Volume 1

Scientific papers and addresses / / by George Rolleston; arranged and ed. by William Turner; with a biographical sketch by Edward B.Tylor.

  • Rolleston, George, 1829-1881.
Date:
1884
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Scientific papers and addresses / / by George Rolleston; arranged and ed. by William Turner; with a biographical sketch by Edward B.Tylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    24/594
    distant sounds of latrations from without. There has, I see, been a meeting in London of High Churchmen, who have been very vigorous and amusing. The triumph of Low Church, the religion of a northern democracy, is only one step forward in the race of Liberty which this century has witnessed. If bigotry had carried the day it would have been a violation of the spirit of the age, and its triumph would not have been permanent. And the defeated party, not seeing this, not knowing when they are well off, nor understanding in what utter ruin they and the whole Church would have been swallowed up if the result had been otherwise, are enduring indignation and unknown pangs. The man who has an eye to see the movements, an ear to hear the voices of the age, cannot doubt that the spirit it breathes is Individual Freedom, Individual Responsibility, and National Progress. And then, seemingly as much out of place as a figure in chain armour in a modern banqueting-room, do we see the reactionaries struggling against the stream which flows past, uninjuring while unprovoked. The apex of the Delta should meet the stream, not any one of its three longitudinal boun- daries. If so, by constant alluvial deposit it becomes assimi- lated: if not, it is overwhelmed by the outspreading of the waters. This latter course seems to have been chosen by the present champions of Despotism. But who is so free from prejudice as to be able to read aright the spirit of the age he lives in? We have not yet left off quarrelling about the characters of Pericles and Cimon, men who lived 2000 years ago, and are out of the sphere of party passion and interest. There is no hope of wide views for present times. If we had lived in the days of our fathers, said the Jews of old, and we say now with equal truth. The Tory party now (for a High Churchman on any other principles but Tory is a Centaur) is not content with building the sepulchres, it would raise the ghost of the monsters who received a deadly hurt now 200 years ago at the hands of their ancestors. My most favourite subject of contemplation at present is the fight made for the principles of Liberty at the beginning of this century. Dark clouds seem