654 Revieivs of Books original well-digested comment on almost every page upon a variety of hotly disputed questions, which will make the book of permanent value. Whether it is the last word on the subject may be doubted. For per- haps Takahashi or some other Japanese publicist on the one side and de Martens on the other may clear up certain matters yet with official information. Nor is it likely that we yet know the full truth as to the real reasons underlying the Portsmouth treaty. Hershey truly thinks that this was far from being a diplomatic victory for Russia. It fairly embodied the principle of di possidetis: sufficient proof of its equity. Credits were growing low; the trans-Siberian railway had shown unexpected capability ; the Russian army probably outnumbered the Japanese, and each retreat improved its position. It had become too big to be bagged. The Japanese had won every battle ; they had won everything essen- tial. It was a war of defense, and a treaty of defense was indicated. Would it be surprising if the future should reveal that Japan in her inscrutable way saw that the psychological moment had come, persuaded Mr. Roosevelt to initiate negotiations in her behalf, emphasized the non-indispensable while securing what she most wanted in the treaty itself, and won as great a victory in diplomacy as she had done in war? There are a few typographical or other errors but none of a mislead- ing kind: 1897 for 1807 (p. 75) ; Count Lansdowne (p. 230) ; "navel" for naval (p. 143) ; and half a dozen misprints. This is in every way a very good piece of work indeed. Theodore S. Woolsey. Books of Americ.vn History The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 9S3-130J. Edited by Julius E. Olson and Edward Gaylord Bourne. [Original Narratiz'cs of Early American History. Edited by J. Franklin Jameson. Volume I.] (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. igo6. Pp. XV, 443-) At its annual meeting in December. 1902, the American Historical Association approved and adopted the plan of the present series, choos- ing Dr. J. Franklin Jameson as its general editor. The purpose of the series is to provide historical students and the libraries of schools and colleges with a comprehensive and well-rounded collection of those narratives on which the early history of the United States is founded; and the present volume forms a good beginning to this excellent and laudable undertaking. Thus under the Northmen Professor J. E. Olson of Wisconsin prints the Vinland narrations in the Saga of Eric the Red and in the Flat Island Book (Flateyjarbok), together with ex- tracts from Adam of Bremen, from the Icelandic Annals, relative to Vinland and Markland, adding versions of the Papal Letters of 1448 and 1492 (from Nicholas V. and Alexander VI.) dealing with Green-
