The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-29
CARDINAL POLE.

chester wh1ch mas JuSJ Oeen puplsneu III
London, gives the following interesting sketch
of Cardinal Pole:-
We have said that Pole was of royal blood
When his grandfather Clarence, brother of
Edward the Fourth and Richard the Third,
was drowned in butt of Malmsey-or IN the
Thames in a Malmsey butt-he left two chill
dren. the little Earl Of Warwick and the Lady
Morgaret-the latter so well known to us as
tbe ill-fated Countess of Salisbury. Henry the
Seventh murdered the little Earl to get rid of
a pretender, and Lady Margaret was married
to a Weshman, Richard Pole, who persuaded
his nrincess that he was descended from Cad
walader OF this couple, Reginald was one
of the children. born in 1900. The family was
looked upon at Court with that sort of dislike
and fear with which poor relations are said to
he looked on bv their richer kinsfolk, of
whom they are the inevitable heirs. Queen
Katharine indeed would willingly have seen
in Reci laid the future husband OF her daugh-
Ter Mary "Such marriage, says DR.. Hook,
''was regarded as possible by Pole himself,
and to this circumstance we may trace some
of the inconsistencies of his career. 1t is to
he remarked thateve when he was created
n Cardinal Pole declined to being made q
priest" Meanwhile, Pole went through
school and university with credit travelled,
wrote a book, and signalized his author
shin by never writing so good a book as his
a man. from the travel and sojourn on the
Continent which he had begun as little more
than a boy he was ''of spare body fresh
complexion, of rather broad face, but with
eyes which showed the gentleness of his dis
position, but which, we may add, often be-
lied it, and as often belied in their apparent
truthfulness the want of veracity which
distinguished Pole on more than
one occasion. This last defect did not
spring-not always at least-from mere i'm
pulse OF blindness of discernment, but was
adopted deliberately when needed, State
papers now for the first time betray the fact
that Poles acts and Poles words were often at
variance. DR.. Hook proves, moreover, that
after Pole attained to power, he was one of
the cruellest men of his time. In merciless-
ness to Professionals he unsurpassed Gardiner.
who has suffered much Misrepresentation in
this matter.
Reginald was not even in orders when
Henry the Eighth made him an offer of the
Archbishopric of York. 1t was a princely
place for one of quasi royal birth, but not
being hereditary, it did not lift the Pole
family nearer to the throne. Moreover, it
was a bribe, by which Henry or his
agent, hoped to bind Pole to the Kings
party in the question of the divorce
from Katharine. Reginald, however, declined
to commit himself; and he lost the Archbish-
opric, but not altogether, as yet the regard
or seeming regard of the King. At all
events, he remained unmolested, perhaps be-
cause he gave at least tacit assent to the
Kings supremacy. However, furnished with
princely means, Pole repaired to Italy, where
he gathered around him the noblest, the
subtlest, the most free, the most orthodox,
the most inquiring, the most doubling, and
the most intellectual spirits of the time.
DR.. Hook says, and says truly we think,
that at first the tendency of Poles moral and
intellectual character was towards Protestant
ism, but that through hostility to Henry he
became Papist.' This latter name is almost
invariably used by the author as the best one
to distinguish partisan who is not merely a
Catholic. But Pole was, in spirit at all
events, with those who would have reformed
the Church without removing its spiritual
head at Rome. Only a short time had
elapsed since preaching Dean in the
Papal chapel had placed Christ on a
level with Phocion, Epaminondas Aristides,
and Socrates. Zeus Pater and God the Father
were to him the same beings under different
names. In Apollo and Hlsculapius he saw
types of the Son. If Jesus died on the cross
for the good of mankind, Decius and Curtius
sacrificed themselves for the good of their
country; and there were Queens of Heaven
Diana, Venus, Minerva, Juno-before Mary
was raised to that dignity and the Father was
practically dethroned! Altogether, it may
NO oaiu VpaN Hlhu WIN HIS eyes
resolnattGciiy smut could not help see.
ing the necessity for a reform. Pole
had discerned that necessity; but he had
learnt to hate the turn which events had
taken in England more than he could deplore
the conuptions of the Church of the Papacv.
At Venice Gas we learn from the Simancas
papers) Pole confded to the Imperial Enyoy
Zornoza CA. ID. 1534) his political plans and
aspirations: and ZornoZa recommended the
Emperor not to refuse the services of man
who was near the blood royal of England
who was in correspondence with persons in
that country who we're planning an insurrec-
tion there, and who, with aid from the Empe-
ror, might place England itself under the feet
Of Charles
1t is certain that at this time Pole was pro-
Tossing neutrality to Henry; but he speedily
threw off that affectation. He flung a thun-
derbolt into his native kingdom, in the shape
of that famous piece, ''De Initiate, in which,
like NJ Ledru Rollin, he asserted the sacred
right OF insurrection, on the part of dissat-
lstied people, against the sovereign and his
Government. In this publication Pole
spared no one who stood before
him as an adversary-nothing that
might be an obstacle in his path. 'sHe
broke down the hoodgates by which his vio-
lent and vindictive feelings had been hitherto
damned up. The torrent of his indigna-
tion and wrath knew no bounds" If Pope
and Emperor would but Join hands, Eng
land would be theirs; and Pole evidently cared
little what devastation might be spread, as
long as he aud his party stood upright in the
general wreck.
Rome acted as Extensively as she could Just