The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-11-08
GREAT AMERICANS.
GOODWIN SMITH ATTEMPTS TO CAR
RY OUT CARLYLE'S THREAT.

and jackson Criticised, but a High Eu-
Iogy Pronounced on Abraham Lincoln.
Goodwin Smiths latest work. entitled
IAN Outline of Political History" is sue
cinct account of the political history Of this
country from 1892 to 1870. Goodwin Smith
Is best known to American readers as the
leading and by far the ablest exponent Of
the annexation of Canada by the United
States. AS a writer be has few equals, and
IAN Outline of Political History" is writ
ten in his best style and humor. He has
opinions regarding some Of Americas great
est men, and though they run counter
quite often to those we have always held
they are so boldly expressed rs to be worthy
OF audience and furnish refreshing enter
tainment to the reader
WASHINGTON NOT A GREAT GENERAL.
We expect him to eulogize Washington,
and he does up to a certain point. He does
not say that he was perfect, but he says
enough to prove that he was nearly so:
washington was to the confederacy all
in ALL Without him it would have been
ten times lost, and the names of the politi-
clans who had drawn the country into the
conflict would have gone down to posterity
linked with defeat and shame History has
hardly stronger case of an indispensable
man. His form, like all other forms of the
Revolution, has no doubt been seen through
golden haze of panegyric
I'VE can hardly number among the
greatest captains a general who acted on
so small n scale, and who, though he was
the soul of the war never wen battle. In
that respect Carlyle, who threatened to
take George down peg or two might
have made good his threat But he could
not have stripped Washington of any part
of his credit for patriotism, wisdom and
courage; for the union of enterprise with
prudence; for integrity and truthfulness;
for simple dignity of character, for tact
and forbearance in dealing with men, above
all, for serene fortitude in the darkest hour
of his cause and under trials from the per
versity, INSTRUMENTATION, jealousy and per-
fidy of those around him severer than any
defeat
"Some American writers seem anxious
to prove that Washington's character is
essentially different from that of an Eng
lish gentleman. About this we need not
dispute. The character of an English gen
tleman is certainly devoid of any traits
that might be derived either from plan
tation or from war with Indians in the
backwoods. Yet an English gentleman
sees in Washington his ideal as surely as
he does not see it in Franklin, Samuel Ad-
ANS or Patrick Henry.
1T has been truly said that Washington
and Wellington have much in common.
Wellington contending with Spanish per-
versity and ministerial incompetence re-
minds us by his calmness and self control
of Washington contending with the folly
and dishonesty of congress and the frac-
tiousness of the state militia. They write
in the same even, passionless and somewhat
n .t,-1, tl,an nf 4 ID
ways master of itself In both of them
there was, though under control, the strong
temper which is almost inseparable from
force. Wellington might be more of an
aristocrat than Washington; less of dem
ocrat he could hardly be- Washington in
sisted that his officers should be gentle
men, not men fit to be shoeblacks. He
drew a most undemocratic distinction be-
- tween 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
complains that he cannot lay on the back
of the insubordinate patriot more than 100
lashes, holding that 500 are not too many
THE other army leaders, Gates and Lee,
caballed against him and were abetted by
politicians morbidly or perhaps selishly
JtdlOus Vi dSCtuuailtl. IL appears
that both Samuel and John Adams, if they
did not intrigue, were unfriendly to Wash
ington and would have willingly seen him
superseded. Washington bore the attacks
on him magnanimously, never allowing his
personal wrongs to interfere with his duty
nor ever thinking of abandoning his post.
Perhaps in the whole conflict the three no.
blest things are the character of Washing
ton, the behavior of his army at Valley
Forge and the devotion of the better class
of loyalists. On Washingtons death the
flags of the British fleet under Lord Bird
port were half masted. We owe the Amer.
lean Hildreth thanks for recording the fact
JEFFERSON AN ANARCHIST.
Jefferson, Washington's secretary OF
state, was and still is popular idol This
mans character is difficult to treat There
is something enigmatic about his portrait,
which combines body large and strong,
fitted for horsemanship and athletic exer-
else, with a face somewhat feminine, not to
say feline. AS governor of Virginia in the
war he had shown lack of nerve, If not of
courage. Few will maintain that he was
in an eminent degree truthful, straightfor-
ward, free from propensity to artifice and
intrigue. Few will contend that he would
ever, like Hamilton, have braved unpopu.
larity in defense of righteousness. His own
ana remain to confute any admirer who
claims for him freedom from malice OF
greatness of soul. He had unbounded faith
in the people and never doubted the sue.
cess of the great American experiment in
democracy. There lay his strength
1.-The social current of the age was with
him. He knew it and steadfastly guided
his course on the assumption that what
ever influences might prevail beneath the
lingering shadow of the old dispensation
democracy would in the end prove victori-
Gus and bear its votaries on to success. In
tently he listened for the voice of the popu-
lar will, and surely he caught its every
whisper. His political philosophy seems
to have been summed up in the belief that.
all evils having been the work of govern.
ment, the less of government there was tn
better This, it has been said stood hi n
in the place of religion. Anarchy itself
was, or he could fancy that it was, prefera-
BILE to strong government. He let fall the
reins of government before the term of his
presidency had expired, and he went into
philosophic retirement at Monticello,
whence he returned no more. 1t is not tn
highest of his titles to fame in the eyes of
his countrymen, but it may not be the low
est in the court of humanity, that he sacr-
feed his popularity in the attempt to find
a bloodless substitute for war. His mem
DRY recovered from the shock, and his reign
over American opinion endured"
CLAI's JINGoIsM
Here is what he says of Henry Clay:
'Clay was perhaps the first consummate
L. r u