New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-06-17

so Macmillan * w.
distinction like that drawn by Dr. johnson when
no defined Lord Chesterfield as mot a lord among
wits. but only wit among lords" seems to have
been in Mr. Markhams mind in giving title to his
hook The hero Of this biography" he says in the
prefaee "has been called the Great Lord Fairfax
In distinguish him from others of his name, many of
whom are also met with in history. There is a
difference between placing the epithet before or
after the name. Alexander the Great implies that
that oonqueror was prominent among men, or at
least among Kings But the great Lord Fairfax, or
Lord Peterborough, or Lord Chatham merely denotes
preemiuenee among the Lords of those names. With
this limitation our hero is undoubtedly entitled TO
the name OF the Great Lord. He was the greatest
ornament of a most distinguished family" MT.
Markhams illustrations not satisfactory. Peter
borough was brilliant general, Chatham was the
first OF English orators and if the epithet great
be given to them il is certainly not to distinguish
them merely from others who have worn the same
titles The Towards, the Derbys the Russells, are
"most distinguished families" but not in the
habit of applyng the term great" to even the most
ornamental among the members of them. And in
fact Mr. Markham, though he sets up this limitation
in his preface does not adhere to it in the body of
his work He repeatedly calls Lord Fairfax great
man. and "a great general" He gives him, not
the chief but the sole credit Of the success
of the cause which he espoused. 1t was Fairfax
who organized the Parliamentary army; 1t was he
who planned and conducted thecampaigns; II was
he by whose tactical skill the decisive victories
were won; il was he who restored peace to his
country" During four years the length and
breadth of England had been desOlated by war, and
rs the waves of battle surged hither and thither,
scarcely town or village had escaped. AT last the
misery of the people had become so unbearable that
they rose in the south and west TO defend their
fields and homesteads from both sides alike; and
vet there seemed no hope of any end to the misera-
BILE conflict Then it was that the Parliament sum-
moned Young Fairfax from Yorkshire and the whole
face of affairs was changed as if by magic In one
month he had organized and disciplined new
army in another he had broken the enemys force
in a great battle. Then followed series of rapid
marches and decisive blows, which form a campaign
of almost unequaed briancy; and within year
the war was at an end" Cromwell, ii appears from
Mr.. MaTkbams account, had no share whatever in
modelling the army, and scarcely any share in the
fighting, At MarstOn Moor he showed the white
feather, retiring from the field pretense of
hurt at the very beginning Of the battle, in his
account of which he assumes the whole credit of
the defeat of the Royalist right, certainly at the
expense both of truth and honor At Naseby his
troops were led on to victory not by himself but by
Fairfax who then leaving the pursuit of the routed
enemy to his second in command hurried to
another point where his presence was more needed"
but where, unfortunately it had less magical effect
Not only was it Fairfax who overthrow the mon
archy in the person of Charles the First it was also
he who restored the monarchy in the person Of
Charles the Second. 1t was he who decided the
wavering Monk, and il was he who paralyzed the
movements of Lambert, by whom Monk would
otherwise have been defeated; and this he accom-
al hue fo1,, no fa11 al
though che had not a single soldier oppressed
with illness, and was suffering intense pain" Nor
was there anything in his conduct on this occasion
out of keeping with his at earlier period.
On the contrary, in producing this great change
Fairfax acted with perfect consistency Monk, it
is true, was coarse unprincipled renegade; but
Fairfax pursued only the same objects for which
be had originally drawn his swOrd-a free PaIlia-
ment and liberty of conscience under cOnstitu-
tional king" II appears too, that he succeeded in
securing these objects since the adherents of ab
solutism bad been taught lesson by the sword of
Fairfax which rendered permanent return to the
old tyranny impossible;7 so that "the great Lord
Fairfax returned TO his retirement of Nunappleton
with the proud consciousness of having done good
service to his country"
In perlsing this corrected version of an old and
eventful story. stIikingly impressed with the
melancholy truth that
1.-THE world knows little Of its greatest men,"
and stil less Of it's greatest lords. To think how we
have been deluded for ages into believing that the
"chief Of inen, in conducting TO successful issue
the struggle for English freedom was a certain Oil
yer Cromwell; that the subsequent restoration of
the monarchy, far it the work of any single
individual, was brought about 10y Monk who on that
account was loaded by grateful king with titles
and wealth that this restoration, far from leading
TO a constitutional reign, with free Parliament and
liberty of conscience proved the advent Of a tyranny
far detestabe than had ever before existed in
England; and finally that what rendered the per-
manent establishment of this tyranny impracticable
not the lesson which had been taught by the
sword of Fairfax, but the direct and fatal thrust
gwen to it 10y the sword of the so-called Deverern
William Of Orange! Nay, such is the influence of
these propose ssOns that after having been delivered
from them by Mr. Markham, we find them returning
upon us and insisting on their right to be retained
They bid us remember a body of troops called the
"Ironsidesn Of whom Mr.. Markham has made no men
tion, but whose TenOwn has been inseparably asso-
ciated with that of the man by whom they were en-
rolled disciplined, and led. These, we had always
heard, formed the very core Of the PaIlia-
mentary army, and, standing always firm.
moving always forward, retrieved every
mishap secured every success, and came TO be re-
EaTded as lnymcible. We are perpleXed at finding,
in Mr. MaTkhams own account, that at Marston
Moor the night wing in which Fairfax was stationed,
Suffered defeat, though Fairfax was personally vic
torious, while CTOmwelfs horse on the left wing
overeane all resistance, their commander alone hav-
ing retTeated. At Naseby, too, while the right wing
under Cromwell, broke and routed the Royalists at
the first charge the left wing was driven back and
dispersed, and the center where Fairfax commanded
in person hardly pushed that the result would
at least have been doubtful if Cromwels victorious
horse, wheeling round on the enemy's rear had not
decided the day Moreover, we seem to remember,
though Mr.. Markham says nothing about it, that