that he is the Alpha and the
Omega of all things, the superior being, and the most real reality." We
have still to explain the nature of this spontaneity, free from every
shackle. One of the editors of the journal conducted by Marr discloses
it by quoting some verses in which Henri Heine expresses the wish to
see _great vices, bloody and colossal crimes_, provided he may be
delivered from a _worthy-citizen virtue_, and an _honest-merchant
morality_![61] A little later, a journal of German Switzerland asserted,
that in order to set free man's natural instincts and propensities, it
is indispensable to destroy the idea of God.[62]

These, I am well aware, are the screams of a savage madness. But after
all, and be this as it may, Marr was publishing his journal at Lausanne
in 1845, and in 1848 he was named representative of the people, by a
considerable majority, in one of the largest cities of Germany. And this
was by no means an isolated fact. Atheism showed itself in the ephemeral
parliament of Frankfort as a sort of party, of which M. Vogt, says the
_Revue des Deux Mondes_, was the great orator.[63]

The German revolution was put down by the bayonet, but the doctrines of
which it had revealed the existence, left vestiges for a long time in
the country of the terror which they had inspired. Alarm was felt for
the various interests threatened, and noble souls were stirred with
compassion by the conviction forced upon them of the spiritual miseries
of their brethren. A powerful reaction took place, as well in the
religious as the philosophical world. This reaction has produced
salutary results; but the object is not fully attained. Open the
journals and the reviews, and you will learn that Germany is, in these
days, the principal centre of materialism. It is unhappily so rich in
this respect, that it can afford to engage in exportation, and to
furnish professors of the school to other countries of Europe.

Doctor Buechner has published, under the title of _Force and Matter_, a
small volume which has rapidly reached a seventh edition, and has lately
been translated into French.[64] Materialism is there set forth with
perfect arrogance, or, to speak more moderately, with perfect audacity.
The author pretends to confine himself strictly within the domain of
experience, and it is wonderful with what haughtiness he proscribes the
researches of philosophy. It would seem therefore that the question of
the nature of things ought