23 JULY 1836, Page 13

THE LOGIC CHAIR OF EDINBURGH: PHILOSOPHY AND TOLERATION IN SCOTLAND.

THE Edinburgh Town-Council have filled up the vacancy in the University,by electing Sir WILLIAM HAMILTON. It is one thing to grudge the amount of the reward, and another to question the propriety of the choice. If intellectual labour, disinterested and unwearied, can merit distinction, Sir WILLIAM HAMILTON has fairly earned it; but it is unfortunate that his recompense should have been conferred in circumstances under which, by the vote of a popular body, erudition has been exalted over rare talent— industry, with moderate acuteness, over elevated perseverance accompanied by the highest originality—and in which a thorough acquaintance with the works of the inquirers of past time, came into contest with a power to benefit society by the discovery of new truths, and seemed to bear away the palm. Had an Edinburgh Town-Council of those days bestowed approbation on the old astronomer TYCHO, no one would have quarrelled with them; but had the reward involved his preference to the youthful NEN:TON, mankind would long ago have reversed the verdict. It is, however, at least satisfactory, that the result has not given victory to a mere rhetorician, and, through him, to a clique of noxious intriguers. A short debate preceded the vote; demanding especial notice on account of one important feature. It must sincerely gratify the friends of liberty of thought, that such men as Mr. BLACK and Mr. D. MACLAREN, (individuals on whose religious belief not one shadow of implication can be cast by the most straitly ortho- dox—who are, indeed, themselves of the very straitest sect,) utterly scouted and spurned the use attempted to be made of the name of religion—that old stalking-horse argument ever at command of the base, the hypocritical, and the ignorant. It is not for us, at this distance, to decide and appropriate the motives inciting to the utterance of the slang referred to; but it is allowable to express the hope, that if the people of Edinburgh have reason to apply to any of its authors the castigation of Mr. BLACK, supported and en- forced by the brief address of Mr. MAC LAREN,—if they know that the forward and blustering advocacy of what is termed Christian doctrine, is in any case not supported by Christian life,—if this noisy assertion of the authority of stringent dogmas be not proved to be sincere by the practice of austerities commanded by such dogmas,—or if there is reason to assume in their case, as in similar ones, that vain and empty and ambitious adventurers, who have attained some notoriety by their talking adherence to one party, are now employing that notoriety by way of raising their pur-. chase price with another,—it is allowable, we repeat, to express the hope that the electors of Edinburgh will have seen enough to give application to the penalty they can inflict, by consigning that alone which in all nature is contemptible—viz. insincerity—to the contempt and worst obscurity it has earned. There were per- sons, however, figuring in these discussions, to whom it is im- possible to lay charges of this description ; but no amount or degree of orthodoxy should authorize the committal of duties like those just discharged to individuals with whom orthodoxy is not, through effect of their ignorance, the slightest guarantee against uncharitable, intolerant, and tyrannical action. It seemed good, for instance, to Messrs. Deecnsa and RUSSEL to state broadly before the Council, that certain passages in Mr. COMBE 'S Consti- tution of Man demonstrated his "hostility to Christianity." These persons are sound men, we doubt not, and impregnable in the faith of CALVIN; but a trifling increment of modesty and a due augmen- tation of that charity which is the most prominent characteristic of a fallible mindfeeling the presence of its great and pure Maker,would certainly not be superfluous in proof of their own Christianity. The merits of this question should be fairly laid before the pub- lic. Mr. COMBE'S work is a positive one. It contains a state- ment of much that is positive and new in reference to the con- dition of man and the elements of his happiness; and in this it is altogether contradistinguished from the works of theologians, who for the last two hundred years have done nothing but brow- beat and abuse each other, and in the assumed name of the Almighty browbeat their flocks. Now in this whole treatise there is not one statement in opposition to those fundamental facts regard- ing man which Christianity brings into strong relief; although the novelties, the discoveries of the work, seem to compel modifica- tion in the philosophies which theologians hare constructed on the basis of these facts. It is because of this, that Mr. ConeE's work has been at once abused, hated, and unanswered. It has disturbed the theologians, simply as discoveries always disturb them ; but in consequence of its strict fundamental correspon- dence with the essential elements of Christianity, and its manifest foundation in nature, not one theologian of note has ventured, notwithstanding its celebrity and success, to stake his reputation by opposing it. Is it not, in such circumstances, somewhat too much for a Mr. DEUCHAR or a Mr. RUSSEL to pronounce ex cathedra as to its opposition to Christianity ? The statement comes lea e rents, from which tt may escape, over the coals produced by Lord Londonderry only to this—that their view of Christianity does not comprehend amp his lessees in the markets in which the respective coals may &miwte ; but also to tile truths which Mr. Cosine unfolds; and a man even of ordi- party of Lord Londonderry, lying nearer to places of shipment, and over districts which nary modesty- cf ordinary diffidence in his own powers a I ;a1; reach itlaces of shipment. only by the , yrnt nt o inclined even in an ordinary degree to that respect for talen't fairintl cults liemptitirtmedii ttetblattoar Iltit1•:itt:hitts 1.b;=111 rjerls for the labour of the conscientious inquirer which is the very first Legislattare Os applicabTesstoillattr9v I i I ;liltse plant Operation of the kneasu'rethlites moral acnons constituent of a judge in such a matter,—a manerf irtetrr.dst Lord .Londontlerry beinig nothing okwinnd,view seeing, or seeming to see a contradiction betweenetlhiiiss derrtil liznthate ,minirtorket, whilst its moreparttmito,taelylLua; vnotettlet less certain effect would be, by s and the new ones, would have said without hesitation, the same i n collieries which its to Lord Londonderry, to "Perhaps my views of Christianity arc imperfect: these new doc- trines appear to rest on strong substantive foundations; let me beware of rejecting them simply because of their contrariety to my preconceived views ; when I have read more, and thought more deeply, I may perceive the agreement." Let it be well understood what is intolerance. Mr. RUSSEL, who went to gaol rather than pay theAnnuity-tax, and who, perhaps, on the ground of that achievement, reckons himself a sort of martyr, clearly re- quires. to be informed, that the levying of a shilling or two out of a man s income in support of a strange creed, is just the most in- significant and least important way possible in which persecution can be rendered effective. The root of the persecuting spirit is in that disposition (and a pestiferous one it is) which disposes us to believe that our neighbour cannot be right simply because he dif- fers from us; and which, because of difference of opinion, will blast his character, or deprive him of merited station, without one feeling of reluctance, all as in the service of God ! We shall think ill of our old friends of Edinburgh, if, after manifestations of this mis- chievous kind, silly and ignorant men be permitted longer to share in the conduct of University affairs.

These remarks have been hazarded not so much in particular reference to the present case, as by way of warning against the action of a bad and dangerous and prevalent disposition; but there is another point, and a serious one, with respect to Mr. COSIBE'S rejection, to which we feel it a duty to solicit attention. The ad- vancement of society must ever come from within, not from with- out. Its elevation of character, and the breadth and permanence A letter from Rome in the Times mentions, that Prince D. Pierre of its institutions, depend on the condition of its people as to en- i Napoleon and Prince 1). Antoine Lucien, son; of Lucien Buonaparte, lightenment and their sound views of morals. One kind of Re- having been exiled from the Roman States by the Pope (who had been formers—nor let merit be refused them—keep their aye only on frightened by tales of their always going about armed), were suddenly outward influences, and strive, or seem to strive, to obtain for so- • arrested at Canino by a party of Pontifical Carabineers. Pierre was first

attacked ; but be defended himself vigorously, killing one and wounding ciety certain forms of law, without everimagining the necessity of

cultivating or cherishing those internal agencies which, if well de- , another officer of the yCianrga veers; several wounds while lying garotulntdm.gthInhtebefemlleaanndw received while, %bids veloped, will of themselves always procure for a people every bene- brother rushed out of the house, and was also assailed ; but he, armed Acid result. Lord MELBOURNE knows very well that Reformers Itiphith a fffowlding:piece, kept the men at bay for some time, and finally of this sort are the most vulgar of all ; and in his best speeches— eared .him .to reenter the house. They carried off his wounded those which do him most credit, and which will live—he has well brother, imprisoned im. in the Castle.of Angelo. It is uncertain lamented the strength of social or internal obstacles to the pro- what will belmdone with him ; but Antoine has escaped to America. gress of civilization in the British empire. It is sufficiently Such is this extraordinary story, which evidently requires explanation. strange, then, that the individual who more than any other man days ago, a respectable citizen of Brussels fell into so pro- in Britain has laboured with effect in the clearing of the public fouAndfeawlethargy, that all his friends and medical attendants thought mind,—who has founded and propagated a philosophy with signal him dead. His body was therefore laid out with the usual ceremonies, success, which will in the end teach men their true nature, and de- stroy superstition,—it is strange that Mr. COMBE should have been • poor man awoke, rubbed his eyes, and called for his coffee and news- only scowled on by the influential W hi crs of Scotland 1 Attachment paper; much to the disappointment of the priests, who were robbed of to old schools and old systems and olemasters, is all laudable;h fbut their fees, and of the heirs, who had already divided his succession.... the bestowal of Government influence in subjection to such feel- Brussels Paper. ings, is what in these il,ays we can hardly well afford. The vaca- tion is approaching ; and we request Lord MELBOURNE, not as a favour, but in performance of a public duty, to peruse the Con- stitution of Man : and, after he has satisfied himself by how much his best Bishop--even the Hierarch of DURHAM—has been excelled by Mr. COMBE in contributions to sound sense, in metaphysics, or in works of public utility, he may perhaps be inclined to ask why the representatives of his Ministry in Edinburgh did, with one consent, contrive to keep the author of that work from one of the few positions attainable by him in Scotland, from the eleva- tion of which his already recognized authority would have been more visible and doubly influential? Mr. COMBS requires no condolence because of defeat. Probably, he never looked for success; and if many of the Edinburgh Council are like Messrs. DEUCHAR and RUSSEL, ho must have known from the beginning that success was hopeless. But he has established a fresh claim on the grateful notice of posterity,— daring a position which no man in that line will again rejoice to occupy, offering himself as a first sacrifice to the high priests of Old Philosophies, and maintaining with the dignity of a philoso- pher the interests of truth.