Government of this Republic to meet these advances of the Presi

dent of Mexico.

To The Earl of Aberdeen, K. T.

Downing Street

Charles Elliot

BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTICES

Journal of the Secession Convention of Texas, 1861, edited from the original in the Department of State by Ernest William Winkler, State Librarian (Austin: The Texas Library and Historical Commission. 1912. Pp. 469).

This volume is the second collection of documentary material to be issued by the Texas Library and Historical Commission since its creation four years ago; and it should be taken as an earnest of what the commission could do in the way of aiding research in the field of Texas history were it supplied by the state with adequate funds. Very little of our rich archives has been published except the diplomatic correspondence of the Republic, the laws and the legislative journals-which last are not complete. The commission is authorized by law to publish the archives, but the scantiness of the funds supplied has made it impossible to undertake the publication of anything but small and scattered units. Thus, the former volume consisted of the secret journals of the Congresses of the Republic.

The choice of the secession journal for the second volume is justified not only by the importance of the subject but by the inherent value of the journal itself and of the accompanying papers of the convention. The journal is remarkably full. It begins with an account of the manner in which the convention was called, and contains the full text of practically every resolution and report, as well as the addresses of the commissioners from the other cotton states. The debates are lacking, but it is not difficult to follow the mind of the convention in the record that is left. Inserted in the printed journal is a folded page photograph of the signatures to the Ordinance of Secession.

There are four appendices, only one of which is found with the original journal. The first is an address to the people, prepared after final adjournment, setting forth the various acts of the convention and the reasons for them. This was originally issued as a pamphlet. The second is the report of the Committee of Public Safety, a valuable document, which was appended to the journal and was also published in pamphlet form. The scarcity of

these pamphlets justifies their inclusion here. A statistical list of delegates follows. The fourth appendix contains the election certificates of delegates as found in the convention papers.

A number of interesting points are brought to light, not all of which can be enumerated here. The election certificates disclose the fact that in certain counties the strength of the secession sentiment had brought about the election of delegates before the general call went out from Austin. The movement was truly spontaneous. And in the general election of delegates the regular officials were in charge and made the returns. This seems to dispose of the charge that unauthorized persons conducted the election. It is shown that eight votes were cast against the ordinance of secession instead of the traditional seven; and the figures given by Roberts and others for the popular vote on that ordinance are proven erroneous, though the ratio is not materially altered. A number of other inaccuracies in Roberts's account also become evident.

The accuracy of the editorial work could be tested only by a painstaking comparison of the printed copy with the originals; but the editor's reputation for care and thoroughness is a sufficient guarantee on this point. All students will commend his decision to include the appendices. The index is well done.

The publication of this volume emphasizes the need of a comprehensive plan for the publication of all the official archives of the state and the provision of funds sufficient for carrying out that plan. The other great requisite, efficient and scholarly editorial supervision, is already provided for. The commission should not be held to the necessity of publishing our historical records in isolated fragments, however well done that sort of work may be. CHAS. W. RAMSDELL.

The Pathfinders from River to Ocean: the Story of the Great West from the Time of Coronado to the Present, by Grace Raymond Hebard, Ph. D. (Chicago. Lakeside Press, 1911. Pp. viii, 263).

This little book is a praiseworthy attempt to provide a help for the elementary teaching of the history of the New Northwest. It contains nine chapters, on: the early explorers, the fur traders,

the great trails, the missions, Frémont's explorations, the gold discoveries, the soldier and the settler, cows and cowboys, and the railroads. On the whole, the chapters are well and interestingly written for the purpose, and with a fair degree of accuracy of

statement.

The principal shortcomings of the book are on the side of omission rather than of commission. It is written from the standpoint of the Northwest, and by no means covers the ground indicated by its title, which embraces the whole of the Trans-Mississippi West. The point of view is nicely illustrated by the fact that the chapter on missions is placed after that on the Oregon and California trails, and is devoted almost entirely to nineteenth century missionary work. This narrow view of the West is shown by the fact that the list of western explorers omits the names of De León, St. Denis, La Harpe, Kino, Anza, Font, Garcés, Escalante, De Mézières, and Vial. Similarly, in the history of the fur trade, no mention is made of Natchitoches, second only in importance to St. Louis, nor of the century long work of the French and Spanish fur traders west of the Mississippi. In the account of Catholic missions in the Southwest no mention is made of the French missionaries in Louisiana and Arkansas; of the Spanish Franciscans in Texas, where they labored for a century and a quarter; or of the Spanish Jesuits in Arizona. In the list of great western trails, the San Antonio trail, reaching from Natchez to Durango, and in use for more than a century, finds no mention. The history of "soldier and settler" fails to touch the settlement of Texas or of the western half of the Mississippi valley, except on its outer edge.

Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that it covers only about onethird of the field which it defines, the book is distinctly worth while as an aid to elementary teaching; and the partial view of Western History presented by this author may serve as a helpful suggestion to others whose standpoints are different but equally local. In view of the growing interest in the history of the West, many similar books are bound to be written; and the outcome will be, at no distant day, a revision of the text-books and a very considerable shifting of emphasis in the teaching of United States history in the schools.

HERBERT E. BOLTON.

Social Life in Old New Orleans: Being Recollections of my Girlhood, by Eliza Ripley. (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1912. Pp. 332.)

In a brief biographical sketch, appended to these memoirs, we are informed that the author died shortly after making the last arrangements for their publication. Thus this account of old New Orleans, of seventy years ago, becomes the more impressive, now that another is gone of the few who could supply it.

Novelists in search of local color will find a rich store here. The setting and the activities of every-day life are described with rare accuracy and minuteness. Receptions, balls, and weddings; the fashion in dress for both sexes, young and old; the topography of New Orleans, and its architecture; furniture, tapestries, and pictures, the preparing and serving of meals; the opera, old music, old songs; schools and old-fashioned ideas of bringing up children; the plantation-life of masters and slaves; these and many other topics are discussed at length. There are also frequent references to her contemporaries. Of the celebrities of her day she was acquainted with many; some famed in the annals of New Orleans, some of wider reputation. Their names are often linked with interesting biographical details and descriptions of their persons and characters.

A praiser of her times, though she has only kind words for the present, one fancies that with her strong memory she must have preferred to dwell in the past even more than is the wont of old And none will refuse to tarry with her in the glorified past who feels the charms of invariable good humor and of a youthful heart.

Not the least interesting of the hors-d'oeuvres which lend variety to the narrative is the account of how Lexington won the great race in 1854, and of the swarming of the Kentucky belles and their escorts into New Orleans to be present at his triumph: "The race, the only one I had ever witnessed, was tremendously exciting, and as the gallant horses swept round the last lap, Lexington, ever so little, in the lead, the uproar became quite deafening. One of the Johnson women, beautiful and enthusiastic, sprang upon the bench and said to her equally excited escort, 'Hold me while I holler.' He threw his strong arms about her