Such being Carlyle's view of human rights, it is not surprising that he
has applauded the most gigantic effort in history to establish a
government upon the system of human bondage. But all slavery will by and
by vanish like the tobacco-smoke of "Teufelsdroeckh." Part of the world's
best work will be the unceasing effort for its universal and perpetual
extermination; and posterity will honor those who labor for this
consummation as greater benefactors and workers than all the divinities
idolized by the author of _Sartor Resartus_ and the _Life of Frederic
the Great_.
While Carlyle's system does not appear to flatter humanity its effect is
of that character. He would make his readers believe that they are pure,
great, and capable beings like those deified by him. The adulation
being too great for many who peruse his pages, large numbers of readers
are led into dangerous vagaries. "The influence of Carlyle's writings,"
says an essayist, "and especially of his _Sartor Resartus_, has been
primarily exerted on classes of men most exposed to temptations of
egotism and petulance, and least subjected to anything above
them,--academics, artists, _litterateurs_, strong-minded women,
'debating' youths, Scotchmen of the phrenological grade, and Irishmen of
the young-Ireland school.
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