will convey some idea of the comprehensive field covered. The writer's style and the modernizing of the topics discussed make it all the more attractive to the general reader, for whom the book is intended. All the more reason, therefore, that attention should be called to some of its shortcomings.

First of all, as the title and the introductory chapter indicate, the writer is primarily, almost exclusively, concerned with the influence of wealth and its effects on Roman society and government (cf. especially pages 6-11). The book is therefore frankly one-sided, and the picture is overdrawn. Mr. Davis certainly succeeds in making plain that within the Roman world, amid which Cicero thundered his eloquence, Cæsar led his legions, and Nero indulged his passions, there was another world, less voluptuous and glittering, less famous in history, but no less real and important to the men of the day-the realm of the great god Lucre" (preface, page vi). But is the picture fair and true to the life of the vast mass of "the men of the Empire?" Is this generalization warranted, especially in view of the local differences (referred to by the author himself on page 37), and of the paucity of material for writing a true history of the people of the Roman Empire, whose interests and life were so much more circumscribed than our own? The picture is effectively drawn, but is the interpretation of the facts true and just?

The title is misleading, especially when the contents of the book itself are considered. Rome is not the Roman Empire, least of all during the first two centuries of the Christian era, and assumptions that Roman and Italian conditions prevailed throughout the Empire are unsafe and in the highest degree misleading, inasmuch as Rome and Italy during this "Roman Age" occupied a privileged and artificial position in the Roman imperial scheme.

The hop-skip-and-jump method, from the chronological point of view (employed for example, in the first two paragraphs of chapter ii) and the disregard of or wrong emphasis placed on geographic and historic conditions (for example, in the sixth paragraph of chapter v) are disastrous and destroy perspective and proportion. A composite photograph covering so long a period, with no clear distinction between Rome and Roman Empire, and between the period of the Republic and of the Empire, and interpreting the "Roman Age" from a single viewpoint, can not but be misleading to the general reader. The dangers of generalization and of "foreshortening" are obvious.

Considering the unwieldiness of city-state machinery for the rule and administration of great territorial areas, the difficult problems of finance

and of taxation, not to mention those of race, religion and language, which the Romans had to solve, with little experience to guide them and no knowledge of the economic laws which the modern age has formulated; bearing in mind also the necessity of settling, exploiting and defending the vast frontier areas of the Empire; and remembering finally the well-known attitude of the literary classes towards the masses throughout this "Roman Age" of the Empire-the thesis of the book, especially as amplified in the last chapter, seems to be superficial and inadequate, not to say unjust and unfair. It certainly does not help us to understand and to appreciate the tremendous odds against which so many of the Roman emperors and their efficient servants were struggling manfully, if not wisely.

Mr. Davis's book fairly teems with excellent material, but upon the general reader it will inevitably leave an impression largely erroneous. Properly "checked up," the book will be found of great value.

UNIVERSITY of California.

R. F. SCHOLZ.

Anson Burlingame and the First Chinese Mission to Foreign Powers. By FREDERICK WELLS WILLIAMS. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1912.-xii, 370 pp.

The Passing of the Manchus. By PERCY HORACE KENT. New York, Longmans, Green and Company, 1912.-xi, 404 pp.

Professor Williams's book is a worthy volume, on a worthy subject, by one highly competent for the task. When we consider the epochal character of Burlingame's mission, it may seem strange that it has not sooner found a historian. The tardy recognition of its importance may, no doubt, be ascribed to the circumstance that the policy which Burlingame advocated and labored to develop was in advance of his time. It ran counter to the prepossessions of the East as well as to those of the West, and to the attitude which they respectively maintained toward each other. Burlingame believed, as Professor Williams observes, in the application to the business of diplomacy of the commandment: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." While it may not always be easy to apply this rule, if your neighbor does not reciprocate it, there can be little doubt that in Burlingame's day the relations of the East and the West were seldom conceived to fall within its fraternal range. Moreover, the stipulations of the treaty which he made with the United States, and by association with which his name is perhaps chiefly remembered in this country, soon ceased to repre

sent the state of the actual relations between the United States and China, especially with regard to the question of change of home and allegiance. But these things need not blind us to the fact that he pursued an ideal which in later times governments have desired to profess and have recognized as possessing a practical value. Burlingame's diplomatic career is now clearly set before us, in its more enduring as well as its temporary aspects. There are five appendices, containing important documents, and these are followed by a bibliography and a general index.

Mr. Kent treats of the latest political developments in China. In so doing he passes rapidly in review the antecedents of the recent revolution. He speaks of the mission whose history Professor Williams narrates as having "at its head, Mr. Burlingame, the United States minister." Burlingame, when entering the service of China, resigned his office as American minister. His mission is not, however, a subject of special interest in connection with the events which Mr. Kent narrates, except as constituting an important step towards the establishment of more intimate relations between China and the western world. Mr. Kent's volume has indeed the virtues and the defects of books of its class. As he remarks in his preface, much time probably must elapse before a complete account can be written of the developments in modern China which have resulted in the present situation. Meanwhile, the world desires such information as can from time to time be furnished. The author wisely refrains from attempting to play the rôle of a prophet, but he points out the elements that justify a hopeful view of the future. He publishes in an appendix a translation of the provisional constitution of the Republic of China. He is disposed to think that the bankers who constitute the six-nations group went too far in requiring the administration of the salt gabelle to be placed under foreign supervision-a demand which they have since abandoned. He gives an extended review of the various loan negotiations. JOHN BASSETT MOORE.

The Wisconsin Idea. By CHARLES MCCARTHY. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1912.-xvi, 323 pp.

Wisconsin: An Experiment in Democracy. By FREDERIC C. Howe. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1912.-xii, 202 pp.

Des Moines has a 66 plan"; Oregon a "system ; and now Wisconsin, not to be outdone in originative genius, appears to have evolved an" idea." While, according to Mr. McCarthy, no one categorical

explanation of the Idea can be given, it appears to include: "the development of the efficiency of the individual and the safeguarding of his opportunity, the jealous guarding of the governmental machinery from the invasion of the corrupting force of concentrated wealth, the shackling of monopoly, and the regulating of contract conditions by special administrative agencies of the people."

Mr. McCarthy gives the Idea a concrete form by describing some of the progressive legislation which began with the Direct Primary Act of 1903 and which covers such various matters as corrupt practices, workmen's compensation, the regulation of railroads and public utilities, state insurance and agricultural education. This comprehensive program, executed with unusual care and practical consideration, has carried the state a long way towards industrial democracy. Such a record of achievement, crowded into a single decade, must appear impressive even to those who suspect that the Idea is not altogether a Wisconsin monopoly. But there is something almost comic in the naïve complacency with which Mr. McCarthy writes of it. He is a panegyrist; such phrases as " that great student" and "brilliant newspaper man and author" recall the flamboyant eulogies which are delivered in Congress when our statesmen die. Not a few of the measures which he praises-the presidential preference primary and the secondchoice ballot, for instance-had not yet been tested in practice when he wrote; the direct legislation amendments will not be submitted to the people till 1914; and as for the Massachusetts ballot and the Oregon system of electing United States senators, the first will precipitate "a fierce struggle" in 1913 and the second " undoubtedly will be considered later." Evidently Wisconsin, in the language of Chesterton, is glowing with the memory of to-morrow afternoon.

Why did Wisconsin assert this preeminence over all the other states? Because, Mr. McCarthy asserts with curious emphasis and reiteration, it is "fundamentally a German state", "the great German state of the nation"; because "German standards and Teutonic blood . . . are so prevalent"; because "the cautious, careful German and Norwegian have refused to be domineered over by every long-haired reformer who prances into the arena"; and because "the German state" has a "German university." Of course this is an hallucination. The only evidence adduced is a page from the college directory conveniently chosen under the letter K. But later on, to show the practical nature of political instruction in this German university, scme pages from the announcement of courses are given; and the names of nine of the ten instructors quite obviously originated in the United Kingdom of Great

Britain and Ireland. And who were actually the progenitors of the Wisconsin Idea? How many of them had more German blocd than the New-Englander John Bascom or the Scotch-Irish Huguenot Robert M. La Follette? And are we to suppose that Mr. McCarthy's own forbears came from Pumpernickel? By way of further criticism, it must be said that evidence of haste and carelessness abounds. There are occasional lapses in grammar; there are strange allusions to Bagehot's "History" of the English Constitution and "Judge " Dicey's "Law and Opinion"; and there are numerous and extended quotations from books and statutes and court decisions, some of them running to six or eight pages of small type.

But, with all these defects, the book has conspicuous merits. In some ways it should rank as the most suggestive contribution which has recently been made to the literature on state government. Nowhere has the inner meaning of the new radical movement been stated at once so simply and so cogently. Those who read the first chapter, which discusses "The Reason for It," and the last chapter, which treats of "The Law and Economic Progress," will see that the author has come fairly close to an understanding of the fundamental problems of our politics. Some may take alarm at his references to "the tarnished grandeur of the Constitution" and "the break-down of common justice." But, believing firmly in representative government, he not unnaturally regards the abolition of frivolous constitutional restrictions and the policy-determining functions of the courts as necessary to the rehabilitation of the legislatures. Power and responsibility must be restored, or else the public will continue to sigh with relief when each session ends and to thank heaven that the courts can be relied on to protect the people's interests against the representatives of the people. Mr. McCarthy, evidently preferring cabinet government, would require administrative commissions to appear before the legislature to answer questions. He makes a number of other proposals, intended to secure honesty and efficiency in the public service; for example, that the legislature should meet immediately after the election, organize committees, and then adjourn for a year so as to ensure due care in the preparation of bills. The official position which Mr. McCarthy has held for the past five or six years has given him unusual opportunities to observe the defects of existing practices and should entitle his proposals to serious consideration.

Dr. Howe's volume traverses the same ground of proposed legislation, but with a more orderly arrangement and with an attention to form and style which makes it very agreeable reading. His enthusiasm