to be carried on in his name by another, whether that other be a prætorian prefect, a major domus, a shogun, a high priest or a prime minister. On other questions also the author indicates views that are not commonly held, or at least not usually avowed, at the present time in democratic countries. There is much in the book that is worth reading, but its lack of structure-and it may be added its somewhat involved and allusive style-make it hard to read. Even in Great Britain, where the classical tradition is strong, neither the general reader nor the modern politician would look primarily to a book on the Roman Empire for direct illumination of the dark places in modern politics, and neither would, as a rule, have the patience to struggle through the palace intrigues of medieval Constantinople for the sake of the somewhat fitful lights which Mr. Bussell's digressions offer. It is probably for this reason that the author has presented his views more directly and more concisely in A New Government for the British Empire (London, Longmans, Green and Company, 1912; xiv, 108 pp.). His diagnosis of existing conditions reveals "national peril, wasted resources and suspended energy." Half the electorate, as good as disfranchised for the time being, criticizes and grumbles. Government is unpopular, and the gravest danger lies in lack of respect for rulers and authority, fostered by campaigns of ridicule and abuse. The state has assumed the nature of a benefit society; laissez faire is everywhere extinct and all signs and symptoms point to greater activity of government. The House of Commons, under the pressure of the Cabinet, has sunk to the level of a mere lit de justice for the registration of the dictator's measures, "an arena of invective, of inconclusive arguments and foregone conclusions." The peoples' delegates are not genuinely representative, and "the tie between members and constituents often sits very loosely." The remedies proposed are somewhat startling. The Commons should be dissolved, and separate parliaments established for each section of the British Isles. For dealing with the larger questions of imperial concern the monarch should again use his prerogative and select his own ministers. The Upper House should be transformed into an Imperial Senate. The peerage should elect one-sixth of the number of this Senate; the United Kingdom should provide one hundred members, and the colonies and dominions should choose another hundred. It is perhaps permissible to ask how long the monarchy would survive its reappearance as a personal factor in English politics, and whether the reserve fund of loyalty would prove as inexhaustible as the author imagines-whether, in short, Mr. Bussell's plan would not be the speediest method of "courting Revolution." The essay is dedicated to the Earl of Rosebery, who "in the painful friction and short-sighted opportunism of politics and statesmen of to-day. has always set a far higher standard, and has always achieved a far higher ideal." ... M. Ernest Lémonon's L' Europe et la politique britannique, 18821911 (Paris, Félix Alcan, 1912; x, 524 pp.), which was first published in 1910 and was well received, has now appeared in a second edition. In this edition the book is revised, corrected and brought down to date, and it contains an appendix on the English constitutional crisis of 1909-1911. This is an important addition, in view of the close and sometimes vital connection between foreign policy and domestic political conditions. It is of interest to note that England and the spirit of the English people appear to M. Lémonon to be quite different to-day from what they were in the days when England and France were antagonists. This is perhaps not strange, for French writers are not less inclined than are those of other countries to regard the foreign policy of their own government as a high example of unselfishness. A reader would be lacking in circumspection who should fail to bear in mind this circumstance when estimating the judgments found in books. But E. Lémonon, who is a careful student, does not withhold from us the facts; on the contrary, he gathers them with industry and thoroughness and sets them before us fully. His views upon the relations of the powers in the Near East are especially interesting at the present time. In order to oblige Germany to adhere to a policy based on the principle of European equilibrium, it is not, he thinks, enough for the parties to the Triple Entente to strengthen the bonds that unite them; they must show favor in every way to the formation of a strong Balkan confederation, which, if not hostile to the Austro-German league, shall not be dependent upon it. To this end they must assist the Balkan states, and particularly Servia, to develop their military and economic forces. This policy the Triple Entente must, he maintains, pursue without hesitation or feebleness, if it wishes to prevent Austria, backed by Germany, from planting her flag on European Turkey and the entire Balkan peninsula. A suggestive, though elementary, outline of the broad field of nineteenth-century history is supplied us by MM. E. Driault and G. Monod in the revised edition of their Évolution du monde moderne, histoire politique et sociale, 1815-1911 (Paris, Félix Alcan, 1911; 699 pp.). The general scope of the work as well as the fine enthusiasm of the authors is displayed in the opening note: "The nineteenth century is the century of struggles for liberty. Glorious victories will be won ; an irresistible progress will be made; humanity will be educated through rapid evolution to a happier social position. The century will free serfs and slaves and thereby remove one of the most frightful miseries of modern times. It will raise the people little by little from the condition of subjects to that of citizens. It will break the chains of oppressed nationalities. It will insure the development of industry and trade by destroying the barriers between peoples, and, despite protectionist doctrines, will afford the world a remarkable economic unity; it will consolidate all nations. It will inspire generous attempts to emancipate the laborer and relieve him of the heaviest burdens of his lot. It will save art and literature from rule of thumb and will multiply the sources of inspiration. In freeing the human intellect, it will marvelously expand science. It will produce throughout the period a veritable ebullition of ideas and passions; it will be marked by violent conflicts between self-interest and sentiment; it will give the present a rare intensity of life, whether political, social, intellectual, or moral. Amid struggles which at first appear quite confused, there will be gradually evidenced the great fateful current of civilization in which men forever seek and find greater justice and greater truth." The volume differs little in general arrangement from M. Seignobos's Political History of Europe since 1814, but is less encyclopædic, more interesting and naturally more up-to-date. In sharp contrast to the foregoing stimulating appreciation of the nineteenth century is L. Cecil Jane's From Metternich to Bismarck (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1910; 288 pp., 8 maps). It purports to sort out what is important from what is not, with the not unusual result that to many students the "essentials" sometimes seem unilluminating. It is most narrowly political, and its content cannot at best be characterized as much more than an epitome of Mr. Alison Phillips's Modern Europe. Everything centers about the "Metternich System," the "Independence of Greece," and the unifications of Italy and Germany, the last of which is treated in two chapters under the picturesque headings, "Fall of Austria" and "Fall of France." Having thus summarily overwhelmed those ancient states, the author properly labels the last chapter "The Bismarck System" and stops short in the year 1878. The style is distinctly depressing. The Abbe Sieyes, by J. H. Clapham (London, P. S. King and Son, 1912; 275 pp.), will never suggest to any reader the familiar remark about the servile relation of a biographer to his subject. Mr. Clapham clearly indicates a very unflattering opinion of Sieyes and all his works. The volume, moreover, does not pretend to be a biography; it under takes to give an analytical account of the political ideas of the Frenchman, as revealed in his public writings and general activities. This purpose of the author is admirably carried out, and the book is therefore a valuable addition to the material in English for an understanding of the thinking that was potent in the thick of the Revolution. Among recent attempts to popularize history and retrim the "beacon lights" is Mr. R. P. Dunn Pattison's Leading Figures in European History (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1912; 471 pp.). The book undertakes to outline the whole field of continental European history from the disruption of the Roman Empire to the present time in a series of biographies of sixteen celebrities. The introductory chapter summarizes political events in the later Roman Empire and presents the conventional Charlemagne. Then come, likewise quite conventionally, Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy, Pope Gregory VII, Philip Augustus, the Emperors Frederick II and Charles IV, Lorenzo the Magnificent, Columbus, Luther, Philip II, Gustavus Adolphus, Louis XIV, Frederick the Great, Napoleon, Cavour and Bismarck. Each biography is prefaced by a brief narrative to fill the chronological and political gap between the lives of the figures chosen. The conventionality of the work preserves many old-time generalities, including mistakes and misapprehensions, which are reiterated with naïve seriousThus, "there was a general belief that the world would come to an end in the year 1000 (page 42); Gregory VII "gained the title of Great" (page 84); and on the eve of the Revolution of 1789 the French peasantry were much worse off than any other people in Europe (page 358) The book is as interestingly written as it is surprisingly inaccurate. ness. A French translation, by Maxime David, of the first part of Eduard Meyer's Geschichte des Altertums has appeared under the title: Histoire d l'antiquité; Introduction à l'étude des sociétés anciennes (Paris, Paul Geuthner, 1912; viii, 284 pp). The translation appears to be well done, and the book will be welcomed by those who appreciate the lucidity of Gallic texts in philosophic and scientific treatises. This is the introduction which Professor Meyer wrote as a sort of supplement to his history, to embody the newer anthropological point of view. In it he also discusses both comparative and historical methods and presents a slight survey of antique historiography. It is a pity that this work is not accessible in English. A thorough and careful analysis of the political conceptions of St. Augustine is presented by Dr. Otto Schilling in Die Staats- und Soziallehre des heiligen Augustinus (Freiburg im Breisgau, Herder, 1910; x, 280 pp.). After a survey of the political, scientific and social setting of Augustine's work, it proceeds to a criticism of the conception both of the civitas terrena and the civitas Dei as presented in his various treatises. There is a good discussion of sources, with helpful references. The book bears the imprimatur of the bishop of Freiburg. The Trade of the East India Company from 1709 to 1813 (New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1912; viii, 186 pp.), by E. P. Robinson, is a very readable little contribution to the knowledge of an important phase of European expansion. Basing his treatise on the standard secondary works, with an occasional venture into original materials, the author traces the gradual development of a trading corporation into a political power, and describes the economic and other causes leading to this transformation. Of especial note is the effort made to show that the establishment of British dominion in India began much earlier than is commonly supposed. The secret of the success of the English East India Company is attributed in large degree to its freedom from an organic dependence upon the government at home, in contradistinction to the plight of its Dutch and French rivals. Thanks to the large number of publications now available on the subject, Harry Weston Van Dyke, in Through South America (New York, Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1912; xxiv, 446 pp.), has shown how one may write an acceptable book about countries which apparently he has never visited. An historical sketch covering 133 pages is followed by a description of each of the ten republics and of the Guianas. A list of books, also, is provided, which is remarkable chiefly for the alphabetical distortions of its titles. Since the book is a compilation expanded from a series of articles prepared for reading circles, it would hardly be fair to treat it as a work of serious character either in form or in content. The author's industry is to be commended, whatever may be said about his critical understanding of his sources of information. In The American Mediterranean (New York, Moffat, Yard and Company, 1912; xiv, 488 pp.), Stephen Bonsal has brought together his impressions of numerous visits to the islands and countries in and around the Caribbean Sea. His material, some of which has been published before in newspapers and magazines, is presented in the easy and unsystematic fashion of the journalist. Moving pictures of personages and events, peoples and products, natural beauty and human. depravity, or the reverse, dissolve into one another, leaving in the mind much to amuse and much to ponder over. As a concession to those who crave stronger stuff, Mr. Bonsal furnishes some miscellaneous appendices of political, social and commercial import. His main |