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not presume to disparage mathematics, of which I know very little, but only desire to show that the mathematical genius of the French people, which is well represented by M. Comte, is not that which is most likely to discover the true law of social evolution. The tendency of that mind, running on as it were under a single impulse, is to plunge deeper and deeper into error in proportion as it gets into the complexities of actual life and practice. I observe, therefore, with pleasure and without surprise, that in the third edition of his Logic, Mr. Mill, who has more than any one else made M. Comte a great authority in England; finds it necessary to say that "no writer who has contributed so much to the theory of society, ever deserved less attention when taking upon himself the office of making recommendations for the guidance of its practice! If the power of prediction be the test of scientific truth, these errors of M. Comte might have suggested some doubts of the soundness of the theory from which they were derived; but I accept this valuable testimony as one of the many evidences of Mr. Mill's unswerving loyalty to truth, and as a means of putting the reader in a fairer position for judging of the merits of M. Comte's theory.

One other disqualification of the French mind for arriving at the most comprehensive truth is, the violence with which it. forces into its own moulds all new thought coming from without. No matter how foreign its origin, a new idea must always become French in order to obtain admission. Hence some of the most original productions of foreign thought never get access to the French mind at all. Goethe is scarcely recognisable by his admirers in a French dress, and Shakspeare, almost as much at home and honoured at Berlin as in London, is still a barbarian at Paris. All the forms of human existence are French to the French eye, just as the priests and the warriors of Homer, the citizens of Rome, and the chivalry of Spain, are all compelled to speak the language and wear the dress of the Court of Louis XIV. in the tragedies of Corneille

and Racine. It is not likely, à priori, that the true and complete theory of social progress would take its rise amongst such a people.

The fundamental principle of M. Comte, however, is one of which the solidity is incontestable. It is, that all great changes in the social condition of a people are preceded by changes in their convictions. The convictions or beliefs, those, namely, which are felt to be thoroughly real, and are therefore acted upon, are the causes, and the external condition always an effect. Hence, if any order could be traced in the succession of real beliefs amongst mankind, we should have at once a corresponding order of states of social existence, or, in other words, the law of social progress. M. Comte's theory is, that upon all the great subjects of human inquiry, the earliest convictions are theological, implying a belief in supernatural power; that subsequently the mind attains the metaphysical stage, in which phenomena are referred to abstractions as their causes; and, lastly, the positive, in which nothing is held to be true or knowable except actually observed facts and their relations. Each science is supposed to pass through the three stages: mathematics and astronomy having reached the positive stage, while chemistry was only germinating, as it were, in the metaphysical absurdities of the alchemists; and chemistry having now become positive and rapidly progressive, while morals and politics are still immersed in metaphysics and theology, and hopelessly revolving within the same limits which have ever confined them. The test of true or positive science is, that it gives the power of prediction, or, which is the same thing, that it can be turned to practical use; and, as the science of human nature will be the last to attain the positive stage, we must wait for its development before we can settle the highest questions of morals and religion, it being indeed a point of practical wisdom to put questions of religion aside altogether, as having to do with something beyond the reach of the human faculties.

It is not to be denied that this theory is comprehensive,

beyond anything of the kind that was previously suggested. No one who has not examined its applications to history and to life, and studied M. Comte's own masterly exposition of it, can have any conception of its grandeur. Still it is only a theory, and must bow to fact. I find myself compelled to reject it, because it does not explain, but flatly contradicts, the greatest fact in the history of man, that is to say, Christianity. M. Comte's theory can give no better explanation of Christianity, than that it is one of those theological convictions which are useful in the infancy of nations, but which give way before the advance of positive science. It appears to me that, great as is the portion of truth which M. Comte has systematized by his theory, that portion which he has overlooked is still greater. One practical inference which he draws from it, with the most rigorous logic, may serve as a test of its value.

Theological convictions being only preparatory, become at a certain stage obstructive, and therefore their removal is an indispensable step to social improvement. Hence Francewhere, with one or two splendid exceptions, like Guizot or Montalembert, men of intellect will only sanction Christianity as an instrument of police-is at a higher point of social progression, and more fit for improved institutions, than England, where Christianity survives, and still commands the obedience of superior minds. This logically-proved superiority of France to England would be quite sufficient to convince me that the theory which yielded such a result must be erroneous, even if I did not see where the error lay; but the error evidently does lie in its disregard of the fact, that the convictions most essential to the existence of society, namely, those which cause men to submit to moral restraints, are not produced by purely intellectual influences, and that a readiness to receive new intellectual impressions may be accompanied by that progressive relaxation of all moral ties which is identical, not with social improvement, but with social decay. Some further remarks upon M. Comte, and upon his very just and comprehensive con

ception of the services rendered by the Roman Catholic Church to society during the middle ages, will occur better in a subsequent place, and in the mean time I proceed to add a word or two upon the theory of Hegel.

Theory of Hegel.

The theory of Hegel is only known to me through the account given of it by Archdeacon Hare', but his capacity and fidelity as an interpreter, philosophical as well as linguistic, are such as greatly diminish my regret at my ignorance of the original. It is, in effect, that the various powers in human nature suggest a certain harmonious development and subordination, in which perfection would consist; that this perfection has not been and is not attained by the individual, but that it must be conceived of as being in a course of progressive attainment by the whole human race. Every faculty will at some time or other have its full development, and the collective mass of mankind continually, but indefinitely, approximates to the state in which the moral faculties will be supreme. This theory may fairly vie with M. Comte's in the majestic sweep which it makes over the phenomena of human life. But it is not more free from error. Archdeacon Hare signalizes the fact that the theory does not take account of the one effective instrument of moral elevation, namely, Christianity. Indeed, the German admirers of Hegel would probably not think it a slanderous misrepresentation of his idea to embody it thus. It is God gradually coming into life in the universal consciousness of the human race.

This theory, like M. Comte's, discloses its weakness when brought into comparison with facts exhibiting the moral condition of races and nations. It would be hard to trace the working of Hegel's principle during two or three thousand

"Guesses at Truth," Second Series.

years of stationary life in China and India, or in the nomadic tribes whom Mr. Layard and Mr. Walpole picture to-day as their ancestors existed in the days of Abraham.

The result of this survey is, that, apart from Christianity, no scientific ground has yet been established for a belief in the moral progressiveness of the human race.

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