The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1849-10-06
we must admit that he has done much to

we must admit that be has done much to-
rescue the memory Of his hero from ohio
ouy that appears unnierited; and that, al
though This philosopher on the THRONE and
father of his people. lived without exciting
gratitude, and died without inspiring regret;
unregarded, unremembered, there is JUS
tice to be gathered from the rolling Of the
centuries; that the violence Of the blow
aimed at his memory has recoiled upon
those who struck it; and that the thinkers
OF the present age, if they do moi. share in
all the enthusiasm OF his defender, at least
suspend their judgment, and admit that his
deractors may have been in error.
The history Of the illustrious Machavel'
Ii is another instance Of pertinacious wrong
disappearing before the lights exhibited by
cool and dispassionate inquiry. For three
centuries and upwards, his name has served
to designate a particular kind OF political
duplicity and cunning. To accuse states
man Of Machiapellism, has been to exalt
his intellect at the expense Of his honesty
and virtue-to exonerste him from the i'm
putation Of lack of brains, only to brand
him as possessing too much Tor the welfare
Of his species. I'll Principe ('The Prince, }
his famous treatise, long considered inla-
nous. brought all this obloquy upon him.
In that much.spoken-of but little known
work, he drew up the code of despotism,
concealing his satire so well, that the world
mistook the hater Tor friend of tyranny,
and the denounccr OF crimes against the
people for their apologist. Machiavelli SUI
lered in the cause Of freedom; he was put
to the torture by despot, and endured sor-
rows of many kinds for his devotion to his
country. Disguised with princes and with
The people too, he wrote his celebrated
work, intending satire upon the crimes OF
rulers. The obstinate world insisted upon
receiving the satire in a spirit the very re-
verse Of that which animated its author,
with about az little justice as we should ex-
hibit wele we 10 accuse Henry Fielding OF
preaching up robbery and murder for his
life of jonathan Wild the Great. Machia-
velli's object, it is true, was not quite so APP
parent as tina, of the novelist. The people,
moreover, were not aware Of the friend they
had in this illustrous dplomatist. They
considered the hard words he employs ed
against men in general as the outpourings
Of demOniac hatred. They could not see
that the severe satire was intended for their
benefit. or make any allowance for the Bit
terneSs of feeling with which unmerlted
suffering mad imbued one OF the ablest men
of his time. Machiavelli dedicated his
treatise Of The Prince 10 Lorenzo, Duke
Of Urbino, 1.-The usurper Of the liberties Of
Florence; a man whom he hated, agains,
whose government he had conspired, and
who had caused him TO be put upon the
rack to extort from his agony the names OF
his confederates. This circumstance might
have served to open the eyes Of the herd Of
men and of writers to the real purpose oil
the author; but il did not. Treatise after
treatise was written to refute doctrines which
Machiavelli detested; and his name became
the synonyme for the political criminality
and astuteness which it was his real object
TO hold up to the adherence of mankind.
Amongst others who employed their pen.
in this cause was Frederick the Great Of
Prussia, who wrote in his youth tract en-.
titled Anti Machiavel.' This military ge.
Mus, says D'Israeli, protested against those
political arts which he afterwards adroitly
practised; and realised in bis own charac.
ter the political monster which Machiavelli
had drawn The tide against MachiavelIi
has long since begun to turn; and though
his unforunste name will, in all probable.
~, survive TO designate species of deprav-
ity for which modern languages offer nc
other, the memory Of the man has already
received justice from all the impartial stu
dents Of history, and will doubtless receive
justice in due time fiom still wider audi
ence.
We need not extend the list, though il
were easy to do so. Other names will
suggest themselves to the reader. all show
ing in like manner the certainty Of reac
tons in the moral as in the physical world,
whenever there is sufficient strength in the
original impetus to produce the inevitable
result and to prove IN the long-run, in great
matters as well as in small, the truth Of the
dctum--
"That ever the right comes uppermost,
And ever is justice DONE"