182 REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 



support China in maintaining the integrity of Korea. He was aghast 

 when he found that British aid was not forthcoming and a complete 

 revulsion of feeling towards Britain followed. He wholly turned away 

 from England, and sought the help of Russia. He even went so 

 far as to say 'if I damage my own country by concessions to Russia 

 it is unavoidable : England must be thwarted.' Mr. Bland makes no 

 mention of these deep undercurrents and hidden causes that have 

 influenced the course of events so greatly in the Far East. He merely 

 adopts the usual and too easy and superficial explanation that Li only 

 played one barbarian against another. On p. 186 Mr. Bland senten- 

 tiously states that Li's policy was very frequently influenced by personal 

 sympathy with the Russian temperament and culture, with their easy 

 going semi-Asiatic fatalism, their admixture of administrative autocracy 

 and social democracy. It is surprising to find Mr. Bland giving such 

 reasons. They are absolutely worthless and futile. The total change 

 of attitude must be accounted for in some more adequate way. 

 Possibly the denouement in the negotiations regarding the Cheng Tai 

 railway is not unconnected with Li's change of feeling towards Great 

 Britain. That line had always been marked out for construction by 

 Great Britain. And great was the surprise when it was found that 

 Britishers after all had no share in it. It is known that Li definitely 

 vetoed any British share in the undertaking. 



The field open to Mr. Bland was an extraordinary wide and 

 fertile one. And if there had been more investigation into the rich 

 material offered by the long life of Li's public service the value of 

 the work would have been greatly enhanced. Li's field of adminis- 

 tration was by no means narrow or parochial ; not only did it touch the 

 internal conditions of China in every political and administrative 

 phase, but the wide interests of China touched every World Power in 

 some shape or other. We miss much that is therefore valuable from 

 this book. 



There is one other thing that is rather a surprise in this volume. 

 The author has no doubt that the 'Memoirs' published a few years 

 ago is not an authenticated biography but is a pure fabrication. Yet 

 he quotes largely from it and makes long, — very long, deductions on 

 statements based on these fabrications. Is this method not rather 

 unusual ! But in spite of these defects, this is a very readable volume. 



M. 



En Butinant: Scenes et Croquis de Mongolie. Par Le Pere 



Joseph Van Oost, Chang-Hai, T'ou-Se-We. 

 Le Pere Joseph Van Oost in addition to the duties of his sacred 

 vocation has not been idle. He has kept an observant eye on the life 



