Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-05
HISTORY OF DIPLOMACY IN THE
INTERN ATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
OF EUROPE. By David Jayne Hill,
LID. Volume THE STRUGGLE
FOR UNIVERSAL EMPIRE. With
maps and tables. New York: Long

DIR. Hills thorough researches into the
literature of international relations have
disclosed the remarkable fact that there
is in existence in any language no general
history of European diplomacy. To aScer7
tain the fact was with him to seek to sup
ply the lack He has been at work upon
the accomplishment for some time, and
the first volume. now in hand attests 10
his success thus far He has divided the
work into six natural sections, the first
dealing with the struggle for universal
empire and bringing the record to the early
mart of the fourteenth century, and the
second under the title The Esta blishment
of Territorial Sovereignty, proceeding from
that point through the middle ages These
two volumes are in a way to be regarded
as having the foundations for the later
works tracing the tragic history of the
rise and fall of two great interna tional in
stitutionS the empire and the papacy, the
defeat of their ambitions and the develop
ment of modern national states. In the
four volumes to follow the hrst two Will De
considered the Diplomacy of the Age of
Absoutism of the Revolutionary Era. of
the Constitutional Movement and of Com
mercial Imperialism. thus bringing the his
tory OF international development down to
the present time.
DR. Hill has proceeded upon the theory
that the present international organiZa ton
Of the world strikes its roots deep into the
past. Europe, in particular, he shows, Is
still largely governed by its memories, and
to master the history of European diplo-
macy is to dispel the illusion that the
present relations of civilized states are for
tuitouS, arbitrary or changeable al Will. He
points out, Furthermore, that the fixed legal
and conventional relations between modern
states are as firmly grounded in public
needs and fundamental principles the
constitutions of the different countries
which compose the international system.
1T is true" the author proceeds. that
force has been a determining element in
the conflicts of nations, as it is in the main
tenance of civil order within the state, but
il is not the mere aimless or undirected
force that has produced the present. inter-
national system. On the contrary it Is due
to the gradual perception of the conditions
on which human governments can be per-
manently based. 1t is the result bf rea-
soned policy and deliberately formed con-
ventions in restraint of force-the triumph
of craftsmanship and diplomacy, not
shaped and determined by military action.
but controlling the movements of armies
and navies whose coercive powers are put
in action only by decisions reached after
elaboration at the council board"
LOUISA VARENA; or Loves Recon-
pense. By Eliza Houk. Dayton. Ohio:
The United Brethren Publishing
House.
The purpose and scope of this work are
perhaps most aptly described by Mrs. Houk
in her brief preface, as follows:
This simple story is cast into the great
food Of current literature. hoping that
those who read may seek and ind the Balm
for all earthly ills-divine omnipotent love.
supreme on earth as In heaven. To those
Instructed In this way of life 1t will be
clear that these informal letters. appar-
entity selected from a much larger corre-
spondence to form the web of the story,
were written before the present methods
for work and growth in the Christian
Science were established. and that they
are not designed to teach. but to illustrate
the truth. VIII Loves pure idea accept
this humble offering?
Mrs. Houk's treatment of her theme is
novel and her work is strong. She tells
an absorbing story while developing her
statement of the doctrine. The author is
sided for several years while her husband
was member of the House of Represen-
tativeS.
York: Imported by Charles Scrib-
ners Sons. Washington: Woodward
& Lothrop.
Many are the traditions that play about
the name of Giotto. His personality Is
largely cnveloped In a cloud and his orI-
gin. his early studies, the influences that
led to the creation of his style are by no
means distinct in outlines. But his works
remain in large number and in fair state
of preservation in various parts Of Italy,
and are regarded by modern critics as
among the best examples of thirteenth CEN
fury art now extant- The author of this
volume has made an exhaustive study of
Gtotto from all points of view, and has ex-
amiHed every known and suspected work
or his with minute care, to the end OF pre-
senting a systematic and comprehensive
Interpretation of his art in all it's phases.
Many Photographic reproductions of the
paintings and sculptures accredited to
Giotto assist in this rendition.
THE JORDAN VALLEY AND PETRA.
By William Libbey, Sc.D., professor
OF physical geography, Princeton
University, and Franklin F. Hoskins.
ID, Syria Mission, Beirut, Syria. IL
Illustrated. In two volumes. New
York: u. F. Putnam's Sons. Wash
ington: Woodward e. Lothrop.
The joint journey of Drs. Libbey and
Hoskins through the valley of the Jordan
was planned twenty years before it was
undertaken 1t was while one of the au-
thors was a professor of Princeton and the
other student of the class of 1883 that
they formed a compact to visit Petra and
the region east and south of the Dead sea.
In the meantime DR.. Hoskins has been en-
gagged in his life work in Syria and in a
way preparing to keep the appointment.
The journey was at last undertaken and
accomplished without mishap or difficulty.
The result is brace of beautiful volumes.
relating in interesting and instructive de-
tail the happenings of the expedition of
more than six hundred miles on horseback.
Historically and geographically there Is a
vast fund of information within the covers.
Furthermore the work is entertaining in
its narration of a novel experience. In this
now well-nish desolated region great civil
lizations rose and fell. Wars swept over
the land. Dynasties were upbuilt and UNI
dermined. Religions fourished and perish
ed. Here are the monuments and the ruins
of cities and works; here the unchanging
marks-of the great currents that swept to
and fro. These two scholars passed
through the land with keen eyes alert for
the items of interest to them in their spe-
cial lines of research They iourneyed with