The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-02-17
That Portrait of Charles the First.
70 the Editor of the Press:


At the request Of H correspondent, you
republished, a few days since. an eli lsor-
ial from the New York Tribune renectlna
severely on the bishops and oiersyMeh
having to do, in one way and another,
with the recent unwilling in the Church
of the Evangelist, Philadelphla, OIL
portrait of Charles /. of England. May
I not. IN the interests of truth and JUS
tice. he allowed to say something on the
other side?
Permit me to say, in beginning, that
the renutation of Charles the King, like
that of many another historic parsonage,
has suffered greatly from misrepresenta-
ton, and that the temperate historical
writer now prevents his character in a
much more favora BILE light than that in
which certain school of writers used to
present it. 70 get at the truth with re-
gard to his career as sovereign, we
must look at all the facts in the case, and
not simply at those which his critics
have been in the habit of quoting
against him.
In the first place. it must not be for
gotten that he was the victim, in part,
of political systsm that began with
Edward w., and which practically
aimed at absolutism. This system, it
Is true, had never Succeeded as it had In
France, but the IDEAS of regal rights I'm
DERIVING it had come down to Chsrles.
ana he had been carefully educated IN
them by his father, James H. What
Charles did, contrary to the approval OF
his Parliaments. had been done. again
and again, by his predecessors, and In
so doing he believed that he was acting IN
accordance with his preroGative.- 1t was,
however, bis misfortune to come upon
the stage at time when C change from
the system he had inherited to consG1tu-
ticnal government was .inevita BILE.
Against such o change he set hlmselI.
not with the temper OF a, tyrant, bus IN
the firm belief that he was contendlng
for a great principle. Had he been born
q constitutional sovereign in the present
sense of tile term, he would doubtless
have reigned in conformity with well-de-
fined laws and accepted precedents. But
he was not so born, and, refusing to yield
to the demands of his Parliaments for
restrictions upon the royal authority, he
became.involyed in the memorable con-.
test that lost him his crown and his life.
It should also be remembered that If
Charles, as a King, sometimes resorted
to repreLensible methods to attain his
ends, he did SO as one who had been
trained by his father to believe that the
needs of the State justified acts in SOW
ereigu that would be blameworthy in the
ordinary affairs of life. Furthermore, he
believed that he was dealing with men.
manysof whom could mot be trusted, and
that craft must be met with craft. In
this respect. however wrongly. he did
only what many another ruler has done,
and without mourning one half the CEN
sure that has been visited upon him.
Nor, once more. must it be forgotten
10 h hry q
fiction, and not in response to the de-
mands of his rsuUJects at large. Crom-
we'll attained his object in this regard
only after he had for chilly expelled from
the Parliament all but the Independent
minority, upon whom he knew he could
rely. When Lady Fairfax, the wife of
the Parliamentary general, who was
present at the Kings trial. hearing the
formal charge read, "1n the name of the
people of England fearlessly exclaimed,
"Not a tenth part of them ~ she de-
clared only the truth. The average Eng
Iishman was horrif1ed at the tragedy of
Whitehall. and from the moment of the
Kings execution the reaction in favor of
the exiled house set in which. in 1860,
resulted in it's triumphant restor ition.
But now let me say that the picture re-
Gently unveiled in Philadelphia is in
memory of Charles the Man-not OF the
monarch in the days of his power and
Christian, whose character had been
purified as by fire, and who died as sanity
a death rs any man of his age had died.
Charles's private life as all but his in
veterate lemies admitted, was blame
less. lis daily conduct was a model OF
decnrum; no wife has been blessed Win
a fonder and more loyal husband and
his daughter. Elizabeth. who was per-
mitted access to him on the eve of his
execution, said: "He hid me tel my
mother. that his thoughts had never
strayed from her, sSand that his love
should be the same to the last" He died
publicly forQiving his enemies, and his
last word "Remem ber," referred, his
friend, Bishop Juxon, said, to his tthe
Kine's) repeated charge that his son
should be enjoined to forgive his
fathers murderers. &
Charles was q steadfast son of the
Church of England, and it was as much
bis refusal,sto consent to its reformation
on asPresbyt erian basis as anything that,
in the end, lost him his life. Had he
struck hands with the Presbyterian party
he could have quelled Cromwell and the
Independents. and saved not only his
head but his crown. Naturally, there
fore, the Church Of England has always
regarded him rs one of her champions
and martyrs, and, taking this fact. in
connection with the purity of his life
aud his unaffected piety, into account,
it is not strange that that church should
honor his memory, and that thousands OF
American chufchmen. thorough Amerl-
cans though they are, should do the
same.
There is q great deal more that should
like tn say on the general subject before
ne; but fear that l am taxing your
patience beyond endurance. l must con-
tent myself, therefore, with adding that
can see no more harm in gracing the
Church of the Evangelist, Philadelphia,
with d portrait of Charles l., whom his
mourning friends loved TO speak Of as
the 'sWhite King than in placing, as
is proposed, in st. Saviour's Church,
Southwark, London, a window IN
memory of JOHN Harvard, the Puritan
founder of the college bearing his napne.
CHARLES POLLEN LEE.
Newcastle, Me-, Feb. 10.