The
day is here when thinking men will have to brush conventionalism aside,
and confront with open minds the problem which the course of events has
now distinctly set before them for solution.
* * * * *
The records of our own time are being gradually embalmed in a permanent
form. MR. BLAINE has given us his first volume of what perhaps are
better classed as _impressions_ rather than as _memoirs pour
servir_; we are promised the Personal Memoirs of GENERAL GRANT; and
now at last, after many years' waiting, we have the completed works of
CHARLES SUMNER, the incorruptible son of Massachusetts, from the press
of Messrs. Lee and Shepard, who have spared no expense as publishers.
People who have not yet examined these volumes, or at least have not yet
looked through the volume containing the Index, have but a faint idea of
their invaluable worth and character. It would be impossible to write
the history of the early life of this people under the constitution
without borrowing material from the papers of Hamilton and of Madison.
Equally impossible will it be for the future historian to narrate, in
just and equable proportion, the events from 1845 to 1874, without
consulting the fifteen volumes which Mr.
Pages:
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186