New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-11-18
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
LITERARY INFLUENCES OF THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION.

REVOLUTION.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND ENGLISH LIEk.
BsysTsd q IN p GSn.ss0G nn Ta s'
By Edward Dowden. octave. pp. w. 80 Cha'ie'
scribner's Sons
To the accustomed reader Of DR.. Dowden these
lectures will seem for the most part but perfume
tory piece of bookmakng. Long summaries OF ior
gotten volumes only less arid than the DOCKS ,ne'
.rn,r,ar,ze and comment too charitable TO De lu-
rn,nating make up the bulk and determine 'he
tone and temper OF the volume IL Is oi'S W
and there that one finds Keen critical ihcisve cum
ment Curiously enough. these shafts are orec'eu
IN defence-the author seldom II ever 'an n', 80.
oyons,ve-not OF English enthusiasts for liberty
equality and fraternity" but Of their soberer OPP
nonent, and IN particular Of Burke. Hitherto the
preponderance Of the authors catholic synpa'hios
have perhaps been associated In the puc.i. -
with Shelley and his circle, with the ioeahS's va"
persistenty read into the bloody oeeds VI ."o
Revoution disinterested and Humanitarian pur-
go. Csrta,nlv in this volume DR.. Dowden Is
No, lacking in expressions Of such sympa'ny'
anoIosetic and conciliatory The hnal enect Oh HIS
work however Is that OF Its most V''ai Pl'oso
With the visionary he is constrained WIN INC
dictionary he Is completely out OF sy"pa'n',
only with the moderate that he Is completely ~
horna. here only does he show his Celtic fervor-
I'VE are afraid" Burke has somewhere boldly au-
rn,ted "to nut men to live and trade. each on ME
own private stock Of reason. because we suspect
that the stock in each man is small ana tha' 'he
individuals would DO better to aveil themselves VI
In. general bank and capital OF nations ana OF
,.." This sort OF respect for the certified tradi-
lions OF tho human race impresses Dr. Dowden as
. far nober as we'll as a more reasonable conoep-
tion Of the races character than Is tnat Oh 'he
postfyistic philosophy which. even BEFORE inc or'
OF Comte underlay French revolutionary theories
the philosophy which" to quote the author In one
OF his happiest terms. constructs deity out OF 'he
transitory atoms OF the human race.
rlsewhere he treats this highly abstract and de-
nunsn,zed philosophy moro at length. The eigh-
teenth Century classical spirit In literature. ne
SAYS with its generalizing tendency and us pas
sion for barren RECONCILIATION. had united with the
methods Of geometrcal science. and was now ap
nIyins itself to political thought e: by man was
s,er,Hed not men as formed by society and
surrounded with all its complex and varying con-
6,tions but some bare metaphysical entity OF the
philosophers own invention. Government meant
not this government that. but some ao-
stract government IDEAL as the geometer poii''
or line or circle" Such for instance. was 'he
material Of Godwin's political philosophy e
somewhat Of a pedant among facts. cnasusihs
the into line and order to suit his rectilinear ar
rsnrement: a pedantio morality that reduces duty
In a kind of geometry had more attraction Tor MIN
than a morality that winds itself Into the truths Oh
human nature" II Is Of such men that the au'ho'
10 evidently thinking when he asserts that u
manufacture doctrinaire systems that will not Work
4. after all. A poor trade which requires only an
unskiled and a pretentious mechancian: III Is
4 cheap and cowardly mode Of attaining creoit TOT
superor wisdom" 1t 10 little wonder that iahaucs
when they set to work to apply these theores
found that men were inconvenient TO their purpose
and swept what they could Of them on the BOARD
Nor It is perhaps worth adding, were these essen
TALLY relentless theories any the better fof their
Thin surface OF sentimentallty.
One cannot close DR.. Dowden's volume without
landing TO the conclusion certainly accessible 10
prior reasoning, that the violent excuses OF the
French Revolution, the outgrowth OF unhumah' IL
not inhuman. theory served but poorly the cause
of rational progress. From the days OF Rousseau
when "the first OF duties was to be touched by
delicate Distress TO the present day OF energetio
II somewhat noisy. philanthropy. there mas GER
ta,nly been some notable progress, but IL mas oeeh
due perhaps larger part. to the quiet influences
Of the Clarksons and the HowaIds than 10 tno iaf
moro interesting and dramatic Dantons and Kobe
spheres Even the glorihed fall OF the Bastile.
ynter the searching scrutiny OF common-sonso'
proves to have been but sorry historic display
Not that as a fact the fall Of the Bastle quite
enfranchised the whole OF humanity. DIT. DoWoeh
grimly subjoins to Of Fo1s enthusiastic utter
ances; 1T had held In confinement seven prisoners
four Of whom were accused Of forgery: one was an
IDIOT one was detained at the request OF his family;
while on the other hand, the bodiesNof upward OF
fourscore compatr,ots lay In the Governors court
and certain heads were borne In triumph on the
pixies Of fraternity But the Bastile served well
enough as a symbol for tho imagination
Philanthropy was entering on It's revolutionary
anotheosis. when the evangel OF humanity was
most clsarly to be read. II 1t were written In
blood"
At least twice in It's naturally homey and prosaie
orosress has England been disconnected by the We
hemence Of foreign races. First the Stuarts. ano
"a
people by the ears In Cowper and GOLDSMITH
Newton and Clarkson and Howard 1t is easy te
nnd the representatives OF the quiet and norma
nrorress England was making prior to the Revolu
ZION toward tho general freedom OF the race ina
progress may have been Illogical. but 1t was a.
least reasonable In spirit After tho shock OF th'
psvo,ut,on. II would be hard to find in the Govern
noent of the day any efeotual signs OF French IN
0uence except those of reaction. 1t is not oi'eh
certainly not often among SO steady FOLK as th'
English. that tho short cut to philanthropy ne'
through blood. Nor Ii II surprising that IN 'h'
davs Of revolutionary turmoil the started ah'
naturally conservative Englishman forgot for
time that any other route was possible