The Press.
London, England, 1856-04-26 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

the most open to suspicion? Who prepared
them and preserved them? What confidence
can we possibly feel in their truth? The re-
cent researches of Mr. Prescott and Mr.
Motley have shown that Philip 11. prepared
with great elaboration a series of false docu-
ments relative to the death of two envoys from
the Netherlands. Those documents were
naturally presumed to be authentic; but the
King was so sure that posterity would do jus-
tice to his acts as a good Inquisitor and Papist,
that he secretly preserved an account of his
cruel and bloody faithlessness, which accident
has but lately brought to light.
What will Mr. Froude say to the subsequent
State trials of Henry's reign ? Was Cromwell
really a traitor? Was he justly executed ?
Did the Countess of Salisbury have a fair
trial, and was her execution a proof of the
King's benign disposition? And Norfolk and
Surrey, did they have fair trials ? Were their
juries independent—did they fairly examine
evidence and return true verdicts ? Only on
the supposition that Mr. Fronde will answer
affirmatively can we understand why he
should lay stress on the constitution of the
courts which condemned the Queen, and the
persons accused with her.
There are other points of Mr. Froude's
history to which we can merely direct atten-
tion. He assumes throughout that all the
executions which took place for religious
opinion were just arid necessary. On the exe-
cution of Sir Thomas More he writes
To me it appears most piteous and most inevitable.
The hour of retribution had come at length The
voices crying underneath the altar had been heard upon
the throne of the Most High, and woe to the generation of
whom the dark account should be demanded.

It is in this spirit that the tortures and execu-
tions which accompanied the Reformation are
narrated. Mr. Fronde conceives that they
were necessary, and therefore excusable. We
do not peruse his "retributive" narratives
without a feeling akin to horror. The histori-
cal advocate,.in the midst of his zeal, ought not
to forget that he is first retained for the in-
terests of humanity, and that, whatever defence
he may make for individuals acting iu the
spirit of their time, being moved by its pas-
sions and impulses, and conceiving that the
most horrible crimes were the highest virtues
by reason of their convictions, it is his part to
clearly condemn the crimes themselves arid to
judge them by the purer light he has. His-
tory may pity or excuse the fanatic, but is it to
defend his excesses ? Men may perhaps be
estimated by the moral atmosphere in which
they lived, but assuredly their acts themselves
should be judged by the purest conceptions we
can form of the immutable standard of Divine
justice.
Disagreeing with much of Mr. Froude's
narrative, and thinking moreover that parts of
it are written in questionable taste, as where
he nonsensically exclaims, " Better far it would
" have been if the dust had been allowed to
" settle down over the grave of Anne Boleyn,
" and her remembrance buried in forgetful-
" ness," as if the investigation of truth should
ever be matter of indifference, we y et willingly
give it this praise,—it is an original book, it is
on the whole eminently skilful in narrative, it
places before the reader a vast body of infor-
mation never before published in an easily
accessible shape, and it is well calculated to
promote thought, and to stimulate historical
inquiry.

Apparitions. A New Theory. By Newton
Crosland. London : Effingham Wilson.
IT has been often objected by the " scoffing
logician " against the " candid ghostseer" (wo
quote Mr. Crosland) that, even though wo
should admit the spectral appearance of de-
parted persons, no satisfactory explanation
can be given of the appearance of their
garments. This is undoubtedly a grave diffi-
culty ; for hitherto ghosts have generally re-
visited their friends, like Mr. Scrooge, in their
" usual waistcoats," and, whether to insure
recognition, or to avoid catching cold, have
almost invariably taken the precaution of
dressing themselves before venturing out on
their nocturnal rambles. On the one hand,
while we deny immortality almost universally
to brutes, can we concede it, with perfect con-

SATURDAY,

sistency, to cast-off suits of clothes? ~W 11;
" should a horse, a dog, a rat, have life, and
" thou no breath at all?" says Lear ; why
should a waistcoat, a shirt-front, a collar, be
allowed the privilege of permanence hereafter,
says the " narrow logician," while the faithful
Newfoundland, and the frolicsome Skye, arc
assumed to conclude their independent exist-
ence as soon as the performance of their vital
functions terminate ? Yet, on the other
hand, it may be fairly allowed that, while we
maintain the immortality of table-turners and
mediums, we lay ourselves open to a home-
thrust from the advocate of the immortality of
overcoats, who might easily advance argu-
ments in support of his benevolent theory of
ultra-universalism which we should be fairly
puzzled to rebut. Be this as it may, however,
the difficulty really exists; and many a weak
brother, in Mr. Crosland's opinion, has fairly
succumbed beneath its pressure. Armed with
a new " theory," "hypothesis," or whatever, by
a curious abuse of scientific terminology, its
author choose to misname it, he therefore
comes forward, in the eyes of Europe, the Don
Quixote of wronged inexpressibles. His
notion is, that in the spirit world all the
significant actions of our lives are photo-
graphed in the garments which we wear,
ready to be displayed by the angels, under
Divine guidance, to those who have the
faculty of spiritual vision. We cannot agree
with Mr. Crosland in his admiration of this
extraordinary fiction; to us it seems the cul-
minating absurdity of spiritualism. The be-
lief that immortal souls should employ their
eternal existence even in some useful oc-
cupation, such as the manufacture of
" thunder, lightning, and of rain," seems
absurd and incredible enough; or that de-
parted spirits should fill up the golden hours
of their glorious emancipation, like used-up
men about town, in any trifle to get through
the burden of the day, by turning mahogany
dining-tables and revealing the locality of
missing family papers, is perhaps rather more
absurd still. But the idea that the angels of
Heaven should be occupied, by Divine per-
mission, in exhibiting sun-pictures of human
trivialities to a few nervous youths with dis-
ordered digestions for the benefit of a few
" bad heads," whose only chance of notice
from the public lies in the vehement assertion
of some delusion of the moment, brings us
down to positive blasphemy, and only fails in
exciting laughter by moving sincere indigna-
tion. The only recommendation of this
strangest of all conceivable fictions is the
explanation which it affords of the so-called
facts; for it does not fulfil one of the remain-
ing conditions of a genuine scientific theory,
or even of a plausible hypothesis. The cause
which it supplies to the phenomena needing an
explanation is quite incapable of verification
from other sources, and is, d priori, highly
improbable. Nobody ever saw the angels en-
gaged in their photographic occupations, and
it is highly inconsistent with the dignity
which we associate with their characters to
suppose them so occupied at all. Again, the
cause itself is superfluous, and falls before the
inexorable principle, entia non stint multipli-
canda prater necessitatem ; for the spectral
appearance of garments might be very well
explained in the same manner as that of the
deceased persons whom they cover, and itself
throws a doubt on the external reality of the
latter; or, to concede as much to spiritualism
as possible, we might entirely suspend our
judgment with reference to the explanation of
the curious facts submitted to our senses, and,
while admitting the reality of the stories,
refuse our assent to that theory which assigns
to them a supernatural origin. Only when we
have exhausted all the sources of physical
causation are we warranted in recurring to
the hyperphysical as a last resource.
The second part of Mr. Crosland's pam-
phlet only is devoted to the enunciation of his
theory—the first serving as an introduction to
the rest. He opens his case by informing the
public that he is quite conscious of his own
insignificance, that he is a very ordinal},
mortal, and so forth. He might have spared
himself the trouble of the declaration. The
public will find, with the greatest facility, that
the only well-grounded opinion Mr. Crosland
entertains is this very one of himself, which lie

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APRIL 26, 1856.

takes such pains to insist on. Yet, being so
insignificant, he stigmatises Professor Fara-
day's " labour " in devising a machine for the
investigation of the cause of the phenomena
of table-turning, as " misdirected "; calls the
instrument an " infantile toy ' ; and denounces
those results which he has the fairness to
quote correctly as being "insufferably child-
ish." He coolly " recommends the world to
" believe in the verity of (spiritual) manifests-
" Lions, but not to seek them" ; and he informs
his readers that "he has taken good care not
"to be deceived by trickery," but does not
condescend to permit them to judge of the
efficiency of the means adopted to preclude
its possibility. Pretty well for a modest man !
We will conclude our notice by selecting a ft.tw
specimens of his logical powers. He says
(p. 22) that a certain effect " can only" be pro-
duced to a limited extent, "as be is inclined
to believe " that if it were carried beyond a
certain point a result would take place which
would render it impossible. Supposing that
Mr. Crosland were not only "inclined to be-
lieve" but "quite certain of" the second re-
sult, could he say more in favour of the
limitation of the first effect than that
it "could not" be carried beyond a certain
extent; yet one would suppose that the in-
crease of the amount of his belief in the one
ought to affect the believed degree of possi-
bility of the other. Logically, the case is this:
a proposition of a certain degree of probability
has a necessary consequence ; Mr. Crosland
says he is certain of the consequence on the
ground that it follows from the probable pro-
position. He could not be certain of it, strictly
speaking, except he were also certain of the
original proposition. Again, though at p. 13 he
makes the character of a spirit depend upon
the nature of its communications, he denies
(p. 38) that the " frivolity " of the spiritual
communications may be made an objection
against their really supernatural origin.
Surely, if we may employ the character of the
messages as a means of distinguishing between
" good " and " bad " spirits, we may employ it
as a means of distinguishing between good
spirits and no spirits at all. Again
(p. 138), he says, the question being the
-reality" of the messages, "the impor-
" tanee of a communication depends upon
" the character of the person from whom it
" proceeds ; " arguing that the messages are
not frivolous, because they are supernatural.
But if the question be the reality of the mes-
sages, this argument evidently assumes the very
point to be proved. The question is : given the
messages, are they supernatural? and, in de-
termining this, the nature of the messages is
a very important item of evidence " ' Yes' or
" No' are frivolous words," says Mr. Cros-
land ; " but when they are uttered by a
" sovereign or a prime minister they may rule
" the destinies of a life." But supposing
that we had no other means of ascertaining
the character of a stranger but his conversa-
tion, surely we should be quite justified in de-
ciding against his judicial pretensions if his
conversation were frivolous, or displayed re-
markable ignorance, or great want of self-
respect : we should be strangely prejudiced in
favour of a theory if we did not. We should
like
to enter into the general question of spi-
ritual appearances, but want of space compels
us to postpone its consideration to some future
opportunity. We will only sav that, in our
()Pillion, a priori arguments against the possi
bility of such appearances are about on a par
in Worthlessness with it posteriori evidence in
their support

The Old Vicarage. A Novel. By Mrs.
Hubback. Three Vols. London: Skeet.
THIS is a nice story, and told with ladylike
grace, but showing the weakness incident to
the form of composition adopted by its nar-
rator. Mrs. Hubback is niece of the late Miss
Austen, and has apparently studied to excess
the fictions of her eminent relative. Within a
certain range Mies Austen had great force, but
her interests were limited to the drawing-
room and parlour; and in our (lay the readers
of novels require a larger picture, and more
dramatic variety of characters, than can be
found in Miss Austen's school of writing.
Somoth
ino of romance, and a stirring story,