New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-10-16
FRANCE.
COMTE, blanche AND FRENCH LITER
AZURE,

~, i
AZURE.
Correspondence Of The N. Y. Tribune.
PARIS, Sept. %, 1857.
The papers give the most meager details as to
the last illness and death Of COmte. His life was
so completely one of thought that he never attracted
any public notice. and his death consequently has
left no perceptibe void, save in the breast of few
personal fiiepds doubtless am willing to inter.
pose that last adverb but / have really no notion
whether be ever made rnany personal friends or not
l peyer faw hun, had any information
about his personal habits. His disciples, the more
conspicuous of them, had steadily discOuntenanced
bis foolish attempt to put himself forward
as the founder Of new religion; and don't think
that the general publlc-the public which is en-.
liehtened by the newspapers-had as yet achieved
the slightest suspicion of his existence. The most
interesting fact about his recent intellectual devel
opment wac, that mind so sharply positive as
his should have so honestly recognized the supreme
importance of the religious sentiment. VI course,
if he had not habtually identified Christianity with
the mere ecclesiastical traditions of Europe, If he
had ever suspected ts endless spiritual contents in
other words, he would have saved himself the dis
credit he has Of la,e most righteously enc0un-
tered. and have promoted, besides, the progress
of human thought. 1t seems incredible shat
any man of senfe, with free access to the New
Testament should have fancied the need at this time
Of day of new religion unless indeed under the
Quise of revival Of spiritual Christianity. The
twin truths of the New Testament are the essential
humanity of God, and the intense unity or brother
hood of man; these truths shape every word that
Christ ever uttered, and dictate every act OF his
life: what therefore, could any new religion find to
do beside enforcing these truths upon our reyerent
spiritual regard and observance Then, again, there
ia the fundamental absurdity which attaches to all
these futile pretensions, OF supposlng any religion
adapted to the cultivated mind, which is not at bottom
a SYMBOLIC recitation of divine thDgs that Is TO say,
which does MT provide for the freest expansion of
the human faculties. According to COmte, religion
means nothing more than the scientific recognition
and obedience of certain natural laws OF relation
which man is under toward his own kind, and other
modes of existence and it is at once ludlcr0us and
painful 10 observe the puerie and fppant ritual
which be bereupOn cOncoced for bis followers as Inc
dine and ADEQUATE expression Of the religious sentl-
ment II this pretensOn be true, if religion consist
in The recognition of any merely natural laws, and
not, above oil things, in the hearty discern.
ment and appreciation of certain Divine spirit
which these laws may indeed attest, but
which the life of man alone wOrthiiy reveals or en-
bodies then it is clear that religion would sink from
a living aspiration into mere literal rtuahty or
ceremonial and our spiritual expansion be defeated
tcate it, Comte apparently lays great stress upon
the historic evolution of the human mind but 1T is
the evolution of it in the organic ferns of the
sciences. He has not the slightest conception of
the mind as a spiritual form, or form of affection
and thought, and hence he never once, that dis
cover, glanees at the stupendOus changes which
have passed over the soul Of man, over
the private spirit in man, and which sepa-
rates the present capacities and promise OF the
race from everything that was conceived Of it in the
past. by an interval which is Cny family reflected In
hat hch ply sically separates the world from
the old But Comte meant well, although his be-
peyolence was defeated by ignorance and vanity.
He had profound belief in the priority OF the aaec'
tons 10 the intellect; he had most sincere appre-
citation of the purity of woman and of her power to
ltyate man out of his sensual aims he had an un-
affected reverence for and delight in the saucty OF
marriage. Surely here was broad basis for many
sa things, and now that he is at length sur
rounded by hearts Of a truer tenderness and by
wiser heads than be used to lay down the law for in
the little Rue de Monsieur fe Prince u Is deigoliui
to believe that all that was SO cordially good in him
win 90 ON to find an endless increment, and all that
was weak and egotistic an endless dminution
GUsTAvE blanche died, also, week or two
sao. He was the critic in the Rerae DIES Denr
Msndes of art-hterary, dramatic and pictorial.
He was personally very eccentric, and had not that
.eDse of what was due to the public which would
prevent his wearing ou,landIsh garments ana disre-
gardDg cleanness of skin. But hs was able, In
structed, and thoroughly honest as critic, and bis
admirers speak Of him with real respect BY tue
way, how vastly superior that Rerue des DeuL
Mondes is to everything published out OF Paris.
could be glad to it take little deeper grasp OF
politics and religion than it does; but what an ex-
trsordinary hberality and business OF view even
now perysde it Clearly there is in Paris, or in
France generally, an amount Of cultivated ability
such as no other country exhibits-such as makes
the Ell glsh, for example, LOOK childish. And what
strikes me most sgreeaby, after all, is not the
ability of the best French literature; it is its
amenty These writer's appear not merely to know
40 much, and to say what they know so well, but
20 he besides such thorough. bred gentlemen, so
DESTROYS always TO find points Of agreement with
Others. and to differ OILY 10 the most courteous
vays that my heart is as much improved BY tAml-
ariiy with them as my head, and receive lessen
in coed manners where only bsrg .ned for little
agreeable information or amusement head any Oh
Saint Beuve's, Taine's, Ylemaln's Cuvlllier
Fleury's articles in the daily papers, or those oi a
hort OF others whom l might name and You VIII
cheerully allow that literature has attained 10 uese
men its thoroughly Christian and human FORM 1
VIII you could get selection Of tho bes. things OF
the Psris press published in some monthly form ID
America. Ytu would soon perceive how much
more manly The strain of shought is than the I'm.
glish, and how incomparably mole graceful and
perfect the expression. HI.
FROM PARIS TO PolTIERs.