,,the ,,map ,,of ,,life 99 99 99 99 99 ,,works ,,by ,the ,rt4 ,hon4 ,w4 ,e4 ,h4 ,,lecky4 ,,history of ,,england in the ,,eighteenth ,,century4 ,library ,edition4 #hvo4 ,vols4 ,i4 and ,,ii4 #agjj-agfj4 #cfs4 ,vols4 ,,iii4 and ,,iv4 #agfj-aghd4 #cfs4 ,vols4 ,v4 and ,,vi4 #aghd-agic4 #cfs4 ,vols4 ,,vii4 and ,,viii4 #agic-ahjj4 #cfs4 ,cabinet ,edition4 ,,england4 #g vols4 ,crown #hvo4 #fs4 each4 ,,ireland4 #e vols4 ,crown #hvo4 #fs4 each4 ,the ,,history of ,,european ,,morals from ,,augustus to ,,charlemagne4 #b vols4 ,crown #hvo4 #abs4 ,,history of the ,,rise and ,,influence of the ,,spirit of ,,rationalism in ,,europe4 #b vols4 ,crown #hvo4 #abs4 ,,democracy and ,,liberty4 ,library ,edition4 #b vols4 #hvo4 #cfs4 ,cabinet ,edition4 #b vols4 ,crown #hvo4 #abs4 ,,the ,,map ,,of ,,life3 ,conduct and ,character4 ,library ,edition4 #hvo4 #ajs4 #f;d4 ,cabinet ,edition4 ,crown #hvo4 #es4 net4 ,,poems4 ,fcp4 #hvo4 #es4 ,,longmans1 ,,green1 ,,co4 #ci ,paternoster ,row1 ,london1 and ,bombay4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,the ,,map ,,of ,,life ,conduct and ,character by ,,william ,,edward ,,hartpole ,,lecky ',la vie n'est pas un plaisir ni une douleur1 mais une affaire grave dont nous sommes chargs1 et qu'il faut conduire et terminer notre honneur' ,,tocqueville ,new ,impression ,longmans1 ,green1 and ,co4 #ci ,paternoster ,row1 ,london ,new ,york and ,bombay #aijd ,all rights reserved ,bibliographical ,note4 ,first printed1 #hvo1 ,september #ahii4 ,reprinted ,november #ahii2 ,december #ahii2 ,january #aijj 7with corrections74 ,cabinet ,edition1 ,crown #hvo1 ,february #aija4 ,reprinted ,december1 #aijb4 ,july1 #aijd ,,contents ,,chapter ,i ,,page ,how far reasoning on happiness is of any use #a ,the arguments of the ,determinist #b ,the arguments for free will #c ,securus judicat orbis terrarum #e ,,chapter ,,ii ,happiness a condition of mind and often confused with the means of attaining it #g ,circumstances and character contribute to it in different degrees #g ,religion1 ,stoicism1 and ,eastern nations seek it mainly by acting on disposition #g ,sensational philosophies and industrial and progressive nations seek it chiefly in improved circumstances #h ,english character #h ,action of the body on happiness #aj ,influence of predispositions in reasonings on life #ab ,promotion of health by legislation1 fashion and self-culture #ab ,slight causes of life failures #ad ,effects of sanitary reform #ad ,diminished disease does not always imply a higher level of health #ae ,two causes depressing health #af ,encroachments on liberty in sanitary legislation #af ,sanitary education--its chief articles--its possible exaggeration #ag ,constant thought about health not the way to attain it #ah ,,chapter ,,iii ,some general rules of happiness--#a4 ,a life full of work4--,happiness should not be the main object of pursuit #ai ,carlyle on ,ennui #bj #b4 ,aim rather at avoiding suffering than attaining pleasure #ba #c4 ,the greatest pleasures and pains in spheres accessible to all #bb #d4 ,importance and difficulty of realising our blessings while they last #bd ,comparison and contrast #bf ,content not the quality of progressive societies #bg ,the problem of balancing content and the desire for progress #bh ,what civilisation can do for happiness #bh ,,chapter ,,iv ,the relation of morals to happiness4--,the ,utilitarian justification of virtue insufficient #cj ,power of man to aim at something different from and higher than happiness #cb ,general coincidence of duty and happiness #cc ,the creation of unselfish interests one of the chief elements of happiness #cd ,burke on a well-ordered life #ce ,improvement of character more within our power than improvement of intellect #cf ,high moral qualities often go with low intellectual power #cf ,dangers attaching to the unselfish side of our nature4--,active charity personally supervised least subject to abuse #cg ,disproportioned compassion #ch ,treatment of animals #da ,,chapter ,v ,changes of morals chiefly in the proportionate value attached to different virtues #dd ,military1 civic1 and intellectual virtues #dd ,the medival type #de ,modifications introduced by ,protestantism #dg ,bossuet and ,louis ,,xiv4 #dh ,persecution4--,operations at childbirth4--,usury #ej ,every great religion and philosophic system produces or favours a distinct moral type #ea ,variations in moral judgments #ea ,complexity of moral influences of modern times4--,the industrial type #ec ,qualified by other influences #ed ,unnecessary suffering #eg ,goethe's exposition of modern morals #eh ,morals hitherto too much treated negatively #ei ,possibility of an over-sensitive conscience #fj ,increased sense of the obligations of an active life #fa ,,chapter ,,vi ,in the guidance of life action more important than pure reasoning #fb ,the enforcement of active duty now specially needed #fb ,temptations to luxurious idleness #fc ,rectification of false ideals4--,the conqueror #fd ,the luxury of ostentation #fd ,glorification of the demi-monde #ff ,study of ideals #fg ,the human mind more capable of distinguishing right from wrong than of measuring merit and demerit #fg ,fallibility of moral judgments #fh ,rules for moral judgment #gc ,,chapter ,,vii ,the school of ,rousseau considers man by nature wholly good #gf ,other schools maintain that he is absolutely depraved #gf ,exaggerations of these schools #gh ,the restraining conscience distinctively human4--,comparison with the animals #gi ,reality of human depravity4--,illustrated by war #ha ,large amount of pure malevolence4--,political crime4--,the press #hc ,mendacity in finance #he ,the sane view of human character #hf ,we learn with age to value restraints1 to expect moderately and value compromise #hf ,,chapter ,,viii ,moral compromise a necessity in life4--,statement of ,newman #hh ,impossibility of acting on it #hh ,moral considerations though the highest must not absorb all others #ij ,truthfulness--cases in which it may be departed from #ia ,moral compromise in war ,war necessarily stimulates the malevolent passions and practises deception #ib ,rights of war in early stages of civilisation #ic ,distinction between ,greeks and ,barbarians #id ,roman moralists insisted on just causes of war and on formal declaration #ie ,treatment of prisoners4--,combatants and non-combatants #ie ,treatment of private property #if ,lawful and unlawful methods of conducting war #if ,abdication by the soldier of private judgment and free will #ih ,distinctions and compromises #ii ,cases in which the military oath may be broken4--,illegal orders #ajj ,violation of religious obligations4--,the ,sepoy mutiny #aja ,the ,italian conscript4--,fenians in the ,british army #ajd ,,chapter ,,ix ,moral compromise in the law ,what advocates may and may not do #ajh ,inevitable temptations of the profession #aji ,its condemnation by ,swift1 ,arnold1 ,macaulay1 ,bentham #aji ,its defence by ,paley1 ,johnson1 ,basil ,montagu #aaj ,how far a lawyer may support a bad case4--,st4 ,thomas ,aquinas and ,catholic casuists #aaa ,sir ,matthew ,hale4--,general custom in ,england #aac ,distinction between the etiquette of prosecution and of defence #aac ,the case of ,courvoisier #aad ,statement of ,lord ,brougham #aae ,the license of cross-examination4--,technicalities defeating justice #aaf ,advantage of trial by jury #aai ,necessity of the profession of advocate #aai ,moral compromise in politics ,necessity of party #abj ,how far conscientious differences should impair party allegiance #aba ,lines of conduct adopted when such differences arise #aba ,parliamentary obstruction #abc ,moral difficulties inseparable from party #abd ,evil of extreme view of party allegiance4--,government and the ,opposition #abe ,relations of members to their constituents #abg ,votes given without adequate knowledge #aca ,diminished power of the private member #acd ,,chapter ,x ,,the ,,statesman ,duty of a statesman when the interests and wishes of his nation conflict #acf ,nature and extent of political trusteeship #acg ,temperance questions #ach ,legitimate and illegitimate time-serving #ada ,education questions #ada ,inconsistency in politics--how far it should be condemned #adg ,the conduct of ,peel in #ahbi and #ahde #adh ,the conduct of ,disraeli in #ahfg #adi ,different degrees of weight to be attached to party considerations #aea ,temptations to war #aec ,temptations of aristocratic and of democratic governments #aee ,necessity of assimilating legislation #aeg ,legislation violating contracts4--,irish land legislation #aeh ,questions forced into prominence for party objects #afd ,the judgment of public servants who have committed indefensible acts #afe ,the ,french coup d'tat of #ahea #aff ,judgments passed upon it #agg ,probable multiplication of coups d'tat #ahb ,governor ,eyre #ahd ,the ,jameson raid #ahe ,how statesmen should deal with political misdeeds #aij ,the standard of international morals--questions connected with it #aia ,the ethics of annexation #aie ,political morals and public opinion #aif ,,chapter ,,xi ,moral compromise in the ,church ,difficulties of reconciling old formularies with changed beliefs #aih ,cause of some great revolutions of belief4--,the ,copernican system4--,discovery of ,newton #aih ,the antiquity of the world1 of death1 and of man #bjj ,the ,darwinian theory #bja ,comparative mythology4--,biblical criticism4--,scientific habits of thought #bja ,general incorporation of new ideas into the ,church #bjd ,growth of the sacerdotal spirit #bjd ,the two theories of the ,reformation #bje ,modern ,ritualism #baj ,its various elements of attraction #baa ,diversity of teaching has not enfeebled the ,church #bac ,its literary activity4--,proofs that the ,church is in touch with educated laymen #bad ,its political influence--how far this is a test of vitality #bah ,its influence on education #bai ,its spiritual influence #bbj ,how far clergymen who dissent from parts of its theology can remain within it #bba ,newman on a ,latitudinarian establishment #bbc ,obligations imposed on the clergy by the fact of ,establishment #bbd ,attitude of laymen towards the ,church #bbe ,increasing sense of the relativity of belief #bbf ,this tendency strengthens with age #bbg ,the conflict between belief and scepticism #bbi ,power of religion to undergo transformation #bbi ,probable influence of the sacerdotal spirit on the ,church #bca ,,chapter ,,xii ,,the ,,management ,,of ,,character ,a sound judgment of our own characters essential to moral improvement #bce ,analogies between character and taste #bcf ,the strongest desire generally prevails1 but desires may be modified #bch ,passions and habits #bci ,exaggerated regard for the future4--,a happy childhood #bci ,choice of pleasures4--,athletic games #bdj ,the intellectual pleasures #bdb ,their tendency to enhance other pleasures4--,importance of specialisation #bdc ,and of judicious selection #bdc ,education may act specially on the desires or on the will #bde ,modern education and tendencies of the former kind #bde ,old ,catholic training mainly of the will4--,its effects #bdg ,anglo-,saxon types in the seventeenth century #bdh ,capriciousness of willpower--heroism often succumbs to vice #bdi ,courage--its varieties and inconsistencies #bej ,the circumstances of life the school of will4--,its place in character #bea ,dangers of an early competence4--,choice of work #beb ,choice of friends4--,effect of early friendship on character #bed ,mastery of will over thoughts4--,its intellectual importance #bee ,its importance in moral culture #bee ,great difference among men in this respect #bef ,means of governing thought #beh ,the dream power--its great place in life #beh ,especially in the early stages of humanity #bfa ,moral safety valves--danger of inventing unreal crimes #bfb ,character of the ,english gentleman #bff ,different ways of treating temptation #bff ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,money ,henry ,taylor on its relation to character #bfh ,difference between real and professed beliefs about money #bfh ,its relation to happiness in different grades of life #bfi ,the cost of pleasures #bge ,lives of the millionaires #bha ,leaders of ,society #bhd ,the great speculator #bhg ,expenditure in charity4--,rules for regulating it #bhh ,advantages and disadvantages of a large very wealthy class in a nation #bib ,directions in which philanthropic expenditure may be best turned #bif ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,marriage ,its importance and the motives that lead to it #cjj ,the moral and intellectual qualities it specially demands #cjb ,duty to the unborn4--,improvident marriages #cje ,the doctrine of heredity and its consequences #cjf ,religious celibacy #cjh ,marriages of dissimilar types often peculiarly happy #cji ,marriages resulting from a common weakness #caj ,independent spheres in marriage4--,effect on character #caa ,the age of marriage #cab ,increased independence of women #cad ,,chapter ,,xv ,,success ,success depends more on character than on intellect #caf ,especially that accessible to most men and most conducive to happiness #cag ,strength of will1 tact and judgment4--,not always joined #cag ,their combination a great element of success #cah ,good nature #cai ,tact3 its nature and its importance #cbj ,its intellectual and moral affinities #cbc ,value of good society in cultivating it4--,newman's description of a gentleman #cbd ,disparities between merit and success #cbf ,success not universally desired #cbf ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,time ,rebellion of human nature against the essential conditions of life #cbh ,time 'the stuff of life' #ccj ,various ways of treating it #ccj ,increased intensity of life #cca ,sleep #ccb ,apparent inequalities of time #cce ,the tenure of life not too short #ccg ,old age #cda ,the growing love of rest4--,how time should be regarded #cda ,,chapter ,,xvii ,,the ,,end ,death terrible chiefly through its accessories #cdc ,pagan and ,christian ideas about it #cdd ,premature death #cdi ,how easily the fear of death is overcome #cea ,the true way of regarding it #ceb ,,the ,,map ,,of ,,life ,,chapter ,i ,one of the first questions that must naturally occur to every writer who deals with the subject of this book is1 what influence mere discussion and reasoning can have in promoting the happiness of men4 ,the circumstances of our lives and the dispositions of our characters mainly determine the measure of happiness we enjoy1 and mere argument about the causes of happiness and unhappiness can do little to affect them4 ,it is impossible to read the many books that have been written on these subjects without feeling how largely they consist of mere sounding generalities which the smallest experience shows to be perfectly impotent in the face of some real and acute sorrow1 and it is equally impossible to obtain any serious knowledge of the world without perceiving that a large proportion of the happiest lives and characters are to be found where introspection1 self-analysis and reasonings about the good and evil of life hold the smallest place4 ,happiness1 indeed1 like health1 is one of the things of which men rarely think except when it is impaired1 and much that has been written on the subject has been written under the stress of some great depression4 ,such writers are like the man in ,hogarth's picture occupying himself in the debtors' prison with plans for the payment of the ,national ,debt4 ,there are moments when all of us feel the force of the words of ,voltaire3 ',travaillons sans raisonner1 c'est le seul moyen de rendre la vie supportable4' ,that there is much truth in such considerations is incontestable1 and it is only within a restricted sphere that the province of reasoning extends4 ,man comes into the world with mental and moral characteristics which he can only very imperfectly influence1 and a large proportion of the external circumstances of his life lie wholly or mainly beyond his control4 ,at the same time1 every one recognises the power of skill1 industry and perseverance to modify surrounding circumstances2 the power of temperance and prudence to strengthen a naturally weak constitution1 prolong life1 and diminish the chances of disease2 the power of education and private study to develop1 sharpen and employ to the best advantage our intellectual faculties4 ,every one also recognises how large a part of the unhappiness of most men may be directly traced to their own voluntary and deliberate acts4 ,the power each man possesses in the education and management of his character1 and especially in the cultivation of the dispositions and tendencies which most largely contribute to happiness1 is less recognised and is perhaps less extensive1 but it is not less real4 ,the eternal question of free will and determinism here naturally meets us1 but on such a subject it is idle to suppose that a modern writer can do more than define the question and state his own side4 ,the ,determinist says that the real question is not whether a man can do what he desires1 but whether he can do what he does not desire2 whether the will can act without a motive2 whether that motive can in the last analysis be other than the strongest pleasure4 ,the illusion of free will1 he maintains1 is only due to the conflict of our motives4 ,under many forms and disguises pleasure and pain have an absolute empire over conduct4 ,the will is nothing more than the last and strongest desire2 or it is like a piece of iron surrounded by magnets and necessarily drawn by the most powerful2 or 7as has been ingeniously imagined7 like a weathercock1 conscious of its own motion1 but not conscious of the winds that are moving it4 ,the law of compulsory causation applies to the world of mind as truly as to the world of matter4 ,heredity and ,circumstance make us what we are4 ,our actions are the inevitable result of the mental and moral constitutions with which we came into the world1 operated on by external influences4 ,the supporters of free will1 on the other hand1 maintain that it is a fact of consciousness that there is a clear distinction between the ,will and the ,desires1 and that although they are closely connected no sound analysis will confuse them4 ,coleridge ingeniously compared their relations to 'the co-instantaneous yet reciprocal action of the air and the vital energy of the lungs in breathing4'#a ,if the will is powerfully acted on by the desires1 it has also in its turn a power of acting upon them1 and it is not a mere slave to pleasure and pain4 ,the supporters of this view maintain that it is a fact of the plainest consciousness that we can do things which we do not like2 that we can suspend the force of imperious desires1 resist the bias of our nature1 pursue for the sake of duty the course which gives least pleasure without deriving or expecting from it any pleasure1 and select at a given moment between alternate courses4 ,they maintain that when various motives pass before the mind1 the mind retains a power of choosing and judging1 of accepting and rejecting2 that it can by force of reason or by force of imagination bring one motive into prominence1 concentrating its attention on it and thus intensifying its power2 that it has a corresponding power of resisting other motives1 driving them into the background and thus gradually diminishing their force2 that the will itself becomes stronger by exercise1 as the desires do by indulgence4 ,the conflict between the will and the desires1 the reality of self-restraint and the power of ,will to modify character1 are among the most familiar facts of moral life4 ,in the words of ,burke1 ',it is the prerogative of man to be in a great degree a creature of his own making4' ,there are men whose whole lives are spent in willing one thing and desiring the opposite1 and all morality depends upon the supposition that we have at least some freedom of choice between good and evil4 ',i ought1' as ,kant says1 necessarily implies ',i can4' ,the feeling of moral responsibility is an essential part of healthy and developed human nature1 and it inevitably presupposes free will4 ,the best argument in its favour is that it is impossible really to disbelieve it4 ,no human being can prevent himself from viewing certain acts with an indignation1 shame1 remorse1 resentment1 gratitude1 enthusiasm1 praise or blame1 which would be perfectly unmeaning and irrational if these acts could not have been avoided4 ,we can have no higher evidence on the subject than is derived from this fact4 ,it is impossible to explain the mystery of free will1 but until a man ceases to feel these emotions he has not succeeded in disbelieving in it4 ,the feelings of all men and the vocabularies of all languages attest the universality of the belief4 ,newman1 in a well-known passage in his ',apologia1' describes the immense effect which the sentence of ,augustine1 ',securus judicat orbis terrarum1' had upon his opinions in determining him to embrace the ,church of ,rome4 ,the force of this consideration in relation to the subject to which ,dr4 ,newman refers does not appear to have great weight4 ,it means only that at a time when the ,christian ,church included but a small fraction of the human race2 when all questions of orthodoxy or the reverse were practically in the hands of the priesthood2 when ignorance1 credulity and superstition were at their height and the habits of independence and impartiality of judgment running very low2 and when every kind of violent persecution was directed against those who dissented from the prevailing dogmas1--certain councils of priests found it possible to attain unanimity on such questions as the two natures in ,christ or the relations of the ,persons in the ,trinity1 and to expel from the ,church those who differed from their views1 and that the once formidable sects which held slightly different opinions about these inscrutable relations gradually faded away4 ,such an unanimity on such subjects and attained by such methods does not appear to me to carry with it any overwhelming force4 ,there are1 however1 a certain number of beliefs that are not susceptible of demonstrative proof1 and which must always rest essentially on the universal assent of mankind4 ,such is the existence of the external world4 ,such1 in my opinion1 is the existence of a distinction between right and wrong1 different from and higher than the distinction between pleasure and pain1 and subsisting in all human nature in spite of great diversities of opinion about the acts and qualities that are comprised in either category2 and such also is the kindred belief in a self-determining will4 ,if men contend that these things are mere illusions and that their faculties are not to be trusted1 it will no doubt be difficult or impossible to refute them2 but a scepticism of this kind has no real influence on either conduct or feeling4 ,,footnote3 #a ,aids to ,reflection1 p4 #fh4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,men continually forget that ,happiness is a condition of ,mind and not a disposition of circumstances1 and one of the most common of errors is that of confusing happiness with the means of happiness1 sacrificing the first for the attainment of the second4 ,it is the error of the miser1 who begins by seeking money for the enjoyment it procures and ends by making the mere acquisition of money his sole object1 pursuing it to the sacrifice of all rational ends and pleasures4 ,circumstances and ,character both contribute to ,happiness1 but the proportionate attention paid to one or other of these great departments not only varies largely with different individuals1 but also with different nations and in different ages4 ,thus ,religion acts mainly in the formation of dispositions1 and it is especially in this field that its bearing on human happiness should be judged4 ,it influences1 it is true1 vastly and variously the external circumstances of life1 but its chief power of comforting and supporting lies in its direct and immediate action upon the human soul4 ,the same thing is true of some systems of philosophy of which ,stoicism is the most conspicuous4 ,the paradox of the ,stoic that good and evil are so entirely from within that to a wise man all external circumstances are indifferent1 represents this view of life in its extreme form4 ,its more moderate form can hardly be better expressed than in the saying of ,dugald ,stewart that 'the great secret of happiness is to study to accommodate our own minds to things external rather than to accommodate things external to ourselves4'#b ,it is eminently the characteristic of ,eastern nations to place their ideals mainly in states of mind or feeling rather than in changes of circumstances1 and in such nations men are much less desirous than in ,european countries of altering the permanent conditions of their lives4 ,on the other hand1 the tendency of those philosophies which treat man--his opinions and his character--essentially as the result of circumstances1 and which aggrandise the influence of the external world upon mankind1 is in the opposite direction4 ,all the sensational philosophies from ,bacon and ,locke to our own day tend to concentrate attention on the external circumstances and conditions of happiness4 ,and the same tendency will be naturally found in the most active1 industrial and progressive nations2 where life is very full and busy2 where its competitions are most keen2 where scientific discoveries are rapidly multiplying pleasures or diminishing pains2 where town life with its constant hurry and change is the most prominent4 ,in such spheres men naturally incline to seek happiness from without rather than from within1 or1 in other words1 to seek it much less by acting directly on the mind and character than through the indirect method of improved circumstances4 ,english character on both sides of the ,atlantic is an eminently objective one--a character in which thoughts1 interests and emotions are most habitually thrown on that which is without4 ,introspection and self-analysis are not congenial to it4 ,no one can compare ,english life with life even in the ,continental nations which occupy the same rank in civilisation without perceiving how much less ,englishmen are accustomed either to dwell upon their emotions or to give free latitude to their expression4 ,reticence and self-restraint are the lessons most constantly inculcated4 ,the whole tone of society favours it4 ,in times of great sorrow a degree of shame is attached to demonstrations of grief which in other countries would be deemed perfectly natural4 ,the disposition to dilate upon and perpetuate an old grief by protracted mournings1 by carefully observed anniversaries1 by long periods of retirement from the world1 is much less common than on the ,continent and it is certainly diminishing4 ,the ,english tendency is to turn away speedily from the past1 and to seek consolation in new fields of activity4 ,emotions translate themselves speedily into action1 and they lose something of their intensity by the transformation4 ,philanthropy is nowhere more active and more practical1 and religion has in few countries a greater hold on the national life1 but ,english ,protestantism reflects very clearly the national characteristics4 ,it1 no doubt1 like all religions1 lays down rules for the government of thought and feeling1 but these are of a very general character4 ,preeminently a regulator of conduct1 it lays comparatively little stress upon the inner life4 ,it discourages1 or at least neglects that minutely introspective habit of thought which the confessional is so much calculated to promote1 which appears so prominently in the writings of the ,catholic ,saints1 and which finds its special representation in the mystics and the religious contemplative orders4 ,improved conduct and improved circumstances are to an ,english mind the chief and almost the only measures of progress4 ,that this tendency is on the whole a healthy one1 ,i1 at least1 firmly believe1 but it brings with it certain manifest limitations and somewhat incapacitates men from judging other types of character and happiness4 ,the part that circumstances play in the formation of our characters is indeed very manifest1 and it is a humiliating truth that among these circumstances mere bodily conditions which we share with the animals hold a foremost place4 ,in the long run and to the great majority of men health is probably the most important of all the elements of happiness4 ,acute physical suffering or shattered health will more than counterbalance the best gifts of fortune1 and the bias of our nature and even the processes of our reasoning are largely influenced by physical conditions4 ,hume has spoken of that 'disposition to see the favourable rather than the unfavourable side of things which it is more happiness to possess than to be heir to an estate of #aj1jjjl4 a year2' but this gift of a happy temperament is very evidently greatly due to bodily conditions4 ,on the other hand1 it is well known how speedily and how powerfully bodily ailments react upon our moral natures4 ,every one is aware of the morbid irritability that is produced by certain maladies of the nerves or of the brain2 of the deep constitutional depression which often follows diseases of the liver1 or prolonged sleeplessness and other hypochondriacal maladies1 and which not only deprives men of most of their capacity of enjoyment1 but also infallibly gives a colour and a bias to their reasonings on life2 of the manner in which animal passions as well as animal spirits are affected by certain well-known conditions of age and health4 ,in spite of the 'coelum non animum mutant' of ,horace1 few men fail to experience how different is the range of spirits in the limbo-like atmosphere of a ,london winter and beneath the glories of an ,italian sky or in the keen bracing atmosphere of the mountain side1 and it is equally apparent how differently we judge the world when we are jaded by a long spell of excessive work or refreshed after a night of tranquil sleep4 ,poetry and ,painting are probably not wrong in associating a certain bilious temperament with a predisposition to envy1 or an anmic or lymphatic temperament with a saintly life1 and there are well-attested cases in which an acute illness has fundamentally altered characters1 sometimes replacing an habitual gloom by buoyancy and light4#c ,that invaluable gift which enables some men to cast aside trouble and turn their thoughts and energies swiftly and decisively into new channels can be largely strengthened by the action of the will1 but according to some physiologists it has a well-ascertained physical antecedent in the greater or less contractile power of the blood-vessels which feed the brain causing the flow of blood into it to be stronger or less rapid4 ,if it be true that 'a healthy mind in a healthy body' is the supreme condition of happiness1 it is also true that the healthy mind depends more closely than we like to own on the healthy body4 ,these are but a few obvious instances of the manner in which the body acts upon happiness4 ,they do not mean that the will is powerless in the face of bodily conditions1 but that in the management of character it has certain very definite predispositions to encounter4 ,in reasonings on life1 even more than on other things1 a good reasoner will consider not only the force of the opposing arguments1 but also the bias to which his own mind is subject4 ,to raise the level of national health is one of the surest ways of raising the level of national happiness1 and in estimating the value of different pleasures many which1 considered in themselves1 might appear to rank low upon the scale1 will rank high1 if in addition to the immediate and transient enjoyment they procure1 they contribute to form a strong and healthy body4 ,no branch of legislation is more really valuable than that which is occupied with the health of the people1 whether it takes the form of encouraging the means by which remedies may be discovered and diffused1 or of extirpating by combined efforts particular diseases1 or of securing that the mass of labour in the community should as far as possible be carried on under sound sanitary conditions4 ,fashion also can do much1 both for good and ill4 ,it exercises over great multitudes an almost absolute empire1 regulating their dress1 their education1 their hours1 their amusements1 their food1 their scale of expenditure2 determining the qualities to which they principally aspire1 the work in which they may engage1 and even the form of beauty which they most cultivate4 ,it is happy for a nation when this mighty influence is employed in encouraging habits of life which are beneficial or at least not gravely prejudicial to health4 ,nor is any form of individual education more really valuable than that which teaches the main conditions of a healthy life and forms those habits of temperance and self-restraint that are most likely to attain it4 ,with its great recuperative powers ,youth can do with apparent impunity many things which in later life bring a speedy ,nemesis2 but on the other hand ,youth is pre-eminently the period when habits and tastes are formed1 and the yoke which is then lightly1 willingly1 wantonly assumed will in after years acquire a crushing weight4 ,few things are more striking than the levity of the motives1 the feebleness of the impulses under which in youth fatal steps are taken which bring with them a weakened life and often an early grave4 ,smoking in manhood1 when practised in moderation1 is a very innocent and probably beneficent practice1 but it is well known how deleterious it is to young boys1 and how many of them have taken to it through no other motive than a desire to appear older than they are--that surest of all signs that we are very young4 ,how often have the far more pernicious habits of drinking1 or gambling1 or frequenting corrupt society been acquired through a similar motive1 or through the mere desire to enjoy the charm of a forbidden pleasure or to stand well with some dissipated companions6 ,how large a proportion of lifelong female debility is due to an early habit of tight lacing1 springing only from the silliest vanity6 ,how many lives have been sacrificed through the careless recklessness which refused to take the trouble of changing wet clothes6 ,how many have been shattered and shortened by excess in things which in moderation are harmless1 useful1 or praiseworthy1--by the broken blood-vessel1 due to excess in some healthy athletic exercise or game2 by the ruined brain overstrained in order to win some paltry prize6 ,it is melancholy to observe how many lives have been broken down1 ruined or corrupted in attempts to realise some supreme and unattainable desire2 through the impulse of overmastering passion1 of powerful and perhaps irresistible temptation4 ,it is still sadder to observe how large a proportion of the failures of life may be ultimately traced to the most insignificant causes and might have been avoided without any serious effort either of intellect or will4 ,the success with which medicine and sanitary science have laboured to prolong life1 to extirpate or diminish different forms of disease and to alleviate their consequences is abundantly proved4 ,in all civilised countries the average of life has been raised1 and there is good reason to believe that not only old age but also active1 useful1 enjoyable old age has become much more frequent4 ,it is true that the gain to human happiness is not quite as great as might at first sight be imagined4 ,death is least sad when it comes in infancy or in extreme old age1 and the increased average of life is largely due to the great diminution in infant mortality1 which is in truth a very doubtful blessing4 ,if extreme old age is a thing to be desired1 it is perhaps chiefly because it usually implies a constitution which gives many earlier years of robust and healthy life4 ,but with all deductions the triumphs of sanitary reform as well as of medical science are perhaps the brightest page in the history of our century4 ,some of the measures which have proved most useful can only be effected at some sacrifice of individual freedom and by widespread coercive sanitary regulations1 and are thus more akin to despotism than to free government4 ,how different would have been the condition of the world1 and how far greater would have been the popularity of strong monarchy if at the time when such a form of government generally prevailed rulers had had the intelligence to put before them the improvement of the health and the prolongation of the lives of their subjects as the main object of their policy rather than military glory or the acquisition of territory or mere ostentatious and selfish display6 ,there is1 however1 some reason to believe that the diminution of disease and the prolongation of average human life are not necessarily or even generally accompanied by a corresponding improvement in general health4 ',acute diseases1' says an excellent judge1 'which are eminently fatal1 prevail1 on the contrary1 in a population where the standard of health is high4444 ,thus a high rate of mortality may often be observed in a community where the number of persons affected with disease is small1 and on the other hand general physical depression may concur with the prevalence of chronic maladies and yet be unattended with a great proportion of deaths4'#d ,an anmic population1 free from severe illness1 but living habitually at a low level of health and with the depressed spirits and feeble capacity of enjoyment which such a condition produces1 is far from an ideal state1 and there is much reason to fear that this type is an increasing one4 ,many things in modern life1 among which ill-judged philanthropy and ill-judged legislation have no small part1 contribute to produce it1 but two causes probably dominate over all others4 ,the one is to be found in sanitary science itself1 which enables great numbers of constitutionally weak children who in other days would have died in infancy to grow up and marry and propagate a feeble offspring4 ,the other is the steady movement of population from the country to the towns1 which is one of the most conspicuous features of modern civilisation4 ,these two influences inevitably and powerfully tend to depress the vitality of a nation1 and by doing so to lower the level of animal spirits which is one of the most essential elements of happiness4 ,whether our improved standards of living and our much greater knowledge of sanitary conditions altogether counteract them is very doubtful4 ,in this as in most questions affecting life there are opposite dangers to be avoided1 and wisdom lies mainly in a just sense of proportion and degree4 ,that sanitary reform1 promoted by governments1 has on the whole been a great blessing seems to me scarcely open to reasonable question1 but many of the best judges are of opinion that it may easily be pushed to dangerous extremes4 ,few things are more curious than to observe how rapidly during the past generation the love of individual liberty has declined2 how contentedly the ,english race are submitting great departments of their lives to a web of regulations restricting and encircling them4 ,each individual case must be considered on its merits1 and few persons will now deny that the right of adult men and women to regulate the conditions of their own work and to determine the risks that they will assume may be wisely infringed in more cases than the ,manchester ,school would have admitted4 ,at the same time the marked tendency of this generation to extend the stringency and area of coercive legislation in the fields of industry and sanitary reform is one that should be carefully watched4 ,its exaggerations may in more ways than one greatly injure the very classes it is intended to benefit4 ,a somewhat corresponding statement may be made about individual sanitary education4 ,it is1 as ,i have said1 a matter of the most vital importance that we should acquire in youth the knowledge and the habits that lead to a healthy life4 ,the main articles of the sanitary creed are few and simple4 ,moderation and self-restraint in all things--an abundance of exercise1 of fresh air1 and of cold water--a sufficiency of steady work not carried to excess--occasional change of habits and abstinence from a few things which are manifestly injurious to health1 are the cardinal rules to be observed4 ,in the great lottery of life1 men who have observed them all may be doomed to illness1 weak vitality1 and early death1 but they at least add enormously to the chances of a strong and full life4 ,the parent will need further knowledge for the care of his children1 but for self-guidance little more is required1 and with early habits an observance of the rules of health becomes almost instinctive and unconscious4 ,but while no kind of education is more transcendently important than this1 it is not unfrequently carried to an extreme which defeats its own purpose4 ,the habit that so often grows upon men with slight chronic maladies1 or feeble temperament1 or idle lives1 of making their own health and their own ailments the constant subject of their thoughts soon becomes a disease very fatal to happiness and positively injurious to health4 ,it is well known how in an epidemic the panic-stricken are most liable to the contagion1 and the life of the habitual valetudinarian tends promptly to depress the nerve energy which provides the true stamina of health4 ,in the words of an eminent physician1 ',it is not by being anxious in an inordinate or unduly fussy fashion that men can hope to live long and well4 ,the best way to live well is to work well4 ,good work is the daily test and safeguard of personal health4444 ,the practical aim should be to live an orderly and natural life4 ,we were not intended to pick our way through the world trembling at every step4444 ,it is worse than vain1 for it encourages and increases the evil it attempts to relieve4444 ,i firmly believe one half of the confirmed invalids of the day could be cured of their maladies if they were compelled to live busy and active lives and had no time to fret over their miseries4444 ,one of the most seductive and mischievous of errors in self-management is the practice of giving way to inertia1 weakness and depression4444 ,those who desire to live should settle this well in their minds1 that nerve power is the force of life and that the will has a wondrously strong and direct influence over the body through the brain and the nervous system4'#e ,,footnotes3 #b ,active and ,moral ,powers1 ii4 #cab4 #c ,much curious information on this subject will be found in ,cabanis' ,rapports du physique et du moral de l'homme4 #d ,kay's ,moral and ,physical ,condition of the ,working ,classes1 p4 #ge4 #e ,mortimer ,granville's ,how to ,make the ,best of ,life4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,before entering into a more particular account of the chief elements of a happy life it may be useful to devote a few pages to some general considerations on the subject4 ,one of the first and most clearly recognised rules to be observed is that happiness is most likely to be attained when it is not the direct object of pursuit4 ,in early youth we are accustomed to divide life broadly into work and play1 regarding the first as duty or necessity and the second as pleasure4 ,one of the great differences between childhood and manhood is that we come to like our work more than our play4 ,it becomes to us1 if not the chief pleasure1 at least the chief interest of our lives1 and even when it is not this1 an essential condition of our happiness4 ,few lives produce so little happiness as those that are aimless and unoccupied4 ,apart from all considerations of right and wrong1 one of the first conditions of a happy life is that it should be a full and busy one1 directed to the attainment of aims outside ourselves4 ,anxiety and ,ennui are the ,scylla and ,charybdis on which the bark of human happiness is most commonly wrecked4 ,if a life of luxurious idleness and selfish ease in some measure saves men from the first danger1 it seldom fails to bring with it the second4 ,no change of scene1 no multiplicity of selfish pleasures will in the long run enable them to escape it4 ,as ,carlyle says1 ',the restless1 gnawing ennui which1 like a dark1 dim1 ocean flood1 communicating with the ,phlegethons and ,stygian deeps1 begirdles every human life so guided--is it not the painful cry even of that imprisoned heroism8444 ,you ask for happiness4 ,oh give me happiness1 and they hand you ever new varieties of covering for the skin1 ever new kinds of supply for the digestive apparatus4444 ,well1 rejoice in your upholsteries and cookeries if so be they will make you happy4 ,let the varieties of them be continual and innumerable4 ,in all things let perpetual change1 if that is a perpetual blessing to you1 be your portion instead of mine4 ,incur the prophet's curse and in all things in this sublunary world make yourselves like unto a wheel4 ,mount into your railways2 whirl from place to place at the rate of fifty or1 if you like1 of five hundred miles an hour2 you cannot escape from that inexorable1 all-encircling ocean moan of ennui4 ,no2 if you could mount to the stars and do yacht voyages under the belts of ,jupiter or stalk deer on the ring of ,saturn it would still begirdle you4 ,you cannot escape from it2 you can but change your place in it without solacement except one moment's4 ,that prophetic ,sermon from the ,deeps will continue with you till you wisely interpret it and do it or else till the ,crack of ,doom swallow it and you4'#f ,it needs but a few years of life experience to realise the profound truth of this passage4 ,an ideal life would be furnished with abundant work of a kind that is congenial both to our intellects and our characters and that brings with it much interest and little anxiety4 ,few of us can command this4 ,most men's work is largely determined for them by circumstances1 though in the guidance of life there are many alternatives and much room for skilful pilotage4 ,but the first great rule is that we must do something--that life must have a purpose and an aim--that work should be not merely occasional and spasmodic1 but steady and continuous4 ,pleasure is a jewel which will only retain its lustre when it is in a setting of work1 and a vacant life is one of the worst of pains1 though the islands of leisure that stud a crowded1 well-occupied life may be among the things to which we look back with the greatest delight4 ,another great truth is conveyed in the saying of ,aristotle that a wise man will make it his aim rather to avoid suffering than to attain pleasure4 ,men can in reality do very little to mitigate the force of the great bereavements and the other graver calamities of life4 ,all our systems of philosophy and reasoning are vain when confronted with them4 ,innate temperament which we cannot greatly change determines whether we sink crushed beneath the blow or possess the buoyancy that can restore health to our natures4 ,the conscious and deliberate pursuit of pleasure is attended by many deceptions and illusions1 and rarely leads to lasting happiness4 ,but we can do very much by prudence1 self-restraint and intelligent regulation so to manage life as to avoid a large proportion of its calamities and at the same time1 by preserving the affections pure and undimmed1 by diversifying interests and forming active habits1 to combat its tedium and despondency4 ,another truth is that both the greatest pleasures and the keenest pains of life lie much more in those humbler spheres which are accessible to all than on the rare pinnacles to which only the most gifted or the most fortunate can attain4 ,it would probably be found upon examination that most men who have devoted their lives successfully to great labours and ambitions1 and who have received the most splendid gifts from ,fortune1 have nevertheless found their chief pleasure in things unconnected with their main pursuits and generally within the reach of common men4 ,domestic pleasures1 pleasures of scenery1 pleasures of reading1 pleasures of travel or of sport have been the highest enjoyment of men of great ambition1 intellect1 wealth and position4 ,there is a curious passage in ,lord ,althorp's ,life in which that most popular and successful statesman1 towards the close of his long parliamentary life1 expressed his emphatic conviction that 'the thing that gave him the greatest pleasure in the world' was 'to see sporting dogs hunt4'#g ,i can myself recollect going over a country place with an old member of ,parliament who had sat in the ,house of ,commons for nearly fifty years of the most momentous period of modern ,english history4 ,if questioned he could tell about the stirring scenes of the great ,reform ,bill of #ahcb1 but it was curious to observe how speedily and inevitably he passed from such matters to the history of the trees on his estate which he had planted and watched at every stage of their growth1 and how evidently in the retrospect of life it was to these things and not to the incidents of a long parliamentary career that his affections naturally turned4 ,i once asked an illustrious public man who had served his country with brilliant success in many lands1 and who was spending the evening of his life as an active country gentleman in a place which he dearly loved1 whether he did not find this sphere too contracted for his happiness4 ',never for a day1' he answered2 'and in every country where ,i have been1 in every post which ,i have filled1 the thought of this place has always been at the back of my mind4' ,a great writer who had devoted almost his whole life to one gigantic work1 and to his own surprise brought it at last to a successful end1 sadly observed that amid the congratulations that poured in to him from every side he could not help feeling1 when he analysed his own emotions1 how tepid was the satisfaction which such a triumph could give him1 and what much more vivid gratification he had come to take in hearing the approaching steps of some little children whom he had taught to love him4 ,it is one of the paradoxes of human nature that the things that are most struggled for and the things that are most envied are not those which give either the most intense or the most unmixed joy4 ,ambition is the luxury of the happy4 ,it is sometimes1 but more rarely1 the consolation and distraction of the wretched2 but most of those who have trodden its paths1 if they deal honestly with themselves1 will acknowledge that the gravest disappointments of public life dwindle into insignificance compared with the poignancy of suffering endured at the deathbed of a wife or of a child1 and that within the small circle of a family life they have found more real happiness than the applause of nations could ever give4 ,look down1 look down from your glittering heights1 ,and tell us1 ye sons of glory1 ,the joys and the pangs of your eagle flights1 ,the triumph that crowned the story1 ,the rapture that thrilled when the goal was won1 ,the goal of a life's desire2 ,and a voice replied from the setting sun1 ,nay1 the dearest and best lies nigher4 ,how oft in such hours our fond thoughts stray ,to the dream of two idle lovers2 ,to the young wife's kiss2 to the child at play2 ,or the grave which the long grass covers6 ,and little we'd reck of power or gold1 ,and of all life's vain endeavour1 ,if the heart could glow as it glowed of old1 ,and if youth could abide for ever4 ,another consideration in the cultivation of happiness is the importance of acquiring the habit of realising our blessings while they last4 ,it is one of the saddest facts of human nature that we commonly only learn their value by their loss4 ,this1 as ,i have already noticed1 is very evidently the case with health4 ,by the laws of our being we are almost unconscious of the action of our bodily organs as long as they are working well4 ,it is only when they are deranged1 obstructed or impaired that our attention becomes concentrated upon them4 ,in consequence of this a state of perfect health is rarely fully appreciated until it is lost and during a short period after it has been regained4 ,gray has described the new sensation of pleasure which convalescence gives in well-known lines3 ,see the wretch who long has tost ,on the thorny bed of pain1 ,at length repair his vigour lost ,and breathe and walk again2 ,the meanest floweret of the vale1 ,the simplest note that swells the gale1 ,the common sun1 the air1 the skies1 ,to him are opening ,paradise4 ,and what is true of health is true of other things4 ,it is only when some calamity breaks the calm tenor of our ways and deprives us of some gift of fortune we have long enjoyed that we feel how great was the value of what we have lost4 ,there are times in the lives of most of us when we would have given all the world to be as we were but yesterday1 though that yesterday had passed over us unappreciated and unenjoyed4 ,sometimes1 indeed1 our perception of this contrast brings with it a lasting and salutary result4 ,in the medicine of ,nature a chronic and abiding disquietude or morbidness of temperament is often cured by some keen though more transient sorrow which violently changes the current of our thoughts and imaginations4 ,the difference between knowledge and realisation is one of the facts of our nature that are most worthy of our attention4 ,every human mind contains great masses of inert1 passive1 undisputed knowledge which exercise no real influence on thought or character till something occurs which touches our imagination and quickens this knowledge into activity4 ,very few things contribute so much to the happiness of life as a constant realisation of the blessings we enjoy4 ,the difference between a naturally contented and a naturally discontented nature is one of the marked differences of innate temperament1 but we can do much to cultivate that habit of dwelling on the benefits of our lot which converts acquiescence into a more positive enjoyment4 ,religion in this field does much1 for it inculcates thanksgiving as well as prayer1 gratitude for the present and the past as well as hope for the future4 ,among secular influences1 contrast and comparison have the greatest value4 ,some minds are always looking on the fortunes that are above them and comparing their own penury with the opulence of others4 ,a wise nature will take an opposite course and will cultivate the habit of looking rather at the round of the ladder of fortune which is below our own and realising the countless points in which our lot is better than that of others4 ,as ,dr4 ,johnson says1 ',few are placed in a situation so gloomy and distressful as not to see every day beings yet more forlorn and miserable from whom they may learn to rejoice in their own lot4' ,the consolation men derive amid their misfortunes from reflecting upon the still greater misfortunes of others and thus lightening their own by contrast is a topic which must be delicately used1 but when so used it is not wrong and it often proves very efficacious4 ,perhaps the pleasure ,la ,rochefoucauld pretends that men take in the misfortunes of their best friends1 if it is a real thing1 is partly due to this consideration1 as the feeling of pity which is inspired by some sudden death or great trouble falling on others is certainly not wholly unconnected with the realisation that such calamities might fall upon ourselves4 ,it is worthy of notice1 however1 that while all moralists recognise content as one of the chief ingredients of happiness1 some of the strongest influences of modern industrial civilisation are antagonistic to it4 ,the whole theory of progress as taught by ,political ,economy rests upon the importance of creating wants and desires as a stimulus to exertion4 ,there are countries1 especially in southern climates1 where the wants of men are very few1 and where1 as long as those wants are satisfied1 men will live a careless and contented life1 enjoying the present1 thinking very little of the future4 ,whether the sum of enjoyment in such a population is really less than in our more advanced civilisation is at least open to question4 ,it is a remark of ,schopenhauer that the ,idyll1 which is the only form of poetry specially devoted to the description of human felicity1 always paints life in its simplest and least elaborated form1 and he sees in this an illustration of his doctrine that the greatest happiness will be found in the simplest and even most uniform life provided it escapes the evil of ennui4 ,the political economist1 however1 will pronounce the condition of such a people as ,i have described a deplorable one1 and in order to raise them his first task will be to infuse into them some discontent with their lot1 to persuade them to multiply their wants and to aspire to a higher standard of comfort1 to a fuller and a larger existence4 ,a discontent with existing circumstances is the chief source of a desire to improve them1 and this desire is the mainspring of progress4 ,in this theory of life1 happiness is sought1 not in content1 but in improved circumstances1 in the development of new capacities of enjoyment1 in the pleasure which active existence naturally gives4 ,to maintain in their due proportion in our nature the spirit of content and the desire to improve1 to combine a realised appreciation of the blessings we enjoy with a healthy and well-regulated ambition1 is no easy thing1 but it is the problem which all who aspire to a perfect life should set before themselves4 ,in medio tutissimus ibis is eminently true of the cultivation of character1 and some of its best elements become pernicious in their extremes4 ,thus prudent forethought1 which is one of the first conditions of a successful life1 may easily degenerate into that most miserable state of mind in which men are perpetually anticipating and dwelling upon the uncertain dangers and evils of an uncertain future4 ,how much indeed of the happiness and misery of men may be included under those two words1 realisation and anticipation6 ,there is no such thing as a ,eudmometer measuring with accuracy the degrees of happiness realised by men in different ages1 under different circumstances1 and with different characters4 ,perhaps if such a thing existed it might tend to discourage us by showing that diversities and improvements of circumstances affect real happiness in a smaller degree than we are accustomed to imagine4 ,our nature accommodates itself speedily to improved circumstances1 and they cease to give positive pleasure while their loss is acutely painful4 ,advanced civilisation brings with it countless and inestimable benefits1 but it also brings with it many forms of suffering from which a ruder existence is exempt4 ,there is some reason to believe that it is usually accompanied with a lower range of animal spirits1 and it is certainly accompanied with an increased sensitiveness to pain4 ,some philosophers have contended that this is the best of all possible worlds4 ,it is difficult to believe so1 as the whole object of human effort is to make it a better one4 ,but the success of that effort is more apparent in the many terrible forms of human suffering which it has abolished or diminished than in the higher level of positive happiness that has been attained4 ,,footnotes3 #f ,latter-day ,pamphlets3 ',jesuitism4' #g ,le ,marchant's ,life of ,althorp1 p4 #adc4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,though the close relationship that subsists between morals and happiness is universally acknowledged1 ,i do not belong to the school which believes that pleasure and pain1 either actual or anticipated1 are the only motives by which the human will can be governed2 that virtue resolves itself ultimately into well-considered interest and finds its ultimate reason in the happiness of those who practise it2 that 'all our virtues1' as ,la ,rochefoucauld has said1 'end in self-love as the rivers in the sea4' ,such a proverb as ',honesty is the best policy' represents no doubt a great truth1 though it has been well said that no man is really honest who is only honest through this motive1 and though it is very evident that it is by no means an universal truth but depends largely upon changing and precarious conditions of laws1 police1 public opinion1 and individual circumstances4 ,but in the higher realms of morals the coincidence of happiness and virtue is far more doubtful4 ,it is certainly not true that the highest nature is necessarily or even naturally the happiest4 ,paganism has produced no more perfect type than the profoundly pathetic figure of ,marcus ,aurelius1 while ,christianity finds its ideal in one who was known as the ',man of ,sorrows4' ,the conscience of ,mankind has ever recognised self-sacrifice as the supreme element of virtue1 and self-sacrifice is never real when it is only the exchange of a less happiness for a greater one4 ,no moral chemistry can transmute the worship of ,sorrow1 which ,goethe described as the essence of ,christianity1 into the worship of happiness1 and probably with most men health and temperament play a far larger part in the real happiness of their lives than any of the higher virtues4 ,the satisfaction of accomplished duty which some moralists place among the chief pleasures of life is a real thing in so far as it saves men from internal reproaches1 but it is probable that it is among the worst men that pangs of conscience are least dreaded1 and it is certainly not among the best men that they are least felt4 ,conscience1 indeed1 when it is very sensitive and very lofty1 is far more an element of suffering than the reverse4 ,it aims at an ideal higher than we can attain4 ,it takes the lowest view of our own achievements4 ,it suffers keenly from the many shortcomings of which it is acutely sensible4 ,far from indulging in the pleasurable retrospect of a well-spent life1 it urges men to constant1 painful1 and often unsuccessful effort4 ,a nature that is strung to the saintly or the heroic level will find itself placed in a jarring world1 will provoke much friction and opposition1 and will be pained by many things in which a lower nature would placidly acquiesce4 ,the highest form of intellectual virtue is that love of truth for its own sake which breaks up prejudices1 tempers enthusiasm by the full admission of opposing arguments and qualifying circumstances1 and places in the sphere of possibility or probability many things which we would gladly accept as certainties4 ,candour and impartiality are in a large degree virtues of temperament2 but no one who has any real knowledge of human nature can doubt how much more pleasurable it is to most men to live under the empire of invincible prejudice1 deliberately shutting out every consideration that could shake or qualify cherished beliefs4 ',god1' says ,emerson1 'offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose4 ,take which you please4 ,you can never have both4' ,one of the strongest arguments of natural religion rests upon the fact that virtue so often fails to bring its reward2 upon the belief that is so deeply implanted in human nature that this is essentially unjust and must in some future state be remedied4 ,for such reasons as these ,i believe it to be impossible to identify virtue with happiness1 and the views of the opposite school seem to me chiefly to rest upon an unnatural and deceptive use of words4 ,even when the connection between virtue and pleasure is most close1 it is true1 as the old ,stoics said1 that though virtue gives pleasure1 this is not the reason why a good man will practise it2 that pleasure is the companion and not the guide of his life2 that he does not love virtue because it gives pleasure1 but it gives pleasure because he loves it4#h ,a true account of human nature will recognise that it has the power of aiming at something which is different from happiness and something which may be intelligibly described as higher1 and that on the predominance of this loftier aim the nobility of life essentially depends4 ,it is not even true that the end of man should be to find peace at the last4 ,it should be to do his duty and tell the truth4 ,but while this great truth of the existence of a higher aim than happiness should be always maintained1 the relations between morals and happiness are close and intimate and well worthy of investigation4 ,as far as the lower or more commonplace virtues are concerned there can be no mistake4 ,it is very evident that a healthy1 long and prosperous life is more likely to be attained by industry1 moderation and purity than by the opposite courses4 ,it is very evident that drunkenness and sensuality ruin health and shorten life2 that idleness1 gambling and disorderly habits ruin prosperity2 that ill-temper1 selfishness and envy kill friendship and provoke animosities and dislike2 that in every well-regulated society there is at least a general coincidence between the path of duty and the path of prosperity2 dishonesty1 violence and disregard for the rights of others naturally and usually bringing their punishment either from law or from public opinion or from both4 ,bishop ,butler has argued that the general tendency of virtue to lead to happiness and the general tendency of vice to lead to unhappiness prove that even in its present state there is a moral government of the world1 and whatever controversy may be raised about the inference there can at least be no doubt about the substantial truth of the facts4 ,happiness1 as ,i have already said1 is best attained when it is not the direct or at least the main object that is aimed at4 ,a wasted and inactive life not only palls in itself but deprives men of the very real and definite pleasure that naturally arises from the healthful activity of all our powers1 while a life of egotism excludes the pleasures of sympathy which play so large a part in human happiness4 ,one of the lessons which experience most clearly teaches is that work1 duty and the discipline of character are essential elements of lasting happiness4 ,the pleasures of vice are often real1 but they are commonly transient and they leave legacies of suffering1 weakness1 or care behind them4 ,the nobler pleasures for the most part grow and strengthen with advancing years4 ,the passions of youth1 when duly regulated1 gradually transform themselves into habits1 interests and steady affections1 and it is in the long forecasts of life that the superiority of virtue as an element of happiness becomes most apparent4 ,it has been truly said that such words as 'pastime' and 'diversion' applied to our pleasures are among the most melancholy in the language1 for they are the confession of human nature that it cannot find happiness in itself1 but must seek for something that will fill up time1 will cover the void which it feels1 and divert men's thoughts from the conditions and prospects of their own lives4 ,how much of the pleasure of ,society1 and indeed of all amusements1 depends on their power of making us forget ourselves6 ,the substratum of life is sad1 and few men who reflect on the dangers and uncertainties that surround it can find it even tolerable without much extraneous aid4 ,the first and most vital of these aids is to be found in the creation of strong interests4 ,it is one of the laws of our being that by seeking interests rather than by seeking pleasures we can best encounter the gloom of life4 ,but those only have the highest efficiency which are of an unselfish nature4 ,by throwing their whole nature into the interests of others men most effectually escape the melancholy of introspection2 the horizon of life is enlarged2 the development of the moral and sympathetic feelings chases egotistic cares1 and by the same paradox that we have seen in other parts of human nature men best attain their own happiness by absorbing themselves in the pursuit of the happiness of others4 ,the aims and perspective of a well-regulated life have never1 ,i think1 been better described than in one of the letters of ,burke to the ,duke of ,richmond4 ',it is wise indeed1 considering the many positive vexations and the innumerable bitter disappointments of pleasure in the world1 to have as many resources of satisfaction as possible within one's power4 ,whenever we concentre the mind on one sole object1 that object and life itself must go together4 ,but though it is right to have reserves of employment1 still some one object must be kept principal2 greatly and eminently so2 and the other masses and figures must preserve their due subordination1 to make out the grand composition of an important life4'#i ,it is equally true that among these objects the disinterested and the unselfish should hold a predominant place4 ,with some this side of their activity is restricted to the narrow circle of home or to the isolated duties and charities of their own neighbourhood4 ,with others it takes the form of large public interests1 of a keen participation in social1 philanthropic1 political or religious enterprises4 ,character plays a larger part than intellect in the happiness of life1 and the cultivation of the unselfish part of our nature is not only one of the first lessons of morals but also of wisdom4 ,like most other things its difficulties lie at the beginning1 and it is by steady practice that it passes into a second and instinctive nature4 ,the power of man to change organically his character is a very limited one1 but on the whole the improvement of character is probably more within his reach than intellectual development4 ,time and ,opportunity are wanting to most men for any considerable intellectual study1 and even were it otherwise every man will find large tracts of knowledge and thought wholly external to his tastes1 aptitudes and comprehension4 ,but every one can in some measure learn the lesson of self-sacrifice1 practise what is right1 correct or at least mitigate his dominant faults4 ,what fine examples of self-sacrifice1 quiet courage1 resignation in misfortune1 patient performance of painful duty1 magnanimity and forgiveness under injury may be often found among those who are intellectually the most commonplace6 ,the insidious growth of selfishness is a disease against which men should be most on their guard2 but it is a grave though a common error to suppose that the unselfish instincts may be gratified without restraint4 ,there is here1 however1 one important distinction to be noted4 ,the many and great evils that have sprung from lavish and ill-considered charities do not always or perhaps generally spring from any excess or extravagance of the charitable feeling4 ,they are much more commonly due to its defect4 ,the rich man who never cares to inquire into the details of the cases that are brought before him or to give any serious thought to the ulterior consequences of his acts1 but who is ready to give money at any solicitation and who considers that by so doing he has discharged his duty1 is far more likely to do harm in this way than the man who devotes himself to patient1 plodding1 house to house work among the poor4 ,the many men and the probably still larger number of women who give up great portions of their lives to such work soon learn to trace with considerable accuracy the consequences of their charities and to discriminate between the worthy and the unworthy4 ,that such persons often become exclusive and one-sided1 and acquire a kind of professional bent which induces them to subordinate all national considerations to their own subject and lose sight of the true proportion of things1 is undoubtedly true1 but it will probably not be found with the best workers that such a life tends to unduly intensify emotion4 ,as ,bishop ,butler has said with profound truth1 active habits are strengthened and passive impressions weakened by repetition1 and a life spent in active charitable work is quite compatible with much sobriety and even coldness of judgment in estimating each case as it arises4 ,it is not the surgeon who is continually employed in operations for the cure of his patients who is most moved at the sight of suffering4 ,this is1 ,i believe1 on the whole true1 but it is also true that there are grave diseases which attach themselves peculiarly to the unselfish side of our nature1 and they are peculiarly dangerous because men1 feeling that the unselfish is the virtuous and nobler side of their being1 are apt to suffer these tendencies to operate without supervision or control4 ,yet it is hardly possible to exaggerate the calamities that have sprung from misjudged unselfish actions4 ,the whole history of religious persecution abundantly illustrates it1 for there can be little question that a large proportion of the persecutors were sincerely seeking what they believed to be the highest good of mankind4 ,and if this dark page of human history is now almost closed1 there are still many other ways in which a similar evil is displayed4 ,crotchets1 sentimentalities and fanaticisms cluster especially around the unselfish side of our nature1 and they work evil in many curious and subtle ways4 ,few things have done more harm in the world than disproportioned compassion4 ,it is a law of our being that we are only deeply moved by sufferings we distinctly realise1 and the degrees in which different kinds of suffering appeal to the imagination bear no proportion to their real magnitude4 ,the most benevolent man will read of an earthquake in ,japan or a plague in ,south ,america with a callousness he would never display towards some untimely death or some painful accident in his immediate neighbourhood1 and in general the suffering of a prominent and isolated individual strikes us much more forcibly than that of an undistinguished multitude4 ,few deaths are so prominent1 and therefore few produce such widespread compassion1 as those of conspicuous criminals4 ,it is no exaggeration to say that the death of an 'interesting' murderer will often arouse much stronger feelings than were ever excited by the death of his victim2 or by the deaths of brave soldiers who perished by disease or by the sword in some obscure expedition in a remote country4 ,this mode of judgment acts promptly upon conduct4 ,the humanitarian spirit which mitigates the penal code and makes the reclamation of the criminal a main object is a perfectly right thing as long as it does not so far diminish the deterrent power of punishment as to increase crime1 and as long as it does not place the criminal in a better position of comfort than the blameless poor1 but when these conditions are not fulfilled it is much more an evil than a good4 ,the remote1 indirect and unrealised consequences of our acts are often far more important than those which are manifest and direct1 and it continually happens that in extirpating some concentrated and obtrusive evil1 men increase or engender a diffused malady which operates over a far wider area4 ,how few1 for example1 who share the prevailing tendency to deal with every evil that appears in ,society by coercive legislation adequately realise the danger of weakening the robust1 self-reliant1 resourceful habits on which the happiness of ,society so largely depends1 and at the same time1 by multiplying the functions and therefore increasing the expenses of government1 throwing new and crushing burdens on struggling industry6 ,how often have philanthropists1 through a genuine interest for some suffering class or people1 advocated measures which by kindling1 prolonging1 or enlarging a great war would infallibly create calamities far greater than those which they would redress6 ,how often might great outbursts of savage crime or grave and lasting disorders in the ,state1 or international conflicts that have cost thousands of lives1 have been averted by a prompt and unflinching severity from which an ill-judged humanity recoiled6 ,if in the ,february of #ahdh ,louis ,philippe had permitted ,marshal ,bugeaud to fire on the ,revolutionary mob at a time when there was no real and widespread desire for revolution in ,france1 how many bloody pages of ,french and ,european history might have been spared6 ,measures guaranteeing men1 and still more women1 from excessive labour1 and surrounding them with costly sanitary precautions1 may easily1 if they are injudiciously framed1 so handicap a sex or a people in the competition of industry as to drive them out of great fields of industry1 restrict their means of livelihood1 lower their standard of wages and comfort1 and thus seriously diminish the happiness of their lives4 ,injudicious suppressions of amusements that are not wholly good1 but which afford keen enjoyment to great masses1 seldom fail to give an impulse to other pleasures more secret and probably more vicious4 ,injudicious charities1 or an extravagant and too indulgent poor law administration1 inevitably discourage industry and thrift1 and usually increase the poverty they were intended to cure4 ,the parent who shrinks from inflicting any suffering on his child1 or withholding from him any pleasure that he desires1 is not laying the foundation of a happy life1 and the benevolence which counteracts or obscures the law of nature that extravagance1 improvidence and vice lead naturally to ruin1 is no real kindness either to the upright man who has resisted temptation or to the weak man whose virtue is trembling doubtfully in the balance4 ,nor is it in the long run for the benefit of the world that superior ability or superior energy or industry should be handicapped in the race of life1 forbidden to encounter exceptional risks for the sake of exceptional rewards1 reduced by regulations to measures of work and gain intended for the benefit of inferior characters or powers4 ,the fatal vice of ill-considered benevolence is that it looks only to proximate and immediate results without considering either alternatives or distant and indirect consequences4 ,a large and highly respectable form of benevolence is that connected with the animal world1 and in ,england it is carried in some respects to a point which is unknown on the ,continent4 ,but what a strange form of compassion is that which long made it impossible to establish a ,pasteur ,institute in ,england1 obliging patients threatened with one of the most horrible diseases that can afflict mankind to go--as they are always ready to do--to ,paris1 in order to undergo a treatment which what is called the humane sentiment of ,englishmen forbid them to receive at home6 ,what a strange form of benevolence is that which in a country where field sports are the habitual amusement of the higher ranks of ,society denounces as criminal even the most carefully limited and supervised experiments on living animals1 and would thus close the best hope of finding remedies for some of the worst forms of human suffering1 the one sure method of testing supposed remedies which may be fatal or which may be of incalculable benefit to mankind6 ,foreign critics1 indeed1 often go much further and believe that in other forms connected with this subject public opinion in ,england is strangely capricious and inconsistent4 ,they compare with astonishment the sentences that are sometimes passed for the ill-treatment of a woman and for the ill-treatment of a cat2 they ask whether the real sufferings caused by many things that are in ,england punished by law or reprobated by opinion are greater than those caused by sports which are constantly practised without reproach2 and they are apt to find much that is exaggerated or even fantastic in the great popularity and elaboration of some animal charities4#aj ,at the same time in our own country the more recognised field sports greatly trouble many benevolent natures4 ,i will here only say that while the positive benefits they produce are great and manifest1 those who condemn them constantly forget what would be the fate of the animals that are slaughtered if such sports did not exist1 and how little the balance of suffering is increased or altered by the destruction of beings which themselves live by destroying4 ,as a poet says-- ,the fish exult whene'er the seagull dies1 ,the salmon's death preserves a thousand flies4 ,on most of these questions the effect on human character is a more important consideration than the effect on animal happiness4 ,the best thing that legislation can do for wild animals is to extend as far as possible to harmless classes a close time1 securing them immunity while they are producing and supporting their young4 ,this is the truest kindness1 and on quite other grounds it is peculiarly needed1 as the improvement of firearms and the increase of population have completely altered1 as far as man is concerned1 the old balance between production and destruction1 and threaten1 if unchecked1 to lead to an almost complete extirpation of great classes of the animal world4 ,it is melancholy to observe how often sensitive women who object to field sports and who denounce all experiments on living animals will be found supporting with perfect callousness fashions that are leading to the wholesale destruction of some of the most beautiful species of birds1 and are in some cases dependent upon acts of very aggravated cruelty4 ,,footnotes3 #h ,seneca1 ,de ,vita ,beata4 #i ,burke's ,correspondence1 i4 #cgf1 #cgg4 #aj ,as ,i am writing these pages ,i find the following paragraph in a newspaper which may illustrate my meaning3--',,dogs' ,,nursing4 ,a case was heard at the ,brompton ,county ,court on ,friday in which some suggestive evidence was given of the medical treatment of dogs4 ,the proprietor of a dogs' infirmary at ,tattersall's ,corner sued ,mr4 ,harding ,cox for the board and lodging of seven dogs1 and the rgime was explained4 ,they are fed on essence of meat1 washed down with port wine1 and have as a digestive eggs beaten up in milk and arrowroot4 ,medicated baths and tonics are also supplied1 and occasionally the animals are treated to a day in the country4 ,this course of hygiene necessitated an expenditure of ten shillings a week4 ,the defendant pleaded that the charges were excessive1 but the judge awarded the plaintiff #be4 ,how many hospital patients receive such treatment8'--,daily ,express1 ,february #af1 #ahig4 ,,chapter ,v ,the illustrations given in the last chapter will be sufficient to show the danger of permitting the unselfish side of human nature to run wild without serious control by the reason and by the will4 ,to see things in their true proportion1 to escape the magnifying influence of a morbid imagination1 should be one of the chief aims of life1 and in no fields is it more needed than in those we have been reviewing4 ,at the same time every age has its own ideal moral type towards which the strongest and best influences of the time converge4 ,the history of morals is essentially a history of the changes that take place not so much in our conception of what is right and wrong as in the proportionate place and prominence we assign to different virtues and vices4 ,there are large groups of moral qualities which in some ages of the world's history have been regarded as of supreme importance1 while in other ages they are thrown into the background1 and there are corresponding groups of vices which are treated in some periods as very serious and in others as very trivial4 ,the heroic type of ,paganism and the saintly type of ,christianity in its purest form1 consist largely of the same elements1 but the proportions in which they are mixed are altogether different4 ,there are ages when the military and civic virtues--the qualities that make good soldiers and patriotic citizens--dominate over all others4 ,the self-sacrifice of the best men flows habitually in these channels4 ,in such an age integrity in business relations and the domestic virtues which maintain the purity of the family may be highly valued1 but they are chiefly valued because they are essential to the well-being of the ,state4 ,the soldier who has attained to the highest degree the best qualities of his profession1 the patriot who sacrifices to the services of the ,state his comforts1 his ambitions and his life1 is the supreme model1 and the estimation in which he is held is but little lowered even though he may have been guilty1 like ,cato1 of atrocious cruelty to his slaves1 or1 like some of the heroes of ancient times1 of scandalous forms of private profligacy4 ,there are other ages in which military life is looked upon by moralists with disfavour1 and in which patriotism ranks very low in the scale of virtues1 while charity1 gentleness1 self-abnegation1 devotional habits1 and purity in thought1 word and act are pre-eminently inculcated4 ,the intellectual virtues1 again1 which deal with truth and falsehood1 form a distinct group4 ,the habit of mind which makes men love truth for its own sake as the supreme ideal1 and which turns aside from all falsehood1 exaggeration1 party or sectarian misrepresentation and invention1 is in no age a common one1 but there are some ages in which it is recognised and inculcated as virtue1 while there are others in which it is no exaggeration to say that the whole tendency of religious teaching has been to discourage it4 ,during many centuries the ascetic and purely ecclesiastical standard of virtue completely dominated4 ,the domestic virtues1 though clearly recognised1 held altogether a subordinate place to what were deemed the higher virtues of the ascetic celibate4 ,charity1 though nobly cultivated and practised1 was regarded mainly through a dogmatic medium and practised less for the benefit of the recipient than for the spiritual welfare of the donor4 ,in the eyes of multitudes the highest conception of a saintly life consisted largely if not mainly in complete detachment from secular interests and affections4 ,no type was more admired1 and no type was ever more completely severed from all active duties and all human relations than that of the saint of the desert or of the monk of one of the contemplative orders4 ,to die to the world2 to become indifferent to its aims1 interests and pleasures2 to measure all things by a standard wholly different from human happiness1 to live habitually for another life was the constant teaching of the saints4 ,in the stress laid on the cultivation of the spiritual life the whole sphere of active duties sank into a lower plane2 and the eye of the mind was turned upwards and inwards and but little on the world around4 ',happy1' said one saint1 'is the mind which sees but two objects1 ,god and self1 one of which conceptions fills it with a sovereign delight and the other abases it to the extremest dejection4'#aa ',as much love as we give to creatures1' said another saint1 'just so much we steal from the ,creator4'#ab ',two things only do ,i ask1' said a third1#ac 'to suffer and to die4' ',forsake all1' said ,thomas ,kempis1 'and thou shalt find all4 ,leave desire and thou shalt find rest4' ',unless a man be disengaged from the affection of all creatures he cannot with freedom of mind attend unto ,divine things4' ,the gradual1 silent and half-unconscious modification in the type of ,morals which took place after the ,reformation was certainly not the least important of its results4 ,if it may be traced in some degree to the distinctive theology of the ,protestant ,churches1 it was perhaps still more due to the abolition of clerical celibacy which placed the religious teachers in the centre of domestic life and in close contact with a large circle of social duties4 ,there is even now a distinct difference between the morals of a sincerely ,catholic and a sincerely ,protestant country1 and this difference is not so much1 as controversialists would tell us1 in the greater and the less as in the moral type1 or1 in other words1 in the different degrees of importance attached to different virtues and vices4 ,probably nowhere in the world can more beautiful and more reverent types be found than in some of the ,catholic countries of ,europe which are but little touched by the intellectual movements of the age1 but no good observer can fail to notice how much larger is the place given to duties which rest wholly on theological considerations1 and how largely even the natural duties are based on such considerations and governed1 limited1 and sometimes even superseded by them4 ,the ecclesiastics who at the ,council of ,constance induced ,sigismund to violate the safe-conduct he had given1 and1 in spite of his solemn promise1 to condemn ,huss to a death of fire1#ad and the ecclesiastics who at the ,diet of ,worms vainly tried to induce ,charles ,v4 to act with a similar perfidy towards ,luther1 represent a conception of morals which is abundantly prevalent in our day4 ,it is no exaggeration to say that in ,catholic countries the obligation of truthfulness in cases in which it conflicts with the interests of the ,church rests wholly on the basis of honour1 and not at all on the basis of religion4 ,in the estimates of ,catholic rulers no impartial observer can fail to notice how their attitude towards the interest of the ,church dominates over all considerations of public and private morals4 ,in past ages this was much more the case4 ,the ,church filled in the minds of men a place at least equal to that of the ,state in the ,roman ,republic4 ,men who had made great sacrifices for it and rendered great services to it were deemed1 beyond all others1 the good men1 and in those men things which we should regard as grossly criminal appeared mere venial frailties4 ,let any one who doubts this study the lives of the early ,catholic saints1 and the still more instructive pages in which ,gregory of ,tours and other ecclesiastical annalists have described the characters and acts of the more prominent figures in the secular history of their times1 and he will soon feel that he has passed into a moral atmosphere and is dealing with moral measurements and perspectives wholly unlike those of our own day4#ae ,in highly civilised ages the same spirit may be clearly traced4 ,bossuet was certainly no hypocrite or sycophant1 but a man of austere virtue and undoubted courage4 ,he did not hesitate to rebuke the gross profligacy of the life of ,louis ,,xiv41 and although neither he nor any of the other ,catholic divines of his age seriously protested against the wars of pure egotism and ostentation which made that sovereign the scourge of ,europe and brought down upon his people calamities immeasurably greater than the faults of his private life--although1 indeed1 he has spoken of those wars in language of rapturous and unqualified eulogy#af--;he had at least the grace to devote a chapter of his ',politique tire de l'criture ,sainte' to the theme that ',god does not love war4' ,but in the eyes of ,bossuet the dominant fact in the life of ,louis ,,xiv4 was the ,revocation of the ,edict of ,nantes and the savage persecution of the ,huguenots1 and this was sufficient to place him among the best of sovereigns4#ag ,to those who will candidly consider the subject there is nothing in this which need excite surprise4 ,the doctrine that the ,catholic ,church is the inspired guide1 representing the voice of the ,divinity on earth and deciding with absolute authority all questions of right and wrong1 very naturally led to the conviction that nothing which was conducive to its interests could be really criminal1 and in all departments of morals it regulated the degrees of praise and blame4 ,the doctrine which is still so widely professed but now so faintly realised1 that the first essential to salvation is orthodox belief1 placed conduct on a lower plane of importance than dogma1 while the conviction that it is in the power of man to obtain absolute certainty in religious belief1 that erroneous belief is in the eyes of the ,almighty a crime bringing with it eternal damnation1 and that the teacher of heresy is the greatest enemy of mankind1 at once justified in the eyes of the believer acts which now seem the gravest moral aberrations4 ,many baser motives and elements no doubt mingled with the long and hideous history of the religious persecutions of ,christendom1 but in the eyes of countless conscientious men this teaching seemed amply sufficient to justify them and to stifle all feeling of compassion for the victims4 ,much the same considerations explain the absolute indifference with which so many good men witnessed those witch persecutions which consigned thousands of old1 feeble and innocent women to torture and to death4 ,other illustrations of a less tragical kind might be given4 ,thus in cases of child-birth the physician is sometimes placed in the alternative of sacrificing the life of the mother or of the unborn child4 ,in such cases a ,protestant or freethinking physician would not hesitate to save the adult life as by far the most valuable4 ,the ,catholic doctrine is that under such circumstances the first duty of the physician is to save the life of the unbaptized child4#ah ,large numbers of commercial transactions which are now universally acknowledged to be perfectly innocent and useful would during a long period have been prohibited on account of the ,catholic doctrine of usury which condemned as sinful even the most moderate interest on money if it was exacted as the price of the loan4#ai ,every religious and indeed every philosophical system that has played a great part in the history of the world has a tendency either to form or to assimilate with a particular moral type1 and in the eyes of a large and growing number it is upon the excellency of this type1 and upon its success in producing it1 that its superiority mainly depends4 ,the superstructure or scaffolding of belief around which it is formed appears to them of comparatively little moment1 and it is not uncommon to find men ardently devoted to a particular type long after they have discarded the tenets with which it was once connected4 ,carlyle1 for example1 sometimes spoke of himself as a ,calvinist1 and used language both in public and private as if there was no important difference between himself and the most orthodox ,puritans1 yet it is very evident that he disbelieved nearly all the articles of their creed4 ,what he meant was that ,calvinism had produced in all countries in which it really dominated a definite type of character and conception of morals which was in his eyes the noblest that had yet appeared in the world4 ',above all things1 my brethren1 swear not4' ,if1 as is generally assumed1 this refers to the custom of using profane oaths in common conversation1 how remote from modern ideas is the place assigned to this vice1 which perhaps affects human happiness as little as any other that can be mentioned1 in the scale of criminality1 and how curiously characteristic is the fact that the vice to which this supremacy of enormity is attributed continued to be prevalent during the ages when theological influences were most powerful1 and has in all good society faded away in simple obedience to a turn of fashion which proscribes it as ungentlemanly6 ,for a long period ,acts condemning it were read at stated periods in the churches1#bj and one of these described it as likely1 by provoking ,god's wrath1 to 'increase the many calamities these nations now labour under4' ,how curiously characteristic is the restriction in common usage of the term 'immoral' to a single vice1 so that a man who is untruthful1 selfish1 cruel1 or intemperate might still be said to have led 'a moral life' because he was blameless in the relations of the sexes6 ,in the estimates of the character of public men the same disproportionate judgment may be constantly found in the comparative stress placed upon private faults and the most gigantic public crimes4 ,errors of judgment are not errors of morals1 but any public man who1 through selfish1 ambitious1 or party motives1 plunges or helps to plunge his country into an unrighteous or unnecessary war1 subordinates public interest to his personal ambition1 employs himself in stimulating class1 national1 or provincial hatreds1 lowers the moral standard of public life1 or supports a legislation which he knows to tend to or facilitate dishonesty1 is committing a crime before which1 if it be measured by its consequences1 the gravest acts of mere private immorality dwindle into insignificance4 ,yet how differently in the case of brilliant and successful politicians are such things treated in the judgment of contemporaries1 and sometimes even in the judgments of history6 ,it is1 ,i think1 a peculiarity of modern times that the chief moral influences are much more various and complex than in the past4 ,there is no such absolute empire as that which was exercised over character by the ,state in some periods of ,pagan antiquity and by the ,church during the ,middle ,ages4 ,our civilisation is more than anything else an industrial civilisation1 and industrial habits are probably the strongest in forming the moral type to which public opinion aspires4 ,slavery1 which threw a deep discredit on industry and on the qualities it fosters1 has passed away4 ,the feudal system1 which placed industry in an inferior position1 has been abolished1 and the strong modern tendency to diminish both the privileges and the exclusiveness of rank and to increase the importance of wealth is in the same direction4 ,an industrial society has its special vices and failings1 but it naturally brings into the boldest relief the moral qualities which industry is most fitted to foster and on which it most largely depends1 and it also gives the whole tone of moral thinking a utilitarian character4 ,it is not ,christianity but ,industrialism that has brought into the world that strong sense of the moral value of thrift1 steady industry1 punctuality in observing engagements1 constant forethought with a view to providing for the contingencies of the future1 which is now so characteristic of the moral type of the most civilised nations4 ,many other influences1 however1 have contributed to intensify1 qualify1 or impair the industrial type4 ,protestantism has disengaged primitive ,christian ethics from a crowd of superstitious and artificial duties which had overlaid them1 and a similar process has been going on in ,catholic countries under the influence of the rationalising and sceptical spirit4 ,the influence of dogmatic theology on ,morals has declined4 ,out of the vast and complex religious systems of the past1 an eclectic spirit is bringing into special and ever-increasing prominence those ,christian virtues which are most manifestly in accordance with natural religion and most clearly conducive to the well-being of men upon the earth4 ,philanthropy or charity1 which forms the centre of the system1 has also been immensely intensified by increased knowledge and realisation of the wants and sorrows of others2 by the sensitiveness to pain1 by the softening of manners and the more humane and refined tastes and habits which a highly elaborated intellectual civilisation naturally produces4 ,the sense of duty plays a great part in modern philanthropy1 and lower motives of ostentation or custom mingle largely with the genuine kindliness of feeling that inspires it2 but on the whole it is probable that men in our day1 in doing good to others1 look much more exclusively than in the past to the benefit of the recipient and much less to some reward for their acts in a future world4 ,as long1 too1 as this benefit is attained1 they will gladly diminish as much as possible the self-sacrifice it entails4 ,an eminently characteristic feature of modern philanthropy is its close connection with amusements4 ,there was a time when a great philanthropic work would be naturally supported by an issue of indulgences promising specific advantages in another world to all who took part in it4 ,in our own generation balls1 bazaars1 theatrical or other amusements given for the benefit of the charity1 occupy an almost corresponding place4 ,at the same time increasing knowledge1 and especially the kind of knowledge which science gives1 has in other ways largely affected our judgments of right and wrong4 ,the mental discipline1 the habits of sound and accurate reasoning1 the distrust of mere authority and of untested assertions and traditions that science tends to produce1 all stimulate the intellectual virtues1 and science has done much to rectify the chart of life1 pointing out more clearly the true conditions of human well-being and disclosing much baselessness and many errors in the teaching of the past4 ,it cannot1 however1 be said that the civic or the military influences have declined4 ,if the ,state does not hold altogether the same place as in ,pagan antiquity1 it is at least certain that in a democratic age public interests are enormously prominent in the lives of men1 and there is a growing and dangerous tendency to aggrandise the influence of the ,state over the individual1 while modern militarism is drawing the flower of ,continental ,europe into its circle and making military education one of the most powerful influences in the formation of characters and ideals4 ,i do not believe that the world will ever greatly differ about the essential elements of right and wrong4 ,these things lie deep in human nature and in the fundamental conditions of human life4 ,the changes that are taking place1 and which seem likely to strengthen in the future1 lie chiefly in the importance attached to different qualities4 ,what seems to be useless self-sacrifice and unnecessary suffering is as much as possible avoided4 ,the strain of sentiment which valued suffering in itself as an expiatory thing1 as a mode of following the ,man of ,sorrows1 as a thing to be for its own sake embraced and dwelt upon1 and prolonged1 bears a very great part in some of the most beautiful ,christian lives1 and especially in those which were formed under the influence of the ,catholic ,church4 ,an old legend tells how ,christ once appeared as a ,man of ,sorrows to a ,catholic ,saint1 and asked him what boon he would most desire4 ',lord1' was the reply1 'that ,i might suffer most4' ,this strain runs deeply through the whole ascetic literature and the whole monastic system of ,catholicism1 and outside ,catholicism it has been sometimes shown by a reluctance to accept the aid of ansthetics1 which partially or wholly removed suffering supposed to have been sent by ,providence4 ,the history of the use of chloroform furnishes striking illustrations of this4 ,many of my readers may remember the ,french monks who devoted themselves to cultivating one of the most pestilential spots in the ,roman ,campagna1 which was associated with an ecclesiastical legend1 and who quite unnecessarily insisted on remaining there during the season when such a residence meant little less than a slow suicide4 ,they had1 as they were accustomed to say1 their purgatory upon earth1 and they remained till their constitutions were hopelessly shattered and they were sent to die in their own land4 ,touching examples might be found in modern times of men who1 in the last extremes of disease or suffering1 scrupled1 through religious motives1 about availing themselves of the simplest alleviations1#ba and something of the same feeling is shown in the desire to prolong to the last possible moment hopeless and agonising disease4 ,all this is manifestly and rapidly disappearing4 ,to endure with patience and resignation inevitable suffering2 to encounter courageously dangers and suffering for some worthy and useful end1 ranks1 indeed1 as high as it ever did in the ethics of the century1 but suffering for its own sake is no longer valued1 and it is deemed one of the first objects of a wise life to restrict and diminish it4 ,no one1 ,i think1 has seen more clearly or described more vividly than ,goethe the direction in which in modern times the current of morals is flowing4 ,his philosophy is a terrestrial philosophy1 and the old theologians would have said that it allowed the second ,table of the ,law altogether to supersede or eclipse the first4 ,it was said of him with much truth that 'repugnance to the supernatural was an inherent part of his mind4' ,to turn away from useless and barren speculations2 to persistently withdraw our thoughts from the unknowable1 the inevitable1 and the irreparable2 to concentrate them on the immediate present and on the nearest duty2 to waste no moral energy on excessive introspection or self-abasement or self-reproach1 but to make the cultivation and the wise use of all our powers the supreme ideal and end of our lives2 to oppose labour and study to affliction and regret2 to keep at a distance gloomy thoughts and exaggerated anxieties2 'to see the individual in connection and co-operation with the whole1' and to look upon effort and action as the main elements both of duty and happiness1 was the lesson which he continually taught4 ',the mind endowed with active powers1 and keeping with a practical object to the task that lies nearest1 is the worthiest there is on earth4' ',character consists in a man steadily pursuing the things of which he feels himself capable4' ',try to do your duty and you will know what you are worth4' ',piety is not an end but a means2 a means of attaining the highest culture by the purest tranquillity of soul4' ',we are not born to solve the problems of the world1 but to find out where the problem begins and then to keep within the limits of what we can grasp4' ,to cultivate sincere love of truth and clear and definite conceptions1 and divest ourselves as much as possible from prejudices1 fanaticisms1 superstitions1 and exaggeration2 to take wide1 sound1 tolerant1 many-sided views of life1 stands in his eyes in the forefront of ethics4 ',let it be your earnest endeavour to use words coinciding as closely as possible with what we feel1 see1 think1 experience1 imagine1 and reason2' 'remove by plain and honest purpose false1 irrelevant and futile ideas4' ',the truest liberality is appreciation4' ',love of truth shows itself in this1 that a man knows how to find and value the good in everything4'#bb ,in the eyes of this school of thought one of the great vices of the old theological type of ethics was that it was unduly negative4 ,it thought much more of the avoidance of sin than of the performance of duty4 ,the more we advance in knowledge the more we shall come to judge men in the spirit of the parable of the talents2 that is by the net result of their lives1 by their essential unselfishness1 by the degree in which they employ and the objects to which they direct their capacities and opportunities4 ,the staple of moral life becomes much less a matter of small scruples1 of minute self-examination1 of extreme stress laid upon flaws of character and conduct that have little or no bearing upon active life4 ,a life of idleness will be regarded with much less tolerance than at present4 ,men will grow less introspective and more objective1 and useful action will become more and more the guiding principle of morals4 ,in theory this will probably be readily admitted1 but every good observer will find that it involves a considerable change in the point of view4 ,a life of habitual languor and idleness1 with no faculties really cultivated1 and with no result that makes a man missed when he has passed away1 may be spent without any act which the world calls vicious1 and is quite compatible with much charm of temper and demeanour and with a complete freedom from violent and aggressive selfishness4 ,such a life1 in the eyes of many moralists1 would rank much higher than a life of constant1 honourable self-sacrificing labour for the good of others which was at the same time flawed by some positive vice4 ,yet the life which seems to be comparatively blameless has in truth wholly missed1 while the other life1 in spite of all its defects1 has largely attained what should be the main object of a human life1 the full development and useful employment of whatever powers we possess4 ,there are men1 indeed1 in whom an over-sensitive conscience is even a paralysing thing1 which by suggesting constant petty and ingenious scruples holds them back from useful action4 ,it is a moral infirmity corresponding to that exaggerated intellectual fastidiousness which so often makes an intellectual life almost wholly barren1 or to that excessive tendency to look on all sides of a question and to realise the dangers and drawbacks of any course which not unfrequently in moments of difficulty paralyses the actions of public men4 ,sometimes1 under the strange and subtle bias of the will1 this excessive conscientiousness will be unconsciously fostered in inert and sluggish natures which are constitutionally disinclined to effort4 ,the main lines of duty in the great relations of life are sufficiently obvious1 and the casuistry which multiplies cases of conscience and invents unreal and factitious duties is apt to be rather an impediment than a furtherance to a noble life4 ,it is probable that as the world goes on morals will move more and more in the direction ,i have described4 ,there will be at the same time a steadily increasing tendency to judge moral qualities and courses of conduct mainly by the degree in which they promote or diminish human happiness4 ,enthusiasm and self-sacrifice for some object which has no real bearing on the welfare of man will become rarer and will be less respected1 and the condemnation that is passed on acts that are recognised as wrong will be much more proportioned than at present to the injury they inflict4 ,some things1 such as excessive luxury of expenditure and the improvidence of bringing into the world children for whom no provision has been made1 which can now scarcely be said to enter into the teaching of moralists1 or at least of churches1 may one day be looked upon as graver offences than some that are in the penal code4 ,,footnotes3 #aa ,st4 ,francis de ,sales4 #ab ,st4 ,philip ,neri4 #ac ,st4 ,teresa4 #ad ',cum dictus ,johannes ,hus fidem orthodoxam pertinaciter impugnans1 se ab omni con ductu et privilegio reddiderit alienum1 nec aliqua sibi fides aut promissio de jure naturali divino vel humano1 fuerit in prjudicium ,catholic fidei observanda4' ,declaration of the ,council of ,constance4 ,see ,creighton's ,history of the ,papacy1 ii4 #cb4 #ae ,i have collected some illustrations of this in my ,history of ,european ,morals1 ii4 #bce-bdb4 #af ,see1 e4g4 his funeral oration on ,marie ,thrse d',autriche4 #ag ,see the enthusiastic eulogy of the persecution of the ,huguenots in his funeral oration on ,michel le ,tellier4 ,it concludes3 'panchons nos coeurs sur la pit de ,louis2 poussons jusqu'au ciel nos acclamations1 et disons ce nouveau ,constantin1 ce nouveau ,thodose1 ce nouveau ,marcien1 ce nouveau ,charlemagne ce que les six cent trente ,pres dirent autrefois dans le ,concile de ,chalcdoine3 ,vous avez affermi la foi2 vous avez extermin les hrtiques2 c'est le digne ouvrage de votre rgne2 c'en est le propre caractre4 ,par vous l'hrsie n'est plus1 ,dieu seul a pu faire cette merveille4 ,roi du ciel1 conservez le roi de la terre2 c'est le voeu1 des glises2 c'est le voeu des vques4' #ah ,see ,migne1 ,encyclopdie ,thologique1 ',dict4 de ,cas de ,conscience1' art4 ,avortement4 #ai ,see on this subject my ,history of ,rationalism1 ii4 #bej-bgj1 and my ,democracy and ,liberty1 ii41 ch4 viii4 #bj #ba ,james ,i4 c4 #bj2 #ai ,geo4 ,,ii4 c4 #ba4 ,the penalties1 however1 were fines1 the pillory1 or short periods of imprisonment4 ,the obligation of reading the statute in churches was abolished in #ahbc1 but the custom had before fallen into desuetude4 ,in #aggb a vicar was 7as an act of private vengeance7 prosecuted and fined for having neglected to read it4 7,annual ,register1 #aggb1 p4 #aae47 #ba ,the following beautiful passage from a funeral sermon by ,newman is an example3 ',one should have thought that a life so innocent1 so active1 so holy1 ,i might say so faultless from first to last1 might have been spared the visitation of any long and severe penance to bring it to an end2 but in order doubtless to show us how vile and miserable the best of us are in ourselves 444 and moreover to give us a pattern how to bear suffering ourselves1 and to increase the merits and to hasten and brighten the crown of this faithful servant of his ,lord1 it pleased ,almighty ,god to send upon him a disorder which during the last six years fought with him1 mastered him1 and at length has destroyed him1 so far1 that is1 as death now has power to destroy4444 ,it is for those who came near him year after year to store up the many words and deeds of resignation1 love and humility which that long penance elicited4 ,these meritorious acts are written in the ,book of ,life1 and they have followed him whither he is gone4 ,they multiplied and grew in strength and perfection as his trial proceeded2 and they were never so striking as at its close4 ,when a friend visited him in the last week1 he found he had scrupled at allowing his temples to be moistened with some refreshing waters1 and had with difficulty been brought to give his consent2 he said he feared it was too great a luxury4 ,when the same friend offered him some liquid to allay his distressing thirst his answer was the same4'--,sermon at the funeral of the ,right ,rev4 ,henry ,weedall1 pp4 #ai1 #bj4 #bb ,see the excellent little book of ,mr4 ,bailey ,saunders1 called ,the ,maxims and ,reflections of ,goethe4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,the tendency to regard morals rather in their positive than their negative aspects1 and to estimate men by the good they do in the world1 is a healthy element in modern life4 ,a strong sense of the obligation of a full1 active1 and useful life is the best safeguard both of individual and national morals at a time when the dissolution or enfeeblement of theological beliefs is disturbing the foundations on which most current moral teaching has been based4 ,in the field of morals action holds a much larger place than reasoning--a larger place even in elucidating our difficulties and illuminating the path on which we should go4 ,it is by the active pursuit of an immediate duty that the vista of future duties becomes most clear1 and those who are most immersed in active duties are usually little troubled with the perplexities of life1 or with minute and paralysing scruples4 ,a public opinion which discourages idleness and places high the standard of public duty is especially valuable in an age when the tendency to value wealth1 and to measure dignity by wealth1 has greatly increased1 and when wealth in some of its most important forms has become wholly dissociated from special duties4 ,the duties of the landlord who is surrounded by a poor and in some measure dependent tenantry1 the duties of the head of a great factory or shop who has a large number of workmen or dependents in his employment1 are sufficiently obvious1 though even in these spheres the tie of duty has been greatly relaxed by the growing spirit of independence1 which makes each class increasingly jealous of the interference of others1 and by the growing tendency of legislation to regulate all relations of business and contracts by definite law instead of leaving them1 as in the past1 to voluntary action4 ,but there are large classes of fortunes which are wholly1 or almost wholly1 dissociated from special and definite duties4 ,the vast and ever-increasing multitude whose incomes are derived from national1 or provincial1 or municipal debts1 or who are shareholders or debenture-holders in great commercial and industrial undertakings1 have little or no practical control over1 or interest in1 those from whom their fortunes are derived4 ,the multiplication of such fortunes is one of the great characteristics of our time1 and it brings with it grave dangers4 ,such fortunes give unrivalled opportunities of luxurious idleness1 and as in themselves they bring little or no social influence or position1 those who possess them are peculiarly tempted to seek such a position by an ostentation of wealth and luxury which has a profoundly vulgarising and demoralising influence upon ,society4 ,the tendency of idleness to lead to immorality has long been a commonplace of moralists4 ,perhaps our own age has seen more clearly than those that preceded it that complete and habitual idleness is immorality1 and that when the circumstances of his life do not assign to a man a definite sphere of work it is his first duty to find it for himself4 ,it has been happily said that in the beginning of the reign of ,queen ,victoria young men in ,england who were really busy affected idleness1 and at the close of the reign young men who are really idle pretend to be busy4 ,in my own opinion1 a disproportionate amount of ,english energy takes political forms1 and there is a dangerous exaggeration in the prevailing tendency to combat all social and moral abuses by ,acts of ,parliament4 ,but there are multitudes of other and less obtrusive spheres of work adapted to all grades of intellect and to many types of character1 in which men who possess the inestimable boon of leisure can find abundant and useful fields for the exercise of their powers4 ,the rectification of moral judgments is one of the most important elements of civilisation2 it is upon this that the possibility of moral progress on a large scale chiefly depends4 ,few things pervert men more than the habit of regarding as enviable persons or qualities injurious to ,society4 ,the most obvious example is the passionate admiration bestowed on a brilliant conqueror1 which is often quite irrespective of the justice of his wars and of the motives that actuated him4 ,this false moral feeling has acquired such a strength that overwhelming military power almost certainly leads to a career of ambition4 ,perverted public opinion is the main cause4 ,glory1 not interest1 is the lure1 or at least the latter would be powerless if it were not accompanied by the former--if the execration of mankind naturally followed unscrupulous aggression4 ,another and scarcely less flagrant instance of the worship of false ideals is to be found in the fierce competition of luxury and ostentation which characterises the more wealthy cities of ,europe and ,america4 ,it is no exaggeration to say that in a single festival in ,london or ,new ,york sums are often expended in the idlest and most ephemeral ostentation which might have revived industry1 or extinguished pauperism1 or alleviated suffering over a vast area4 ,the question of expenditure on luxuries is no doubt a question of degree which cannot be reduced to strict rule1 and there are many who will try to justify the most ostentatious expenditure on the ground of the employment it gives and of other incidental advantages it is supposed to produce4 ,but nothing in political economy is more certain than that the vast and ever-increasing expenditure on the luxury of ostentation in modern societies1 by withdrawing great masses of capital from productive labour1 is a grave economical evil1 and there is probably no other form of expenditure which1 in proportion to its amount1 gives so little real pleasure and confers so little real good4 ,its evil in setting up material and base standards of excellence1 in stimulating the worst passions that grow out of an immoderate love of wealth1 in ruining many who are tempted into a competition which they are unable to support1 can hardly be overrated4 ,it is felt in every rank in raising the standard of conventional expenses1 excluding from much social intercourse many who are admirably fitted to adorn it1 and introducing into all society a lower and more material tone4 ,nor are these its only consequences4 ,wealth which is expended in multiplying and elaborating real comforts1 or even in pleasures which produce enjoyment at all proportionate to their cost1 will never excite serious indignation4 ,it is the colossal waste of the means of human happiness in the most selfish and most vulgar forms of social advertisement and competition that gives a force and almost a justification to anarchical passions which menace the whole future of our civilisation4 ,it is such things that stimulate class hatreds and deepen class divisions1 and if the law of opinion does not interfere to check them they will one day bring down upon the society that encourages them a signal and well-merited retribution4 ,a more recognised1 though probably not really more pernicious example of false ideals1 is to be found in the glorification of the demi-monde1 which is so conspicuous in some societies and literatures4 ,in a healthy state of opinion1 the public1 ostentatious appearance of such persons1 without any concealment of their character1 in the great concourse of fashion and among the notabilities of the ,state1 would appear an intolerable scandal1 and it becomes much worse when they give the tone to fashion and become the centres and the models of large and by no means undistinguished sections of ,society4 ,the evils springing from this public glorification of the class are immeasurably greater than the evils arising from its existence4 ,the standard of popular morals is debased4 ,temptation in its most seductive form is forced upon inflammable natures1 and the most pernicious of all lessons is taught to poor1 honest1 hard-working women4 ,it is indeed wonderful that in societies where this evil prevails so much virtue should still exist among graceful1 attractive women of the shopkeeping and servant class when they continually see before them members of their own class1 by preferring vice to virtue1 rising at once to wealth1 luxury and idleness1 and even held up as objects of admiration or imitation4 ,in judging wisely the characters of men1 one of the first things to be done is to understand their ideals4 ,try to find out what kind of men or of life2 what qualities1 what positions seem to them the most desirable4 ,men do not always fully recognise their own ideals1 for education and the conventionalities of ,society oblige them to assert a preference for that which may really have no root in their minds4 ,but by a careful examination it is usually possible to ascertain what persons or qualities or circumstances or gifts exercise a genuine1 spontaneous1 magnetic power over them--whether they really value supremely rank or position1 or money1 or beauty1 or intellect1 or superiority of character4 ,if you know the ideal of a man you have obtained a true key to his nature4 ,the broad lines of his character1 the permanent tendencies of his imagination1 his essential nobility or meanness1 are thus disclosed more effectually than by any other means4 ,a man with high ideals1 who admires wisely and nobly1 is never wholly base though he may fall into great vices4 ,a man who worships the baser elements is in truth an idolater though he may have never bowed before an image of stone4 ,the human mind has much more power of distinguishing between right and wrong1 and between true and false1 than of estimating with accuracy the comparative gravity of opposite evils4 ,it is nearly always right in judging between right and wrong4 ,it is generally wrong in estimating degrees of guilt1 and the root of its error lies in the extreme difficulty of putting ourselves into the place of those whose characters or circumstances are radically different from our own4 ,this want of imagination acts widely on our judgment of what is good as well as of what is bad4 ,few men have enough imagination to realise types of excellence altogether differing from their own4 ,it is this1 much more than vanity1 that leads them to esteem the types of excellence to which they themselves approximate as the best1 and tastes and habits that are altogether incongruous with their own as futile and contemptible4 ,it is1 perhaps1 most difficult of all to realise the difference of character and especially of moral sensibility produced by a profound difference of circumstances4 ,this difficulty largely falsifies our judgments of the past1 and it is the reason why a powerful imagination enabling us to realise very various characters and very remote circumstances is one of the first necessities of a great historian4 ,historians rarely make sufficient allowance for the degree in which the judgments and dispositions even of the best men are coloured by the moral tone of the time1 society and profession in which they lived4 ,yet it is probable that on the whole we estimate more justly the characters of the past than of the present4 ,no one would judge the actions of ,charlemagne or of his contemporaries by the strict rules of nineteenth-century ethics4 ,we feel that though they committed undoubted crimes1 these crimes are at least indefinitely less heinous than they would have been under the wholly different circumstances and moral atmosphere of our own day4 ,yet we seldom apply this method of reasoning to the different strata of the same society4 ,men who have been themselves brought up amid all the comforts and all the moralising and restraining influences of a refined society1 will often judge the crimes of the wretched pariahs of civilisation as if their acts were in no degree palliated by their position4 ,they say to themselves ',how guilty should ,i have been if ,i had done this thing1' and their verdict is quite just according to this statement of the case4 ,they realise the nature of the act4 ,they utterly fail to realise the character and circumstances of the actor4 ,and yet it is scarcely possible to exaggerate the difference between the position of such a critic and that of the children of drunken1 ignorant and profligate parents1 born to abject poverty in the slums of our great cities4 ,from their earliest childhood drunkenness1 blasphemy1 dishonesty1 prostitution1 indecency of every form are their most familiar experiences4 ,all the social influences1 such as they are1 are influences of vice4 ,as they grow up ,life seems to them to present little more than the alternative of hard1 ill-paid1 and at the same time precarious labour1 probably ending in the poor-house1 or crime with its larger and swifter gains1 and its intervals of coarse pleasure probably1 though not certainly1 followed by the prison or an early death4 ,they see indeed1 like figures in a dream1 or like beings of another world1 the wealthy and the luxurious spending their wealth and their time in many kinds of enjoyment1 but to the very poor pleasure scarcely comes except in the form of the gin palace or perhaps the low music hall4 ,and in many cases they have come into this reeking atmosphere of temptation and vice with natures debased and enfeebled by a long succession of vicious hereditary influences1 with weak wills1 with no faculties of mind or character that can respond to any healthy ambition2 with powerful inborn predispositions to evil4 ,the very mould of their features1 the very shape of their skulls1 marks them out as destined members of the criminal class4 ,even here1 no doubt1 there is a difference between right and wrong2 there is scope for the action of free will2 there are just causes of praise and blame1 and ,society rightly protects itself by severe penalties against the crimes that are most natural2 but what human judge can duly measure the scale of moral guilt8 or what comparison can there be between the crimes that are engendered by such circumstances and those which spring up in the homes of refined and well-regulated comfort8 ,nor indeed even in this latter case is a really accurate judgment possible4 ,men are born into the world with both wills and passions of varying strength1 though in mature life the strength or weakness of each is largely due to their own conduct4 ,with different characters the same temptation1 operating under the same external circumstances1 has enormously different strength1 and very few men can fully realise the strength of a passion which they have never themselves experienced4 ,to repeat an illustration ,i have already used1 how difficult is it for a constitutionally sober man to form in his own mind an adequate conception of the force of the temptation of drink to a dipsomaniac1 or for a passionless man to conceive rightly the temptations of a profoundly sensual nature6 ,i have spoken in a former chapter of the force with which bodily conditions act upon happiness4 ,their influence on morals is not less terrible4 ,there are diseases well known to physicians which make the most placid temper habitually irritable2 give a morbid turn to the healthiest disposition2 fill the purest mind with unholy thoughts4 ,there are others which destroy the force of the strongest will and take from character all balance and self-control4#bc ,it often happens that we have long been blaming a man for manifest faults of character till at last suicide1 or the disclosure of some grave bodily or mental disease which has long been working unperceived1 explains his faults and turns our blame into pity4 ,in madness the whole moral character is sometimes reversed1 and tendencies which have been in sane life dormant or repressed become suddenly supreme4 ,in such cases we all acknowledge that there is no moral responsibility1 but madness1 with its illusions and irresistible impulses1 and idiocy with its complete suspension of the will and of the judgment1 are neither of them1 as lawyers would pretend1 clearly defined states1 marked out by sharp and well-cut boundaries1 wholly distinct from sanity4 ,there are incipient stages2 there are gradual approximations2 there are twilight states between sanity and insanity which are clearly recognised not only by experts but by all sagacious men of the world4 ,there are many who are not sufficiently mad to be shut up1 or to be deprived of the management of their properties1 or to be exempted from punishment if they have committed a crime1 but who1 in the common expressive phrase1 'are not all there'--whose eccentricities1 illusions and caprices are on the verge of madness1 whose judgments are hopelessly disordered2 whose wills1 though not completely atrophied1 are manifestly diseased4 ,in questions of property1 in questions of crime1 in questions of family arrangements1 such persons cause the gravest perplexity1 nor will any wise man judge them by the same moral standard as well-balanced and well-developed natures4 ,the inference to be drawn from such facts is certainly not that there is no such thing as free will and personal responsibility1 nor yet that we have no power of judging the acts of others and distinguishing among our fellowmen between the good and the bad4 ,the true lesson is the extreme fallibility of our moral judgments whenever we attempt to measure degrees of guilt4 ,sometimes men are even unjust to their own past from their incapacity in age of realising the force of the temptations they had experienced in youth4 ,on the other hand1 increased knowledge of the world tends to make us more sensible of the vast differences between the moral circumstances of men1 and therefore less confident and more indulgent in our judgments of others4 ,there are men whose cards in life are so bad1 whose temptations to vice1 either from circumstances or inborn character1 seem so overwhelming1 that1 though we may punish1 and in a certain sense blame1 we can scarcely look on them as more responsible than some noxious wild beast4 ,among the terrible facts of life none is indeed more terrible than this4 ,every believer in the wise government of the world must have sometimes realised with a crushing or at least a staggering force the appalling injustices of life as shown in the enormous differences in the distribution of unmerited happiness and misery4 ,but the disparity of moral circumstances is not less4 ,it has shaken the faith of many4 ,it has even led some to dream of a possible ,heaven for the vicious where those who are born into the world with a physical constitution rendering them fierce or cruel1 or sensual1 or cowardly1 may be freed from the nature which was the cause of their vice and their suffering upon earth2 where due allowance may be made for the differences of circumstances which have plunged one man deeper and ever deeper into crime1 and enabled another1 who was not really better or worse1 to pass through life with no serious blemish1 and to rise higher and higher in the moral scale4 ,imperfect1 however1 as is our power of judging others1 it is a power we are all obliged to exercise4 ,it is impossible to exclude the considerations of moral guilt and of palliating or aggravating circumstances from the penal code1 and from the administration of justice1 though it cannot be too clearly maintained that the criminal code is not coextensive with the moral code1 and that many things which are profoundly immoral lie beyond its scope4 ,on the whole it should be as much as possible confined to acts by which men directly injure others4 ,in the case of adult men1 private vices1 vices by which no one is directly affected1 except by his own free will1 and in which the elements of force or fraud are not present1 should not be brought within its range4 ,this ideal1 it is true1 cannot be fully attained4 ,the legislator must take into account the strong pressure of public opinion4 ,it is sometimes true that a penal law may arrest1 restrict1 or prevent the revival of some private vice without producing any countervailing evil4 ,but the presumption is against all laws which punish the voluntary acts of adult men when those acts injure no one except themselves4 ,the social censure1 or the judgment of opinion1 rightly extends much further1 though it is often based on very imperfect knowledge or realisation4 ,it is probable that1 on the whole1 opinion judges too severely the crimes of passion and of drink1 as well as those which spring from the pressure of great poverty and are accompanied by great ignorance4 ,the causes of domestic anarchy are usually of such an intimate nature and involve so many unknown or imperfectly realised elements of aggravation or palliation that in most cases the less men attempt to judge them the better4 ,on the other hand1 public opinion is usually far too lenient in judging crimes of ambition1 cupidity1 envy1 malevolence1 and callous selfishness2 the crimes of ill-gotten and ill-used wealth1 especially in the many cases in which those crimes are unpunished by law4 ,it is a mere commonplace of morals that in the path of evil it is the first step that costs the most4 ,the shame1 the repugnance1 and the remorse which attend the first crime speedily fade1 and on every repetition the habit of evil grows stronger4 ,a process of the same kind passes over our judgments4 ,few things are more curious than to observe how the eye accommodates itself to a new fashion of dress1 however unbecoming2 how speedily men1 or at least women1 will adopt a new and artificial standard and instinctively and unconsciously admire or blame according to this standard and not according to any genuine sense of beauty or the reverse4 ,few persons1 however pure may be their natural taste1 can live long amid vulgar and vulgarising surroundings without losing something of the delicacy of their taste and learning to accept--if not with pleasure1 at least with acquiescence--things from which under other circumstances they would have recoiled4 ,in the same way1 both individuals and societies accommodate themselves but too readily to lower moral levels1 and a constant vigilance is needed to detect the forms or directions in which individual and national character insensibly deteriorate4 ,,footnote3 #bc ,see ,ribot1 ,les ,maladies de la ,volont1 pp4 #ib1 #aaf-aai4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,it is impossible for a physician to prescribe a rational regimen for a patient unless he has formed some clear conception of the nature of his constitution and of the morbid influences to which it is inclined2 and in judging the wisdom of various proposals for the management of character we are at once met by the initial controversy about the goodness or the depravity of human nature4 ,it is a subject on which extreme exaggerations have prevailed4 ,the school of ,rousseau1 which dominated on the ,continent in the last half of the eighteenth century1 represented mankind as a being who comes into existence essentially good1 and it attributed all the moral evils of the world1 not to any innate tendencies to vice1 but to superstition1 vicious institutions1 misleading education1 a badly organised society4 ,it is an obvious criticism that if human nature had been as good as such writers imagined1 these corrupt and corrupting influences could never have grown up1 or at least could never have obtained a controlling influence1 and this philosophy became greatly discredited when the ,french ,revolution1 which it did so much to produce1 ended in the unspeakable horrors of the ,reign of ,terror and in the gigantic carnage of the ,napoleonic wars4 ,on the other hand1 there are large schools of theologians who represent man as utterly and fundamentally depraved1 'born in corruption1 inclined to evil1 incapable by himself of doing good2' totally wrecked and ruined as a moral being by the catastrophe in ,eden4 ,there are also moral philosophers--usually very unconnected with theology--who deny or explain away all unselfish elements in human nature1 represent man as simply governed by self-interest1 and maintain that the whole art of education and government consists of a judicious arrangement of selfish motives1 making the interests of the individual coincident with those of his neighbours4 ,it is not too much to say that ,society never could have subsisted if this view of human nature had been a just one4 ,the world would have been like a cage-full of wild beasts1 and mankind would have soon perished in constant internecine war4 ,it is indeed one of the plainest facts of human nature that such a view of mankind is an untrue one4 ,jealousy1 envy1 animosities and selfishness no doubt play a great part in life and disguise themselves under many specious forms1 and the cynical moralist was not wholly wrong when he declared that ',virtue would not go so far if ,vanity did not keep her company1' and that not only our crimes but even many of what are deemed our best acts may be traced to selfish motives4 ,but he must have had a strangely unfortunate experience of the world who does not recognise the enormous exaggeration of the pictures of human nature that are conveyed in some of the maxims of ,la ,rochefoucauld and ,schopenhauer4 ,they tell us that friendship is a mere exchange of interests in which each man only seeks to gain something from the other2 that most women are only pure because they are untempted and regret that the temptation does not come2 that if we acknowledge some faults it is in order to persuade ourselves that we have no greater ones1 or in order1 by our confession1 to regain the good opinion of our neighbours2 that if we praise another it is merely that we may ourselves in turn be praised2 that the tears we shed over a deathbed1 if they are not hypocritical tears intended only to impress our neighbours1 are only due to our conviction that we have ourselves lost a source of pleasure or of gain2 that envy so predominates in the world that it is only men of inferior intellect or women of inferior beauty who are sincerely liked by those about them2 that all virtue is an egotistic calculation1 conscious or unconscious4 ,such views are at least as far removed from truth as the roseate pictures of ,rousseau and ,st4 ,pierre4 ,no one can look with an unjaundiced eye upon the world without perceiving the enormous amount of disinterested1 self-sacrificing benevolence that pervades it2 the countless lives that are spent not only harmlessly and inoffensively but also in the constant discharge of duties2 in constant and often painful labour for the good of others4 ,the better section of the ,utilitarian school has fully recognised the truth that human nature is so constituted that a great proportion of its enjoyment depends on sympathy2 or1 in other words1 on the power we possess of entering into and sharing the happiness of others4 ,the spectacle of suffering naturally elicits compassion4 ,kindness naturally produces gratitude4 ,the sympathies of men naturally move on the side of the good rather than of the bad4 ,this is true not only of the things that immediately concern us1 but also in the perfectly disinterested judgments we form of the events of history or of the characters in fiction and poetry4 ,great exhibitions of heroism and self-sacrifice touch a genuine chord of enthusiasm4 ,the affections of the domestic circle are the rule and not the exception2 patriotism can elicit great outbursts of purely unselfish generosity and induce multitudes to risk or sacrifice their lives for causes which are quite other than their own selfish interests4 ,human nature indeed has its moral as well as its physical needs1 and naturally and instinctively seeks some object of interest and enthusiasm outside itself4 ,if we look again into the vice and sin that undoubtedly disfigure the world we shall find much reason to believe that what is exceptional in human nature is not the evil tendency but the restraining conscience1 and that it is chiefly the weakness of the distinctively human quality that is the origin of the evil4 ,it is impossible indeed1 with the knowledge we now possess1 to deny to animals some measure both of reason and of the moral sense4 ,in addition to the higher instincts of parental affection and devotion which are so clearly developed we find among some animals undoubted signs of remorse1 gratitude1 affection1 self-sacrifice4 ,even the point of honour which attaches shame to some things and pride to others may be clearly distinguished4 ,no one who has watched the more intelligent dog can question this1 and many will maintain that in some animals1 though both good and bad qualities are less widely developed than in man1 the proportion of the good to the evil is more favourable in the animal than in the man4 ,at the same time in the animal world desire is usually followed without any other restraint than fear1 while in man it is largely though no doubt very imperfectly limited by moral self-control4 ,most crimes spring not from anything wrong in the original and primal desire but from the imperfection of this higher1 distinct or superadded element in our nature4 ,the crimes of dishonesty and envy1 when duly analysed1 have at their basis simply a desire for the desirable--a natural and inevitable feeling4 ,what is absent is the restraint which makes men refrain from taking or trying to take desirable things that belong to another4 ,sensual faults spring from a perfectly natural impulse1 but the restraint which confines the action of that impulse to defined circumstances is wanting4 ,much1 too1 of the insensibility and hardness of the world is due to a simple want of imagination which prevents us from adequately realising the sufferings of others4 ,the predatory1 envious and ferocious feelings that disturb mankind operate unrestrained through the animal world1 though man's superior intelligence gives his desires a special character and a greatly increased scope1 and introduces them into spheres inconceivable to the animal4 ,immoderate and uncontrolled desires are the root of most human crimes1 but at the same time the self-restraint that limits desire1 or self-seeking1 by the rights of others1 seems to be mainly1 though not wholly1 the prerogative of man4 ,considerations of this kind are sufficient to remedy the extreme exaggeration of human corruption that may often be heard1 but they are not inconsistent with the truth that human nature is so far depraved that it can never be safely left to develop unimpeded without strong legal and social restraint4 ,it is not necessary to seek examples of its depravity within the precincts of a prison or in the many instances that may be found outside the criminal population of morbid moral taints which are often as clearly marked as physical disease4 ,on a large scale and in the actions of great bodies of men the melancholy truth is abundantly displayed4 ,on the whole ,christianity has been far more successful in influencing individuals than societies4 ,the mere spectacle of a battle-field with the appalling mass of hideous suffering deliberately and ingeniously inflicted by man upon man should be sufficient to scatter all idyllic pictures of human nature4 ,it was once the custom of a large school of writers to attribute unjust wars solely to the rulers of the world1 who for their own selfish ambitions remorselessly sacrificed the lives of tens of thousands of their subjects4 ,their guilt has been very great1 but they would never have pursued the course of ambitious conquest if the applause of nations had not followed and encouraged them1 and there are no signs that democracy1 which has enthroned the masses1 has any real tendency to diminish war4 ,in modern times the danger of war lies less in the intrigues of statesmen than in deeply seated international jealousies and antipathies2 in sudden1 volcanic outbursts of popular passion4 ,after eighteen hundred years' profession of the creed of peace1 ,christendom is an armed camp4 ,never1 or hardly ever1 in times of peace had the mere preparations of war absorbed so large a proportion of its population and resources1 and very seldom has so large an amount of its ability been mainly employed in inventing and in perfecting instruments of destruction4 ,those who will look on the world without illusion will be compelled to admit that the chief guarantees for its peace are to be found much less in moral than in purely selfish motives4 ,the financial embarrassments of the great nations2 their profound distrust of one another2 the vast cost of modern war2 the gigantic commercial disasters it inevitably entails2 the extreme uncertainty of its issue2 the utter ruin that may follow defeat--these are the real influences that restrain the tiger passions and the avaricious cravings of mankind4 ,it is also one of the advantages that accompany the many evils of universal service1 that great citizen armies who in time of war are drawn from their homes1 their families1 and their peaceful occupations have not the same thirst for battle that grows up among purely professional soldiers1 voluntarily enlisted and making a military life their whole career4 ,yet1 in spite of all this1 what trust could be placed in the forbearance of ,christian nations if the path of aggression was at once easy1 lucrative and safe8 ,the judgments of nations in dealing with the aggressions of their neighbours are1 it is true1 very different from those which they form of aggressions by their own statesmen or for their own benefit4 ,but no great nation is blameless1 and there is probably no nation that could not speedily catch the infection of the warlike spirit if a conqueror and a few splendid victories obscured1 as they nearly always do1 the moral issues of the contest4 ,war1 it is true1 is not always or wholly evil4 ,sometimes it is justifiable and necessary4 ,sometimes it is professedly and in part really due to some strong wave of philanthropic feeling produced by great acts of wrong1 though of all forms of philanthropy it is that which most naturally defeats itself4 ,even when unjustifiable1 it calls into action splendid qualities of courage1 self-sacrifice1 and endurance which cast a dazzling and deceptive glamour over its horrors and its criminality4 ,it appeals too1 beyond all other things1 to that craving for excitement1 adventure1 and danger which is an essential and imperious element in human nature1 and which1 while it is in itself neither a virtue nor a vice1 blends powerfully with some of the best as well as with some of the worst actions of mankind4 ,it is indeed a strange thing to observe how many men in every age have been ready to risk or sacrifice their lives for causes which they have never clearly understood and which they would find it difficult in plain words to describe4 ,but the amount of pure and almost spontaneous malevolence in the world is probably far greater than we at first imagine4 ,in public life the workings of this side of human nature are at once disclosed and magnified1 like the figures thrown by a magic lantern on a screen1 to a scale which it is impossible to overlook4 ,no one1 for example1 can study the anonymous press without perceiving how large a part of it is employed systematically1 persistently and deliberately in fostering class1 or race1 or international hatreds1 and often in circulating falsehoods to attain this end4 ,many newspapers notoriously depend for their existence on such appeals1 and more than any other instruments they inflame and perpetuate those permanent animosities which most endanger the peace of mankind4 ,the fact that such newspapers are becoming in many countries the main and almost exclusive reading of the poor forms the most serious deduction from the value of popular education4 ,how many books have attained popularity1 how many seats in ,parliament have been won1 how many posts of influence and profit have been attained1 how many party victories have been achieved1 by appealing to such passions6 ,often they disguise themselves under the lofty names of patriotism and nationality1 and men whose whole lives have been spent in sowing class hatreds and dividing kindred nations may be found masquerading under the name of patriots1 and have played no small part on the stage of politics4 ,the deep-seated sedition1 the fierce class and national hatreds that run through ,european life would have a very different intensity from what they now unfortunately have if they had not been artificially stimulated and fostered through purely selfish motives by demagogues1 political adventurers and public writers4 ,some of the very worst acts of which man can be guilty are acts which are commonly untouched by law and only faintly censured by opinion4 ,political crimes which a false and sickly sentiment so readily condones are conspicuous among them4 ,men who have been gambling for wealth and power with the lives and fortunes of multitudes2 men who for their own personal ambition are prepared to sacrifice the most vital interests of their country2 men who in time of great national danger and excitement deliberately launch falsehood after falsehood in the public press in the well-founded conviction that they will do their evil work before they can be contradicted1 may be met shameless1 and almost uncensured1 in ,parliaments and drawing-rooms4 ,the amount of false statement in the world which cannot be attributed to mere carelessness1 inaccuracy1 or exaggeration1 but which is plainly both deliberate and malevolent1 can hardly be overrated4 ,sometimes it is due to a mere desire to create a lucrative sensation1 or to gratify a personal dislike1 or even to an unprovoked malevolence which takes pleasure in inflicting pain4 ,very often it is intended for purposes of stockjobbing4 ,the financial world is percolated with it4 ,it is the common method of raising or depreciating securities1 attracting investors1 preying upon the ignorant and credulous1 and enabling dishonest men to rise rapidly to fortune4 ,when the prospect of speedy wealth is in sight1 there are always numbers who are perfectly prepared to pursue courses involving the utter ruin of multitudes1 endangering the most serious international interests1 perhaps bringing down upon the world all the calamities of war4 ,it is no doubt true that such men are only a minority1 though it is less certain that they would be a minority if the opportunity of obtaining sudden riches by immoral means was open to all1 and it is no small minority who are accustomed to condone these crimes when they have succeeded4 ,it is much to be questioned whether the greatest criminals are to be found within the walls of prisons4 ,dishonesty on a small scale nearly always finds its punishment4 ,dishonesty on a gigantic scale continually escapes4 ,the pickpocket and the burglar seldom fail to meet with their merited punishment1 but in the management of companies1 in the great fields of industrial enterprise and speculation1 gigantic fortunes are acquired by the ruin of multitudes and by methods which1 though they evade legal penalties1 are essentially fraudulent4 ,in the majority of cases these crimes are perpetrated by educated men who are in possession of all the necessaries1 of most of the comforts1 and of many of the luxuries of life1 and some of the worst of them are powerfully favoured by the conditions of modern civilisation4 ,there is no greater scandal or moral evil in our time than the readiness with which public opinion excuses them1 and the influence and social position it accords to mere wealth1 even when it has been acquired by notorious dishonesty or when it is expended with absolute selfishness or in ways that are positively demoralising4 ,in many respects the moral progress of mankind seems to me incontestable1 but it is extremely doubtful whether in this respect social morality1 especially in ,england and ,america1 has not seriously retrograded4 ,in truth1 while it is a gross libel upon human nature to deny the vast amount of genuine kindness1 self-sacrifice and even heroism that exists in the world1 it is equally idle to deny the deplorable weakness of self-restraint1 the great force and the widespread influence of purely evil passions in the affairs of men4 ,the distrust of human character which the experience of life tends to produce is one great cause of the ,conservatism which so commonly strengthens with age4 ,it is more and more felt that all the restraints of law1 custom1 and religion are essential to hold together in peaceful co-operation the elements of society1 and men learn to look with increasing tolerance on both institutions and opinions which cannot stand the test of pure reason and may be largely mixed with delusions if only they deepen the better habits and give an additional strength to moral restraints4 ,they learn also to appreciate the danger of pitching their ideals too high1 and endeavouring to enforce lines of conduct greatly above the average level of human goodness4 ,such attempts1 when they take the form of coercive action1 seldom fail to produce a recoil which is very detrimental to morals4 ,in this1 as in all other spheres1 the importance of compromise in practical life is one of the great lessons which experience teaches4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,the phrase ,moral ,compromise has an evil sound1 and it opens out questions of practical ethics which are very difficult and very dangerous1 but they are questions with which1 consciously or unconsciously1 every one is obliged to deal4 ,the contrasts between the rigidity of theological formul and actual life are on this subject very great1 though in practice1 and by the many ingenious subtleties that constitute the science of casuistry1 many theologians have attempted to evade them4 ,a striking passage from the pen of ,cardinal ,newman will bring these contrasts into the clearest light4 ',the ,church holds1' he writes1 'that it were better for sun and moon to drop from heaven1 for the earth to fail1 and for all the many millions who are upon it to die of starvation in extremest agony1 so far as temporal affliction goes1 than that one soul1 ,i will not say should be lost1 but should commit one single venial sin1 should tell one wilful untruth1 though it harmed no one1 or steal one poor farthing without excuse4'#bd ,it is certainly no exaggeration to say that such a doctrine would lead to consequences absolutely incompatible with any life outside a hermitage or a monastery4 ,it would strike at the root of all civilisation1 and although many may be prepared to give it their formal assent1 no human being actually believes it with the kind of belief that becomes a guiding influence in life4 ,i have dwelt on this subject in another book1 and may here repeat a few lines which ,i then wrote4 ,if 'an undoubted sin1 even the most trivial1 is a thing in its essence and its consequences so unspeakably dreadful that rather than it should be committed it would be better that any amount of calamity which did not bring with it sin should be endured1 even that the whole human race should perish in agonies1 it is manifest that the supreme object of humanity should be sinlessness1 and it is equally manifest that the means to this end is the absolute suppression of the desires4 ,to expand the circle of wants is necessarily to multiply temptations and therefore to increase the number of sins4' ,no material and intellectual advantages1 no increase of human happiness1 no mitigation of the suffering or dreariness of human life can1 according to this theory1 be other than an evil if it adds even in the smallest degree or in the most incidental manner to the sins that are committed4 ',a sovereign1 when calculating the consequences of a war1 should reflect that a single sin occasioned by that war1 a single blasphemy of a wounded soldier1 the robbery of a single hen-coop1 the violation of the purity of a single woman is a greater calamity than the ruin of the entire commerce of his nation1 the loss of her most precious provinces1 the destruction of all her power4 ,he must believe that the evil of the increase of unchastity which invariably results from the formation of an army is an immeasurably greater calamity than any national or political disasters that army can possibly avert4 ,he must believe that the most fearful plagues and famines that desolate his land should be regarded as a matter of rejoicing if they have but the feeblest and most transient influence in repressing vice4 ,he must believe that if the agglomeration of his people in great cities adds but one to the number of their sins1 no possible intellectual or material advantages can prevent the construction of cities being a fearful calamity4 ,according to this principle every elaboration of life1 every amusement that brings multitudes together1 almost every art1 every accession of wealth1 that awakens or stimulates desires is an evil1 for all these become the sources of some sins1 and their advantages are for the most part purely terrestrial4' ,considerations of this kind1 if duly realised1 bring out clearly the insincerity and the unreality of much of our professed belief4 ,hardly any sane man would desire to suppress ,bank ,holidays simply because they are the occasion of a considerable number of cases of drunkenness which would not otherwise have taken place4 ,no humane legislator would hesitate to suppress them if they produced an equal number of deaths or other great physical calamities4 ,this manner of measuring the relative importance of things is not incompatible with a general acknowledgment of the fact that there are many amusements which produce an amount of moral evil that overbalances their advantages as sources of pleasure1 or of the great truth that the moral is the higher and ought to be the ruling part of our being4 ,but the realities of life cannot be measured by rigid theological formul4 ,life is a scene in which different kinds of interest not only blend but also modify and in some degree counterbalance one another1 and it can only be carried on by constant compromises in which the lines of definition are seldom very clearly marked1 and in which even the highest interest must not altogether absorb or override the others4 ,we have to deal with good principles that cannot be pushed to their full logical results2 with varying standards which cannot be brought under inflexible law4 ,take1 for example1 the many untruths which the conventional courtesies of ,society prescribe4 ,some of these are so purely matter of phraseology that they deceive no one4 ,others chiefly serve the purpose of courteous concealment1 as when they enable us to refuse a request or to decline an invitation or a visit without disclosing whether disinclination or inability is the cause4 ,then there are falsehoods for useful purposes4 ,few men would shrink from a falsehood which was the only means of saving a patient from a shock which would probably produce his death4 ,no one1 ,i suppose1 would hesitate to deceive a criminal if by no other means he could prevent him from accomplishing a crime4 ,there are also cases of the suppression of what we believe to be true1 and of tacit or open acquiescence in what we believe to be false1 when a full and truthful disclosure of our own beliefs might destroy the happiness of others1 or subvert beliefs which are plainly necessary for their moral well-being4 ,cases of this kind will continually occur in life1 and a good man who deals with each case as it arises will probably find no great difficulty in steering his course4 ,but the vague and fluctuating lines of moral compromise cannot without grave moral danger be reduced to fixed rules to be carried out to their full logical consequences4 ,the immortal pages of ,pascal are sufficient to show to what extremes of immorality the doctrine that the end justifies the means has been pushed by the casuists of the ,church of which ,cardinal ,newman was so great an ornament4 ,a large and difficult field of moral compromise is opened out in the case of war1 which necessarily involves a complete suspension of great portions of the moral law4 ,this is not merely the case in unjust wars2 it applies also1 though in a less degree1 to those which are most necessary and most righteous4 ,war is not1 and never can be1 a mere passionless discharge of a painful duty4 ,it is in its essence1 and it is a main condition of its success1 to kindle into fierce exercise among great masses of men the destructive and combative passions--passions as fierce and as malevolent as that with which the hound hunts the fox to its death or the tiger springs upon its prey4 ,destruction is one of its chief ends4 ,deception is one of its chief means1 and one of the great arts of skilful generalship is to deceive in order to destroy4 ,whatever other elements may mingle with and dignify war1 this at least is never absent2 and however reluctantly men may enter into war1 however conscientiously they may endeavour to avoid it1 they must know that when the scene of carnage has once opened these things must be not only accepted and condoned1 but stimulated1 encouraged and applauded4 ,it would be difficult to conceive a disposition more remote from the morals of ordinary life1 not to speak of ,christian ideals1 than that with which the soldiers most animated with the fire and passion that lead to victory rush forward to bayonet the foe4 ,war indeed1 which is absolutely indispensable in our present stage of civilisation1 has its own morals which are very different from those of peaceful life4 ,yet there are few fields in which1 through the stress of moral motives1 greater changes have been effected4 ,in the early stages of human history it was simply a question of power4 ,there was no distinction between piracy and regular war1 and incursions into a neighbouring ,state without provocation and with the sole purpose of plunder brought with them no moral blame4 ,to carry the inhabitants of a conquered country into slavery2 to slaughter the whole population of a besieged town2 to destroy over vast tracts every town1 village and house1 and to put to death every prisoner1 were among the ordinary incidents of war4 ,these things were done without reproach in the best periods of ,greek and ,roman civilisation4 ,in many cases neither age nor sex was spared6#be ,in ,rome the conquered general was strangled or starved to death in the ,mamertine prison4 ,tens of thousands of captives were condemned to perish in gladiatorial shows4 ,julius ,csar1 whose clemency has been so greatly extolled1 'executed the whole senate of the ,veneti2 permitted a massacre of the ,usipetes and ,tencteri2 sold as slaves #dj1jjj natives of ,genabum2 and cut off the right hands of all the brave men whose only crime was that they held to the last against him their town of ,uxellodunum4'#bf ,no slaughter in history is more terrible than that which took place at ,jerusalem under the general who was called 'the delight of the human race1' and when the last spasm of resistance had ceased1 ,titus sent ,jewish captives1 both male and female1 by thousands to the provincial amphitheatres to be devoured by wild beasts or slaughtered as gladiators4 ,yet from a very early period lines were drawn forming a clear though somewhat arbitrary code of military morals4 ,in ,greece a broad distinction was made between wars with ,greek ,states and with ,barbarians1 the latter being regarded as almost outside the pale of moral consideration4 ,it is a distinction which in reality was not very widely different from that which ,christian nations have in practice continually made between wars within the borders of ,christendom1 and wars with savage or pagan nations4 ,greek1 and perhaps still more ,roman1 moralists have written much on the just causes of war4 ,many of them condemn all unjust1 aggressive1 or even unnecessary wars4 ,some of them insist on the duty of ,states always endeavouring by conferences1 or even by arbitration1 to avert war1 and although these precepts1 like the corresponding precepts of ,christian divines1 were often violated1 they were certainly not without some influence on affairs4 ,it is probably not too much to say that in this respect ,roman wars do not compare unfavourably with those of ,christian periods4 ,it is remarkable how large a part of the best ,christian works on the ethics of war is based on the precepts of pagan moralists1 and although in antiquity as in modern times the real cause of war was often very different from the pretexts1 the sense of justice in war was as clearly marked in ,roman as in most ,christian periods4#bg ,great stress was laid upon the duty of a formal declaration of war preceding hostilities4 ,polybius mentions the reprobation that was attached in ,greece to the tolians for having neglected this custom4 ,it was universal in ,roman times1 and during the medival period the custom of sending a challenge to the hostile power was carefully observed4 ,in modern times formal declaration of war has fallen greatly into desuetude4 ,the hostilities between ,england and ,spain under ,elizabeth1 and the invasion of ,germany by ,gustavus ,adolphus1 were begun without any such declaration1 and there have been numerous instances in later times4#bh ,the treatment of prisoners has been profoundly modified4 ,quarter1 it is true1 has been very often refused in modern wars to rebels1 to soldiers in mutiny1 to revolted slaves1 to savages who themselves give no quarter4 ,it has been often--perhaps generally--refused to irregular soldiers like the ,french ,francs-tireurs in the ,war of #ahgj1 who without uniforms endeavoured to defend their homes against invasion4 ,it was long refused to soldiers who1 having rejected terms of surrender1 continued to defend an indefensible place1 but this severity during the last three centuries has been generally condemned4 ,but1 on the whole1 the treatment of the conquered soldier has steadily improved4 ,at one time he was killed4 ,at another he was preserved as a slave4 ,then he was permitted to free himself by payment of a ransom2 now he is simply kept in custody till he is exchanged or released on parole1 or till the termination of the war4 ,in the latter half of the present century many elaborate and beneficent regulations for the preservation of hospitals and the good treatment of the wounded have been sanctioned by international agreement4 ,the distinction between the civil population and combatants has been increasingly observed4 ,as a general rule non-combatants1 if they do not obstruct the enemy1 are subjected to no further injury than that of paying war contributions and in other ways providing for the subsistence of the invaders4 ,the wanton destruction of private property has been more and more avoided4 ,such an act as the devastation of the ,palatinate under ,louis ,,xiv4 would now in a ,european war be universally condemned1 though the wholesale destruction of villages in our own ,indian frontier wars and the methods employed on both sides in the civil war in ,cuba appear to have borne much resemblance to it4 ,in the treatment of merchants the rule of reciprocity which was laid down in ,magna ,charta is largely observed1 and the ,conference of ,brussels in #ahgd pronounced it to be contrary to the laws of war to bombard an unfortified town4 ,the great ,civil ,war in ,america probably contributed not a little to raise the standard of humanity in war2 for while few long wars have been fought with such determination or at the cost of so many lives1 very few have been conducted with such a scrupulous abstinence from acts of wanton barbarity4 ,many restrictive rules also have been accepted tending in a small degree to mitigate the actual operations of war1 and they have had some real influence in this direction1 though it is not possible to justify the military code on any clear principle either of ethics or logic4 ,assassination and the encouragement of assassination2 the use of poison or poisoned weapons2 the violation of parole2 the deceptive use of a flag of truce or of the red cross2 the slaughter of the wounded2 the infringement of terms of surrender or of other distinct agreements1 are absolutely forbidden1 and in #ahfh the ,representatives of the ,european ,powers assembled at ,st4 ,petersburg agreed to abolish the use in war of explosive bullets below the weight of #ad ounces1 and to forbid the propagation in an enemy's country of contagious disease as an instrument of war4 ,it laid down the general principle that the object of war is confined to disabling the enemy1 and that weapons calculated to inflict unnecessary suffering1 beyond what is required for attaining that object1 should be prohibited4 ,at the same time explosive shells1 concealed mines1 torpedoes and ambuscades lie fully within the permitted agencies of war4 ,starvation may be employed1 and the cutting off of the supply of water1 or the destruction of that supply by mixing with it something not absolutely poisonous which renders it undrinkable4 ,it is allowable to deceive an enemy by fabricated despatches purporting to come from his own side2 by tampering with telegraph messages2 by spreading false intelligence in newspapers2 by sending pretended spies and deserters to give him untrue reports of the numbers or movements of the troops2 by employing false signals to lure him into an ambuscade4 ,on the use of the flag and uniform of an enemy for purposes of deception there has been some controversy1 but it is supported by high military authority4#bi ,the use of spies is fully authorised1 but the spy1 if discovered1 is excluded from the rights of war and liable to an ignominious death4 ,apart from the questions ,i have discussed there is another class of questions connected with war which present great difficulty4 ,it is the right of men to abdicate their private judgment by entering into the military profession4 ,in small nations this question is not of much importance1 for in them wars are of very rare occurrence and are usually for self-defence4 ,in a great empire it is wholly different4 ,hardly any one will be so confident of the virtue of his rulers as to believe that every war which his country wages in every part of its dominions1 with uncivilised as well as civilised populations1 is just and necessary1 and it is certainly prim facie not in accordance with an ideal morality that men should bind themselves absolutely for life or for a term of years to kill without question1 at the command of their superiors1 those who have personally done them no wrong4 ,yet this unquestioning obedience is the very essence of military discipline1 and without it the efficiency of armies and the safety of nations would be hopelessly destroyed4 ,it is necessary to the great interests of society1 and therefore it is maintained1 strengthened by the obligation of an oath and still more efficaciously by a code of honour which is one of the strongest binding influences by which men can be governed4 ,it is not1 however1 altogether absolute1 and a variety of distinctions and compromises have been made4 ,there is a difference between the man who enlists in the army of his own country and a man who enlists in foreign service either permanently or for the duration of a single war4 ,if a man unnecessarily takes an active part in a struggle between two countries other than his own1 it may at least be demanded that he should be actuated1 not by a mere spirit of adventure or personal ambition1 but by a strong and reasoned conviction that the cause which he is supporting is a righteous one4 ,the conduct of a man who enlists in a foreign army which may possibly be used against his own country1 and who at least binds himself to obey absolutely chiefs who have no natural authority over him1 has been much condemned1 but even here special circumstances must be taken into account4 ,few persons ,i suppose would seriously blame the ,irish ,catholics of the eighteenth century who filled the armies of ,france1 ,austria1 ,spain and ,naples at a time when disqualifying laws excluded them1 on account of their religion1 from the ,british army and from almost every path of ambition at home4 ,there is also perhaps some distinction between the position of a soldier who is obliged to serve1 and a soldier in a country where enlisting is voluntary1 and also between the position of an officer who can throw up his commission without infringing the law1 and a private who cannot abandon his flag without committing a grave legal offence4 ,at the beginning of the war of the ,american ,revolution some ,english officers left the army rather than serve in a cause which they believed to be unrighteous4 ,it was in their full power to do so1 but probably none of them would have desired that private soldiers who had no legal choice in the matter should have followed their example and become deserters from the ranks4 ,there are1 however1 extreme cases in which the violation of the military oath and disobedience to military discipline are justified4 ,more than once in ,french history an usurper or his agent has ordered soldiers to coerce or fire upon the representatives of the nation4 ,in such cases it has been said 'the conscience of the soldier is the liberty of the people1' and the refusal of private soldiers to obey a plainly illegal order will be generally though not universally applauded4 ,in all such cases1 however1 there is much obscurity and inconsistency of judgment4 ,the rule that the moral responsibility falls exclusively on the person who gives the order1 and that the private has no voice or responsibility1 will even here be maintained by some4 ,ought a private soldier to have refused to take part in such an execution as that of the ,duc d',enghien1 or in the ,coup d'tat of ,napoleon ,,iii48 ,ought he to refuse to fire on a mob if he doubts the legality of the order of his superior officer8 ,in such cases there is sometimes a direct conflict between the civil and the military law1 and there have been instances in which a soldier might be punishable before the first for acts which were absolutely enforced by the second4#cj ,perhaps the strongest case of justifiable disobedience that can be alleged is when a soldier is ordered to do something which involves apostasy from his faith1 though even here it would be difficult to show1 in the light of pure reason1 that this is a graver thing than to kill innocent men in an unrighteous cause4 ,in the ,early ,church there were some soldier martyrs who suffered death because they believed it inconsistent with their faith to bear arms1 or because they were asked to do some acts which savoured of idolatry4 ,the story of the ,theban legion which was said to have been martyred under ,diocletian rests on no trustworthy authority1 but it illustrates the feeling of the ,church on the subject4 ,josephus tells how ,jewish soldiers refused in spite of all punishments to bring earth with the other soldiers for the reparation of the ,temple of ,belus at ,babylon4 ,conflicts between military duty and religious duty must have not unfrequently arisen during the religious wars of the sixteenth century1 and in our own century and in our own army there have been instances of soldiers refusing through religious motives to escort or protect idolatrous processions in ,india1 or to present arms in ,catholic countries when the ,host was passing4 ,quaker opinions about war are absolutely inconsistent with the compulsory service which prevails in nearly all ,european countries1 and religious scruples about conscription have been among the motives that have brought the ,russian ,raskolniks into collision with the civil power4 ,one of the most serious instances of the collision of duties in our time is furnished by the great ,sepoy ,mutiny of #aheg4 ,from the days of ,clive1 ,sepoy soldiers have served under the ,british flag with an admirable fidelity1 and the ,mutiny of ,vellore in #ahjf1 which was the one exception1 was due1 like that of #aheg1 to a belief that the ,british ,government were interfering with their faith4 ,few things in the history of the great ,mutiny are so touching as the profound belief of the ,english commanders of the ,sepoy regiments in the unalterable loyalty of their soldiers4 ,many of them lost their lives through this belief1 refusing even to the last moment and in spite of all evidence to abandon it4 ,they were deceived1 and1 in the fierce outburst of indignation that followed1 the conduct of the ,sepoy soldiers was branded as the blackest and the most unprovoked treachery4 ,yet assuredly no charge was less true4 ,agitators for their own selfish purposes had indeed acted upon the troops1 but recent researches have fully proved that the real as well as the ostensible cause of the ,mutiny was the greased cartridges4 ,it was believed that the cartridges which had been recently issued for the ,sepoy regiments were smeared with a mixture of cow's fat and pig's fat1 one of these ingredients being utterly impure in the eyes of the ,hindoo1 and the other in the eyes of the ,mussulman4 ,to bite these cartridges would destroy the caste of the ,hindoo and carry with it the loss of everything that was most dear and most sacred to him both in this world and in the next4 ,in the eyes both of the ,moslem and the ,hindoo it was the gravest and the most irreparable of crimes1 destroying all hopes in a future world1 and yet this crime1 in their belief1 was imposed upon them as a matter of military duty by their officers4 ,it was as if the ,puritan soldiers of the seventeenth century had been ordered by their commanders to abjure their hopes of salvation and to repudiate and insult the ,christian faith4 ,it is true that the existence of these obnoxious ingredients in the new cartridges was solemnly denied1 but the sincerity of the ,sepoy belief is incontestable1 and ,general ,anson1 the commander-in-chief1 having examined the cartridges1 was compelled to admit that it was very plausible4#ca ',i am not so much surprised1' he wrote to ,lord ,canning1 'at their objections to the cartridges1 having seen them4 ,i had no idea they contained1 or rather are smeared with such a quantity of grease1 which looks exactly like fat4 ,after ramming down the ball1 the muzzle of the musket is covered with it4' ,unfortunately this is not a complete statement of the case4 ,it is a shameful and terrible truth that1 as far as the fact was concerned1 the ,sepoys were perfectly right in their belief4 ,in the words of ,lord ,roberts1 ',the recent researches of ,mr4 ,forrest in the records of the ,government of ,india prove that the lubricating mixture used in preparing the cartridges was actually composed of the objectionable ingredients1 cow's fat and lard1 and that incredible disregard of the soldiers' religious prejudices was displayed in the manufacture of these cartridges4'#cb ,this was certainly not due1 as the ,sepoys imagined1 to any desire on the part of the ,british authorities to destroy caste or to prepare the way for the conversion of the ,sepoys to ,christianity4 ,it was simply a glaring instance of the indifference1 ignorance and incapacity too often shown by ,british administrators in dealing with beliefs and types of character wholly unlike their own4 ,they were unable to realise that a belief which seemed to them so childish could have any depth1 and they accordingly produced a ,mutiny that for a time shook the ,english power in ,india to its very foundation4 ,the horrors of ,cawnpore--which were due to a single man--soon took away from the ,british public all power of sanely judging the conflict1 and a struggle in which no quarter was given was naturally marked by extreme savageness2 but in looking back upon it1 ,english writers must acknowledge with humiliation that1 if mutiny is ever justifiable1 no stronger justification could be given than that of the ,sepoy troops4 ,many of my readers will remember an exquisite little poem called ',the ,forced ,recruit1' in which ,mrs4 ,browning has described a young ,venetian soldier who was forced by the conscription to serve against his fellow-countrymen in the ,austrian army at ,solferino1 and who advanced cheerfully to die by the ,italian guns1 holding a musket that had never been loaded in his hand4 ,such a figure1 such a violation of military law1 will claim the sympathy of all1 but a very different judgment should be passed upon those who1 having voluntarily entered an army1 betray their trust and their oath in the name of patriotism4 ,in the ,fenian movement in ,ireland1 one of the chief objects of the conspirators was to corrupt the ,irish soldiers and break down that high sense of military honour for which in all times and in many armies the ,irish people have been conspicuous4 ',the epidemic' of disaffection1 boasts a writer who was much mixed in the conspiracies of those times1 'was not an affair of individuals1 but of companies and of whole regiments4 ,to attempt to impeach all the military ,fenians before courts martial would have been to throw ,england into a panic1 if not to precipitate an appalling mutiny and invite foreign invasion4'#cc ,i do not quote these words as a true statement4 ,they are1 ,i believe1 a gross exaggeration and a gross calumny on the ,irish soldiers1 nor do ,i doubt that most1 if not all1 the soldiers who may have been induced over a glass of whiskey1 or through the persuasions of some cunning agitator1 to take the ,fenian oath would1 if an actual conflict had arisen1 have proved perfectly faithful soldiers of the ,queen4 ,the perversion of morals1 however1 which looks on such violations of military duty as praiseworthy1 has not been confined to writers of the stamp of ,mr4 ,o',brien4 ,a striking instance of it is furnished by a recent ,american biography4 ,among the early ,fenian conspirators was a young man named ,john ,boyle ,o',reilly4 ,he was a genuine enthusiast1 with a real vein of literary talent2 in the closing years of his life he won the affection and admiration of very honourable men1 and ,i should certainly have no wish to look too harshly on youthful errors which were the result of a misguided enthusiasm if they had been acknowledged as such4 ,as a matter of fact1 however1 he began his career by an act which1 according to every sound principle of morality1 religion1 and secular honour1 was in the highest degree culpable4 ,being a sworn ,fenian1 he entered a regiment of hussars1 assumed the uniform of the ,queen1 and took the oath of allegiance for the express purpose of betraying his trust and seducing the soldiers of his regiment4 ,he was detected and condemned to penal servitude1 and he at last escaped to ,america1 where he took an active part in the ,fenian movement4 ,after his death his biography was written in a strain of unqualified eulogy1 but the biographer has honestly and fully disclosed the facts which ,i have related4 ,this book has an introduction written by ,cardinal ,gibbons1 one of the most prominent ,catholic divines in the ,united ,states4 ,the reader may be curious to see how the act of aggravated treachery and perjury which it revealed was judged by a personage who occupies all but the highest position in a ,church which professes to be the supreme and inspired teacher of morals4 ,not a word in this ,introduction implies that ,o',reilly had done any act for which he should be ashamed4 ,he is described as 'a great and good man1' and the only allusion to his crime is in the following terms3 ',in youth his heart agonises over that saddest and strangest romance in all history--the wrongs and woes of his motherland--that ,niobe of the ,nations4 ,in manhood1 because he dared to wish her free1 he finds himself a doomed felon1 an exiled convict1 in what he calls himself the ,nether ,world4444 ,the ,divine faith implanted in his soul in childhood flourished there undyingly1 pervaded his whole being with its blessed influences1 furnished his noblest ideals of thought and conduct4444 ,the country of his adoption vies with the land of his birth in testifying to the uprightness of his life4444 ,with all these voices ,i blend my own1 and in their name ,i say that the world is brighter for having possessed him4'#cd ,,footnotes3 #bd ,newman's ,anglican ,difficulties1 p4 #aij4 #be ,see ,grotius1 de ,jure1 book iii4 ch4 iv4 ,on the ,jewish notions on this subject1 see ,deut4 ii4 #cd2 vii4 #b1 #af2 xx4 #aj-af2 ,psalm cxxxvii4 #i2 #a ,sam4 xv4 #c4 ,i have collected some additional facts on this subject in my ,history of ,european ,morals4 #bf ,tyrrell and ,purser's ,correspondence of ,cicero1 vol4 v4 p4 xlvii4 #bg ,see ,grotius1 de ,jure ,belli et ,pacis4 #bh ,much information on this subject will be found in a remarkable pamphlet 7said to have been corrected by ,pitt7 called ',an ,enquiry into the ,manner in which the different wars in ,europe have commenced during the last two centuries1 by the ,author of the ,history and ,foundation of the ,law of ,nations in ,europe' 7#ahje74 #bi ,see ,tovey's ,martial ,law and the ,custom of ,war1 part #b1 pp4 #ac1 #bi4 ,a striking instance of the deceptive use of a flag occurred in #agha1 when the ,english1 having captured ,st4 ,eustatius from the ,dutch1 allowed the ,dutch flag still to float over its harbour in order that ,dutch1 ,french1 ,spanish and ,american ships which were ignorant of the capture might be decoyed into the harbour and seized as prizes4 ,some writers on military law maintain that this was within the rights of war4 #cj ,see ,fitzjames ,stephen's ,history of the ,criminal ,law1 i4 #bje4 #ca ,lord ,roberts' ,forty-one ,years in ,india1 i4 #id4 #cb ,ibid4 p4 #dca4 #cc ,contemporary ,review1 ,may #ahig4 ,article by ,william ,o',brien1 ',was ,fenianism ever ,formidable8' #cd ,roche's ,life of ,john ,boyle ,o',reilly1 with introduction by ,cardinal ,gibbons4 ,since the publication of this book ,cardinal ,gibbons has written a letter to the ,tablet 7,dec4 #b1 #ahii71 in which he says3 ',i feel it due to myself and the interests of truth to declare that till ,i read ,mr4 ,lecky's criticism ,i did not know that ,mr4 ,o',reilly had ever been a ,fenian or a ,british soldier1 or that he had tried to seduce other soldiers from their allegiance4 ,in fact1 up to this moment1 ,i have never read a line of the biography for which ,i wrote the introduction4444 ,my only acquaintance with ,mr4 ,o',reilly's history before he came to ,america was the vague information ,i had that1 for some political offence1 the exact nature of which ,i did not learn1 he had been exiled from his native land to a penal colony1 from which he afterwards escaped4' ,i gladly accept this assurance of ,cardinal ,gibbons1 though ,i am surprised that he should not have even glanced at the book which he introduced1 and that he should have been absolutely ignorant of the most conspicuous event of the life which1 from early youth1 he held up to unqualified admiration4 ,i regret1 too1 that he has not taken the opportunity of this letter to reprobate a form of moral perversion which is widely spread among his ,irish co-religionists1 and which his own words are only too likely to strengthen4 ,it is but a short time since an ,irish ,nationalist ,member of ,parliament1 being accused of once having served the ,queen as a ,volunteer1 justified himself by saying that he had only worn the coat which was worn by ,lord ,edward ,fitzgerald and ,boyle ,o',reilly2 while another ,irish ,nationalist ,member of ,parliament1 at a public meeting in ,dublin1 and amid the cheers of his audience1 expressed his hope that in the ,south ,african war the ,irish soldiers under the ,british flag would fire on the ,english instead of on the ,boers4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,the foregoing chapter will have shown sufficiently how largely in one great and necessary profession the element of moral compromise must enter1 and will show the nature of some of the moral difficulties that attend it4 ,we find illustrations of much the same kind in the profession of an advocate4 ,in the interests of the proper administration of justice it is of the utmost importance that every cause1 however defective1 and every criminal1 however bad1 should be fully defended1 and it is therefore indispensable that there should be a class of men entrusted with this duty4 ,it is the business of the judge and of the jury to decide on the merits of the case1 but in order that they should discharge this function it is necessary that the arguments on both sides should be laid before them in the strongest form4 ,the clear interest of society requires this1 and a standard of professional honour and etiquette is formed for the purpose of regulating the action of the advocate4 ,misstatements of facts or of law2 misquotations of documents2 strong expressions of personal opinion1 and some other devices by which verdicts may be won1 are condemned2 there are cases which an honourable lawyer will not adopt1 and there are rare cases in which1 in the course of a trial1 he will find it his duty to throw up his brief4 ,but necessary and honourable as the profession may be1 there are sides of it which are far from being in accordance with an austere code of ideal morals4 ,it is idle to suppose that a master of the art of advocacy will merely confine himself to a calm1 dispassionate statement of the facts and arguments of his side4 ,he will inevitably use all his powers of rhetoric and persuasion to make the cause for which he holds a brief appear true1 though he knows it to be false2 he will affect a warmth which he does not feel and a conviction which he does not hold2 he will skilfully avail himself of any mistake or omission of his opponent2 of any technical rule that can exclude damaging evidence2 of all the resources that legal subtlety and severe cross-examination can furnish to confuse dangerous issues1 to obscure or minimise inconvenient facts1 to discredit hostile witnesses4 ,he will appeal to every prejudice that can help his cause2 he will for the time so completely identify himself with it that he will make its success his supreme and all-absorbing object2 and he will hardly fail to feel some thrill of triumph if by the force of ingenious and eloquent pleading he has saved the guilty from his punishment or snatched a verdict in defiance of evidence4 ,it is not surprising that a profession which inevitably leads to such things should have excited scruples among many good men4 ,swift very roughly described lawyers as 'a society of men bred from their youth in the art of proving by words1 multiplied for the purpose1 that white is black and black is white1 according as they are paid4' ,dr4 ,arnold has more than once expressed his dislike1 and indeed abhorrence1 of the profession of an advocate4 ,it inevitably1 he maintained1 leads to moral perversion1 involving1 as it does1 the indiscriminate defence of right and wrong1 and in many cases the knowing suppression of truth4 ,macaulay1 who can hardly be regarded as addicted to the refinements of an over-fastidious morality1 reviewing the professional rules that are recognised in ,england1 asks 'whether it be right that not merely believing1 but knowing a statement to be true1 he should do all that can be done by sophistry1 by rhetoric1 by solemn asseveration1 by indignant exclamation1 by gesture1 by play of features1 by terrifying one honest witness1 by perplexing another1 to cause a jury to think that statement false4' ,bentham denounced in even stronger language the habitual method of 'the hireling lawyer' in cross-examining an honest but adverse witness1 and he declared that there is a code of morality current in ,westminster ,hall generically different from the code of ordinary life1 and directly calculated to destroy the love of veracity and justice4 ,on the other hand1 ,paley recognised among falsehoods that are not lies because they deceive no one1 the statement of 'an advocate asserting the justice or his belief of the justice of his client's cause4' ,dr4 ,johnson1 in reply to some objections of ,boswell1 argues at length1 but1 ,i think1 with some sophistry1 in favour of the profession4 ',you are not1' he says1 'to deceive your client with false representations of your opinion4 ,you are not to tell lies to the judge1 but you need have no scruple about taking up a case which you believe to be bad1 or affecting a warmth which you do not feel4 ,you do not know your cause to be bad till the judge determines it4444 ,an argument which does not convince yourself may convince the judge1 and1 if it does convince him1 you are wrong and he is right4444 ,everybody knows you are paid for affecting warmth for your client1 and it is therefore properly no dissimulation4' ,basil ,montagu1 in an excellent treatise on the subject1 urges that an advocate is simply an officer assisting in the administration of justice under the impression that truth is best elicited1 and that difficulties are most effectually disentangled1 by the opposite statements of able men4 ,he is an indispensable part of a machine which in its net result is acting in the real interests of truth1 although he 'may profess feelings which he does not feel and may support a cause which he knows to be wrong1' and although his advocacy is 'a species of acting without an avowal that it is acting4' ,it is1 of course1 possible to adopt the principles of the ,quaker and to condemn as unchristian all participation in the law courts1 and although the ,catholic ,church has never adopted this extreme1 it seems to have instinctively recognised some incompatibility between the profession of an advocate and the saintly character4 ,renan notices the significant fact that ,st4 ,yves1 a saint of ,brittany1 appears to be the only advocate who has found a place in its hagiology1 and the worshippers were accustomed to sing on his festival ',advocatus et non latro--,res miranda populo4' ,it is indeed evident that a good deal of moral compromise must enter into this field1 and the standards of right and wrong that have been adopted have varied greatly4 ,how far1 for example1 may a lawyer support a cause which he believes to be wrong8 ,in some ancient legislations advocates were compelled to swear that they would not defend causes which they thought or discovered to be unjust4#ce ,st4 ,thomas ,aquinas has laid down in emphatic terms that any lawyer who undertakes the defence of an unjust cause is committing a grievous sin4 ,it is unlawful1 he contends1 to co-operate with any one who is doing wrong1 and an advocate clearly counsels and assists him whose cause he undertakes4 ,modern ,catholic casuists have dealt with the subject in the same spirit4 ,they admit1 indeed1 that an advocate may undertake the defence of a criminal whom he knows to be guilty1 in order to bring to light all extenuating circumstances1 but they contend that no advocate should undertake a civil cause unless by a previous and careful examination he has convinced himself that it is a just one2 that no advocate can without sin undertake a cause which he knows or strongly believes to be unjust2 that if he has done so he is himself bound in conscience to make restitution to the party that has been injured by his advocacy2 that if in the course of a trial he discovers that a cause which he had believed to be just is unjust he must try to persuade his client to desist1 and if he fails in this must himself abandon the cause1 though without informing the opposite party of the conclusion at which he had arrived2 that in conducting his case he must abstain from wounding the reputation of his neighbour or endeavouring to influence the judges by bringing before them misdeeds of his opponent which are not connected with and are not essential to the case4#cf ,as lately as #ahhf an order was issued from ,rome1 with the express approbation of the ,pope1 forbidding any ,catholic1 mayor or judge1 to take part in a divorce case1 as divorce is absolutely condemned by the ,church4#cg ,there have been1 and perhaps still are1 instances of lawyers endeavouring to limit their practice to cases which they believed to be just4 ,sir ,matthew ,hale is a conspicuous example1 but he acknowledged that he considerably relaxed his rule on the subject1 having found in two instances that cases which at the first blush seemed very worthless were in truth well founded4 ,as a general rule ,english lawyers make no discrimination on this ground in accepting briefs unless the injustice is very flagrant1 nor will they1 except in very extreme cases1 do their client the great injury of throwing up a brief which they have once accepted4 ,they contend that by acting in this way the administration of justice in the long run is best served1 and in this fact they find its justification4 ,in the conduct of a case there are rules analogous to those which distinguish between honourable and dishonourable war1 but they are less clearly defined and less universally accepted4 ,in criminal prosecutions a remarkable though very explicable distinction is drawn between the prosecutor and the defender4 ,it is the etiquette of the profession that the former is bound to aim only at truth1 neither straining any point against the prisoner nor keeping back any fact which is favourable to him1 nor using any argument which he does not himself believe to be just4 ,the defender1 however1 is not bound1 according to professional etiquette1 by such rules4 ,he may use arguments which he knows to be bad1 conceal or shut out by technical objections facts that will tell against his clients1 and1 subject to some wide and vague restrictions1 he must make the acquittal of his client his first object4#ch ,sometimes cases of extreme difficulty arise4 ,probably the best known is the case of ,courvoisier1 the ,swiss valet1 who murdered ,lord ,william ,russell in #ahdj4 ,in the course of the trial ,courvoisier informed his advocate1 ,phillips1 that he was guilty of the murder1 but at the same time directed ,phillips to continue to defend him to the last extremity4 ,as there was overwhelming evidence that the murder must have been committed by some one who slept in the house1 the only possible defence was that an equal amount of suspicion attached to the housemaid and cook who were its other occupants4 ,on the first day of the trial1 before he knew the guilt of his client from his own lips1 ,phillips had cross-examined the housemaid1 who first discovered the murder1 with great severity and with the evident object of throwing suspicion upon her4 ,what course ought he now to pursue8 ,it happened that an eminent judge was sitting on the bench with the judge who was to try the case1 and ,phillips took this judge into his confidence1 stated privately to him the facts that had arisen1 and asked for his advice4 ,the judge declared that ,phillips was bound to continue to defend the prisoner1 whose case would have been hopeless if his own counsel abandoned him1 and in defending him he was bound to use all fair arguments arising out of the evidence4 ,the speech of ,phillips was a masterpiece of eloquence under circumstances of extraordinary difficulty4 ,much of it was devoted to impugning the veracity of the witnesses for the prosecution4 ,he solemnly declared that it was not his business to say who committed the murder1 and that he had no desire to throw any imputation on the other servants in the house1 and he abstained scrupulously from giving any personal opinion on the matter2 but the drift of his argument was that ,courvoisier was the victim of a conspiracy1 the police having concealed compromising articles among his clothes1 and that there was no clear circumstance distinguishing the suspicion against him from that against the other servants4#ci ,the conduct of ,phillips in this case has1 ,i believe1 been justified by the preponderance of professional opinion1 though when the facts were known public opinion outside the profession generally condemned it4 ,some lawyers have pushed the duty of defence to a point which has aroused much protest even in their own profession4 ',the ,advocate1' said ,lord ,brougham in his great speech before the ,house of ,lords in defence of ,queen ,caroline1 'by the sacred duty which he owes his client1 knows in the discharge of that office but one person in the world--that client and none other4 ,to save that client by all expedient means1 to protect that client at all hazards and costs to all others1 and among others to himself1 is the highest and most unquestioned of his duties2 and he must not regard the alarm1 the suffering1 the torment1 the destruction which he may bring upon any other4 ,nay1 separating even the duties of a patriot from those of an advocate1 and casting them1 if need be1 to the wind1 he must go on1 reckless of consequences1 if his fate it should unhappily be to involve his country in confusion for his client's protection4' ,this doctrine has been emphatically repudiated by some eminent ,english lawyers1 but both in practice and theory the profession have differed widely in different courts1 times and countries4 ,how far1 for example1 is it permissible in cross-examination to browbeat or confuse an honest but timid and unskilful witness2 to attempt to discredit the evidence of a witness on a plain matter of fact about which he had no interest in concealment by exhuming against him some moral scandal of early youth which was totally unconnected with the subject of the trial2 or1 by pursuing such a line of cross-examination1 to keep out of the witness-box material witnesses who are conscious that their past lives are not beyond reproach8 ,how far is it right or permissible to press legal technicalities as opposed to substantial justice8 ,probably most lawyers1 if they are perfectly candid1 will agree that these things are in some measure inevitable in their profession1 and that the real question is one of degree1 and therefore not susceptible of positive definition4 ,there is a kind of mind that grows so enamoured with the subtleties and technicalities of the law that it delights in the unexpected and unintended results to which they may lead4 ,i have heard an ,english judge say of another long deceased that he had through this feeling a positive pleasure in injustice1 and one lawyer1 not of this country1 once confessed to me the amusement he derived from breaking the convictions of criminals in his state by discovering technical flaws in their indictments4 ,there is a class of mind that delights in such cases as that of the legal document which was invalidated because the letters ,a4,d4 were put before the date instead of the formula 'in the year of ,our ,lord1' or that of a swindler who was suffered to escape with his booty because1 in the writ that was issued for his arrest1 by a copyist's error the word 'sheriff' was written instead of 'sheriffs1' or that of a lady who was deprived of an estate of #ad1jjj a year because by a mere mistake of the conveyancer one material word was omitted from the will1 although the clearest possible evidence was offered showing the wishes of the testator4#dj ,such lawyers argue that in will cases 'the true question is not what the testator intended to do1 but what is the meaning of the words of the will1' and that the balance of advantages is in favour of a strict adherence to the construction of the sentence and the technicalities of the law1 even though in particular cases it may lead to grave injustice4 ,it must indeed be acknowledged that up to a period extending far into the nineteenth century those lawyers who adopted the most technical view of their profession were acting fully in accordance with its spirit4 ,few1 if any1 departments of ,english legislation and administration were till near the middle of this century so scandalously bad as those connected with the administration of the civil and the criminal law1 and especially with the ,court of ,chancery4 ,the whole field was covered with a network of obscure1 intricate1 archaic technicalities2 useless except for the purpose of piling up costs1 procrastinating decisions1 placing the simplest legal processes wholly beyond the competence of any but trained experts1 giving endless facilities for fraud and for the evasion or defeat of justice1 turning a law case into a game in which chance and skill had often vastly greater influence than substantial merits4 ,lord ,brougham probably in no degree exaggerated when he described great portions of the ,english law as 'a two-edged sword in the hands of craft and of oppression1' and a great authority on chancery law declared in #ahci that 'no man1 as things now stand1 can enter into a chancery suit with any reasonable hope of being alive at its termination if he has a determined adversary4'#da ,the moral difficulties of administering such a system were very great1 and in many cases ,english juries1 in dealing with it1 adopted a rough and ready code of morals of their own4 ,though they had sworn to decide every case according to the law as it was stated to them1 and according to the evidence that was laid before them1 they frequently refused to follow legal technicalities which would lead to substantial injustice1 and they still more frequently refused to bring in verdicts according to evidence when by doing so they would consign a prisoner to a savage1 excessive1 or unjust punishment4 ,some of the worst abuses of the ,english law were mitigated by the perjuries of juries who refused to put them in force4 ,the great legal reforms of the past half-century have removed most of these abuses1 and have at the same time introduced a wider and juster spirit into the practical administration of the law4 ,yet even now different judges sometimes differ widely in the importance they attach to substantial justice and to legal technicalities2 and even now one of the advantages of trial by jury is that it brings the masculine common sense and the unsophisticated sense of justice of unprofessional men into fields that would otherwise be often distorted by ingenious subtleties4 ,it is1 however1 far less in the position of the judge than in the position of an advocate that the most difficult moral questions of the legal profession arise4 ,the difference between an unscrupulous advocate and an advocate who is governed by a high sense of honour and morality is very manifest1 but at best there must be many things in the profession from which a very sensitive conscience would recoil1 and things must be said and done which can hardly be justified except on the ground that the existence of this profession and the prescribed methods of its action are in the long run indispensable to the honest administration of justice4 ,the same method of reasoning applies to other great departments of life4 ,in politics it is especially needed4 ,in free countries party government is the best if not the only way of conducting public affairs1 but it is impossible to conduct it without a large amount of moral compromise2 without a frequent surrender of private judgment and will4 ,a good man will choose his party through disinterested motives1 and with a firm and honest conviction that it represents the cast of policy most beneficial to the country4 ,he will on grave occasions assert his independence of party1 but in the large majority of cases he must act with his party even if they are pursuing courses in some degree contrary to his own judgment4 ,every one who is actively engaged in politics--every one especially who is a member of the ,house of ,commons--must soon learn that if the absolute independence of individual judgment were pushed to its extreme1 political anarchy would ensue4 ,the complete concurrence of a large number of independent judgments in a complicated measure is impossible4 ,if party government is to be carried on1 there must be1 both in the ,cabinet and in ,parliament1 perpetual compromise4 ,the first condition of its success is that the ,government should have a stable1 permanent1 disciplined support behind it1 and in order that this should be attained the individual member must in most cases vote with his party4 ,sometimes he must support a measure which he knows to be bad1 because its rejection would involve a change of government which he believes would be a still greater evil than its acceptance1 and in order to prevent this evil he may have to vote a direct negative to some resolution containing a statement which he believes to be true4 ,at the same time1 if he is an honest man1 he will not be a mere slave of party4 ,sometimes a question arises which he considers so supremely important that he will break away from his party and endeavour at all hazards to carry or to defeat it4 ,much more frequently he will either abstain from voting1 or will vote against the ,government on a particular question1 but only when he knows that by taking this course he is simply making a protest which will produce no serious political complication4 ,on most great measures there is a dissentient minority in the ,government party1 and it often exercises a most useful influence in representing independent opinion1 and bringing into the measure modifications and compromises which allay opposition1 gratify minorities1 and soften differences4 ,but the action of that party will be governed by many motives other than a simple consideration of the merits of the case4 ,it is not sufficient to say that they must vote for every resolution which they believe to be true1 for every bill or clause of a bill which they believe to be right1 and must vote against every bill or clause or resolution about which they form an opposite judgment4 ,sometimes they will try in private to prevent the introduction of a measure1 but when it is introduced they will feel it their duty either positively to support it or at least to abstain from protesting against it4 ,sometimes they will either vote against it or abstain from voting at all1 but only when the majority is so large that it is sure to be carried4 ,sometimes their conduct will be the result of a bargain--they will vote for one portion of a bill of which they disapprove because they have obtained from the ,government a concession on another which they think more important4 ,the nature of their opposition will depend largely upon the strength or weakness of the ,government1 upon the size of the majority1 upon the degree in which a change of ministry would affect the general policy of the country1 upon the probability of the measure they object to being finally extinguished1 or returning in another year either in an improved or in a more dangerous form4 ,questions of proportion and degree and ulterior consequences will continually sway them4 ,measures are often opposed1 not on their own intrinsic merits1 but on account of precedents they might establish2 of other measures which might grow out of them or be justified by them4 ,not unfrequently it happens that a section of the dominant party is profoundly discontented with the policy of the ,government on some question which they deem of great importance4 ,they find themselves incapable of offering any direct and successful opposition1 but their discontent will show itself on some other ,government measure on which votes are more evenly divided4 ,possibly they may oppose that measure4 ,more probably they will fail to attend regularly at the divisions1 or will exercise their independent judgments on its clauses in a manner they would not have done if their party allegiance had been unshaken4 ,and this conduct is not mere revenge4 ,it is a method of putting pressure on the ,government in order to obtain concessions on matters which they deem of paramount importance4 ,in the same way they will seek to gain supporters by political alliances4 ,few things in parliamentary government are more dangerous or more apt to lead to corruption than the bargains which the ,americans call log-rolling2 but it is inevitable that a member who has received from a colleague1 or perhaps from an opponent1 assistance on a question which he believes to be of the highest importance1 will be disposed to return that assistance in some case in which his own feelings and opinions are not strongly enlisted4 ,then1 too1 we have to consider the great place which obstruction plays in parliamentary government4 ,it constantly happens that a measure to which scarcely any one objects is debated at inordinate length for no other reason than to prevent a measure which is much objected to from being discussed4 ,measures may be opposed by hostile votes1 but they are often much more efficaciously opposed by calculated delays1 by multiplied amendments or speeches1 by some of the many devices that can be employed to clog the legislative machine4 ,there are large classes of measures on which governments or parliaments think it desirable to give no opinion1 or at least no immediate opinion1 though they cannot prevent their introduction1 and many methods are employed with the real1 though not avowed and ostensible object of preventing a vote or even a ministerial declaration upon them4 ,sometimes ,parliament is quite ready to acknowledge the abstract justice of a proposal1 but does not think it ripe for legislation4 ,in such cases the second reading of the bill will probably be accepted1 but1 to the indignation and astonishment of its supporters outside the ,house1 it will be obstructed1 delayed or defeated in committee with the acquiescence1 or connivance1 or even actual assistance of some of those who had voted for it4 ,some measures in the eyes of some members involve questions of principle so sacred that they will admit of no compromise of expediency1 but most measures are deemed open to compromise and are accepted1 rejected1 or modified under some of the many motives ,i have described4 ,all this curious and indispensable mechanism of party government is compatible with a high and genuine sense of public duty1 and unless such a sense at the last resort dominates over all other considerations1 political life will inevitably decline4 ,at the same time it is obvious that many things have to be done from which a very rigid and austere nature would recoil4 ,to support a ,government when he believes it to be wrong1 or to oppose a measure which he believes to be right2 to connive at evasions which are mere pretexts1 and at delays which rest upon grounds that are not openly avowed1--is sometimes1 and indeed not unfrequently1 a parliamentary duty4 ,a member of ,parliament must often feel himself in the position of a private in an army1 or a player in a game1 or an advocate in a law case4 ,on many questions each party represents and defends the special interests of some particular classes in the country4 ,when there are two plausible alternative courses to be pursued which divide public opinion1 the ,opposition is almost bound by its position to enforce the merits of the course opposed to that adopted by the ,government4 ,in theory nothing could seem more absurd than a system of government in which1 as it has been said1 the ablest men in ,parliament are divided into two classes1 one side being charged with the duty of carrying on the government and the other with that of obstructing and opposing them in their task1 and in which1 on a vast multitude of unconnected questions1 these two great bodies of very competent men1 with the same facts and arguments before them1 habitually go into opposite lobbies4 ,in practice1 however1 parliamentary government by great parties1 in countries where it is fully understood and practised1 is found to be admirably efficacious in representing every variety of political opinion2 in securing a constant supervision and criticism of men and measures2 and in forming a safety valve through which the dangerous humours of society can expand without evil to the community4 ,this1 however1 is only accomplished by constant compromises which are seldom successfully carried out without a long national experience4 ,party must exist4 ,it must be maintained as an essential condition of good government1 but it must be subordinated to the public interests1 and in the public interests it must be in many cases suspended4 ,there are subjects which cannot be introduced without the gravest danger into the arena of party controversy4 ,indian politics are a conspicuous example1 and1 although foreign policy cannot be kept wholly outside it1 the dangers connected with its party treatment are extremely great4 ,many measures of a different kind are conducted with the concurrence of the two front benches4 ,a cordial union on large classes of questions between the heads of the rival parties is one of the first conditions of successful parliamentary government4 ,the ,opposition leader must have a voice in the conduct of business1 on the questions that should be brought forward1 and on the questions that it is for the public interest to keep back4 ,he is the official leader of systematic1 organised opposition to the ,government1 yet he is on a large number of questions their most powerful ally4 ,he must frequently have confidential relations with them1 and one of his most useful functions is to prevent sections of his party from endeavouring to snatch party advantages by courses which might endanger public interests4 ,if the country is to be well governed there must be a large amount of continuity in its policy2 certain conditions and principles of administration must be inflexibly maintained1 and in great national emergencies all parties must unite4 ,in questions which lie at the heart of party politics1 also some amount of compromise is usually effected4 ,debate not only elicits opinions but also suggests alternatives and compromises1 and very few measures are carried by a majority which do not bear clear traces of the action of the minority4 ,the line is constantly deflected now on one side and now on the other1 and 7usually without much regard to logical consistency7 various and opposing sentiments are in some measure gratified4 ,if the lines of party are drawn with an inflexible rigidity2 and if the majority insist on the full exercise of their powers1 parliamentary government may become a despotism as crushing as the worst autocracy--a despotism which is perhaps even more dangerous as the sense of responsibility is diminished by being divided4 ,if1 on the other hand1 the latitude conceded to individual opinion is excessive1 ,parliament inevitably breaks into groups1 and parliamentary government loses much of its virtue4 ,when coalitions of minorities can at any time overthrow a ministry1 the whole force of ,government is lost4 ,the temptation to corrupt bargains with particular sections is enormously increased1 and the declining control of the two front benches will be speedily followed by a diminished sense of responsibility1 and by the increased influence of violent1 eccentric1 exaggerated opinions4 ,it is of the utmost moment that the policy of an ,opposition should be guided by its most important men1 and especially by men who have had the experience and the responsibility of office1 and who know that they may have that responsibility again4 ,but the healthy latitude of individual opinion and expression in a party is like most of those things we are now considering1 a question of degree1 and not susceptible of clear and sharp definition4 ,other questions of a somewhat different nature1 but involving grave moral considerations1 arise out of the relations between a member and his constituents4 ,in the days when small boroughs were openly bought in the market1 this was sometimes defended on the ground of the complete independence of judgment which it gave to the purchasing member4 ,romilly and ,henry ,flood are said to have both purchased their seats with the express object of securing such independence4 ,in the political philosophy of ,burke1 no doctrine is more emphatically enforced than that a member of ,parliament is a representative but not a delegate2 that he owes to his constituents not only his time and his services1 but also the exercise of his independent and unfettered judgment2 that1 while reflecting the general cast of their politics1 he must never suffer himself to be reduced to a mere mouthpiece1 or accept binding instructions prescribing on each particular measure the course he may pursue2 that after his election he must consider himself a member of an ,imperial ,parliament rather than the representative of a particular locality1 and must subordinate local and special interests to the wider and more general interests of the whole nation4 ,the conditions of modern political life have greatly narrowed this liberty of judgment4 ,in most constituencies a member can only enter ,parliament fettered by many pledges relating to specific measures1 and in every turn of policy sections of his constituents will attempt to dictate his course of action4 ,certain large and general pledges naturally and properly precede his election4 ,he is chosen as a supporter or opponent of the ,government2 he avows himself an adherent of certain broad lines of policy1 and he also represents in a special degree the interests and the distinctive type of opinion of the class or industry which is dominant in his constituency4 ,but even at the time of election he often finds that on some particular question in which his electors are much interested he differs from them1 though they consent1 in spite of it1 to elect him2 and1 in the course of a long ,parliament1 others are very apt unexpectedly to arise4 ,political changes take place which bring into the foreground matters which at the time of the election seemed very remote1 or produce new questions1 or give rise to unforeseen party combinations1 developments1 and tendencies4 ,it will often happen that on these occasions a member will think differently from the majority of his electors1 and he must meet the question how far he must sacrifice his judgment to theirs1 and how far he may use the influence which their votes have given him to act in opposition to their wishes and perhaps even to their interests4 ,burke1 for example1 found himself in this position when1 being member for ,bristol1 he considered it his duty to support the concession of ,free-trade to ,ireland1 although his constituents had1 or thought they had1 a strong interest in commercial restrictions and monopoly4 ,in our own day it has happened that members representing manufacturing districts of ,lancashire have found themselves unexpectedly called upon to vote upon some measure for crippling or extending rival manufactures in ,india2 for opening new markets by some very dubious aggression in a distant land2 or for limiting the child labour employed in the local manufacture2 and these members have often believed that the right course was a course which was exceedingly repugnant to great sections of their electors4 ,sometimes1 too1 a member is elected on purely secular issues1 but in the course of the ,parliament one of those fierce1 sudden storms of religious sentiment1 to which ,england is occasionally liable1 sweeps over the land1 and he finds himself wholly out of sympathy with a great portion of his constituency4 ,in other cases the party which he entered ,parliament to support1 pursues1 on some grave question1 a line of policy which he believes to be seriously wrong1 and he goes into partial or even complete and bitter opposition4 ,differences of this kind have frequently arisen when there is no question of any interested motive having influenced the member4 ,sometimes in such cases he has resigned his seat and gone to his electors for re-election4 ,in other cases he remains in ,parliament till the next election4 ,each case1 however1 must be left to individual judgment1 and no clear1 definite1 unwavering moral line can be drawn4 ,the member will consider the magnitude of the disputed question1 both in his own eyes and in the eyes of those whom he represents2 its permanent or transitory character1 the amount and importance of the majority opposed to his views1 the length of time that is likely to elapse before a dissolution will bring him face to face with his constituents4 ,in matters which he does not consider very urgent or important1 he will probably sacrifice his own judgment to that of his electors1 at least so far as to abstain from voting or from pressing his own views4 ,in graver matters it is his duty boldly to face unpopularity1 or perhaps even take the extreme step of resigning his seat4 ,the cases in which a member of ,parliament finds it his duty to support a measure which he believes to be positively bad1 on the ground that greater evils would follow its rejection1 are happily not very numerous4 ,he can extricate himself from many moral difficulties by sometimes abstaining from voting or from the expression of his real opinions1 and most measures are of a composite character in which good and evil elements combine1 and may in some degree be separated4 ,in such measures it is often possible to accept the general principle while opposing particular details1 and there is considerable scope for compromise and modification4 ,but the cases in which a member of ,parliament is compelled to vote for measures about which he has no real knowledge or conviction are very many4 ,crowds of measures of a highly complex and technical character1 affecting departments of life with which he has had no experience1 relating to the multitudinous industries1 interests and conditions of a great people1 are brought before him at very short notice2 and no intellect1 however powerful1 no industry1 however great1 can master them4 ,it is utterly impossible that mere extemporised knowledge1 the listening to a short debate1 the brief study which a member of ,parliament can give to a new subject1 can place him on a real level of competence with those who can bring to it a lifelong knowledge or experience4 ,a member of ,parliament will soon find that he must select a class of subjects which he can himself master1 while on many others he must vote blindly with his party4 ,the two or three capital measures in a session are debated with such a fulness that both the ,house and the country become thoroughly competent to judge them1 and in those cases the preponderance of argument will have great weight4 ,a powerful ministry and a strongly organised party may carry such a measure in spite of it1 but they will be obliged to accept amendments and modifications1 and if they persist in their policy their position both in the ,house and in the country will sooner or later be inevitably changed4 ,but a large number of measures have a more restricted interest1 and are far less widely understood4 ,the ,house of ,commons is rich in expert knowledge1 and few subjects are brought before it which some of its members do not thoroughly understand2 but in a vast number of cases the majority who decide the question are obliged to do so on the most superficial knowledge4 ,very often it is physically impossible for a member to obtain the knowledge he requires4 ,the most important and detailed investigation has taken place in a committee upstairs to which he did not belong1 or he is detained elsewhere on important parliamentary business while the debate is going on4 ,even when this is not the case1 scarcely any one has the physical or mental power which would enable him to sit intelligently through all the debates4 ,every member of ,parliament is familiar with the scene1 when1 after a debate1 carried on before nearly empty benches1 the division bell rings1 and the members stream in to decide the issue4 ,there is a moment of uncertainty4 ,the questions ',which side are we8' ',what is it about8' may be heard again and again4 ,then the ,speaker rises1 and with one magical sentence clears the situation4 ,it is the sentence in which he announces that the tellers for the ,ayes or ,noes1 as the case may be1 are the ,government whips4 ,it is not argument1 it is not eloquence1 it is this single sentence which in countless cases determines the result and moulds the legislation of the country4 ,many members1 it is true1 are not present in the division lobby1 but they are usually paired--that is to say1 they have taken their sides before the discussion began2 perhaps without even knowing what subject is to be discussed1 perhaps for all the many foreseen and unforeseen questions that may arise during long periods of the session4 ,it is a strange process1 and to a new member who has been endeavouring through his life to weigh arguments and evidence with scrupulous care1 and treat the formation and expression of opinions as a matter of serious duty1 it is at first very painful4 ,he finds that he is required again and again to give an effective voice in the great council of the nation1 on questions of grave importance1 with a levity of conviction upon which he would not act in the most trivial affairs of private life4 ,no doctor would prescribe for the slightest malady2 no lawyer would advise in the easiest case2 no wise man would act in the simplest transactions of private business1 or would even give an opinion to his neighbour at a dinner party without more knowledge of the subject than that on which a member of ,parliament is often obliged to vote4 ,but he soon finds that for good or evil this system is absolutely indispensable to the working of the machine4 ,if no one voted except on matters he really understood and cared for1 four-fifths of the questions that are determined by the ,house of ,commons would be determined by mere fractions of its members1 and in that case parliamentary government under the party system would be impossible4 ,the stable1 disciplined majorities without which it can never be efficiently conducted would be at an end4 ,those who refuse to accept the conditions of parliamentary life should abstain from entering into it4 ,it is obvious that the one justification of this system is to be found in the belief that parliamentary government1 as it is worked in ,england1 is on the whole a good thing1 and that this is the indispensable condition of its existence4 ,probably also with most men it strengthens the disposition to support the ,government on matters which they do not understand and in which grave party issues are not involved4 ,they know that these minor questions have at least been carefully examined on their merits by responsible men1 and with the assistance of the best available expert knowledge4 ,this fact goes far to reconcile us to the tendency to give governments an almost complete monopoly in the initiation of legislation which is so evident in modern parliamentary life4 ,much useful legislation in the past has been due to private and independent members1 but the chance of bills introduced by such members ever becoming law is steadily diminishing4 ,this is not due to any recognised constitutional change1 but to the constantly increasing pressure of government business on the time of the ,house1 and especially to what is called the twelve o'clock rule1 terminating debates at midnight4 ,it is a rule which is manifestly wise1 for it limits on ordinary occasions the hours of parliamentary work to a period within the strength of an average man4 ,parliamentary government has many dubious aspects1 but it never appears worse than in the cases which may still sometimes be seen when a ,government thinks fit to force through an important measure by all-night sittings1 and when a weary and irritated ,house which has been sitting since three or four in the afternoon is called upon at a corresponding hour of the early morning to pronounce upon grave and difficult questions of principle1 and to deal with the serious interests of large classes4 ,the utter and most natural incapacity of the ,house at such an hour for sustained argument2 its anxiety that each successive amendment should be despatched in five minutes2 the readiness with which in that tired1 feverish atmosphere1 surprises and coalitions may be effected and solutions accepted1 to which the ,house in its normal state would scarcely have listened1 must be evident to every observer4 ,scenes of this kind are among the greatest scandals of ,parliament1 and the rule which makes them impossible except in the closing weeks of the ,session has been one of the greatest improvements in modern parliamentary work4 ,but its drawback is that it has greatly limited the possibility of private member legislation4 ,it is in late and rapid sittings that most measures of this kind passed through their final stages1 and since the twelve o'clock rule has been adopted a much smaller number of bills introduced by private members find their way to the statute book4 ,,footnotes3 #ce ,o',brien1 ,the ,lawyer1 pp4 #afi1 #agj4 #cf ,dictionnaire de ,cas de ,conscience1 ,art4 ',avocat2' ,migne1 ,encyclopdie ,thologique1 i4 serie1 tome xviii4 #cg ,revue de ,droit ,international1 xxi4 #fae4 #ch ,see ,sir ,james ,stephen's ,general ,view of the ,criminal ,law of ,england1 pp4 #afg1 #afh4 #ci ,phillips's defence of his own conduct will be found in a pamphlet called ',correspondence of ,s4 ,warren and ,c4 ,phillips relating to the ,courvoisier trial4' ,it has often been said that ,phillips had asserted in his speech his full belief in the innocence of his client1 but this is disproved by the statement of ,c4 ,j4 ,tindal1 who tried the case1 and of ,baron ,parke1 who sat on the bench4 ,c4 ,j4 ,denman also pronounced ,phillips's speech to be unexceptionable4 ,an able and interesting article on this case by ,mr4 ,atlay will be found in the ,cornhill ,magazine1 ,may1 #ahig4 #dj ,see these cases in ,warren's ,social and ,professional ,duties of an ,attorney1 pp4 #abh-acc1 #aie1 #aif4 #da ,see the admirable article by ,lord ,justice ,bowen on ',the ,administration of the ,law' in ,ward's ,reign of ,queen ,victoria1 vol4 i4 ,,chapter ,x ,it is obvious from the considerations that have been adduced in the last chapter that the moral limitations and conditions under which an ordinary member of ,parliament is compelled to work are far from ideal4 ,an upright man will try conscientiously1 under these conditions1 to do his best for the cause of honesty and for the benefit of his country1 but he cannot essentially alter them1 and they present many temptations and tend in many ways to blur the outlines separating good from evil4 ,he will find himself practically pledged to support his party in measures which he has never seen and in policies that are not yet developed2 to vote in some cases contrary to his genuine belief and in many cases without real knowledge2 to act throughout his political career on many motives other than a reasoned conviction of the substantial merits of the question at issue4 ,i have dwelt on the difficult questions which arise when the wishes of his constituents are at variance with his own genuine opinions4 ,another and a wider question is how far he is bound to make what he considers the interests of the nation his guiding light1 and how far he should subordinate what he believes to be their interests to their prejudices and wishes4 ,one of the first lessons that every active politician has to learn is that he is a trustee bound to act for men whose opinions1 aims1 desires and ideals are often very different from his own4 ,no man who holds the position of member of ,parliament should divest himself of this consideration1 though it applies to different classes of members in different degrees4 ,a private member should not forget it1 but at the same time1 being elected primarily and specially to represent one particular element in the national life1 he will concentrate his attention more exclusively on a narrow circle1 though he has at the same time more latitude of expressing unpopular opinions and pushing unripe and unpopular causes than a member who is taking a large and official part in the government of the nation4 ,the opposition front bench occupies a somewhat different position4 ,they are the special and organised representatives of a particular party and its ideas1 but the fact that they may be called upon at any time to undertake the government of the nation as a whole1 and that even while in opposition they take a great part in moulding its general policy1 imposes on them limitations and restrictions from which a mere private member is in a great degree exempt4 ,when a party comes into power its position is again slightly altered4 ,its leaders are certainly not detached from the party policy they had advocated in opposition4 ,one of the main objects of party is to incorporate certain political opinions and the interests of certain sections of the community in an organised body which will be a steady and permanent force in politics4 ,it is by this means that political opinions are most likely to triumph2 that class interests are most effectually protected4 ,but a ,government cannot govern merely in the interests of a party4 ,it is a trustee for the whole nation1 and one of its first duties is to ascertain and respect as far as possible the wishes as well as the interests of all sections4 ,concrete examples may perhaps show more clearly than abstract statements the kind of difficulties that ,i am describing4 ,take1 for example1 the large class of proposals for limiting the sale of strong drink by such methods as local veto or ,sunday closing of public-houses4 ,one class of politicians take up the position of uncompromising opponents of the drink trade4 ,they argue that strong drink is beyond all question in ,england the chief source of the misery1 the vice1 the degradation of the poor2 that it not only directly ruins tens of thousands1 body and soul1 but also brings a mass of wretchedness that it is difficult to overrate on their innocent families2 that the drunkard's craving for drink often reproduces itself as an hereditary disease in his children2 and that a legislator can have no higher object and no plainer duty than by all available means to put down the chief obstacle to the moral and material well-being of the people4 ,the principle of compulsion1 as they truly say1 is more and more pervading all departments of industry4 ,it is idle to contend that the ,state which1 while prohibiting other forms of ,sunday trading1 gives a special privilege to the most pernicious of all1 has not the right to limit or to withdraw it1 and the legislature which levies vast sums upon the whole community for the maintenance of the police as well as for poor-houses1 prisons and criminal administration1 ought surely1 in the interests of the whole community1 to do all that is in its power to suppress the main cause of pauperism1 disorder and crime4 ,another class of politicians approach the question from a wholly different point of view4 ,they emphatically object to imposing upon grown-up men a system of moral restriction which is very properly imposed upon children4 ,they contend that adult men who have assumed all the duties and responsibilities of life1 and have even a voice in the government of the country1 should regulate their own conduct1 as far as they do not directly interfere with their neighbours1 without legal restraint1 bearing themselves the consequences of their mistakes or excesses4 ,this1 they say1 is the first principle of freedom1 the first condition in the formation of strong and manly characters4 ,a poor man1 who desires on his ,sunday excursion to obtain moderate refreshment such as he likes for himself or his family1 and who goes to the public-house--probably in most cases to meet his friends and discuss the village gossip over a glass of beer--is in no degree interfering with the liberty of his neighbours4 ,he is doing nothing that is wrong2 nothing that he has not a perfect right to do4 ,no one denies the rich man access to his club on ,sunday1 and it should be remembered that the poor man has neither the private cellars nor the comfortable and roomy homes of the rich1 and has infinitely fewer opportunities of recreation4 ,because some men abuse this right and are unable to drink alcohol in moderation1 are all men to be prevented from drinking it at all1 or at least from drinking it on ,sunday8 ,because two men agree not to drink it1 have they a right to impose the same obligation on an unwilling third8 ,have those who never enter a public-house1 and by their position in life never need to enter it1 a right1 if they are in a majority1 to close its doors against those who use it8 ,on such grounds these politicians look with extreme disfavour on all this restrictive legislation as unjust1 partial and inconsistent with freedom4 ,very few1 however1 would carry either set of arguments to their full logical consequences4 ,not many men who have had any practical experience in the management of men would advocate a complete suppression of the drink trade1 and still fewer would put it on the basis of complete free trade1 altogether exempt from special legislative restriction4 ,to responsible politicians the course to be pursued will depend mainly on fluctuating conditions of public opinion4 ,restrictions will be imposed1 but only when and as far as they are supported by a genuine public opinion4 ,it must not be a mere majority1 but a large majority2 a steady majority2 a genuine majority representing a real and earnest desire1 and especially in the classes who are most directly affected2 not a mere factitious majority such as is often created by skilful organisation and agitation2 by the enthusiasm of the few confronting the indifference of the many4 ,in free and democratic ,states one of the most necessary but also one of the most difficult arts of statesmanship is that of testing public opinion1 discriminating between what is real1 growing and permanent and what is transient1 artificial and declining4 ,as a ,french writer has said1 ',the great art in politics consists not in hearing those who speak1 but in hearing those who are silent4' ,on such questions as those ,i have mentioned we may find the same statesman without any real inconsistency supporting the same measures in one part of the kingdom and opposing them in another2 supporting them at one time because public opinion runs strongly in their favour2 opposing them at another because that public opinion has grown weak4 ,one of the worst moral evils that grow up in democratic countries is the excessive tendency to time-serving and popularity hunting1 and the danger is all the greater because in a certain sense both of these things are a necessity and even a duty4 ,their moral quality depends mainly on their motive4 ,the question to be asked is whether a politician is acting from personal or merely party objects or from honourable public ones4 ,every statesman must form in his own mind a conception whether a prevailing tendency is favourable or opposed to the real interests of the country4 ,it will depend upon this judgment whether he will endeavour to accelerate or retard it2 whether he will yield slowly or readily to its pressure1 and there are cases in which1 at all hazards of popularity and influence1 he should inexorably oppose it4 ,but in the long run1 under free governments1 political systems and measures must be adjusted to the wishes of the various sections of the people1 and this adjustment is the great work of statesmanship4 ,in judging a proposed measure a statesman must continually ask himself whether the country is ripe for it--whether its introduction1 however desirable it might be1 would not be premature1 as public opinion is not yet prepared for it8--whether1 even though it be a bad measure1 it is not on the whole better to vote for it1 as the nation manifestly desires it8 ,the same kind of reasoning applies to the difficult question of education1 and especially of religious education4 ,every one who is interested in the subject has his own conviction about the kind of education which is in itself the best for the people1 and also the best for the ,government to undertake4 ,he may prefer that the ,state should confine itself to purely secular education1 leaving all religious teaching to voluntary agencies2 or he may approve of the kind of undenominational religious teaching of the ,english ,school ,board2 or he may be a strong partisan of one of the many forms of distinctly accentuated denominational education4 ,but when he comes to act as a responsible legislator1 he should feel that the question is not merely what he considers the best1 but also what the parents of the children most desire4 ,it is true that the authority of parents is not absolutely recognised4 ,the conviction that certain things are essential to the children1 and to the well-being and vigour of the ,state1 and the conviction that parents are often by no means the best judges of this1 make legislators1 on some important subjects1 override the wishes of the parents4 ,the severe restrictions imposed on child labour2 the measure--unhappily now greatly relaxed--providing for children's vaccination2 and the legislation protecting children from ill treatment by their parents1 are illustrations1 and the most extensive and far-reaching of all exceptions is education4 ,after much misgiving1 both parties in the ,state have arrived at the conclusion that it is essential to the future of the children1 and essential also to the maintenance of the relative position of ,england in the great competition of nations1 that at least the rudiments of education should be made universal1 and they are also convinced that this is one of the truths which perfectly ignorant parents are least competent to understand4 ,hence the system which of late years has so rapidly extended of compulsory education4 ,many nations have gone further1 and have claimed for the ,state the right of prescribing absolutely the kind of education that should be permitted1 or at least the kind of education which shall be exclusively supported by ,state funds4 ,in ,england this is not the case4 ,a great variety of forms of education corresponding to the wishes and opinions of different classes of parents receive assistance from the ,state1 subject to the conditions of submitting to certain tests of educational efficiency1 and to a conscience clause protecting minorities from interference with their faith4 ,a case which once caused much moral heart-burning among good men was the endowment1 by the ,state1 of ,maynooth ,college1 which is absolutely under the control of the ,roman ,catholic priesthood1 and intended to educate their ,divinity students in the ,roman ,catholic faith4 ,the endowment dated from the period of the old ,irish ,protestant ,parliament2 and when1 on the ,disestablishment of the ,irish ,church1 it came to an end1 it was replaced by a large capital grant from the ,irish ,church ,fund1 and it is upon the interest of that grant that the ,college is still supported4 ,this grant was denounced by many excellent men on the ground that the ,state was ,protestant2 that it had a definite religious belief upon which it was bound in conscience to act2 and that it was a sinful apostasy to endow out of the public purse the teaching of what all ,protestants believe to be superstition1 and what many ,protestants believe to be idolatrous and soul-destroying error4 ,the strength of this kind of feeling in ,england is shown by the extreme difficulty there has been in persuading public opinion to acquiesce in any form of that concurrent endowment of religions which exists so widely and works so well upon the ,continent4 ,many1 again1 who have no objection to the policy of assisting by ,state subsidies the theological education of the priests are of opinion that it is extremely injurious both to the ,state and to the young that the secular education--and especially the higher secular education--of the ,irish ,catholic population should be placed under their complete control1 and that1 through their influence1 the ,irish ,catholics should be strictly separated during the period of their education from their fellow-countrymen of other religions4 ,no belief1 in my own opinion1 is better founded than this4 ,if1 however1 those who hold it find that there is a great body of ,catholic parents who persistently desire this control and separation2 who will not be satisfied with any removal of disabilities and sectarian influence in systems of common education2 who object to all mixed and undenominational education on the ground that their priests have condemned it1 and that they are bound in conscience to follow the orders of their priests1 and who are in consequence withholding from their children the education they would otherwise have given them1 such men will in my opinion be quite justified in modifying their policy4 ,as a matter of expediency they will argue that it is better that these ,catholics should receive an indifferent university education than none at all2 and that it is exceedingly desirable that what is felt to be a grievance by many honest1 upright and loyal men should be removed4 ,as a matter of principle1 they contend that in a country where higher education is largely and variously endowed from public sources1 it is a real grievance that there should be one large body of the people who can derive little or no benefit from those endowments4 ,it is no sufficient answer to say that the objection of the ,catholic parents is in most cases not spontaneous1 but is due to the orders of their priests1 since we are dealing with men who believe it to be a matter of conscience on such questions to obey their priests4 ,nor is it1 ,i think1 sufficient to argue--as very many enlightened men will do--that everything that could be in the smallest degree repugnant to the faith of a ,catholic has been eliminated from the education which is imposed on them in existing universities2 that every post of honour1 emolument and power has been thrown open to them2 that for generations they gladly followed the courses of ,dublin ,university1 and are even now permitted by their ecclesiastics to follow those of ,oxford and ,cambridge2 that1 the nation having adopted the broad principle of unsectarian education open to all1 no single sect has a right to exceptional treatment1 though every sect has an undoubted right to set up at its own expense such education as it pleases4 ,the answer is that the objection of a certain class of ,roman ,catholics in ,ireland is not to any abuses that may take place under the system of mixed and undenominational education1 but to the system itself1 and that the particular type of education of which alone one considerable class of taxpayers can conscientiously avail themselves has only been set up by voluntary effort1 and is only inadequately and indirectly endowed by the ,state4#db ,slowly and very reluctantly governments in ,england have come to recognise the fact that the trend of ,catholic opinion in ,ireland is as clearly in the direction of denominationalism as the trend of ,nonconformist ,english opinion is in the direction of undenominationalism1 and that it is impossible to carry on the education of a priest-ridden ,catholic people on the same lines as a ,protestant one4 ,primary education has become almost absolutely denominational1 and1 directly or indirectly1 a crowd of endowments are given to exclusively ,catholic institutions4 ,on such grounds1 many who entertain the strongest antipathy to the priestly control of higher education are prepared to advocate an increased endowment of some university or college which is distinctly sacerdotal1 while strenuously upholding side by side with it the undenominational institutions which they believe to be incomparably better1 and which are at present resorted to not only by all ,protestants1 but also by a not inconsiderable body of ,irish ,catholics4 ,many of my readers will probably come to an opposite conclusion on this very difficult question4 ,the object of what ,i have written is simply to show the process by which a politician may conscientiously advocate the establishment and endowment of a thing which he believes to be intrinsically bad4 ,it is said to have been a saying of ,sir ,robert ,inglis--an excellent representative of an old school of extreme but most conscientious ,toryism--that 'he would never vote one penny of public money for any purpose which he did not think right and good4' ,the impossibility of carrying out such a principle must be obvious to any one who has truly grasped the nature of representative government and the duty of a member of ,parliament to act as a trustee for all classes in the community4 ,in the exercise of this function every conscientious member is obliged continually to vote money for purposes which he dislikes4 ,in the particular instance ,i have just given1 the process of reasoning ,i have described is purely disinterested1 but of course it is not by such a process of pure reasoning that such a question will be determined4 ,english and ,scotch members will have to consider the effects of their vote on their own constituencies1 where there are generally large sections of electors with very little knowledge of the special circumstances of ,irish education1 but very strong feelings about the ,roman ,catholic ,church4 ,statesmen will have to consider the ulterior and various ways in which their policy may affect the whole social and political condition of ,ireland1 while the overwhelming majority of the ,irish members are elected by small farmers and agricultural labourers who could never avail themselves of ,university education1 and who on all matters relating to education act blindly at the dictation of their priests4 ,inconsistency is no necessary condemnation of a politician1 and parties as well as individual statesmen have abundantly shown it4 ,it would lead me too far in a book in which the moral difficulties of politics form only one subdivision1 to enter into the history of ,english parties2 but those who will do so will easily convince themselves that there is hardly a principle of political action that has not in party history been abandoned1 and that not unfrequently parties have come to advocate at one period of their history the very measures which at another period they most strenuously resisted4 ,changed circumstances1 the growth or decline of intellectual tendencies1 party strategy1 individual influence1 have all contributed to these mutations1 and most of them have been due to very blended motives of patriotism and self-interest4 ,in judging the moral quality of the changes of party leaders1 the element of time will usually be of capital importance4 ,violent and sudden reversals of policy are never effected by a party without a great loss of moral weight2 though there are circumstances under which they have been imperatively required4 ,no one will now dispute the integrity of the motives that induced the ,duke of ,wellington and ,sir ,robert ,peel to carry ,catholic ,emancipation in #ahbi1 when the ,clare election had brought ,ireland to the verge of revolution2 and the conduct of ,sir ,robert ,peel in carrying the repeal of the ,corn ,laws was certainly not due to any motive either of personal or party ambition1 though it may be urged with force that at a time when he was still the leader of the ,protectionist party his mind had been manifestly moving in the direction of ,free trade1 and that the ,irish famine1 though not a mere pretext1 was not wholly the cause of the surrender4 ,in each of these cases a ministry pledged to resist a particular measure introduced and carried it1 and did so without any appeal to the electors4 ,the justification was that the measure in their eyes had become absolutely necessary to the public welfare1 and that the condition of politics made it impossible for them either to carry it by a dissolution or to resign the task into other hands4 ,had ,sir ,robert ,peel either resigned office or dissolved ,parliament after the ,clare election in #ahbh1 it is highly probable that the measure of ,catholic ,emancipation could not have been carried1 and its postponement1 in his belief1 would have thrown ,ireland into a dangerous rebellion4 ,few greater misfortunes have befallen party government than the failure of the ,whigs to form a ministry in #ahde4 ,had they done so the abolition of the ,corn ,laws would have been carried by statesmen who were in some measure supported by the ,free-trade party1 and not by statesmen who had obtained their power as the special representatives of the agricultural interests4 ,another case which in a party point of view was more successful1 but which should in my opinion be much more severely judged1 was the ,reform ,bill of #ahfg4 ,the ,conservative party1 under the guidance of ,mr4 ,disraeli1 defeated ,mr4 ,gladstone's ,reform ,bill mainly on the ground that it was an excessive step in the direction of ,democracy4 ,the victory placed them in office1 and they then declared that1 as the question had been raised1 they must deal with it themselves4 ,they introduced a bill carrying the suffrage to a much lower point than that which the late ,government had proposed1 but they surrounded it with a number of provisions securing additional representation for particular classes and interests which would have materially modified its democratic character4 ,but for these safeguarding provisions the party would certainly not have tolerated the introduction of such a measure1 yet in the face of opposition their leader dropped them one by one as of no capital importance1 and1 by a leadership which was a masterpiece of unscrupulous adroitness1 succeeded in inducing his party to carry a measure far more democratic than that which they had a few months before denounced and defeated4 ,it was argued that the question must be settled2 that it must be placed on a permanent and lasting basis2 that it must no longer be suffered to be a weapon in the hands of the ,whigs1 and that the ,tory ,reform ,bill1 though it was acknowledged to be a 'leap in the dark1' had at least the result of 'dishing the ,whigs4' ,there is little doubt that it was in accordance with the genuine convictions of ,disraeli4 ,he belonged to a school of politics of which ,bolingbroke1 ,carteret and ,shelburne1 and1 in some periods of his career1 ,chatham1 were earlier representatives who had no real sympathy with the preponderance of the aristocratic element in the old ,tory party1 who had a decided disposition to appeal frankly to democratic support1 and who believed that a strong executive resting on a broad democratic basis was the true future of ,toryism4 ,he anticipated to a remarkable degree the school of political thought which has triumphed in our own day1 though he did not live to witness its triumph4 ,at the same time it cannot be denied that the ,reform ,bill of #ahfg in the form in which it was ultimately carried was as far as possible from the wishes and policy of his party in the beginning of the session1 and as inconsistent as any policy could be with their language and conduct in the session that preceded it4 ,a parliamentary government chosen on the party system is1 as we have seen1 at once the trustee of the whole nation1 bound as such to make the welfare of the whole its supreme end1 and also the special representative of particular classes1 the special guardian of their interests1 aims1 wishes1 and principles4 ,the two points of view are not the same1 and grave difficulties1 both ethical and political1 have often to be encountered in endeavouring to harmonise them4 ,it is1 of course1 not true that a party object is merely a matter of place or power1 and naturally a different thing from a patriotic object4 ,the very meaning of party is that public men consider certain principles of government1 certain lines of policy1 the protection and development of particular interests1 of capital importance to the nation1 and they are therefore on purely public grounds fully justified in making it a main object to place the government of the country in the hands of their party4 ,the importance1 however1 of maintaining a particular party in power varies greatly4 ,in many1 probably in most1 periods of ,english history a change of government means no violent or far-reaching alteration in policy4 ,it means only that one set of tendencies in legislation will for a time be somewhat relaxed1 and another set somewhat intensified2 that the interests of one class will be somewhat more and those of another class somewhat less attended to2 that the rate of progress or change will be slightly accelerated or retarded4 ,sometimes it means even less than this4 ,opinions on the two front benches are so nearly assimilated that a change of government principally means the removal for a time from office of ministers who have made some isolated administrative blunders or incurred some individual unpopularity quite apart from their party politics4 ,it means that ministers who are jaded and somewhat worn out by several years' continuous work1 and of whom the country had grown tired1 are replaced by men who can bring fresher minds and energies to the task2 that patronage in all its branches having for some years gone mainly to one party1 the other party are now to have their turn4 ,there are periods when the country is well satisfied with the general policy of a government but not with the men who carry it on4 ,ministers of excellent principles prove inefficient1 tactless1 or unfortunate1 or quarrels and jealousies arise among them1 or difficult negotiations are going on with foreign nations which can be best brought to a successful termination if they are placed in the hands of fresh men1 unpledged and unentangled by their past4 ,the country wants a change of government but not a change of policy1 and under such circumstances the task of a victorious opposition is much less to march in new directions than to mark time1 to carry on the affairs of the nation on the same lines1 but with greater administrative skill4 ,in such periods the importance of party objects is much diminished and a policy which is intended merely to keep a party in power should be severely condemned4 ,sometimes1 however1 it happens that a party has committed itself to a particular measure which its opponents believe to be in a high degree dangerous or even ruinous to the country4 ,in that case it becomes a matter of supreme importance to keep this party out of office1 or1 if they are in office1 to keep them in a position of permanent debility till this dangerous project is abandoned4 ,under such circumstances statesmen are justified in carrying party objects and purely party legislation much further than in other periods4 ,to strengthen their own party2 to gain for it the largest amount of popularity2 to win the support of different factions of the ,house of ,commons1 become a great public object2 and1 in order to carry it out1 sacrifices of policy and in some degree of principle1 the acceptance of measures which the party had once opposed1 and the adjournment or abandonment of measures to which it had been pledged1 which would once have been very properly condemned1 become justifiable4 ,the supreme interest of the ,state is the end and the justification of their policy1 and alliances are formed which under less pressing circumstances would have been impossible1 and which1 once established1 sometimes profoundly change the permanent character of party politics4 ,here1 as in nearly all political matters1 an attention to proportion and degree1 the sacrifice of the less for the attainment of the greater1 mark the path both of wisdom and of duty4 ,the temptations of party politicians are of many kinds and vary greatly with different stages of political development4 ,the worst is the temptation to war4 ,war undertaken without necessity1 or at least without serious justification1 is1 according to all sound ethics1 the gravest of crimes1 and among its causes motives of the kind ,i have indicated may be often detected4 ,many wars have been begun or have been prolonged in order to consolidate a dynasty or a party2 in order to give it popularity or at least to save it from unpopularity2 in order to divert the minds of men from internal questions which had become dangerous or embarrassing1 or to efface the memory of past quarrels1 mistakes or crimes4#dc ,experience unfortunately shows only too clearly how easily the combative passions of nations can be aroused and how much popularity may be gained by a successful war4 ,even in this case1 it is true1 war usually impoverishes the country that wages it1 but there are large classes to whom it is by no means a calamity4 ,the high level of agricultural prices2 the brilliant careers opened to the military and naval professions2 the many special industries which are immediately stimulated2 the rise in the rate of interest2 the opportunities of wealth that spring from violent fluctuations on the ,stock ,exchange2 even the increased attractiveness of the newspapers1--all tend to give particular classes an interest in its continuance4 ,sometimes it is closely connected with party sympathies4 ,during the ,french wars of ,anne1 the facts that ,marlborough was a ,whig1 and that the ,elector of ,hanover1 who was the hope of the ,whig party1 was in favour of the war1 contributed very materially to retard the peace4 ,a state of great internal disquietude is often a temptation to war1 not because it leads to it directly1 but because rulers find a foreign war the best means of turning dangerous and disturbing energies into new channels1 and at the same time of strengthening the military and authoritative elements in the community4 ,the successful transformation of the anarchy of the great ,french ,revolution into a career of conquest is a typical example4 ,in aristocratic governments such as existed in ,england during the eighteenth century1 temptations to corruption were especially strong4 ,to build up a vast system of parliamentary influence by rotten boroughs1 and1 by systematically bestowing honours on those who could control them1 to win the support of great corporations and professions by furthering their interests and abstaining from all efforts to reform them1 was a chief part of the statecraft of the time4 ,class privileges in many forms were created1 extended and maintained1 and in some countries--though much less in ,england than on the ,continent--the burden of taxation was most inequitably distributed1 falling mainly on the poor4 ,in democratic governments the temptations are of a different kind4 ,popularity is there the chief source of power1 and the supreme tribunal consists of numbers counted by the head4 ,the well-being of the great mass of the people is the true end of politics1 but it does not necessarily follow that the opinion of the least instructed majority is the best guide to obtaining it4 ,in dwelling upon the temptations of politicians under such a system ,i do not now refer merely to the unscrupulous agitator or demagogue who seeks power1 notoriety or popularity by exciting class envies and animosities1 by setting the poor against the rich and preaching the gospel of public plunder2 nor would ,i dilate upon the methods so largely employed in the ,united ,states of accumulating1 by skilfully devised electoral machinery1 great masses of voting power drawn from the most ignorant voters1 and making use of them for purposes of corruption4 ,i would dwell rather on the bias which almost inevitably obliges the party leader to measure legislation mainly by its immediate popularity1 and its consequent success in adding to his voting strength4 ,in some countries this tendency shows itself in lavish expenditure on public works which provide employment for great masses of workmen and give a great immediate popularity in a constituency1 leaving to posterity a heavy burden of accumulated debt4 ,much of the financial embarrassment of ,europe is due to this source1 and in most countries extravagance in government expenditure is more popular than economy4 ,sometimes it shows itself in a legislation which regards only proximate or immediate effects1 and wholly neglects those which are distant and obscure4 ,a far-sighted policy sacrificing the present to a distant future becomes more difficult2 measures involving new principles1 but meeting present embarrassments or securing immediate popularity1 are started with little consideration for the precedents they are establishing and for the more extensive changes that may follow in their train4 ,the conditions of labour are altered for the benefit of the existing workmen1 perhaps at the cost of diverting capital from some great form of industry1 making it impossible to resist foreign competition1 and thus in the long run restricting employment and seriously injuring the very class who were to have been benefited4 ,when one party has introduced a measure of this kind the other is under the strongest temptation to outbid it1 and under the stress of competition and through the fear of being distanced in the race of popularity both parties often end by going much further than either had originally intended4 ,when the rights of the few are opposed to the interests of the many there is a constant tendency to prefer the latter4 ,it may be that the few are those who have built up an industry2 who have borne all the risk and cost1 who have by far the largest interest in its success4 ,the mere fact that they are the few determines the bias of the legislators4 ,there is a constant disposition to tamper with even clearly defined and guaranteed rights if by doing so some large class of voters can be conciliated4 ,parliamentary life has many merits1 but it has a manifest tendency to encourage short views4 ,the immediate party interest becomes so absorbing that men find it difficult to look greatly beyond it4 ,the desire of a skilful debater to use the topics that will most influence the audience before him1 or the desire of a party leader to pursue the course most likely to be successful in an immediately impending contest1 will often override all other considerations1 and the whole tendency of parliamentary life is to concentrate attention on landmarks which are not very distant1 thinking little of what is beyond4 ,one great cause of the inconsistency of parties lies in the absolute necessity of assimilating legislation4 ,many1 for example1 are of opinion that the existing tendency to introduce government regulations and interferences into all departments is at least greatly exaggerated1 and that it would be far better if a larger sphere were left to individual action and free contract4 ,but if large departments of industry have been brought under the system of regulation1 it is practically impossible to leave analogous industries under a different system1 and the men who most dislike the tendency are often themselves obliged to extend it4 ,they cannot resist the contention that certain legislative protections or other special favours have been granted to one class of workmen1 and that there is no real ground for distinguishing their case from that of others4 ,the dominant tendency will thus naturally extend itself1 and every considerable legislative movement carries others irresistibly in its train4 ,the pressure of this consideration is most painfully felt in the case of legislation which appears not simply inexpedient and unwise1 but distinctly dishonest4 ,in legislation relating to contracts there is a clear ethical distinction to be drawn4 ,it is fully within the moral right of legislators to regulate the conditions of future contracts4 ,it is a very different thing to break existing contracts1 or to take the still more extreme step of altering their conditions to the benefit of one party without the assent of the other1 leaving that other party bound by their restrictions4 ,in the ,american ,constitution there is a special clause making it impossible for any ,state to pass any law violating contracts4 ,in ,england1 unfortunately1 no such provision exists4 ,the most glaring and undoubted instance of this kind is to be found in the ,irish land legislation which was begun by the ,ministry of ,mr4 ,gladstone1 but which has been largely extended by the party that originally most strenuously opposed it4 ,much may no doubt be said to palliate it3 agricultural depression2 the excessive demand for land2 the fact that improvements were in ,ireland usually made by the tenants 7who1 however1 were perfectly aware of the conditions under which they made them1 and whose rents were proportionately lower72 the prevalence in some parts of ,ireland of land customs unsanctioned by law2 the existence of a great revolutionary movement which had brought the country into a condition of disgraceful anarchy4 ,but when all this has been admitted1 it remains indisputable to every clear and honest mind that ,english law has taken away without compensation unquestionably legal property and broken unquestionably legal contracts4 ,a landlord placed a tenant on his farm on a yearly tenancy1 but if he desired to exercise his plain legal right of resuming it at the termination of the year1 he was compelled to pay a compensation 'for disturbance1' which might amount to seven times the yearly rent4 ,a landlord let his land to a farmer for a longer period under a clear written contract bearing the government stamp1 and this contract defined the rent to be paid1 the conditions under which the farm was to be held1 and the number of years during which it was to be alienated from its owner4 ,the fundamental clause of the lease distinctly stipulated that at the end of the assigned term the tenant must hand back that farm to the owner from whom he received it4 ,the law has interposed1 and determined that the rent which this farmer had undertaken to pay shall be reduced by a government tribunal without the assent of the owner1 and without giving the owner the option of dissolving the contract and seeking a new tenant4 ,it has gone further1 and provided that at the termination of the lease the tenant shall not hand back the land to the owner according to the terms of his contract1 but shall remain for all future time the occupier1 subject only to a rent fixed and periodically revised1 irrespective of the wishes of the landlord1 by an independent tribunal4 ,vast masses of property in ,ireland had been sold under the ,incumbered ,estates ,act by a government tribunal acting as the representative of the ,imperial ,parliament1 and each purchaser obtained from this tribunal a parliamentary title making him absolute owner of the soil and of every building upon it1 subject only to the existing tenancies in the schedule4 ,no accounts of the earlier history of the property were handed to him1 for except under the terms of the leases which had not yet expired he had no liability for anything in the past4 ,the title he received was deemed so indefeasible that in one memorable case1 where by mistake a portion of the property of one man had been included in the sale of the property of another man1 the ,court of ,appeal decided that the injustice could not be remedied1 as it was impossible1 except in the case of intentional fraud1 to go behind parliamentary titles4#dd ,in cases in which the land was let at low rents1 and in cases where tenants held under leases which would soon expire1 the facility of raising the rents was constantly specified by the authority of the ,court as an inducement to purchasers4 ,what has become of this parliamentary title8 ,improvements1 if they had been made1 or were presumed to have been made by tenants anterior to the sale1 have ceased to be the property of the purchaser1 and he has at the same time been deprived of some of the plainest and most inseparable rights of property4 ,he has lost the power of disposing of his farms in the open market1 of regulating the terms and conditions on which he lets them1 of removing a tenant whom he considers unsuitable1 of taking the land back into his own hands when the specified term of a tenancy had expired1 of availing himself of the enhanced value which a war or a period of great prosperity1 or some other exceptional circumstance1 may have given to his property4 ,he has become a simple rent-charger on the land which by inheritance or purchase was incontestably his own1 and the amount of his rent-charge is settled and periodically revised by a tribunal in which he has no voice1 and which has been given an absolute power over his estate4 ,he bought or inherited an exclusive right4 ,the law has turned it into a dual ownership4 ,a tenant right which1 when he obtained his property1 was wholly unknown to the law1 and was only generally recognised by custom in one province1 has been carved out of it4 ,the tenant who happened to be in occupation when the law was passed can1 without the consent of the owner1 sell to another the right of occupying the farm at the existing rent4 ,in numerous cases this tenant right is more valuable than the fee simple of the farm4 ,in many cases a farmer who had eagerly begged to be a tenant at a specified rent has afterwards gone into the land court and had that rent reduced1 and has then proceeded to sell the tenant right for a sum much more than equivalent to the difference between the two rents4 ,in many cases this has happened where there could be no possible question of improvements by the tenant4 ,the tenant right of the smaller farms has steadily risen in proportion as the rent has been reduced4 ,in many cases1 no doubt1 the excessive price of tenant right may be attributed to the land hunger or passion for land speculation so common in ,ireland1 or to some exceptional cause inducing a farmer to give an extravagant price for the tenant right of a particular farm4 ,but although in such instances the price of tenant right is a deceptive test1 the movement1 when it is a general one1 is a clear proof that the reduction of rent did not represent an equivalent decline in the marketable value of the land1 but was simply a gratuitous transfer1 by the ,state1 of property from one person to another4 ,having in the first place turned the exclusive ownership of the landlord into a simple partnership1 the tribunal proceeded1 in defiance of all equity1 to throw the whole burden of the agricultural depression on one of the two partners4 ,the law did1 it is true1 reserve to the landlord the right of pre-emption1 or in other words the right of purchasing the tenant right when it was for sale1 at a price to be determined by the ,court1 and thus becoming once more the absolute owner of his farm4 ,the sum specified by the ,court was usually about sixteen years' purchase of the judicial rent4 ,by the payment of this large sum he may regain the property which a few years ago was incontestably his own1 which was held by him under the most secure title known to ,english law1 and which was taken from him1 not by any process of honest purchase1 but by an act of simple legislative confiscation4 ,whatever palliations of expediency may be alleged1 the true nature of this legislation cannot reasonably be questioned1 and it has established a precedent which is certain to grow4 ,the point1 however1 on which ,i would especially dwell is that the very party which most strongly opposed it1 and which most clearly exposed its gross and essential dishonesty1 have found themselves1 or believed themselves to be1 bound not only to accept it but to extend it4 ,they have contended that1 as a matter of practical politics1 it is impossible to grant such privileges to one class of agricultural tenants and to withhold it from others4 ,the chief pretext for this legislation in its first stages was that it was for the benefit of very poor tenants who were incapable of making their own bargains1 and that the fixity of tenure which the law gave to yearly tenants as long as they paid their rents had been very generally voluntarily given them by good landlords4 ,but the measure was soon extended by a ,unionist government to the leaseholders1 who are the largest and most independent class of farmers1 and who held their land for a definite time and under a distinct written contract4 ,it is in truth much more the shrewder and wealthier farmers than the poor and helpless ones that this legislation has chiefly benefited4 ,instances of this kind1 in which strong expediency or an absolute political necessity is in apparent conflict with elementary principles of right and wrong1 are among the most difficult with which a politician has to deal4 ,he must govern the country and preserve it in a condition of tolerable order1 and he sometimes persuades himself that without a capitulation to anarchy1 without attacks on property and violations of contract1 this is impossible4 ,whether the necessity is as absolute or the expediency as rightly calculated as he supposed1 may indeed be open to much question1 but there can be no doubt that most of the ,english statesmen who carried the ,irish agrarian legislation sincerely believed it1 and some of them imagined that they were giving a security and finality to the property which was left1 that would indemnify the plundered landlords4 ,perhaps1 under such circumstances1 the most that can be said is that wise legislators will endeavour1 by encouraging purchase on a large scale1 gradually to restore the absolute ownership and the validity of contract which have been destroyed1 and at the same time to compensate indirectly--if they cannot do it directly--the former owners for that portion of their losses which is not due to merely economical causes1 but to acts of the legislature that were plainly fraudulent4 ,there are other temptations of a different kind with which party leaders have to deal4 ,one of the most serious is the tendency to force questions for which there is no genuine desire1 in order to restore the unity or the zeal of a divided or dispirited party4 ,as all politicians know1 the desire for an attractive programme and a popular election cry is one of the strongest in politics1 and1 as they also know well1 there is such a thing as manufactured public opinion and artificially stimulated agitation4 ,questions are raised and pushed1 not because they are for the advantage of the country1 but simply for the purposes of party4 ,the leaders have often little or no power of resistance4 ,the pressure of their followers1 or of a section of their followers1 becomes irresistible2 ill-considered hopes are held out2 rash pledges are extorted1 and the party as a whole is committed4 ,much premature and mischievous legislation may be traced to such causes4 ,another very difficult question is the manner in which governments should deal with the acts of public servants which are intended for the public service1 but which in some of their parts are morally indefensible4 ,very few of the great acquisitions of nations have been made by means that were absolutely blameless1 and in a great empire which has to deal with uncivilised or semi-civilised populations acts of violence are certain to be not infrequent4 ,neither in our judgments of history nor in our judgments of contemporaries is it possible to apply the full stringency of private morals to the cases of men acting in posts of great responsibility and danger amid the storms of revolution1 or panic1 or civil war4 ,with the vast interests confided to their care1 and the terrible dangers that surround them1 measures must often be taken which cannot be wholly or at least legally justified4 ,on the other hand1 men in such circumstances are only too ready to accept the principle of ,macchiavelli and of ,napoleon1 and to treat politics as if they had absolutely no connection with morals4 ,cases of this kind must be considered separately and with a careful examination of the motives of the actor and of the magnitude of the dangers he had to encounter4 ,allowances must be made for the moral atmosphere in which he moved1 and his career must be considered as a whole1 and not only in its peccant parts4 ,in the trial of ,warren ,hastings1 and in the judgments which historians have passed on the lives of the other great adventurers who have built up the ,empire1 questions of this kind continually arise4 ,in our own day also they have been very frequent4 ,the ,coup d'tat of the #bnd of ,december1 #ahea1 is an extreme example4 ,louis ,napoleon had sworn to observe and to defend the ,constitution of the ,french ,republic1 which had been established in #ahdh1 and that ,constitution1 among other articles1 pronounced the persons of the representatives of the people to be inviolable2 declared every act of the ,president which dissolved the ,assembly or prorogued it1 or in any way trammelled it in the exercise of its functions1 to be high treason1 and guaranteed the fullest liberty of writing and discussion4 ',the oath which ,i have just taken1' said the ,president1 addressing the ,assembly1 'commands my future conduct4 ,my duty is clear2 ,i will fulfil it as a man of honour4 ,i shall regard as enemies of the country all those who endeavour to change by illegal means what all ,france has established4' ,in more than one subsequent speech he reiterated the same sentiments and endeavoured to persuade the country that under no possible circumstances would he break his oath or violate his conscience1 or overstep the limits of his constitutional powers4 ,what he did is well known4 ,before daybreak on ,december #b1 some of the most eminent statesmen in ,france1 including eighteen members of the ,chamber1 were1 by his orders1 arrested in their beds and sent to prison1 and many of them afterwards to exile4 ,the ,chamber was occupied by soldiers1 and its members1 who assembled in another place1 were marched to prison4 ,the ,high ,court of ,justice was dissolved by force4 ,martial law was proclaimed4 ,orders were given that all who resisted the usurpation in the streets were at once1 and without trial1 to be shot4 ,all liberty of the press1 all liberty of public meeting or discussion1 were absolutely destroyed4 ,about one hundred newspapers were suppressed and great numbers of their editors transported to ,cayenne4 ,nothing was allowed to be published without ,government authority4 ,in order to deceive the people as to the amount of support behind the ,president1 a ',consultative ,commission' was announced and the names were placarded in ,paris4 ,fully half the persons whose names were placed on this list refused to serve1 but in spite of their protests their names were kept there in order that they might appear to have approved of what was done4#de ,orders were issued immediately after the ,coup d'tat that every public functionary who did not instantly give in writing his adhesion to the new ,government should be dismissed4 ,the ,prfets were given the right to arrest in their departments whoever they pleased4 ,by an ex post facto decree1 issued on ,december #h1 the ,executive were enabled without trial to send to ,cayenne1 or to the penal settlements in ,africa1 any persons who had in any past time belonged to a 'secret society1' and this order placed all the numerous members of political clubs at the mercy of the ,government4 ,parliament1 when it was suffered to reassemble1 was so organised and shackled that every vestige of free discussion for many years disappeared1 and a despotism of almost ,asiatic severity was established in ,france4 ,it may be fully conceded that the tragedy of ,december #d1 when for more than a quarter of an hour some #c1jjj ,french soldiers deliberately fired volley after volley without return upon the unoffending spectators on the ,boulevards1 broke into the houses and killed multitudes1 not only of men but of women and children1 till the ,boulevards1 in the words of an ,english eye-witness1 were 'at some points a perfect shambles1' and the blood lay in pools round the trees that fringed them1 was not ordered by the ,president1 though it remained absolutely unpunished and uncensured by him4 ,there is conflicting evidence on this point1 but it is probable that some stray shots had been fired from the houses1 and it is certain that a wild and sanguinary panic had fallen upon the soldiers4 ,it is possible too1 and not improbable1 that the stories so generally believed in ,paris that large batches of prisoners1 who had been arrested1 were brought out of prison in the dead hours of the night and deliberately shot by bodies of soldiers1 may have been exaggerated or untrue4 ,maupas1 who was ,prfet of ,police1 and who must have known the truth1 positively denied it2 but the question what credence should be attached to a man of his antecedents who boasted that he had been from the first a leading agent in the whole conspiracy may be reasonably asked4#df ,evidence of these things1 as has been truly said1 could scarcely be obtained1 for the press was absolutely gagged and all possibility of investigation was prevented4 ,for the number of those who were transported or forcibly expelled within the few weeks after ,december #b1 we may perhaps rely upon the historian and panegyrist of the ,empire4 ,he computes them at the enormous number of #bf1ejj4dg ,after the ,plbiscite new measures of proscription were taken1 and1 according to mile ,ollivier1 one of the most enthusiastic and skilful eulogists of the ,coup d'tat1 in the first months of #aheb there were from #ae1jjj to #bj1jjj political prisoners in the ,french prisons4#dh ,it was by such means that ,louis ,napoleon attained the empire which had been the dream of his life4 ,like many1 however1 of the great crimes of history1 this was not without its palliations1 and a more detailed investigation will show that those palliations were not inconsiderable4 ,napoleon had been elected to the presidency by #e1dcd1bbf votes out of #g1cag1cdd which were given1 and with his name1 his antecedents1 and his well-known aspirations1 this overwhelming majority clearly showed what were the real wishes of the people4 ,his power rested on universal suffrage2 it was independent of the ,chamber4 ,it gave him the direction of the army1 though he could not command it in person1 and from the very beginning he assumed an independent and almost regal position4 ,in the first review that took place after his election he was greeted by the soldiers with cries of ',vive ,napolon6 ,vive l',empereur6' ,it was soon proved that the ,constitution of #ahdh was exceedingly unworkable4 ,in the words of ,lord ,palmerston3 ',there were two great powers1 each deriving its existence from the same source1 almost sure to disagree1 but with no umpire to decide between them1 and neither able by any legal means to get rid of the other4' ,the ,president could not dissolve the ,chamber1 but he could impose upon it any ministry he chose4 ,he was himself elected for only four years1 and he could not be re-elected1 while by a most fatuous provision the powers of the ,president and the ,chamber were to expire in #aheb at the same time1 leaving ,france without a government and exposed to the gravest danger of anarchy4 ,the ,legislative ,assembly1 which was elected in ,may1 #ahdi1 was1 it is true1 far from being a revolutionary one4 ,it contained a minority of desperate ,socialists1 it was broken into many factions1 and like most democratic ,french ,chambers it showed much weakness and inconsistency2 but the vast majority of its members were ,conservatives who had no kind of sympathy with revolution1 and its conduct towards the ,president1 if fairly judged1 was on the whole very moderate4 ,he soon treated it with contempt1 and it was quite evident that there was no national enthusiasm behind it4 ,the ,socialist party was growing rapidly in the great towns2 in ,june1 #ahdi1 there was an abortive ,socialist insurrection in ,paris1 and a somewhat more formidable one at ,lyons4 ,they were easily put down1 but the ,socialists captured a great part of the representation of ,paris1 and they succeeded in producing a wild panic throughout the country4 ,it led to several reactionary measures1 the most important being a law which by imposing new conditions of residence very considerably limited the suffrage4 ,this law was presented to the ,chamber by the ,ministers of the ,president and with his assent1 though he subsequently demanded the reestablishment of universal suffrage1 and made a decree effecting this one of the chief justifications of his ,coup d'tat4 ,the restrictive law was carried through the ,chamber on ,may #ca1 #ahej1 by an immense majority1 but it was denounced with great eloquence by some of its leading members1 and it added seriously to the unpopularity of the ,assembly1 and greatly lowered its authority in contending with a ,president whose authority rested on direct universal suffrage4 ,more than once he exercised his power of dismissing and appointing ministries absolutely irrespective of its votes and wishes1 and in each case in order to fill all posts of power with creatures of his own4 ,the newspapers supporting him continually inveighed against the ,chamber1 and dwelt upon the danger of anarchy to which ,france would be exposed in #aheb and upon the absolute necessity of 'a ,saviour of ,society4' ,in repeated journeys through ,france1 and in more than one military review1 the ,president gave the occasion of demonstrations in which the cries of ',vive l',empereur6' were often heard1 and which were manifestly intended to strengthen him in his conflict with the ,chamber4 ,the man from whom he had most to fear was ,changarnier1 who since the close of #ahdh had been commander of the troops in ,paris1 and whose name1 though far less popular than that of ,napoleon1 had much weight with the army4 ,he was a man with strong leanings to authority1 and was much courted by the monarchical parties1 but was for some time in decided sympathy with ,napoleon1 from whom1 however1 in spite of large offers that had been made him1 he gradually diverged4 ,he issued peremptory orders to the troops under his command1 forbidding all party cries at reviews4 ,he declared in the ,chamber that these cries had been 'not only encouraged but provoked1' and when the intention of the ,president to prolong his presidency became apparent1 he assured ,odilon ,barrot that he was prepared1 if ordered by the minister and authorised by the ,president of the ,chamber1 to anticipate the ,coup d'tat by seizing and imprisoning ,louis ,napoleon4#di ,the ,president succeeded in removing him from his command1 and in placing a creature of his own at the head of the ,paris troops2 but though ,changarnier acquiesced without resistance in his dismissal1 he remained an important member of the ,assembly2 he openly declared that his sword was at its service1 and if an armed conflict broke out it was tolerably certain that he would be its representative4 ,the ,president had an official salary of #dh1jjj l4--nearly five times as much as the ,president of the ,united ,states4 ,the ,chamber refused to increase it1 though they consented by a very small majority1 and at the request of ,changarnier1 to pay his debts4 ,the demand for a revision of the ,constitution1 making it possible for the ,president to be re-elected1 was rising rapidly through the country1 and there can be but little doubt that this was generally looked forward to as the only peaceful solution1 and that it represented the real wish of the great majority of the people4 ,petitions in favour of it1 bearing an enormous number of signatures1 were presented to the ,chamber1 and the overwhelming majority of the ,conseils ,gnraux of which the ,deputies generally formed part voted for revision4 ,the ,president did not so much petition for it as demand it4 ,in a message he sent to the ,chamber1 he declared that if they did not vote ,revision the people would1 in #aheb1 solemnly manifest their wishes4 ,in a speech at ,dijon1 ,june #a1 #ahea1 he declared that ,france from end to end demanded it2 that he would follow the wishes of the nation1 and that ,france would not perish in his hands4 ,in the same speech he accused the ,chamber of never seconding his wishes to ameliorate the lot of the people4 ,he at the same time lost no opportunity of showing that his special sympathy and trust lay with the army1 and he singled out with marked favour the colonels of the regiments which had shown themselves at the reviews most prominent in demonstrations in his favour4#ej ,the meaning of all this was hardly doubtful4 ,changarnier took up the gauntlet1 and at a time when the question of ,revision was before the ,chamber he declared that no soldier would ever be induced to move against the law and the ,assembly1 and he called upon the ,deputies to deliberate in peace4 ,the ,revision was voted in the ,chamber by #ddf votes to #bgh1 but a majority of three-fourths was required for a constitutional change1 and this majority was not obtained1 and in the disintegrated condition of ,french parties it seemed scarcely likely to be obtained4 ,the ,chamber was soon after prorogued for about two months1 leaving the situation unchanged1 and the tension and panic were extreme4 ,out of eighty-five ,conseils ,gnraux in ,france1 eighty passed votes in favour of ,revision1 three abstained1 two only opposed4 ,the ,president had now fully resolved upon a ,coup d'tat1 and before the ,chamber reassembled a new ministry was constituted1 ,st4-,arnaud being at the head of the army1 and ,maupas at the head of the police4 ,his first step was to summon the ,chamber to repeal the law of ,may #ca which abolished universal suffrage4 ,the ,chamber1 after much hesitation1 refused1 but only by two votes4 ,the belief that the question could only be solved by force was becoming universal1 and the bolder spirits in the ,chamber clearly saw that if no new measure was taken they were likely to be helpless before the military party4 ,by a decree of #ahdh the ,president of the ,chamber had a right1 if necessary1 to call for troops for its protection independently of the ,minister of ,war1 and a motion was now made that he should be able to select a general to whom he might delegate this power4 ,such a measure1 dividing the military command and enabling the ,chamber to have its own general and its own army1 might have proved very efficacious1 but it would probably have involved ,france in civil war1 and the ,president was resolved that1 if the ,chamber voted it1 the ,coup d'tat should immediately take place4 ,the vote was taken on ,november #ag1 #ahea4 ,st4-,arnaud1 as ,minister of ,war1 opposed the measure on constitutional grounds1 dilating on the danger of a divided military command1 but during the discussion ,maupas and ,magnan were in the gallery of the ,chamber1 waiting to give orders to ,st4-,arnaud to call out the troops and to surround and dissolve the ,chamber if the proposition was carried4 ,it was1 however1 rejected by a majority of #ajh1 and a few troubled days of conspiracy and panic still remained before the blow was struck4 ,the state of the public securities and the testimony of the best judges of all parties showed the genuineness of the alarm4 ,it was not true1 as the ,president stated in the proclamation issued when the ,coup d'tat was accomplished1 that the ,chamber had become a mere nest of conspiracies1 and there was a strange audacity in his assertion that he made the ,coup d'tat for the purpose of maintaining the ,republic against monarchical plots2 but it was quite true that the conviction was general that force had become inevitable2 that the chief doubt was whether the first blow would be struck by ,napoleon or ,changarnier1 and that while the evident desire of the majority of the people was to re-elect ,napoleon1 there was a design among some members of the ,chamber to seize him by force and to elect in his place some member of the ,house of ,orleans4#ea ,on ,december #b the curtain fell1 and ,napoleon accompanied his ,coup d'tat by a decree dissolving the ,chamber1 restoring by his own authority universal suffrage1 abolishing the law of ,may #ca1 establishing a state of siege1 and calling on the ,french people to judge his action by their vote4 ,it was certainly not an appeal upon which great confidence could be placed4 ,immediately after the ,coup d'tat1 the army1 which was wholly on his side1 voted separately and openly in order that ,france might clearly know that the armed forces were with the ,president and might be able to predict the consequences of a verdict unfavourable to his pretensions4 ,when1 nearly three weeks later1 the civilian ,plbiscite took place1 martial law was in force4 ,public meetings of every kind were forbidden4 ,no newspaper hostile to the new authority was permitted4 ,no electioneering paper or placard could be circulated which had not been sanctioned by ,government officials4 ,the terrible decree that all who had ever belonged to a secret society might be sent to die in the fevers of ,africa was interpreted in the widest sense1 and every political society or organisation was included in it4 ,all the functionaries of a highly centralised country were turned into ardent electioneering agents1 and the question was so put that the voters had no alternative except for or against the ,president1 a negative vote leaving the country with no government and an almost certain prospect of anarchy and civil war4 ,under these circumstances #g1ejj1jjj votes were given for the ,president and #ejj1jjj against him4 ,but after all deductions have been made there can be no real doubt that the majority of ,frenchmen acquiesced in the new rgime4 ,the terror of ,socialism was abroad1 and it brought with it an ardent desire for strong government4 ,the probabilities of a period of sanguinary anarchy were so great that multitudes were glad to be secured from it at almost any cost4 ,parliamentarism was profoundly discredited4 ,the peasant proprietary had never cared for it1 and the bourgeois class1 among whom it had once been popular1 were now thoroughly scared4 ,nothing in the contemporary accounts of the period is more striking than the indifference1 the almost amused cynicism1 or the sense of relief with which the great mass of ,frenchmen seem to have witnessed the destruction of their ,constitution and the gross insults inflicted upon a ,chamber which included so many of the most illustrious of their countrymen4 ,we can hardly have a better authority on this point than ,tocqueville4 ,no one felt more profoundly or more bitterly the iniquity of what had been done2 but he was under no illusion about the sentiments of the people4 ,the ,constitution1 he says1 was thoroughly unpopular4 ',louis ,napoleon had the merit or the luck to discover what few suspected--the latent ,bonapartism of the nation4444 ,the memory of the ,emperor1 vague and undefined1 but therefore the more imposing1 still dwelt like an heroic legend in the imaginations of the people4' ,all the educated1 in the opinion of ,tocqueville1 condemned and repudiated the ,coup d'tat4 ',thirty-seven years of liberty have made a free press and free parliamentary discussion necessary to us4' ,but the bulk of the nation was not with them4 ,the new ,government1 he predicted1 'will last until it is unpopular with the mass of the people4 ,at present the disapprobation is confined to the educated classes4' ',the reaction against democracy and even against liberty is irresistible4'#eb ,there is no doubt some exaggeration on both sides of this statement4 ,the appalling magnitude of the deportations and imprisonments by the new ,government seems to show that the hatred went deeper than ,tocqueville supposed1 and on the other hand it can hardly be said that the educated classes wholly repudiated what had been done when we remember that the ,french ,funds at once rose from #ia to #ajb1 that nearly all branches of ,french commerce made a similar spring1#ec that some twenty generals were actively engaged in the conspiracy1 and that the great body of the priests were delighted at its success4 ,the truth seems to be that the property of ,france saw in the success of the ,coup d'tat an escape from a great danger1 while two powerful professions1 the army and the ,church1 were strongly in favour of the ,president4 ,over the army the name of ,napoleon exercised a magical influence1 and the expedition to ,rome and the probability that the new government would be under clerical guidance were1 in the eyes of the ,church party1 quite sufficient to justify what had been done4 ,nothing1 indeed1 in this strange history is more significant than the attitude assumed by the special leaders and representatives of the ,church which teaches that 'it were better for the sun and moon to drop from heaven1 for the earth to fail1 and for all of the many millions upon it to die of starvation in extremest agony1 so far as temporal affliction goes1 than that one soul 444 should commit one venial sin1 should tell one wilful untruth4'#ed ,three illustrious churchmen--,lacordaire1 ,ravignan and ,dupanloup--to their immortal honour refused to give any approbation to the ,coup d'tat or to express any confidence in its author4 ,but the latest panegyrist of the ,empire boasts that they were almost alone in their profession4 ,by the advice of the ,papal ,nuncio and of the leading ,french bishops1 the clergy lost no time in presenting their felicitations4 ,veuillot1 who more than any other man represented and influenced the vast majority of the ,french priesthood1 wrote on what had been done with undisguised and unqualified exultation and delight4 ,even ,montalembert rallied to the ,government on the morrow of the ,coup d'tat4 ,he described ,louis ,napoleon as a ,prince 'who had shown a more efficacious and intelligent devotion to religious interests than any of those who had governed ,france during sixty years2' and it was universally admitted that the great body of the clergy1 with ,archbishop ,sibour at their head1 were in this critical moment ardent supporters of the new government4#ee ,kinglake1 in a page of immortal beauty1 has described the scene when1 thirty days after the ,coup d'tat1 ,louis ,napoleon appeared in ,notre ,dame to receive1 amid all the pomp that ,catholic ceremonial could give1 the solemn blessing of the ,church1 and to listen to the ,te ,deum thanking the ,almighty for what had been accomplished4 ,the time came1 it is true1 when the policy of the priests was changed1 for they found that ,louis ,napoleon was more liberal and less clerical than they imagined2 but in estimating the feelings with which ,french ,liberals judge the ,church1 its attitude towards the perjury and violence of ,december #b should never be forgotten4 ,to those who judge the political ethics of the ,roman ,catholic ,church not from the deceptive pages of such writers as ,newman1 but from an examination of its actual conduct in the different periods of its history1 it will appear in no degree inconsistent4 ,it is but another instance added to many of the manner in which it regards all acts which appear conducive to its interests4 ,it was the same spirit that led a ,pope to offer public thanks for the massacre of ,st4 ,bartholomew1 and to order ,vasari to paint the murder of ,coligny on the walls of the ,vatican among the triumphs of the ,church4 ,no ,christian sovereign of modern times has left a worse memory behind him than ,ferdinand ,,ii4 of ,naples1 who received the ,pope when he fled to ,gata in #ahdh4 ,he was the sovereign whose government was described by ,gladstone as 'a negation of ,god4' ,he not only destroyed the ,constitution he had sworn to observe1 but threw into a loathsome dungeon the ,liberal ministers who had trusted him4 ,but in the eyes of the ,pope his services to the ,church far outweighed all defects1 and the monument erected to this 'most pious prince' may be seen in one of the chapels of ,st4 ,peter's4 ,every visitor to ,paris may see the fresco in the ,madeleine in which ,napoleon ,i4 appears seated triumphant on the clouds and surrounded by an admiring priesthood1 the most prominent and glorified figure in a picture representing the history of ,french ,christianity1 with ,christ above1 blessing the work4 ,it is indeed a most significant fact that in ,catholic countries the highest moral level in public life is now rarely to be found among those who specially represent the spirit and teaching of their ,church1 and much more frequently among men who are unconnected with it1 and often with all dogmatic theology4 ,how seldom has the distinctively ,catholic press seriously censured unjust wars1 unscrupulous alliances1 violations of constitutional obligations1 unprovoked aggressions1 great outbursts of intolerance and fanaticism6 ,it is1 indeed1 not too much to say that some of the worst moral perversions of modern times have been supported and stimulated by a great body of genuinely ,catholic opinion both in the priesthood and in the press4 ,the anti-,semite movement1 the shameful indifference to justice shown in ,france in the ,dreyfus case1 and the countless frauds1 outrages and oppressions that accompanied the domination of the ,irish ,land ,league are recent and conspicuous examples4 ,among secular-minded laymen the ,coup d'tat of ,louis ,napoleon was1 as ,i have said1 differently judged4 ,few things in ,french history are more honourable than the determination with which so many men who were the very flower of the ,french nation refused to take the oath or give their adhesion to the new ,government4 ,great statesmen and a few distinguished soldiers1 with a splendid past behind them and with the prospect of an illustrious career before them2 men of genius who in their professorial chairs had been the centres of the intellectual life of ,france2 functionaries who had by laborious and persevering industry climbed the steps of their profession and depended for their livelihood on its emoluments1 accepted poverty1 exile and the long eclipse of the most honourable ambitions rather than take an oath which seemed to justify the usurpation4 ,at the same time1 some statesmen of unquestionable honour did not wholly and in all its parts condemn it4 ,lord ,palmerston was conspicuous among them4 ,without expressing approval of all that had been done1 he always maintained that the condition of ,france was such that a violent subversion of an unworkable ,constitution and the establishment of a strong government had become absolutely necessary2 that the ,coup d'tat saved ,france from the gravest and most imminent danger of anarchy and civil war1 and that this fact was its justification4 ,if it had not been for the acts of ferocious tyranny which immediately followed it1 his opinion would have been more largely shared4 ,it is probable that the moral character of ,coups d'tat may in the future not unfrequently come into discussion in ,europe1 as it has often done in ,south ,america4 ,as the best observers are more and more perceiving1 parliamentary government worked upon party lines is by no means an easy thing1 and it seldom attains perfection without long experience and without qualities of mind and character which are very unequally distributed among the nations of the world4 ,it requires a spirit of compromise1 patience and moderation2 the kind of mind which can distinguish the solid1 the practical and the well meaning1 from the brilliant1 the plausible and the ambitious1 which cares more for useful results and for the conciliation of many interests and opinions than for any rigid uniformity and consistency of principle2 which1 while pursuing personal ambitions and party aims1 can subordinate them on great occasions to public interests4 ,it needs a combination of independence and discipline which is not common1 and where it does not exist parliaments speedily degenerate either into an assemblage of puppets in the hands of party leaders or into disintegrated1 demoralised1 insubordinate groups4 ,some of the foremost nations of the world--nations distinguished for noble and brilliant intellect2 for splendid heroism2 for great achievements in peace and war--have in this form of government conspicuously failed4 ,in ,england it has grown with our growth and strengthened with our strength4 ,we have practised it in many phases4 ,its traditions have taken deep root and are in full harmony with the national character4 ,but in the present century this kind of government has been adopted by many nations which are wholly unfit for it1 and they have usually adopted it in the most difficult of all forms--that of an uncontrolled democracy resting upon universal suffrage4 ,it is becoming very evident that in many countries such assemblies are wholly incompetent to take the foremost place in government1 but they are so fenced round by oaths and other constitutional forms that nothing short of violence can take from them a power which they are never likely voluntarily to relinquish4 ,in such countries democracy tends much less naturally to the parliamentary system than to some form of dictatorship1 to some despotism resting on and justified by a plbiscite4 ,it is probable that many transitions in this direction will take place4 ,they will seldom be carried out through purely public motives or without perjury and violence4 ,but public opinion will judge each case on its own merits1 and where it can be shown that its results are beneficial and that large sections of the people have desired it1 such an act will not be severely condemned4 ,cases of conflicting ethical judgments of another kind may be easily cited4 ,one of the best known was that of ,governor ,eyre at the time of the ,jamaica insurrection of #ahfe4 ,in this case there was no question of personal interest or ambition4 ,the ,governor was a man of stainless honour1 who in a moment of extreme difficulty and danger had rendered a great service to his country4 ,by his prompt and courageous action a negro insurrection was quickly suppressed1 which1 if it had been allowed to extend1 must have brought untold horrors upon ,jamaica4 ,but the martial law which he had proclaimed was certainly continued longer than was necessary1 it was exercised with excessive severity1 and those who were tried under it were not merely men who had been taken in arms4 ,one conspicuous civilian agitator1 who had contributed greatly to stimulate the insurrection1 and had been1 in the opinion of the ,governor1 its 'chief cause and origin1' but who1 like most men of his kind1 had merely incited others without taking any direct part himself1 was arrested in a part of the island in which martial law was not proclaimed1 and was tried and hanged by orders of a military tribunal in a way which the best legal authorities in ,england pronounced wholly unwarranted by law4 ,if this act had been considered apart from the general conditions of the island it would have deserved severe punishment4 ,if the services of the ,governor had been considered apart from this act they would have deserved high honours from the ,crown4 ,in ,jamaica the ,governor was fully supported by the ,legislative ,council and the ,assembly1 but at home public opinion was fiercely divided1 and the fact that the chief literary and scientific men in ,england took sides on the question added greatly to its interest4 ,carlyle took a leading part in the defence of ,governor ,eyre4 ,john ,stuart ,mill was the chairman of a committee who regarded him as a simple criminal1 and who for more than two years pursued him with a persistent vindictiveness4 ,as might have been expected the one side dwelt solely on his services and the other side on his misdeeds4 ,governor ,eyre received no reward for the great service he had rendered1 and he was involved by his enemies in a ruinous legal expenditure1 which1 however1 was subsequently paid by the ,government2 but those who desired to bring him to trial for murder were baffled1 for the ,old ,bailey ,grand ,jury threw out the bill4 ,public opinion1 ,i think1 on the whole1 approved of what they had done4 ,most moderate men had come to the conclusion that ,governor ,eyre was a brave and honourable man who had rendered great services to the ,state and had saved countless lives1 but who1 through no unworthy motive and in a time of extreme danger and panic1 had committed a serious mistake which had been very amply expiated4 ,the more recent events connected with the ,jameson raid into the ,transvaal may also be cited4 ,of the raid itself there is little to be said4 ,it was1 in truth1 one of the most discreditable as well as mischievous events in recent colonial history1 and its character was entirely unrelieved by any gleam either of heroism or of skill4 ,those who took a direct part in it were duly tried and duly punished4 ,a section of ,english society adopted on this question a disgraceful attitude1 but it must at least be said in palliation that they had been grossly deceived1 one of the chief and usually most trustworthy organs of opinion having been made use of as an organ of the conspirators4 ,a more difficult question arose in the case of the statesman who had prepared and organized the expedition against the ,transvaal4 ,it is certain that the actual raid had taken place without his knowledge or consent1 though when it was brought to his knowledge he abstained from taking any step to stop it4 ,it may be conceded also that there were real grievances to be complained of4 ,by a strange irony of fate some of the largest gold mines of the world had fallen to the possession of perhaps the only people who did not desire them2 of a race of hunters and farmers intensely hostile to modern ideas1 who had twice abandoned their homes and made long journeys into distant lands in search of solitude and space and of a home where they could live their primitive1 pastoral lives1 undisturbed by any foreign element4 ,these men now found their country the centre of a vast stream of foreign immigration1 and of that most undesirable kind of immigration which gold mines invariably promote4 ,their laws were very backward1 but the part which was most oppressive was that connected with the gold-mining industry which was almost entirely in the hands of the immigrants1 and it was this which made it a main object to overthrow their government4 ,the trail of finance runs over the whole story1 but it may be acknowledged that1 although ,mr4 ,rhodes had made an enormous fortune by mining speculations1 and although he was largely interested as a financier in overturning the system of government at ,johannesburg1 he was not a man likely to be actuated by mere love of money1 and that political ambition closely connected with the opening and the civilisation of ,africa largely actuated him4 ,whether the motives of his co-conspirators were of the same kind may be open to question4 ,what1 however1 he did has been very clearly established4 ,when holding the highly confidential position of ,prime ,minister of the ,cape ,colony1 and being at the same time a ,privy ,councillor of the ,queen1 he engaged in a conspiracy for the overthrow of the government of a neighbouring and friendly ,state4 ,in order to carry out this design he deceived the ,high ,commissioner whose ,prime ,minister he was4 ,he deceived his own colleagues in the ,ministry4 ,he collected under false pretences a force which was intended to co-operate with an insurrection in ,johannesburg4 ,being a ,director of the ,chartered ,company he made use of that position1 without the knowledge of his colleagues1 to further the conspiracy4 ,he took an active and secret part in smuggling great quantities of arms into the ,transvaal1 which were intended to be used in the rebellion2 and at a time when his organs in the press were representing ,johannesburg as seething with spontaneous indignation against an oppressive government1 he1 with another millionaire1 was secretly expending many thousands of pounds in that town in stimulating and subsidising the rising4 ,he was also directly connected with the shabbiest incident in the whole affair1 the concoction of a letter from the ,johannesburg conspirators absurdly representing ,english women and children at ,johannesburg as in danger of being shot down by the ,boers1 and urging the ,british to come at once to save them4 ,it was a letter drawn up with the sanction of ,mr4 ,rhodes many weeks before the raid1 and before any disturbance had arisen1 and kept in reserve to be dated and used in the last moment for the purpose of inducing the young soldiers in ,south ,africa to join in the raid1 and of subsequently justifying their conduct before the ,war ,office1 and also for the purpose of being published in the ,english press at the same time as the first news of the raid1 in order to work upon ,english public opinion and persuade the ,english people that the raid1 though technically wrong1 was morally justifiable4#ef ,mr4 ,rhodes is a man of great genius and influence1 and in the past he has rendered great services to the ,empire4 ,at the same time no reasonable judge can question that in these transactions he was more blamable than those who were actually punished by the law for taking part in the raid--far more blamable than those young officers who were1 in truth1 the most severely punished1 and who had been induced to take part in it under a false representation of the wishes of the ,government at home1 and a grossly false representation of the state of things at ,johannesburg4 ,the failure of the raid1 and his undoubted complicity with its design1 obliged ,mr4 ,rhodes to resign the post of ,prime ,minister and his directorship of the ,chartered ,company1 and1 for a time at least1 eclipsed his influence in ,africa2 but the question confronted the ,ministers whether these resignations alone constituted a sufficient punishment for what he had done4 ,the question was indeed one of great difficulty4 ,the ,government1 in my opinion1 were right in not attempting a prosecution which1 in the face of the fact that the actual raid had certainly been undertaken without the knowledge of ,mr4 ,rhodes1 and that the evidence against him was chiefly drawn from his own voluntary admissions before the committee of inquiry1 would inevitably have proved abortive4 ,they were1 perhaps1 right in not taking from him the dignity of ,privy ,councillor1 which had been bestowed on him as a reward for great services in the past1 and which had never in the present reign been taken from anyone on whom it had been bestowed4 ,they were right also1 ,i believe1 in urging that after a long and elaborate inquiry into the circumstances of the raid1 and after a report in which ,mr4 ,rhodes's conduct had been fully examined and severely censured1 it was most important for the peace and good government of ,south ,africa that the matter should as soon as possible be allowed to drop1 and the raid and the party animosities it had aroused to subside4 ,but what can be thought of the language of a ,minister who volunteered to assure the ,house of ,commons that in all the transactions ,i have described1 ,mr4 ,rhodes1 though he had made 'a gigantic mistake1' a mistake perhaps as great as a statesman could make1 had done nothing affecting his personal honour8#eg ,the foregoing examples will serve to illustrate the kind of difficulty which every statesman has to encounter in dealing with political misdeeds1 and the impossibility of treating them by the clearly defined lines and standards that are applicable to the morals of a private life4 ,whatever conclusions men may arrive at in the seclusion of their studies1 when they take part in active political life they will find it necessary to make large allowances for motives1 tendencies1 past services1 pressing dangers1 overwhelming expediencies1 opposing interests4 ,every statesman who is worthy of the name has a strong predisposition to support the public servants who are under him when he knows that they have acted with a sincere desire to benefit the ,empire4 ,this is1 indeed1 a characteristic of all really great statesmen1 and it gives a confidence and energy to the public service which in times of difficulty and danger are of supreme importance4 ,in such times a mistaken decision is usually a less evil than timid1 vacillating1 or procrastinated action1 and a wise ,minister will go far to defend his subordinates if they have acted promptly and with substantial justice in the way they believed to be best1 even though they may have made considerable mistakes1 and though the results of their action may have proved unfortunate4 ,but of all forms of prestige1 moral prestige is the most valuable1 and no statesman should forget that one of the chief elements of ,british power is the moral weight that is behind it4 ,it is the conviction that ,british policy is essentially honourable and straightforward1 that the word and honour of its statesmen and diplomatists may be implicitly trusted1 and that intrigues and deceptions are wholly alien to their nature4 ,the statesman must steer his way between rival fanaticisms--the fanaticism of those who pardon everything if it is crowned by success and conduces to the greatness of the ,empire1 and who act as if weak ,powers and savage nations had no moral rights2 and the fanaticism of those who always seem to have a leaning against their own country1 and who imagine that in times of war1 anarchy1 or rebellion1 and in dealings with savage or half-savage military populations1 it is possible to act with the same respect for the technicalities of law1 and the same invariably high standard of moral scrupulousness1 as in a peaceful age and a highly civilised country4 ,in the affairs of private life the distinction between right and wrong is usually very clear1 but it is not so in public affairs4 ,even the moral aspects of political acts can seldom be rightly estimated without the exercise of a large1 judicial1 and comprehensive judgment1 and the spirit which should actuate a statesman should be rather that of a high-minded and honourable man of the world than that of a theologian1 or a lawyer1 or an abstract moralist4 ,in some respects the standard of political morality has undoubtedly risen in modern times2 but it is by no means certain that in international politics this is the case4 ,a true history of the wars of the last half of the nineteenth century may well lead us to doubt it1 and recent disclosures have shown us that in the most terrible of them--the ,franco-,german ,war of #ahgj--the blame must be much more equally divided than we had been accustomed to believe4 ,very few massacres in history have been more gigantic or more clearly traced to the action of a government than those perpetrated by ,turkish soldiers in our generation1 and few signs of the low level of public feeling in ,christendom are more impressive than the general indifference with which these massacres were contemplated in most countries4 ,it was made evident that a ,power which retains its military strength1 and which is therefore sought as an ally and feared as an enemy1 may do things with impunity1 and even with very little censure1 which in the case of a weak nation would produce a swift retribution4 ,among the minor episodes of nineteenth-century history the historian will not forget how soon after the savage ,armenian massacres the sovereign of one of the greatest and most civilised of ,christian nations hastened to ,constantinople to clasp the hand which was so deeply dyed with ,christian blood1 and then1 having1 as he thought1 sufficiently strengthened his popularity and influence in that quarter1 proceeded to the ,mount of ,olives1 where1 amid scenes that are consecrated by the most sacred of all memories1 and most fitted to humble the pride of power and dispel the dreams of ambition1 he proclaimed himself with melodramatic piety the champion and the patron of the ,christian faith6 ,how many instances may be culled from very modern history of the deliberate falsehood of statesmen2 of distinct treaty engagements and obligations simply set aside because they were inconvenient to one ,power1 and could be repudiated with impunity2 of weak nations annexed or plundered without a semblance of real provocation6 ,the safety of the weak in the presence of the strong is the best test of international morality4 ,can it be said that1 if measured by this test1 the public morality of our time ranks very high8 ,no one can fail to notice with what levity the causes of war with barbarous or semi-civilised nations are scrutinised if only those wars are crowned with success2 how strongly the present commercial policy of ,europe is stimulating the passion for aggression2 how warmly that policy is in all great nations supported by public opinion and by the ,press4 ,the questions of morality arising out of these things are many and complicated1 and they cannot be disposed of by short and simple formul4 ,how far is a statesman who sees1 or thinks he sees1 some crushing danger from an aggressive foreign ,power impending over his country1 justified in anticipating that danger1 and at a convenient moment and without any immediate provocation forcing on a war8 ,how far is it his right or his duty to sacrifice the lives of his people through humanitarian motives1 for the redress of some flagrant wrong with which he is under no treaty obligation to interfere8 ,how far1 if several ,powers agree to guarantee the integrity of a small ,power1 is one ,power bound at great risk to interfere in isolation if its co-partners refuse to do so or are even accomplices in a policy of plunder8 ,how far1 if the aggression of other ,powers places his nation at a commercial or other disadvantage in the competition of nations1 may a statesman take measures which1 under other circumstances1 would be plainly unjustifiable1 to guard against such disadvantage8 ,with what degrees of punctiliousness1 at what cost of treasure and of life1 ought a nation to resent insults directed against its dignity1 its subjects and its flag8 ,what is the meaning and what are the limits of national egotism and national unselfishness8 ,there is such a thing as the comity of nations1 and even apart from treaty obligations no great nation can pursue a policy of complete isolation1 disregarding crimes and aggressions beyond its border4 ,on the other hand1 the primary duty of every statesman is to his own country4 ,his task is to secure for many millions of the human race the highest possible amount of peace and prosperity1 and a selfishness is at least not a narrow one which1 while abstaining from injuring others1 restricts itself to promoting the happiness of a vast section of the human race4 ,sacrifices and dangers which a good man would think it his clear duty to accept if they fell on himself alone wear another aspect if he is acting as trustee for a great nation and for the interests of generations who are yet unborn4 ,nothing is more calamitous than the divorce of politics from morals1 but in practical politics public and private morals will never absolutely correspond4 ,the public opinion of the nation will inevitably inspire and control its statesmen4 ,it creates in all countries an ethical code which with greater or less perfection marks out for them the path of duty1 and though a great statesman may do something to raise its level1 he can never wholly escape its influence4 ,in different nations it is higher or lower--in truthfulness and sincerity of diplomacy the variations are very great--but it will never be the exact code on which men act in private life4 ,it is certainly widely different from the ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,there is one belief1 half unconscious1 half avowed1 which in our generation is passing widely over the world and is practically accepted in a very large measure by the ,english-speaking nations4 ,it is that to reclaim savage tribes to civilisation1 and to place the outlying dominions of civilised countries which are anarchical or grossly misgoverned in the hands of rulers who govern wisely and uprightly1 are sufficient justification for aggression and conquest4 ,many who1 as a general rule1 would severely censure an unjust and unprovoked war1 carried on for the purpose of annexation by a strong ,power against a weak one1 will excuse or scarcely condemn such a war if it is directed against a country which has shown itself incapable of good government4 ,to place the world in the hands of those who can best govern it is looked upon as a supreme end4 ,wars are not really undertaken for this end4 ,the philanthropy of nations when it takes the form of war and conquest is seldom or never unmixed with selfishness1 though strong gusts of humanitarian enthusiasm often give an impulse1 a pretext1 or a support to the calculated actions of statesmen4 ,but when wars1 however selfish and unprovoked1 contribute to enlarge the boundaries of civilisation1 to stimulate real progress1 to put an end to savage customs1 to oppression or to anarchy1 they are now very indulgently judged even in the many cases in which the inhabitants of the conquered ,power do not desire the change and resist it strenuously in the field4 ,in domestic as in foreign politics the maintenance of a high moral standard in statesmanship is impossible unless the public opinion of the country is in harmony with it4 ,moral declension in a nation is very swiftly followed by a corresponding decadence among its public men1 and it will indeed be generally found that the standard of public men is apt to be somewhat lower than that of the better section of the public outside4 ,they are exposed to very special temptations1 some of which ,i have already indicated4 ,the constant habit of regarding questions with a view to party advantage1 to proximate issues1 to immediate popularity1 which is inseparable from parliamentary government1 can hardly fail to give some ply to the most honest intellect4 ,most questions have to be treated more or less in the way of compromise2 and alliances and coalitions not very conducive to a severe standard of political morals are frequent4 ,in ,england the leading men of the opposing parties have happily usually been able to respect one another4 ,the same standard of honour will be found on both sides of the ,house1 but every parliament contains its notorious agitators1 intriguers and self-seekers1 men who have been connected with acts which may or may not have been brought within the reach of the criminal law1 but have at least been sufficient to stamp their character in the eyes of honest men4 ,such men cannot be neglected in party combinations4 ,political leaders must co-operate with them in the daily intercourse and business of parliamentary life--must sometimes ask them favours--must treat them with deference and respect4 ,men who on some subjects and at some times have acted with glaring profligacy1 on others act with judgment1 moderation and even patriotism1 and become useful supporters or formidable opponents4 ,combinations are in this way formed which are in no degree wrong1 but which tend to dull the edge of moral perception and imperceptibly to lower the standard of moral judgment4 ,in the swift changes of the party kaleidoscope the bygone is soon forgotten4 ,the enemy of yesterday is the ally of to-day2 the services of the present soon obscure the misdeeds of the past2 and men insensibly grow very tolerant not only of diversities of opinion1 but also of gross aberrations of conduct4 ,the constant watchfulness of external opinion is very necessary to keep up a high standard of political morality4 ,public opinion1 it is true1 is by no means impeccable4 ,the tendency to believe that crimes cease to be crimes when they have a political object1 and that a popular vote can absolve the worst crimes1 is only too common2 there are few political misdeeds which wealth1 rank1 genius or success will not induce large sections of ,english society to pardon1 and nations even in their best moments will not judge acts which are greatly for their own advantage with the severity of judgment that they would apply to similar acts of other nations4 ,but when all this is admitted1 it still remains true that there is a large body of public opinion in ,england which carries into all politics a sound moral sense and which places a just and righteous policy higher than any mere party interest4 ,it is on the power and pressure of this opinion that the high character of ,english government must ultimately depend4 ,,footnotes3 #db ,this sentence may appear obscure to ,english readers4 ,the explanation is1 that by an ingenious arrangement1 devised by ,lord ,beaconsfield1 the professors of the ,jesuit ,college in ,stephen's ,green are nearly all made ,fellows of the ,royal ,university1 those of the ,arts ,faculty receiving #djjl4 a year1 and three ,medical ,fellows #aejl4 each4 ,by this device the ,catholic college has in reality a ,state endowment to the amount of between #f1jjjl4 and #g1jjjl4 a year4 ,this fact considerably reduces the grievance4 #dc ,see e4g4 the death-bed counsels of ,henry ,,iv4 to his son3-- ',therefore1 my ,harry1 ,be it thy course to busy giddy minds ,with foreign quarrels2 that action1 hence borne out1 ,may waste the memory of the former days4' ,henry ,,iv4 ,part ,,ii4 ,act ,,iv4 ,sc4 #d4 #dd ,lord ,lanesborough v4 ,reilly4 #de ,see ,tocqueville's ,memoirs 7,english trans471 ii4 #ahi1 ,letter to the ,times4 #df ,see ,maupas1 ,mmoires sur le ,second ,empire1 i4 #eaa1 #eab4 ,it is said that1 contrary to the orders of ,st4-,arnaud1 the soldiers1 instead of immediately shooting all persons in the street who were found with arms or constructing or defending a barricade1 made many prisoners1 and it is not clear what became of them4 ,granier de ,cassagnac1 however1 altogether denies the executions on the ,champ de ,mars 7ii4 #dcc74 #dg ,granier de ,cassagnac1 ii4 #dch4 #dh ,l',empire ,libral1 ii4 #ebf4 #di ,mmoires d',odilon ,barrot1 iv4 #ei-fa4 #ej ,mmoires d',odilon ,barrot1 iv4 #ef1 #eg4 #ea ,see ,lord ,palmerston's statements on this subject in ,ashley's ,life of ,palmerston1 ii4 #bjj-baa4 ,tocqueville1 however1 utterly denies that the majority of the ,assembly had any sympathy with these views 7,tocqueville's ,memoirs 7,eng4 trans471 ii4 #agg74 ,maupas1 in his ,mmoires1 gives a very detailed account of the conspiracy on the ,bonapartist side4 ,it appears that the 'homme de confiance' of ,changarnier was in his pay4 #eb ,tocqueville's ,memoirs1 ii4 #ec ,ashley's ,life of ,palmerston1 ii4 #bjh4 #ed ,newman4 #ee ,see ,ollivier1 ,l',empire ,libral1 i4 #eaj-eab4 #ef ,second ,report of the ,select ,committee on ,british ,south ,africa 7,july1 #ahig74 #eg ,parliamentary ,debates1 ,july #bf1 #ahig1 #aafi1 #aagj4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,the necessities for moral compromise ,i have traced in the army1 in the law1 and in the fields of politics may be found in another form not less conspicuously in the ,church4 ,the members1 and still more the ministers1 of an ancient ,church bound to formularies and creeds that were drawn up in long bygone centuries1 are continually met by the difficulties of reconciling these forms with the changed conditions of human knowledge1 and there are periods when the pressure of these difficulties is felt with more than common force4 ,such1 for example1 were the periods of the ,renaissance and the ,reformation1 when changes in the intellectual condition of ,europe produced a widespread conviction of the vast amount of imposture and delusion which had received the sanction of a ,church that claimed to be infallible1 the result being in some countries a silent evanescence of all religious belief among the educated class1 even including a large number of the leaders of the ,church1 and in other countries a great outburst of religious zeal aiming at the restoration of ,christianity to its primitive form and a repudiation of the accretions of superstition that had gathered around it4 ,the ,copernican theory proving that our world is not1 as was long believed1 the centre of the universe1 but a single planet moving with many others around a central sun1 and the discovery1 by the instrumentality of the telescope1 of the infinitesimally small place which our globe occupies in the universe1 altered men's measure of probability and affected widely1 though indirectly1 their theological beliefs4 ,a similar change was gradually produced by the ,newtonian discovery that the whole system of the universe was pervaded by one great law1 and by the steady growth of scientific knowledge1 proving that vast numbers of phenomena which were once attributed to isolated and capricious acts of spiritual intervention were regulated by invariable1 inexorable1 all-pervasive law4 ,many of the formularies by which we still express our religious beliefs date from periods when comets and eclipses were believed to have been sent to portend calamity2 when every great meteorological change was attributed to some isolated spiritual agency2 when witchcraft and diabolical possession1 supernatural diseases1 and supernatural cures were deemed indubitable facts3 and when accounts of contemporary miracles1 ,divine or ,satanic1 carried with them no sense of strangeness or improbability4 ,it is scarcely surprising that these formularies sometimes seem incongruous with an age when the scientific spirit has introduced very different conceptions of the government of the universe1 and when the miraculous1 if it is not absolutely discredited1 is1 at least in the eyes of most educated men1 relegated to a distant past4 ,the present century has seen some powerful reactions towards older religious beliefs1 but it has also been to an unusual extent fertile in the kind of changes that most deeply affect them4 ,not many years have passed since the whole drama of the world's history was believed to have been comprised in the framework of ',paradise ,lost' and ',paradise ,regained4' ,man appeared in the universe a faultless being in a faultless world1 but he soon fell from his first estate1 and his fall entailed world-wide consequences4 ,it introduced into our globe sin1 death1 suffering1 disease1 imperfection and decay2 all the mischievous and ferocious instincts and tendencies of man and beast2 all the multitudinous forms of struggle1 terror1 anxiety and grief2 all that makes life bitter to any living being1 and1 even as the ,fathers were accustomed to say1 the briars and weeds and sterility of the earth4 ,paradise ,regained was believed to be indissolubly connected with ,paradise ,lost4 ,the one was the explanation of the other4 ,the one introduced the disease1 the other provided the remedy4 ,it is idle to deny that the main outlines of this picture have been wholly changed4 ,first came the discovery that the existence of our globe stretches far beyond the period once assigned to the ,creation1 and that for countless ages before the time when ,adam was believed to have lost ,paradise1 death had been its most familiar fact and its inexorable law2 that the animals who inhabited it preyed upon and devoured each other as at present1 their claws and teeth being specially adapted for that purpose4 ,even their half-digested remains have been preserved in fossil4 ',death1' wrote a ,pagan philosopher1 in sharp contrast to the teaching of the ,church1 'is a law and not a punishment1' and geology has fully justified his assertion4 ,then came decisive evidence showing that for many thousands of years before his supposed origin man had lived and died upon our globe--a being1 as far as can be judged from the remains that have been preserved1 not superior but greatly inferior to ourselves1 whose almost only art was the manufacture of rude instruments for killing1 who appears in structure and in life to have approximated closely to the lowest existing forms of savage life4 ,then came the ,darwinian theory maintaining that the whole history of the living world is a history of slow and continuous evolution1 chiefly by means of incessant strife1 from lower to higher forms2 that man himself had in this way gradually emerged from the humblest forms of the animal world2 that most of the moral deflections which were attributed to the apple in ,eden are the remains and traditions of the earlier and lower stages of his existence4 ,the theory of continuous ascent from a lower to a higher stage took the place of the theory of the ,fall as the explanation of human history4 ,it is a doctrine which is certainly not without hope for the human race4 ,it gives no explanation of the ultimate origin of things1 and it is in no degree inconsistent with the belief either in a ,divine and ,creative origin or in a settled and ,providential plan4 ,but it is as far as possible removed from the conception of human history and human nature which ,christendom during eighteen centuries accepted as fundamental truth4 ,with these things have come influences of another kind4 ,comparative ,mythology has accumulated a vast amount of evidence1 showing how myths and miracles are the natural product of certain stages of human history1 of certain primitive misconceptions of the course of nature2 how legends essentially of the same kind1 though with some varieties of detail1 have sprung up in many different quarters1 and how they have migrated and interacted on each other4 ,biblical criticism has at the same time decomposed and analysed the ,jewish writings1 assigning to them dates and degrees of authority very different from those recognised by the ,church4 ,it has certainly not impaired their significance as records of successive developments of religious and moral progress1 nor has it diminished their value as expressions of the loftiest and most enduring religious sentiments of mankind2 but in the eyes of a great section of the educated world it has deprived them of the authoritative and infallible character that was once attributed to them4 ,at the same time historical criticism has brought with it severer standards of proof1 more efficient means of distinguishing the historical from the fabulous4 ,it has traced the phases and variations of religions1 and the influences that governed them1 with a fulness of knowledge and an independence of judgment unknown in the past1 and it has led its votaries to regard in these matters a sceptical and hesitating spirit as a virtue1 and credulity and easiness of belief as a vice4 ,this is not a book of theology1 and ,i have no intention of dilating on these things4 ,it must1 however1 be manifest to all who are acquainted with contemporary thought how largely these influences have displaced theological beliefs among great numbers of educated men2 how many things that were once widely believed have become absolutely incredible2 how many that were once supposed to rest on the plane of certainty have now sunk to the lower plane of mere probability or perhaps possibility4 ,from the time of ,galileo downwards1 these changes have been denounced as incompatible with the whole structure of ,christian belief4 ,no less an apologist than ,bishop ,berkeley declared that the belief that the date of the existence of the world was approximately that which could be deduced from the book of ,genesis was one of the fundamental beliefs which could not be given up4#eh ,when the traveller ,brydone published his travels in ,sicily in #aggc1 conjecturing1 from the deposits of lava1 that the world must be much older than the ,mosaic cosmogony admitted1 his work was denounced as subverting the foundations of the ,christian faith4 ,the same charges were brought against the earlier geologists1 and in our own day against the early supporters of the ,darwinian theory2 and many now living can remember the outbursts of indignation against those who first introduced the principles of ,german criticism into ,english thought1 and who impugned the historical character and the assumed authorship of the ,pentateuch4 ,it is not surprising or unreasonable that it should have been so1 for it is impossible to deny that these changes have profoundly altered large portions of the beliefs that were once regarded as essential4 ,one main object of a religion was believed to have been to furnish what may be called a theory of the universe--to explain its origin1 its destiny1 and the strange contradictions and imperfections it presents4 ,the ,jewish theory was a very clear and definite one1 but it is certainly not that of modern science4 ,yet few things are more remarkable than the facility with which these successive changes have gradually found their places within the ,established ,church1 and how little that ,church has been shaken by this fact4 ,even the ,darwinian theory1 though it has not yet passed into the circle of fully established truth1 is in its main lines constantly mentioned with approbation by the clergy of the ,church4 ,the theory of evolution largely pervades their teaching4 ,the doctrine that the ,bible was never intended to teach science or scientific facts1 and also the main facts and conclusions of modern ,biblical criticism1 have been largely accepted among the most educated clergy4 ,very few of them would now deny the antiquity of the world1 the antiquity of man1 or the antiquity of death1 or would maintain that the ,mosaic cosmogony was a true and literal account of the origin of the globe and of man1 or would very strenuously argue either for the ,mosaic authorship or the infallibility of the ,pentateuch4 ,and while changes of this kind have been going on in one direction1 another great movement has been taking place in an opposite one4 ,the ,church of ,england was essentially a ,protestant ,church2 though1 being constructed more than most other ,churches under political influences1 by successive stages of progress1 and with a view to including large and varying sections of opinion in its fold1 it retained1 more than other ,churches1 formularies and tenets derived from the ,church it superseded4 ,the earnest ,protestant and ,puritan party which dominated in ,scotland and in the ,continental ,reformation1 and which refused all compromise with ,rome1 had not become powerful in ,english public opinion till some time after the framework of the ,church was established4 ,the spirit of compromise and conservatism which already characterised the ,english people2 the great part which kings and lawyers played in the formation of the ,church2 their desire to maintain in ,england a single body1 comprising men who had broken away from the ,papacy but who had in other respects no great objection to ,roman ,catholic forms and doctrines1 and also men seriously imbued with the strong ,protestant feeling of ,germany and ,switzerland2 the strange ductility of belief and conduct that induced the great majority of the ,english clergy to retain their preferments and avoid persecution during the successive changes of ,henry ,,viii41 ,edward ,,vi41 ,mary1 and ,elizabeth1 all assisted in forming a ,church of a very composite character4 ,two distinct theories found their place within it4 ,according to one school it was simply the pre-,reformation ,church purified from certain abuses that had gathered around it1 organically united with it through a divinely appointed episcopacy1 resting on an authoritative and ecclesiastical basis1 and forming one of the three great branches of the ,catholic ,church4 ,according to the other school it was one of several ,protestant ,churches1 retaining indeed such portions of the old ecclesiastical organisation as might be justified from ,scripture1 but not regarding them as among the essentials of ,christianity2 agreeing with other ,protestant bodies in what was fundamental1 and differing from them mainly on points which were non-essential2 accepting cordially the principle that 'the ,bible and the ,bible alone is the religion of ,protestants1' and at the same time separated by the gravest and most vital differences from what they deemed the great apostasy of ,rome4 ,it was argued on the one hand that in its ecclesiastical and legal organisation the ,church in ,england was identical with the ,church in the reign of ,henry ,,vii42 that there had been no breach of continuity2 that bishops1 and often the same bishops1 sat in the same sees before and after the ,reformation2 that the great majority of the parochial clergy were unchanged1 holding their endowments by the same titles and tenures1 subject to the same courts1 and meeting in ,convocation in the same manner as their predecessors2 that the old ,catholic services were merely translated and revised1 and that although ,roman usurpations which had never been completely acquiesced in had been decisively rejected1 and although many superstitious novelties had been removed1 the ,church of ,england was still the ,church of ,st4 ,augustine2 that it had never1 even in the darkest period1 lost its distinct existence1 and that supernatural graces and sacerdotal powers denied to all schismatics had descended to it through the ,episcopacy in an unbroken stream4 ,on the other hand it was argued that the essential of a true ,church lay in the accordance of its doctrines with the language of ,scripture and not in the methods of ,church government1 and that whatever might be the case in a legal point of view1 the theory of the unity of the ,church before and after the ,reformation was in a theological sense a delusion4 ,the ,church under ,henry ,,vii4 was emphatically a theocracy or ecclesiastical monarchy1 the ,pope1 as the supposed successor of the supposed prince of the ,apostles1 being the very keystone of the spiritual arch4 ,under ,henry ,,viii4 and ,elizabeth the ,church of ,england had become a kind of aristocracy of bishops1 governed very really as well as theoretically by the ,crown1 totally cut off from what called itself the ,chair of ,peter1 and placed under completely new relations with the ,catholic ,church of ,christendom4 ,in this space of time ,anglican ,christianity had discarded not only the ,papacy but also great part of what for centuries before the change had been deemed vitally and incontestably necessary both in its theology and in its devotions4 ,though much of the old organisation and many of the old formularies had been retained1 its articles1 its homilies1 the constant teaching of its founders1 breathed a spirit of unquestionable ,protestantism4 ,the ,church which remained attached to ,rome1 and which held the same doctrines1 practised the same devotions1 and performed the same ceremonies as the ,english ,church under ,henry ,,vii41 professed to be infallible1 and it utterly repudiated all connection with the new ,church of ,england1 and regarded it as nothing more than a ,protestant schism2 while the ,church of ,england in her authorised formularies branded some of the central beliefs and devotions of the ,roman ,church as blasphemous1 idolatrous1 superstitious and deceitful1 and was long accustomed to regard that ,church as the ,church of ,antichrist2 the ,harlot of the ,apocalypse1 drunk with the blood of the ,saints4 ,each ,church during long periods and to the full measure of its powers suppressed or persecuted the other4 ,in the eyes of the ,erastian and also in the eyes of the ,puritan the theory of the spiritual unity of these two bodies1 and the various sacerdotal consequences that were inferred from it1 seemed incredible1 nor did the first generation of our reformers shrink from communion1 sympathy and co-operation with the non-episcopal ,protestants of the ,continent4 ,although they laid great stress on patristic authority1 and consented--chiefly through political motives--to leave in the ,prayer-book many things derived from the older ,church1 yet the ,high ,church theory of ,anglicanism is much more the product of the seventeenth-century divines than of the reformers1 just as ,roman ,catholicism is much more akin to the later fathers than to primitive ,christianity4 ,no one could doubt on what side were the sympathies and what were the opinions of ,cranmer1 ,latimer1 ,ridley1 ,jewell and ,hooper1 and what spirit pervades the articles and the homilies4 ,a ,church which does not claim to be infallible2 which owes its special form chiefly to the sagacity of statesmen2 in which the supreme tribunal1 deciding what doctrines may be taught by the clergy1 is a secular law court2 in which the bands of conformity are so loose that the tendencies and sentiments of the nation give the complexion to the ,church1 appears in the eyes of men of these schools to have no possible right to claim or share the authority of the ,church of ,rome4 ,it rests on another basis4 ,it must be justified on other grounds4 ,these two distinct schools1 however1 have subsisted in the ,church4 ,each of them can find some support in the ,prayer-book1 and the old orthodox ,high ,church school which was chiefly elaborated and which chiefly flourished under the ,stuarts1 has produced a great part of the most learned theology of ,christendom1 and had in its early days little or no tendency to ,rome4 ,it was exclusive and repellent on the side of ,nonconformity1 and it placed ,church authority very high2 but the immense majority of its members were intensely loyal to the ,anglican ,church1 and lived and died contentedly within its pale4 ,there were1 however1 always in that ,church men of another kind whose true ideal lay beyond its border4 ,falkland1 in a remarkable speech1 delivered in #afdj1 speaks of them with much bitterness4 ',some1' he says1 'have so industriously laboured to deduce themselves from ,rome that they have given great suspicion that in gratitude they desire to return thither1 or at least to meet it half way4 ,some have evidently laboured to bring in an ,english though not a ,roman ,popery2 ,i mean not only the outside and dress of it1 but equally absolute4444 ,nay1 common fame is more than ordinarily false if none of them have found a way to reconcile the opinions of ,rome to the preferments of ,england1 and be so absolutely1 directly and cordially ,papists that it is all that #a1ejjl4 a year can do to keep them from confessing it4'#ei ,no wide secession to ,rome1 however1 followed the development of this seventeenth-century school1 though it played a large part in the nonjuror schism1 and with the decay of that schism and under the latitudinarian tendencies of the eighteenth century it greatly dwindled4 ,since1 however1 the ,tractarian movement1 which carried so many leaders of the ,english ,church to ,rome1 men of ,roman sympathies and ,roman ideals have multiplied within the ,church to an extraordinary degree4 ,they have not only carried their theological pretensions in the direction of ,rome much further than the nonjurors2 they have also in many cases so transformed the old and simple ,anglican service by vestments and candles1 and banners and incense1 and genuflexions and whispered prayers1 that a stranger might well imagine that he was in a ,roman ,catholic church4 ,they have put forward sacerdotal pretensions little1 if at all1 inferior to those of ,rome4 ,the whole tendency of their devotional literature and thought flows in the ,roman channel1 and even in the most insignificant matters of ceremony and dress they are accustomed to pay the greater ,church the homage of constant imitation4 ,it would be unjust to deny that there are some real differences4 ,the absolute authority and infallibility of the ,pope are sincerely repudiated as an usurpation1 the ritualist theory only conceding to him a primacy among bishops4 ,the discipline and submission to ecclesiastical authority also1 which so eminently distinguish the ,roman ,church1 are wholly wanting in many of its ,anglican imitators1 and at the same time the ,english sense of truth has proved sufficient to save the party from the tolerance and propagation of false miracles and of grossly superstitious practices so common in ,roman ,catholic countries4 ,in this last respect1 however1 it is probable that ,english and ,american ,roman ,catholics are almost equally distinguished from ,catholics in the ,southern ,states of ,europe and of ,america4 ,still1 when all this is admitted1 it can hardly be denied that there has grown up in a great section of the ,english ,church a sympathy with ,rome and an antipathy to ,protestantism and to ,protestant types of thought and character utterly alien to the spirit of the ,reformers and to the doctrinal formularies of the ,church of ,england4 ,it is not very easy to form a just estimate of the extent and depth of this movement4 ,there are wide variations in the ,high ,church party2 the extreme men are not the most numerous and certainly very far from the ablest1 and many influences other than convinced belief have tended to strengthen the party4 ,it has been1 indeed1 unlike the ,tractarian party which preceded it1 remarkably destitute of literary or theological ability1 and has added singularly little to the large and noble theological literature of the ,english ,church4 ,the mere charm of novelty1 which is always especially powerful in the field of religion1 draws many to the ritualistic channel1 and thousands who care very little for ritualistic doctrines are attracted by the music1 the pageantry1 the pictorial beauty of the ritualistic services4 sthetic tastes have of late years greatly increased in ,england1 and the closing of places of amusement on ,sunday probably strengthens the craving for more attractive services4 ,the extreme ,high ,church party has chiefly fostered and chiefly benefited by this desire1 but it has extended much more widely4 ,it has touched even puritanical and non-episcopal bodies1 and it is sometimes combined with extremely latitudinarian opinions4 ,there is1 indeed1 a type of mind which finds in such services a happy anodyne for half-suppressed doubt4 ,petitions which in their poignant humiliation and profound emotion no longer correspond to the genuine feelings of the worshipper1 seem attenuated and transformed when they are intoned1 and creeds which when plainly read shock the understanding and the conscience are readily accepted as parts of a musical performance4 ,scepticism as well as belief sometimes fills churches4 ,large classes who have no wish to cut themselves off from religious services have lost all interest in the theological distinctions which once were deemed supremely important and all strong belief in great parts of dogmatic systems1 and such men naturally prefer services which by music and ornament gratify their tastes and exercise a soothing or stimulating influence over the imagination4 ,the extreme ,high ,church party has1 however1 other elements of attraction4 ,much of its power is due to the new springs of real spiritual life and the new forms of real usefulness and charity that grew out of its highly developed sacerdotal system and out of the semi-monastic confraternities which at once foster and encourage and organise an active zeal4 ,the power of the party in acting not only on the cultivated classes but also on the poor is very manifest1 and it has done much to give the ,church of ,england a democratic character which in past generations it did not possess1 and which in the conditions of modern life is supremely important4 ,the multiplication not only of religious services but of communicants1 and the great increase in the interest taken in ,church life in quarters where the ,ritualist party prevail1 cannot reasonably be questioned4 ,its highly ornate services draw many into the churches who never entered them before1 and they are often combined with a familiar and at the same time impassioned style of preaching1 something like that of a ,franciscan friar or a ,methodist preacher1 which is excellently fitted to act upon the ignorant4 ,if its clergy have been distinguished for their insubordination to their bishops1 if they have displayed in no dubious manner a keen desire to aggrandise their own position and authority1 it is also but just to add that they have been prominent for the zeal and self-sacrifice with which they have multiplied services1 created confraternities1 and penetrated into the worst and most obscure haunts of poverty and vice4 ,the result1 however1 of all this is that the conflicting tendencies which have always been present in the ,church have been greatly deepened4 ,there are to be found within it men whose opinions can hardly be distinguished from simple ,deism or ,unitarianism1 and men who abjure the name of ,protestant and are only divided by the thinnest of partitions from the ,roman ,church4 ,and this diversity exists in a ,church which is held together by articles and formularies of the sixteenth century4 ,it might1 perhaps1 a priori have been imagined that a ,church with so much diversity of opinion and of spirit was an enfeebled and disintegrated ,church1 but no candid man will attribute such a character to the ,church of ,england4 ,all the signs of corporate vitality are abundantly displayed1 and it is impossible to deny that it is playing an active1 powerful1 and most useful part in ,english life4 ,looking at it first of all from the intellectual side1 it is plain how large a proportion of the best intellect of the country is contented1 not only to live within it1 but to take an active part in its ministrations4 ,compare the amount of higher literature which proceeds from clergymen of the ,established ,church with the amount which proceeds from the vastly greater body of ,catholic priests scattered over the world2 compare the place which the ,english clergy1 or laymen deeply imbued with the teaching of the ,church1 hold in ,english literature with the place which ,catholic priests1 or sincere ,catholic laymen1 hold in the literature of ,france1--and the contrast will appear sufficiently evident4 ,there is hardly a branch of serious ,english literature in which ,anglican clergy are not conspicuous4 ,there is nothing in a false and superstitious creed incompatible with some forms of literature4 ,it may easily ally itself with the genius of a poet or with great beauty of style either hortatory or narrative4 ,but in the ,church of ,england literary achievement is certainly not restricted to these forms4 ,in the fields of physical science1 in the fields of moral philosophy1 metaphysics1 social and even political philosophy1 and perhaps still more in the fields of history1 its clergy have won places in the foremost rank4 ,it is notorious that a large proportion of the most serious criticism1 of the best periodical writing in ,england1 is the work of ,anglican clergymen4 ,no one1 in enumerating the leading historians of the present century1 would omit such names as ,milman1 ,thirlwall and ,merivale1 in the generation which has just passed away1 or ,creighton and ,stubbs among contemporaries1 and these are only eminent examples of a kind of literature to which the ,church has very largely contributed4 ,their histories are not specially conspicuous for beauty of style1 and not only conspicuous for their profound learning2 they are marked to an eminent degree by judgment1 criticism1 impartiality1 a desire for truth1 a skill in separating the proved from the false or the merely probable4 ,compare them with the chief histories that have been written by ,catholic priests4 ,in past ages some of the greatest works of patient1 lifelong industry in all literary history were due to the ,catholic priesthood1 and especially to members of the monastic orders2 even in modern times they have produced some works of great learning1 of great dialectic skill1 and of great beauty of style2 but with scarcely an exception these works bear upon them the stamp of an advocate and are written for the purpose of proving a point1 concealing or explaining away the faults on one side1 and bringing into disproportioned relief those of the other4 ,no one would look in them for a candid estimate of the merits of an opponent or for a full statement of a hostile case4 ,dllinger1 who would probably once have been cited as the greatest historian the ,catholic priesthood had produced in the nineteenth century1 died under the anathema of his ,church2 and how large a proportion of the best writing in modern ,english ,catholicism has come from writers who have been brought up in ,protestant universities and who have learnt their skill in the ,anglican ,church6 ,it is at least one great test of a living ,church that the best intellect of the country can enter into its ministry1 that it contains men who in nearly all branches of literature are looked upon by lay scholars with respect or admiration4 ,it is said that the number of young men of ability who take orders is diminishing1 and that this is due1 not merely to the agricultural depression which has made the ,church much less desirable as a profession1 and indeed in many cases almost impossible for those who have not some private fortune2 not merely to the competitive examination system1 which has opened out vast and attractive fields of ambition to the ablest laymen1--but also to the wide divergence of men of the best intellect from the doctrines of the ,church1 and the conviction that they cannot honestly subscribe its articles and recite its formularies4 ,but although this is1 ,i believe1 true1 it is also true that there is no other ,church which has shown itself so capable of attracting and retaining the services of men of general learning1 criticism and ability4 ,one of the most important features of the ,english ecclesiastical system has been the education of those who are intended for the ,church1 in common with other students in the great national universities4 ,other systems of education may produce a clergy of greater professional learning and more intense and exclusive zeal1 but no other system of education is so efficacious in maintaining a general harmony of thought and tendency between the ,church and the average educated opinion of the nation4 ,take another test4 ,compare the ,guardian1 which represents better than any other paper the opinions of moderate ,churchmen1 with the papers which are most read by the ,french priesthood and have most influence on their opinions4 ,certainly few ,english journalists have equalled in ability ,louis ,veuillot1 and few papers have exercised so great an influence over the clergy of the ,church as the ,univers at the time when he directed it2 but no one who read those savagely scurrilous and intolerant pages1 burning with an impotent hatred of all the progressive and liberal tendencies of the time1 shrinking from no misrepresentation of fact and from no apology for crime if it was in the interest of the ,church1 could fail to perceive how utterly out of harmony it was with the best lay thought of ,france4 ,english religious journalism has sometimes1 though in a very mitigated degree1 exhibited some of these characteristics1 but no one who reads the ,guardian1 which ,i suppose appeals to a larger clerical public than any other paper1 can fail to realise the contrast4 ,it is not merely that it is habitually written in the style and temper of a gentleman1 but that it reflects most clearly in its criticism1 its impartiality1 its tone of thought1 the best intellectual influences of the time4 ,men may agree or differ about its politics or its theology1 but no one who reads it can fail to admit that it is thoroughly in touch with cultivated lay opinion1 and it is in fact a favourite paper of many who care only for its secular aspects4 ,the intellectual ability1 however1 included among the ministers of a ,church1 though one test1 is by no means a decisive and infallible one of its religious life4 ,during the period of the ,renaissance1 when genuine belief in the ,catholic ,church had sunk to nearly its lowest point1 most men of literary tastes and talents were either members of the priesthood or of the monastic orders4 ,this was not due to any fervour of belief1 but simply to the fact that the ,church at that time furnished almost the only sphere in which a literary life could be pursued with comfort1 without molestation1 and with some adequate reward4 ,much of the literary ability found in the ,english ,church is unquestionably due to the attraction it offers and the facilities it gives to those who simply wish for a studious life4 ,the abolition of many clerical sinecures1 and the greatly increased activity of clerical duty imposed by contemporary opinion1 have no doubt rendered the profession less desirable from this point of view2 but even now there is no other profession outside the universities which lends itself so readily to a literary life1 and a great proportion of the most eminent thinkers and writers in the ,church of ,england are eminent in fields that have little or no connection with theology4 ,other tests of a flourishing ,church are needed1 but they can easily be found4 ,political power is one test1 though it is a very coarse and very deceptive one4 ,perhaps it is not too much to say that the most superstitious creeds are often those which exercise the greatest political influence1 for they are those in which the priesthood acquires the most absolute authority4 ,nor does the decline of superstition among the educated classes always bring with it a corresponding decline in ecclesiastical influence4 ,there have been instances1 both in ,pagan and ,christian times1 of a sceptical and highly educated ruling class supporting and allying themselves with a superstitious ,church as the best means of governing or moralising the masses4 ,such ,churches1 by their skilful organisation1 by their ascendency over individual rulers1 or by their political alliances1 have long exercised an enormous influence1 and in a democratic age the preponderance of political power is steadily passing from the most educated classes4 ,at the same time1 in a highly civilised and perfectly free country1 in which all laws of religious disqualification and coercion have disappeared1 and all questions of religion are submitted to perpetual discussion1 the political power which the ,church of ,england retains at least proves that she has a vast weight of genuine and earnest opinion behind her4 ,no politician will deny the strength with which the united or greatly preponderating influence of the ,church can support or oppose a party4 ,it has been said by a cynical observer that the three things outside their own families that average ,englishmen value the most are rank1 money1 and the ,church of ,england1 and certainly no good observer will form a low estimate of the strength or earnestness of the ,church feeling in every section of the ,english people4 ,still less can it be denied that the ,church retains in a high degree its educational influence4 ,for a long period national education was almost wholly in its hands1 and1 since all disqualifications and most privileges have been abolished1 it still exercises a part in ,english education which excites the alarm of some and the admiration of others4 ,it has thrown itself heartily into the new political conditions1 and the vast number of voluntary schools established under clerical influence1 and the immense sums that are annually raised for clerical purposes1 show beyond all doubt the amount of support and enthusiasm behind it4 ,in every branch of higher education its clergy are conspicuous1 and their influence in training the nation is not confined to the pulpit1 the university1 or the school4 ,no candid observer of ,english life will doubt the immense effect of the parochial system in sustaining the moral level both of principle and practice1 and the multitude1 activity1 and value of the philanthropic and moralising agencies which are wholly or largely due to the ,anglican ,church4 ,nor can it be reasonably doubted that the ,church has been very efficacious in promoting that spiritual life which1 whatever opinion men may form of its origin and meaning1 is at least one of the great realities of human nature4 ,the power of a religion is not to be solely or mainly judged by its corporate action2 by the institutions it creates2 by the part which it plays in the government of the world4 ,it is to be found much more in its action on the individual soul1 and especially in those times and circumstances when man is most isolated from society4 ,it is in furnishing the ideals and motives of individual life2 in guiding and purifying the emotions2 in promoting habits of thought and feeling that rise above the things of earth2 in the comfort it can give in age1 sorrow1 disappointment and bereavement2 in the seasons of sickness1 weakness1 declining faculties1 and approaching death1 that its power is most felt4 ,no one creed or ,church has the monopoly of this power1 though each has often tried to identify it with something peculiar to itself4 ,it maybe found in the ,catholic and in the ,quaker1 in the ,high ,anglican who attributes it to his sacramental system1 and in the ,evangelical in whose eyes that system holds only a very subordinate place4 ,all that need here be said is that no one who studies the devotional literature of the ,english ,church1 or who has watched the lives of its more devout members1 will doubt that this life can largely exist and flourish within its pale4 ,the attitude which men who have been born within that ,church1 but who have come to dissent from large portions of its theology1 should bear to this great instrument of good1 is certainly not less perplexing than the questions we have been considering in the preceding chapters4 ,the most difficult position is1 of course1 that of those who are its actual ministers and who have subscribed its formularies4 ,each man so situated must judge in the light of his own conscience4 ,there is a great difference between the case of men who accept such a position in the ,church though they differ fundamentally from its tenets1 and the case of men who1 having engaged in its service1 find their old convictions modified or shaken1 perhaps very gradually1 by the advance of science or by more matured thought and study4 ,the stringency of the old form of subscription has been much mitigated by an ,act of #ahfe which substituted a general declaration that the subscriber believed in the doctrine of the ,church as a whole1 for a declaration that he believed 'all and everything' in the ,articles and the ,prayer-book4 ,the ,church of ,england does not profess to be an infallible ,church2 it does profess to be a ,national ,church representing and including great bodies of more or less divergent opinion1 and the whole tendency of legal decisions since the ,gorham case has been to enlarge the circle of permissible opinion4 ,the possibility of the ,national ,church remaining in touch with the more instructed and intellectual portions of the community depends mainly on the latitude of opinion that is accorded to its clergy1 and on their power of welcoming and adopting new knowledge1 and it may reasonably be maintained that few greater calamities can befall a nation than the severance of its higher intelligence from religious influences4 ,it should be remembered1 too1 that on the latitudinarian side the changes that take place in the teaching of the ,church consist much less in the open repudiation of old doctrines than in their silent evanescence4 ,they drop out of the exhortations of the pulpit4 ,the relative importance of different portions of the religious teaching is changed4 ,dogma sinks into the background4 ,narratives which are no longer seriously believed become texts for moral disquisitions4 ,the introspective habits and the stress laid on purely ecclesiastical duties which once preponderated disappear4 ,the teaching of the pulpit tends rather to the formation of active1 useful and unselfish lives2 to a clearer insight into the great masses of remediable suffering and need that still exist in the world2 to the duty of carrying into all the walks of secular life a nobler and more unselfish spirit2 to a habit of judging men and ,churches mainly by their fruits and very little by their beliefs4 ,the disintegration or decadence of old religious beliefs which had long been closely associated with moral teaching always brings with it grave moral dangers1 but those dangers are greatly diminished when the change of belief is effected by a gradual transition1 without any violent convulsion or disruption severing men from their old religious observances4 ,such a transition has silently taken place in ,england among great numbers of educated men1 and in some measure under the influence of the clergy4 ,nor has it1 ,i think1 weakened the ,church4 ,the standard of duty among such men has not sunk1 but has in most departments perceptibly risen3 their zeal has not diminished1 though it flows rather in philanthropic than in purely ecclesiastical channels4 ,the conviction that the special dogmas which divided other ,protestant bodies from the ,establishment rested on no substantial basis and have no real importance tells in favour of the larger and the more liberal ,church1 and the comprehensiveness which allows highly accentuated sacerdotalism and latitudinarianism in the same ,church is in the eyes of many of them rather an element of strength than of weakness4 ,few men have watched the religious tendencies of the time with a keener eye than ,cardinal ,newman1 and no man hated with a more intense hatred the latitudinarian tendencies which he witnessed4 ,his judgment of their effect on the ,establishment is very remarkable4 ,in a letter to his friend ,isaac ,williams he says3 ',everything ,i hear makes me fear that latitudinarian opinions are spreading furiously in the ,church of ,england4 ,i grieve deeply at it4 ,the ,anglican ,church has been a most useful breakwater against ,scepticism4 ,the time might come when you1 as well as ,i1 might expect that it would be said above1 ,why cumbereth it the ground8 but at present it upholds far more truth in ,england than any other form of religion would1 and than the ,catholic ,roman ,church could4 ,but what ,i fear is that it is tending to a powerful ,establishment teaching direct error1 and more powerful than it has ever been2 thrice powerful because it does teach error4'#fj ,it is1 however1 of course1 evident that the latitude of opinion which may be reasonably claimed by the clergy of a ,church encumbered with many articles and doctrinal formularies is not unlimited1 and each man must for himself draw the line4 ,the fact1 too1 that the ,church is an ,established ,church imposes some special obligations on its ministers4 ,it is their first duty to celebrate public worship in such a form that all members of the ,church of ,england may be able to join in it4 ,whatever interpretations may be placed upon the ceremonies of the ,church1 those ceremonies1 at least1 should be substantially the same4 ,a stranger who enters a church which he has never before seen should be able to feel that he is certain of finding public worship intelligibly and decently performed1 as in past generations it has been celebrated in all sections of the ,established ,church4 ,it has1 in my opinion1 been a gross scandal1 following a gross neglect of duty1 that this primary obligation has been defied1 and that services are held in ,english churches which would have been almost unrecognisable by the churchmen of a former generation1 and which are manifest attempts to turn the ,english public worship into an imitation of the ,romish ,mass4 ,men have a perfect right1 within the widest limits1 to perform what religious services and to preach what religious doctrines they please1 but they have not a right to do so in an ,established ,church4 ,the censorship of opinions is another thing1 and in the conditions of ,english life it has never been very effectively maintained4 ,the latitude of opinion granted in an ,established ,church is1 and ought to be1 very great1 but it is1 ,i think1 obvious that on some topics a greater degree of reticence of expression should be observed by a clergyman addressing a miscellaneous audience from the pulpit of an ,established ,church than need be required of him in private life or even in his published books4 ,the attitude of laymen whose opinions have come to diverge widely from the ,church formularies is less perplexing1 and except in as far as the recent revival of sacerdotal pretensions has produced a reaction1 there has1 if ,i mistake not1 of late years been a decided tendency in the best and most cultivated lay opinion of this kind to look with increasing favour on the ,established ,church4 ,the complete abolition of the religious and political disqualifications which once placed its maintenance in antagonism with the interests of large sections of the people2 the abolition of the indelibility of orders which excluded clergymen who changed their views from all other means of livelihood2 the greater elasticity of opinion permitted within its pale2 and the elimination from the statute-book of nearly all penalties and restrictions resting solely upon ecclesiastical grounds1--have all tended to diminish with such men the objections to the ,church4 ,it is a ,church which does not injure those who are external to it1 or interfere with those who are mere nominal adherents4 ,it is more and more looked upon as a machine of well-organised beneficence1 discharging efficiently and without corruption functions of supreme utility1 and constituting one of the main sources of spiritual and moral life in the community4 ,none of the modern influences of society can be said to have superseded it4 ,modern experience has furnished much evidence of the insufficiency of mere intellectual education if it is unaccompanied by the education of character1 and it is on this side that modern education is most defective4 ,while it undoubtedly makes men far more keenly sensible than in the past to the vast inequalities of human lots1 the habit of constantly holding out material prizes as its immediate objects1 and the disappearance of those coercive methods of education which once disciplined the will1 make it perhaps less efficient as an instrument of moral amelioration4 ,some habits of thought also1 that have grown rapidly among educated men1 have tended powerfully in the same direction4 ,the sharp contrasts between true and false in matters of theology have been considerably attenuated4 ,the point of view has changed4 ,it is believed that in the history of the world gross and material conceptions of religion have been not only natural1 but indispensable1 and that it is only by a gradual process of intellectual evolution that the masses of men become prepared for higher and purer conceptions4 ,superstition and illusion play no small part in holding together the great fabric of society4 ',every falsehood1' it has been said1 'is reduced to a certain malleability by an alloy of truth1' and1 on the other hand1 truths of the utmost moment are1 in certain stages of the world's history1 only operative when they are clothed with a vesture of superstition4 ,the ,divine ,spirit filters down to the human heart through a gross and material medium4 ,and what is true of different stages of human history is not less true of different contemporary strata of knowledge and intelligence4 ,in spite of democratic declamation about the equality of man1 it is more and more felt that the same kind of teaching is not good for everyone4 ,truth1 when undiluted1 is too strong a medicine for many minds4 ,some things which a highly cultivated intellect would probably discard1 and discard without danger1 are essential to the moral being of multitudes4 ,there is in all great religious systems something that is transitory and something that is eternal4 ,theological interpretations of the phenomena of outward nature which surround and influence us1 and mythological narratives which have been handed down to us from a remote1 uncritical and superstitious past1 may be transformed or discredited2 but there are elements in religion which have their roots much less in the reason of man than in his sorrows and his affections1 and are the expression of wants1 moral appetites and aspirations which are an essential1 indestructible part of his nature4 ,no one1 ,i think1 can doubt that this way of thinking1 whether it be right or wrong1 has very widely spread through educated ,europe1 and it is a habit of thought which commonly strengthens with age4 ,young men discuss religious questions simply as questions of truth or falsehood4 ,in later life they more frequently accept their creed as a working hypothesis of life2 as a consolation in innumerable calamities2 as the one supposition under which life is not a melancholy anti-climax2 as the indispensable sanction of moral obligation2 as the gratification and reflection of needs1 instincts and longings which are planted in the deepest recesses of human nature2 as one of the chief pillars on which society rests4 ,the proselytising1 the aggressive1 the critical spirit diminishes4 ,very often they deliberately turn away their thoughts from questions which appear to them to lead only to endless controversy or to mere negative conclusions1 and base their moral life on some strong unselfish interest for the benefit of their kind4 ,in active1 useful and unselfish work they find the best refuge from the perplexities of belief and the best field for the cultivation of their moral nature1 and work done for the benefit of others seldom fails to react powerfully on their own happiness4 ,nor is it always those who have most completely abandoned dogmatic systems who are the least sensible to the moral beauty which has grown up around them4 ,the music of the village church1 which sounds so harsh and commonplace to the worshipper within1 sometimes fills with tears the eyes of the stranger who sits without1 listening among the tombs4 ,it is difficult to say how far the partial truce which has now fallen in ,england over the great antagonisms of belief is likely to be permanent4 ,no one who knows the world can be insensible to the fact that a large and growing proportion of those who habitually attend our religious services have come to diverge very widely1 though in many different degrees1 from the beliefs which are expressed or implied in the formularies they use4 ,custom1 fashion1 the charm of old associations1 the cravings of their own moral or spiritual nature1 a desire to support a useful system of moral training1 to set a good example to their children1 their household1 or their neighbours1 keep them in their old place when the beliefs which they profess with their lips have in a great measure ebbed away4 ,i do not undertake to blame or to judge them4 ,individual conscience and character and particular circumstances have1 in these matters1 a decisive voice4 ,but there are times when the difference between professed belief and real belief is too great for endurance1 and when insincerity and half-belief affect seriously the moral character of a nation4 ',the deepest1 nay1 the only theme of the world's history1 to which all others are subordinate1' said ,goethe1 'is the conflict of faith and unbelief4 ,the epochs in which faith1 in whatever form it may be1 prevails1 are the marked epochs in human history1 full of heart-stirring memories and of substantial gains for all after times4 ,the epochs in which unbelief1 in whatever form it may be1 prevails1 even when for the moment they put on the semblance of glory and success1 inevitably sink into insignificance in the eyes of posterity1 which will not waste its thoughts on things barren and unfruitful4' ,many of my readers have probably felt the force of such considerations and the moral problems which they suggest1 and there have been perhaps moments when they have asked themselves the question of the poet-- ,tell me1 my soul1 what is thy creed8 ,is it a faith or only a need8 ,they will reflect1 however1 that a need1 if it be universally felt when human nature is in its highest and purest state1 furnishes some basis of belief1 and also that no man can venture to assign limits to the transformations which religion may undergo without losing its essence or its power4 ,even in the field of morals these have been very great1 though universal custom makes us insensible to the extent to which we have diverged from a literal observance of ,evangelical precepts4 ,we should hardly write over the ,savings ,bank1 ',take no thought for the morrow1 for the morrow will take thought for itself1' or over the ,bank of ,england1 ',lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth1' ',how hardly shall a rich man enter into the ,kingdom of ,god1' or over the ,foreign ,office1 or the ,law ,court1 or the prison1 ',resist not evil1' ',he that smiteth thee on thy right cheek turn to him the other also1' ',he that taketh away thy coat let him have thy cloak also4' ,can it be said that the whole force and meaning of such words are represented by an industrial society in which the formation of habits of constant providence with the object of averting poverty or increasing comfort is deemed one of the first of duties and a main element and measure of social progress2 in which the indiscriminate charity which encourages mendicancy and discourages habits of forethought and thrift is far more seriously condemned than an industrial system based on the keenest1 the most deadly1 and often the most malevolent competition2 in which wealth is universally sought1 and universally esteemed a good and not an evil1 provided only it is honestly obtained and wisely and generously used2 in which1 although wanton aggression and a violent and quarrelsome temper are no doubt condemned1 it is esteemed the duty of every good citizen to protect his rights whenever they are unjustly infringed2 in which war and the preparation for war kindle the most passionate enthusiasm and absorb a vast proportion of the energies of ,christendom1 and in which no ,government could remain a week in power if it did not promptly resent the smallest insult to the national flag8 ,it is a question of a different kind whether the sacerdotal spirit which has of late years so largely spread in the ,english ,church can extend without producing a violent disruption4 ,to cut the tap roots of priestcraft was one of the main aims and objects of the ,reformation1 and1 for reasons ,i have already stated1 ,i do not believe that the party which would re-establish it has by any means the strength that has been attributed to it4 ,it is true that the ,broad ,church party1 though it reflects faithfully the views of large numbers of educated laymen1 has never exercised an influence in active ,church life at all proportionate to the eminence of its leading representatives4 ,it is true also that the ,evangelical party has in a very remarkable degree lost its old place in the ,anglican pulpit and in religious literature1 though its tenets still form the staple of the preaching of the ,salvation ,army and of most other street preachers who exercise a real and widespread influence over the poor4 ,but the middle and lower sections of ,english society are1 ,i believe1 at bottom1 profoundly hostile to priestcraft2 and although the dread of ,popery has diminished1 they are very far from being ready to acquiesce in any attempt to restore the dominion which their fathers discarded4 ,in one respect1 indeed1 sacerdotalism in the ,anglican ,church is a worse thing than in the ,roman ,church1 for it is undisciplined and unregulated4 ,the history of the ,church abundantly shows the dangers that have sprung from the ,confessional1 though the ,roman ,catholic will maintain that its habitually restraining and moralising influence greatly outweighs these occasional abuses4 ,but in the ,roman ,church the practice of confession is carried on under the most severe ecclesiastical supervision and discipline4 ,confession can only be made to a celibate priest of mature age1 who is bound to secrecy by the most solemn oath2 who1 except in cases of grave illness1 confesses only in an open church2 and who has gone through a long course of careful education specially and skilfully designed to fit him for the duty4 ,none of these conditions are observed in ,anglican ,confession4 ,in other respects1 indeed1 the sacerdotal spirit is never likely to be quite the same as in the ,roman ,church4 ,a married clergy1 who have mixed in all the lay influences of an ,english university1 and who still take part in the pursuits1 studies1 social intercourse and amusements of laymen1 are not likely to form a separate caste or to constitute a very formidable priesthood4 ,it is perhaps a little difficult to treat their pretensions with becoming gravity1 and the atmosphere of unlimited discussion which envelops ,englishmen through their whole lives has effectually destroyed the danger of coercive and restrictive laws directed against opinion4 ,moral coercion and the tendency to interfere by law on moral grounds with the habits of men1 even when those habits in no degree interfere with others1 have increased4 ,it is one of the marked tendencies of ,anglo-,saxon democracy1 and it is very far from being peculiar to1 or even specially prominent in1 any one ,church4 ,but the desire to repress the expression of opinions by force1 which for so many centuries marked with blood and fire the power of medival sacerdotalism1 is wholly alien to modern ,english nature4 ,amid all the fanaticisms1 exaggerations1 and superstitions of belief1 this kind of coercion1 at least1 is never likely to be formidable1 nor do ,i believe that in the most extreme section of the sacerdotal clergy there is any desire for it4 ,there has been one significant contrast between the history of ,catholicism and ,anglicanism in the present century4 ,in the ,catholic ,church the ,ultramontane element has steadily dominated1 restricting liberty of opinion1 and important tenets which were once undefined by the ,church1 and on which sincere ,catholics had some latitude of opinion1 have been brought under the iron yoke4 ,this is no doubt largely due to the growth of scepticism and indifference1 which have made the great body of educated laymen hostile or indifferent to the ,church1 and have thrown its management mainly into the hands of the priesthood and the more bigoted1 ignorant and narrow-minded laymen4 ,but in the ,anglican ,church educated laymen are much less alienated from ,church life1 and a tribunal which is mainly lay exercises the supreme authority4 ,as a consequence of these conditions1 although the sacerdotal element has greatly increased1 the latitude of opinion within the ,church has steadily grown4 ,at the same time1 it is difficult to believe that serious dangers do not await the ,church if the unprotestantising influences that have spread within it continue to extend4 ,it is not likely that the nation will continue to give its support to the ,church if that ,church in its main tendencies cuts itself off from the ,reformation4 ,the conversions to ,catholicism in ,england1 though probably much exaggerated1 have been very numerous1 and it is certainly not surprising that it should be so4 ,if the ,church of ,rome permitted ,protestantism to be constantly taught in her pulpits1 and ,protestant types of worship and character to be habitually held up to admiration1 there can be little doubt that many of her worshippers would be shaken4 ,if the ,church of ,england becomes in general what it already is in some of its churches1 it is not likely that ,english public opinion will permanently acquiesce in its privileged position in the ,state4 ,if it ceases to be a ,protestant ,church1 it will not long remain an established one1 and its disestablishment would probably be followed by a disruption in which opinions would be more sharply defined1 and the latitude of belief and the spirit of compromise that now characterise our ,english religious life might be seriously impaired4 ,,footnotes3 #eh ,alciphron1 #fth ,dialogue4 #ei ,nalsons's ,collections1 i4 #gfi1 ,february #i1 #afdj4 #fj ,autobiography of ,isaac ,williams1 p4 #acb4 ,this letter was written in #ahfc4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,the ,,management ,,of ,,character ,of all the tasks which are set before man in life1 the education and management of his character is the most important1 and1 in order that it should be successfully pursued1 it is necessary that he should make a calm and careful survey of his own tendencies1 unblinded either by the self-deception which conceals errors and magnifies excellences1 or by the indiscriminate pessimism which refuses to recognise his powers for good4 ,he must avoid the fatalism which would persuade him that he has no power over his nature1 and he must also clearly recognise that this power is not unlimited4 ,man is like a card-player who receives from ,nature his cards--his disposition1 his circumstances1 the strength or weakness of his will1 of his mind1 and of his body4 ,the game of life is one of blended chance and skill4 ,the best player will be defeated if he has hopelessly bad cards1 but in the long run the skill of the player will not fail to tell4 ,the power of man over his character bears much resemblance to his power over his body4 ,men come into the world with bodies very unequal in their health and strength2 with hereditary dispositions to disease2 with organs varying greatly in their normal condition4 ,at the same time a temperate or intemperate life1 skilful or unskilful regimen1 physical exercises well adapted to strengthen the weaker parts1 physical apathy1 vicious indulgence1 misdirected or excessive effort1 will all in their different ways alter his bodily condition and increase or diminish his chances of disease and premature death4 ,the power of will over character is1 however1 stronger1 or1 at least1 wider than its power over the body4 ,there are organs which lie wholly beyond its influence2 there are diseases over which it can exercise no possible influence1 but there is no part of our moral constitution which we cannot in some degree influence or modify4 ,it has often seemed to me that diversities of taste throw much light on the basis of character4 ,why is it that the same dish gives one man keen pleasure and to another is loathsome and repulsive8 ,to this simple question no real answer can be given4 ,it is a fact of our nature that one fruit1 or meat1 or drink will give pleasure to one palate and none whatever to another4 ,at the same time1 while the original and natural difference is undoubted1 there are many differences which are wholly or largely due to particular and often transitory causes4 ,dishes have an attraction or the reverse because they are associated with old recollections or habits4 ,habit will make a ,frenchman like his melon with salt1 while an ,englishman prefers it with sugar4 ,an old association of ideas will make an ,englishman shrink from eating a frog or a snail1 though he would probably like each if he ate it without knowing it1 and he could easily learn to do so4 ,the kind of cookery which one age or one nation generally likes1 another age or another nation finds distasteful4 ,the eye often governs the taste1 and a dish which1 when seen1 excites intense repulsion1 would have no such repulsion to a blind man4 ,every one who has moved much about the world1 and especially in uncivilised countries1 will get rid of many old antipathies1 will lose the fastidiousness of his taste1 and will acquire new and genuine tastes4 ,the original innate difference is not wholly destroyed1 but it is profoundly and variously modified4 ,these changes of taste are very analogous to what takes place in our moral dispositions4 ,they are for the most part in themselves simply external to morals1 though there is at least one conspicuous exception4 ,many--it is to be hoped most--men might spend their lives with full access to intoxicating liquors without even the temptation of getting drunk4 ,apart from all considerations of religion1 morals1 social1 physical1 or intellectual consequences1 they abstain from doing so simply as a matter of taste4 ,with other men the pleasure of excessive drinking is such that it requires an heroic effort of the will to resist it4 ,there are men who not only are so constituted that it is their greatest pleasure1 but who are even born with a craving for drink4 ,in no form is the terrible fact of heredity more clearly or more tragically displayed4 ,many1 too1 who had originally no such craving gradually acquire it3 sometimes by mere social influence1 which makes excessive drinking the habit of their circle2 more frequently through depression or sorrow1 which gives men a longing for some keen pleasure in which they can forget themselves2 or through the jaded habit of mind and body which excessive work produces1 or through the dreary1 colourless1 joyless surroundings of sordid poverty4 ,drink and the sensual pleasures1 if viciously indulged1 produce 7doubtless through physical causes7 an intense craving for their gratification4 ,this1 however1 is not the case with all our pleasures4 ,many are keenly enjoyed when present1 yet not seriously missed when absent4 ,sometimes1 too1 the effect of over-indulgence is to vitiate and deaden the palate1 so that what was once pleasing ceases altogether to be an object of desire4 ,this1 too1 has its analogue in other things4 ,we have a familiar example in the excessive novel-reader1 who begins with a kind of mental intoxication1 and who ends with such a weariness that he finds it a serious effort to read the books which were once his strongest temptation4 ,tastes of the palate also naturally change with age and with the accompanying changes of the body4 ,the schoolboy who bitterly repines because the smallness of his allowance restricts his power of buying tarts and sweetmeats will probably grow into a man who1 with many shillings in his pocket1 daily passes the confectioner's shop without the smallest desire to enter it4 ,it is evident that there is a close analogy between these things and that collection of likes and dislikes1 moral and intellectual1 which forms the primal base of character1 and which mainly determines the complexion of our lives4 ,as ,marcus ,aurelius said3 ',who can change the desires of man8' ,that which gives the strongest habitual pleasure1 whether it be innate or acquired1 will in the great majority of cases ultimately dominate4 ,certain things will always be intensely pleasurable1 and certain other things indifferent or repellent1 and this magnetism is the true basis of character1 and with the majority of men it mainly determines conduct4 ,by the associations of youth and by other causes these natural likings and dislikings may be somewhat modified1 but even in youth our power is very limited1 and in later life it is much less4 ,no real believer in free-will will hold that man is an absolute slave to his desires4 ,no man who knows the world will deny that with average man the strongest passion or desire will prevail--happy when that desire is not a vice4 ,passions weaken1 but habits strengthen1 with age1 and it is the great task of youth to set the current of habit and to form the tastes which are most productive of happiness in life4 ,here1 as in most other things1 opposite exaggerations are to be avoided4 ,there is such a thing as looking forward too rigidly and too exclusively to the future--to a future that may never arrive4 ,this is the great fault of the over-educationist1 who makes early life a burden and a toil1 and also of those who try to impose on youth the tastes and pleasures of the man4 ,youth has its own pleasures1 which will always give it most enjoyment1 and a happy youth is in itself an end4 ,it is the time when the power of enjoyment is most keen1 and it is often accompanied by such extreme sensitiveness that the sufferings of the child for what seem the most trivial causes probably at least equal in acuteness1 though not in durability1 the sufferings of a man4 ,many a parent standing by the coffin of his child has felt with bitterness how much of the measure of enjoyment that short life might have known has been cut off by an injudicious education4 ,and even if adult life is attained1 the evils of an unhappy childhood are seldom wholly compensated4 ,the pleasures of retrospect are among the most real we possess1 and it is around our childish days that our fondest associations naturally cluster4 ,an early over-strain of our powers often leaves behind it lasting distortion or weakness1 and a sad childhood introduces into the character elements of morbidness and bitterness that will not disappear4 ,the first great rule in judging of pleasures is that so well expressed by ,seneca3 ',sic prsentibus utaris voluptatibus ut futuris non noceas'--so to use present pleasures as not to impair future ones4 ,drunkenness1 sensuality1 gambling1 habitual extravagance and self-indulgence1 if they become the pleasures of youth1 will almost infallibly lead to the ruin of a life4 ,pleasures that are in themselves innocent lose their power of pleasing if they become the sole or main object of pursuit4 ,in starting in life we are apt to attach a disproportionate value to tastes1 pleasures1 and ideals that can only be even approximately satisfied in youth1 health1 and strength4 ,we have1 ,i think1 an example of this in the immense place which athletic games and out-of-door sports have taken in modern ,english life4 ,they are certainly not things to be condemned4 ,they have the direct effect of giving a large amount of intense and innocent pleasure1 and they have indirect effects which are still more important4 ,in so far as they raise the level of physical strength and health1 and dispel the morbidness of temperament which is so apt to accompany a sedentary life and a diseased or inert frame1 they contribute powerfully to lasting happiness4 ,they play a considerable part in the formation of friendships which is one of the best fruits of the period between boyhood and mature manhood4 ,some of them give lessons of courage1 perseverance1 energy1 self-restraint1 and cheerful acquiescence in disappointment and defeat that are of no small value in the formation of character1 and when they are not associated with gambling they have often the inestimable advantage of turning young men away from vicious pleasures4 ,at the same time it can hardly be doubted that they hold an exaggerated prominence in the lives of young ,englishmen of the present generation4 ,it is not too much to say that among large sections of the students at our ,universities1 and at a time when intellectual ambition ought to be most strong and when the acquisition of knowledge is most important1 proficiency in cricket or boating or football is more prized than any intellectual achievement4 ,i have heard a good judge1 who had long been associated with ,english ,university life1 express his opinion that during the last forty or fifty years the relative intellectual position of the upper and middle classes in ,england has been materially changed1 owing to the disproportioned place which outdoor amusements have assumed in the lives of the former4 ,it is the impression of very competent judges that a genuine love1 reverence and enthusiasm for intellectual things is less common among the young men of the present day than it was in the days of their fathers4 ,the predominance of the critical spirit which chills enthusiasm1 and still more the cram system which teaches young men to look on the prizes that are to be won by competitive examinations as the supreme end of knowledge1 no doubt largely account for this1 but much is also due to the extravagant glorification of athletic games4 ,if we compare the class of pleasures ,i have described with the taste for reading and kindred intellectual pleasures1 the superiority of the latter is very manifest4 ,to most young men1 it is true1 a game will probably give at least as much pleasure as a book4 ,nor must we measure the pleasure of reading altogether by the language of the genuine scholar4 ,it is not every one who could say1 like ,gibbon1 that he would not exchange his love of reading for all the wealth of the ,indies4 ,very many would agree with him2 but ,gibbon was a man with an intense natural love of knowledge1 and the weak health of his early life intensified this predominant passion4 ,but while the tastes which require physical strength decline or pass with age1 that for reading steadily grows4 ,it is illimitable in the vistas of pleasure it opens2 it is one of the most easily satisfied1 one of the cheapest1 one of the least dependent on age1 seasons1 and the varying conditions of life4 ,it cheers the invalid through years of weakness and confinement2 illuminates the dreary hours of the sleepless night2 stores the mind with pleasant thoughts1 banishes ennui1 fills up the unoccupied interstices and enforced leisures of an active life2 makes men for a time at least forget their anxieties and sorrows1 and if it is judiciously managed it is one of the most powerful means of training character and disciplining and elevating thought4 ,it is eminently a pleasure which is not only good in itself but enhances many others4 ,by extending the range of our knowledge1 by enlarging our powers of sympathy and appreciation1 it adds incalculably to the pleasures of society1 to the pleasures of travel1 to the pleasures of art1 to the interest we take in the vast variety of events which form the great world-drama around us4 ,to acquire this taste in early youth is one of the best fruits of education1 and it is especially useful when the taste for reading becomes a taste for knowledge1 and when it is accompanied by some specialisation and concentration and by some exercise of the powers of observation4 ',many tastes and one hobby' is no bad ideal to be aimed at4 ,the boy who learns to collect and classify fossils1 or flowers1 or insects1 who has acquired a love for chemical experiments1 who has begun to form a taste for some particular kind or department of knowledge1 has laid the foundation of much happiness in life4 ,in the selection of pleasures and the cultivation of tastes much wisdom is shown in choosing in such a way that each should form a complement to the others2 that different pleasures should not clash1 but rather cover different areas and seasons of life2 that each should tend to correct faults or deficiencies of character which the others may possibly produce4 ,the young man who starts in life with keen literary tastes and also with a keen love of out-of-door sports1 and who possesses the means of gratifying each1 has perhaps provided himself with as many elements of happiness as mere amusements can ever furnish4 ,one set of pleasures1 however1 often kills the capacity for enjoying others1 and some which in themselves are absolutely innocent1 by blunting the enjoyment of better things1 exercise an injurious influence on character4 ,habitual novel-reading1 for example1 often destroys the taste for serious literature1 and few things tend so much to impair a sound literary perception and to vulgarise the character as the habit of constantly saturating the mind with inferior literature1 even when that literature is in no degree immoral4 ,sometimes an opposite evil may be produced4 ,excessive fastidiousness greatly limits our enjoyments1 and the inestimable gift of extreme concentration is often dearly bought4 ,the well-known confession of ,darwin that his intense addiction to science had destroyed his power of enjoying even the noblest imaginative literature represents a danger to which many men who have achieved much in the higher and severer forms of scientific thought are subject4 ,such men are usually by their original temperament1 and become still more by acquired habit1 men of strong1 narrow1 concentrated natures1 whose thoughts1 like a deep and rapid stream confined in a restricted channel1 flow with resistless energy in one direction4 ,it is by the sacrifice of versatility that they do so much1 and the result is amply sufficient to justify it4 ,but it is a real sacrifice1 depriving them of many forms both of capacity and of enjoyment4 ,the same pleasures act differently on different characters1 especially on the differences of character that accompany difference of sex4 ,i have myself no doubt that the movement which in modern times has so widely opened to women amusements that were once almost wholly reserved for men has been on the whole a good one4 ,it has produced a higher level of health1 stronger nerves1 and less morbid characters1 and it has given keen and innocent enjoyment to many who from their circumstances and surroundings once found their lives very dreary and insipid4 ,yet most good observers will agree that amusements which have no kind of evil effect on men often in some degree impair the graces or characters of women1 and that it is not quite with impunity that one sex tries to live the life of the other4 ,some pleasures1 too1 exercise a much larger influence than others on the general habits of life4 ,it is not too much to say that the invention of the bicycle1 bringing with it an immense increase of outdoor life1 of active exercise1 and of independent habits1 has revolutionised the course of many lives4 ,some amusements which may in themselves be but little valued are wisely cultivated as helping men to move more easily in different spheres of society1 or as providing a resource for old age4 ,talleyrand was not wholly wrong in his reproach to a man who had never learned to play whist3 ',what an unhappy old age you are preparing for yourself6' ,i have already mentioned the differences that may be found in different countries and ages1 in the relative importance attached to external circumstances and to dispositions of mind as means of happiness1 and the tendency in the more progressive nations to seek their happiness mainly in improved circumstances4 ,another great line of distinction is between education that acts specially upon the desires1 and that which acts specially upon the will4 ,the great perfection of modern systems of education is chiefly of the former kind4 ,its object is to make knowledge and virtue attractive1 and therefore an object of desire4 ,it does so partly by presenting them in the most alluring forms1 partly by connecting them as closely as possible with rewards4 ,the great principle of modern moral education is to multiply innocent and beneficent interests1 tastes1 and ambitions4 ,it is to make the path of virtue the natural1 the easy1 the pleasing one2 to form a social atmosphere favourable to its development1 making duty and interest as far as possible coincident4 ,vicious pleasures are combated by the multiplication of healthy ones1 and by a clearer insight into the consequences of each4 ,an idle or inert character is stimulated by holding up worthy objects of interest and ambition1 and it is the aim alike of the teacher and the legislator to make the grooves and channels of life such as tend naturally and easily towards good4 ,but the education of the will--the power of breasting the current of the desires and doing for long periods what is distasteful and painful--is much less cultivated than in some periods of the past4 ,many things contribute to this4 ,the rush and hurry of modern existence and the incalculable multitude and variety of fleeting impressions that in the great centres of civilisation pass over the mind are very unfavourable to concentration1 and perhaps still more to the direct cultivation of mental states4 ,amusements1 and the appetite for amusements1 have greatly extended4 ,life has become more full4 ,the long leisures1 the introspective habits1 the vita contemplativa so conspicuous in the old ,catholic discipline1 grow very rare4 ,thoughts and interests are more thrown on the external2 and the comfort1 the luxury1 the softness1 the humanity of modern life1 and especially of modern education1 make men less inclined to face the disagreeable and endure the painful4 ,the starting-point of education is thus silently changing4 ,perhaps the extent of the change is best shown by the old ,catholic ascetic training4 ,its supreme object was to discipline and strengthen the will3 to accustom men habitually to repudiate the pleasurable and accept the painful2 to mortify the most natural tastes and affections2 to narrow and weaken the empire of the desires2 to make men wholly independent of outward circumstances2 to preach self-renunciation as itself an end4 ,men will always differ about the merits of this system4 ,in my own opinion it is difficult to believe that in the period of ,catholic ascendency the moral standard was1 on the whole and in its broad lines1 higher than our own4 ,the repression of the sensual instincts was the central fact in ascetic morals2 but1 even tested by this test1 it is at least very doubtful whether it did not fail4 ,the withdrawal from secular society of the best men did much to restrict the influences for good1 and the habit of aiming at an unnatural ideal was not favourable to common1 everyday1 domestic virtue4 ,the history of sacerdotal and monastic celibacy abundantly shows how much vice that might easily have been avoided grew out of the adoption of an unnatural standard1 and how often it led in those who had attained it to grave distortions of character4 ,affections and impulses which were denied their healthy and natural vent either became wholly atrophied or took other and morbid forms1 and the hard1 cruel1 self-righteous fanatic1 equally ready to endure or to inflict suffering1 was a not unnatural result4 ,but whatever may have been its failures and its exaggerations1 ,catholic asceticism was at least a great school for disciplining and strengthening the will1 and the strength and discipline of the will form one of the first elements of virtue and of happiness4 ,in the grave and noble type of character which prevailed in ,english and ,american life during the seventeenth century1 the strength of will was conspicuously apparent4 ,life was harder1 simpler1 more serious1 and less desultory than at present1 and strong convictions shaped and fortified the character4 ',it was an age1' says a great ,american writer1 'when what we call talent had far less consideration than now1 but the massive materials which produce stability and dignity of character a great deal more4 ,the people possessed by hereditary right the quality of reverence1 which1 in their descendants1 if it survive at all1 exists in smaller proportion and with a vastly diminished force in the selection and estimate of public men4 ,the change may be for good or ill1 and is partly1 perhaps1 for both4 ,in that old day the ,english settler on these rude shores1 having left king1 nobles1 and all degrees of awful rank behind1 while still the faculty and necessity of reverence were strong in him1 bestowed it on the white hair and venerable brow of age2 on long-tried integrity2 on solid wisdom and sad-coloured experience2 on endowments of that grave and weighty order which give the idea of permanence and come under the general definition of respectability4 ,these primitive statesmen1 therefore1--,bradstreet1 ,endicott1 ,dudley1 ,bellingham1 and their compeers1--who were elevated to power by the early choice of the people1 seem to have been not often brilliant1 but distinguished by a ponderous sobriety rather than activity of intellect4 ,they had fortitude and self-reliance1 and in time of difficulty or peril stood up for the welfare of the ,state like a line of cliffs against a tempestuous tide4'#fa ,the power of the will1 however1 even when it exists in great strength1 is often curiously capricious4 ,history is full of examples of men who in great trials and emergencies have acted with admirable and persevering heroism1 yet who readily succumbed to private vices or passions4 ,the will is not the same as the desires1 but the connection between them is very close4 ,a love for a distant end2 a dominating ambition or passion1 will call forth long perseverance in wholly distasteful work in men whose will in other fields of life is lamentably feeble4 ,every one who has embarked with real earnestness in some extended literary enterprise which as a whole represents the genuine bent of his talent and character will be struck with his exceptional power of traversing perseveringly long sections of this enterprise for which he has no natural aptitude and in which he takes no pleasure4 ,military courage is with most men chiefly a matter of temperament and impulse1 but there have been conspicuous instances of great soldiers and sailors who have frankly acknowledged that they never lost in battle an intense constitutional shrinking from danger1 though by the force of a strong will they never suffered this timidity to govern or to weaken them4 ,with men of very vivid imagination there is a natural tendency to timidity as they realise more than ordinary men danger and suffering4 ,on the other hand it has often been noticed how calmly the callous1 semi-torpid temperament that characterises many of the worst criminals enables them to meet death upon the gallows4 ,in courage itself1 too1 there are many varieties4 ,the courage of the soldier and the courage of the martyr are not the same1 and it by no means follows that either would possess that of the other4 ,not a few men who are capable of leading a forlorn hope1 and who never shrink from the bayonet and the cannon1 have shown themselves incapable of bearing the burden of responsibility1 enduring long-continued suspense1 taking decisions which might expose them to censure or unpopularity4 ,the active courage that encounters and delights in danger is often found in men who show no courage in bearing suffering1 misfortune1 or disease4 ,in passive courage the woman often excels the man as much as in active courage the man exceeds the woman4 ,even in active courage familiarity does much2 sympathy and enthusiasm play great and often very various parts1 and curious anomalies may be found4 ,the ,teutonic and the ,latin races are probably equally distinguished for their military courage1 but there is a clear difference between them in the nature of that courage and in the circumstances or conditions under which it is usually most splendidly displayed4 ,the danger incurred by the gladiator was far greater than that which was encountered by the soldier1 but ,tacitus#fb mentions that when some of the bravest gladiators were employed in the ,roman army they were found wholly inefficient1 as they were much less capable than the ordinary soldiers of military courage4 ,the circumstances of life are the great school for forming and strengthening the will1 and in the excessive competition and struggle of modern industrialism this school is not wanting4 ,but in ethical and educational systems the value of its cultivation is often insufficiently felt4 ,yet nothing which is learned in youth is so really valuable as the power and the habit of self-restraint1 of self-sacrifice1 of energetic1 continuous and concentrated effort4 ,in the best of us evil tendencies are always strong and the path of duty is often distasteful4 ,with the most favourable wind and tide the bark will never arrive at the harbour if it has ceased to obey the rudder4 ,a weak nature which is naturally kindly1 affectionate and pure1 which floats through life under the impulse of the feelings1 with no real power of self-restraint1 is indeed not without its charm1 and in a well-organised society1 with good surroundings and few temptations1 it may attain a high degree of beauty2 but its besetting failings will steadily grow2 without fortitude1 perseverance and principle1 it has no recuperative energy1 and it will often end in a moral catastrophe which natures in other respects much less happily compounded would easily avoid4 ,nothing can permanently secure our moral being in the absence of a restraining will basing itself upon a strong sense of the difference between right and wrong1 upon the firm groundwork of principle and honour4 ,experience abundantly shows how powerfully the steady action of such a will can operate upon innate defects1 converting the constitutional idler into the indefatigably industrious1 checking1 limiting and sometimes almost destroying constitutional irritability and vicious passions4 ,the natural power of the will in different men differs greatly1 but there is no part of our nature which is more strengthened by exercise or more weakened by disuse4 ,the minor faults of character it can usually correct2 but when a character is once formed1 and when its tendencies are essentially vicious1 radical cure or even considerable amelioration is very rare4 ,sometimes the strong influence of religion effects it4 ,sometimes it is effected by an illness1 a great misfortune1 or the total change of associations that follows emigration4 ,marriage perhaps more frequently than any other ordinary agency in early life transforms or deeply modifies the character1 for it puts an end to powerful temptations and brings with it a profound change of habits and motives1 associations and desires4 ,but we have all of us encountered in life depraved natures in which vicious self-indulgence had attained such a strength1 and the recuperating and moralising elements were so fatally weak1 that we clearly perceive the disease to be incurable1 and that it is hardly possible that any change of circumstances could even seriously mitigate it4 ,in what proportion this is the fault or the calamity of the patient no human judgment can accurately tell4 ,few things are sadder than to observe how frequently the inheritance of great wealth or even of easy competence proves the utter and speedy ruin of a young man1 except when the administration of a large property1 or the necessity of carrying on a great business1 or some other propitious circumstance provides him with a clearly defined sphere of work4 ,the majority of men will gladly discard distasteful work which their circumstances do not require2 and in the absence of steady work1 and in the possession of all the means of gratification1 temptations assume an overwhelming strength1 and the springs of moral life are fatally impaired4 ,it can hardly be doubted that the average longevity in this small class is far less than in that of common men1 and that even when natural capacity is considerable it is more rarely displayed4 ,to a man with a real desire for work such circumstances are indeed of inestimable value1 giving him the leisure and the opportunities of applying himself without distraction and from early manhood to the kind of work that is most suited to him4 ,sometimes this takes place1 but much more frequently vicious tastes or a simply idle or purposeless life are the result4 ,sometimes1 indeed1 a large amount of desultory and unregulated energy remains1 but the serious labour of concentration is shunned and no real result is attained4 ,the stream is there1 but it turns no mill4 ,most men escape this danger through the circumstances of life which make serious and steady work necessary to their livelihood1 and in the majority of cases the kind of work is so clearly marked out that they have little choice4 ,when some choice exists1 the rule which ,i have already laid down should not be forgotten4 ,men should choose their work not only according to their talents and their opportunities1 but also1 as far as possible1 according to their characters4 ,they should select the kinds which are most fitted to bring their best qualities into exercise1 or should at least avoid those which have a special tendency to develop or encourage their dominant defects4 ,on the whole it will be found that men's characters are much more deeply influenced by their pursuits than by their opinions4 ,the choice of work is one of the great agencies for the management of character in youth4 ,the choice of friends is another4 ,in the words of ,burke1 ',the law of opinion 444 is the strongest principle in the composition of the frame of the human mind1 and more of the happiness and unhappiness of man reside in that inward principle than in all external circumstances put together4'#fc ,this is true of the great public opinion of an age or country which envelops us like an atmosphere1 and by its silent pressure steadily and almost insensibly shapes or influences the whole texture of our lives4 ,it is still more true of the smaller circle of our intimacies which will do more than almost any other thing to make the path of virtue easy or difficult4 ,how large a proportion of the incentives to a noble ambition1 or of the first temptations to evil1 may be traced to an early friendship1 and it is often in the little circle that gathers round a college table that the measure of life is first taken1 and ideals and enthusiasms are formed which give a colour to all succeeding years4 ,to admire strongly and to admire wisely is1 indeed1 one of the best means of moral improvement4 ,very much1 however1 of the management of character can only be accomplished by the individual himself acting in complete isolation upon his own nature and in the chamber of his own mind4 ,the discipline of thought2 the establishment of an ascendency of the will over our courses of thinking2 the power of casting away morbid trains of reflection and turning resolutely to other subjects or aspects of life2 the power of concentrating the mind vigorously on a serious subject and pursuing continuous trains of thought1--form perhaps the best fruits of judicious self-education4 ,its importance1 indeed1 is manifold4 ,in the higher walks of intellect this power of mental concentration is of supreme value4 ,newton is said to have ascribed mainly to an unusual amount of it his achievements in philosophy1 and it is probable that the same might be said by most other great thinkers4 ,in the pursuit of happiness hardly anything in external circumstances is so really valuable as the power of casting off worry1 turning in times of sorrow to healthy work1 taking habitually the brighter view of things4 ,it is in such exercises of will that we chiefly realise the truth of the lines of ,tennyson3 ,oh1 well for him whose will is strong1 ,he suffers1 but he will not suffer long4 ,in moral culture it is not less important to acquire the power of discarding the demoralising thoughts and imaginations that haunt so many1 and meeting temptation by calling up purer1 higher and restraining thoughts4 ,the faculty we possess of alternating and intensifying our own motives by bringing certain thoughts1 or images1 or subjects into the foreground and throwing others into the background1 is one of our chief means of moral progress4 ,the cultivation of this power is a far wiser thing than the cultivation of that introspective habit of mind which is perpetually occupied with self-analysis or self-examination1 and which is constantly and remorsefully dwelling upon past faults or upon the morbid elements in our nature4 ,in the morals which are called minor1 though they affect deeply the happiness of mankind1 the importance of the government of thought is not less apparent4 ,the secret of good or bad temper is our habitual tendency to dwell upon or to fly from the irritating and the inevitable4 ,content or discontent1 amiability or the reverse1 depend mainly upon the disposition of our minds to turn specially to the good or to the evil sides of our own lot1 to the merits or to the defects of those about us4 ,a power of turning our thoughts from a given subject1 though not the sole element in self-control1 is at least one of its most important ingredients4 ,this power of the will over the thoughts is one in which men differ enormously4 ,thus--to take the most familiar instance--the capacity for worry1 with all the exaggerations and distortions of sentiment it implies1 is very evidently a constitutional thing1 and where it exists to a high degree neither reason nor will can effectually cure it4 ,such a man may have the clearest possible intellectual perception of its uselessness and its folly4 ,yet it will often banish sleep from his pillow1 follow him with an habitual depression in all the walks of life1 and make his measure of happiness much less than that of others who with far less propitious circumstances are endued by nature with the gift of lightly throwing off the past and looking forward with a sanguine and cheerful spirit to the future4 ,it is hardly possible to exaggerate the different degrees of suffering the same trouble will produce in different men1 and it is probable that the happiness of a life depends much less on the amount of pleasurable or painful things that are encountered1 than upon the turn of thought which dwells chiefly on one or on the other4 ,it is very evident that buoyancy of temperament is not a thing that increases with civilisation or education4 ,it is mainly physical4 ,it is greatly influenced by climate and by health1 and where no very clear explanation of this kind can be given it is a thing in which different nations differ greatly4 ,few good observers will deny that persistent and concentrated will is more common in ,great ,britain than in ,ireland1 but that the gift of a buoyant temperament is more common among ,irishmen than among ,englishmen4 ,yet it co-exists in the national character with a strong vein of very genuine melancholy1 and it is often accompanied by keen sensitiveness to suffering4 ,this combination is a very common one4 ,every one who has often stood by a deathbed knows how frequently it will be found that the mourner who is utterly prostrated by grief1 and whose tears flow in torrents1 casts off her grief much more completely and much sooner than one whose tears refuse to flow and who never for a moment loses her self-command4 ,but though natural temperament enables one man to do without effort what another man with the utmost effort fails to accomplish1 there are some available remedies that can palliate the disease4 ,society1 travel and other amusements can do something1 and such words as 'diversion' and 'distraction' embalm the truth that the chief virtue of many pleasures is to divert or distract our minds from painful thoughts4 ,pascal considered this a sign of the misery and the baseness of our nature1 and he describes as a deplorable spectacle a man who rose from his bed weighed down with anxiety and grave sorrow1 and who could for a time forget it all in the passionate excitement of the chase4 ,but1 in truth1 the possession of such a power--weak and transient though it be--is one of the great alleviations of the lot of man4 ,religion1 with its powerful motives and its wide range of consolatory and soothing thoughts and images1 has much power in this sphere when it does not take a morbid form and intensify instead of alleviating sorrow2 and the steady exercise of the will gives us some real and increasing1 though imperfect1 control over the current of our feelings as well as of our ideas4 ,often the power of dreaming comes to our aid4 ,when we cannot turn from some painfully pressing thought to serious thinking of another kind1 we can give the reins to our imaginations and soon lose ourselves in ideal scenes4 ,there are men who live so habitually in a world of imagination that it becomes to them a second life1 and their strongest temptations and their keenest pleasures belong to it4 ,to them 'common life seems tapestried with dreams4' ,not unfrequently they derive a pleasure from imagined or remembered enjoyments which the realities themselves would fail to give4 ,they select in imagination certain aspects or portions1 throw others into the shade1 intensify or attenuate impressions1 transform and beautify the reality of things4 ,the power of filling their existence with happy day-dreams is their most precious luxury4 ,they feel the full force of the pathetic lines of an ,irish poet3#fd ,sweet thoughts1 bright dreams my comfort be1 ,i have no joy beside2 ,oh1 throng around and be to me ,power1 country1 fame and bride4 ,to train this side of our nature is no small part of the management of character4 ,there is a great sphere of happiness and misery which is almost or altogether unconnected with surrounding circumstances1 and depends upon the thoughts1 images1 hopes and fears on which our minds are chiefly concentrated4 ,the exercise of this form of imagination has often a great influence1 both intellectually and morally4 ,in childhood1 as every teacher knows1 it is often a distracting influence1 and with men also it is sometimes an obstacle to concentrated reasoning and observation1 turning the mind away from sober and difficult thought2 but there is a kind of dreaming which is eminently conducive to productive thought4 ,it enables a man to place himself so completely in other conditions of thought and life that the ideas connected with those conditions rise spontaneously in the mind4 ,a true and vivid realisation of characters and circumstances unlike his own is acquired4 ,the mere fact of placing himself in other circumstances and investing himself with imaginary powers and functions sometimes suggests possible remedies for great human ills1 and gives clearer views of the proportions1 difficulties and conditions of governments and societies4 ,much discovery in science has been due to this power of the imagination to realise conditions that are unseen1 and the habit or faculty of living other lives than our own is scarcely less valuable to the historian1 and even to the statesman1 than to the poet or the novelist or the dramatist4 ,it gives the magic touch which changes mere lifeless knowledge into realisation4 ,its effect upon character also is great and various4 ,no one can fail to recognise the depraving influence of a corrupt imagination2 and the corruption may spring1 not only from suggestions from without1 but from those which rise spontaneously in our minds4 ,nor is even the imagination which is wholly pure absolutely without its dangers4 ,it is a well-known law of our nature that an excessive indulgence in emotion that does not end in action tends rather to deaden than to stimulate the moral nerve4 ,it has been often noticed that the exaggerated sentimentality which sheds passionate tears over the fictitious sorrows of a novel or a play is no certain sign of a benevolent and unselfish nature1 and is quite compatible with much indifference to real sorrows and much indisposition to make efforts for their alleviation4 ,it is1 however1 no less true1 as ,dugald ,stewart says1 that the apparent coldness and selfishness of men are often simply due to a want of that kind of imagination which enables us to realise sufferings with which we have never been brought into direct contact1 and that once this power of realisation is acquired1 the coldness is speedily dispelled4 ,nor can it be doubted that in the management of thought1 the dream power often plays a most important part in alleviating human suffering2 illuminating cheerless and gloomy lives1 and breaking the chain of evil or distressing thoughts4 ,the immense place which the literature of fiction holds in the world shows how widely some measure of it is diffused1 and how large an amount of time and talent is devoted to its cultivation4 ,it is probable1 however1 that it is really stronger in the earlier and uncultivated than in the later stages of humanity1 as it is more vivid in childhood and in youth than in mature life4 ',a child1' as an ,american writer#fe has well said1 'can afford to sleep without dreaming2 he has plenty of dreams without sleep4' ,the childhood of the world is also eminently an age of dreams4 ,there are stages of civilisation in which the dream world blends so closely with the world of realities1 in which the imagination so habitually and so spontaneously transfigures or distorts1 that men become almost incapable of distinguishing between the real and the fictitious4 ,this is the true age of myths and legends2 and there are strata in contemporary society in which something of the same conditions is reproduced4 ',to those who do not read or write much1' says an acute observer1 'even in our days1 dreams are much more real than to those who are continually exercising the imagination4444 ,since ,i have been occupied with literature my dreams have lost all vividness and are less real than the shadows of the trees2 they do not deceive me even in my sleep4 ,at every hour of the day ,i am accustomed to call up figures at will before my eyes1 which stand out well defined and coloured to the very hue of their faces4444 ,the less literary a people the more they believe in dreams2 the disappearance of superstition is not due to the cultivation of reason or the spread of knowledge1 but purely to the mechanical effect of reading1 which so perpetually puts figures and arial shapes before the mental gaze that in time those that occur naturally are thought no more of than those conjured into existence by a book4 ,it is in far-away country places1 where people read very little1 that they see phantoms and consult the oracles of fate4 ,their dreams are real4'#ff ,the last point ,i would notice in the management of character is the importance of what may be called moral safety-valves4 ,one of the most fatal mistakes in education is the attempt which is so often made by the educator to impose his own habits and tastes on natures that are essentially different4 ,it is common for men of lymphatic temperaments1 of studious1 saintly1 and retiring tastes1 to endeavor to force a high-spirited young man starting in life into their own mould--to prescribe for him the cast of tastes and pursuits they find most suited for themselves1 forgetting that such an ideal can never satisfy a wholly different nature1 and that in aiming at it a kind of excellence which might easily have been attained is missed4 ,this is one of the evils that very frequently arise when the education of boys after an early age is left in the hands of women4 ,it is the true explanation of the fact1 which has so often been noticed1 that children of clergymen1 or at least children educated on a rigidly austere1 puritanical system1 so often go conspicuously to the bad4 ,such an education1 imposed on a nature that is unfit for it1 generally begins by producing hypocrisy1 and not unfrequently ends by a violent reaction into vice4 ,there is no greater mistake in education than to associate virtue in early youth with gloomy colours and constant restrictions1 and few people do more mischief in the world than those who are perpetually inventing crimes4 ,in circles where smoking1 or field sports1 or going to the play1 or reading novels1 or indulging in any boisterous games or in the most harmless ,sunday amusements1 are treated as if they were grave moral offences1 young men constantly grow up who end by looking on grave moral offences as not worse than these things4 ,they lose all sense of proportion and perspective in morals1 and those who are always straining at gnats are often peculiarly apt to swallow camels4 ,it is quite right that men who have formed for themselves an ideal of life of the kind that ,i have described should steadily pursue it1 but it is another thing to impose it upon others1 and to prescribe it as of general application4 ,by teaching as absolutely wrong things that are in reality only culpable in their abuse or their excess1 they destroy the habit of moderate and restrained enjoyment1 and a period of absolute prohibition is often followed by a period of unrestrained license4 ,the truth is there are elements in human nature which many moralists might wish to be absent1 as they are very easily turned in the direction of vice1 but which at the same time are inherent in our being1 and1 if rightly understood1 are essential elements of human progress4 ,the love of excitement and adventure2 the fierce combative instinct that delights in danger1 in struggle1 and even in destruction2 the restless ambition that seeks with an insatiable longing to better its position and to climb heights that are yet unscaled2 the craving for some enjoyment which not merely gives pleasure but carries with it a thrill of passion1--all this lies deep in human nature and plays a great part in that struggle for existence1 in that harsh and painful process of evolution by which civilisation is formed1 faculty stimulated to its full development1 and human progress secured4 ,in the education of the individual1 as in the education of the race1 the true policy in dealing with these things is to find for them a healthy1 useful1 or at least harmless sphere of action4 ,in the chemistry of character they may ally themselves with the most heroic as well as with the worst parts of our nature1 and the same passion for excitement which in one man will take the form of ruinous vice1 in another may lead to brilliant enterprise1 while in a third it may be turned with no great difficulty into channels which are very innocent4 ,take1 for example1 the case to which ,i have already referred1 of a perfectly commonplace boy who1 on coming of age1 finds himself with a competence that saves him from the necessity of work2 and who has no ambition1 literary or artistic taste1 love of work1 interest in politics1 religious or philanthropic earnestness1 or special talent4 ,what will become of him8 ,in probably the majority of cases ruin1 disease1 and an early death lie before him4 ,he seeks only for amusement and excitement1 and three fatal temptations await him--drink1 gambling1 and women4 ,if he falls under the dominion of these1 or even of one of them1 he almost infallibly wrecks either his fortune or his constitution1 or both4 ,it is perfectly useless to set before him high motives or ideals1 or to incite him to lines of life for which he has no aptitude and which can give him no pleasure4 ,what1 then1 can save him8 ,most frequently a happy marriage2 but even if he is fortunate enough to attain this1 it will probably only be after several years1 and in those years a fatal bias is likely to be given to his life which can never be recovered4 ,yet experience shows that in cases of this kind a keen love of sport can often do much4 ,with his gun and with his hunter he finds an interest1 an excitement1 an employment which may not be particularly noble1 but which is at least sufficiently absorbing1 and is not injurious either to his morals1 his health1 or his fortune4 ,it is no small gain if1 in the competition of pleasures1 country pleasures take the place of those town pleasures which1 in such cases as ,i have described1 usually mean pleasures of vice4 ,nor is it by any means only in such cases that field sports prove a great moral safety-valve1 scattering morbid tastes and giving harmless and healthy vent to turns of character or feeling which might very easily be converted into vice4 ,among the influences that form the character of the upper classes of ,englishmen they have a great part1 and in spite of the exaggerations and extravagances that often accompany them1 few good observers will doubt that they have an influence for good4 ,however much of the ,philistine element there may be in the upper classes in ,england1 however manifest may be their limitations and their defects1 there can be little doubt that on the whole the conditions of ,english life have in this sphere proved successful4 ,there are few better working types within the reach of commonplace men than that of an ,english gentleman with his conventional tastes1 standard of honour1 religion1 sympathies1 ideals1 opinions and instincts4 ,he is not likely to be either a saint or a philosopher1 but he is tolerably sure to be both an honourable and a useful man1 with a fair measure of good sense and moderation1 and with some disposition towards public duties4 ,a crowd of out-of-door amusements and interests do much to dispel his peccant humours and to save him from the stagnation and the sensuality that have beset many foreign aristocracies4 ,county business stimulates his activity1 mitigates his class prejudices1 and forms his judgment3 and his standard of honour will keep him substantially right amid much fluctuation of opinions4 ,the reader1 from his own experience of individual characters1 will supply other illustrations of the lines of thought ,i am enforcing4 ,some temptations that beset us must be steadily faced and subdued4 ,others are best met by flight--by avoiding the thoughts or scenes that call them into activity2 while other elements of character which we might wish to be away are often better treated in the way of marriage--that is by a judicious regulation and harmless application--than in the way of asceticism or attempted suppression4 ,it is possible for men--if not in educating themselves1 at least in educating others--to pitch their standard and their ideal too high4 ,what they have to do is to recognise their own qualities and the qualities of those whom they influence as they are1 and endeavour to use these usually very imperfect materials to the best advantage for the formation of useful1 honourable and happy lives4 ,according to the doctrine of this book1 man comes into the world with a free will4 ,but his free will1 though a real thing1 acts in a narrower circle and with more numerous limitations than he usually imagines4 ,he can1 however1 do much so to dispose1 regulate and modify the circumstances of his life as to diminish both his sufferings and his temptations1 and to secure for himself the external conditions of a happy and upright life1 and he can do something by judicious and persevering self-culture to improve those conditions of character on which1 more than on any external circumstances1 both happiness and virtue depend4 ,,footnotes3 #fa ,hawthorne's ,scarlet ,letter1 ch4 xxii4 #fb ,hist4 ii4 #ce4 #fc ,speech on the ,impeachment of ,warren ,hastings4 #fd ,davis4 #fe ,cable4 #ff ,jefferies1 ,field and ,hedgerow1 p4 #bdb4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,money ,i do not think that ,i can better introduce the few pages which ,i propose to write on the relations of money to happiness and to character than by a pregnant passage from one of the essays#fg of ,sir ,henry ,taylor4 ',so manifold are the bearings of money upon the lives and characters of mankind1 that an insight which should search out the life of a man in his pecuniary relations would penetrate into almost every cranny of his nature4 ,he who knows like ,st4 ,paul both how to spare and how to abound has a great knowledge2 for if we take account of all the virtues with which money is mixed up--honesty1 justice1 generosity1 charity1 frugality1 forethought1 self-sacrifice1 and of their correlative vices1 it is a knowledge which goes near to cover the length and breadth of humanity1 and a right measure in getting1 saving1 spending1 giving1 taking1 lending1 borrowing and bequeathing would almost argue a perfect man4' ,there are few subjects on which the contrast between the professed and the real beliefs of men is greater than in the estimate of money4 ,more than any other single thing it is the object and usually the lifelong object of human effort1 and any accession of wealth is hailed by the immense majority of mankind as an unquestionable blessing4 ,yet if we were to take literally much of the teaching we have all heard we should conclude that money1 beyond what is required for the necessaries of life1 is far more a danger than a good2 that it is the pre-eminent source of evil and temptation2 that one of the first duties of man is to emancipate himself from the love of it1 which can only mean from any strong desire for its increase4 ,in this1 as in so many other things1 the question is largely one of degree4 ,no one who knows what is meant by the abject poverty to which a great proportion of the human race is condemned will doubt that at least such an amount of money as raises them from this condition is one of the greatest of human blessings4 ,extreme poverty means a lifelong struggle for the bare means of living2 it means a life spent in wretched hovels1 with insufficient food1 clothes and firing1 in enforced and absolute ignorance2 an existence almost purely animal1 with nearly all the higher faculties of man undeveloped4 ,there is a far greater real difference in the material elements of happiness between the condition of such men and that of a moderately prosperous artizan in a civilised country than there is between the latter and the millionaire4 ,money1 again1 at least to such an amount as enables men to be in some considerable degree masters of their own course in life1 is also on the whole a great good4 ,in this second degree it has less influence on happiness than health1 and probably than character and domestic relations1 but its influence is at least very great4 ,money is a good thing because it can be transformed into many other things4 ,it gives the power of education which in itself does much to regulate the character and opens out countless tastes and spheres of enjoyment4 ,it saves its possessor from the fear of a destitute old age and of the destitution of those he may leave behind1 which is the harrowing care of multitudes who cannot be reckoned among the very poor4 ,it enables him to intermit labour in times of sickness and sorrow and old age1 and in those extremes of heat and cold during which active labour is little less than physical pain4 ,it gives him and it gives those he loves increased chances of life and increased hope of recovery in sickness4 ,few of the pains of penury are more acute than those of a poor man who sees his wife or children withering away through disease1 and who knows or believes that better food or medical attendance1 or a surgical operation1 or a change of climate1 might have saved them4 ,money1 too1 even when it does not dispense with work1 at least gives a choice of work and longer intervals of leisure4 ,for the very poor this choice hardly exists1 or exists only within very narrow limits1 and from want of culture or want of leisure some of their most marked natural aptitudes are never called into exercise4 ,with the comparatively rich this is not the case4 ,money enables them to select the course of life which is congenial to their tastes and most suited to their natural talents1 or1 if their strongest taste cannot become their work1 money at least gives them some leisure to cultivate it4 ,the command of leisure1 when it is fruitful leisure spent in congenial work1 is to many1 perhaps1 the greatest boon it can bestow4 ',riches1' said ,charles ,lamb1 'are chiefly good because they give us ,time4' ',all one's time to oneself6 for which alone ,i rankle with envy at the rich4 ,books are good and pictures are good1 and money to buy them is therefore good--but to buy time--in other words1 life6' ,to some men money is chiefly valuable because it makes it possible for them not to think of money4 ,except in the daily regulation of ordinary life1 it enables them to put aside cares which are to them both harassing and distasteful1 and to concentrate their thoughts and energies on other objects4 ,an assured competence also1 however moderate1 gives men the priceless blessing of independence4 ,there are walks of life1 there are fields of ambition1 there are classes of employments in which between inadequate remuneration and the pressure of want on the one side1 and the facilities and temptations to illicit gain on the other1 it is extremely difficult for a poor man to walk straight4 ,illicit gain does not merely mean gain that brings a man within the range of the criminal law4 ,many of its forms escape legal and perhaps social censure1 and may be even sanctioned by custom4 ,a competence1 whether small or large1 is no sure preservative against that appetite for gain which becomes one of the most powerful and insatiable of passions4 ,but it at least diminishes temptation4 ,it takes away the pressure of want under which so many natures that were once substantially honest have broken down4 ,in the expenditure of money there is usually a great deal of the conventional1 the factitious1 the purely ostentatious1 but we are here dealing with the most serious realities of life4 ,there are few or no elements of happiness and character more important than those ,i have indicated1 and a small competence conduces powerfully to them4 ,let no man therefore despise it1 for if wisely used it is one of the most real blessings of life4 ,it is of course only within the reach of a small minority1 but the number might easily be much larger than it is4 ,often when it is inherited in early youth it is scattered in one or two years of gambling and dissipation1 followed by a lifetime of regret4 ,in other cases it crumbles away in a generation1 for it is made an excuse for a life of idleness1 and when children multiply or misfortunes arrive1 what was once a competence becomes nothing more than bare necessity4 ,in a still larger number of cases many of its advantages are lost because men at once adopt a scale of living fully equal to their income4 ,a man who with one house would be a wealthy man1 finds life with two houses a constant struggle4 ,a set of habits is acquired1 a scale or standard of luxury is adopted1 which at once sweeps away the margin of superfluity4 ,riches or poverty depend not merely on the amount of our possessions1 but quite as much on the regulation of our desires1 and the full advantages of competence are only felt when men begin by settling their scheme of life on a scale materially within their income4 ,when the great lines of expenditure are thus wisely and frugally established1 they can command a wide latitude and much ease in dealing with the smaller ones4 ,it is of course true that the power of a man thus to regulate his expenditure is by no means absolute4 ,the position in society in which a man is born brings with it certain conventionalities and obligations that cannot be discarded4 ,a great nobleman who has inherited a vast estate and a conspicuous social position will1 through no fault of his own1 find himself involved in constant difficulties and struggles on an income a tenth part of which would suffice to give a simple private gentleman every reasonable enjoyment in life4 ,a poor clergyman who is obliged to keep up the position of a gentleman is in reality a much poorer man than a prosperous artizan1 even though his actual income may be somewhat larger4 ,but within the bounds which the conventionalities of society imperatively prescribe many scales of expenditure are possible1 and the wise regulation of these is one of the chief forms of practical wisdom4 ,it may be observed1 however1 that not only men but nations differ widely in this respect1 and the difference is not merely that between prudence and folly1 between forethought and passion1 but is also in a large degree a difference of tastes and ideals4 ,in general it will be found that in ,continental nations a man of independent fortune will place his expenditure more below his means than in ,england1 and a man who has pursued some lucrative employment will sooner be satisfied with the competence he has acquired and will gladly exchange his work for a life of leisure4 ,the ,english character prefers a higher rate of expenditure and work continued to the end4 ,it is probable that1 so far as happiness depends on money1 the happiest lot--though it is certainly not that which is most envied--is that of a man who possesses a realised fortune sufficient to save him from serious money cares about the present and the future1 but who at the same time can only keep up the position in society he has chosen for himself1 and provide as he desires for his children1 by adding to it a professional income4 ,work is necessary both to happiness and to character1 and experience shows that it most frequently attains its full concentration and continuity when it is professional1 or1 in other words1 money-making4 ,men work in traces as they will seldom work at liberty4 ,the compulsory character1 the steady habits1 the constant emulation of professional life mould and strengthen the will1 and probably the happiest lot is when this kind of work exists1 but without the anxiety of those who depend solely on it4 ,it is also a good thing when wealth tends to increase with age4 ',old age1' it has been said1 'is a very expensive thing4' ,if the taste for pleasure diminishes1 the necessity for comfort increases4 ,men become more dependent and more fastidious1 and hardships that are indifferent to youth become acutely painful4 ,beside this1 money cares are apt to weigh with an especial heaviness upon the old4 ,avarice1 as has been often observed1 is eminently an old-age vice1 and in natures that are in no degree avaricious it will be found that real money anxieties are more felt and have a greater haunting power in age than in youth4 ,there is then the sense of impotence which makes men feel that their earning power has gone4 ,on the other hand youth1 and especially early married life spent under the pressure of narrow circumstances1 will often be looked back upon as both the happiest and the most fruitful period of life4 ,it is the best discipline of character4 ,it is under such circumstances that men acquire habits of hard and steady work1 frugality1 order1 forethought1 punctuality1 and simplicity of tastes4 ,they acquire sympathies and realisations they would never have known in more prosperous circumstances4 ,they learn to take keen pleasure in little things1 and to value rightly both money and time4 ,if wealth and luxury afterwards come in overflowing measure1 these lessons will not be wholly lost4 ,the value of money as an element of happiness diminishes rapidly in proportion to its amount4 ,in the case of the humbler fortunes1 each accession brings with it a large increase of pleasure and comfort1 and probably a very considerable addition to real happiness4 ,in the case of rich men this is not the case1 and of colossal fortunes only a very small fraction can be truly said to minister to the personal enjoyment of the owner4 ,the disproportion in the world between pleasure and cost is indeed almost ludicrous4 ,the two or three shillings that gave us our first ,shakespeare would go but a small way towards providing one of the perhaps untasted dishes on the dessert table4 ,the choicest masterpieces of the human mind--the works of human genius that through the long course of centuries have done most to ennoble1 console1 brighten1 and direct the lives of men1 might all be purchased--,i do not say by the cost of a lady's necklace1 but by that of one or two of the little stones of which it is composed4 ,compare the relish with which the tired pedestrian eats his bread and cheese with the appetites with which men sit down to some stately banquet2 compare the level of spirits at the village dance with that of the great city ball whose lavish splendour fills the society papers with admiration2 compare the charm of conversation in the college common room with the weary faces that may be often seen around the millionaire's dinner table1--and we may gain a good lesson of the vanity of riches4 ,the transition from want to comfort brings with it keen enjoyment and much lasting happiness4 ,the transition from mere comfort to luxury brings incomparably less and costs incomparably more4 ,let a man of enormous wealth analyse his life from day to day and try to estimate what are the things or hours that have afforded him real and vivid pleasure4 ,in many cases he will probably say that he has found it in his work--in others in the hour spent with his cigar1 his newspaper1 or his book1 or in his game of cricket1 or in the excitement of the hunting-field1 or in his conversation with an old friend1 or in hearing his daughters sing1 or in welcoming his son on his return from school4 ,let him look round the splendid adornments of his home and ask how many of these things have ever given him a pleasure at all proportionate to their cost4 ,probably in many cases1 if he deals honestly with himself1 he would confess that his armchair and his bookshelves are almost the only exceptions4 ,steam1 the printing press1 the spread of education1 and the great multiplication of public libraries1 museums1 picture galleries and exhibitions have brought the chief pleasures of life in a much larger degree than in any previous age within the reach of what are called the working classes1 while in the conditions of modern life nearly all the great sources of real enjoyment that money can give are open to a man who possesses a competent but not extraordinary fortune and some leisure4 ,intellectual tastes he may gratify to the full4 ,books1 at all events in the great centres of civilisation1 are accessible far in excess of his powers of reading4 ,the pleasures of the theatre1 the pleasures of society1 the pleasures of music in most of its forms1 the pleasures of travel with all its variety of interests1 and many of the pleasures of sport1 are abundantly at his disposal4 ,the possession of the highest works of art has no doubt become more and more a monopoly of the very rich1 but picture galleries and exhibitions and the facilities of travel have diffused the knowledge and enjoyment of art over a vastly wider area than in the past4 ,the power of reproducing works of art has been immensely increased and cheapened1 and in one form at least the highest art has been brought within the reach of a man of very moderate means4 ,photography can reproduce a drawing with such absolute perfection that he may cover his walls with works of ,michael ,angelo and ,leonardo da ,vinci that are indistinguishable from the originals4 ,the standard of comfort in mere material things is now so high in well-to-do households that to a healthy nature the millionaire can add little to it4 ,perhaps among the pleasures of wealth that which has the strongest influence is a country place1 especially when it brings with it old remembrances1 and associations that appeal powerfully to the affections and the imagination4 ,more than any other inanimate thing it throws its tendrils round the human heart and becomes the object of a deep and lasting affection4 ,but even here it will be probably found that this pleasure is more felt by the owner of one country place than by the great proprietor whose life is spent alternately in several--by the owner of a place of moderate dimensions than by the owner of those vast parks which can only be managed at great expense and trouble and by much delegated supervision1 and which are usually thrown open with such liberality to the public that they probably give more real pleasure to others than to their owners4 ,among the special pleasures of the enormously rich the collecting passion is conspicuous1 and of course a very rich man can carry it into departments which men of moderate fortune can hardly touch4 ,in the rare case when the collector is a man of strong and genuine artistic taste the possession of works of beauty is a thing of enduring pleasure1 but in general the mere love of collecting1 though it often becomes a passion almost amounting to a mania1 bears very little proportion to pecuniary value4 ,the intelligent collector of fossils has as much pleasure as the collector of gems--probably indeed more1 as the former pursuit brings with it a much greater variety of interest1 and usually depends much more on the personal exertions of the collector4 ,it is pleasant1 in looking over a geological collection1 to think that every stone we see has given a pleasure4 ,a collector of ,caxtons1 a collector of large printed or illustrated editions1 a collector of first editions of famous books1 a collector of those editions that are so much prized because an author has made in them some blunder which he afterwards corrected2 a collector of those unique books which have survived as rarities because no one thought it worth while to reprint them or because they are distinguished by some obsolete absurdity1 will probably not derive more pleasure1 though he will spend vastly more money1 than the mere literary man who1 being interested in some particular period or topic1 loves to hunt up in old bookshops the obscure and forgotten literature relating to it4 ,much the same thing may be said of other tastes4 ,the gratification of a strong taste or hobby will always give pleasure1 and it makes little difference whether it is an expensive or an inexpensive one4 ,the pleasures of acquisition1 the pleasures of possession1 and the pleasures of ostentation1 are no doubt real things1 though they act in very different degrees on different natures1 and some of them much more on one sex than on the other4 ,in general1 however1 they tend to grow passive and inert4 ,a state of luxury and splendour is little appreciated by those who are born to it1 though much if it follows a period of struggle and penury4 ,yet even then the circumstances and surroundings of life soon become a second nature4 ,men become so habituated to them that they are accepted almost mechanically and cease to give positive pleasure1 though a deprivation of them gives positive pain4 ,the love of power1 the love of society1 and--what is not quite the same thing--the love of social influence1 are1 however1 much stronger and more enduring1 and great wealth is largely valued because it helps to give them1 though it does not give them invariably1 and though there are other things that give them in an equal or greater degree4 ,to many very rich men some form of field sports is probably the greatest pleasure that money affords4 ,it at least gives a genuine thrill of unmistakable enjoyment4 ,few of the special pleasures of the millionaire can be said to be purely selfish1 for few are concentrated altogether on himself4 ,his great park is usually open to the public4 ,his pictures are lent for exhibition or exhibited in his house4 ,if he keeps a pack of hounds others hunt with it4 ,if he preserves game to an enormous extent he invites many to shoot it1 and at his great entertainments it will often be found that no one derives less pleasure than the weary host4 ,at the same time no thinking man can fail to be struck with the great waste of the means of enjoyment in a society in which such gigantic sums are spent in mere conventional ostentation which gives little or no pleasure2 in which the best ,london houses are those which are the longest untenanted2 in which some of the most enchanting gardens and parks are only seen by their owners for a few weeks in the year4 ,hamerton1 in his ,essay on ,bohemianism1 has very truly shown that the rationale of a great deal of this is simply the attempt of men to obtain from social intercourse the largest amount of positive pleasure or amusement it can give by discarding the forms1 the costly conventionalities1 the social restrictions that encumber and limit it4 ,one of the worst tendencies of a very wealthy society is that by the mere competition of ostentation the standard of conventional expense is raised1 and the intercourse of men limited by the introduction of a number of new and costly luxuries which either give no pleasure or give pleasure that bears no kind of proportion to their cost4 ,examples may sometimes be seen of a very rich man who imagines that he can obtain from life real enjoyment in proportion to his wealth and who uses it for purely selfish purposes4 ,we may find this in the almost insane extravagance of vulgar ostentation by which the parvenu millionaire tries to gratify his vanity and dazzle his neighbours2 in the wild round of prodigal dissipation and vice by which so many young men who have inherited enormous fortunes have wrecked their constitutions and found a speedy path to an unhonoured grave4 ,they sought from money what money cannot give1 and learned too late that in pursuing shadows they missed the substance that was within their reach4 ,to the intelligent millionaire1 however1 and especially to those who are brought up to great possessions1 wealth is looked on in a wholly different light4 ,it is a possession and a trust carrying with it many duties as well as many interests and accompanied by a great burden of responsibility4 ,mere pleasure-hunting plays but a small and wholly subsidiary part in such lives1 and they are usually filled with much useful work4 ,this man1 for example1 is a banker on a colossal scale4 ,follow his life1 and you will find that for four days in the week he is engaged in his office as steadily1 as unremittingly as any clerk in his establishment4 ,he has made himself master not only of the details of his own gigantic business but of the whole great subject of finance in all its international relations4 ,he is a power in many lands4 ,he is consulted in every crisis of finance4 ,he is an important influence in a crowd of enterprises1 most of them useful as well as lucrative1 some of them distinctively philanthropic4 ,saturday and ,sunday he spends at his country place1 usually entertaining a number of guests4 ,one other day during the hunting season he regularly devotes to his favourite sport4 ,his holiday is the usual holiday of a professional man1 with rather a tendency to abridge than to lengthen it1 as the natural bent of his thoughts is so strongly to his work that time soon begins to hang heavily when he is away from it4 ,another man is an ardent philanthropist1 and his philanthropy probably blends with much religious fervour1 and he becomes in consequence a leader in the religious world4 ,such a life cannot fail to be abundantly filled4 ,religious meetings1 committees1 the various interests of the many institutions with which he is connected1 the conflicting and competing claims of different religious societies1 fully occupy his time and thoughts1 sometimes to the great neglect of his private affairs4 ,another man is of a different type4 ,shy1 retiring1 hating publicity1 and not much interested in politics1 he is a gigantic landowner1 and the work of his life is concentrated on the development of his own estate4 ,he knows the circumstances of every village1 almost of every farm4 ,it is his pride that no labourer on his estate is badly housed1 that no part of it is slovenly or mismanaged or poverty-stricken4 ,he endows churches and hospitals1 he erects public buildings1 encourages every local industry1 makes in times of distress much larger remissions of rent than would be possible for a poorer man1 superintends personally the many interests on his property1 knows accurately the balance of receipts and expenditure1 takes a great interest in sanitation1 in new improvements and experiments in agriculture1 in all the multifarious matters that affect the prosperity of his numerous tenantry4 ,he subscribes liberally to great national undertakings1 as he considers it one of the duties of his position1 but his heart is not in such things1 and the well-being of his own vast estate and of those who live upon it is the aim and the work of his life4 ,for a few weeks of the year he exercises the splendid and lavish hospitality which is expected from a man in his position1 and he is always very glad when those weeks are over4 ,he has1 however1 his own expensive hobby1 which gives him real pleasure--his yacht1 his picture gallery1 his museum1 his collection of wild animals1 his hothouses or his racing establishment4 ,one or more of these form the real amusement of his active and useful life4 ,a more common type in ,england is that of the active politician4 ,great wealth and especially great landed property bring men easily into ,parliament1 and1 if united with industry and some measure of ability1 into official life1 and public life thus becomes a profession and in many cases a very laborious one4 ,there are few better examples of a well-filled life and of the skilful management and economy of time than are to be found in the lives of some great noblemen who take a leading part in politics and preside over important ,government departments without suffering their gigantic estates to fall into mismanagement1 or neglecting the many social duties and local interests connected with them4 ,most of their success is indeed due to the wise use of money in economising time by trustworthy and efficient delegation4 ,yet the superintending brain1 the skilful choice1 the personal control cannot be dispensed with4 ,in a life so fully occupied the few weeks of pleasure which may be spent on a ,scotch moor or in a ,continental watering-place will surely not be condemned4 ,the economy of time and the elasticity of brain and character such lives develop are1 however1 probably exceeded by another class4 ,nothing is more remarkable in the social life of the present generation than the high pressure under which a large number of ladies in great positions habitually live4 ,it strikes every ,continental observer1 for there is nothing approaching it in any other ,european country1 and it certainly far exceeds anything that existed in ,england in former generations4 ,pleasure-seeking1 combined1 however1 on a large scale with pleasure-giving1 holds a much more prominent place in these lives than in those ,i have just described4 ,with not a few women1 indeed1 of wealth and position1 it is the all-in-all of life1 and in general it is probable that women obtain more pleasure from most forms of society than men1 though it is also true that they bear a much larger share of its burdens4 ,there are1 however1 in this class1 many who combine with society a truly surprising number and variety of serious interests4 ,not only the management of a great house1 not only the superintendence of schools and charities and local enterprises connected with a great estate1 but also a crowd of philanthropic1 artistic1 political1 and sometimes literary interests fill their lives4 ,few lives1 indeed1 in any station are more full1 more intense1 more constantly and variously occupied4 ,public life1 which in most foreign countries is wholly outside the sphere of women1 is eagerly followed4 ,public speaking1 which in the memory of many now living was almost unknown among women of any station in ,english society1 has become the most ordinary accomplishment4 ,their object is to put into life from youth to old age as much as life can give1 and they go far to attain their end4 ,a wonderful nimbleness and flexibility of intellect capable of turning swiftly from subject to subject has been developed1 and keeps them in touch with a very wide range both of interests and pleasures4 ,there are no doubt grave drawbacks to all this4 ,many will say that this external activity must be at the sacrifice of the duties of domestic life1 but on this subject there is1 ,i think1 at least much exaggeration4 ,education has now assumed such forms and attained such a standard that usually for many hours in the day the education of the young in a wealthy family is in the hands of accomplished specialists1 and ,i do not think that the most occupied lives are those in which the cares of a home are most neglected4 ,how far1 however1 this intense and constant strain is compatible with physical well-being is a graver question1 and many have feared that it must bequeath weakened constitutions to the coming generation4 ,nor is a life of incessant excitement in other respects beneficial4 ,in both intellectual and moral hygiene the best life is that which follows nature and alternates periods of great activity with periods of rest4 ,retirement1 quiet1 steady reading1 and the silent thought which matures character and deepens impressions are things that seem almost disappearing from many ,english lives4 ,but lives such as ,i have described are certainly not useless1 undeveloped1 or wholly selfish1 and they in a large degree fulfil that great law of happiness1 that it should be sought for rather in interests than in pleasures4 ,i have already referred to the class who value money chiefly because it enables them to dismiss money thoughts and cares from their minds4 ,on the whole1 this end is probably more frequently attained by men of moderate but competent fortunes than by the very rich4 ,this is at least the case when they are sufficiently rich to invest their money in securities which are liable to no serious risk or fluctuation4 ,a gigantic fortune is seldom of such a nature that it does not bring with it great cares of administration and require much thought and many decisions4 ,there is1 however1 one important exception4 ,when there are many children the task of providing for their future falls much more lightly on the very rich than on those of medium fortune4 ,there is a class1 however1 who are the exact opposite of these and who make the simple acquisition of money the chief interest and pleasure of their lives4 ,money-making in some form is the main occupation of the great majority of men1 but it is usually as a means to an end4 ,it is to acquire the means of livelihood1 or the means of maintaining or improving a social position1 or the means of providing as they think fit for the children who are to succeed them4 ,sometimes1 however1 with the very rich and without any ulterior object1 money-making for its own sake becomes the absorbing interest4 ,they can pursue it with great advantage2 for1 as has been often said1 nothing makes money like money1 and the possession of an immense capital gives innumerable facilities for increasing it4 ,the collecting passion takes this form4 ,they come to care more for money than for anything money can purchase1 though less for money than for the interest and the excitement of getting it4 ,speculative enterprise1 with its fluctuations1 uncertainties and surprises1 becomes their strongest interest and their greatest amusement4 ,when it is honestly conducted there is no real reason why it should be condemned4 ,on these conditions a life so spent is1 ,i think1 usually useful to the world1 for it generally encourages works that are of real value4 ,all that can be truly said is that it brings with it grave temptations and is very apt to lower a man's moral being4 ,speculation easily becomes a form of gambling so fierce in its excitement that1 when carried on incessantly and on a great scale1 it kills all capacity for higher and tranquil pleasures1 strengthens incalculably the temptations to unscrupulous gain1 disturbs the whole balance of character1 and often even shortens life4 ,with others the love of accumulation has a strange power of materialising1 narrowing and hardening4 ,habits of meanness--sometimes taking curious and inconsistent forms1 and applying only to particular things or departments of life--steal insensibly over them1 and the love of money assumes something of the character of mania4 ,temptations connected with money are indeed among the most insidious and among the most powerful to which we are exposed4 ,they have probably a wider empire than drink1 and1 unlike the temptations that spring from animal passion1 they strengthen rather than diminish with age4 ,in no respect is it more necessary for a man to keep watch over his own character1 taking care that the unselfish element does not diminish1 and correcting the love of acquisition by generosity of expenditure4 ,it is probable that the highest form of charity1 involving real and serious self-denial1 is much more common among the poor1 and even the very poor1 than among the rich4 ,i think most persons who have had much practical acquaintance with the dealings of the poor with one another will confirm this4 ,it is certainly far less common among those who are at the opposite pole of fortune4 ,they have not had the same discipline1 or indeed the same possibility of self-sacrifice1 or the same means of realising the pains of poverty1 and there is another reason which tends not unnaturally to check their benevolence4 ,a man with the reputation of great wealth soon finds himself beleaguered by countless forms of mendicancy and imposture4 ,he comes to feel that there is a general conspiracy to plunder him1 and he is naturally thrown into an attitude of suspicion and self-defence4 ,often1 though he may give largely and generously1 he will do so under the veil of strict anonymity1 in order to avoid a reputation for generosity which will bring down upon him perpetual solicitations4 ,if he is an intellectual man he will probably generalise from his own experience4 ,he will be deeply impressed with the enormous evils that have sprung from ill-judged charity1 and with the superiority even from a philanthropic point of view of a productive expenditure of money4 ,and in truth it is difficult to overrate the evil effects of injudicious charities in discouraging thrift1 industry1 foresight and self-respect4 ,they take many forms2 some of them extremely obvious1 while others can only be rightly judged by a careful consideration of remote consequences4 ,there are the idle tourists who break down1 in a once unsophisticated district1 that sense of self-respect which is one of the most valuable lessons that early education can give1 by flinging pence to be scrambled for among the children1 or who teach the poor the fatal lesson that mendicancy or something hardly distinguishable from mendicancy will bring greater gain than honest and continuous work4 ,there is the impulsive1 uninquiring charity that makes the trade of the skilful begging-letter writer a lucrative profession1 and makes men and women who are rich1 benevolent and weak1 the habitual prey of greedy impostors4 ,there is the old-established charity for ministering to simple poverty which draws to its centre all the pauperism of the neighbouring districts1 depresses wages1 and impoverishes the very district or class it was intended to benefit4 ,there are charities which not only largely diminish the sufferings that are the natural consequence and punishment of vice2 but even make the lot of the criminal and the vicious a better one than that of the hard-working poor4 ,there are overlapping charities dealing with the same department1 but kept up with lavish waste through the rivalry of different religious denominations1 or in the interests of the officials connected with them2 belated or superannuated charities formed to deal with circumstances or sufferings that have in a large degree passed away--useless1 or almost useless1 charities established to carry out some silly fad or to gratify some silly vanity2 sectarian charities intended to further ends which1 in the eyes of all but the members of one sect1 are not only useless but mischievous2 charities that encourage thriftless marriages1 or make it easy for men to neglect obvious duties1 or keep a semi-pauper population stationary in employments and on a soil where they can never prosper1 or in other ways handicap1 impede or divert the natural and healthy course of industry4 ,illustrations of all these evils will occur to every careful student of the subject4 ,unintelligent1 thoughtless1 purely impulsive charity1 and charity which is inspired by some other motive than a real desire to relieve suffering1 will constantly go wrong1 but every intelligent man can find without difficulty vast fields on which the largest generosity may be expended with abundant fruit4 ,hospitals and kindred institutions for alleviating great unavoidable calamities1 and giving the sick poor something of the same chances of recovery as the rich1 for the most part fall under this head4 ,money will seldom be wasted which is spent in promoting kinds of knowledge1 enterprise or research that bring no certain remuneration proportioned to their value2 in assisting poor young men of ability and industry to develop their special talents2 in encouraging in their many different forms thrift1 self-help and co-operation2 in alleviating the inevitable suffering that follows some great catastrophe on land or sea1 or great transitions of industry1 or great fluctuations and depressions in class prosperity2 in giving the means of healthy recreation or ennobling pleasures to the denizens of a crowded town4 ,the vast sphere of education opens endless fields for generous expenditure1 and every religious man will find objects which1 in the opinion not only of men of his own persuasion1 but also of many others1 are transcendently important4 ,nor is it a right principle that charity should be denied to all calamities which are in some degree due to the fault of the sufferer1 or which might have been averted by exceptional forethought or self-denial4 ,some economists write as if a far higher standard of will and morals should be expected among the poor and the uneducated than can be found among the rich4 ,good sense and right feeling will here easily draw the line1 abstaining from charities that have a real influence in encouraging improvidence or vice1 yet making due allowance for the normal weaknesses of our nature4 ,in all these ways the very rich can find ample opportunities for useful benevolence4 ,it is the prerogative of great wealth that it can often cure what others can only palliate1 and can establish permanent sources of good which will continue long after the donors have passed away4 ,in dealing with individual cases of distress1 rich men who have neither the time nor the inclination to investigate the special circumstances will do well to rely largely on the recommendation of others4 ,if they choose trustworthy1 competent and sensible advisers with as much judgment as they commonly show in the management of their private affairs1 they are not likely to go astray4 ,there never was a period when a larger amount of intelligent and disinterested labour was employed in careful and detailed examination of the circumstances and needs of the poor4 ,the parish clergyman1 the district visitor1 the agents of the ,charity ,organization ,society which annually selects its special cases of well-ascertained need1 will abundantly furnish them with the knowledge they require4 ,the advantage or disadvantage of the presence in a country of a large class of men possessing fortunes far exceeding anything that can really administer to their enjoyment is a question which has greatly divided both political economists and moralists4 ,the former were long accustomed to maintain somewhat exclusively that laws and institutions should be established with the object of furthering the greatest possible accumulation of wealth1 and that a system of unrestricted competition1 coupled with equal laws1 giving each man the most complete security in the possession and disposal of his property1 was the best means of attaining this end4 ,they urged with great truth that1 although under such a system the inequalities of fortune will be enormous1 most of the wealth of the very rich will inevitably be distributed in the form of wages1 purchases1 and industrial enterprises through the community at large1 and that1 other things being equal1 the richest country will on the whole be the happiest4 ,they clearly saw the complete delusion of the common assertions that the more millionaires there are in a country the more paupers will multiply1 and that society is dividing between the enormously rich and the abjectly poor4 ,the great industrial communities1 in which there are the largest number of very wealthy men1 are also the centres in which we find the most prosperous middle class1 and the highest and most progressive rates of wages and standards of comfort among the poor4 ,great corruption in many forms no doubt exists in them1 but it can scarcely be maintained with confidence that the standard of integrity is on the whole lower in these than in other countries1 and they at least escape what in many poor countries is one of the most fruitful causes of corruption in all branches of administration--the inadequate pay of the servants of the ,crown4 ,the path of liberty in the eyes of economists of this school is the path of wisdom1 and they were profoundly distrustful of all legislative attempts to restrict or interfere with the course of industrial progress4 ,in our own generation a somewhat different tendency has manifestly strengthened4 ,it has been said that past political economists paid too much attention to the accumulation and too little to the distribution of wealth4 ,men have become more sensible to the high level of happiness and moral well-being that has been attained in some of the smaller and somewhat stagnant countries of ,europe1 where wealth is more generally attained by thrift and steady industry than by great industrial or commercial enterprise1 in which there are few large fortunes but little acute poverty1 a low standard of luxury1 but a high standard of real comfort4 ,the enormous evils that have grown up in wealthy countries1 in the form of company-mongering1 excessive competition1 extravagant and often vicious luxury1 and dishonest administration of public funds1 are more and more felt1 and it is only too true that in these countries there are large and influential circles of society in which all considerations of character1 intellect1 or manners seem lost in an intense thirst for wealth and for the things that it can give4 ,sometimes we find vast fortunes in countries where there is but little enterprise and a very low standard of comfort among the people1 and where this is the case it is usually due to unequal laws or corrupt administration4 ,in the free1 democratic1 and industrial communities great fluctuations and disparities of wealth are inevitable1 and some of the most colossal fortunes have1 no doubt1 been made by the evil methods ,i have described4 ,they are1 however1 only a minority1 and not a very large one4 ,like all the great successes of life1 abnormal accumulation of wealth is usually due to the combination in different proportions of ability1 character1 and chance1 and is not tainted with dishonesty4 ,on the whole1 the question that should be asked is not what a man has1 but how he obtained it and how he uses it4 ,when wealth is honestly acquired and wisely and generously used1 the more rich men there are in a country the better4 ,there has probably never been a period in the history of the world when the conditions of industry1 assisted by the great gold discoveries in several parts of the globe1 were so favourable to the formation of enormous fortunes as at present1 and when the race of millionaires was so large4 ,the majority belong to the ,english-speaking race2 probably most of their gigantic fortunes have been rapidly accumulated1 and bring with them none of the necessary1 hereditary1 and clearly defined obligations of a great landowner1 while a considerable proportion of them have fallen to the lot of men who1 through their education or early habits1 have not many cultivated or naturally expensive tastes4 ,in ,england many of the new millionaires become great landowners and set up great establishments4 ,in ,america1 where country tastes are less marked and where the difficulties of domestic service are very great1 this is less common4 ,in both countries the number of men with immense fortunes1 absolutely at their own disposal1 has enormously increased1 and the character of their expenditure has become a matter of real national importance4 ,much of it1 no doubt1 goes in simple luxury and ostentation1 or in mere speculation1 or in restoring old and dilapidated fortunes through the marriages of rank with money which are so characteristic of our time2 but much also is devoted to charitable or philanthropic purposes4 ,in this1 as in most things1 motives are often very blended4 ,to men of such fortunes1 such expenditure1 even on a large scale1 means no real self-sacrifice1 and the inducements to it are not always of the highest kind4 ,to some men it is a matter of ambition--a legitimate and useful ambition--to obtain the enduring and honourable fame which attaches to the founder of a great philanthropic or educational establishment4 ,others find that1 in ,england at least1 large philanthropic expenditure is one of the easiest and shortest paths to social success1 bringing men and women of low extraction and bad manners into close and frequent connection with the recognised leaders of society2 while others again have discovered that it is the quickest way of effacing the stigma which still in some degree attaches to wealth which has been acquired by dishonourable or dubious means4 ,fashion1 social ambition1 and social rivalries are by no means unknown in the fields of charity4 ,there are many1 however1 in whose philanthropy the element of self has no place1 and whose sole desire is to expend their money in forms that can be of most real and permanent benefit to others4 ,such men have great power1 and1 if their philanthropic expenditure is wisely guided1 it may be of incalculable benefit4 ,i have already indicated many of the channels in which it may safely flow1 but one or two additional hints on the subject may not be useless4 ,perhaps as a general rule these men will find that they can act most wisely by strengthening and enlarging old charities which are really good1 rather than by founding new ones4 ,competition is the soul of industry1 but certainly not of charity1 and there is in ,england a deplorable waste of money and machinery through the excessive multiplication of institutions intended for the same objects4 ,the kind of ambition to which ,i have just referred tends to make men prefer new charities which can be identified with their names2 the paid officials connected with charities have become a large and powerful profession1 and their influence is naturally used in the same direction2 the many different religious bodies in the country often refuse to combine1 and each desires to have its own institutions2 and there are fashions in charity which1 while they greatly stimulate generosity1 have too often the effect of diverting it from the older and more unobtrusive forms4 ,on the other hand1 one of the most important facts in our present economical condition is that an extraordinary and almost unparalleled development of industrial prosperity has been accompanied by extreme and long-continued agricultural depression and by a great fall in the rate of interest4 ,wealth in many forms is accumulating with wonderful rapidity1 and the increased rate of wages is diffusing prosperity among the working classes2 but those who depend directly or indirectly on agricultural rents or on interest of money invested in trust securities have been suffering severely1 and they comprise some of the most useful1 blameless1 and meritorious classes in the community4 ,the same causes that have injured them have fallen with crushing severity on old-established institutions which usually derive their income largely or entirely from the rent of land or from money invested in the public funds4 ,the bitter cry of distress that is rising from the hospitals and many other ancient charities1 from the universities1 from the clergy of the ,established ,church1 abundantly proves it4 ,the preference1 however1 to be given to old charities rather than to new ones is subject to very many exceptions4 ,it does not apply to new countries or to the many cases in which changes and developments of industry have planted vast agglomerations of population in districts which were once but thinly populated1 and therefore but little provided with charitable or educational institutions4 ,nor does it apply to the many cases in which the circumstances of modern life have called into existence new forms of charity1 new wants1 new dangers and evils to be combated1 new departments of knowledge to be cultivated4 ,one of the greatest difficulties of the older universities is that of providing1 out of their shrinking endowments1 for the teaching of branches of science and knowledge which have only come into existence1 or at least into prominence1 long after these universities were established1 and some of which require not only trained teachers but costly apparatus and laboratories4 ,increasing international competition and enlarged scientific knowledge have rendered necessary an amount of technical and agricultural education never dreamed of by our ancestors2 and the rise of the great provincial towns and the greater intensity of provincial life and provincial patriotism1 as well as the changes that have passed over the position both of the working and middle classes1 have created a genuine demand for educational establishments of a different type from the older universities4 ,the higher education of women is essentially a nineteenth-century work1 and it has been carried on without the assistance of old endowments and with very little help from modern ,parliaments4 ,in the distribution of public funds a class which is wholly unrepresented in ,parliament seldom gets its fair share2 and higher education1 like most forms of science1 like most of the higher forms of literature1 and like many valuable forms of research1 never can be self-supporting4 ,there are great branches of knowledge which without established endowments must remain uncultivated1 or be cultivated only by men of considerable private means4 ,some invaluable curative agencies1 such as convalescent homes in different countries and climates and for different diseases1 have grown up in our own generation1 as well as some of the most fruitful forms of medical research and some of the most efficacious methods of giving healthy change and brightness to the lives that are most monotonous and overstrained4 ,every great revolution in industry1 in population1 and even in knowledge1 brings with it new and special wants1 and there are cases in which assisted emigration is one of the best forms of charity4 ,these are but a few illustrations of the directions in which the large surplus funds which many of the very rich are prepared to expend on philanthropic purposes may profitably go4 ,there is a marked and increasing tendency in our age to meet all the various exigencies of ,society1 as they arise1 by ,state aid resting on compulsory taxation4 ,in countries where the levels of fortune are such that few men have incomes greatly in excess of their real or factitious wants1 this method will probably be necessary2 but many of the wants ,i have described can be better met by the old ,english method of intelligent private generosity1 and in a country in which the number of the very rich is so great and so increasing1 this generosity should not be wanting4 ,,footnote3 #fg ,notes on ,life4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,marriage ,the beautiful saying of ,newton1 that he felt like a child who had been picking up a few pebbles on the shore of the great ocean of undiscovered truth1 may well occur to any writer who attempts to say something on the vast subject of marriage4 ,the infinite variety of circumstances and characters affects it in infinitely various ways1 and all that can here be done is to collect a few somewhat isolated and miscellaneous remarks upon it4 ,yet it is a subject which cannot be omitted in a book like this4 ,in numerous cases it is the great turning-point of a life1 and in all cases when it takes place it is one of the most important of its events4 ,whatever else marriage may do or fail to do1 it never leaves a man unchanged4 ,his intellect1 his character1 his happiness1 his way of looking on the world1 will all be influenced by it4 ,if it does not raise or strengthen him it will lower or weaken4 ,if it does not deepen happiness it will impair it4 ,it brings with it duties1 interests1 habits1 hopes1 cares1 sorrows1 and joys that will penetrate into every fissure of his nature and modify the whole course of his life4 ,it is strange to think with how much levity and how little knowledge a contract which is so indissoluble and at the same time so momentous is constantly assumed2 sometimes under the influence of a blinding passion and at an age when life is still looked upon as a romance or an idyll2 sometimes as a matter of mere ambition and calculation1 through a desire for wealth or title or position4 ,men and women rely on the force of habit and necessity to accommodate themselves to conditions they have never really understood or realised4 ,in most cases different motives combine1 though in different degrees4 ,sometimes an overpowering affection for the person is the strongest motive and eclipses all others4 ,sometimes the main motive to marriage is a desire to be married4 ,it is to obtain a settled household and position2 to be relieved from the 'unchartered freedom' and the 'vague desires' of a lonely life2 to find some object of affection2 to acquire the steady habits and the exemption from household cares which are essential to a career2 to perpetuate a race2 perhaps to escape from family discomforts1 or to introduce a new and happy influence into a family4 ,with these motives a real affection for a particular person is united1 but it is not of such a character as to preclude choice1 judgment1 comparison1 and a consideration of worldly advantages4 ,it is a wise saying of ,swift that there would be fewer unhappy marriages in the world if women thought less of making nets and more of making cages4 ,the qualities that attract1 fascinate1 and dazzle are often widely different from those which are essential to a happy marriage4 ,sometimes they are distinctly hostile to it4 ,more frequently they conduce to it1 but only in an inferior or subsidiary degree4 ,the turn of mind and character that makes the accomplished flirt is certainly not that which promises best for the happiness of a married life2 and distinguished beauty1 brilliant talents1 and the heroic qualities that play a great part in the affairs of life1 and shine conspicuously in the social sphere1 sink into a minor place among the elements of married happiness4 ,in marriage the identification of two lives is so complete that it brings every faculty and gift into play1 but in degrees and proportions very different from public life or casual intercourse and relations4 ,the most essential are often wanting in a brilliant life1 and are largely developed in lives and characters that rise little1 if at all1 above the commonplace4 ,in the words of a very shrewd man of the world3 ',before marriage the shape1 the figure1 the complexion carry all before them2 after marriage the mind and character unexpectedly claim their share1 and that the largest1 of importance4'#fh ,the relation is one of the closest intimacy and confidence1 and if the identity of interest between the two partners is not complete1 each has an almost immeasurable power of injuring the other4 ,a moral basis of sterling qualities is of capital importance4 ,a true1 honest1 and trustworthy nature1 capable of self-sacrifice and self-restraint1 should rank in the first line1 and after that a kindly1 equable1 and contented temper1 a power of sympathy1 a habit of looking at the better and brighter side of men and things4 ,of intellectual qualities1 judgment1 tact1 and order are perhaps the most valuable4 ,above almost all things1 men should seek in marriage perfect sanity1 and dread everything like hysteria4 ,beauty will continue to be a delight1 though with much diminished power1 but grace and the charm of manner will retain their full attraction to the last4 ,they brighten in innumerable ways the little things of life1 and life is mainly made up of little things1 exposed to petty frictions1 and requiring small decisions and small sacrifices4 ,wide interests and large appreciations are1 in the marriage relation1 more important than any great constructive or creative talent1 and the power to soothe1 to sympathise1 to counsel1 and to endure1 than the highest qualities of the hero or the saint4 ,it is by these alone that the married life attains its full measure of perfection4 ',tu mihi curarum requies1 tu nocte vel atr ,lumen1 et in solis tu mihi turba locis4'#fi ,but while this is true of all marriages1 it is obvious that different professions and circumstances of life will demand different qualities4 ,a hard-working labouring man1 or a man who1 though not labouring with his hands1 is living a life of poverty and struggle1 will not seek in marriage a type of character exactly the same as a man who is born to a great position1 and who has large social and administrative duties to discharge4 ,the wife of a clergyman immersed in the many interests of a parish2 the wife of a soldier or a merchant1 who may have to live in many lands1 with long periods of separation from her husband1 and perhaps amid many hardships2 the wife of an active and ambitious politician2 the wife of a busy professional man incessantly occupied outside his home2 the wife of a man whose health or business or habits keep him constantly in his house1 will each need some special qualities4 ,there are few things in which both men and women naturally differ more than in the elasticity and adaptiveness of their natures1 in their power of bearing monotony1 in the place which habit1 routine1 and variety hold in their happiness2 and in different kinds of life these things have very different degrees of importance4 ,special family circumstances1 such as children by a former marriage1 or difficult and delicate relations with members of the family of one partner1 will require the exercise of special qualities4 ,such relations1 indeed1 are often one of the most searching and severe tests of the sterling qualities of female character4 ,probably1 on the whole1 the best presumption of a successful choice in marriage will be found where the wife has not been educated in circumstances or ideas absolutely dissimilar from those of her married life4 ,marriages of different races or colours are rarely happy1 and the same thing is true of marriages between persons of social levels that are so different as to entail great differences of manners and habits4 ,other and minor disparities of circumstances between girl life and married life will have their effect1 but they are less strong and less invariable4 ,some of the happiest marriages have been marriages of emancipation1 which removed a girl from uncongenial family surroundings1 and placed her for the first time in an intellectual and moral atmosphere in which she could freely breathe4 ,at the same time1 in the choice of a wife1 the character1 circumstances1 habits1 and tone of the family in which she has been brought up will always be an important element4 ,there are qualities of race1 there are pedigrees of character1 which it is never prudent to neglect4 ,franklin quotes with approval the advice of a wise man to choose a wife 'out of a bunch1' as girls brought up together improve each other by emulation1 learn mutual self-sacrifice and forbearance1 rub off their angularities1 and are not suffered to develop overweening self-conceit4 ,a family where the ruling taste is vulgar1 where the standard of honour is low1 where extravagance and self-indulgence and want of order habitually prevail1 creates an atmosphere which it needs a strong character altogether to escape4 ,there is also the great question of physical health4 ,a man should seek in marriage rather to raise than to depress the physical level of his family1 and above all not to introduce into it grave1 well-ascertained hereditary disease4 ,of all forms of self-sacrifice hardly any is at once so plainly right and so plainly useful as the celibacy of those who are tainted with such disease4 ,there is no subject on which religious teachers have dwelt more than upon marriage and the relation of the sexes1 and it has been continually urged that the propagation of children is its first end4 ,it is strange1 however1 to observe how almost absolutely in the popular ethics of ,christendom such considerations as that which ,i have last mentioned have been neglected4 ,if one of the most responsible things that a man can do is to bring a human being into the world1 one of his first and most obvious duties is to do what he can to secure that it shall come into the world with a sound body and a sane mind4 ,this is the best inheritance that parents can leave their children1 and it is in a large degree within their reach4 ,immature marriage1 excessive child-bearing1 marriages of near relations1 and1 above all1 marriages with some grave hereditary physical or mental disease or some great natural defect1 may bring happiness to the parents1 but can scarcely fail to entail a terrible penalty upon their children4 ,it is clearly recognised that one of the first duties of parents to their children is to secure them in early life not only good education1 but also1 as far as is within their power1 the conditions of a healthy being4 ,but the duty goes back to an earlier stage1 and in marriage the prospects of the unborn should never be forgotten4 ,this is one of the considerations which in the ethics of the future is likely to have a wholly different place from any that it has occupied in the past4 ,a kindred consideration1 little less important and almost equally neglected in popular teaching1 is that it is a moral offence to bring children into the world with no prospect of being able to provide for them4 ,it is difficult to exaggerate the extent to which the neglect of these two duties has tended to the degradation and unhappiness of the world4 ,the greatly increased importance which the ,darwinian theory has given to heredity should tend to make men more sensible of the first of these duties4 ,in marriage there are not only reciprocal duties between the two partners2 there are also1 more than in any other act of life1 plain duties to the race4 ,the hereditary nature of insanity and of some forms of disease is an indisputable truth4 ,the hereditary transmission of character has not1 it is true1 as yet acquired this position2 and there is a grave schism on the subject in the ,darwinian school4 ,but that it exists to some extent few close observers will doubt1 and it is in a high degree probable that it is one of the most powerful moulding influences of life4 ,no more probable explanation has yet been given of the manner in which human nature has been built up1 and of the various instincts and tastes with which we are born1 than the doctrine that habits and modes of thought and feeling indulged in and produced by circumstances in former generations have gradually become innate in the race1 and exhibit themselves spontaneously and instinctively and quite independently of the circumstances that originally produced them4 ,according to this theory the same process is continually going on4 ,man has slowly emerged from a degraded and bestial condition4 ,the pressure of long-continued circumstances has moulded him into his special type2 but new feelings and habits1 or modifications of old feelings and habits1 are constantly passing not only into his life but into his nature1 taking root there1 and in some degree at least reproducing themselves by the force of heredity in the innate disposition of his offspring4 ,if this be true1 it gives a new and terrible importance both to the duty of self-culture and to the duty of wise selection in marriage4 ,it means that children are likely to be influenced not only by what we do and by what we say1 but also by what we are1 and that the characters of the parents in different degrees and combinations will descend even to a remote posterity4 ,it throws a not less terrible light upon the miscalculations of the past4 ,on this hypothesis1 as ,mr4 ,galton has truly shown1 it is scarcely possible to exaggerate the evil which has been brought upon the world by the religious glorification of celibacy and by the enormous development and encouragement of the monastic life4 ,generation after generation1 century after century1 and over the whole wide surface of ,christendom1 this conception of religion drew into a sterile celibacy nearly all who were most gentle1 most unselfish1 most earnest1 studious1 and religious1 most susceptible to moral and intellectual enthusiasm1 and thus prevented them from transmitting to posterity the very qualities that are most needed for the happiness and the moral progress of the race4 ,whenever the good and evil resulting from different religious systems come to be impartially judged1 this consideration is likely to weigh heavily in the scale4#gj ,returning1 however1 to the narrower sphere of particular marriages1 it may be observed that although full confidence1 and1 in one sense1 complete identification of interests1 are the characteristics of a perfect marriage1 this does not by any means imply that one partner should be a kind of duplicate of the other4 ,woman is not a mere weaker man2 and the happiest marriages are often those in which1 in tastes1 character1 and intellectual qualities1 the wife is rather the complement than the reflection of her husband4 ,in intellectual things this is constantly shown4 ,the purely practical and prosaic intellect is united with an intellect strongly tinged with poetry and romance2 the man whose strength is in facts1 with the woman whose strength is in ideas2 the man who is wholly absorbed in science or politics or economical or industrial problems and pursuits1 with a woman who possesses the talent or at least the temperament of an artist or musician4 ,in such cases one partner brings sympathies or qualities1 tastes or appreciations or kinds of knowledge in which the other is most defective2 and by the close and constant contact of two dissimilar types each is1 often insensibly1 but usually very effectually1 improved4 ,men differ greatly in their requirements of intellectual sympathy4 ,a perfectly commonplace intellectual surrounding will usually do something to stunt or lower a fine intelligence1 but it by no means follows that each man finds the best intellectual atmosphere to be that which is most in harmony with his own special talent4 ,to many1 hard intellectual labour is an eminently isolated thing1 and what they desire most in the family circle is to cast off all thought of it4 ,i have known two men who were in the first rank of science1 intimate friends1 and both of them of very domestic characters4 ,one of them was accustomed to do nearly all his work in the presence of his wife1 and in the closest possible co-operation with her4 ,the other used to congratulate himself that none of his family had his own scientific tastes1 and that when he left his work and came into his family circle he had the rest of finding himself in an atmosphere that was entirely different4 ,some men of letters need in their work constant stimulus1 interest1 and sympathy4 ,others desire only to develop their talent uncontrolled1 uninfluenced1 and undisturbed1 and with an atmosphere of cheerful quiet around them4 ,what is true of intellect is also in a large degree true of character4 ,two persons living constantly together should have many tastes and sympathies in common1 and their characters will in most cases tend to assimilate4 ,yet great disparities of character may subsist in marriage1 not only without evil but often with great advantage4 ,this is especially the case where each supplies what is most needed in the other4 ,some natures require sedatives and others tonics2 and it will often be found in a happy marriage that the union of two dissimilar natures stimulates the idle and inert1 moderates the impetuous1 gives generosity to the parsimonious and order to the extravagant1 imparts the spirit of caution or the spirit of enterprise which is most needed1 and corrects1 by contact with a healthy and cheerful nature1 the morbid and the desponding4 ,marriage may also very easily have opposite effects4 ,it is not unfrequently founded on the sympathy of a common weakness1 and when this is the case it can hardly fail to deepen the defect4 ,on the whole1 women1 in some of the most valuable forms of strength--in the power of endurance and in the power of perseverance--are at least the equals of men4 ,but weak and tremulous nerves1 excessive sensibility1 and an exaggerated share of impulse and emotion1 are indissolubly associated with certain charms1 both of manner and character1 which are intensely feminine1 and to many men intensely attractive4 ,when a nature of this kind is wedded to a weak or a desponding man1 the result will seldom be happiness to either party1 but with a strong man such marriages are often very happy4 ,strength may wed with weakness or with strength1 but weakness should beware of mating itself with weakness4 ,it needs the oak to support the ivy with impunity1 and there are many who find the constant contact of a happy and cheerful nature the first essential of their happiness4 ,as it is not wise or right that either partner in marriage should lose his or her individuality1 so it is right that each should have an independent sphere of authority4 ,it is assumed1 of course1 that there is the perfect trust which should be the first condition of marriage and also a reasonable judgment4 ,many marriages have been permanently marred because the woman has been given no independence in money matters and is obliged to come for each small thing to her husband4 ,in general the less the husband meddles in household matters1 or the wife in professional ones1 the better4 ,the education of very young children of both sexes1 and of girls of a mature age1 will fall almost exclusively to the wife4 ,the education of the boys when they have emerged from childhood will be rather governed by the judgment of the man4 ,many things will be regulated in common2 but the larger interests of the family will usually fall chiefly to one partner1 the smaller and more numerous ones to the other4 ,on such matters1 however1 generalisations have little value1 as exceptions are very numerous4 ,differences of character1 age1 experience1 and judgment1 and countless special circumstances1 will modify the family type1 and it is in discovering these differences that wisdom in marriage mainly consists4 ,the directions in which married life may influence character are also very many2 but in the large number of cases in which it brings with it a great weight of household cares and family interests it will usually be found with both partners1 but especially with the woman1 at once to strengthen and to narrow unselfishness4 ,she will live very little for herself1 but very exclusively for her family4 ,on the intellectual side such marriages usually give a sounder judgment and a wider knowledge of the world rather than purely intellectual tastes4 ,it is a good thing when the education which precedes marriage not only prepares for the duties of the married life1 but also furnishes a fair share of the interests and tastes which that state will probably tend to weaken4 ,the hard battle of life1 and the anxieties and sorrows that a family seldom fails to bring1 will naturally give an increased depth and seriousness to character4 ,there are1 however1 natures which1 though they may be tainted by no grave vice1 are so incurably frivolous that even this education will fail to influence them4 ,as ,emerson says1 ',a fly is as untameable as a hyna4' ,the age that is most suited for marriage is also a matter which will depend largely on individual circumstances4 ,the ancients1 as is well known1 placed it1 in the case of the man1 far back1 and they desired a great difference of age between the man and the woman4 ,plato assigned between thirty and thirty-five1 and ,aristotle thirty-seven1 as the best age for a man to marry1 while they would have the girls married at eighteen or twenty4#ga ,in their view1 however1 marriage was looked upon very exclusively from the side of the man and of the ,state4 ,they looked on it mainly as the means of producing healthy citizens1 and it was in their eyes almost wholly dissociated from the passion of love4 ,montaigne1 in one of his essays1 has expounded this view with the frankest cynicism4#gb ,yet few things are so important in marriage as that the man should bring into it the freshness and the purity of an untried nature1 and that the early poetry and enthusiasm of life should at least in some degree blend with the married state4 ,nor is it desirable that a relation in which the formation of habits plays so large a part should be deferred until character has lost its flexibility1 and until habits have been irretrievably hardened4 ,on the other hand there are invincible arguments against marriages entered into at an age when neither partner has any real knowledge of the world and of men4 ,only too often they involve many illusions and leave many regrets4 ,some kinds of knowledge1 such as that given by extended travel1 are far more easily acquired before than after marriage4 ,usually very early marriages are improvident marriages1 made with no sufficient provision for the children1 and often they are immature marriages1 bringing with them grave physical evils4 ,in those cases in which a great place or position is to be inherited1 it is seldom a good thing that the interval of age between the owner and his heir should be so small that inheritance will probably be postponed till the confines of old age4 ,marriages entered into in the decline of life stand somewhat apart from others1 and are governed by other motives4 ,what men chiefly seek in them is a guiding hand to lead them gently down the last descent of life4 ,on this1 as on most subjects connected with marriage1 no general or inflexible rule can be laid down4 ,moralists have chiefly dilated on the dangers of deferred marriages2 economists on the evils of improvident marriages4 ,each man's circumstances and disposition must determine his course4 ,on the whole1 however1 in most civilised countries the prevailing tendencies are in the direction of an increased postponement of marriage4 ,among the rich1 the higher standard of luxury and requirements1 the comforts of club life1 and also1 ,i think1 the diminished place which emotion is taking in life1 all lead to this1 while the spread of providence and industrial habits among the poor has the same tendency4 ,a female pen is so much more competent than a masculine one for dealing with marriage from the woman's point of view that ,i do not attempt to enter on that field4 ,it is impossible1 however1 to overlook the marked tendency of nineteenth-century civilisation to give women1 both married and unmarried1 a degree of independence and self-reliance far exceeding that of the past4 ,the legislation of most civilised countries has granted them full protection for their property and their earnings1 increased rights of guardianship over their children1 a wider access to professional life1 and even a very considerable voice in the management of public affairs2 and these influences have been strengthened by great improvement in female education1 and by a change in the social tone which has greatly extended their latitude of independent action4 ,for my own part1 ,i have no doubt that this movement is1 on the whole1 beneficial1 not only to those who have to fight a lonely battle in life1 but also to those who are in the marriage state4 ,larger interests1 wider sympathies1 a more disciplined judgment1 and a greater power of independence and self-control naturally accompany it2 and these things can never be wholly wasted4 ,they will often be called into active exercise by the many vicissitudes of the married life4 ,they will1 perhaps1 be still more needed when the closest of human ties is severed by the great ,divorce of ,death4 ,,footnotes3 #fh ,melbourne ,papers1 p4 #gb4 #fi ,tibullus4 #gj ,galton's ,hereditary ,genius1 pp4 #ceg-h4 ,it may be argued1 on the other side1 that the monasteries consigned to celibacy a great proportion of the weaker physical natures1 who would otherwise have left sickly children behind them4 ,this1 and the much greater mortality of weak infant life1 must have strengthened the race in an age when sanitary science was unknown and when external conditions were very unfavourable4 #ga ,republic1 ,book ,v4 ,politics1 ,book ,,vii4 #gb ,livre ,,iii4 ,ch4 #e4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,success ,one of the most important lessons that experience teaches is that on the whole1 and in the great majority of cases1 success in life depends more on character than on either intellect or fortune4 ,many brilliant exceptions1 no doubt1 tend to obscure the rule1 and some of the qualities of character that succeed the best may be united with grave vices or defects2 but on the whole the law is one that cannot be questioned1 and it becomes more and more apparent as civilisation advances4 ,temperance1 industry1 integrity1 frugality1 self-reliance1 and self-restraint are the means by which the great masses of men rise from penury to comfort1 and it is the nations in which these qualities are most diffused that in the long run are the most prosperous4 ,chance and circumstance may do much4 ,a happy climate1 a fortunate annexation1 a favourable vicissitude in the course of commerce1 may vastly influence the prosperity of nations2 anarchy1 agitation1 unjust laws1 and fraudulent enterprise may offer many opportunities of individual or even of class gains2 but ultimately it will be found that the nations in which the solid industrial virtues are most diffused and most respected pass all others in the race4 ,the moral basis of character was the true foundation of the greatness of ancient ,rome1 and when that foundation was sapped the period of her decadence began4 ,the solid1 parsimonious1 and industrious qualities of the ,french peasantry have given their country the recuperative force which has enabled its greatness to survive the countless follies and extravagances of its rulers4 ,character1 it may be added1 is especially pre-eminent in those kinds and degrees of success that affect the greatest numbers of men and influence most largely their real happiness--in the success which secures a high level of material comfort2 which makes domestic life stable and happy2 which wins for a man the respect and confidence of his neighbours4 ,if we have melancholy examples that very different qualities often gain splendid prizes1 it is still true that there are few walks in life in which a character that inspires complete confidence is not a leading element of success4 ,in the paths of ambition that can only be pursued by the few1 intellectual qualities bear a larger part1 and there are1 of course1 many works of genius that are in their own nature essentially intellectual4 ,yet even the most splendid successes of life will often be found to be due much less to extraordinary intellectual gifts than to an extraordinary strength and tenacity of will1 to the abnormal courage1 perseverance1 and work-power that spring from it1 or to the tact and judgment which make men skilful in seizing opportunities1 and which1 of all intellectual qualities1 are most closely allied with character4 ,strength of will and tact are not necessarily1 perhaps not generally1 conjoined1 and often the first seems somewhat to impair the second4 ,the strong passion1 the intense conviction1 the commanding and imperious nature overriding obstacles and defying opposition1 that often goes with a will of abnormal strength1 does not naturally harmonise with the reticence of expression1 the delicacy of touch and management that characterise a man who possesses in a high degree the gift of tact4 ,there are circumstances and times when each of these two things is more important than the other1 and the success of each man will mainly depend upon the suitability of his peculiar gift to the work he has to do4 ',the daring pilot in extremity' is often by no means the best navigator in a quiet sea2 and men who have shown themselves supremely great in moments of crisis and appalling danger1 who have built up mighty nations1 subdued savage tribes1 guided the bark of the ,state with skill and courage amid the storms of revolution or civil war1 and written their names in indelible letters on the page of history1 have sometimes proved far less successful than men of inferior powers in the art of managing assemblies1 satisfying rival interests or assuaging by judicious compromise old hatreds and prejudices4 ,we have had at least one conspicuous example of the difference of these two types in our own day in the life of the great founder of ,german ,unity4 ,sometimes1 however1 men of great strength of will and purpose possess also in a high degree the gift of tact2 and when this is combined with soundness of judgment it usually leads to a success in life out of all proportion to their purely intellectual qualities4 ,in nearly all administrative posts1 in all the many fields of labour where the task of man is to govern1 manage1 or influence others1 to adjust or harmonise antagonisms of race or interests or prejudices1 to carry through difficult business without friction and by skilful co-operation1 this combination of gifts is supremely valuable4 ,it is much more valuable than brilliancy1 eloquence1 or originality4 ,i remember the comment of a good judge of men on the administration of a great governor who was pre-eminently remarkable for this combination4 ',he always seemed to gain his point1 yet he never appeared to be in antagonism with anyone4' ,the steady pressure of a firm and consistent will was scarcely felt when it was accompanied by the ready recognition of everything that was good in the argument of another1 and by a charm of manner and of temper which seldom failed to disarm opposition and win personal affection4 ,the combination of qualities which1 though not absolutely incompatible1 are very usually disconnected1 is the secret of many successful lives4 ,thus1 to take one of the most homely1 but one of the most useful and most pleasing of all qualities--good-nature--it will too often be found that when it is the marked and leading feature of a character it is accompanied by some want of firmness1 energy1 and judgment4 ,sometimes1 however1 this is not the case1 and there are then few greater elements of success4 ,it is curious to observe the subtle1 magnetic sympathy by which men feel whether their neighbour is a harsh or a kind judge of others1 and how generally those who judge harshly are themselves harshly judged1 while those who judge others rather by their merits than by their defects1 and perhaps a little above their merits1 win popularity4 ,no one1 indeed1 can fail to notice the effect of good-nature in conciliating opposition1 securing attachment1 smoothing the various paths of life1 and1 it must be added1 concealing grave faults4 ,laxities of conduct that might well blast the reputation of a man or a woman are constantly forgotten1 or at least forgiven1 in those who lead a life of tactful good-nature1 and in the eyes of the world this quality is more valued than others of far higher and more solid worth4 ,it is not unusual1 for example1 to see a lady in society1 who is living wholly or almost wholly for her pleasures1 who has no high purpose in life1 no real sense of duty1 no capacity for genuine and serious self-sacrifice1 but who at the same time never says an unkind thing of her neighbours1 sets up no severe standard of conduct either for herself or for others1 and by an innate amiability of temperament tries1 successfully and without effort1 to make all around her cheerful and happy4 ,she will probably be more admired1 she will almost certainly be more popular1 than her neighbour whose whole life is one of self-denial for the good of others1 who sacrifices to her duties her dearest pleasures1 her time1 her money1 and her talents1 but who through some unhappy turn of temper1 strengthened perhaps by a narrow and austere education1 is a harsh and censorious judge of the frailties of her fellows4 ,it is also a curious thing to observe how often1 when the saving gift of tact is wanting1 the brilliant1 the witty1 the ambitious1 and the energetic are passed in the race of life by men who in intellectual qualities are greatly their inferiors4 ,they dazzle1 agitate1 and in a measure influence1 and they easily win places in the second rank2 but something in the very exercise of their talents continually trammels them1 while judgment1 tact1 and good-nature1 with comparatively little brilliancy1 quietly and unobtrusively take the helm4 ,there is the excellent talker who1 by his talents and his acquirements1 is eminently fitted to delight and to instruct1 yet he is so unable to repress some unseemly jest or some pointed sarcasm or some humorous paradox that he continually leaves a sting behind him1 creates enemies1 destroys his reputation for sobriety of thought1 and makes himself impossible in posts of administration and trust4 ,there is the parliamentary speaker who1 amid shouts of applause1 pursues his adversary with scathing invective or merciless ridicule1 and who all the time is accumulating animosities against himself1 shutting the door against combinations that would be all important to his career1 and destroying his chances of party leadership4 ,there is the advocate who can state his case with consummate power1 but who1 by an aggressive manner or a too evident contempt for his adversary1 or by the over-statement of a good cause1 habitually throws the minds of his hearers into an attitude of opposition4 ,there are the many men who1 by ill-timed or too frequent levity1 lose all credit for their serious qualities1 or who by pretentiousness or self-assertion or restless efforts to distinguish themselves1 make themselves universally disliked1 or who by their egotism or their repetitions or their persistence1 or their incapacity of distinguishing essentials from details1 or understanding the dispositions of others1 or appreciating times and seasons1 make their wearied and exasperated hearers blind to the most substantial merits4 ,by faults of tact men of really moderate opinions get the reputation of extremists2 men of substantially kindly natures sow animosities wherever they go2 men of real patriotism are regarded as mere jesters or party gamblers2 men who possess great talents and have rendered great services to the world sink into inveterate bores and never obtain from their contemporaries a tithe of the success which is their due4 ,tact is not merely shown in saying the right thing at the right time and to the right people2 it is shown quite as much in the many things that are left unsaid and apparently unnoticed1 or are only lightly and evasively touched4 ,it is certainly not the highest of human endowments1 but it is as certainly one of the most valuable1 for it is that which chiefly enables a man to use his other gifts to advantage1 and which most effectually supplies the place of those that are wanting4 ,it lies on the borderland of character and intellect4 ,it implies self-restraint1 good temper1 quick and kindly sympathy with the feelings of others4 ,it implies also a perception of the finer shadings of character and expression1 the intellectual gift which enables a man to place himself in touch with great varieties of disposition1 and to catch those more delicate notes of feeling to which a coarser nature is insensible4 ,it is perhaps in most cases more developed among women than among men1 and it does not necessarily imply any other remarkable gift4 ,it is sometimes found among both men and women of very small general intellectual powers2 and in numerous cases it serves only to add to the charm of private life and to secure social success4 ,where it is united with real talents it not only enables its possessor to use these talents to the greatest advantage2 it also often leads those about him greatly to magnify their amount4 ,the presence or absence of this gift is one of the chief causes why the relative value of different men is often so differently judged by contemporaries and by posterity2 by those who have come in direct personal contact with them1 and by those who judge them from without1 and by the broad results of their lives4 ,real tact1 like good manners1 is or becomes a spontaneous and natural thing4 ,the man of perfectly refined manners does not consciously and deliberately on each occasion observe the courtesies and amenities of good society4 ,they have become to him a second nature1 and he observes them as by a kind of instinct1 without thought or effort4 ,in the same way true tact is something wholly different from the elaborate and artificial attempts to conciliate and attract which may often be seen1 and which usually bring with them the impression of manoeuvre and insincerity4 ,though it may be found in men of very different characters and grades of intellect1 tact has its natural affinities4 ,seeking beyond all things to avoid unnecessary friction1 and therefore with a strong leaning towards compromise1 it does not generally or naturally go with intense convictions1 with strong enthusiasms1 with an ardently impulsive or emotional temperament4 ,nor is it commonly found among men of deep and concentrated genius1 intensely absorbed in some special subject4 ,such men are often among the most unobservant of the social sides of life1 and very bad judges of character1 though there will frequently be found among them an almost childlike unworldliness and simplicity of nature1 and an essential moderation of temperament which1 combined with their superiority of intellect1 gives them a charm peculiarly their own4 ,tact1 however1 has a natural affinity to a calm1 equable1 and good-natured temper4 ,it allies itself with a quick sense of opportunity1 proportion1 and degree2 with the power of distinguishing readily and truly between the essential and the unimportant2 with that soundness of judgment which not only guides men among the varied events of life1 and in their estimate of those about them1 but also enables them to take a true measure of their own capacities1 of the tasks that are most fitted for them1 of the objects of ambition that are and are not within their reach4 ,though in its higher degrees it is essentially a natural gift1 and is sometimes conspicuous in perfectly uneducated men1 it may be largely cultivated and improved2 and in this respect the education of good society is especially valuable4 ,such an education1 whatever else it may do1 at least removes many jarring notes from the rhythm of life4 ,it tends to correct faults of manner1 demeanour1 or pronunciation which tell against men to a degree altogether disproportioned to their real importance1 and on which1 it is hardly too much to say1 the casual judgments of the world are mainly formed2 and it also fosters moral qualities which are essentially of the nature of tact4 ,we can hardly have a better picture of a really tactful man than in some sentences taken from the admirable pages in which ,cardinal ,newman has painted the character of the perfect gentleman4 ',it is almost a definition of a gentleman to say he is one who never inflicts pain4444 ,he carefully avoids whatever may cause a jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast--all clashing of opinion or collision of feeling1 all restraint or suspicion or gloom or resentment2 his great concern being to make everyone at ease and at home4 ,he has his eyes on all his company2 he is tender towards the bashful1 gentle towards the distant1 and merciful towards the absurd2 he can recollect to whom he is speaking2 he guards against unreasonable allusions or topics that may irritate2 he is seldom prominent in conversation1 and never wearisome4 ,he makes light of favours while he does them1 and seems to be receiving when he is conferring4 ,he never speaks of himself except when compelled1 never defends himself by a mere retort2 he has no ears for slander or gossip1 is scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with him1 and interprets everything for the best4 ,he is never mean or little in his disputes1 never takes an unfair advantage1 never mistakes personalities or sharp sayings for arguments1 or insinuates evil which he dare not say out4444 ,he has too much good sense to be affronted at insult2 he is too busy to remember injuries1 and too indolent to bear malice4444 ,if he engages in controversy of any kind his disciplined intellect preserves him from the blundering discourtesy of better though less educated minds1 who1 like blunt weapons1 tear and hack instead of cutting clean4444 ,he may be right or wrong in his opinion1 but he is too clear-headed to be unjust2 he is as simple as he is forcible1 and as brief as he is decisive4 ,nowhere shall we find greater candour1 consideration1 indulgence4 ,he throws himself into the minds of his opponents1 he accounts for their mistakes4 ,he knows the weakness of human nature as well as its strength1 its province1 and its limits4'#gc ,i have said at the beginning of this chapter that character bears1 on the whole1 a larger part in promoting success than any other things1 and that a steady perseverance in the industrial virtues seldom fails to bring some reward in the directions that are most conducive to human happiness4 ,at the same time it is only too evident that success in life is by no means measured by merit1 either moral or intellectual4 ,life is a great lottery1 in which chance and opportunity play an enormous part4 ,the higher qualities are often less successful than the medium and the lower ones4 ,they are often most successful when they are blended with other and inferior elements1 and a large share of the great prizes fall to the unscrupulous1 the selfish1 and the cunning4 ,probably1 however1 the disparity between merit and success diminishes if we take the larger averages1 and the fortunes of nations correspond with their real worth much more nearly than the fortunes of individuals4 ,success1 too1 is far from being a synonym for happiness1 and while the desire for happiness is inherent in all human nature1 the desire for success--at least beyond what is needed for obtaining a fair share of the comforts of life--is much less universal4 ,the force of habit1 the desire for a tranquil domestic life1 the love of country and of home1 are often1 among really able men1 stronger than the impulse of ambition2 and a distaste for the competitions and contentions of life1 for the increasing responsibilities of greatness1 and for the envy and jealousies that seldom fail to follow in its trail1 may be found among men who1 if they chose to enter the arena1 seem to have every requisite for success4 ,the strongest man is not always the most ardent climber1 and the tranquil valleys have to many a greater charm than the lofty pinnacles of life4 ,,footnote3 #gc ,newman's ,scope and ,nature of ,university ,education1 ,discourse ,,ix4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,time ,considering the countless ages that man has lived upon this globe1 it seems a strange thing that he has so little learned to acquiesce in the normal conditions of humanity4 ,how large a proportion of the melancholy which is reflected in the poetry of all ages1 and which is felt in different degrees in every human soul1 is due not to any special or peculiar misfortune1 but to things that are common to the whole human race6 ,the inexorable flight of time2 the approach of old age and its infirmities2 the shadow of death2 the mystery that surrounds our being2 the contrast between the depth of affection and the transitoriness and uncertainty of life2 the spectacle of the broken lives and baffled aspirations and useless labours and misdirected talents and pernicious energies and long-continued delusions that fill the path of human history2 the deep sense of vanity and aimlessness that must sometimes come over us as we contemplate a world in which chance is so often stronger than wisdom2 in which desert and reward are so widely separated2 in which living beings succeed each other in such a vast and bewildering redundance--eating1 killing1 suffering1 and dying for no useful discoverable purpose1--all these things belong to the normal lot or to the inevitable setting of human life4 ,nor can it be said that science1 which has so largely extended our knowledge of the ,universe1 or civilisation1 which has so greatly multiplied our comforts and alleviated our pains1 has in any degree diminished the sadness they bring4 ,it seems1 indeed1 as if the more man is raised above a purely animal existence1 and his mental and moral powers are developed1 the more this kind of feeling increases4 ,in few if any periods of the world's history has it been more perceptible in literature than at present4 ,physical constitution and temperament have a vast and a humiliating power of deepening or lightening it1 and the strength or weakness of religious belief largely affects it1 yet the best1 the strongest1 the most believing1 and the most prosperous cannot wholly escape it4 ,sometimes it finds its true expression in the lines of ,raleigh3 ,even such is time2 which takes in trust ,our youth1 our joys1 and all we have6 ,and pays us nought but age and dust1 ,which in the dark and silent grave1 ,when we have wandered all our ways1 ,shuts up the story of our days2 ,and from which grave and earth and dust1 ,the ,lord shall raise me up1 ,i trust4 ,sometimes it takes the tone of a lighter melancholy touched with cynicism3 ,la vie est vaine3 ,un peu d'amour1 ,un peu de haine1 ,et puis--bon jour4 ,la vie est brve1 ,un peu d'espoir1 ,un peu de rve1 ,et puis--bon soir4#gd ,there are few sayings which deserve better to be brought continually before our minds than that of ,franklin3 ',you value life2 then do not squander time1 for time is the stuff of life4' ,of all the things that are bestowed on men1 none is more valuable1 but none is more unequally used1 and the true measurement of life should be found less in its duration than in the amount that is put into it4 ,the waste of time is one of the oldest of commonplaces1 but it is one of those which are never really stale4 ,how much of the precious 'stuff of life' is wasted by want of punctuality2 by want of method involving superfluous and repeated effort2 by want of measure prolonging things that are pleasurable or profitable in moderation to the point of weariness1 satiety1 and extravagance2 by want of selection dwelling too much on the useless or the unimportant2 by want of intensity1 growing out of a nature that is listless and apathetic both in work and pleasure4 ,time is1 in one sense1 the most elastic of things4 ,it is one of the commonest experiences that the busiest men find most of it for exceptional work1 and often a man who1 under the strong stimulus of an active professional life1 repines bitterly that he finds so little time for pursuing some favourite work or study1 discovers1 to his own surprise1 that when circumstances have placed all his time at his disposal he does less in this field than in the hard-earned intervals of a crowded life4 ,the art of wisely using the spare five minutes1 the casual vacancies or intervals of life1 is one of the most valuable we can acquire4 ,there are lives in which the main preoccupation is to get through time4 ,there are others in which it is to find time for all that has to be got through1 and most men1 in different periods of their lives1 are acquainted with both extremes4 ,with some1 time is mere duration1 a blank1 featureless thing1 gliding swiftly and insensibly by4 ,with others every day1 and almost every hour1 seems to have its distinctive stamp and character1 for good or ill1 in work or pleasure4 ,there are vast differences in this respect between different ages of history1 and between different generations in the same country1 between town and country life1 and between different countries4 ',better fifty years of ,europe than a cycle of ,cathay' is profoundly true1 and no traveller can fail to be insensible to the difference in the value of time in a ,northern and in a ,southern country4 ,the leisure of some nations seems busier than the work of others1 and few things are more resting to an overwrought and jaded ,anglo-,saxon nature than to pass for a short season into one of those countries where time seems almost without value4 ,on the whole there can be little doubt that life in the more civilised nations has1 in our own generation1 largely increased4 ,it is not simply that its average duration is extended4 ,this1 in a large degree1 is due to the diminished amount of infant mortality4 ,the improvement is shown more conclusively in the increased commonness of vigorous and active old age1 in the multitude of new contrivances for economising and therefore increasing time1 in the far greater intensity of life both in the forms of work and in the forms of pleasure4 ',life at high pressure' is not without its drawbacks and its evils1 but it at least means life which is largely and fully used4 ,all intermissions of work1 however1 even when they do not take the form of positive pleasure1 are not waste of time4 ,overwork1 in all departments of life1 is commonly bad economy1 not so much because it often breaks down health--most of what is attributed to this cause is probably rather due to anxiety than to work--as because it seldom fails to impair the quality of work4 ,a great portion of our lives passes in the unconsciousness of sleep1 and perhaps no part is more usefully spent4 ,it not only brings with it the restoration of our physical energies1 but it also gives a true and healthy tone to our moral nature4 ,of all earthly things sleep does the most to place things in their true proportions1 calming excited nerves and dispelling exaggerated cares4 ,how many suicides have been averted1 how many rash enterprises and decisions have been prevented1 how many dangerous quarrels have been allayed1 by the soothing influence of a few hours of steady sleep6 ',sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care' is1 indeed1 in a careworn world1 one of the chief of blessings4 ,its healing and restorative power is as much felt in the sicknesses of the mind as in those of the body1 and1 in spite of the authority of ,solomon1 it is probably a wise thing for men to take the full measure of it1 which undoctored nature demands4 ,the true waste of time of the sluggard is not in the amount of natural sleep he enjoys1 but in the time idly spent in bed when sleep has ceased1 and in misplaced and mistimed sleep1 which is not due to any genuine craving of the body for rest1 but simply to mental sluggishness1 to lack of interest and attention4 ,some men have claimed for sleep even more than this4 ',the night-time of the body1' an ancient writer has said1 'is the day-time of the soul1' and some1 who do not absolutely hold the old belief that it is in the dreams of the night that the ,divine ,spirit most communicates with man1 have1 nevertheless1 believed that the complete withdrawal of our minds from those worldly cares which haunt our waking hours and do so much to materialise and harden our natures is one of the first conditions of a higher life4 ',in proportion1' said ,swedenborg1 'as the mind is capable of being withdrawn from things sensual and corporeal1 in the same proportion it is elevated into things celestial and spiritual4' ,it has been noticed that often thoughts and judgments1 scattered and entangled in our evening hours1 seem sifted1 clarified1 and arranged in sleep2 that problems which seemed hopelessly confused when we lay down are at once and easily solved when we awake1 'as though a reason more perfect than reason had been at work when we were in our beds4' ,something analogous to this1 it has been contended1 takes place in our moral natures4 ',a process is going on in us during those hours which is not1 and cannot be1 brought so effectually1 if at all1 at any other time1 and we are spiritually growing1 developing1 ripening more continuously while thus shielded from the distracting influences of the phenomenal world than during the hours in which we are absorbed in them4444 ,is it not precisely the function of sleep to give us for a portion of every day in our lives a respite from worldly influences which1 uninterrupted1 would deprive us of the instruction1 of the spiritual reinforcements1 necessary to qualify us to turn our waking experiences of the world to the best account without being overcome by them8 ,it is in these hours that the plans and ambitions of our external worldly life cease to interfere with or obstruct the flow of the ,divine life into the will4'#ge ,without1 however1 following this train of thought1 it is at least sufficiently clear that no small portion of the happiness of life depends upon our sleeping hours4 ,plato has exhorted men to observe carefully their dreams as indicating their natural dispositions1 tendencies1 and temptations1 and--perhaps with more reason--,burton and ,franklin have proposed 'the art of procuring pleasant dreams' as one of the great1 though little recognised1 branches of the science of life4 ,this is1 no doubt1 mainly a question of diet1 exercise1 efficient ventilation1 and a wise distribution of hours1 but it is also largely influenced by moral causes4 ,somnia qu mentes ludunt volitantibus umbris1 ,nec delubra deum1 nec ab there numina mittunt1 ,sed sibi quisque facit4 ,to appease the perturbations of the mind1 to live a tranquil1 upright1 unremorseful life1 to cultivate the power of governing by the will the current of our thoughts1 repressing unruly passions1 exaggerated anxieties1 and unhealthy desires1 is at least one great recipe for banishing from our pillows those painful dreams that contribute not a little to the unhappiness of many lives4 ,an analogous branch of self-culture is that which seeks to provide some healthy aliment for the waking hours of the night1 when time seems so unnaturally prolonged1 and when gloomy thoughts and exaggerated and distempered views of the trials of life peculiarly prevail4 ,among the ways in which education may conduce to the real happiness of man1 its power of supplying pleasant or soothing thoughts for those dreary hours is not the least1 though it is seldom or never noticed in books or speeches4 ,it is1 perhaps1 in this respect that the early habit of committing poetry--and especially religious poetry--to memory is most important4 ,in estimating the value of those intermissions of labour which are not spent in active enjoyment one other consideration may be noted4 ,there are times when the mind should lie fallow1 and all who have lived the intellectual life with profit have perceived that it is often in those times that it most regains the elasticity it may have lost and becomes most prolific in spontaneous thought4 ,many periods of life which might at first sight appear to be merely unused time are1 in truth1 among the most really valuable4 ,we have all noticed the curious fact of the extreme apparent inequalities of time1 though it is1 in its essence1 of all things the most uniform4 ,periods of pain or acute discomfort seem unnaturally long1 but this lengthening of time is fortunately not true of all the melancholy scenes of life1 nor is it peculiar to things that are painful4 ,an invalid life with its almost unbroken monotony1 and with the large measure of torpor that often accompanies it1 usually flies very quickly1 and most persons must have observed how the first week of travel1 or of some other great change of habits and pursuits1 though often attended with keen enjoyment1 appears disproportionately long4 ,routine shortens and variety lengthens time1 and it is therefore in the power of men to do something to regulate its pace4 ,a life with many landmarks1 a life which is much subdivided when those subdivisions are not of the same kind1 and when new and diverse interests1 impressions1 and labours follow each other in swift and distinct succession1 seems the most long1 and youth1 with its keen susceptibility to impressions1 appears to move much more slowly than apathetic old age4 ,how almost immeasurably long to a young child seems the period from birthday to birthday6 ,how long to the schoolboy seems the interval between vacation and vacation6 ,how rapid as we go on in life becomes the awful beat of each recurring year6 ,when the feeling of novelty has grown rare1 and when interests have lost their edge1 time glides by with an ever-increasing celerity4 ,campbell has justly noticed as a beneficent provision of nature that it is in the period of life when enjoyments are fewest1 and infirmities most numerous1 that the march of time seems most rapid4 ,the more we live1 more brief appear ,our life's succeeding stages1 ,a day to childhood seems a year1 ,and years like passing ages4 99 99 99 99 99 ,when ,joys have lost their bloom and breath1 ,and life itself is vapid1 ,why as we reach the ,falls of death ,feel we its tide more rapid8 99 99 99 99 99 ,heaven gives our years of fading strength ,indemnifying fleetness2 ,and those of youth a seeming length ,proportioned to their sweetness4 ,the shortness of life is one of the commonplaces of literature4 ,yet though we may easily conceive beings with faculties both of mind and body adapted to a far longer life than ours1 it will usually be found1 with our existing powers1 that life1 if not prematurely shortened1 is long enough4 ,in the case of men who have played a great part in public affairs1 the best work is nearly always done before old age4 ,it is a remarkable fact that although a ,senate1 by its very derivation1 means an assembly of old men1 and although in the ,senate of ,rome1 which was the greatest of all1 the members sat for life1 there was a special law providing that no ,senator1 after sixty1 should be summoned to attend his duty4#gf ,in the past centuries active septuagenarian statesmen were very rare1 and in parliamentary life almost unknown4 ,in our own century there have been brilliant exceptions1 but in most cases it will be found that the true glory of these statesmen rests on what they had done before old age1 and sometimes the undue prolongation of their active lives has been a grave misfortune1 not only to their own reputations1 but also to the nations they influenced4 ,often1 indeed1 while faculties diminish1 self-confidence1 even in good men1 increases4 ,moral and intellectual failings that had been formerly repressed take root and spread1 and it is no small blessing that they have but a short time to run their course4 ,in the case of men of great capacities the follies of age are perhaps even more to be feared than the follies of youth4 ,when men have made a great reputation and acquired a great authority1 when they become the objects of the flattery of nations1 and when they can1 with little trouble or thought or study1 attract universal attention1 a new set of temptations begins4 ,their heads are apt to be turned4 ,the feeling of responsibility grows weaker2 the old judgment1 caution1 deliberation1 self-restraint1 and timidity disappear4 ,obstinacy and prejudice strengthen1 while at the same time the force of the reasoning will diminishes4 ,sometimes1 through a failing that is partly intellectual1 but partly also moral1 they almost wholly lose the power of realising or recognising new conditions1 discoveries and necessities4 ,they view with jealousy the rise of new reputations and of younger men1 and the well-earned authority of an old man becomes the most formidable obstacle to improvement4 ,in the field of politics1 in the field of science1 and in the field of military organisation1 these truths might be abundantly illustrated4 ,in the case of great but maleficent genius the shortness of life is a priceless blessing4 ,few greater curses could be imagined for the human race than the prolongation for centuries of the life of ,napoleon4 ,in literature also the same law may be detected4 ,a writer's best thoughts are usually expressed long before extreme old age1 though the habit and desire of production continue4 ,the time of repetition1 of diluted force1 and of weakened judgment--the age when the mind has lost its flexibility and can no longer assimilate new ideas or keep pace with the changing modes and tendencies of another generation--often sets in while physical life is but little enfeebled4 ,in this case1 it is true1 the evil is not very great1 for ,time may be trusted to sift the chaff from the wheat1 and though it may not preserve the one it will infallibly discard the other4 ',while ,i live1' ,victor ,hugo said with some grandiloquence1 but also with some justice1 'it is my duty to produce4 ,it is the duty of the world to select1 from what ,i produce1 that which is worth keeping4 ,the world will discharge its duty4 ,i shall discharge mine4' ,at the same time1 no one can have failed to observe how much in our own generation the long silence of ,newman in his old age added to his dignity and his reputation1 and the same thing might have been said of ,carlyle if a beneficent fire had destroyed the unrevised manuscripts which he wrote or dictated when a very old man4 ,we are here1 however1 dealing with great labours1 and with men who are filling a great place in the world's strife4 ,the decay of faculty and will1 that impairs power in these cases1 is often perceptible long before there is any real decay in the powers that are needed for ordinary business or for the full enjoyment of life4 ,but the time comes when children have grown into maturity1 and when it becomes desirable that a younger generation should take the government of the world1 should inherit its wealth1 its power1 its dignities1 its many means of influence and enjoyment2 and this cannot be fully done till the older generation is laid to rest4 ,often1 indeed1 old age1 when it is free from grave infirmities and from great trials and privations1 is the most honoured1 the most tranquil1 and perhaps on the whole the happiest period of life4 ,the struggles1 passions1 and ambitions of other days have passed4 ,the mellowing touch of time has allayed animosities1 subdued old asperities of character1 given a larger and more tolerant judgment1 cured the morbid sensitiveness that most embitters life4 ,the old man's mind is stored with the memories of a well-filled and honourable life4 ,in the long leisures that now fall to his lot he is often enabled to resume projects which in a crowded professional life he had been obliged to adjourn2 he finds 7as ,adam ,smith has said7 that one of the greatest pleasures in life is reverting in old age to the studies of youth1 and he himself often feels something of the thrill of a second youth in his sympathy with the children who are around him4 ,it is the ,st4 ,martin's summer1 lighting with a pale but beautiful gleam the brief ,november day4 ,but the time must come when all the alternatives of life are sad1 and the least sad is a speedy and painless end4 ,when the eye has ceased to see and the ear to hear1 when the mind has failed and all the friends of youth are gone1 and the old man's life becomes a burden not only to himself but to those about him1 it is far better that he should quit the scene4 ,if a natural clinging to life1 or a natural shrinking from death1 prevents him from clearly realising this1 it is at least fully seen by all others4 ,nor1 indeed1 does this love of life in most cases of extreme old age greatly persist4 ,few things are sadder than to see the young1 or those in mature life1 seeking1 according to the current phrase1 to find means of killing time4 ,but in extreme old age1 when the power of work1 the power of reading1 the pleasures of society1 have gone1 this phrase acquires a new significance4 ,as ,madame de ,stal has beautifully said1 ',on dpose fleur fleur la couronne de la vie4' ,an apathy steals over every faculty1 and rest--unbroken rest--becomes the chief desire4 ,i remember a touching epitaph in a ,german churchyard3 ',i will arise1 ,o ,christ1 when ,thou callest me2 but oh6 let me rest awhile1 for ,i am very weary4' ,after all that can be said1 most men are reluctant to look ,time in the face4 ,the close of the year or a birthday is to them merely a time of revelry1 into which they enter in order to turn away from depressing thought4 ,they shrink from what seems to them the dreary truth1 that they are drifting to a dark abyss4 ,to many the milestones along the path of life are tombstones1 every epoch being mainly associated in their memories with a death4 ,to some1 past time is nothing--a closed chapter never to be reopened4 ,the past is nothing1 and at last1 ,the future can but be the past4 ,to others1 the thought of the work achieved in the vanished years is the most real and abiding of their possessions4 ,they can feel the force of the noble lines of ,dryden3 ,not ,heaven itself upon the past has power1 ,but what has been has been1 and ,i have had my hour4 ,he who would look ,time in the face without illusion and without fear should associate each year as it passes with new developments of his nature2 with duties accomplished1 with work performed4 ,to fill the time allotted to us to the brim with action and with thought is the only way in which we can learn to watch its passage with equanimity4 ,,footnotes3 #gd ,monte-,naken4 #ge ,see ,the ,mystery of ,sleep1 by ,john ,bigelow4 #gf ,seneca1 de ,brevitate ,vit1 cap4 ,,xx4 ,,chapter ,,xvii ',,the ,,end' ,it is easy to conceive circumstances not widely different from those of actual life that would1 if not altogether1 at least very largely1 take from death the gloom that commonly surrounds it4 ,if all the members of the human race died either before two or after seventy2 if death was in all cases the swift and painless thing that it is with many2 and if the old man always left behind him children to perpetuate his name1 his memory1 and his thoughts1 ,death1 though it might still seem a sad thing1 would certainly not excite the feelings it now so often produces4 ,of all the events that befall us1 it is that which owes most of its horror not to itself1 but to its accessories1 its associations1 and to the imaginations that cluster around it4 ',death1' indeed1 as a great stoical moralist said1 'is the only evil that can never touch us4 ,when we are1 death is not4 ,when death comes1 we are not4' ,the composition of treatises of consolation intended to accustom men to contemplate death without terror was one of the favourite exercises of the philosophers in the ,augustan and in the subsequent periods of ,pagan ,rome4 ,the chapter which ,cicero has devoted to this subject in his treatise on old age is a beautiful example of how it appeared to a virtuous pagan1 who believed in a future life which would bring him into communion with those whom he had loved and lost on earth1 but who at the same time recognised this only as a probability1 not a certainty4 ,death1 he said1 'is an event either utterly to be disregarded if it extinguish the soul's existence1 or much to be wished if it convey her to some region where she shall continue to exist for ever4 ,one of these two consequences must necessarily follow the disunion of soul and body2 there is no other possible alternative4 ,what then have ,i to fear if after death ,i shall either not be miserable or shall certainly be happy8' ,vague notions1 however1 of a dim1 twilight1 shadowy world where the ghosts of the dead lived a faint and joyless existence1 and whence they sometimes returned to haunt the living in their dreams1 were widely spread through the popular imaginations1 and it was as the extinction of all superstitious fears that the school of ,lucretius and ,pliny welcomed the belief that all things ended with death--',post mortem nihil est1 ipsaque mors nihil4' ,nor is it by any means certain that even in the school of ,plato the thought of another life had a great and operative influence on minds and characters4 ,death was chiefly represented as rest2 as the close of a banquet2 as the universal law of nature which befalls all living beings1 though the immense majority encounter it at an earlier period than man4 ,it was thought of simply as sleep--dreamless1 undisturbed sleep--the final release from all the sorrows1 sufferings1 anxieties1 labours1 and longings of life4 ,we are such stuff ,as dreams are made on1 and our little life ,is rounded with a sleep4#gg ,the best of rest is sleep1 ,and that thou oft provok'st2 yet grossly fear'st ,thy death1 which is no more4#gh ,to die is landing on some silent shore ,where billows never break1 nor tempests roar4#gi ,it is a strange thing to observe to what a height not only of moral excellence1 but also of devotional fervour1 men have arisen without any assistance from the doctrine of a future life4 ,only the faintest and most dubious glimmer of such a belief can be traced in the ,psalms1 in which countless generations of ,christians have found the fullest expression of their devotional feelings1 or in the ,meditations of ,marcus ,aurelius1 which are perhaps the purest product of pagan piety4 ,as ,i have already said1 ,i am endeavouring in this book to steer clear of questions of contested theologies2 but it is impossible to avoid noticing the great changes that have been introduced into the conception of death by some of the teaching which in different forms has grown up under the name of ,christianity1 though much of it may be traced in germ to earlier periods of human development4 ,death in itself was made incomparably more terrible by the notion that it was not a law but a punishment2 that sufferings inconceivably greater than those of ,earth awaited the great masses of the human race beyond the grave2 that an event which was believed to have taken place ages before we were born1 or small frailties such as the best of us cannot escape1 were sufficient to bring men under this condemnation2 that the only paths to safety were to be found in ecclesiastical ceremonies2 in the assistance of priests2 in an accurate choice among competing theological doctrines4 ,at the same time the largest and most powerful of the ,churches of ,christendom has1 during many centuries1 done its utmost to intensify the natural fear of death by associating it in the imaginations of men with loathsome images and appalling surroundings4 ,there can be no greater contrast than that between the ,greek tomb with its garlands of flowers1 its bright1 youthful and restful imagery1 and the mortuary chapels that may often be found in ,catholic countries1 with their ghastly pictures of the saved souls writhing in purgatorial flames1 while the inscription above and the moneybox below point out the one means of alleviating their lot4 ,fermati1 ,o ,passagiero1 mira tormenti4 ,siamo abbandonati dai nostri parenti4 ,di noi abbiate piet1 o voi amici cari4 ,this is one side of the picture4 ,on the other hand it cannot be questioned that the strong convictions and impressive ceremonies1 even of the most superstitious faith1 have consoled and strengthened multitudes in their last moments1 and in the purer and more enlightened forms of ,christianity death now wears a very different aspect from what it did in the teaching of medival ,catholicism1 or of some of the sects that grew out of the ,reformation4 ,human life ending in the weakness of old age and in the corruption of the tomb will always seem a humiliating anti-climax1 and often a hideous injustice4 ,the belief in the rightful supremacy of conscience1 and in an eternal moral law redressing the many wrongs and injustices of life1 and securing the ultimate triumph of good over evil2 the incapacity of earth and earthly things to satisfy our cravings and ideals2 the instinctive revolt of human nature against the idea of annihilation1 and its capacity for affections and attachments1 which seem by their intensity to transcend the limits of earth and carry with them in moments of bereavement a persuasion or conviction of something that endures beyond the grave1--all these things have found in ,christian beliefs a sanction and a satisfaction that men had failed to find in ,socrates or ,cicero1 or in the vague ,pantheism to which unassisted reason naturally inclines4 ,looking1 however1 on death in its purely human aspects1 the mourner should consider how often in a long illness he wished the dying man could sleep2 how consoling to his mind was the thought of every hour of peaceful rest2 of every hour in which the patient was withdrawn from consciousness1 insensible to suffering1 removed for a time from the miseries of a dying life4 ,he should ask himself whether these intervals of insensibility were not on the whole the happiest in the illness--those which he would most have wished to multiply or to prolong4 ,he should accustom himself1 then1 to think of death as sleep--undisturbed sleep--the only sleep from which man never wakes to pain4 ,you find yourself in the presence of what is a far deeper and more poignant trial than an old man's death--a young life cut off in its prime2 the eclipse of a sun before the evening has arrived4 ,accustom yourself to consider the life that has passed as a whole4 ,a human being has been called into the world--has lived in it ten1 twenty1 thirty years4 ,it seems to you an intolerable instance of the injustice of fate that he is so early cut off4 ,estimate1 then1 that life as a whole1 and ask yourself whether1 so judged1 it has been a blessing or the reverse4 ,count up the years of happiness4 ,count up the days1 or perhaps weeks1 of illness and of pain4 ,measure the happiness that this short life has given to some who have passed away2 who never lived to see its early close4 ,balance the happiness which during its existence it gave to those who survived1 with the poignancy and the duration of pain caused by the loss4 ,here1 for example1 is one who lived perhaps twenty-five years in health and vigour2 whose life during that period was chequered by no serious misfortune2 whose nature1 though from time to time clouded by petty anxieties and cares1 was on the whole bright1 buoyant1 and happy2 who had the capacity of vivid enjoyment and many opportunities of attaining it2 who felt all the thrill of health and friendship and ecstatic pleasure4 ,then came a change1--a year or two with a crippled wing--life1 though not abjectly wretched1 on the whole a burden1 and then the end4 ,you can easily conceive--you can ardently desire--a better lot1 but judge fairly the lights and shades of what has been4 ,does not the happiness on the whole exceed the evil8 ,can you honestly say that this life has been a curse and not a blessing8--that it would have been better if it had never been called out of nothingness8--that it would have been better if the drama had never been played8 ,it is over now4 ,as you lay in his last home the object of so much love1 ask yourself whether1 even in a mere human point of view1 this parenthesis between two darknesses has not been on the whole productive of more happiness than pain to him and to those around him4 ,it was an ancient saying that 'he whom the gods love dies young1' and more than one legend representing speedy and painless death as the greatest of blessings has descended to us from pagan antiquity2 while other legends1 like that of ,tithonus1 anticipated the picture which ,swift has so powerfully but so repulsively drawn of the misery of old age and its infirmities1 if death did not come as a release4 ,i have elsewhere related an old ,irish legend embodying this truth4 ',in a certain lake in ,munster1 it is said1 there were two islands2 into the first death could never enter1 but age and sickness1 and the weariness of life and the paroxysms of fearful suffering were all known there1 and they did their work till the inhabitants1 tired of their immortality1 learned to look upon the opposite island as upon a haven of repose4 ,they launched their barks upon its gloomy waters2 they touched its shore1 and they were at rest4'#hj ,no one1 however1 can confidently say whether an early death is a misfortune1 for no one can really know what calamities would have befallen the dead man if his life had been prolonged4 ,how often does it happen that the children of a dead parent do things or suffer things that would have broken his heart if he had lived to see them6 ,how often do painful diseases lurk in germ in the body which would have produced unspeakable misery if an early and perhaps a painless death had not anticipated their development6 ,how often do mistakes and misfortunes cloud the evening and mar the beauty of a noble life1 or moral infirmities1 unperceived in youth or early manhood1 break out before the day is over6 ,who is there who has not often said to himself as he looked back on a completed life1 how much happier it would have been had it ended sooner8 ',give us timely death' is in truth one of the best prayers that man can pray4 ,pain1 not ,death1 is the real enemy to be combated1 and in this combat1 at least1 man can do much4 ,few men can have lived long without realising how many things are worse than death1 and how many knots there are in life that ,death alone can untie4 ,remember1 above all1 that whatever may lie beyond the tomb1 the tomb itself is nothing to you4 ,the narrow prison-house1 the gloomy pomp1 the hideousness of decay1 are known to the living and the living alone4 ,by a too common illusion of the imagination1 men picture themselves as consciously dead1--going through the process of corruption1 and aware of it2 imprisoned with the knowledge of the fact in the most hideous of dungeons4 ,endeavour earnestly to erase this illusion from your mind1 for it lies at the root of the fear of death1 and it is one of the worst sides of medival and of much modern teaching and art that it tends to strengthen it4 ,nothing1 if we truly realise it1 is less real than the grave4 ,we should be no more concerned with the after fate of our discarded bodies than with that of the hair which the hair-cutter has cut off4 ,the sooner they are resolved into their primitive elements the better4 ,the imagination should never be suffered to dwell upon their decay4 ,bacon has justly noticed that while death is often regarded as the supreme evil1 there is no human passion that does not become so powerful as to lead men to despise it4 ,it is not in the waning days of life1 but in the full strength of youth1 that men1 through ambition or the mere love of excitement1 fearlessly and joyously encounter its risk4 ,encountered in hot blood it is seldom feared1 and innumerable accounts of shipwrecks and other accidents1 and many episodes in every war1 show conclusively how calmly honour1 duty1 and discipline can enable men of no extraordinary characters1 virtues1 or attainments1 to meet it even when it comes before them suddenly1 as an inevitable fact1 and without any of that excitement which might blind their eyes4 ,if we analyse our own feelings on the death of those we love1 we shall probably find that1 except in cases where life is prematurely shortened and much promise cut off1 pity for the dead person is rarely a marked element4 ,the feelings which had long been exclusively concentrated on the sufferings of the dying man take a new course when the moment of death arrives4 ,it is the sudden blank2 the separation from him who is dear to us2 the cessation of the long reciprocity of love and pleasure1--in a word our own loss1--that affects us then4 ',a happy release' is perhaps the phrase most frequently heard around a death-bed4 ,and as we look back through the vista of a few years1 and have learned to separate death more clearly from the illness that preceded it1 the sense of its essential peacefulness and naturalness grows upon us4 ,a vanished life comes to be looked upon as a day that has past1 but leaving many memories behind it4 ,it is1 ,i think1 a healthy tendency that is leading men in our own generation to turn away as much as possible from the signs and the contemplation of death4 ,the pomp and elaboration of funerals2 protracted mournings surrounding us with the gloom of an ostentatious and artificial sorrow2 above all1 the long suspension of those active habits which nature intended to be the chief medicine of grief1 are things which at least in the ,english-speaking world are manifestly declining4 ,we should try to think of those who have passed away as they were at their best1 and not in sickness or in decay4 ,true sorrow needs no ostentation1 and the gloom of death no artificial enhancement4 ,every good man1 knowing the certainty of death and the uncertainty of its hour1 will make it one of his first duties to provide for those he loves when he has himself passed away1 and to do all in his power to make the period of bereavement as easy as possible4 ,this is the last service he can render before the ranks are closed1 and his place is taken1 and the days of forgetfulness set in4 ,in careers of riot and of vice the thought of death may have a salutary restraining influence2 but in a useful1 busy1 well-ordered life it should have little place4 ,it was not the ,stoics alone who 'bestowed too much cost on death1 and by their preparations made it more fearful4'#ha ,as ,spinoza has taught1 'the proper study of a wise man is not how to die but how to live1' and as long as he is discharging this task aright he may leave the end to take care of itself4 ,the great guiding landmarks of a wise life are indeed few and simple2 to do our duty--to avoid useless sorrow--to acquiesce patiently in the inevitable4 ,,footnotes3 #gg ,the ,tempest4 #gh ,measure for ,measure4 #gi ,garth4 #hj ,history of ,european ,morals1 i4 p4 #bjc4 ,the legend is related by ,camden4 #ha ,bacon4