New-York tribune., 1903-06-16
4 DEFENCE or FROUDE.
Mr. 4ndre7c Lang on the Historian S
Good Faith.
From The London Morning Post.

From The London Morning Post
Mr. Carlyle intrusted the archives OF Cheyne-
walk to Mr. Froude who handled them IN ms
well known way. Now, Mr.. troude had peeIl
handling documents in his well known way LOT
many years He had long been most intimate
with Mr. Carlyle. who must have understood
the many merits and defects of Mr.. troude as
an historian. The merits were universally &c
knowledged; the defects were not less falnIllar
To all who cared to understand them. Ihey
were blazoned abroad by critics both foreign
and domestic. Mr.. Carlyle cannot have failed
to be aware of them MI. Froude took his own
view of the Carlylean events and characters
with which he dealt historically. He haDltually
treated history Turner treated nature, ne
'composed" his pictures in great masses OF lght
and shade; he artist, not a topographer
In his historical works he introduced long quo
tations from documents, but often they were
not literal quotations. He omitted passages
with no marks of omission. such as dots
he was capable of mistranSlatlng eve are all
liable TO error. He occasionally added passages
not to be found in the originals his ann was 10
give the gist, he understood it, not the pre-
else words of the materials which - handed
All this matter OF common -noWiedge'
critics proclaimed it in many reviews and Mr.
Carlyle cannot but have known what all MIS-
torians knew about the methods OF Mr.. Froude
But to him (and to other literary trustees who
died) Mr.. Carlyle deliberately intrusted the
archives of Cheyne-walk That was Mr.. Car
lye's affair.
Mr. Lilly quite understands that this So
Mr.. Froude he says has simply dealt with
biography-what more natural?-as he dealt
with history" But Mr. Carlyle must have ap-
proved of Mr. F'roude's doings in history, other
wise he would not have left Mr.. Froude to deal
with his own history. Mr.. Lilly goes on: 1T
has fallen to my lot, in my poor historical re-
searches. to go over much of the ground taV-
ersed by Froude. And l have found him,
everywhere not merely untrustworthy; but men
dacious. l employ the word advisedly" 1t IS
a serious. if safe. thing to call a dead man
deliberate liar. Mr.. Lilly insists on the charge
He accuses Mr. Froude, who cannot reply, of
the will to utter what is false and says that
many of Mr.. Froude's statements bear the per
feet character of a lie" Can any one deny
hat ic ic So'f Mr ask
Yes, can deny it absolutely, as far as my
knowledge of the matter goes. l, like Mr.. Lilly,
ersed by Froude" and to compare his results
with his original materials in several languages.
Like Mr.. Lily, am not on Mr.. Froude's side
in many historical controversies. l have found
Mr.. Froude often in error: often, | think.
misunderstanding. miSquoting, emitting. and
even adding, but | have never once seen reason
to suspect him of conscious misrepresentation,
of knowingly giving false impression. Why,
frequently, my own unconscious miSrepreSenta-
tions in history have been discovered by myself
in time to correct them; on other occasions
they have escaped my notice and have been
exposed by critics, to whom l am reasona bly,
grateful. l would soon tee my ball in q
bunker conceal mines about my person at
baccarat, cheat in history, and ] con-
vinced that other people almost universally,
are of the same mind We all err. unconscious
ly, in the direction of our bias, but we also err
against the direction of our bias. 1t is easy to
show that Mr.. Froude erred contrary to his
| bias. on occasion, and it must never be for
gotten that he did what consciously dishonest
historian could possibly do He deposited at
| the British Museum copies. in the original
Spanish of the documents, very difficult of ac
cess which he used in his history. BY aid of
these transcripts we can find him slipping INTO
errors and his action, in presenting the coun-
try with the means Of correcting his mistakes
proves beyond doubt that he did not conscious
~ make mistakes. There is way in which
this conclusion be evaded No historian
was honest than Mr.. Froude though few
of his merit have been fallible
l not applauding Mr. Froudes methods as
historian; they certainly not scientific
But, in common honesty, I must confess my
unalterable belief that Mr.. Froude. as historian
or biographer, never consciously and knowingly
gave false impression, any more than l my
self have ever done so, though, like others who
meddle with history l have done SO from mis-
understanding or from that Incidence which,
when we have found fact to suit our purpose,
blinds to fact which upsets or damages
our theory. Having got his desirable fact, an
author either does not read on, or does so in
a mental condition which blinds him to the
relative values of what he finds recorded This
is an error of the mind; it is not proof of the
will to create a false impression