- tfrmi
THE HESPERIAN.
If.
suggest the benefit of the publication of literature expressly
for mlulls; literature which will be more expressive of nctunl
life, and will not reach the hands ol the young. They con
trast the great productions of the past with the works of fic
tion of the present, and cry out for the return of the day
when the artificial restraints now thrown about English fiction
shall be removed. These writers, in asserting such liberal
yet guarded opinions arc to be commended. There is little
merit in expatiating in action upon lighter offenses to the ex
clusion of the grosser, while the newspaper is allowed almost
unlimited permission in recounting the actualities of life. A
novel, treating subjects preferably undiscussed, may if writ
ten by a judicious author be a power for good in pointing
some great moral; and thus be of far greater worth than the
novel that systematically shuns everything but airy nothings.
To desire the introduction of more reality into fiction is thus
not the exhibition of a certain grossness oi taste, but
rather of a healthy sentiment in pleasing contrast with the
fastidiousness that has been for some time predominant.
If the question were propounded, "What debt of grati
tude docs the present age owes to Voltaire?" the replies
would be various. Some persons would deny that any grati
tude is due him; that on the other hand the influence he ex
erted was wholly evil; that he merits, in consequence nothing
but condemnation. Others hold that he did a great and be
ncficient work in combating the pretensions of the church of
the last century in France. Those who hold the latter view
arc few; to the horrified view of the many Voltaire appears
as a veritable demon incarnate, an enemy of mankind.
He who should wish to go down to postcntuym unpop
ular wretch would find no more effectual wayHKsompltsh
his strange desire than to oppose the religions prejudices of
his time. If his opposition should be merely factious he
would be deservedly condemned. If, instead, he should be
the hciald of a better day, he might rest assured that some
future generation would appreciate his services. Voltaire vi
olently opposed the ecclesiastical regime under which France
struggled in the eighteenth century. Vet more, he mocked
at religion itself. In return, he has received the condemna
tion of clergy and laity from his own time to the present.
Hearing that he opposed the church and religion many hon
est men have seemingly not the patience to study his life he
attacked the church and religion therefore there was no good
in him.
However, it is well worth the while to study the life of a
man whose influence has been so profound. He may have
been shallow, he was undoubtedly a mocker, but shallowness
and mockciy arc not bonds that draw men to a leader. Had
thcic been no occasion for the career of a Voltaire, it would
not now be necessary to denounce him; his influence would
have been ephemeral. It is true he is to be blamed for his
levity while treating the most sacred subjects, and for his ap
parently total lack of reverence. But where jnijjht the icono
clast ply his trade more justifiably than in the France of the
eighteenth century? Surely men were then "wedded to their
idols." It required the wit, the mocking raillery of Voltaire
to show mankind the inefficacy of the dead forms and rituals
which for them constituted the life of religion.
The condition of France in Voltaire's lime was deplorable.
The grinding poverty of the poor and the opulence and fri
volity of the privileged classes were bringing the state to.
dissolution. Not this phase, however, of the social disease
caused Voltaire sorrow; he was always an aristocrat, a court
ier. And for this lack of sympathy with sonwr is he more
to be blamed than the clergy of that age? They, too, were
sycophants living i
trom the peasant. It wa
strovc to overthrow. He hw&A
under which he lived; he
resenting an insult put uf
ekes they wrung
EocspotisRi that he
ce of the regime
i'omiMwA: front Me land for
Me rm gone to England,
had there seen a people freeJLw erilcize thek rulers,- tgtant'
toward an opinions; a people enjoying the benefits otjalrcc
government. What a contrast to his .native land! There
men were imprisoned for the mildest criticism of the ruling
powers. There the unorthodox writer saw from behind his
prison bars his book publicly burned. There, subsequently,
Diderot, for no other offence than writing a book in which he
said that people who arc born blind have some ideas different
from those who have their eyesight, was arrested and without
even the form of a trial, was confined in the dungeon of Vin
cenncs! What persecution could be more intolerable? If
Voltaire hastened the day when such censors were hurled
from power, is he not deserving of some praise?
He was at once broughtinto conflict.with the church. It
was the force that held the people in intellectual bondage; it
nerved the king o the suppression of all literature that criti
cised the existing powers. Hence the first work of a man
who wished to free thought from its trammels was to under
mine the influence of triumphant ecclesiasticism. The extent
of that influence was remarkable. At present many will sub
mit to the guidance of ccclcsiasticsJjMmattcrs pertaining to
religion. Hut few, however, w'dl,MgKUo that guidance in
other departments of life. Iu thoSejaBSpweh was the extent
of the peoples' degradation and. igftoraKffihat the French
clergy backed by the terrors of both civH and sacred law,
guided the thoughts aad actions: of the people in almost ev
ery department of life. TVey in ?ct made themselves re
ligion. Tote,lg,ako1riMNMMfcK. Individuality of
senUnrnntsjjMjjaisipta oat; dnmt tow to the dictates of
those wmMfit'a monopoly. aV4frfc, -grace. In those who
made mob sweeping piitsasiuns oat would be justified in ex
pecting the pseSKC of the highest virtue and goodness. On
the otltsr hand the clergy, particularly the higher, were dis
solute,' unprincipled, unscrupulous; some of them were
atheists at heart, persecuting others for asserting openly what
they themselves believed in secret. The lower clergy exem
plified somewhat the influence of divine precepts; between the
higher and lower clergy thre was little fraternal feeling;
among the body of the higher clergy there was some fraternal
feeling, that which holds together, while promise of boodle
is held out, a band of public parasites.
Such was the intellectual state of France during the
greater part of Voltaire's life. Voltairism, though a heroic
remedy, was well suited to the disease it eradicated. By the -introduction
of the philosophy of Newton into France, and
by holding up to ridicule the pretentions of ecclesiastics, he
hastened the downfall of absolute authority in matters of opin
ion. Notwithstanding all the criticism that has been directed
against him, much of the intellectual development of the
present century received its first impetus from the movement
with which Voltaire's name has been so prominently con
nected. Intelligent doubt is far better than ignorant, indo
lent belief. Voltaire taught men to question a proposition
before they assented to it. If one chooses to attribute only
to the teaching of him and his colleagues the violence of the
revolution that came soon after his death, the good he did
should also be remembered. He was not above his age in
morals; but, considering the extraordinary condition of France
in bis time, it is safe to assert that the evil he wrought was
in no mean measure offset by the good.
Those whom pious fear restrains from admitting the good
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