one abuse can correction be administered | Speculative upon any scheme which he without endangering the existence of every thinks may cherish the spirit of reform. other. "If, then, with this inward determination The expression is hailed with the greatest delight by bad and feeble men, and repeated with the most unwearied energy; and to the word Speculative, by way of reinforcement, are added theoretical, visionary, chimerical, romantic, Utopian. "Sometimes a distinction is taken, and not to suffer, so far as depends upon himself, the adoption of any reform which he is able to prevent, it should seem to him necessary or advisable to put on for a cover, the profession or appearance of a desire to contribute to such reform-in pursuance of the device or fallacy here in question, he will represent that which goes by the name of reform as distinguishable into two species; one of them a fit subject for approbation, the other for disapprobation. That which he thus professes to have marked for approbation, he will accordingly, for the ex-farther progress made in the art of irrationpression of such approbation, characterise by some adjunct of the eulogistic cast, such as moderate, for example, or temperate, or practical, or practicable. "To the other of these nominally distinct species, he will, at the same time, attach some adjunct of the dyslogistic cast, such as violent, intemperate, extravagant, out rageous, theoretical, speculative, and so forth. "Thus, then, in profession and to appearance, there are in his conception of the matter two distinct and opposite species of reform, to one of which his approbation, to the other his disapprobation, is attached. But the species to which his approbation is attached is an empty species-a species in which no individual is, or is intended to be, contained. "The species to which his disapprobation is attached is, on the contrary, a crowded species, a receptacle in which the whole contents of the genus-of the genus Reform are intended to be included."-(pp. 277,278.) thereupon a concession made. The plan is not hinder its being bad in practice. ality, the plan is pronounced to be too good to be practicable; and its being so good as it is, is thus represented as the very cause of its being bad in practice. this art is at length arrived, that the very "In short, such is the perfection at which circumstance of a plan's being susceptible of the appellation of a plan, has been gravely stated as a circumstance sufficient to warrant its being rejected: rejected, if not with hatred, at any rate with a sort of accompaniment, which, to the million, is commonly felt still more galling-with contempt." (p. 296.) There is a propensity to push theory too far; but what is the just inference? not that theoretical propositions (i. e. all propositions of any considerable comprehension or extent) should, from such their extent, be considered to be false in toto, but only that, in the particular case, inquiry should be made whether, supposing the proposition to be in the character of a rule generally true, an exception ought to be taken out of it. It might also be imagined that there was something wicked or unwise in the exercise of thought; for everybody feels a necessity for disclaiming it. "I am not given to speculation, I am no friend to theories." Can a man disclaim theory, can he disclaim spe culation, without disclaiming thought? Anti-rational Fallacies.-When reason is in opposition to a man's interests, his study will naturally be to render the faculty itself, and whatever issues from it, an object of hatred and contempt. The sarcasm and other figures of speech employed on the occasion are directed not merely against reason, but against thought, as if there were something in the faculty of thought that rendered the exercise of it incompatible with The description of persons by whom useful and successful practice. Some- this fallacy is chiefly employed are those times a plan, which would not suit the who, regarding a plan as adverse to official person's interest, is without more their interests, and not finding it on ado pronounced a speculative one; and, the ground of general utility exposed by this observation, all need of rational to any preponderant objection, have and deliberate discussion is considered recourse to this objection in the chato be superseded. The first effort of racter of an instrument of contempt, the corruptionist is to fix the epithet in the view of preventing those from it; upon The whole of these fallacies may be gathered together in a little oration, which we will denominate the Noodle's Oration. looking into it who might have been stamped a character of eternity? Are otherwise disposed. It is by the fear of not all authorities against this measure seeing it practised that they are drawn-Pitt, Fox, Cicero, and the Attorney to speak of it as impracticable. "Upon and Solicitor General? The proposithe face of it (exclaims some feeble or tion is new, Sir; it is the first time it pensioned gentleman), it carries that was ever heard in this House. I am air of plausibility, that, if you were not prepared, Sir-this House is not not upon your guard, might engage prepared, to receive it. The measure you to bestow more or less of attention implies a distrust of his Majesty's gobut were you to take the trou-vernment; their disapproval is sufficient to warrant opposition. Precaution only is requisite where danger is apprehended. Here the high character of the individuals in question is a sufficient guarantee against any ground of alarm. Give not, then, your sanction to this measure; for, whatever be its character, if you do give your sanction to it, the same man by whom this is proposed, will propose to you others to which it will be impossible to give your consent. I care very little, Sir, for the ostensible measure; but what is there behind? What are the honourable "What would our ancestors say to gentleman's future schemes? If we this, Sir? How does this measure pass this bill, what fresh concessions tally with their institutions? How may he not require? What further does it agree with their experience? degradation is he planning for his Are we to put the wisdom of yesterday country? Talk of evil and inconin competition with the wisdom of cen- venience, Sir! look to other countries turies? (Hear, hear!) Is beardless-study other aggregations and socieyouth to show no respect for the deci-ties of men, and then see whether the sions of mature age? (Loud cries of laws of this country demand a remedy hear! hear!) If this measure be right, would it have escaped the wisdom of those Saxon progenitors to whom we are indebted for so many of our best political institutions? Would the Dane have passed it over? Would the Norman have rejected it? Would such a notable discovery have been reserved for these modern and degenerate times? Besides, Sir, if the measure itself is good, I ask the honourable gentleman if this is the time for carrying it into execution-whether, in fact, a more unfortunate period could have been selected than that which he has chosen? If this were an ordinary measure, I should not oppose it with so much vehemence; but, Sir, it calls in question the wisdom of an irrevocable law-of a law passed at the memorable period of the Revolution. What right have Sir, to break down this firm column, on which the great men of that day we, If his own mo or deserve a panegyric. Was the ho- The strong pull and the long pull,'I shall end with the memorable words of the assembled Barons 'Nolumus leges Angliæ mutari. ” characters which appertain in common to Upon the whole, the following are the all the several arguments here distinguished by the name of fallacies: "1. Whatsoever be the measure in hand, they are, with relation to it, irrelevant. "2. They are all of them such, that the application of these irrelevant arguments ness or total absence of relevant arguments affords a presumption either of the weakon the side on which they are employed. them unnecessary. "3. To any good purpose they are all of try to my children as I received it from himself! let him look at home; he those who preceded me. The honour-will find there enough to do, without able gentleman pretends to justify the looking abroad, and aiming at what severity with which he has attacked the is out of his power. noble Lord who presides in the Court And now, Sir, as it is frequently the (Loud Cheers.) of Chancery; but I say such attacks custom in this House to end with a are pregnant with mischief to Govern- quotation, and as the gentleman who ment itself. Oppose Ministers, you preceded me in the debate has anticioppose Government: disgrace Minis-pated me in my favourite quotation of ters, you disgrace Government: bring Ministers into contempt, you bring Government into contempt; and anarchy and civil war are the consequences. Besides, Sir, the measure is unnecessary. Nobody complains of disorder in that shape in which it is the aim of your measure to propose a remedy to it. The business is one of the greatest importance; there is need of the greatest caution and circumspection. Do not let us be precipitate, Sir. It is impossible to foresee all consequences. Everything should be gradual: the example of a neighbouring nation should fill us with alarm! The honourable gentleman has taxed me with illibe- "4. They are all of them not only capable rality, Sir. I deny the charge. I of being applied, but actually in the habit hate innovation; but love improvement. I am an enemy to the corruption of Government; but I defend its influence. I dread Reform; but I dread it only when it is intemperate. I consider the liberty of the Press as the great Palladium of the Constitution; but, at the same time, I hold the licentiousness of the Press in the greatest abhorrence. Nobody is more conscious than I am of the splendid abilities of the honourable mover; but I tell him at once his scheme is too good to be practicable. It savours of Utopia. It looks well in theory; but it won't do in practice. It will not do, I repeat, Sir, in practice; and so the advocates of the measure will find, if unfortunately it should find its way through Parliament. (Cheers.) The source of that corruption to which the honourable member alludes, is in the minds of the people: so rank and extensive is that corruption, that no political reform can have any effect in removing it. Instead of reforming others instead of reforming the State, the Constitution, and everything that is most excellent, let each man reform of being applied, and with advantage, to defeat of all such measures as have for their bad purposes; viz. to the obstruction and object the removal of the abuses or other imperfections still discernible in the frame and practice of the government. "5. By means of their irrelevancy, they all of them consume and misapply time, thereby obstructing the course and retarding the progress of all necessary and useful business. "6. By that irritative quality which, in bity or weakness of which it is indicative, virtue of their irrelevancy, with the improthey possess, all of them, in a degree more or less considerable, but in a more particular degree such of them as consist in personalities, they are productive of ill-humour, which in some instances has been productive of bloodshed, and is continually productive, as above, of waste of time and hindrance of business. "7. On the part of those who, whether in spoken or written discourses, give utterance to them, they are indicative either of improbity or intellectual weakness, or of a contempt for the understanding of those on whose minds they are destined to operate. "8. On the part of those on whom they operate, they are indicative of intellectual weakness; and on the part of those in and by whom they are pretended to operate they are indicative of improbity, viz. in the shape of insincerity. WATERTON. (E. REVIEW, 1826.) Wanderings in South America, the NorthWest of the United States, and the Antilles, in the Years 1812, 1816, 1820, and 1824; with original Instructions for the perfect Preservation of Birds, &c. for Cabinets of Natural History. By Charles Waterton, Esq. London. Mawman. 4to. "The practical conclusion is, that in pro- | style, and has influenced his life and portion as the acceptance, and thence the practice. There is something, too, utterance, of them can be prevented, the un- to be highly respected and praised in derstanding of the public will be strength the conduct of a country gentleman, ened, the morals of the public will be puri. fied, and the practice of government im- who, instead of exhausting life in the proved."-(pp. 359, 360.) chase, has dedicated a considerable portion of it to the pursuit of knowledge. There are so many temptations to complete idleness in the life of a country gentleman, so many examples of it, and so much loss to the community from it, that every excep. tion from the practice is deserving of great praise. Some country gentlemen must remain to do the business of their counties; but, in general, there are many more than are wanted; and, generally speaking, also, they are a class who should be stimulated to greater exertions. Sir Joseph Banks, a squire of large fortune in Lincolnshire, might have given up his existence to double-barrelled guns and persecution of poachers; and all the benefits derived from his wealth, industry, and personal exertion in the cause of science, would have been lost to the community. 1825. MR. WATERTON is a Roman Catholic gentleman of Yorkshire, of good fortune, who, instead of passing his life at balls and assemblies, has preferred living with Indians and monkies in the forests of Guiana. He appears in early life to have been seized with an unconquerable aversion to Piccadilly, and to that train of meteorological questions and answers which forms the great staple of polite English conversation. From a dislike to the regular form of a journal, he throws his travels into detached pieces, which he, rather affectedly, calls "Wanderings '-and of which we shall proceed to give some account. His first Wandering was in the year 1812, through the wilds of Demerara and Essequibo · a part of cidevant Dutch Guiana, in South America. The sun exhausted him by day, the mosquitoes bit him by night; but on went Mr. Charles Waterton! The first thing which strikes us in this extraordinary chronicle, is the genuine zeal and inexhaustible delight with which all the barbarous countries he visits are described. He seems to love the forests, the tigers, and the apes; to be rejoiced that he is the only man there; that he has left his species far away, and is at last in the midst of his blessed baboons ! writes with a considerable degree of force and vigour; and contrives to infuse into his reader that admiration of the great works and undisturbed scenes of Nature which animates his He Mr. Waterton complains that the trees of Guiana are not more than six yards in circumference- - a magnitude in trees which it is not easy for a Scotch imagination to reach. Among these, pre-eminent in height rises the mora-upon whose top branches, when naked by age, or dried by accident, is perched the toucan, too high for the gun of the fowler; around this are, the green heart, famous for hardness the tough hackea; the ducalabaly, surpassing mahogany; the ebony and letter-wood, exceeding the most beautiful woods of the Old World; the locust-tree, yielding copal; and the hayawa and olou trees, furnishing sweet-smelling resin. Upon the top of the mora grows the fig-tree. The bush-rope joins tree and tree, so as to render the forest impervious, as descending from on high, it takes root as soon as its extremity touches the ground, and appears like shrouds and stays supporting the mainmast of a line-of-battle ship. Demerara yields to no country in the world in her birds. The mud is flam croaking, while the owls and goatsuckers lament and mourn all night long. "About two hours before daybreak you will hear the red monkey moaning as though in deep distress; the houtou, a solitary bird, and only found in the thickest recesses of the forest, distinctly articulates, 'houtou, houtou,' in a low and plaintive tone, an hour before sunrise; the maam whistles about the same hour; the hannaquoi, pataca, and maroudi announce his near approach to the eastern horizon, and the parrots and paroquets confirm his arrival there."-(pp. 13—15.) ing with the scarlet curlew. At sun-goatsuckers, dart from their lonely retreat, set, the pelicans return from the sea to and skim along the trees on the river's bank. the courada trees. Among the flowers The different kinds of frogs almost stun the are the humming-birds. The colum-ear with their hoarse and hollow sounding bine, gallinaceous, and pesserine tribes people the fruit-trees. At the close of the day, the vampires, or winged bats, suck the blood of the traveller, and cool him by the flap of their wings. Nor has Nature forgotten to amuse herself here in the composition of snakes: the camoudi has been killed from thirty to forty feet long; he does not act by venom, but by size and convolution. The Spaniards affirm that he grows to the length of eighty feet, and that he will swallow a bull; Our good Quixote of Demerara is but Spaniards love the superlative. a little too fond of apostrophising: There is a whipsnake, of a beautiful" Traveller! dost thou think? Reagreen. The Labairi snake, of a dirty brown, who kills you in a few minutes. Every lovely colour under heaven is lavished upon the couna-chouchi, the most venomous of reptiles, and known by the name of the bush-master. Man and beast, says Mr. Waterton, fly before him, and allow him to pursue an undisputed path. We consider the following description of the various sounds in these wild regious, as very striking, and done with very considerable powers of style. "He whose eye can distinguish the various beauties of uncultivated nature, and whose ear is not shut to the wild sounds in the woods, will be delighted in passing up the river Demerara. Every now and then, the maam or tinamou sends forth one long and plaintive whistle from the depth of the forest, and then stops; whilst the yelping of the toucan, and the shrill voice of the bird called pi-pi-yo, is heard during the interval. The campanero never fails to attract the attention of the passenger: at a distance of nearly three miles you may hear this snow-white bird tolling every four or five minutes, like the distant convent bell. From six to nine in the morning, the forests resound with the mingled cries and strains of the feathered race; after this they gradually die away. From eleven to three all nature is hushed as in a midnight silence, and scarce a note is heard, saving that of the campanero and the pi-pi-yo; it is then that, oppressed by the solar heat, the birds retire to the thickest shade, and wait for the refreshing cool of evening. "At sundown the vampires, bats, and der! dost thou imagine?" Mr. Waterton should remember, that the whole merit of these violent deviations from common style depends upon their rarity; and that nothing does, for ten pages together, but the indicative mood. This fault gives an air of affectation to the writing of Mr. Waterton, which we believe to be foreign from his character and nature. We do not wish to deprive him of these indulgences altogether; but merely to put him upon an allowance, and upon such an allowance as will give to these figures of speech the advantage of surprise and relief. This gentleman's delight and exultation always appear to increase as he loses sight of European inventions, and comes to something purely Indian. Speaking of an Indian tribe, he says,— "They had only one gun, and it appeared rusty and neglected; but their poisoned weapons were in fine order. Their blowpipes hung from the roof of the hut, carefully suspended by a silk grass cord; and on taking a nearer view of them, no dust seemed to have collected there, nor had the spider spun the smallest web on them; which showed that they were in constant use. The quivers were close by them, with the jaw-bone of the fish pirai tied by a string to their brim, and a small wicker-basket of wild cotton, which hung down to the centre: they were nearly full of poisoned arrows. It was with difficulty these Indians could be persuaded to part with any of the Wourali poison, though a good price was offered for it: they gave us to understand |