The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-11-19
Muller. History Of Recent Times.

A compact yet sufficiently comprehensive
history of continental Europe during the last
thirty years has been greatly needed by those
who wish to properly interpret current events.
An attempt to supply this want has been made
by u translation of WILHELM MULLERs PaHG-
cal History Of Recent Times tHarpers,. So far
rs the book covers the period above men
toned, it has no competition to fear. and will
BIO found Indispensable by American readers.
Nevertheless. some exceptions may be taken to
tho original work. and others to the method Of
revision followed by the Rev. John p Peters.
the translator. 1t was quite proper to
omit all that part OF the narrative relat-
ing to the United States; but the trans
ator might with equal propriety have
gone further and cut out the chapters concern
ing Great Britain, for tho recent political his
tory OF the United Kingdom has been much
moro satisfactorily presented in English COM
ponds. Moreover. we scarcely think it was
worth while to reprint the 200 pages OF this
volume which deal with the period intervening
between the close Of tho Napoleonic era and the
fall OF Louis Philippe for sufficient data relat-
ing to tho first third of the present century
were easily accessible elsewhere.
For tho 300 pages which portray the course Of
events in continental, Europe from 1913 to 1876
We arc unuuestionably indebted to Prof. Miller
given by any English writer in an equally conf
pendious form. As for the sketch appended by
the translator for the purpose of bringing down
the survey OF events from 1876 to 1884, IL is OK
ccutcd in n painstaklng way as regards the col
lection of facts. but the spirit Of its comments
differs widely from that exhibited in the body
OF the work. No doubt some addition OF the
kind was necessary in a book which is likely
to be extensively used in schools and colleges
but the author Of the supplement should have
elected to follow one OF two courses viz. either
to conform rs nearly rs possible to Prof Mn-
ler's point Of view or to present n perfectly
coloress record. No person capable of exer-
cislnG an independent judgment is likely to be
much influenced by Prof. Mnller's indiscrm-
mate praise Of Bismarck. but it ran through
the original work, and therefore could not be
refused u place in the translation. We are not
in tho least concerned however. to learn that
tho Rcv. John =. Peters entertains different
opinion on the subject.
This Is, We repeat n useful book and one
tnat Ia certain to have large number OF read
ers until "a Is superseded by something bot
ter Yet we have Ito hesitation in affirming
that a work more instructive 10 American read
ers might have been compiled by an American
writer, who would understand Just what his
countrymen need to know The omissions AZ
character. 1t purports to he political history.
yet what political facts ara moro fundamental
than the liberal Constitutions which during the
last thirty years have been established in sew
eral European countries? A reader VINO does
not demand from an historian adequate infor-
nation on these heads is obviously not uuali-
fled to study history ut all. Let him apply
however. this test to Prof. Mner's narrative
and observe tho result. We will suppose for
instance, that no desires to obtain u definite
idea OF tho existing Constitution OF the German
empire, Of tho relation Of the Bundesrath to the
Rclchstag, and OF both bodies. severally and
collectively. to tho executive power. We natu-
rally turn to pages 4G2 and dG3 where alone tho
subject is discussed ut any length. All
that we here learn from Prof. Muller
is tho extent OF tho rights reserved by
Bavaria and Wnrtemberg. and by which
tho Constitution OF tho North German Con-
federation was modified. Tho complete fail