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 356 Reviews of Books successor, whoever he may be, will have but to continue — with some improvements in detail — upon the model already provided. Earle W. Dow. An Epitomized History of the Militia {the "Constitutional Force") together with the Origin, Periods of Embodied Service and Special Services {including South Africa, 1899-1902) of Militia Units Existing October ]i, 190^. Compiled by Colonel George Jackson Hay, C.B., C.M.G. (London: The United Service Gazette Office. [1906.] Pp. 444.) Colonel Hay exercised good judgment in describing his work as a compilation. That it is a compilation is obvious on almost every page; and as regards smoothness and easy reading it has most of the draw- backs of a compilation — drawbacks that at times are a little disconcerting if not irritating to the reader. But, this said, it must at once be added that the compilation is marked by good arrangement of material and admirable grouping; and that by the enormous labor that Colonel Hay has bestowed on his work he has produced a volume of first importance to students of the military and constitutional history of the United Kingdom. The book bears the marks of having been written chiefly for students of military history and organization ; and these students cannot but admire the enthusiasm which Colonel Hay has put into his work, and the infinite care that he has taken with details. Some of the constitu- tional aspects of the militia are lacking, due chiefly to the fact that Colonel Hay has taken his Parliamentary history mostly at second hand ; that he has not himself gone to the Journals of the two Houses of Parliament and to the Parliamentary histories and the Hansards. Had he gone to these sources, in particular had he gone to the Han- sards for 1831-1832, he would have been able to round out his excellent summary of the statutes enacted for the raising, organization, and gov- ernment of the " Constitutional Force " from 1122 to 1902, by an account of the circumstances under which balloting for the militia was allowed to fall into desuetude. For many years before 1831 it had been, as Colonel Hay incidentally shows, more politic to raise the militia by beat of drum and bounties than to raise it by ballot under the more modernized system which had been established by the famous Militia Act of 1756 and the Explanatory Act of 1758. But although there was little need for the services of the militia between the peace after Waterloo and the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny, the ballot survived as late as 183 1. At this time the movement for Parliamentary reform was about to achieve its first great success. The measure which ultimately became the Act of 1832 was under discussion in Parliament. It did not go far enough for some of the Radical reformers in London. The ratepaying qualifica-