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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1875)
Hesperian Student. VOL. I, University or Vcbrasfnt. so o. XOVKHKKKt Qui non rrollolr. Ooilelt. 1875. I I I !.......! 1 cut, wciikiicss iiiiii liiuinmuiicy iirwiiiiua up- parent onh when it was stiujrht to build on these shirting sands t lit ftbrie. of a -table government. His maxim of " tho law of to-day does not bind me tomor row" is tho very essence of political non-wn-e and ubstirditv. I titiea1 doctrines likf lics one would think, mint bore ji'C c I alino-t instinctively by th mind; and yet in a nmion non to in intelligence, and z -al un for progress, they found mil li ns -f dmir"s and advocates. It needs tint v.-ry rudiment try reasoning to point iit tli" enormoit error of litis p -liii.-al philosophy, and why it was sub- rivc t all government. ' It ,'Y lelanned to a iy suhjeet, if indeed This was notabh true at the begiuir.m: ihi-re were aav subjects, "that the only of the present century in France. By ' j gHiuu e authority over a man is his in- dividuil will," that this will cannot he d' leiriiii'd, ami eons-qtiently, strictly sp nkhig. there win lie no representative government If nnv nt unpl is made to enf ic a law, to whieh the people indi vidimlly have not c-uisont d, it is right to resist He3hlfS if a uuitract is made to da., been isu it is my will, to-morrow my will may clurise, an I the conduct i-. no longer bi.iding. Now i It is inipos-dblc to lot const what die men of the future de-ire, thus all 1 -.'i-l-iiion, which respects The Influoiu'u of .Tlotuphysieal Speculation. In ft previous article, we very briellv il lustrated the destructive forces, whieh were couched in melaphysic il speculation, involving morality, religion and society in one common ruin. After destruction comes reeonsiruetion; and historic illy con&idered, it will be found that this will be attempted on the basis of some politi cal speculation, some theory of human rights or of the constitution of hum oi ua tuns and thus the spicttlitive principles of philo.-ophi-rs will bo transfused into life and mannei, and into thefouuof the government. changing the abstract speculation ol the philosopher to the concrete stnelion of jtaluto law, the philosopher hccuinc the lawgiver of the state. To illustrno the case in hand let Uj consider the pMlo.oph ical inlluencc of Rou.-seau, who was the great prototype of those whom Carlyle has ityhdthc authors of thu ' Literature or Despeiation." Of the dcMiudivf power of the phil's ophy of this brilliant sonlimenialhv then is niiinle oro.-f. Said Napoleon," Without Rous&cuu the Pn-ii'-'h Revolution would! tin- fmure, is male impos-ibh', and the not have occuired.' Carlyle in hi- " He- Jlouii.lnUoiir ol every ki id of politic il or roes" observes, thai " this mat: nns the jgmizuti , a w It a- .l commercial lion Evangelist of the French Ik-volution, ttial .r. uresm pi itwnt by aplausililcpliilosphy Lis semi-delirious specula ions mi the mi- 'of i diviiloalmm. In hi-, se.ieinc ol po tries of eiili.ed life, and the prefer ibili llitical orguuiy.ii im, every individual has ty of the savage to the civilized help il a iigm in omuoi io everyiuiiui. -um ion w Frn, seem to bo only the amusement of the cu rious mind, often prove to bo the pivotal points on which individual and national prosperity depends. A. R. B. a to produce a whole delirium in -ha every mta-ur-; and there must itrioo 'rvice generally ". Hume wiites from IV 'in the n .lure ot Hie case en.ilcss irrita- lioii ami li rce oppositions. What was pre.-umptively true to the wi&e ihink'T-, as the icsult of such Imloc tri.iali m, tiie history of France at this Paris respt cling hi popularity: ' It Uim possible to express r imagine the enthusi asm of thi nation in his favor." This man, so potent in revolution, sought aho to la down the principle on which recoiibtructioii could be effected He at. tempted the impossible task of oiganizing anarchy All wore governor; there weie no bubjects. Obedience was bluvery, and duty an obsolete notion. From what philosophical principles did this constructive effort proceed? And Uiil effect did th-y have on the reorg.mi ration of iocicly in France' This brilliant writer had argued and plausibly maintained two the&es. lo whieh more than to any other causehwereduelhe ufferings of this nation, in her throes for a birth intoa new political order of things. The first was li't "' individual, nor yot the whole multiuulc cou".tituiiHg the stale lias the light fo y impel a man to do any tliinn of which it cannot be ilemotiHlraied, that his own reason must join in pnwenb lug it;" the second, if possible still more atmrchical, wiw, "that no one is bound to obey a law to which he has not given con lent." To a people panting for liberty, those principles or doctrines have a pecu liar fascination, and itisnotstsangc under the circumstances they, snould have been eagerly accepted. An a destructive force, nothing could be more adiniriibly plauacd; and their inher- period completely vended. Disorder, an archy, and dissolution followed each each other in rapid ucvession, until the reins of nb-'duto p wcr were seized by the hamU of a ina-ter, who taised himself to this eminence without consulting the popular will, and who crown-d his work by Imp ising on a pe-.ple struggling for this impos.iblc libe.ty, the principles oi imperial, hereditary despotism. In striking contrast to thoc dreams of a frvn.iod plnl '(M).thy, ihat overthrew the ancient regime in France, lint was utterly unable to cons met a new system, wo pre sent the calm wisdom, the soiintl philoso phy, ami ihe p dliical in-ight embodied in the Dtthiiatioii of Independence. Tfiia is not a string of "glittering generalities" .ifconehas siigii.utizd i. but it couiainB the siihvntitit! of politicitl wisdom, on which has lieen rare.l a political orgaui zillion of (.ls.il proportion-!, ami we trust of cnd.irwig exigence Thue ab stracl principles led the nation through a proiinelcd war io ihoir perm ment liberty ami peace, under Ihe reign of law. The man of thought must precede, in the order of nature, the man of action; and those speculative principles, which seem to lie remote from human uses, and Gwthe's Willielm Melstcr. (continual.) Wilhelm's entire adventures at the ca.-tlo are the means Grcthc used to lift his .icro to a dilfereiU plane of thought, b' the glimpse of better associations. But he seemed never able to learn that ho was too superior to be forever confined to the company id' actors and actresses. Up to this time, the mind of a render of modern novels, is continually on the alert to find in all these wanderings and commiugliugs, a plot upon which to lay the tensions of the imagination. But there is none. Mig non is a nnstcry; so is the old harper; but we can see nothing in them more than might any day be observed by one travel ing as did Willielm. Boys often, in their inexperience, ally themselves to a person having a talent, but neglect the character of the new friend, and are led into much confusi-m, anil sometimes disgrace, by their i.dherence to bombast, and not to the quietness of a silvern moral ity. lie could never understand the Countess. He could have loved her, but for her station. Phil iiui, in her imitations of nobility, had giC'tter charms: for him than Philina ns Philioa. Her rcccntiou of him in the C'ounte' chambers, was a surprise he could not comprehend. "His experience of the world was loo limited to perceive that the most frivolous and good-for-noth ing persons most frequently accuse them solves in hitler lei ins, acknowledging and Inmenting their faults with candour, even when they tire wholly destitute of resolu tion to turn from the evil courses which their irroistible nature has compelled them to pursue." Her lightness of man ner, and generosity of disposit'on, were charms to him that the stoliduess of the Countess had not rendered altogether void of enchantment. Culture is stately. Vul garity calls it pride. The culture of our colder climates cannot brook the physical grimaces of the tropical Italian. It is too much like the coarseness of the northern illitteraies. Willielm had not yet, howev er, altlained theinsightof character which enables one to see that fineness of struc ture is sensitive about confiding its own secrets to another. That " Aye lioup pomolhla' to joureelf, You will not toll to olhcrr," was born in him. But that others should do the nme he never considered a necessi ty. 3fcliin'K inurmurings against fortune ho bore patiently, and that with no possi hl: prospect of bettering himself. The whole weight of tho company's welfare ho shouldered as his own responsibility. Only once does he become impatient, and that, when they so wrongfully accuse him as tho cause of all their misfortunes, after the robbing catastrophe. He then per ceives, though not distinctly thut they Iiuve hound themselves to his fortune, not to himself. The satisfaction his faculty of approbation finds, in being tho loader of a company of such worthy aclois, become a minimum beside the maximumof trouble and anxiety their grumblings give him. The sentiments that the fair mnazoa aroused in his breast, lead us to desir immediately to follow the maid. Mariana, lias lost all interest to us, as shedid to him, after a sight at thcumazon ; and that with out a word having passed from Mm latter' lips. But we cannot take him from the castle without speaking of his introduction bj Jarno, to the heaven mind, the world-music of Shakspcare. Jarno is another enlg ma lo him. But I otli Willielm and tha reader fall to liking him for this one deed for his love for the " myriad-minded.1 What cnthusiam! It is not of theli:erary kind, either. But the babblings up from a fountain of puiity; that needed not the panegyrics of a Coleridge to expand, nor the criticisms of a Johnson to concentrate. Speaking of the plays, he says: " They appear to be the productions of a heavenly genius who has descended Io dic abodes of men, to render them, by tho gentlest lessons, acquainted with them selves. They are not mere poems. One might think during their p'-rusal that ho stood before the opt tied, solemn books of destiny, through which the whirlwind of impassioned life is breathing, whilst tho leaves are agitated to and fro." In these days of Napoleonisui, wliea Fate and Destiny are puppets for the nov elist to bandy back and forth in the ma chinery of his bookwork, this extract may not seem of more than ordinary strength; but when wt consider that this was before Germtui literature hud swollen to tho ocean it now is, we cannot but see in it some of Coleridge's sentiments. And then, from this, we can turn immediately to Ihe conversations with Serlo, and per ceive how much more Goethe saw was to come out- of Shakspcare than uny of hid contemporaries dreamed of. In these talks with the celebrated manager, tho theme gradually merged into the play of Hamlet; and Goethe takes advantage of his hero's youthful enthusiasm to express his own prophetic hopes nstoShakspearc: " He (Welhclm) assured Serlo that ho looked forward witli the fondest hopes to the epoch which would arise in Germany from his (S's) incomparable productions." Goethe's conception of the beaty in philos ophy, and of strength in benuiy, could not have found a more boundless theme for congratulation, than in the possession of Hamlet for the foundation of philosophy in the German character a character capable of such infinite digestion. It is said that the English have gluttons, tho French gourmands, but that the Germans can assimilate more, and of a greater va-. ricty, tlinn cither. Hence it is, their phi losophies arc so extensive. They swim in Pluto's oceun, make love to his mermaids, and deck them with pearls drawn from tho deep seas of Shakspcare. Their powers of mastication are elephantine. Coleridge is a palm leaf; Bacon u fair meal ; and the genius bf Aristotle must undergo sharp 'i i.
