The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-06-27
THE NEW PUBLICATIONS.
SOHE OF THE LATEST BOOKS OF
 THE SEASON.

EmIfa's "A Political History of Slave
 Ty"-Oppenhetm's "A Prince of sin-
 nsFs"-Lettsrs of m AefFsss-RIis' aPerII and Preservation Of the Home'
 bIIss CrOwIsy,s HLove ThFiyes fin
 warn-Roberts' "DivinIsy or Man"-
 Other Books.
 4 valuable book and of lasting char acter is "A Political History of slav- cry" by William Henry Smith, in two volumes, published by C.. F. Putnam s Sons, New York. It is precisely what the title of the book implies. All corre- lated matter. however intrinsically inn portant, which is not directly germane to the subject, is dismissed as briefly as possible. There is not attempt to trace the rise and growth of slavery as an institution. Slavery in it's relation to American politics is the authors sole concern. The work begins with the first active opposition to slavery, which the author attributes to John Woolman. the New Jersey Quaker, writing in 1732; and is brought down through the Recon struction" period to the close of Grant s second administration. Himself an out spoken abolitionist, identified with the abolition movement some years before the war. Mr. Smith took no small part in the movement he chronicles. and he also took an active part in the forna- { tion of the republican party in Ohio. As the literary executor Of ex-President Hayes and the close friend of many oth- CT prominent figures in American polit- ics, he had abundant opportunities of acquiring information. The treatment of the entire subject is eminently fair and dispassionate. His work represents the result not only of actual participa- ton in the final contest, but of a life long study of the principles involved. MT. Smiths history has very interest ing and illuminative preface by White law Reid. which also contains con- densed biography of MT. Smith. Of his qualifications for the task of writ ing the history of slavery MT. Reid says that MT. Smith possessed ''the full ness of knowledge that comes from hav- ing seen many of the events from the Inside as they occurred, from a lifelong familiarity with the subject, and from access to much unpublished informa- tion * * and constant personal communication with some of the act ors.'' MT. Reid sets forth that the sole purport of the work was to furnish a political history of slavery, and that it therefore differs essentially from Henry Z Sa11 aF 1axyn pcIrr. CT" Its scope is much narrower. 1t aims to show tht the slavery problem was gradually solved not by the agita- tors like William Lloyd Garrison. who by dint of elegant vituperation" sought to accomplish their ends, not by the philanthropists of New England and the free states, but by the leading men of both parties, Whig and republican, to- gether with 8 small but doughty band of the stamp who later came to be known as "war democrats" Among other things in this connection he cor recs #he statement of the author of the History of the Rise and Fall of the < Slave Power in America" to the effect that the anti-slavery sentiment in Ohio was chiefly due to the influence of New England en1igrants, tracing it on the contrary to the influence of the churches < and the south itself MT. Reid calls at- tention to the perspective in which the author sees the chief actors; that he accords to the men of the middle west much more than the share of praise and comment usually accorded them by eastern writers, and renders full justice to such men as Brough, Morton, Me Lean, Corwin, Giddings, Julian, Speed, Shellabarger,. Hayes, Dennison, Trum- bull, and Grimes,
 All of the conclusions of MT. Smith cannot be accepted as final, especially his estimates of the work and influence of New York state men of national re- noWn in the 2 contest over the slavery problems as compared with what Ohio men Of note accomplished in this re- gard. His researches and studies of Ohio documents on this subject and his Ohio affiliations warped him little in these Judgments, but 1t was natural { that he should lean little in favor of Ohio and do that state full justice, and as before remarked, his intention, it is manifest, was ever to write dispassion- ately. These estimates of the different { political leaders of the times in ques- ton are interesting and the chapter on the earlier anti-slavery agitation is es- pecially so. The story of the struggle for slavery extension is one of the most important in these volumes, and brings to light new phases of that contest. The part that the brilliant Stephen A. Doug < les played in trying to conciliate the southern fire-eaters by attempting to surrender Kansas and Nebraska to slavery is vividly set forth as also the failure,of Douglas to keep pace with the ever growing and insolent demands of the south. The violently belligerent at- titude of the south after the Dred Scott decision, and early intimations of the spirit of secession, the aid and comfort given the south by northern sympathiz- CTS, a remarkable letter to Jefferson Davis by ex-Presdent Franklin Pierce in this line-a letter years afterward found by Union soldiers in Davis Mis- sissippi home--the attitude of leading northern newspapers on the question of the right of states to secede, and finally the breaking out of War-these and . other topics are treated with illuminat- ing touches. It is interesting to note, Especially in view of the present discus
 on regarding negro suffrage and peon-