New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-04-24
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
SOUTHERN CRITIC ON SOUTHERN
STATESMEN.
SOUTHERN STATESMEN OF THE OLD RE
CINE. BY William p. Trent. ,2n,o PIP AZ, Yss
Thomas Y. CroNell Co.

school of "the fathers" and. Of course they
represent very different types. Our author
laments that 30 many trifling 3ests and silly
legends about Washington have been invented
and cling In the popular mind. whereas he thinks
that many more of the leading facts about MS
greatness should be lodged there. or course
history should be more widely read, and biog-
raphy should be written more truthfully, ouS II
there are any very damaging misconceptions
about the first Of Americans we do not recall
them. The crowds that deily and reverently
visit Mount Vernon are good evidence that the
people feel his influence on their lives.
Professor Trent regards Washington as the
greatest of our heroes, because his career gives
us that supreme sense of satisfaction that nows
from q perception OF harmony and proportion
because the spectacle Of his great powers con-
sciously working for the accomplishment OF
divine justice thrills with intense and Gle
waited JOY. Washington is not to be measured
by the quality of any one act. but by the siSnih-
canoe OF many. Here is striking passage Illus
trating his meaning: II see Washington crossing
the Delaware 1 see him at Valley Forge. and
recall Hannibal upon the Alps see him turn
a ragged body of suspicious NewEnglanders
into trained soldiers ready to die for him, ana
i recall no less man than Caesar; see him put
his bidding. and 1 recall Marlborough; see him
quell Lee with his fiery eye and biting words.
and / somehow recall Cromwel: l hear him
later in life burst forth into grief and impreca-
ton at the failure Of ST. Glars expedition. and
/ recall Augustus Cesar; l him in his tent
broodng over the treason Of Arnold, and weigh
Ing the claims Of mercy and of justice in the
case of Andre. and recall only his own imperial
self"
The mere fact that Washington recognized
the value of the idea OF democracy as repre-
scented by Jefferson, and the theory of national
ism as expounded by Hamilton, and had the
practical good sense to utilize both ideas and
both men, as far as he safely could In the new
goyernment-thesa we are told are sufficient
70 entitle him to rank our greatest states
man II Is at least remarkable that the states
man who, by popular consent. has taken place
next to Washington should have displayed
similar wisdom when he insisted on having in
his Cabinet two such rivals and opposites as
Chase and Seward.
Professor Trent's title is somewhat paradox
cal, for when his heroes are typical Southerners
they cease TO be statesmen. and when they are
statesmen they rise above a sectional name.
jefferson less National character than
Washington. Looked at from some points of
a
erner; from other points of view he is an Ameri-
can; from still others. he is a cosmopolitan
But he was always democrat. who believed In
people-the people" theoretically. at least,
being the entire population. not merely those
who demand something that belongs to others.
1t is Jefferson the theorist and Trainer of declara-
tions and laws who is the object Of general ad-
aniration. His conduct toward many Of his con-
temporares and his career as an Executive OF
ficer both in Virginia and In Washington. were
highly disappointing; they make the man seem
less great than he was. Notwithstanding JEFF
ferson's well-known weaknesses OF Judgment
and his Inconsistencies our author believes that
he was all in all. decidedly superior to Hamilton
that all the mastery reports ever written could
not have compensated for Hamiltons blunder
OF despising and undertaking the people This,
like some other estimates in this volume. rests
100 much upon Imagination and sentiment. and
not enough upon sober view Of the most i'm
portant facts. If Hamilton alone had written
the Constitution and formed the Government.
they would have been severe and undemocratic,
but they would have possessed coherency and
vabiity Jefferson's Constitution and Govern
ment would have been fascinating In theory. but
they would have had no more cohesion and
strength than Central American Confedera-
preserve State. Jefferson had some rare
talents but he was greater a political phi
losopher than as a statesman We should have
more respect for his glorfcation Of the peopis
II he had also possessed a proportionate appre
citation of the greatness Of mer with whom he
daily associated. But. on the whole, Professor
Trents estimate is correct: The direct. vigor-
Gus methods that have usually characterized
Southern men were no. his methods.
their temporary and transient objects his OBJ
jects. He is a Transcendentalist in the field Of
politics. born. not in New England but in Vir-
ginia Like Washington. he is greater than his
state or section: but his State and section are
proud to have given him to the Union"
The most pleasing essay In this book is the
one on John Randolph Of Roanoke. This &C.
centric and picturesque man may be said to
have begun public life as g. youth Of vast but
encumbered estates. and as q debater pitted
against Patrick Henry. His last days were
open; in lonely poverty and practical insanity.
Sad and strange as the story is-whether told
by Garland in fusome eulogy and stilted
phrases; by the merciless and effective Mr..
Henry Adams. or by Parton, in a fascinating
essay-it is always interesting. Professor Trent
has his own way Of treating Randolph's career
in Congress as head Of the Ways and Means
Committee, his antpathy toward Jefferson, his
mistakes in the trial of Judge Chase and his
various erratc and irrational moves, until his
great power was squandered and he became at
last merely freelance. TO be feared like child
with a revolver-because he had a dangerous
weapon "a sarcastic. almost backguard, tongue)
which he could never manage. But what is
most important is the exposition Of Randolph's
relation to the notification resolutions Of 1893
and the theory OF notification as expounded In
1892. He was tho political link between the
two. He also the model after which the
stormy pro-slavery men copied. Jefferson was
too astute and indirect. and Calhoun too cold
and self-possessed. to suit their aims and tenn
peraments Randophs fiery zeal. his stubborn
consistency. HIS genius for invective. his thor