The conversations which form the setting of the essays in these volumes
enable Mr. Helps to present in an easy and effective way various sides
of the important questions that he discusses. Completeness of statement
is rarely to be obtained upon any of the deeper topics of life. If the
golden side be displayed, the silver side is likely to be hidden. The
same man holds various, though not irreconcilable opinions upon the same
subject, according to the different lights in which he views it or the
different phases it presents. The most honest man must sometimes
appear inconsistent for the sake of truth; and the clearer a man's own
convictions, the wider will be his charity for those of others. Mr.
Helps exhibits admirably this natural and necessary diversity of
thought, existing even where there is a coincidence of principle and of
aim.
The essays upon War and Despotism are, perhaps, the ablest in these
volumes, and deserve to be seriously viewed in the light of passing
events. They are distinguished by freedom from exaggeration and by their
moderation of statement. As in so many of the productions of the best
English writers at the present day, something of despondency in regard
to the condition of the world is to be traced in them.
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