The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-02-25
RECENT PUBLICATIONS.
Life of THOMAS Jefferson.

Under ordinary. circumstances there
would be no necessity of a new life OF
Thomas Jefferson, as between his own writ
fngs and biographies by others the subject
has been pretty well exhausted. But the
plan of Small, Maynard q Co.'S Beacon
Biographies" which is TO furnish brief &C
counts of the lives OF prominent Americans,
seems to justify a new one of the sage
of Monticello" The biographies in this
series do not profess to be full and COM
plete: they aim at brevity and at portray
ing the personal characters and lives OF the
subjects in a way to make the reader better
acquainted with them rather than dealing
with general history. This life OF JEFFERSON
is by Hon. Thomas E. Watson, of Georgia,
Democratic-Populist politician and former
candidate for Vice President. 1t shows him
to be a writer of good English and the
possessor of a lively style OF narrative well
suited to a biography of this kind. 1t also
shows that he is sometimes freer in the
expression of personal and partisan views
than a writer of history or biography
should be. The main events in Jefferson's
life are succinctly related and his personal
character and domestic life portrayed
in readable and interesting manner, but
it is plain all the way through that the
author is too great an admirer of Jener-
son to treat his subject with absolute i'm
partiality to deal quite fairly with those
who differed with Jefferson. Thus of Alex
ander Hamilton he says: Mr.. Hamilton,
born in the British West Indies, remained
more or less alien in feeling to the country
OF his adoption and made no secret or MS
preference for English institutions. With
an adventurer's natural of his own
weakness he chung TO the rich and the
great, becoming their advocate and leader
upstairs, Canning and DiSraeli, did IN
Great Britain. William Pitt himself did not
despise the mob with more heartiness than
cid Alexander Hamilton. According to his
view ii had pleased the Almighty TO create
just very few men who deserved to enjoy
monopoly of the good things or govern
ment. For these select worthless the BAN
Quet of national favoTs was to be spread,
and they were welcome to eat, drink and
be merry. The mob, the unwashed multi
tude, the unfavored class of the people
were to be content with such crumbs,
scraps and bones as might be flung 70 them
| after the banquet was over; and the resig-
| leavings to be sweetened by the re-
membrance that their labor had furnished
| the feast. Hamilton looked upon
| English institutions, that they were
| good and straightway imported them. In
England they had established a partner
ship between the government and the privi-
| legged. Hamilton hoped and believed they
would in the course OF time bear the same
fruits here. For that purpose he introduced
them. For that reason Jefferson opposed
| them. President Washington be-
| lieved himself to be nonpartisan. In fact,
he was a Federalist. No matter how earn
! estly he might seek advice, no matter how
| long he might hesitate he never failed to
| go with Hamilton on the vital questions
| necessary to Hamilton" To say that this
| is a grossly unjust presentation of Hamil-
| tons character and views is stating 1T very
mildly. biographer may have his per-
! sonal convictions, but he has right to
| adopt the tone of partisan. In spite of
ont x7
| other passages, the book as a whole is
bright and readable.