World Polities at the end of the Nine-tenth Century, as Influcaced by the Oriental Silvation. By Paul S. Reinseh, Ph. D., Li. B., Assistant Professor of Political Science in the University of Wisconsin. New York: the Macmillan Company. 1900.
5 pages, Price $1.
This ix one of the issues of The Citizen's Library of Economics, Politics, and Sociology. Edited by Rickard T. Ely, Lh. D., Li. D., Director of the School of Economies, Political Science, and History, University of Wisconsit It is divided into five parts, of which the first is called National Imperialism, in five chapters, the titles of which will suffice to gi good idea of the scope of the work, first is The Transition from Nat to National Imperialism in the Century, followed by the Political Methods of the New Natioral Imperialism The Great Powers as Colonisers; The Connection between Colouisation and Impenalism; and the Consequences of the Policy of National Imperialism." The special interest and importance of the work to residents of the Far East, lies in its full recognition and elucidation of the fact that. the Chinese Question is now the centre of World Politics, and that it has dwarfed and eclipsed every other issue, by its sheer magnitude. The second part is devoted to The Opening of China," under the four heads, Social and Political Characteristic; The Actual Nature of the Interests Acquired by Foreign Nations in the Chinese Empire; The Political Influence of the Great Powers in China; and Summary of the Actusl Condition of Affaire in China. Part Third is of even greater immediate inter-ext, and is styled The Consequences of t Opening of China in World Politics, di cussed under the sub-heads Russian Imperial Politics; The Influence of the Oriental Situation on the Western European Powers; The Meeti of the Orient and the Occident; and th General Consequences of the opening of China. The concluding part ware devoted to an examination of German imperial politics, with reference to German interests in various countries of the world, and the influence of imperialism on domestic politics, and to considerations on the position of the United States as a factor in oriental polities.
It is practically impossible for residents of China to keep the run of the inoumerable works pouring from the teeming presses of the world, dealing with various aspects of the questions at issue in the East. But whenever anything is found which helps to clarify the often indistinct notions which we come to entertain on matters of which we are always hen half-truths and too seldom meeting temperate and scholarly discussion, it nothing less thin a duty to call attention toit. Itisfor this reason that we wish to emphasise the valve of a treatment like that in this manual, which seems to be the work of a Professor possessed of German thoroughness, and of a candid and historic temperament, viewing the mighty issues of the present in che light of the past as a help to action in the future. We have all had frequent and abundant occasion to complain of the fact that the levders of public opinion at home frequently talk in Parliament, and write in the most influential journals, with a very imperfect acquaintance with their subject. This ix due to the indubitable fact that not one in ten of those who thus write and talk haw taken the trouble to inform himself at first hand sources in regard to the details of which he is speaking and writing. He knows something, but he does sot know and cannot state the other side. This small manual is compiled by a "Scholar in Politics," from the best sources, and the author views all the wide and complex topics broached with a breadth and a sanity. which are delightfully We em imagine no beter the voter who has to east x ballot to influence matters in this part of the world, than to make a study of thi: hook for the general principles, and then to follow it up by special inquiries on particular lines. According to the view of the author the world is now passing through one of its important revolutions, in the definite and semi-unconscious change of Nationalism for Imperialism, a change which is carefully defined, and abundantly illustrated. This is shown to he a worldwide phenomenon embracing every Power, and certain to affect th of the whole human race for ages. The changes which have brought about this crisis have come so gradually that the have not been apprehensible to the people, and were but very imperfectly appreciated even by such far-sighted statesmen as Bismark and Beaconsticld. But they have come, and they are not only universal, but permanent. It therefore behoves those who have to deal with them to endeavour to gain the point of view of the rest of the world. This is the place where the Briton most lamentably fails. He knows himself, but he neither knows nor wishes to know the other man, and it is well if he mentally refrains from the impulse to eave arf a brick at im."
Nothing would do more to counteract this insular tendency, everywhere observable in ''the natural man" from the British Isles, and sometimes yet more so in his kin' beyond sea," than the study of such an outline as this in the formative years of school life. It would he an excellent thing if this book (or something better) were put into the hands of our children who are now at school or in colleges, that their minds may uneonsciously escape the narrowing tendencies which imperfect information, or misinformation, may have had' upon us. Let us suppose that English is our mother tongue. Still Russia, Fran Germany, are all permanent factors in World Politics to which we must accom. modate ourselves, but in regard to which we ought to have more and fuller information, with broad and philosophic perception of the trend of current events. We have noted several minor mistakes and infeli in the statement of the details of C affairs, such a the reference to Kang Vu-wei as the Emperor's chief reforming minister." (The author has the eccentric habit of writing emperor withovs the capital, to which even poor Kuang Hit in Hosianfu ought to be entitled, and he wavers undecidedly between empress dowager, and emptest-dowager, but in her case we do not insist upon any capital, and should prefer that she had never had any in the first place, and much more that she should not now have another bestowed on her by foreigners!) One of the most interesting summaries is the chapter recapitulating the In'erests acquired by the Powers in China, which in the light of the past year makes a very good explanation of much which we have witnessed. The book was probably written before the Boxers broke out, but the author in 'a commendable desire to be up with the times, refers to them in a four-note asa "secret society!" In spite of this disadvantage the value of the discussion ix not diminished, but rather enhanced, as the whole situation shows more distinctly by the Inrid flashes of a year's lightning, Perhaps one of the most striking im: pressions from the perusal of such a temperate presentation of the overwhelming world-forces at work, is the relative futility of anything that "1" can do about it. It seamy like sticking in matches to stop_" glacier, or rather a series of them. Yet there is no other way by which the individual can influence the results present and future, than first to comprehend the forces' at work, and then to place himself in the right, relation to them, doing his best to put others there also, When this has been done, we have at least fulfilled our duty, and may he content to Jeave the results to the future, which will continue to be under the same' superinten dence a the past, leading into something Detter than thronzh the present low-lying and ominous clouds can now be seen.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.