a letter of friendship to those whom he has left behind, will tell them of the difference between a land of freedom and the house of bondage. The interests of commerce, of manufactures, of science, art and letters, all tend in the same direction, all help to circulate, to mingle and intermingle, the views and sentiments, political and moral, of the civilized world. To labor to preserve the ancient statu quo, in these circumstances, is to resist the sweep of time, and the march of God's eternal Providence. It is also true that the liberals of Europe are learning by experience. Contrast, in illustration of this statement, the late revolution in France with that at the close of the last century. In comparison with the horrible ferocity which seemed to possess all hearts in the Reign of Terror, the temper of the Parisian populace in the days of February, was gentleness itself. Never, perhaps, was a revolution, changing the political condition of thirtysix millions of people, effected with so little bloodshed, and with so speedy a reestablishment of order. It was, in no small measure, because the lessons of the former time were well remembered. The desire to avoid the errors and the miseries of that melancholy period was general and deep. The revolution of July, which gave the throne to the house of Orleans, had likewise fixed some wholesome truths in the public mind. And such doubtless has been the result everywhere of the movements of '48. It is not at all to be believed that the popular mind has been stirred to intensity of thought for many months together, that so many plans have been formed, so many things attempted, and so many acts heroically done, and yet the people are no wiser. Ignorance and folly live where mind is torpid, and where thought stagnates in its fountains. It is doubtless by successive steps, perhaps through the painful discipline of yet other unsuccessful struggles, that those who bear the wrongs of oppressive government, will be prepared to gain and enjoy a full enfranchisement. In the late contests they have learned their own strength as they had never learned it before. They have ascertained how many souls there are that pant for liberty, and how much the zeal and courage of such numbers, even though encompassed by many disadvantages, is able to achieve. They have made the discovery-and it is one of moment-that beneath the uniform of standing armies, warm, sympathizing human hearts are beating, and that this apparently firm prop of power may fail it in its need, and even help to hurl it from its seat. They have acquired some knowledge of the rocks and shoals on which their cause, in its efforts to advance, is in most danger of making wreck. And not the least of all, they have informed themselves, in a degree, of the tactics and resources of the enemies of progress. All this will not be lost. The wisdom gained will remain written ineffaceably on the memories of men. It will add greatly to the effectiveness of future efforts, whether in the cabinet or in the field, in the discussions of the assembly and the press, or in the plotting and execution of new schemes of revolution. So far, at least, the cause of liberty has gained, and its martyrs have not bled in vain, although it has not reached the highest ends towards which it has been striving. And let the great body of the people of Europe once become intellectually and morally elevated to a capacity for self-government, and nothing adverse to their freedom, however venerable by age, or however entrenched by strong defenses, will be able to resist them. We do not say that the same forms of government and the same institutions of society, will be established everywhere. This is a matter of small moment. All that should be looked for, all that can reasonably be desired, is that the social organization, whatever particular shape it may assume, shall be grounded in just principles, and shall be thoroughly pervaded with the spirit of genuine liberty. We predict with confidence this final triumph of the popular cause. Not merely because we wish that it may triumph. Not in a spirit of poetical dreaming which loves to conjure up bright visions of the future. We make it the solid ground of our prediction, that there are causes in operation which must act with the steadiness and power of nature's laws to bring the event to pass. There is the sense of justice in the bosom of every man ; of that justice which is outraged by the principles and practices of despotism, whether secular or spiritual. So long as men can be kept ignorant and degraded, their perception of their rights and wrongs may be too confused to form the basis of any vigorous action. But when, as now in Europe, they can no longer be kept in such a state; when once they are excited to intellectual activity, and have within their reach the means of coming at right views, then they will grasp the great principles of natural justice with a clearness of apprehension, and a conviction of individual responsibility, which will prepare them to act against oppression with unconquerable energy, There is no such thing as crushing enlightened, earnest men, who carry, living and burning in their souls, the assurance that God and truth are on their side. They may be doomed to the dungeon, the bullet, or the scaffold; but in place of every one who is thus made an offering for the welfare of mankind on the altars of a cruel tyranny, ten others shall come up full of their power and spirit, to watch the steps of tyrants. Along with the sense of justice, there is developed in all men who are cultivated in any good degree, an instinctive appetite for freedom. This is a feeling rather than an intellection. It is a yearning of the heart; vague it may be, but deep and strong as the affections of the soul, and most powerful as a spring of action. It belongs to universal humanity, and the more elevated men become, the more difficult it is to quiet it, without bestowing the good it craves. It is this gnawing of a restless heart in millions of bosoms through all the states of Europe, which disposes the people to welcome agitation; which is as tinder to the electric spark of liberty; which urges men to risk name and property and life itself, in the endeavor to gain a position in which they can feel that they are men. It is the same at the foot of Etna, over the plains of sunny Italy, on the banks of the Danube, the Vistula, or the Rhine, and in the streets of Paris. And when under the pressure of this inward impulse, allied with a just knowledge of their rights, and guided by the dear-bought wisdom of experience in political contentions, the common people of Europe shall fairly muster in their united strength in the last great battle for the rights of man, they will be as overwhelming as an Alpine avalanche. In the complete triumph of free principles, there will be developed a civilization such as the world has never seen. Nor must we omit to add, that in no former age could Christianity, the noblest of all charters of the rights of man, the most efficient of all elevating agencies, exert its vital forces, as it is now coming to exert them, in bringing in the reign of freedom. Never so much as now, did it seem to be evolving its spiritual truth and power, and disengaging itself from the false appendages with which human weakness and presumption in past ages, have encumbered it. Not only its general spirit, but its particular practical applications, are every day becoming at once more widely and more correctly understood. The Who is my neighbor' of narrow, clannish selfishness, is giving place to an enlightened largeness of heart which embraces all the world. Good men and great men are addressing themselves to the solution of the various problems connected with the causes and the cure of social evils, and are laboriously searching out the most effectual means of ennobling the human race, by vindicating everywhere the rights of conscience, and bringing the power of divine religion to bear directly on their hearts. True Christianity carries general education in its train. It breathes abroad the spirit of order and of peace. It inspires a love for all the genuine forms of beauty and of goodness, and is thus the mother of true taste and art. It begets the sense of personal responsibility, and a healthful and untiring zeal for the universal enlightenment and progress of mankind. In short, since it supplies the essential elements of happiness and growth to man in all the relations of his being, it must involve in its own vitality and diffusion, the highest attainable welfare of the race. We say then, as the result to which we come, that there is no occasion to despond in relation to the cause of liberalism in Con tinental Europe, even in its present temporary reverses and embarrassments. These reverses and embarrassments are sufficiently accounted for, when we ascribe them to the errors, theoretical and practical, which are an accidental and not an essential part of liberal movements, and which increasing knowledge and experience will certainly correct. The cause itself, grounded as it is in vital truths, in the moral sense of the human soul, and the deep instinctive yearnings of the heart; nourished as it is by the spirit of the age, by the circulation of ideas, and by the advancing influence of a pure and spiritual Christianity, may be regarded with a hope full of assurance. It must advance. It will advance. Of course there must be time for the instituted causes to work out their appropriate effects. The great Ruler of the world is never in haste; but with the certainty of unchanging law, he evolves events. We do not think of questioning, that by-and-by the freedom, the intelligence, the enterprise and thrift, the virtue, the piety and social happiness which now characterize New England, and even a higher degree of all, are to fill the vast area between the Atlantic and Pacific shores. We already see the glorious era,-with God's leave but a little way before us,-when two hundred millions of freemen shall here dwell happily together. With equal faith may we expect, although indeed we can not place the period so near, that a day not less serene and joyful will break, ere very long, over all the face of Europe. There as here, humanity will stand erect. Society, in its whole economy, in the adjustment of all its relations and its interests, will exhibit both political and moral soundness, both general justice and general content. Whatever convulsions may precede, or may introduce a state of things so much to be desired, that day in which rational liberty shall be finally triumphant, will bring rest to the troubled nations. It will reward the sacrifices of the heroic souls who have suffered for its sake. It will quiet the throes of long agitated France. It will make lovely Italy forget the debasement and the tears of ages, and look more beautiful than ever, as she sits amidst the riches of historic ruins, and holds in her lap the choicest treasures of modern art. It will bring up wretched Spain from her medieval darkness and stagnation. The Pyrenees and the Jura shall catch the voice of freedom from the Appenines and from the Ural, and shall reflect it back in pleasant echoes. Germany shall have the national unity for which she sighs. Poland will live again. And Hungary, sad, bleeding Hungary, will remember Austrian butcheries only as having helped to make the fire of freedom burn brighter in all hearts. We utter not the idle words of enthusiastic rhapsody, nor yet do we pretend to any extraordinary prophetic insight. But, believe it, well-wishers of humanity: we speak the words of sober certainty and truth, so surely as there is constancy in the laws of nature and of man. In the words of a brilliant poet, we will say Glory to them that die in this great cause! But VENGEANCE is behind, and JUSTICE is to come! ART. II. WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING. Memoir of William Ellery Channing, with Extracts from his Correspondence and Manuscripts. edition. Boston. 1848. In 3 vols., 12mo. 2d The Works of Wm. E. Channing, D.D. Eighth edition. 6 vols., 12mo. Boston. 1845. THIS memoir has been highly praised in periodicals which advocate or sympathize with Unitarianism. We can not, however, speak of it in terms of unqualified commendation. That it has merits of a certain kind in a considerable degree, we freely admit. It is well adapted to please the admirers of Dr. Channing in his own denomination, especially the transcendental portion of them. Beyond that circle of his friends, we do not think it will be accepted as a work which meets the demand that has long existed for an extended biography of a man who has attracted so much attention at home and abroad. To satisfy this want, a narrative of a more sober, judicious and critical character was required. But whether we are right of wrong in this opinion, we think every candid and unprejudiced reader will admit that this work is marked by several serious faults. In the first place, it is much too long. Three duodecimo volumes, of four or five hundred pages each, constitute a biography altogether too protracted of a man in whose life there were so few striking incidents, and whose days were chiefly passed in his study, or in the discharge of the ordinary duties of a Christian minister. It is true that the work is, to a great extent, made up of extracts from Dr. Channing's unpublished writings and letters, and is designed, in this way, to be a kind of autobiography. Yet these selections do not often contain any thing very new or interesting. They do not commonly throw much new light on either the interior life, or the external history of the man. |