The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No 3, September, 1862 | Page 3

civilization, it was his intention to publish two additional volumes,
illustrating them; taking the three countries in which were found certain
prominent characteristics, which he conceived could be fully accounted
for by his theories, but by no other, and above all, by none founded
upon the doctrine of free will and individual responsibility. These
countries were Spain, Scotland, and the United States--nations which
grew up under the most diverse physical influences, and which present
widely different civilizations.
The volume treating upon Spain and Scotland has been published about
a year; and great was the indignation it created in the latter country. In
Spain it is probable that the work is unknown; but it was caught up by
the Scottish reviewers, who are shocked at any thing outside of regular
routine, and whose only employment seems to be to strangle young
authors. Blackwood, and the Edinburgh Review, contained article after
article against the 'accuser' of Scotland; but the writers, instead of
calmly sifting and disproving Mr. Buckle's untenable theories, new into
a rage, and only established two things, to the intelligent public--their
own malice and ignorance.
Amid all this abuse, our author stood immutable. But once did he ever
condescend to notice his maligners, and then only to expose their
ignorance, at the same time pledging himself never again to refer to
their attacks. A thinking man, he could not but be fully aware that their
style, and self-evident malice, could only add to his reputation.

As already remarked, he did not write to immortalize a hero, but to
establish an idea; did not labor to please the fancy, but to reach the
understanding; hence we read his books, not as we do the brilliant
productions of Macaulay, the smooth narratives of Prescott, or the
dramatic pages of Bancroft; but his thoughts are so well connected, and
so systematically arranged, that to read a single page, is to insure a
close study of the whole volume. We would not study him for his style,
for although fair, it is not pleasing; we can not glide over his pages in
thoughtless ease; but then, at the close of almost every paragraph, one
must pause and think.
Being an original writer, Mr. Buckle naturally fell into numerous errors;
but now is not the proper time to refute them. He gives more than due
weight to the powers of nature, in the civilization of man; and although
he probably intimates the fact, yet he does not add that as the intellect
is enlightened, their influences become circumscribed, and must
gradually almost entirely disappear. In the primitive state of the race,
climate, soil, food, and scenery, are all-powerful; but among an
enlightened people, the effects of heat and cold, of barren or
exceedingly productive soils, etc., are entirely modified. This omission
has given his enemies an excellent opportunity for a display of their
refutory powers, of which they have not failed to avail themselves.
The historian is a theorist, yet no controversialist. He states his facts,
and draws his conclusions, as if no ideas different from his own had
ever been promulgated. He never attempts to show the fallacies of any
other author, but readily understands that if he establishes his system of
philosophy, all contrary ones must fall. How fortunate it would have
been for the human race, if all innovators and reformers had done the
same!
That which adds to the regrets occasioned by his loss, which must be
entertained by every American, is the circumstance that his
forthcoming volume was to be devoted to the social and political
condition of the United States, as an example of a country in which
existed a general diffusion of knowledge. Knowing, as all his readers
do, that his sympathies are democratic, and in favor of the elevation of

the masses, we had a right to expect a vindication-the first we ever
had--from an English source. At the time of his death he was traveling
through Europe and Asia for his health, intending to arrive in this
country in autumn, to procure facts as a basis for his third volume, and
the last of his introduction.
Although his work is an unfinished one, it will remain a lasting
monument to the industry of its author. He has done enough to exhibit
the necessity of studying and writing history, henceforth as a science;
and of replacing the chaotic fragments of narrative, called history, with
which the world abounds, by a systematic statement of facts, and
philosophical deductions. Some other author, with sufficient energy
and industry, will--not finish the work of Mr. Buckle, but--write
another in which the faults of the original will be corrected, and the
omissions filled; who will go farther in defining the relative influences
of the three powers which control civilization, during the different
stages of