M. Henri Cordier, Professor at the rans School of Oriental Languages avi formerly of Shanghai, is the author of an important work entitled "Histoire des Relations de La Chine avec les Puissances Gecidentales," the first volume of which has just been published in 570 pages. The work is intended to cover the period dating from 1860 up to the present day, and takes is up to the death of the Emperor Tang Chih in 1875, but there ar ters, stich as those devoted hohe Missions, the history of Shans hu, sand the farmer rel tions of Prune wand Enjland with China which make the book still more comprehensive than its. title indicates. M. Cordier has succeeded in bringing together, in as compact a form ay possible, all the most important diplomatic papers relating to the period he has selected, and his book should prove extremely useful to diplomatists and publicists, Several hitherto unpublished dispatches by Baron Gros, which throw some additional light on the negotiations subsequent to tae war of 1€61, are included The relations of Russia, Germany and the United States with China, the Osborne incident, the history of the I. M. C., the Taiping rebellion, the revision of the Treaty of Tientsin, the Burlingame mission, the Tientsin massacre and the murder of Margary are all recorded in detail in so far as they affect foreign countries, and short biographies of all the principal personages are given. M. Cordier prore sents all his facts in the most impartial spirit. and invariably cites "chapter and verso, as the true historian should. The ault to be found with his book is the ice of an index. The second volume, dealing with the period 1875—1900, is to appear in October. The publisher is Felix Alcan, of 108, Boulevard St. Germain, Paris, and the price is 10 franes por volume.
26th April
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.