REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 223 



It is impossible or would be purposeless to quote any of these 

 "dictons." They do not seem to be generally current throughout 

 China but rather confined to the Mongolian steppes. They were born 

 and abide there though perhaps some may have leaked out into the 

 northern confines of China. But though differing in words they reveal 

 the great community of human beings and the unity of the human 

 temperament. They are full of the touches that show the kinship of 

 men : marking their characteristics and idiosyncracies, their folk-lore,, 

 and customs. One very useful one at the present time is No. 360. 

 "An official has ten ways open to him : but no one can ever guess which 

 one will be acted on." That is just what we are thinking of present 

 events in Peking. What decision will the authorities come to? It is 

 vain to guess. 



It should be mentioned that there is a Table at the end, 'D'apres 

 l'ordre Alphabetique des Matieren' ! 



From the N. C. Daily News. By permission. 



The International Relations of the Chinese Empire. By Hosea 

 Ballou Morse, ll.d. 2 Volumes. Published by Messrs. 

 Kelly & Walsh, Ltd., 1918. Price Mex. $10.00 each Volume. 



Mr. Morse has solved the problem which confronts so many of 

 those who, after spending the best years of their life in the Far East 

 find themselves for various reasons faced with an indefinite period of 

 enforced leisure, by devoting the years following his retirement from 

 the Chinese Customs Service to a close study of the records of China's 

 relations with foreign powers during the nineteenth century and after, 

 and in giving the results of his investigations to the world in the 

 form of a series of histories of which the volumes now under review 

 form the second and third instalments. 



The first volume published in 1910 under the title "The. Inter- 

 national Relations of the Chinese Empire" and the sub-title "The 

 Period of Conflct" (1834-1860) is well-known to all students of Chinese 

 history as one of the standard works on the subject of the reluctant 

 opening of the Chinese Empire to intercourse with the outer world, 

 a landmark in the history of China which was finally set up by the 

 treaties of 1858 and 1860. The second volume under the same title, 

 to which the author has given the sub-title of the "Period of Sub- 

 mission" (1861-1893), carries on the narrative down to the outbreak of 

 the war between China and Japan, and the third volume of the series, 

 to which he has assigned the sub-title of the "Period of Subjection" 

 (1894-1911), describes those troubled years before and after 1900 which 



