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AlUtEST OP THE FIVE MEMBERS BY CHARLES T...
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* Arrott oflho Floo Manhci* hji Olmrlea ...
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TJI.W KDINB lJItUlI UliVIKW. rnniS thoi-...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Thk J-Jkst Traces Ol- Lxve Is Til 10 Eai...
exce eds anything we have before seen ' m any book pretending- to a scientific tone . His reproaches against geologists are sometimes so broad and , as -his countrymen , would say so ' loud , that \ ve are apt to question the author ' s Christian chanty and even mental sanity-. Here is a man who stands up . defiantly against a body of educated men and gentlemen , and brands them asi idolaters worshipping " fossil gods , " as " hair-b rained , " as double-dealers , ¦ - ¦ and dishonourable e < luivo <« . ators , all leagued against the Mosaic account of creation . Yet this same man does not spell correclly , and several times speaks of the " catapillar . " He cannot , . or does not write common grammar , but bursts out with a Move ow-tAou rolling orbs . " Many of las sentences are incomplete , some have false concords , others no kind of concord , while a ridiculous style ot metaphor - pervades-the whole . The Bible , says Mr . Davies , ¦¦ is not a leaky hull , that any skilful calka- or mechanic , with his stone hammer and graver , can either make tight or-loose , at Jus option . " But , in one sentence , this book is far uolow all literary and scientific criticism . Is there no American Hunwell ?
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. ... . . . .. . . .. . . . . . .. . j , . , . April 31 , I 860 . J The Leader and Scdarday Analyst , 379
Alutest Op The Five Members By Charles T...
AlUtEST OP THE FIVE MEMBERS BY CHARLES TIIE . FIRST ;* THE title of this book is something- of a misnomer . The arrest of the five members fesjust the event which fortunately did not take place . Had that arrest been made , the whole current of . English history might have : been turned , and the decisive triumph of our freedom postponed a century -and a-half , . If Charles had succeeded , in possessing himself of the great leaders of the English Commons , his own devoted adherents , so narrowly beuten on the Grand Remonstrance , would have revived their drooping courage , and . training the upper hand in ¦ ¦ Parliament , might have forced , the . rnore ^ veh-eniWit of their opponents to a premaf . ure , and conseqiveutly . unsuccessful , appeal to arms , or given the king -the aid of Parliamentary subserviency in any pretended attempt ,, on his part , to , govern constitutionally , —a pretence he would have dispensed with , ' the . ¦ moment it seemed rio longer requisite , and which 11 parliament that hatl submitted to so gross an infraction of its privilege * would have lost all moral i > owit to iinpo . se / upoii him . Mr , h orster , therefore , has not overrated the importance of that ever-memorable Mb January , 1 G 1 , 2 , in devoting to its history this book of great research ; , ' a peculiarly appropriate sequence to his previous " Essay on the Grand Remonstrance , " to which terrible indictment of the Parliament this impeachment of and attempt to seize Pyni , Hamp- . ¦ ai m , ' Holies , Haslerig , and Strode ,, must be taken as the royal reply . It was the only answer Charles could make , but it was the , . most fatal of his many blunders , and completely dispelled every chance of reconciliation between king- and people . Upon this day , and the ooeunoncas leading up to and following it , Ml-. Forriter has thrown a flood of light . . Hitherto the ri ' ttuinpt . ¦ to seize the members has always been considered as the act of the king himself , ' determined . upon' by him in direct opposition to pr without tho knowledges of his trusted adherents— : ui outburdt of passion , an act of self-willed indiscretion . Mr . Jfor-ster assorts that it was no such ' rash fancy , bub a deliberate and settled resolve ; that precautions had been . taken to ensure its success ; mid thsit . so far ' from Lord Digby being the only counsellor of the king to whom it was known , Falkland , Culpeppir , and Hyde , who . had in those very days gone over to the king ' s side , were at least privy to it . Theso asseVtioHS . 'ho supports by the testimony of Sir Symonds P'Ewcs ; upon whoso journal , in tho Harleiu-n Mbb . ho largely draws , und by some correspondence of royalist partisans , as well as original documents in the handwriting of Clinrlcs and his secre- : taries , wl ) icli he hus discovered in that mine of historical wealth- — J the Slate Pnp . r Office , Mr . Forstor's essay is , in fact , an impeachment of Clarendon ' s veracity as n historian , mid hi . s honesty jukI patriotism as a politician . Ho charges him , as a member of tho House of Commons , with privily to this att . tck of the king upon tho privileges of Parliament , and consequent attempt to ¦ overthrow tho . legitimate power of that body ; ami as an historian , with elaborate , ; ingenious , and strulied ' misrepresentation of tho incident , sum its ( attendant ciivtimatancufi . Mr . Forrftor oven , goos so fur in'his antipiitliy to the historian as to attack hid stylo , but the very success | which Cliu-ondon has had in spreading a wrong idea of thcno transactions is one ovidonoo of tho chiirniM of Unit stylo . Wo cannot tell the storyas Mr . Korstor writes it in tho limited space at our disposal . Tho ordinary version i . s familiar to all our readers , and it is enough to say , referring thorn t > Mr . Foi-rtttsr ' s book , that ho acouinulutos proof upon proof that Charles had for somo days bucm preparing for this grand coup , and did not ovon iloi'ist from hirt liopo of cantnring his enemies alter tho signal dof'eut ho mialainod ill . hi « attoinwt to niTOBt thoin in tho ITouho itaolf . Of ( ho couiplicity of Culpppper , Fiilklund , and Hydo in tho nttompt , anything like absolute proof is wanlini ? j -but tho eolliiternl ovidonous o <» Ilo . tod by Mr Forstu ' r go far to justify 1 ho conviotion , that iilthough thoy might not lmvo ndviaed or approved tlio schoino , thoy wore at loaafc privy to it , and would huvo boon content to lmvo ncecptod tho responsibility it'it l » ul provod Hucci'rtaful . How nearly it wns Hiicoessful ban nover boon nhown so Qlonrly ns Iby Mv , Forst ' or . Could Honriotta'Mnrla have restrained hor [ oolish oxultation ovor hor anticipated triumph , ' Liuly Cui-HhIo could not lmvo wiiruod 1 'Vtn of tho king ' s intention ; and ii the Fronoh Court had not ahoson , for ends of its own , to koep up a connoxlon with
' the patriotic party , just ' as it did afterwards in the days' or the Second Charles , Morvtreuil , the French Ambassador , could not have « -iven the popular leaders tho ; --. e intimations of coming , diinger whicli induced tiieir precautionary measures . Had the five members been in the House whon Charles , arrived with the desperadoes ^ vhp ¦ . -. followed him , it would have been impossible to have protected them against him , and how the other members might have fared at the hands of the reckless cavaliers after the . king had departed with his " birds" it is hard to tell . It was fortunate , therefore , fur the popular cause that Lady Carlisle was on such good terms with Pym , but the friends of the popular cause . are . not ., therefore , . boundto vindicate , without r . hyuie or reason , as- does Mr . Fovster , tile virtue of tierladysliip . The chavire that the countess hud changed her " gallant" from Sfcrafford to Pym rests certainly upon , no very good authority , but surely Mr . Forster lets his .. I' . ntbuaijwm get the . better of his iudgnient when he assigns as a conclusive reason to the contrarv the circmnstanca that her ladyship was then more than forty - . ; and certainly it is more natural to account for her betrayal in the Court upon this ground , usually suggested , than to clo so as Mr . Forster , bv saving that slie-v-as so much disgusted with the king-and queen for consentnisj . to the esecietion of Straffora that she . had actually thrown herself into the party of their bitterest enemies , ¦ ' those enemies being the very men . who had _ with such blood-¦ I hound pertinacity and inflexible ., love of jiist . ee or . remorseless-. , greed of ven-eanee clamoured for Sfcrafforcl s blood Ifc _ . is v &> - sible , however , that Lady Carlisle , as suggested by ^ lr . b orster ,, was the agent through whom the king-offered Pym a few davs before that very attempt to arrest him , the pmt ot Ciian-! celh ) r of the Excheciuer . Tlie -authority for . this strange instanceaf I - " Charles ' s vacillation , his swuying to and fro- between the opposite ! " polos of conciliation and crushing , now for the first time brought to ! li-ht by Mr . Forster , is a letter from . Sir Edward Denn-, the thea ! number for Kent ,., " noted , royalist , to his wife . It may be a . ubt ul - whether any authority , however generally ^ cred . b £ ,. is alone s Uh- ... - cieiit to justifv a : belief in the' fact of such an ol ! br having been . i . made j but the whole character of Charles , as well a * the l , u fc ot lna . i previous attempts to win over Pym , and the great importance which ¦ . i- loth he and the queen-. m ^^ : of the great -patriot leader make it highly probab e ¦ lluj olln-e L ym I . declined was given to-Culp ^ r . Pym could , in fact , nalon ^ er place 1 the slightest thith in the kin- ' s promises ; and the king tmdinj . it im . i possibfe to cajole , determined , to cru . sh him . . He tailed , and ion i that moment civil war became inevitable . - . The H-m . e <> f Cou-n ons i answered the impcaclnnent by branding its ^ articles , a . ascanda ous : paner , andmet tho intrusion of tic king " wit i lus-anned ba . uU i . uto . ¦ the sacred precincts of their hall by raising the city traniUuidp ,. i ; ! their own defence . Then really commenced the war . It is in pobi sible to look back not only upon this episode , but on the > vhole hibtoiy ! of this great struggle , without feeling \ vnv near the P"l »« ilur paily oft"l stood toits ^ vn destruction . . Had Charles the ^ ^ J » J ' » : little better or a little worse , he might , in all human probability , have retained his i . rown and his power to a peaceful d . ^ th . AVcac and irresolute wlien action was demanded , obstinate when compliance was his only policy , lie could never concode m time , and never act against his foes with vi four and unsparing determination . We appreciate so highly the labour and research expended upon this book the grave , eiwinwt , plain , and often noble stylo vW . it is written—contnisting so pleasantly with that so-called picures < uostyle with which wo are now surfeited by won d-beustorians -and the ardent belief in the great principlesafiir . nqd by t : ho . h atesmen of the Commonwealth winch breathes in every w , that we unwilHugly draw atteniion to one delect which y ™™ *™^ impairs the value of this book ad " a chapter of 1 u » toi . y . Mi . & is too velicnent a partisan . . C ,, « s « ioi . Hoiwly attempting , wo are Z 5 I ! le . it , h » boHOtonroto , ho yut writw toon . uch hko an advoca a who does not sift tl ^ ovi . louoo to got at llio truth , lmt to »}>**»> i tha verdict for his client .. JFo has no intense an adnnr . Mtiou ior 1 yni , Zmpdon ami their fellow ,, that ho will not alhnv U . a hey could com nit a blu . ulor , or bo actuated m any iiction by olhin than I J purest . notivc , Till- vohou . owt partiHannhip ih a s > u , n ., Uke i , i n man who aspire- ) to vu-writo history . Jt ro . n J . w 1 . ho iin , , owevor Icuruud and cirofal , of that merit *> imnart . ahty which nlonu am . aut tho soul to them . Ib is n and .. u ^ ukc tpo , . oven for tho advocate who desires the name ot his -honU o bo iiorishod by hi- countrym ,, i , When Pym is presented an , mi 1 Iojb ,. the reader is apt to aonoeivo that ho ih quite tho rover * yiu « l illu , buto ovou n j . wb oulogium to the prejudiced orvou j i . 1 aw nous uduiiror . TliiliLloortho yroat dolcndors of hngl n o . ty w o bravod ClinrluM the Irtrnt needs no such sorry h n » o f 1 hjy wore men with the , ordinary panrtinna of nit-n , tli « y woio pollfe : iia = ^^ f ^^ VS 3 iiiS ^ i ^ rr ^ flf ^ itliS did a great work ; it i » no dolniotiou from thuir jurtt luiue to any that they wore not perfect inon .
* Arrott Oflho Floo Manhci* Hji Olmrlea ...
* Arrott oflho Floo Manhci * hji Olmrlea tho FU'ul . A < 'Liptvr nfJiiiff . fhh JZistoty jtawi'lUtu . By JOHN FousTiiU . London ; ^ lurnvy .
Tji.W Kdinb Ljituli Ulivikw. Rnnis Thoi-...
TJI . W KDINB lJItUlI UliVIKW . rnniS thoi-ouirhly Whig publication rutiiiua its ulmraeturin a roi markublonmnnm ' , botU , ' its „ tuliuity and Il » l .. l « nfc . ^» ' ™™ Quarterly KuvIowh Ihivo ariaon whoro Una onco bloomed til < o ; and ff vouniroJ di npulltoro I » uv 6 owwllod it in Hpir t , in hbcmiuy , uijj l , 11 ho no ro « i ) ctH , in talent } Htill tho dogged psr . sm ' . mnoo in its > HUc 1 i o 3 uikI Us ao . nmoiwu . wo view * « mm . 1 I ' outry uiid K iBophV , & o iroutdd u roH , ct for thin tho original of itn class .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 21, 1860, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21041860/page/15/
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