The Works of Lord Morley (Volume 13) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1921. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VI CHARACTERISTICS Rulers who have gained historic fame by war and empire, naturally impose heroic and commanding traits on mankind: rulers who have been great in peace usually move us by the qualities of a wise and benign morality. Sir Robert Walpole's position is in this respect a peculiar one. He was a powerful ruler, who guided the country through a long and profoundly critical ordeal; yet his name possesses no heroic associations. He was a great peace minister, yet his career suggests neither the attractions of private virtue nor the inspiration of lofty public ideals. It is impossible to make one of the grand heroic figures of human history out of nothing more sublime than strong sagacity, penetrating common sense, and tenacious public spirit. Both the nature of Walpole's task and the characteristics of his time were fatal to the heroic. Quieta non movere was a sound and saving maxim for a British minister from the Peace of Utrecht to the Seven Years' War; but it is a maxim without lustre. Although, however, there is nothing in such a character as Walpole's to dazzle or to inspire, he possessed in the highest degree, and displayed on the widest scale, those qualities of intelligence, prudence, watchfulness, and unshaken constancy, which fit a man to act a great part in the trying field of civil contention. The portraits convey no striking impression of character. The glance is firm, but the ruling trait is a somewhat unattractive complacency. Songs and caricatures abound in references to an everlasting expression between a smile and a sneer. "His face was bronzed over with a glare of confidence," says his enemy in the Craftsman, "an arch malignity leered in his eye." The malignity is certainly not there, but the confidence is. In his early days han...