New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-06-11
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
TWELVE ENGLISH STATESMEN.

& Co.
Tho new historical series to be issued under
the general title Twelve English Statesman
opens with Professor Frecman's admirable mono
graph on William the Conqueror lie has con-
densed this biography from his great work on
the Norman Conquest apparently, and nowhere
can clearer, moro Sharply defined picture oil inc
Norman be found In this compacted form IL Is
inevitable that the historians main views shouio
come out in stronger relief than when surrounded
and more or less shaded and softened by inc
fulle, exposition Of the larger work. One result
If this is TO produce the impression that the
wrongs and crimes of which William was guilty
an ugly list enough-are perhaps accorded TOO
little weight in estimating his character The
fact indeed is not so. Mr.. Freeman has ocen
compelled by the scope of the work to dwell with
emphasis upon those deeds of the Conqueror
which most influenced the English people; both
his contemporaries and his successors. This plan,
however, necessitatcs the subordination of what
may be called his personal career, and thus the
events which in detailed history attract really
excessive attention because of their dramatic
qualities may seem TO be surred over here.
Professor Ere man is n thing if conscientious.
His aim has always been to ascertain and pre-
sent the truth closely as possible. 1t Is dlf-
fcult in the case of man like William, who,
IL he did good did it nine times out OF ten
indirectly and from a selfish motive and began
by humiliating the people his conquest was there
after to benefit, to reach perfectly impartial
estimate Admiration for the force and craft
of the Norman Conqucror must always contend
with repulsion from his crooked morality and
the hollow subterfuges by which ne sanctioned
his rapacious deeds Tradition also has so dark
ened his memory with vague charges of hidcous
crimes impossible either to be proved or dis
proved, that little sympathy and no respect can
be felt for him. Strong, capable, clear-Seelng
masterful, he PROFESSIONALLY was; peculiarly fond
of pretences Of legality rather than of legality
Itself but shrinking from no violence or outrage
when in pursuit of any object upon which he
had set his will, and, at least in his later years
sinking into a brutal despot. 1t must indeed be
admitted that considerable license IS r.
quired in classifying him among English
statesmen. His craftsmanship is much easier
10 establish than his Englishry. As king of the
English he may be admitted but he was not at
any time the choice of the English people
Professor Freeman insists his readers well
know, upon the magnitude of the benefit conferred
by William in establishing the unity of England
If the nation alone is to be regarded there can he
no dispute as to this claim. But the impression
made by William upon the England of his time
was certainly not of this character, and it may
be contended that the effects of his actions npon
his contemporaries deserve at least as careful eX
animation and appraisement as the Interior con-
sequences, many of which he did not contemplate,
and would not have labored for had he anticipated
them. DOmesday Book, for example was created
SIM ly and solely an engine of oppression; as
a means Of facilitating taxation. confiscation and
the regranting of stolen lands an ingenious and
effective device, doubt but directed against
the people of England, and in no way intended
10 advantage them. The marrying of the northern
provinces, again, was measure OF reckless ard
thoroughly malignant ferocity: the less eXcusable
because it undertaken distinctly as punish
ment for patriotism; for of course, the pre-
tence that the English people rebels against
this invader of their country was prepcsterous.
For farsigbted ruler moreover, the deed was
an amazing one. 1t was blow at the vitality
of the country upon the healthfulness of which
he himself depended. 1t did weaken that vitality
for several generations nay, for several centuries.
1T was therefore both crime and blunder, and
It. shows how large an clement Of pure animal
savagery subsisted in the composition Of the Con-
qucror
There is too an aspect of the Norman Conquest
which Professor Freeman with all his painstaking
and imrartiality, has neglected. 1t is indeed
phase which, perhaps, no modern Englishman can
be expected to take pleasure in examining, even
II he can be brought to admit that it actually
Exists. We refer TO the effect which the Nor
manizng of England has had on the subsequent
relations Of the English to the rest of the world
II is the modern historical fashion to hold that
no such Normanizing really took place, but that
IN effect the Normans were absorbed and as
simulated by the people they had conquered. This
IS doubtless the only theoretical compensation for
the Conquest available and it has been fully
utilized, and all the more freely because after
eight hundred years wide margin for hypothesis
inevitably exists. Yet there are some salient
facts in the history of England since the Conquest
which may be thought to indicate that certain
essentially Norman characteristics such as the
habit of relying upon force and fraud in external
politics, survived and even kept a prominent
position in the nation much longer than would
have been expected had the alleged assimilation
been as complete the modern theory requires. To
appreciate the force of this consideration the student
of history must however, 60 entirely outside of the
circle OF English historical literature England, as
viewed by Englishmen. Island the fact is too lit
tie realized mot the same as England regarded by
Continental historians. Even the legendary rec
ords Of the Norman Conquest illustrate this. Pro-
fessor Freeman comments on the fact that no
British writer makes any mention Of the oath said
to have been taken by Harold to William before
the invasion. Professor Freeman, indeed, recog-
nizes the tendency to warp facts in defence of
nationality by inferrng from this silence the truth
of the story about the OATH in some form.
But the tricks and the cruelty which were
Williams weapons, and which all his followers
Employed according to their pacity, somehow
hnued to characterize English foreign policy so
many generations after the Conquest that one may
almost suppose some hitch in the process of
absorption of the Normans to have occurred; or
It may even be suspected that the ascendancy of
the Norman blood continued far beyond the limits
set by the new school of history 1t is only posi-
BILE to hint this consideration here, but it may sug
gest interesting theme for study TO those who
like TO get out Of beaten tracks. Such as desire
TO obtain a succinct and compact account Of Will
lam the Conqueror, viewed benefactor to the
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