New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1908-10-28
A Pugnacious Historian OF the
American Resolution.

THE STRUGGLE FOR AMERICAN INi De
PENDgNCE BY George Fisher. In two ys St
Ph.isoe,phis ! B Ldppdncott Company
The author Of these volumes has depicted for
,,s THE True Benjamin Franklin and The
Tr,1e William Penn" and has also written Inc
True History Of the American Revolution OF
which the present work is an extension and am
nlfhcatior There is a challenge in titles such
IS these and Mr.. Fisher has gone further ana
has been at some pains TO point out the oehcleh-
csss az his predecessors who have purVeyed MS
tory 10 American readers. He rejects, he tens
Us, as TOO narrow and partisan the English
rFhig point of view which both flske 8 ahc
Trevelran's oharmingiy written histories Of the
Revolution are based According TO this view
The patriots did not seek independence ana i
kindly treated and the troops withdrawn. they
would have voluntarily remained in the Empire
II only the Wings had been put IN power
the Anglo-Saxon race would never have been
divided This view. according 10 MI. FIsheF.
however serviceable TO Wing politicians out OF
Office and however convenient in palliating the
enorrnities of rebellion. is unjust TO the real
patriots and opposed TO a great mass OF the
evidence
re declares our histories 10 be able rhetorical
efforts enlarged Fourth Of July orations or
pleasing literary essays on phases Of the con-
test The position Of the Loyalists and their ter
rhle conflict With the patriots, whom they almost
eoualled in numbers, have been ignored Our
writers have failed to describe the methods by
which the IcyaIists were suhdued. which
amounted 10 another war in addition 10 that
Carried on by Washington against the British
army The effect IF the Revolution upon Great
B-itsin's colonial policy has not heretofore re
ceived attention. What lessons England learned
from the Revolution. in what respects her pres
nt colonial policy resembles or differs from the
policy against which the colonies reb2lled-these
are problems that open 70 the present writer a
new and inviting field Says MI Fisher:
have never seen any attempt 10 describe from
1s 81 ,,rseIes a he outbreak Of The Revoiu-
ton. except the usual assumption that me ! DRY
rantly stupid and blind 70 their own Interests or
desperately corrupt and wicked and that the Wig Wig
saved the colonies for the British Empire.
Of extreme virtue on side against extreme vice
Of every SORT Oh che other; and Il the good wings
colonies as Canada and Australia are supposed 10
De- happy IN Their 7a3k Of da2ge sG aa 1q99
our historians desirable result Of the revolu-
wanted 70 remain in me British empire should be
considered patriotic ! have never been able 10
understand
Coming 70 a question Of method. Mr.. Fisher
bewails the lack Of citations in Bancroft's labo-
Tious pages and FIildreth's Colorless chronicle:
he deplores the fact thar Botta and Fiske and
the lesser lights furnish no authorities. that
every subsequent investigator must begin over
again the wearisore process Of searching for
evidence in widely scattered sources. He be-
means the abandonment OF the good old-fash-
.oned- plan Of referring TO evidence by foot
note citations and he has notion Of falling
into that blunder himself. His references are
innurnerable. his citations are oopious, compre-
hensive exhaustive Nor are they confined to
the foot Of the page, but embalned in the body
Of the text they distract the eye and disturb
the equable flow Of the narrative that forms one
Of the chief attractions Of Nj Fishers style. 1t
will he seen thai he enters the lists in a pretty