The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-02-03
Recent Publications..

History Of tile Negro Race in America.
From 1919 to 1880. By George w. Williams,
First Colored Member of the Ohio Legislature
and late Judge Advocate of the Grand Army
of the Republic of Ohio etc. New York: D.
Appleton & Co; Portland: Loring, Short &
Harmony This valuable, patriotic and compe
tent addition to the historic records of Amer
ca, has more than literary significance 1t is
the first formulated expression by Colored
man of the part which his race have taken in
solving the problem arising from their pres 4
ence, by no choice of their own, in the United
States. Although Judge Williams is man OF
more than ordinary ability, it is no more than
fair to believe that there are other Colored
men capable of equal success in the same or
other departments of mental achievement. sAs
a critic has lately said, an eminent man is
rarely solitary among his kind; there are usu-
ally those whose attachments lead up to his
level, as chain of hills eliminates in one not
able peak. Judge Williams has written re-
markedly able book upon subject not before
treated as whole; he has brought to his work
both capacity and industry, and animated it
with genuine and unstinted love of his race
land the power and scope of his History are
of themselves an unanswerable argument in
proof of the capabilities of the Colored people.
Their record in America has been remarka-
BILE one. AS soon as the possibility of freedom
was held out to them, they aided its progress
with strength and energy that could not have
been expected from race so long held in OPP
preston. There are bad and good among
them, and the various degrees between, as
among white men-but the Colored people are,
as rule, good citizens, and ready to use their
opportunities. Their emotional and flexible
natures respond quickly to patriotic or religi-
GUS claims. Judge Williams begins his work
with description Of the origin and race pecu-
liarties of the Negro, the various African king
doms, with their languages, customs and re-
ligions. The second part Of the volume treats
of slavery in the American colonies, 1913 TO
1915, and is an able and impartial setting forth.
The even and moderate tempered Judge VIII
lams's writing is much to be commended, and
one easily understands the restraint which, as
a historian, he must have placed upon his
righteous manly wrath against the slavehold-
ers. The third part shows the condition Of the
Negro people during the Revolution, in which
they took an active part, and carries their his
tory as far as the year 1900. The years that in
clude the Rebellion, Abraham Lincoln's
Emancipation Act and the beginning of the
working out Of the great problem of our conn
try, will be recorded in the second volume, for
which readers will look with much interest
Judge Williams has chosen the best way to
help his people; and the constituency is as in
telligent as fortunate that has set into promi-
nence SO patriotic and able representative.
English People in Its Homes, aud Other
Lectures. By Edward A. Freeman, d. G. L.,
LII. ID. philadelphia: Porter & Coates Port
land: Hoyt Fogg & Donham) Professor Free
man, during his soiourn in the United States
in 1872 delivered lectures mainly upon the
relations between England and English-speak-
ing America. These lectures, with some nee
essary arrangements, are now copied into a
volume. The courtesy and liberality of Pro-
fessor Fresmans attitude toward our people is
agreeable. He does not consider that an Eng
lishman is ca oficio the superior of New Eng
lander; and in the very phrases that the cock
ney tourist would call 'opelessly Hanerican,
he is glad to recognize some homely snatches
of talk that chung to our forefathers who emil
grated from the dales whose daisies remember
Chaucer yet. and where Shakespeare saw the
lark tiny winged speck against the gold of
heavens gate. 1t is not easy to define the
course of Professor Freeman's lectures: they
are united in tone and thought, but, delivered
in one and another city, they are not especially
connected in subject The style is unaffected
as it is charming, and exceedingly sympathetic
in quality.
Pearls of the Faith. By Edwin Arnold
Boston: Roberts Brothers; Portland: Loring,
Short & HARMONY. This yolurae, with Witch
Mr. Arnold concludes his Oriental Trilogy,
represents in verse the thoughts which might
arise in the mind of pious Muslin in. passing
through his fingers the Masba' hah, the rosary
OF ''the ninety-nine beautiful names of Allah. !"
In each of these poems Mr.. Arnold versifies
some legend. verse Of the Koran, or comment
from some Oriental book, with the design to
present general view of he spirit Of the Mus
lin belief. As in former poems. he writes in
the character of an Oriental which ensures
direct and dramatic treatment of his themes.
Although the volume contains much fine poe
try, arising at times to intense and irresistible
representation literary point of view it is
not equal to>the Light of Asia. This may be
attributed to two causes: first, that series of
meditations upon divine attributes do not natu-
rally lend themselves to the graces of verse 50
readily as legend, with IFS opportunities for
descriptive sand dramatic power. The other
cause of disappointment in these poems is that
Mr.. Arnold is not a master of metre. He is
capable Of satisfactory and charming verse in
ot1
employing very fortunate cadences. But hs
is not measure-compelling poet, like Mr..
Swinburne, to whom the impossible is merely
an Indictment to victory; neither has Mr.. Ar
mold the uneaTthly force that filed Rossetti's
verse with q strange music. Metre cannot
constrain Mr.. Arnold to say what he lid not
intend, or to leave unsaid what he has in mind;
but it sometimes leads him into uDmuscal in
versions and hard cadences In the great in
dustry and productiyeness of his career, it is
no wonder he has not time, or perhaps fancy,
for the elaborate and delicate beauties of verse
But his talent expresses itself best in measures
that do not exercise his technique too greatly
With Mr.. Arnold there is at least no lack of
matter, and no pretense of manner His forc:-
BILE presentation of Eastern thought and belief,
and the entire ease of his acquaintance with
the great range of Oriental literature, give his
work authority.
Macaulay. By J. Cotter Morrison. English
Men of Letters Series. (New York Harper &
Brothers; Portland: Loring, Short & Har-
mon.) A memoir with Macaulay for its sub
ject, is not likely to be otherwise than inter-
estiDg and effective; but one feels that more
sympathetic and competent one than this by
Mr. Morrison might easily be written. 1t is in
the details of criticism that certain want OF
imagination on the biographer's part tends to
set up an image gragen in wood of one of the
liviest figures in literature Macaulay, pictur-
esque and yivacious, was not always to be
taken strictly to account for chance express
sions; and it is somewhat exasperaiing to find
Mr.. Morrison gravely discoursing upon the
character and tendencies Of Macaulay as shown
by some offhand remark or quotation from
familiar letter. With every desire to be Just
and even generous, Mr.. Morrison is not to blanc
for bis natural lack of flexiblity. Perhaps his