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The Cambridge Modern History
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Europe, and in consequence continues to lose province after province, and
is now a mere shadow of his former self.
Africa infelix has endured many wars, in which France, Germany and
Britain have all figured, and Asia has also been a prey to strife. India has, in
spite of, or because of, reforms, undergone a period of unrest. China has endured
puppet emperors and the Boxer rising. The territory of the reformed
empire of Japan has been increased by her unexpected successes against
Russia, and Europe is now confronted with an Asiatic state among the
Great Powers. Australia has become federated, so has South Africa since
the war and Canada is in a position of great interest, America having her
own policy of expansion, and still encircling with the Monroe doctrine the
rising Latin republics of the South.
We mention all these items only to show with how much this great work
is concerned in detail, but it contains far more. It gives admirable chapters
on the modern exploration, which has unveiled practically the whole world ;
on the spread of Science, the growth of History, and the desire for Peace.
It has also a fine chapter (by Mr. Sidney Webb) on ' Social Movements '
dealing with ' *
the waste of human life,' insurance against unemployment,'
that topic of the hour, and the tangled tale of '
feminism,' among its many
varied contents. It will be easily seen, therefore, how great are the
possibilities of this volume, and when one says that the history is excellently
conceived and carried out one is congratulating in the most sincere manner
its painstaking editors and co-authors. A. FRANCIS STEUART.
THE CHAMPIONS OF THE CROWN. By Lucy Sealy. Pp. 329. With
Illustrations. Demy 8vo. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. 1911.
75. 6d. nett.
THIS book contains biographies of ten notable supporters of Charles I., but
the authoress has set herself to do far more than merely retail familiar facts.
There exists to this
day,
she
rightly declares, a <
popular misconception '
to the effect that the royalist army in the Civil War was made up of
1
Godless, roystering soldiers, fighting solely for the retention of power,
'
wealth, or license and her ; volume has been compiled with a view to
destroying this idea, and to pointing out that, in
reality,
the cavaliers were
prompted by noble and lofty ideals.
A book written with such a purpose naturally commands sympathy, and
it is therefore pleasing to find that, in the main, Miss Sealy has acquitted
herself remarkably well. It must be conceded that her style is often
mediocre, and it is true that the romance and glamour encircling the
Stuarts and their partisans have appealed to her strongly, and that, by all her
own predilections and affinities, she is frankly in favour of the king. Yet
she is by no means bigoted in this devotion, and, while she never misses an
opportunity of noting the unscrupulousness which frequently
characterised
the methods of the parliamentary leaders, she is withal perfectly honest
and straightforward in her manner of defending her cavalier heroes. It is
never
easy,
of course, to
precisely analyse and determine the motives which
begot a momentous action to be
;
but Miss Sealy shows herself throughout