Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-02-24
OUR BOOK TABLE.
SOME RECENT FUBLIcATIoEs-LATE IE-
SUES PROM THE PRESS.
.Bancroft's History of the Pacific States
Of North America Volume u
Central America

L. DaANAbAb y W.
We can congratulate the author of this
work that he has met with an unkind
critic. Il is well that the sneer should at
times play its part. In the unanimity
with which Mr.. Bancreft's works have
been received with open arms, there has
been danger Of praise palling upon taste.
In an Eastern review he and his work have
been mercilessly criticised and literally
torn in twain. Reduced to its essence, the
objection that our Eastern contemporary
takes to Mr.. Bancrofts volumes consists Of
two things-that he employs amanuenses
who do the real labor of transcription and
assist IN the work of composition, and sec
ondly, that he has not taken the conven-
tional view of early history of the Western
chores, ventuTed to differ with some emf
nent authors, and has treated legend and
romance as historical facts. Added TO
this is some carping that Mr.. Bancroft has
not cited authors whom the reviewer deems
the better writers on certain points OF his
toric dispute. THIS is ali there Is in the
criticism that has awakened so much pub
lie attention, and interested even the pro-
sale telegraph, when it is Invested of the
unquestionably scholarly guise. 1t is not
to be conceded that the objections found
to the style OF Mr.. Bancroft are at all es-
sential to be considered-we prefer, with
the vast majority of readers, to look only
at the accomplishments Of the author. In
the first place-though we have no COM
mission 20 speak for Mr.. Bancroft, and no
personal knowledge of what his own de-
Tense may be-is has never been a matter
of concealment here that he was engaged
in work demanding the aid of large
number of ladies and gentlemen in the col
lation Of the notes and data necessary to
the work in hand. Certainly it was well
known on this coast, and the designer of
the work has been rather proud to make it
known. Hubert Howe Bancroft, retiring
from a long life OF labor as a merchant, in
spired by a natural love for books,
and by taste for literature, qualified by a
broad reading and liberal education, be-
gan the collection of private library, con-
sisting, in the main, of works devoted to
the history of the peoples of the Pacific
shores OF this continent. In this labor he
visited Elrope twice, searching in every
nook ard corner for treasures for his IL
brary, and for rare ard desirable manu-
scripts and maps and charts. He spared
no outlay of money in ransackipg the world
for the material so necessary to his task.
His much travel, his untiring labor and
patient research in this matter. are facts Of
local history, and need not be repeated.
Suffice il to say no private library on the
globe has been drawn from such varied
sources or accumulated under such diff
culties. 1t now stands in handsome
building in San Francisco, which its owner
erected as fitting shrine for his work, a
collection of 50, coo volumes. In detail, this
library has been twice described in these
columns. It was in the midst of these treAs-
ures that Mr.. Bancroft gave himself up to
the Infringement and classifying of the
facts OF history relsti g to this
coast, and the races of people who
have dwelt here, the adventurers
who have invaded it, the conquests it has
been subject to, the scenes it has beea the
witness of, the growth and the develop.
ment which have esulted from the contend.
ing forces of three centuries. When we
listen to the thsme Wagner's genius has
prepared for our ear, and through it for our
soul, we do not pause to ask how he &C
compiished it in detail. 1t is enough to
know that he has grasped more of the
divine inspiration of melody, has given il
grander expression, than any of his pre-
decessors that he has gone beyond and
before the age, and has drawn it up to him
by the power of his genius. We do not
invade the sanctuary of the composer and
nib his pens, or test the quality of his inks
we do rot care to know whether he was
IoI 10 What
we do care to know is, whose
was the mind that conceived, whose
the perseverance that accomplished
1t would add nothing to the appreciation
OF the work to know that the writer alone
had penned every line, collated every fact,
copied out every date, written every chap
ter and formulated every passage of a
work the very scope and character of which
proves that TO its accomplishment no single
life would be sufficiently ample. Ga the
contrary, the world is indebted to this man
because he had the broad comprehension
and the unseifsh hberality and the genius
to enter upon task that can only be CON-
passed by the very means he has employed.
There were unwritten pages of history
covering in their sweep such vast periods
of time that no single intelligence had be-
lOIC udAGu W ENEB SOEICuiplabC III
their full extent until Mr.. Bancroft essayed
the task OF cleaning from the world Of scat
tered manuscript, books, maps, charts, let.
ters and wasting tones, the fact and the
romance, saving to the literature of ouI
day these molding and fast being
forgotten records. It is to him thai
the people of this century owe il
that in a compact form and reasonable
ba. rf ry,ls, Ahaxy 10 ha ~ q
to command at one view all of historical
value that is existent in the world concern
ing this coast To the very few was il
given alone to even peer into the treasures
of the history now undertaken by Ban
croft, but by bis agency the humbles
scholar will be enabled to walk ia field.
where ne had never before hoped to tread
To the unseltish ambition of an humble
citizen il gratifying the desire to add Il
the treasure house of the worlds knowl
edge, we are indebted for records that vii
endure as long as this country has history
We do not care to inquire into the bidder
influence that inspires him to this work
We know It is not hope CT gain, for from
such vast undertaking, involving
such an outlay of money, there
can be no adequate return in one
4llCLAlAIts 6H0 VIC mum QOubk II CNGi
the money.cost Of producing this History
of the Pacific States of America can bs
realized from the sales possible to such q
work. There are certain events in the life
of every man that stamp and fashion his
character, but it is of no present conse
quenee 20 this people what the event was
that moved our fellow citizen to enter upon
the work which now absorbs the hours and
years of MS life and the fortune that com.
mercial pursuits had gathered. Il is
enough to know that he is contributing TO
the intelligence OF the world, and is doing
work that viii not be lost when he is
gone, but will, by coming generations, be
priced more richly than is possible by US.
What, then, if the carping critic shall dis
cover flaws in the style of the writer
shall we allow these to blind us to his
marvellous resolution and indomitable per.
severance? even if we shall admit for the
time and the argument that the critic is