28 JULY 1900, Page 23

Democracy and Empire: with Studies of their Psychological, Economic, and

Moral Foundations. By Franklin Henry Giddings, Professor in Columbia University. (Macmillan and Co. 10s. 6d.) —Mr. Giddings states in his preface that the collection of essays and addressee which make up his volume "are logically related parts of a whole." We have not been able to convince ourselves of this so completely as we could desire, and the volume is a large one which would gain by the diminution in bulk and the increase in lucidity if the chapters upon the "Ethical Motive," the "Psychology of Society," and the "Mind of the Many" were removed. We agree with his general statement of the principles which make Empire and democracy compatible,—namely, that States are held together now, not by the tie of blood, nor the tie of religion, but by an "ethical likemindedness" ; and that the union can only be lasting if the central power confines itself practically to three things,—" the Imperial defence, the suppres- sion of conflict between one part of the Empire and another, and insistence that local administration shall come up to a certain standard in its protection of life and property and in its respect for enlightenment"; but we think the case might have been established in a terser and more readable manner. The chapter on "The Destinies of Democracy," which contains some acute criticism of Mr. Leeky's book on "Democracy and Liberty," is perhaps the best thing in the volume.