New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-02-24
JOHN STUART MILL.
AN ExcELLENT BIOGRAPHY.


l6mo, pp- 104. Thomas Whlttaher.
Thcueh exceedingly compact this is an eminent
" satisfactory and adequate biography Written
with good taste proper reserve, ana cnucai
Judgment Mr. Courtney possesses Speciai guam
fications for work demanding not merely the
knowledge Of his subjects personality ana prlVa~
life which could be ascertained by almost any
one Of average intelligence but also an under
standing OF Minis mind and its operations only
70 be gained through careful and sympathetic
study OF his writings. The autobiography Of
course, remains the principal magazine OF facts
concerning his carly life and intellectual train
ing: and it must be referred to again and again
in following his later Development for it contains
tho tev 10 many circumstances in his mature
Ifa which otherwise might puzzle the student.
Pkhaps no thinker was ever more definitely cast
in a mould than John Stuart Mil; and though
he broke it subsequently he never overcame lts
formative influence The strange and to great
extent unnatural system of education to which
he was subjected by his father, unquestionably
did him harm in some respects, and 1t is not at
all clear that his precocious development COM
,ensated the deprivation of his youth. AS he
bimsa,f sadly remarked in middle age, he never
yas how. His education was begun with his
third wear. and he was learning Greek and Latin
before the generality of children are taught the
alphabet
He inherited an uncommonly vigorous and acute
,r4aJ,ect and this alone probably saved HIM
from the premature mental exhaustion winch
,r,,,ld have been natural result Of the forcing
nro,ess imposed upon him. AS 1t was, MS
originality was much slower in developing than
might have been expected. His earnest COM
nositions were not better than those Oh oroinafy
hovs and of the immense reading pei1orlneo ny
him he seems to have retained little beyond gen
ral o,,tlipes and principles The reasoning faculty
was carefully cultivated by his father ana became
,ts strongest characteristic AS he matured the en-
.I,,s;asro which during his studious youth had
been repressed in him so sternly by his grim anu
,',~a~.;aiJo fatber appears to have found vent
!, an ernotonalism which, while it certainly ienO
aaditional interest to his works, as certainty
,n,rartad IN his discussions at times terVor
soaroe,v compatible with the caution ana cooiness
- rhiIosonbie debate Mr.. Courtneys criucai
.,,mfnaticn Of the Logic the Fonuo",
Fconomv.1 the "Subjection OF Women' anu
tbe Liberty greatly enhances potn Tue ,nV.i
ext and value OF his monograph it "ouiu 20
disscult TO find more dispassonate OF caiiuiu
aralvsis of these books, or more lnVeiis0nV
ass;noa+a of them. Mil, in the opinion OIL ms
tiooranhcr. was a transitional thinAer' i0
go over two intellectual periods. breo III
strotest doctrine of the Utilitarlans MS ni'"1
,rovad TOO catholic TO be permanently rss'".n .e.
Nv those bonds At a comparatively cary po 80
he reyoted from the Grass materaiis u s,a.oa
and sought the relief which poetry anu az ''i''
Wordsworth was his guide in TINS eAc"rsiOa a
,nto regions tabooed by the ben1h"nrro0' o.
from Wordsworth he proceeded 10 ,.nAS ss~oS
Il cannot be said that he ever thorousDs 80.
himself from the seductions OF tne sls
happiness. theory, and the scep'ioiSn 49,.
NV James Min made him an easy CONVEX. ~ -.
w tisfoctoyv OF all proposed substitutes for
irel;qion-the philosophy oil Com.e. AeV 49,
to~e be continued to grow, for his mlnd was
assorr;allv RECEPTIVE; and the posthumous PUBL
lion of his essay on Theism' startled MS
triends of the old school by revealing ~nuchoN
coward the acceptance OF thesuc hypo'"eso
,,ot the less significant because 1t con'raSeea
stronolv with the authors views Oh NaVure'
oduanced in another of the three Essays Oh
Reboion.s Mill himself was won't 10 ascrioe
nearly all his ant-utiltaran manifestations "
the elevating and enlghtening lnnnence Oh ~, .tS
wife. 1t is impossible TO understand MS ni0
without studying it in connection with TINS IaoS'
To him il must have been romance Oh the mort
ohsorhinr character There is no Instance OF SO
s,rsot mind so powerfully controlled land, as
manv OF his friends thought. deluded) by a
rassion Of the kind Others saw in Mrs. Taylor
a bright but not at all an uncommon woman
To him she was towering genius; almost In
faIBble.s to use his own words; the chief in
spiration of his best work.
Mr. Courtney points ont the evidences that
Mill deceived himself in crediting his Egeria with
much power Of origination. Her influence is,
however. apparent in The Subsection Of Women
and Liberty" and perhaps she may have in
soired the peculiar intensity and rhetorical
fervor which distinguished those works. OF the
genuineness of Mills belief in her intellectual
eminence there can be no doubt The auto
biography and the dedication and epitaph prove
that conclusyely. MIR. Courtney we think is
mistaken in arguing something like fatuousness
lin Mills eulogy of his wife. The obvious truth
seems TO be that Mill always was distinguished
by a very high moral courage, and was really
quite Indifferent to public opinion. He would
do what he thought right, and what others
thought of his conduct concerned him not at all.
A striking example of this occurred during his
Parliamentary canddature. He was addressing
% meeting of workingmen at Westminster when
he was asked point,blank whether in one of his
books he had written that most English work.
ingmen were liars. though, unlike Continental
workingmen, they had some sense of shame at
lying Without a moments hesitation Mill
replied, did, nor did he attempt to retract or
explain away what he bad said When the War
OF Secession broke out he, almost alone among
Englishmen, vindicated the Northern course, and
continued to advocate it with total disregard
of popularity. His course on the Jamaica mass
acres the Governor Eyre easel was marked by
the same cool courage. He would declare his
belief, no matter what it was, and in doing SO
in the case OF his wife he behaved quito char
scteristieaIly.
1t may also be pointed out-andperhaps it really
needs TO be pointed out-that In such matter
John Stuart Mil was concelvably better Judge
than any of his friends-or encmies-could be
II is somewhat dangerous TO accept the doctrine
that lookcrs-on most Of the game in a relation
ship of this kind. When a man and woman