THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. BY JOHN FISKE. In Two Volumes. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company. Vol. I. Pp. xxi, 344. Vol. II. Pp. xii, 305. $4.00 a set. The gradual genesis of Mr. Fiske's works on the Revolutionary period is given at full in the preface. The "Critical Period of American History is the third volume of this work, the narrative being continuous. Mr. Fiske hopes some day to give a manageable history of the United States, from 1492 to 1865. Meanwhile he has rightly judged that he might as well publish fragments as let them lie by him in manuscript. Mr. Fiske does not know how to explain the general interest exhibited in a plain narrative of events already familiar. Some reasons, however, may be alleged. The narrative, while perfectly plain, and not seeking after startling effects or mysterious explanations, is so penetrated with a genuine sense of the genetic connections of things, that it takes on a teleological luminousness which cannot fail to be fascinating. The book is neither a presentation of events without causes, nor of causes without events, but of events that are causes and causes that become wide-reach ing results. Then the author's individual judgment of men and facts is so thoroughly independent that he is not afraid to sympathize heartily with the communis sensus of the nation, and to write as "kindly man among his kind," which cannot fail to please us of the commonalty, so that we find it even agreeable to have our particular misapprehensions rectified, and our judgments rendered more enlightened and charitable. Moreover, the underlying enthusiasm takes the place of rhetorical elaboration, and is felt all the more for the matter-of-fact style of the narrative. Then the characterizations of men are superb, and the past is always related in the sense of the present and the future. It is not strange, therefore, if we of the people are greatly taken with Mr. Fiske's histories, as even we are able to spell out their merits. Mr. Fiske portrays vividly the perpetual disputes of the eighteenth century between the colonies and the home government, engendering the fixed opinion in official circles at home that the Americans were queer, turbulent, and factious, whereas they were simply English freemen thrown locally out of the possibility of using the Parliament, and therefore obliged to find their political organs nearer by. It was not an intrinsic hatred of their liberties, but an inveterately conventional apprehension of the rights of the subject as hardly capable of transfer abroad, a way of thinking incapable of recognizing new forms of old nobility, which made the Lords of Trade eager for a colonial union which should depress the legislatures and exalt the crown. Franklin was equally eager for the union, but for a very different end. "The vast sweep of his intelligence," his wider intercourse with men, and his dual character as a native of Massachusetts and a citizen of Pennsylvania, made him the first Federalist. It shows how deep he went, that his project of 1754 contemplated that immediate federal control over the individual citizen, for federal ends, which could not be made endurable to our localism until impending disintegration forced us into it in 1789. The author remarks that it shows the superior political advancement of the colonies at that time, kept alert as they were by danger, and having so many truly representative organs of their public life, that the only motive weighing much in England against the proposal to tax them was the fear that they might not like to part with their money. The dignified protest of Massachusetts against taxation of the unrepresented was derided as "the raving of a parcel of wild enthusiasts." The nonrepresentative character of the unreformed House of Commons made it mainly the organ of the aristocracy, and this had come under a singular subservience to the king. George did not devise the vexatious measures, but, having adopted them, he made them his own, so that the Revolution was a revolt against him personally, in quite as full a sense in fact as the Declaration of Independence expresses it in form. Mr. Fiske thinks that Americans, in their good-nature, have exaggerated his stupidity, and not laid due stress on the intensity of his vindictiveness and the depth of his insincerity. The nobility of Chatham made him frantic, and so he proceeded to do everything that Chatham abhorred. He even threw away Cuba and the Philippines because Pitt had acquired them, and turned Prussia into an enemy because Pitt had made her a friend. It was left for his grand-daughter, by her resolute refusal to make war on Germany in the interest of Denmark, to undo this last mischief, and to prepare the way for the unification of Teutonic and Protestant Europe, which has been emphasized by the solemn entry of her daughter's son into her capital. Mr. Fiske, highly appreciating Mr. Lecky's dignity and candor, shows, by the quiet presentation of some of the intimate thoughts of our leaders, how far these, as well as the people, were from a ready acceptance of the necessity of separation. Occasional flashes of earlier prevision would be quite consistent with such an habitual feeling. The author is not sure but that, even after Saratoga, Chatham, had he lived, might have secured a dual unity of the Empire, virtual independence without so long an alienation. As it is, the triple unity of America, England, and Germany is a hope of the future, though not without anticipations in the present. The Boston Tea-party is shown in a light which even enhances the popular enthusiasm over it. It was not until even the majestic legality of Samuel Adams had exhausted itself in the effort to find a quiet way out, that the one remaining way of force was resorted to, just so far as supreme necessity required, and no farther. And, says the author, it shows the mildness of New England civilization, that the careless shooting of half a dozen citizens evoked a horror that could find no other name for it than Massacre, while yet it could not be stirred to condemn the offending soldiers, who at least supposed themselves to be obeying orders. Concord and Lexington and Bunker Hill are described with as much vividness as Macaulay could give, and in a very much purer taste. The author explains the misapprehended myth of the Mecklenburg declaration of independence, which for a while actually presented Jefferson as a plagiarist. The Mecklenburgers simply declared that royal authority should be treated as de facto suspended for the time being. The frank loyalty with which Maryland entered into the union, though the proprietary government was deeply rooted in the affections of her people, and the stalwart excellence of the Maryland troops, are both noted. The First and Second Blow at the Centre introduce the history of the war. The descriptions of the battles must be good, because even so dismally untactical a head as that of the present writer can see into them. They are helped by fourteen military maps. The incompetency and mischievous meddlesomeness into which the It Continental Congress soon sank, after the grandeur of its first efforts, and after the draining out of its great men to other uses, is fully presented, as well as its wretched bad faith towards Burgoyne's army. could not continue worthy of respect, with such a mere shadow of authority. God gave us a King of Men, and therefore we were held together. The infinite mischief wrought by local and ecclesiastical jealousies of the different colonies, within and without the army, is also made plain. The blame of the substitution of that pompous nonentity, Gates, for Schuyler, is shown to rest more heavily on New England than we had been aware. Schuyler's "family was one of the most distinguished in New York, and an inherited zeal for the public service thrilled in every drop of his blood. No more upright or disinterested man could be found in America, and for bravery and generosity he was like the paladin of some mediæval romance. In spite of these fine qualities he was bitterly hated by the New England men, who formed a considerable portion of his army." He was a New Yorker and of Dutch descent, and upheld the right of New York to the "Hampshire Grants," and that was enough. Nevertheless, he could not be prevented from setting the trap for Burgoyne which Arnold sprung. General Gates, however, did something. During the crisis of the decisive battle he engaged in a hot wrangle with a sick British officer over the merits of the Revolution, which, drily observes the author, appears to have been his contribution to the crowning victory. It is curious that the two native Englishmen that rose to high rank on our side, Gates and Lee, both turned out mischievous, intriguing incompetencies. The author interweaves into the romance all the processes which depraved the brave and generous but unprincipled character of Benedict Arnold into his final treason, with a fullness and delicacy that are quite Shakespearean. His verdict on him is compassionate, as he shows good reasons why it should be, but it is essentially confirmatory of the infamy that must forever weigh upon his name. Mr. Fiske's development of Washington's strategy is above our competency of criticism, but he shows how little he deserves to be known merely as "the American Fabius," how thoroughly competent he was, after long waiting, to deliver the most masterly and crushing blows. Cornwallis told Washington that, wonderful as was the skill with which he had suddenly hurled an army four hundred miles, from the Hudson to the James, with such precision and such deadly effect, his achievements in New Jersey could not be surpassed even by that. Washington's caution was simply his self-control over the audacity of his courage. After the fall of Burgoyne "it was generally believed, both in England and on the continent of Europe, that the loss of the American colonies would entail the ruin of the British Empire. Only a few wise political economists, literary men,' like Adam Smith and Josiah Tucker, were far-seeing enough to escape this prodigious fallacy; even Chatham was misled by it. It was not understood that English America and English Britain were bound together by commercial and social ties so strong that no question of political union or severance could permanently affect them. It was not foreseen that within a century the dealings of Great Britain with the independent United States would far exceed her dealings with the rest of the world. On the contrary, it was believed that, if political independence were conceded to the Americans, the whole stream of transatlantic commerce would somehow be diverted to other parts of Europe; that the British naval power would forthwith decay; and that England would sink from her imperial position into such a mere insular nation as that over which Henry VIII. had ruled. So greatly did men overrate political conditions; so far were they from appreciating those economic conditions which are so much more deep-seated and essential." The great importance of the Armed Neutrality, and the permanent advance made in it towards humanizing war on the sea, is shown at full. The author justly remarks that this great act ought to outweigh a good of the crimes of Catherine II. many Of the results of Yorktown the author says: "The advent of Lord Rockingham's ministry meant not merely the independence of the United States; it meant the downfall of the only serious danger with which English liberty has been threatened since the expulsion of the Stuarts. The personal government which George III. had sought to establish, with its wholesale corruption, its shameless violations of public law, and its attacks upon freedom of speech and of the press, became irredeemably discredited, and tottered to its fall; while the great England of William III., of Walpole, of Chatham, of the younger Pitt, of Peel, and of Gladstone was set free to pursue its noble career. Such was the priceless boon which the younger nation, by its sturdy insistence upon the principles of political justice, conferred upon the elder. The decisive battle of freedom in England as well as in America, and in that vast colonial world for which Chatham had prophesied the dominion of the future, had now been fought and won. And foremost in accomplishing this glorious work had been the lofty genius of Washington, and the steadfast valor of the men who had suffered with him at Valley Forge, and whom he had led to victory at Yorktown." The character of Chatham, on pages 17-22 of vol. ii., deserves to be known as one of the noblest passages of English literature. We cannot ask that it be transcribed into the reading-books of such pale neutralities as our public schools are coming to be. But it ought to be learnt by heart by every pupil of our private and Protestant schools, that they may be taught to give thanks to God for the man through whose grandeur of conception and of execution He has secured the lead in all the world, and for the free development of all the world, to the men of the Teutonic race and of the Protestant religion. The portrait of Washington prefixed to the first volume, and believed to be now engraved for the first time, adds greatly to its interest. It is less conventionalized, more human, than the ordinary likenesses. The publishers call attention to the style of binding as peculiarly flexible and firm. Charles C. Starbuck. ANDOVER. AUTOBIOGRAPHY, DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE. EDITED BY EDWARD EVERETT HALE, D. D. WITH PORTRAIT, BIBLIOGRAPHY, AND INDEX. Crown 8vo, gilt top, $1.50. 66 One of the richest, most charming pieces of biography that has ever been issued from the Boston press. It will be handled with loving tenderness by his surviving contemporaries; and in a much wider circle it will help to preserve the memory and extend the influence of a rare and a gracious personality, which shines in our firmament like a star, with a lustre at once clear, serene, and modest." -Christian Register, Boston. We shall keep this sweet volume near our side, and read snatches from it when we are tired or discouraged; and we heartily commend it to all who want to hold converse with one of the loveliest of men, whose spirit, we doubt not, is now before the throne, but whose influence is still on earth."-Illustrated Christian Weekly, New York. "It was a really beautiful life, not wanting in inspiration, and abounding in profitable suggestion. His rule had always been to do the nearest duty with all heartiness and fidelity, and that rule will carry any man far. Mr. Hale has presented the facts eloquently and fitly, and the memoir should be widely read.' New York Tribune. 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