The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-09-29

f~s~eftt s~ssyf'rs'iou ne rnwpsfs,tyr
fsrittv sth shirh tpr ifsusftfntsti'n
ro'iii 80 msis hss ls~n 'Ns wsHire -
Tneisrt V~' CONSTITUTION 10 tssrir
Nr' rrt sni ifiet y sr~v sni vss rr'
manufactured " . uo' 'i~i - Nv ll~Nni
'ior. u 10 n~' etisr, ~ hur.' b~.suse -
ssn's ~ s,psni ~ rrurs~ u 10 illrsicsl
vssts A. ,,tls hu' w. vrfv sdsp'sh,h'v
~hi~h hss ~nsbi~t i~sro',s-r snd a~wrrrscy
~ s,nrl~v 'h- save constitutional fo'rrs
hss f-ni-T-i viol-n, revolutions .. , ruls
unnecessary F~ot~rsatns 'hs fu,prr Nv
'hs pss' oir author predicts 'hs' n tnslsnf
10 is.'in~i 80 turn inin . .o~isl dem"cra~v
no transformation OIL 30 accomplished
w 'h- .sue srsdusl legitimate and peace.
nj method. 10 'h"s~ Nv vhich fs'ttsl
Fnglsnd vas converted into . commercial
ntddle class ~cnTAnuni'v
In h. --,itna's ~ Henry WIN tho author
~ those c-ss W stop. nidvsv he, w~~n
Froude- suloav mi ,hs, s~pv~reisn's 10.
tractor. Prof Pollard concsdcs hs, IN tho
case " Henry Niti invertive IL ~ ~ssv ~
horn Worship. and ~ 10 diafc,l' Tn sr,eak in =
reasonably judicial sp,r,, froude vas in
clinei ~ regard Henry ~ the victim ~ The
other ~eS and even Bishop S'uhh admits
Ina, tho per-rnsl appearance NJ H~nry's afr
Queens. ~ II Ia represented in their portraits
thourh " docs not rscus-. help. IN explain
tho readiness. with which no discarded them
In our authors conjecture their children,
or rather lack ~ children, had moro to
10 With their fate than their looks But
this -urmise will scarcely account for the
rejection of Catherine ~ Aragon ami Anne
Rolevn II docs not enter. however. IN
the least INTO Prof Pollard'- purpose ~
deal with the wives ~ Henry VIII. In his
judgment their importance has been vastly
overrated
Recalling the fact that Henry VIII has
often been painted a. a bold, bad man
and recently has been called q "habhy
coward" our author concedes that any
body il AZ liberty 70 depict Henry in either
glise. hut solely on one condition. namely.
that the picture must he intelhgible. Our ac-
count Of Henry VIII. m ust he an answer
10 the problem presen ted by his reign. We
must explain how i, came about he was
allowed to do the things he did One
thing ia ~undeniable, namely. he was per-
haps the most successful Of English kings.
He achieved nearly everything he tried
to achieve. Moreover, his work was no
transient triumph. " has lasted TO this
day and become part and parcel Of Eng
and as We know it. Prof. Pollard thus
sums mp the work accomplished by Henry
VIII: He broke the bonds Of Rome. he
subjected the Church to the State, he de-
stroyed the monssteries he completed the
union between England and Wales; he
defeated the French and the Scots; he
developed the parliamentary system, he
extended and reformed the English do
minion in Ireland. he built up the English
navy, he fouted both Empire and Pa
pacy and crushed with comparative ease
the only revolt which Englishmen vent
ured to raise up agsins him. Nor does
this by any means exhaust the astonish-
ing catalogue Of his achievements: He
had bills Of attainder passed against half
the English Dukes and half the English
Cardinals who lived in his reign. Wolsey
escaped the Tower by death on the way
thither, but More, Fisher and Thomas
Cromwell were sent to the block. He
divorced two queens. he beheaded two
others. Parliament ave the force Of
law to bis proclamations, released him
from debts and empowered him to regu-
late the succession to the throne by will"
This certainly 10 a N amazing record.
but. az Prof. Pollard admits. most Of the
things in it are found on close inspection
to be less extraordinary than they look
at first sight. As a matter of fact. for
inst nce. only our Cardinals and four
English Dukes lived in Henry's rel gn. so
that only two were attained and only
one OF each category was actually brought
10 tka hlo,L M thoao fuo p,cL ,nn n
fell a victim TO his own folly and to VOL
sey's enmity rather than to that of Henry
VIII. Again. it was only within limits
prescribed by Parliament that Henry's
proclamations had the force OF law: he
was not empowered 10 leave the Crown
away from any one whose title was undis-
puted. He could not. for instance, have
left il away from Edward vi. As for the
cancelling of his debts. this measure was
probably popular because il meant that
a burden which otherwise would have
fallen ON the shoulders Of the mass Of the
people was left on those OF a few rich
creditors. who had profted largely by
Henry's spoliation Of the Church.
After all such qualifications nave been
made. however. there remains a remark
able sum of achievements, and a historians
Outy II 10 account lot henry 3 SUCCESS,
especially il he is regarded as a iabby
coward or a bloodthirsty tyrant whose
deeds we're hateful TO his generation. The
more cowardly or the more tyrannical
he is made out TO he the more difficult be-
comes the task Of solving me problem
of his reign. Of explaining how it came to
pass that Henry VIII. accomplished so much
and that his work should have lasted 40
long. "Flabby towards are not as a rule
successful revolutionists. and measures
which depend solely upon the tyranny OF
one man do not az a rule become part
Of a nations policy and Of a peoples con-
science"
Personally Prof. Pollard would not pre-
tend that much can be said for Henry's
moral character. He loo not believe
in the portrait which presents hin as a
much malignei hero laboring for the good
Of his people. On the contrary. in our
authors judgment an altruistic motive
WAS entirely absent from Henry's com-