New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-11-21
MR. FROUDE,S FIGHTS.


MR.. FROUDES FIGHTS
Mr.. Froude has made frank and manly
proposal to the critics who accuse him OF bad
| faith in the treatment of historical documents.
He offers to submit any stipulated number OF
| his pages TO a commission named by his ac-
| cusers, who shall compare them, under the
supervision of the Keeper of the Records IN
| England, with the original papers. Dir'
| Froude will pay the expenses OF the commls-
sion, and if the process result III his vlndlca-
| ton he will demand public apology ana re-
| traction. This offer was made some time ago
to The Saturday ReUieC, but nothing came OIL
it. So far as it goes it is very fair. 1t VIII
confirm the general belief in the honesty OF
| Mr.. Froudes purposes, whatever may be
thought of his critical and judicial faculty.
And it is an offer which, in the interest
of historical truth, ought to be promptly
accepted. Critics Of his fascinating ana
picturesque history, while admitting the
quiclSness of his dramatic perceptions, the
vigor of his thought, the warmth OF his feel
ings, and the brilliancy of his descriptive
powers, have declared that he is too ardent
partisan to make even correct quotation.
He reads State Papers, say these critics, ana
finds in them only what was in his mind be-
fore. He attempts to paraphrasc them, and
unconsciously he throws in statements ana
suggestions which do not belong there. lie Is
never to be more carefully dstrusted than
when he believes he is citing for us the very
words of authentic documents. In fact, as I'M
English reviewer expressed it, "Mr. FrOude
"has not grasped the nature Of inverted COM
"mas.n A New-YOrk scholar, Mr.. James +.
Meline, recently undertook to follow MIR.
Froude through his narrative of the career OF
Mary Queen of Scots. The result was a pun
gent little volume in which great number of
the historians statements were compared with
the authorities upon which they were ostcn-
sibly based, and it was certainly made to
appear that Mr.. Froude's pages needed a great
deal of revision. Why should not Mr.. Meline
accept the challenge which Mr.. FrOude has
just uttered In BOstOnf
Upon the controversy with Father Burke
this test has no direct bearing. The question
lust now is not as to the reading of particular
documents, but as to the correctness OF GER
tain general views of history. Mr. Froudes
theory of the Irish question is based partly
upon philosophical principles, partly upon the
story of events in Ireland, which he has con-
structed from more or less thorough study
of contemporary records; and his adversares
object, not so much that he has distorted the
documents in the possession OF the Keeper OF
the Records, as that he has taken everything
which tells for one side of the question and
rejected or overlooked almost everything which
tells for the other. The latest mail from Europe
brings us a copy Of The london Daily Aclrs,
in which writer well known on both sides
Of the ocean devotes two columns to a severe
review of "Mr. Froude's Indictment against
Nation IT was invited by the publication
of tho first volume of his work on "The En-
"glish in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century"
and refers to tho same point which Father
Burke discussed in his lecture on Tuesday
night, the Rebellion of 1Cn and the Crom-
wellian conquest. Father Burke and the wri-
ter in The Daily .Ne'rS approach the subject
with very different prepOssessions, but they
agree in condemning Mr.. Froude for suppress
ing or overlooking important facts, the omis-
sion Of which gives his narrative deceptive
character. These are points which we shall
be glad to see still more thoroughly discussed,
and when the English historian has leisure to
grappe seriously with his Irish antagonist we
may look for a sharp conflict.
Meanwhile, Mr.. Froude's championship has
been viewed in England with little of the
gratitude which one might have supposed it
would inspire. The Times has twice taken
him to task for his volunteer advocacy, and
reminded him and us that nobody authorized
him to appeal to the public opinion of this
country in a case involving England's treat
ment Of a portion Of the British empire.
Neither England nor Ireland" says The
Times, "can allow America the right thus to
pronounce q verdict on our relations to each
"othern 1t reminds him also that the Irish
question is not such simple one after all, the
best men in England finding it /" no easy task
q" TO form a clear judgment on the tangled
"skein of right and wrong;" while the writer
in The Daily NeCS goes further, and blames
him for undertaking IN his book to reverse
4" the Judgment almost unanimously formed by
the enlightened public opinion of the present
." day" 1t would have been much wiser not
TO touch the ugly business; but since it has
been revived, we have only to repeat the
advice we gave before-let the discussion be
as thorough" as one of Stratford's campaigns
against the Irish.
"