CONCLUSION.
"Respect is often paid in proportion as it is claimed."
DR. JOHNSON.
Respectable reader, you are perchance by this time partly inclined
to at least agree that this disease of yours may be harmful to
yourself and to others. I have not minced my words in discussing the
unpleasant symptoms of your ailment. You are a prey to hallucinations,
and it behoved me, as a judicious physician, to jeer at your fancies
and to deride your dreads. I have endeavoured to convince you that
Respectability is anti-social, improgressive, and often cruel. You
cannot deny that the world's greatest moral worthies have been the
Non-Respectables, the Unconventionalists, the enlightened Eccentrics.
They have all deviated in some particular, or in many ways, from the
ordinary standards and customs of the majority. In many instances they
have been accounted immoral, but that has not deterred them, because
new morality has always been deemed immorality by the Respectables.
Wesley, for example, thought it immoral to doubt the existence of
witches. Yet, who to-day but the most degraded peasants of the wild
hills believes in witches? Mr. Gladstone considers divorce immoral;
but those who differ from him may be counted in millions. They are the
adherents of a new morality, more reasonable, just, and humane than the
old which has passed away.
Therefore, to make progress we are compelled to defy Respectability,
and to outrage propriety. But that does not mean that we are to become
ruthless Vandals, taking delight in destroying everything that is
old. Far from it. We must pull down that idol Respectability from
its throne, and set up some worthier object of veneration in its
place. True worth and integrity of character can have no alliance
with intellectual insincerity and social hypocrisy. We need more
brave-hearted men and women, with the courage of their opinions,
more heterodox thinkers, more consistent heretics to stand solidly
together in a great attack on the shams and falsehoods that constitute
Respectability.
Our children must be taught to use their brains, so that when they
grow up they will not allow their little corner of the world to rule
their lives and make them cowardly and deceitful. The words of the
Knight in "Pericles" should be taught to boys: "_We are gentlemen that
neither in our hearts nor outward eyes envy the great, nor do the low
despise._" Education must be freed from the restrictions and hindrances
of Respectability, and made catholic, comprehensive, and equal for both
sexes.
The canker has eaten too long at the heart of our great nation. Its
ravages, if unchecked, will ultimately destroy our prestige, and
we shall fall as Babylon, Rome, and Greece have fallen. Our social
affections are blighted and chilled by this fell disease, our emotions
are shrivelled, our national virility enfeebled. Colonies in their
youth offer us a good illustration of the rapid progress of a people
who have abandoned the cant of Respectability. In such communities
men and women work for the commonweal, on a fraternal basis, with
no heed to rank and precedence, and it is in these societies that
individualism, independence, and unconventionality have full play and
outlet. Only at a later stage does the blight of Respectability descend
upon the people of a new country, as we see it now in America, and, to
a certain extent in Australia and Canada, where the _bourgeoisie_ have
established themselves and infected the populace with their disease.
"This diabolical invention of gentility," as Thackeray terms it, is
disintegrating society in England, slowly and surely. It is not foreign
aggression, nor anarchy within, that we should most fear, but the
insidious virus of the disease that is sapping our vitals.
It is the middle-men of the middle class who chiefly spread the
contagion and transmit it to posterity. Antiquated political economists
tell us that the middleman is useful to everyone, and that the man
who gambles with other folk's money is a benefactor. There was a
time when trade meant a handicraft; now it is a term for gambling
with articles made by ill-rewarded workers. And the man who lives by
this system of dealing expects the farmer, the miner, and craftsmen
to doff their caps to him, and call him gentleman. "Since every Jack
became a gentleman, there's many a gentle person made a Jack," says
Shakspere. No one with a clear gaze on the future can delude himself
that the middleman is a permanent institution, to be preserved and
commended. His respectability, without dwelling upon his economic
_raison d'être_, has made him the contempt of the upper class and the
detestation of the working population. He has made himself king of
provincial towns, censor of morals, and patron of the arts; and the mob
has let him gain the upper hand, looking on with mouths agape at his
cleverness. Respectability in its worst forms will last as long as the
_bourgeoisie_ possess this power over the masses.
I leave it to Anarchists, Socialists, Individualist, Tories, and the
rest to settle whether the shoddy god, Respectability, is to reign
despotically over England.
THE UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE
AND
FREE REVIEW.
Among the high-class magazines, the _University Magazine and Free
Review_ takes the first place in English advanced literature.
Independence of thought, freedom from conventional fetters, and
boldness where necessary, impart a freshness and vigour to the articles
of this publication, which we miss even in the best and most earnest
literature of the day.
It is _the_ Magazine for such readers as care for progressive thought
in all or any of the main fields of discussion--the religious, the
political, the sociological, the ethical, the economic, the literary,
the scientific, and the æsthetic.
It always takes the part of the weak and oppressed, and this Magazine
has done much to call attention to indisputable evils.
Contents of the APRIL No., 1897, Vol. VIII., No. I--
The Case Of Dr. Romanes, _by John M. Robertson_.
Cardinal Manning, the Sceptic, _by R. de Villiers_.
The Inertia of English Universities, _by F. R. Sarritor_.
The Bible and the Child, _by Chilperic_.
Tourgenieff, _by Ernest Newman_.
Roden Noel, _by Karl Blind_.
The Whole Duty of Woman, _by Geoffrey Mortimer_.
The Blasphemy Laws, _by Fred. Verinder_.
Martin Turner, _by H. J. Cressingham_.
The Intellectual Movement in France, _by A. Hamon_.
Periodicals, _by Walter Shaw Sparrow_.
Contents of the MAY No., 1897, Vol. VIII., No. 2--
Bentley and Anthony Collins, _by M. W. Wiseman_.
Roden Noel, _by Karl Blind_.
Tourgenieff, _by Ernest Newman_.
The Downfall of Olive Schreiner, _by X_.
Marie Corelli and her Public, _by A. W. Stanbury_.
Moral Instruction without Theology, _by F. J. Gould_.
The Social Purity Hallucination, _by J. P. Gilmour_.
Current Pseudo-Philosophy, _by John M. Robertson_.
Slumland by Night, _by G. M._
William Blake and Modern Problems, _by Edward Willmore_.
The Social Evil and the Moral Law, _by A. Macevir_.
Periodicals, _by Walter Shaw Sparrow_.
New Books.
Contents of the JUNE No., 1897, Vol. VIII., No. 3--
Nietzsche's Indictment of Christianity, _by John M. Robertson_.
An Ethical Excursion, _by Hugh Mortimer Cecil_.
The Teachings of Thomas Hardy, _by Duane Williams_.
The Tory Professor, _by Robert Duncanson_.
Mr. Gladstone's Latest Postcard, _by Alan Stephens_.
Usury and Thrift, _by J. Greevz Fisher_.
A Specimen of Religious Journalism, _by Stanley Bruce_.
In Extremis, _by Allan Laidlaw_.
The Legitimation League, _by A. Goldwin_.
Nancy, _by Ernest Newman_.
New Books.
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, LIMITED,
16, JOHN STREET, BEDFORD ROW, LONDON, W.C.
Just published, 10s. nett,
PSEUDO-PHILOSOPHY
_AT THE END OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY_.
By HUGH MORTIMER CECIL.
_An Irrational Trio: Kidd, Drummond, Balfour._
A vigorous refutation of the well-known Pseudo-Philosophical Works,
_Social Evolution_ (Kidd), _The Ascent of Man_ (Drummond), and
_The Foundations of Belief_ (Balfour), showing the absurdity of
the methods adopted on the one hand, and the insincerity of these
Pseudo-Philosophers on the other.
_The Academy_, APRIL 17, 1897:
Mr. Hugh Mortimer Cecil will have none of this legerdemain; the flank
of the rationalist position shall not be so turned if his vigilance can
frustrate the manoeuvre; and with a pen steeped in sulphuric acid, he
has set out to confute these writers one by one.
... He is one who must be reckoned with as a clear thinker, a cogent
reasoner, a lucid and accomplished writer....
It is impossible, in the space at our disposal, to consider at large
Mr. Cecil's criticism of "Foundations of Belief." It is a very serious
and capable attack which will have to be reckoned with. Especially
damaging is the criticism of Mr. Balfour's theory of authority. That
argument can be employed with effect only by one religious body, and
it is not that body of which Mr. Balfour is a member. And here we
venture to suggest to Mr. Cecil that it would be well were he to find
out, before the issue of a second edition, the meaning of the Roman
Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception, to which he more than
once alludes; he appears to be under the impression that the phrase is
equivalent to parthenogenesis.
_The New Saturday Review_, APRIL 17, 1897:
The book is only one of many evidences of the fact that it is quite
time the theologians recognised the real danger of their position, and
sent into the lists stronger champions than those we have been writing
about. It is little to the credit of the theological leaders that,
after first condemning Darwin and vilifying some of his supporters,
they should adopt his teaching only to misrepresent it, and to make a
sophistical use of that misrepresentation. Of what moment are all the
questions concerning ecclesiastical tradition and ritual in comparison
to the great question of the relation between science and religion
which is agitating the minds of those who will be the shapers and
formers of the next generation?
It is not the simple souls who find their modern gospel in Kidd's
"Social Evolution" or in Drummond's "Ascent of Man," good as those
simple souls are, that will make the dominant public opinion of the
next half century. Nor are the rank-and-file of the clergy--of all
denominations--in many instances qualified to engage effectively in
this controversy. Their pulpit science has long been a by-word. Unless
some defenders of the orthodox position abler than those that have yet
appeared can be found, the rationalists will be believed when they
boast, as our author does, that they hold a "fortress that is quite
impregnable." Pseudo-science and pseudo-philosophy are not science or
philosophy at all.
Our author's book will probably win its way into only a few of the
libraries of the orthodox. Rationalists will read it, and will find in
it only a vigorous statement of their own opinions. The proper use of
the book is to show the orthodox what they have to do, if they would
defend their position....
It is a challenge which would deserve attention if it stood alone.
But it does not stand alone; it is backed up by a great body of
philosophers and scientists and social reformers, and men of the
highest culture and noblest characters, as well as by a vast amount of
smouldering suspicion and distrust and doubt among the people.
_National Observer and British Review_, APRIL 17, 1897:
Portions of the author's criticisms are not only just, but valuable;
and when he is judicious enough to suppress his own personality, he can
often be read not only with assent, but with satisfaction. The chief
object of Mr. Cecil's antipathy is any attempt at reconciling positive
science with religion, whether the religion be Christianity, or merely
a natural theism; and, as types of the methods by which the attempt is
now being made, he takes the arguments of three modern apologists--Mr.
Kidd, Mr. Drummond, and Mr. Arthur Balfour. He takes these in order.
The first section of his work is a criticism of "Social Evolution";
the second of "The Ascent of Man"; the third, of "The Foundations
of Belief." In completely discrediting the two first of these three
works, Mr. Cecil's task has been easy, and he has shown considerable
skill in accomplishing it. If we take Mr. Kidd's "Social Evolution"
as it stands, it is difficult to imagine a more signal monument of
self-deception; and when we recollect the avidity with which a large
section of the public devoured the volume, and allowed themselves to
be deceived with the author, we feel that such a fallacious guide
can hardly be too trenchantly exposed. Mr. Cecil contrives, with the
adroitness of a sharp solicitor, to collect and place side by side a
number of Mr. Kidd's self-contradictions, and shows that his argument,
taken as a whole, falls to pieces at one touch of serious criticism. He
shows also that Mr. Kidd's history is as childish and imperfect as his
logic.
... But, in spite of these omissions, he has said quite enough to
discredit effectually what would rank as the most remarkable specimen
of contemporary pseudo-philosophy, if it were not for a specimen
produced by a Scottish writer, who has distanced altogether the
fallacies of his English rival. This last is Mr. Drummond's "Ascent
of Man;" and it is in his criticism of this that Mr. Cecil shows
himself at his best. Had he only been less destitute of the rudiments
of good behaviour and good feeling, we should have had little but
commendation to bestow on the manner in which he exposes Mr. Drummond's
absurd justifications of the ways of God to man, and the hopeless
inaccuracies of his theories as to altruism, and "the struggle for the
life of others." Few books in the long run do more harm than such books
as "The Ascent of Man." Instead of really reconciling religion and
science, they injure religion by making the attempt at reconciliation
ridiculous.
_The Morning Leader_, MARCH 25, 1897:
Mr. Cecil is a born fighter. He attacks with courage and cunning and
resource, having at command a never-failing artillery of invective to
complete the havoc he works by means of his sapping and mining. This
latter plan of campaign he mercilessly pursues by quotation after
quotation from previous essays and pamphlets of his "irrationalist
trio," preparing his reader for the overthrow of the citadel by
showing how hollow and unsubstantial are the outworks. So savagely
complete, indeed is the attack that as one gazes upon the ruins of
Kidd, Drummond, and Balfour, a feeling of sympathy with the fallen
philosophers must take the place of joy in the whizzing of the
rationalist shells.
The method of attack adopted by this new and puissant slogger shows,
perhaps, a little too much contempt for the enemy, a little too much
confidence in the impregnability of the attacking party's position.
But, although the book may enrage the philosophic doubters, it is bound
to make a glorious show for the robuster members of the rationalist
party. The author's advice to the former is to "feed on the religious
novel of Mrs. Humphry Ward, the geology of Sir J. W. Dawson, the
apologetics of Mr. Gladstone, and the biographies of Jesus that are
said to be in preparation by Mr. Hall Caine, Mr. Ian Maclaren, and
Mr. Crockett--three gentlemen whose capacity for sentimental fiction
is the best guarantee of their fitness for such a task." Language
of this kind is distinctly provocative, but it may be found bracing
enough to the energetic rejector of scientific compromise. Whatever
"Pseudo-Philosophy" may lack in urbanity and serenity, no charge can
be brought against it on the score of dulness or stupidity. The book
is at once a brilliant and pitiless exposure of loose thinking, and a
literary entertainment of the richest kind.
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| Transcriber's Note: |
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| Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. |
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| Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. |
| |
| Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, |
| _like this_. |
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End of Project Gutenberg's The Blight of Respectability, by Geoffrey Mortimer