The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-28 00:00:00

PROFESSOR GOLDTVIN SAY UIL

-11. -

(From the Anglo-American Times.)
The Spectator, in a note of last week, alluding
to Professor GOLDWIN SMITH'S intention of pro-

ceeding to America, to compile a History of the
United States, observes, that however qualified for
the work, it is impossible to write an interesting

history of a country where everything great has
been achieved by the masses, and which has pro-
duced but one leader who has stamped his image
on the nation—WASHINGTON. Like most gene-

ralities, there is in this as much error as truth.
History will be interesting, though not wholly, at

least partially, in proportion to the magnitude of
the events recorded. Numbers give grandeur, and
grandeur impresses the popular mind. Though
human sympathy requires individuality to excite its

interest, we maintain that great events cannot be
achieved except through the agency of prominent
persons. There. can be no doubt that history has
been made in the United States quicker than in

any other country—events of the magnitude his-
torians delight to record having more sw]ftly

followed each other there than elsewhere.

prominent men alone formed interesting subjects
for au historian, the story of the Negro Race in
America would be one wholly unable to command
the sympathy of mankind. Yet, the truth is that
without a single instance of a conspicuous in-

dividual, the Negro Race will furnish a more
thrilling tale than the Irish in America, among

whom abound those who have risen to the

highest positions. Although the working of the
human mind in masses is more difficult to por-
tray than in individuals, it cannot fail, when
well told, to rivet attention ; and history, profess-
ing to deal with the nation at large, ought not to
be a collection of biographical sketches. It is also
true that masses must work by means of individuals

who generally are clothed—so long as they truly

represent those for whom they profess to speak—
with greater power than is given to hereditary rank,
however high—or compulsion, however strong.
Even mobs may have leaders on whom history
can seize, to insure for the narrative the interest
that a crowd must fail to excite. CROMWELL

was but a representative man, who acted with great

courage and decision in accordance with the opi-

nions of the section he represented, and indeed of ten
against his own convictions. lie did not form that
opinion ; he merely used it, or rather was used by it.
What happened in England then is occurring in the
United States now, and the history of England then
is the most interesting, because the most important
period of England's record. One would suppose from
the Spectator's remark that the mass achieved every-
thing great done in the United States, and that the
opinion of the majority was the invariable rule of
action. Yet what is the actual position of affairs ?
A few extreme Radical leaders are carrying mea-
sures opposed to the common sense of the people,
and in spite of their clearly expressed dissent. Such
men as TIIADDEUS STEVENS, BENJAMIN WADE,

and ANDREW JOHNSON stand to their convictions

against every tide of opinion—no matter how
high it surges, preferring to be swept away, if
they cannot stem it. Individuals like these, if they
do not present an embattled rock on the stream of
history for the historian to sketch as he passes,
will at any rate be snags which he will be
compelled to notice. To say that there are not
such in the United States is to advance a state-
ment wide of the truth. The history of the
Union will be found to abound with men who have
fought for their convictions with an energy un-
known elsewhere, with those who have allowed their
sentiments on public questions to control every act
of their lives, to have grounded on them their
friendships and enmities, and to have risked for
them their property and lives, we believe that the
material for the most sensational history, can be
gathered in that country. The Parliamentary battle
of olden days, when the opposing factions hated
each other with an enmity that frequently brought
the leaders to the block and their followers to the
gallows, is a fight in earnest with which men
sympathize, while the contest of the present times,
when the debaters heap on each other some courtly
abuse—then meet at the dinner table to discuss the
last opera, is to the feelings at least—a sham. It
is not thus that questions are discussed in Congress.
Indeed, it would be well for the United States if
they were—if the young blood had cooled down to
the moderation which characterizes the Old Country.
But it is not the tame but the fiery feud that
makes history. The Congressional contests that pre-
ceded the Civil War in America have derived
an interest, as read in the present day, from the
mighty events to which they led. Senator WILSON
lately remarked that he had heard the demurring
DAVIS, the blustering TOMBS, the plausible MASON,
the wily SLIDELL, during the thirteen years he had
been in the Senate, but he would have heard these gen-
tlemen whom he thus happily characterized with an
interest almost overwhelming, had he known to what
their policy tended. When these debates and Con-
gressional campaigns aro narrated with a skill at all
approaching to that of MACAULAY they will attract
the attention of mankind, and it will not require so
great a master to excite a world-wide interest in the
events that followed. The difficulty of the historian
in dealing with the Civil War will not be the pau-
city, but the superabundance, of distinguished men.
To whichever side he turns, whether to the North
or to the South, his judgment will become confused
unless his mind's eye can accurately measure com-
parative height. Scarcely less in interest will be
the battle between parties which followed on the
advent of Mr. JOHNSON to power—the drama in
which we are but now in the midst. If the history
of an absolute monarch, or of one who has erected
himself into a C.ESAR, or of a great statesman to
hom an easily led people have entrusted all power,
be more exciting than that of a Commonwealth
where the people rule, it cannot command so deep
and universal attention. Doubtless it is easier to
write that of the former than that of the litter, but
when well handled, when the voice of the mass is
heard from the page, the tone appeals to every
mind and finds an echo iu every heart. Great
events will always carry their own weight, and If
Professor GOLDWIN SMITH be qualified for the high
task he has undertaken, which the Spectator allows
while doubting the power of genius to give clear•
ness or interest to the work, and is permitted to
finish it, he will produce a book which can scarcely*
fail to rank in interest, as well as in importance,
with the most treasured in the world.

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Births.
KinnY—On the 27th inst., at 5, Tredegar-square, Mrs. ri•

Kirby, of a daughter.
LEON—On the 27th inst., at 79, Gloucester-place, port-
man-square, the wife of George I. Leon, Esq., of

_ .
daughter.
WALTON—On the 26th inst., at Croydon, the wife of Fraill‘
Walton, Esq., of a son.
Marriages.
CAMPBELL—KAY—On the 25th inst., at Dalston, Cumboc
laud, Daniel Colin Campbell, Esq., of Haseley K to
Warwickshire, to Bessie Wilson, only child of the
John Wilson Kay, Esq., of Carlisle.
STUART SCOTT —On the 25th inst., at St. James's, rioe'to
dilly, Major W. E. Stuart, 15th King's Own Hussars,
Louisa Sydney, only child of G. J. Scott, Esq., BoltoW
• Strange, Salop.

Deaths.
DAscomnr, -On the 27th inst., at St. John's-wood, J°llll
M. Dascombe, Esq., aged 44.
FnASER—On the 27th inst., at 6, Montagu-square, Low
Fraser, Esq., late of' Singapore, aged 56.
IiAIgILTON—On the 26th inst., at Worthing, Colonel G-•
Hamilton, Bengal Staff Corps, aged GO.
SPICEIt—On the 26th inst., at 9, York-street, Porte' :
square, Charles W. Spicer, Esq., of Debden Hall,
and Tasonis, Sardinia. ett I
uraoHN—On the 26th inst., at Banstead, Surrey, San'
Upjohn, Esq. ed'
WENSLEYDALE—On the 25th inst., at A mpthill-paric• dss
fordsbire, the age
taso
London : Printed and Published by WILLIA.3I AN-n- 112
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at Ties SUN Odlce, of
strand, in the Precinct of the Se voy, in the o°l'l'l
Fobrury 23, 1868.