THE DIARY AND LETTERS OF HIS EXCELLENCY THOMAS HUTCHIN

SON, ESQ., B A. (Harvard), LL.D. (Oxon.), Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of His late Majesty's Province of Massachusetts Bay in North America. Compiled from the Original Documents still remaining in the possession of his Descendants. By FETER ORLANDO HUTCHINSON, one of his Greatgrandsons. I vol. 8vo, pp. vi., 594. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1884.

This is a handsome, well-printed octavo volume, from the press of Houghton, Mifflin & Co., so widely distinguished for the good taste and high character of the workmanship of their issues.

Governor Thomas Hutchinson was one of the ablest of the Massachusetts men of his day. Born in 1711, and bred, in Boston, a graduate of Harvard, a merchant by occupation, and the son of a father in easy circumstances, he was a selectman of Boston and one of its representatives in the General Court at the age of twenty-six. Three years later, in 1741, he was chosen the agent of the inhabitants and proprietors of the great tract of land given to New Hampshire by the determination of the boundary between it and Massachusetts, and sent to England with their petition to the King to be restored to the jurisdiction of the latter. Elected annually from Boston to the General Court from 1742 to 1749, he was its Speaker from 1746 to 1748; and in 1749 was chosen into the Council of the Province, in which he remained continuously till 1766. In 1752 he was made Judge of Probate and Judge of the Common Pleas of Suffolk County. When Lieut -Gov. de Lancey of New York, by order of the King, convened the Congress of 1754 at Albany, Hutchinson was appointed one of the five commissioners from Massachusetts, and took a very active part in its proceedings. Appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts in 1758, he succeeded to the chief command of the Province during the interval between the departure of Gov. Pownall in June, 1760, and the arrival of Gov. Francis Bernard in August of that year. Chief-Justice Sewell having died about a month after Bernard's arrival, the latter, shortly after, appointed Hutchinson Chief-Justice of Massachusetts, to the intense disappointment of James Otis and his father, the latter of whom desired the office -a disappointment which caused the Otises to take the active part they subsequently did against the Government in the disputes which preceded and finally led to Independence. On Bernard's departure in August, 1769, Hutchinson again succeeded to the command of the

Province, and in March, 1771, was commissioned Governor of Massachusetts, and so continued till 1774. in which year he went to Eng. land, by leave of the King, to endeavor to induce the Government to adopt a more lenient policy toward the colonies, and especially toward Massachusetts. In this he failed, and never returned to America. He died at Brompton, June 30, 1780, and was buried a few days later in Croydon church, near London, of which his friend, the Rev. East Apthorp, formerly of Boston. was then the Vicar.

Holding high office in Massachusetts continuously for forty-eight years, and after that until his death for six years in close and confidential intercourse with the Ministry of the day and the public men of England of all parties, admitted to the Court and the highest circles of English society, of pleasing manners, an agreeable talker and a close observer, his experience was as great and varied as it was unique. During this long period he preserved his correspondence, kept letter-book copies of his own letters, and during his residence in England wrote a daily diary. These his descendants carefully guarded, and now, after the lapse of more than a century, we have in this volume that part of the Diary covering the years 1774 and 1775, and interspersed with it very many letters to and from him during those years. The information about men and events on both sides of the ocean is great, and often of the highest interest. We are admitted to the private conversation of the leading men in England and that of the King, and see exactly the ideas and facts and opinions which led to the procrastination, folly, and unstatesmanlike action which cost England her American empire; we learn how the interests and rights of America were sacrificed to the temporary interests of British politics and politicians.

The Diary reflects credit on its author, and shows him to have been a singularly just-minded and good-tempered man. There is no abuse, fierceness of speech. or undue acidity of language; but while speaking clearly and decidedly, he never indulges in any vindictiveness or displays of prejudice or anger, such as we have just seen that Carlyle delighted in. Contrasted with the diaries of John Adams and John Quincy Adams, overflowing, as both do, with bile, envy, jealousy, vanity, and, if the word must be said, meanness, often expressed in the strongest and most violent terms, this of Hutchinson shines as light to darkness. And the fact is the more singular, for, as his editor says, "No servant of the Crown ever received more slander, personal abuse and misrepresentation than Thomas Hutchinson in Massachusetts;" and he might have added, greater

loss of property. And he well continues: "Yet his descendants have allowed a whole century to elapse without making an effort to defend his character. Time will show that it did not need defending, and this delay is an advantage to all parties, for we can now examine the situation calmly and dispassionately, which it was impos. sible to do during the prevalence of political excitement."

It has been said by American writers that Hutchinson was received coldly and neglected in England. This volume proves the contrary. In a letter of 1st November, 1774, to his brother, Foster Hutchinson, occurs this passage:

"Lord Dartmouth very early spoke to me from the K. (king) to know what mark of honour he should confer upon me, and advised me to think of nothing short of an hereditary honour. I considered there was not an estate to support a title. If I had had but one son I might better run the risk, but shall decline it as my family is circumstanced, unless my eldest son shall think I hurt him by the refusal. I tho't it not amiss, however, to ask his Lordship if I should be reproached with being slighted in England whether I might say had the offer of such an honour. He answered immediately, Most undoubtedly. I venture to assure you it will be conferred immediately.' And so the matter rests, and I have said nothing about it since.

But all claim to this honour and all the effects I have in the Province I would cheerfully part with to see it restored to the orderly state it was in when I first came to the General Court Numerous entries show how well he was always received both at Court and in society.

The effect of the Suffolk Resolves, and the action of the Philadelphia Congress indorsing them, upon his efforts to terminate the controversy, or mollify the Government, is striking "These proceedings," he writes, "alone are enough to put it out of my power to contribute to any accommodation. *** It is out of my power any longer to promote a plan of conciliation. I cannot think any exception can be taken to my shunning all share in a plan of hostilities-a plan which, if determined upon, I hope will never be executed. I saw Lord Dartmouth yesterday Why, Mr. H.,' says his lordship, if these Resolves of your people are to be depended on, they have declared war against us; they will not suffer any sort of treaty.' 'I cannot help it, my Lord. Your Lordship knows I have done everything in my power to close the breach between the Kingdom and the Colonies, and it distresses me greatly that there is so little prospect of success. In still another letter, he gives this very different character of the Ministry and of Lord Dartmouth, from what our historians have told us :

"I will make one observation to you of a

political nature. I have more than a hundred times, in New England, heard the Ministry spoke of as a set of men combining to deprive the Colonies of their liberty, and to introduce an arbitrary and despotic Government; and sometimes it has been said Popery. I verily believe there never was an Administration with less views of that sort, or more disposed to concede to every claim of the Colonies which can con sist with their continuing united to the Kingdom. Lord Dartmouth, who is at the head of the American Department, is as amiable a man as you know-a man of Literature as well as good natural sense. His greatest foible is an excess of humanity, which makes him apt at times to think more favorably of some men than they deserve; and as for his Religion, he would pass in New England for an Orthodox good Christian; but here every man who is not ashamed to own himself a Christian, is called a Methodist. I had been often in his company before anything passed on that subject. At length, one day, when nobody was present,

Mr. H.,' says he, the old Puritans who first went over to your Colony were certainly a set of serious godly men; is the same sense of religion which they carried over with them still remaining there, or does infidelity prevail there as it does here in England?' The long conversation which followed I will not commit to writing. The introduction will give you some idea of the man. I seldom see him but he laments that the people in the Colonies have put it out of his power to do what he never would have come into his Office, if he had not hoped to do, towards a reconciliation. Lord North, Lord Suffolk, and the Lord Chancellor, appear to me to have the same dispositions. To say this to a man deep in party would be cancre surdis [to sing to the deaf], bnt this is not the case with you.'

The mystery of the affair of his private letters, obtained surreptitiously by Franklin, and sent by him to Boston and there published, is not cleared up. The Ministers and others ascribe the taking of them to Temple in spite of his denial, but Hutchinson himself seems to have been in doubt, and gives Temple the benefit of it. Dr. Hugh Williamson, of North Carolina, then a student in London, told Dr. Hosack, as the latter states in his memoir of Williamson, that he obtained them, handed them to Franklin, and immediately left London and went over to Holland. The Diary throws no light on this story. Franklin's allegation that he obtained them from a member of Parliament, was probably made for a purpose, and the truth of the matter is yet to be discovered.

There is a full and striking account of the remarkable conversation of George III. with Hutchinson on his arrival in London, which, however, was known before, through what the

editor says was a surreptitious copy made by Mr. Rives when Edward Everett was American Minister in London, for Mr. Bancroft, without the knowledge of the Hutchinson family.

Space will not permit of further extracts, but this from the entry of May 3, 1775-twelve days only after Bunker Hill, and twenty-five before the arrival of the news of the battle in England, is too curious to be omitted.-May the 3d, Lord North opened his budget in the H. of Commons, where no opposition remains. Out of doors every artifice is used to keep up a spirit against the Minister for American Measures; and a report has been current to-day that there has been a battle, and that Gage has lost 1,000 men, etc. [the italics are ours]. This almost makes us believe in second sight.

A blemish of the work is the insertion in the text of many inconsequential observations of the editor himself made during a journey in America a few years ago, which are of no value whatever. Otherwise his work is fairly done, and the book is one of great and lasting value. It is to be praised for having an Index, but it should have been a fuller one, especially as to names. The editor promises us at a future time the continua. tion of the Diary to the death of its author in 1780, which will be looked for with eagerness by every one interested in American History.

THE HISTORY OF THE CITY OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, from the discovery of the Great River, in 1524, by Verrazzano, to the Present Time. By ARTHUR JAMES WEISE, M.A. 8vo, pp. 526. 1884. Albany: E. H. Bender.

This work covers a period of three hundred and sixty years, and is the first complete history of our State capital that has been written. It is fully illustrated with buildings old and new, valuable maps, and explanatory diagrams. It treats of discoveries and explorations, early settlements and experiences, the rise and development of the little hamlet and village of Albany, the manners and customs of its inhabitants, Indian hostilities, the Colonial Congress, affairs of the Revolution, the general progress of the city during the present century, and the new Capitol. The author graphically describes Albany, in 1685, as "surrounded by a fence of thick planks and heavy posts, thirteen feet long, and planted upright in the ground. . . . The houses in the village, about one hundred in number, were mostly structures of logs or of framed timber, weather boarded. There were some that were built of brick. The few stone buildings were of rough masonry. Many of the houses were thatched with reeds, some were covered with shingles, and others were roofed with glazed tiles. Very few of the steep gable-roofs had

eave-troughs, hence the occasional use of the descriptive phraseology free drip,' in the early conveyances. Frequently small square dormer windows were set in the roofs to admit light to the garrets, which were commonly used as sleeping-rooms. The chimneys were mostly built on the outside of the houses, at their gable-ends, and were made wide and deep at the bottom for large fire-places. For warmth in winter, long and thick pieces of wood were burned on these ample hearths, particularly in the kitchens, which in cold weather were usually the only rooms that had fire in them. Wide, arched brick bakeovens were often built at the back sides of these spacious kitchen fire-places, and the part projecting into the house-yard was generally covered with a shed-roof. House doors were mounted with long iron hinges set on strong iron staples. Windows contained one or more sashes filled with small panes of glass set in grooves of lead. Stoops-low, wooden platforms with backed benches-were generally placed before the front doors. These porches, on fair summer evenings, were the favorite out-door sitting places of the villagers."

Every page of this excellent historical work gives unmistakable evidence of careful and painstaking research, and the varied data gathered by the accomplished author from an infinite number of original sources, are grouped and presented in the most skillful and felicitous manner. The book is printed in clear handsome type, on choice paper, in elegant binding, and forms a beautiful volume. It is sold only by subscription, but we predict for it a large and appreciative audience outside of the city of Albany. Every citizen of the State of New York who possesses a library, or who has a desire even to be classed among the intelligent of this generation, either with or without a library of his own, cannot afford to miss it from his possession.

The perplexing problems of life are discussed in this volume with rare ability, and from a new point of view-that of conflict in the constitution of things. The author sympathizes with the laboring classes, not because they labor, but because they are more liable than others to suffer injustice and wrong, and because whatever may have determined their lot, it is at best a hard one. But he thinks even the working-man wants a clearer view of the economic situation as it relates to himself. "There is something more needed than mere earning and saving. Laboring men must cultivate a brotherly sympathy

with one another, and learn to act in concert with intelligence and prudence; not to cripple and destroy capital.' The book is strong and rich in suggestion. The writer's name is withheld, but his erudition and impartiality, his charming style, and his skill in reasoning convince us that he has given years of profound thought to these and kindred topics. He wields the pen of a master. And he says so much that is worth while to read and think about, that it is difficult even to enumerate the good points in the volume. Speaking of education for the farmer, he says it should be specially directed to the strengthening of practical common-sense. "What the farmer really wants is discipline in the application of means to ends. It is not economical to direct heavy ordnance against small game. Learned men may not make the best farmers. And boys very naturally refuse to qualify for such an isolated, lonesome, and contracted sphere as that of simply managing a farm. The third chapter, on Monopoly," is one of exceptional interest-as is also the sixth chapter, entitled "Money." In conclusion, the author bids the reformer at all times to remember how easy it is in bringing about a good, to give rise in the process to an unforseen evil.

THE MOUNTAIN ANTHEM. The Beatitudes in Rhythmic Echoes. By Rev. WILLIAM C. RICHARDS. Square 12mo, pp. 42. Lee & Shepard. Boston: 1884.

We have seen nothing more beautiful for the coming Christmas season in the way of a giftbook than this fresh contribution to the "Golden Floral" library of Lee & Shepard. A year ago we had the pleasure of noticing from the same publishers an exceptionally unique little volume by the same author, containing twelve original songs and sonnets founded on the twenty-third Psalm, a new and permanent gem in the coronal of sacred Psalmody, entitled "The Lord is My Shepherd." To all who are familiar with the exquisite grace and sweetness of Mr. Richards' poems, we need only say that "The Mountain Anthem" is equally felicitous in expression and in sentiment to any of his former productions. What could touch the heart more tenderly than the closing lines of his rhythmic echo to the text "Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted":

"Every tear of grief is gladness;
Every sob its solace brings;

So for sweetness in his sadness,
Still the mourner weeps and sings."

It is so rare to find original text in holiday gift-books that we welcome this treasure from Mr. Richards' pen with enthusiasm, and cordially commend the work to those who are searching for presents of substantial worth as well as

beauty for their friends. It is illustrated from original designs in the very highest style of the engraver's art, and appears not only in the silkfringed, dainty, "Golden Floral " manner, but is bound in a delicate blue cloth, full gilt, tastefully ornamented.

MARYLAND. The History of a Palatinate. By WILLIAM HAND BROWNE. (American Commonwealths. Edited by HORACE E. SCUDDER.) I vol. 16m0, pp. 292. Boston, 1884. Houghton, Mifflin & Company.

In the choice of Mr William Hand Browne as an author for a trustworthy and graphic account of the rise and development of Maryland, the editor of this valuable series of historical volumes has made a very strong point. Mr. Browne's familiarity with the political and material development of the Province as well as the State, has enabled him to produce a work of more than usual excellence. He has confined himself chiefly, and we may add, wisely, to the least known period of Maryland's history, that which preceded the War of Independence; and in the prosecution of his work has had exceptional opportunities for examining the original manuscript records and archives. Much that has hitherto been obscure is now presented to the reader in a clear light. The book is well written in simple, straightforward, vigorous English, and is a substantial contribution to the history of America. The early settlement of Maryland is tinged with romance. The figures of Lord Baltimore, Governor Pott, and "Clayborne the Rebel," will ever stand out boldly, inviting acquaintance. We sympathize with Baltimore, who wrote to the Duke of Buckingham in August, 1627, "I came to build, and settle, and sow, and I am fallen to fighting Frenchmen;" and we become singularly interested in the rebellion of Clayborne, and the performances of Richard Ingle and others. We trace Maryland through these pages from a free Palatinate to the condition of a Crown colony; "and the Proprietary, from being a prince little less than a sovereign, to a mere absentee landlord."

THE FIELD OF HONOR. A Complete and Comprehensive History of Dueling in all Countries. By MAJOR BEN C. TRUMAN. 12mo, pp. 599. New York, 1884. Fords, Howard & Hulbert.

"Dueling," says the author of this volume, "undoubtedly took its rise from the judicial combats of Celtic nations, and was first introduced among the Lombards in 659." The custom was kept up in France some nine hundred years until about 1547. Major Truman traces the progress, prevalence, and decline of

dueling in the various European countries and in America, and describes nearly all the noted hostile meetings that were ever recorded. He gives the reader an account, also, of the different modes of fighting, the weapons used in different climes and centuries, with many interesting details. He recites facts and incidents in connection with notable duels with the vigor, spirit, and humor of a genuine story teller. This is con spicuously the case when he comes within the domain of American dueling. He takes the manly, Christian, civilized view of the institution, which seems to have had its uses, like many other things, during the slow development of public law and individual self-restraint, but which he totally condemns in theory and practice for our present day, and treats as one of the historic forces-a thing of the past; a topic, however, full of human interest to the student, the soldier, the professional analyzer of passion and motive, and to that curious and omnivorous creature, the general reader. The book has a careful index of some seventeen hundred entries, referring almost exclusively to the names of principals in the duels recorded, and will be found exceedingly convenient as a work of reference; it is one of those specialties that necessarily find place in every library.

THOMAS CARLYLE. A History of his Life in London. 1834-1881. By JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, M.A. Two vols. in one. 12mo, гp. 417. New York, 1884. Charles Scribner's Sons.

When one of the most brilliant literary portrait painters of his time takes for his subject the career of such a man as Thomas Carlyle, whose writings are spread over the whole English-speaking world, we open the volume with an expectancy not easily defined. Mr. Froude possesses the double gift of accuracy and representative power. He believes in facts first and philosophy afterwards. "Before any facts of human life are available for philosophy, we must have those facts exactly as they were." History recites the actions of men. But actions without motives are nothing, for they may be variously interpreted, and only understood in their causes

The sharpest scrutiny is the condition of undying fame." Mr. Froude esteems no concealment permissible in connection with the life of Carlyle. Thus he writes fearlessly from the broad and immovable basis of truth, and bringing into full play his wonderful powers of narration and characterization, never omitting to acknowledge the good in its proper place and proportion, presents the world, in the book before us-one of the rarest of biographical achievements-a vivid and fascinating picture of Carlyle's peculiar personality.

At the age of thirty-nine Carlyle was, says Mr. Froude, "impracticable, unpersuadable, unmalleable, as independent and willful as if he were an eldest son and the heir of a peerage. He had created no 'public' of his own; the public which existed could not understand his writings and would not buy them, nor could he be induced so much as to attempt to please it. No one seemed to want his services, no one applied to him for contributions. The fire in his soul burnt red to the end, and sparks flew from it which fell hot on those about him, not always pleasant, not always hitting the right spot or the right person; but it was pure fire, notwithstanding-fire of genuine and noble passion, of genuine love for all that was good, and genuine indignation at what was mean, or base, or contemptible." Carlyle's poverty, writings, change of position, nervous irritability, and various checkered experiences, are all delineated in these pages with a master hand, and in a style as captivating as it is informing.

ENGLISH HISTORY IN RHYME: An Aid to Memory for the Use of Schools; with Genealogical Tables of the Sovereigns of England and their Families from 1066 to the Present Time. By MRS. MARY RUSSELL GARDNER, Principal of School for Young Ladies, 603 Fifth Avenue, New York City. 16mo, pp. 38. 1885. Price, 50 cents.

We predict for this clever little volume a warm welcome in the class-room. To memorize the barren dates and events of history is commonly wearisome and distasteful to the pupil, but with a help of this character the irksome task becomes an agreeable pastime, and the lesson is quickly and effectually learned never to be forgotten. The work is an exceptionally wellconstructed metrical summary of the chief features in English history, from the British and Roman period B.C. 55 to the present time. The opening lines are:

"From conquered Gaul, victorious Cæsar crossed the belt of sea

To meet on Eritain's fabled shore the swarming enemy."