4Q2 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



MR. GLADSTONE CORRECTS MR. SPENCER. 



IN reply to Herbert Spencer's last paper 

 on the " Study of Sociology " (in Popu- 

 lar Science Monthly for December, 1873, 

 p. 134), Mr. Gladstone sent the following 

 letter to the editor of the Contemporary 

 Review : 



10 Downing Street, Whitehall, I 

 November 3, 1873. f 



My dear Sir : I observe in the Con- 

 temporary Review for October, p. 670, that 

 the following words are quoted from an ad- 

 dress of mine at Liverpool : 



" Upon the ground of what is termed 



evolution, God is relieved of the labor of 



creation : in the name of unchangeable 



laws, He is discharged from governing the 



world." 



The distinguished writer in the Review 



says that by these words I have made my- 

 self so conspicuously the champion (or ex- 

 ponent) of the anti-scientific view, that the 

 words may be regarded as typical. 



To go as directly as may be to my point, 

 I consider this judgment upon my declara- 

 tion to be founded on an assumption or be- 

 lief that it contains a condemnation of evo- 

 lution, and of the doctrine of unchangeable 

 laws. I submit that it contains no such 

 thing. Let me illustrate by saying, What 

 if I wrote as follows : 



" Upon the ground of what is termed 

 liberty, flagrant crimes have been com- 

 mitted : and (likewise) in the name of law 

 and order, human rights have been trodden 

 under foot." 



I should not by thus writing condemn 

 liberty, or condemn law and order ; but 

 condemn only the inferences that men 

 draw, or say they draw, from them. Up to 

 that point the parallel is exact : and I hope 

 it will be seen that Mr. Spencer has inad- 

 vertently put upon my words a meaning 

 they do not bear. 



Using the parallel thus far for the sake 

 of clearness, I carry it no farther. For 

 while I am ready to give in my adhesion to 

 liberty, and likewise to law and order, on 



evolution and on unchangeable laws I had 

 rather be excused. 



The words with which I think Madame de 

 Stael ends " Corinne," are the best for me : 

 " Je ne veux ni la bldmer, ni Vabsoudre." Be- 

 fore I could presume to give an opinion on 

 evolution, or on unchangeable laws, I should 

 wish to know, more clearly and more fully 

 than I yet know, the meaning attached to 

 those phrases by the chief apostles of the 

 doctrines : and very likely, even after ac- 

 complishing this preliminary stage, I might 

 find myself insufficiently supplied with the 

 knowledge required to draw the line be- 

 tween true and false. 



I have, then, no repugnance to any con- 

 clusions whatever, legitimately arising upon 

 well-ascertained facts or well-tested reason 

 ings : and my complaint is that the func- 

 tions of the Almighty as Creator and Gov- 

 ernor of the world are denied upon grounds, 

 which, whatever be the extension given to 

 the phrases I have quoted, appear to me to 

 be utterly and manifestly insufficient to 

 warrant such denial. 



I am desirous to liberate myself from a 

 supposition alien, I think, to my whole habit 

 of mind and life. Bnt I do not desire to 

 effect this by the method of controversy ; 

 and if Mr. Spencer does not see, or does not 

 think, that he has mistaken the meaning of 

 my words, I have no more darts to throw ; 

 and will do myself, indeed, the pleasure of 

 concluding with a frank avowal that his 

 manner of handling what he must naturally 

 consider to be a gross piece of folly is as 

 far as possible from being offensive. 

 Believe me, most faithfully yours, 



W. E. Gladstone. 



MR. SPENCER ON THE CORRECTION. 



To the second edition of Mr. Spencer's 

 " Study of Sociology," he appends the fore- 

 going letter, and remarks as follows (page 

 425): 



Mr. Gladstone's explanation of his own 

 meaning must, of course, be accepted ; and, 



