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.