New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-02-18
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

VI
eventful period from the organization OF the Fed
e,.l government in 1889 to the close of Mr. Mon
,oe,s FIRST Presidential term in 1921. The series
is 70 be completed in three volumes, the hrs'' ae
voted to the administration Of Warrington '"S
second 10 that of John Adams and Jefferson S'a
the third, including the administration OF ""UF
,op. will bring the history down to the emu Vi 'N0
Sixteenth Congress. ,;
In executing this portion Of bis task, tue niSeo'
rian is called on for the exercise Oh n'sno' ''ue
Of faculties than has been required LOT MS P'e'i
on.l.bors The ground be has hitherto traversed
wa. comparatiyely plain and easy OF observation.
rhs route was well ascertaned,-h with con
,Oicuous landmarks, clearly mapped out by the
researches Of former explorers and involving no
difficulties which had not often been made the
subject of profound discussion, and placed In
satisfactory light by the repeated examinations
and comparisons Of different inquirers. With the
new epoch OF our political history, new pain Is
marked out for the historian. He has TO trace the
progress of Federal legislation to Its original
source.-.o detect the seminal elements OF parties
in their earliest and faintest manifestations,-to
separate nicely between the cunning of partisans
and the wisdom of statesmen Ito bring out the
permanent principles Of national prosperity from
the chaos of conflicting opinions,-and to present
an impartial estimate Of measures and OF men,
that are too nearly connected with present inter
ests, to allow any but the calmest and most phlo-
sophie intelects to judge them without prejudice
or passion.
We have no doubt that Mr.. Hildreth has engaged
in the discharge of his elevated trust with the sin
cerest intentions of holding the scales OF histor
csliustice with an even hand His previous volumes
assure us that he is proof agapstthe Establishments
of rhetoric. He will not sacrifice anything for the
sake of picturesque effect Nor is he in danger
of being led away by his sympathes. He never
Yields to the magnetic enthusian which is excited
In most persons by the contemplation oil nobleHess
and sublimity of character. His clear, cold eye
looks calmly on the play OF human passions, while
he describes the result with as much indifference
AZ If the actors in the grand drama belonged to an
order Of beings, in whom it would befolly to cherish
nm interest. In the course Of the present volume
however, he betrays more frequent signs OF emo
ton and preference than he has heretofore ex-
hibited. His impassive tranquility is occasionally
disturbed. We canrot mistake the decided lean
ings Of his mind in the pregnant political ques'
tons which convulsed the administration Of Wash
ington. His frank EXPIRE ssion OF his sympathies
with the tenets Of the Federalists, and OF his
strong aversion to the policy of Jefferson, amount
ing at times to feeling OF ondsguised and bitter
hostility, does honor to his moral courage, while
the violent partisan of the opposite views will
doubtless make it an occasion for strenuous
qustioning of his faithfulness to history This is
q point which we have no wish to discuss at
present. The courSe adopted by Mr. Hildreth will
certainly add TO the piquancy Of his volume, and
to q great degree, redo EN- it ffom the charge o.
monotony and dulncss which many readers have
brought without sufficient cause as we think
against his narrative Of the Colonial and Revo
lutionary times.
The literary character Of this volume, In othe
respects is certainly not inferior to that OF the pre-
cediug portions OF the history, and on some point
indicates considerable improvement. As we have
intimsted, there Is more humanity in the compo
sition-there is also more variety-and more viva
oity-the author now and then relieving the tedious
details of legislation with specimens OF accurate
chsracter-drawing and occasionally INDUCING bis
readers with a touch of the chaste and nervous
eloouence which he seems to command at will.
1t may DO objected that he spins out the debates
in Congress to an excessive length, when he might
have given us the gist of the arguments on both
sides in few comprehensive cancellations
We should have been better satisfied with this
ourselves compact analysis OF the course oil
debate, retaining everything essential to clear
understanding Of the principles at issue, and d.
vested of all extraneous matter would be more
strictly within the province of the historian than
the elaborate reports with which we are now fur
nished, and in our opinion would present more
Ineligible view of the development OF American
legislation. The curious reader, who wishes to
examine the subject more infinitely, can easily
resort to the original documents, although we are
sorry to say he will find no clue to them In Mr.
Hildreth's pages who never condescends to refer
10 his authorities We think this signal defect
in the previous volumes but we perceive it is one
which the anthor does not intend to remove.
Mr. Hidreths style for the most part is strong,
unaffected and lucid. He never aims at display
of fine writing He does not give to his readers
more than was bargained for in the outset, adding
the fascination Of taste to the satisfaction OF the
intellect Hence his facts remain in the memory,
while we forget the language in which they were
presented. He does not delight the Imagination
with the liquid periods and melodious csdences
which linger in our minds after the perusal OF
Washington Irving; nor does he startle as with
those brief dating, electric sentences which flash
from the fiery sketches of Bancroft nor lull US
into soft intellectual passiveness by the pelluold'
mild, meanderiDg stream of fluent prose, which Is
so seductive in the elegant narrative OF Prescott
The power Of Mr.. Hldreth is derived from other
sources. lie is rugged, often harsh, sometimes
exhibiting dash of Mephistophean cynicism,
and easily betrayed into bomely, coloquial expires.
sions, which fsstidious taste would instantly
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