The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-23

feared that tho whole course OF things was tend
ing from good to i'll and from Ill TO worse. HUI
man nature. left 10 itself, appeared to Rousseau
essentially beautiful and pure; Cowpcr held a
different creed. and no was no sharer in the
optimism Of the revolution. Nevertheless, as VIC
have seen. he pleads for a return TO simplicity OF
manners. and Mt the same time he expresses
no loss clearly than Rousseau, the humanitarian
sentiment of tho lines. One Of the pieces in his
first volume is named Charity" the whole
race OF mankind, he maintains, constitutes n
great fraternity; no contrasts the brotherly
kindness OF Capt. Cook to his frec-born brethren
OF distant isles with the inhumanity OF Cortcz;
ho docs honor to commerce, tho providcn-
tial purpose of which is to bind land TO
land and race to race, but he roprobatos with
deep Indignation tho in human flesh
and blood. those cargoes OF despair against
which Clarkson and Wilbcrforcc pleaded; no
| celebrates tho devotion OF Howard in quitting
rural peace for scenes OF WOO and traversing
Europe, not to bring home the treasures Of art.
but the knowledge that dungeons teach. In an
ago OF humanity and scnsibility, the tender
emotion naturally passed beyond the bounds of
our own species and spread over tho whole
animal creation. The poet would not In
clude. he said. in his list Of friends, the
man who needlessly sets foot upon a
worm" Although, however. Cowpcr gave
uttcrance to tho revolutionary feeling in
favor Of simplitication, and to tho passion
OF human brotherhood, he desired. in political
matters, not revolution but temperate reform.
IL he revercnced truth, It was not in the spirit Of
those proud forerunners of the French rovolu.
luton. who did homage to human reason alone;
he bowed tho head and the knee before what he
deemed to be divine truth. II he spoke of equal
ity, II was OF the equality of all souls before the
Supreme Being. The fraternity which he re-
garded as perfect is the fraternity Of those who
are brethren in faith and virtue. He chooses
hope for his theme, but he has no vision Of a ter
~rcstrial paradise to be realized by scientific
progress or the overthrow Of earthly tyrannies.
In his view, the fultlment Of hope shall be only
when the Lord Of earth shall descend. 'propi-
tious. in his chariot, paved with love-" Thus
was the gospel of Rousseau translated by Cow
per into the gospel according to 81. Paul.
As matter OF fact, inquiries Prof. Dowden,
were the village folk Of England really throat
ened, as Cowper alleges, by the invasion of
luxury We are reminded that a different re-
port was made by one of his younger contempt
rarics, who had. himself, personally known, as
Cowper never had, the life OF the poor. and who
had resolved to state nothing in verse that could
not be verified to the letter. Within a year
| after the appearance of Cowper's first volume
was published a poem which depicted with UNI
compromising and indisputable realism the life
Of the poor on the southeastern coast of Eng
land; the reference is to the Village" written
by Crabbe, read in manuscript by Burke, re-
revised and amended by Johnson. The romantic
talk about happy SWANS and nymphs seemed to
Crabbe to insult the wretchedness OF the peasant;
he would declare the facts, he said. and nothing
| but the facts. He describes the niggard sandy
soil, the scanty harvest bcset with weeds, the
wild amphibious race, half peasants. half
fishers, who gained moro by smuggling than by
] lawful den1inua hold artful eur1y sayaup IL
| they toll half fed in the fields, fevers and agues
are their only certain reward; a manhood of
hopeless labor is followed by an old ugc of
I! neglected misery. The parish workhouse is the
refuge of despair. where the happicst inhabi-
tants are the moping idiot and the mailman
| gay" At last the bitter day closes; the %pauper's
bier is borne to the pauper's grave; the mourn
ers follow ''sedately torpid and devoutly dumb
the bell tolls somewhat tardily; the priest has
wcighticr cares to engage him. a fox hunt or a
whist party. than the dull business of assisting
at a mendicants funeral. In a word, Crabbe set
forth with unfaltering fidelity the state of
things which caused Others to look upon the
popular outbreak in France as the signal for n
general revolt Of the proletariat. He, himself.
however. did not dream of revolt; he thought
only Of hopeless endurance.
Among the English theorists of the Revolu-
tion the most distinguished was Goodwin. and
tiSAhA ~ iiAAi NiS INV ohiuh AAhhy w va"
stonecraft, who had lived with another man in
relations not sanctioned by law. In Godwin's
Enquiry Concerning Political Justice 1888,
the doctrine of the Revolution was impressively
presented to English readers, not in immediate
relation to politics, but in the way of philosophi-
cal speculation. Two great revolutions had
taken place, the uprising of the American colo
MES and the upheeval against the French mon
archy and the old regime. A thinker would nat
| - l1v ba 1al n cOrctfnr thu meantime nP ithaca
vast phenomena. Occupying, as he did, a posi-
ton at some distance from the actual events,
Goodwin could the more easily speculate OH the
theory of society. By the character of his
mind he was in n high degree qualified
for the construction of a theory and for
the uncompromising application OF ideas
to life. He had n certain haughtiness of
intellect; he preferred the method OF deduction
from a general principle i'll morals and politics
to the more modest method of induction. His
imagination, while not wide-orbing and compre-
hensivc. had considerable analytic power. He
had, above oil, a remarkable gift for imposing
upon himself; he reverenced his own under.
standing, and profoundly believed that his char
acter WAS that of a benevolent sage. His in
fuence with young and ardent spirits was great.
He seemed to provide a comprehensive theory OF
conduct. a doctrine embracing both private and
public duty. This doctrine was one which gave
unbounded freedom to the individual reason;
the law he would make n proclamation ofliberty;
moral anarchy was exhibited as the highest
moral order. By the words "political justice"
Goodwin meant the application of justice to
society and TO all its arrangements. But what
is ~justicei 1t means. he asserted. the inn
partial treatment of every man in mat
tiers that relate to his happiness. and thus
1t might be said to comprise all moral duty.
With Goodwin, politics was no mere affair of
party expediency. but rather a department of
the science of morals. Against the view which
had been expressed by Pope. Goldsmith, and
Johnson; +" For forms of Government let fools
contest" and " Sir. the abuse Of power is moth
ing to a private man. the view, in short. that
the happiness of individuals is little affected by
governments, Goodwin energetically protested.
The principle of justice propounded by him was
this. that each individual should do to others all
the good that is in his power, and that society