Brodrick a)id Fothcringliam : England, iSoi-i8jy 139 The History of England from Addiiigtoii's Adniinistraiion to the Close of William IJ's Reign (1801-183/). By the Hon. George C. Brodrick, D.C.L., completed and revised by J. K. FoTHERiNGHAM, M.A. [The Political History of England, edited by William Hunt and Reginald Lane Poole, Volume XL] (London, New York and Bombay: Longmans, Green and Company. Pp. xix, 486.) Mr. Brodrick accepted a difficult task when he undertook to write the history of a period of English national life so full of controversial matter as that from 1801 to 1837. What he produced is certainly not a great book; it presents no particularly new views and draws upon no material hitherto unused; it is neither brilliant, nor striking, either in style or in matter. Nevertheless, it deserves greater praise than is due to these qualities, for it covers the field thoroughly, its writer's views of con- troverted questions are unusually sound; his judgment is excellent, his temper almost ideal. So fair is he, so impartial in his array of the facts and in the conclusions drawn from them, that it would be difficult to determine, if one judged from this book alone, whether Mr. Brodrick was in his politics a liberal or a conservative. The writer is particularly happy in judgment and temper when he has to portray the characters and weigh the achievements of English politicians, statesmen or military leaders. His little character-sketches are models of their kind, admirable for insight, completeness and brevity. Perhaps the best are those of Brougham, Feel and Huskisson, though it is almost invidious to discriminate where all are so good. His tribute to Castlereagh is thoroughly deserved and does complete justice to a states- man who has so long suffered in the comparison with Canning, despite the fact that the materials for a correct judgment have always been at the disposal of historians. What has thus far been said applies with especial force to the treat- ment of English affairs and English men. When the writer (in this case Mr. Fotheringham) touches continental or American affairs the sureness of touch vanishes, the knowledge is plainly not so full nor so accurate, the authorities depended upon are not so reliable — in a word, the work is distinctly below the standard of that part which is devoted to purely English matters. There are errors in fact and there are errors in judgment. The opinion of Napoleon and of his acts is the old-fash- ioned English one, though there is no trace of the old-fashioned English bitterness. In the treatment of American events, though the writer is fair in so far as his information permits him to be fair, he relies upon authorities which need constant checking, and so far as one can de- termine by reading over the list of books, this check has not been ap- plied. Thus in treating of the naval events of the War of 1812 he draws upon James, apparently to the exclusion of all other writers, but a man versed in this history would not have neglected Henry Adams's ac-
