the war of 1812, and on the effects of "letting other nations experiment for us" during the quarter-century following the Civil War, when modern war vessels were being developed. The most radical feature of the book is a recommendation that the Naval Academy be made free to all who can pass its examination, in the hope of manning our ships with its graduates and creating an efficient naval reserve.

Trinity College.

RAYMOND G. GETTELL.

Urussov, Prince Serge D.

Memoirs of a Russian Governor. Translated by H. Rosenthal. Pp. 181. Price, $1.50. New York: Harper & Bros., 1908. Russia has always been a land shrouded in more or less mystery. We have heard of its government system almost entirely from the outside. It remains for Prince Serge Urussov to show us a view from the inside. Because of his experience as governor of the province of Bessarabia he is enabled to give an authentic sketch of the complex workings of the Russian government. Although a staunch patriot, he is not blind to the evils of the administration. The corruption and intrigues of officials, the schemes of the police department, the oppression of the Jews and the peasants are described with a surprising breadth and fairness of judgment.

The discussion of the relations of the Russian government with the Jews forms the most interesting and most important part of the "Memoirs." Prince Urussov became governor of Bessarabia soon after the massacre at Kishinef, he was present at the trial of the ringleaders, and it was due to him that the relations between the Jews and the other Kishinef inhabitants were amicably settled. Hence his discussion of the massacre and the whole Jewish situation has peculiar significance and weight. He shows how the Jews are oppressed, especially in the treatment of Jewish conscripts, in the detailed laws regulating their professions and providing where they shall live. The Jews are required to give a greater quota of men for the army than are the other Russian subjects. Russia makes no effort to educate the Jews. Along with the other oppressive measures are the heavy taxes. Most absurd was the basket tax, a tax levied on meat and fat. Butchers were compelled to separate them and thus reduce the value of merchandise. If all these measures were enforced, the fate of the Russian Jew would be indeed almost insupportable. But the ease with which the police can be bribed has made it possible to evade many of the troublesome laws.

Besides this discussion of the Jews, Prince Urussov says much about the provincial administration, and gives a rather amusing account of Kishinef society, its customs and habits. The "Memoirs" are written in an easy, natural style, and there are a few touches of humor. Because of the light it throws upon the inmost workings of the Russian government it is a book which everyone will read with interest. Mr. Rosenthal, the

translator, has rendered a good service in bringing such a book within our reach.

Philadelphia.

LURENA WILSON TOWER

Watson, W. P.
York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1907.

The Future of Japan. Pp. xxi, 389. Price, $3.50. New

In this book the author has attempted a broadly planned synthesis of Japanese political and social psychology. As is generally the case in works of this nature, we must not understand the latter term in too technical a sense. Among the many books on national and race psychology which have been written in the last decade or so, there is not one which confines itself strictly to considerations which may be technically called psychologic. In fact, they often give us merely a general description of institutions and manners. In the present volume, however, intellectual and psychologic factors occupy the center of the stage.

Mr. Watson's book does not shed any new light on the details of Japanese social and political organization, nor is it intended to be an account or summary of Japanese institutions. It is an analysis of present conditions and tendencies implying certain directions of development. Though the work contains no new facts, there is a redistribution of emphasis, which brings out into strong relief certain considerations that have thus far perhaps not been given the weight which they justly deserve.

In discussing the character of the political institutions of Japan, the author dwells chiefly upon their oligarchic nature. The fact that throughout the great period of reform and regeneration, the mass of the people has taken no active part in public affairs, that on the contrary, the destiny of the empire has rested in the hands of a small group of experienced leaders, is very strongly and clearly set forth by the author, with all its secondary consequences. The abyss between the people and their leaders is one of political power rather than of social feeling. The author accounts for the abuse and the frequent attempts at assassination directed against the leaders, the contempt of authority which is at times surprising, through the fact that the leaders have themselves repudiated the older canons of authority.

The author does not recognize any radical psychological difference between the Japanese and the European mind. There may be disagreement as to certain values, but there is an ultimate rational identity. The substance of reason is the same to both. The author's main thesis in this work may be summarized as follows: The leaders of the Japanese regeneration have as their ideal a state free from religion, governed by the unquestioned principles of science and logic. However, while not recognizing any religion, they have been forced to utilize religious emotions in the cult of the emperor and loyalty to the fatherland, which is, in fact, the basis of their authority. On the other hand, they have in the constitution openly invited the public in general to participate in political action.

To the author's mind the ideas of commonwealth organization and of imperial sanctity are incompatible. The religion of loyalty which has helped the people of Japan over the present crisis will gradually wane and Japan will then feel the need of a religious interpretation of life. He does not discover anything in Bushido, Shintaism or Buddhism which may be made the basis for a future regeneration of religious Japan. The solution he suggests is that Japan should come to appreciate the power and importance of the personality of Christ.

University of Wisconsin.

PAUL S. REINSCH.

Weale, B. L. P. The Coming Struggle in Eastern Asia. Pp. 640. Price, $3.50. New York: Macmillan Company, 1908.

This volume makes more definite the author's reasons for regarding the Peace of Portsmouth and the second Anglo-Japanese alliance with dissatisfaction, if not, indeed, with distrust and apprehension. A year ago he qualified the general enthusiasm with which these instruments were received by the disconcerting statements of facts contained in "The Truce in the East and its Aftermath." The outlook has now become clearer, but even less assuring than before. The East is still on the eve of great events. The former book pointed to the possibility that the advance in China would come with sufficient rapidity to make a speedy recurrence of the events of 1904-05 improbable, if not impossible. Such a development now seems less to be relied

upon.

Russia, still firmly entrenched on the north, is consistently pursuing her colonization policy, and even at the present time is "three or four times as strong in the Far East as she was in 1904." The grain fields and cattle farms of Siberia, with the control she possesses through the railway over the resources of Northern Manchuria, will put her in an increasingly strong position in future negotiations concerning Eastern Asia. The late war was for her only a preliminary skirmish. Japan's attitude is one of contradiction. Having tried to play up to the standard of a first-class power she now finds herself without the material resources or financial backing to keep up the part. Notwithstanding her position, in fact precarious, she is adopting a policy of aggression not only in Corea, but in Manchuria and China generally, which if unmodified, cannot but lead her again into international trouble. The attitude of all the agencies of her government is to observe the letter, but disregard the spirit of the engagements into which she has entered, guaranteeing the "open door." Her government is completely under the control of the bureaucracy, and can therefore carry on a far-sighted and consistent policy with much less difficulty than is possible in countries under true democratic control. Germany and France are unknown quantities, neither of them at heart disposed to give strong support to the doctrine of equal opportunity, and both determined to be ready for a share of the spoils, if the turn of events brings a division.

The author's attitude toward the recent agreements guaranteeing the

integrity of China is a double one. At times the extension of these guarantees to include Germany and the United States is urged, but most of the argument stigmatizes them as bad diplomacy, the end of which is to guarantee the powers against each other instead of working for the real advancement of China by aiding her to escape from her present anomalous international position. The satisfactory solution of affairs lies in the hands of England and the United States. The former is bound by the Anglo-Japanese alliance which the author considers a bad diplomatic blunder, but England could still accomplish much by insistence upon the actual rather than formal observation of the open door and the speedy execution of the Mackay treaties. The interests of the United States should prompt the adoption of these same policies, and in addition the republic should at once take steps to secure the predominance of its fleet in Asiatic waters. Neither of these powers is using at present the active diplomacy its interests should dictate.

The general tone of the book is one of disappointment and gloom. The criticisms are often directly opposed to those commonly passed on the same subjects in Europe and America, but the conclusions are reached by an acute observer of Oriental affairs and are based on statements of fact convincing and often startling, a fact which gives the arguments more than ordinary weight. CHESTER LLOYD JONES.

University of Pennsylvania.

Wells, H. G. New Worlds for Old. Pp. vii, 333. Price, $1.50. New York: Macmillan Company, 1908.

Not for a long time has the literature of socialism been enriched by a more reasonable and entertaining book than this. Though a convinced socialist, Mr. Wells is not obsessed of a formula; there are several things in the future about which he is not certain; his pages do not run red with the blood of those marvelous metaphysical creatures, capitalists and proletarians. It is all very strange and refreshing.

Instead of starting out with Karl Marx and the class struggle, Mr. Wells begins with what he calls the two main generalizations of socialism: First, "That the community as a whole. . . . and every individual in the community. . . . should be responsible for the welfare and upbringing of every child born into that community;" and, second, "That the idea of the private ownership of things and the rights of owners is enormously and mischievously exaggerated in the contemporary world." On these propositions Mr. Wells bases his arguments and they are rather hard to quarrel with in the moderate form in which he states them. Given this basis, then, social development becomes chiefly a question of method. In fact, the distinctive merit of this book is its insistence on the mental quality of socialism, the fact that it is a matter of expanding men's spirit of action and habitual circles of ideas, as the author put it.

With rare skill Mr. Wells takes up the most common objections to socialism. Then follow three historical chapters, outlining the ideas of

the Utopians and Marx and paying tribute to the services of the Fabians. These chapters are notable for the clearness with which they recognize the political and social reorganization that must accompany any progress toward a socialistic system. There are two interesting and ingenious chapters of speculation as to what life would be like under socialism. Apparently men will live pretty much as they do now, except that they will be healthier, happier, more efficient and less worried; it is easy to make men so on paper. The only persons whom the book need make thoroughly unhappy are Mr. Mallock and the simon-pure Marxists.

Mr. Wells has written an excellent book, though not a perfect one. Some of his difficulties he slurs over instead of meeting them squarely. He seems to over-emphasize the destruction overtaking the middle class. He paints the socialist agitation in colors rather too quiet, and tones down its extravagances a bit unjustifiably, if we are to view his book as representative of the whole movement. But his work in picturing the essential elements in socialism and in indicating its goal, as seen by an unusually clear-headed socialist, leaves little to be desired. The book is good-tempered, fair, sane and well written. The best thing to do with such books is to read them.

University of Pennsylvania.

H. R. MUSSEY.

Westlake, John. International Law. Two. vols. Pp. xxvi, 690. Price, 9s. each. Cambridge: University Press; New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, American Agents.

Prof. Westlake has given us an excellent compendium on international law. He has not attempted an exhaustive and technical treatise, but rather a general work, which would appeal both to university students, publicists and that widening circle of the reading public interested in international questions. The first volume is devoted to the law of peace; the second volume to the law of war and of neutrality.

The distinguishing characteristic of Prof. Westlake's work is that he has succeeded in emancipating himself from the insular prepossessions which have heretofore characterized so many of the British works on international law. His work indicates not only a thorough acquaintance with the details of international practice, but also a broad philosophical grasp and a rare ability to coordinate facts in such way as clearly to illustrate general principles.

The author's treatment of the equality of states is particularly interesting and instructive. With great clearness and precision he shows the gradual growth of the European Concert and its influence on the general doctrine of equality. He also shows an excellent grasp of the broader bearings of the Monroe Doctrine, which he rightly judges, not as a rule of international law, but as a principle of American policy.

The work also contains two exceedingly valuable chapters on international arbitration (Vol. I, page 332), and on the Hague Conference of