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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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Untitled Article
&he would have been obliged to concede as pure right .. Thus she not only prevented further demands , but in the very fact of so doing wpn the hearts of her subjects . But less than her talent could not have effected the same result . The weak-minded egotist who succeeded her , invited contempt for his person and for his office 5 but" it remained for the blind pertinacity of his son to put the
finish to the work . The English have always been proverbial for their sensitiveness where their purses are concerned ; and though they might have borne , for a time , even greater political humiliation , they were not disposed both to bear it and to pay for it . The political feelings of the people were roused into action by pecu ^ niary injustice . But among the men , whose distinction , though
not their ability , was born of the tyrannous exactions of the first Charles , were some of the first spirits of any time . They dared Openly tp proclaim the nullity of law when opposed to justice and reason . Hampden , especially , was a man not of this or that time only , but whose mind was prepared to expand indefinitely . He appeared in parliament at the age of twenty-seven , and was even
then distinguished . After serving iu two parliaments he retired , in 1628 , to his house in Buckinghamshire . There he passed the next eleven years , in the quiet and reflection , which are the only efficient preparatives for useful exertion . There are at any one time in the world few such men as Hampden . It is one of the most remarkable and admirable traits of his character , that ,
with the ability to guide others and to meet the most unlooked ^ for emergencies , he was not only content , he preferred , living within the little world of his affections and of his own high thoughts . The finest combination of human character is that of calm and trusting simplicity of manner and habits , with the strength of purpose which uncontrollably produces that which it has maturely willed : —such was Hampden's . During this period
lie could have been but of little use in public . It was passed in a series of the most flagrant acts of tyranny and injustice on the part of the king , and on that of the people in an untired opposU tion . Imprisoned , branded , fined , and executed , their determination seemed to grow more firm by defeat ; their detestation and forbearance arrived at its height . Hampden watched the spirit of the time : be saw the hour and the occasion when united
resistance must succeed . He took upon himself the danger . He was the first to refuse the payment of the illegal tax , which thbugh it fell lightly upon himself individually , would , had the people then succumbed , have been the means of riveting the cjisgraceful bonds which were offered them . He announced his
intention to try in the courts of law the great question which involved the right of one man to unlimited control over the persons and property of every inhabitant of the kingdom . Clarendon , * whose leaning to the court interest tinges most of his conclusions , is forced to yield admiring testimony to his bearing
Untitled Article
« £ f > Hampden .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1832, page 447, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1816/page/14/
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