Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-04-12

! mere idea of yoluminousness. They were
promoted according to clearly defined
scheme which We well remember being
made public a considerable period prior to
the issuance of the first volume. That
scheme was the natural sequence OF his
torical labors almost wholly local in charac-
ter. The contemplation of the plan from the
first extended over the whole series of works
proposed to be issued thirty-four historical
volumes in all, with five volumes supple
| mental. Very nearly one-half of these
have now been issued, and it IS timely to
note how far the lines of the original plsts
have been adhered to.
From time TO time since the early
and extended review of the Bancroft
library made by this journal, when
the possibilities of these histories
were foreshadowed, and the scheme in
embryo fully approved, to the present, we
have noted every step taken and experience
the consciousness of having not only pre-
dicted precisely what would interInediatelv
occur, but of having forecast the ultimate
outcome The Bancroft histories were re-
Ceived, as We predicted, with enthusiasm.
But as the breadth of their plan developed
and the volumes multiplied, there followed
upon the heels of impotence an apathy of
interest due wholly to popular misappre-
henSion, or rather failure TO comprehend
the immensely of the undertaking. III 4
practical era, when all things move post
haste. outside of the exclusive scholarly
class, there were few who, after the new
ness of the enterprise had worn off, felt in
clined TO further follow the historian in
detail He did not move fast enough for
them. The bare idea of spending four or
five years in the reading of a simple his
| torical work was staggering. The author
| must have fureseen thiS-it is evident thar
he did, for he has not permitted ii to swerve
him from his course in the slightest degree
| or hasten his work, or lead him to fOrego a
single detail of his plan contributive 10 the
architectural completeness of the original
| scheme. He knew that the work must de-
pend upon its finished character. ana he
| could not afford to answer Impotence with
| haste and abridgemcnt and by the sacrifice
of the harmony structure upon which he IS
engaged.
At the critical period referred to jealousy
and viciousnesS seized upon opportunity to
assault the methods employed by Mr.. Ban
croft, and for a time there was apparent
success in the effort 20 rob the laborer OF
the credit of his accomplishment. At that
time, early in 1888. we took occasion TO
enter our protest against the Virulent as
saultS, and though not advised as to the
| reply the author himself might have made,
the result proved that the Judgment ex-
| pressed was not only in exact accord with
the facts but that the assaults were cor
rectly OWNED 1t was probably fortunate
for the Pacific coast histories that they We're
made just at that time a target for such Crlti-
| cism, since it brought the public mind 10 a
reconsideration Of the plan of the whole
scheme and renewed the original interest
in the work and augmented il, and has
given it q place in the reading world that
else could not have been SO soon attained.
1t was addressing, it must be confessed,
no high order of intelligence to say that the
Bancroft library contained so many thou
sand volumes and manuscripts devoted eX-
clusiyelv to the history of the coast that
they were collected after infinite labor, and
from the best sources of the world that
they cost a vast sum of money; that the
library absorbed in the work of collection
many years of busy life, and required thou
sands of miles of travel, and that the evO-
luton from this collection of the promised
histories involved not only comprehen-
sion of the authorities thus collected, but
the employment of a large corps of literary
workers Yet these things have been neces-
sarilv recalled in order to turn aside shafts
aimed with the intent of Gripping work
of the broadcst importance to this people
and the world of letters 1t has been neccS-
Sary to show that our California author did
not set himself up to rival the literary ex-
ccllcnce of Gibbon the finish of Prescott,
or the mastery scholarship and perfect
English OF Macaulay; that his work was
of a wholly different character and while
it must reflect credit upon his pen, would
shed brighter luster upon the genius
which was the parent of the conception of
plan of such magnitude.
The reading public, not always a quick
but always a responsive critic and indeed Il
mcrcileSS one. gave a verdict in favor of the
Bancroft work, the plans Of the scheme
and the methods employed i'll abstraction,
collation. and arrangement of proofs as
basic stones for narratives concern
ing which the history of no part of the
globe has been more involved, and concern
ing which no completer clearance OF rub
Dish and the letting in Of the light of truth
upon Il romantic and shadowy past has
been made than in the works under notice
1,,ti,.iI - +bar I;+aror,. ~ tba do
cree of an historical judge presiding over
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guuEs't anu 5liI roa,% f'tit;od nv aii
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I'm .iie I' I,I. f L;st,,. ~, tIo
ce oio,, W G;ycn,nr,, ,.hnr G,stii
ea, ear 49, no VIZ tbo d3,n;nart
anu :; - 70 +be ne,,;od Nc,
th ~ ,a i+u' .tr,,.,,In an Ms cont;nont
tnt f',tI, Id of t,o cnn+rr,, ,oro ~
IA ,Iir ,o,' W tI al
aFai."it ,h ,or .i' hon 10
i4iirid ioil' i % 20 ,,. ;rtl -
VI tDen,iIi any tho s,ir;tS ~bn
& .'rt f Io; SInndcr b,S mon
nov tlie PIN " ,iira ~ ~ III
t ti,f rho oT present. 9o, day when no less adyen
.i, l,',l III Tho soil Of tho ,yraat val
Iu.o''t Gofe ';t; oot and dorat - thn
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arr? Ii Ire an ~ ,', nf i,o,, M