Minor Notices 831 It will thus be seen that Sir John Bourinot's book is primarily a study of political development, and mainly of the working out of a form of government. Social and economic conditions, while incidentally referred to, are nowhere much dwelt upon. Sir John is too well informed on both Canadian and American history to fall into many errors in a book of this sort, and his feeling for the relative importance of things is gen- erally sure. AVe do not think, however, that his treatment of the most important incident in early Canadian history — the Quebec act — is quite satisfactory. The four or five pages devoted to the subject hardly more than hint at the difficulties which the formulation of the act encountered, or the criticisms subsequently passed upon it. Sir John's chief purpose seems to be to prove that the act was not one of which the French Cana- dians could complain, but bespoke in a remarkable degree the justice and generosity of Great Britain ; whereas it is clear that the act riveted upon Canada the problems of race and religion which have vexed the whole course of its subsequent history, and which apparently could have been more easily dealt with in 1774 than at any later time. Sir John's discussion of the relations between Canada and the United States is, of course, rather pronouncedly British. The praise of the Canadian constitution and Canadian political methods, and, by way of contrast, not infrequent pointing out of ways in which the United States might improve the conduct of its political business are, of course, appro- priate, though we do not think that Sir John can have had recent politi- cal occurrences in the Dominion particularly in mind, when he empha- sizes as he dees the relative success of the Canadians in freeing themselves from objectionable political influences. There runs throughout the book, indeed, a clearly perceptible vein of political pleading, of desire to score off an opponent, or show up a questionable political opposition, or defend Canada against its critics, or prove once more its loyalty to the empire. It is all interestingly done, but of course it is not exactly unbiassed history. Appendices give comparisons, in parallel columns, of the main pro- visions of the constitutions of Canada and Australia, and a select list of authorities. The maps are credited to the Department of the Interior, at Ottawa. William M.cDonald. A second edition of the Manuel de Bibliographic Hisforique of M. Charles V. Langlois has just been issued (Paris, Hachette). In the five years that have intervened since the first appearance of this indispensable work our supply of bibliographical aids has been largely increased, and in some fields works of the first importance have been published. One thinks at once of manuals like Gross's Sources and Literature and Chan- ning and Hart's Guide, of journals such as the Revue d' Histoire Moderne and the Archives Beiges, of the Bibliotheca Hagiographica of the Bolland- ists, the new Italian catalogue, and the French and German indexes to periodicals.
