in
spite of one or two passages which do not, on the face of them, bear
date B.C., and may, no doubt, be quoted for the opposite opinion.

In the same group Dr. Flint represents De Maistre as the teacher of
Savigny, and asserts that there could never be a doubt as to the
liberalism of Chateaubriand. There was none after his expulsion from
office; but there was much reason for doubting in 1815, when he
entreated the king to set bounds to his mercy; in 1819, when he was
contributing to the _Conservateur_; and in 1823, when he executed the
mandate of the absolute monarchs against the Spanish constitution. His
zeal for legitimacy was at all times qualified with liberal elements,
but they never became consistent or acquired the mastery until 1824. De
Maistre and Savigny covered the same ground at one point; they both
subjected the future to the past. This could serve as an argument for
absolutism and theocracy, and on that account was lovely in the eyes of
De Maistre. If it had been an argument the other way he would have cast
it off. Savigny had no such ulterior purpose. His doctrine, that the
living are not their own masters, could serve either cause. He rejected
a mechanical fixity, and held that whatever has been made by process of
growth shall continue to grow and suffer modification. His theory of
continuity has this significance in political science, that it supplied
a basis for conservatism apart from absolutism and compatible with
freedom. And, as he believed that law depends on national tradition and
character, he became indirectly and through friends a founder of the
theory of nationality.

The one writer whom Dr. Flint refuses to criticise, because he too
nearly agrees with him, is Renouvier. Taking this avowal in conjunction
with two or three indiscretions on other pages, we can make a guess, not
at the system itself, which is to console us for so much deviation, but
at its tendency and spirit The fundamental article is belief in divine
government. As Kant beheld God in the firmament of heaven, so too we can
see him in history on earth. Unless a man is determined to be an
atheist, he must acknowledge that the experience of mankind is a
decisive proof in favour of religion. As providence is not absolute, but
reigns over men destined to freedom, its method is manifested in the law
of progress. Here, however, Dr. Flint, in his agreement with Renouvier,
is not eager to fight for his cause, and speaks with a less ju