The sun., 1903-12-06
SOME NEW BOOKS.
Treveiyan,s american Revelation" :"

events and Incidents Of the war Ia con
cerned, the two volumes comprising tn
second part of The American Rerolufo'
by the Rt. Hon. Sir GEORGE OTTO TREvELYAl
QIongmans) cover period OF nearl!
two years, or, to be exact, the period from
the Battle OF Bunker's Hill to the close o
the Battle of Princeton. The chapters
of the second volume, however. in which
the attitude of the colonial churches toware
the war is considered, bring down wha
may be termed the religious history o
the colonies during the Revolutionary ano
post st-Revoutonary period to Feb. II. 1897
From the scale on which the present in.
stallment of the work is produced, we infer
that at least four additional volumes will
be needed by Sir George to complete the
history. It can hardly be too long, how
ever, for 1t Is no less interesting, and more
accurate, than his uncle's unfinished His
tory Of England" On the score OF wisdom
and insight It is equal and on the score
of research superior. to any previous
attempt to treat the subject we do not
except John Fiske's american Revolu-
tion.' That the book should have been
penned by an Englishman is astonishing
10 thoroughly are the authors sympathies
enlisted on tho side Of the American col
onists. Strange, indeed. is ii to hear Sir
George Trevelyan rebuke certain American
writer's who, recently, in the excess of
their Anglomania, have picked flaws in
the regulations OF Revolutionary patriots
and have eulogized the element of the
colonial population which sided with the
Crown during the Revolutionary period.
He is not. indeed. unwilling to describe
as wholesome" the present reaction in
the United States against the inflated pane
gyric and overloaded denunciation which
in past days have formed the stock in trade
Of too many American chroniclers. He
points out, however, that 1t Is one thing
to question the estimation in which the
heroes Of the American Revolution used
to be held popularity, and quite another
thing for an historian to find apologies for
George III. and the British Ministers, who
over and over again at great crisis had
adopted a wrong course, in defiance c..
the opinions strongly held and fearlessly
urged by many among the best and most
far-seeing of their own British conten-
poraries. 1t may be true that the biogra-
phies of our Revolutionary worthless which
were formerly current were to large de-
gree legendary; that the best Of those
worthless we're human and the worst very
bad indeed; but it is pronounced absurd
to deduce from these premises the con-
clueion that the King and his Cabinet could
not have been greatly in the wrong.
Sir George Trevelyan is chargeabe with
no such error. Samuel Adams" we are
told, Showed himself unscrupulous as to
the means which he employed in the pur-
suit of public ends; John Adams was vain
and sensitive; Arthur Lee. when an envoy
from Congress in Paris, insinuated that his
colleague, Silas Deane, was a rascal, and
Deane openly said the same of Lee, while
Franklin distrusted and disked them
both; the merchants of Boston were snug
glers, the mob was ruffianly and through
out New England no serious efforts were
made by the more respectable citizens to
exact retrbution for violence and cruelty
committed against partisans OF the Crown.
All this may be valuable history. 1t may
all be worth telling. 1t is quite in place as
an explanation OF the sentiments excited
q in the British Parliament by the trans
actions in America; but. as an argument
for or against the wisdom of the British
policy, it is Of no account at all
'5u pcSuke iiCNciydh icSo6iiiHcc' 0iLat N
undoubtedly the fact, that. even after the
Battle of Bunker Hill and as late as Au-
gust 1775 there was chance for the peace
full solution of the dispute between England
and her American colonies In July, l775,
the Continental Congress was dominated
by john Dickinson Of Pennsylvania, the
author of the Farmers Letters He was
still a devoted subject of the Crown, al
though he was ultimately to take service
a. private soldier in the ranks Of the Con-
tinental Army. At the date named he was
by no means convinced that the Battle of
Bunker Hill had transferred the con-
troversy between the mother country and
her colonies to the battlefield. On the con-
trary, he regarded the slaughter of the 18th
of June as a foretaste of the horrors which
would mark a protracted contest between
two sections of brave and obstinate race.
He draughted thoroughly respectful
petition to King George Ill, beseeching
his Ma aiesty to direct the mode by which
the applications of his faithful colonists
might be improved int happy and perma-
nent reconciliation, assuring him that
they, on their part, retained too tender
regard for the kingdom from which thev
derived their origin TO ask for such FatI!.-
ment as might be in any manner inconsiS-
tent with her dignity and weliarr This
petition Dickinson prevailed upon his col
leagues of tho Continental Congress 10
adopt and sign. not, indeed, as membors
Of body of which it was known that the
King would refuse to taxi official cogniz-
ance, but in the capacity of his Ma Jesty's
subjects in various colonies, each Of which
was separately named The document
was entrusted for presentation To Richard
Penn, a grandson of William Penn, and the
mission was discharged with alarritv.
Penn set sail at once for England, arrived
at Bristol on the i3th Of August, and on the
next day was in London. For some time
no Minister would see him, however A
week elapsed before the Secretary for the
Colonies consented to look at even a copy
OF the paper. 1t was not until September
had begun that Lord Dartmouth submitted
it to the King. Three days afterward
Penn was told that no answer would be
given. As matter Of fact, an unfavorable
answer had already been made public.
On Aug. 2s had appeared Royal Procla-
nation inviting all subjec of the realm