MACAULAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 574, 31 July 1909, Page 9

MACAULAY.

Mr. G. K. Chesterton does'/not.-often ;.'giv'o. as Saturday articles in tho "Daily News;" Recontly. howBver, he :"opened Slacaulay's History byac-tidcnt,"-'iand was/ "startled by the unmis-. ' iakable roll .of rich 'stylo 'ana roal greatrness in the thing;"; i As.a'jesult. lie 'was inspired 1 to -a ;roally' stimulating bit' of-..criti-cism. Macaulay.'s mere wit. arid logic, ho ; -.decla/resj,-are'i'shallow:;.- What ds -it,' . then, that makes Macaulayls greatness?-' He tells us:

Tins. I think, makes him great; and even -eternal,;' that' he had the; liigli'" passions Kof historyHo '-.understood tlio word glory; ■tHe'■'gldry^'of : ;-in'an : of -God; -:{'-Tho■ only-..dilf^rerice'.'between the .warrior ' arid the_' poet;-is : ,"that~ the'.warrior' seeks this .thingVin: the .future' iand.the poet or the historian in the .past;'.,'Macaulay had the music of him,; just as -Walter ditional.:"'.'l%'ei;d 'i is'-, one l unquestioiiable,'testof. th 13:asXf^ijgh'tfu 1 |y...foiiji■'pif,vpx-bper poetrycoiisist'Jehtirely^'of^.t'lie;';.,names v;. of places. :■ Some. of",thei';strongest; : sentences of. Macaulay/liang;,wliolly on-.words liko Milton or Rome - >

• There sdinetliiig i'that;;?is higher!' than ; imp^ial.r^^^^'i'' : wit ;'. living^:impartial]ty > of. .v-i.m----parfciality^of4the.:; re'asofc, Ho i sometimes mado, good ■menybatf/kncl ■bad v , nicn ? goo , d ; of.-: political 'rgrej tidicc',;.but;.; -ne^-ialways" .rii'a.dp'." tliom men, and even great men: : . He slandered his'.6ppQncnt6,_ but lio ciid not.'bclittlc them; He.- had 'a > : high'pleasure;ih,' mixing .with heroic affairs; lie - liked t«- crowd . his ofVs^Mro\and^r«Mn&-j''iio;: ha<T a . warlike' sort 'ot' wish villains ; worthy: 'hOijwap; not! enough, of Va;;-VChristialii : .to vl^vs/'onfemies; he -.was enough of w heathen iA v adm ire; tlioni;' and' Take. house, aft6r\vards ,: Macauiay', starts, byprejudice, o(£purpose,; indecently, loans'.; . He' 1 is' really nlm^jk^^bl^l^the > '.h^^p-.ai(rali : !p£'"-ithe t Covenantors. -Clavorllouce, i imagine,-was an ordinary offioer oPDragoonVa typo that does'not.; always spccialiso in the. Christian virtues, in .the. later; seventeenth -century,. a, timo when:, the' Scotch nobility and gentry I were .cynical and :gi'os3., 'It' was his merely 'military ; ,duty . to'/put dqn-ii'■ a; rebellion; of moil whom you may call, prophets or manias . according,to I ..taste,:!btit- who were Utterly..exceptional, ruthless, and beyond ccmmoii reason ; ; who . gave .no quarter', in: ' battle, - and '-wished to p&rsecuto, every:;. otherreligiqif; upon ,'urth;-; Claverhouso , : ;did wrong;'just - as any. bull-necked English .officer .would probably do in dealing, with some .strarra of alien fanatics :that ride with' the Mabdi or. the Mad ■ Mullah. : : But- that, is :aIL Macauiay gives a picture,, of .harmless -"anil laborious/.peasants: trampled down in :blood by a 'monstrous fiend in top-wots,' who dances oil. them apparently for fun; In the first'fo\v,!j>ages about John Grabtim, Mactaula.v desenbes : ia •.' beast .rather 'than a. man. Whether: lie was like that in real lifo we need;riot elaborately ./discuss.,-; .One thing is: certain:. that' ho does not retnain liko that in Macaulay's: "History." ■ ~ As soon as Dundee !begins. to play. Kis: great part 'at the .'very- crisis of; the -English, T;ingBhiDj ao; estraordmary impression Begins to

grow. ' begins to like him. Macau- j lay is mad'for tho' Revolution;: and ho -beconios .quite fond of Dundee becauso-ho;camo so-near to frustrating . tho Revolution. I Slacaulay is glad witli every cell of his brain 1 that James 11 should go. let ho is thrilled through' every drop of- his blood when tho arresting voice,'of Graham calls : James .like a trumpet to-remain. When Dundee is mounted, and: rides - down the"; street,' |Macau-. lay's"prbse moves to the';-time of 'Walter Scott.; . Stroko after stroke changes '.the beast ■ to; a- p'rinco of - chivalry. <; Macaulay; talks of tliq calm niagnanimity of' this: monster. Ho goes out;of his w;ay to ipention. that'ho re- • proved tho : rapine of . the' clans;,that' ho . held lioroic.languisgo in tho council of tho chiefs; and .th'ait on' -thc vCvo. of his : last bat,t!o_ ho ii3ked for peril, as a favour, that ho might showi that' he '.was a so.ldie^v'ns-; wcll as ■ a general;.- Wlion the •ojayniorcs come cleaving tfieii J ."way- dov/n -Killiecrankie-,.., Jlacaulay is | Almostya "Jacobite.;,. .Tho J; :last swords of tho | groat, persecutor, of ;■ the. Coyennnt'.droj. lofty I and' unselfish;, and viu dcatii '-.fie' ,-is;,sCs ' pu'ro i as Hector. .1 ; kiio'w no.moro : singular,'.change of telle: in; .the ,'descriptioii; of ::oiiei man. This is a; striking' iiistauce.lof,'what I may call tho al)stract--,eii.thusiasni.;-:.'pf .'He'had a'passion 'for.ttio":'caiis;o';.:."bijt' he also had a passioii for- the;subjecti <fb.i'.;t'ho "period and. everybody-' ili- it l ....£■:st'tanger and stronger .case, still is;•thai':.6t;4tfli'^rq^liVr-;lf ( .-.cver. there a moral dwarf ( :,a spiritual'itdnkey, it was he. Henvas' a. ltimp. of- littleness just largo enough to. bo .seen.-'.. He ,combined all despicablo- qualities in combinations hitherto untried. ;.Ho .was a thrifty profligato. Ho was an mipatriotic militarist. :; Ho.sold his sister- and his country not' madly* like a gambler,, but .quite, quietly,. .and: v ;exp!ana-. tcrily,.like.--an. old maid bargaining with, a cabman;' It is almost -incredible, that any man, or' even any- animal, should bo such an object of contempt.' And yet Macaulay. is so i.carried; away, "with. the : great ' Whig Gru- . the great: story that be is . telling, that -when :dealiiig :with ;oiio who played a large part ;in . it, lie cannot help ■ making the: man-'magnificentj although; the, part was ! ba'se..\- Ho" tells, -all the truths about Marlr Korough ; that I. have, cited, - without the least doubt, or:favour.-;;and 'yet lie gives tho' impression that ho has been describing a great man.-

; 1'; liavd'' heard' that ; somebody has started something .elsey'which. is called -scientific 'his-, ; .tory,lah'd;'l vorice tried io ' read :ifc. It appears 'Ho! : avoid the-dangers; of, describinggreat : men by the bright .and simple solution oKriot; describing men at all. By this method the historian, looks down ,ori : all .. the movements .of...men/ as if they were ants'., If I ;V<ant truth I must . confess that I prefer M'acaukSj^■.l/prefcr/'to• took- up itt.me.n as jf.;'tliey.ijwerp.;,angel3,;"even 'if they,-are- angels •of 'darkness. . .. ' . • • .'