BOOK REVIEWS

The Colonial Period of American History: England's Commercial and Colonial Policy, IV. By CHARLES M. ANDREWS. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1938. 477 p. $4.00.) In the first three volumes of his Colonial Period of American History Mr. Andrews has analyzed the motives that impelled Englishmen to found colonies, and discussed the legal and institutional nature of their early settlements. Now, in a fourth volume, he tells of England's experience with her colonies so founded —her conception of their functions, and its expression in administrative ma- chinery. In tracing the development of "England's Commercial and Colonial Policy" from its confused beginning through to the years following the Peace of Paris, Mr. Andrews focuses his attention on the working out of the policy as it appeared to Englishmen. Only occasionally does he suggest how this same policy may have appeared to colonials for whom it was designed and whom it directly affected, and very rarely is he concerned with judgments of its validity or unsoundness. The outlines of this treatment are familiar to readers of the earlier works of Mr. Andrews and of other students in the field. The present volume crowns these earlier studies by filling any gaps yet left in the history of the American colonies from the imperial viewpoint. It is best reviewed, therefore, by noting new points of emphasis, and examining the basic point of view. English commercial policy never embodied "an exact system." A condition rather than a theory, it strove to meet the expanding needs of the state. The Navigation Acts, framed to meet these needs, receive careful analysis, and a long and interesting citation of cases demonstrates their actual operation. Though aimed principally against the Dutch, the new acts appear to have affected the trade of Holland but little prior to 1675. Mr. Andrews agrees substantially with G. L. Beer in his conclusion that neither Maryland nor Virginia appears to have suffered seriously from the enumeration or plantation duty, and believes that such regulation had little to do with the uprisings of Bacon or Culpepper. While accepting the view that the Navigation Acts wrought no long-time havoc to the prosperity of the tobacco colonies, there are those who will still feel that they were responsible for at least temporary economic dislocation there. Three chapters on the enforcement of the Navigation Acts, the administration of the Customs Service, and the work of the Admiralty Courts contain a vast amount of information hitherto unassembled. In writing of the Admiralty Courts, Mr. Andrews stresses their constructive rather than their coercive fea- tures. Their activities he finds to have been vital in the development of colonial commerce, their judges, especially in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and South Carolina, generally fair in their dealings. A chapter on the Board of Trade sup- plements the work of O. M. Dickerson and modifies some of his conclusions. Mr. 462 1939 BOOK REVIEWS 463

Andrews softens the charges of procrastination and neglect of business, finds attendance at the board satisfactory during the years 1696-1750, and demon- strates the fundamental harmony of its activities with those of the Secretary of State. He insists, and I believe rightly, that the Board existed primarily for the promotion of English commerce, and was not created for colonial administration. Yet one might well ask why such an important segment of the imperial business was left without an administrative agency for its transaction, and in its absence find it fair to criticize the Board, which was "open to everything save funda- mental ideas," as a phase of British policy. An interesting and enlightening chapter explores the mind of the "merchant- capitalist." "What the mercantilists of this period wanted was what all states and nations wanted and still want ... a wide margin of profit, a surplus laid by for emergencies. ..." But as there was no complete agreement among them as to how this profit might best be secured, there could be no mercantile "system." Such men conceived only two possible policies in regard to the colonies: either to maintain them as dependencies and monopolize their trade; or to cast them loose and risk their falling into French hands. No third course deserved con- sideration, for, as Davenant said: "It can't be reasonably admitted that the mother country should impoverish herself to enrich the children, . . . least the procedure should in time furnish us with a subject for a melancholy reflection." So, with these views, and the imperfect machinery for putting them into practice, England set about enforcing her policy in the colonies. This policy evolved very gradually, and not always logically. As was to be expected with Englishmen, there was much muddling through, and a monotonously consistent misunder- standing of the colonies and their people. Administration at Whitehall, suffering from apathy and inertia after 1713, found any constructive action abhorrent. Meanwhile the colonies were growing, and while they were maturing they greatly changed. At this point we must enter a caveat with respect to this admirable book. Mr. Andrews' almost exclusive emphasis on the British point of view implies a mis- leading neglect of the colonial aspects of the problem. While British policy shifted to meet the needs and conditions of the eighteenth century, the colonies themselves underwent a marked transformation. The clash of British with colonial interests can be understood only in the light of the remarkable growth of the latter. Mr. Andrews touches only briefly on this growth, and his own undoubted awareness of it is not always made clear to the reader. His insistence upon colonial particularism [413] which appears to me to have been largely political, seems to blind him to the very considerable development of coopera- tion and even unity in social and economic spheres. His statement that "contact by land was infrequent" seems to overlook the great intercolonial migrations, the circulation of ideas and information via the colonial post and press, and the increasing amount of land travel, which, though small by modern standards, had significant results. Granting that "probably more men [e. g., travelers] went to England," the Continent and the West Indies, "than to colonies along their own seaboard," yet coastwise trade, in the thirty years before the Revolution, 464 BOOK REVIEWS October both in volume and importance, was impressive. Nor am I able to agree that the colonies were "as far apart mentally as they were geographically [414]." Ex- tensive study of colonial culture seems to reveal more uniformity than diversity, its differences those of detail rather than of fundamentals. Moreover, uniformity was hardly a virtue of the eighteenth century. There may have been a lesser chasm in outlook and customs between a Massachusetts Yankee and a Low- country South Carolinian than between a Prussian and a Wurttemberger, a Gascon and a Breton, or a Londoner and a North Briton. More consideration of the centripetal forces in colonial society would, I believe, lead to a reassessment of the relative importance of the centrifugal influences of politics. Similarly, the events leading up to and following the year 1775 appear unreasonable and in- explicable unless in the study of our colonial past we are as aware of the develop- ment of colonial economy and points of view as of English interests and concepts. Without the balance the colonies appear in 1775 as children sprung suddenly from infancy to manhood, without the apprenticeship of adolescence—a cataclysmic theory that hardly accords with the facts. I have perhaps belabored this point, not so much to criticize the work of Mr. Andrews, whose views have over the last thirty years provided an antidote that was sorely needed to the romantic, unscientific, filio-pietistic attitude toward the colonial period, as to emphasize that in following this remarkably able, learned and fair analysis of England's outlook on her colonies and their problems the reader should bear constantly in mind that there is another side of the picture to be studied—that of the colonial outlook on its own problems and towards Eng- land. A closer approximation to the historical truth of our early development will, I believe, proceed from a fusion of the two points of view. After all, I suppose what I am really saying is that I find The Colonial Period of American History too inclusive a title, even for this great historical work. Brown University CARL BRIDENBAUGH

Cities in the Wilderness: The First Century of Urban Life in America, 1625- 1742. By CARL BRIDENBAUGH. (New York: The Ronald Press Company, 1938. xiv, 500 p. Illustrated. $5.00.) It is a truism that American society today is an industrial one, dominated by influences radiating from cities, and presided over by urban directors of Big Business and finance. The antecedents of the present state of affairs are to be found in the commercial towns and in the merchant capitalism of colonial times. Yet so pervasive has been the influence of rural life in the past that the study of the origins of capitalism and urban activity have been seriously neglected. Now, with the publication of Dr. Carl Bridenbaugh's Cities in the Wilderness, the gap has been filled. The subjects of his work are the origins of Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Charleston, and Newport and their growth to the year 1742. The book is remarkably symmetrical and coherent in organization. There are three parts, each consisting of four chapters. The first part discusses the founding of the towns and their early history as villages, to 1690. The second treats of the i939 BOOK REVIEWS 465 growth of the towns, 1690-1720, which magnified urban problems and revealed cultural strivings. The third period, 1720-1742, exhibits the forming of an urban culture on commercial foundations. For each part a well-conceived plan is followed. A chapter on the urban setting, describing geographical factors, population, town government, buildings, fuel supply, streets, bridges and traffic problems, sanitation and drainage, wharves and the water-front scene comes first. The data on these topics are presented separately for each town. The second chapter of each part deals with the economic phase: food supply, markets, fairs, the trading areas of the towns, their external commerce, marketing facilities, town industries, business groups, transportation within the town, public regu- lation of business, and the laboring people. Then follows a chapter describing such urban problems as fire prevention, water supply, police protection, crime and punishment, poor relief, medical care, and immorality. The last chapter, on social life, treats the national or racial elements, social classes, religion, taverns, diversions and amusements, education, intellectual life outside the schoolroom, and the fine arts. This convenient arrangement has many uses. It enables one to make a comparative survey, by towns or by periods, of each topic; so, also, comparative studies of the different towns are at hand. One may trace each topic, for one town or for all five, over a period of a hundred years. Finally, a general history of each town may easily be pieced together. Dr. Bridenbaugh is entitled to all praise for his industry in discovering material and for his skill in classifying it. Here is a reference work containing a wealth of data that will be highly useful to all workers in the colonial field. Few books offer such a high percentage of new information. Equally remarkable is the author's success in integrating the new and the familiar, without undue repetition of the latter. In one respect, his work may be likened to a broad and deeply laid foundation, constructed of stones fitted closely together. Each con- clusion is supported by a mass of evidence, giving the effect of solid, careful workmanship. But Cities in the Wilderness is more than a compilation of data. Although Dr. Bridenbaugh does not bend all his evidence to support a single thesis, one thing emerges above the others. The towns were sustained by commerce. The processes of business created inequalities of wealth that intensified class dif- ferences. Poverty deepened, and poor relief became more and more pressing. The accumulation of capital led to diversified investment by merchant-capitalists —in land, in manufacturing industries. Commercial relations between town and country produced conflicts over taxation and currency. The pursuit of gain brought about a shift of interest from theology to secular activities. Society in the towns increasingly reflected the influence of a leisure class (as described by Veblen) in the conspicuous consumption of wealth, the vicarious performance of leisure, the emulation of the elite by the middle class, ceremonialism in relig- ion, and pecuniary standards of taste. Since the towns had similar problems and numerous contacts with one another, Dr. Bridenbaugh's study gives evidence of an intercolonial unity which prepared the way for national union. The empha- sis is upon common, underlying forces rather than upon superficial differences. 466 BOOK REVIEWS October

In the spheres of learning, expression, manners, and the fine arts, the influences radiating from the towns were to dominate the future. Town life appears as a combination of individualism and cooperation—self-interest restrained by group control. At many points the European heritage is the starting point for practices soon modified by the new environment. As to omissions: Dr. Bridenbaugh says little about taxation, town revenues, land values, rents, and the real estate business. Courtship, marriage, family life, and the status of women and children are other topics that do not receive sys- tematic treatment. For many a day this book will stand as the authority on its subject. No other work can compare with it for richness of detail, or as an exposition of the varied activities and problems of the towns. Its weight will be against the frontier interpretation of American History. Here we get an insight into highly signifi- cant features of both past and present—the unequal distribution of wealth, the formation of social classes, the secularization of thought, the patronage of the fine arts by the upper class, the conceptions of the good life toward which Middle Class America has aspired, the passion for building and material progress, the utilitarian bent, the fondness for the elegancies of Europe, the devotion to busi- ness and the pursuit of gain, the progress of amusement and the relaxing of Puritan restraints, the growth of specialization, of scholarship and of scientific enquiry, the spread of religious tolerance, the gregarious spirit, and, above all, that blending of individualism and cooperation, of private initiative and group action, which has preserved thus far the old ideologies of the New World from the new ideologies of the Old World. University of Wisconsin CURTIS NETTELS

James Kent: A Study in Conservatism 1763-1847. By JOHN THEODORE HORTON. (New York, London: D. Appleton-Century Company Inc., 1939. xi, 354 P. $3.5O.) When he appeared before the Supreme Court of the State of New York for his attorney's license in 1785, James Kent found "a bench of unlearned and bibu- lous judges who, having a relish at once for pomp and port, were holding cere- monious session in a tavern." By the time he descended from the leadership of that same court to assume the Chancellorship in 1814, Kent had vouchsafed it a pattern of seriousness and learning that was unprecedented and not soon to be approached. "I am determined law shall receive a daily and competent portion of my time," he wrote to his brother in 1790, when he became junior partner to Gilbert Livingston. And already having made the acquaintance of Blackstone, Locke, Montesquieu, Grotius, Pufendorf and Sir Matthew Hale, young Kent was then deep in Coke and Peere Williams, Lord Mansfield and the Federalist Papers of "his idol," . All of these, with Bracton and the great Frenchmen, Emerigon, Valin and Pothier, occupied progressively more of his time, until, when he became Chief Justice of a politically hostile court, Kent was able to dominate it through erudition and cogent reasoning just as thoroughly as Marshall, by sheer force and ingenuity, dominated his court in the nation's capital. Not the least attractive feature, to James Kent, 1939 BOOK REVIEWS 467 of a judicial career was the great opportunity it afforded for study and effective thought; and not the least important aspect of this masterly biography of the great commentator is its illumination of what an eighteenth-century lawyer and judge had available for study if, as so few of them did, he had the ambition and natural equipment to master his field. Professor Horton calls his biography A Study in Conservatism. No descrip- tion could be more apt. James Kent was a conservative in the etymological sense of the word, and his life was consecrated to the study of tradition only the better to preserve it. Kent's work was to recall American law from ignorance and instability and to place it upon the venerable foundations of English common law and English equity. The times, with their raging democracy and growing populism, were strongly against him, but the lasting importance of Johnson's reports of his cases and the enormous influence of his Commentaries on Ameri- can law, attest strongly to his success. When the constitutional convention in New York, in 1846, made for the codification of the common law and the aboli- tion of separate courts of chancery, it marked the end in that state, of what Dean Pound rightfully calls "The Formative Era of American Law." That era was dominated, with Story and Marshall, by James Kent, and the influence of all three lived long beyond its demise. Staunch federalist and worshipper of English practice that he was, Kent was no blind seeker after convenient precedents. On more than one occasion he dis- carded an English rule because it offended American conditions and his astrin- gent defense of property rights was sufficiently sweetened by American democ- racy to permit his approval of the abolition, in New York, of entail, primogeni- ture and a score more of English defenses of property in land. That this apparent acquiescence in democratic tendencies was only Kent's way to temper democratic license, Professor Horton clearly shows, and it is typical of his transparent honesty in dealing with the conservative foibles of his subject, that he explains this apparent inconsistency of Kent's as emanating from the latter's belief that "the more numerous the owners [of land] the less their disposition to democratic change." One aspect of the Jefferson-Jackson era of proliferating democracy and social reform, was the widespread attack of state legislatures upon the incidents of the common law. This was apparent not only in enactments affecting banking, real property and procedure, but in legislative tampering with corporation charters. Up to now this process has received no attention from historians using hackneyed sources in unoriginal ways. Professor Horton himself has had no opportunity in the present volume to embark upon this subject, but in many places he has indicated the virility of this attack. We call attention to it here only to suggest a major aspect of American history that has gone begging for atten- tion. Always luminously written, absolutely thorough in its documentation, with a complete bibliography and an excellent analytical index, this volume is a model of historical writing. This reviewer would like to enter a plea, however, that writers using legal material please date their cases. University of Pennsylvania WILLIAM MILLER 468 BOOK REVIEWS October

Literary Landmarks in Philadelphia. By JOSEPH JACKSON. (Philadelphia: David McKay Company, 1939. ix, 334 p. Illustrated. $7.50.) To compile this attractively issued book, no one could have been better equipped than Joseph Jackson, the author of Market Street and other works. Mr. Jackson, it may be said, knows every nook and cranny that has any associa- tion with our history of "grave, calm, kind old Philadelphia," as Thackeray described us. From the time he was a boy, the author took the greatest interest in our Quaker City past, and when, a little later, he became a young reporter on the old Public Ledger, he was regarded as an authority on the origin of streets, alleys, buildings and the like, and their connection with the lives of famous Philadelphians, and other notables. In these Literary Landmarks the author is at his best. He tells us, for instance, a great deal that is entertaining about Charles Dickens's visits to our city. On his first visit, he arrived here at night, and was lodged at the Hotel, in Chestnut Street, opposite the old Custom House, formerly the United States Bank. "He took one glance out of his hotel window, and the melancholy spec- tacle of the old bank building, which greeted his gaze, caused him to be seized with a deep feeling of depression. The emotion was probably deepened when he heard that the institution was bankrupt." On Dickens's last visit to America, he stayed several times at the Continental Hotel, where now stands the Ben- jamin Franklin Hotel, and he was entertained by George W. Childs, publisher of the Public Ledger, whose home was then in Locust, above Sixteenth Street. The Continental Hotel housed many celebrities in its time, and these Jackson knows well. Such heroes as , General Grant, and a distin- guished array of others registered there. A porch, or rather a balcony, from which Lincoln once stood to bow to the multitude gathered around Ninth and Chestnut Streets to greet him, was often pointed out by those who remembered him well. Of course, we find mention of the home of in his final days, situated in a court which opened into Market Street, between Third and Fourth Streets, and which now bears the name of South Orianna Street. "This house," says Jackson, "was erected about 1763, and it remained his home to the end of his days, although at one time, he was strongly impelled to change his residence to London, and would have followed this design had it not been that Mrs. Franklin feared to cross the Atlantic." The book has much to record about Philadelphia's famous tragedian, Edwin Forrest, who lies in a vault in the yard of St. Paul's Church in Third below Walnut Street. The brownstone mansion at Broad and Master Streets, where he died, exists, and is now occupied by the Moore Institute of Art, Science and Industry. Nor must we forget that we still have with us the Walnut Street Theatre, where Forrest made his first professional appearance in November 1820 when he was only fourteen years old. During his long and prosperous career on the American stage, he was considered the greatest tragedian of his times, and possessed a magnificent presence, and a powerful and melodious voice. 1939 BOOK REVIEWS 469

Mr. Jackson's Literary Landmarks are so full of good things that it is hard to do justice to them within the limitations set for the reviewer. Many Philadelphia worthies, and great people from elsewhere, who have had associations with the city, at one time and another, pass through his engrossing pages. We hear of , whose home when he wrote "The Bells" is still to be seen; of Washington; of Joseph Jefferson, whose birthplace is still shown; Charles Brockden Brown; Charles Godfrey Leland; Dr. Horace Howard Furness; Dr. Caspar Wistar; George H. Boker; ; the Bradfords; Thomas Dunn English; the Hopkinsons; John Sartain; the Pennells; Owen Wister; Thackeray; Henry Charles Lea; Fanny Kemble and a host of others, too numer- ous to chronicle here. It is a most interesting array, and Mr. Jackson has pro- duced a book that may well be called a Landmark and prove of value to historians for a long time to come. One must not forget to mention the photographic reproduction of many residences and buildings that go to illustrate the text. They, too, are of great value as local history. In this connection, it may be well to add that The Histori- cal Society of Pennsylvania has a fund for the photographing of old buildings and landmarks in Philadelphia, founded through the generosity of Mr. Boies Penrose, a Councillor of the Society. EDWARD ROBINS

Jamestown and St. Mary's: Buried Cities of Romance. By HENRY CHANDLEE FORMAN. (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1938. xviii, 355p. Illus- trated. $4.50.) This is doubtless the most important book on colonial architecture to appear in a decade. It deals with the earliest settlements in Virginia and in Maryland, both abandoned so long ago that their buildings are recoverable only by excava- tions. The author has been concerned with recent excavations on both sites, and makes the first extended publication of their results. More than this, he coordi- nates these results with the documentary evidence, written and graphic, in the published voyages and descriptions, in the court records and other early manu- scripts, and in the old maps. Jamestown was well studied a generation ago by Dr. Lyon G. Tyler and by Samuel H. Yonge, who made the pioneer exca- vations and study of the land grants. Both of them supposed the fort and town of 1607 to have been near the surviving church tower, which they supposed to be on the site of ArgalPs church of 1617. Forman, however, adopts and supports the argument of George C. Gregory that the earliest settlement was further to the east, near the pier of 1882. In the case of St. Mary's there have been but scattered and fragmentary discussions, so that Forman's work is even more fundamental. In both cases it exhausts substantially all the evidence so far known. The author rightly stresses the absence of log houses at either of these early sites, as in the first English settlements generally. It is regrettable, to be sure, that he sees fit to present this view as if it were a novelty, without mention of the earlier discussions. He properly stresses, also, the first form of construction, on 470 BOOK REVIEWS October

"crochets" (croches or forks) to support the ridge, though like Norman Isham, he confuses the crotch with a cruck, which afforded a different and more ad- vanced form of support. Actually we have no evidence of any instance of crucks in early America. One other note of criticism suggests itself: as Ulrich Phillips has pointed out, the fundamental obstacle to the growth of Jamestown and St. Mary's was not the cussedness of men, but the culture of tobacco in the drowned valleys of a tidewater region, stimulating scattered, self-contained plantations and discouraging ports of entry. These, however, are minor matters in a work so admirable in its scholarship, as well as so enjoyable in its presentation. Philadelphia Museum of Art FISKE KIMBALL

TheBonapartes in America. By CLARENCE EDWARD MACARTNEY and GORDON DORRANCE. (Philadelphia: Dorrance and Company, Inc., 1939. 286 p. Illustrated. $3.00.) The Bonapartes in America, in spite of its name, by no means confines itself to the lives of Napoleon's relatives in this country. Rather do the authors attempt to recount every episode in which any of the Emperor's friends, relatives, officers, or the Emperor himself for that matter, had anything whatever to do in the Western Hemisphere. We read of the Louisiana Purchase, of the apocryphal end of Marshal Ney in an obscure hamlet in North Carolina, of other generals who became voluntary exiles in Alabama and Texas, of abortive attempts on this side of the water to rescue Napoleon from St. Helena, as well as of a semi-myth- ical American offspring of the Emperor, of Napoleon III and his part in the ill- fated career of Maximilian in Mexico. These incidents, however interesting in themselves, are somewhat beside the point; but it is the first half of the book only that deals with the Bonapartes who came to our shores. Best known of the American Bonapartes was Jerome, whose celebrated love match with Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore has always affected American heartstrings. Their son Jerome went to Harvard, then studied law and settled down to live the pleasant life of a scholarly gentleman in Baltimore. Of his two sons, the elder, Jerome Napoleon, went to West Point and subsequently entered the service of imperial France; while the younger, Charles Joseph, who became a fearless and upright lawyer noted for his activity in municipal and civil ser- vice reform, capped a distinguished career as attorney general under . More inclined to settle in America than the first Jerome was his older brother Joseph who came here after Waterloo and ensconced himself on a magnificent estate at Bordentown. There he laid out a park, copied from the Escurial, with splendid trees, lakes, and twelve miles of walks. In addition to this he had exten- sive lands in New York, near Carthage, where as at Bordentown he developed a romantic landscape around Lake Bonaparte. Joseph's two daughters married their cousins: the elder, Zenaide, becoming the wife of Lucien Bonaparte, and the younger, Charlotte, the bride of Napoleon Louis, the brother of Napoleon III. Of Lucien we wish the authors had told us more, for his work as a naturalist, i939 BOOK REVIEWS 471 culminating in the great ornithology which he wrote with Alexander Wilson, and his friendship with Audubon, makes him perhaps the most interesting of his family in the United States. Reading this book we receive the impression that the American Bonapartes of the second generation were a liberal, enlightened group, intelligent and honest, carrying on many of the ideals of the French Revolution far more sincerely than did the most celebrated of their race. Unfortunately, the literary style of the authors is rather lifeless, and the text suffers from too numerous and too lengthy quotations. Physically, also, the book is a mediocre production. The type and paper are alike indifferent, while the half-tone illustrations are totally inexcus- able in this day of cheap and excellent collotype plates. Philadelphia BOIES PENROSE

The Yankee Cheese Box. By ROBERT STANLEY MCCORDOCK. (Philadelphia: Dorrance and Company, 1938. 470 p. $3.00.) In response to the ever increasing demand for material on the War between the States the story of the first American ironclads is retold in The Yankee Cheese Box. The fame of the Monitor and of the Virginia notwithstanding, the facts surrounding their remarkable careers are today generally unknown. Dr. McCordock has, therefore, done a valuable service in collecting a large amount of contemporary data relating to these two vessels and, as a result, has been able to add to our knowledge of their operations and estimate more accurately the influence they had on the progress of the war. Hitherto unpublished material permits the author to present a very complete account of Ericsson's many difficulties with the Navy Department; and offer a fine picture of the ineptness of the war government. Numerous quotations from the correspondence of the chief figures of the day are equally revealing in this respect. However, the outstanding feature of the book is the dramatic account of the famous engagement on March 9, 1862. It is to be regretted that the struc- ture of the tale has been built upon such a mass of newspaper opinion and sur- mise as practically to obliterate the recital of main events. The number of quo- tations from subscribers' letters offering inane suggestions as to what the gov- ernment should do appears to be excessive. The author's method of approach is unusual but his presentation has been somewhat weakened by this desire to give a complete view of what the country as a whole was thinking. In fact he has given a cross section of popular reactions to each phase of the story rather than a recital of the story itself. As a contribution to naval history this book is of value chiefly as a compilation of material on our first ironclads. Its importance for students is considerably lessened by the scarcity of references to the official records and by the absence of an index. As has been noted above, an oversupply of irrelevant opinion and unre- lated remarks drawn from the contemporary press clogs the narrative and makes the book hard to read. Philadelphia HENRY CADWALADER 472 BOOK REVIEWS October The Life and Letters of Bishop William White: Together with the Services and Addresses Commemorating the One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary of His Consecration to the Episcopate. Edited by WALTER HERBERT STOWE. Church Historical Society, Publication No. 9. (New York and Milwaukee: Morehouse Publishing Co., 1937. xiii, 306 p. Illustrated. $2.50.) An awakened consciousness that the church played an important part in the foundations of our national institutions has prompted investigation into the ac- tivities of various branches of the Christian Church in America, and of the individual contributions of members who influenced the nature of that activity. The major portion of the book under review is such a study based upon the life and activities of William White. The biographical part of this work, comprising about three-fifths of the entire book, is the product of five writers. The first chapter on the "Ancestry and Early Life" appeared about a half century ago and is reprinted in this volume. It was written by William Stevens Perry, whose Historical Collections Relating to the American Colonial Church has long been a valuable source of information to historians in this field. "The White Family," "Education," and "England and Ordination" form the basis for the development of this phase of the biog- raphy. As a student White secured his education at the College of Philadelphia, and came under the direction or influence of such men as William Smith, Francis Alison, Richard Peters, and others. Since the author of this chapter relied chiefly upon Bishop White's autobiographical account of this period of his life, the quotations used contain comments and reflections of William White on the conditions and men of his day. An account of the ordination in April, 1772, and of the incidents associated with this period of White's life concludes this chapter. The second chapter, devoted to White's work as a presbyter, written by the Reverend Walter Herbert Stowe, carries the reader through the stirring period of the Revolution when the adherents of the Anglican Church, a state church, were confronted with the necessity of giving their support to the Revolution, or of maintaining their allegiance to the mother church and state. One follows with interest the position taken by White in his refusal to preach before a battalion, of his continuance to pray for the king until July, 1776, of his taking of the oath of allegiance to the United States, of the execution of his office as chaplain of the Continental Congress with the Reverend George Duffield when that body was forced to leave Philadelphia during the occupation of that city by the British troops, of the departure of Duche and Coombe to England, of White's services to both churches after the departure of the British, and of his judicious conduct that did much to dispel suspicion against the Episcopal Church. During this period White made public his conception of the position of the Episcopal Church in America in a pamphlet, The Case of the Episcopal Churches in the United States Considered. Here, before peace had been secured, he declared his belief in "a free Church in a free State," and gave his opinion of the importance of an 1939 BOOK REVIEWS 473 episcopate in America. The organization of the Episcopal Church in America through a General Convention of both clerical and lay deputies in 1785, and the election of White in 1786 as bishop of the diocese of Pennsylvania by a dio- cesan convention conclude this important period in his life of service. The late Reverend Dr. Louis C. Washburn prepared the chapter entitled, "The Bishop/' in which he set forth in summary some of the major contributions of this man of "singular gifts and incessant labors" during a ministry of sixty-six years. The Reverend William Wilson Manross in his discussion of "Dr. White's Episcopate" has given a carefully developed account, based on documentary ma- terial indicated in the extensive footnotes, of the wise and judicious service of Bishop White in his capacity as presiding bishop, diocesan, and rector. This section also includes an account of the development of the Episcopal Church in America. Through the wise, moderate, and cautious leadership of the bishops was laid the foundation of support that was necessary for the greater activity of the subsequent years. Although the chapter devoted to White's labor as a teacher by Dr. James A. Montgomery is comprehensive in its perspective of the times in which White lived, it leaves the reader with the desire to know more of the intimate labors of White as a teacher. Where the personal touches do appear they are soon lost in the parade of the contemporary figures. As a trustee of the Academy, College, and University, as first president of the old Sunday School Society as well as of the Philadelphia Bible Society, as a founder of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, as a theological tutor, White supported and contributed widely to the cause of education. The documentary section, comprising a selection of letters chosen to illustrate the views and varied activities of White, contains only three pre-Revolutionary letters: one of 1770 and two of 1771. The remaining letters cover the years from 1786 to 1833. A series of brief commemorative addresses is included in the book, also. Although repetition characterizes certain sections as a result of the varied authorship, the study of Bishop White's life gives a unity to the work as a whole. The inclusion of a considerable amount of source material in the biographical part is worthy of note, and the bibliography of manuscripts, books, sermons, essays, and addresses of Bishop William White is a distinct contribution. Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, Pa, GUY S. KLETT

Wilmington, Delaware: Three Centuries Under Four Flags. By ANNA T. LINCOLN. (Rutland: Tuttle Publishing Company, 1937. 411 p. $3.00.) This needed history of the city of Wilmington, Delaware, is comprehensive in scope and treatment. It successfully surveys not only the general history of the city through three centuries but also sets down entertaining and accurate facts on the life and work of the people. Here one can find facts and comments on the early explorations and claims, on the Swedish settlements, on the coming of the Dutch and later of , as well as pertinent accounts of Swedish 474 BOOK REVIEWS October manners and customs, the early churches and their influence, and the roads and bridges. Interesting quotations from sources are frequently used but exact refer- ences are not always cited. However distracting this failure in historical tech- nique might be to the trained historian, it does not detract from the quality of the book. We learn that by 1655 every Swede in the settlement had his own bath-house. Earlier a community bath-house had been built along the Brandywine but this was later enlarged and used as a smokehouse. For a long time the native Swedish dress was closely followed and a century after the first settlers arrived the tendency of young people to imitate "ugly English dress" was deplored. The earliest settlers lived in log cabins with clay plastered between the cracks and small loop-holes with sliding boards used in place of windows. Miss Lincoln points out that bricks for chimneys were at first brought from Sweden. Textiles, glass, soap and paper were early manufactured in the Wilmington settlement. Brooms were made of spruce branches and candles were placed in sconces on the walls of the cabins. The Finns made baskets, boxes, sieves, graters and even bot- tles for salt and pepper from the birch bark. The women cultivated flax and wove bolts of linen. So industry in these parts was inaugurated. Today Wilmington is an industrial center where ships, cars, tools, paper and textiles are manufactured. There is a concise sketch of the rise of the shipbuilding yards. Miss Lincoln does not neglect the cultural side of the life of her city, and she gives space to the private and public schools, arts and crafts and the town library. Indeed, there is in this book something of interest to persons in all walks of life. The illustrations are quaint, uncommon and well-chosen. There is an index and bibliography. Philadelphia NATHAN G. GOODMAN

American Frontier. By ELISABETH PECK. (Garden City, New York: Double- day, Doran and Co., 1937. 195 p. $2.00.) A new, informal, and compelling kind of history finds expression in American Frontier by Elisabeth Peck. The material concerns frontier life covering the years 1780 to 1875 and ranging in locale from Kentucky to California. From a wealth of records, anecdotes, journals, newspapers and other odd items emerges a series of poems, all of which convey the life movement, aspirations and vigor of frontier life. There are narratives, character sketches, vivid scenes and ballad- like episodes, in varied rhythmic patterns. The poet also makes effective use of refrains in some of the poems. The individual poems are full of stirring life and feeling, revealing in flashes the epic of the American journey West. The series as a whole becomes a unified record. This volume helps to prove the absolute rightness of poetic forms as the means of expressing significant human ex- periences. Philadelphia JULIA N. GOODMAN 1939 BOOK REVIEWS 475

United States Ministers To The Papal States: Instructions And Despatches 1848-1868. Edited with Introduction by LEO FRANCIS STOCK. (Wash- ington, D. C.: Catholic University Press, 1933. xxxix, 456 p.) This is the initial volume of the documentary publications of the American Catholic Historical Association. The material covers the period beginning with the administration of Jacob L. Martin, "first charge of the newly established legation at the court of Pius IX."

American Opinion of Roman Catholicism in The Eighteenth Century. By SISTER MARY AUGUSTINA (RAY). (New York: Columbia University Press, 1936. 456 p. $4.75.) In the foreword Professor Evarts B. Greene states that the writer of this monograph "has given us for the first time a comprehensive, thoroughly docu- mented, and accurate account of this phase of early American history." The book contains a valuable bibliography of forty-seven pages.

Girard Trust Company: A Century of Financial Activity, 1836-1936. (Phila- delphia: Girard Trust Co. 1936. 191 p. Illustrated.) Written to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the Girard Trust Company. The author is an unnamed member of the company's staff, thoroughly acquainted with the history and workings of the institution. The volume contains a foreword by Albert A. Jackson, President of the Girard Trust Company and is dedicated to Effingham B. Morris, President of the Company for forty-one years.

The Ark and The Dove: The Beginning of Civil and Religious Liberties in America. By J. Moss IVES. (New York: Longmans Green and Co., 1936. viii, 435 p. Illustrated. $3.50.) Mr. Ives finds the beginnings of civil liberties and religious liberties in Amer- ica in the founding of the Maryland colony partly as a refuge for persecuted Catholics. The book is well written, but mainly from secondary sources.

Henry Wheaton, 1785-1848. By ELIZABETH FEASTER BAKER. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1937. xi, 425 p. Illustrated. $4.00.) Henry Wheaton's chief claim to fame was his authorship of Elements of In- ternational Law (1836), and The History of The Law of Nations (1842). Wheaton "began his career as a lawyer in Rhode Island and New York, and practiced before the Supreme Court of the United States." He also edited a newspaper in and served as Reporter of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1816 to 1827. He was Charge d'Affaires of the United States in Denmark from 1827 to 1835. His career is portrayed in this fully documented and able study. 476 BOOK REVIEWS October

The Changing West and Other Essays. By LAURENCE M. LARSON. (North- field, Minnesota: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1937. xii, 180 p. Illustrated. $2.50.) A mere statement of the titles of some of the eight essays that make up this volume will attest the breadth of Professor Larson's interests. All of the essays are at once scholarly and provocative. The first has given its title to the book, the third is called "The Convention Riot at Benson Grove, Iowa, in 1876"; an- other is on "Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen." The last is entitled "The Lay Preacher in Pioneer Times."

Donald Mackenzie, "King of The Northwest/' By CECIL W. MACKENZIE. (Los Angeles: Ivan Deach Jr., Publisher, 1937. xviii, 210 p.) This is "The Story of an international hero of the Oregon Country and the Red River settlement at Lower Fort Garry (Winnipeg)," as told by the "old- est living descendant."

Proceedings and Debates of the British Parliaments Respecting North America. Edited by LEO FRANCIS STOCK. (Washington, D. C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1937. xxvii, 888 p.) This is volume IV, covering the period 1728 to 1739.

Consider the Lilies How They Grow: An Interpretation of the Symbolism of Pennsylvania German Art. By JOHN JOSEPH STOUDT. (Allentown: The Pennsylvania German Folklore Society, 1937. 336 p. Illustrated.) This handsome book is volume two of the publications of the Pennsylvania German Folklore Society. It contains, among other virtues, seventy-five full pages of illustrations.

They Were in Prison: A History of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, 178J— 1937. By NEGLEY K. TEETERS, with an Introduction by Harry Elmer Barnes, and a concluding chapter by ALBERT G. FRASER. (Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Co., 1937. xvi, 541 p. Illustrated.) The Pennsylvania Prison Society is the successor to The Philadelphia So- ciety for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons, and together they have gone through more than one hundred and fifty years of humanitarian striving. The history of those years is excellently portrayed in this volume, an exceptionably able work on any grounds, but particularly noteworthy for an anniversary project.

History of the Mennonites of the Franconia Conference. By JOHN C. WENGER. (Telford, Pennsylvania: The Franconia Mennonite Historical Society, 1937. xvi, 523 p. Illustrated.) This is an addition to the lengthening list of works on various Mennonite settlements in the United States. It deals with the history of the "very first settle- 1939 BOOK REVIEWS 477 merit" in the United States, at Germantown, in 1683. The volume is in six parts: General History, Congregational Histories, Ministerial List, History of Ac- tivities, Schisms, and Documentary Appendix.

The Collapse of the Confederacy, By CHARLES H. WESLEY. (Washington, D. C.: The Associated Publishers, Inc., 1937. xiii, 225 p. $2.15.) This volume by the Professor of History at Howard University is an elabora- tion of an essay that first appeared in the Howard University Studies in History. It is not a history of the confederacy but only an exposition of its decline. It is well documented and contains a comprehensive bibliography.

35,000 Days in Texas: A History of the Dallas News and Its Forbears. By SAM ACHESON. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1938. xviii, 337 p. Illustrated. $2.50.) Beginning its exciting career in 1842 when Texas was yet an independent republic, what is now the Dallas News has recorded the history of the Lone Star State for nearly one hundred years. The history of the paper and the history of its locale have run along similar paths and both are here recorded in lively style.

The Negro in The Civil War. By HERBERT APTHEKER. (New York: Inter- national Publishers, 1938. 48 p.) This little volume is designed as a pamphlet rather than a monograph and its only concession to scholarly paraphernalia is a list of "Suggested Readings" in lieu of a bibliography. The author has published an article on slave insurrections in Science and Society.

Moccasins in the Wilderness. By ELIZABETH HAWTHORN BUCK. (Philadel- phia: The Penn Publishing Co., 1938. 238 p. $1.50.) A novel of revolutionary war days in Western Pennsylvania.

New York's Making Seen Through the Eyes of My Ancestors. By MARY DE PEYSTER RUTGERS MCCRAE CONGER (VANAMEE). (London: Methuen & Co., Ltd., 1938. xi, 119 p. Illustrated. $1.75.) This little volume is the history of New York "as six generations of De Peys- ters saw it, beginning with the year 1640," right on through to 1935. It is an intimate and revealing story. •

From Mill Wheel to Plowshare. The Story of the Contribution of the Christian Orndorff Family to the Social and Industrial History of the United States. By JULIA ANGELINE DRAKE and JAMES RIDGELY ORNDORFF. (Cedar Rapids, Iowa: The Torch Press, 1938. xii, 271 p. Illustrated. $3.00.) Christian Orndorff was one of the many "High Germans" who came to Pennsylvania before the American Revolution. His story is now told from "hundreds of old land records, diaries, old county histories, and extensive manu- 478 BOOK REVIEWS October

script material." A second volume is promised to bring the story of the family up to date by presenting "the names and dates of all the known members of the family." (Preface.)

Chronicles of Old Berkeley3 A Narrative History of a Virginia County from Its Beginnings to IQ26. By MABEL HENSHAW GARDINER, and ANN HEN- SHAW GARDINER. (Durham, N. C.: The Seeman Press, 1938. ix, 323 p. Illustrated.) This history of a section of old Virginia, now West Virginia, has been told from a multiplicity of original sources, many of which are here reproduced either in full or in greater part, including a very illuminating county census report of 1840 (pp. 113-118).

Old Sherry: Portrait of a Virginia Family. By FRANK L. KLINGBERG. (Rich- mond: Garrett and Massie Inc., 1938. xi, 218 p. Illustrated. $3.00.) The greater part of this volume is devoted to the letters of William Wirt Wysor, a series of letters which "are, in effect, a diary" of the years 1893-1897. These were years of "exile" in Spain for this scion of a Virginia family, and almost all of the letters included in the book were written from Cadiz or from Jerez de la Frontera. Minstrels of The Mine Patch: Songs and Stories of The Anthracite Industry. By GEORGE KORSON. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1938. xii, 332 p. $3.00.) This volume is an original contribution to American folklore, containing as it does the texts of many songs, ballads, and stories of the anthracite region. Among the inspirations for song and story were such realities as "The Strike," and "The Molly Maguires."

A us Pennsylfawnia: An Anthology of Translations Into the Pennsylvania Ger- man Dialect. Edited by WM. S. TROXELL, "Pumpernickle Bill." (Philadel- phia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1938. xiii, 47 p. $1.50.) With the original English on one page and the translation on the next, this little volume has brought together such diverse literary efforts as " 'Twas The Night Before Christmas," "The Raven," "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark," First Act, Fifth Scene, and others.

Guidebook to Historic Places in Western Pennsylvania. Compiled by the West- ern Pennsylvania Historical Survey. (Pittsburgh: University of Pitts- burgh Press, 1938. ix, 186 p. $2.50.) This volume is one of the many excellent publications of the University of Pittsburgh Press for the Buhl Foundation, the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania and the University of Pittsburgh. "It is intended to furnish a brief guide to the more important historical sites of western Pennsylvania and to give the leading facts concerning them. In no sense is it presumed to be definitive or complete, and the publisher will welcome corrections and additions that can be included in later editions."