BUCKLE'S “ HISTORY of CIVILISATION.”

S U P P L E M E N T T O “ T H E L I T E R A R Y G U I D E S J A N U A R Y , 1896.

P e r h a p s the most remarkable literary fragment in existence is Buckle’s “ History ol Civilisation,” * the three volumes of which do not exhaust even the Introduction. To one accustomed to the Dryasdust historical method the first reading of this great work is like a plunge into salt water on a summer’s morning. The fluent brilliancy and crystal clearness of the style, the daring generalisations, arouse the delighted, almost breathless, attention of the reader. Not content with relating isolated events, however picturesque, Buckle endeavours to discover the causes which have produced them, to understand the laws which underlie the continuity of historical progress, and to trace their origin and influence.

the moral element does not. The moral law of to-day is, in essentials, the same as it was 3,000 or 4,000 years ago. Change cannot result from a cause which is stationary; it must be due to a factor which is itself constantly progressive. T o the intellectual improvement of the race may be ascribed the decline of two o f the greatest evils by which the world has been afflicted— viz., religious persecution and war. At one time the best men persecuted from a sincere desire to spread religious truth. Their sincerity evidenced their morality. Subsequent experience proved that sincerity is found on the rack as well as on the judgment-seat, and when the mind perceived the futility of persecution its immorality followed.

THE SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTION OF HISTORY. History is not a mere recital o f disconnected phenomena springing from causes unknown. It is the science which reveals how the individual activity promotes the universal order, and how the sphere of caprice is brought within the domain of law. Human actions are not examples of volition o n ly ; they are the effects of pre-existing causes; they are subject to fixed laws, bear a definite relation to one another, and, in proportion to the accuracy of our knowledge of them, are capable of being predicted. The rise and fall of empires must be viewed, not as mysterious dispensations o f Providence, but as facts susceptible of explanation by known agencies; human actions, “ being guided by their antecedents, are, in reality, never inconsistent, but, however capricious they may appear, only form part of one vast scheme o f universal order, of which we, in the present state of knowledge, can barely see the outline.” This conception, “ at once the key and the basis of history,” brings it within the domain of science, and subjects it to general laws which may help to solve its difficult problems.

FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF HISTORY. Buckle claims that four leading ideas may be discovered at work in the long story of civilisation. The first is that progress depends upon the extent and diffusion of the knowledge of natural phenomena. Favourable conditions of climate and soil promote the acquisition o f that surplus wealth without which knowledge cannot be acquired or civilisation begun, and, taken in conjunction with the effects of natural features upon the mind, lay the basis of those national peculiarities which are usually supposed to be innate. In tropical countries earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, and other imposing phenomena, greatly foster man’s tendency to superstition. In Europe the effect of natural phenomena has been, on the whole, to limit the imaginative, and strengthen the reasoning, faculties; while the soil and climate have greatly favoured the growth of intellect and energy.

THE SECOND LAW.

The intellectual element in human nature advances, while

* “ The History of Civilisation in England.” By Thomas Henry Buckle. (Longmans.) 3 vols. ; 24s.

THE THIRD LAW.

In entering upon his preliminary study of the English intellect from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, Buckle propounds a third fundamental law of history, and one still more calculated to startle the reader in whom piety dominates intelligence. This is, that the principle of scepticism is a necessary and leading element in the march of civilisation. The term is not intended to refer to theological dogmas only, but to denote a general hardness of belief in matters strange or improbable— that spirit of inquiry which is inimical to all forms of superstition. In the Middle Ages the world, even the educated world, was sunk in such a slough of credulity that “ until doubt began progress was impossible.”

IMMENSE VALUE OF SCEPTICISM.

Buckle undertakes to prove that “ to scepticism we owe that spirit of inquiry which, during the last two centuries, has gradually encroached on every possible subject; has reformed every department of practical and speculative knowledge ; has weakened the authority o f the privileged classes, and has placed liberty on a surer foundation ; has chastised the despotism of princes; has restrained the arrogance of the nobles; and has even diminished the prejudices of the clergy. In a word, it is this which has remedied the three fundamental errors of the olden time ; the errors which made the people in politics too confiding, in science too credulous, in religion too intolerant.”

TENDENCIES OF THE REFORMATION. The leading theologians of the Protestant Reformation did a bold thing in maintaining the right of private judgment, and in subordinating the principle of authority to the principle of reason. A strong spirit of religious bigotry actuated the Puritan movement, though, oddly enough, it was combined with a vigorous antagonism to clerical aggression ; while the numerous checks which the Church received in the times of the Stuarts still further reduced its power over the people.

The personal worthlessness of the Stuart rulers proved beneficial to the cause of liberty by weakening the excessive loyalty which, in their case, constituted for a long time a danger to England and a source of discord among her sons. The legislation of the reign of Charles II. was almost