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T H E IE A E R onl47 reall Ko. 44,5, Oct...
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DR. LIVINGSTONE'S CAMBRIDGE LECTURES. Dr...
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The Great Rebellion. Studies And Illustr...
the decision is contained in the act just ratified by the Sovereign . The constitution was not really changed by this enactment ; it was simply cleared from arbitrary interpolations . Thus commenced a new era with tfte house of Stuart ; and it is by their conduct , from this day forward , ' relatively to the constitution , to a definite interpretation of which they had thus given their sanction , that the justice or injustice of the resistance afterwards offered to them in the senate and on the battlefield is rightly to be estimated . It appears to me that , after this era in his life , there never was another opportunity presented to Charles I . of governing with complete honour to himself and real safety to the liberties of England . Had he signed the Petition of Eight in good faith , and adhered to it without any attempt to evade or infringe it , he might have passed the rest of his life in the peaceful enjoyment of a considerable share
of power—quite as much as bad legally been possessed by any of his predecessors—much more than was ever again possessed by any English king . Afterwards , when securities became necessary against his dissimulation , and when many of his personal advisers became so involved in his misdeeds , that neither could he , on the one hand , abandon them with honour , nor the Parliament , on the other , pass over their offences with safety , all seal chance of an honest agreement between the contending parties was at an end ; the Parliament was compelled to demand conditions inconsistent with the existence of a real limited monarchy , and to arrogate powers to itself inconsistent with the proper balance among constituted authorities ; the deposition of the King became a matter of course ; his death on the scaffold proved a terrible necessity .
In the essay on The Antecedents and First Years of King Charles , which comprises some well-drawn portraits of Eliot , Pym , Hampdeh , Wentworth , and Sclden , the author argues from ambassadorial reports given in Von Raumur ' s History of the 16 t / i and 171 & Centuries , and from Mr . Halliwell ' s Letters of the Kings of En gland , iov a graver complicity o that prince in his own and his country ' s misfortunes than he has even hitherto been charged with . In fact each new labourer in this field seems to render it more clear that the English revolution was a necessity , and that the unfortunate monarch conceived , from his youth
upward , that his mission was to redress the balance ¦ whi ch he found against the power of the Crown . From his boyhood" it is clear that lie counselled his father to severity , that he was neither ingenuous nor youn g in heart , but crafty ; thoroughly acquainted with the march of public affairs and the temper of the people and Parliament ; and that he fondly hoped to be another Rehoboam . Fearless where he should have trembled , vacillating where he should have been inflexible , he scorned conciliation , compromise , and expediency at the wrong moments only .
His gentle breeding , accomplishments , and personal qualities [ procured him many adherents , but the foremost ranks of the Royalist party were mainly recruited from families who had hopes of profit , pecuniary or political , from the arrest of liberty and a return to feudality . The same spirit lives now . There avc men yet in England who would raise horse and foot for an absolute , monarch if they could once believe his promises of fresh territories and mediaeval privileges . Mr . Sanford and the Pui'itans of our times would beat them , it is true ; but for all that the old leaven is not yet
extinct . Wo may dismiss , as more suited to the pages of our valuable contcmporaiy , Notes and Queries , than to the society of Mr . Sanl'ord ' s graver essays , the chapters entitled " The Early Life of Oliver Cromwell" and " The Long Parliament . " ¦ In the first our industrious author collects and collates all the proofs of the Protector ' s gentle birth , and much material for an account of his career as country gentleman , farmer , religious enthusiast , and local politician , from his marriage to his appearance at St . Stephen ' s . The latter is a
nioro corrcoted roll of the Long Parliament . In the essay on " Stratford and Pym" the political transactions of the period arc noted from the meeting of tho House in November , 1040 , to its adjournment in September , 1041 . Tho history is again pontinued under the head " Parliamentary Royalism , " which refers to tho reactionary movement pf 1641 , with biographical notices of" Falkland , Hyde , Colepeppor , ; Fionnos , Vano the younger , Haselriffgo , Maynard , Whitcloekc , Hamilton , Argyll , ana lastly Montroso . Mr . Sanford agrees with tforator and Macaulay that tho finality doctrine of M « r , HallaM is inadmissible , and that it would have boon as inexpedient as impossible then" to arrest the tide of liberty , had even OUarloa " not courted an inundation by his long
premeditated and traitorous attempt upon , the privilege of the House of Commons and the persons of five of its members on the 4 th o January , 1042 . Having here concluded his studies of the ¦ " constitutional period" of the contest , Mr . Sanford approaches " the Revolution , " i . e . the civil war , which he follows with intense accuracy and occasional fervour as far as the victory of Marston Moor , where he leaves us , we hope , for the present only .
T H E Ie A E R Onl47 Reall Ko. 44,5, Oct...
T H E IE A E R onl 47 reall Ko . 44 , 5 , October 2 , 1858 . ] , p . 1033
Dr. Livingstone's Cambridge Lectures. Dr...
DR . LIVINGSTONE ' S CAMBRIDGE LECTURES . Dr . Livingstone ' s Cambridge Lectures , together with a Prefatory Letter by the Rev . Professor Sedgwiclt , M . A Edited with Introduction , Life of Dr . Livingstone , Notes and Appendix , by the Rev . "W . Monk , M . A . Crown 8 vo . Cambridge : Deightonj Bell , and Co , London : Bell and Daldy . We welcome this little volume . It is a timely
supply to what has been felt to be a want . When Dr . Livingstone ' s large work came out , it was too unwieldy in bulk , matter , and price for the use of the commonalty . It was unget-at-able and uncarryable by railway and omnibus-book readers ; it was unprocurable by Institutes for Mechanics , Associations for Young Men , or Unions of Sunday-school Teachers , as well as beyond the reach of libraries connected with our public and private schools . However , here we have the desideratum ; and It
comes season . What with discoveries of auriferous rivers and lands , with the pacification of " India ' s coral strand , " and the newly-opened dominions of the rich and over-populous Empire of China , there is a tendency to overlook the lately explored territory of Afric ' s sable sons . When Livingstone came over , and , in an unassuming and simple manner , told his Veiii , vidi , vici , all were startled , aroused , electrified ; nor has the effect of his brief visit or of his ample details ( as given in his larger work ) been lost on those who have viewed his discoveries in a calm , unbiased spirit . But there is , with the majority of
Englishmen , a disposition to relapse into indifference about a thing , after tremendous excitement about the same—is there not ? The name " John Bull" is a good type of the English character , to denote generally his' capacity , solidity ( stolidity in some things , too ) , calmness , " all-sereueness , " endurance , and immovability . Still , he is spasmodic at times ; he takes fits and starts , and is afflicted with " St . Vitus ' s dance . " How he did jump , reel , and whirl , as soon as the discovery of Central Africa was developed ! But he fell back into a sort of sleep about the same topic . Now , however , we congratulate ¦ " John Bull" on having tke present work
brought out in a f orm so portable , purchasable and readable , that the humblest sons of England may learn and inwardly digest the most important items of Livingstone ' s revelations . It is not our purpose to review Livingstone ' s own narrations . What we have to do is simply to lay before the readers of this section of the Leader , the claims and merits of this manual , civ titled Dr . Livingstone's Cambridge Lectures . The lectures consisted of only two in number . They were brief—and a brief summary of his labours , travels , and researches in South Africa . They were delivered , the first " before the University of Cambridge in the Senate-house , on Friday ,
4 th December , 1 S 57 , " and the second in the Town Hall on the day after . Speaking of the reception of the missionary traveller by " all ranks of the University and their friends " on the occasion specified , Professor Sedgwick observes in his " Prefatory Letter ; 'In the long period of my academic life , I have many times been present in our Senate-house on occasions of joyful excitement Again and again , I have seen good stout-hearted mon who , under God , had helped to work out the deliverance of Europe from militury eorvitucle , greeted in the Sonnto-houso with our loudest acclamations . I luivo been present at four Installation
festivals The last Installation festival was grucod aiul honoured by tho presence of our Sovereign On none of the public festivals , to which I ulludo , wore tho graduations of the University more honest nud truehearted than those which wcro ollbred to Dr . Livingstone . Ho cumo amongst us without any long notes of preparation , without any pageant or eloquence to charm and captivate our senses . Ho stood before us—a plain , aing ^ e-miiuiori , cheerful man—somewhat attenuated by yours of toil , < and -with a fucd tinged by tho o \ in of Africa : and ho addressed ua in unadorned and simple words , and baid nothing that savoured of eolf-glory . On glancing at this compendium of Livingstone ' s researches nud travels , one at first feels surprised
at finding that , out of 300 pages , y are y occupied by the " Cambridge Lectures ; " the other parts consisting of " Introduction , Life of Livingstone , and large Appendix by the Editor , the Rev . W . Monk , M . A .., F . B .. S . A ., " as well as a copious " Prefatory Letter by the Rev .. Professor Sedgwicki " However , the object both of Professor Sedgwick and Mr . Monk has been to make the Lectures of Livingstone the text , and to draw from , his printed volume a clear and ample Commentary ; or , as the editor states , " to convey valuable information illustrative of the lectures , drawn mainly from Dr . Livings tone ' s own resources . Hence , this part of the book is in reality essentially his own . " So that Mr . Monk is perfectly justified in his introductory remark : — -
Although our traveller speaks verbally in but a small part in this book , still in fact and substance it is mainly as essentially his as though he had dictated or written its pages . la fact , for ' the ordinary reader , we think the present little volume will be more suitable than the larger . What Professor Sedgwick says of his " Letter " be said of tlfe entire manual : — It is to give a synopsis , of the physical add scientific information with which the ( large ) admirable volume abounds . It greatly wants an Index , for it is written inartificially , and most important facts are so scattered throughout the journal , that when partly forgotten they are not easily referred to .
The Appendix lays before the reader an . excellent summary of Livingstone ' s labours , explorations , and discoveries , as to their extent and results , under four aspects—I . The historical ; II . The Scientific ; III . The Ethnological ; IV . The Moral and Religious . Each section is full of interesting matter , dealt out judiciously , and not to weary a reader . Section the first gives a rehearsal of the various attempts to penetrate into the interior of Africa up to this date . Section the second brings at once before the reader the new light , thrown by these
recent discoveries on the great questions ot science —e . g . geography of Central Africa , geology , mineralogy , botany , zoology , & c . & C ; , illustrations of which are selected out of the bulky journal . The third section presents a bri ef review o the various tribes of Central Africa , their geographical position , their connexions with each other , and the prevailing language . The last division gives a cursory glance at the religious habits of the various clans , and takes a retrospect of the missionary enterprise iii Africa .
With reference to the part which Professor Sedgwick has taken in the present instance , " to show the true character of a Christian hero through the light of his own works , " we can but respond with all our heart to the tribute which the editor pays him , when he writes : — - To the Rev . Professor Sedgwick I express my deep obligations , for labouring so successfully beneath _ a weight of years , and despite continued sickness , in writing the accompanying prefatory letter , the completeness and value of which can only really be " appreciated by those persons who have carefully studied the book of Travels .
We beg , in conclusion , to compliment the " Curate of Clmst ' s Church , Cambridge , " ' the Rev . W . Monk , on the ability with which he has edited this manual for the public . We trust he will meet with countenance froin all classes ; and we especially commend the volume to the Institutes for Young Men and Mechanics , as well as to the more select libraries of the private schools in our country . It is accompanied by a capital portrait of the traveller * as well as by clear , distinct maps . That there has been no attempt at . book-embezzling or book-making for secret aims and ends ,, it is enough to peruse the following paragraph in . the Introduction :-
—It is desirable to state that I have tho full concurrence of Dr . Livingstone and of Mr . Murray , the publisher of the book <& travels , in editing these lectures . Both have given me liberty to make such discretionary use of that book as I may find necessary in striving to make this volume as useful as possible . Both approve of my project and have expressed a desire to forward it . I thank them for their kindness and confidence ; and for tho small map , life , notes , and appendix , I am mainly indebted to that work . With the same noble generosity -which , has characterised Dr . L . ' life , ho presented mo with the copyright of tho leoturos , revlsea by uimuclf , and left we to dispose of any proceeds ua J . may think best . Due consideration has led mo to decide on devoting the entire proceeds of tho work as Wwwi ; —In purchasing ( I . ) Seohuaim Blbloslbr Central South Africa ; ( 2 . ) Books for tho Library-of tho Canbrldgo Missionary Union * anii ( 3 . ) Books for Dr . Livingstone ¦ Cambridge . Memorial Library .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 2, 1858, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02101858/page/17/
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