New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-07-06

upon old world views IDEAS the historian extends MS
preliminary remarks exhibit the connection DE-
tween past and present to bring out more clearly
the nature of the conditions under which great changes
in civilization have been effected. These preludes are
always interesting and suggestive, and their philosophy
is sound and sane though those most mbucd with tht
Impotence TO get 10 the central point whlch Is ciar
acerisc of this generation may possibly think thcm
sometimes unduly extended Rightly considered they
are quite necessary the proper apprehension OF the
lives of the builders of the commonwealth for 10 per
ceve the real significance Of any human life we must
know the whole Of its relations TO the community ana
| country In which 1t was lived.
Il would be difficult to select any ten careers more
variousy adventurous, typical of widely differ
ent.aed capacities and virtues than those which Mr.
Bancroft has here brought together Each one OF
them however, is distinguished by great and untiring
| energy and seadfastness in the pursuit OF ends,
whether temporal spiritual Many of them are ex-
ampcs OF material success based, not upon develop
| ment Of the mind through education but upon
| sagacious use OF mother wit and native untralneu
faculties of various kinds Thus in the career of John
Jacob AstOr is to be the steady and consistent
development of an obviously Unborn capacity for com
| MERGE and the same may be said of Billings, Coleman
| and Ladd. These men succeeded, however. as much
by sObriety prudence and foresight as by any aDnorai
faculty for finance trade. They were well balanced
to begin WITH and this fact they undoubtedly owen
in great measure to healthy parentage. In BILLINGS
|
the potent influence of Now England Pur1anism, which
| still moulds individuals and influences the youngest
American communities removed the furthest from us
original habitat. The life of Father Junipero Sierra
takes us back TO the preAmercan period OF Caiorna
10 the by No means sympathetic chronicles OF Spanish
missionary enterprise 10 conditions at one with those
which characterized the socalled cages Of Faith OF
Europe TO the impact Of fanacal superstition upon
savage ignorance; to eighteenth century modihca-
ton of the work OF Cortes and of Torquemeda Juh-
pero Sierra was indeed thoroughly sincere ana
earnest man. but he did not hesitate TO enslaVe inc
California Indians, did he shrink from EFFORTS 10
| fog them into Christianity. From the point OF vie"
of his own time and people he almost saint; but
the close of the nineteenth century while It mas MN
an interesting figure. is perhaps ndisp0sed TO ADMIT
that he sgnifed much in the history OF the GOioeh
| State
1t was not his fault that the missions were secular
lied and all his work scattered TO the winds, but IL
| seems certain that even without that catastrophe
the missions and what they represented would nave
been DESTROYED. The event Of of January "A, 1915
at the Coloma mll-race would have rcvoluonlzed Ca
fornia in any event, and it would not nave heeueu Io
treaty of Guadalupe Ildalgo to open te door lor e
agencies which were to oberatc the last vestige OF
ecclesiastical rule and ecclesiastical possession NUT
can it be said that Father Junipero Sierra enecCed
ANYTHING IN the least degree enduring for the natlVe
| Indians They must have disappeared at the 1ata
contact with the white man, no matter what hapPeueu
and their pseudo conversion by causing them W
abandon the simple arts by which they had previously
subssted really tended to precptate their eXtlhcuoh'
When tine secuIarzaon took place these neophyes did
not as a rule resume their savage life Ihey puheeu
into the lowest designations learned from the Spanlards
! rs any savaces would DO in like circumstances Nhat
Sierra and his colleagues really did was to demonstrate
the cutvabity of California soil, and the discovery VI
gold caused even that to be overlooked ior 80 lohe
| n period that the state seemed in fair way to ac
| fn- aid
| The case of Bcnito Juarez is very different. We
| see here a remarkable instance Of innate force
| triumphing over circumstances. Inc poor
| Indian boy who rem away Hom d lous"
guardian to escape punishment for orchard robbery
happened to enter Mexican life at period wheh inc
| Nation was seething 1ercely than usual with
revolutionary emotion. 1t was period when the
scum might rise easily to the surface, but so
| chronic are revolutions in Mexico that the boidest
adyenturer who vaults into power today Is haoe 10
| be shot tomorrow That at least was the sUale VI
| things in the youth and manhood OF Bento Juareh'
But he was an adventurer. He was curously enough
constitutional statesman and jurist reverent OF the
| law Neither of these characteristics would seem 70
have qualified him for promotion in community which
was divided between bgos and atheists defenders OF
ecclesiastical tempOralities and assaants OF all &c
cesiastical privileges and preensions Juarez mmseh
| saw clearly the harm that had been done ana was
stn doing by the Church and its party, but he was
nearly lost him everything. His career was checkered
but his rise from nothing 10 the Presidency was toer-
| ably steady and when foreign invasion brought tine
crisis of his country he was equal to the OCCASION MI
Bancroft thinks that the execution OF MaXmllan was
| altogether justifable. on that question we must
| alree TO disagree with him, holding as we DO mat
+boro was no necessity severity, though doubt
| many excuses for it, Juarcz. however, We 90 not
forget was being bounded fercey by his own followers
who were horribly sanguinary, and in fact had quite
lost their heads He strong man, and indian
though he was and pure Indian, greatly in advance
of his contemporaries Of Spanish blood and mixed
blood in his understanding Of and attachment to con-
sttutonal government. His administration more
over paved the way for the advance winch Mexico mas
made since his time.
Passing again 70 American territory and to the
biorr,nhies of representative American citizens. the
present volume affords notable examples Of sterling
capacitv and ifldomable pluck and perseverance In
the careers OF such men as Frederick Billings, William
| T. Coleman, Irving NJ. Scott William Gilpin and the
adds father and son. We cannot examine each Of
these sketches separately but it is perhaps enough to
saw that they abound with interesting and impressive
epIsodes and incidents, With stirring adventures by
food and field, and with all manner OF apt and telling
Illustrations of the special gifts and powers Of the
subjects. Frederick Billings, as is well known, proved
TO be fnancler of the first rank, as his wonder
full success in saving and reOrganizing the Northern
Pacific Railroad clearly demonstrates. Mr.. Bancroft
moreover has given the full history Of that important
transaction for the first time The career OF William
Tell Coleman is another stimulating one This was
the hero of the famous san Francisco Vigilance Com
mtt OF 1856 ard the organizer OF that Other Vigilance
Committee which in 1877 put down Kearneylsm with
strong hand, and saved the city of the Golden Gate
from threatened incendiarsm, plllage and anarchy.
Coleman Is born leader Of men, and not less born
merchant prince, and the story of his life has certain
fascination Of its Then there is Stephen j. Field,
who for twenty years has worthily occupied
place on bench of the supreme Court OF the United
States and who had his own little adventures IN Cali
fornia during the early times when the Southern swash
bucklers held rule there and ruians like David S.
Terry held the highest judicial Offices
elected to the state Supreme Court became its Chief
Justice and after elevatng the legal system and giving
the community good land laws, good practice act and
other benefits passed to the court of final resort where