New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-08-18
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

STRUGGLES OF THE NATIONS, or The e,, Principal
Wars, Battles, Seges and Treaties OF the Word. b
S. NJ. Burnham. In two volumes Svo', PIP $40
Charles r. Dillingham;
A great deal OF labor has been expended upon these
volumes and it must be presumed that the writer had
some definite idea in compiling them. But 1t Is du-
acult to determine the place of such work and per
haps even more difficult to perceive its utility
Broadly speaking it is partial attempt at universal
history, proportoned upon scale which may DC
Judged Of from the fact that nearly the whole OF one
volume is devoted to the battles and wars Oh INC
United States, while the other volume Is supposed 10
recount the battles and Of all the rest OF Tue
world from the dawn Of history down TO the present
day After this it need hardly be said that the proper
tons adopted by the author are, to say the ieas'
eccentric and that as an aid TO the student WORK
so constituted cannot be of high value. Mr. Burn
ham, moreover, cites his authorizes ana cur
sorry glance at his pages will show tiat ne useu hV
discrimination in selecting them mus III "r'ins
OF the origins Of the older nations ne mixes UP inc
bsldest myths with the ascerained facts OF history III
ihe most reckless way. This however is compare
lively a slight matter for il may be said tlat the
authOr does not pretend TO be writing serious history
but only to be making COLLECTION oi Da'teS' "a'S
and siegcs AS for the treaties, the promise Oh 'ie
titlepage is distinctly misleading, Tor MI bu1han'
does not give any treaty in full, and as rule pre-
sents merely the bricfest and most Imperfect shehc
NOT abstracts-of them. lie gives perhaps dozen
lines 10 the more important treaties and dsmlsses
others with a couple of sentences Al othe' unoS
he offers samples, it were, saying "the 1oHo"i"s
are some of the provisons'-and leaving his reduer'
10 guess what the other provisions are or to go else
where for information. $1,000,
We wish the author had in the preface or introuuc
hon which are strangely enough, printed in Doih
volumes of the work. undertaken to inform the "oru
10 what precise end his curious enterprise was III
tended As a book of reference it is altogether VIII
out value because no references are gwen III IT, .U
also because It is clear that the writer mas loV to
knowledge necessary to adequate discrimination De
tween good doubtful and bad authorities more
consnicuons example OF unscientifc methods in ms
tory writing would indeed be difficult to hhu' anu
the bulky compilation is untrustwFthy as FSdiuS
matters OF fact IL cannot be said TO possess any oo
pensatng literary qualities. Mr.. Burnham ms uou''
less labored conscentousy upon It, but al he has pro
duced Is a dry and pthess paraphrase ana oouei'so
ton, He has no gift of style or OF narrative nc
has no consciousness of the infinite dihcutleS WHICH
beset the scientific historian. To him Whatever mas
been alleged 10y anybody about anything Is a''opt
able, and he proceeds prosy setthg uo"u '"e u"0
and the false cheek by jowl his practice of suppesss
b,e anthorites rendering thus method peculiarly easy
We really cannot see why any one should desire 10
road this hook or add II TO his library IL oOes hou
oGer the least attraction fro purely literary point
~ view and regarded from the historical point OF
view II has no reason for existence. Every CRUZ
&c accustomed TO the melancholy eccentricitcs OF
worthy people who will write useless DOCKS upon All
manner 81 subjects but as a rule these examples OF
misapped energy are confined to one volume ana arc
more or less modest in scope It is seldom that one
encounters case like this when a subject has been
chosen which might have occupied historian ike
Ranke some twenty years. But the KIND OF DOCK
making here eXemplifed must always eno IN tne same
wav The tickle. lazy and fasudious public can
bordlv he prsuaded to read the best books even now
How then shall they be brought to tolerate the dull
and unnecessary ones7 1t IS indeed, impossible not
IN regret the waste of time and the disappointment
Of perhaps high expectations involved in such haSooS
but the fact that they are fasoos cannot DO oVcr-
looked and must be plainly stated.