The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-02

called that toward the typical nationalist,
V~oltaire. Carlyle's attitude was more sym
pathetic thnn Comte's. Even in his ro-
mantle days he glorihed the great liberator
for having given "the death stab" to modern
superstition. which no goes on to describe
rs shat horrid incubus which dwelt in
darkness stunning the light" He exulted
in thinking that the incubus was passing
away with oil its racks and poison chalices,
and foui sleeping draughts, passing away
without return" Superstition" he re-
joiced, is in It's death lair; the last agonies
may endure for decades or for centuries,
out Il carries the iron in its heart and will
not 9 tho earth any more" In private,
too, Carlyle had gloated owe those sarcasms
Of Gibbons which KILLED dead what they
stung.
As TO CArlyle's famous History Of the
French Revolution, we are reminded that
John Stuart Mill gave up his intention Of
writing suchA work on finding that he could
not perform the task adequately without
disclosing his own very unpopular re-
ligious opinions ut the risk Of running his
Official career, and, consequently, handed
over his materials to Carlyle. who felt no
such obligation or dreaded no such persccu-
ton. There Is no doubt that IN his French
Revolution" Carlyle is thoroughly on the
side OF the French people as against the
defenders Of the AReien Regime, while at
the same time he recognizes that the shams
and shows which the revolution burned up
stood for what had once been realities but
were now n~uisances. Mr.. Bonn thinks
that in that work the writer's silence on
the subject OF religion is more eloquent
than any words could then have been, and
he recalls that Anthony Froude when he
read the book perceived at onoe that it
represented a tendency Numerically OPP
posed to hat impressed on him by his
brother. Hurrell Froude, and by DIR. New
man. II at a later period OF his life Carlyle
expressed disapproval OF the Essays and
Reviews" il seems to rave been on the
ground that to avow such opinions while
retaining ecclesiastical preferment was
defiantly dishonest. To the doctrine Of
mans simian descent implied in Darwin's
Origin Of Species" Carlyle about the same
period showed an ~insuperable dislike, but
this he shared with such men as Max Mhller
and even Sir Charles Lyell and Sir Richard
Owen; though the latter had in his own
mind no doubt Of the upward development
OF all species. he considered it as yet in
capable Of being scientifically proved.
In 1851 a bold and unmistakable mani
festo Of Carlyle's religious opinions was
made in his Life Of Sterling There Is
no doubt that from his youth Carlyle had
regarded the popular religion as an ex-
ploded superstition, no longer deserving
serious attention or ~refutation. In his
earlier essays, however, occasional express
sions might be construed as indicating that
he eschewed denial on principle and looked
forward to the gradual displacement Of the
old by the new faith after a more peaceable
method than that OF Voltaire and Gibbon.
The savage sarcasms in which he now in
dulged at the expense oven OF the most
liberal Christianity how that his previous
self-restraint had been due to some other
motive. According to Alexander Balm the
motive had been simply fear OF public
opinion. For Carlyle to nave told at the
outset what he real lily thought would nave
been fatal to his success; yet he was not a
man to indulge in rank hypocrisy. He
accordingly adopted a studied and am
biguous phraseology which for long i'm
posed on the religious public, who put
their own Interpretation upon his mystical
u~tterances. Balm added that when Car
lyle in the life OF Sterling" threw of
the mask he vas not taken at his word
In our authors Judgment this In a mistake,
for at least one contemporary critic, George
Brimley, took Carlyle rather sharply to
task for giving pain to religious believers.
It is certain hat for one reason or another
the offence was not repeated, and Sterling's
SUCCESSORS in upholding the standard Of
free thought received no encouragement,
but rather the contrary. from his biographer,
who thenceforth only disclosed his theology
cal leanings by violent abuse OF the Roman
Catholic Church.