The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-09-17
THE SUN. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER IA. 1898

The SU.
L in the same even. passionless, and somewhat
! formal style. the EXPRESSION OF mind always
o master of itself In both Of them there was.
: though under control. the strong temper
Q which 10 almost inseparable from force. Well
0 ington might be moro Of an aristocrat than
. | Washington, less OF dem ocrat he could hard
q " be. Washington insisted that his OIL
1 GERS should be gentlemen. not men fit to be
' | shoeblacks. He drew q most undemocratic
distinction between the officer and the private
soldier. His notions about the private soldier
are those OF an Old World disciplinarian. He
says that the soldier should be satisfied to
serve for his food. clothes. and pay. and com
plains that he cannot lay on the back OF the In
subordinate patriot moro than 100 lashes.
| holding that 500 are not too many. The other
army leaders Gates and Lee. caballed against
him. and we're abetted BY politicians, morbid
~. or perhaps selAsbly jealous OF military
] ascondancy. 1t appears that both Samuel and
| John Adams. II they did not intrigue. were un-
friendly to Washington. and would willingly
have seen him superseded Washington bore
the attacks on him maRnanimously. never al
lowing his pers on al wrongs to Interfere with his
duty. nor ever thinking OF sband oning his post
Perhaps in tho whole conflict tho three noblest
things are tho character OF Washington. the
behavior OF his army at Valley Forge. and tho
devotion OF the better class OF Loyalists. On
washington's death the flags OF tho British
| fleet under Lord Bridport were alf-masted.
We owe the American Hildreth thanks for
| recording the fact"
".
In the same chapter on the Revolutionary
! epoch from which the extract just presented
is taken. there are two errors OF fact, which
| we should not think 1t worth while to mention
| were it not true that. although we have read
this book with the care that 1t deserves. We
| have found no lapees OF the kind. except
| those mentioned In this article. On page 90
| We read that a plan had been formed by the
British War ONCE for o movement from Can |
ada down tho valley Of the Mohawk upon !
the Hudson. as to break the centre Of !
| the Confederacy." and. again. that Burgoyne
came down tho valley OF the Mohawk"
The valley Of the Mohawk runs at right angles
with that OF the Hudson. and Burgoyne never |
saw the former valley until he saw 1t as a pris-
onsr. What Burgoyne intended was to come
down the Valley OF the Hudson. after ira
versng Lake .Champlain and Lake George.
but he got no further than Saratoga! The
other slip OF the pen will be observed on page
100. where we are told that the Battle OF Cow
pens was 1.-The only battle. II an engagement
on SO small scale can be called a battle. lost
in open fold by the Kings troops during the
war" What then are we to say OF the battles
OF saltwater and Saratoga? One is almost
ashamed. however. to mark such oversights.
which do not number half dozen all
told. when one considers the surprising
accuracy by which tho narrative is. "a a
WHOLE distinguished. and the flood Of light
cast by tho authors knowledge and insight
on the Significance OF events. Take. for in
stance. what Mr.. Smith has to say about the
49, -. -
our Independence had an immediate and BEN
ehcial effect upon the English colonial system
and on the extension of popular liberties in
England itself. Tho good effects" We read.
of tho American revolt on British politics
have. 1t would seem, been overrated. few
years after Yorktown the King was able to set
his foot on the neck of the Wing party by the
personal nomina tion OF Pitt and Toryism
reigned thenceforth. with hardly q break. for
forty years. EnglanGs colonial system also
remained unchanged till. with all the other
parts OF British government. it felt the tide OF
returning Liberalism. which carried the Re-
form BILL" more than half century after our
Declaration Of Independence.
1t Is what Mr.. Smith says about Jefferson
and Jackson which will prove least acceptable
to American readers. We can hardly expect
these men. in whom antipathy to England
was incarnated. to be regarded with sympathy
|
English speaking race. Nevertheless. Mr..
Smith acknowledges that in the genius OF
man who made SO vast an impression on such |
Q nation. we must believe" yet he adds. lit is
sometimes an exercise Of faith to believe in
the genius Of Jefferson for anything but party 4
management and personal calculation" Even t
Jackson. although he is denounced for inaug- ]
urating the spos system and the trade OF c
place. hunting. 10 described as "a President c
nhohI rit civ Iasi |
Government from corruption. and G
of making simple honesty the rule. and of G
whom 1t must in justice be said that his own }
hands were perfectly clean" A slight slip OF !
the pen occurs in the paragraphs allotted to d
Jackson. We read on page POI that Jack son ,
had learned from a malicious informant that b
Calhoun had. as a member Of Adams's Cabi- t
net, condemned his outrages in Florida and t
his execution OF Ambrister and Arbuthnot 8
The incident to which the author here refers c
took place not under the Adams Administra- n
tion but under that OF Monroe. Il
The sketch OF Daniel Webster is one OF the p
finest things in the book. We are told that n
- his character was cast In the Puritan m ould II
and formed by the New England school sys- a
tom. under which he had been 0 teacher as Il
well as a pupil. He was grave. staid. and. in h
the cast of his character. moral and devout. o
In his latter years he was given to running "
carelessly into debt. and. like many other mon d
of his day. too fond Of wine. Az an orator OF "
reason he has no superior. II he has an equal q
IN the English language 1t is difficult. at
east. to say what political speech can vie in
ogica! force and inpressivcness with his
speech defending tho Union. in reply to the il
Southern separatist Hayne. or what forensic is
speech excels in the same qualities his speech d
or the prosecution in the murder case OF Il
White. Websters economical and financial | al
'peeches are also first rate OF their kind His r,
lyle has been compared to the strokes Of a tc
riphammer. which his sentences resemblod W
II measured force but not in IN onotony. The ii
majesty OF intellect sat on his bsetng brow ii