The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-04-21
CHAPTER III.
TIE LAST BLOW.

Il, r is said i that those stories are best
liked which present u hero and sing his
nchlevements from beginning to end.
And the more faultlcss and brilliant tho
i hero. the he. better goes the tale. and tho
ham is the central figure in this history.
and SO rich Is the color of the man and
SO intense his vitality. that other per-
and amGnE whGm he
takes the long result. larger share in
affairs. and their hand stretches across
the centuries. but there was not in them
the heart. One must study study the work
OF William Of Orange II he is to UNDER
stand. stand the history Of his nation but one
him. Claverhousc, If one faces the facts
and sweeps away the glamor was only
e da Mn cavalry im,, officer who happened
vious local tactics, and yet there ere are are
few men whom one would prefer to meet.
one would make II long Journey to catch
q sight of Claverhousc. riding down the
fascination of his portrait. But the
reade" has already discovered that Gra-
ham can hardly be called a hero by any
Of the ordinary tests except beauty OF
personal appearance He was not an
ignorant man. as certain persons have
concluded from the varied and picturesque
cannot claim that he was endowed with
rich intellectual gifts. He had sense
enough TO condemn the wilder excuses
OF MS colleagues In the government Of the
day. put he had not force enough to
replace their foolishness by n wiser pol
icy Had his powers been more command
ing. or indeed II lie had had any talent
Tor constructive action with his unwav-
ering integrity and masterful determines
ton. he might have opsted Lauderdale
and saved Scotland for king James. But
accomplished intriguers and trained poll
texans were always too much for Claver-
n h I'M nc a tira ii y,,,t
mai Is caught in the meshes OF net.
Wild nartisans. to whom every man Is
either white as snow or black as pitch.
have gone mad over Graham. making
an ange, or devil and forgetting that
most men are half and between. But
It must be also said that those WHO hold
John Graham to have been a Jacobite
minds. and hysterical In their writing.
for tlgy VIII not hear that he ever did
anything less than the best, or that the
men he prosecuted had any right upon
their side, He is from first 10 last per-
feet paladin of romance whom every one
is bound to praise. Then artists rush in
aid not only make. fine trade Of his good
looks. but lend his beauty TO the clans
men who fought at Kiliccrankie. till the
curtain falls upon Bonnie Dundee be-
ing carried to his grave by picturesque
and broken-hcarted Hishlanders dressed
in the costly panoply of the Inverness
Gathering, and with faces OF the style of
George Macdonald or Lord Leighton
Whatever Claverhouse was, and this story
4 least suggests that he was brave and
honorable. he was in no sense a saint
ana would have been the last to claim
this high degree. 1t is open to question
whether lie deserved to be called good
man. for he was ambitious of power, and
perhaps for public ends. of wealth; he
lad no small measure of pride and jeal-
nusy in him: he was headstrong and un-
manageable. and for his own side he was
unrcenting and cruel. There are things
lie would not have done to advance his
cause as, for instance. tell lies. or stain
his homer, but lie never would have
dreamed OF showing mercy to his oppo-
nent. Nor did he ever try to enter into
his mind or understand what the other
man was feeling.
1t is sometimes judged enough for a
hero that he succeed without being clever
or. good, but neither did Garham pass
this doubtful and dangerous test. For
when you clear away the romance which
heroic poetry and excited prose have flung
around him. you were an optimist II you
did not see his life was one long failure
as well as disappointment and a sor-
row. He did bravey with the Prince of
Orange, and yet somehow he missed pro-
motion. he was the best officer the gov
crnment had in Scotland, and yet it was
only in the last resort he became COM
mandcr-n-c He was the only hon
est man among gang OF rascals in the
Scots council. and yet he was once dis
stantial nswards, and yet he had to make
degrading appeals 10 obtain his due. He
was loyal to foolshness. yet he was rep
resented to the Court as man who
could not be trusted. He had only two
love affairs; the first brought him the
reputation OF mercenary aims, and the
second almost ruined his life He em-
barked OH Il contest which was hopeless
OF a futile victory. Except winning the
heart of Jean Cochrane he failed In