Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-10-31

| though trivial, would have added to our
stock of information. But when, with
great pomp of phrase, he makes an an
nouncement which merely conveys Mr..
Baucroft's opinion that the sky was not
overcast during the whole thirty-on days
of that particular month. In q region where
months steady observation of the sun was
never known, he ellis nothing which his
readers did not know as well as himself.
After having informed us, in his peculiar
manner, in the long passage from which
we have already quoted, that the banks of
the Hudson were wooded at their discovery,
he tells u.s. two volumes further on, that
they remained wooded in l7lS, with equal
swell and emptiness Of style. 3 The un-
guarded passes of the highland, '-this is
In immediate continuation of his announce
ment about the radiant sunshine, so heces-
sary to a correct knowledge of our early
history-"derived as yet no interest, but
from the majestic wildness that enhanced
the grandeur of their forms. The shadows
OF the mountains, as they bent from their
silent repoSe" what Is meant by the bend
ing Of a shadow?l "to greet the infrequent
bark" the shadow, perhaps, would not
have bowed its sallltation if the bark had
not passed. "that spread its sails to the
troward summer breeze, were deepened by
dense forests" [deepened in the woods, GER
tainly, but not necessarily on the rwaterI
(which came down the hill-sides to the
very edges OF the river" 1t is easy to see
that Mr. Bancroft made the sun shine in
July, 1748, to enable him to execute this
piece of fine writing about the courteous
shadows of the highlands, which, without
the aid of the radiant sun, could not very
well have done the hospitable civilities to
their strange visitor which Mr.. Bancroft so
prettily describes. But we look in vain for
any terminating "seed of truth" floating
through the world on this light gOssamer'
so gailywafted in the sunshine. This pas
sage, no doubt, does credit to Mr.. Bancroft's
conscientious historical research ,g.
In the same volume there is long decla-
nation about Frederic the Great, who fig
ures so largely as an actor in American his
tory that long panegyric on him is prob
ably in place. "The hills and the valleys"
says Mr.. Bancroft, "the copses and the fall
low land, the mlsts of morning and the
clear light of noon, came to meet his dispo-
sitions, so that nature seemed instinct with
the resolve to compare with his genius"
Which, we take it, gives very exact idea
of the military strategy of the great Fred
eric. The conspiracy between nature and
his genius has probably been discovered by
a strict application of the rules of histori-
cal evidence. Kant and Losing come in
for pOmpous praise in the same eulogy;
praise which they no doubt deserve, but
possiblyntlie history of the United States
would be intelltgible, if they had not been
mentioned, and even Mr.. Bancroft had not,
in another place, drawn an elaborate par
allel between Kant and George Fox, orna-
menting it by pretentious allusions to ROus-
seau, to Schiller, to Chateaubrand, to Cole
ridge, to Lamartine and Wordsworth"
and to 1.-THE eloquent Cousin, in the country
of beautiful prose-" In: another, place Mr..
Bancroft makes turgid contrast between
George Fox and Voltaire. A literary pea
cock who thus spreads his feathers is a diff
ferent bird from the eagle, who, from a
height which makes himself nearly invisi
bic, finds something to admire besides his
gaudy self.
Mr.. Baneroft's empty grandiIoquencc is
bestowed upon his readers with such con-
slant profusion, as would make it cheap,
even if it. were legitimate species of or
nament, He puts more Of that particular
commodity OH the market, than the market
will very well bear. So much glittering
tinsel betokens vitiated taste and q mind
lacking in solid qualities. Further exhibit
lions of the "gossamer on which he
"floats the seeds of truth through the
world" would perhaps,be tedious, and, to
persons of robust vigor of intellect, nause-
Gus but as all we have given consists of
brief extracts taken from passages by far
too long to be given In full we will add one
choice piece of fiOrdity entire. 1t is very
characteristic, and nd-happens to be so short
that we can afford it. "Go forth, then,
language of Milton and Hampden, Ian
guage of my country, take possession of
the North American continent GLADDEN.
I. o,,J, fpn fhof ko.
been rightly struck on the English Tyre,
with every English word that has been
spoken we'll for liberty and for man! Give
an echo to the now silent and solitary
mountains; gush out with the fountains
that as yet sing their anthems all day long
without response; fill the valley with the
voices of love in its purity, the pledges
of friendship in its faithfulness; and
as the morning sun drinks the dew
drops from the flowers all the way
from the dreary Atlantic to the Peace
full Ocean, meet him with the joyous hum
of the early industry of freemen! Utter
boldly and spread widely through the
world the thoughts of the coming apostles
of the peoples liberty, till the sound that
cheers the desert shall thrill the heart of
humanity, and the lips of the messenger of
the peoples power, as he stands in beauty
.upOli Shtll plOOld'll
renovating tidings of equal freedom for the
racew rt srG .o-rIe .t,i ...r. r. ,.,..,.,
This, for aught we know, may be very
good prophecy some people may think it
fine writing; but assuredly it isnot his
tory. To us it seems goGgeouslY sentimen-
tai nonsense. .s'The seed of truth which
this gossamer" undertakes to g float
through the world . is that the English is
destined to be the language of the Anglican
settlements in North America; a fact, no
doubt, but fact that would be equally
known if Mr.. Bancroft had not undertaken
this ridiculous apostrophe to the English
tongue. If,anybody needed to be remind
ed that the Anglo-Americans were likely
tospeak English, there was no need Of en-
veloping it in such variegated cloud of
super-sentimental nonsense.
[From the ,Richmsnd Examiner.l
A Romance Tru1h Stranger than