I
The opinions anyone holds in this momentous crisis are largely
determined by those he has imbibed from the thinkers of the past, and it
is interesting to notice how much Carlyle has been brought into the
discussion on both sides. A somewhat systematic consideration of the
bearing of his teachings on the present war may therefore not be
altogether profitless.
For many reasons he is not the sort of man to invite much attention from
journalistic, academic, and dilettante writers. He is unpopular in a
double sense; for he is neither superficial nor facile, and his ideas
are opposed to the optimistic convictions that dominate in this
generation. Some insist that he is responsible for the extravagant
paradox and persistent denial of the obvious and the accepted indulged
in so freely by such journalistic products as Shaw and Chesterton, but
these men only imitate his manner to pervert his meaning. That they
imitate him, however, is proof of his influence; for the popular writer
does not imitate anyone whose repute is not of the highest.
The academic mind is indifferent or hostile to him because the
formlessness of his writings and their abnormal character seem serious
defects to those to whom the formal is more important than the
substantial. His learning, too, while undoubtedly extensive, is not
always accurate or orthodox. The king is not the "cunning or the
kenning" man, and his contempt for "logic-choppers" and "word-mongers"
does not commend him to such as value the theoretical above the
practical.
To the dilettante he is equally repellant. He hated mediocrity and
superficiality, and he had inconveniently high standards. This latter
reason is the openly avowed one for hostility towards him in the case of
an English writer, Mr. Ford Madox Hueffer, who freely denounces him in
his diffuse discussions of the war, but also cites facts that tend to
disprove his contention that Carlyle is without influence; for he tells
of repeated experiences with British workingmen who were readers of
Carlyle and ardent believers in his gospel.
Carlyle is undoubtedly a strong influence in Great Britain. The
superficial regard him as a reactionary and an obscurantist who believed
in despotism and serfdom, but those who live closer to the realities of
life detect in his writings a passionate sympathy for the humble and the
oppressed. He may not exert much influence in the learned or the
artistic world, but he is certainly a social and a political force.
Writers on British politics constantly refer to his influence over the
more intelligent voters of the working classes, and this demonstrates
power of the most pregnant kind.
Outside of Great Britain, too, there are evidences of his influence. It
is mostly within the English speaking world, but some accuse him of
being the progenitor of Nietzsche and his cult of the superman. This is
only superficially true, however, for Nietzsche was exactly the sort of
person he denounced as "quack" and "simulacrum;" but, as in the case of
Shaw and Chesterton, this proves influence, even though it be of a
negative sort. In the United States his _French Revolution_ has
apparently had much influence in the way of making our attitude towards
the past less formal and academic, and in bringing about a tendency to
look more at the principles than at the facts of history. He has also
given us such familiar expressions as "captains of industry," the
"unspeakable Turk," and many others not generally recognized as his; and
the man who fashions our daily speech gives the strongest possible proof
of influence. Here, too, however, his influence is chiefly in the
political and social world, and we can see the effect of his ideas in
one of our most important pieces of recent legislation, the selective
draft; for this act aims to realize his cardinal principle, that the
necessary work of a nation shall be compulsory and shall be apportioned
equitably and in such a way as to ensure each man getting the task for
which he is fitted.