fr, H. B, Morse has been extremely active since he left Chins. His " Trade and Adm istration of the Chinese Empire published the year before last, subject, and his latest publication is the regarded as the standard work on the
best and most thorough historical survey of the period end episodes with which he deals, Mr. Morse possesses unique qualifications for undertaking such work, owing to his long residence in Chins, his close study of the conotry and people, and his many years' service in the I. M. Custom The book under review is well printed and forms ap attractive volume. It contains upwards of 700 pages of letter-tic which add to the information press, besides map", plans and illustra-
conveyed in the text. A full index at each end of the volume, and s uniform system of numbering the paragraphs io each chapter, facilitate reference from one part of the volume to another, and these features combined with capi notes of authorities, and a fall bibliography at the end, make the volume sri ideal work of reference, and enable the reader interested in any particular incident to obtain fuller details from other sources, Before entering upon the history of the period selected, three prelimiasry chapters give the reader a good general idea of the Government of Ohina, its system of taxation, tions prior to 183: the Ca-bong conveys very vivid im. proesion of the early days of foreign trade, and to those interested la the the chapter on the question of jan tion in Chinn will be of great interest. tory of China's foreign relations which appear in most text-books on this Empire s very inadequate, and often very erroneous idea is conveyed of the causes leading up to the disputes at Canton, and eventaslly to the wars by which Western nations vindicated their right to be treated upon an equal footing.
Morse describes in detail all the incidents besting spun ead Ieeding to the its ble conflict between East and West, and brilliantly sums up the situation asit appeared teach of the contending ps Mech new lights thrown upon the inner history of the period by appendix containing hitherto unpublished dispatches from Lord Palmerston, Captain C. Elliot, Lord Aberdeen, and others. In many instances Britich policy is impartially criticized, and the author, himeelf an American, does not hesitate to deal with eqasl candour with the mistakes of his owa countrymen, and their share in the opium trade, The reader is often afforded interesting comparisons between the views of the their respective in the Far East, the Chineee authorities at Canton, and the Central Government at Pekiog. Only in this way is it possible to do full justice to all concerned, and it may be added that this method not infrequently redounds to the credit of the Chinese, some of whom strove mantally and loyally, without ulterior motive, to carry what they honestly conceived cit daty it the risk of superiors and the whom they ruled. Viewed it is possible to character and motives, without in any way overlooking the fact that his drastic and arbitrary treatment of the opium question was but one of the many casus belli which rendered inevitable what Dr. Wells ill always be looked pon by the candid historian, and known Todeed, reading Mr, Moree's minute analysis of the causes of friction between the Chinese and British authorities, one is struck again by the extraordinary patience enjoined apon and shown by the British envoys,
profitable, to sum It is as impossible as i would be un-this volume, as it is one r it should be read from cover to cover by all students of China's foreiga intercourse. Some there may be who will thick that the sator has laboured certain pointe too much, bat if that be trae it is a defect which can readily be forgi when it leaves behind such an indelible impression of the events narrated, For residents in Shanghai the work possesses a peculiar interest, inasmuch '8 the opening, growth and early hi tory of the Settlement come in for a considerable shi attention.
Mr. Maree such an intimate knowledge of China, and the work of the Chinese mind that he can write authoritatively upon many incidents which would mislead a less qualified historian. His book mast have entailed an enormous amount of labour, and we cannot pay a higher tribute to the value of express the hope that he will contin the ry of a subject with which he is so eminently qualified to deal.
A BOOK FOR scoTs.
The Edinburgh Book of Scottish Veree, edited by W. MacNeile Dixon.
Meiklejohn and Holden, London, This book is of those whose success is assured. Scotsmen all the world over are passionately attached to their native Tand and all that pertain to it; indeed
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.