BOOKS.

SIR THOMAS MAY ON DEMOCRACY IN EUROPE.*

[SECOND NOTICE.]

SIR THOMAS MAY commences his second volume with a careful sketch of the vicissitudes of democratic government in the Netherlands. in the Netherlands, the contest between free towns and feudal lords was made easier for the burghers by the geo- graphical features of the country. The lord had to rely upon his own skill in providing defence for his castle ; here no moun- tains rose to afford the desired vantage-ground. By the time the Crusades had taken some of the most powerful lords away and had exhausted the resources of many more, the victory of the towns, though not yet complete, was really determined. The barons grew weaker and the burgomasters grew stronger. There was in every town a constitution and a code of its own. The citizens were proud of their power of self-government, and no privilege meant more than that of erecting a belfry, for there hung the bell that called the burghers together to deliberate for themselves on matters of peace and war. They were for a long time no whit superior in refinement to the barons, their foes, with whom they fought "as they had wrestled with the sea, and with adverse nature." The difficulty of their tasks in merely sheltering themselves against the dangers of their lives, or in gaining their daily bread, left them little time for repose or enjoyment, and when they looked around them the outer world seemed bleak and hideous ; "they worked under leaden skies, and looked out upon a landscape like the Isle of Dogs." But in due process of time, de- spite wars without and factious strife within their own borders, the Netherlanders attained to positions of wealth, and with their wealth they achieved no ordinary culture. Their own University of Louvain trained some of their youth, others sought instruction at Paris or Padua. The peculiar facility for acquiring foreign languages which marks the Dutchman of to-day, was in those early times manifested in the Netherland students. Poetry was in the Netherlands, as usual, the first of the arts that flourished ; music and rhetoric followed soon, and in the fifteenth century the Van Eycks and Hans Hemling made their country renowned in the history of painting. Architecture adorned their towns; and wood-carving was brought to such perfection as almost to merit the title of sculpture.

When the Netherlands were brought under the rule of the House of Burgundy, the contests of the dukes with the free towns were long and bitter. Commines—from whose lively pages Sir Thomas might well have quoted a little more fully than he has—tells us how heavy was the revenge which Charles the Bold took upon Liege,—a revenge that spoke eloquently though sadly of the keenness of the struggle. In the time of the young Duchess Mary, the Netherlanders held their own ; they were strong enough to light an army which her father-in-law, the Emperor, brought into the field. But a tragic chapter was to follow. For there was to reign over the Netherlands a master tyrant who seemed at one time likely to conquer half the then known world. Charles V. would listen to no demands the men of Flanders made for the freedom they had won so bravely and loved so well. He was not, he said, to be haggled with like a huckster. He smote them with an iron hand. It was not enough to rob them of their privileges and to oppress them with taxation for wars which con-

Democracy in Europe: a History. By Sir Thomas Erskine May, KOJI, D.O.L London: Longman. and Co. cerned them not. With all the childish cruelty of a despot, Charles glutted his eyes with the sight of honourable men before him, with halters round their necks, praying on their knees in an agony of shame for the poor boon of miserable life. He who delights to chronicle the victories of oppressors may indeed exult as he tells this story. Here, in truth, liberty seemed dead for ever.

But that was not to be. Like that day-star of which Milton sang, liberty was yet to rise again and "flame in the forehead of the morning sky." Perhaps a cause even greater than that of civic freedom had to come to bring the supreme effort, and with it the man of perfect and unselfish heroism. That greater cause was the cause of religious liberty, and its champion was William of Orange. There is in history no scene more full of subtle in- terest, and none whose outcome was more far-reaching than that scene which shows us William of Orange listening to the plan to extirpate heresy by the sword ; listening in silence and with un- moved face, but yet with beating heart and firm resolve. The resistance by the Netherlands made to Spanish tyranny was of peculiar importance, because it took its stand on a new ground. It was not a war of Protestant against Catholic, for the Netherland Catholics—William himself was among them—joined the Pro- testants in fighting against Philip and the Inquisition. It was a war of tolerance and justice against bigotry and wrong. From that time the Netherlands became the type and the representative of freedom. And the echo of the noble deeds done their spread far and wide. William fell under the dagger of a hired assassin, but freedom lived on. In the year 1609 the Dutch Republic was recognised by the European Powers, and that recognition implied an acknowledgement of the right of a people to good government and to religious liberty.

The remaining chapters of Democracy in Europe treat of France and of England. We looked for some account at least of democracy in Germany, of that free town life so rich in activity, so fertile in literature ; but we looked in vain. The history of democracy in Germany, or rather of the attempt to win it, is at present a history abrupt and unfinished. But it is a history which will no doubt one day be as decided in its characteristics as the history of liberty elsewhere, for the French Revolution, as Borne said, will presently be translated into every language.

The history of France, says Sir Thomas, "illustrates, above all other examples, the social and political causes of democracy, its forces and its dangers." Accordingly he devotes a very great deal of apace—about a quarter of his whole work, in fact—to an examination of the phenomena and the causes of democracy in France. He begins with Clovis, and he ends with May 16, 1877. It is difficult to criticise this portion of the book. One hardly knows what to say of a solemn summing-up of those great events which have usually moved the calmest historians to panegyric, to obloquy, or to both. Sir Thomas may be said to be, on the whole, just in his estimate of the events of the Revolution, though be is certainly not generous in his account of the men concerned in it. He is happiest in his sketch of society and government in the reign of Louis XIV. ; this is indeed a masterly piece of writing, full, clear, and incisive. He seems scarcely to recognise how great a mistake was made in pursuing and retaking Louis XVI. whenhe had fled to Varennes ; and there was open to theAssembly, to use the words of Napoleon, "the inestimable advantages of getting rid of the royal family without an act of cruelty." Nor has he shown how the Austrian war was really the result of many causes, difficulties that arose on account of the fiefs in Alsace, the anger of the foreign Powers and their dis- trust of the new Government, the counsels of the emigrant royalist nobles, and the desire of the Girondins for revenge. Again, in delineating the character of Robespierre, Sir Thomas has not by any means been successful. He has not shown that which is most marked in the career of the man whom Mr. John Morley has aptly called "a meagre-hearted pedant," how he started with an honest ideal, and then would never pause to re- flect if it were really right or wrong ; and further, how he sacri- ficed to theories of which he was himself but part convinced, not only human blood, but friendship and common honesty.

In his sketch of recent French history Sir Thomas is more in his element, and the characteristics of the reign of Charles X., Louis Philippe, and Napoleon III., are portrayed faithfully and attractively. Sir Thomas is by no means fond of any sort of republicanism, but notwithstanding this, he is very just in his remarks on many of those kings who have done more than all democratic writings to upset the divine-right doctrine. This is what Sir Thomas has to say about the Court of Napoleon ilL:-

"It was gay, luxurious, pleasure-seeking, and extravagant ; but adventurers, speculators, and persons of doubtful repute were in too much favour, to win for it the moral respect of France or of Europe. Nor did it gain lustre from the intellect of the age. Men of letters were generally faithful to the fallen monarchies or to the Republic; and were not to be won over by the patronage of the Empire. They had been cruelly scourged by Louis Napoleon, and neither the principles of his rule nor the character of his associates attracted the intellectual classes. Material force, wealth and splendour, were the idols of his Court, and the poet and philosopher were ill at ease in such a company."

The work concludes with five chapters on the history of Eng- land, a history, says Sir Thomas, "of liberty, not of democracy." In these chapters the space is curiously apportioned. The account of these Saxon institutions, which lie at the very root of the free- dom of to-day, in so far as they were the practical embodiments of the notion of local government and the representative system, is very meagre, and accordingly very unsatisfactory. The great founder of the House of Commons is dismissed in a couple of linear while the often-told story of the Civil War occupies many pages_

In his account of Cromwell we have great fault to find with- Sir Thomas. He has omitted to state how magnificent and generous was the foreign policy of the Protector, who restored England to a place of honour among the nations of Europe. He

has told us how summary were Cromwell's dealings with his Parliaments, but he has not stated how, to use the words of e writer of the time, had it not been for such proceeding, "all had been blood, both in the city and in the country, on Charles Stuart's account." And he has scarcely paid fitting tribute to Cromwell for that which was his pecular glory, his gift to Eng-

land of religious toleration. For Cromwell was truly tolerant to men of all creeds who did not, in his own phrase, "take carnal'

sword or weapon against him or the Government." Finally, with regard to the motives of Cromwell in listening to the request that be should be crowned King, and in regard to his hesitation- about refusing that request, we refer both Sir Thomas and his readers to the pages of Ranke, where this chapter of the Protec- torate is told with the greatest care and impartiality. It will there be found that the desires of Cromwell and his supporters were really very unselfish in the main, and quite different from. those which Sir Thomas has described. The last chapter covers ground over which Sir Thomas has gone before, and where he is a thoroughly trustworthy guide. Much in this chapter could be quoted that is brilliant and suggestive. We shall content our- selves with citing one brief passage relating to the liberty of the Press :— "A freedom of opinion unknown in any other age or country, and un- exampled agencies for its expression brought every class of society within the extended circle of political thought and deliberation. Never since the citizens of Athens had been consulted in the Agora, upon affairs of State, had a whole people been so freely called into council as in England after the complete emancipation of the Press. The demo- cracy of small States had raised its voice in streets and market-places ; the democracy of the great English monarchy made itself heard through its multitudinous press."

Sir Thomas May has written a long book, but the interest of the subject he has chosen is so great and so varied, that most readers will join us in wishing it had been still longer than it is.. Those of us who have the facts it sets forth still fresh in our re- collections will nevertheless be glad to see them so clearly marshalled before us as they are in these pages. Those of us whose memories have forgotten much that it is important for everyone to remember, may well be glad to keep up their old knowledge by help of so pleasant and chatty an author as Sir Thomas May has proved himself to be. If his book is not subtle, it is always interesting. There may be little fire in it ; but there is, at all events, plenty of light.