New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-06-30

that is he had treated his father with great repcc'
and consideration, and had conformed hmseil W
his wishes and for his fathers sake ana uo"p'e''
because OF the wisdom and character anu gieaV III,
Hucncc of the Prmate, he listened to the eouhse''
Of Lanfranc: although he had begun to fret uhuer
them before they ceased forever. Az this ''''o Nv
was but about I'll irty years old. lie hah a'""S'
been brave and a good soldier; even SHOWING u"
notioncc n he the first in arms and the first to meet
any challenger But with this Guahty anu 'n"' VI
fliol pcty his claims to Affirmation, or even 10
ros,ect ,re ut an end He seems not to have been
of n malicious temperament. or 10 have Ioved
ructv for itself; and indeed his historian adinlts
that better kings and better men had Oood'er
hands than he Bat he was through ana thToreha
selfish cgost and he was absolutely indifferent az
ia right ard wrong. MoreoN e. he was OF pase
and sordd nature. So long az M had his way aui
90; what he wanted, he cared not who suffered or
who did not. He surrounded himself with nan"
Of n,crcenary soldiers. and allowed them to piage
and oppress at their Will, at their very caprice
HIS own cruelty was chiefly in extortioD; for the
country eroaned under his exactions; but IN addi-
ton TO this his hired cut-throats worked their
wicked will without restraint from him uoon Nor
mans and English alike. They pillagcd, they
burned. they tortured, they ravished mt their
measure and no one dared touch them because they
were the Kings men. They would take The food
from the very mouths of the poor people would use
their drink to wash the feet Of their horses would
commit other uncomfortable enormiticS. so that the
inhabitants Of villages would flee to the WORDS
when they heard that their King and his retinue
were coming and to all this Rufus was Indifferent
PAY him his taxes, let him have his meroenarles'
Give him his base pleasures and you might
harry hang and burn not as you pleased
English were You? o. Norman what was it to
Win
the oppressed or the oppressor! He was called
muniiicent by those to whom he was liberal but
his munifcence consisted in the giving freely lot
bad purposes Of that which was acquired in bad
WAY What he extorted from his suffering people
with one hand he freely gave with the other TO his
brutal mercenaries who oppressed them under MS
protection. He was not only utterly l'reslons out
thoroughly impious. His passions we're OF Tie
rrcssos and in sest tyne and were indu ged without
restraint and without shame The beauty and the
charms Of women were not his temptations into
error He hal no wife and left no chiidreb HIS
denominations were monStrous and nameiess lie
lived so utterly vile and tlaGrantly bad lie and
with sucb q determination of will toward ell that
it was said of him that every day he rose worse
man than lie went to bed and went to bed worse
man than he rose. In all the land there does not
seem TO have been a single human creature that
loved him. not even amongst his personal retaners
and courters They served his ends. and he re-
warled them so long as they worked his will no
nnestlons were asked on either side. This seems to
have been the beginning and the end Of his personal
relations with his followers With his subjects he
had no other than that Of an extortloner and an
oppressor. He got money in every way; lie took 1t
on every pretence. He would pardon any criminal
for money. No cut-throat robber was too petty
or too black in crime not to defy the executioncr if
lie would pay the Kings price for pardon For
money he would even pardon the breaker OF his
forest laws but it was for the pleasure OF the chase
that he was most irexorable i'll his eXacton and his
oppression. He allowed no right, no consideration
of the comfort or even the livelihood of his subjects
to stand in his way when be wished to 90 a-hunting
II seems as if he would have turned all England
into a chase if he had wished to do 50.
And vet this Rufus although one of the worst
kings and worst men Of whom history has preserved
a record, was not without qualities, or qualify
which by permissible use of language may be
called redeeming. Ilc was man Of honor; he re-
spected his Lnightiy word. Nor should we forget
as having certain relation 70 this part OF his char
acter that strong feeling of a piety. OF reye ence
for his father and devotion to his memory, which
abided with Rufus all his life. He carried ont his
fathers views even in humane and pous
matter as the building of hospitals. He held with
n strong hand and at all hazards. what his father
had won He was apt from vacllatiOn and caprice
/ To allow warikc expeditions happily ana success
| fully begun to be frittcrcd away and come to
/ nanght: but never when anything Of his fathers
was at stake Z" In other warfare" as Mr.. Freeman
writes " the Red King might halt, or daily, or put
up with imperfect conquest; but when lie Mans,
castle and city was 10 he kept or wOn when the
royal tower OF lis father was in jeopardy or il
hostile hands then the heart of Rufus never waXed
l. 4.lta
fight" Mr. Freeman does not point ont but We think
that we Sec a direct connection between this feel
ing and that sentiment of honor which he finds
conspicuous in Rufus that he says Of him that to
no man that ever lived the whole train of
/ thoughts and feelings suggested by those words
more abidlnely present than they were 10 the Red
| King" He does not stop here, but adds the follow
/ ing paragraph:
1t might he going too, far to soy that William
Rufus was the first gentleman. as his claim to that
/ title might he disputed by lis toreiathtT' Duke
Robert the Coed But he was certainly the first
hn NINA ~ so ai ~ nyyls thoughts and fcengs which
/ belong to the titles Of knight and gentle were
habitualIy and ostentatiously thru TO- ward
These are impressive words comir 81 IN histo-
ran so cautious and so Thoughtful as Nj freeman If
the base, vicious mpious tyrant whose LIKENESS he
paints in such repusive tints and with such dam
ming shadows was a knight and a gentleman for be
il observed the historian does not mean gentleman
| by birth, coat armOr social position or what no y,
| of what value, or at least of what meaning, are
those valued titles? The answer may be gathered
from Mr.. Freeman's pages; and the world owes him
much for setting forth his sound thoughts upon the
subject in such clear and impressive language that
no reader who is at candid and intelligent
as it seems to us. hesitate moment as to their ac
ceptance. He tells that we have now lat the
reign CT Rufus reached the days OF chivalry, and
that it is the spirt of chvalry. instead of striving
to obey the whole law of right. TO pick out few
of its precepts TO be observed under certain clrcum
In. 4 - L.