clusion afforded him and retired from office, and, apparently, from public political life. Had he been some scion of one of the governing families, dull and incompetent, without a spark of ability, and of no earthly use; or had he, in place of the Muse of poetry and history, wooed and won some plain, and dowerless, and fading maiden, of some lordly house, his merits would have been differently appreciated and far otherwise rewarded.

Withdrawing himself, then, from the actual business of politics, freed from party ties, at his ease, and content with his position, Mr. Macaulay, without casting "a lingering look behind," betook himself, earnestly and with pleasure, to pursuits more congenial to his spirit than politics had ever proved; and the result of his busy leisure, rich with the wisdom of his more active life, now lies before us. The calm judgment of the philosopher has been assisted by the experience of the practical statesman. In the full vigor of his intellect, willingly, nay, with eagerness, he has, as a labor of love, and not as a mere refuge from ennui, assumed the task of recording the history of the last great English revolution. The position and the past life of the historian thus give additional interest to the great story which he relates.

A mind from its very dawn thus trained, a life thus passed, were admirable preparatives for him who was to write the history of the great political parties of his country. These parties are, in fact, not peculiar to England; but the form they have assumed, the mode of their warfare, the points upon which the conflicts have arisen, and the incidents upon which their alternate triumphs have depended, these have been and are all peculiar to ourselves, and by ourselves can alone be completely explained.

In September, 1641, the Long Parliament adjourned:

"The recess of the English Parliament lasted six weeks. The day on which the Houses met again, is one of the most remarkable epochs in our history. From that day dates the corporate existence of the two great parties which have ever since alternately governed the country. In one sense, indeed, the distinction, which then became obvious, had always existed, and always must exist. For it had its origin in diversities of temper, of understanding, and of interest, which are found in all societies, and which will be found till the human mind ceases to be drawn in opposite directions by the charm of habit, and by the charm of novelty. Not only in politics, but in literature, in art, in science, in surgery and mechanics, in navigation and agriculture, nay, even

in mathematics, we find this distinction. Everywhere there is a class of men, who cling with when convinced by overpowering reasons, that fondness to whatever is ancient, and who, even innovation would be beneficial, consent to it with many misgivings and forebodings. We find also, everywhere, another class of men, sanguine in hope, bold in speculation, always pressing forward, quick to discern the imperfections of whatever exists, disposed to think lightly of the risks and inconveniences which attend improvements, and disposed to give every change credit for classes there is something to approve. But of being an improvement. In the sentiments of both both the best specimens will be found not far from the common frontier. The extreme section of the one class consists of bigoted dotards; the and reckless empirics."-Vol. i, p. 98. extreme section of the other consists of shallow

The various fortunes of the two great principles here described, as they have been evolved in the political strife of Englishmen, will constitute the subject of the whole work, of which the two volumes now before us form a most important section; a section, indeed, which, considering who is the historian, and what the peculiar questions in dispute, and also what the condition, not merely of England, but of all the civilized world, now is, excites an interest more lively and intense than any which is raised by the contemplation of the subsequent events, except, indeed, those which belong to the great Revolution of France. The successful resistance of those who opposed James II, gave to the English constitution its peculiar form and character, and by so doing, insured the establishment of what are now called constitutional governments, in England, in America, and subsequently in Continental Europe. Viewed from this point, the Revolution of 1688 can be matched for its influence on human happiness by few periods, if, indeed, by any, in the history of mankind. We are lost in wonder at the multitude and magnitude of the consequences that have resulted, and are yet destined to result, from this memorable struggle. If, however, we withdraw our gaze from this wide range of vision, and more narrowly and specifically scan the precise nature of the dispute then raised, if we obtain an accurate idea, not only of the principles at issue, but also of the very questions upon which the issue was taken; if we consider by whom the story is told, and the class of politicians to whom he belongs, his calm temper, his large and generous views, his benevolent spirit, his thorough fairness and unvarying urbanity and gentleness, then, we say, however

much on separate questions we may find | ourselves opposed to him, we shall be ready to acknowledge that we have seldom, in the whole range of our historical reading, received lessons so important, in a form so winning and graceful; that rarely has a more suggestive work been presented to our consideration; that we have met with none which has been marked by a more elevated and generous morality; the general spirit of which was more ennobling, the separate details more instructive; one, in fact, from which a practical man could derive better rules for action, or a thoughtful man graver subjects for speculation.

Exactly one hundred and sixty years since, James II. was, without a blow having been struck, hurled from his throne, and driven from his country an exile and a beggar. Four years before he had begun his reign with every prospect of peace and prosperity, and possessed of a power almost despotic. His brother and predecessor had baffled, and apparently completely subdued, the enemies of his house. The dynasty of the Stuarts seemed now steadily re-established. The parties, and they were, or rather had been, many, who had resisted successfully Charles I, were scattered, humbled, nay, extinguished. The Republicans were no longer to be seen or heard. It was the fashion to look back with horror upon the days of the Long Parliament, and to hold up, not merely as seditious, but blasphemous, any doubt of the truth and wisdom of the doctrine of passive obedience. The No-popery cry was, apparently, forever hushed, and the Exclusionists were, by the triumphant accession of James, utterly defeated and silenced. Not merely were the old Republicans and Puritans thus extirpated or silenced, but the Whigs in politics, the Presbyterians in religion, and, in fact, all sects and parties, except the Tories and the Catholics, were prostrate and humbled. The parliament which met the king on his accession, believed the solemn promises by which he bound himself to maintain the Church of England, as by law established. They voted dutiful addresses, and gave all the money he asked. A large majority was of the Tory party, adopting passive obedience as their rule of political conduct, and rejoicing in the complete subjugation of their old opponents, the Whigs and Republicans. The Church, still trembling at the recollection of the Presbyterian parliament, and the subsequent protectorate of Oliver, was for the moment rejoicing, and submissive

even

to the king. The judges and Westminster Hall generally were, if possible, more submissive than the church; and proved their loyalty by forgetting all their law, and bidding adieu to justice, truth and mercy. A large army was raised; its ranks, as far as was possible, being recruited by Catholics. from Ireland, and officered by Catholics, either pretended or real. The navy was deemed peculiarly obedient, and affectionate to the monarch, who had, when a subject, served as a sailor, and always manifested a great interest in the efficiency of the marine. The aristocracy and landed gentry generally were loud in their dutiful professions-questioning no exercise of the royal prerogative, and as profuse of their money as of their professions of obedience. Civil liberty had ceased to exist. Then, indeed, the indignant description by Tacitus, of Roman degradation, might, with deplorable truth, have been applied to the miserable submission of the whole English people: “At Romæ ruere in servitium consules, patres, eques: quanto quis inlustrior, tanto magis falsi, ac festinantes."

The

The

Scotland he had vanquished his enemies, and had punished them with a severity which had indeed excited their bitterest hatred, but had, at the same time, effectually quelled their courage. Whig party seemed extinct. The name of Whig was never used except as a term of reproach. The parliament was devoted to the king, and it was in his power to keep that parliament to the end of his reign. The Church was louder than ever in professions of attachment to him, and had during the late insurrection acted up to these professions. The judges were his tools; and if they ceased to be so, it was in his power to remove them. The corporations were filled with his creatures. His revenues far exceeded those of his predecessors. . . . It seemed, indeed, that it would not be easy for him to demand more than the Commons were disposed to give. Already they had abundantly proved that they were desirous to maintain his prerogatives unimpaired, and that they were by no means extreme to mark his encroachments on the rights of the people. Indeed, eleven-twelfths of the members were either dependents of the court, or zealous cavaliers from the country. There were few things which such an assembly could pertinaciously refuse to the sovereign; and, happily for the nation, those few things were the very things on which James had set his heart."-Vol. ii, pp. 1, 3.

So long as James confined his despotism to acts merely of encroachment on rights affecting temporal things, he met with no opposition; and he would most probably have been able quietly, and without difficulty, to establish a permanent army, and to repeal the Habeas Corpus Act, had his subjects supposed that he would keep the promises he had made respecting the Established Church. His use of a dispensing power was not questioned, until he employed it for the purpose of thrusting Catholics into offices from which by law they were excluded. The power which, of all others, the English nation has been most prone to guard with jealous care-the power of taxation-had been freely, and without let or hinderance, exercised by James on his accession. Duties which had been imposed only for the life of the late king, he had by his mere pleasure, and by his own power, continued. For this great breach of the constitution he had been with servile adulation thanked in grave addresses from grave societies-from lawyers,*

merchants, and churchmen. Moreover, persecution was not unpalatable, if exercised upon the Puritan party. The now dominant Tories saw with complacency the rude trial to which Baxter was subject, and approved of the imprisonment which followed that legal mockery-his only offense being, "that he had with some bitterness complained of the persecution which the Dissenters suffered. That men who, for not using the Prayer-book, had been driven from their homes, stripped of their property, and locked up in dungeons, should dare to utter a murmur, was then thought a high crime against the State and the Church."-Vol. i, p. 491. When, however, the king proceeded one step further, the judgment passed by the nation on his conduct was instantly reversed. There can, indeed, be no doubt but that James desired not simply the toleration, but the supremacy of the Catholics. We are not to be driven from this belief by any professions to the contrary, which James was in the habit of making. His professions were always such as he supposed his interests required, and repugnance to utter a falsehood never stood between him and his desires. On his accession, he was far from believing that the people would acknowledge him as king, and be obedient to his will. He therefore, upon the meeting of his first council, was profuse of promises "to maintain and preserve the government, both in Church and State, as it is now established by law.” When, however, he found the people obedient, the parliament obsequious, his language changed, and he began to disclose his real intentions. At first, he declared that he sought only toleration for his own religion. He quickly proved, nevertheless, that toleration would not content him. All the high offices of state were rapidly conferred upon Catholics. All Protestants who refused to go heart and hand with the king in establishing Catholic supremacy were dismissed-a subserviency which stopped only at this extreme point, was held as nothing; no matter how near in kindred, how deserving by past services the person might be who refused this last proof of perfect obedience, he was unceremoniously dismissed and disgraced. Ormond, the most devoted of cavaliers; Clarendon and Rochester, the brothers-inlaw of the king, were dismissed from office and from favor, so soon as they showed doubt or hesitation in supporting the king in his grand scheme of establishing the supre

himself secure on his throne, that moment he began to disclose his real aims; and as his security increased, his disclosures became more complete. Mr. Macaulay's remarks upon James's conduct and its consequences deserve every consideration, but do not, we fairly own, win our complete as

sent:

"His religion was still under proscription. Many rigorous laws against Roman Catholics appeared on the Statute-book, and had within no long time been rigorously executed. The Test Act excluded from civil and military office all who dissented from the Church of England; and by a subsequent act, passed when the fictions of Oates had driven the nation wild, it had been provided that no person should sit in either house of parliament without solemnly abjuring the doctrine of transubstantiation. That the king should wish to obtain for the church to which he belonged

a complete toleration, was natural and right; nor is there any reason to doubt that, by a little patience, prudence, and justice, such a toleration might have been obtained."-Vol. ii, p. 6.

Of the accuracy of the last assertion we have great doubts. The people of England dreaded and hated Popery, not merely as a political institution, but as a religion. The dread and the hate acted on and increased each other; and men, not merely of the most mighty intellect, but also possessed of the most enlarged and benevolent tolerance, made an exception in all their reasonings, and all their proposed regulations, when dealing with the position of the Catholics in England. Milton and Locke, two names ever to be revered by all to whom genius and worth are objects of reverence, have expressly and by name excepted the Roman Catholics from that large scheme of religious liberty which through life they steadily advocated. The one wrote before James had by his rash schemes excited and alarmed every Protestant in England and Scotland; the other was an exile in consequence of these schemes, when he composed his celebrated paper on Toleration. Both, however, in fact, have come to the same conclusion as to the danger of granting political power to the Papists, and the repugnance of Locke to give them power is not greater than that evinced by Milton; and we are inclined to believe, that no conduct on the part of James would have induced the English, and more especially the Scottish people, to consent to any scheme by which political power was to be given to the members of the Roman Church. A long experience was needed to convince those who led the public opinion,

In

that the tenets held by the Papists were not dangerous to the stability of a constitutional government. During the reign of James, the dominion of the Pope was as fiercely contested in France as in England-contested indeed under different names, and in a different form, from those which marked the conflict in this country. But the liberties of the Gallican Church were as marked an opposition to the Papal dominion as was the Church of England itself. The Church of France, however, had not allied itself with any party vindicating civil as well as religious freedom, and, therefore, never came directly in opposition to the regal as well as papal authority. those days, the dread of the Romish doctrines by those who sought to establish a rational liberty was not an idle or foolish dread, though it is clear that with the multitude the theological hate formed no small portion of the motive which induced them to resist the extension of toleration to their Roman Catholic brethren. The great and enlightened minds of Milton, of Locke, or of Tillotson, might divest themselves of all bigotry, and judge calmly and dispassionately of the probable consequences attendant upon extending civil rights to the Catholics; but the multitude could not, and certainly did not, attain to any such philosophic impartiality. They hated a Papist, they denounced his doctrines as damnable, and thought they only seconded the condemning decree of the Almighty, when in this world they excluded the unhappy and erring Papist from temporal power; and we fear that it was this bitter feeling of religious hate which impelled the great body of the people to rise up against James, and which would have led to the same result, even had he confined himself to the demand of equality of civil rights for the members of his own religion; and we must recollect that the direct charge against James was, not that he sought to make his own religion supreme, but simply that he had infringed the law which excluded its professors from certain civil and ecclesiastical privileges. In what, for example, did he err in his proceedings against the seven bishops? He had issued a declaration of mere toleration, saying"By our sovereign authority, prerogative royal, and absolute power, we do suspend, stop, and disable, all laws and acts of Parliament made or executed against any of our Roman Catholic subjects in time past so that they shall be in all things as free in all respects as any of our Protestant subjects." There was hereunto added a clause, stating that he made no doubt of the concur