The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-12-11

and legislators during tho most important
political cras Of the last thirty years v;
"ths leading actions Of Mr.. Botts's life,
and his speeches aud writings, form al in
'tercsting and instructive a portion Of the
story Of the progress OF our great republic
from youth to manhood as any part Of
American historyp, Could fulsome battery
or self-adulation further goH A little.
This secret history Of the Rebellion"
this trashy Bolts book now before US, els
one Of the most valuable and interesting
contributions to American historical litera-
ture ever presented to the public!" With
this last line, |" The Editor" retires be-
hind the curtain, is no more, seen, and
Bolts blows bis own horn ostensibly.
|, Less than two hundred pages are devo-
ted TO the Hartford Convention, Nullifca-
ton, John c., Calhoun, General jackson,
the Force Bib the Tariff, Texas, the Will
mot ProviSo, the Compromises Of 1850, the
Fugitive Slave Law, Repeal Of the Missouri
Compromise, the Kansas-Nebraska bill,
the John Brown raid, the election of Lin
coin, and less than twenty pages devoted
to the rebellion proper, and these are main
ly filled with "Mr. Bolts has an Interview
with Mr.. Lincoln" Mr.. Botts's Efforts to
Prevent Civil War,"-O, why were not
those efforts successfulG-and "Mr. Bolts
Retires from the Contest in Despair" 0,
why did Bolts thus weakly abandon US to
ear fate, when he might then, as be does
to-day, have kept the fabric of the Union
from falling to pieces9 Apart from the
matter not Immediately connected with
Bolts, there is nothing in the whole range
Of topics embraced in the book (Which no
one but Bolts "could" write) that is not
accessible to the most casual reader Of our
political history. A7 aa 49,, #5'@
His estimate of his contemporaries is
based wholly upon prejudice. He consi-
ders General Scott a great statesman
Van Buren, was merely ga special pet Of
Jackson's -; Polk was nobody; Pierce was
81 man Of absolute obscurity," and "with-
out talents" and so on and among these
political pigmies the giant Bolts was promi-
nent. We need not dwell longer on this
portion of the book, which is in no sense
valuable contribution to history, either of
the rebellion or of Bolts; there is an after
entertainment to come.
The two hundred pages of "The Great
Rebellion" are followed by an "Appen-
dix % of nearly two hundred pages more;
but as the matter is printed in much finer
type, the appendix constitutes the great
bulk Of the book. 1t reminds one of Bier
stadt's home on the Hudson, to which the
artist has added studio so overwhelming
ly grand that the villa seems affixed to the
studio rather than the studio to the villa.
In the appendix, Bolts has full swing; it
is Bolts ct preteea niha from beginning to
end; and Bolts tells us what an intensely
active verb ne is, and how it has been the
business of his life to be, to do, and to suf-
fer. Our limits forbid the searching ex-
animation this mass of egotism and batch
of vanity would deserve if Mr.. Bolts were
of -thousandth part the consequence. ais
a public man that he tbimks'ne is. We do
not know 1to-d,ay OF a deader cock in the
whole political pit than Bolts.