with powers of enjoyment considerably impaired. That spirit left him for a time, but returned with another still worse.
Preparatory to the additional elucidation of his life and work from 1830 to 1840, I have constructed the following chronological outline:
1830. Put on paper ideas on "Logical Distinctions among Terms," and the "Import of Propositions." First acquaintance with the French Philosophy of History: St. Simonians; Comte. Went to Paris after the Revolution of July. Began to write steadily on French politics ("Examiner").
1831. Writing in "Examiner": Essays on "The Spirit of the Age."[1] Essays on "Unsettled Questions in Political Economy" (1830 and 1831, not published till long after). Resumed "Logical Axioms and Theory of the Syllogism." Tide of the Reform Agitation. First introduction to Mrs. Taylor.
1832. Essays in "Tait's Magazine," and in the "Jurist." Papers on "Corporation and Church Property" and the "Currency Juggle."
1833. "Monthly Repository": Review of Alison's "History"; "Thoughts on Poetry"; Analysis of "Platonic Dialogues." In Paris in autumn, and saw Carrel for the first time.
1834. "London Review" projected; Molesworth to be proprietor. No special work recorded.
1835. Read De Tocqueville's "Democracy in America." "London Review": article on Sedgwick.
1836. His father's death. Illness in the head. Three months' leave of absence; tour in Switzerland and Italy. "London and Westminster Review": "Civilization" (April). Is promoted to be second assistant in his office (salary £800), and again to be first assistant (£1,200).
- ↑ On looking over the file of the "Examiner," to see the drift of these Essays, which I expected to turn upon social questions, more than politics, I find that they all point in the direction of his "Representative Government," in so far as they contain anything constructive. There is a long exordium on the character of the present age, as an age of transition, with all the consequences growing out of that—unsettlement of existing institutions, in the absence of principles to found new ones upon. "Worldly power must pass from the hands of the stationary part of mankind into those of the progressive part. . . . There must be a moral and social revolution which shall, indeed, take away no men's lives or property, but which shall leave to no man one fraction of unearned distinction or unearned importance. . . . For mankind to change their institutions while their minds are unsettled, without fixed principles, is indeed a fearful thing. But a bad way is often the best to get out of a bad position. Let us place our trust in the future, not in the wisdom of mankind, but in something far surer, the force of circumstances which makes men see that, when it is near at hand, which they could not foresee when at a distance." Discussing the way to secure government by the fittest, he considers the time is gone by when wealth is the criterion. Age has more to say for itself, excepting in a time of transition. He considers at some length the sources of moral influence on society. The last of the series (May 29th) concludes, "I shall resume my subject as early as possible after the passing of the Reform Bill"; the agitation then going on being used as the climax of the proof that the time is one of transition.
