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2 volumes, 1917), published by the Inspector General of the Chinese Maritime Customs.

Of Mr. MacMurray personally, it may be said that he has had a considerable number of years' service in the American diplomatic service, much of which has been in the Far East-in Siam, China, and Japan. In Peking he was First Secretary of the American Legation, and in Tokio, Counselor of Embassy. During the last few years he has been Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs in the Department of State, and was the official upon whom Secretary Hughes chiefly relied in preparing for and conducting the recent Conference on Far Eastern Affairs at Washington. It is to be hoped that from time to time Mr. MacMurray will be led to compile, and the Endowment to issue, supplementary volumes that will include treaties and agreements with or relating to China since 1919. W. W. WILLOUGHBY.

Handausgabe der Reichsverfassung vom 11 August, 1919. By Dr. Fritz Poetzsch. 2d ed. Berlin: Otto Liebmann, 1921. pp. 226. 17 marks.

This is a type of legal publication common in Germany before the war. It is chiefly a brief commentary, section by section, upon the new constitution of the German Commonwealth. Preliminary chapters discuss the history of the constitution and the characteristics of the new organization created thereby. The author takes the view that in its new form the German Commonwealth is more nearly a unitary state than a federal state. American read be particularly interested in the author's comments upon the enlarged powers of the central government, and upon the popular basis of the new government. The experience of the German Government with proportional representation and the referendum will be watched with interest.

In connection with this volume, attention may be called to the excellent translation of the German constitution, made by Professors William B. Munro and Arthur N. Holcombe, and published in the League of Nations, Vol. II, No. 6 (Boston, December, 1919). An article on the new German constitution, by Prof. Ernst Freund, appeared in the Political Science Quarterly for June, 1920 (Vol. 35, page 117). Prof. Freund gives an excellent analysis of the new institutions and the new principles established for the German Government under its republican form of organization. The republican constitution of Germany contains a number of declarations of broad principles of social justice, and seeks to lay the foundation for a broadly democratic political system. However, the constitution must be regarded for a time at least as chiefly a promise of a new type of government and of new principles. The future must see the fulfillment of this promise, for no constitutional text in and of itself vitally changes political institutions. W. F. DODD.

The Question of Aborigines in the Law and Practice of Nations. By Alpheus Henry Snow. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1921. pp. 376.

The death of Mr. Snow on August 19, 1920, was a distinct loss to scholarship in the field of international law. During many years he had contributed to scientific publications articles dealing with matters of public law, a number of which have now been collected in a volume entitled "The American Philosophy of Government." In 1902 he published a volume on "The Administration of Dependencies" which bore the subtitle of "a study of the evolution of federal empire, with special reference to American colonial problems." The volume is a constructive examination of the powers of Congress and of the President in the government of American territorial possessions, and is a valuable contribution to the theory and practice of American constitutional law.

The present volume, reprinted posthumously, is the last study from the author's pen. It was originally written in the form of a monograph at the request of the Department of State in the spring of 1918, and was intended, like other studies undertaken at the time, for the guidance of the American delegates at the conference which would settle the issues of the war. The author had practically a clear field before him. As he expresses the situation in his prefatory note, there was "no treatise on the question, nor even any chapters in any book on international law or the law of colonies, to serve as a model or a guide."

The chapters of the volume discuss in succession the relation of wardship between aborigines and the state which exercises sovereignty over them, the rights recognized as belonging to aborigines, the duties of their guardian states, the legal effect of agreements between civilized states and aborigines, and the provisions of the Berlin-African Conference, as well as international action since the Berlin Conference, in particular the provisions of the Algeciras Conference with regard to Morocco.

From the outset a distinction must be made between the provisions of international law with regard to aborigines and the provisions of the municipal law of the several states. On this point the title of the monograph is somewhat misleading, as is also the arrangement of the material of the volume. The provisions of international law proper on the subject are exceedingly restricted, consisting in certain general principles stated in treaties and conventions, such as the act following the Berlin Conference of 1885, to the effect that the signatory powers recognized the obligation to watch over the preservation of the native tribes and to care for the conditions of their moral and material well-being. More definite duties of protection are to be seen in the guarantees of freedom of conscience and religious toleration to be enjoyed by the natives, and of freedom of activity on the part of religious and charitable institutions without distinction or

creed or nationality. The author is not sufficiently careful to distinguish such provisions adopted for the benefit of the natives from other provisions, such as those forbidding commercial monopolies in Central Africa and providing for freedom of trade and transit, which were adopted for the benefit of citizens of the signatory powers. The special provisions adopted for the suppression of the slave trade form a class by themselves. The doctrine of "intervention for humanity" is discussed by the author in a separate chapter, but it would seem to have no direct bearing upon the subject, since the protection of aborigines does not appear in any of the cases cited to have been the motive which induced the guardian state to assume sovereignty over the territory. The instance of Cuba scarcely seems in point, while the admirable provisions of the Philippine Government Acts of 1902 and 1916 had no part in the causes of the intervention.

In addition to the limited provisions of international law there is the large body of legislative provisions adopted by the voluntary action of the several states in possession of territories occupied by aborigines. These provisions of national public law as distinct from international law are discussed in detail by the author, beginning with the treaties entered into by the United States with the Indian tribes which have been treated as "domestic dependent nations" and as "wards of the nation." The provisions of the Philippine Government Act of 1902 established a form of government designed not for the satisfaction of the United States but "for the happiness, peace and prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands." The volume goes on to review British, French, German, and other foreign legislation with respect to the administration of colonies and their aboriginal inhabitants.

Mr. Snow's volume collects together much valuable material not otherwise readily accessible. Apart from possible defects of arrangement it is a thorough and careful study of a subject which must form an important problem of international law for some time to come. One can only speculate how far the American delegates were influenced by its pages in laying down the provisions of Article XXII of the Covenant of the League of Nations. Whether or not the mandates under the League shall prove to have been administered in the spirit of these provisions, it would seem that the author is fairly justified in asserting that the conscientiousness and zeal with which the United States has fulfilled its duty of tutorship in the case of the Philippine Islands entitle it "to take the lead in any future development of the law of nations in this respect."

C. G. FENWICK.

A History of Sea Power. By William Oliver Stevens and Allan Westcott. New York: George H. Doran and Company, 1920, pp. xi+458.

This is a comparatively brief and concise work upon the influence of sea power from the earliest days until the present time. It serves a need as a text book upon the subject for the Naval Academy as well as presenting to the general reader and to the student of naval history a most excellent and consecutive work upon the subject.

Although a reference and discussion of the Maritime Codes of the Mediterranean and North Seas would be of interest to a reader upon the subject, it is not strictly germane to the purpose of the book except as regulators of the sea strength which is an element in the development of the sea power of the nations of the world. In fact the authors touch but lightly upon the regulation of the sea power by maritime or international law in peace time and war.

As to the partition of the high seas made by the Pope of Rome directly after the return of Columbus, it does make mention as an event allied both to naval history and to the freedom of the seas by an assumption of territorial jurisdiction which even there was recognized as unjustifiable. In reference to this the authors say:

A Papal bull of May 4, 1493 conferred upon Spain title to all lands discovered or yet to be discovered in the Western Ocean. Another on the day following divided the claims of Spain and Portugal by a line running North and South "100 leagues west of the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands" (an obscure statement in view of the fact that the Cape Verdes lie considerably to the westward of the other group) and granted to Spain a monopoly of commerce in the waters west and south (again an obscure phrase) of this line, so that no other nation could trade without license from the power in control. This was the extraordinary Papal decree dividing the waters of the world. Small wonder that the French King, Francis I, remarked that he refused to recognize the title of the claimants till they could produce the will of Father Adam, making them universal heirs; or that Elizabeth, when a century later England became interested in world trade, disputed a division contrary not only to common sense and treaties but to "the law of nations."

An interesting reference is made to the Sea Beggars of Holland and the North acting under letters of marque first issued by Louis of Nassau, brother of William of Orange. It was no uncommon practice for them to go over the rail of a merchant ship with pick and axe and kill every Spaniard on board. In 1569, William of Orange, however, appointed Seigneur de Lambres as admiral of this fleet and issued strict instructions to him to secure better order, avoid attacks on vessels of friendly and neutral states, enforce the articles of war, and carry a preacher on each ship.

During the Napoleonic War in December, 1800, the convention forming the Armed Neutrality of 1800 came into being, composed of Russia, Prussia, Sweden and Denmark, who pledged themselves to resist infringe

ments of neutral rights, whether by extension of contraband lists, seizure of enemy goods under neutral flags, search of vessels declared innocent by their naval convoy, and by other methods not unfamiliar in our own times.

In 1807, as a consequence of the Treaty of Tilsit, France was at liberty to take possession of the Danish fleet, then of considerable size, and use it against England. As a result and as a matter of self preservation, the attack upon the fleet and batteries of Copenhagen followed, the description of this engagement by the English fleet under Hyde Parker, of which fleet Nelson was the soul, being given fully. As to the international law of the matter, Dr. Stowell in his recent work upon Intervention, tersely and wisely says in his belief "that any intelligent government would disregard the neutrality of a power too weak to prevent itself from becoming an involuntary instrument for the carrying out of the enemy's designs."

There are interesting references to the large re-export trade of the United States from the West Indies, only exceeded in 1915, to the revival of the doctrine of continuous voyages in the civil war and world war and a chapter on the commerce warfare of the world war, which brings the book up to date both in time and maritime warfare. The book is well and accurately written and of great interest to students in naval warfare and naval history.

CHARLES H. STOCKTON.

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