Southern Civilization; or, The Norman in America [pp. 1-19]

3E BOWl'S REIE-W —.
ESTABLIShED ITANUARY, 1846.
JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, 1862.
VOL. XXXII, 0. S.] ENLARGED SERIES. [VOL. VII, Nos. I & 2, N. S.
ART. I.-SOUTHERN CIVILIZATION: OR, THE NORMAN IN AEFRICA.
'rlie philo ophv of history finds no more conspiicuous or forcible illustration than that presented in the rise, progress and
final consolidation into >a vital nationality, of those grand
ideas-the g'i-ft of a former a(ge, and the monumnents of atl histonie race-that have but lately torn a continent asunder, and
revived the traditional glory of the Cavalier on a theatre,
which has )Ceen called to exhibit the grand drama of a nation's
life, abrulitly concluded with the first fitful and inauspicious
act. And seated amid the prostrate columns and broken
aichels of the once stately edifice, the political inquirer is at
but little loss to discover tlhe deep causes that have effected the
nii,,hty oveitlirow. And in tracing thern back to their original
sources, these active agents of dissolution and decty will be
found to le),, themselves ill the exciting events and transactionis of that brilliant and meniorable era of Eiinglish history
embraced in the eventful reigns of the proud sovereigns of the
houses of Tudor and Stuart.
The overthrow of the great feudal aristocracy of England
marked the commencement of a revolution in the British constitution, wvhieh, in one brief century, beheld the whole mass
of political power (once shared between the king and the parliament) transferred to the Crown. Under the Plantagonet
princes, the Government of England was more an aristocracy
than a monarchy, and the conflict was carried on between the
Crown and the great barons, headed by such chiiefs as Richard
Nevil, Ea}l1 of W-arwick, who often united with the people
against the throne, and, not infrequently, overawed majesty
itselfi But, tunder the Tudors, the Government ma(le an approacl-i to the absolute type, and sought to centre in itself all
the scattered rays of civil jurisdiction. But while this rapid
centralization of authority was going on in the Crown, and the
VOL. V1IINOS. I & II. I
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