Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/410

 400 Reviews of Books unable to tolerate the respect entertained for Washington and Hamilton by M'Henry, Pickering, and Wolcott, dismissed these gentlemen from his cabinet on the very eve of the presidential election" (p. 396). Hamilton's relations with Miranda are not discussed, although we are assured that he had no " ambitions of a Napoleonic career ". The dis- cussion of the pamphlet which Hamilton issued in 1800 against Adams is presented in such a confused manner that it is impossible to say whether the author justifies or condemns the action of his subject in the matter (p. 402). We are undoubtedly told that it was a blunder, but we are also told that in doing it Hamilton was justified by the action of Adams toward him, and that his own action was not due to " any desire to wipe out old scores" (p. 402). And yet the author must have known when he wrote that Hamilton on May 10, 1800, said of Adams that he would never again be responsible for Adams's actions, " even though the con- sequences should be the election of JeiTerson ". The statements pointed out are but typical of the spirit in which the book is written. It is a good echo of John C. Hamilton's large work and a worthy companion of Percy Greg's History of the United States. What has been said is not to be understood as meaning that the book does not contain many acceptable statements of facts in Hamilton's life. The style is usually good, although it is not always very clear. There is no lack of striking phrases and characterizations. But in every impor- tant matter which has aroused controversy there is a singular lack of the critical spirit. The foot-notes indicate a narrow range of investigatior and too close a following of the pro-Hamiltonian sources of information. John Spencer B.ssett. The Election of Senators. B}- George H. H.wnes, Ph.D. [Amer- ican Public Problems, edited by Ralph Curtis Ringwalt.J (New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1906. Pp. xi, 295.) This volume, the second in a series entitled "American Public Problems ", is a veritable mine of information in regard to the origin and practical workings of the provisions of the Constitution relating to the election of Federal senators. It contains also a complete resume of the movement of recent years for the popular control over the choice of senators, together with a comprehensive and impartial presentation of the arguments on both sides of this practical question. The timeliness of this discussion is apparent in view of the fact that within the past fifteen years thirty-one states — more than the two-thirds required by the Constitution — have made formal application to Congress for the submission of an amendment to secure the election of senators by the direct vote of the people. Moreover an Interstate Convention has been called by the Iowa Legislature to meet at Des Moines, December 5, 1906, for the sole purpose of furthering this same object. At least twenty-eight states have signified their intention to participate in its deliberations. Its conclusions will be a matter of public record before (he publication of tiiis review.