The Press.
London, England, 1858-02-20 00:00:00

THE PRESS, FEIm.uARY 20, 1858.

Hume, men of the most coLflicting tempera-
ments, show how the political situation was
regarded by the leading literary men of the
day. The elections were all in the King's
favour; and tile general feeling of the nation
showed plainly enough that, having secured
their "ancient liberties," they were now hear-
tily bent on confirming their " free monarchy."
The duration of this sentiment proves that it
was not one of the mere transient vicissitudes
of a fickle populace. The present generation
know well how deeply and widely the English
people were impressed by the character of
George 111. And on these great national
issues the voice of the people, tested for
nearly a century, must be accepted as final.
The party called " the King's friends " were
only under one name what Lord Grey himself
desiderates under another. The class of men
whom he wishes to see introduced into nu-
ll liatnent* might not inaptly be designated as
Minister's " friends." Members chosen by no
party and pledged only to support the Minister
would occupy virtually the same position as
men pledged only to support the King. Both
are equally subject to the indignation of Par-
liament, since no man can plead the King's
command in justification of his conduct.
And though we cannot altogether approve of
the " King's friends," we regard them as a
necessity of the period—exceptional instru-
ments required by a peculiar crisis—an excu-
sable prop to the royal authority while re-
gaining its lawful strength.
The loss of the American 'colonies during
the first twenty years of George lll.'s !reign
proves nothing against the system. It only,
indeed, proves that our generals were incom-
petent. It is admitted that if a Clive or a
Wellington had commanded in the earlier
stages of the war, resistance must have been
crushed. But even if it proved that Ministers
were wholly in the wrong, that is merely an
imputation on their personal incapacity. That
they should persevere in a particular policy
against so small a minority in Parliament and
with so general a support out of doors, does not
prove that the King was a tyrant and that they
were his tools ; and should least of all be repre-
hended by those who have applauded Sir
Robert Walpole for resisting the demands of a
much more numerous opposition. If Walpole
was right in resisting a large parliamentary
minority with the people against him, Lord
North was doubly right in resisting a small
parliamentary minority with the people on
his own side. George lll.'s system, therefore,
if we look at it ci priori, was, redressing the
balance of the Constitution—if a posteriori, it
was acting as others had acted before it.

Now, it is just the political situation of the
day that Mr. Macknight totally fails to com-
prehend. He looks neither backwards nor
forwards. He does not understand that
George Government was a natural result
of George ll.'s. He shuts his eyes to the fact
that the people of England endorsed it. Ho
keeps his eyes fixed on two principal figures—
Edmund Burke and his antagonist of the
moment. Without looking into the true
nature of the struggle, he i 3 content with
determining which dealt the sharpest blows ;
and very frequently claims motives for his
hero by which we do not believe that Burke
was sincerely actuated. Burke saw how
Ministers were bungling about America, and
he attacked them accordingly. Bui, he used
every legitimate party weapon. And the fus-
tian rant about corruption and tyranny in
which Mr. Macknight indulges, under the idea
that he is speaking the real sentiments of
Burke, can only raise a smile.
We have intended these remarks as a sort
of commentary on the general view of the
period adopted by our author. We must now
proceed to examine it a little more in detail.

Mr. Macknight's praises of Burke are so ex-
travagantly fulsome as to defeat their own end.
That statesman, whose memory we venerate so
much that we could wish it had been spared
these gaudy and tasteless eulogies, had faults
and committed errors—though so few, that
nothing but this disproportionate and one-
sided picture of him could have caused them
to be exhumed. Never was greater need of the
warning given by the shepherd in Virgil :

• Vide Essay,pasein. •

that great
caivnegritte,
tnielevatpionseseielaltleinadiaalliingeeara ftuotu r
Aut si ultra placitum laudarit, baccare frontem'
s.
To
man's reputation we shall endeavour briefly
to point out the chief of his biographer's ex.
aggerations—premising at the same time that
it is impossible to exhaust them, and
that the
whole book is one huge hyperbole.
And first on the subject of Burke's
American policy—for the measures of the
Rockingham Cabinet were virtually his—it is,
to say the least of it, open to doubt whether
Lord Chatham was not quite right in his
reprobation of the Declaratory Act. That
act, as our readers may remember, was passed
during the short Administration of Lord
Rockingham in 1766. The gist of it was to
affirm that the King and Parliament of this
country possessed the indefeasible right of
taxing the British colonies. The Ministry
did not intend to carry it into effect; but it
was thought that with the repeal of the
Stamp Act, another of Lord Rockingham's
measures, it was desirable to couple some
express reservations of the imperial right.
Now it appears to us that this measure was
likely to sink deeper into the minds of the
Americans than even a vigorous enforcement
of the obnoxious impost. Thoughtful men
would be alarmed by its very moderation.
They would feel that it was not an emanation
of passion or tyranny, but the calm assertion
of a principle by liberal and patriotic states-
men, from which they would never be likely
to recede, and which d fortiori would always
be supported by the country. If not acted
upon now it would always constitute an in-
vincible precedent against them, and they
would be far more likely to attribute its inac-
tivity to want of preparation for enforcing it
than to any sentiment of clemency towards
themselves. They would thus be supplied
with two distinct motives for a determined re-
sistance—one the certainty that generations
must now elapse before their immunity could
be peacefully secured,. the other the suspicion
that the present moment was as favourable
for a trial of arms as was ever likely to present
itself. Nor was Burke's reply to his great
antagonist of less dubious soundness than the
expediency of the act itself. We cannot, said
Lord Chatham, tax those who are not repre-
sented. Neither, said Bailie, are nine-tenths
of the British people represented. Now this
is an argument which might pass muster in
debate, but we wonder to see it gravely repro-
duced here. Quite a sufficient number of tax-
payers are represented in this country to pro-
tect the common interests. But we should
rather say that in Chatham's sense of the
word the whole nation is represented, and that
Burke's argument rests only on the dexte-
rously equivocal use of a technical term. Ho
replied to an opponent who used it of classes,
by using it of numbers—an application of the
word he would have been the first to repudiate
in his cooler moments.
Another passage in Burke's career which
Mr. Macknight has belauded with his usual
want of discrimination is the introduction of
his Administrative Reform Bill. This was
certainly a mere party movement, while some
of its provisions involved the most insulting
interference with the royal household.
On the subject of Burke's oratory we cannot
say that Mr. Macknight tires us, because he
"goes on refining," for ho draws not a single
distinction. All his hero's efforts are on an
equally grand scale ; superlative adjectives aro
applied to every speech in succession, and a
better collection of English synonyms could be
made out of these two volumes than any other
work we know of equal bulk. Ho is never
tired of insisting upon Burke's wit, which, he
tells us, Dr. Johnson questioned. But, though
it cannot be denied that Burke had great wit
of a certain kind (witness his famous pun
upon Wilkes, not recorded by Mr. Macknightd,
we should doubt if it was of that sort which
set the House of Commons in a roar. Cer-
tainly the specimens which Mr. Mackuight has
selected are anything but proof that he is a
competent judge upon the subject. On the
other hand, he, of course, depreciates all his
opponents, of which the following passage is a
specimen :
But even on this night Burke, as usual, had his for.
Wedderburne undertook to defend Grenville, whom ia