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    i83O THE LEADER. {Saturday,

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    Fraser, this month, is various and delig...

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    . NIGOLI^I'S HISTORY JES"DITS. NkolinVs ...

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    The Papers Announce The Death, At Ragaz,...

    was striving after a modification of it , in the shape of a so-called * doctrine of Identity , ' which should refer all to one absolute existence , involving both the * * and the nofc-me . ' " What Fichte was striving after , it was left for Scheixxng to set forth in a completed manner . Abandoning the Icli as the starting-point in philosophy , ScHJBixruG avowed that Philosophy must commence with the assumption of one absolute all-filling Being or Mind , known by intellectual intuition . Philosophy is the knowledge of the action of this absolute . The whole ' rhythm of the Universe * consists of three

    movements or ' Potenees' of this Absolute . First , there is the ' Potence of Reflection , ' or the movement of the Absolute rushing forth and embodying itself in the Finite . The result of this movement is Nature , and the study of it is Natural Philosophy . Then there is the ' Potence of Subsumption , ' or the struggling of the Absolute , as embodied in the Finite ^ to return or ebb back into the Infinite . The result of this subsumptive or regressive movement is mind , as existing in man ; and the study of it is the Philosophy of Mind . Lastly , there is the Potence of Indifference , or Reason , in which the two former movements blend together and balance each other .

    The main notion , it will be seen , here , is that of the identification of the objective and subjective in one Being—NTature being simply this Being in a state , if we may so phrase it , of cutrush ; and mind being simply the same Being in a state ollbaclcjlow . "With this notion in tie centre of his speculations , Schelling was supposed to have solved a proMem which was perplexing au Germany ; and for a time he gav

    substttription , which we must all undergo , the white-haired oldman has been taken back into the bosom , the great Sev / n itself , aaid knowing it better :, he will speak about ifc no more . There ; is something touching , in the going but of such ; a spirit from among -the living / His " potehees ; " and his " ieksf * his " objectives , ' ' vhis subjectives , " and the like- ^ allthis it is very proper , of course , at so important a crisis as the present , when we are expecting news frbnl Sevastopol , and the Radical Party in Parliament is in such a shocking state of disorganisation , to laugh at and set aside ! It is sad j argon that , is itinot , iabout the" , " rhythm of the universe ? ' ? Peace , ye profane ! There is a is

    higher and a lower jargon ^ your s the lower ; and woul d to God we had sonie more of the higher in Great Britain ! It is well now and then , in pur closely packed state , where we breathe eadh others breaths till we are sick , to have a blast of -wind from thehills , or even , from the icebergs ; and we cotiia well spare -ten members of Parliament , and sixty parsons , now and then , if the stuff could be sent us back ' worked up into one metaphysician , such as Schebmncl Our notion as to the futility of metaphysical philosophy need not be expatiated on now : but all honour to the metaphysicians , dead and gone ; who were great intellects—if great intellects wasted .

    I83o The Leader. {Saturday,

    i 83 O THE LEADER . { Saturday ,

    Fraser, This Month, Is Various And Delig...

    Fraser , this month , is various and delightful : it is as good a number of a magazine as we have seen for a , long time . There is an interesting political article on « The Session , and the Ministry , ' very liberal in parts , but containing a defence of Lord Abekdeekt , which will not be very popular . There are no fewer than three articles of information in relation to the war—one entitled * Etchings on the Euxine , ' another , ' Phases of War in St . Petersburg , ' and the third , * The Garrisons of the Crimea . ' In the two last , Fraser keeps up the reputation it has acquired for accurate military knowledge of Russiaand trectif

    , ability o y the mistakes of e Our own Correspondent . ' There are also in the number two poems , and th ere is a continuation of the current novel , ' General Bounce . ' There is , moreover , a Natural History paper , as usual , the subject being * the Great Bustard ; ' and there is a paper , statistical and reforming , on the Mercantile Marine . ' Subtracting these nine articles , there still remain four of more than ordinary interest—a jocose series of hints to young barristers , entitled ' How to get on at the Bar ; ' an amuBing and yet earnest paper entitled ' The Church among the Tall Chimneys , ' describing the state of the Church of England in the

    manufactunng districts ; a sketch of ' Hafiz , the Persian Poet , ' in whioh the genius of the poet is described , a specimen of Iris poetry given , and a higher place claimed for him than that of the * Eastern Anacreon ; ' and the beginning of a curious paper called » A Handful of Italian Patois Books , ' illustrating ° thQ Piedmonteso and Genoese dialects . The following is from the article on Hafiz : — . «¦ Ilflfiz has been only partially represented by tho odes which have been usually selected toe translation into English ; Ins Anacreontic odea ( if wo may apply this twin to that cjaes wnioh to tho outor car do certainly scorn to sing of tho wino and tho rose , and nothing /

    Hponoj are ny no moana tno best Bpooimonsof his jnuso ; they are generally lirolr and vigorous , but they fleldom display nny deeper voina of feeling : nor , indeed , would such outbursts Imvo harmonised with tho general tone of tho * eat oi tho ode . But in ft larce proportion of his poems , Hafla' genius assumes a totally different phase ; and those seem to uo to havo boon generally negleotod , although in many roapeotB of far h « Kher interoetto tin iinglialj reader . In thoao n no longer | joard tho voice of tfiojoyoua reveller wndor hia bowor oi rosc 3 , but ' tho voieo of wooplng and of loud lament , ' an < i the outpourings of tho uoul ' s Uoep sorrows nnd flsplrntSons , us it mourns for the heaven tllat it has lost

    —M lears , idle tears , I know not what tlioy mean : Tcnrs from tho dopth of somo divine despair . Iloro wo havo HnfV genius in ita full vigour ; bold metaphors meptus at every turn , and impassioned expressions whioh condense Into a word what an inferior Writer would havo XSt » i i , ? J ft f mmy * f llifl ima « * vo * ° vivldl and wifiWil Umfc they at onco wrcsti ttxo roader ' a , attention . ' >

    " What , for instance , can be more vigorous than such a couplet as the following ? " On every side is an ambush laid by tho robber-troops of Circumstance , — Hence it is tliat the horseman of Life urges on his courser at headlong speed ! " Who does not see the solitary horseman hurrying at full gallop across the desert ; and who does not feel the bold imagination of the poet , which can compare this to our life , as it rushes on between the unknown possibilities wSich haunt it on every side ?" The article on the ' Church among the Tall Ghimneys' contains some rather good anecdotes , of -which here is one : — "Our memory , though stretching to the very hor izon of childhood , vividly summons up the image of our parish minister some thirty years ago . A fine old portly farmer-like man he was , in a carroty scratch vrig of peculiar cut , a coat of black , fast fading into invisible green , drab inexpressibles , worsted stockings , and ponderous shoes . Agriculture was his hobby . ' A better farmer ne ' er Crushed dew from lawn . ' He prided himself far more on his pigs than his preaching ; he was a readier judge of his calves than his catechism . ; he

    dreaded the potato-rot more than the Pope ; ae was more cautious against distemper in his cattle than dissent in his parish . He preached Tillotson abridged , and he cared not who knew it ; he clipped and doctored Blair , and was not at all discomposed if he saw an old lady here and there in tortoise-shell spectacles following him assiduously from the printed book : One Sunday morning before the service began , we remember , he was warmly discussing with a brother farmer the comparative prices which they had obtained for their cheese at the fair on the previous day . To his great chagrin , his parishioner had beaten him by a few shillings in the hundred-weight . Through the service he went as usual , perhaps a trifle more reflective ; liis fifteen minutes' sermon he despatched in twelve , The congregation were moving pensively away , when , the old gentleman leaned over tho palpit as if ; pregnant with important truth—big with the fate of markets and of cheese—and beckoning the farmer , said in an audible whisper , and with a wink of triumph : — 'Ay , but John—look here—mine were only blue-milks , John ! --rha I ba ! only blue-milks I '"

    .. The Writer of the article goes on to describe the existing Church clergy in the large towns , and is very humorous on the ' Hittites' and the ' Hivites , as they are called ; : « Ve-. j the Irish curates * and curates fro ' in -St . Bees College , -who aboundthere .: "The regular . Oxford or ¦ Cambridge man is also described , The writer is anjdous that there should be more clergymen , better paid , and better selected , in these districts . The article will command attention .

    . Nigoli^I'S History Jes"Dits. Nkolinvs ...

    . NIGOLI ^ I'S HISTORY JES"DITS . NkolinVs History of tlie Jesuits . . Bohn . The history of the Jesuits has never been written , and M . l ^ icdlini does not pretend to have accomplished a task from which G-ibbonmight have flinched . Op ^ a out the libraries of iEui ^ ope , devote a lifetime to the collection of materials , combine the qualities of historian , casuist » an & d ^ ra ^ r —and yet , if you cannotwring their secrets from kings and mihisters , who ^ lie in dust , if you cannot learn the story of noble fatnilies , who have perished in their pride , -iiia word r if ypyi are ignorant of what is buried iii eternal silence ,: ybti can never write the histdry of the Society of Jesus . The Jesuits are like figures that flit before us in dreams * An ; a . ll-pervading mystery encircles them . Protestant childreri . are taught to hold them in dread and aversion . Jesuitisna is synonymous with cunning , craft , and intrigue , not less than with genius and talent . A . ccording to the common theory their name is Legion . No one knows ¦ where they are . They meet you in all manner of disguises . Their object is

    to enslave mankind , and , devil-like , they go about , seeking whom they may devour . T ' or all you know , your clergyman is a Jesuit ; Mr . Gladstone , it is well ascertained , is a lay brother of the Society ; the servant who stands behind your chair ; the tailor who makes your coat ; the soldier who fights your battles—one and all , according to the orthodox belief , belong to a society whosei ramifications are intermixed With the whole social system . Who does not know the portrait of the Jesuit ? He is the Mephi 3 taphele 3 of religionists . His intellect is keen and comprehensive . He is a master of the human heart . By means of a hidden machinery , which encircles earth , all secrets are his . He is wily and insidious , polished ar id courteous ; at home alike in the cottage and the palace ; he can talk royally to kings and sit with the peasant at his humble repast—he is the lord of circumstances , the servant only of his order .

    The other day , some one wrote a novel called The Confessor , a Jesuit Tale of the Times . In the preface we are told , that , " unhappily for our once-favoured country , the arts and wiles of the Jesuits are spreading throughout all ranks of society ; and from time to time some case finds its way into tho newspapers , and proves to us what is secretly going on all the while , wherever the Jesuits are at work . " As we are all about to be overtaken by a Jesuit conspiracy , from which no earthly power can rescue us , it 19 a very proper time to inquire into the history of our foomen . Of all tho people who join in the hubbub against the Jesuits , how many know their history P The truth is , that the popular notion of the Jesuits is derived from a very few and very well known books , filled with extracts from Jesuit writings . And very shocking , as M . Nicolini shows , this

    Jesuit morality appenrs . But can it be belioved for one moment that the men who governed Ewopo and taught its youth for centuries , winning thereby tho unwilling admiration of Francis Bacon , wore the dis g raceful villains whom , their enemies love to paint ? It suited Plato and Xonophon toievilo the Sophists , buifc later inquiries have proved thjvt the so-called corrupters of Grecian youths conferred immortal benefits on them , and through them on us , who inherit their civilisation . Plato succeeded , for nearly fourteen centuries , in heaping calumny on hia rivals . But the learning and { ijood sense of later times have cleared tho Sophists , without dimming tho lamo of Pin , to , Again , who hns not been taught to shudder at tho name of Machiavclli P who is not thankful that tho greatest master of statecraft has found a man of gonius to say a word in his defence ? A priorithoroforo , lot

    , no man condemn tho Jesuits . Granting all that can bo said against them , granting that thoy were ambitious and tyrannical , that they aimed at universal dominjon , and shrunk from no means bo long as thoy attained their object , it is impossible to overlook then * merits , or to deny that , in times of darkness and superstition , they conferred eternal benefits on humanity . Hcavon forbid that thoy should rule again in England ; but does any ono seriously believe in tho possibility of such a catastrophe ? They ruled in days gone byo , because tho possession of superior wisdom conferred authority and nowor . Their despotism was legitimate . Tho case h altered now . Tho naition ' s heart is fVeod from shackles , and can never bo enslaved . At the siogo of Pampeluna , in the year 1521 , a Spanish soldier , culled Ignatius Loyola , was disabled in both logs by a severe wound . Ho wu & of ft

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 2, 1854, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02091854/page/14/