The sun., 1892-03-18
authors conviction gets implanted In the

|
reader, that in history the question OF para
mount Importance Is not how you travel.
but whore YOU arrive. One could always
be sure OF knowing precisely what FREE
MAN meant. and one eventually discovered
that FREEMAN was always right. So that
| in the end his writings came TO have for n
steadily increasing number Of admirers n
rude, healthful fascination of their own: n
charm made up OF simplicity. straightfor-
wardness. and trustworthiness.
Besides multitude OF shorter narratives.
| lectures. and essays. every one OF which en-
bodied tho results OF independent and use
ful investigation. Mr.. FHEI MAN produced
three books which. so far as We can now
foresee. nre never likely to be dislodged
from place OF honor in English libraries.
We refer to tho Lectures on the History
and Conquest Of the Saracens." a subject
strangely neglected by English scholars !:
the History OF the Norman Conquest Of
England" which, il it has not entirely
superseded PALG1AvE, has effectually pre-
empted the field against later comers; and
THE Growth Of the English Constitution
from the Earliest Times" an arsenal OF
arguments for those who desire an histori-
cal foundation for the assertion Of the
peoples right to rule in England. We
should have had to place in the same cate
CORY Of memorable achievements the " His
tory OF Federal Government" had the
author completed that work. But. un-
luckily for him, the first volume, published
in 1868. bore the subtitle From the
Foundation OF the Achaian League to tho
Disruption OF the United States" The
ridicule excited by the premature prcdic-
ton. which by no means implied sympathy
on the authors part with the secession
movement caused him to abandon the task
he had begun. Nevertheless. tho ono
volume published is treasured by students,
for nowhere else can be found such COM
prehensive. accurate. and suggestive ac-
count OF the various fedcrative experiments
made by the Hellenic cities.
Tho narrative to which FREEMAN meant
to devote the last part OF his life-and he
seemed to have a right to look forward to
many Industrious years-was projected on
n scale only comparable for magnitude with
that of the Decline and Fall" Tho His
tory Of Sicily" is in some sort history Of
the Mediterranean world. since it was tho
meeting place and fighting ground of the
East and the West. OF northern Africa and
southern Europe. Mr. FREEMAN purposed
to trace the fortunes Of tho island from the
early days OF tho Skans and the Sikels.
through the age-long struggle Of Greeks
and Carthaginans for ascendancy. through
the even longer period OF the Roman domi-
nation: through the epochs of Gothic and
Byzantine supremacy: the subsequent in
vasion by the Saraccns and the romantic
conquest by Norman advcnturers: the short
episode OF Angevin rule, TO which the Sicil-
ian Vespers put an end: the accession of an
Aragonese dynasty. which continued to
reign at Palermo until the crown OF Sicily
was merged in the worldwide possessions
OF CHARLES V. With what thoroughness
the author intended to explore every stage
in the vicissltudes OF the island. may be
inferred from the fact that his first two vol
umes. lately published. only carry us to tho
era Of the Athenian Intervention. viz, tho
latter part Of the fifth century b. c.
AS wc have said. there is no Englishman
left qualified to carry out, or likely to at
tempt. the undertaking to which Mr.. FREE
MAN addressed himself. We may some day
have history Of Sicily. but it will be quite
a different thing from the monumental mar
rative. OF which only the foundation could
be laid by its lamented protector.