The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1857-10-01
Lord Maca Wlay.
FROM the fhtisi-lplna Press.

Thomas Babington Macaulay elevated to
the British pecrage, without the advcntitious
aids Of conrexisn, family or wealth. The
man who. five and twenty years ago. would
have proph,siel that the most ul,r, Radical
in Lord Gny's Aiministra,ion--.the man
who. while the Reform Bill was in agitation,
fcrccly challenged the propricty of having
such AN Estate of the Realm us the House
of Lords that Macaulay should himself be-
come peer, would have been very greatly
ridicul,yl. His elevation may be accepted as
a compliment to literature the greatest yet
paid in England, for Macaulay is the first
man OF letter. placed in the Ca'er Ilous...
Scott, Bulver. and Alison received the in
frrior honor Of barone,cy. and Sir Humphrey
Davy, the great chemist and natural philoso.
pher. had only the ,rnnsitory honor Of X night
! hood. Macaulay Is made an hereditary legis-
lator. and Pamuston, who wants Aici,n,
aid in the Lords. probably calculates upon
occasional help from the new Baron.
On the 10Th of January 1856 Mucaulay
rvlnquished the Parliamentary Representa-.
ton Of Edinburgh. on the plea of bad health
and bade farewell to political lie. 1t was
expected that he would devote the compare.
tive leisure thus obtained to the prosecution
Of his historical studies. Considering that
/ in the four volumes alrady published (con-
/ tanning nearly 1000 octave pagss.l he has
] given us only nine years OF English history
that seven years lnteryrnel between the pub
! llcation OF the two portions of the work, that
/ his purpose was to write the annals Of a hun.
| dred and thirty years, and that. with IA bro
ken constitution. Macaulay has already
| passed the aye Of fifty seven, there can be no
reasonable ground Tor an expectation that
his work will ever be completed. lie com
mitt,,l great fault at the very commence
msnt, 10y taking too largr II canvas for his
/ picture. His work. brlllian, rs il is in parts,
will be n monument no lCsss Of his Industry
than his genius. but il runs too much into
details; the breadth OF the narrative * sicri-
! feed by the relation OF minute particulars.
J The psul, must be---Nc shall have literary
/ torso. grand AMI noble ind,rsl, hut yet i'm
perfect To complete Macaulay's work, on
I a scale propor,iona'o with what is already
+ published, would TAXI at least thirty volumes.
His only chance is to contract his design
and Close his history at the end of Queen
Annc, reign and the accession of The lIousr
least halt dozen volumes norc, aud NOR.
constant application than Macaulay is aide
to Acyo," TO it.
Wherever the English language is spoken,
the name Of Macaulay IL familiar. We shall
scarcy err in skeiching his political career,
up 10 the present period, when h. may h. IN
duced again 10 enter into the arena OF poll.
tics and pariisan,hip.
MacauIay born al Rothley Temple in lei
c,siershirc, in ls0O, was educated in Devon.
shire, ami freely made u-c Of his knowledge
of Wet Of England localities, when relating
the incidents OF Moumonths boOtk4.s cam
paign anil JcfYres' "blood assize lie en-
tired the University Of Cambridge II, the
age Of Is. was elected ION competition TO
tie Craven scholarship three years later.
graduated as Ba, helor Of Arts ia l-22. AMI
the sarBc year was made Fellow Of Trinity
Collcgc-a literary .inccurc yielding some
c20c Is.y auaGm. which he a,A au',I !;s
appointment, 10 India IN 1884. AZ Cam.
bridge, as at Oxford there il n debating
club called The mon. Macaulay l,ecame
a mIuber, and -Oon was considered "a by far
tie mos. eloquent oi all who took Il part in
the discussions. H. was SO strongly Demo
cratic in hi. tendencies at tina, time that b.
was conJsiled in later years. formally to
contradict a rnmor which had become en-
bodied into npreach and accusation 10 the
efFec; that. whiIc in College. on III" anniycr-
sary Of tie execution Of Charles the First.
be had significantly intimat'i his aniipa,by
to X ine.hip. by inviting his friends 10 a
supper. the priuc.paI d'h OF ~hich was
rat' hnd
While 1T Camhril2r. brtwoen the year
l-22 and l-2, Macanlay contributed large
Is. in prose and sers. 20 The Et0niGa and
hngir, Qo1rte,iy Uaga:,oe-short.liy
hut brilliant periodicals, which are now -
eagerly sought for ,ha, almos' any pric'' can
be obtained for complete se's. The hal!ais
callel Song of the League. The Bat
;'e oflvry." AMI the Iayso' The Cavalier
scarcely known in this coun'ry appear \
IN kDgd''s t"1roi,.
In l-2G. Macaulay became barri,'cr a,
Iiucolns I'm he was elected Benchfr Of
tha, soris'y in l-l9 On account of his lite
rary merit snA soon AFR vas made ,om-
missioner u BoHkrgytts, an Office then Drth
airUf eco y-ar. Ea-ly IN ! 20 having
thea s';l'd N '<cpion sDd 20, into The 10.
o-al aud literary Nor'eiy Il Holland fIDnss..
Le crn'ribg,ed III. srst artic!r. On f.nZli-h
P,li,ic. n l-2, 20 the Fd,nivrgt RSr.i~.
Tn farT ol Milton followed and tie p.
uaif,i ~ the 'riiiiar, -Tiss shif. h.. iss
since pull.sls,i ,og ,her in u collective firm.
7, vns non ls'Tcf'sei. that a. lawyer
MacauaT had i'tle i1ci.na' on - live laiyp-
rinus day. H. was s'r'ngIy urged TO be
NJ
-, of 'ie Fnglizh tu'jela'eTy uoy'Tsn'
~. larvs'y h.isel up tn to i'.TaiIar'y