Revolution and Reaction in Modern Prance. By G. Lewes Dickin-
son, M.A. (G. Allen.)—Mr. Dickinson does not profess to be impartial, but he is certainly candid and just. These qualities• make themselves manifest to every reader, however much he may differ from the author's criticism and conclusions. For ourselves, we do not find much from which to dissent. The account of the Commune is especially good. Never was a movement to which it is so difficult to do justice ; yet there was a good element in it, to which Mr. Dickinson gives a -full appreciation. Unhappily,
it shows the common fault of French political movements, the unjust resolve of a minority to force a political creed on the nation. In estimating Napoleon III.'s foreign policy, our author is epigrammatic. The Empire, according to its author, was peace; "as a matter of fact, it was war ; war unprofitable in the Crimea, war hypocritical in Italy, war disgraceful in Mexico, war catastrophic at Sedan." Surely there was something more than hypocrisy in Napoleon's intervention in Italy. For all the mixture of meaner motives, he had some honest intention.
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