New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-11-19

Under the title of " The Lost Cause, MIR. q. A. |
Pollard offers to the public worl. purporting to
be history of the late war for Southern indepen-
dence. The copy now in our hands is sent to us
by Mr.. j. H. Hummel of this city, the exclusive
agent of the work for this part of the county,
If mechanical execution eau impart value to a
work, this copy must be a perfect chef d'0NUre.
In every respect it is uneXceptiOnable. 1t en-
balms the annals of the war in the choicest mate
rials of the typographical art. But it is not with
this that we have to do at present Our object is 1
simply to examine, briefly, the manner in which /
the author has accomplished his difficult task.
1t has been often said that history ought not to
be written contCmporaneously with the events of 1
which it treats-that the passions and prejudices
the animosites and the predictions of the time !
will inevitably influence the wliter and inyalidate
his Judgment. To a certain extent, this may be /
true; and it is more especially true of the period
in which the chain of events has not been com I
pleted, and in which the characters OF the chief
actors of The drama have not been developed |
salient illustration of this fact is to be seen in
re reversal of Mr.. Pollard's earlier Judgment of
Gen Lee, as exhibited in his Second Year of the |
War; and in ''The Lost Cause" In the first
Cen Lee was treated with cold and critical suspi
cion in the second he becomes a grand historical
tunes of the struggling Confederacy are clustered
The promptness with which Mr.. Pollard con
formed his estimate of Gen Lee to the course of
events is creditabe to his impartiaity as a his.
torian. Moreover in regard to the objection to
which we have referred, it must be remembered
that animosities and resentments, and even pas
sions and prejudices, are an important element
in the history Of every great revolutionary crisis
They cannot be eliminated from the problem
without seriously impairing the accuracy Of the
solution, II they appear in contemporary mar
ratve, they appears part Of the history Of tile
times-a part, too without which the subsequent
historian would be unable to form valid judg-
ment. 1t is true that unreasonable auimosity or
blind devotion, may dsfgnre history as a work
of art; and perhaps the manner in which the
author of q The Lost Cause" treats Mr.. Davis, is
one of the most serious defects Of his book. But
the ex-Confederate President will not lack de.
| Tenders; and in the meantime, We ought not to
fuse to look on the side Of his character which
| Mr.. Pollard turns toward lis, He has shown us
the reverse others will present to us the OBJ
verse.
The positive merits of the work are many and
great They will be admitted by the candid
reader of the present time, and will be recog-
missed even more readily in the days when future
Macaulays OF Gibbons may refer toit as authority.
Mr.. Pollard's style, if not always elegant i never
obscure. In perspicuity ard vgor the present
work exces the aunas of the same author and it
is free from the misplaced rhetoric into which be
was, perhaps, unavoidably betrayed by the ex-
elements Of the moment. He states his facts and
his opinions in a way that cannot be misunder-
stood His narrative is full and leaves nothing to
| conjecture or fancy that can be established by
official and other undsputed data His industry
is evinced in The variety end comprehensiyeness
of3his matter, 10 less than in its arrangement.
With less strength of conviction, with less even of
that prejudice for which he has been so freely
censurad, tits doubtful that he would have pro
duced a work 50 thorough and SO full in its de-
| tails as to events, as to men, and to public
character and policy. Certainly as trustworthy
guide to the complicated events of the great war
it is infinitely superior to those Northern produc
tions which have no other aim than to glorify the
deeds of the often defeated chieftans and armies
of the federal government, and 10 backen Il M
character and the motives of the people Of the
resistant States.
The accusation that Mr. Pollard blindly praises
everything Virginian is hardly justified by tie
facts Even as to Gen, Lee, the central figure Of
the book, The great Erginan warrior, he does not
rise to an enthusiasm commensurate with the
popular estimate of that 'chieftain. IN his review
Of Gen. Lees character he goes almost to the eX-
tent of ascrJug the ultimate failure Of the Con
federacy TO the lack of due self assertion on
the part of the commanding general. Coupling
this deficiency with undue and unreasonable self
assertion, and frigility, and dogmatjci3m, on the
part OF Mr.. Davis, he processes 10 exhibit two of
the great moral causes of the miscarriage. In
deed, Mr.. Pollard cannot be charged with more
prejudice than inevitably attaches to the opinions
of any contemporary whose mind and feelings
were deeply absorbed in the struggle. Between
his prejudice, and the preindice Of others, the
difference is not difference in degree, but in
form and direction.
Were we to wait for an unprejudiced narration
of the events of the war, and a perfectly impair.
tial and satisfactory apportionment of praise and
censure, by contemporary writer, We should
wait in vain. Records would decay or be lost in
: forgotten pigeon holes, or in the neglected Gran
nies of official lumber-rooms memories would
= fade into indstinctness; and facts would lapse
= = into uncertainty. No industrious compilation
and honest though perhaps biased estimates Of
= actors and their actions in the Lost Cause'' would
= be made, while material might be yet fresh ant
accessible, for future Macaulay or Theirs tc
: is not the least doubt that had Macaulay writer
. his history in the time of Queen Anne, instead o
= writing it in the time of Victoria, it would have
\ been assailed furoGsy for much of the force
discrimination and freedom of Judgment which
i, are now deemed conspicuous features of merit
The presiding idea of Mr.. Pollard's book is no
e calculated to commend it to military or civil lead
ers upon whose conduct and policy the issue Q
4 the war depended, This idea is that final success
. was, until the occurrence of few capital disas
. ters in the closing scene, never impossible, am
that the Lost Cause " was simply the sum o
!. series of "lost opportunities The vic
e tory of Manassas was a lost opportunity; tn
:. catastrophe of Donelson was the consequence o
lost opportunity, by Pillow and Floyd not with
6 drawing with the army when Buckner opened AM
showed the way, and urged them to take it. Ney
J. Orleans fell by not improving time and facilities
N proved to be available, in completing naval de
oi fenses and developing other resources The or
re der, by Beauegard, of a halt on the night of thu
ID first day of Shiloh, is called the "extraordinary
III abandonment Of great opportunity his cacu
ut lation that Buel was not in striking distance III,