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    210 THE LEADER. [^o ^ggg^ SATTODAy;

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    CHRISTIANITY AND INFIDELITY. S.ST^^''^!"...

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    HIEROGLYPHIC SCIENCE. The Egyptians in t...

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    The Life Of Louis Napoleon. Louis Napole...

    nightly to the author ' s ear Ijy many thousand voices from the burning sands of Africa and the pestilential marshes of Cayenne : " Oh , you -whom happiness has rendered selfish , -who have never suffered the tortures of exile , you think it a slight thing to banish a man from bia country ; you have to learn that exile is a perpetual martyrdom , that it is death , —not the glorious death of those who die for their native land , not the still sweeter death of those whose laat breath is breathed forth beside the domestic hearth , but a death of wasting away , alow and hideous , -which undermines you , hour by hour , until it at length lays you low in an obscure and desert grave . " But it was " an idea wholly philanthropic" that induced Louis Napoleon * Emperor , to d « port the noblest citizens of France to Cayenne , to " a death slow and hideous , " wbich lays them low in " obscure and desert graves . " The Strasburg expedition-was followed by the American visit . On his way he wrote to his mother in allusion to a circumstance not noticed by previous biographers : —r

    " When , some months ago , " he says , " I was bringing home Mathilde , we entered the park together , and beheld there a tree which had just been shattered by a storm ; upon which I said within myself that our marriage would in like manner be broken off by fate . What at that time presented itself to my mind vaguely has been since xealised . Have I then during this year exhausted all the little stock of happiness which has been allotted me in this world ?" Mafchilde , daughter of Jerome , is twelve years younger than Louis Napoleon . A brief stay in America sufficed to weary him . He returned within a short time to Arenemberg , and watched the course of political events in France . Meanwhile his friends watched him . Says Mr . St . John : — I am amazed that authors not otherwise destitute of abilities , should yet , in writing the life of Louis Napoleon , be so weak as to descant like astrologers of the middle ages about stars , destiny , secret voices , and the religion of a man's blood . While reading their productions one appears to be listening to a number of ancient crones crowding around a country fire , and gossiping about fate and -witchcraft .

    His enemies watched him also , Louis Philippe especially , who was weak -enough to demand his extradition from Switzerland . Louis Napoleon of course allowed matters to proceed until the folly of the French government had exalted him iuto a person of European importance , and then , with theatrical magnanimity , costing him nothing , betook himself to London . With his conduct here Mr . St . John refuses to occupy his pen ; he does not become the biographer of Louis Napoleon when , divesting himself for a time of all public pretensions , he became the man-a"b out-town , well known where men of that sort most do congregate . We pass on to the Presidency , the Coup d ? Mat , and the Empire . Mr . St . John says of the Republic : ¦—

    The history of what the French did in 1848 is calculated to cast a damp over the spirits of every friend of liberty . Among the individuals who sought to establish the Kepublic , there was scarcely a single statesman . Poets , orators , journalists , filled ¦ with the traditions of 1793 , profoundly versed in the affairs of Utopia , brimful of philanthropy , violent in tne hatred of their aristocracy , equally violent in their worship ¦ of the people , they were eager to establish a degree of liberty more perfect than the world had ever witnessed . Every man , like the Abbe" Sieyes , went about with twenty new constitutions in his pocket . He was in Paris in 1848 , and conversed with the political leaders : — There was agitation , effervescence , declamation , wild hopes , fierce antipathies , but nothing like settled political convictions . Almost everybody reverted to the events of the Great Revolution , and seemed desirous of re-enacting the scenes , of 1793 . He discusses , successively , the political character of Lainartine , Victor Hugo , the Abbe" Lamennais , Louis Blanc , Armand Marrast , Proudhon , and others . The following relates to Lamennais : —

    Born in the bosom of the Catholic Church , he had emancipated himself from all its prejudices , and become , in the truest sense of the word , a Protestant . He was at the « arae time a socialist in politics , a hater of monarchy , an enemy to the privileged classes , a Jacobin , a leveller , a French Jack Cade . With the enthusiasm of a martyr , and the manners of a saint , he exposed himself to all kinda of persecution foi the sake of a people who therefore loved him with extraordinary affection . He was the apostle and oracle of tbe Faubourg St . Antoine ; during and after the insurrection of June , those fierce combatants for liberty repaired to his lodgings , as to a Delphian cavern , for inspiration , so that you could hardly ascend or descend his stairs in the Hue Chateaubriand without meeting some workman , or some workman's wife , who & ad consulted , or was coming to consult , the friend and prophet of their class . We have been surprised by the tone of reticence adopted by Mr . St . John with respect to the coup d ' atat . He condemns it ; but his ^ condenination reads like that of a judge summing up , not that of one who has summed up and is passing sentence . His characterization of the act itself , and of its authors , ia neither acrimonious in meaning , nor violently expressed : — Masses of soldiers , infuriated with brandy , extended in long lines through the great thoroughfares , to intimidate or slaughter the population . . . .

    Suddenly , on the Boulevards , when tbe thronging ' and excited passengers least expected it , a piatol was fired , by whom is not known . The soldiers immediately presented arms , a lino of flame passed along the streets followed by the report of muskotry , and the shrieks of men , women , and children rolling upon the earth in mortal agony . The : soldiers again loaded their pieces , and raked tho windows and balconies of tho opposite houses , killing indiscriminately all who presented themselves . The streets were encumbered with tbe dead ; tho kennela ran red with blood ; here the grey hairs of ago wcro dabbled in tho gory puddle , and thorc infants crawled over the dead bodies of their mothers . Tho drunken soldiers proceeded "with their butchery until nothing that had life waa seen in tho streets . ... No exact record has perhaps been kept of tho massacres by which Louu Napoleon celebrated his inauguration as President for ton years . We now hand over this biography to those who aro desirous of following £ ™ & J ? i ¦ \ - git of ™ e . cdote ™< 1 analysis , the fortunes of Louis Napoleon from his birth to his imperial rei < m

    210 The Leader. [^O ^Ggg^ Sattoday;

    210 THE LEADER . [^ o ^ ggg ^ SATTODAy ;

    Christianity And Infidelity. S.St^^''^!"...

    CHRISTIANITY AND INFIDELITY . S . ST ^^''^!"' ^^' ' Jte t'ontio * of the Argument , on Both H « tt 8 according to a plan proposed by George BaJllie , liaq . liy S . S . TVTo r > , t > Arthur Hall and Co . book isl remaS ' ^ Jud ge from iho two advertisements prefixed to this

    noticeable booir , distinguished among controversial works alike b ^" candour and its moral tone . According to the terms of the nroorn ^ Miss Hennell first states the objections to Christianity which [ have fc 6 * urged by various writers , each objection being met by a coxmterstatem ^ f from Christian -writers ; and next she expounds the objections to Infidel " * which have been urged by Christian writers , each objection beinrr met h counterstatement from infidel writers . In this way Butler P * alev t Taylor , James Martineau , Whately , Henry Rogers , Chaninn ' o- , Mvi \] ^ others , are placed in opposition to -Newman , Parker , Froude ' Feuerba ^ Charles Hennell , Charles Bray , Auguste Comte , and others . The imi verba are in most cases given , or else a condensation of their lan < mage w > T out any substitution of the compiler's own . The scrupulous candour aril " fairness with which the difficult task has been executed will be armree ' at l by every reader of this volume . Although Miss Hennell . bears a nan ! ¦ which holds a distinguished place among the earnest advocates of fr thought—indeed , the name of Charles Hennell is quite the most emine t among modern English writers on the side of free biblical criticism—vpr would it be difficult , if not impossible , for any one ignorant of the fact t determine on which side of the question she herself would be found an ^ no one acquainted with controversy needs to be told how singular a merit this implies . = > ¦ . h

    The defect of the work is one inseparable from the programme , whic h tie aforesaid silly person who offered the prize laid down ,- there was often n possibility of making the passages truly represent answers to the specific objections . The utmost that could be done was to show how each side con sidered each topic . Into any of the vexata gucestion . es argued here we cannot enter . Instead of discussion let us quote the noble passage - m which Miss Hennell expounds the answer to the objection that without revelation there can be no ground for the belief in the moral government of the world : The result of the scientific observation of nature is more and more to discover that mind is as obedient to law as matter ; that the laws which govern mental phenomena •—or rather , the methods according to which we find that mental phenomena are developed , —are as strict and unvarying as the physical economy of the universe . The great moral law , that virtue briugs good consequences and vice evil , — which * is but another formulary for expressing the very definition of virtue and vice , —nets as uninterruptedly and as irresistibly as the law of gravitation ; and if all the moral

    universe were in order , would doubtless act as perfectly for every individual as for the whole . But moral order is not accomplished ; although apparently tending to it as towards * ' God ' s ideal . " There are a myriad conflicting impulses & t work -which mix and thwart one another at present . If adverse circumstances divert the course of retribution , and interfere with its legitimate sequences , a distortion of moral phenomena takes place . The law is not changed , cannot be changed ; but the reward or punishment falls on the wrong head . Events move-on : the plane of individual action , which lay eccentric and unconformable , adjusts itself to parallelism with the general movement ; falls by degrees into its right place;—by the friction of the mighty whirl of life obstructions are worn down , and the amorphous conglomerations of mental atoms sphere themselves into harmonious combination .

    True , in this whirl individual interests seem uncared for . —But how shall we say so , when out of it there is evolving itself in our breasts this nice sense of Justice , which tells us -what is due to ourselves , and by a farther , nobler stage , what is therefore due to every fellow-being ? Hera is God showing His will to do Justice to eacli one ; by this means where first he can , —if we must speak of Him in human language . —In the heart of man He has made expression , for this generous sentiment , wbich now first has means of uttering itself amidst this 'brute world . Man alone in the world is capable of the feeling of Justice ; and it 5 s for Man to realize it . Let him see to it : it is his mission , his prerogative , to bring it about ; and if he fail he will have to perish , and God to make a better instrument ; for we see plainly that God has a will to have it done . By the indignation stirring ia our breasts at the wrong's endured by our poor trampled brethren , he urges us to procure for them redress . Revenge , perhaps , by the same rule ?—No : for "svehave a better teaching , from our Godlike reason , that revenge will fail to effect its purpose .

    llus , we think , is the true lesson of Nature ; and we may call it true piety . Ia this way , we recognize a genuine command of God . But . in the anthropomorphic idea of God and Providence , taught by Christianity , we find a great hindrance to tbe real duty of man . By leading him to look for the personal care cf G od , as of a Being who out of his human emotion would do all for man Himself , human cflbrt to riglt the wronged 5 a cramped and stunted ; since the beat that man can do is thought to be to leave all to God . Here is a mighty obstruction at the heart of the matter that has to be cleared away : a false piety which , through necessary disappointment , is the fruitful source of blasphemy and i ?« piety .

    And tho poor injured individual , who has no help from God , and as yet no help from his felknv-mcn , —what shall avc say to him ?—If he has tlie blessing ui'a great soul within him , that can solace itself in noble sympathy with the good if the whole , —if too lie can feel the benefit he himself shares in being subject to . so grand a principle , an instrument in working it out , —it is -well with him . If not , the more our compassion for our poor brother ! Let us not beat about to satisfy our own minds with some comfortable , imaginary alleviation , some conceited device of vindication for the ways of God ; but confess with the sincerity due to our best feelings , and the sympathy duo to tho sufferers , that it is hard . In God ' s namo let us strive that these things be so no more .

    This admirable extract leads us to remark on the general vigour with which Miss Ueimeirs expositions are written ; indeed , except when she is quoting some splendid passage from Isaac Taylor , or sonic clear direct passage from Archbishop "W iiately , we greatly prefer her own exposition to the patchwork of extracts , which her desire for perfect fairness has made necessary .

    Hieroglyphic Science. The Egyptians In T...

    HIEROGLYPHIC SCIENCE . The Egyptians in the Time of the Pharaohs . Being a Companion to Hip Crystal Palace Egyptian Collection . 15 y Wr J . Gardner Wilkinson . With an Introduction to tho Study of tho Egyptian Hieroglyphs . By Samuel Birch . Bradbury and Evans . What if anew epoch of learning should disturb the satisfied lailli of the Egyptologers ? Mr . IJirch predicts that ere long it will be as easy to read an inscription of hieroglyp hs ) as a . page of Greek or "Latin ; but id it certain that a singlo inscription ha . s boon deciphered ? Tracing closely the lines by which this pretentious science has been advanced , from the writings of llorus Apollo—ibr the curlier worka ex tun t deal only in conjeeturo and ( illusion—to those of Lepsius and Bunsen , we do not find the absolute evi-

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 28, 1857, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28021857/page/18/