60 



BANCROFT, GEORGE. 



marks an epoch in the history of political theo- 

 ries. Hitherto Prussia, like England, had held 

 and practiced the doctrine, once a citizen always 

 a citizen. Now she was called on to admit the 

 right of expatriation, the renunciation of old 

 allegiance, and the acquisition of a new and ex- 

 clusive citi/enshij). Swh u course was also con- 

 trary to the policy of the War Department, as it 

 gave ample opportunity for young men capable 

 of military duty to emigrate. But the young 

 men emigrated whether or no, and for some years 

 tin- practice of seizing those who ventured to re- 

 turn, and forcing them into the ranks, had proved 

 burdensome and exasperating. Bismarck was 

 therefore disposal to listen to the suggestions of 

 a larger policy. He desired to be on good terms, 

 with the United States, and as nearly every fami- 

 ly in Germany had members in America he was 

 anxious that those who remained might not be 

 disaffected by the harsh treatment of their rela- 

 tivrs who might return from time to time to 

 renew the ties of affection which bound them to 

 parents and brethren. So he yielded on condi- 

 tion that citizenship in the United States should 

 be bona fide, and be proved to be so by residence 

 there and continuous domicile elsewhere than 

 under the German flag. The principle of expa- 

 triation once established, England renounced her 

 claim to indefeasible allegiance, and the new prin- 

 ciple is now prevalent throughout civilized lands. 

 In the treaty concerning the Northwestern 

 boundary, negotiated by Polk, there was an am- 

 biguity concerning a portion of the line. This 

 enabled interested persons to reopen the ques- 

 t i< in. After some negotiations it was agreed that 

 this should be one of the questions submitted to 

 arbitration. But the terms accepted were un- 

 favorable to the United States, consenting, as 

 they did, that if there was uncertainty as to the 

 true line, the arbiter himself might establish a 

 boundary of compromise. Bancroft took the 

 initiative against this course. The Department 

 of State at length determined that the method 

 of arbitration should be for each side to formu- 

 late its claim, that these should be submitted to 

 the arbiter for a decision as to which was right, 

 and that the Emperor of Germany should be the 

 referee. To Bancroft alone was left the whole 

 matter of the preparation of the American argu- 

 ment. The first presentation of the case and the 

 reply to the British were every word his own, and 

 the completeness of the plea was due to his early 

 knowledge of the whole affair As is well known, 

 the decision of the Emperor of Germany was 

 unreservedly in our favor. 



The public life thus delineated in outline 

 would in itself have been a career for most men. 

 It- successful achievements would entitle any 

 American to the admiration and respect of his 

 countrymen, sec.uring for him a place in the coun- 

 try's history. But in the case of Bancroft it was 

 all incidental and disciplinary rather than essen- 

 tial. His true renown is not that of a maker, but 

 of a writer of history. The statesman and diplo- 

 matist in him were ever ancillary to the historian. 

 I n September. 1823, appeared from the University 

 Press of Cambridge a small volume of his poems, 

 written partly in Kurope, partly after his return. 

 It was not remarkable except for its biographical 

 suggestions, showing the ardor of both his am- 

 bition and his patriotism. In later years the 



author pb'tained and destroyed many copies of 

 the edition, so that the little volume is now very 

 rare. One stanza is the key to Bancroft's whole 

 life: 



The weary pilgrim to his home returns ; 



For Freedom's air, for Western climes he burns. 



"Where dwell the brave, the generous, the free, 



Oh I there is Rome ! No other Rome for me. 



His motive power was an abiding faith in the 

 democracy of the United States as the destined 

 carrier of a great focal civilization following 

 those of the Orient, of Greece, of Rome, and of 

 Europe. Without this key no one can under- 

 stand either his personal character or his work, 

 which is as much the expression of a prophecy 

 as the record of a fulfillment. 



The earlier articles that Bancroft wrote for 

 the reviews were also literary on subjects con- 

 nected with the classics of Greece and Rome or 

 of Germany. But in January, 1831, he pub- 

 lished in the " North American Review " a dis- 

 cussion of the Bank of the United States, and in 

 1835 an essay on the " Documentary History of 

 the Revolution." The first volume of his " His- 

 tory of the United States" had appeared the 

 previous year. These two facts show how earlier 

 training and purpose had culminated in work. 

 Through the study of philosophy he was led to 

 the belief that there was a collective human will, 

 in which personal doubt, passion, and sentiment 

 had been canceled. The unfolding of this must 

 give the only scientific basis for the study of 

 morals. But he believed also, as he repeatedly 

 said to the writer, that if there be the same con- 

 servation of energy in the moral as in the physi- 

 cal world, there must also be a universal and 

 eternal power, that this eternal reason shorn of 

 human imperfections is the infinite, perfect, en- 

 during Logos. The incarnation was the philo- 

 sophical justification of Christianity, because in 

 it the finite knows the infinite. Bancroft in phi- 

 losophy was akin to Kant and believed that the 

 Konigsberg philosopher had met the skeptics on 

 their own ground and proved the existence of a, 

 priori truth and of a priori synthetic judg- 

 ments. History, therefore, was to him the most 

 important discipline of philosophy. He viewed 

 it, long before the men who now claim the merit 

 of the discovery, as a unit ; he believed its forces 

 to be constant, and looked on their manifesta- 

 tion as parts of an organic whole. The back- 

 ground is the history of the race, but against it 

 the individual moves and acts with perfect com- 

 pleteness and liberty. 



He believed also in the great importance of 

 original authorities. In this he was the pupil of 

 Heeren. He has been criticised for the strong 

 emphasis laid on documentary material, but only 

 by sciolists unfamiliar with the fundamental 

 rules of his critical apparatus. These were two 

 carefully distinguish between original authority 

 and historical memorials or aids ; represent every 

 man from his own standpoint, judge him from 

 your own. Hence the test of the historian is 

 threefold when, where, by whom. An original 

 authority concerning a fact either acted in it or 

 saw it or heard from another who performed or 

 beheld. An historical aid or memorial is, for 

 instance, a decision of the Supreme Court con- 

 cerning the interpretation of the Constitution. 



Unlike later historians, however, he did not 



