GEORGE BANCROFT. 365 



of these pamphlet battles. The controversies there recapitulated 

 were based upon language used by Bancroft concerning Colonel 

 Timothy Pickering, General Greene, General Schuyler, General 

 Sullivan, and Joseph Reed. In the last case it was shown that 

 Bancroft had been misled by an incident which had occurred to 

 another Colonel Heed; and the charge based upon that error was 

 withdrawn in the Centenary Edition of the History. The language 

 used with reference to Schuyler and Sullivan was also in each case 

 modified in this edition, but the judgments of the men remain 

 substantially as before. In the Preface to the sixth volume, he 

 says, *'I hope at least it will appear that I have written with 

 candor, neitlier exaggerating vices of character, nor reviving na- 

 tional animosities, but rendering a just tribute to virtue wherever 

 found." It was in this spirit that he approached the subject; and 

 upon the judgment of posterity as to how far he was able to live up 

 to it his reputation as an historian must stand. The majority 

 of readers at the present day will give liim credit for the exercise 

 of a judicial spirit in reaching the conclusions for which he was 

 attacked. His History would be worthless if he had not been 

 manly enough to express his opinions. His conclusions have 

 seldom been doubted, save where they conflicted with the esti- 

 mates of kindred. 



His style has been condemned as redundant and pompous ; but 

 his capacity for marshalling events in narrative form has been 

 admitted even by those disposed to criticise. Colonel Higginson's 

 opinion on this point is vividly set forth in the following language : 

 ''The reader is compelled to admit that his resources in the way 

 of preparation are inexhaustible, and that his command of them is 

 astounding. One must follow him minutely through the history of 

 the war for independence, to appreciate in full the consummate 

 grasp of a mind which can deploy military events in a narrative 

 as a general deploys brigades in a field." The same writer calls 

 attention to a fault '' which Bancroft shared with his contempora- 

 ries, but in which he far exceeded any of tliem, — an utter ignoring 

 of the very meaning and significance of a quotation mark." This 

 criticism is based upon an obvious defect, the existence of which 

 cannot be denied. Instances can be found in Bancroft's works in 

 which quotation marks are used enclosing paragraphs in which 

 there were abridgments and insertions for the purpose of making 

 the thought continuous, without the typograj)hical marks essen- 

 tial to denote these changes. He does not, however, need especial 



