New-York tribune., 1893-12-01

NEW-ENGLAND POLEMICS.

HISTORY. AN Object LESSON. BY Charles
Francis Adams. Crown Svo; pp alo; boston
and New-iork Houghton. Mihin q 20
Four lectures condensed so to fill two
hours in a classroom at Harvard College, are
republished as a critical contribution TO the
history of Massachusetts,. The author is seri-
ousy impressed with the radical and somewhat
iconoclastic Tenderness of his historical studies,
but the general reader who knows hawthorne
romances by heart and has reflected upon the
best chapters OF New-England history
tributed by well-known. impartial writer's, will
find nothing that is either novel or startling in
these pages. The author. as a descendant OF
Thomas Shepard and John Cotton. may have
had passing Qualms in recording the evil deeds
and in commenting upon the religious intoler-
ance Of the Colonial era and the theological
horrors which followed it at a later period. The
portraits of ali the Adamses may have eyed him
sternly as he was writing in his library. But
the best works the social political and re-
lgious history of New England while temper
ate in tone are remarkably free from the spirit
of "hlio-p.etism" of which he makes loud COM
plant.
The author takes as the central theme Of mod
ern history Emancipation from Superstition
and Caste with the two underlying principles
of Religious Toeration and Equality before the
law. He concludes that SO far as equality
before the law is concerned-that is, personal
and civil liberty-the record of no community
Is more crediable, more consistent and more
important than that Of Massachusetts. Her his
tory reveals evidences of the gradual and prac-
tcal development of a social and political truth
of the first Importance. Viewed in this light
the author remarks "the passage of the Red
Sea not more momentous event than the
fli,,.r of
Boston was fraught with consequences hardly
less important than those which resulted from
the founding of Rome" While the influence Of
Massachusetts upon the development OF civil
liberty and human ri hts has been world
wide as respects religi, S liberation ii has
been of wholly different character. With criti-
cal examination Of what is discredltable III THIS
record these pages mainly flied. Four
periods are traversed: % the period of settle
ment from 1920 to 1927; 90 the theological. or
glacial period, extending from 1853, to 1860; CD
the period of political activity and organza-
ton from 1860 to 17Ss and 4) the scientific or
forescent, period. from 17S9 70 1862 at first
slow. then rapid in movement His argument
points 70 the general conclusion THAI New-Eng-
land was not blessed but rather cursed. by the
harshness and bgotry which for long time
suppressed all freedom of religious thought in
Massachusetts. From this conclusion no broad
minded reader will be tempted TO dissent. sur
prised as he may be by M Adamss acfid
structures upon the "flio-pietsm" that has per
verted the facts and distorted the record
Mr Adams like all his ancestors is fervid
controversialist, and finds it impossible to dis
cuss historical questions with philosophical
moderate sweet reasOnableness. He ad-
mires Buckle the fou lder OF new school of
historical criticism, but he has protlted very
little from the temperance of diction ard in
tellectual tolerance of that authors pages.
There are hardness of thought and a GOODNESS Of
style in these essays which are disagreeable and
repellent His own pages bear evidence to the
fact that the influence of New-England's ice
age-"sterile forbiddng. unproductive; its his
tory dotted only with boldness and stunted
growth"-has not wholly disappeared from
polemcs and literature. Neither the princes of
Massachusetts orthodoxy, who prescribed Roger
Williams and decreed the expulsion OF Mistress
Anne Hutchinson nor Jonathan Edwards and
his 'brimstone neologians," were more intol-
Grant in their religious controversies than this
and critical methods AS an iustration let us
cite his treatment of Mr. GladstOne's tribute
to the American Constitution "the most
wonderful work ever struck off at given time
by the brain and thought of man" I'VE know"
remarks the author brusquey, with true ex-
cathedra arrogance, that it Is nothing Of the
Sort