950 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



founded on historical facts. In 

 the French translations, the con- 

 stitutional principles on which Mr. 

 Fox insists very much, and main- 

 tains throughout the whole of his 

 work, by alteration and omission or • 

 mutilation, have been withheld as 

 much as was at all possible, consis- 

 tently with the preservation of the 

 narrative part. For example, in a 

 letter of Mr. Fox's to Mr. Laing, 

 published by lord Holland in a 

 preface, Mr. Hume, the historian, 

 is censured for his ridiculous par- 

 tiality to kings and princes : which 

 is represented by Mr. Fox " as 

 more like the foolish admiration 

 which women and children some- 

 times have for kings, than the opi- 

 nion, right or wrong, of a philoso- 

 pher.'' The whole of this stric- 

 ture, in the translation, is left out. 

 Mr. Fox, speaking of the leaders 

 of tiie Long Parliament, states, that 

 " they proceeded to establish that 

 fundamental principle of alljree 

 government, the preserving of the 

 purse to the people and their 

 representatives.'* In the transla- 

 tion, the words in this quotation, 

 distinguished by italics, are left 

 out. Mr. Fox's fine eulogium 

 on general Washington is wholly 

 omitted. 



Among the reflections of Mr. 

 Fox on the gloom and despair 

 which must have been cast over 

 those whose minds had been tho- 

 roughly imbued with a love of the 

 good old cause, by the despotism 

 of Charles H. is the following : 

 ♦' The hatred of tyranny must, in 

 such persons, have been exaspe- 

 rated by the experience of its ef- 

 fects, and their attachment to li- 

 berty proportionably confirmed. 

 To them ihe state of their country 

 must have been intolerable." In 



the French translation these re- 

 flection are suppressed. Mr. Fox 

 compares the situation of Churchill 

 and Godolphin, when they were 

 the tools of James II. in his base 

 money-transactions with the court 

 of France, with that in which they 

 stood as the minister and general of 

 another reign, conducting the con- 

 federacy against Lewis XIV. and 

 triumphantly prosecuting the de- 

 liverance of Europe. " How 

 forcibly,'' says Mr. Fox, " must 

 the contemplation of these men, in 

 such opposite situations, teach per- 

 sons, engaged in political life, that 

 a free and popular government is 

 desirable not only for the public 

 good, but for their own greatness 

 and consideration — for every ob- 

 ject of generous ambition." This 

 observation, in the French transla- 

 tion, is struck out. 



Mr. F'ox describes the progress 

 and success of the duke of Marl- 

 borough, in the prosecution of the 

 design " to humble the pride of 

 Lewis, and to shake to the foun- 

 dation that fabric of power, which 

 it had been the business of a long 

 life to raise, at the expense of 

 every sentiment of tenderness to- 

 wards his subjects, and of justice 

 and good faith to foreign nations.'' 

 This noble period is translated by 

 the Frenchman thus : — " Pour 

 humilier son orgueil, et pour faire 

 trembler sa couronne sur sa tete." 

 Mr. Hume's Apology for Charles 

 II. has drawn from IMr. Fox a 

 burst of indignation, involving J an 

 important precept to all historians: 

 A spirit of adulation towards 

 deceased princes, though in a good 

 measure free from the imputation 

 of interested meanness, which is 

 justly attached to flattery, when 

 applied to living monarchs ; yet, 



as 



