Is the "Eclectic History of the United States," Written by Miss Thalheimer and Published by Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co., Cincinnati, a Fit Book to be Used in Our Schools?
A Review by J. Wm. Jones.
Paper No. 1.
We propose to confine ourselves for the present to that part of this so-called "History" which treats of the origin, progress, and results of the late " War between the States." At some future day we may take occasion to point out some of its "sins of omission and commission" in its account of the Colonial, Revolutionary, and civil history of the country.
We will first give a few illustrations of the tone and spirit of the book, which its friends claim to be preeminently fair, non-partisan, and non-sectional.
1. Let any one turn to the account given (pp. 265-266) of the Kansas troubles and he will find that it is entirely one sided and partisan — telling of outrages committed by the pro-slavery party, aided by Missourians, and saying not one word about the "Emigrant Aid Societies " of the North — the eloquent appeals of Mr. Beecher to "send Sharp's Rifles to Kansas instead of Bibles" — or the outrages committed by the Abolition party of Kansas.
2. The friends of the book think that it (p. 268) tells the truth when it says that John Brown "had no support" in his raid, and that therefore the "rage of resentment" through the South was uncalled for. We would advise them to read up on this question, and they will find that in the Senate of Massachusetts a motion to adjourn on the day of John Brown's execution in respect to his memory was lost by only three votes — that town bells were tolled, funeral sermons preached, and eulogies pronounced all over the North — that John Brown at once took his place in the pantheon of Abolition saints — and that the resentment of the South was justly aroused, not against this mad fanatic, but against his supporters, whose vanguard he led in invading the South to free the negroes whom their Fathers had sold to our Fathers, quietly pocketing the money, and only discovering the "crime of slavery" after they had reaped its full benefits.
3. The book (p. 270) pronounces the firing on the "Star of the West" at Charleston "the opening act of the civil war." On page 276, speaking of Lincoln's inaugural address, it says: "He threw
