New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-10-28
HENRY CURT-MANTLE.
A GREAT KING OF ENGLAND.
HENRY THE SECOND BY MRS. J. r. GREEN.
lemo., pp. 2a4. Macmillan Co.

place among the statesmen concerned III 'he max
ing Of England is not TO be contested Out III is
straining point somewhat to call him an English
statesman, for, as Mrs Green puts 1t: lie was
a foreign King, who never spoke the English
tongue, who lived and moved for the most part
in a foreign camp surrounded with motley most
of Brabancons and hirelings; and who in inter-
walls snatched from foreign wars hurried for few
months to his island kingdom TO carry out policy
which took little heed of the great moral forces
TINT were at work among the people" Never
thelcss he did great work, and one which per-
haps could not have been done by nativc-born
English sovereign 1t was long time before
Henry came to understand that his English king
dom was the most important of his possessions.
lie was a Continental ruler. His statecraft was
European, not nsular. He was absorbed in keep
ing and extending his Norman and other territory
across the Channel For many years English
politics brought him more vcXation than anything
else.
But he was a born administrator and man OF
iron will and exhaustless energy All through his
restless rushing career he was flying from place
TO place, dragging a breatbless court after him
dasbng from England to France and back again
hurrying from end to end Of his island kingdom
taking every one by surprise wherever he Went
and transacting more business than fifty average
men could do. He was the man for the age too !;
physically a giant, bold brave. rough, hardy
with an intellect as robust as his body a broad
sagacity which struck out large lines OF wise
policy almost as by instinct, combination emil
nently fitted to meet the existing conditions, and
TO rule balf-savage though rapidly advancing
peoples. 1t was better for England IN the long
run that he should have been an alien for in the
measures which lie tool, to reduce the naughty
,hnpli IN
position he was, as foreigner, hampcred by no
domestic alliances or complications, and could
proceed with the rough directness of purpose
habitual with him The same consideration APP
plies to his relations with the English people
He found administration rampant; the laws
mere tanglc of contradictions; thousand sepa-
rate jurisdictions where but one was needed; the
barons sitting each in judgment for himself; the
masses bound in the meshes of obsolete customs; ;
everywhere extorton, injustice, oppression and
lawlessEess.
He introduced sweeping reforms, but like most
reformers, he failed to take account of the in
strumcntaties he had to work with. 1t was
probably impossible to find men at that time
capable Of administering the Kings laws instead
of the bar0ns' who would not with the change
smnggle in some fresh abuses. So it came to pass
that while the administration Of justice under
Tcnry's reform system was an immense
theoretical advance upon the past, the greed
of the new officials so surrounded the courts with
snares and pitfalls that the people found them
selves plundered even more mercilessly than be-
fore They were less likely to be hanged, but
they were more likely TO be robbed. This made
the King very unpopular. For time he was
unaware of the knavery of his officers. When
he found it out he spurred fiercely through Eng
land, removing furnishing, redrcssing wrongs,
and making it understood effectually that the
laws must be administered with equity, and
that the masses must have free access to the
courts. He meant to be King, and he soon per-
ceived that he would have TO contend with the
Church for his crown. In this matter he made
the mistake Of his life, but it was one which
a shrewder judge Of human nature might have
fallen into as easily.
When he made Becket's acquaintance, the young
clerk was thorough wording, and quite pre-
pared to cast in his lot with the King as against
the Church Perhaps he maintained this determi-
nation until after he had been made Archbishop
Certainly he allowed Henry to believe that he
continued of the same mind. Beckett was strong
man, and an able, but when he found himself
elevated 10 the Primary, pride took possession
of him which not altogether the religious
sentiment he seems to have thought II. lie
ranged himself on the side of the
Church from that moment. In the af-
fair of the Constitutions of Clarendon, he
made Henry understand that nothing was TO be
hoped from the new Archbishop Beckett stood
for Rome The demands of the Church were, as
Henry asserted, incompatible with the preserya-
ton of the royal authority and dignity. Beckett
not constantly at the height of his resolution
More than once he seemed on the point of yield
ing Once he did consent TO the Kings PROPOSE
tons but eventually repudiated this agreement
The breach inevitably widened Beckett became
a thorn in Henry's side. He interfered with the
royal policy. He hindered the subIugation of the
barons. lie threatened accommodation and
interdict The King personally feared neither
but he knew that score of powerful enemies
waited but the Papal ban to attack him under the
pretence of fulfilling their duty as faithful sons
of the Church. He was compelled, therefore, to
temporize, and he aternated offers OF compromise
with furious bursts of anger against the rebelous
Primate 1t was in one of these passionate out
breaks that he uttered the wild wish for the
moval Of his great ecclesiastical adversary which
proved the death-warrant Of the Archbishop
There can be no suspicion Of the genuineness
Of Henrys grief when he heard of the murder. 1t
was a crime of kind to revolt his thoroughly
manly spirit He might have slain foe in a
moment of frenzy with his own hand but he was
incapable of plotting assassination in cold blood
The deed, too, shattered all his continental
)lans; placed him at deadly feud with Rome |
where he knew professions of inno- |
ence would clear him; encouraged all |
IFS enemies and raised deep and |
bitter cutlery in England. Henry never iinched
put he was the greatest politician Of his time,
and he all the danger. 1t did not COW
or confuse him. He to and nearly con-
Quered it. But there was something like a
curse upon his last years, and a superstitous age
did not hesitate TO aseribe his successive mis-
fortunes TO the enmity of the martyr Beckett,
for men thought it but natural that be should
avail himself Of his enlarged spiritual powers
to avenge himself upon his ancient adversary.
Henry would have withstood a world in arms,
d.kaa oxad I.