Excerpt from The French Revolution
And the interpretation may be singularly valuable though it may not upon all points command the assent of readers provided with a different set of political principles. The main thing is that the principles which direct or inform it be so clearly conceived that the reader knows exactly from what point of view the author is studying the phenomena. If the point of view is as well defined as in the case of Mr. Lecky's writings, or as was the case with Burke, the interpretation is altogether enlightening. It brings into sharp relief the revolutionary character of the reforms of the Constituent Assembly apart from the violent scenes which accompanied some of them. This is a gain, although the reader himself may still be cherishing remnants of belief in the sounding paragraphs of the Declaration of Rights.
Since Mr. Lecky's work was originally published, much has been done upon special phases of the Revolution. M. Sorel's incomparable L'Europe et la Revolution francaise has grown from one to five volumes. Professor Aulard has published his Histoire politique de la Revolution francaise. He has edited several important collections of documents, and among them the proceedings of the Jacobin Club and the acts of the Committee of Public Safety with its correspondence with the deputies on mission.