CURRENT LITERATURE.
The Asiatic in England. By Joseph Salter. (Seeley.)—The late Mr. Venn, who was for so many years connected with the Church Mis- sionary Society, wrote a preface for this book, and Lieutenant-Colonel Marsh Hughes has furnished it with an introduction and conclusion. Mr. Salter has been for sixteen years a missionary to the Asiatics in England, the head-quarters of the Mission being the "Strangers' Home for Asiatics," to the foundation and support of which the Maharajah Duleep Sing has been a principal contributor. The volume is full of interesting details, and we strongly recommend those who may be repelled by a somewhat peculiar phraseology not to suffer any such
prejudice to prevent them from reading it. London is a collud ies gentium such as Rome never was. It has its quarters inhabited by races which it would not be easy to enumerate, and of these none are stranger or fuller of a certain picturesque misery, if the phrase may be allowed, than that in which Chinamen, Lascars, Polynesians, &c., are found crowded together. Mr. Salter has some strange things to tell of the scenes which he has witnessed in these localities. And he has also something to say, though he does but hint at it, not very creditable to this country, as, for instance, when he tells us that the crimping system is in full force at Liverpool. It is satisfactory to learn that, as far as the work of the Mission and the Home are concerned, the labour of Mr. Salter and those who employ him has done much to lessen the total amount of distress among the Orientals in England.
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