British India. By R. W. Frazer. (T. Fisher Unwin.)—If we
have been tardy in noticing this book, a volume in the " Story of the Nations" Series, we must plead that a work of this kind, compressing a vast subject into a small space, is almost as difficult to criticise as it is to write, all the more because it bristles with controverted questions. The reader will find in Mr. Frazer's sketch a useful summary of history. To Warren Hastings Mr. Frazer does full, justice, but he does not shut his eyes to the mistakes and shortcomings of British rule. His description of the causes which were at work in producing the great catastrophe of the Mutiny is specially worthy of note. His remarks also on the great Indian question of the day, the " Forward" policy, deserve attention. " Inevitable, however much it may be regretted," would seem to be his judgment. Britain finds, as Rome found of old, that the urgentia imperiifata cannot be resisted. The concluding chapter, " Moral and Material Progress under British Rule," is full of valuable and interesting facts. British India now (1891) contains 221,172,952 inhabitants, an increase of 10 per cent. on the population of 1881. The revenue is about £87,000,000, reckoning the rupee at ls. Med., or about 88. per head. The revenue of the United Kingdom is nearly £109,000,000, or £2 19s. per head.
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