Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/701

 Minor Notices 691 so constructed cannot be very full-bodied. The history of the French Revolution can never be written from the Diary and Letters of Gouver- neur Morris, nor from the diary and letters of any other man. Morris's main interest lies in following the plots and intrigues, the vicissitudes of party warfare. Here his analysis is keen, his information consider- able, his statement clear. This is what our author wisely sets forth. Mr. Esmein recognizes in Morris's writings, as in Taine's, where it is far less excusable, that there is no light thrown upon a whole side of the Revolution, and that, too, its most beneficent and permanent side, the varied, searching, wide-ranging reforms in the domain of civil and criminal and commercial law, which later passed largely into the codes, and which still inspire French jurisprudence. Moreover, as Mr. Esmein says, even in regard to constitutional legislation Morris had ideas which, though interesting, hardly harmonize with the French Revolution or even with the American Revolution. Manifestly this book is not a work of research but rather of populari- zation. It can be of little value to English readers, who would prefer the original Diary and Letters. Whether it is useful to introduce Morris to French readers in this form rather than in a complete translation is a question that no American need attempt to answer. At the basis of this book lies, of course, the assumption that Morris was an important contemporary witness of the Revolution. Taine to the contrary, the correctness of this assumption may be doubted. Morris was essentially a stern and unbending Tory, more royalist than the king, partizan, trenchant, self-confident, polypragmatic ; a man who knew his France superficially and who knew little of the real causes of the Revolution ; whose circle was narrow though animated ; whose characterizations of prominent men, though always entertaining, were frequently sadly wanting in verisimilitude; whose prophecies were more numerous than inspired. Though his comments have value, they are far from justifying the extravagant estimate of the author of The Origins of Modern France. Ch.^rles Downer H.a.zex. Napoleon's Last Voyages. Being the Diaries of Admiral Sir Thomas Ussher, R.N., K.C.B. (On Board the Undaunted), and John R. Glover, Secretary to Rear-admiral Cockburn (on Board the Northumberland). With twenty Illustrations. With Introduction and Notes by J. Holland Rose, Litt.D. (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1906, pp. xxii, 247.) Of the two diaries forming this book, the first, that of Sir Thomas Ussher, was printed in London in 1840 and in Dublin in 1841. Mr. Unwin reprinted it in 1895. The second recital is fresher information. The author was secretary to Rear-admiral Sir George Cockburn, and the narrative has striking similarities to his diary, first published in Boston in 1883 and reprinted at London in 1888. The reason of its late appearance in the field of Napoleonic history is due to the fact that Mr. Glover, as was natural in the circumstances in which he was AM. HIST. REV., VOL. XI. — 45