disposed to quarrel with it. In another passage, where he denounces the bureaucracy of India as the embodiment of alien rule in a form unfitted to the altering conditions and expectations of the people, and particularly incompatible with his plans for thorough-going constitutional reform, he has hit upon a point of considerable importance. For it may be agreed that the government of a great empire by the official hierarchy that is represented by a Civil Service, though it is an excellent instrument of efficient administration, provides little or no sufficient outlet for the reasonable ambition of that class whose talents, social rank, and general reputation mark them out in every country for prominence in the sphere of national politics. It is not in the nature or within the province of the most skilful and experienced functionaries to command popularity or to lead public opinion; and a policy of gradually extending the elective franchise and of creating legislative councils must depend more and more on independent support. The immediate difficulty is to discover, in a country that has known only autocratic rulership, those who possess or may develope, these rare qualifications; and we must be prepared for disappointments and failures. Yet we may trust that a people so intellectual as the Indians, so ready to grasp high ideals, may before long develope capacities that are everywhere essential to the permanent success of representative institutions.

In substance the charges upon which England is so roundly accused-we might say abused-in this book, amount to this, that in dealing with India and Egypt British politicians have been obtuse and dim-eyed-that they have stood still while the Asiatic world surrounding them is changing rapidly. Turning from the discussion of internal reforms to the wider subject of India's external relations, Mr Putnam Weale denounces British statesmen for clinging obstinately to the policy of seclusion, that is, of sedulously shutting off India from all contact by land 'and relying on the command of the sea for all intercourse.' No other explanation for this Chinese exclusiveness can be suggested by him than the inbred stupidity of the English race; though there is surely common sense in maintaining strong military frontiers. The future prosperity of the Indian people lies, we are told, in racial expansion, by sea and land; they are to be encouraged in migrating into the large half-populated countries on the West of India, especially into Persia, where there is little industry, and where wide tracts await the diligent cultivator. The underlying idea to be kept in view in promoting these migratory movements is not only to find a vent for the overcrowding of India, but also to increase the weight and

extend the range of Indian influence in Asiatic politics. For the grand problem toward which all our plans and projects should be directed is the settlement of some stable balance of Asiatic powers, the fixing of boundaries, the consolidation of Asiatic States in an equipoise entirely independent of European domination. This does not imply (as we understand) the disappearance of European Governments from Asia, but merely the complete separation of the political interests of the two continents, which are now confused by such incongruous ties as the Anglo-Japanese treaties. By this alliance England is opposed to Russia in the Far East, whereas in all other parts of the world her relations with Russia are friendly. And we are assured, in conclusion, that peace and order in Asia can only be secured by the combined action of the two great European Powers.

'Only two white races are supremely interested in Asia and what it stands for the Anglo-Saxon and the Slav. Only these two races can solve the Asiatic problem. For though France has important stakes, the loss of those stakes would not mean to the world what a general Russian retreat or a general British retreat would mean. . . . Just as the only sound and enduring ideal in Eastern Asia is the creation of a reasonable balance of power between two Asiatic Powers-a balance which may never come about because of the false policy now to be pursued-so in Nearer and Middle Asia should something resembling the same counterpoise be aimed at, entirely independent of Europe.'

The place of Turkey in this comprehensive programme is not very precisely indicated; but it obviously requires some careful adjustment; since the Turks may find means of deranging the balance proposed. Turkey, we are told, is capable of founding a great Moslem empire that may be pushed forward to the vicinity of India, she may threaten India, and revive the Pan-Islamic idea. We are to understand, however, that the real centre of gravity of the Ottoman empire is no longer in Europe, but in Asia Minor, and that before many years pass the Turk must be ejected from Europe.

With regard to Egypt Mr. Putnam Weale finds the situation peculiarly complex. In India, England can try her administrative experiments securely, having a clear title, and knowing that this country is encompassed by the greatest mountain barrier in the world and by the sea, whereas Egypt has virtually no fron'tiers at all.' Its people belong to the great communion of Islam ; and the country is open on three sides to incursions by restless Mohammedan tribes, whenever our hold on the Nile Valley, which is only provisional, becomes insecure. Here again we

are warned that we have made the radical error of ignoring native talent, and their increasing desire to manage their own internal affairs; though whenever the British officials have had 'technical or straightforward work to do-ruler-like work fit 'for unimaginative men-they have done it in a manner 'deserving the highest praise.'

Finally, in order to complete his survey of the vast field upon which the 'Conflict of Colour' has to be fought out, Mr. Putnam Weale discusses in his penultimate chapter 'The Black Problem.' He considers separately the internal problem of the future of the black race in countries where, as in America, it is under the control of the white man, and the external problem, which affects North Africa; and under both divisions of the subject he foresees danger and grave embarrassment from the fact that the black races multiply everywhere much faster than the races of any other colour. But we may observe, with regard to this question in America, that Mr. A. H. Stone, in his Studies in the American 'Race Problem,' concludes, after careful investigation, that the black population is increasing more slowly than the white; and that the negro is steadily losing ground. In Africa, on the other hand, where the climate is against the European and favourable only to the native, whenever peace, prosperity, and the prevention of epidemics shall have removed the restraints upon multiplication, the negro may be expected to breed more rapidly than ever; and it is suggested in this book that the propagation of Islam may eventually bring the black and brown races into line against the white foreigner. But we cannot follow our author into inexhaustible speculations upon the probable future of the African races.

In the foregoing pages we have endeavoured to summarise the views and arguments of a writer who has undertaken a panoramic survey of the present state and prospective destinies of the three main sections into which mankind has been distributed geographically, and marked out by the distinction of colour. His theories are often extravagant; his knowledge of facts is occasionally imperfect, and some of his inferences from them decidedly questionable; his trenchant criticisms and invectives are too positive and indiscriminate. His language is too exuberant for grave judgements on high issues; he is at times vexed by the hyperbolic fiend whom Malvolio was adjured to cast out *-one might fancy that his subject had over-coloured his style. He lays bare too unmercifully the follies and frailties that he places to the account of European domination over

* Twelfth Night, Act iv.

Asia and Africa in the past; his prophetic vision casts, we think, too dark a shadow over coming events. And he is mistaken in assuming, as would appear from the book, that he has been the first to reveal to the English nation the risks and perplexities that beset their position in the East. These things have been long discerned by far-sighted administrators, who have not thought it their business to proclaim to the world all that they knew or foresaw. Yet it must be admitted that his bold generalisations throw a broad though uncertain light over the whole situation, that his censures are not always undeserved, and that his warnings are often salutary. He has hit some salient points in the national character; he sees, as others have done before him, that a proud and energetic race, somewhat rough in manner and disdainful of ceremonial, cannot mix freely with the fastidious and formal Asiatic without exciting antipathies and incurring dislike. That these feelings prevail widely among Indians is natural, and the fact has been always apparent to those Englishmen whose observation has not been superficial during many years of residence in the country. Among certain classes the irreconcilable prejudice of discordant races has undoubtedly stimulated a growing impatience of foreign rule. But when our author asserts that the general population regards European dominion with a growing aversion, his own preconceptions carry him too fast and too far, for personal repugnance to the white man and his very uncongenial habits is not incompatible with a clear appreciation by the masses of the benefits conferred by his government. The Abbé Dubois, who lived for many years as a missionary in South India during the earlier part of the nineteenth century, and who had intimate knowledge of the people, wrote thus of the British Government:

It is a piece of huge complicated machinery moved by springs which have been arbitrarily adapted to it. Under the supremacy of the Brahmins the people of India disliked their government, while they cherished and respected their rulers. Under the supremacy of Europeans they dislike their rulers, while they cherish and respect their government. . . . Nevertheless, the justice and prudence which the present rulers display in endeavouring to make this people less unhappy than they have been hitherto; the anxiety they manifest to increase their material comfort; above all, the inviolable respect which they constantly show for the customs and religious beliefs of the country, the protection they afford to the weak as well as to the strong. all these have contributed more to the consolidation of their power than even their victories and conquests.'

This is the judgement formed nearly a century ago by an impartial and thoroughly competent French authority; and

we believe that it holds good for application to the present state of public opinion throughout the greater part of our Indian Empire, particularly in those provinces where the recollections of arbitrary misrule, fiscal extortion, and perpetual insecurity of life and property have not faded away. For certain sections of the population, it may be true, that the longer they have lived under European dominion the more they have become disaffected to it; but this is partly because the evils which it swept away are so utterly forgotten that its advantages are regarded by the present generation as the aboriginal rights of man.

The Englishman, on his side, has been prone to excessive reliance on the material benefits which he has conferred upon India; he treats them as reasonably justifying his supremacy; he is confident that they secure to it a fair working popularity. According to Mr. Putnam Weale, he has strictly confined himself, because of the timidity of his imagination, to plain 'straightforward administrative work which, politically, means marking time and nothing more.' Yet, by a very moderate estimate, it means considerably more, at any rate in the opinion (above cited) of the Abbé Dubois. Again, we are assured that the grand plea' of the white man—that he is just, that he dispenses absolute justice wherever he rules, that he attends to all measures with scientific accuracy is looked upon as only stupid both by Asiatics and by those who really understand Asia-since the European is simply disliked because he is a European. Mutual antipathies between tribes, nations, and races have always been deep-seated and disintegrating forces; they are sharply accentuated by colour; it would be a delusion to suppose that they can be eradicated by judicious administration. Yet, after all, the Asiatic does set material value upon a just, honest, and humane government -to the extent, at least, that when he has become accustomed to the comforts of this system, he is very reluctant to part with them; and in India the majority still associate them with the British rule, and with no other. Nevertheless the Englishman in India has to take full account of the effervescence of new ideas, which are always far stronger than institutions; and his best insurance against the uncertainties of the future will be found in taking the highest native talent and capacity into partnership, in enlarging the Indian share of Imperial duties and responsibilities.

We can perceive that the new leaven of imported European civilisation is fermenting throughout independent Asia; it has worked the greatest changes at the two extremities of that