SENATOR HOAR'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
Another record of American politics, Autobiography of Seventy Years, by George F. Hoar, 2 vols. (Bickers and Son, 21s. net), has a point of contact with the book noticed above. Mr. Hoar is also of Massachusetts, and he had a warm admiration, which he expresses in no stinted fashion, of J. A. Andrew's merits. His own active political career began some- what later. He entered the House of Representatives in 1869, and in 1876 he was elected one of the Senators for his State, an office which he has continued to hold up to the present time. Here he tells at length his political history. To most outside observers the position of the American Senate seems to be somewhat anomalous, an inharmonious element in the working of the Constitution. Senator Hoar's opinions and reflections are an interesting contribution to the study of the question, which is, of course, not one for discussion in this place. The most readable part of his autobiography we have found in chap. 35, "Oratory and Some Orators I have Heard." Mr. Hoar has made himself familiar with Cicero's views on the subject of eloquence, quoting with effect from the "De Oratore." Nor is he unacquainted with the history of the art. And he has had many opportunities, both in his own country and here, of hearing great speakers. He gives the palm among English speakers to Gladstone and Disraeli ; among his own countrymen he speaks highly of Rufus Choate, H. W. Beecher, and Edward Everett, whom he places first of all. He bestows high praise on Wendell Phillips, but not as a statesman or citizen. "A great orator, but unscrupulous," is the substance of his judgment. Now and then we have something in a lighter vein. One of the best things of this kind is the answer to the Pittsburg Post, which had accused him of living on terrapin and champagne. "The chief carnal luxury of my life is in breakfasting every Sunday morning with an orthodox friend, a lady who has a rare gift for making fish-balls and coffee. You unfortunate and benighted Pennsylvanians can never know the exquisite flavour of the codfish salted, made into balls and eaten on a Sunday morning by a person whose theology is sound, and who believes in all the five points of Calvinism."
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