Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/378

 368 Reviews of Books of one of the most prominent and remarkable figures of the Revolution. The highest type of the volunteer general, a self-taught expert in the use of artillery, Washington's right-hand military man throughout all the battles from the siege of Boston to that of Yorktown, the founder of the Society of the Cincinnati, the second Secretary "at War," and one of the leading spirits in the development of what is now the state of Maine — surely so distinguished a patriot as this would long since seem entitled to a pains- taking and accurate setting-forth of his character and attainments. This neglect is all the more remarkable in view of the accessibility of the material at Mr. Brooks's disposal. The fifty little-known massive volumes of the Knox Manuscripts, a rich storehouse of information, now in the library of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society, are in them- selves almost a complete record of General Knox's life. In addition Mr. Brooks had the use of the Davis collection of Knox papers and the un- finished memoir of Joseph Willard of Boston. In view of these facilities Mr. Brooks's volume is extremely disappoint- ing. Instead of a scientific and exhaustive biography, we have one stamped with the earmark " popular," in which the copyist has played a large and striking part. Mr. Brooks has chosen to weav'e the career of General Knox into a brief history of the Revolution with the result of often subordinating his major theme and of adding much matter of little or no value to the reader desirous of getting a clear picture of the subject of the book. For instance, on page 68, the excuse for a description of the Bushnell torpedo is Mr. Brooks's opinion that this invention "doubtless engaged " General Knox's attention. There is no critical estimate of the worth of the General's military services and many important parts of his career such as his relationship to western military matters during his term as Secretary of War (i 785-1 794) are but insufficiently treated or ignored. While destined to find a place in many libraries, because of the absence of any other life of Knox, Mr. Brooks's narrative by no means says the last word on the subject and need deter no one from setting forth this interesting personality afresh. The book's poor index and its scanty reference to sources (there are none at all to the Knox manuscript volumes so copiously drawn from) will render it of still less value to the student. Oswald Garri.son Villard. The Writings of James Monroe. Edited by Stanislaus Murray Hamilton. Vol. III., 1796-1802. (New York : G. P. Put- nam's Sons. 1900. Pp. XX, 457.) This volume contains more that is new than either of its predeces- sors. Some of the letters, belonging to the year 1796, have been printed already, either in the American State Papers or in Monroe's View or in both ; and Mr. Hamilton reprints in an appendix the text of the View. The rest of the letters are mostly fresh matter. Most of them come from the Monroe Papers, or those of Jefferson and Madison, in the possession