New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-11-15
A BOOK FOB The TIMES.


AMERICAN AND ENGLISH STUDIES.
nv Whitelaw Reid. With an lntroquG-
ton by Royal CortissoZ. In Two Oh
umes Vol I, Government ana Educa,
tion. Vol H. Biography. History ana
Journalism. Svo PIP ri. Bio; Sl5. CharleS
Scribner's Sons.
Al the close Of an analysis of Abra-
ham Lincoln. which makes one OF the
salient essays in this collection there
is a remark peculiarly characteristic OF
Whitelaw Reid. Il have only TO tell
he saws. what this man was. and what
he did,-not 10 offer any euloGy upon
him." Tie force of the analysis lies
unmistakab' in its affirmation OF Lin
coins greatness. yet it is equally plain
that the author relies for the making
of his point upon exposition pure and
simple. persuading the reader through
dispassionate detachment of the
truth from all the warning elements in
the history of his subject. The senti-
mentalities of hero worship and the
tenacious legends Of detraction are
alike subjected to calm scrutiny, and
as he sets the actual facts of a mo-
mentous career in a warm, sympathetic
and pure light, Mr.. Reid follows that
critical axiom of which Matthew Ar
mold was wont TO make so much ne
stands away, Ito let humanity decide.
If we lay stress at the outset upon
particular factor in his development OF
subject it is because the key TO the
value of his American and English
Studies" is to be found, first and last,
in the point of view from which the
various papers brought together in the
book were framed. From the nature
Of his themes and from his accurate,
documentary mode Of dealing with
them. these volumes might fairly be re-
garded as a contribution to the history
of the United States. But they are dis
tnguished from the books that are mat
tiers Of record alone by a definite strain
of thought running through their ex
ceedingly varied pages and giving the
latter certain substantial unity. 1t
is the thought of a man who joined to
strong faculty of judgment that s9e-
cial sense of responsibility which goes
with high conception of public life.
Appreciation of Whitelaw Reds fun
damental aim inevitably takes account
in this place not only of the ideas cm-
bodied in the book before us but Of the
policy so long illustrated by him in his
editorship of The Tribune. The princi-
pie which IL was his habit to enforce
was one of truth, laid at the service Of
good government. He liked TO look
facts in the face, TO treat them can
didly, TO seek progress not through
dreaming dreams but through coming
to close quarters with the realities Of
life. Convinced Of the wholesomeness
If the springs at the bottom Of our ne
tional growth. he was as hopeful as he
was fearless in the discussion of cur
rent problems Hence the fusion in
this book Of frank, sometimes almost
ruthless criticism with a lofty patriotic
IDEAL and a persistently optimistic
spirit
The studies in Government and
Education" which fill the first volume,
dating from different periods, never
theless form a curiously well knit
sequence. 1t is as though this group
, Of ten or twelve papers, produced on
the most diverse occasions, had really
been destined, consciously or uncon-
sciously. to ultimate assemblagc as
constituting a representative body OF
the authors ideas on the past, present
and future of his countrymen. The
opening pages. surveying THE Rise of
the United States" in reciting our his
torical origins expose also the lead
ing traits of a people. Here, too, Mr..
Reid asserts what is kept pretty well