no man before him had attempted to fulfil . . We are far from ' making 1 a complaint . Book buyers and book readers will probably many a good . ye ^ r hence continuo to testify that their interest in all that relates to the great Duko is not extinct . Mr . Yonge'a Life of Wellington is only the
last till iv new one shull succeed it . As the tide of time carries those who took a part in those events , or their representatives , further from the domain of personal feeling , now material * must corno to light . Motives will be explained , judgments modified ; and , as a consequence , biographies rewritten . Mr . Youge , though dealing 1 almost entirely with the public life of his hero , and drawing his facts chiefly from printed sources open to all , has not set out upon his tusk without some special advantages . The present Duke ot Wellington furnished him with some particulars , and with an important memorandum drawn up by the Duke on the battle of Waterloo as a commentary on the narrative of the Prussian Marshal ClausenviU ; the Duke's private secretary contributed " valuable information concerning his private habits , " and Mr . Youge has also had tho use in preparing his work of a copious political diary kept
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Spiritualism ; it is talked of every where , from the highest to the lowest , and in every tone of opinion , from the deepest reverence to the most flippant scoffing . Attention was first called to spiritualism , we believe , i » America , and the stories -which came to us trom that ¦ " land of Brobdignagianfictions were certainly not calculated to inspire the cautious with respect . To the phenomena . ( now seemingly common enough ) of rapping / , pinching , furmture-lifting , and writing by unseen hands , was added the apparition of the spirits of great men dead , which comported themselves after the most extraordinary fashion . The spirit of Dr . Johnson expressed itself in the most ungrammatical language . '; .. that of Shelley communicated as an original composition an ode which was recognised as a plagiarism from ColeIudgE ; the wraith of Shakespeare appeared to be wofully ignorant of his works when in the flesh ; and about all the spirits of great Europeans one great ,-marking , family characteristic was apparent—that they were imbued with American vulgarisms and peculiarities , which certainly accounted for , if it did not excuse , the scepticism of which they became the It was not long , however , before spiritualism found its way over to this country ; nor were the American media slow in presenting themselves upon a Held so prolific both in converts and in cash . " Thanks to these yUtaiits , meriy England itself became a region of marvel and of mvsteiy . The spirits were as active here as they had been on the other side of the Atlantic . In our turn , we liave had rappings , and pinchings , andaniniated furniture , and strange communications from the spirits of Siiakespeabe and Johnson ; The converts to spiritualism among us are to be numbered by tens of thousands , and include among- them some of the most active and intelligent minds in the country-, Referring to what we said before about the unwillingness of the scientific to admit a belief in marvels , \ ye know that there are inen who have spent their whole lives in scientific investigations , in familiarity with the strictest and severest formulae for ascertaining- the truth—men whose faculties . l . ave become so sharpened by their mental training-, that we should jaunoutice it to be almost impossible that they should be deceivedwe have known such men testify with bated breath , and with an evident fear lest their testimony should be quoted to their .. shame , to facts for which not only they have no means of accounting , but which are actually irreconcilable with any known laWi What then are we to say ? Xlie matter is full , of contradictionsfull , if you will , of , manifest absurdities—yet it is testified to by witnesses whoi < e evidence cannot properly be contemned , and whose testimony would be deemed sufficient for any other purpose of life . Are we to believe that immortal souls have no better nor worse fate than haunting the drawing-rooms of their friends ? persons of imiinpeached veracity affirm that it is so . Is it credible that the souls of the departed amuse themselves with tilting tables , lifting chairs , pinching knees , and conveying- bell j and handkerchiefs ? Men of sense and of honour bear witness to the fact . Ts it possible that by the mere will of a medium , a ponderous body may be raised into the air , contrary to the law of gravity P More and better witnesses will come forward and swear to it , than would be sufficient to bring conviction to the most incredulous jury as to such an unnatural action as the murder of a child . Whilst admitting that we ourselves have never yet witnessed anything that we could not account for by perfectly simple . and natural causes , we must declare our belief . that the evidence m favour of preternatural spiritual phenomena is too powerful to be treated otherwise than with respectthat ridicule , when applied to it , is entirely misplaced , and that the best frame of mind for those who are unconvinced is somewhat analogous to the Scotch verdict <> f " Not proven , " which , far from negativing the ease , holds it , as it were , in suspense until the evidence be perfected and conviction secured . A sort of fillip has been given to the interest excited by spiritualism in literary circles by a dispute which has arisen between Mr .. Charles Dickens and Mr . William Howitt , a gentleman who , to his liifrh reputation , as an author , adds that of being one of the most Mrdunt upholders of spiritualism . The " maohinery " ( as it is called ) of- " The Haunted House "—tho Christinas number of All the Year Mound—tfas constructed from the story of a i l haunted house " at Cht'shunt , lately occupied by some relatives of Mr . and Mrs . Charles Kean . The evidence of the haunting was straightforward enough ; but , after hearing it , Mr . Dickens mid his staff , sat down with the deliberate intention of burlesquing it . Tho result was that all the phenomena which had succeeded in expelling an intelligent family from their domicile , was rofcrred to the agency of ruts , cats , creaking weathercocks , and the knavery of a roguish outlet ' . Indignant at thin treatment of his testimony , Mr , Howitt has retorted upon Mr . Dickers , averring that he is a sootier not only of spiritualism , but of Christianity , and that he id incapable of dealing with mysteries , which form , a « it were , " tho fringe " of the Infinite . There may bo something in this ; for really the scope of Mr . Dicker's argument seems to be that there is no power in Nature superior to that of rats , cats , creaking weathercocks , and roguish ostlers . To those who can find no deeper causes for mysteries than these vulgar facts , the angels that appeared to Abraham muat be but common travellers through the plains of Mamre , Jacob ' s Dream only tlie result of supper too freely partaken of at Luz , the glories of Sinai the more invention of , a skillul , pyrotechnist , and tlje wonders worked at Endor—a lesson how the tricks of tricksters winiiy turn into rouliUea , to their own dismaynothing but a proof that tho magic-Ian tern was understood in Caiman . For us , we prefer to hold our opinion upon these mutters in suspeuBO , until wo are further informed by ovulonces . Abjuring
equally , a blind faith on the one side , and an empty scoff on the other we profess our belief that human intelligence has not yet exhausted the wonders of God , nor lias mundane knavery discovered the bounds of human credulity . The difficulties against which investigators into these phenomena have to struggle-are enormous . When the experiment" is unsuccessful , you are told that ; the spirits are not always favourably disposed , that the laws which regulate them are not understood even by the medium If your curiosity m probiiK-the truth be too keen , you are rebuked by the information that the spirits will not aet in the presence of a confirmed sceptic . To any objection against second-hand testimony , there is the stereotyped answer , that it is upon the faith of witnesses whose veracity ought to be beyond dispute . ¦ ,. . I 3 iit it is not so much veracity that is in question , as judgment . How few are they whose mental training enables them to conduct an investigation into those problems of physics and metaphysics , which usually occupy the attention of philosophers . The severest lo < -ic unusual powers of observation , the utmost coolness and presence of mind , the most unconquerable determination to be neither baffled nor conquered- ^ -all these are necessary to the perfect examination into the simplest phenomena of physical science . But when a new order of tilings arises , and the investigators are required to take cognizance of elements which are confessedly ' ' uncertain and not ascertained , how much is the matter complicated ! At the same breath with which spiritualists confess that they know nothing- about the real nature of spirits , they will venture to assert that the success or failure of an experiment depends upon this or that condition of the spirits . Then , again , there is tlie uncertainty of human evidence , and the almost universal proneness to take a part for the whole . Something extraordinary happens— -such as the whirling round of a table ; it impresses the majority of witnesses , and they cannot account for it ; presently some one cries out that the table lias risen bodily into the air without support ^ and , confused , with ilie supposed marvel which they have seen , the rest believe in that which they have not ; and what is more , they will afterwards believe and assert that they really did see it . Ag-ain , a nervou 3 , sensitive person will cry out that he has felt the pressure of hands , and the expectation of every one is strung up to tlie highest pitch of tension ; by . and by another feels the same , and says so—but perhaps it is nothing but tlie pressure of the clothes caused by some involuntar y movement of -limb . We throw out these observations , not with a * view of discrediting really sound testimony , but of showing how people may deceive ; themselves and others in the most innocent manner possible . . . ! ¦ " ,-- ' We know not whether spiritualism is or is not ( as Mr . William Hoavitt in aletter . to a contemporary lately expressed himself ) , " but the lowest fringe in the sublime mantle of mystery which wraps the universe , " but we are sufficiently conscious of the grayity of tlie testimony which " -supports it , to assert that it merits calm , patient , philosophical investigation . It may be that there are forces in nature yet unknown to science , and that the demonstrations ot them may " have been-mistaken for the work of spirits . All this is dark and uncertain . That there is much charlatanry abroad with regard to the matter there can also be no doubt ; but so there has been in connection with every branch of science at its birth . We have little respect for those who say , " Let us see ; we will only believe our . eyes ; " those who believe only their eyes must have . faith in Herr Doblek and Mr . AndIsiison , and their wonderful works . Evidence must be taken lor what it is worth , but for no more ; and it musfc not be accepted for a conclusion that people , are . not likely to bo deceived , or even to deceive . others unknowingly , because they are respectable and virtuous .
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114 The Leader andSaturday Analyst . [ ?>? ¦ 4 , I 860 .
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* TFki Ztfv of JPtold-Mamhal Arthur ftuko of IFollintjton , By Ohftrlo * Duko Kongo . 2 vols . Ohunnuui and Hull .
Field-Ma11shal The Duke Of Wellington.*
FIELD-MA 11 SHAL THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON . *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 4, 1860, page 114, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2332/page/14/
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