ances". Professor Garrett has attempted to do what they have failed to do and thus to present a clear and accurate account of the colonial question before the Constituent Assembly. On the whole he has succeeded in the undertaking and has made a distinct contribution of importance to our literature on the subject.
The story is not an easy one to tell. Many factors and forces, strong and important, but ever shifting and changing, must be traced by patience and skill through perplexing and complicated situations so that the reader may follow the narrative with understanding. Illustrations of this abound. The planter-interests, for instance, were both in favor of and opposed to the revolutionary movement. They were in favor of it in so far as they were inspired by the hope that it would break the hated tyranny of monopolistic control over colonial commerce. As supporters of the revolution they found themselves allies of the mulattoes and petits blancs, who from far different motives welcomed the dawn of a new day; as such too they found themselves enemies of the merchant class, who dreaded a change and wished still to fatten upon the old theories of Colbertism. But when these same planters heard resounding in the excited French capital the wild notes of equality and fraternity and realized that such notes, once resounding upon the rich plains of St. Domingo, would produce lurid scenes of devastation and destruction, they became opponents of the movement. They then found themselves allies of the merchant class and uncompromising enemies of the mulattoes and the petits blancs, at least until slave insurrections forced them all into united action. From this complication of interests among those concerned personally with the colonies, one may turn to find a similar complication in the attitude of the members of the Constituent Assembly, where the cause of principles struggled against the restraints of wise statesmanship ("Périssent les colonies plutôt qu'un principe"), a struggle which, as our author points out, led to a wavering policy in the colonial legislation of the assembly, which had serious consequences. The play and interplay of such forces as these and of others like the Amis des Noirs, the delegates of the colonies, the exiled assembly of Saint Marc, the Jacobin Club, the ever changing conditions in the storm-centres of the West Indies, the feverish, shifting sentiments of the Constituent Assembly, might have led very easily to bewildering confusion. The author's skill, however, has saved the reader from such a misfortune. It is quite remarkable, indeed, how in the compass of his small volume Professor Garrett has succeeded in setting before the reader a complicated story in such clear, concise form and yet with enough detail to give substance to the narrative.
The work is based almost entirely upon original material and has all the freshness and vigor of such work. The study however has some very decided limitations. It has failed to include a treatment of la réforme commerciale which led to some legislation in the Constituent Assembly of great importance to the colonies and treated very properly
