16 JANUARY 1886, Page 21

Mr. William Conn edits (Sonnenschein and Co.) an English edition

of M. Victor Meignan's From Paris to Pekin, over Siberian Snows. It was worth translating, for it is a very readable book, even although its style, as Mr. Conn tells us in a lively, honest, and, indeed, almost apologetic preface, is frequently alipahod. It looks, indeed, more like a literary diorama, or one of M. Jules Verne's romances, than a narrative of genuine personal experiences. We are taken from Paris to St. Petersburg, are shown Nijni Novgorod and Irkutsk, then harried from Lake Baikal to the Wall of China, and finally from the Wall of China to Pekin. M. Meignan had, to say the least, his fair share of adventures—he had one of a most perilous description on the Steppe of Omsk—but a light French heart enabled him to rise above them all. The book is, more- over, full of shrewd observations on the almost innumerable nations and tribes with whom the author made the passing acquaintance. Here are some, evidently designed in the first instance for M. Meignan's own countrymen, the truth of which, however, is probably being realised by Englishmen also :—" In travelling through China I have conceived the highest opinion of the intelligence, the cleverness, and the per-

severance of the Chinese The day will come, and perhaps it is not afar, when the Chinese will immigrate into Europe, as they already immigrate into Japan, California, and Peru ; they will form at Marseilles, Paris, and London more important quarters than the depots of Shanghai, Macao, and Saigon, and foreign commerce will take an expansion unknown with this nation. The majority of the French people believe the intelligence of the Japanese is very superior to that of the Chinese. It is a serious mistake. The Japanese resemble as very much in their character, and that is the reason this people pleases travellers. They are gay, enterprising, boastful, disputations, and a little revolutionary It is, I consider, quite an error to suppose that Japan is marching towards civilisation. The existing transformations are limited to a very minute portion of the territory, and consequently have no significance."