The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-18

which gave to their liberalism the invaluable
foundation Of religion. OF course, not every
one Of the Independents saw equally far,
or applied principles with equal courage.
'To'the question whether the three great
victims OF the Puritan revolution-Strafyord
Laud and. Charles-deseryed their fate Lord
Acton that it Ia certain that they
were put TO death Illegally and therefore
unjustly. He feels sure also that the
superior enlightenment and wisdom were
not always on the side Of Parliament. He
knows, however. Of no thread to guide us
through the enormous intricacy and com
plexity Of modern politics, except the idea
Of progress toward more perfect and az
spred freedom and the divine right of free
men. Judged by that test the Lecturer
thinks that the three culprits must be con-
dernned. Cromwell Is credited with the
triumph OF the Puritans in the Great Rebel
lion, but,Lord Acton adds that .as the chief
cause OF the victory was the genius OF one
extraordinary man and the sudden growth
and spreading OF the religious party to which
he belonged the effect lasted no longer than
bis Life. The fabric he had reared was over
thrown without an effort. offering no re-
sistance to the destroyer. The soldier,
therefore, was greater than the statesman
With regard TO the Protectors habit OF pro-
fessing to see the hand OF 0od In human
affairs whenever things went well with
him Lord Acton submits that there In no
more pertloNs and IMMORAL habit Of mind
Than the sanctifying Of success. Cromwell
is also accused of being the constant enemy
Of free institutions. Scarcely any Eng
Iishmnn has so bad a record in modern his
tory Having allowed all this, however,
Lord Acton comedies that "we cannot easily
say too much of his lCromwell'sl capacity
in all things where practical success is CON-
cerned and not foresight or institutions.
In that respect and within those limits
he was never surpassed by any man of his
race, here or in America" As political
thinkers Vane and Harrington are pro-
nounced more profound. We are reminded
that Harrington was the author of what
Americans have called the greatest dis
covery since the printing press. For 1t was
he who a the reason why" the, Great
RebeIion failed in the end and was fol-
lowed by the reaction under Charles II. He
said that IL failed because it omitted to
redistribute the landed property OF the
Kingdom! The large landed estates CON-
stituted an aristocrstio society on which il
was impossible to construct a democratio
State. II great estates had been broken
up into small onee on q definite plan-as
they were by the French revolution
ists-the nation would have been oom-
United, 10 the new order of things n
would have accepted the law Of equality.
Poverty would have been diminished on
one side and mobiles would rave been abol-
ished on the other. A timorous oonserva-
tism and legal scruples made this impossi-
bic and government by a law OF nature
took its shape from the forms and forces OF
society. It Is needless to 60 quite 30 deep
as his to see that the Cromwellian system
which was the work Of minority led by a
man of preeminent services and talents
crumbled when the necessary leader was
gone In, the English Commonwealth il
recognized. the second stage on the road
OF revolution which started from the Meth
'eriands and went on TO America and France
and Il the. centre of the history OF the mod
ern world. Seer from a distance the value
of that epoch Is not In that which In created.
for II left ruins. not creations. but in the
prodigious wealth Of ideas which il sent into
the world. II supplied the English revolu-
ton Of 1883, the American and the French with
materials. Lord Acton would have US mark
the fact that its ideas became eficacious
and masterfui by denying their origin.
For at first they were religious. not political,
theories. When they renounced their theo-
logical ~parentage and were translated into
the scientific terms Of politics they on
quered and spread over the nations "a gen.
eral truths. not as British exports"
The author OF these lectures regards the
series of events whereby the rise of the
Whig party eliminated in the revolution of
1888 as the most significant in English his
tory. He concurs indeed with Burke and
Macaulay in declaring that on the surface
Of things the revolution of 1888 was not
revolutionary but conservative; that os-
tenslbly it was little more than q rectifica-
ton Of recent error and a return to ancient
principles. A king was Acknowledged to
be . necessity in the State Of Eng
land. The idea Of a Commonwealth did
not reappear. The revolution was mainly
the work Of Conservatives, that il, OF
Churohmen, who where Church interests
we're not threatened strictly upheld author
fty and reverted 20 their original doctrine
when Che crisis was over. No change took
pIacs in the governing class. The gentry
who. managed the affairs of their county
managed the affairs of the whole country
also after 1888. as they had done before.
There was no transfer Of force from the
aristooratic element OF society to the demo-
cratic. The essentials OF free government.
religious liberty, national education, emsn-
cipation of slaves, freedom of trade. relief
Of poverty, freedom of the press, solidarity
Of Ministers, publicity OF debate, were not
mentioned In the resolutions Of the CON-
vention which gave the crown to William
and Mary or in the Bill Of Rights.
All this must be conceded; nevertheless,
Lord Acton thinks the revolution OF 1888
the greatest thing ever accomplished by
the Engliah nation. IL established the
State upon a contract and set up the doo-
trine that q breach Of contract forfeited
the crown. the former in the English oon-
vention, the latter in the Scottish. Parlis-
ment rave the crown n gave 1t under
conditions. The result was that Parliament
became supreme in administration as we'll
as In legislation. The King became its
servant on good behavior, liable to dis
missai for himself or his ministers. All
this, the author OF these lectures holds.
was not restitution, but inversion Pas