New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-06-28
Gatts and cGittions.

gave some Illustrations Of them. To-day, June
18th, gives an opportunity Of appropriately
enough referring TO another one. 1t is the ami
varsary Of the birth of Henry VIII in 1901 The
general view Of his character is well known He
is regarded as an unmtigatedly bad man. com
paratiyey sober and temperate representation Of
him in his early years is thus given in late. pre-
tentiGusly respectable authority: On bis fathers
death in 1909, Henry was found to possess 1nanv
accomplishments with no practical ability.
Leaving Dudley and Empson, the instruments Of
hi3 fathers economic extortions, to fall sacrifice
TO popular indignation, lie proceeded to squander
his treasures to bis own high satisfaction, and to
the great content Of bis people. He indo,ently
allowed his ministers to manage everything for
him, even to his marriage with Catharine. But if
he knew nothing Of the foreign relations of the
kingdom, he could speak several languages with
ease; and if he despised domestic business, never
was there monarch who presided more grace
fully in the court, or behaved more gaantly at
the j0usts or in the hunting-feld."
| Now, in the first place, let it be observed that
the very solemn allegation against him that he
| had no practical ability when he ascended the
throne, refers TO young gentleman seventeen
| years and not quite ten months of age. Really the
philosophical acumen and practical Judgment
which made the grand discovery that be h, d "no
practical ability at that ripe time Of life are be-
yond appreciation. Then, how naively we are told
| that he left Dgdley and Empson to fall sacrifice
| to popular indignation; the facts being that he
was nineteen years and not quite two months old,
when they were tried, convicted and executed, as
| corrupt and infamous judges" =" who had perhaps
administered to the rapacity of his father, Henry
VII, but had certainly been guilty of base crimes
and misdemeanors during his reign, and had been
| afforded no opportunity of continuing them under
the youthful Henry VIII Some people might think
young prince who left such people to a merited
fate manifested traits Of high sense of Justice ;
but it is not by such people that history is always
written.
AS for the statement that he proceeded
to squander his treasures to his own high satisac-
ton and to the great content of his peopen it is
SO o5transparently powerful, powerfully trans
parent, that it is positively dazzling In the first
place, it is quite evident that, as his father
was universally condemned for his avarice, extor-
ton and dishonesty, he ought never to have dared
to endeaYor to avoid similar charges, by pursuing
course Of lberality and splendor. In the next
place, that he should do so to his own high salts.
faction is evidence of gross injustice, seeing that
he ought to have done it to the satisfaction of
everybody else but himself, and especially to that
of certain writers of history and finally, the eli
max Of his guilt is capped by the turpitude of
doing all this to the great content of his peo-
| pie ]" Ought he not to have been forthwith
hanged?
And yet this is far from being anything like a
full representation of the terrible crimipalitv of
| this youthful prince. 1t is recorded with all the
magniloquence and ciroumstantiality of indispnta-
] / If,F r,4 +L,C+k : l,o Ill, III.
to manage everything for him, even to his mar
riage with Catharine." How significantly expires.
siye is that adVerb g indolently!n Ah, if he had
/ but - actively shown his profound Judgment, his
vast experience and his mighty power, at seven
teen or eighteen years of age, by dismissing all
ministers, or at least by allowing none of them to
counsel or guide him, what magnificent figure he
would have made in the pages of these brilliant
histories What O. halo would have surrounded his
name And especially what a glory would have
been accorded 10 him, if he had not allowed them
to manage his marriage with Catharine-his
brother Arthurs wdow-to whom he had been
betrothed by their father, on the death Of Arthur
at fourteen years of age while Henry was but
eleven!
But all this is futile. 1t is illustrating history bv
! logic and that is, perhaps, not agreeable to the
/
tested by history" accords better with them and
50 We will let Nr, Froude, as one of the highest
standards among late writers, give his views of the
character of Henry in his earlier days, and leave
cur readers to compare what he says with what
we have quoted above on the subject. He
says:
If Henry VIII had died previous to the first agi-
taton OF the divorce his loss would have been de-
/ "a ItaqV VipGt tFrt1
| had ever beiallen the country; and he would have
| left name which would have taken its place III
history by the side of that OF the Black Prince or
Of the c0nqueror of gincourt. Left at the most
| trying age, with his character Uniformed, with the
means at his disposal OF gratifying every inclinG-
| ton, and married by his ministers when boy to
an unattractive woman far his senior, he had lived
for thlftysiX years almost without blame, and bore
through England the reputation of an upright ana
Virtuous king. Nature had been prodiga to him
of her rarest gifts. In person he is said to have
Tesembled his grandfather, Edward ", who was
| the handsomest man in Europe. His form and
| bearing were princely, and amidst the easy free
| dom of his address, his manner remained majestic
No knight in England could match him in the tour
nament except the Duke of Suffolk; he drew with
ease as strong bow as was borne by any yeoman
of his guard; and these powers were sustained in
untailing vigOr by a temperate habit and by con-
slant exercise. Of his intellectual ability we are
not left to judge from the suspicious panegyrics
of his contemporaries. His state letters and papers
may be placed by the side of those of Wolsey
or of Cromwell, and they lose nothing in the com
parison. Though they are broadly different, the
perception is equally clear, the expression equally
powerful, and they breathe throughout an ire
sisdble Vigor OF purpose. in additionto to this, he
had fine musical taste, carefully cultivated and
he spoke and wrote in four languages; and his
knowledge of a multitude of other subjects, with
which his versatile ability made him conyersant
would have formed the reputation Of any ordinary
man. He was among the best physicians Of his
| age, he was his own engineer, invented improve
ments in artillery and new constructions in ship
building; and this not with the eondescending
| incapacity of royal amateur bat with thorough
workmanlike understanding. His reading was
vast especially in theology. In all directions OF
human human activity, Henry displayed natural
PoRers OF the highest order at the highest stretch
OF industrious culture. He was attentive as
it is called to his religious duties, being present
At the services in chapel 'two or three lines a
day with Rnfailng regularity, and showing to ont
ward appearance real sense of religious Obli-
CATION in the energy and purity of his life. In
private he was good humOred aud gOOduatured.
His letters to his secretaries though never Qu1jg