New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-14

PsoIe. 81 A. In twelve volumes: Vols; X, II
and III. svo, PIP xvii 49S: x, AS; XIV 1885,
Tongnsns, Green q COZ
r,ha series in which these three volumes appear
=. che largest undertaking In the domain OF his
80 which any British publisher has attempted
s,,cs the printing of the Cambridge Modern
r-,z+orv' was begun Unlike that scheme this
ever one is confined to English history. Each
,,ourae IN it is 10 be from the pen of a writer
,.yirg authority where the period which he
.resfs is concerned. and the work when COM
,,sted will carry the development OF English his
cory from the earliest times down to tha death
~ Queen Victoria The political life of the ma
.,on IS to be the main theme. but it is noted
O. the general preface that "as the life OF
,s+,oa is complex, and its conditions at any
GIVEN time cannot be understood without taking
INTO account the various forces acting upon 1t.
notices of religious matters and of intellectual.
socal and economic progress will also find place
IN these volumes" Thus far the volumes have
hem issued somewhat out OF their order. the
tenth, covering the period from 176o to 1901, by
The Rev. William Hunt. of Trinity College, Ok
ford. appearing first. This has been followed by
the second volume-1066 to 1216-by Professor
George Burton ADAMS. of Yale. and the latest
volume yet published is the third. in which the
ueriod from 1916 to 1877 is surveyed by Pro-
fessor Thomas Frederic Tout, formerly fellow Of
Pembroke College, Oxford. and now the occu-
nant Of the chair OF mediaevaI and modern his
tory IN the Victoria University OF Manchester.
Nine out Of the twelve authors are Oxford men,
and while the work does not carry the imprint
Of the Clarendon Press, yet, with Mr.. Poole and
Mr.. Hunt, both Of Oxford, its editors. and
with The maj ority Of the other writers of the
came university. it may not be out of the way to
regard this Political History Of England" as
counterpoise to the Cambridge Modern His
tory"
Mr.. Hunts period begins with the reign Of
George III, and comes down to the Union and
the retirement OF Pitt in 1901. Much new
material has been drawn upon, especially the
Reports Of the Historical Manuscript Commits
sion and political memoirs; but the author has
rot used extensively the less well known Eng
nsh Scotch and Irish memoirs and letters; and
in his research for the study OF the American
Revolution ne has taken but small account of
the numerous volumes of memoirs and letters Of
the period which in the last thirty years have
been published in the United States. There is
no mention in his list Of authorities of Moses
Colt Tylers Literature Of the American Reyo-
luton or of Nfoncure Conway's Life Of Paine"
Had 1Ir. Conway's monograph on Paine come
under his notice, Mr.. Hunt would surely never
have written Of the author Of the Rights Of
Man" that, this Paine. q staynaker by trade
after he had failed in business in England and
man for neglect Of duty, emigrated to America
in IVA and came into notice through introduce
tons given him by Franklin Had Mr.. Hunt
even looked into the Dictionary Of National
Biography he would have learned that Paine
while stationed at Lewes. in 1772, drew up
statement Of the excisemen's grievances, which
vas printed and distributed to members Of the
House of Commons in promotion Of movement
for an increase Of pay, and that when the move
Rent failed Paine was dismissed from the ser
vice NJ Hunt would have learned also that
Pafre ives at work as q staymaker only from his
thirtee-- IN year to his nineteenth that when he
was only nineteen he Joined a privateer. To
have failed in business" Mr.. Hunt phrases
It, at nineteen, is a charge scarcely worth re-
peating. But Paine was q radical in religion and
politics Mr.. Hunt Is a Church of England
clergyman. He writes from a Tory point OF
view: and throughout his work he shows little
respect for. aid sometimes little justice TO, rad-
Gals In religion and politics. either in England
or America Usually when the of a
former. either in England or New-England.
occurs IN Mr.. Hunts pages-Samuel Adams or
Hancock. TO cite NeW-England instances-tt is
with sneer like that with which he introduces
Paine. AS might be expected from the COM
paratively small list Of American authorities
which Mr.. Hunt cites. he shows intimate
knowledge of social conditions in the American
colonies at the time OF the reVOluIlOn--none OF
the insight which so strongly characterizes Sir
George Trevelyan's treatment Of the same period
IN his Life of Fox" Writing Of the personnel
OF the Revolutionary Army. he remarks that
they belonged as a whole TO a higher class than
the privates of the British Army as though the
farmers Of New-England and the middle col
ouies. with schoolhouses IN every community
since the beginning of the Colonial era, could be
compared TO the rabble and riff-raR which in the
eighteenth century drifted into the British Army
and content with eightpeI.ce or tenpence
day and findings for It's service.
From what has been said it viii be understood
that Mr.. Hunt approaches the American Revolu-
lion from strongly Tory point of view He
regards the closing Of the port Of Boston
justified by the action of the people of Massa-
chusetts and he also justi1es George III in hiring
Continental mercenaries 20 wage war the
Tsvolted colonies. These arrangements.'' he
writes "enraged the Americans. who spoke Of
them as though the King were delivering loyal
people 10 be nlassacred by foreign mercenaries.
As matter Of fact, they were making war on
the King. and he had good right to buy
troops TO fight in his quarrel as he had to buy
cannon" Few of Mr.. Hunts American readers
win resent his point of view such questions
as this he is quite al liberty to put forward his
opinions But American readers generally will
resent the terms he continuously applies to the
revolted coIonists. He invariably writes of them
as rebels and insurgents. Nowadays the word
'nsprgent'' suggests barbados and street fight
ing. Mr.. Hunt uses the words rebels and in
surgents" long after it had been proposed at
Westminster that negotiations should be opened
with the Continental Congress Just at what
POINT In the war the term revolutionary forces
is rightly applicable It is not necessary to dis
cuss It may be noted, however. that "insur-
gents" and rebels reour in Mr.. Hunts pages as