CLOSE OF MR. BRIGHT'S SPEECH.

AS REPORTED IN THE Birmingham Daily Post, JANUARY 14, 1878.

But we cannot disguise from ourselves the fact that there is something of a war party in the country, and that it has full access and free access to some, and indeed to not a few, of the newspapers of the London Press. Now, if there is any man here who thinks the question doubtful as to our policy-if there is any man in the country who shall read what I say now, and who has any doubt, I ask him to look back to the policy of twenty-three years ago, and see how it was then tried, and how it succeeded or how it failed. The arguments were the same then exactly as they are now. The falsehoods were the same. The screechings and howlings of a portion of the Press were just about the same. But the nation now-and if nations learnt nothing, how long could they be sustained-the nation now has learnt something, and it has risen above this; because I am persuaded that, although there may be a great difference of opinion as to Russian policy in the main, or on Turkish policy in this war, and men may pity especially the suffering on one side or on the other, for my share I pity the suffering on both sides. But whatever may be our difference of opinion, I think this is conclusively proved, that the vast bulk of all the opinion that is influential in this country on this question leads to this, that the nation is for a strict and rigid neutrality throughout this war. It is a painful and terrible thing to think how easy it is to stir up a nation to war. Take up any decent history of this country from the time of William III. until now, for two centuries, or nearly so, and you will find that the wars are always supported by a class of arguments which, after the war is over, the people find were arguments they should not have listened to. It is just so now, but unfortunately there remains the disposition to be excited on this question. Some poet-I forget who it is-has said:

"Religion, freedom, vengeance, what you will;

A word's enough to raise mankind to kill.

Some cunning phrase, by faction caught and spread,
That guilt may reign, and wolves and worms be fed."

"Some cunning phrase, by faction caught and spread," like the cunning phrase of the "balance of power," which has been described as a ghastly phantom which the Government of this country has been pursuing for two centuries, and has never yet overtaken. Some cunning phrase like that we hear of now of "British interests." Lord Derby has said the wisest thing that has been uttered by any member of this Administration during the discussion of this war, when he said that the greatest of British interests is peace, and a hundred, and far more than a hundred, public meetings have lately said the same. And in millions of households men and women have thought the same. To-night we shall say "Amen" to this wise declaration. I am delighted to see this grand meeting in this noble hall. This building is consecrated to peace and freedom. You are here in your thousands, representing the countless multitudes outside. May we not to-night join our voices in this resolution, that, so far as we are concerned, the sanguinary record of the history of our country shall be closed, and that we will open a new page, on which shall henceforth be inscribed the blessed message mercy and peace.

of

NOTES USED BY MR. BRIGHT IN DELIVERING A SPEECH IN THE BIRMINGHAM TOWN HALL, SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1876.

Fifth and last Shee'.

still a was hard their policy ticed in 152524

arguemment the same - falsehoods the Jasone

screeching showlings in newspapier, the same. Bub talion above all this ·

of the past the hout- has written

" Religion, heedom, Vengeance, what you will, a wndi lungh to raise mantinid to kill,Some Curing phrase of Faction Caught & spread bat-quill-may reign, deroben Liams a fed."

Some Cumming Ahrase -an the N7 hobgoblin,

Balance & Power

or the new lesson the

dange to British Inlèresh.

Lood Derby. The Greatest- British Entwest in Peace"

A Hundred public meeting say the same. Zmight in say amen 5 This wise declaration.

This weble Hall this vast sathering. Emesentis

the countles population around in a resolve

that the sanguinary hand of the hast shall he closed & that on future aunals shall a suscreted

with the Hesses menape of mercy of peace.

[MAY

IMITATION AS A FACTOR IN HUMAN

PROGRESS.

IMIT

MITATION," says Aristotle, "is innate in men from childhood; for in this men differ from other animals, that of all they are the "* and most imitative, and through imitation get their first teachings;' upon this fact he proceeds to explain the origin of poetry. Aristotle is so shrewd an observer that it is rarely safe to slight what he says; and for myself I venture to doubt whether the part which imitation has played in the development of our race is often adequately recognized.

In many of the lower animals the principle of imitation does not show itself very prominently: most of our domestic animals, profoundly as they are influenced by man, show little tendency to imitate either him or one another. As regards man, they are rather his fellow-workers than his imitators. Amongst the birds, imitation shows itself, but almost exclusively in regard to song: many of our singing birds seem to copy one another: young linnets adopt the notes of various singing birds under which they may be brought up;† thrushes are said to follow the leading of other birds, and I cannot doubt that some or many of the utterances of the clever starling are imitative. Jackdaws, magpies, parrots, are all celebrated for the cleverness with which they learn and imitate sounds both musical and articulate; and the mocking-bird of the United States and the Menura superba of Australia remind us that this imitative quality is not confined to the Old World. But in these birds it would seem as if this quality were confined to sounds-for none of those which I have mentioned show, I believe, any general tendency towards imitation; the skill of the magpie in pronouncing words and even

"Poetics," cap. vi.

† Barrington, in Blackwall's " Researches in Zoology," p. 301.

short sentences is well known. But Mr. Blackwall says that after almost daily investigation of its habits, he has never known it display any unusual capacity for imitation in a state of nature, though when domesticated it appears to have this faculty more highly developed than almost any other British bird.*

But when we reach the monkeys the matter is different.

Of all the lower animals, they are the most distinguished for their mimicry-a mimicry which extends to most of the actions of the body, and even the expressions of the face, but which strangely does not appear to extend to sounds; for it has been observed, and I believe justly, that monkeys, even when long in captivity, never attempt to imitate the sounds of the human voice, but on the contrary retain their own peculiar sounds for pleasure and pain, for anger and joy.†

It has indeed been suggested that, with regard to the lower animals, the faculty of imitation plays a larger part, and instinct a lesser part, than is often thought-that, for instance, the likeness between the nests of successive generations of the same species of bird is due to the children imitating the parents in their work. It is impossible to deny that this may be so to some extent, and equally impossible to ascertain with precision how much of the sum of the habits of a generation or an individual is due to inherited instincts or habits, and how much to the force of imitation. There is, I believe, no doubt that birds teach their young to sing, and also give instruction in the art of flying, and so far they appeal to the imitative faculty of their young. But the early age at which the progeny leave the nest and lose the care and society of their parents would seem to show that the opportunities of learning by imitation are but small. In one large group of animals this opportunity is entirely absent. great families of insects the mother lays her eggs, and both parents die before the eggs are hatched-die often in the autumn or winter, whilst the offspring do not leave the egg till the spring. In all these creatures the possibility of imitating the parent is reduced to zero. A father or a mother's face has never been known to a single member of the race since the creation, and the children can have learned nothing from parental example. To what an extent have they been losers? They appear not less to follow the pattern of their parents than the birds or the beasts which see and are seen by their progeny.

In

This principle of imitation seems to lie deep down in our nature, amongst its most primitive elements. As every one knows, it is one of the most marked and charming traits of childhood: in one way or the other-in mimicry of what he has seen or heard-it calls out and educates all the faculties of the child,

Blackwall," Researches," p. 158.

† See Vogt, "Mémoire sur les Microcéphales; Mémoires de l'Institut National Génévois," 1866, pp. 168, 169.

As if his whole vocation
Were endless imitation."

Again, it is strongly developed in the microcephalic form of idiotcy, as has been very fully expounded by M. Vogt, and it is exaggerated to an extraordinary degree in certain morbid states of the brain; such patients are sometimes met with, who, instead of replying to a question, simply repeat the words of the questioner, and so give what is known to medical men as the echo sign. Again, at the commencement of inflammatory softening of the brain, the patient will often unconsciously imitate every word uttered within hearing, whether in his own or a foreign language, and imitate every gesture and action performed near him.* So, too, amongst savages the same strong tendency has been observed.

"They are excellent mimics," says Mr. Darwin, speaking of the people of Terra del Fuego; + "as often as we coughed or yawned, or made any odd motion, they immediately imitated us. Some of our party began to squint and look awry ; but one of the young Fuegians (whose whole face was painted black, excepting a white band across his eyes) succeeded in making far more hideous grimaces. They could repeat with perfect correctness each word in any sentence we addressed them, and they remembered such words for some time. Yet we Europeans all know how difficult it is to distinguish apart the sounds in a foreign language. Which of us, for instance, could follow an American Indian through a sentence of more than three words? All savages appear to possess, to an uncommon degree, this power of mimicry. I was told, almost in the same words, of the same ludicrous habit among the Caffres the Australians, likewise, have long been notorious for being able to imitate and describe the gait of any man, so that he can be recog nized. How can this faculty be explained? Is it a consequence of the more practised habits of perception and keener senses, common to all men in a savage state, as compared with those long civilized?"

Imitation as we see it in man seems to extend over a wider range of action and production than in any other animal. It is not confined as in the monkeys to the production of like attitudes or bodily acts; it is not confined as in the birds to the imitation of sounds: it includes all alike, and is characterized furthermore by conscious pleasure in the doing.

If Aristotle be right in the proposition that of all the parts of man, the voice is the most imitative, and the observation already made as to monkeys never imitating with the voice be also true, there is in this particular a marked difference-something like an antithesis between ourselves and our poor cousins.

Furthermore, in man imitation is not a single or homogeneous quality; it presents itself in different forms and degrees. It may, I think, be considered under three heads: (1) the absolutely involuntary imitation-i.e., imitation neither voluntary nor connected with a voluntary act; (2) involuntary imitation connected with a voluntary act; and (3) imitation entirely voluntary.

* Darwin, quoted by Romanes, p. 478. † "Beagle," p. 206.

"Rhet." iii. 1.