New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-04-28
NEW PUBLICATIONS..
MAcAULAY's FIFTH VOLUME.


TIE SANE Win SKETCH OF LORD MAcAuIArs LIFE Llph
AND WRITINGS By s. AUSTIN ALIiBoSx' 'i0'''' -''"
ola Lee c.
The present volume of Lord Macaulays great
historical work appears under the usual dlsad-
vaptsoes of posthumous publication, although it
is given to the world as 1t was lett by the aulhor'
in a COPY revised and transcribed with his own
hand No change or addition has been made BY
his intelligent editress; no connecting links IN
the narrative have been supplied her afiectonate
care has been limited to preserving " the last
thoughts of the great mind passed away from
among us sacred from any touch but his own
As literary composition, accordingly, this por-
ton of the work is inferior to the preceding vol
umes; it lacks the effective touches which the
author would naturally lave introduced while IL
was passing through the press; the style Is often
abrupt. and occasionally crude; and although 1t
mounds with passages of sparkling brilliancy, as
n whole. il ia destitute of that elaborate artistic
polish which is characteristic Of Lord Macaulays
finished productions. At the same time, it con-
tains numerous episodes and pOrtraitures OF ex-
ceedng interest-many Of them hardly surpassed
by the most felcitous efforts of the authOr-show-
ing his wonderful skill in word. painting, and
adorned with the tcrse, epigrammatic phrases,
the curiously wrought antithetc comparisons, and
the wildly -colored illustrations, of which he was
such q rare master.
The period, embraced in this volume, extends
over a space of more than three years Ioy7-
I701), commencing with the debates on Inc
question of maintaining standing army, ana
closing with the death OF James ii. and the DIS
solution of the Parliament. A fragment is added
by Lady Trevelyan, decphered from rough
sketch of the last two months of Williams
reign, containing al account of the death-bed OF
that sovereign.
Among the questions which troubled the royal
government after the establishment OF peace IN
1897, the most prominent in interest and I'm
portance was that which related to the army,
now consisting of eighty.seyen thousand men.
Was any part of this force to be retained in the
service of the State The last two kings had
maintained military establishments in time OF
pesce, without the consent of the Legislature.
But this was admitted to be in violation OF the
fundamental laws of England. William, there
fore, could not keep up even single battalion
.cout the sanction of Parliament and it might
well be doubted whether such sanction would
be given.
At that time the question appeared in very
different light from that in which it is regarded
at the present day. No man now seriously
maintains that England would be safe without an
army. Even if the island were perfectly secure
from attack, the growth Of the empire has made
an army indispensable. The regions which have
been added to the British rule since the accession Of
the house Of Hanover contain more than twenty
fold the population under the house of Stuart.
England now has more soldiers on the other side
of the tropic of Cancer in time of peace, than
Cromwell had under his command In time OF
war; The old national antipathy to standing
armies which once reasonable and salutary,
has gradually yielded to the force of circum-
stances 1t has been made plain that an army
may be efficient against an enemy, and yet obse
auious to the civil magistrate. But before the
Revolution of 1853, military establishment was
known only as an instrument of lawless power.
II was, at this time, deemed impossible that
standing army should exist without damage to
the rights both of the crown and the people. In
spite Of this general feeling of the nation, the
king was, in every point of view, unwilling that
the superb body of troops which he had formed
with infinite difficulty should be broken up and
dispersed. But as to this point, he could not abb
soluely rely on the support Of his ministers, nor
could they depend on the parliamentary majority
which had stood by them so firmly on previous
\ occasions.
An errU-, which the king had recently com.
rnitted, increased the difficulties of his situation
This was the appointment Of Sunderland as
chamberlain Of the royal household. = member of
administer the government during the summer.
lie was regarded by the people not only as an
uaprinclpled ard fathess politician, but as
3,adly enemy to the liberties Of the nation. The
later view was not wellfounded; for what SUM-
derand wanted was simply to secure bis own
= safety, wealth, and ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. To these
Objects he had been constant in all the vicissi-
tudes of his life. For these ends he had passed
from church to church, and from faction to fac.
ton, had Joined the most turbulent of Oppositions
vseiout any zeal for freedom, and had served
tbs most arbitrary Of Inonarchs without any zeal
for monarchy; had voted for the Exclusion Bill
without beng Protestant, aud had adored the
Uost without being Papst. AS far, however,
.. he was anything he was Wing, and had e1-
srted his influence in favor of that party since
his return from exile. The Wings had now
new p.edge for his fidelity in the person of his
My son, Charles Lord Spencer, who was just
en- ring On public life. This young man had
exc.'Nd hopes by his precocious maturity which