New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-02-02

never been made clear but the presumption Is
that IL was one more CO the sacrifices she was
always making for him. Frederick was certainly
not particularly lovable, and his conduct 10 ms
wife at the time of her confinement shows MN
to have been as thoroughgoing a brute, upon
occasion, as was his royal father. lie was noo
destined to mount the throne, but IL wouiu NC
hard to say whether had he lived, he would hoO
have made at least as respectable king as MS
predecessor. =.
Mr.. Mccarthy holds that in the Forty-ive'
George was at one time in imminent danger OF
losing his crown. and states that he himself SO
far appreciated the danger as to pack up ana EN-
bark on waiting vessel his most valuable belong
inrs. Yet he admits that the King always put
ON a bold face to those about him, and affected
To make little of the Pretender's movements. The
authority for the statement about the shipment OF
the treasure is dubious however, and the story
does not agree with the known facts of Georges
character Whatever vices he held, cowardice
was never one of them, and it seems far more
| probable that in the event of experimenting real
| danger from Charles's advance he would have
taken the field against the invader in person than
| that he should have made all his preparations
| for an ignominious flight Moreover, 1T is by no
| means so certain as Mr. Mccarthy represents 1t
that the descent of Charles ever approached sue
| cess The fact that he managed to elude Cum
berland did not really improve his position much'
for it is notorious that every mile OF his advance
into England was intensifying the disagreements
among his Scottish captains, who 1T may De con-
ectured with some confidence, would have thrown
away or frustrated better opportunities than ever
came to him. The English people were not at
tached to George, it is true; but there is reason
TO believe that by far the greater number OF them
cherished an invincible mistrust Of the House OF
Stuart, and it is not credible that they would
have occupied the attitude of indifferent specU-
tors and allowed Scotch army to change the
| dynasty without interference. CulloGen OF
course ended the matter. Thenceforward JacQpit-
| ism was a mere dream. But it VIII take much
| better evidence than Mr.. Mccarthy adduces 10
| establish the position that the Hanoverian sue
cession was seriously menaced by the invasion Of
Forty-five."
The historian has plea for Swift in this vol
| ume which involves condemnation OF Ihack-
erav. and therefore deserves some little exami-
nation. Tbackeray. it will be remembered, said
| of his epitaph: "The 'saeva indignatio of which
| he smoke as decorating his heart, and which she
dares to inscribe on his tombstone-as II the
| wretch who lay under that stone waiting Gods
| Judgment had right to be angry-breaks out
| from him in thousand pages of his writing, ana
| tears and rends him. Against men in Office, he
| having been overthrow; against men In Eng
land he having lost his chance of prefcrment there
the furious exile ceases to rage and curse.
| Mr. Mccarthy thinks this too severe, and holds
| that Thackeray's reading of the character OF
| Swift is far too generally accepted. HIS own
view is that the Dean did we'll TO be angry; that
| he was only angry against wrong and oppression
| that :" his ways were not our ways, nor MS
| thoughts our thoughts; but he walked his way,
such as it was, cOurageously, and the temper oil
| his thoughts was not unheroic." tic says 1ur-
| Their: ITO Thackeray he is only lonely. guilty
| wretch bravo, and bully-a man of genius
employing that genius for selfish or vindictive
| purposes To sOberer and more sympathe tic
| Judgment Thackeray's study of Swift is cruel
caricatureo The Judgment of Mr.. Mccarthy is
| unouestionably more sympathetic, but we are not
prepared to admit that it is sober than Thack-
erays The latter rests upon the facts Of history.
He advances no opinion about Swift which he
does not reinforce and justify by documentary
evidence His view OF Swifts character is that
which the events of Swifts career inevitably
| suggest. Mr.. Mccarthy produces no evidence
whatever in support of his milder verdict. Thack-
cray could not sympathize with a man who split
! his life among the ciques"; whose pen was ever
stepped in gall who was one of the most ferocl0us
| and unscrupulous partisans on record: who most
| certainly dld grunge TO the gTcaJ ana DrOWDedU
| the small who broke the hearts of two, II not
! three women who loved him; who was so con-
| sumed with personal ambkion and arrogant ego
tisn that all the world turned black to him
| when his expectations were disappointed. and who
| proved himself to be by no means too lofty of
virtue to employ on behalf of himself and his
| party means similar to those which aroused his
| bitter indignation when used by his opponents.
| The standard of political ethics which renders
it possible for any historian to take sympathetic
estimate Of Swfts political practices is it appears
1+o1 M inl NJ &
standard far higher and his point Of view at once
| ulster. safer and sounder. We believe that swift
| was "miserrimus" becaused he deserved to be,
and not because he was deeply wrOnged. The
| very preferment the loss Of which he ragged
| so ferociously was put out OF his reach by his
| own desperate recllessness and imprudence lie
| had made himself an impossible church dignltary
| and il is one of the strongest evidences OF his
| profound righteousness that lie never realized
| this. Under any circumstances the purgation
| and rehabilitation Of Swift would be most diff
cult undertaking. but in the present instance the
| attempt is so wanting in support that it must
| be considered futile Mr. Mccarthy is an adept
at picturesque description and the slllful arrange
| ment of tableaus, and in this volume he has
| one is piece of mastery workmanship in these
! respects Such are the accounts of the PorteOus
| Riots Of the Queens Dcath-bed, of The Forty.
| five" Of Chesterfeld's brief Irish administration
| of Give in India. and Of Wolfe in Canada. The
| sketch of the Wesleyan movement is so interest
| ing, though wanting in statistics. We are not
| convinced that the story of "Jenkins's ear is
| apocraphal hut the point is Of small CONSEQUENCE
| Finally il may be said that no more readable book
has issued from the press for a long time than MT
| McCarthy's History of the Georges, and that, its
| limitations and defects admitted, it deserves Q
| cordial welcome.
| rrrT