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by patriotisni (i. e. attachment to the political community we belong to) is well known: it has often led men to resign cheerfully all personal objects, and even life itself, for the sake of the conimunity; and thus to forego all their own share of those common advantages, for whose sake alone, as some pretend, the community itself was formed. In this case indeed there is an obligation of duty; the force of which has often, no doubt, had great influence in producing such conduct; but we cannot pronounce a sense of duty to be in general the sole motive, nor, always, even a part of the motive, which leads to these results, if we consider both how little of a general sense of duty has apparently been felt by men who yet have plainly shewn themselves not destitute of patriotism, how little many of them have been disposed, in any other case, to sacrifice their own to their neighbour's good; what flagitious actions, in violation of duty, some have perpetrated, with a view to the benefit of their country;—aud lastly, how much of the same zeal and attachment is daily shewn by the members of such fac tions, sects, or parties, as have not that claim upon the conscience. In fact, human conduct altogether would be an inexplicable riddle to any one who should deny or overlook the existence of partyfeeling as a distinct, and powerful, and general principle of our nature. Every page of history might teach us, if the experience of what daily passes before our eyes, were not sufficient, how slight an attraction is enough to combine men in parties, for any object, or for no object at all, how slender a tie will suffice to hold them together, whether a community of interests, or of situations, or of opinions, (or even the colour of an ornament, as in the celebrated case of the rival parties in the Byzantine circus;) and with what eagerness, often what disproportionate eagerness, men engage in the cause of the party they have espoused. Even when they unite for the sake of some object which they previously had much at heart, what an accession of ardour do they re

ceive from their union! like kindled brands,

which, if left to themselves, separately,

would be soon extinct, but when thrown together, burst into a blaze.

"Now if to the considerations which have been thus briefly touched upon, we add this circumstance, that the principle we are speaking of is not only a source of union, but also, of division;—of discord,

no less than of concord, (since it implies in its very nature, hostility to every thing that opposes the interests and objects of

the party adopted; a jealous aversion to every rival party, and a tendency to subdivide, and separate into fresh parties, upon any point in which a certain number coincide with each other, and differ from the rest) and that thence it has a principal share in producing and keeping up almost all the contests that have ever existed, from the most gigantic wars between nations, down to the most obscure local controversies; and has even given rise probably to more dissensions between individuals than were ever produced by merely personal feelings :-if, I say, we consider all this, we cannot but admit. that of all the principles which actuate the human mind, this is one of the most remarkable, and in its effects most momentous." P. 8.

In the theory thus developed, we are unable to believe; and it is fortunate that the subsequent lectures do not necessarily involve a supposition of its truth. The existence and power of party feeling may be admitted and acted upon, by those who cannot perceive that it origi nates in sympathy. And we should dismiss this part of the subject without any other remark, did we not apprehend that Mr. Whately is guilty of an oversight which cripples his subsequent operations, when he omits to place self-love among the causes of party spirit.

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That there is an intimate connection between sympathy and partyspirit we admit. A man who is intent upon some favourite subject, feels disposed to like or to sympathise with those who re-echo his sentiments and support his undertakings; and friendships as well as enmities arise every day from this general if not universal disposition, But how does this unite men in a often notoriously the case) that inparty? It seems to prove (what is dividual attachments are produced by party feelings, rather than party feelings by individual attachments, And it fails to exhibit any intelligible connection between the cause and the effect. We have the assertion of the theorist for the accuracy of his theory, and we have nothing more. It is true that there is a

principle in human nature which leads men to act more vehemently when they act in concert and company. Social study is more intense, social pleasure more animated. The hopes, and the fears, and the kind ness, and the cruelty of a multitude, are encreased by mutual excitement. Their sentiments, whether good or bad, are proverbially catching; and much that is important in society, has been effected by a proper use of this circumstance. We presume that Mr. Whately would attribute this, as he may very well do, to sympathy; and we suspect that it is this very circumstance which has led to his hypothesis. When men are united accidentally or intentionally, sympathy will heighten any passion which finds its way into their breasts. Among the rest, it will heighten party spirit; but it cannot be said therefore to produce it.

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Could we agree with Mr. Whately in his account of the origin of society, we should not despair of coming to an understanding upon the subject of party; for we ac quiesce in his opinion respecting the similarity and near relationship of social and party union. But in attributing social union to an instiuctive love of sympathy, has not Mr. Whately fallen into the common error of speculative philosophers, and assigned a single cause to that which is the joint result of many? The children of the first families found themselves, in one company, obeying one parent, and possessing one common interest; and wisely left it to a more refined age to determine whether they were brought together by expediency or instinct. In the same way the first party was formed by two or more persons being disposed to pursue the same object, and uniting for the purpose of its accomplishment. But whether the motive for this union was experience, or reason, or sympathy, we believe they could not tell, and we are not aware that their

successors have been able to discover.

These, however, are neither important or practical inquiries; and if we conceive that Mr. Whately is unsuccessful in conducting them, we attribute his failure to the unat, tainable nature of his pursuit. The simplicity of which he is enamoured does not exist in human nature; and he errs by taking a part for the whole. A more important error is committed when he confounds the principle of party feeling with the cause of party union. After mea have united in a party or a sect, they feel a strong and often an ex cessive attachment to the body with which they are connected; and this attachment, according to Mr. Whately, is also produced by sympathy. Now we are born members of a party-that is to say, of this or that family, in a particular village of a particular district. And we have attachments one within another corresponding to each of these relations. A peasant wishes his children to be more active, handsome, and successful, than any others in the parish, not merely be cause he loves them, but because they are his own. Villagers desire and enjoy the triumph of their cudgellers or cricket-players over the inhabitants of an adjoining hamlet, because the prowess and the glory are in some respects their own. And if we ascend to the more important parties which di vide countries and churches, we shall still find that self-love is at the bottom of esprit de corps.

Nor is there any difficulty, upon these principles, in discovering the nse and abuse of party. Its great advantage is co-operation, subordination, and other kindred benefits. And the point to be gained is to make men work under this controul with the same activity, self-devotion, perseverance, and effect, as if they were in pursuit of individual benefits. Sympathy, or patriotism, or duty, under any title, would not

suffice for the purpose; and therefore human nature is wisely constituted in a manner which leads most men to identify themselves with their party. We are furnished at once with the necessary impulse, and the no less necessary controul. Self becomes subordinate to society' -private exertions are directed by public discretion-and the only danger is, lest we should make too complete a transfer of the individual to the party, and serve the one with the same immoderate zeal with which we are prone to serve the other; lest the aggrandizement of a party should be pursued without sufficient reflection and restraint; lest the injuries of our sect should be resented with the same intemperate anger, and its merits exaggerated with the same undistin guishing vanity which are called into action when we are personally concerned. Without enlarging further upon this subject at present, we may express our complete conviction that all the phenomena attending the esprit de corps may be satisfactorily accounted for upon this obvious principle. The occasional sacrifice of self-interest at the shrine of party is no valid objection to our hypothesis: nor can we ad mit that such sacrifices occur so frequently as Mr. Whately imagines. For one who is a zealot in the cause of his country or his sect, there are a thousand active men who devote their whole lives to the pursuit of their individual ends. But it happens that the exception is more noticed than the rule; because a party-man who bustles about, and endeavours to support or oppose us, cannot fail of attracting our observation, while the quiet follower of his own lawful calling, sits at home and is forgotten.

It is time, however, to return to the body of Mr. Whately's work. The first Lecture concludes by shewing that Christianity plainly recognises the proper use of partyfeeling; and the second gives an

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admirable description of party. spirit. The second and third Lectures appear to us to be the most successful portion of the work; and we confidently anticipate the thanks of our readers, for furnishing them with such passages as the following.

"Besides the faults already mentioned, as, properly speaking, excesses of partyfeeling itself, there are many other prodency to mix themselves with this feeling, pensities also, which have an especial ten-to call it into action,—and to aggravate its mischiefs. Such are VANITY and AMBITION; fondness for NOVELTY; love of DISPUTATION, in those who are, or believe themselves, skilful disputants; and lastly, humbling, mortifying, and insulting others, that PROUD SPIRIT, which delights in and triumphs in taking vengeance for any opposition or affront.

"Both the love of power and the love of fame, are so effectually gratified by a man's being one of the leaders or princi.

pal supporters of a party, that he has hence an obvious temptation to form or to cherish a party, in order to increase his own influence, and shew his importance; especially if (as is often the case) no other avenues to power and distinction appear to lie open to him. And many, doubtless, who have been influenced by these or other corrupt motives, have been themselves by no means aware of the bias under which

they were acting: but have effectually deceived their own consciences, by exagge rating, to themselves, as well as to others, the importance of the cause they were engaged in*.

"Again, the love of novelty,—the plea thinkers, or, at least, of being able to sure men have in the idea of being originalshake off established prejudices,—to judge for themselves, and to despise the notions of the vulgar,-these have a strong tendency to induce men to broach new doctrines or schemes of their own, or to adopt those proposed by another; and thus to create and strengthen parties†.

posed, contributes powerfully to generate, Controversial ability also, real or supand keep up, and inflame party-spirit, by

Wesley seems to have been, in a most remarkable degree, unconscions of the ambitious feelings by which he was so

much influenced.

+ Priestley, and many other Unitarian writers, afford some of the most striking instances of the operation of this principle.

creating in the able disputant a fondness for controversy *; in the same manner as the possession of military skill, and the command of warlike troops, is apt to encourage a delight in war. Every one naturally feels a pleasure in doing that which he is conscious of doing well, especially if it be what has long been his accustomed eniployment. And though no one probably ever acknowledged, even to himself, a feeling of mortification at the abolition of a party, and the dropping of a controversy, which might have employed the eloquence of his tongue and pen, or a regret that his sword should rust in inglorious peace, yet no one who is acquainted with luman nature, can doubt the existence of such feelings.

"Now controversy being almost always either the offspring or the parent of party, it is not wonderful that a love of disputation should almost always either give occasion to, or exasperate, party-spirit. And that the most trifling subject (if no more important one be at hand) will furnish, to those who are so disposed, matter for furious debate, division into factions, and narrow-minded bigotry, is remarkably exemplified in the celebrated dispute between the Realists and Nominalists, which so long and so vehemently agitated the public mind, till the reformation quelled it, by diverting the attention of the disputants to a more interesting subject: a sufficient proof that Religion was not the cause of these acrimonious contests, but only furnished the matter of them;-it was the field on which the combatants engaged, but did not excite them to the battle.

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"Lastly, all the proud, insolent, and resentful feelings of mankind, and the delight they take in triumphing over an opponent, have a powerful influence (when men are once engaged) in keeping up and embittering the spirit of party. Their zeal and animosity, however small at first, are inflamed by opposition; and they become attached to the party in whose ranks they have fought. If there be not, as some have supposed, a love of contention for its own sake, inherent in some men, it is certain that a haughty resentment of every provocation, and a delight in humbling, mortifying, and triumphing over an adversary, are dispositions but too general. Now the breaking down of party dis tinctions, and the silencing of controversy, destroys the hope of such triumphs; and

* Many examples might be found among the metaphysical theologians who have written on the Calvinistic questions..

every kind of compromise and concession is most revolting to a proud, angry, and jealous spirit. These haughty and insolent passions therefore, as well as those above mentioned, contribute greatly to call forth, and to cherish party-spirit, which, in turn, fosters and inflames them. Intemperate violence and bitterness of hostility has indeed been above reckoned as itself one of the excesses of party-feeling: and in fact, the influence of the malevolent passions and of party-spirit on each other being mutual, men are sometimes, by their attachment to a party, led to indulge in a malignant triumph, and sometimes, by their delight in such a triumph, become attached to a party. :

"A long catalogue of other feelings might be added, which under particular circumstances, and in particular individuals, tend to promote party-spirit, and to aggravate its mischiefs; but these which have been mentioned are not such as are occasionally and accidentally connected with it, but are its natural forerunners or concomitants, whatever be the nature of the party, of the cause, or of the contests it leads to." P. 45.

"1. The most remarkable characteristic of party-spirit-the disposition to prefer the means to the end,-the party itself, and whatever tends to maintain it,—to the object it originally proposed, has been formerly described, and its ill effects pointed out. We must guard against it by keeping steadily in view what are the ends proposed, and what, merely the institutions that preserve the society, and the marks that distinguish and hold it together: not that we are to neglect these; but to value and pursue them as meaus, and in proportion as they conduce to the original object. To relinquish that very object for the sake of them, or to regard it with comparative indifference, or to uphold the party, when that object no longer appears desirable, is not only a glaring inconsistency, but is also productive of various evil consequences.

"How ready many have been to abandon the points originally regarded as the fundamental principles of their sect or church, or how indifferent in maintaining them, though they remain as firmly attached as ever to the same party, is well „known. Few Presbyterians probably of the present day would attach much importance to most of the scruples respecting our liturgy, and church-government, which originally operated so strongly in producing the schism. But a breach once made is not easily closed; and the lapse of time, though it may have worn away the original causes of the separation, renders a re-union

more difficult than ever. The scion which has long been severed from the parent stock, cannot easily be reingrafted.

"Among the members, however, of the Romish communion, an instance may be found which is much more remarkable, from the circumstance that, that Church claiming infallible authority, whoever admits her doctrines or practice to be in any point erroneous, has virtually denied that claim, and thereby convicted her (in his own judgment) of a false and impious assumption of the power of the most High: yet notwithstanding this, it is well known that there are many Papists who (though not unbelievers in the Christian revelation) do not scruple, privately, to avow their rejection of several of the most fundamentally erroneous tenets of their Church, and their disapprobation of many of its ordinances; who are even ready to ridicule many of the superstitions it has sanctioned, and would even be sorry to have it supposed that they really made a full confession to their priests;-yet would shudder at the very mention of openly renouncing that Church; and would be even proud of their adherence to it, as to the only true and catholic church, and the only one possessing decisive and infallible authority.

"It is indeed a common remark, that the name is in general the last thing men will consent to part with; and that a sect will often be brought insensibly to explain away or abandon most of their primary and fundamental tenets, while they would shrink from the proposal of breaking up the sect itself. Now in the case of those who see good reason for giving up those points of distinction, and renouncing those objects, which originally formed their party, it is clear that the prohibition of canseless divisions enjoins the dissolution of the party itself; and that it is only a vicious partyspirit that can still hold it together as a distinct body. But may not a similar spirit operate on the members of a society whose object ought not to be abandoned, and whose fundamental principles are not erroneous? They also may surely be guilty of preferring the means to the end; the party itself, and whatever tends to support it, to the original purpose of it; and as the former class are right in abandoning their original principles, but blameable in still maintaining their party, so these last are right in adhering to the body they belong to, but highly culpable in forgetting or neglecting its main object. But such

is human nature, that without continual watchfulness, this tendency to prefer the means to the end will continually shew itself; and men will be less zealous for those REMEMBRANCER, No. 47.

objects which are pursued because desirable, than for one which appears to them desirable, only because they have been accustomed to pursue it. And since this infirmity is inherent in human nature, we must not rashly flatter ourselves that the orthodoxy of our cause will preserve us from it. If in our contests with Papists, or with sectarians, we ever find cause to censure their obstinate adherence to a party whose errors they are convinced of, let us be careful that we on our part fail' not to shew as much sincere and practical attachment to our faith as to the outposts and bulwarks that defend it; that we ap pear not, warmly interested for the refor mation, while we are indifferent to the religion itself that is reformed, or more zealous for the mitre than the cross,-for the Church, than for the Gospel. Our Lord stands eminently distinguished from the teachers of false religions, by his never allowing respect for himself, and zeal for the propagation of his religion, to stand as a substitute for the essential points of conformity to his commands, and personal holiness: Why,' says He, call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? and He declares that even those who have wrought miracles in his name, will, if found workers of iniquity, be rejected by him.

"Since then the just boast of our Church is its conformity to the institutions of the Apostles, and its tendency to promote the religion they taught, it should be regarded as a kind of treason against that Church to profess zeal for its form, while we are careless of its spirit; and to maintain its institutions, while we are forgetful of the ends it proposes." P. 86.

On the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh Lectures, which treat of allowable differences among Christians, Christian conduct towards opponents, foolish and unlearned questions and conduct with respect to dissenters, we are unable to bestow the space and consideration which they deserve. If they have any fault, it is that they are extended to a greater length than the subject matter requires. Its im-, portance, generally speaking, is much greater than its novelty; and though there is no part of these Discourses which may not be advantageously listened to by a common congregation, or reflected upon 4T

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