Rertslers Treatise: Vol. XII., with an Index of Subjects to
the Entire Series. (Butterworths.)—The eleven volumes already published were compiled by the late Mr. Lewis Hertslet, Librarian and Keeper of the Papers of the Foreign Office. This work and his "British and Foreign State Papers," the Times remarked, when announcing his death, "would ever remain a lasting monument of his intelligence and industry." The volume before us is by Mr. Edward Hertslet, who succeeded his father as Librarian in the Foreign Office, and who has continued the work so ably started and maintained by him. To those who are unacquainted with it we may observe that it forms "a complete collection of the treaties and conventions and reciprocal regulations at present subsisting between Great Britain and Foreign Powers ; and of the laws, decrees, orders in Council, Ste., concerning the same, so far as they relate to com- merce and navigation, the slave trade, Poet-Office communications, copy- right, dtc.; and to the privileges and interests of the subjects of the high contracting parties ;" this is the description of the work as told on its title- page, and we can give no better, for it thus describes at once its most valuable and salient features. The merit consists primarily in the com- pleteness of its compilation, backed up by a judicious selection of so much of each Act of Parliament, order in Council, treaty, &a., as bears upon the international case in point; and this appears to have been carried out in the same spirit and with the same judgment and research that distinguished Mr. Hertslet's father. It ought to be in the library of every English consul abroad; no man-of-war should be allowed to putto sea without a copy; whilst at home it must be equally acceptable to the mer- chant and the politician. Mr. Hortslet has likewise prepared with muoh care and trouble an Index of Subjects to the twelve volumes, which may be had separately and interleaved, or bound up with vol. xii. Its value as an "Epitome or Digest of all the engagements by Treaty or otherwise, entered into and now subsisting between this country and Foreign Powers, with each separate subject, such as Commerce, Copy- right, Extradition," In., will be at once recognized by those who have occasion to refer frequently to tho work itself. Hitherto there has been attached to each volume an index of countries, accurate and useful enough, but still unsatisfactory and incomplete. This want is here sup- plied in the most ample manner, and so far as we have tested them, the references are clear and accurate, whilst they further allude to any subsequent modifications and amendments in existing arrangements, an addition which will prove a great and unusual help in timo of need.
Previous page
