THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR Wnan -history the main concern of
Mr. Charteris, he would Undoubtedly make an eminent historian: His 'work is thorough, his judgment sound, his literary style is excellent, his character studies are diaWnivith taste and-understanding; he himself seems intenielY interested- in the Subjeet, which is the surest way of making it interesting:to others.- The general reader with a -predileetibn for the •18th- century itibuld not miss the book, "for -he will surely. enjoy it and:profit-from it. Even to the serious student -it offers a certain amount of new and valuable liiforMatiOn ; stills just 'because it is swerior to most of the 181henturY biography 'al Manufactured now- adays by dilettanti, it:tends to .'raise Certain- fundamental questions and doubts in the Mind of the iiinfensional historian. The book is not really a monogratihMithe Duke Of tuinber- hind ; the greater part might appear in any book on the period, and only in the last one hundred pages is the duke truly the central figure of the narrative. Mr. Charteris has done suffi- cient-original work even on the genera/ history of the time to speak about it with good sense, but he remains throughout in that sphere of the upper, not ten thousand, but one hundred, who, in the 18th century, recorded their ideas and activities with 'such ability and profusion that few historians so far have tried to go beyond them. "The, middle eighteenth century," says Mr. Charteris "is one of the best charted areas of history. Its currents, its channels, its shores and reefs have been conned and .noted by countless searchers and writers." Indeed, all that was needed to navigate the political seas is known ; we possess full information about Cabinet and Court intrigues, about Whig dukes who, rested on their powerful electoral influence, and the ,few real statesmen who stood- " on' their heads," &c., &c. But what has hardly been fathomed is the calm depths unknown to those who safely navigate their sur- face without having to explore them;, in short the deeper life of society which every generation in its own time knows subconsciously, takes for granted, but, feels no need to Sound or describe. Mr. -Charteris, like almOst all ivriters On that-period, limits himself even in purely political matters to the most
finished products ; he remains at Westminster t
_ and does no, go into the constituencies, and in the House of Commons deals with the squads and "gangs," without inquiring into their nature and.composition ; e.g., we hear .a gcod deal about the" Cumberland Party" and yet do not learn anything at all about who they were or how they were recruited. If Mr. Charteris ventures into these further regions his accuracy no longer invariably maintains its usual high standard. Thus, e.g., on p. 96 (and 111), he asserts that "at the general election in March, 1754, the Government position was so unassailable that not more than forty-two seats were contested." The wording, the facts and the implications of the statement are inaccurate. In the first place Mr. Charteris says " seats " when he really means constituencies—in England two-member constituencies were the rule ; secondly, more than forty-two constituencies actually went to the poll ; thirdly, as voting was open and the electorates mostly small, one could generally forecast the result by the canvass, and the weaker side more often than not" dropped its pretensions," so that the number of polls gives no true idea of the amount of contest ; lastly, most contests at that time were Of -a loyal character; and government action or policy, though not without influence, had not quite so direct a bearing on elections, as Mr. tharteris's statement would seem to imply. The funda- mentals of political life were very different from what they are now.
• Though English history in the 18th century is well known
in its superficial outlines, very much more material is required for a deeper study, and masses of unused or even unknown correspondence rest (or rot) in country houses. With each collection one cannot rewrite the general history of the time, but the most valuable parts of the new material should be published in full with an analytical introduction and explana- tory notes where required. Work of that kind would not lead the reader over thoroughly trodden lines nor would it,through dilution and dissipation, withdraw the new material from the use of historians who work on the period as a whole or on some of its special problems.
L. B. NAMIEB.
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