Note 7 — PART II HISTORICAL STUDIES

Without binding Mr Freeman down to a defence precisely of this character—and, indeed, in this as in other matters, he may not even himself have formed a clear idea of what he meant—it gives us, I think we may fairly say, a general idea of his 'palisade'. It was certainly no mere row of stakes,7 no heap of cottage window frames,8 no fantastic array of shields tied to sticks,9 no 'abattis of some sort'10 that Mr Freeman had in view, whatever his champions may pretend. As for the defenders of the 'palisade', they cannot even agree among themselves as to what it really was. Mr Archer produces a new explanation, only to throw it over almost as soon as it is produced.11 One seeks to know for certain what one is expected to deal with; but, so far as it is possible to learn, nobody can tell one. There is only a succession of dissolving views, and one is left to deal with a nebulous hypothesis.12