te civilization?" not "Were the operations · gained by the people-personal bondage graof the Crusaders in accordance with the dually declined-mental and moral slavery generally recognised principles of human were exposed by Wickliffe, and the other sucaction?" We all admit that the state of cessors of the holy men who called Europe society was bad before the commencement of into arms, and from that time civilization the Crusades. "Well, the Crusades occurred; took firm footing in Europe!" and, as if by magic, the bondsman's chains began to break and fall asunder. The feudal system relaxed-the sovereign power was coerced and reduced-Magna Charta was affirmative. How say you, reader? Were the effects of the Crusades favourable to this improved civilization or not? We still maintain the C. W., Jun. NEGATIVE REPLY. AFTER what has been said so ably on both sides of this question, we think, with a preceding writer, that "Enough has already been advanced to prove the correctness of our negative position." We shall, therefore, content ourselves by giving a very short article in reply to our opponents. The first writer on the affirmative side of this question is C. W., Jun. This writer has quoted largely from Gibbon, Macaulay, Guizot, and others, in support of his views. Among the most prominent of the passages which he has given, and placed in italics, is the following:-"Great was the increase, and rapid the progress, during the two hundred years of the Crusades." Do we inquire in what was there progress? He informs us, that "Among the causes that undermined that Gothic edifice (feudalism) a con- | spicuous place must be given to the Crusades," for "the estates of the barons were dissipated, and their race often annihilated, in these costly and perilous expeditions." The sum and substance of this passage is, that they favoured liberty; for if it should be proved, after all, that, on the whole, these wars did not benefit the people in this respect, it was of little avail that they loosened the yoke of the feudal lord. change of masters is not necessarily an advantage; it may be an evil. A sin? The priest. By whose authority was the priest able to do that? By the authority of the Pope. Then the tendency of the Crusades was not to liberate the people. No! it was to turn their allegiance over from the feudal lord to the Pope. This was the object which the Crusades were calculated to accomplish, and did accomplish. And which is the most to be feared, a spiritual or a temporal despotism?- -a despotism which can only sustain itself by a fear of temporal punishment, or a despotism which can sustain itself by a fear of spiritual and eternal punishment? And yet it was to such a despotism that the masses of the people were more fully committed by the Crusades. But, according to this writer, the liberty of the subject was not the only advantage which resulted from the Crusades; for, quoting from Guizot, he tells us that "the Crusades unfolded a christian Europe." If this were really the case, it follows that the Crusades were favourable to the development of Christianity, otherwise the Crusades could not have " unfolded a CHRISTIAN Europe." A perusal of the paper of J. M. S. will convince the reader, if he is not already convinced, that a principal cause of the Crusades -a ruling principle in the minds of the Crusaders-was, gross superstition. They expected to merit the forgiveness of sins, Now we think that, from the nature of and a consequent entrance into eternal hapthe case before us, no real advantage could piness, by engaging in these wars. Accordpossibly accrue. Here was the whole of ing to C. W., Jun., then, gross superstition, Europe engaged in a war; but it was a so far from being opposed to the religion of religious war;-a war, by engaging in which Jesus, may be a very ruling principle in its the combatants expected to attain everlast- development. Nay, is it not fair to suppose ing life. Sins of the very worst description that, since the Crusades were notoriously the were to be pardoned-nay, cancelled-by unfolding of a superstitious Europe-as virtue of merits, and licence given to commit nothing but an age pre-eminently superstitious more sins, if the person engaged in this war. could ever have produced them-that, accordBut who was it that had the power to pardoning to C. W., Jun., Christianity was the superstition which the Crusades unfolded? in other words, that Christianity is itself a superstition, and, consequently, unworthy of the regard of intelligent men? But the Crusades were pre-eminently cruel wars. According to the principles which induced and maintained them, it was a very saintly act to kill an infidel, no matter how it was done. The most solemn engagements might be made and falsified, the most solemn oath broken through, so that the infidel were killed. The article of J. G. R., we think, abundantly proves this. If so, and the favoured passage of C. W., Jun., be correct, Christianity is not only a superstition, but a cruel, a very cruel, superstition. Now, we maintain that Christianity is not a superstition, but a religion which invites examination. It has been tested in all times, and by all lights. Reason has tested it, and it has been proved entirely reasonable; philosophy has tested it, and it has been proved to be highly philosophical; but, more than all, experience the experience of the world -has tested it, and it has been proved capable of standing experiment. It is not a superstition, but a great fact. 1 F. J. L. concludes that the Crusades were, on the whole, favourable to religious liberty, on the ground that the particular enormity which first struck the mind of Luther with horror originated with them. According to this kind of logic, almost every great evil may be regarded as a great good. The tyranny of the Stuarts, which induced Charles the First to levy taxes without the consent of parliament, was a great good, inasmuch as it led to the establishment of the government on a more equitable footing; Charles, therefore, was truly a martyr, for he was one of the greatest benefactors of England. The American stamp act was a boon to America, for it led to the revolt, and ultimate independence and prosperity, of that great country. The abuses of West Indian slavery were very beneficial, for they led to the liberation of the slaves of that part of the British empire. The horrors of the middle passage were advantageous, for they have led to the partial suppression of the slave trade. What a number of benefactors is our race indebted to according to this style of reasoning! How few of these persons have been rewarded as they ought to have But is it true that we have to thank tyranny for the blessing of good government, which has been founded upon a revolt from it? or error for the blessings of truth, which has been elicited by its exposure? We think not. Whatever advantages we may, or Europe may, have derived from the Reformation, it was still an evil that a reformation should have been necessary. If, however, Christianity is not a super-been! stition, much less is it a cruel superstition. So far from according eternal life as a reward to those who destroy its opponents, its language universally is the language of love. It suffereth long, and is kind. Its injunctions are-Love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. Pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you. Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. But the Crusades were based upon an entirely different principle, and carried out in an entirely different spirit, and therefore it is a libel on Christianity to say that "the Crusades unfolded a christian Europe." Taking these views of the matter, we still maintain that the effects of the Crusades (a great evil) were, and could be, nothing but evil, although the effects of the truth which has been brought to bear upon their enorInities have been very great good. G. N. The common fluency of speech in many men and women is owing to a scarcity of matter and a scarcity of words; for whoever is a master of language, and has a mind full of ideas, will be apt, in speaking, to hesitate upon the choice of both; whereas common speakers have only one set of ideas, and one set of words to clothe them in; and these are always ready at the mouth: so people come faster out of church when it is almost empty than when a crowd is at the door.-Swift. It would be a considerable consolation to the poor and discontented, could they but see the means whereby the wealth they covet has been acquired, or the misery that it entails.Zimmerman. Politics. OUGHT NATIVE PRODUCE AND INDUSTRY TO BE PROTECTED BY LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENTS? NEGATIVE ARTICLE.-III. bound up in its soul-stirring embraces, standing out in bold relief a monument of creative wisdom. And shall man arrogantly thwart the wise intentions of Providence? Shall he with impunity erect his artificial barriers in defiance of the impressed will of God? Yet man dares to ereet these barriers. And does the Creator suffer from the rashness of his creatures? No! The insane act, "Like a devilish engine, back recoils HAD the human race, at its birth, found itself scattered over the face of the earth, with all the differences of manners, religion, and dialect characterizing it at this stage of its existence; and had mankind the liberty of choosing the manner in which all those things which are either useful, agreeable, or necessary, should be distributed, man's short-sighted policy, warped by a love of ease, would, no doubt, have suggested that each district should produce all that a highlycivilized state can desire. To man the idea Till within a few years man's history is would appear absurd of so portioning out the little more than a recital of wars and devasvarious products of nature that the pathless tations. Cooped up in particular districts, ocean should be traversed in order to mi- and separated from each other by religion, nister to the wants of civilized life. Con- manners, or dialect, man had learned to consalting his love of ease, man would have sider all without the bounds of his own thrown together in the same district the country in the light of natural enemies, and wines and fruits of the south; the coals, iron, even extending these antagonistic feelingsand timber of the north; the silks and spices less strongly, indeed-to inhabitants of difof the east; the cotton and sugar of the west; ferent districts of the same country. These and all those varied articles of minor im- nationalities," coupled with the love of portance which, scattered abroad upon the gain, gave full play to all the worst pasearth, fill up the measure of comforts, and sions of human nature, leading man into all give birth to commerce. An omniscient those enormities which disfigure his history. Creator, however, thought otherwise. With Blinded by prejudice, man strayed from the a deeper knowledge of man than man has of path of happiness, and, by an improper use himself, the Creator knew and supplied the of the love of gain, defeated the very means best means for working out the ends of a which the Creator had instituted for his brief sojourn here. In what, at a cursory happiness. How different the modern use of glance, appears to be the height of improvi- the love of gain! How different the rivalry dence, in giving an unnecessary amount of springing up between nations! Instead of labour, there will be found involved on competing in the horrors-we mean the examination, as in every department of crea- honours-of war, the market of the world is tion, a regard to the strictest economy. As now the field of honour. Feats of arms are in the animal economy, to economize space, giving place to trials of distributing, at the particular organs are made to perform dif- cheapest rate, the comforts of life. Man has, ferent, and even opposite, functions, so in the at last, discovered that his interest lies not social economy, the simple act of supplying in destroying, but in preserving, "foreigners;" physical comforts is also made to subserve not in plundering, but in an equitable exfar higher and holier purposes, carrying out change of the products of their respective some of the grandest objects of man's exist- labours. Mutual interests unite the whole ence. Of these objects two seem more race. Antagonism, in whatever form, is especially interwoven with the distribution fatal to commerce-fatal to the interests of of nature's favours. PEACE and PROGRESS, all. A knowledge of this is levelling those the offspring of Commerce, are indissolubly barriers which once separated nations, and gradually binding all in those bands which once bound each to a particular centre. Under the name of "protection," a moiety of mankind still unwittingly strive to ignore the designs of Providence, creating, by their restrictive policy, national animosities between nations whose joint interests are obviously bound up in peace and free exchange. But, awakening to the fact that peace is involved in the great principle of free exchange, their ranks are thinning, and their opposition weakening. "Dependence on foreigners" is now seldom heard in a protective sense. Man is opening his eyes to the fact that all are dependent, and that his true interests lie, not in striving to make himself independent, but in extending his dependence. It is the great instrument by which the Deity carries out the watchword of the Founder of Christianity, "Peace on earth, good-will toward men." Aware of man's short-comings, the Creator has made his interests subservient to his happiness. To give stability to the happiness of his creatures, he has so distributed his gifts that man's interests restrain his lawless desires; and make peace, consequently happiness, depend, not on refusing, but on giving, every facility to exchange. This principle is too obvious to escape notice. Independent of the great body of consumers, the number of those merchants directly concerned is in proportion to the extent of the trade, and the extent of the trade proportionate to its freedom, thus increasing the number and strength of PEACE Securities by every paling knocked down from our "legislative fence," and dif. fusing more liberally the comforts of life. PEACE, therefore, demands, that not only should every paling of our "legislative fence" be knocked off, but the rails removed, and the posts dug up. cussing this point, we would remark that A. seems to have mistaken the real question. As a problem in political economy, the question is put universally, whereas A. has given it only a particular application, selfishly assuming that it is a matter of indifference what becomes of others, so long as we fare well. It would, however, be an easy matter to show that the interests of all are intimately blended with, and dependent upon, the progression or retrogression of each particular nation. One grand law governs all the works of creation. A defect in the motions of a planet would disturb the harmony of the solar system; an irregular action of one organ of the animal system would derange the whole assemblage of organs; so, if only one nation neglects to supply the rest with what the genius of its people, or the capacity of its soil and climate, will produce, or by legislative enactments prevents the free interchange of its peculiar products, a discord in the social economy is the consequence. Sympathy is a ruling principle. One part cannot perform its functions irregularly without the rest sympathizing, and thus progress is retarded. Not only every nation, but every individual, must contribute his share to the essential principle of progress, for man's puny mind is not comprehensive enough to grasp all knowledge. It is only by long and close attention to a particular subject that man has made those strides which characterize our age. The finest intellect a mind which, if its powers had been brought to bear on one subject, would have wrought out grand results, is entirely dissipated, and its powers stultified, by grasping too much. Divide and conquer is the secret of success in more senses than one. Man would not have emerged from barbarism if each had continued to supply his own wants. Having assumed that the distribution of division of labour is the key to success. But nature's favours was instituted by the Creator, the principle of division acquires additional in accordance with that rigid economy every- force when applied to nations; for, indepenwhere discernible, for the purpose of carrying dently of carrying out fully the principle of out ends superior to the mere supply of division, differing soils and climates, and the physical comforts; and having seen that the varied genius of the human family, allow peace of the world is the more firmly cemented some to produce with ease what others can in proportion to the ease with which different but imperfectly produce with an immense and independent districts can exchange these amount of trouble. England's iron and coal, favours; we shall now see that the PROGRESS and the energy of her people, give her a preof mankind in civilization is proportionate to eminence in those manufactures which have the freedom with which nations interchange conduced so much to her present proud in commerce is free. But, previously to dis-position. The climate and soil of the south A security of property-that gives speed to progression. Now, protection has a tendency to, and really does, force mind and capital into channels for which, in particular localities, they are not adapted, and diverts them from those channels which the genius of the people and the soil and climate point out as the more natural courses, thus frittering away valuable time and capital in pursuits which others can follow easier, better, and cheaper for us, and proportionately neglecting those pursuits which the nature of things of France, Spain, and Portugal, bring to perfection those delicious fruits, from one kind of which wine is made. The West Indies is best adapted for sugar, cotton, &c.; the East for spices, silk, &c. The mind of a single nation would be distracted in producing everything required by a highly-civilized people, even if its soil and climate were favourable. We require the wines and fruits of Spain, Portugal, &c. These, of an indifferent quality, could not be produced by us without the greatest difficulty and immense expense. These nations re-show to be our legitimate spheres of action. quire our manufactures; but a want of coal, If the order of nature is inverted-if, to the and the scarcity of iron, would make it more neglect of what they can do, a people, dedifficult and expensive for them to produce sirous of doing everything, attempt what them in a very imperfect state, than it would others can do better for them, is it not clear, for us to produce their fruits and wines. from the limited capacity of the mind of The same with the sugar and cotton of the man, and from natural disadvantages, that West, the spices and silk of the East. In progress must be retarded? To non-protecthese examples it will be seen that it is not tionists this conclusion seems inevitable from impossible to produce all the different pro- the premises; and we deem ourselves right ducts in each place mentioned; but, where in standing by that conclusion till those preeach can be well supplied with all by the mises are shown to be false and unsupported. present order of production, and each par- | ticular branch carried to a higher share of perfection, all of them would be very meagrely supplied, and progress would be known only by mame, were each to produce all these commodities. This law will allow of no exceptions. Wherever a commodity can be produced best and cheapest, however trifling the difference, the common weal-the interest of mankind-points out that spot as the place of its produce; and there is no habitable portion of the globe which could not produce, better than all the rest, some article which the rest require. It is this territorial division of the task of producing all those commodities which are either necessary, useful, or agreeable to man, coupled with another important principle-one that has been entirely overlooked in assigning causes for the superior energy of the Anglo-Saxon race, We think there has been sufficient said to show that PEACE and progress hinge on this question of free trade-that those legislative enactments, purporting to protect, form a sliding scale, by which PEACE and PROGRESS are eked out to mankind. If protection is in the ascendant, peace and progress are in the descendant, gradually shifting the balance, as protection relaxes its deadening gripe, till, by thrusting protection to the bottom of the scale, PEACE and PROGRESS are paramount. Protectionists may, however, have some other principle, more important than peace and progress, upon which to base their policy; if so, we hope some "friend" to native produce and industry" will unfold it. A. has not even hinted at a principle, except we allow his doubtful means of self-aggrandizement to be a principle. H. P. H-S. AFFIRMATIVE ARTICLE.-III. INSANELY unmindful of the probability that some witty contributor to the Controversialist may compliment us on our Quixotic chivalry in coming forward "at this time of day" to champion the "worn-out fallacy of protection," we will nevertheless-such is the hardihood of our prejudice-venture to confess ourselves one of those deluded mortals who presume to call in question the soundness of Manchester theorism; and, further, not content with this lamentable extremity of infatuation, will even proceed, with the editors' courteous permission, to defend our criminality, by offering to our free-trade friends some few considerations, which appear to our distorted vision "very like" reasons |