The death of Mr. Bancroft at the age of more than ninety years removes
one of the few men in private life who can be ranked as personages. He
was, perhaps, the only person in private life whose death would have
received a semi-public recognition from any of the rulers of Europe.
Such a recognition was accorded by the Emperor of Germany, and chiefly,
as it is understood, on account of the friendship which existed between
Mr. Bancroft and the grandfather of the present Emperor.
Mr. Bancroft's long and successful career as a writer and diplomatist
would seem to be evidence of the presence of qualities of a high order,
and yet no one who was near him accepted that opinion. His
conversation was not instructive, certainly not in later years, nor was
he an original thinker upon any subject. He was an enthusiast in
politics in early and middle life, and while his mental faculties
remained unimpaired his interest in political movements was great--and
usually it was in sympathy with the Democratic Party. He was an
adhesive man in politics, capable of appearing to be reconciled to the
success of his opponents and ready to accept favors from them in the
way of office and honors and yet without in fact committing himself
to their policy.
He was a laborious student, and he had access to standard and in many
particulars to original authorities. At the commencement of his history
he erred in denying with much confidence the claim of the visits of the
Northmen to this continent in the ninth and tenth centuries.
That early claim seems to be supported by evidence which is nearly, if
not absolutely, conclusive. Of all his chapters that on Washington
was most attractive to me and it is quite the equal of Mr. Everett's
oration, that yielded a large sum of money, that the orator applied to
the purchase of Mount Vernon. Mr. Bancroft aimed to illustrate his
history by an exhibition of philosophy. This feat in literature can
be accomplished successfully only by a great mind. First the events,
then the reasons for or sources of, then the consequences, then the
wisdom or unwisdom of the human agencies that have had part in weaving
the web, are all to be considered. Examples are Gibbon and Buckle.