CARLYLE'S FRENCH REVOLUTION. (From the Quarterly Review.)

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 112, 23 January 1873, Page 3

CARLYLE'S FRENCH REVOLUTION. (From the Quarterly Review. )

Let this passage he attentively considered, and several things will appear from it. First, that Mr Carlyle has no party spirit in relation to the French revolutionists, or to their opponents. Not. of comae, that he can be devoid of the natural feelings of men towards events so terrible. He, like another man, can blame the original selfishness of the French nobility — can sympathise with their after sufferings, in many cases heroically endured — can feel horror at the crimes of a Robespierre and a Marat. But these arc not, to him, the whole ; ho can even look with a certain calmness upon these elements of the tragedy, knowing that their lies behind all those another greater force This tremendous revolutiwn, as it was not itself the product of individual wills, but the outburst of a suffering nation, so did not cither owe its horrors to the wickedness of individual men. The leaders in it were indeed, in tl c (greater number of instances, wicked men ; but they ver > also, with few exceptions, small nnd vain men. It if p ying them too much honor to consider them the real caus s of those events of whioli they were the immediate authois And so Mr Carlyle represents the matter. His eye does not rest on them : ho looks beyond for a grctor cause. What is that cause? It is ignorance — the mutual ignoiance on the part of men of each other's feelings, tempers, designs. When the different ranks in sooicty stand aloof from each other, the en or may at first seem small : bit their ignorance of c ich other's lives is like a dangerous gas, at first stifling all good efforts, and afterwards bursting out into a destructive flame when the smallest spark of ruspicioa falls upon it. A •mall moral obliquity, conjoined with a vast ignoranoe, is the source of the widest calamities Now, we do not know any history whatever in which this great fact of human ignorance, with its enormous consequences, is so fully understood nnd exemplified as in Mr Carlyle's "French Revolution." Consider, in the pasav^e above quoted, his description of the citizens at tbeir festivities. He shows you these men in their p ivate relations, when they are engaged in matters at the level of their comprehension, muoh like other men ; they are not fu nd i — they have effects n i, duties, pleasure and yet the awfulness of the situation is never absent from his thoughts. He •boMs you the minds of men, in all

other uapoi-ts inconceivably separated from < ac'a oth^i a'ike in this respect, that they snemed in the ini-lst of black chaos, as if a new oider of things ha 1 Ik gun in which all old experiences were wipel out — in which the cvtiavapance of a line of conduct was no proof that it might not be the very Hue to lead to safety. And the chaoa winch men saw was intensitied bv th<» very f.tct that they saw it. All this Mr Carlyle describes ; and his dtsci iptum io most true, most impa tial, inojt str.iceable to all who desire to uuderstaud men.

A COMMCNIST Si:TTtFMr\T —Far away down in tl-e balmy Pacific lie tlie islands of New Caledonia Bul.ulc, for so the chief island is eilled, i\ oni 1 of the furthest outlying stars of the Australasian constellation. Six days oi List "ailing are needed to reach the spot from Sydney; and when there, if men versed m the modern science, and possessed of the modci-n artillery of war, chose to resist a landing, o\cn a powerful force might be unable to eflect it. Baladc i% 200 ! miles long and about 30 wide, and it ii so guarded by jealoiu coral reefs, jagged rocks, an 1 t •eaehrrous sand bnnks, that by only two tortuous channels in all thnt circumference is it possible to get to tho shoro One of these is thnt bv which Cook sailed in when ho discovered the island in 1771, and the other was only found by Captain "Woo dm in 18 iP The books say there are 60,000 persons living on IJu'ade, but since the war, which lasted for some years afler 1833, when the French seized the island to establish a niwal station, the number of native* ha? probably been much diminished These facts and others about Balade have lately taken a fresh interest, for ship load after ship load of French Communists have recently been sent thither. Ten thousand Communists are to be put upon the inland under tl c surveillance, for the present, of a single regiment of French troops and tho future of such a society, while certain to be scanned with unflagging curiosity, may likewise prove both s>cialh instructive and politically significant. Frenchmen are called bad colonists, and no doubt, ns a Hile, with justice. There are exceptions, however, to all rule*. mil there is good hope in tins case to find one To begin with, the French missionaiie=i at Balade have dono very well, and although the natives ate the captain of tho ship Mary in 1849, they have done little or nothing in the man-eating way ever since. Prosperous settlements have grow n up around several of the missions, and several of the plantations are remarkable for fertility and bemty. The conditions thus exist for allowing a Communist experiment upon a splendid scale, without disturbing the equilibrium of other societies, or running the risk inseparable from such an attempt in older countries of pullin* down without the subsequent power to bnild up, and of destroying only to find there are no compensatory means of "restoration, Assuming of com se, that the expatriated Communists aTe sincere m their professed convictions, they will now be so situated as to be able to give the world proof of that sincci ity, while furnishing an example which, either through success or failure, will be of inestimable utility to their fellow-men. It is but right to remember that many of tho stio-igest argnments against Communists, and certainly the most potent forces t hat lmveoperated to its prejudice, originate m old settled societies and institution* whoso princinles and existence are incompatible with Communism, and which, consequently, put foith their utmost strength to oppose and to crush it. A new country, a virgin field, offers few, if any, of such obstacles; and, so far as this point is concerned, the experiment of Communism mavha\c as fair a chnnce m New Caledonia as Republicanism ha* in America Apart from the magnitude and social importance of this experiment, it is invested with a romance that mint increase the interest with which it is regarded. All (he picturesque adjuncts that have charmed the world in the adventures, real or imaginary, of Robinson Crmoe, Paul nnd Virmnia. or the dwellers at Pitcairns Island may ea-ilv be equalled or surpassed at Balade. Th e climate is exquisitely soft and balmy, nnd the scenery is of fairy loveliness. 'Groves of sandal-wood range for miles into tlie interior. Lofty peaks, divided by fertile valley*, soar maje^c illy into the sky The cocoa-nut, the banana, broad fruit, the yam, taro. and mango grow indigenously, and *■> do the sugar-enno and the ■vine. Large and well watered pi ims yield bounteous pasturage Fish and game are nbnndant Coal and iron are found nmonsr the hilli, and— ilthoufrli Hie French Government have ducournijed the search fir if,— erold is k-iown to j exist there too. Other choice atones and minerals are abundant, including Rood granite, and the rarer green amphibole Tims all the materials of a delicious climate, unlimited and fertile soil, exquisite scenery, uncommon security from external attack, evist to assure comfort and happ ness. Eden itself could scarcely «ct forth a more perfect earthly paradise ; and if Communionism can flourish permanentlv'anvwhero, or under any circumstances it assuredly should be at this beautiful isle, " set in the silver sea," the future home of the unquiet spirits who lately threw un barricades, smashed the Hotel <Io Vllle, ami cloftod nu mw 1* n ,,,i si Timers alito bohind the walls of Paris — Xrw York Times Ax Ihomcal Gift. — True to hw well-known political leanings, and as evincing his admiration of the policy of Mr D'srieli, Mr Andrew Currie. of Gla^mount. near Kirkealdy, has ji»t convoyed to the Con*cnnfivo Chief a cift of an exceedingly novel and interesting description. Tt, conwh of a magnificently carved, Bilvor-mounted walking-stick, made from wood which formed the stair leading to the dwcl-ling-hou«o in Kirkcaldy which history assigns as having been the birth-place of Adam Smith, the renowned author of The Wealth of XaUout. What is further worthy of note, ns it must certainly also be vcrv eratifvina to Mr 'dime, \% that Mr Tis noli has exposed himwlf highly pleased with tho Kouvenir. having written to the donor thanking him for the «taff, and referring to tl>o vnluo he placed upon it in point of historical association. — Fife Free P/vs?. A lad arrested for theft, when taken before the magistrate and asked what his occupation wn«, frankly nniwcrcd, " Stealing " " Your candor a^tonwhes me," snid the Judge. "I thought it would," replied the Ind, " wine how many big 'uns there arc in the business, and is ashamed to ow n if .'>