On this page

• Text (2)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    138 THE LEjAPJBg. [No. 307, Saturday,

  • 

    THE MACAULA.Y CONTROVERSY. ^^^£AT^ n S }...

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Jmflruth* ;#• * Sandwith'9 Siege Op Kab8...

    IBI ' giflrSrsSSeaaifcaW ^ SB ^ elOvea . one . This wounded officer of paralysis a few Sa ^ a after this event . ^^ roVisibns grow less and less j spies are many ; deserters shot ; hope df ^ Gttiar Pacha disappears ; and hope of Selim Pacha rises—both alike to deceive . ¦ fflw , 4 . —! An uovusual number of Boldiers enter the hospital , dying of starvation . The emaciation is wonderful , yet in inost no diarrhoea , or other symptom of disease is ohservable . Their voices are excessively feeble , a clammy cold pervades the surface of-thehody , and they die without a struggle . Several of these men are recovered by the administration of horse-broth , with the application of warmth to > the > extremities . Surgeons are posted in every part of the camp , with , broth of horse-flesh in the form and under the name of medicine . A search is made for . 'Surviving horses , and these are secured to make soup for the hospital .

    " Jfov . 9 . —Our hospitals are crowded mostly by men who sink under the combined influences of hunger and cold . These poor fellows are brought in livid and emaciated , . and frequently die within less than an hour of their admission . Nov . ip . — --About 100 men die in . the hospitals in the 24 hours . Every one seems trying io assume a cheerfulness he can scarcely feel "With hollow cheeks , tottering gait , and that peculiar feebleness of voice so characteristic of famine , they yet cling to their duties ! . . . . and , in answer to a word of encouragement or consolation , the loyal words are on their lips , " Long live the Sultan !" Nov . 11 . —The cries of distress grow louder . Numbers of children die of hunger . .... Nov . 14 . —I observe people lying at the comers of the streets , groaning- and crying out that they are dying of hunger The soldiers in the batteries have stood sentry over three days' provisions , and , although starving , no instance of their touching a single biscuit has ever been known Nov . 18 . —Mothers bring their children to the military council 3 and throw them at the feet of the officers , exclaiming : " Take and keep these children , for \ ve have no bread to give them !"

    Qneanore extract , and we quit this volume . It will form a fitting close to our brief notice of this excellent hook . The day of yielding is come ; but let'us see how General Williams yields , and how General Mouravieff accepts . QPhe scene would make a great picture . 2 ^^ ^ 5 . —General Williams and his aide-de-camp Teesdale ride over under a flag * of truce to the Kussian camp . They are well received by Mouiavieff . The General tells his chivalrous enemy that he has no-wish to rob him of bis laurels ; the fortress contains a large train- of artillery , with numerous standards , and a variety of arms , but the army has not yet surrendered , nor will it without certain articles of capitulation . " If you grant not these , " exclaimed the General , " every gun shall be burst , every standard burnt , every trophy destroyed , and you may

    then work your will on a famished crowd . " " I have no wish , " answered Moura ^ vieff / : "to wreak an unworthy vengeance on a gallant and long-suffering army whichhas covered itself with glory , and only yields to famine . " " Lookhere , " he exclaimed , pointing to a lump of bread and a handful of roots , " - what splendid troops must these be who can stand to their arms in this severe climate on food such as this ! General Williams , you have made yourself a name in history , and posterity will stand amazed at the endurance , the courage , and the discipline which this siege has called forth in the remains of an army . Let us arrange a capitulation that will satisfy the demands of war without outraging humanity . " I leave my readers to imagine anything more touching- than the interview beweer * these gallant leaders , whose eyes were suffused with tears , while their hearts were big with sentiments of high honour and graceful benevolence .

    Bat the soldiers , weak as they were , felt the degradation of yielding to an enemy they had conquered j starved , as Dr . Sandwith says , "by the dishonest robbery of rascally pachas , and the wicked apathy and unworthy intrigu < es of Byzantine officials / ' Some of the soldiers broke their weapons land ^ ried , " Thus perishour pachas—the curse of God be on them ! " When Williams Pacha passed away as a prisoner the people crowded round liita for his / blessing . Kmety and Colman had ridden away to Erzeroum , by the advice of- General Williams , before the . capitulation ; Williams and his brave coadjutors were taken to Gumrij while Dr . Sandwith , to whom General Mouravieff—that Bayard of Russia—gave unconditional liberty for his kind attention to Russian prisoners , rode over the mountains to Batoum . Thus fell Kars in the last days of November , 1855 . i 8 tor

    138 The Lejapjbg. [No. 307, Saturday,

    138 THE LEjAPJBg . [ No . 307 , Saturday ,

    The Macaula.Y Controversy. ^^^£At^ N S }...

    THE MACAULA . Y CONTROVERSY . ^^^ £ AT ^ S } , ^ P ' By Hepworth Dixon . Anew edition , with .. fl , Keply to Mv . ptfacattlay ' s Charges agairiat Eonn . Chapman and Hall . I ^ HJS controversy between Mr . Maoaulayand Mr . Hepworth Dixon has now reached a point at which it ought not to rest . Mr . Macaulay has elaborately impeached the character of William Penn . He has charged the great Eng-WftQian with low , as well as with high crimes , and has made statements in support of tjhc accusation . Mr . Dixon , the biographer of Penn , defends his good name , and adduces testimony which , if Mr . Macaulay has no counter ? 55 ? T \ f ?!" e- But in his eleventh edition , Mr . Macaulay adds noffi ? ' * 0 ] 1 C - I ^ f ^ hich Mr . Dixon destroyed , and retracts none of the 5 lS t f aWSt ^ hlch $ 1 ' - D i ixon W * ^ ' Instead of this , in Ms third and tmxW volumes , he stall further disparages the reputation of Penn , only , in * wJ *? ' c }^^ re 9 ta u l inference , and not upon fact . It is , tUexefore , the more difficult to prove , and the more difficult to refute .

    h « . Xn ™ nr i ij . 1 ohalIeng « d *<> -xmm a controversy Which he had SE i"B should subside . He had withdrawn from the pqpular impression Sirr ' , Origin A ^ t 0 Mr ' Ma « wlay ' charges , designing to E i' P ^ ^ modified , in a library edition . His object , indeed , ! iad lllfj ^ l ' e i ° CntlC 8 ' ™ . B ° n efal , had acknowledged that Mr . Dixon ' s SlS « ^ n ? i Cnn i ?™ f »* thM , ^ d that Mr . Macaulay had preferred J * E £ he could not prove . Even the Edinburgh Review , " organ SfSl ? ^ \ ' i defender ' ° niiafame ' '' flowed that the brilliant Whig S T : W 08 b , <* tp retract liia principal accusation . There , then , the d sett !«« But one issue after of

    2 S £ 3 f ^ ? . another the « History » i K . cnwge , which in the third and -fourth volumes ia aggravated . B « for « l i " Ce ' ?> thl . 8 new edition a ^ P ' y is ™ "Pon the whole case . 2 » B ^ c f vldence ° n both aides , we must do justice to the spirit tbe « 3 £ : V . ¦ * ° - las l <* ™ argument . It has been common with Ma & ulrivVjJS ^ " of critics to pronounce a flippant judgment on Mr . wKS * ?& S 8 ay'hat ifc is « ot- " history , " without suggesting what W ^ EdteW Lf £ ? W ^ ft fow hroccuraoiea of statement , and for a few s o iv-wrouprht picture of a period so confused and exciting that .

    after the lapse ttf a century and a-half , men can scarcely look back on it with impartial eyes . The levity and derision with which Mr . Macaulay has been treated by * ' clever » ' reviewers indicate a ibrgetfiilness of the rare " magnitude of his researches , the Oppressive accumulation of his materials , the industry the wisdom , and the art required to fuse them into a continuous narrative , to polish the surface , to distribute the colour , to combine reserve with eloquence and rhetoric with discretion . If Mr . Maeaulay advances , at some points , too far , if he exaggerates the crimes of Marlborough and the virtues of William if he forgets where one poet died and where another was buried , if he treats Dryden with rigour aad Penn with injustice , let those correct him who can but no writer who understands what historical composition is , or w ho has qualified himself for criticism by minute research , will undervalue the book of which Mr . Macaulay is proud , and which makes his country proud of him

    In no such temper does Mr . Hepworth Dixon renew the Penu controversy . He writes as one who would not lose the respect of his adversary , and in this version of his reply does not print an uncourteous word . He is calm , moderate , and strictly critical . His rhetoric is confined to the clear exposition of facts , for everjr one of which an authority is quoted in the margin . Our task , then , is simply to decide which of the conflicting statements , Mr . Macaulay ' s or Mr . Dixon ' s , is historical . Mr . Dixon remarks : — First of all , let me state very plainly that the acensation of Penn does not begin with Mr . Macaulay . It arose in Penn ' s own times . He was piouB , active , an d successful—a reformer , an originator , a disputant . He was rich , and lived in troubled times . Maary coveted his wealth—not a few disliked his virtues . Calumny pursued him as it pursued Milton in hi 3 retreat , and Sidney into his grave . For one iustant , even the gentle and pious Tillotaon gave ear to the voice of slander ; but he ftankly sought for an explanation : he was reconciled at once

    and forever to his old friend , and , in his generous ardour , undertook his defence against all whisperers and backbiters . Slander was the habit of the time . Society was pestered with a set of fellows—the sweepings of the stews—who , under pretence of serving their party , dealt in foul anecdotes and secret information . They spiced very high in order to please . In the way of their trade , they charged public men with the most unlikely crimes , and inaputed to them the most unexpected opinions . They endowed the objects of their literary exercise with more vicea . than Suetonius heaped upon ' the twelve Caesars . They painted in colours darker than those of Juvenal . No reputation , escaped their arts , and they delighted to stain the purest spots . William , known to be cold , was charged by those who supplied the Jacobite , market with the pollutions which , once brought fire from heaven . Penn , known to entertain strong opinions against war , was represented by those who hoped to be paid for the lie as anxious to see England invaded by a foreign army . The accusations were equally base .

    The accusations against Penn , specifically stated , are—first , that he ' extorted money from the Taunton girls for the benefit of the maids of honour ; secondly , that he tried to seduce Kiffin to the court interest •; thirdly , that he sought to gain the Prince of Orange ' s assent to the Declaration of Indulgence ; fourthly , that he was employed to terrify , caress , or bribe the fellows of Magdalen ; fifthly , that he excused himself "before the council with a falsehood s sixthly , that he told Lord Sydney something very like a . lie , and confirmed it with something very like an oath ; seventhly , that he sent a message to James exhorting him to return with thirty thousand men ; and , eighthly , that he did his best to bring a foreign army into England . Thus he is indicted for " extortion , lying , seduction 3 simony , and treason . "

    The first accusation is undoubtedly disproved by Mr . Dixon . No contemporary historian or writer of letters or memoirs , alluded to William Penn in connexion with the scandalous Taunton affair . Mr . Macaulay ' s charge rests ou a letter , signed " Sunderland , " addressed to " ¦ Mr . Penne , " which Sir James Mackintosh discovered in the State Paper Office ; but be has added to it . Mr . Dixon ' s counter-statement shows that the individual cflddressed was not William Penn , but George Penne , a notorious pardon broker , whose name occurs more than once in public documents under similar circumstances . The hooks of the Privy Council prove that he was a commission aaent of

    corruption , who hoped to obtain as his reward a gambling monopoly in America . Mr . Macaulay says that Penn was employed to seduce Kiffia from his principles by the offer of an alderman ' s gown . Kiffin himself , opposed as he had been , in the pulpit and on the platform , to the quaker chief , exonerates him from the charge . He relates , in his autobiography , not that Penn was sent to him , but that lie went to Peiyn , to engage his intercession at Court , that lie might , without offence , refuse the scarlet gown . Mr . Macaulay makes it appear that he ultimately declined the dignity . Kiffin himself says that he accepted it , and was invested at the palace .

    That Penn should have gone to the Hague to solicit the Prince of Orange ' s assent to the Declaration of Indulgence seems impossible . The Declaration was not issued until April , 1687 , ' Penn roturned from his tour in the autumn of 1688 . Besides , Burnet and Citter , relied on by Mr . Macnulay , never mention the Act of Indulgence . They speak simply of " toleration . " Burnet , as quoted by Mr . Dixon , doea not even say that Penn wrote a letter on the subject . Here ceases the discrepancy of positive statements , and tUe conflict of inferences begins . Mr . Macaulay affirms that Penn was employed to terrify , caresa , or bribe the fellows of Magdalen . The case depends upon the interpretation of certain worda which the historian construes as corrupt , and the biographer as jocose . Mr . Macaulay quot « es the State trialsmid appears ,

    , also , to have drawn upon the life of Hough , though he does not cite it . To these authorities Mr , Dixon adds a paper by Hunt , a fellow of Magdalen , and the letters of Sykes , Creech , and Bailey . Without a minute recapitulation , the circumstances would be unintelligible . Certainly , however , Dr . Hough , to whom the offer is said to have been made , described it na a jest » and " thanked God" that Penn proposed no " accommodation . " The authorities accepted by Mr . Macaulay himaelf prove that Penn , while he had a personal loaning towards James , resisted him in politics , blamed his Jesuitical tendencies , repudiated French intervention , and maintained against hia « Divine prerogative , " the principlea of Locko and Sydney . But not in reference to this topic alone does Mr . Maoaulay impute a lie to Penn . He writes :

    Sidnoy received from him a Hfcrango communication . Poim bogged for an intor-¦ yiow , but mBiHtod on a promlso that ho should bo uufibrqd to return uumolontod to hiu lnaingiplivoe . Sidney obtained the royfil perminaion to muko uu nppolutmont on the Botovms . Poim came to the roudeavouH , nud upolco ut length iu M *

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 9, 1856, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09021856/page/18/