New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-05-30

History NAV be written in various ways A.
may be nothing but amplified annals IL may
be a philosophical study OF causes pIo0e'
end results Il may be a vivid woro pdlii'e
of portraits and scenes 1t may be a comolna-
ton of these with other things. Whatever -
may be- it will he profitable as long as 1t @0
heres 10 certain fundamental principles, par
ticularly those of orderliness ana accuracS,
II be disorderly with events narrated without
regard 10 chronological other sequence us
,ralue viii be little II its statements OF dates
and other facts be inaccurate, 1t may ne posi-
lively mischievous. II in addition It's narrauNe
he here crowded with extraneous and lrreieNeht
matter and here lacking in essential recoros' II
its verbal style be slovenly and inelegah'' anu
Il il fail TO present the very qualllies wiz
which II processes 10 be characterized we must
regard II as an example Of history as II shouIo
not be written.
--bere IS cause for regret in being thus com
7euad TO deal with Mr. Carpenters book, parity
because its author is a writer OF experience
from whom something far better was 10 Dc eA-
uected and partly because the theme CHOSEN
by him is one Of surprising interest ana llnpol
+ance. which deserves and indeed urgently oe-
rnands adequate treatment STUDY ne
calls it. in Territorial Expansion But tna'
Is lust what il is not. record or some 1edl-
,,res Of EXPANSION it doubtless is though by
a
spicuously not q study. Consideration Of causes
motives sequences. influences and eHects' Is al
most wholly lacking, Perspective and proper
tion are lacking Beginning and end in logi-
cal sense are lacking. Thus the work oeglns
with the surrender at Yorktown and the treaty
Of 1888 But how is it possible properly TO ap-
preciate the issues Of that time without at least
q synoptical review Of the Treaty Of Lancas-
ter the Ohio Company. the French and Indian
War and George Rogers Clark's campaign III
the Northwest Territory? AS well begin a his
tory of the Revolution with Bunker Hill. omit
ting all reference to the Stamp act.
Nor is this initial omission the only one. In
the chapter on Louisiana we have something
about Croza1 and Law and Marquette ana
La Sale but nothing Of Carondelet and the
treason Of George Rogers Clark and the seces-
sion movement in Kentucky; nothing OF Hanll-
tons continental policy, of the Yazoo lands or
of various other essential factors in that great
massage Of history In the Florida chapter
there is retold the tragic story OF MenehQeZ
and De Gourgaes, which really does not seem
20 have much bearing upon our acQulsluoh Ok
the territory. but nothing whatever Of the Am
tris-er and A-buthnot episode. There is moth
ing about the decline of Russia's industrial and
r,olitical interests in Alaska, which moved her
TO sell out 10 us. There is nothing ABOUT our
early and long maintained protectorate over
Hawaii and the early negotiations Tor anIleAa-
4ion the chapter on that territory beginning
with the revolution Of 1893 There Is nothlns
o< mr. early declarations concerning Cuba, and
the practical protectorate maintained oE Us over
thai island for three-quarters Of century
.to,,sb v,;tbou- recognition of those things no
,,-oner annreciation of our intervention IN Cupa
&c nossihle There is nothing about the nego-
-iations at Paris in 1898 over the Pnlhppmes.
or about the principles involved IN the aiiiieA
+,on of those islands. There is scarcely q
shadow Of an attempt to show the sequences Oh
expansion the relations Of each act 10 the HeA'
though one would think that the most essential
aud nrofts BILE feature Of a real STUDY
Even so far as il goes the book Is Hot a0-
,rs-A Almost at the outset find the state
,,ert thai the undisputed limits OF the United
States when the American Peace Commission
met that of England at Paris" in 1ISS. lncluoeo
the present States Of Kentucky and tennessee
and most OF Mississippi and Alabama ana
an intirnation that the chief contest IN those
negotiations was over the Northwest Territory
Now the fact is Of course. that our ownership
of the bulk Of Kentucky, Tennessee, ALABAMA
an5 Mississippi was bitterly disputed by Spain
and France and that there was far more din
Guilty in getting our title thereto recognized than
over the Northwest Territory England con-
oeded the Northwest Territory TO US at our first
resolute demand, while France, on the other
hand intrigued TO rob US of the lands south of
the Ohio River and TO shut away from the
Mississippi, and baftled in her untrlendly
designs only by the daring action Of Jay and
Adams in violating the explicit commands OF
Congress and making the treaty over Frances
head OF that episode, one of the most striking
in the history Of those times, and one Of the
most weighty in its bearing upon all our sub
seouent expansion, Mr. Carpenter says not a
o4- s7,7i cy-47 tod
limits Of the United States is absolutely mis-
leading.
few pages later we are told that the treaty
Of San ndefonso remained secret for three
years but in 1903 runlor of its consurnna
ton was bruitea abroad. and came to the ears
OF the government at Washington" Now that
treaty was made, as Mr. Carpenter says, on
October l. 1900 On December -. 1902, Mr..
Carpenter also says. President jefferson for
n1ally announced TO Compress the cession Of
Louisiana by Spain TO France. Instead OF its
remaining secret for three years. therefore, the
treaty became officially known within two and
quarter years-as matter Of fact it became
known in the spring Of 1902. only year and
half after IL was nade-and at the time when
Mr. Carpenter says a rurnor Of its consunama-
ton was bruited abroad" il had already become
ancient history and been supplanted by cur
Louisiana Purchase treaty Il is impossible TO
excuse such Inaccuracies as mere slips of pen,
or 10 ignore their discrediting effect upon the
whole work
The verbal dress Of the work is no more salts
factory than its contents One or two examples
Of il viii suffice. The Spanish Minister who
negotiated with John Quincy Adams the first
Florida treaty is in the course Of a few pages
successfully called Luis de Onis, the Chevalier
&c Onis Minister de Onis, Onis, Minister Onis,
nv Onis and Don Luis de Onis. Spaniards are