Studies in Empire and Trade. By J. W. Jeudwine. (Long.
mans. 21s. net.) -- Mr. Jeudwine has taken about 500 pages to expound a thesis so overlaid with narrative and miscellaneous facts that it remains somewhat obscure. His contentions are chiefly that for an Empire to be permanent it must be dis- interested and based on consent, and that legitimate trade is a safer foundation for prosperity than is piracy. These truisms, accepted for many years, he supports by a sketch of history unfortunately not above criticism. He uses the word " federal " as if it were a synonym for " imperial " ; when he says that the first crusade was the only one with " any sug- gestion of spiritual or religious intent " he is talking nonsense ; the adjective " stingy " which he uses to describe James I. is not the usual nor the correct one ; when he states that Louisiana contained 80,000 inhabitants at the time of the Seven Years' War he obviously means Canada. These are but a few inaccuracies among many. Mr. Jeudwine assumes a simplicity that is far from truth both in human motives and in the problems of different ages. As a history his book is inaccurate and 'confused ; as a piece of propaganda unnecessary and long.
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