New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-04-17
MR.. FROUDE.
HIS APPOINTMENT AS REGIUS PROFESSOR
OF HISTORY AT OXFORD HIS PLACE
AS HISTORIAN.

London, April 6.
Lord Salisbury has done an act emitting him to
the gratitude of men of letters throughout the
world which writes and speaks English. II Is not
Lord Salisbury the Primo Minister but Lord
Salisbury the Chancellor OF the University OF
Oxford to whom these Acknowledgements are due
Politics and diplomacy are out of court. sup
pose it may be conceded by his bittcrcSt oppo-
nents that the ruler of this still United King
dom has high personal qualities, and is capable
of good things beyond the rather narrow sphere
of activity in which he is best known TO the
general public. You cannot read any speech of
his without perccvng that the author Of these
chiscllcd phrases is student and a lover of lit
eraturc. 1t is possible to imagine that there are
moments in his life when he more about
the great university of which he is the official
head than about the Foreign Office 1t is con-
ceivable that few of his public acts have given
him greater pleasure than the appointment of
Mr. Froude to be Rcgus Professor of Modern
History in the University of Oxford in the room
of the late Professor Freeman.
No doubt it comes to some part OF the scholastic
world surprise. The late and the present
Professor stood at the opposite poles Their
notions Of History were far apart those of
any two men could be- They represent the ca
tremcs. Mr. Froude is beyond comparison the first
historian of his own school. Professor Freeman
was one of the FIRST though not quite the first.
in his The two writer's completely anti
pathetic to each other: so were the two men.
Both were students: both vouminOus writer's upon
history There the resemblance ends. FreemanS
conception of history that of student whose
attention fastened upon details He was good
investigator. lie accumulated immense masses Of
material. When he came 10 use them, they were
too much for him. They OVERLAND and over
loaded his mind. The burden was which lie
never shook of. The best he could do TO
lay upon his readers the load of which lie could
not relieve himself. The immense masses of
material were arranged into chapters and volumes.
That was his idea of writing history. or. if not
his idea, it was bis method lie could no other
as Luther said His erudtion was an encum-
brafce TO himself and his reader Neither of them
could move freely. His consccntiousnesS. which
was genuine became morbid. His passion for
accuracy, an excellent thing in itself, turned to
frenzy against those who were less accurate than
himself, accurate in different way IL had
neither proportion nor perspective. All facts were
equally important and every object put in the
foreground. OF literary skill he had much as
must come 10 man who lives all his life with
pen in his hand. He a practiScd writer;
never a good writer; and of literary form in It's
higher sense he never seemed TO have any clear
notion at all
The energy of attention which Freeman con-
centrated upon isolated fact, Mr. Froude dis
tributed over a period. In minutcness of knowl-
edge he may he inferior to Freeman; may not
the point is for historical scholars. In useful
and fruitful knowledge he was his superior, and
lie was infinitely superior in the use lie made of
it. In these days of scientific research method is
everything man must make up his mind
xrb linz he will nj Ernp
chronological and his favorite instrument the
microscope. 1t is not necessary 10 be disrespect
full to the microscope. but. on the whole. II is
probable that the telescope has done more to en-
large our knowledge of the structure OF the uni
verse. Let him who has mastered the anatomy
Of the bacillus or dssected the beetles wing be
held in due honor. lie may have his need Of
honor without eXaltinG MIN above him who dis
covered the laws of planetary motion. kepler
will always remain greater name than Latreille
What Mr.. Froude has always cared most for
an history is right general views; whether Of char
acter of particular period, or Of the relations
Of men and periods TO each other. 1t would be
possible to admit that his view Of Beckett or Of
Henry was a wrong view without much impair
ing the value OF his historical work. If il be
wrong, he supplies the student with the means
Of setting him right lie has spread the facts
before him lie has shown him how to Use
them; how 10 combine them: how 70 compare
them lie has impaired to him. 80 far as It Is
possible to impart secret which only individual
genius can fully penetrate, the principles of his
torcal composition.
Anybody put together table OF statistics
or compile list Of faC<s Anybody can Buy
box of colors and piece Of canvas How many
men in "a generation know what 70 do with them
when they have been acquired? How many great
tharo IN tha of "A
dispute Mr. Froude is He is historical
painter and one of the first in this or any other
time The men and women of the sixteenth
century live again on his canvas. The blood
flows in their veins. Their faces are known TO
US; their acts. motives methods, environments are
visible. or conceivable 20 him who reads these
luminous pages. Henry, Elizabeth, Mary-what
reader has not felt that he knew them in this
vivid prcsentment?
To suppose that every act or word or impulse
is faithfully reproduced is absurd. But with Mr.
Froude as a guide. we find our way through these
crowded and difficult years. We understand the
great forces at work; the sequence OF events Is
plain, and the reason Of the sequence Henry j.
a human being and not monster out OF iaifJ
tale never heard any rational answer to Mr.
Froudes contention which is completely IN the
spirit of all modern historical inquiry, that if
Henry were the selfish scoundrel he is so often
taken 10 be the English people by whose nssent
he ruled for forty years could not have been
much better than he. Few of liz, | think, Will
care TO accept that conclusion, but the only way
10 get rid of it is to deny the premises on which
II rests.
Freeman is but Just dead, and it is hardly the
nour to dwell or his long campaign against MI
Froude There is evidence that Freeman could
appreciate much what best in the great
writer whom he chose TO treat as an advcrsary,-lt
would be truer TO say an outcast and criminal
In season and out OF season, in print and IN
linnlu md hnnLa.