The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1859-07-21
Blackwood on Maeaulsy.

The last number of Backwoodss maya
zine contains very severe attack on the his
torian MAcArLAY. which is by some at,ri.
buted 10 the pen Of ALLISON, the historian.
The article opens with these ,rencbant pa.
ragraphs
The excellencies aud the defects OF Lord
Macaulay as an historian arise from the
same cause. He lives among those whose
portraits he paints. His characters are not
cold distractions summoned up from the past
TO receive judgment for deeds done in the
flesh they are living ren and women, be.
ings to be loved, hated feared, or despired,
with all the ieryency which belongs TO Lord
Macaulays character. Hence the charm OF
his writings. Hence, also, their unworthi
ness. The attention OF the reader is excited,
his interest is kept awake. his passions are
aroused, he devours page after page and vol
ume after volume, with an appetite similar
TO that which attends upon the perusal OF
the most stirring fiction he closes the book
with regret, and then, and not till then,
comes the reflection that he has been listen.
ing to the impassiOned harangue Of the I'D,
yocate, not to the calm summng-up Of the
Judge. 1t would be well il this were the worst.
We are reluctantly convinced that Lord
Macaulay not unirequently exceeds even the
privileges OF the advocate that when he ar
raigns culprit at the bar of public opinion,
and showers down upon him that terrible in
vective OF which he is SO accomplished a
master, evidence sometimes meet with a
treatment ut his hands from which the most
INSCRIPTIONS practitioner at the Old Bailey
would shrink not only are documents sup
pressed or garbled, dates transposed, half
sentences read as whole ones, witnesses of
the most infamous character paraded as pure
and unimpeachable, but the very cutters OF
Grub street and St. tiles are raked for ano-
nymous filth Of the foulest description to cast
on the unhappy objec, of the wrath OF the
historian.
1t is often difficult, and sometimes impos-
sible, to divine what particular qualities
will arouse this animosity. The virtues
which receive the tribute Of admiration and
respect when they exist in this man, appear
tOexcite nothing but contempt when they are
found in tina, the vices which are venial
,ransgressions chargeabIe rather on the age
than on the individual in one character, are
foul and indclible bOts on another.
james and William were alike uniaitbful
TO their wives. Lord Macaully records the
"highly criminal passion ofJames for Ara
bella Churchill and for Catharine Sedley,
sDeering contcmptuously at the plain features
Of the one and the lean form and haggard
cOuntenance of the other, but forgetting the
charms recorded in the memoirs OF Gram.
mont as those TO which the former owed her
power; and while admitting the talents which
the latter inherited from her father, denying
any capacity in the king to appreciate them.
William, on the other nand, married TO
young, beautiful, and faithful wife, to whose
devotion he owed crown, 10 return for
which she only asked the affection which be
had withheld tor years, maintained, during
the whole oil his married lie, an Illicit con-
nection with Elizabeth Villiers (who squiut-
ed abomnably), upon whom he settled an
estate Of E25,0O0 year, making her brother
a peer, and introducing bis wife to the con.
fdence Of the queen and Lord Macaulay
passes il over as the commerce OF superior
mirds In james, coDjugal nlidelity is a
coarse and degrading vice in William, it il
an intellectual indulgence, hardly deserving
serious apprehension. In like manner, the in
roads upon law attempted by james, under
the mask Of regard for the rights OF con.
scierce, are Justly and unsparingiy denounc.
Cd, while the ambition which urged William,
by the cruel means OF domestic unkindness,
10 fix his grasp prospctIyely on the crown
OF England, long before any necessity for
such al invasion OF the Constitution had
arisen, is wise foresight. regard for religious
freedom, the interests Of Professionalism
and the attainment OF the great object of his
life-curbing the exorbitant power OF
France.
Lord Macaulay's weIlknown Whigism
elections. II is easy TO understand why hc
should take pleasure 10 prIctua'ing, 10 the
most exagger stel iorm OF hostile tradition.
every story that can tarnish the gallsB,ry
and fidelity Of Dundee, and in repeating. ai.
ter reiterated combination, every ground.
less SANDER upon Penn. Bot this is not al.
ways a saie guide. 10 one instance, and that
the most remarkable OF all, the case IL the
very reverse. by q strange caprice the man
whom Lord Macaulay especially delights TO
disbonGr, il the one whose genius shed most
honor on the Wing party, who contributed
more perhaps than any other TO place Will
lam upon the throne, but,for whom the land
ing al Torbsy nigh, not improbably have
ben followed by similar result to tha, at
Lyme, and who's imperishable glory Ia glo.
~ which has made hl- name secoDd only, II
iadecd i, second, TO tina, Of Wellington in
the annals OF Eogland il derived from hs
long and slccessial cUutes, with that power,
TO clrb which William bad devoted every
energy Of bis mind
The writer proceeds 10 review the charges
ms,e by Lord Maeaalay sgains, Msribo-
roagh. /, viii ~ reDembed by Mscauiay's
readers that, smOug the many charges msde
by him against Marlborough, s that 81 ava
rfse aud iraad Mseaglay says, The sp-
plaa-e. j1.,ly due 10 his ooniGe, al VA
eoart c0aId 90, altogether drown the vo,os
a tho ~ho ml,prsd that, wherever abroad