New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-06-16

Froude" In another place he speaks OF resent
mont toward him in some quarters for his NOT
doing poojah to old Carlyle, who. after baboling
ard laundering for thirty or forty years took upon
himself to write some nonsense about early kings
Of Norway" It may console those who Ike
CARLYLE f. read Freeman's confession that he
knew the author Of "Hero-Worship' only by
few passages and by his own rule stood convicted
Of expressing an opinion without knowing MS
facts.
Freeman was not exempt from this failing of
mortality. But the evidence goes to show '"at
he kcnt most of his hasty moods for contempt
rary persons and affairs. These were the very
matters on which Engshmen in general felt
their own competence to form an opinion WITH
out the aid of history archaeology. Into the
vague field Of present politics. where nobody
can tell to certainty how anything is gong
TO turn out Freeman carried the same positive
manner Of discussion. one even more en-
/ phatic that he used in the treatment OF prop
lens where the data. such as they We're were
all in black and white. He may nave peeh
right in every case, but the fact that ne ceased
to be Judge of facts and appeared to be an
advocate for certain shade of opinions seems
to have damaged his fame at least for Time
He was an intense partisan-a partisan or the
Greeks proud of his skill in making Greek
speech. ready to denounce the TURKS III All
times. q partisan against the jew or the negro.
of the shadowy Aryan, whom many people
oven in his time. began to doubt the existence
of as a separate race: partisan OF Home Rue'
according to a definition of his own. and OF
federalsm If federalism would only agree to
break down when he thought it should. the
violent adverse criticism of which he com
plained in his later years was apparently
reaction against him in fields where his SUI
premacy had for long been undisputed because
he took sides strenuously on SUBJECTS WHERE
other men were also arrayed as partisans' ne
declared with bitterness that nobody paid any
attention to what he wrote. 1T seems TO me-
he wrote in 1887 to Mr.. Bryce. "that all the
scribbling boot at thing If l say 1t. while 'hey
would accept it If another scribbier sa'u II,
And in another place after setting for'h MS
views to the same correspondent on the sub
iect of Imperial Federation. he added: i nave
said all these things in my little book CGreater
Greece and Greater Brittany. which nobody
will take the trouble to answer or notice. lie
insisted that reviewers. as a rule. did not read
the hooks which they wrote about. and on one
OCCASION in a letter to Professor 'oiu"'h
Smith he put this accusation very strongly
| Il have reviewed as many books as most "''"'
and some of them pretty severely hut ""Ne
aluavs held II a moral duty to find out and 10
say what was really in the book. good or DAD
But TO do that you must read the book ana
that is what 1t seems 10 me they d"h 40
They seem to write down anything. something
which they think is smart. without looKihs III
tho hook at all or needing what was in 1t. And
they seem to follow one another WHAT one
saws. another says Whatever ! say must be
full of terrible repetition Is not Grote largely
so? And am | not very thankful To MN 'or
being so? Because by repeating his main posi-
lions at every fitting point he makes 1t impos-
sible to forget them
One result Of Freemans lifelong shyness was
that he hated cities. OF London he sometimes
spoke with extraordinary anmosty and there
| is a passage in his letter which Indicates t"a'
| he thought the world would be better OH II us
great towns. like London. Paris ana New-i orK
! though the last had the excuse OF not Selhs
| a capital-were wholly to disappear HIS me-
when not varied by travel, or by his residence
at tho beginning and end Of his career in OK
ford was in the country. In this love Tor the
quiet of the country Freeman embodied an an
cient English habit which surprised f"gsio nun
dreds II wears ago II annoyed him 10 find that
people on the Continent deemed town NE the
| only life and imagined that everybody who lived
| in the country must be a pumpkin But the He
which he lived was not one to smooth the sharp
|
make him form his opinions as men Of action
formed theirs. His views were those not merely
of a student, but Of a student who could in gen
eral ESCAPE from his books only To the fields
or to some ancient church, which he studied
with the sane curiosity Of an expert In archi-
lecture The case would have seemed so to one
who did not understand the real activity Of Free
! mans life. AS "A matter OF fact, the endless
7 tasks which he performed as "a magistrate ana III
other capacities gave him an insight which Few
men had into the hidden processes Of poh'lcal
life. He saw many relies Of the most ancient
usage as still living realities. and was enabled
t. carry back from his own time to the early
| English ages the facts OF direct observation.
/ From this point of view his censure Of other
/ historians even when harsh, had its value.
/ Don't be angry" he wrote to Professor lime.
! ''if I say that SO many OF your German scholars
land he was apparently abiding among the rest
10 no less a person than the great Mommsen)
write as If history was a matter Of theory. as
II they never saw any Of It going. An English
man. American. Swiss or Norwegian, who has
lived In a real political system Of some kind. has
advantages. And Nebuhr got the same kind of
practical way Of looking at things somehow or
other; | don't see quite cow" And he went on
to say that Mommsen might have changed his
views on a certain matter In Roman legislative
practice If he had happened to know traditional
custom OF the English House Of Commons. Ills
various public occupations enforced upon him "A
minute acquaintance with the terms Of English
politics. both ancient and MODERN and he
inveighed more than once against the misuse OF
| language This was one OF his grievances against
FrouGe. not only in English but in Roman
history. Yet he was not Uedantc enough To
look for an excess Of accuracy where as he said
even official documents erred Not long ago, o
he wrote 10 Professor lime 1.-THE High Sheriff
of this county put out notice for the election
Of a member OF Parliament from this division
It should have been a Knight Of the Shire. the
formal title ever since thee were such. The
other IS "A mere informal way Of speaking but
4, ~.