The Washington times., 1903-01-25


bear with US the natural and well sus-
tanned impression that the owner of
the name had at least something to do
with the greatness Of the era. When
we speak Of the age of Queen Anne
we cannot possibly associate the
greatness of the era with any genius
Of inspiration coming from The woman
whose name It bears.
Anne was born to a great era. just
as she was born to a crown, and had
no more to do personally with the
making of it's greatness than if she
had been born in a garnet TO a life Of
commonplace obscurity. Even the
worst faults Of Elizabeth may be seen
to have had some share in creating
much of the picturesque greatness at
least which belongs to the Elizabetnan
era But even the best virtues Of Anne
had little or nothing to do with the
inspiration or the promotion of the
greatness which marks her reign
No CULVER Here.
This does not agree with the satiTes
embodied in the adventures of Mr.
LemueI CULVER, or with the diatribes
Of Pope and less distinguished writ
ers Of the time. The fact is, however,
that to these observers there were
visible numerous stumps, bitches,
briers and other membranes of new
~ cleared land which are hidden from
us by the mist of time. In his survey
Of the general condition of the king
dom at the time of the Queens acces-
sion. the historian says:
Readers Of this generation, looking
composedIy back over the history Of
Queen Anne's reign, are naturally in
clined to set il down as matter Of
fact that the principle of constitution
al government has been generated by
the process of political evolution, and
that there can be no return on the
part Of England to the earlier stage
Of historical development.
The struggle for the Stuart family
was. in fact, a struggle for the prin-
cipIe of the divine right of kings. a
devotion personal, sentimental! and re-
ligious for the Stuarts had much to
do with the prevailing adhesion of 50
many in England. Scotland and Ire
land to the name Of the family which
went into exile with James the Second.
Weakness of Stuarts.
The weakness Of the Stuart cause
consisted in the fact that England had
by this time outlived the principle of
divine right That principle had be
come an anachronism. and was no
more to be maintained against the
never principle Of hereditary success
sion than, at much later day, the
old-world fashion of travelling by
horse-drawn coaches could be main
tanned against the newer practice Of
travelling on lines of railway"
The question, then, as here present
ed, was not personal between the
house of Stuart and the house Of Han
over, when the statesmen at that time
steering the national fortunes had
hunted Europe over for an heir to the
throne not connected with the Stuarts,
vowed to support the divine right Of
kings, a faction with whom this be
lief was ingTained in the blood. and.
on the other side, a race without any
strong convictions on this point, sup
ported by a faction in the main op-
posed to that tenacious fallacy.
Care of the Work.
Students Of history cannot see
things rs they are without recognizing
the eternal presence of these two leo
ries, OF forces, or sentiments. and the
fact that action and reaction, in his
toryas in matter are continually alter
mating with more OF less varying force
The progress of civilized races has
been for centuries an unconscious eff
fort to compromise between these two
leading systems Of thought ana the
compromise, in it's multiplex forms,
has been from time TO time inCreas-
ingIy successful.
It is the conflict Of these two forces
which is pictured in such works as
the present, and in the new method OF
studying history the student is led to
take more and more account of the
underlying forces of society and less
account of merely personal details
This work of Justin Mccarthy viii
be a valuable adjunct to any refer
ence library, and It Is manifestly in
tended TO be such a supplement. The
historian skips from Defoe to the
Spanish campaign. from London in
- time Of Queen Anne to a study of
the character Of Swift. from the story
Of the first Parliament to SacheverelI,
and thence back to Swift and his opin-
ions. Eacn chapter, in fact, is de-
voted to a different subject and in
stead Of forming a continuous story
they overlap each other in a most Gu
rious way
Sympathetic Treatment.
One Of the particularly interesting
chapters is that which deals with
Swift. This eccentric and peculiar
genius has been for several genera
II