OFF A HISTORY SHELF

Taranaki Daily News, 28 December 1929, Page 17 (Supplement)

OFF A HISTORY SHELF

A FEW OLD TALES.

(By

“Anno Domini.”)

The pages of history are’ not -uiii formly dull. Here and there they arc' brightened by what Horace - called “purple patches”—flashes of wit; Gilbertian situations and brilliant retorts which not infrequently •'reveal .very clearly the real characters of ; their authors.» Let us ; spend a . few passing moments with some that occur at ran--dom. ... ' .\ .

Whatever may have been Bonaparte’s , ambitious he was under no illusions'regarding the humbleness of his origin. Lockhart, in his fascinating biography, in some respects the beat yet written, , tells us that, after Napoleon’s first great victory at Monte Notte in. Italy some flatterers approached him with, a view to currying favour by tracing, fiis descent from an ancient Italian family. They were repulsed with the curt remark, “My patent dates from Monte Notte.” On a later occasion.. similar request wan countered by “I am' the Rudolph of my race.” Both rc-. marks show egotism as well as amb:- ■ tion.. .... ■ ■.' _ '... : ■... .■ '.7

The same delightful, book gives iis.a little sidelight on the more caustic humour of ■ the mon who made Napolcon’B fame, the French infantry-. men. He had taken with him to Egyptsome philosophers or savants. who .were to work on the hidden mysteries of the •Egyptian picture writing. Now these .. wise men, as was custom ary apparently in the east, rode on aSses, and, when the alarm was given they were instructed to . repair to the protection of . the infantry squares. The soldiers resented this triumph of brains over brawn and so, on such occasions the remark was, “Make way for the savants and the demi-savants.” But perhaps their discovery of the Rosetta stone will atone for their, lack of military capacity. Lord Morley, in an address to the University of Manchester, ’ told a fine story of Frederick the Great. He was a monarch who had run through the whole gamut of hiiinan emotions. , He had drunk deep of the cup of failure.' He had attained the highest pinnacle of success. He had been acclaimed the father of Germany. He may thus be suspected of having had mo' mean knowledge of men. To him came one day a Minister of State who suggested certain educational reforms, pleading that, if granted, they would earn the gratitude of his -subjects. The- king

did not object' to concessions, but h.ifl ideas of thanks were summed up. in the \ reply, “Sulzer, you don't know this , damned race like. I do;”.,; ? \ . ; ■ There are examples of many finely appropriate answers in history. Some are crushing, many are apt, but surely none are so delightfully evasive as that tendered to Charles I. when he appeared in the House to arrest the Five Memberfl, The King first looked round on the sea of faces. Gradually it dawned upon him that the Five were not there. Then he took an unprecedented and totally unexpected step. He demanded of the Speaker, LcntWll, whether the accused were present. Coldly and with dignity the answer camo: I‘Your Majesty, I may neither see nor hear except by consent of the House.” What were the feelings of Charles he deemed it politic not to express, but surely he must have known that ho had been snubbed as has no king before or since. • “Well,” said he, “I think my eyds are as good as another's,” and so the curtain fell on the first act in the tragedy of the Great Rebellion. The views of historians are often coloured, as are those of other writers, by a desire to please their public, A> very eminent author, in a book written before the war, described the Russians, whom he-.manifestly disliked, as a people. “clad in sheepskins and primeval filth.” Before publication of the work, his black sheep had become our allies. The result wflfl an apologetic footnote. It may be interesting’to see what sort of > view he takes in a future edition. . In the Life of Charles XII of Sweden, a fascinating book recounting the ad- ~ ventures of that monarch whose.’ fate it was “to point a moral and adorn a “ 'tale,” Voltaire told a good ..story of Russia in the days of Peter the Great. The problem had arisen as to whether drinking and smoking were evils. Naturally enough it was submitted to the Church. The response was complete.’ “Not that which goeth into the mouth, but that which cometh out of the mouth, that defiletk tho man.” ' It ifl hard to convey , very much historic truth in epigrams, and at any rate they are dangerous things to use. Nevertheless Victor Hugo had some measure of success. Said he, “What dev kingß dream of? War. And what do' peoples dream of? Peace.” May wo hope that the rising tide of democracyt will prove him right. But perhaps Mazzini, the great Italian patriot, was nearer the mark when he fluggested that “truth lies at the point of intersection.” Many people think that- they need, ■ only study, history to find a perfectguide to the course to take in currents events. They forget that, as Heraclitussaid long centuries ago “no water goes down the same stream twice.” It was Plutarch who said: “It is no great wonder if in the long process of time, while fortune takes her course hither and thither, numerous coincidences should spontaneously occur. If the number and variety of subjects to bo wrought upon be infinite, it is easy for fortune to effect this similarity of results.” ■ Lord Bryce once told a pretty story of a well-known professor of his- ; story who was very enthusiastic over.. thifl use of the study. After the dreadful Bulgarian massacres in the seventies of the last cenutry, Great Britain was much perturbed as to which side “to back.” So when he met the professor he said, “Here is a fine opportunity for applying your doctrines. Party politics may be divided, but no student of history can doubt which is the right course for the Government to follow towards Russia and the Turks.” “Certainly,” said tho professor, “the teachings of history are plain.” • “You mean, of course,” said Bryce, “that we ought to warm the Sultan that ho is wholly in the wrong and can have no support from us.” “No, indeed,” saidthe professor. “I mean just .the’.op? ;/ nosife.” / ’