New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-07

from 1853 to 1760 a; least the English Govern
ment was warned whenever Charles had new
move in prospect He IL was who dNuigeu W
Pelham the mission on which Archy Cameron
and Iochgarry were crossing the channel;
though with al audacity and hypocrisy difficult
to match. he could sympathetically write TO
Jamie's court in sorrow for the failure OF the eX-
petition, Mr. Lang concludes with KIND OF
paradoxica defence Of Pickle. But for him.
he says 'there might have been another liigh-
land rising. and more fire and boodshed. But Tor
him the royal family might have persisted IN
nocturnal brawl. (The Elibank plot) Only one
man, Archibald Cameron, died through Pickles
treasons. The Prince with whom he drank, and
whom he betrayed. had become hopeless ana
worthless" Moreover. Pickle never profted as
much as he expected by his treachery, and, since
it has proved a good thing in the long run for
England that Prince Charles did not return. IL
seems reasonable to extenuate the evil doings OF
the spv But all the time Mr.. Iang's heart Is
with Prince Charlie.
The Young Pretendef became hopeless and
worthless" It ia true and IT is useless TO blink
the fact that the seeds OF his downfall were
inherent in his own nature. But he made a
gallant fight while he could. and it Is evident that
If he was in his later years the in-tempered.
gross and avaricious man that Mr. Lang Is
compelled to describe there were privatlons
to be borne. humiatiOns 20 be endured when
might we'll have tried his soul ana warped
his nature. Warped though he was. he re-
manned a romantic figure. and there Is some
thing absorbing TO the fancy in his ceaseless
hurryings through Europe now on some des-
perate errand Of strategy and ambition, now IN
pursuit of new passion. Mr.. Lang refers TO
the Walkinshaw episode at some length. ana
more infinitely, pc is necessary. 10 the intrigue
with the Princess de Talmond. who, with
"Mademolselle Luci." did so much to further the
Princes schemes All these ladies, with several
more form kind Of legend around Charles,
coloring his most practical adventures with the
hues Of sentiment. He acted Ike brute toward
Miss Waknshaw, and when his cause faded
out into nothngness his marriage 10 the Prin-
cess OF Stoberr kept him only temporarily in
a condition OF peace and gcntlemanness. The
vice Of drink had him In its grasp, and his
spirit was broken. He he'd alienato1 all his
friends the Earl Marischal, sturdy Henry Cor
ing and all the others. When he slips finally
into the grave II H. as n man whose promise
had remained utterly unfulflled. Yet In his
pitlable way. with his wrecked personal beauty
and his winning manners. with the generous
and humane instincts that stayed with him
so long. the spell which he cast over his
contemporaries is, in a way, unbroker yet.
There is always sympathy for him. there Is al
ways sure to be appreciation Of the brilliancy
of his rise the pathos of his fall. Mr.. Lang
offers a confirmation OF this. He has studied
his hero too we'll to keep many illusions about
him. He knows that Prince Charlie was first
and last weak vessel But he knows that
there hung about him the poetry of desperate
cause of life which from beginning TO END
was more dramatic, more full of surprises than
any novel. He knows, finally. that the Prince
had the strange magnetism which makes men
beloved sometimes. though their faults be black
as pitch The Pretenders faults, In the last
years of his life especially, were grave and
sordd. But there never was anything malig-
nant in that romantic eye. The gallant spirit
may have died, but it died hard. ard without
as much bitterness as would have marked the
downfall OF many a prince less painfully cir
cuiD stappp1