The Founding of Spanish California. By C. E. Chapman. (Macmillan
and Co. 15s. net.)—This interesting book, written by a travelling scholar of the University of California from a study of the Spanish documents at Seville, describes fully and clearly the efforts of eighteenth-century Spain to give effect by occupation to her traditional claims to the Pacific coast of North America. Two able officials, the Viceroy. Bucarely and the Visitor-General Galvez, worked for the northward expansion of New Spain, or Mexico, and San Francisco was founded by an overland expo. dition in 1776. The Indians a few years later rose and out the ,
communications, so that Alta California languished. But the Spanish occupation sufficed to keep out the British, French, and Russians until the people of the United States were ready to push westwards to the Pacific and take the place of Spain in developing the magnificent territories which she could not colonize. Spain had neglected her American possessions in the pursuit of dynastic schemes in Italy, and in the end lost both the Italian provinces and America.
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