The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-09-30
cIv1L1zaL1oH AND ITS LATEST ExposrroR

eharacterizss the Glory, which is one both o
action ard passion.
CIVILIZATION AND ITs LATEST gxPosIToR
Hi,'ory Of Cisisza-on IN England. By Eenry ThOma
Rnckle Vol. 1. New York. o Appleton 4 Co. 70
sale by Franklin rhiP, Penn. avenue, Washington.
The Appletons deserve credit for the styl
in. which they have got up this large octave
the reprint of an English work which has al
ready passed 10 q second edition bat We can
not sEy that We are 80 fsvorsbly impressed b.
the style of philosophy adopted BY the author
This first volume OF nesr 700 psgss, is, afisl
ell, only an Introduction which, TIE closing re
msrks If H.. Buckle lead us to suppose, may
Te4-irs other volumes for its completion. Their
vii fellow the booy Of the work, which, il
We aIe to form an estimate of Its size by the
lcrg,h Of The Introduction, will be indeed i'm
neIs'- a msn should possess very original
aal ias.rGcrive idess, and q large fund of them
too, vho .aEk5s SO heavy demand on the at
tention CT tie reading world in this age of
steam and telegraph. That Mr.. Buckle has
no mean opinion of his own powers, and not 6
very exalted one of the capacities of other In
ouirers, who have written on the same subject,
he is at no pains to conceal. He seems 10
think that History has hitherto been almost TO-
tally misuDderstood-.hst the Historian has not
yet appeared. The plying contempt with
which he speaks Of the lsbors of those who have
yet attempted to Darrate the events of nations,
is calculated TO exalt in our eyes the New
Light which is to throw the glimmerers of the
past into the shade.
Mr. Buckle regards sll movements as under
the control Of fixed laws. Chance and super
natural influence be alike discards-Providenc
and Free viii enact no parts in his survey Of
the generations Of man. The actions Of men
sre caused by their sntecedents, which exist
either in the human mind or in the external
world, and which exist independently of Free
Will CT Providence, and history is but an ex-
bibition Of the modification of man by nature
and of nature by man. In Asia, nature has
been dominant, in Europe, man; 80, their civ
ilizstioas are radically different, that of the
one being controlled and directed by R eason,
that OF tie other by Imagination. The ele-
meuts of nature THAT influence the actions
of men are Food, Soil, Climate, Its General As
poets. Moral Truths have less to do with the
advance Of Civilization than Intellectual. Moral
Power is far inferior to Intellectual Power or
knowledge. Religion, Literature, and Gov
eminent, are, to be cure, agents, but merely
secondary-in fact, are not so much causstory,
as derivative.
1t is easy to see the practical deductions
from such principles. Christianity is ignored,
religious and moral instruction and effort are
uDdervslued-the accumulation of Knowle dge
is everything. knowledge is power, virtue,
progress, civilization, all in all. To the Him.
alsya mountains and steppes of Tsrtsry Mr.
Buckle ascribes the form and spirit of oriental
civilization-whie tie comparative tameness of
the scenery of Europe he considers the deter
mining force of it's peculiar civilization-in the
one, man being supreme, in the other, nature
IN the one, Reason, in the other, Superstition
being the governing force. Food, soil, and
climate. mountains, earthquakes, and volca-
noes, are great, determining, all controlling
elements Of His'cry-Christianity ia a thing
70 be named incidentally!
We need hardly comment a. length mon
such a philosophy. As might be expected, the
author INDUCES il The widest CONGRATULATIONS,
and Is obliged ID distort or manufacture par.
tculars to sns.ai2 them at times contradicts
himself; IS apt 10 be misied By sophisms and
rs often loose in bis statements of general
facts. As an example Of the last named vice.
take the following:
The powers Of rGiurs, ne says, are limited
aud stationary; d" bit Tie po,oers of man. 40
far as experience and analogy can guide Us,
are unlimited; nor are we possessed Of auy
evidence which authorizes Us to assigr tsea an
Imaginary boundary at phich the 6Unaan in
telIect soW be brought to a staMd."-P. 81.
But, on page q, we fad him usipg the fol.
lowing language:
" In the present state of our knowledge, we
cannot s..fey sssym me that there has been any
permanent improvement in the moral or intel
tecfu2I fccGtGies Of man, nor have we any de-
cisive grc and tor saying that those faculties
are likeiy C &c greater in an infant born in the
mcs. r.S sed Pa.t OF Europe than in one borr
IN tie zilaeet on Of barbarous country
Whatever, .hsIef:re, the moral and intellectua
progress Of men ray be, it resolves itself, no
into a progress Of natural capacity, bat into
a progress, if l may 30 say, of opportunity.
The progress is one, not of inter
nal poIcer, but Of external advantage"
We can understand what Mr.. Buckle mesns
but writer of such pretensions ought to be
able to frame general statements, without ma
king their terms contradictory.
One of his main positions is, that purely In
telIectusl truth, and not Moral, has been tn,
great agent of Civilization-thst, not moralit,
and religion, but Knowledge has been the caus,
of all progress; and yet this position is mad,
TO depend entirely upon a sophism, although
he enunciates it as fundamental Truth. 1t is
81 Moral Truths have not changed-Intellectua
Truths are constantly changing" The dis
tinction taken is Elusive. Truths never change
whether Moral or Intellectual. Man change.
not Truth. Because the ancients knew littl
of the great truths of Nature, and we kno,
much, it does not follow that these Truths hav
changed. Mems systems have changed, no
Gods. The great Truths of Mathematics ar
the same always; their application to the ad
vancemeut of science differs in different ages
The great moral dogmas, as Mr.. Buckle call
them, Love your neighbOr as yourself, Do gooc
TO others, &c, are the same always their ap
plicstion to the complicated relations of mai
are better and more widely understood to-ds-
N