241 No. 78. AND LITERARY CHRONICLE. LONDON, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, THE MUSEUM OF THOUGHTS. No. V.-FICHTE. EVERY thing great and good, upon which the present state of society rests, out of which it has arisen, and without which our age could never have been what it is, or have done what it is doing, has been brought about entirely and exclusively by the conduct of magnanimous and undaunted men, who have sacrificed all the enjoyments of life for the sake of an idea: and we ourselves, with all that belongs to us, are the result of the sacrifices made by every former generation of mankind, and more especially by the noblest members of each. the present world, will never be able to do; he der into a living flame, by which his personal life was moulded and consumed. Tell me not of the thousands who fell on his expedition, tell me not of his own early death: what greater deed was now left for him, after he hadjrealised his idea than to die. By whom, again, were the wild and vagrant savages united, and such as resisted constrained under the yoke of law and of peaceful life? By whom have they been kept and preserved under that yoke? By whom have states when once tive which inspires the hero: the dazzling image Glory, it may perhaps be said, glory is the moformed been protected from dissolution through of his own renown among his contemporaries and inward disorder, and from destruction by out-posterity draws him onward through toil and ward force? Whatever their names may have through peril; and thus the sacrifice of his whole been, they were heroes who had advanced far life is richly repaid in that coin on which he beyond the reach of their age, giants among their chooses to set the highest value. I answer: if it neighbours in strength of body and of mind. be so, what is this glory? By what means does the They subjected multitudes, by whom they were thought of the judgment pronounced by others hated and dreaded for so doing, to their concep- upon us, and especially by future generations, For who were the foremost in giving the tion of that which ought to be: they spent their the sound of whose praise or blame will roll uncountries of modern Europe a shape in which sleepless nights in anxious meditation for the heard over our graves, acquire that tremendous they were worthy to be the abode of civilised welfare of these multitudes; they rushed without power wherewith it is said to swallow up the nations? History makes answer: they were re-resting from battle-field to battle-field, abandon- hero's personal life. Is it not evident that the ligious men, who, in the steadfast belief that it ing all the pleasures which invited them, per- whole character of his mind must have been dewas the will of God that the wild fugitive in the petually holding out their life as a prey to the termined by the principle, that his life could be woods should be brought to a life of order and to enemy, often shedding their blood. And what of no value to him, could not even be endurable, the blessed knowledge of a benevolent deity, left were they seeking by this toil and what was except so far as the voice of all mankind should the lands of their birth, and all the sensuous and their recompense for it? A conception, a mere unite in giving it a value. The hero acts, it is spiritual gratifications they afforded, left their conception of a state of things which they were said, for the sake of obtaining renown among his families, their friends and kindred, went forth to bring about, and which was to be realised contemporaries and posterity: of course, howinto the dreary wilderness, encountered the altogether for its own sake, without any further ever, he has not gone about beforehand putting severest wants and the hardest labours, and, aim beyond it, was the object which inspired the question to his contemporaries and posterity, what is more, the most obstinate trials of their them; and the unspeakable satisfaction derived whether they will approve of the line of action patience, without allowing it to faint, in order to from contemplating it was their reward and their he adopts; nor has he been able to derive any gain the confidence and goodwill of savage tribes recompense for all they went through: this con- counsel with regard to it from experience; inasthat persecuted and robbed them; often too at ception, this idea was the root and germ of their much as his line of action, as assuredly as it prothe close of a life beset with troubles they died spiritual being, while at the same time it threw ceeds from and is directed by an idea, is a new the death of a martyr, by the hands of the very all the circumstances of their outward being into liue of action, one hitherto unheard of, and conpersons for the sake of whom, and of us, their the shade, obscured them, and led to their being sequently one on which the judgment of mankind remote posterity, they had lived and were dying, cast away as unworthy of regard: the power of has never yet been pronounced. Nevertheless, he in the joyful hope that a worthier generation this idea transformed him, who would else have must reckon upon obtaining renown by this line would spring up on the ground consecrated by been on a level with his neighbours, into a giant of action with such confidence as to stake his life the blood of their sacrifice. Assuredly these men in body and mind, and to this idea his personal on the correctness of his calculation. How does gave up their personal life and its pleasures for life was offerd as a sacrifice, when the same idea he know that he has not miscalculated? At the the sake of an idea, and in this idea for the sake had rendered it worthy of being so offered. time when he first engages in action, having alof mankind. And should any object to me, that What drives the king, when he might repose in ready completed the sacrifice of his life once for they sacrificed their present life in the expectation safety on his hereditary throne and might enjoy all within his soul, he alone, and none besides of an infinitely higher beatitude in heaven, which the marrow of the land; what drives, to attach himself, has passed judgment on his line of action they hoped to earn by their endurance and their my question to a well-known example, which has and has approved of it: how does he know then toil, that is, that they sacrificed one pleasure to another, the less to the greater, so that they canso often been misinterpreted by a race of senti- that his contemporaries and posterity will approve mental pygmies-what drives the Macedonian of it, and will endow it with a deathless renown? not justly be deemed to have acted in the spirit hero out of his hereditary kingdom, though amply and how does he venture thus boldly to attribute of self-sacrifice; I would entreat such an objector secured and richly stored with all the means of his own standard of glory to the whole race of well to weigh the following considerations. Ill-pleasure by his father, into a foreign quarter of mankind? He does it, however: and so this single suited as may have been the phrases they made observation proves, that in acting as he acts he use of in speaking of this beatitude in another is no way led by the hope of the applause, but world, and sensuous as may have been the images that he achieves the act which bursts forth in in which they clothed their descriptions of it, yet all its purity within his own mind from the primal how did they attain to this firm faith in another fountain of honour, and imposes on mankind the world, a faith which they attested by their sacriobligation of approving of it and honouring it; fices? and what. in fact, is this faith, considered that is, provided he takes any thought about their as an act of the soul? Does not the soul which judgment; utterly despising both them and their assumes the undoubted existence of another judgment, in case it is not the echo of that which world, and clings to it with an immovable faith, he himself has pronounced for all eternity. Thus in this very act make a sacrifice of the present it is not the desire of honour that begets great world? And is not this faith of itself the sacrifice deeds: but great deeds beget within the soul the completed and fulfilled once for all within the belief in a world by which one would gladly be soul? which inward act of the spiritual life is afterward made manifest in a variety of outward actions. Granting that there is nothing at all marvellous in their sacrificing every thing, after they once believed in an everlasting life; granting that it is all perfectly intelligible, and that the objector himself would do the same in the same situation; the marvel however is, that they did so believe: and this the slave of self and sense, who is incapable of withdrawing his eyes from the world, to fight battle after battle while he held in honour. In that form indeed in which it shows itself every day, honour is nothing more than the mere dread of shame; without impelling any one to act, it merely withholds him from such actions as are notoriously regarded with contempt; and its influence vanishes, so soon as he hopes that his conduct will escape notice. of man, and by which his own spiritual being has world, and that which seems to be dead, is only on the social relations of mankind; the source of been laid open to his view? Have they been able in a lower stage of life. That an idea must be a all cosmopolitical ideas, the parent of heroism, to effect this without labour and sacrifices? living thought, is self-evident: for thought is the author of all law and of all order. The What has been their compensation for these essentially living, and so is that which is self-strength which such an idea imparts, has already sacrifices? While their neighbours around them existent. An idea has also the power of giving been shown; the bliss with which it fills a soul were making merry and enjoying the passing day, life to matter, and that in two ways. All life, as devoted to it, may be imagined from what has they were lost in solitary meditation, in the hope an attribute of matter, is the expression of an been said; and whoever can form a conception of of discovering some law, some principle of con- idea for matter itself as existing is only the re- the world or of his country, and can serve them nexion, which had excited their astonishment, flection of an idea hidden from our eyes. But without a thought of self, will know it from his and with regard to which they entertained no when the idea bursts through its covering, mani- own experience. other wish of any sort, except that of discovering festing itself as an idea, and developing its own A third emanation of the original idea is that it; for this they sacrificed pleasures and property, self-originating life, then that lower degree of life which employs itself in the constructing and rethey neglected their worldly affairs, they squan- which belongs to the latent idea, vanishes and is producing the whole universe, entirely out of dered the very essence and spirit of their beings, absorbed in the higher; and what has been pour-itself, that is, by the processes of pure speculation: and endured to be laughed at by the commonalty trayed in all the foregoing representations takes and this emanation is philosophy; for that, which as fools and dreamers. True, their discoveries place; the personal undeveloped ideal life is I have just said, has always formed the essence of have been useful in many ways to mankind. But sacrificed for the sake of living in and for an philosophy, whenever it has appeared among men, have they themselves reaped these fruits of their idea. The love which the lower life feels for and will continue to form it to all eternity. The labours? Have they had them in view, or even itself, and its interest in itself, are destroyed. high enjoyments afforded by philosophy entertained any suspicion of them? Have they But all wants are only the offspring of this in- as are initiated in her mysteries, have been denot, on the contrary, when their spiritual flights terest, and all pain results from some injury done scribed above: it only remains to add that this were interrupted by any one who regarded their to it from all such things he that lives in an idea enjoyment is more spiritual, and therefore more occupations in this light, lifted up their com- is for ever secured. For him there is no longer penetrative and higher, than any other which plaints in a tone of true sublimity, at such a dese- any self-denial, no longer any sacrifices: the self results from an idea; inasmuch as in philosophy cration of what ought to be kept holy from the which is to be denied, the objects which are to be the idea not only exists, but is felt and enjoyed profane uses of common life? erring, I allow, in sacrificed, have been removed from his sphere of as such, as a central thought flowing visibly out not perceiving that common life also ought to vision, and estranged from his affections. This of itself; and this indubitably is the highest bliss have a holiness of its own. It was not until their denial, these sacrifices, can only excite wonder in which a mortal can attain to here below. Only labours had so diffused their discoveries and made those who continue to value the objects of them, in regard to its outward influence philosophy is them so easy of comprehension as to be brought and who have not yet given them up: when once worse off than art; since the latter by a secret within the reach even of those heads which had they are given up, they vanish into nothing, and magical sympathy which runs through the spiritual less of the inspiration of science, that the latter, we find that we have lost nothing. For him who world, can elevate even such as are aliens from whom we are not to despise on this account, but lives in an idea, the severe commands of the moral art for a few moments into some communion with who should acknowledge that their nature is less laws are superseded; inasmuch as they imply the it, and can give them a foretaste of her joys; noble than that of the others, applied these dis- existence of a desire that contravenes them, and whereas the mysteries of philosophy are altocoveries to the wants of life, and thus armed the their purpose is only to drive back this desire into gether closed to those in whose souls the idea human race with the means of controlling the the dark places of the heart, in order that the has not burst forth into life. powers of nature. If, then, neither the spectacle idea may find room to unfold itself therein. The nor the anticipation of the utility of their dis-only difficulty lies in the first step. When this coveries was their recompense, what was their compensation for the sacrifices they made? and what will at this day be the recompense of any one, were any one at this day making the same sacrifices, and without seeking any thing in return for them, and regardless of the pity or the scorn of the vulgar, to turn his eye toward the pure and ever-living fountain of Truth? Why this is their reward; they have gained an entrance into a new vital atmosphere of intellectual clearness and translucency, which makes them utterly incapable of enjoying a life in any other element of being. A higher world, a world first revealed and most vividly displayed to us by the light that dwells in it, has dawned upon their minds: this light has caught and filled their eyes with its goodly and refreshing radiance, so that they are incapable of turning toward any thing else than those lights which are the only illuminated spots in the midst of profound darkness; this light passing through their eyes has bound fast their whole being and holds it captive, so that all their other senses die away unnoticed. They need no compensation; they have gained an inestimable prize. All these men, I say, have sacrificed their personal existence for an idea. What do I mean by an idea? The confusion of language occasioned by the attempts to give philosophy a popular air, makes it necessary to define the sense in which one uses such words. An idea is a self-existent living thought, with a power of giving life to matter. In the first place it is a self-existent thought. The ground of all errour lies in the attributing self-existence to dead matter, and then attaching to this matter the perfectly superfluous appendage of thought. Thought alone is truly self-existent, alone reposes upon itself; not, of course, that thought which requires a particular individual to think it, since it is plain this cannot be selfexistent, but that one eternal thought, of which all individuals are nothing more than the objects. For death is not the root of the world, a death which by a gradual process of diminution contrives in the end to be refined into life; but, on the contrary, life is the radical principle of the has once been taken, all that which looks so All ideas originally and essentially are one. The first emanation of the original principle, our material faculties; and this is the modifica- Another emanation of the original idea, the Finally, the most comprehensive all-embracing form of the idea, the form under which it ought to find entrance into every soul without exception, is that under which all action and all life flows back, with a consciousness of its motion and course, into the one primary source of all life, the deity: that is to say, religion. He to whom this idea becomes an object of immediate consciousness and unshakeable certainty, so as to be the soul of all his other knowledge and thought and feeling, has entered into the possession of an imperturbable beatitude. Whatever befalls him is a manifestation of that primary source of life, which under every form is holy and good, and which under every form he cannot do otherwise than love: it is, if he expresses himself in other words, the will of God, which is always one with his own will. Whatever he has to do, painful as it may be, or trivial and ignoble as it may seem, is still a manifestation in and through him of that primary source of life, to be the channel of which constitutes his felicity; it is the will of God with regard to him, to be whose instrument is what makes him happy. These are the most important among the form into which the one primary idea breaks on passing through our consciousness; beyond that consciousness however they are all one and the same. And this unity is discoverable in its manifestations: every where it is the same life, flowing perpetually out of itself, and ceaselessly reproducing itself anew. Under the form of the fine arts it impresses on the material elements around us the outward stamp of ideal humanity; to the end that future generations, at their very awakening into life, may be environed by noble objects, such as by a certain sympathetic power will educate the outward senses, whereby the ed cation of the inner man is greatly facilitated: sa that under this form, the idea labours to further not only this particular modification of itself, bu the growth and spread of everything ideal among mankind. Or again, when the same idea mazifests itself under the form of religion, by which all the business and actions of this world are contemplated in their immediate connection with the one eternal, ever pure, ever good, ever blessed source of all life, what is its purpose? How coul any high-minded person, after having emancipated himself from the attractions of this earthly life, and thereby become fully convinced of its nothingness, prevail on himself to engage in its concerns, but for this connection between those concerns and the one permanent eternal principle, which religion lays open to him! Thus here, too, we find the one entire idea, which idea, under the form of religion, upholds and supplies a foundation for itself, and furnishes a complete solution for the otherwise irreconcilable contradiction between the feelings it inspires and the obligations it cannot help imposing. And it is the same with every other form of the idea mentioned above, and with every possible one. Thus does the idea wind along the stream of time, always one and entire, incessantly reproducing itself under some new form, and whatever may be its form, perpetually striving to promote the development of itself in its perfect totality. Moreover, at every moment of time it is entire: at every moment it involves and comprehends itself as it exists in the whole of the never-ending stream. That which is produced by the idea at any one given moment, only comes forward as the consequence of all that has been, and as the means of all that is to be unto eternity. Nothing, in this system, is ever lost. Worlds bring forth worlds, and ages bring forth new ages: which latter stand above the former, contemplating them, and bringing the hidden concatenation of causes and effects in them to light. Then does the grave open-not that which consists of the hillocks of earth piled up by human hands, but that grave of impenetrable darkness which encompasses the beginning of our life-and out of it come forth all the mighty organs by which ideas have worked, and in the new light they behold the completion of that which they commenced, the entire manifestation of that which they discerned only in part: then comes forth every deed, however lowly in appearance, which has been performed in faith in the Eternal, and even every secret aspiration, which was shackled here and dragged down to the earth, puts forth wings and soars up into the new sky. In a word, as when the breath of spring fills the air with life, the stiff ice, every particle of which but a while before was shutting itself up within itself, and sturdily keeping off every neighbouring particle, no longer holds out, but the waters rush together into one single mild stream, where all is motion and intercommunion and interpenetration; and as at the same season the powers of nature, which before were separated, and in their separation presented an image of nothing but death and decay, burst forth to meet each other, and embrace and blend in complete interfusion, and in this interfusion exhale a living balm for every sense; so is it in the spiritual world: not that there is any winter in that world, or that the spirits are ever cut off from each other, and frost-bound, by selfishness; but all are blended and fused everlastingly into one living whole by the breath of love. Nothing can exist insulatedly in and for itself; but everything exists in and for the whole; and this whole itself, pervaded by unutterable love, is ceaselessly dying for itself in order to spring forth anew. For this is the law of the spiritual world: whatever has attained to a consciousness of existence, must fall a sacrifice to the universe in its interminable progress from one stage of being to a higher and this law cannot be arrested, but fulfils itself without waiting for any one's yea or nay. The only alternative is, whether we will let ourselves be led like men with a halter round the neck to the slaughterhouse, or freely and magnanimously, and in the full foretaste of the life which is to grow up out of our fall, will lay down our personal being as an offering on the altar of eternal life. Such is the state of the case: under this holy legislature, willingly or unwillingly, whether we are aware of it or no, we all stand; and it is only a heavy or feverish dream that buzzes about the brainof the egotist, when he fancies himself able to live for himself alone: the delusion no way changes his condition, and he himself is the only sufferer by his wrong. Happy are the slumberers in this cradle of eternal life, if a joyous vision of that life come now and then to refresh them in their dreams! happy, if from time to time, their ears are greeted with the tidings, that there is indeed a light and a day! MILLER'S MEMOIRS. until the peace of 1814. The valour, talent, zeal, ac tivity, and services of General Torrijos, during the Peninsular war, are too well known to require detail. The liberality of his political sentiments occasioned him to be thrown into the cells of the inquisition at Murcia, where he remained in solitary confinement from 1817 to 1820, when his prison-doors were thrown open by the re-establishment of the constitution. In 1823, General Torrijos commanded in Carthagena and Alicant, and maintained those fortresses in behalf of the constitutional Government long after the absolute king had re-entered the capital. When further opposition had become without an object, the general obtained the most favourable conditions for his army; but, unable himself to reconcile his mind to the idea of Memoirs of General Miller, in the service of the Republic living under a despotic prince, he emigrated, and is now of Peru. By John Millar. Second Edition. Long-living in London, where he is respected and esteemed man and Co. London, 1829. by all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance.'--P. vi. Note. 'If, indeed, very few Americans have occupied the first place in the civil magistracy in America, and very few American officers have been commanders there, how many ministers of state, presidents of colleges, captains-general of the provinces and departments of marine, inspectors, viceroys, governors, &c., have there not been in Spain, and still are to be found there, who were Americans?' THE extraordinary contest between Spain and her colonies has produced so many works in this The preface which General Torrijos has added country as well as elsewhere, that public curiosity to the present translation, and part of which is is well nigh satiated. The Memoirs of General translated in the work before us, contains an aniMiller' have obtained, however, a peculiar share mated defence of the Spanish nation against the of favour, which they seem likely to preserve; charge of tyranny towards its colonies. The and this more, we are inclined to think, on account writer maintains that the evils of the Spanish of the form in which they convey their informa- colonial system are attributable, not to the opprestion, than even of the ability and accuracy which sive disposition of his countrymen, but to the distinguish them. The book does not pretend to vices of the Government, which weighed, and still be a history in the proper sense of the word, for weigh, with equal severity on the happiness of the writing of which, indeed, the time is probably the mother kingdom. In the course of his obsernot yet come. All is here exhibited in connec-vations, one or two arguments are brought fortion with the fortunes and character of an indi-ward, from the justice of which we are compelled vidual, with whom every reader must feel an in- to dissent; one of these is contained in the foltimate sympathy, and whose prospects, exertions, lowing sentence, found at p. xxviii: and perils give a kind of personal value to the general narrative. The chances are, that if the author had attempted to write a history he would have failed (how few of any age have succeeded!) of placing himself at the outward point from which alone he could see all the events as exponents of political truth. If he had achieved this great triumph, (one which no living English writer has accomplished,) how few among ordinary readers would have understood his meaning, of or in any degree appreciated his merits. The modest and unobtrusive temper of the writer has prevented him from engaging in the enterprise; and he has preferred to undertake a task in which his good information, good sense, and good feeling ensured to him the most complete success. He takes his stand on our universal human propensities and affections; and amid his tale of wars and revolutions, and his pageant of strange tribes and mighty countries, he traces out, not so much those dark causes and complicated results of which not one man in a century has insight, but the hopes, and fears, and powers, and exertions of a single vigorous mind. The record of General Miller's life has also, we doubt not, been far more popular than it would otherwise have been on account of his English name, birth, and education, which give us a peculiar interest in the character and fate of our fellow-countryman. The second edition is considerably augmented, and furnishes us with a more complete notion both of the hero of this great historic play, and of the scene on which he appeared. It also contains a translation of part of a preface, added by General Torrijos to his Spanish version of the work. Of the excellent and distinguished person to whom we owe this essay, the following notice is given in the English edition; and, had the space permitted, there is ample ground for a far more extensive record of exertions, sacrifices, and virtues. "The translator, General Don Jose Maria de Torrijos, was born at Madrid in the year 1791. When ten years old, he was made a page to King Charles the Fourth. At the age of thirteen, he received a captaincy in the Ultonia, a regiment of the Irish brigade. He prosecuted his military studies at the engineer academy of Alcala de Henares. In the course of the war he was appointed to the command of Doyle's regiment of light infantry, which, in 1812, formed part of the garrison Torrijos and the subject of these memoirs commenced. of Badajoz, where the friendship between General He commanded a Spanish brigade at the battle of Vittoria, and continued attached to Lord Hill's division Now, the author seems here to forget the nature the accusation which he is answering. No one asserts that the Americans were unfairly treated in Spain, but it is maintained that they were practically excluded from office in their own country. To prove that they were not excluded in the mother country, is to do nothing towards meeting the charge. If, indeed, it could be shown that as the Spaniards had a monopoly of place in America, so the Americans had a similar monopoly in Spain, a case might be made out on this subject in favour of the former system. But, in truth, the Americans were (we believe) only allowed to eat the crumbs that fell from the table in Europe, and at the other side of the Atlantic were beaten out of the room in which their brethren were seated at so rich a feast. The preface, however, will tend on the whole to raise the character of the Spanish nation in the eyes of Europe, and to throw the blame on the right shoulders, those of the Government. We may also observe, that there cannot be a more absurd falsehood than one which has lately been printed in London, the assertion, namely, that General Torrijos defends the mode of government practised towards the American colonies. It is his whole object to show that the atrocious guilt of the rulers ought not to be visited on the people; and herein we are convinced that most reflecting men will agree with him. We subjoin two brief extracts: 'Spanish America naturally followed in the steps of the mother country, with the sole difference, that to the evils common to both countries, was added the greater frequency of local abuses practised by subordi nate agents, to whom distance from the seat of government gave encouragement to practices which probably would not have been ventured upon in Spain. Upon the whole, it may be doubted whether the enlightened despotism exercised by the viceroys in America was not, in many instances, of a less oppressive and degrading character than that exercised in Spain by some of her profligate kings, and not unfrequently by ministers and favourites. Be this as it may, one could hardly expect to find in the colonies of a nation enslaved and op pressed, either by fanaticism, or by the absolute power of her kings, either good government, or justice, or liberty. America was prohibited from cultivating the natural productions of Spain, and the same barbarous and tyrannical policy forbad Spain to naturalize in her soil the productions of America. In conformity with the colonial system which has been adopted, and which is still acted upon, by all nations towards their colonies, America could trade only with Spain; but the Spanish Government, adhering to its restrictive and monopolizing system, confined the trade with America to a few privateers, at first from Seville, under the control of the Government, subsequently from Cadiz, and ultimately from a few other ports. Venal and arbitrary as were many of the Government agents who went to America, had those who were appointed at home either more honesty or more moderation? What could be expected from a Government so demoralised and corrupt? America and Spain, at one and the same period, were exposed to the same calamities; and one caused the ruin of the other. The former, by supplying the precious metals, furnished the arms which despotism needed for oppressing the latter, by means of innumerable agents paid with this wealth, and deprived herself of her youth, who rarely returned to their native country, for the purpose of maintaining slavery in her colonies."'-Pp. xvi., xviii. 'Ferdinand returned; but, instead of consolidating the national happiness, in return for the costly sacrifices that had been made for him,-instead of declaring himself the father of his people, and complying with the solemn promises he had made to the nation when he gained possession of the throne by the revolt of Aranjuez, he annulled the code which secured the liberties of the people; but, in order not to outrage public opinion, he offered to assemble the Cortes, to study the national happiness, and promised not to be absolute. Instead of complying with these solemn promises, he broke his word as a prince, his faith as a man of honour, and threw himself into the hands of the priests, who, up to that period, had been lying in wait, secretly conspiring against the Government and national institutions; becoming the agent of his own vindictive passions, he persecuted those who had best served their country in his absence, and who had most efficaciously exerted themselves to restore him to his throne. Not content with carrying on these persecutions in Spain, and, instead of sending emissaries to the different provinces of America, for the paternal purpose of terminating the dissensions there, he was hurried away by the persuasions of the barbarous and sanguinary fanatics who surrounded him, and immediately despatched an expedition, dragging from the bosom of their families thousands of individuals who had voluntarily taken up arms to serve during the war with France, and who, on the restoration of peace, obtained by their blood, hoped, at least, to be permitted to remain in the enjoyment of those domestic pleasures which they had so patriotically given up on the national summons, and, by the advice of the sanguinary Eguia, and of the profligate Ostolaza, intrusted the command to the atrocious Morillo. 'About six years succeeded of despotism, of victims, and of persecutions, in Spain; and of despotism, victims, persecutions, and a desolating war in America. The dawn of liberty beamed again in Spain on the proclamation of the Constitution, on the 1st of January, 1820, the seasonable fruit of so many unsuccessful attempts; and hereupon the liberal Government renounced the expeditions proposed by the absolute Government, then ready to set sail, and a general armistice followed, in America, the news of the liberty of Spain. Her representatives agreed to send special commissioners to proceed to the different Governments established in the two Spanish Americas, to hear and receive all proposals that might be made for transmission to the mother country, with the exception of such as might go to deprive the European and American Spaniards, residing in any part of the provinces beyond sea, of the absolute liberty of transferring and disposing of their persons, families, and property, in the manner that may seem best to them, without being exposed to any impediment or any measure that may be injurious to their fortunes. 2. The commissioners shall remain there till replies are furnished," &c. &c. If a delicacy, perhaps excessive, in saving the honour of the Spanish name made them more tardy than might have been desirable and just, for the purpose of immediately suspending the effects of that disastrous war, at all events this step displayed, in some degree, the sentiments of the Spanish nation. The first national representation pronounced that the Americans possessed equal rights with the natives of Spain. The second, finding those countries strug gling for their independence, offered to treat with them, admitting that independence as the basis of the negociation; and the third made manifest to a powerful nation their desire of mediation as to the form and manner of the recognition of the independence for which they were struggling.'-Pp. xxiii.—xxvi. ORIGIN OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE. Don Termopilo's Defence of the Prospectus of Dr. Puigblanch. By Perico de los Palotes. 18mo. 1829. UNDER this equivocal title is given a small work, full of wit and learning, couched in the purest Spanish, and conveyed in the difficult and varied form of dialogue. Its object, however, is one of the highest importance to all lovers of etymology, and those especially who are curious about the origin of the Roman dialects, and particularly that of Spain. It owes its appearance to a prospectus issued some time since by Dr. Puigblanch, one of the Spanish Refugees now in London, of a work which he is preparing on the genius and origin of the Spanish language. That prospectus contains a good deal of wit, paradox, and whimsical novelty; sufficient, indeed, to turn the head of any one reading it for the first time. What is maintained is this: That the Spanish language, as it now exists, as well as the Portuguese, existed long before any of the Latin writings handed down to us, without even excepting the fragments of the Twelve Tables.' This is novel, at least; but, as Dr. Puigblanch only announces this new discovery, and promises proofs to satisfy the public in his forthcoming work, one of his companions in exile has ventured to forestall him, and under the assumed name of Don Termopilo, demonstrates the absurdity of such a supposition, and of a great number of other misconceptions into which the author of the Prospectus has fallen in support of his strange notion. The dialogue of this little work clearly evinces that the author is well versed in the literature of his country, and acquainted with all the delicacies of the Spanish language. It is written in a tone of highly-seasoned irony, and abounds with phrases, sparkling with grace and vivacity, peculiar to the colloquial language of Spain. In this double, relation it really does honour to the pen and the acquirements of the author. We are told it is the production of Dr. Villanueva: at all events his antagonist believes so; for he lately gave notice that, early in the present month, he should publish his reply to the Critique on his Prospectus, by Dr. Villanueva.' We have kept account of this promise; and, if Dr. Puigblanch's reply procures us another work similar to the dialogue under review, we do not care how soon he fulfils his threat. EDUCATION ON THE CONTINENT. Des Etablissemens pour l'Education Publique en Bavarice dans le Wurtemberg, et dans le pays de Bade, et Remarques sur les améliorations à introduire dans ces establissemens pour les faire adopter en France, en Angleterre, et autres Pays. Par J. C. Loudon, Membre de la Societe pour l'Enseignement Elementaire à Paris, &c. &c. &c. 8vo. pp. 67. Mesnier. Paris, 1829. It is now more than twenty years ago since John Quincey Adams,' in his Letters from Silesia,' gave us, so far as we know, the first details which were published in English of the state of parochial education in Germany,-proving that neither Scotland nor his own country, New England, had any right to assume the exclusive merit of the establishment of parish schools, though his nationality has made him somewhat inclined to assign the palm of superiority, in this respect, to New England. At the time when Mr. Adams wrote his very interesting letters, there were in Silesia a university and an academy, besides grammarschools in every town in the province; and, moreover, a school was kept in every village, the master of which, and the other expenses of the estab. lishment, were paid conjointly by the lord of the manor and his tenants, while they were all under the superintendance of the clergy. One fact, men tioned by Adams, is decisive in proving that they had advanced far bevond either Scotland or New England in the art of education, a seminary being provided for the express purpose of instruction; the teachers and young clergyman having been compelled to attend this seminary, in order to fit them for the duty of superintending the district schools. If they did not so qualify themselves, how able soever they might otherwise be, they could procure no living. The sum paid by the inhabitants for the support of the schools was levied somewhat in the manner of a rate or a tax; and even paupers, who could not pay this schooltax, were compelled to send to the schools all their children, from their sixth to their twelfth year, under the penalty of forfeiting double the school-tax. Such was the system acted upon in Silesia before and during the sway which Napoleon exercised over Germany; and, though his marauding inroads shook German society to the very centre, yet it was never any part of his policy to obstruet, but rather to encourage, education. It was not likely, therefore, that he would interfere to suppress the schools which had been so judiciously organised. Napoleon, indeed, seems to have had an instinctive notion that a well-educated population were superior in industry, and, of course, could better afford the tyrannical and enormous imposts which his necessities required than people who were ignorant and idle. This, together with his insatiable thirst for fame, was the secret of the encouragement which he gave to education; whereas we think the present rulers of Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Baden, are actuated by motives more disinterested and philanthropic. The brochure now before us is the only detailed account we have met with of the state of those schools since Mr. Adams published his letters, and we have read it with higher interest in consequence of its coming from a Scotsman intimately acquainted with the boasted but very imperfect system followed in his native country. The following is our author's account of the system pursued in the public schools of Wurtemberg as described to him by M. Zoller, rector of a school in Stuttgard, and member of the National School Commission : 1. There is an institution or college for the education of schoolmasters in a village near Stuttgard; where young persons are instructed in almost every branch of knowledge, and are obliged to undergo a complete examination before they can obtain the management of the most ordinary school. There is also an profession of instruction. They are taught the cominstitution for young females, who are destined for the mon branches of the sciences, and every kind of sewing, and kitchen, and household duties. 2. In each village or hamlet there is a school, and a house and garden appropriated to the master; and in large towns or cities, there are one or two schools. In places where the population is considerable, the boys and girls are separated, and very frequently the latter are kept under the authority of a mistress during the two or three first years. When there is only a small number of children, boys and girls are instructed in the same school, but are not intermixed. The master is generally a married man, and his wife capable of acting as mistress, though this is not always the case. The master, besides a house and a garden, has sometimes a field allotted to him. He receives a fixed salary from he has also a trifling remuneration for his pupils, acthe Commune, or what in England is called a parish; cording to the age of each, and instruction given. These remunerations are fixed by the Government, and are every where the same. The portion of land and salary given by the Commune, are regulated in such a manner, that the master may be provided with the means of subsistence, even in small hamlets as well as in very populous Communes. "There exists a law which obliges parents to send their children to the school,-girls from the age of six to thirteen, and boys from six to fifteen, unless prevented by ill-health. In such cases of absence, every lost time, or until it has attained a degree of instrucchild must remain longer at school, to make up for tion deemed sufficient by the persons who are appointed to decide upon this. If it happen that the parents are unable to pay all, or a part of the expenses incurred in the education of their children, the Commune is answerable to the master for the deficit. but these laws have only been effective during the course of the last thirty years, and, consequently, 4. The branches of instruction required by the law their influence upon its population, although for children are reading and grammar, that they may nearly the same, is not so sensible as in Wurtembe in a condition to speak and write their native lan-berg. Nevertheless, in Bavaria, an amelioration guage with correctness; writing and arithmetic, and in the system of instruction has been effected, in the latter branch the knowledge of the child must which it may be important to mention. M. be advanced as far beyond proportion as its capacity Hazzi, an enlightened and patriotic individual, will admit. The works which are read are those which who introduced modern agriculture into that treat upon the duties that children have to fulfil in the world, together with geography, biography, and general country a short time after the abolition of the history. The instruction of the girls in arithmetic is convents, and the organization of public instrucnot so extensive as that of the boys; they are also tion by Count Monteglas, looking upon Bavaria taught to spin, weave, sew, knit, embroider; to make as a country essentially agricultural, conceived articles of apparel, even those of men; to understand the idea of teaching argriculture in the schools. culinary offices, and to take care of children. But if He composed a catechism of agriculture, and the parents desire it, or if the master perceive in a had sufficient influence with the Government to child, whether a girl or boy, a disposition for learning have it adopted as a school-book throughout the geometry, the dead languages, drawing, and other kingdom. This catechisın, of which our author branches of education, these are taught at a very moderate expense. M. Zoller informed me that the presented a copy of the first edition, published in 1804, to the Society for Elementary Instruction, greater part of the masters who had left the institution during the last thirty years had a knowledge of Greek at Paris, has gone through several editions, and and Hebrew, as well as of the higher branches of the has been increased by the author, with such immathematics, and that they were capable of affording provements in the plan as have been made from any instruction that could be desired. time to time. The lessons which it contains continue to be every where taught. Our author proceeds to say: 5. In each Commune there is a Committee of Policy, or what, in England, would be called a parish vestry; of which the priest or priests of the Commune, of whatsoever religion, always, and by right, compose a part. The committee, and particularly the Protestant minister belonging to it, is charged with the office of seeing that the children be sent to school, and that the master punctually discharge his duties. The prevailing religion in Wurtemberg is the Protestant; but in some Communes the inhabitants are all Catholics, and in others there are three or four religions, amongst which even Quakers are met with. The master must not interfere with the religion of the children; that is a distinct object, and is the care of the priest of that religion which the parents follow. I shall here remark, that the difference of religious tenets does not prevent the inhabitants of Wurtemberg from living together in bonds of the most perfect union. There the Catholic religion is almost as simple in its ceremonies as the Protestant; in a word, all the different creeds appear to be reciprocally neutralised. "There is, I am told, scarcely an instance in which parents have refused to send their children to the schools; although it would not have been prudent to leave at their discretion the time for their continuance there, for the poorest of the poor would very rarely resist the temptation of taking away their children at the age of eleven or twelve, for the purpose of making them labour in the fields. From this circumstance, it is perceptible that this part of the system is clearly essential to ensure success; and, however it may infringe upon absolute liberty, this measure is, nevertheless, I think, incontestably justified by the utility and well-being which are its evident result. '6. All the children undergo an examination annually in presence of the Committee of the Commune; and the boys and girls who have completed their fifteenth or sixteenth year, and are adjudged by the Committee to have attained the degree of instruction required by the law, receive a certificate, without which, it is prohibited to give employment to any native of Wurtemberg under the age of twenty-one.'-P. 14. Such is the sketch which our author has given of the system of public education in Wurtemberg, which appears defective, he thinks, in only one point; that is, it does not comprehend lineal drawing, which is one of the most essential objects of instruction for the children of both sexes, but more particularly of boys. In all mechanical arts, lineal drawing is almost, if not altogether, as useful as arithmetic or writing; and the author justly remarks, with respect to drawing, with what facility the essential principles of all the material sciences, and the knowledge of all the operations and products of the useful and agreeable arts may be communicated, by its means, to the minds of children of every age; and, that in almost every case, it would be instrumental in giving to persons who learn drawing a taste for other studies. The author informs us, that in Bavaria, a similar system of education is adopted. The same and with respect to the state of landed property; laws concerning marriage are also in force there, 'As each school has a field of two or three acres 'Let us suppose there are eight different sorts of occupation. the female sex for the cultivation of flowers. This is We recollect no instance of statistical detail in truly Arcadian picture of rural instruction. It leaves at an infinite distance the dry technical lectures on agriculture, which are given at Edinburgh, Dublin, Cork, and we believe at a few other places in the United Kingdom. One day's practical instruction is worth an eternity of prosing lectures upon such a subject. The following is our author's account of the state of education in Baden: 'In the country of Baden, the state of education is as much as possible similar to what it is in Wurtemberg; and, as far as my observations extend, its effects upon the inhabitants are the same. The accounts which we have received on this subject have_principally been furnished us by an Englishman and a Frenchman, both professors at the polytechnic school at Carlsruhe, and by Professor Kârcher, director of the girl-school (Tochterschule) in that city. I examined the different the pupils' writing. classes of this school, and brought away specimens of There are mistresses for the youngest girls; and they inspect also the work of the eldest. Masters are charged with the care of the higher classes. A part of each day is devoted to working, drawing, singing, and dancing. Each of these occupations is carried on in different rooms, and under the inspection of mistresses. They pass an examination once every year, and the result of it is published. I send you adjoined the report of 1828, (Darlegung, &c.) in which you will find the detail of the different articles of instruction, hours of the day, and proportion of time devoted to each study. You will observe that when the girls reach the two higher classes, philosophy, natural history in general, mythology, (this title comprehends some observations upon the various religions, which exist or have existed,) astronomy, geography, arithmetic, French, German, singing and dancing, become the object of their studies. You will see, in page 13 and 14, with what care, and in what manner, philosophy and natural history are taught; that in botany, for example, they are made to study plants upon growing specimens, in the midst of fields and gardens in summer, and that this study is carried on during winter upon dried plants; that not only the name and distinctive mark are given to each plant, but the use of each, indigenous, and exotic, in the arts and principal manufactures of Europe, are made known. The same method is practised relative to the utility of the different animals in the study of zoology.' (Thierkunde.) — P. 14. men; 'The greater part of the girls thus instructed cannot aspire to higher connections in the world than becoming the wives of what would be called in England working the rest can only hope at most to be united to artisans, and persons occupied in low public employments. This is not however to be forgotten, that these working men and artisans are as enlightened and word, they are deserving of such wives. You will obas polished as many gentlemen in other countries; in a serve at the end of this pamphlet the names of the one hundred and ninety-five scholars composing the four which it belongs. This list is made out annually, durclasses in question; each is reckoned in the class g ing the seven years that the children remain at school, and accompanied each time by a printed report. These seven reports, and the seven lists in which the name of each of the children is inserted, become the permanent archives of their progress and respective capacities. It ful motive of emulation both to pupils and parents, is useless to remark, that this measure must be a powerin all kinds of schools.-P. 20 and that these reports are deserving of being adopted In Britain this system is partially acted upon from personal motives by those schoolmasters who publish lists of such of their scholars as have obtained prizes. In our Universities, also, it is usual to publish such lists; but in none of the establishments in Britain does the system seem to be acted upon with such regularity as in those under consideration. Our author devotes some portion of his pages to what he thinks might improve the systems of which he has given the interesting details which we have just abstracted, and to the important inquiry how far the higher ranks, and particularly the priests, appear to promote the diffusion of knowledge among the labouring classes; but into this part of the work we have not left ourselves room to enter, and must refer those who are interested in it to the original, which is reciples. plete with shrewd remarks and judicious prin |