Literary industries. A memoir

Contents

PAGE

INTRODUCTION vii

Chapter II. Chapter III. springs and little brooks 25

Chapter IV. the country boy becomes a bookseller 41

Chapter V.

Chapter VI.

Chapter VII.

Chapter VIIL

THE LIBRARY I08

Chapter IX.

Chapter X.

A LITERARY WORKSHOP I34

IV . CONTEi^TS.

PAGE

Chapter XL

Chapter XII.

Chapter XIII. the two generals 192

Chapter XIV.

Chapter XV.

Chapter XVI.

Chapter XVII. home 242

Chapter XVIII.

Chapter XIX.

Chapter XX. historic explorations northward 282

Chapter XXI. I

FURTHER LIBRARY DETAIL 308 I

Chapter XXII. \ i

MY METHOD OF V/RITING HISTORY 330 |

Chapter XXIII.

CONTENTS. ^ V

PAGE

Chapter XXIV,

Chapter XXV. body and mind 373

Chapter XXVI. expeditions to mexico 384

Chapter XXVII.

Chapter XXVIII.

Chapter XXIX.

i:

Introduction

WHEN we contemplate a great work of any kind we are naturally led to inquire into the origin of it. We ask ourselves how it was conceived; how the germ-idea of it was developed; hoy\^ it grew to its full proportions; and above all, what manner of man it was to whom the accomplishment of such a work was given. In this volume of memoirs the genesis, evolution, and completion of one of the most remarkable literary undertakings of the age are described, and in the most interesting of forms, namely, the autobiographic. The life and work of Hubert Howe Bancroft, moreover, afford a study of one of the rarest and most potent of combinations — that of the faculties which belong to the scholar and to the man of action. For the m.ost part these faculties are found apart. The scholar is seldom a man of action; the man of action is seldom a scholar. The devotion of all available energies to business has usually been thought incompatible with the development and pursuit of any high intellectual aim. The devotion of all available energies to intellectual work has as a rule appeared incompatible with success in what are called practical affairs. Mr. Bancroft's memoirs not only prove him to be possessed of both these capacities, but they clearly show that this rare and peculiar combination could alone have enabled him to carry out his hfe-work as he has done.

For it will be seen that to accomplish the historical enter-j prise to which he devoted himself for thirty years, there were required not only high literary qualities, but power of co-ordination, administration, and systematization as great as would be demanded for the execution of some vast work of improvement — some continental railway, or extensive scheme of irrigation, of reclamation, or the development of some new

Vlll INTRODUCTION.

line of commerce. No mere scholar could have done this work. Emerson has said that " the scholar is unfurnished who has only literary weapons/' and this would assuredly have proved true in Mr. Bancroft's case had he not supplemented the ambition of a man of letters with the executive capacity of a man of affairs. It is therefore in the just balance of these distinct sets of faculties that we are to seek the explanation of the most remarkable triumph of intellect and industry ; and it is not claiming too much to assert that the union of these qualifications in one individual may be rightly regarded as in an especial manner the product of American civilization. For there is no other country the conditions of life in which tend to encourage and to ripen the divine tendencies and capacities here concerned. However similar human nature may be everywhere, all history shows that it is modified by its environments in the most important manner. Take away the opportunities for intellectual growth and for the free evolution of thought, as the Inquisition took them away from Spain, and in a few centuries one of the boldest, most energetic, and progressive of peoples will be reduced to stagnation. Remove all barriers to free development, physical and intellectual, as in the United States, and there is no combination of energies and abilities which will not become possible. Even the fullest political and legal emancipation cannot compensate for the social pressure, the tyrannies of caste, custom, and tradition, and the constraining influences of closely packed population, which affect England, for example.

Youth in nationality, space in territory, the breadth of opportunity belonging to rapid, vigorous growth, and ample room for expression — are specially American advantages; and to them must be ascribed phenomena so striking and unexampled as are illustrated in the career recorded in the following pages. It might perhaps be said that the story of the Ohio farmer's son, so simply yet graphically told here, affords no indication of special capacity or bent. But even in the account of that farmer boy's early days, there may be perceived a force of imagination, a blind yearning for high

INTRODUCTION. IX

things, sufficiently noticeable to furnish grounds of expectation. The writer of the memoirs, himself, is indeed perfectly candid in his chronicle. We never find him posing for effect, or reading new meanings into old and insignificant incidents, or taking credit for feelings, impulses, or aspirations in advance of his years. As described by himself, his mental development was easy, natural, and by no means rapid. It was that of a healthy nature, brought up under thoroughly wholesome conditions. But if there is in these early years comparatively little to indicate special endowments or predilections, the evidence that these had been latent is clear enough when the critical moment arrives. In his apprenticeship, as it may well be termed, Mr. Bancroft appears very like other lads and young men, crude, unformed, awkward, yet withal showing a certain resolution and will-force suggestive of decided character at maturity. A little business experience developed a little confidence and independence. The young book-store clerk felt an inclination to try his own hand at trade, and poor success in the beginning did not daunt him.

Then came the idea of California — at that time a very general one among spirited youths. But whereas the majority who went to California did so w^ith the sole purpose of making money by mining, Hubert Howe Bancroft had clear and practical business views. Already one side of his character — the commercial — was opening out. Once in California, he sought to utilize time and opportunity. He suffered some failures at the outset, of which he gives entertaining accounts, but he never permitted himself to be dismayed, and, when his invoices of books came, he opened a store and forthwith prospered. Perhaps it might have been found particularly interesting had he thought fit to dwell more upon this period of his life. But he has himself put on record the fact that he " never found any difficulty in making money," and the very extent of his business and financial capacities seems to have been regarded by him as scarcely requiring notice or consideration. This, however, is a most interesting point in his career. Money-making is the most seductive, fascinating.

X INTRODUCTION.

and absorbing of occupations, and it tends always to usurp larger areas in the minds given over to it. The instances in which able men of business have, in the full current of prosperity, deliberately paused and resolved to devote, if necessary, all their remaining years to some enterprise from which, in the nature of things, little or no money-profit could be expected, yet which could demand great, constant, and protracted expenditure, — are few indeed. Yet this is what Mr. Bancroft did.

It is not to be imagined that his undertaking issued from his mind complete and full panoplied, like Minerva from the brain of Jove. Such enterprises are never thus suddenly conceived. Nature does not proceed by leaps and bounds. Precisely how the germ-idea of his life-work was evolved, Mr. Bancroft relates in these memoirs. His firm was preparing a Pacific coast almanac, and local statistics and facts were demanded by the compiler of the publication. Mr. Bancroft went through his stock of books and found from fifty to seventy-five works dealing with California and the coast in some way. These he brought together in one place, and surveying them expressed the opinion that they made quite a respectable showing. Subsequently, he picked up several more books of the same class in second-hand bookstores, and he found a number of pamphlets in lawyers' offices. Slowly the idea began to dawn upon him that the subject was larger than he had thought it. He went east on business, and in New York and Boston and Philadelphia he sought for books on California and the Pacific coast. Thus his collection grew until it had something like a thousand volumes ; and at this point, he for the moment thought his labor finished. But by this time he was beginning to obtain definite views as to the subject, and a visit to Europe completely opened his eyes. When he examined the vast stocks of second-hand books in London and other great cities, he realized that hitherto he had been merely gleaning, and that if he was to accomplish anything both his scope and method must be altered.

INTRODUCTION. XI

Ninety-nine men out of every hundred would in all probability have abandoned the affair at precisely this stage, and that Mr. Bancroft did not do so sufficiently testifies to the exceptional character of his mind. Here was a business man who had, so most people would think, every incentive to confine himself strictly to his affairs. He had built up a large, growing, and highly profitable business, which might well have engrossed him. He had before him a reasonable certainty of wealth, " beyond the dreams of avarice," as Dr. Johnson has put it. It was now perfectly apparent that to secure anything like all that had been written about California and the Pacific coast he would have to spend large sums, and it was not at all clear that when he had collected all these books he could do with them anything that would prove remunerative. But none of these considerations afiected his course. On the contrary, step by step, as the field opened out before his research, his ambition and his resolve expanded and mounted. Accident threw in his way an unrivaled collection of early Mexican literature. The perusal of the catalogue showed him the depth of the vistas that lay before him, but the growing importance and difficulty of the task did not discourage him. He bought, bought largely, and reached out in all directions for more material. His little collection was now swelling rapidly. It continued to expand : it grew from one to five thousand : then to ten thousand ; and by that time he had made arrangements with European dealers, established agencies, provided for representatives at all the important book sales, and generally made such provision as resulted in a steady flow of books, setting in from all parts of Europe and discharging at San Francisco.

Long before this Mr. Bancroft had made up his mind that his chief business in life thenceforth should be the exploitation of this immense mass of literary, historic, archaeological, and ethnological material. Exactly after what plan he should proceed was not yet shown to him. The first object to be attained was the completion of the library. Only such an enthusiasm as now possessed him could have carried him

XU INTRODUCTION.

through this prehminary period, during which his expenditures were continually increasing and there was absolutely nothing to show for them but a mass of books. But Mr. Bancroft persevered, and the day came when he felt that his collection was relatively complete : that it was ready for use : and that he must determine how it should be used. The memoirs are exceedingly interesting at this stage. Naturally Mr. Bancroft consulted literary friends and sometimes business ones. Many advised him to employ his material in the preparation of a Pacific coast encyclopedia. Doubtless such a work would have been valuable and interesting, but had he undertaken it the opportunity of his life would have been ruined, and the world would have lost the admirable and monumental v/ork so fittingly completed by this volume of autobiography. It is not to be supposed that while the Bancroft Library was being so laboriously gathered, its owner was not thinking to the purpose about its possible literary use. As the extent of the field covered became clearer with each addition to its magazine of facts, his conceptions crystallized more and more definitely into a gigantic scheme of history. This, it was borne in upon him, was the natural end to which, and to which alone, such a library should be put. It was now beyond doubt that he had brought together an absolutely unrivalled collection for such a purpose, and though a history of Mexico, at least, had been recently written, and by a historian of distinction, it could not be disputed that the data now obtained very fully exceeded, both in extent and significance, what had been available by Prescott.

But it is one thing to determine that a library of twenty-five or thirty thousand volumes, in a dozen languages, shall be devoted to a definite literary end, and it is quite another thing to make such an end attainable. The very size of the library threatened at first to smother the undertaking. It was very soon realized by Mr. Bancroft that it would be mere midsummer madness for him to attempt alone the work he contemplated. The utmost industry, steadily exerted during a hundred years, would not suffice to reduce into manageable

INTRODUCTION. XIU

shape the contents of the collection in his hands. The necessity of bringing that material into some kind of systematic and easily available arrangement, indeed, constituted in itself a problem of the most difficult character. There was, moreover, no tradition or precedent that could be referred to for guidance. The whole scheme was a new departure. Mr. Bancroft was about to attempt what had never been attempted by an individual before. With characteristically American audacity he had determined to take upon himself a work the like of which, if ever approached in the past, had been confined to some learned body or some monastic order, carried on at the cost of some wealthy government and extended over several generations in time. That one man, and he first a man of business and but incidentally a man of letters, should undertake to write the history of the greater part of the New World, should project a literary series of thirty-nine large octavo volumes, and should consider it possible to carry out this colossal enterprise within his own hfe-time may well have seemed chimerical and even preposterous to the average observer.

So probably it would have proved had not the projector in this instance differed essentially from the typical scholar and man of letters. For at the very threshold of the undertaking there was a demand for that power of organization, that administrative analytic capacity which is so much more common in active than in contemplative life. But Mr. Bancroft's duality of resources stood him in good stead. The initial problem — how to use the library — had to be solved before the work could be begun ; and he solved it. Not the least brilliant among his feats is this invention of the beautifully scientific, simple, and practical system of indexing which he devised for his own use, and which may be said to have introduced principles and methods which, if intelligently and faithfully applied, must immensely increase the productive powers of authors and the utilization of great libraries. By this system of indexing — which is fully described by Mr. Bancroft in the present volume — it was made comparatively

XIV INTRODUCTION.

easy to get the required information out of every book in his collection, and no matter how that collection might grow, this system would adjust itself infallibly to the process. One element of uncertainty and embarrassment alone remained, but experience only could correct that. Human nature is always a most dubious factor, and no system which is not absolutely mechanical and automatic can be made independent of the personal equation. This Mr. Bancroft was forced to realize by vexatious experience. When one of his assistants was instructed to extract certain specified information from certain books, it was only of the veterans that definite results could be predicted. The undisciplined mind, however well educated theoretically, frequently found itself unable to grasp the significance of the great plan, and much precious time and money v/as wasted before a thoroughly drilled ,, staff was brought together. ^ -~^-^"-

No difficulties, however, were permitted to stand long in the way, and when the executive triumph of overcoming the inertia of the library's mass had been achieved, and patient work on the lines so clearly laid down by Mr. Bancroft had accumulated a quantity of well-arranged matter on such a wide range of subjects as rendered the beginning of the work of authorship possible, the literary side of this remarkable man's character came to the front, and vindicated the genuineness of that powerful bent which by some might be regarded as th^ sign of a foreordained mission, and others would consider evidence of that specialization, concentration, and elevation of intellectual energy which the world has agreed to call genius. The practical man, the man of affairs, the enterprising publisher and manufacturer might strike out a new system of indexing, and bring it to a working test with success. But it did not follow that such a man would be capable of putting his own machinery to the literary uses for which it was intended. It did not indeed follow the theory, but the fact soon appeared that the man of action in Mr. Bancroft was no stronger than the man of letters. They worked together in perfect harmony, in short, each taking on his proper

INTRODUCTION. XV

functions when the occasion appeared, and neither infringing upon the other's domain. When the need was for planning, the man of action planned. When the time came for writing, the man of letters wrote.

Not that the great enterprise proceeded smoothly and in strict conformity with prearranged purposes. To have asserted that would almost have justified suspicion of charlatanism. In this volume Mr. Bancroft lays bare the genesis of his work, and is careful to set forth all the hesitation and uncertainty which beset him at the beginning. There was a time when his library almost stifled him : when the enormous labor to be undergone in extracting the gold from all this crude ore seemed so hopeless, so insuperable, that he was tempted in specially despondent moments to abandon his hope and ambition. It may be said with truth that at such moments he did not know himself, for his whole career demonstrates that perseverance is one of his dominant characteristics, and that it was not in him to withdraw his hand from the work for which he had already made so many sacrifices. When the indexing system was perfected the work of extraction was begun, but it was long before the author could determine the direction in which to break ground. It appears, indeed, from his own statement, that he wished to leave the treatment of the Native Races to a later period, and that the subject was somewhat uncongenial to him. Its complexity and extent, the mass of new facts to be examined, classifie4^ and commented upon, the difficulty of the ethnological problems to be involved, and, perhaps above all, the lack of trustworthy pioneers and guides in this comparatively virgin field, — might well have daunted a much more experienced investigator, and would surely have vv^rought confusion in a weaker brain. But Mr. Bancroft, having once resolved upon the course to be followed, proceeded to lay down for himself certain principles and rules. " In all my work," he writes, " I was determined to keep upon firm ground, to avoid meaningless and even technical terms, to avoid theories, speculations, and superstitions of every kind^ and to deal only in facts.

XVI INTRODUCTION.

This I relied on more than on any other one thing. My work could not be v/holly worthless if I gathered only facts, and arranged them in some form which should bring them within reach of those who had not access to my material, or who could not use it if they had : whereas theories might be overthrown as worthless." Upon these lines the first five volumes entitled Native Races were written, and because they were so written they must ever constitute the most valuable and absolutely indispensable magazine of facts.

In his account of the production of this part of his historical series Mr. Bancroft introduces the reader to his library and his staff of assistants, shows the machinery of extraction and compilation in operation, describes the entire process, and furnishes much interesting information concerning the band of more or less faithful assistants whose services could alone enable him to carry out, in a single life-time, plans the accomplishment of which upon the old methods of authorship would have required centuries. In the course of these confidences one is made to see how many unexpected incapacities are likely to be developed in an undertaking testing so severely the fitness of all engaged upon it. Mr. Bancroft's staff had to be made, and the process of making was both tedious and costly.' * But when all the inefficient aspirants had been eliminated, he had under his hands a band of literary workmen perhaps unmatched for effective ability. The Native Races proved a stubborn task, and by the time it was finished the whole literary machinery was in magnificent working order. Whoever examines the work carefully will see that it is one which might in itself have served for the labor of a life-time; but to Mr. Bancroft it was merely the introduction to a long series of historical productions. What is still more remarkable, it was not the result of undisturbed leisure and closely concentrated employment. All through his literary career this author has been accustomed to turn from purely intellectual to executive affairs. When most closely engaged with his literary enterprises he would detach himself long enough to grasp the whole ramification of a great and growing business,

INTRODUCTION. XVll

to clear up difficult financial or other problems, to straighten out commercial tangles, and to put everything in the best condition. That done, he would plunge again into his books, and think no more about the business until his intervention and supervision were again needed.

At this point he halted for a while in order that he might obtain the judgment of competent writers upon what he had accomplished; and he determined to visit the eastern states personally, and submit his work to the leading Hterary and scientific men, as a test of the value of the whole undertaking. The chapters in which this visit is described are full of a new kind of attraction. It is impossible not to sympathize with the sensitive man who, absorbed in his great scheme, recounts his experience with men of letters, men of science, poets, professors, and critics whom he visited at the east. Remembering what poor human nature is, and how inevitable it is that the majority of men should be wrapped up in their ov/n affairs, and consequently offer little more than lip-service to even the most deserving of their neighbors, — it may be thought that the reception encountered by Mr. Bancroft was uncommonly cordial and appreciative. It is, however, evident that at this juncture he was in a somewhat abnormal condition. His sensibility was unduly excited by overwork, and every show of even relative indifference wounded him cruelly.

There was, as he makes fully manifest, the best reason for satisfaction with the effect which the Native Races produced ; for not only from every part of the United States but from every civilized country in Europe, expressions of delight, admiration, and approval soon began to pour in upon the author. In short, those five initial volumes really made his Hterary reputation, and secured him a world-wide hearing for whatever else he might p\iblish. The two prime essentials for belief in him had now been fully determined. It was known that he possessed all the available material : it was proved that he knew how to use it to the greatest advantage. Henceforth it was only necessary that he should maintain the standard of work he had himself established. B

XVIU INTRODUCTION.

It is unnecessary to enumerate here the titles of the histories which steadily proceeded from the Bancroft Library after this. No interruptions occurred in the publication, and year after year the chronicles were emitted until the whole Pacific coast, including Mexico and Central America, had been dealt with in a manner so exhaustive that no room was left for any further exploitations of the subjects treated in these volumes. It was inevitable that the first really thorough research ever made into the past of these regions should bring to light many facts which either threw doubt upon or entirely disproved representations made previously by less thoroughly equipped investigators. In all cases the fullness of Mr. Bancroft's information, and the rigorous impartiality of his methods, resulted in the nearest approach possible in human history to definite settlement. The presumption against the probability of more penetrating or comprehensive research at any future time was too strong to afford much encouragement to controversy, and Mr. Bancroft's facts and methods together made him too formidable an adversary to be lightly challenged.

When in writing the history of American states such as California, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, Montana, etc., he found himself approaching the present day, an entirely new task was forced upon him. A less conscientious author might have contented himself with collecting extant authorities, but that was not enough for Mr. Bancroft. He felt that in all these cases it was his duty to procure both written and oral evidences wherever possible from the still living actors in every important event. Everywhere the American pioneers of the Pacific coast were dying out. In a few years they would all be gone, and then many weighty questions must remain unanswered, or doubtfully answered, unless the actual truth was obtained from the lips or pens of these state-makers. The project was magnificent, but it involved labor which to any man without his prior experience in the collection and handling of facts might well have seemed colossal. It would be necessary to employ a small army of agents to visit and

INTRODUCTION. XIX

examine hundreds of people who were scattered all over the Pacific coast. Each one of these agents must be perfectly trustworthy, more than commonly intelligent, and gifted with tact, judgment, and patience. For to get the essential facts from old pioneers is not the easiest business, especially when they are illiterate and Hable to those imaginative eccentricities which have done so much to confuse history, and to subject it to the stigma of unreliability. In a less extended enterprise the simplest method might have been to issue instructions to the travelHng agent to take down everything and send it all to headquarters for sifting and arrangement. This plan, however, would have so magnified the work to be done that even with the admirable machinery of the Bancroft Library the time required would have been almost indefinitely extended.

The system adopted by Mr. Bancroft seemed probably the closest approximation to the truth attainable. When the versions of any affair given by contemporaries were hopelessly discordant, he determined to publish both accounts rather than to attempt the impracticable feat of deciding between them. Of course this expansion of the general scheme increased the cost as well as the labor, and necessitated the addition of several volumes to the series. But, carried out as it has been, it has enhanced the value of all these histories beyond computation, and has secured the permanent preservation of a mass of most important — it maybe said even priceless — original information, the collection of which would by the end of this century have become altogether impossible, and which, it may be confidently asserted, never would or could have been gathered in any other way. In the present volume Mr. Bancroft gives a lively and clear description, which may be accepted as typical, of the shifts and contrivances which frequently had to be employed to induce old settlers and pioneers to relate what they knew. Indeed, in the case of generals Alvarado and Vallejo, which is here told at length, there is all the excitement of a campaign, and the display of generalship is by no means contemptible. Much

XX INTRODUCTION.

of the difficulty encountered in disinterring reminiscences and records of past times arose from the greed of the persons holding the infonnation sought. Not infrequently they looked upon their special knowledge or their documentary evidence as property to be held for the highest market, and if Mr. Bancroft had once accepted this view he would have needed the revenue of the United States to carry out his plans. Of course, the better class of old settlers were willing and ready to tell all they knew, but there was one notable exception even here.

It was necessary that in writing the history of California the truth should be told about the two great vigilance committee campaigns of San Francisco. But the vigilance committee was compelled to do many things the strict legality of which was open to question. They had moreover incurred the enmity of a great many people who had survived those troubled times, and had since become in some cases wealthy and influential. It was apprehended, consequently, that any disclosure of the inmost secrets of the old organization would produce a revival of enmities which had lapsed by the mere passage of time, and that possibly litigation of a vexatious and costly character might ensue. The result of such fears was that when Mr. Bancroft tried to get at the truth, he was met by obstinate refusals to make any disclosures, and that for a time it looked as though he might be compelled to slur over this important period in his history of California. But he persevered, despite the discouraging outlook, and by persuasion and adroit management finally overcame the reticence of those who knew all the facts, and was then able to present a complete and fully authoritative record of all the proceedings. It may be worth while to add that no little courage was required to put on record the naked truths concerning many things which had to be discussed in the historical series dealing with those states and territories whose early periods had been more or less stormy and anarchic. In all these young and unformed settlements there had been much of a character to cause humiliation to those concerned in looking