tions about English feudalism," thus having a value in respect to the feudal history of England. Secondly, the problems arising out of the collisions of the special jurisdictions, with the national administration of justice and the solutions of these difficulties, "form an interesting chapter in the history of English law and are of value also as illustrating the fashion in which the principles of the common law were interpreted to meet highly exceptional cases and to formulate new rules of law. "To the historian, one of the most interesting parts of the book must be the latest statement of the origin of the County Palatine." Putting aside the view that it was created by specific royal act, either of Alfred or William I, Mr. Lapsley accepts Hardy's conclusion that the Palatinate had no more definite origin than that of slow accretions of territory and jurisdiction by the see of Durham before the Conquest. Certain immunities may have been due to some survival of Northumbrian independence, further enhanced by the position of Durham as a border county over against the Scots, all these being largely increased after the Conquest. Finally to come to Mr. Lapsley's own specific contention, these immunities were not only maintained but actually as well as relatively increased by the influence and ambition of Bishop Pudsey during the time when most feudal privileges suffered their severest losses, namely in the reign of Henry II. Space forbids following Mr. Lapsley's careful study of the details of Palatine administration, which includes the bishop and his regality, the state and household officers of the palatinate, the assembly and the bishop's council, the judiciary, both in its local aspect and its relation to the national or royal judiciary, as well as the financial, military and naval arrangements of the county. This exhaustive presentment of a mediæval franchise is further enlarged by four appendices and an excellent index. It is unfortunate in this as in so many such cases that the investigator has so far overshadowed the author that the style is not above reproach.

If such a résumé as C. W. Oman's England in the Nineteenth Century (Longmans, New York) is to serve its real purpose it must not simply be well arranged and readable; it should present the results of scholarly investigation, and should be free from partisanship and provincialism. But this little book at every turn supports an untroubled British self-esteem. Sometimes this happens by what is left out, rather than by what is actually said. Judicious paring here and there would have enabled the writer to insert a juster view of what other people did in the events he describes, without unduly extending the narrative.

For example, no credit beyond timely "pressure" is given Blücher for the final success at Waterloo, and Wellington's initial blunder in the campaign is ignored. Occasionally there is actual misstatement, as when the United States authorities are said to have yielded in the Trent affair only after a "a long and acrid controversy." And by the Convention of Cyprus the English are made to guarantee that the long promised reforms would be carried out in Armenia. The Armenian massacres are also twice said to have occurred in 1897.

The late Ulick Ralph Burke's interesting and scholarly History of Spain from the Earliest Times to the Death of Ferdinand the Catholic has been reissued in a cheaper form under the editorial care of Martin A. S. Hume (Longmans, Green & Co., New York). Major Hume has supplied an introduction and frequent notes explanatory and bibliographical.

Burke's work, although peculiar in structure and uneven in execution, is the best history of Spain in English for the period it covers. The later period has now been occupied by Major Hume in his two works: Spain, its Greatness and Decay, 1479-1788, and Modern Spain, 1788-1898 (Story of the Nations: G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York), so that in four handy volumes the English reader now has for the first time in half a century the story of Spain from the beginning to the present day in a narrative abreast of modern knowledge. Major Hume's intimate acquaintance with Spain through long residence and family connections gives his account of Modern Spain great vividness and freshness. On matters outside of Spain his step is less sure, as when on p. 492 he gives the reasons why President Grant did not recognize the Cubans as belligerents. Grant himself was in favor of doing so, but the opposition of Senator Sumner was effectual. The critical moment was in Grant's first term, not his second, as the author says. Major Hume affirms of his own knowledge that General Prim was willing to grant Cuba independence provided the Cubans would lay down their arms and the United States guarantee an indemnity to Spain.

The life of Alexander the Great by Prof. Benjamin I. Wheeler, which was published in the Century Magazine last year, has now been issued as one of the Heroes of the Nations Series (G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York). The two chapters on "The Old Greece, 336 B. C." and "Old Greece-its Political Organizations, 336 B. C." are admirable examples of a fresh and suggestive exposition of a familiar theme and make the student regret that a college

presidency has diverted Professor Wheeler from the field of ancient history which has received so scant attention from American scholars. The promise of these earlier chapters is redeemed in the later ones and the biography as a whole unfolds a vivid picture of the expansion of the old Greek world and brings into strong relief its significance in the history of European civilization.

Mr. Noah Brooks' Life of Henry Knox (American Men of Energy: G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York) deserves more than ordinary attention from the fact that it is based on hitherto unprinted material preserved in the Knox Papers in the custody of The New England Historic Genealogical Society. The extracts from General Knox's letters are not only good reading but in many instances make a valuable addition to our available evidence on the period. Mr. Brooks has used his material with skill and written an unusually interesting book about a man whose career and character by one chance and another have failed hitherto to receive adequate treatment in a form accessible to the general public. One slip may be noted: on p. 237, Duer is said to have been "the writer of at least three papers in The Federalist." It was the plan that he should contribute to the series, but the three short papers that he wrote have never been included in the collected editions of The Federalist as a part of the text. J. C. Hamilton printed them in an appendix in his edition.

Judge Landon has brought out a new edition of his interesting and useful lectures on The Constitutional History and Government of The United States (Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston). The chapters on the colonial period are extended and the most recent steps in our development are briefly touched upon. On the constitutional aspects of the Porto Rican and Philippine questions he gives expression to a cautious conservatism. As Congress has "power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory and other property belonging to the United States," the author succinctly describes our new islands as "territories to be 'disposed of' under the constitution." In the note on p. 29, the unauthenticated Mecklenburgh Resolves of' May 20, 1775, are quoted without question, and in that on p. 159 a letter of John Trumbull, the artist, is attributed to his father, the Governor of Connecticut.

Professor John Bascom's The Growth of Nationality in the United States (New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons), is in the form of a study of a series of conflicts, either completed or still in progress, out of

which has emerged a strong sense of nationality in the United States. These conflicts are four in number. First, the strife between the States and the United States. Second, the strife between groups of States for control. These, at least in the South, formed a continuous movement culminating in the civil war, and ending in the settlements reached during the reconstruction period. Third, the strife between departments which culminated in the contest between President Johnson and Congress, and has never been a very serious or disturbing one. Fourth, the strife between classes which is now going on, and is far more important than any which have preceded it. "We have now to settle what has not been settled in human history-the terms under which men can happily labor with each other in behalf of and in submission to the public welfare."

The Regeneration of the United States, a forecast of its Industrial Evolution (New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1899), by William Morton Grinnell, consists of (1) an idealistic picture of our early history; (2) an unsound diagnosis of present conditions and tendencies, and (3) a fanciful and highly improbable prophetic forecast of its future evolution. Under the concurrent action of two forces, imperialism and centralization, the nation degenerates into the most sordid materialism. Colonial expansion involves us in a vital struggle with Russia and Germany. The result is that "within three months from the outbreak of the war the United States had lost her colonies, and the great seaboard cities of the country proper were in the hands of the enemy. Modern warfare had become more than ever essentially and primarily a question of money and the principal sea-coast cities instead of being bombarded were simply bonded"—an outcome not so very new and novel after all. The Nation is chastened by its defeat, the old pristine virtues are revived and through the re-establishment of the long neglected principles of coöperation and individualism the regeneration is complete. Despite its wealth of fantasy, there is, partially concealed here and there by rhetorical extravagance, much that is sound though little that it really new.

Aline Gorren's Anglo-Saxons and Others (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York) is made up of a series of brilliant essays on the psychology of the Latin and Teutonic peoples. Their standards of morals, their interpretations of life and of civilization, their differences of temperament, the contrast of their ideals are penetratingly analyzed and set forth in a style remarkable for freshness and

vigor. The author draws illustrations from an unusually wide range of reading and observation. In a sense the book is a reply to M. Demolin's Causes of Anglo-Saxon Superiority. The chapters on The New Empire and Anglo-Saxon Humanitarianism are an especially wholesome and suggestive criticism of contemporary history.

Practical Agitation, by John Jay Chapman (Charles Scribner's Sons) is a trenchant analysis of the power of individual character in social progress, demonstrating that the things that infuse life and motion into inert social groups are personal courage of conviction, integrity and uncompromising insistance. These compel thought and inquiry and bring about a change in the standards of the community. These vigorous essays not only clear the air of contemporary political discussion but bring out into relief the real function of the radical agitator in past reform movements like abolition.

Far different in tone and in standpoint is Mr. Lecky's careful weighing of pros and cons in the questions of public and private conduct which he discusses in his Map of Life (Longsmans, Green & Co., New York), which may be described as an attempt to chart the path of prudent and justifiable compromise. The student of politics will naturally turn to the chapters on "Moral Compromise in Politics," which considers the measure of surrender of private convictions involved in government by party, and to the chapter on "The Statesman," which takes up war, annexation, coups d'états, etc.

The new matter in the third edition of "Baker's Monopolies and the People" (G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York) is largely devoted to tracing the development of the "Trusts" during the ten years since the first edition appeared, to a discussion of some of the evils that accompany the "Trusts" régimé, and plans for the control of real monopolies. It will be remembered that in 1889, Mr. Baker, writing from the standpoint of a man of affairs, had seen the folly of merely restrictive legislation; that he advocated the government ownership of the means of transportation and communication to be operated by private parties under the lease system; that he favored the legalization of combinations to be accompanied by full publicity as to the affairs of the monopoly; that he insisted strenuously upon the requirement of the policy of non-discrimination among localities and individuals, and that he favored a re-organization of our corporation laws to the end that legitimate interests might not be sacrificed in the interest of a favored few. In the