The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-09-29

men,arv a%cti,itv uri"t ~" lul"r- 'h"
social revolution eNc,'eI m England iurine
the sixteenth century tho %pol'lcal ii~,s ~
tho period extending from m" accession ~
Hsnrv WI 80 ~" Revolution ~ lass
and finally tho Z romw ethan Constitutions.
vhirh hko tho American Constitution wcr"
written and rgii
In tho author second esalv no cyaminca
the comparative utility ~ tho ihrre or four
questions which everv student ~ history
IL called upon ~ answer Whom Where
How Nhv7 Those whp are ~ the habit
Of regarding history ~ mainly q matter nf
dates may he -lrpriSed To- hear IN" author
declare that lates hv themselves arc almost
Useless II has cen said thar the know ledge
nj = single accurate date has a certain educa-
tional value. derived from it, cxaCtitlde. and
an extra giant importance ~ often attached
to children's knowing that the battle of
Hastings was fought In io66 and The battle
NJ Waterloo IN 1915 Prof. Pollard sug-
gests that II NAV be some corrective ~ this
view a nj some inducement Ia temper Justice
with mercy in dealing with infants ignorant
Of these details II we call 10 mind that as a
matter Of sheer chronological fact the battle
~ Hastings was not fought IN 1856 or that
Of Waterloo in 1915 The Christian era
is M least four years out of the true reckon
ing, and all events datei Ammo Domlni"
are 10 that extent wrong Numberless ac-
ceptei dates are on still other grounds err
%roneous. Elaborate preparations were made
in 1891 to celebrate the thouslndth ami
versary Of the death Of Alfred the Great.
but on the eve of the celebration a profound
but misChievous scholar. without any CON
sideration for the feelings ~ the organizers
If the millenary demonstration. proved
that Alfred really died in 500, or mn AZ the
latest. and that the demonst rltors were two
years after tho fair. The truth il, in our
authors opinion, that dates are valuable
not in themselves but only in ~ far as they
enable us to determine the sequence of
events. There is no doubt that sequences
are indispensable factors in ascertaining
the causes Of history.
Prof. Pollard deems tho where" more
important than the when" and he pro-
nounces il a much more searching test OF a
students understanding OF history 10 in
auire whore the battle Of Blenheim was
fought than when it was fought. Yet for ten
who could answer the second question II IL
probable that scarcely one could be found to
answer the first. The how" is the subject
OF nearly all our histories, but the author
Of these essays points out that few students
have vet set themselves systematically
10 answer the most difficult and profound
of all historical questions, the why" We
take historical facts for granted and are
content with accepting them az outward
manifestation but seldom trouble ourselves
about the soul of things which caused those
manifestations For example. We know
that Columbus discovered America in A. d..
1892. Assuming the correctness Of the
Christian era. we accept the statement
as sufficient and proceed to treat it as the
origin Of New World history and "a one Of
the principal factors which differentiate
the modern from the medieval world.
But uhy did Columbus discover America?
WHY was America discovered in the ff-
teench and not in the fourteenth or sixteenth
century? That is the sort of problem Prof.
Pollard would have us solve, p problem
compared with which questions of when.
where and how are almost trivial.
Answers 10 questions why" can only he
found in the ~antecedents % the develop
ments under consideration. If, for in
stance, we want to know why the Reforma-
ton took place in the sixteenth century.
why America was discovered in 1892, and
why learning came to its new birth in the
latter half olthe fifteer~i century, we must
search the records of preceding generations.
As a matter of fact, however, no period has
been more undcservedly neglected. The
outward manifestations of the sixteenth
century have attracted the popular gaze.
but il is time that students paid more atten-
ton to the predestinating causes of the
fourteenth and early fifteenth In the
judgment Of the author Of these essays il
is time that We cease to regard the Renais-
eanCe. the discovery of the New World.
the Reformation and the development Of
nationality as merely the first links Of
chains suspended in midair. and begin 10
regard them rather as links lndissolublv
bound to old chains which 81 stretch Jar back
into the past. In other words they were
goals N well as starting points,
Take. for example, the question why
America was discovered toward the end of
the fifteenth century. As a matter of fact
il was discovered 10y the Mortimer about
the beginning Of Tho eleventh century, but
nothing came Of tho discovery because
Europe NJ that time was not ripe for il.
did not need II and could turn il TO no ac-
count. Prof. Pollard. following the late
1horold Rogers, suggests that a short and
accurate answer to tho question why
America was not really discovered" until
1892 IL The ~raradoyical assertion that Colum-
= bus found the New World, or, as he sup