Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-06-13
r.,fourd. Tennyson,

| and many others. $500
| In the dedicatory preface MIS-. La,nrop.
| ignoring her own excellent once, 'ossny
accrcdits as follows: 1T VIII DC
that this volume Is really written W
Sophia Hawthorne, whose letters Hoi,
earliest childhood are so expressive
so profound In thought and lovenness 'i'a'
some will OF sterner quality than uaus"
| ter's must cast them aside. ~
| Some idea OF the intrinsic interest Oh
these Memories" may be gathereo aroin
| the titles of Some OF tho chapters: ne
/ Hawthornes and the Peabodys' Ealiy
DAYS Of the Marriage" Life IN SaielIl'
| 'Lenox." From Lenox TO concord ~ y,
Liverpool Consulate" English Days
"Italian Days" THE Wayside,' Ihe
Artist at Work" THE Leave-Taking'
which are crowded with appealing eApe-
riences and charming gllInpses Oh tne
| home-life of the Hawthornes ana OF thOSo
| who loved and honored them; with pa
thetlc disclosures Of uncongenial drudSery
| I'm the custom-house, which was enforced
with Hawthorne as with CnarieS Lamp
bv poverty. and with acuteiy limpid PEN
pictures OF characters. some quaint anu
| many worthy.
| The book, to be justly enjoyed, must DO
read from cover to cover.
THE MIDDLE PERIOD, 1sl7'5s. BY
John w. Burgess, Phi. d., LII. d., FRO
fessor OF Political Science and Consu-
tutional Law, and Dean OF the Faculty
of Political Science in Columbia Uni
versity, in the City OF New YORK. Win
Maps. New York: Charles scribner
Sons. 1897 The ]. W. Randolph Com
pany, Richmond Va. Pages 5A. PRICE,
sl.75.
This IS the fourth volume OF "Ihe
American History Series" and the same
author is TO prepare the fifth and last
| Of the series. which will treat in his
fashion. no doubt, OF the civil War and
| Reconstruction"
| The honorable and influential position
OF the author and his inferential capa-
city for the work which he has under
taken plainly appear from the title page;
but he sets before us somo of his spe-
cal qualifications and his preparation
for his task and his guiding principles
in the performance Of it. He says that
the time has arrived when such task
should be undertaken in thoroughly
impartial spirit" He admits that he
is by no means certain that he will be
able TO do this, and says: II am old
great struggle of 1S61-65, and to have
participated, in q small way, in II. Ny
early years were embittered by the po-
litical hatreds which then prevailed. l
learned, before my majority. TO regard
secession as an abomination and its
chief cause, slavery, as a great evil; and
] cannot say that these feelings have
been much modified. IL any at all, by
longer experiences and maturer thought.
! have, therefore, undertaken the work
with many misgivings." Well, he might,
for surely he had a tremendous burden
for impartality TO cast off; and yet he
has endeavored TO deal with the charac-
tiers who made our history In this al
most tragic period as serious and sim
oere men, having n most perplexing and
momentous problem to solve-a problem
not OF their own making, but a fatal
inheritance from their predecessors" But
after making this pregnant acknowl-
edgment, no mercilessly strangles
every offspring to which 1t could have
given birth. lie not only maintains that
q northern man. from the northern point
of view, should write the history or
this troublous period but that "the time
has come when the men of the South
Chose serious and sincere men who did
should acknowledge that they were in
error in their attempt to destroy the
Union. and II IS unmanly in them not to
do So" "The South. he continues,
must acknowledge its error, rs well as
its defeat. in regard TO these things,
and that. too not with lp-service, but
from tho brain and the heart and the
manly will. before any real concord in
thought and feeling, any real national
brotherhood can be established.
In n word, the conviction OF the
| South of its error in secession
and rebellion is absolutely ndis-
reusable TO the establishment of ma
! tional cordially. and the history or TINS
| period which falls to do this VIII ran III
| accomplishing one OF the highest WORKS
Of history-the reconciliation Of men TO
the plans Of Providence for their per-
! lection"
These are the views and sentiments
which the Professor Of constitutional
| Law and Political Science inculcates IN
| the minds of the students OF Columbia
University. and thinks every manly
southerner should imbibe. Ii can De
readily foresoen what sort of Impartial
history must follow from such avowals
But there is q special chapter XII
paee 40 devoted to the bred Scott case
! in which the Supreme Court OF the
United States is treated in manner
compared with which that OF the Chi-
caeo Democratic platform was mid ana
loving. Relying upon tho dissenting
opinion OF Justice Curtis, the author
"whistles down the wind Chief-Justlce
! Taney and his concurring associates. He
writes: '"rhe Shareholders and the
! Douglas Democrats Of tho North were
IN high CLEO over the decision ana hard-
| " stopped TO read the powerful DIS
senting opinion which had shattered 1t
| TO atoms" "Justice Curtis had
demonstrated that the decision had cast
| the responsibility for the further extern
! sion OF slavery upon the nation"