the late Mr. W. A. Hunter, and the late Mr. W. H. Smith, whose humanity conquered his religious and political bias. It seems strange that barely twenty years ago a member should have been expelled from the House of Commons because he refused to take an oath which was meaningless to him, and desired to make an affirmation which was binding on his conscience. The whole is a pithy commentary on the value of Christian ethics. This is a book which has taken its place in the bibliography of the history of liberty.

The rise of a great Power in the Far East and the momentous overthrow of Russia have produced far-reaching effects upon the political situation in Europe in all directions. France, for instance, has been constrained to find a new policy for her action in the East. In Le Japon et la Politique Française1 M. Roger Dorient, a close observer at the pschological moment, has supplied us with the explanation of this stupendous turn in the wheel of fortune and the limits of Japan's ambition. After dealing with the causes of Japan's success, domestic and foreign, M. Dorient raises the questions of the threat to Indo-China, its capability of effective resistance, the sea-power and the foreign policy of France. To all these problems he supplies answers which are worthy of the close attention of all supporters of Greater France.

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

In Henry Sidgwick: a Memoir,2 the loving hands of A. S. and E. M. S. have rescued from oblivion the records of a quiet existence filled with multifarious intellectual interests. For forty years, viz., from 1859, when he graduated Senior Classic and thirty-third Wrangler, down to his death in 1890, the name of the late Professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge was honoured beyond the confines of University circles. His literary activity was marvellous, as the bibliography attached to his Memoir testifies. Methods of Ethics and Principles of Political Economy are among the works by which he is best known; but one of his earliest contributions to literature is the review of Ecce Homo, which appeared anonymously in the Westminster Review of July 1866. He had no sooner graduated than he threw with such ardour into the study Le Japon et la Politique Française. Par Roger Dorient. Paris: Plon-Nourrit et Cie. 1906. London: Macmillan

Henry Sidgwick: a Memoir. By A. S. and E. M. S. and Co.

of first Arabic, afterwards of Hebrew, that it was generally thought that he aspired to become a second Ewald, under whom he studied for a while in Germany. Spiritualism and Psychical Research interested him greatly. Above all, he laboured ardently in the cause of the education of women in Cambridge. Newnham College, where his wife presided, was the home of his latter years. Professor Sidgwick had a fund of dry humour. Henry, what are the people saying about my boy's book?" asked the late Archbishop Benson, alluding to Dodo. They say, bishop," replied Sidgwick, "that you wrote it yourself." This anecdote is wanting in the Memoir before us; but even if it be not true, it is sufficiently characteristic of the man as to deserve quoting.

The principal object of Reflections on some Leading Facts and Ideas of History, by Mr. C. W. Whish (late of the Indian Civil Service), is to "advocate the necessity of a succinct but comprehensive review of history as a whole as a preliminary to the study of any part of it." His conception of the value of history from the æsthetic and teleological standpoint is, in the main, identical with that of Friedrich Schiller, whose views are embodied in the Inaugural Address which he delivered, in 1789, on his appointment to the Chair of History at Jena. History, as conceived by Mr. Whish, is a very formidable subject, embracing astronomy and the whole range of subjects to which the Germans have given the name of Erdkunde. Opinions will necessarily be divided as to the adequacy of his broad divisions of Universal History; but students will find his chart very serviceable. His volume, which is undoubtedly the outcome of extensive reading and much thought, is more stimulative than conclusive. We hope his appeal to millionaires for a national historical library will not fall on deaf ears.

Général de Piépape, in Le Coup de Grace,2 has given us a very full account of Bourbaki's campaign in the East of France, in the war of 1870, which ended in the retreat of the French army into Switzerland, and its internment there. It was one of the saddest episodes in that terrible year, and it ended in a desperate, though unsuccessful, attempt of the heart-broken Bourbaki to destroy himself. Général de Piépape has told his story with great fulness and, as far as we may judge, with great accuracy. What, however, pleases us most in his book is its feeling. He writes with the sadness natural in a defender of a lost cause; but he writes with a clearness and simplicity, and, above all, with a fairness towards his conquering foe, that are worthy of a good soldier. It is not too much to say that he deserves to be compared, as a military historian, with William Napier, and this is no slight praise. No Frenchman

1 Reflections on some Leading Facts and Ideas of History. By C. W. Whish. Guildford: Billing & Sons.

2 Le Coup de Grace: Epilogue de la Guerre Franco-Allemande dans l'Est. Par Général Piépape. Paris: Plon-Nourrit et Cie.

need feel shame in looking back on those months of defeat and suffering. On the other hand, he may take a Cato-like pride in the heroism with which that awful chastening was borne.

In M. Dry's Soldats Ambassadeurs sous le Direction au IV.au VIII.,1 we have a valuable addition to the knowledge of the revolutionary age. The author has given us full and interesting sketches of Marshal Pérignon and Admiral Truguet, Ambassadors to Spain; General Aubert-Dubayet, Ambassador at Constantinople; Marshal Clarke, Envoy-Extraordinary to Austria; General Cauclaux, MinisterPlenipotentiary to Naples; General Lacombe Saint-Michel, Ambassador to Naples, and Marshal Bernadotte, Ambassador to Austria; and his exhaustive accounts of their respective missions are a mine which students of the four years of the Directorate will have to investigate. The number of military men appointed to diplomatic posts by the Directorate, and, after it, by Napoleon is very remarkable. This was doubtless due to the fact that, in the great crash, only in the services remained a considerable body of men accustomed to discipline and authority, and possessing something of the manner considered necessary in diplomacy. Thus, of the seven envoys named above, six had more or less claim to nobility sufficient, at least, to have qualified them for commissions under the ancien régime; while Bernadotte, the lowliest of them in point of birth, died king. The mass of the officers were inclined by instinct to moderate views. They were at first Constitutional; after the fall of the monarchy they favoured the Girondists; and when the extreme men were at the height of their power, the soldiers were facing the enemies of their country. Then professional instinct also led them to side with the Executive rather than with the praters in the Councils. On the other hand, the Executive was glad to secure the support of the military chiefs, and to give them distant appoiatments or commands, either as a reward or as a means of getting rid of powerful rivals. M. Dry has thrown much light on the relations of the Army and the Government of the Republic.

In The Discoverers and Explorers of America, a title contracted in the front page to Heroes of Discovery in America, Mr. Charles Morris deals directly and in a pleasant way with more than forty personages, from Leif the Lucky down to the most recent times. This excellently illustrated work on a fascinating subject appeals to a large public, and schoolmasters will do well to include it in their selection of prize-books.

The Canadian War of 1812,3 by Mr. C. P. Lucas, is intended as an instalment of Canadian history. It is a subject which has

1 Soldats Ambassadeurs sous le Directoire an IV.-au VIII. Par A. Dry. Paris : Plon-Nourrit et Cie.

2 Ths Discoverers and Explorers of America. By Charles Morris. Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott Company.

The Canadian War of 1812. By C. P. Lucas, C. B. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

been very little studied in this country, and the few who are aware that there ever was such a war remember it on account of the fight between the Shannon and the Chesapeake, or the battle of New Orleans. The war itself was a comparatively minor affair, which only served to increase the bitterness between America and England while the latter country was engaged in crushing Napoleon. It demonstrated, however, the value of sea-power and the extraordinary difficulty, as we discovered in the late Boer War, of conquering a large territory. Mr. Lucas has utilised all available materials for the preparation of his exhaustive monograph, and six out of the eight maps which accompany the letter-press are contemporary American productions. Students will find all they can possibly require in this readable and carefully arranged account of the struggle which terminated in the treaty of Ghent (1814).

Under the much too modest title of Guide to St. Olave's, Hart Street, Mr. B. Corcoran has published a very interesting collection of antiquarian lore about one of our oldest city parishes. The first authentic record of this church dates from 1283. It escaped the great fire of London, mainly through the activity and foresight of Pepys, who lived close by, and some of the monuments and parish records are of great historical interest. Part of the Roman City wall is visible in this parish, and other evidence of the Roman occupation is plentiful. In 1560 the first glass works in London were established here. The pamphlet contains numerous sketches of the church and its monuments by the author and an illustrated list of tradesmen's tokens of the seventeenth century, which were issued in the neighbourhood, will be of interest to numismatists. It would be well if all our city parishes could find as enthusiastic historians before their ancient buildings and monuments have been swept away by the wave of modernisation that is swamping London.

BELLES LETTRES.

In Portraits and Jewels of Mary Stuart,2 Mr. Andrew Lang steers a middle course between the scepticism of M. Henri Bouchot, who only accepts four portraits as authentic, and the credulity too commonly displayed at loan exhibitions. Setting aside coins, posthumous memorial pictures, and the effigy on the Queen's tomb, Mr. Lang finds satisfactory proof of eighteen being contemporary and

1 Guide to St. Olave's, Hart Street, London. By Bryan Corcoran, London:

Blades. 1906.

2 Portraits and Jewels of Mary Stuart. By Andrew Lang. Glasgow: James Maclehose & Sons.