'1

murdermystery:the truth may

Studyinghistorycanat timesbe like readinga sophisticated

or maynot be what it appearsto be at first sight;but what is certainis that througha careful

scrutinyof the charactersinvolvedandthe situationthey are in, the truths in a mysterynovel,

whenfinally unveiled,oftenchangeour perspective, of

andbroadenour understanding

everythingthat happenedbefore. So,too, in readinghistory,aswe comecloserto understanding

historicalproblemswe canexperiencea re-imaginingof everythingwe thoughtwe knew about

them. Somethingof how this workscanbetterbe madeclearthroughan example:the problenr

FrenchRevolutionery
War.

theliteraryandpoliticalradicalsheldanoptimisticsenseof man'spotential(and
Generally,

ofbaditionalinstitutions
thusof humannature),andtendedto believethatmajorreconstruction
- familyonup - wouldhelpbringforthutopia"Duringthewaryearshowever,theycameto

rethinkman'snatureandcemeto believe,muchlike Burke,thatinstitutionshelpedholdback

,
/ passions
thedangerous Custom,traditions,wereno longsrauacked;changewas
ofthe masses.

therewasmuchto besaidfor thestatusquo.

no longgrvenerated:

At lirst glancewemightimaginethatweknowthereasonthishappened that

andnot suspect

thereis anythingmoreto it theviolenceofthe revolutionbroughthometherealitiesof

revolution.But ifthis wasso,werethey,andif so,in whatsensewerethesethinkersradical?

Thisis a questionthatDickinsonexplores,andhis findingsmaketheliteraryradicalsseem

'radicsl'to be.
somewhatcloserto Wahrman's'middleclass'thatwenormallymightexpecta

howin the 1790'sa middleclasswasthoughtto existwhichoffereda

Wabrmandescribes

middlepathbetweenextremeToriesandRadicalsasa guidefor thenationto follow. Dickinson

asholdinga middlingposition.He
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 that theyparticipatedin Girondinpolitical circles( in contrastto Robespienean)
emphasizes in

France,which calledfor muchlessextrememethodsof realizingchangein France. We notice

too, aswe readof radicalslike Godwin for example,that they tendto imaginethemselvesas

occupyinga middleposition,in his case betweenBurkeandPaine. Sowhile it seemstrue,as

Dickinsonpointsout, that the evidenceof the violencehada profoundeffecton literaryradicals

in Britain, this really only makessenseif we arecarefulin describingthemasradical. They

wereradical in that their ideaswerenot mainstream;but in sensibilitythey were gentryandthus

deeplydisturbedwhenthe Revolutionseemedmuchmoreplebeianthanrespectable.

causeof the
If we acceptDickinson'sconclusionwe havea casewherethe suspected

transformationwascorrect- the violenceof the revolution - but further explorationleadsto a

deeperunderstandingof the literary radicals. It may alsobe that our understandingof

intellectualtransformationwould be broadenedif we investigateothersuspects.For example,is

it possiblethe a conservativereactionamongsteducatedcircles,evenamongstthosewho were

in
formally radicallike Southey,waslikely, with or without the violent regicidaldevelopments

France?We turn to Malthusto shedsomelight on this possibility.

'conservative'beforethe
In Winch's explorationof Malthuswe find someonewho furned

war. Malthus himself believedthat a conservativeunderstandingof man wasobviousto anyone

who usedtheir eyes(empiricism)anddid not makethe mistakeof makinginto a wholetruth

what is really a partial truth i.e humanbeingshavesomepotentialfor good,but arenot therefore

wholly good. Malthusbelievedthat Smith wasright that man waslargely dominatedand

motivatedby petty self interest,andthus could neverbelievethat institutionalchangein France

could effect the emergenceof rational man.

But how did he cometo this conclusionbeforethe evidencewasin. Wasit arrivedat through
soundscientificprocedure?
Becausehe did not arriveat conclusionsbasedsolelyon

extrapolation,from causesto possibleeffectsratherthanfrom observedeffectsto possible

causes?Or shouldwe takelessfrom Malthus'sscience,lessfrom his focuson biolory over

political economyfor example,andmorefrom his deeplyreligioussenseof manandhis

universe.Malthus,in shapingthe conclusionsof political economyto fit with his conceptionof

God'suniversediscardeda utilitarianismandsecularismnewly enthronedin

circlestypified by Humeand Smith. Malthusapparentlyarrivedat his

politicaVphilosophical

conclusionsin part by reactingto thoughthe thoughtoverly secularandthus amoral;and if we

rememberthat his senseof man asfallen had previouslybeenthe nonn we might imaginethat

British societywasduefor a harshcounterreactionto secularutopianidealismwith or without a

revolutionarywar in France;which might haveaffectedeventhosewho had onceentertained

reaction,w€ arereminded
radicalideas. If we accept this asa playinga part in a conservative

that the storydoesnot begin in 1790but canonly be understoodwith a thorough knowledgeof

the changesin philosophicalthinkingthroughthe 1700's.

In our explorationof the problemof why the British literary radicalsweretransformedinto

we beganwith a closerconsiderationof what a radicalmight be, andwe followed

conservatives,

with similar purposeto the possiblecausesof this transformation( at leastto suggestthat there

might be anothersuspectwho wasculpable),andthusit is fifing to endwith by considering

how, and in what w&y,we shouldunderstandtheir transformationasinto conservatives.If we

look at Eastwood'sstudyof 'RobertSoutheyandthe IntellectualOriginsof Romantic

the Jacobinismin the 1790'sandcameto

Conservatism'we learnthat Southeyabandoned

veneratethe history,utility, andflexibility of Englishinstitutionsin a way similar to Edmund

Burke. But we alsolearnthat Southeywasunlike Burke in not sharinghis hostility to public

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charity andthe predicamentof the labouringpoor. Although he defendedthe primacyof the

presscensorship;increasedpolicepowersto containpolitical
Anglicanchurch;encouraged

dissidence;andtransportationfor life asan efficient meansof political and socialcontrol; he

also supportedincreasedpoor reliet, a systernof nationaleducation;penalreform and

modernizationof the criminal code;anda massiveprogrammeof public works financedth

roughincreasedtaxation. What we learnfrom Eastwoodis that while literary radicalsdid

abandontheir radicalism,anddid supportsomeelementsof the establishmentthey did not

simply championthe statusquo.

In fact, Eastwoodencouragesus to look for ttre noveltiesthat men like Southeyhelpedbring

to the fore. Southeyfocusedmuchof his attentionon the conditionsof the poor. He also

identified socialchangewith economicconditionsratherthan political institutionsasthe

principal agenciesof change.And thus,asEastwoodexplains"southey madean importantand

ideas".
original contributionto the world of early nineteenth-century

We finish with a surprise.JohnRalstonSaullamentsaboutVoltaire'sbastards:the timidity

of post enlightenmentthinken andregimes. On the surfacethis is the storythat the conservative

turn of mind of the literary radicalsduring the turn of the nineteenthcenturytells. Howevero

whenwe look more closelyat the evidencethe accusedstandvindicated. Man's potentialwas

not mudered after all, instead,by comingto termswith a more conservativeconceptionof man,

former radicalsbeganto concentrateon a meansof systematicallyenlighteningthe people,

which was morepragmatic,slower,andlessoptimistic, but which was still progressive,modern,

empathetic,hopefulandmuchmore likely to be acceptedby a mainstreamat a time when

conceptslike original sin hadnot slid to the peripheryasmuch asis often supposed.