New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-11-13

peals mainly to those who have not The time ana
perhaps not the inclination. TO study the three
thick volumes Of the elaborate work which MI
Freeman left unfinished at the time Of his deati'
In condensed form it presents the facts ana 'he
Interpretation put upon them by the au'h'i'
but the minute detail. the wide reaching in'est'-
cation and the careful discussion OF point aftr
point from all sides. left TO the imagination
of the readers They are expected TO take many
Of the conclusions for granted. That as all
know is not Freemans usual method OF wrtlhg
history. He is almost militant IN ms atutu"e
on every question where dispute Is posslolc' ne
marshals the arguments on both sides OF douoo'
and gives others who may not be satisfied with
his declaration as TO the resut OF the connic'lng
evidence. the means Of fighting the whole battle
over again But Just because his method Is SO
we'll known, It will be felt that the statements in
this volume have not been made without the
closest scrutiny by a master Of what NAV be
called for lack Of better tern, the dialectcs OF
history Notwithstanding all that can he said
against his literary style. it must be acknowledged
that he was one Of the very few men OF his tmc
capable of taking view OF history as VIDE as
civilization itself There can be no better PROOF
of this than a comparison Of his work with that
Of the historians who have ventured 10 oppose him,
or the critics who have been vigorous in censuring
him As literature his works may may not
he pleasing as laboriOus studies in history thcy
must long be indispensable, especially In this
country, for If ever there was an Enghshmah
capable of thinking the thoughts which ought 10
he natural TO a broad-mndcd American, that Eng
lishman was Edward A. Freeman. Other hlSto-
rians have been often-one might almost say. have
been as rule--the partisans of a class, learned
class or an aristocratic class, disturbing
I'll
has been so clear on the theme of
a liberty not less broad than human nature itself
ms this man. When the narrow lines of English
party divisions have faded from the memory OF
men il will begin TO be seen how broad Freemans
mind
Tho OTHER important aspect of the book is that
in part il gives the outline of the plan upon which
the author would have carried on his work II
will he remembered that the third volume Of the
arecr history ends with the triumph OF Donyslus
I'm this book the story is carried forward through
tie long line of Slracusan tyrantS, The contests
Of Greeks. AMI then of Romans with Phoenicians
through the prosperity and adversely that Sicily
cnioyel or suffered province OF the Roman
Empire: through such episodes the forays of
Tcutons and Goths and Vandals, slave-insurrec-
lions religious revolutions, until tie cycle of
history is completed with the return Of the Semitic
Phocnicians and in the medieval period renewed
The attack under the name of Saracens. From
this point of view IL unity is given TO the story
Of Sicily which is lacking in every other aspect.
Tie island was from the first hardly anything
but the battle-ground of antag0nistic races. his
may have been tho even in prehistoric 'imes
if the distinction between Scanan and Slceliot
has any cthnoioelcal significance. But the con-
fict was not merely one Of race 1t was en-
FILTERED from first to las. by religious differences
While it can be asserted with considerable show
OF truth that the religion of ancient Greece struck
many Of its ROOFS into the soil Of Phoenica. and
particularly in rs female divinties, owed much
10 the Aeiatic lstar and AshtOreth, yet the
Ilellenio mind soon developed form of worship
in Which the Semitic element was an extremely
minute factor rs against the horrid cruetics OF
Baal and Moloch. there was the picturesque
homage to the beautiful Greek gods in temples
that were perfect in their fitness to the obicc, for
which they were erected. In it, time the old
Semitic paganism may have been a factor in
civilization. bat that tine had long passed away
before the first of the Greek c)loni>s set foot on
the shores OF Sicily. Throughout the historic
period, down To the destruction of Carthage
Semitic idolatFv WAS an obstacle in the way of
civilization, while the Greek religion continued
10 be element in human progress down 10 the
time when il was reduced 10 nothingnes. by tie
secta Of philosophers,
When tie great cycle of Sicilian history returns
TO its starting point, both Europe and Western
Asia We're dominated by the professors of monotlie
ism. But in the one case this mOnotlesm TO-
manned purely Semitic. narrow and infleXible
while in the other it had been the Semitic lcayen
in the lump Of European civilization The con
trast between heatLcn Greek and heather Cartha
ginian not greater than the contrast between
Tie Christianized European and Islamized Asiatic
Again, a factor Of civilization, the Scmite had
run his brief and brilliant course and henccforh
remained wherever lie held political power an OBJ
stace 10 development. What the Phocnicians
failed 10 accompsh-thc complete subjueatiOn OF
Scily-the Saracens did accomplish From the
seventh TO the tenth century they plundcred lie
island by repeated mvasious, and by the year 96j
lad entire possession of it. 1T is next" says
Freeman, won back by the Normans In all this
wo have the old history of Sicily over again. The
old struggle between Europe and Africa, between
Greeks and Senites is fought over again, but it is
this time made more keen by the religious OPP
position between Christendom and Islam. One
Story Of Sicily ended with the Roman conquest Of
Syracuse; another Story of Sicily begins with the
Saracen conquest of Mazzara. The time between
is the mere record Of province, land subject to
distant masters. With the coming of the Sara
Gems the island again begins TO have history, and
4 long history OF it's own"
Here freeman delIeclatcs too much, a. an ele-
ment in his own problem of Sicilian history, the
importance of the provincial period If he had
lived TO complete his work he would have had
10 account for those details in the story where the
courses run by the Carthaginians and the Sdracens
were unlike. One OF the most obvious of these
was the completeness of the Semitic conquest in
the later times contrastrd with partial failure
IN the earlier effort Carthage was never able
10 control more than half the island, speaking
roughly. while Greece socially, though not poli,-
cally, gained complete control From end to end
the island became Hellenic, and remained so
during Roman domination. The descendants Of