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From the point of view of "historical research" it must be said that Mr. Elson has achieved a very indifferent success. As an example of the "art of historical composition" (Mr. Elson speaks of his attention to style three separate times in the preface) the book is equally open to attack. The immediate meaning is conveyed with sufficient clearness. There are, here and there, pages that are well done. But taken as a whole the style is without distinctive merit. It does not pos

sess originality, dignity, force nor strict accuracy. Of more difficult attainments, such as logical continuity in sentence building, or coherence in paragraph construction, there is but little evidence.

The reviewer sympathizes with Mr. Elson's ambition, and has nothing but praise for his industry. But in all sincerity the reviewer believes that Mr. Elson has failed to realize the difficulty of the task or his own inability to perform it satisfactorily.

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS.

CARL BECKER.

The Opening of the Mississippi. A Struggle for Supremacy in the American Interior. By FREDERIC AUSTIN OGG. New York, The Macmillan Co., 1904. 670 pp.

While the subject of this book is comparatively a narrow one, the treatment of it is such as to have broadened it, not "here and there" as the author remarks in his preface, but almost throughout, into "an attempted history of the Mississippi Valley." After a few introductory words about the importance of this region, Mr. Ogg devotes four chapters to the story of its discovery and exploration, with the great river as his central theme, more or less. He then describes the foundation of Louisiana, its place in the European issues of the eighteenth century, and the process by which the United States secured the free navigation of the Mississippi in 1795. The last two hundred pages of the work are given over to an account of the Louisiana Purchase, its immediate antecedents, and the establishment of American rule in the territory up to 1815. The text of this portion of the volume. is little more than a series of abstracts from Henry Adams's work.

A fair judgment of a book that is at once more than "timely" and less than scholarly, is difficult to render. The ordinary paste pot and scissors are not much in evidence. The ambition of the author to rise beyond the level of mere "timeliness," his wide and industrious reading, and the copiousness of his references merit acknowledgment. The bracing of every important statement with a solid array of authorities is usually a sign of diligent research, but not always one of historical

utility. The citation of references in the book under consideration, inclusive even of "popular histories," text-books and journalistic productions, is pedantic at times to the extent that, apparently, Mr. Ogg has wished to mention almost all works ever written on the particular topic. Mere lists of books in foot-notes are obtrusive and wearisome enough to the general reader, and not at all satisfactory to him who may wish to broaden his reading intelligently. The scholar, on his part, demands a careful discrimination in the selection of materials, and a proper personal estimate of the value of each authority consulted. The book abounds in explanations of trite facts and in more or less irrelevant digressions on the general history of the Mississippi region, the English colonies and international affairs in Europe. Nor are positive errors infrequent. To mention a few examples of such defects: the account given of the Indian troubles in the West after 1763 is interesting, but not pertinent to the main theme. The same might be said of the rather unctuous recital of the Napoleonic "bathtub episode" (pp. 523-28). There was no struggle between

Frederick the Great and Maria Theresa over the claim of the latter to the "Austrian throne" (p. 245). The "prime objects" of the British government in 1755, with all their warlike aspects, are attributed to that pacific statesman, Walpole (p. 267). Joseph de Galvez, the uncle, and not the father of Bernardo de Galvez, is represented as being the viceroy of Mexico and the president of the Council of the Indies at the same time (p. 367). Errors are common in the statements concerning the Family Compact of 1761 (pp. 286-87), the cession of Louisiana to France in the following year (pp. 287-88), and the share of Wilkinson in the intrigues for severing the West from the Union (pp. 442-44). "The province of Louisiana," also, was not "destined to be handed back and forth among the nations yet several times," after 1762, "before it should find its permanent place under the flag of the United States" (p. 341). It was "handed forth" but once.

Whatever value the book possesses lies merely in its attempted concentration and combining of various well-known facts in the treatment of a single topic. Had the author confined himself strictly to that topic, and converted his bibliographical foot-notes into critical appreciations of his authorities, The Opening of the Mississippi might have been a useful addition to the literature of American history.

WILLIAM R. SHEPHERD.

The Place of Compensation in Temperance Reform. By C. P. SANGER, M.A. London, P. S. King & Co., 1901. vii, 135 pp.

The Case for Municipal Drink. By EDWARD R. PEASE. London, P. S. King & Co., 1904. viii, 169 pp.

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The problem of compensation for displaced publicans occupies an important position in every practical discussion of temperance reform in England which contemplates a reduction of the number of licenses. The conditions of the traffic in that country are vastly different from those in the United States, and only the radical minority take the strictly legal ground that the state is under no obligation to the liquor dealer after the expiration of the term for which his license is granted. Mr. Sanger's book is an English lawyer's brief for full compensation either in money or by such an extension of the license-holders' term that no financial interests would be disturbed seriously. He lays the basis of his argument first in political theory, and, after an examination of the doctrines of Austin, Bentham and Sidgwick, he arrives at the conclusion "that in every case where there is great disappointment of expectation by the legislature, there is a prima facie case for compensation." Mr. Sanger then makes a short review of the important English precedents, showing the uniform practice of the legislature in allowing compensation even where the disappointed expectation was based upon criminal acts. The precedents of other countries are dismissed with a brief notice, those of the United States with the conclusion that "to argue from the case of a nation whose legislatures enact laws which are not intended to be enforced to the case of this country would be fruitless." The third chapter is devoted to proving that the expectation which the license carries with it is such that the legislature can find practically no more justification in cancelling it without compensation than in confiscating any other form of property. Mr. Sanger demonstrates by legal decisions, insurance rates and statistics that the probability of the renewal of licenses is extremely high-in fact almost a "practical certainty." On the basis of this "practical certainty," argues the author, capital is invested, mortgages are taken, death duties are collected and the financial operations of a vast number of people are carried on. In short, by long continued policy, the state transforms a legally terminable license into a more or less permanent form of property, and should not suddenly reverse that policy without compensating those who derive or expect to derive revenue from its continuation. The fact that the license is not prop

fundamental questions connected with his subject, the book is nevertheless far and away the best yet offered to the wanderers in the mazes of this branch of our constitutional law and is therefore an indispensable guide, alike for practitioner and student.

WALTER WHEELER COOK.

UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI.

The Harris Papers. Society, Volume X. 410 pp.

Collections of the Rhode Island Historical
Printed for the Society, Providence, 1902. —

The history of the New England towns during the colonial period is full of controversies over land and its boundaries. These controversies divided families and neighborhoods and towns, and were as persistent as similar disputes between colonies or the ever-recurring contests with royal officials. The talent for scheming and wire-pulling, the self-will and persistence which were often displayed in these disputes would have done honor to men whose parts have been played on the stage of national politics. Indeed, the "politics" of rural communities of those times owed its origin largely to questions of this nature.

One of the most famous controversies of this kind was that which agitated Providence and Warwick, Rhode Island, for more than a generation prior to 1680. The man with whom chiefly it originated, and who prolonged it till finally it cost him his life and a large part of his estate, was William Harris. In the older histories of Rhode Island he appeared in shadowy outline as, for some undefined reason, an opponent of Roger Williams. In recent years, however, the inquiries of Rider, Dorr and Richman have brought his personality out into much clearer relief. It has now become evident that, in merely town affairs, he was as prominent as Williams, while both by nature and by training he was a better political manager. A more litigious man it would be difficult to find in his day. The last thirty years of his life were devoted chiefly to one prolonged lawsuit, or succession of lawsuits, he and a few partners always appearing as plaintiffs. As the case proceeded it came not only before the Rhode Island court of trials, but repeatedly before special commissions, and before the King in Council. In its political aspects it came before the General Assembly. The town of Warwick, the town of Providence, and various individuals appear among the defendants. The question in dispute was always the location of the western bounds of Providence and the right to a

tract of land of many thousand acres the Pawtuxet purchase which lay adjacent to those bounds.

Harris's interest in these lands dated from 1659, when he procured from certain Indian chiefs confirmatory deeds for them. In the year following they were accepted by the town of Providence. Roger Williams and others, however, did not believe that they lay within the original town purchase, but that the Indians had been made the victims of a land-grabbing scheme. The town of Warwick also claimed a portion of the tract. Individuals occupied parts of it without the consent of Harris. Against these parties Harris and his partners instituted suits before the tribunals already mentioned. In the courts he invariably won, but the Williams party controlled the town of Providence. Its influence, with that of Warwick, defeated the efforts of Harris to get execution and thereby to oust the defendants from the lands. While on his second voyage to England, in the process of appeal to the King in Council, Harris was captured by Barbary pirates and taken to Algiers. After remaining there as a prisoner for about a year and a half, he was ransomed and finally reached England. But he was already an old man, and almost at once succumbed to age and to the privations which he had endured. After the death of Harris there was no longer hope of the success of his cause. The bounds of the Pawtuxet purchase, however, were not finally determined till 1712, when the lines were so run as to exclude from it the large tract which Harris had formerly claimed.

In this volume have been brought together with special care and editorial skill all known, and as yet unpublished, material which bears on this controversy and on the public career of William Harris. Mr. Richman, the historian of the founding of Rhode Island, has furnished an introduction. Mr. Brigham, the librarian of the state historical society, has done the chief editorial work. With the assistance of Dr. Frank G. Bates he has prepared a valuable map of Providence with the ancient place names. A list of these names, with explanations, is also given. A calendar of the events in the life of Harris and a good index complete the useful features of this volume.

In the text will be found the correspondence of Harris, so far as it has been preserved; the proceedings of the various tribunals which heard his case, and a succession of detailed statements of the points at issue in the case prepared by representatives of both parties.

HERBERT L. OSGOOD.

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