The Express.
London, England, 1863-12-26 00:00:00

[TWOPENCE

what had occurred before to the King, that be
dealt with them in the same arbitrary manner,
and governed at last without them, when be could
not bring them under control. How could he have
ruled constitutionally, as it is asserted he would
gladly have done, while be held his place by the
sole right of the sword, and as the chief of • party
which was in the minority everywhere throughout
the country 1 It is idle to speculate upon what
Cromwell would have done had he been born in
the purple, or as to the probable excellence of his
government if he had not had a distracted and
divided nation over which to rule. And it has
been already too much the habit of certain authors
to describe the events of history as moving on by
some fatalist law, irrespective of the human will, as
though this or that was to be, and we have nothing
more to say than that we admire or dislike it.
History will judge of the rebel Protector as of one
who did much to create the chaos which even him-
self could not afterwards reduce to order, and it
will have yet to solve the question as to what were
the really defective points in the revolutionary
policy of his party among the rest which made
possible the long scandal of the Restoration.
The best portions of this volume, the most in-
teresting, and the most carefully written, are the
earliest. The author enters into considerable
detail in his treatment of the causes which pro-
duced-thrifty* We, while over to Wes
already occupied by the genius and labours /LEI-
Macaulay he treads with hastier step. He very
properly connects the reign of James I. with that
of his son, and shows how much in the character
and rule of both monarchs contributed to bring
about the revolution in the development of which
the execution of Charles I. was but an early inci-
dent. Whatever may be thought of the political
aims and deeds of the reforming parties, there can
be in these days no question as to the hopeless
struggle of the Stuart Kings against the rising
spirit of their time. They contended for rights
which had become obsolete, and they fought their
battles in a weak, irritating, and treacherous
manner, which gave every advantage to their oppo-
nents. James quarrelled with his parliaments for
six years, and then for ten more tried to rule
without them, for the parliament of 1614 was
' allowed to do nothing since it would not do what
the King required. In 1621 the quarrel was renewed
in a graver form than before ; and when a few
years afterwards Charles came to the throne, the
contort began again, growing more ominous and
more full of bitterness as it proceeded. There were
four years of constitutional conflict with the new
King's Rau mptions of arbitrary prerogative, and then
followed the eleven years of the sowing of seeds of
bitterness which should spring up when the fitting
time had come. At last, in 1640, the Long Par-
liament began, which Charles was compelled to
summon by the pressure of necessities which his
weak and reckless government had created. Dr.
Vaughan has well pointed out that the extravagant
follies of their reigns was the salvation of those
English liberties whicb the Stuart Kings laboured to
destroy. The first James wasted money upon
his favourites and in court amusements. His
son made himself dependent upon the parliaments
which he hated, by entering into foolish wars.
In both these reigns the royal expenditure was
made for the most part for purposes with which the
nation had no sympathy. Charles H. spent money
upon his pleasures. His French pension rendered
him for a time independent of parliaments, but this
could not continue long, and the country became
weary of the arbitrary measures of his later years. '
These prepared the way for the resistance to his
brother, as the nation had been led on before to the
revolts against his father's rule, by the arbitrary
follies of James I. Even so early as in the reign of
Elizabeth, the two houses had begun to assert their
cobettentleati rigturti a way that boded ill for
the peaceful government of her successors, if these
rights were to become the subject of serious attack.
But James I. was too much of a pedant, and too
obstinate in his self-will to perceive how much the
times had changed, and how resolved the nation
was upon the assertion of its liberties.
But the King wee not to be convinced. Resistance to
his will was always regarded as factious—as the perpetration
of wrong, and of wrong verging upon treason sad impiety.
He would gladly have substituted an imperial despotism,
based on the civil law, in the place of the system of liberty
based on the English constitution. Had he poseresed the
power, be was fully satisfied that the right to do so was in-
separable from his office. At the same time. in the intellec-
tual sad is the moral character of the King, there wee
almost everything that could teed to give to such Fenton-
sloes the appearanceof a grotesque absurdity.
In this reign royalty became an object of con-
I tempt with the people, and an offence to their more
sober principles. They were tried in another
manner by the different character of James's suc-
cessor. Fear and mistrust of royalty became now
the prevailing sentiments.
Ica nearly all respects Charles proved a true representative
of the house of Stuart—arbitrary, obeisant, meiacere, re-
veagefuL Great indeed was the disomdanee between the
spirit of the sovereign and the spirit of the nation he was
called upon to govern. On the side of the King we see •
limited intellect, of artificial culture. coupled with a cold
sad suspicious temper, and with a dreamy and mystical
worship of kingly and ptiestly power. On the side of the
nation, we sae, is the maiz, fixed prtaciples, the clear bead,
and • stout heart, bent upon upholding the estional liberty
sad honour. So long as sovereign and subject shall be
by sash tendencies, there can be little agreement
rterw:seld them. Charles was, on the whole, the best of his
tawny knows to this country, bat the dangerous elements
is his ebsasotee were of • grave description, and not to be
eradicated.

Both these monarchs had forced into combination
the two chief parties which constituted the body
of the nation, the patriots and the Puritans. These
parties acted together throughout the early portion
of the struggle, and indeed were often represented
in the rune persons. Dr. Vaughan's estimate of
both, at this first period of the conflict, is judicious,
and accords probably with what will henceforth be
the accepted judgment of all candid historians.
The facts mentioned in the following passage have
been before stated, but the author has wall de-
scribed them, and they ought to receive prominent
attention.

The reader must sot forget that the Puritans naderJamee
and Charles were in a position differing considerably from
that of the modern nonconformist. They were of the
natiocal church, both ministers and laity. There was much
in the existing ecclesiastical system which they would have
reformed. But their parish church."' were their religious
home. They had been baptised within those walls. There
they had bees married. There they had buried their dead.
There they expected, is their turn, to sleep their own long
sleep. Their ministers were all university oleo. Their
laity embraced persons of all rank". In that age puritan
and orthodox were terms denoting partite who differed from
each other is thought sod sympathies, but who were of the
same wend status. The fact that Eoglish puritanism em-
braced mot ally the strong feeling of the middle sod the
lower chmes. but much of the intelligence and culture of
the climes above them, contributed to make it the power it
became is oerhistary.
. . . . . . . .

Dr. Vaughan is to be congratulated on having
brought to a successful close what has plainly been
to him a labour of love. His long familiarity with
the subjects upon which he has written has rendered
the work alike interesting and valuable, tone which
the student of history will always consult with
advantage, while it may be commended to ordinary
readers for its clear representation of facts and for
its agreeable style.

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