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the constitution , even at its deepest depression in Charles' days , contained vrithin itself copious materials for self-restoration , and that the course pursued by the Calvinistic malcontents , was not that which the laws suggested for the redress of grievances . We would shew that the grievances which excited discontentment arose from no scheme of tyranny in the crown , but from the remains of feudal oppression , and the rapacity of powerful men , among whom were some of those who were most active in instigating and
directing the rebellion ; that the financial difficulties which accelerated the crisis , and without which that crisis could not have been brought about , were not produced by any wasteful expenditure on the part of Charles' government , but by the conduct of Parliament at the commencement of his reign , in withholding the just and necessary supplies ; and , finally , by the Scottish insurrection , raised by the intrigues of France , and of a knot of factious men , who are at this day called patriots by a certain party , because , having- succeeded in rebellion , they escaped the punishment of treason : that the
intolerance and persecution were not on the side of the Laws and ^ the Establishment , but of the Puritans ; that there was no design of subverting the liberties of the nation , but that there was a settled purpose of overthrowing the Church and the Monarchy ; that the King appealed to the laws , and his opponents to the prejudices , the passions , and the physical force of the people . It is impossible for us here to enter upon this wide subject , but we will not suppose that the duty ( for such it has become in this aye of systematic misrepresentation ) will long remain unperformed ; rather we will hope , that it may be undertaken by some person qualified for the task by ability , industry , and accuracy , added to those principles which were formerly the proud characteristics of England , and on which the strength and the safety of these kingdoms are founded , and alone can rest / ' *—Pref . pp . xi—xiv .
Few , we fear , will consider " ability * industry , and accuracy , " to be qualities of Mr . Lawson ' s mind as an historian . Boldness in grappling with the worst part of his task we have already conceded , but we shrewdly suspect that the Quarterly Reviewer will enjoy the joke of witnessing the efforts of the solemn wiseacre who has entered seriously on the details of the task which the other had discretion enough to veil with generalities , and who has aimed at nothing less than shaping Laud ' s hideous character into the beau ideal of Christian charity and zeal .
In the execution of such a design , it must necessarily be of first-rate importance to begin by settling upon a secure basis the canons of critical investigation , which are to be employed in determining historic truth . Our author is here fortunate in his principles : " Our great authorities , " he says , " in ascertaining the truth on the motives and actions of men in that age of fermentation , are those who write in defence of the church , —for this reason , that they had no prejudices to gratify . "— " Unmoved by any of those excitements which the Puritans felt , they wrote without any private animosity . "
Starting with this assumption , and dismissing therefore at once the whole body of authorities but those which are the avowed partizans of one side in the affray , we may safely anticipate the harmonious result of a happy combination of the laudatory chroniclers of episcopalian achievements . With equal prudence our author dismisses from his consideration as judges of his labours , all those who are likely to take a different view from himself , " keeping out of view the Puritan and the modern Dissenter as completely hopeless subjects ; or in other words , as men beyond the reach of argument or reason . " We shall hastily run through the leading events of the Archbishop's
• " Quarterly Review , No . LXXIII . Vol . XXXVU . pp . 237 , 238 . "
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-Life and Times of ArcJibishop Laud . 371
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1829, page 371, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2573/page/3/
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