登陆注册
5589700000041

第41章 SOCIAL PROBLEMS(11)

The most vehement sympathies and antipathies were aroused,and showed at least what principles were congenial to the various English parties.To praise or blame the revolution,as if it could be called simply good or bad,is for the historian as absurd as to praise or blame an earthquake.It was simply inevitable under the conditions.We may,of course,take it as an essential stage in a social evolution,which if described as progress is therefore to be blessed,or if as degeneration may provoke lamentation.We may,if we please,ask whether superior statesmanship might have attained the good results without the violent catastrophes,or whether a wise and good man who could appreciate the real position would have approved or condemned the actual policy.But to answer such problems with any confidence would imply a claim to a quasi-omniscience.Partisans at the time,however,answered them without hesitation,and saw in the Revolution the dawn of a new era of reason and justice,or the outburst of the fires of hell.Their view is at any rate indicative of their own position.The extreme opinions need no exposition.They are represented by the controversy between Burke and Paine.

The general doctrine of the 'Rights of Men'--that all men are by nature free and equal --covered at least the doctrine that the inequality and despotism of the existing order was hateful,and people with a taste for abstract principles accepted this short cut to political wisdom.The 'minor'premise being obviously true,they took the major for granted.To Burke,who idealised the traditional element in the British Constitution,and so attached an excessive importance to historical continuity,the new doctrine seemed to imply the breaking up of the very foundations of order and the pulverisation of society.Burke and Paine both assumed too easily that the dogmas which they defended expressed the real and ultimate beliefs,and that the belief was the cause,not the consequence,of the political condition.Without touching upon the logic of either position,I may notice how the problem presented itself to the average English politician whose position implied acceptance of traditional compromises and who yet prided himself on possessing the liberties which were now being claimed by Frenchmen.The Whig could heartily sympathise with the French Revolution so long as it appeared to be an attempt to assimilate British principles.When Fox hailed the fall of the Bastille as the greatest and best event that had ever happened,he was expressing a generous enthusiasm shared by all the ardent and enlightened youth of the time.The French,it seemed,were abolishing an arbitrary despotism and adopting the principles of Magna Charta and the 'Habeas Corpus'Act.Difficulties,however,already suggested themselves to the true Whig.Would the French,as Young asked just after the same event,'copy the constitution of England,freed from its faults,or attempt,from theory,to frame something absolutely speculative'?(55)On that issue depended the future of the country.It was soon decided in the sense opposed to young's wishes.The reign of terror alienated the average Whig.But though the argument from atrocities is the popular one,the opposition was really more fundamental.Burke put the case,savagely and coarsely enough,in his 'Letter to a noble Lord.'How would the duke of Bedford like to be treated as the revolutionists were treating the nobility in France?The duke might be a sincere lover of political liberty,but he certainly would not be prepared to approve the confiscation of his estates.The aristocratic Whigs,dependent for their whole property and for every privilege which they prized upon ancient tradition and preion,could not really be in favour of sweeping away the whole complex social structure,levelling Windsor Castle as Burke put it in his famous metaphor,and making a 'Bedford level'of the whole country.The Whigs had to disavow any approval of the Jacobins;Mackintosh,who had given his answer to Burke's diatribes,met Burke himself on friendly terms (9th July 1797),and in 1800took an opportunity of public recantation.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 陆先生世界第一甜

    陆先生世界第一甜

    【已完结】亲眼目睹男友劈腿闺蜜,她果断让男友变成前男友,并闪婚年轻俊朗的亿万富豪。人前,他是光彩熠熠的豪门阔少,最有前途的青年才俊。人后,他是五好老公:文能上厅堂、武能下厨房。她不满抗议:“今晚你睡沙发,我睡床。”“……”
  • 渡亡经

    渡亡经

    失忆的莲灯被王阿萨刨挖出墓坑的时候十三岁,十五岁那年得知自己的身世她从敦煌去了长安。在那里她遇见了传说中有一百八十岁的国师。国师是个矫情的美男,而莲灯却意外的发现了他背后另一幅不为人知的面孔……
  • 触墓惊婚,棺人榻上来

    触墓惊婚,棺人榻上来

    她从五岁便随着奶奶踏遍坟地,为坟地的死人们迁坟捡骨,人们尊称他们为“捡骨人”。一座无名氏的荒野孤坟,一个腐烂面目全非的死尸。一次捡骨,她无意间触摸上那死尸手指上的白玉扳指,她的生活便发生了翻天覆地的变化。
  • 重生之贤妻难为

    重生之贤妻难为

    上一世,她是将军府的正室夫人,却独守空房半生,最后落得个被休弃的耻辱。直到她年过四十遇见了他,一见钟情后,才发现遇他为时已晚。今世,上天待她不薄,重生那日,她便发誓,此生此世必要与他携手一世,为他倾尽一生。
  • 你不必完美

    你不必完美

    活着是为了追求什么?什么才是自己想要的?怎样的一生才不后悔?几乎每个人都不止一次在心底叩问过自己这些问题。回答这些问题,既要了解社会,更需认识自我。一千个人眼中有一千个哈姆雷特,但标准答案永远只存于自己心中。涉江而过,芙蓉千朵。生命厚重漫长,却又似浮光掠影。在缤纷迷离的光影交错中,你望见自己的倒影了吗?打开《新语文课外读本:你不必完美》,看看那些名家们是如何看待时间与生命、思索自我与人生吧。
  • 红魔崛起

    红魔崛起

    乱世出英雄,但即便是英雄,也难以阻拦命运的碾压。在历时八千年后,昔日辉煌的红魔帝国已经处在了崩溃的边缘。内有贵族篡权,外有多族联军,暴风雨即将到来。在生死存亡之时,红魔一族的未来何在?究竟是死战至最后一刻,还是······放弃这片养育了无数红魔族的土地,去往新世界重现红魔族的辉煌?
  • 爸爸妈妈最难回答的问题

    爸爸妈妈最难回答的问题

    好奇是成长的原动力。在科学史上,许多重大的发明发现都与科学家小时候好奇心强密切相关。 愿意思考、喜欢探索是孩子的一种天性。每个健康的孩子都会这么做的。对许多家长来说,孩子的问题是许多欢乐和烦恼的源头。那么,如何面对对什么都充满好奇的孩子?善意的谎言或者是支支吾吾的解释?其实都不必要。本书作者辑纳了孩子最常提出的一百多个问题,根据孩子的年龄和生长发育特点有针对性地进行了回答,并请专家进行了分析和点评,无疑是一本父母必备的“问题宝典”。
  • 九零妙时光

    九零妙时光

    她活在悔恨中,在花样年华中去世。没想到一觉醒来,又回到十八岁……
  • 天星转

    天星转

    在科技引领的时代,能量横飞的战场,机甲横行,那些血肉之躯的武者,将如何在战场之上生存?席卷一切的战争在悄然临近,在这个战争主导的今日,该如何用自己双手,终结这场残忍的罪恶?战乱年代,一切都在蠢蠢欲动,这将是一个武者们行走在残酷战争背后的故事。这是战争和苦痛的哀嚎;也是魔鬼与天使的乐曲;亦是求道和成仙的悲歌;以星河为炉,圣星为轴,展宏图霸业背后的一场梦。
  • 神级小职员

    神级小职员

    “你先去洗个澡!”美女总裁命令道。啥?说好只聊人生,不那样……的,到底是从呢还是从呢?全能高手一路低调,却情债缠身……