The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1895-09-12
OLIVER CROWN ELL.
A NEW LIGHT ON HIS LIFE.
Coed Words at Last.
HnrDer's Bnzdnr.

Hnfpef bn-HHf.
1t is one OF the curious paradoXes OF
history that glamour Of romance
should have 50 lorg surrounded the
memory Of one Of the most fathles- OF
princes. and that the great man Of hl-
age, and perhaps one Of the truest pa
triots Of any age, should have been stlg-
rnat1zed for two centuries as an unmlt-
lgated hypocrite, whose cant was the
barest Disguise for INSCRIPTIONS ambl-
ton. The subtle fascination and indie
scribable charm which Mary Of Scot
land begueathed to her unfortunate
grandson, Charles J., seems to have
blinded royalist historians to his shame
less perfidy, his vascillatlons. MS IN
tricues to them the delicate, high
bred face OF Nandyck's portrait appears
as the face Of the Lords anolnted, the
face Of the royal martyr, and vision
man whose genius and efforts made
absOutiSm forever after impossible III
England and who opened the path to
the constitutional liberty of the present
dav has been depicted as "a brass lar
thing stamped with crown as a
devil as "a brave, bad man" possess
ed, according to Jeffrey, Of profoundest
d,Iplicty characterized by MacauIay,
with the sapiency Of eight years, as ''an
unjust and wicked man." and so on III
direct ratio with the Tory sympathles
OF his judges.
Through the long lapse of years
scarce one had good word TO say for
Oliver Cromwell once Lord High Pro
tector OF England. save kindly, garru
lous Mr. Samuel Pepys, who shrewdly
recorded his views under cipher intel
lible only to himself. But justice,
though slow Of foot, comes surely, after
all. and indicates the memory OF the
soldier and statesman. not by arbltrarl-
" reversing the verdict Of history, but
rather by bringing to light evidence OF
the character of the man, by sweeping
aside the mass of fabrication which
blind prejudice has heaped around his
name, by subjectlng to rigid crOss-ex
animation every adverse charge, by
setting in sharp contrast Mr.. David
Hume's powers of vitupera ton with
his eloquent loyalty.
In the work of rescuing great his
torical character from the defamation
of two centuries, a task begun by Car
lyle. Dr. George H. Clark lends willing
pen. DR.. Clark approaches his subject
with enthusiasm, for he shows in every
line his belief in the intrinsic grandeur
OF the man. But his work is not that
of the enthusiast alone ne marshals
his facts and adduces his proofs in true
judicial spirit; no scrap CT evidence
escapes his eve, and he even puts his
client on the MitnesS-stand to testify in
his own behalf. Our author seeks to
show us every stage of his hero's career,
and depicts with equal care the farmer
of st. Ives and the dictator of the great
est foreign policy England has ever
known. In the veXed question of the
moral responsibility of the reglcides
DIR. Clark thus defines his position
80 Apart from all matters of nation
al welfare, reducing the case to per
sonal one, it is difficult to see wherein
the reglcldes are worthy of blame
Charles had played his desperate diplo
matte game until the patience f Trom
we'll and his fellow-Puritaus was ex
hausted-played 1t until there Was ;
certainty either that the general Of the
army and other leaders in the war mus,
lose all that they had fought for, and
then give up their lives, or that the
kihg must pay the penalty of hl.
crimes. ---- 1t might have been more
Judlclous to retain the king prisoner
but if ever capital punishment is Just
and right, it was surely so in this case :
Perhaps there Is here a little of the
spirit of one of Cromwell's Ironsldes
who prayed for the soul of his enemies
with one breath and that his shot might
speed true with the other. DR.. Clark
makes no pretence OF having exhausted
his subject he claims only to have
produced a comprehensive guide book
which will aid the future historian in q
work of many years. Yet this little
volume will awaken earnest thought
and will do much to give Cromwell his
true place in history. If we can moi
always follow our author in his admira
ton, if we do not recognize at once al
those qualities which fit man to guide
and govern his fellow-men," the faul
Is IN us. and not IN the mastery presen
tation of character "who illustrated
IN his life the principles which he hae
learned from a Divine Master"
ALKALINE w. STERLING
faint a DOG"