New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-12-19

az the situatos and "a 10 Of course opeu 20 sny
IN belseve that II he advlcc had boom followed oy
tbs K,nr that danger would have been sverted or.
A. ,east diminished. But II n certain that no
counfed too much upon the provinces in all has
plans for counter-revolut and it s question
able whether even II he could have overcome the
obstinate antauou@m Of Marie Antoinette ana the
Court he would not have been baffled oy the WIN
drawal of that popular confidence which his rela-
tons with o Royalists had already endangered
Mirabeau was strong mau and ready one' on'
It is doubtful whether he or any other statesman
then living erasped the full significance OF
the Revolution. or could have done more than
postpone il a few years bv any compromise OF
concession As tho history Of the time Is devei-
oped more fully and comprehensively the COM
pleteness Of the preparation for the ReVou''on'
and the potency Of the many influences which
tended to it. are only the more emphatcally de'n-
opstrated. 1t Il made apparent that neither far-
lament nor Crown nor Ministers: neither mobiles
nor bourgeois popu ace can be held responsio'e
FOR the event. but that the slow evolution OF CEN
turtles had wrought conditions all aud each OF when
operated to force the crisis, and TO aggravate u
TO the utmost after it arrived.
Mr.. stephens may DO right In his estimate of
Mirabeau but it will be more difficult to convince
the world as he seems ut on doing. that Marat
has been uniustlv dealt with hitherto, that Barere
was hbelIed by Macaulay. and that panton was lar
winter than he has been painted. Yet 1t cannot be
said that the case is closed as TO these charac-
ters and assuredly it will be necessary to accord
due weight to whatever exculpatory evidence on
I'll cir behalf the paiustakng research of contenoo-
rary scholars may discover. With regard to Marat
indeed the work of rehabilitation seems especially
arduous, mas much "a he so universally ha'ef
toward the end of his and apparently on such
sohd grounds, that even the disc osure or unex-
pected traits of tenderness and humanity in
him can scarcely weigh much against the known
,nfamles from which it is mposs BILE to clear him.
Nevertheless. every new view advanced by Mr..
Stephens deserves the most serions consideration,
for the absence of bias apparent IN all he writes
aud the extent OF his research is such as TO make
the most dissenting critic cautious OF dlsputlng
the accuracy of his conclusions.
HIS style is admirably simple and direct. He
avoids all ornament and all excess. HIS jung
mentS are cautious yer firm. Ills itlo0k Is COM
prehcnsive. While he has wholly freed Himself
from the old misleading theory that the Revolution
was an unmitgated calamity. he does not fall INTO
the opposite extreme and regard II as an unmixed
good. He is always sane, cool, careful and m"der
ate and his work is the more impressive Tor the
res rant blch characterizes 1T. The hrsi volume
ends WI h the flight to VareLnes and the dsso u
ton of the Constituent Assembly, so far as the
main line of bis ory in concerned, but the final
chapter is a review of affairs the provinces and
colonies In 1890 ami 1901, aud includes graphic
account of the disasters caused IN the latter by
the projection of the "rignts of man" with the
suddenness of a bOmbshell into society two
thirds of which CONSISTED of slaves existing in the
densest ignorance aud barbar SIN.
For other Reviews Incndng" Shelley" and "A
russian Move, see 10. n Page