The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-05

M. 0oidwln smith deFidea the claim Of
constructive ability put forward on behalf
Of Falkland. Constitutional monarchy,
as Falkland rightly judged, was the highest
attainable ideal for England, at any ate
In that day. OF attaining that ideal. Of
doing anything considerable toward is
attainment or toward is defence, agaiuSS
the powers Of absolutist reaction, whose
triumph would have rendered itS attain
ment forever impossible. he was no more
capable than he was Of performing the
labors Of Hercules Il seems that Lord
Lytton tried TO answer this oritioism BY
anticipation: 'The objects Falkland desired
TO attain were a monarchy Invested Of all
~pretensions TO absolutism, and q Church
purified from all sympathies with papacy
and excluded from all penal jurisdiction In
civil affairs. In fine, a monarchy without
a STAFFORD and a Church without q Laud.'
III.
II the problem Of the day had been
exclusively constitutional It might have
been solved by Pym's formulation Of the
principle Of a responsible executive
councillors whom Parliament had caused
to oonfde in AZ a matter Of fact, 1t was
complicated by an ecclesiastical faotorI
equally difficult and equally insistent.
Our author thinks that had the Issue been
simple and the times been normal. had
revolution not threatened in the ChurdA
az well as in the State. Falkland might have
voted with the majority on the Grand Re
monstranoe.' The demonstrates. however,
was no mere academic resolution; II was the
gage Of battle, the trumpet call TO civil war.
Ua -II-l Z. ILL., 4 cd uvAa ard
the sModerates" had TO ask themselves
was this: IF / vote for the R~emonStranoe
shall I not put to the hazard Of the sword
all the advantages obtained. all the 70
forms achieved. during the last twelve
months Of strenuous toilf' Pym and Hamp-
den were prepared to take the risk Hyde
and Falkland were not. Touching the
often heard assertion that Pym's ideas.
though obscured by the SUCCESS Of 'Crom-
we'll and temporarily rejected at the Res
toration,~ obtained triumphant and per-
manent vindication In the Revolution Of
1888, Mr.. Marriott comedies that 90 far
as the Revolution was the avenue to the
establishment OF constitutional monarchy
and the development of the Cabinet ays-
tenn the claim on Pym's behalf 10 justified.
he reminds US. however that the Revolu.
ton OF 1883 was q triumph for AnglicaniSm
less than for Constitutionalism, whereas
Pym's victory in 1o42 would probably have
meant the establishment OF Presbyterian
ism and the effacement OF the monarchy
Had Pym at that time p~ropounded q scheme
for the suppression Of q particular monarch
Of the destruction Of the monarchy;
for the enlargement Of the borders OF the
Anglican establishment instead Of b
substitution Of presbyter for priest; Falk-
land might still have been found at Pym's
side. But Falkland. though he cared little
for the person Of the monarch, was de-
voted to the principle Of monarchy, and
though he loved not the Laudian bishops,
he dreaded the intellectual intolerance
OF the extreme Puritan. he would notvote,
therefore, to endanger the monarchy or pre1
a Puritan tyranny.
The event has proved that with Falkland
lay the secret Of the future. Pym's prin-
ciples obtained partial indication in
the eighteenth century; Falkland's COM
pleter triumph was postponed until the
Lord B~eaconsield in a passage
here reproduced from 'Endymion' halls
Falkland as the ~protomartyr OF Toryisrn:
Are not the traditions Of the Tory party
the noblest pedigree In the world? Are
not it's illustrations that glorious mar
tyrology that opens with the anne Of Falk-
land and closes with the name OF Canning3'
Mr.. Marriott admits that Lord Beacons-
fields historical Judgments are uncritical,
but he holds that Lord Lytton's claim on
behalf OF Falkland cannot be lightly put
aside: Gould Falkland look from his re-
pose on England as England is now, would
not Falkland say, This 10 what ! sought
to make my country This Is the throne
which 1 would lave reconoiled TO parlia-
mentary freedom; this 10 the Church that I
would have purified from ecclesiastical
over secular affairs and in
tolerant prosecution OF rival scots. To make
England such as / see now I opposed
the trainers Of the Grand Remonstrance
and the Nineteen Propositions; and Eng
land as seen now is the vindicstion Of my
policy and the refutation Of Pym's.''
While much has been written In depre-
OF Falkland's political career his
personal character has been unassailed
and needs no defence. The tributes paid
TO his high intellectual endowments and
to his integrity Of heart and conduct have
been ~ungrudging and unanimous,