France Under the Regency with a Review of the Administration of Louis XIV
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France Under Mazarin, with a Review of the Administration of Richelieu; Volume 2
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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
James Breck Perkins was an American lawyer, congressman and historian.
Background
He was born on November 4, 1847 in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, United States. His parents, Hamlet Houghton and Margaret Ann (Breck) Perkins, joined the westward movement soon after their marriage in 1836 and left Concord for Tremont.
After her husband's death in 1851, Mrs. Perkins took her children back to Como, where the childhood of her son was spent in roaming the woods and fields and acquiring a devotion to nature which he never forsook.
In 1856 his mother returned to the East, settling with her children near her parents, at Rochester, New York.
Education
Without formal schooling, he was taught to read by his family; he reveled in Scott, Dickens, and stories from Roman and English history.
His record in high school won him a scholarship at the University of Rochester. Entering in 1863, he became a student of marked excellence. While a freshman he endeavored to enlist in the Union army but was rejected because of his youth. He won first honors in Greek and Latin, and as a junior, upon the advice of President Martin Brewer Anderson, borrowed money to finance a European tour. Returning to Rochester, he graduated as the ranking member of his class (1867).
Career
Following a brief period of study in a law office, Perkins was admitted to the bar and to a partnership. He quickly acquired an excellent practice and the respect of his Monroe County colleagues. He continued to study, and wrote articles for the American Law Review on legal and political subjects. He also wrote book reviews for New York newspapers.
His entrance to public service began with two terms as city attorney for Rochester (1874 - 78). Stimulated by his reading in French history and by an ambition to write, he determined to study and interpret an important but, in America, little-known period of French history, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He went again to Paris in 1885 and there completed his first book, France Under Mazarin With a Review of the Administration of Richelieu (1886). The favorable reception of this effort led him to continue his studies.
He sold his law practice and with his wife left for Europe where they resided, chiefly in France, from 1890 to 1895. He there completed France Under the Regency With a Review of the Administration of Louis XIV (1892), and began France Under Louis XV (1897). For the Heroes of the Nations Series he later wrote Richelieu and the Growth of French Power (1900). His last book, France in the American Revolution (published posthumously, 1911), completed a well-rounded survey of two significant centuries in the history of France.
As a historian Perkins began to write at a moment inauspicious for scholars not of the professional guild. He worked extensively in archive material and with printed sources, avoiding second-hand or standardized opinions.
Political life once more opened to him with a seat in the New York Assembly (1898). His term at Albany was followed, in 1900, by election to Congress from the thirty-second New York district (Monroe County). As a congressman he won the affection, confidence, and admiration of the House. He advanced gradually, but steadily, to one of the principal chairmanships, that of the committee on foreign affairs. His speeches, therefore, although he was not an orator, commanded the attention of his fellow members. He was a member of the House of Representatives for five terms, from the Fifty-seventh to the Sixty-first congresses, until his death at Washington, March 11, 1910.
Achievements
James Breck Perkins was one of the distinguished Americans, who founded the National Institute of Arts and Letters, occupying at different times the offices of secretary and treasurer. He made a pioneer service in presenting, in English, a fresh, original, and interesting synthesis of an obscure and much neglected period. His writings include: France under Mazarin, France under Louis XV, France in the American Revolution and others. To the general reader and to many generations of college undergraduates they made a contribution unavailable in the more scholarly monographs.
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Politics
A Republican, he was from conviction a party man but, withal, fearless and independent in his opinions.
Views
He endeavored to maintain a strict fidelity to documentary evidence and for this reason was, perhaps, prone to confine his investigations to the more formal, official material. His analysis was unbiased, reasonable, and free from sentimentality; and his judgments, particularly of men and policies, were generally sound. His style is lucid and sustained, vigorous and somewhat austere.
Quotations:
Perkins was described by his contemporaries as "a gentleman of the old school. "
Personality
Cultivated and courteous, hating hypocrisy, he was generous with assistance to others, as when he defended Algernon Sidney Crapsey in the celebrated heresy trial of 1906. In thought he was progressive, but not radical. Averse to exaggeration, he also avoided guesses and moralizing. He was quietly humorous, with a genuine sense of fun. Devoid of jealousy and distrust, his life was singularly happy, full, and generously spent.
Connections
He married, in 1878, Mary, youngest daughter of Gen. John H. Martindale.
