登陆注册
4705400000434

第434章

(April 1839)

The state in its Relations with the church. By W. E. GLADSTONE, Esq. Student of Christ Church, and M.P. for Newark. 8vo. Second Edition. London: 1839.

THE author of this volume is a young man of unblemished character, and of distinguished parliamentary talents, the rising hope of those stern and unbending Tories who follow, reluctantly and mutinously, a leader whose experience and eloquence are indispensable to them, but whose cautious temper and moderate opinions they abhor. It would not be at all strange if Mr. Gladstone were one of the most unpopular men in England. But we believe that we do him no more than justice when we say that his abilities and his demeanour have obtained for him the respect and goodwill of all parties. His first appearance in the character of an author is therefore an interesting event; and it is natural that the gentle wishes of the public should go with him to his trial.

We are much pleased, without any reference to the soundness or unsoundness of Mr. Gladstone's theories, to see a grave and elaborate treatise on an important part of the Philosophy of Government proceed from the pen of a young man who is rising to eminence in the House of Commons. There is little danger that people engaged in the conflicts of active life will be too much addicted to general speculation. The opposite vice is that which most easily besets them. The times and tides of business and debate tarry for no man. A politician must often talk and act before he has thought and read. He may be very ill informed respecting a question; all his notions about it may be vague and inaccurate; but speak he must; and if he is a man of ability, of tact, and of intrepidity, he soon finds that, even under such circumstances, it is possible to speak successfully. He finds that there is a great difference between the effect of written words, which are perused and reperused in the stillness of the closet, and the effect of spoken words which, set off by the graces of utterance and gesture, vibrate for a single moment on the ear. He finds that he may blunder without much chance of being detected, that he may reason sophistically, and escape unrefuted. He finds that, even on knotty questions of trade and legislation, he can, without reading ten pages, or thinking ten minutes, draw forth loud plaudits, and sit down with the credit of having made an excellent speech. Lysias, says Plutarch, wrote a defence for a man who was to be tried before one of the Athenian tribunals. Long before the defendant had learned the speech by heart, he became so much dissatisfied with it that he went in great distress to the author. "I was delighted with your speech the first time I read it; but 1 liked it less the second time, and still less the third time; and now it seems to me to be no defence at all." "My good friend," says Lysias, "you quite forget that the judges are to hear it only once." The case is the same in the English Parliament. It would be as idle in an orator to waste deep meditation and long research on his speeches, as it would be in the manager of a theatre to adorn all the crowd of courtiers and ladies who cross over the stage in a procession with real pearls and diamonds. It is not by accuracy or profundity that men become the masters of great assemblies. And why be at the charge of providing logic of the best quality, when a very inferior article will be equally acceptable? Why go as deep into a question as Burke, only in order to be, like Burke, coughed down, or left speaking to green benches and red boxes?

This has long appeared to us to be the most serious of the evils which are to be set off against the many blessings of popular government. It is a fine and true saying of Bacon, that reading makes a full man, talking a ready man, and writing an exact man.

The tendency of institutions like those of England is to encourage readiness in public men, at the expense both of fulness and of exactness. The keenest and most vigorous minds of every generation, minds often admirably fitted for the investigation of truth, are habitually employed in producing arguments such as no man of sense would ever put into a treatise intended for publication, arguments which are just good enough to be used once, when aided by fluent delivery and pointed language. The habit of discussing questions in this way necessarily reacts on the intellects of our ablest men, particularly of those who are introduced into Parliament at a very early age, before their minds have expanded to full maturity. The talent for debate is developed in such men to a degree which, to the multitude, seems as marvellous as the performance of an Italian Improvisatore. But they are fortunate indeed if they retain unimpaired the faculties which are required for close reasoning or for enlarged speculation. Indeed we should sooner expect a great original work on political science, such a work, for example, as the Wealth of Nations, from an apothecary in a country town, or from a minister in the Hebrides, than from a statesman who, ever since he was one-and-twenty, had been a distinguished debater in the House of Commons.

We therefore hail with pleasure, though assuredly not with unmixed pleasure, the appearance of this work. That a young politician should, in the intervals afforded by his parliamentary avocations, have constructed and propounded, with much study and mental toil, an original theory on a great problem in politics, is a circumstance which, abstracted from all consideration of the soundness or unsoundness of his opinions, must be considered as highly creditable to him. We certainly cannot wish that Mr. Gladstone's doctrines may become fashionable among public men.

But we heartily wish that his laudable desire to penetrate beneath the surface of questions, and to arrive, by long and intent meditation, at the knowledge of great general laws, were much more fashionable than we at all expect it to become.

同类推荐
  • 南田画跋

    南田画跋

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 劝学篇

    劝学篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说宝积三昧文殊师利

    佛说宝积三昧文殊师利

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 高丽国普照禅师修心诀

    高丽国普照禅师修心诀

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 乾隆朝内府抄本理藩院则例

    乾隆朝内府抄本理藩院则例

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 瑞香

    瑞香

    本书讲述了六扇门名捕蓝湛和香粉斋老板娘肖瑞儿携手勘破奇案、并最终喜结良缘的故事。玩香粉的高手碰上用双刀的痞子,从磕磕绊绊到配合默契,从打打闹闹到不离不弃,只单纯是日久生情,还是个中更有内情?秉承作者一贯风格,美人美酒,悬疑破案,激情碰撞不断。上次是美食轻悬疑,这回是香粉江湖风,美人们,收了我吧!
  • 玄教大公案

    玄教大公案

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 案例:共享经济—链接未来世界的入口 (第24辑)

    案例:共享经济—链接未来世界的入口 (第24辑)

    《案例》是蓝狮子(中国)企业研究院,针对中国企业“创新”与“变革”两大主题进行实证研究,推出的电子单行本系列,旨在为中国企业管理者和财经研究者提供鲜活的商业案例。共享经济源自于一种认知:如果每个人都按自己的兴趣来过日子,那么资源很快会因为物欲而枯竭。于是,在人口激增、资源枯竭的背景下,共享经济应运而生,它意味着一种全新的商业结构。
  • 上清太霄隐书元真洞飞二景经

    上清太霄隐书元真洞飞二景经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 侠盗武林

    侠盗武林

    曾幻想仗剑走天涯,没成想一个不小心就穿越成了个隐世侠盗门派的弟子。主角学了一身偷儿之技,带上师门传承的武功秘籍,开始入世,游游江湖啦,偷偷宝物啦,也顺便争霸一下武林,打响师门的名气。
  • 我曾笨拙爱过你
  • 七月锦城

    七月锦城

    “那我应该叫你什么?”“你叫我名字就好。”“那多没礼貌。”夏七月摇头,“而且也不能显示我对你的尊敬。”“所以呢?”“呃……”夏七月一手捏着下巴想了想,打了个响指”有了!”“以后我就叫你顾大神了。”顾锦城剑眉不易察觉的挑了挑,“坐过来。”那时年少的我们都曾经明恋暗恋过一个人,你是不是很幸运多年后依旧和他再次相遇。
  • 走在武林路上

    走在武林路上

    武林的极致是仙侠!脸皮厚的极致是不要脸!他要脸!他一个人走在武林的路上!
  • 得罪狼的兔子

    得罪狼的兔子

    阳光下,一个孩子吹出了无数的肥皂泡。它们有的大,有的小,似乎每一个吹出时都向上飞,向上飞。然而,不一会儿,它们开始了不同的变化:有的迅速地向上,透着太阳,闪闪地发出七色的光彩,映着美丽的世界;而有的,则开始偷偷地往下沉落。
  • 重逢旧时光

    重逢旧时光

    27年来风平浪静,眼看进入大龄队伍,却忽遇桃花朵朵,是时来运转还是另有隐情?谁是知已?谁是蜜友?谁是谁生命中的过客?谁又是谁不可触及的伤痛?--情节虚构,请勿模仿