Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/543

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Morris: The History of Colo)iizatioii 533 Such is the scope of Dr. Lee's book, and it must be apparent that in it he has not borne out the promise of his preface. The bulk of the vol- ume is legal history, pure and simple, and much the greater part, history of Roman law. Of Historical Jurisprudence (if such a thing exists) we find little outside the Introduction. Wejdo find a useful elementary his- tory of most of the systems of law that can interest us, presented clearly and judiciously. Joseph H. Bealk, Jr. Tlie History of Colonization, from tin- Earliest Times to the Present Day. By Henry C. Morris. (New York and London : The Macmillan Co. 1900. Two voLs., pp. .xxiv, 459; xiii, 383.) This book, the author says, owes its origin to "a natural interest in the affairs of the day." The recent war with Spain, leading to the ac- quisition of distant dependencies by the United States, interested Mr. Morris in colonial problems, and he sought in the history of colonization answers to the questions that the present position of our country stimu- lates. He found that many books had been written on colonies, but that "almost all are devoted to certain special phases, epochs, or fields of research, are written from the standpoint of some one nation, or are too technical to be available and interesting to the majority of readers." To fill the want implied, of a treatise on colonization covering the whole field and suited to the comprehension of the general public, this book was prepared. The introduction promises to the reader a discussion of the different types of colonies and of the conditions necessary to their success, and an exposition of the facts of their history that will show how the principles of colonial policy have been developed. The task that Mr. Morris sets before himself is a difficult one. Most books on colonization confine themselves to some part of the field simply because colonies have differed so much in different periods, or under dif- ferent conditions in the same period, that they do not lend themselves to the generalizations of the philosophic historian, and resist inclusion in a single book. A writer who would give us what Mr. Morris promises must be not only conversant with a very broad range of facts, but also endowed with a critical and constructive ability enabling him to use the facts with the utmost efficiency. Extensive reading and thorough train- ing are the two requisites. The author of this book cannot be credited with a satisfactory measure of either. In the preliminary chajjter, on general principles, Mr. Morris shows such confusion of ideas as to destroy at once any hope that he can ad- vance our knowledge of the theory of colonization. The reader is forced to doubt whether the author understands what has already been written on the subject, and whether he is competent even to compile the results of others' investigations. In a book of this kind the matter of classifi- cation is of primary importance, if we are to learn anything of the prin- ciples of colonization. But even in proposing a scheme of classification.