New-York tribune., 1898-01-23

lain truth in human he ana HuHah hiS'oiS
,,,b these volumes are meant TO Illustrate, ne
-orla doubtless turn At once TO the Alc@an motto
~ t,,Ie page What makes a State? Men,
"a the turbulent Lesbian poet. All the rest
oor he seen about State may be named
- hol, ont the verse. But men, and men with
aie, Qualifications, are Indispensable. The
~, is said himself to have been one of those
~ who are better at wrecking a State than
1,n- ~ one But his definition fits the old
v,rginian commonwealth. 1t was men and not
-. ~ cities for which the ancient colony,
= "a time dignified with the rank Of a king
- ros distinguished. If she had kept on as
- horan she might have been renowned FOR
..-.,,orial greatness. But for her own particu
49, LIND Of men, men who were to preserve
.,r,s NJ the most important traits Of the six
nth century a gradual lessening Of the vast
o,ea was Indispensable In the realms that were
s,b,racted there grew up other kinds of men,
o,so ~ 10 make a State. but not State like ola
virginia The first English colony on the soil of
,be New World retained always the marks or
ne origin. So with John Fiske. as well as with
Alceus a very distinctive class of men is pre-
srnnosed before ever the State comes into ex-
istence
The men Who mad, an English settlement pos
sibls in America The men who kept the httIe
g-oup q belinncrs crom starving the men who
tept alien !niruders at distance, all had many
traits in common These traits were for the most
mart good ones Mr. F.ske does not approve the
i,5jscriminate use Of violent words in disposing
m such men as Sir Francis Drake and Captain
Jobn smith He intmates that those who call
Drake a pirate show lack Of that quality
which enables one to enter into the thought OF
the past The age was not one in which good
fai,h was well kept between nations on land or
sea. Drake and Hawkins compared with Span
ish csrtains. W.r. models Of forbearance. Such !
affairs as th, wholesale slaughter of defence |
hess Hueu,nots ly the Spaniard Menendez might
easily hapV.r. as that did. in a time when the |
nations were supposed to be at peace. Neither
Drake nor Hawkins ever made war in that |
fashion Tier, vas a famous case TO prove this,
which cost The Spanish King immensely in the
way # treasure lost and property destroyed |
In this case Hawkins had the chance to capture
from Spanish ships fortune Of millions in
silver lie Irais.d his own respect for the law
Of nations i'm RETAINING. Shortly afterward the
Span.arls violated q sworn agreement in order
to destroy his little squadron. They were under
~ moral obligation to keep faith with heretics. |
But they had TO pay for this exemption. Eliza
her ports ~ HuguenOt privateers, and Drake
gathered up The silver and gold by shiploads all
along the Pacific Coast of South America. This
warfare vas carried on openly, with a perfect
understanding that the rules of national con-
Aicts on land did not apply TO the sea. The cap
tains who waged il and grew wise in it were
the first men 10 see what the permanent occu-
patton of America would mean to England.
They made j, possible when they destroyed the
SuanIsh Armada. Mr. Fiske calls this event the
tue beginning OF American history, 50 far as
Englishmon were concerned in It, Their un-
yielding temper in the face Of every kind or
peril was the keynote Of that colonial activity
which In its earliest years faced a new KIND
Of death every day.
Then there was Captain John Smith. If he
had had name handed down from some old
Norman baron perhaps modern monographers
would have beer less sceptical about his record
But for plain John Smith those stories about
the three Turks heads and the Lady Charatza
Traea gzanda and the self-sacrifcng Poca- !
hontas wero a straw too much on the prOverbial
camels back Smiths reputation for veracity
has been torn to pieces over and over again /
BY people who never saw Turk nor, perhaps, !
an Indian But Mr. Fiske says that il is just as
good nov as it was when these critics began !
their attacks OF course, the story about Poca- /
hontas saving the life Of the white captive is J
the one which every loyal American wishes to |
see preserved not only romance. but as the !
downright truth Of history. The main objection /
70 il is that il j. missing from Smiths first mar
rative though ,0ld in his later one Mr Fiske's .
argument is captivating one in its method
In effect he admits by way Of getting the case .
prOrcrlV stated that the exploit Of POCahOntaS '
may be hard 10 believe. But it is, after all,