The Roman Catholic Question. 1828-9. Part II. The New Government. 1834-5. Part III. Repeal of the 3. The Speeches of the late Right Honorable SIR ROB- ERT PEEL, BART., delivered in the House of Commons. With a General Explanatory Index, and a Brief Chron- ological Summary of the various Subjects on which the VII. SHAKESPEARE IN MODERN THOUGHT 1. Shakespeare. Von G. G. GERVINUS. Sein Geist und seine Werke. Ein Führer für die Leser und Freunde des Dichters. Von 4. Hamlet. Zwei Vorträge, gehalten im Verein für Kunst und Literatur zu Mainz. Von Dr. Louis NOIRÉ. 5. The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare un- 2. Choix d'Etudes sur la Literature Contemporaine. 5. Madame Bovary. Par GUSTAVE FLAUBERT. Brazil and the Brazilians, portrayed in Historical and NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. No. CLXXVI. JULY, 1857. ART. I. The Works of JOHN ADAMS, Second President of the United States: with a Life of the Author, Notes, and Illustrations, by his Grandson, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Boston: Little, Brown, & Co. 1850-56. 10 vols. 8vo. THE Scotch have it, that " a man canna bear a' his ain kin on his back"; and it must be confessed that there is no little pith in the saying. In the present case, however, the feat has been successfully performed. As Anchises was borne by Æneas from the flames of Troy, so now has the lion-hearted rebel of the North been carried by his grandson, with pious, gladsome, careful steps, through a long, difficult, and varied career. The Life of John Adams is emphatically a great book. The biographer gives ample evidence of intense study of the events which he narrates; and, as is the painter's wont, he places his principal figures in the foreground. His rectitude of purpose is so manifest, that, though we dissent from some of his conclusions, we do not once distrust his fairness of intention. His pages show unwearied research, and the use of state papers and documents not easily accessible. His style is pure, smooth, and easy, and, save here and there an involved or obscure sentence, worthy to be imitated in historical writing. In the difficult task of holding an impartial pen as to VOL. LXXXV. — NO. 176. 1 the characters of those whom his ancestor held to be his evil genii, determined to defame him, and to rob him of his wellearned laurels, he is often entitled to commendation. He urges no topic to the weariness of the reader; and we are quite sure that persons who are fond of biographical lore will be interested from first to last, while whole pages, and even chapters, will fix the attention like some thrilling tale of the imagination. And this, not only because of the incidents themselves, but because of the manner in which they are presented to the mind. Such, certainly, are our impressions, after repeated perusal with an eye to a critic's duty. As an editor, Mr. Charles Francis Adams is entitled also to high praise. Possibly he may incur censure in some quarters for the extent of his revision of parts of the Works; though we do not well see that, with his frank avowal of his motives, and of the necessities which existed in particular instances, he can be fairly accused of having tampered with truth. The course to be adopted by an editor, with writings before him which were thrown off on the spur of the moment, or to meet a pressing exigency, is embarrassing at best; and, do what he will, he will commonly find persons who object to his decisions. But the candid, who judge as they themselves would be judged if placed in the same position, will be slow to blame without proof of wrong intent. The labor bestowed on these ten volumes was immense. The digesting of the materials for the Life, after they had been collected and arranged, the diligent study of conflicting statements, and the comparing of authorities, preparatory to an intelligent conclusion upon controverted topics, with the investigations necessary to illustrate the text of the Works by notes and references, are all matters which the general reader, who has never had a look behind the scenes, and who, in comfortable gown and slippers, sees first the printed page, can hardly appreciate. But to show John Adams and his achievements was worth the toil of years for a common student of our history; while, for a person of his own lineage, it was an imperative duty. And we have him in these volumes just as he was, in his greatness and in his goodness, in his weakness and in his frailty. We see him in public and in private, was as he lived, thought, and spoke. There is no disguise, no concealment. What he did, whether to his honor or of questionable discretion and propriety, is all exposed. For considerable periods, the second President of the United States so to speak - his own Boswell; and we commend the courage and good sense of his descendant, in submitting his most secret emotions and confidential communications to the scrutiny of his countrymen; for many, we cannot doubt, are weary of those biographers and editors who keep their heroes perpetually in gala-robes, and who never condescend to let them down from their stilts to commune with common men in this every-day sort of a world, in which everybody has aches, and pains, and wearing sorrows, and must needs have concern about food, and raiment, and shelter. We meet Mr. Charles Francis Adams, then, even with "his ain kin on his back," on terms of perfect amity. That, in our opinion, he designed to be faithful in all things, and to be just to all men with whom he had to do, we have already said; and if now, according this, we venture to notice what we deem to be departures from the rules which, clearly enough to us, he meant never to violate, our previous words of approbation are to be kept steadily in mind, since the writer of honest purpose is not to be reproached for occasional shortcomings, as seen by the critic, who, though assuming infallibility, may himself be really in fault. Thus feeling, we submit, in all courtesy, that our biographer should have forborne to discuss any questions in which Hamilton, Wolcott, Pickering, Jefferson, and Franklin were concerned, save in such particulars as were necessary to the connection of events and to the thread of his narrative. We agree with him perfectly in the remark, that, "if rigid moral analysis be not the purpose of historical writing, there is no more value in it than in the fictions of mythological antiquity"; but the query here is, By whom shall this "analysis" be made? Since the object of course is to promulgate new truths and to enlighten the public mind, we venture to say, that he who undertakes the task should be, not only impartial, but above the suspicion of partiality. Far better were it to have remembered that the facts on which he founds his conclusions are open to the examina tion of persons against whom no charge of consanguinity can be preferred to lessen the weight of their statements, and by whom, in due time, all that it is profitable to know will be disclosed. We would hold all parties, to whom the controversies indicated have come down with more or less asperity of feeling, to the same rule, as proper in itself, and as expedient on every ground, allowing each to refer to personal difficulties as connected with history, but so as to avoid all expressions of reproach and unkind comments.* Again, we are not quite satisfied with the portrait of the Count de Vergennes,† the French minister; and this, though we are not among those who are disposed to undue praise of the man or his policy. That he was a disciple of a sad code of political morals, need not be disputed; but if, as our biographer admits, "the effect upon his character seems to have been not so much to corrupt it," as merely "to blunt his sensibilities, and to narrow the scope of his statesmanship within the circle of French casuistry," we suggest that so considerable a display of his faults and errors might have been omitted, without seeming sanction even to "equivocation." The passages in which his name appears are extremely well written; but we are not sure that what is said of his moral qualities in one place quite agrees with the shadowing in another. So, again, we need some further light as to Hamilton's ulterior plans, could we have had an army suited to his wishes during the troubles with France; and we specially desire to be informed as to his complicity with the adventurer Miranda; for, as the account stands, the thought may possibly occur to some that the first Secretary of the Treasury was also, in intent and scheme, the first of American fillibusters. ‡ Nor do we altogether like the tone of remark touching the conduct and motives which are ascribed by fair inference certainly to Mr. Adams's cabinet advisers, in the expo *Without room for extracts or extended comments, we must refer our readers to the Life itself. The passages meant in the text may be found as follows: what is said of Hamilton, Vol. I. pp. 523, 524, 525, 531, 532, 577, and 589; of Wolcott, pp. 570, 590, and 591; of Pickering, pp. 529, 539, 568, 569, and 629; of Jefferson, pp. 616, 618, and 619; and of Franklin, pp. 319 and 320. † See Vol. I. pp. 299, 300, 303, and to 308 inclusive. See Vol. I. pp. 523 to 526 inclusive. |