4o6 Revieius of Books The discussions as to West Florida, the events of the Var of 1812, and Jackson's exploits in 1818 are fully treated. Here the author is more at home, and these chapters are distinctly the best in the book, although there is a marked want of sympathy with the prejudices of the Americans of that day. Their dislike for the Spaniards was not due merely to the Mississippi incident. It was a tradition inherited since the time of Elizabeth from their English ancestors, and it was fostered by the accounts of the inhuman cruelty with which the South American wars were carried on. Jackson's hatred of " the Dons " was no per- sonal peculiarity. It was the embodiment of a very wide-spread popu- lar feeling, of which the impartial historian must take note. The tedious negotiations during Monroe's presidency are then nar- rated at length, and the book ends with some very damaging reflections upon the conduct of the public men of the United States. There is no discrimination as to parties. Fisher Ames and Hamilton are condemned equally with Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Livingston, Pinckney, and Jackson. The author spares no epithets. The Florida Act of 181 1 was " a bold defiance of the law of nations and individuals " (p. 326) ; the seizure of Amelia Island was a gross artifice, a shallow deception, " a proceeding particularly disgraceful" (p. 327). The recognition of the independence of the revolted Spanish colonies was an act of " singular bad faith" (p. 329). The spoliation claims against Spain are harshly criticized; but no reference is made to the singularly careful inquiry into their validity and amount, made by the commission under the eleventh article of the Florida Treaty, where the awards were largely in excess of the $5,000,000 stipulated to be paid. The book has an ample index and two maps. The first of these tx- hibits the line proposed in 1782 as the western boundary of the United States; the second traces Jackson's line of march in Florida. If the latter map had been on a larger scale and had not extended so far north as to take in Milwaukee and Poughkeepsie, nor so far west as the Rocky Mountains, it would have been more convenient. In an appendix are printed the full text of the treaties of 1795 and 1819, the instructions to Monroe of July 29, 1803, in regard to a cession of the Floridas, and Adams's instructions of November 28, 1818, defend- ing Jackson's proceedings in Florida. Why these well-known and very accessible documents should have been reprinted here is not explained by anything in the preface or the body of the book. Mexico: its Social Evolutioti. By a Board of Editors, under the Di- rectorship of JuSTO SiERR.A. Translated into English by G. Sentinon. (Mexico City: J, Ballesca y Compania, Sucesor. 1900, 1904. Two folio volumes in three. Pp. 415. iv : 417-778, i ; 444- ) The above is the title of the English edition, brought out in transla- tion the past year, of a work whose original is in Spanish, but which has
