have not read, nor should others. Sufficient unto
me is the authority of the novel itself splendidly
demonstrated and established in the high court of
the reader's head and heart by the author's visu-
alizing veritism. Not twenty pages have you turned
before you know this Rezanov, privy councilor,
grand chamberlain, plenipotentiary of the Russo-
American company, imperial inspector of the ex-
treme eastern and northwestern dominions of his
imperial majesty Alexander the First, emperor of
Russia--all this and more, a man. He comes out of
mystery into the softly bright light of California,
in strength and shrewdness and dignity and per-
sonal splendor. And there is amidst it all a pathos
upon him. He commands your affection even while
suggesting a doubt whether the man may not be
overwhelmed in the diplomat, the intriguer. The
year is 1806. The monstrous apparition of Napo-
leon has loomed an omen of the doom of ancient
authority and the shattering of nations in Europe.
That faithless, incalculable idealist Alexander,
plans he knows not what of imperial glory in the
Eastern and Western world. Rezanov is his ser-
vant, a man of ambition, perhaps in all favor at
court, desirous of doing some great service for his
master. He dreams of dominion in this sun-soaked
land so lazily held in the lax grasp of Spain. He
has come from failure. He had been to Japan
with presents to the emperor, was received by minor
officials with a hospitality that poorly concealed the