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The  Speaker 

2  iUtitrlu  of  ^Jolitifc;,  i-rttne,  ^ririirr,  anti   the  vlrts. 


RECISTEHKli    A^    A    NEWSPAPER    AT    THE   GENEKAI.    IMST   OFFICE) 


[r  II'    I'.IA-.r>    AND    VDRHICU    TRANSMf^SIOM. 


Vol.  IV.— No.  85.] 


SATURDAY,   AUGUST    15,    1891. 


[I'RICE   6d. 


NEW    MODEL 
REMINGTON 

STANDARD  TYPEWRITER. 

For  Fifteen  Years  the  Standard,  and  to-day  the  most  perfect  development 
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Inventive  and  mechanical  skill.  We  add  to  the  Remington  every  improvement 
that  study  and  capital  can  secure. 

WYCKOFF,   SEAMANS    &    BENEDICT. 

Principal  Office— Loudon :    100,  GRACECHURCH  STREET,  EC. 
(.COKXEK    OF   LEADENHAI.L    STREET.') 


FRY'S 


"  I  have  never  tasted  Cocoa 
that  I  like  so  well."— 5/^  C.  A. 
Cameron,  M.D.,  Fresidefif  Royal 
College  of  Surgeons,  Ireland. 


PURE   CONCENTRATED 


Half  a  Tea-spoonful  is 
sufficient  to  make  a  cup 
of  most  delicious  Cocoa. 


COCOA 


PITKEATHLY 

CUM  LITHIA. 

The  only  Rational  and  Successful  Treatment  in  Use 

for  Gout,  Gouty  Eczema,  Rheumatism, 

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The  late  Dr.  Matthews  Dunca.s,  writing  under  date  March  4th,  1888,  says : — "  I 
use  the  Aerated  Pilkeathly  Water  largely,  anit  value  it,  and  find  it  is  valued  by 
patients." 

To  be  had  of  all  Chetnista  and  Mineral  Water  Dealers. 

.SOLE  PROPRIETORS— 

REID    &    DONALD,    Chemists,    Perth. 


CADBURY'S 
COCOA 


ABSOLUTELY  PURE  therefore  BEST. 

CADBDRT'S  COCOA  contains  in  a  concentrated  form  admirable  nutritive 
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Tliose  wlio  INTEND  BUYIN&  a  TYPEWRITER 


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giving  Eight  reasons  why  the 

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should  write  for  our  Circular 

setting  forth  the  advantages 

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THERE  is  NOTHING  DESIRABLE  in  LIFE 
ASSURANCE  which  the  SOCIETY  does  not 
FURNISH    CHEAPLY    and    INTELLIGIBLY. 

THOMAS  G.  ACKLAND,  F.I.A,  F.S.S.,  .Actuary  aitj  .M.ina^^r. 

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FIRST      ESTABLISHED      1825. 


FOR    INFANTS. 


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RICH  IN  BONE-FORMING  AND  FLESH-PRODUCING 
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PROMOTES    THE    HEALTHY    ACTION    OF    THE    BOWELS. 


BEST   AND    CHEAPEST. 


11 


THE     SPEAKER. 


[August   15,  1891. 


The  Speaker. 

THE   LEADING    LTBEBAL    WEEKLY, 


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THE     SPEAKER     devotes    special    attention     to    Literary    Ne\ys   and    Criticism,    great 
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T.  WEMYSS  REID.  IRome). 

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GEORGE  VON  BUNSEN  (Berlin). 

MONS.    MIJ.VTOVITCH    (e.\-Minister   of   Foreign 

.\ffairs  for  Servia). 
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CASSEL;.  &.  COMPANY,  Limited,  La  Belle  Sauvage,  Ludgate  Hill,  London. 


August  15,  1891.] 


THE     SPKAlvEll. 


ui 


PAOK 

Public  Aitaiks       181 

Mr.  13ALIOURS  Mamikmo         183 

The  New  Humanitakiamsm    i8.( 

"  y-V/.i/rv"      18; 

The  E(;vrTiAN  Question  Again           ...  186 

The  Naval  .Manoivrks 18'. 

mu.  i.idiikkdai.e  on  the  ."situation  ...  187 

Chronicle  ok  Foreign  .Affairs         ...  i88 
The     International     Health     C'un- 

OKEss.     By  One  of  the  I'rcsiilcms        ...  loo 

James  Rissell  Loweli 191 

ClLASCOW   I'HorKSSIllfi  ANDTIIEH!  WiiKK  In2 


CONTENTS. 

Lamennais     

Out  of  the  U'oklh         

The  VoL'Ni;  Citizen  at  I'lav 

Open  (Juestions.     iv.— Wh.ii  can  wc-  do 

for  ihc  Critics?    ' 

The  Week 

A   I'KENCIl    TkOI'IIET  OI-    ICviL     

.-V  CoRKECTEi)  Contempt.     By  (J. 

Verse  :    1'rom  the  Mountains 

Letters  to  the  Uoitor  :  — 
Thir  .'Jitualion  in  Irclanti 

M.P.'s  as  Company  Directors 


PAGE 
"<>4 

19(5 

i>'7 
200 


A  I.ITERAKV  CAL'SERIE. 

Reviews: — 
Tl)<r  Lalxpur  Movenienl  in  America 
.Mci.in<f*ia     ... 
I'rant.-    and    Russia — Cndtr    the 

J'liapire      

I-ai|y  Wilde's  Kss.ays         

N'itiorian  Poets       

Engraved  Ijcms      

Sliilliug  Fiction       

Two  liook  Ijuides  ... 

Kicardi)  for  tlic  I'eople      

l-'ir-it  Iiiipressions    ... 


PAGE 

By  .V  T.  Q.  C.    202 


First 


203 
204 

205 
206 
206 

207 

2C8 

209 
209 

210 


SAMPSON  LOW.    MARSTON  &   COMPANY'S 


NO  W    READ  Y, 


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THE    BIOGRAPHY    OF    THE 

Rt.  Hon.  W.  E.  Gladstone, 

By    G.    W.    E.    RUSSELL. 

BEING   THE   NEW   \OLLME    I.\    "I  HE   QUEENS    PRIME 

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\-7inous  mamage  ceremonies.,  oTt  iC 


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AC 


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IV 


THE    SPEAKER. 


[August  15,  1891. 


In  handsome  demy  Svo,  cloth,  price  7s.  6d. 

HISTORY    OF    CORE  A, 

Ancient  and  Modern. 

WITH    DESCRIPTION    OF    MANNERS    AND    CUSTOMS, 
LANGUAGE    AND    GEOGRAPHY. 

Maps  and  Illustrations. 

B^     I^EA^.      JOKlsr      R-OSS, 

Seven    Years  KcsiJent  in  Manelniria. 

"  Mr.  Ross's  Historj-  contains  a  vast  mass  of  valuable  in- 
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Spectator. 


K\%o,    by    the     same     .Vuthor,     price     7s.     6cl. 

TEE   MANCHUS. 

Reigning  Dynasty  of  China: 

THEIR    RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

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Progress  of  the  Manchus,  but  it  is  in  reality  a  vivid  picture 
of  the  actual  condition  of  the  Chinese  people.  His  chapters 
on  the  Manchu  Imperial  Family,  the  Chinese  Official  .System, 
the  Army,  Ta.\ation,  and  Slavery,  are  most  valuable  con- 
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ELLIOT  STOCK,  62,  Paternoster  Row,  London,  E.G. 
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CANON    CHEYNE'S    BAMPTON    LECTURE.S. 

THE  ORIGIN  AND  RELIGIOUS  CONTENTS  OF 

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BROOKE    FINCHLETS    DAUGHTER.      By  Marv 

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through  il"  1.ih\  riiithiTi'  :!  :i/.s  of  a  mysterious  and  distressing  parentage  to  the 
happy  cu!  :i  interesting  heroines  at  the  end  of  their  sorrows."— 

Clasgo:^-  : 


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worship  the  volume."— .S/t-n^Yr. 

London:   CHATTO  &  WINDUS,  214,  Piccadilly.  W. 


The  Speaker 


SATURDAY,    AUGUST    1.",,    1891. 


PUBLIC    AFFAIRS. 


Tin;  Walsall  olriti<iri.  wliidi  resulti'd  in  the  return 
of  Ml{.  lIol.liKN.  till'  Liljcral  i-aiululatf,  bj'  a  majority 
of  .■)."!!)  votes,  aseoiiipared  witii  Siit  C'li.Mti.KS  I'\)USTi':n's 
majority  of  1,077  in  ISS."),  was  no  (lisa|)i)oiiit ment  to 
those  Liberals  who  were  ae(inniiile(i  with  thr 
circumstances  of  the  constituency.  It  \\oulil  of 
course  have  been  more  satisfactory  if  we  had 
maintaineil  the  ISK.")  majoi'ity.  But  the  position 
of  Silt  I'liAWi.KS  FousTKis  was  an  exceptional  one  at 
Walsall  as  well  as  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  it 
was  notorious  that  many  jjersous  who  had  steadily 
sii])ported  "the  old  membi'r"  under  every  vicissitude 
in  |)olitics,  had  no  intention  of  extending  their  aid 
to  his  successor.  The  tlimiiuition  in  the  F^iberal 
majority  was,  therefore.  anti<i|iated,  and  tiiere  was  a 
l)eriod  wlien  a  nuich  worse  result  than  that  secured 
in  the  ballot  on  Wednesday  wa>  anticipated.  For 
the  rest,  we  may  i-lieerfuily  leave  our  oi)ponents 
to  make  what  cajjilal  they  can  out  of  Mk.  IIoI-DKN's 
diminished  but  still  adei|uate  majority. 


Mr.  Bali-(>ih".s  s|)eech  on  Monday  at  Plymouth, 
though  marred  by  some  absurtlities — c.;/.,  his  exhi- 
bition of  tlie  election  literatiiie  of  AMsbeach  as  a 
proof  of  the  extremities  to  which  Liberal  candiilates 
are  driven — <leserved  the  careful  attention  of  jioliti- 
ciaus  of  every  class.  It  conlirmed  the  announcement 
already  made  of  the  determination  of  Ministers 
to  introduce  a  County  (iovernnient  Hill  for 
Ii'eland  next  Session,  and  it  went  some  way 
in  defining  the  character  of  that  measure. 
The  chief  ))oint  which  Mit.  B.^i.KofK  made  was 
that  the  jiolice  wotdd  not  be  jjlaced  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  new  County  Councils.  Perhai)s  the  most 
remarkable  featiu-e  of  his  si)eech  was  the  unconcealed 
regret  with  which  he  ap])eared  to  contemplate  the 
conscciuences  of  the  legislation  on  which  he  and  his 
colleagues  are  about  to  embark.  Tlie  new  Councils, 
he  admitted,  would  drive  from  public  life  the  men 
who  n<jw  manage  the  local  business  of  Ireland,  the 
lanillorils  and  other  ))ersons  of  social  rank  on  the 
Crand  .lury  i)anel.  This  was  deploi-able :  but  the 
necessity  had  to  Ije  faced  -api)ai'ently  because 
Ministers  have  at  last  awoke  to  a  knowledge  that 
they  cannot  meet  the  country  without  making  at 
least  a  ])retence  of  an  attemjit  to  fulfil  the  solemn 
pledge  which  secured  for  them  their  victory  in  1880. 


Till-:  manner  in  which  the  Bill  has  been  received 
by  the  suj)porters  of  the  .Ministry  is  hardly  en- 
couraging. The  Diihliii  A'.'/)/-!  .ss  openly  charges  Mu. 
B.\i.i"t)i"K  with  ha\ing  surrendereil  to  the  enemy: 
and  though  tlie  language  of  the  London  Conservative 
newsjiapers  is  not  tiuite  so  plain,  there  is  hardly  an 
attemi)t  to  conceal  the  extreme  disfavour  with  which 
the  Ministerial  jjroject  is  regarded.  One  featiu'c  of 
the  situation  createil  Ijy.AIii.  B  vr.roiu'si  sjieech  is  the 
irritation  against  the  Liberal  Inionists  which  it  has 
produced  on  the  Tory  side.  The  Conservative 
follo^vers  of  the  Covernmcnt  believe  that  the  Bill  is 
meant  as  a  concession  to  the  dissentient  Liberals, 
and  they  gird  oi)enly  at  the  j)riee  they  an>  called 
upon  to  i)ay  for  the  suiijjort  of  their  allies.  It  is  not 
very  clear  on  what  ground  tlie\-  take  this  view.  Possi- 
bly Ml!.  CiiA.Mi!i:i;i..\i.N"  and  his  Birmingham  friends 
may  wish  to  cover  their  .ipn-ia-y  decently  by  means 


of  a  Local  tiovernnient  Bill ;  but  those  Libi-rul 
I'nionists  who  follow  Loan  llAHTi.\(iT<i.N",  and  who 
are  represented  by  such  |)aiK'rs  as  the,  TiincH  and  the 
SiJiclalur  have  no  more  <le-ire  to  bring  about  this 
change  in  Irelaiul  than  the  Tories  themselves  have. 
W'liat,  for  example,  does  .Mu.  T.  \\'.  Hl.sski.i.  think 
of  Mis.  Bali'ulh'.-5  speech? 


Thk  death  -  blow  to  P.irnellism  was  dealt  at 
-Mallow  last  Sunday,  when  Mr.  Dil.l.o.v  and  Mr. 
O'BiUK.v  both  made  sjjeeehes  in  which  they  clearly 
defined  their  attitude  towards  their  old  leader,  and 
gave  their  reasons  for  refusing  to  follow  him  further. 
It  was  easy  for  them  to  show  that,  ever  since  hia 
own  fall,  he  had  been  animated  by  the  most  intense 
selfishness,  and  had  been  striving  to  secure  his 
jiersonal  rexenge  against  Mr.  tji,.\i).sTO.\i-:  at  the  cost 
of  the  interests  of  his  country.  Perhajis  the  most 
important  i)oint  in  the  s|)eeches  was  .Mr.  Dii.i.o.n'.s 
direct  ajjpeal  to  Mr.  Par.nkm.  to  allow  a  jxirtion  of 
the  Paris  funds  to  be  released  for  the  l)cncfit  of  the 
evicted  tenants,  to  whom  they  rightfully  Ijelong. 
Both  Mr.  DiLi.DN  and  Mr.  .Ir.STiN  McCakthv  are 
l)rei)ar('il  to  i)ledge  thi'iuselves  that  not  a  penny 
of  these  funds  shall  be  used  for  political  pur- 
l)oses,  and  they  invite  Mr.  Parkei.i.  to  name 
two  representatives  of  his  own  side  who  may 
c'O  -  ojierate  in  the  distribution  of  the  money 
among  the  evicted  tenants.  It  is  hardly  neces- 
sary to  say  that  Mr.  Parxkt.i.  has  made  no  re- 
sponse to  this  fair  jiroposal.  The  money  is  now 
locked  uj)  in  a  French  bank,  and  if  he  should  survive 
Mr.  .M(  Carthv  the  full  control  of  it  will  fall  into 
his  own  haniis.  The  Frcinian'n  Journal,  it  is 
evident,  will  shortly  cease  to  advocate  Mr.  P.\rsei.l'.s 
cause.  His  friends  talk  of  starting  a  new  journal, 
but  fear  thai  they  cannot  obtain  the  necessary  funds. 


Wk  have  dealt  at  length  elsewhere  with  the 
International  Congress  of  Hygiene  and  Demography, 
wliich  has  been  held  in  London  during  the  iiresent 
week.  Perhaps  the  most  notable  feature  of  the 
gathering  has  been  the  manifest  ign<irance  of  the 
general  public  with  regard  to  the  character  of  the 
Congress,  and  the  class  of  jjersons  by  whom  it  is  at- 
tended. This  ignorance  is  ai)pareutly  shared  by 
Her  Majesty's  Ministers,  who  seem  to  be  unaware 
of  the  fact  that  London  has  this  week  been  enter- 
taining some  of  the  highest  authorities  in  foreign 
countries  on  thosetpiestionsof  international  hygiene — 
c.i/.,  the  (luarantine  regidations — with  which  Ministers 
in  their  jiolitical  character  have  so  much  to  do.  No 
doubt  it  is  trying  for  a  member  of  the  (Jovernment 
to  have  to  remain  in  town  ovei-  the  lith  of  August  in 
order  to  jiay  some  marks  of  attention  to  a  number  of 
foreign  sctiititts  .  but  the  Piiixi  i:  or  Walks  was  ready 
to  give  uji  his  ])leasure  at  Cowes  in  onler  to  be  present 
at  the  ojjcning  of  the  Congress,  and  it  is  di-creditablo 
that  none  of  Iler  Majesty's  Ministers  showed  them- 
selves ready  to  follow  his  example.  The  reeei)tion 
of  our  distinguished  guests,  though  it  has  fallen 
almost  exclusively  into  the  hands  of  juivate  indi- 
viiluals,  has  been  of  the  most  coniial  character,  and 
too  much  pr.iise  can  hardly  be  given  to  the  haitl- 
worketi  professional  men  who.  with  very  limited 
resources  .at  their  command,  have  fulfilled  the  duties 
which,  in  any  other  country  in  Kurope,  would  have 
devolved  upon  a  dcjiartment  of  the  State. 


182 


THE     SPEAKER. 


[Augmst  15,  1891. 


TnK  death  of  Mit.  howEU.  has  beeu  in  many 
respects  the  most  imi)ortant  event  of  the  week.  The 
great  American  had  ah-eady  passed  the  age  of 
seventy,  but  until  quite  recently  he  had  retained  his 
youthfulness  of  spirit,  and  still  seemed  to  have  it  in 
him  to  do  work  for  his  kind.  Literature  loses  in  him 
one  of  its  most  brilliant  ornaments :  nor  is  this  all. 
It  loses  also  one  of  the  most  powerful  representatives 
of  the  Liberal  s])irit.  His  death,  deejjly  mourned 
not  only  in  bis  own  country  but  in  Great  Britain, 
has  been  made  the  occasion  of  one  of  those  mani- 
festations of  the  unity  of  our  race  which  do 
more  than  any  i)olitical  treaties  can  do  to  bind 
together  both  branches  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  family. 
It  was  fitting  that  the  QrEE.v  should  express 
her  sorrow  at  the  death  of  the  most  distinguished 
representative  the  United  States  ever  sent  to  the 
English  Court.  It  was  no  less  fitting  that  the 
Poet  Laureate,  the  greatest  living  mau-of-lctters, 
should  give  voice  to  the  feeling  of  all  English  writers 
at  the  loss  of  one  in  whose  hands  our  noble  mother- 
tongue  was  turned  to  such  high  use.  Nor  have 
Englishmen  of  all  classes  forgotten  that  Lowell  was 
one  of  the  illustrious  band  of  men  who  fought  against 
slavery  in  the  days  when  that  "  sum  of  all  villainy "' 
was  well-nigh  omnipotent  in  America.  The  display 
of  feeling  caused  by  his  death  in  this  country  will 
not,  we  maj^  be  sure,  be  ungrateful  to  those  who  had 
the  high  honour  of  claiming  him  as  their  fellow- 
citizen. 

On  the  2Ist  of  February  last  the  "officiating  Secre- 
tary to  the  Government  of  India"  infoi-med  Mr. 
QuiNTOX  that  "  the  Governor-General  in  Council  con- 
siders that  it  will  be  desirable  that  the  Senapatti 
should  be  removed  from  Manipur  and  punished  for 
his  lawless  conduct,"  in  promoting  some  months 
previously  a  bloodless  revolution  which  the  Resident 
reported  would  be,  "  at  any  rate  for  a  time,  beneficial 
to  the  country."  On  Wednesday  last,  the  Times 
correspondent  telegraphed,  "  The  conviction  of  the 
Senapatti  on  the  chai-geof  waging  war  and  abetting 
murder  is  also  upheld.  There  is  no  ground  for 
clemency  in  his  case,  so  he  and  the  Tonga! 
General  will  be  executed."  The  man  whom  Sir  J. 
GoRST  described  as  possessing  "great  abilities  and 
force  of  character,  and  jjopular  among  the  jieople  for 
his  generosity  "  is  tlms  doomed:  while  the  story  of 
JIanipur  is  already  half-forgotten.  Of  the  evidence 
])roving  jiarticipation  in  the  murder  of  the  men  with 
whom,  till  JIr.  Qi'I.vton's  arrival,  the  SENArATTi  was 
on  the  most  friendly  terms,  we  know  nothing.  It 
must  be  assumed,  however,  to  be  conclusive.  Yet  it 
is  impossible  to  ignore  the  fact  that  the  man  now 
doomed  to  die  might,  but  for  blunders  at  jiresent 
unexplained,  be  at  this  moment  a  loyal  adherent  to 
the  Government  of  India.  If  the  story  of  .Mani])ur 
had  been  told  of  the  l<'rench  in  Tunis,  or  the  Germans 
in  East  Africa,  the  virtuous  indignation  of  the 
English  press — now  silent — would  have  known  no 
bounds. 

It  was  the  main  thesis  of  Sir  Henry  Maine's 
last  work,  that,  as  the  mass  of  the  peoi>le  have  no 
real  political  opinions,  democracy  can  only  be  ke])t 
going  at  all  by  i)arty  sjjirit  and  corru))tion.  .Mr. 
GoLDWi.N  .Smith  has  recently  insistcil  that  this  view 
holds  good  in  Canada  ;  and  the  proceedings  before 
the  Public  Works  Committee,  at  Ottawa,  assuredly 
bear  him  out.  Whatever  the  exact  truth  about 
each  separate  bit  of  bribery  already  sworn  to, 
both  sides  admit  that  Sir  Hector  Lancwcvin 
and  other  ])oliticians  were  financed  by  contractors 
and  received  subscriptions  from  them  for  election 
expenses.  This  being  granted,  the  alleged  resiUts, 
or  something  just  like  them,  must  follow  as  a  matter 
of  course.  The  contractors  had  to  get  the  money 
from  somewhere,  and  so  it  came — more  or  less 
directly — from  subsidies  to  railways  and  steamers, 
or  excessive  profits  on  ]5ublic  w"orks  ;  Avhile  the 
oflicials  who  might  have  proved  inconvenient  were 
kept  ciuiet  with  presents  of  money,  jewellery,  plate, 


and,  in  one  instance,  a  steam  yacht.  And  very 
much  the  same  thing  ajjjiears  to  have  happened 
among  the  Liberal  j)arty  in  Quebec,  to  which  pro- 
vince most  of  the  I'ederal  scandals  revealed  apparently 
have  reference.  The  north-east  part  of  it,  where 
the  most  sanguine  promoter  would  not  start  a 
comi)auy  without  a  subsidy  from  Government, 
is  indeed  admirably  fitted  by  nature  to  be  the 
field  of  a  National  Policy.  And,  imfortnnately,  the 
people  are  equallj'  fitted  to  base  their  politics — 
where  religion  is  not  concerned — on  Government 
ai)i)ropriations  alone.  Sir  Hector  Lanoevin's  tardy 
resignation — demanded  some  weeks  ago  by  organs  of 
his  own  party — will  hardly  help  the  Government 
much,  and  certainly  does  nothing  to  reduce  the  im- 
portance of  Mr.  Tarte's  revelations. 


Prices  on  the  Stock  Exchange  have  fallen  in 
almost  every  department  during  the  week,  and  iu 
some  departments  the  decline  has  been  serious.  In 
Ne%v  York  rumours  respecting  the  Union  Pacific 
Railroad  Company  have  circulated,  and  the  price  at 
times  has  been  as  low  as  33A.  At  the  end  of  April 
the  price  was  about  58A,  so  that  since  that  time 
the  fall  has  been  nearly  40  per  cent.  Many  specu- 
lators must,  of  course,  have  suffered  severely,  yet 
there  is  not  expected  to  be  as  much  difficulty  as 
at  first  sight  might  be  anticipated.  There  is  a  large 
floating  debt,  and  it  is  feared  that  a  receiver  may 
have  to  be  appointed  ;  but  many  suspect  that  Mr. 
Jay  Gould  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  whole  movement. 
Early  in  the  year  he  obtained  control  of  the  com- 
pany. Then  it  is  said  that  he  sold  his  shares  largely, 
and  now  it  is  susjiected  that  he  has  created  a  scare 
for  the  purpose  of  buying  back.  However  that 
may  be,  the  heavy  fall  in  Union  Pacific  shares 
has  disorganised  the  whole  market,  and  caused 
a  serious  decline  once  more  this  week.  In 
the  foreign  department  the  deci-ee  of  the  Rus- 
sian (iovernment  stopping  the  export  of  rye  has 
led  to  a  further  sharp  fall,  and  arouses  fears  of 
serious  difficulties  before  long  on  the  Berlin  Bourse. 
The  Russian  Rouble  has  again  fallen  sharply,  and  as 
Berlin  speculates  largely  in  Rouble  notes,  it  is  feared 
that  the  losses  sustained  must  be  growing  serious. 
Altogether  the  feeling  on  the  Stock  Exchange  is  by 
no  means  comfortable.  Perhajis  it  is  less  gloomy  than 
it  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  week,  but  it  is  diflienlt 
to  see  any  signs  of  recovery  as  yet. 


The  Dii'ectors  of  the  Bank  of  England  made  no 
change  on  Thursday  in  their  rate  of  discount.  They 
are  evidently  unwilling  to  do  anything  that  might 
cause  a  fall  in  the  value  of  money,  and  they  do 
not  see  their  way  as  yet  to  raise  it.  for  the 
receii)ts  of  gold  from  abroad  still  nearly  e(iual 
the  withdrawals,  and  at  home  the  demand  for  bank- 
ing acconnnodation  is  exceedingly  small.  At  the 
Stock  Exchange  settlement  this  week  borrowers 
were  able  to  obtain  all  the  money  they  wanted  at 
1|  per  cent.,  and  even  less.  Indeed,  many  members 
of  the  Stock  Exchange  were  inclined  rather  to  pay 
off  than  to  increase  their  loans.  In  the  discount 
market  the  quotation  for  three  months'  bank  bills  is 
still  1;'.  i^er  cent.,  but  business  is  done  even  lower. 
Speculation  in  every  department  in  commodities  as 
well  as  in  securities  is  utterly  pai-alysed.  Trade  is 
not  so  active  as  it  has  been.  The  harvest  is  late.  And 
though  there  is  still  some  demand  for  gold  fromabroad 
it  is  not  sullicicnt  to  materially  affect  rates.  In  the 
silver  market  the  jirice  has  fallen  to  i.")id.  per  oz. 
Speculation  is  for  the  moment  rendered  impossible 
in  New  \'ork  by  the  fall  iu  Stock  Exchange  prices 
generally.  In  Eurojje  there  has  been  unwillingness 
to  speculate  for  a  considerable  time  jtast.  The  Indian 
demand  is  small,  and  neither  the  Portuguese  nor  the 
Sjianish  daraand  lias  as  yet  proved  to  be  so  lai'ge  as 
a  little  while  ago  was  expected.  The  tendency,  there- 
fore, is  for  the  time  being  downward  rather  than 
upward. 


August  15,  1891.] 


THE     Sl'EAKER. 


183 


.M 


MK.    BALFOUR'S    MANIFESTO. 

K.  BALFOUR  deserves  credit  fur  the  vi<roiir 
-L^l.  with  which  at  tlie  close  of  ii  loii^  I'iirlia- 
mentary  Session  he  has  opened  the  jiolitica!  canipaii^n 
of  tlie  recess.  Jlis  speech  at  I'lyniouth  was  tiothin;,' 
less  than  a  polititMl  manifesto  of  (irst-rate  i.njjoi-t- 
anee,  and  the  only  wonder  is  that  it  should  have 
been  made  in  the  first  week  of  the  holidays  rather 
than  on  the  eve  of  the  General  Election.  The 
explicit  declaration  that  a  Count}'  Oovernment  Bill 
for  Ireland  will  be  introduced  next  Session  was 
accompanied  by  a  defence  of  that  measure,  and  a 
sugfj^estion  of  its  character,  which  are  at  least  un- 
usual when  a  Bill  lies  many  months  ahead  of 
us.  But  the  Irish  Secretary  clearly  felt  that 
some  apoIo<ry  and  explanation  had  become  ab- 
solutely necessary.  Why  are  Ministers  going  to 
legislate  at  all  for  Ireland  :J  is  the  question 
■which  is  being  asked  by  their  own  supporters  ; 
and  it  is  impossible  to  doubt  that  with  the  majority 
of  Conservatives  this  new  departure  of  theirs  is 
regarded  with  the  strongest  suspicion  and  dislike. 
"  It  is  to  fultil  a  promise  and  satisfy  the  Liberal 
Unionists,"  cry  the  Tory  critics  ;  and  thei-eiipon  we 
see  them  calcidating  with  ruefid  faces  the  precise 
cost  to  the  party  of  this  Liberal  Unionist  Alliance. 
We  are  by  no  means  so  sure  that  the  Liberal 
Unionists,  as  a  whole,  are  at  all  more  anxious  than 
the  Tories  themselves  to  see  local  government 
established  in  Ireland.  The  Spectator,  at  all  events, 
would  fain  have  none  of  it.  But  the  heads  of  the 
party  probably  recognise  the  fact  that  they  could  not 
face  the  country  at  the  (ieneral  Election  unless  they 
were  to  make  some  attempt  to  fultil  tiie  pledge  by 
means  of  which  the\'  secured  their  majority  in  IHSCk 
It  is  not  because  Mr.  Balfour  and  his  colleagues  like 
Irish  Local  Government  any  better  than  the  dull 
rank  and  file  of  their  followers  do,  but  because  they 
know  that  to  dissolve  without  jiretending,  at  all 
events,  to  put  a  scheme  of  this  sort  before  Parliament, 
would  be  to  admit  their  own  bad  faith  and  to  bring 
disaster  upon  themselves,  that  they  are  embarking 
on  their  present  course  of  action.  There  is,  indeed, 
a  cynical  audacity  in  their  tone  towards  the  uieasure 
they  are  about  to  bring  forward,  which  speaks  volumes 
for  the  demoralisation  that  has  fallen  upon  them. 
With  hardly  any  pretence  at  concealment,  Mr.  Bal- 
four is  legislating  in  the  teeth  of  his  own  convictions 
and  of  the  convictions  of  his  party,  in  the  hope  that 
he  may  thereby  recover  the  lost  favour  of  the  public. 
Ifc  is  the  case  of  Free  Education  over  again,  and  we 
confess  that  we  do  not  envy  those  who  are  called 
upon  for  these  repeated  sacrifices  of  principle  to  ex- 
pediency. 

The  red  -  hot  opi)onents  of  Home  Rule  can 
hardly  have  liked  Mr.  Balfour's  reference  to  his 
own  measure.  lie  frankly  expresses  his  belief  that 
the  establishment  of  Coinity  L'ouncils  in  Ireland  will 
mean  the  withdrawal  of  the  control  of  local  aft'airs 
from  the  land-owners,  in  whom  it  is  now  vested,  and 
its  transfer  to  the  occupiers.  In  other  words,  these 
County  Councils,  everywhere  outside  of  Ulster,  will 
be  in  the  hands  of  the  men  who  now  send  Home  Rule 
representatives  to  Parliament,  and  who,  in  Town 
Councils  and  Boards  of  Guardians,  are  in  a  chronic 
state  of  conflict  with  Dublin  Castle  and  the  police. 
This  may  seem  to  people  who  really  believe  in  the 
principle  of  popular  control  a  necessary  condition  of 
affairs;  but  it  cannot  seem  otherwise  than  hateful  to 
the  classes  which  have  hitherto  followed  Mr.  Balfour 
with  unswerving  loyalty.  To  the  Irish  landlords 
and  loyalists,  it  must  seem  just  as  much  a  sur- 
render of  the  fortress  as  the  frank  acceptance  of 
Home  Rule  itself  would  be.  This,  indeed,  appears 
to  be  the  view  already  taken  by  so  strong  a  supporter 


of  the  Irish  Secretary  as  the  Dublin  Ejrprexii.  Mr. 
Balfour,  it  is  true,  has  his  remedy  for  the  evil  which 
he  admits  he  is  about  to  create.  The  County  Coun- 
cils will  have  control  of  the  rates,  and  of  all  the 
matters  btdonging  to  local  government  with  one 
exception.  Tiiey  will  he  allowed  no  contnd  of  the 
police.  We  should  like  to  know  how  long  the  Irish 
Secretary  expects  this  restriction  to  last.  It  is 
hardly  necessary  to  say  that  this  clause  is  intro- 
duced into  the  scheme  for  the  simple  purpose  of 
showing  that  (from  the  Coercionist  point  of  view) 
the  present  Cabinet  is  not  quite  so  bad  as  Mr.  Glad- 
stone and  his  colleagues  wouM  be.  Looking  at  the 
matter  from  another  standpoint,  it  seems  to  us  that 
the  Tory  jiroposal  is  very  much  worse  than  any 
which  Mr.  Gladstone  would  be  likely  to  make.  To 
create  tliese  County  Councils,  and  then  to  withhold 
from  them  the  control  of  a  great  executive  bodv, 
such  as  the  police  force  in  Ireland,  is  surely  a  colossal 
blunder.  It  would  mean  not  merely  a  renewal  and 
continuan-^e,  but  a  serious  aggravation  of  the 
struggle  between  the  people  and  the  authorities. 
We  have  already  seen  Boards  of  Guardians  dis- 
solved, mayors  of  towns  arrested  as  law-breakers, 
visiting  magistrates  insulted,  defied,  or  ignored  by 
the  police  and  theii-  superiors ;  and  the  spectacle 
has  been  sufficiently  startling  and  disgraceful. 
In  future,  if  Mr.  Balfour's  scheme  were  to  be 
adopted,  we  might  expect  to  see  these  County 
Councils  similarly  at  war  with  the  constabulary ; 
and  the  legally  oi-ganised  representative  body  of  a 
district  defied  with  impunity  by  men  of  the  stamp  of 
the  police  officials  who  figured  at  the  last  trial  of 
^Ir.  Dillon  and  Jlr.  O'Brien.  Does  any  sensible 
supporter  of  the  Ministry  think  that  this  state  of 
things  will  be  an  improvement  upon  the  present? 
We  confess  we  do  not  wonder  at  the  ill-suppressed 
apprehensions  and  indignation  with  which  Mr. 
Balfour's  most  faithful  friends  have  received  the 
announcement  of  his  latest  scheme. 

The  Plymouth  speech  contained  the  usual  declara- 
tion which  is  now  the  truism  of  Tory  platforms,  that 
Home  Rule  has  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  winning 
of  recent  elections.  It  is  a  pity  that  a  man  of  in- 
telligence like  Mr.  Balfour  should  think  it  worth  his 
while  to  repeat  this  silly  tale.  It  cainiot  be  of  im- 
portance to  him  to  convince  his  own  friends  of  this 
assertion,  and  he  will  never  be  able  to  convince  his 
opponents.  The  Liberal  party  knows  that  it  is  not 
only  winning  by-elections  steadily,  but  that  it  is 
winning  them  upon  Home  Rule.  It  was  the  Home 
Kide  cause  that  triumphed  at  Walsall  on  Wednes- 
da)'.  That  cause,  strong  as  it  was  a  week  ago, 
has  received  new  strength  from  the  speeches  of 
Mr.  Dillon  and  :\rr.  O'Brien  at  Mallow.  It  is 
no  longer  possible  to  doubt  that  between  the 
accredited  representatives  of  the  Irish  people,  and 
the  Liberals  of  Great  Britain,  the  union  which 
was  formed  five  years  ago  is  now  stronger  than 
it  ever  was  before.  Mr.  Pamell's  great  treason 
has  been  exposed  and  baffled  by  his  own  most  trusted 
lieutenants,  and  it  is  mei'ely  as  the  tool  of  Mr. 
Balfoiir  and  the  avowed  enemy  of  the  Irish  national 
movement  that  he  now  lingers  upon  the  scene.  In 
these  circumstance-;  it  is  hardly  wise  of  the  Chief 
Secretary  to  echo  the  foolish  fallacies  about  Liberal 
weariness  of  Home  Rule.  If  the  Liberal  party  were 
really  weary  of  the  cause  to  which  they  stand  com- 
mitted, we  might  at  least  be  sure  of  oni'  thing,  and 
that  is  that  Mr.  B.ilfour  himself  woidd  be  the  first 
to  abandon  his  proposal  to  give  Ireland  a  system  of 
local  self-government.  It  is  because  he  dreads  a 
genuine  system  of  Home  Rule  that  he  is  now  about 
to  try  his  hind  at  the  production  of  a  sham  measure 
of  the  same  class.  What  its  fate  will  be  is  already 
manifest.     The  Irish  Secretary  himself  can   hardly 


184 


THE     SPEAKER. 


[August  15,  1891. 


venture  to  hope  that  he  can  earn  his  new  2)hin  by 
means  of  Tory  votes.  But  if  he  should  shrink  from 
carrj'intT  a  measure  of  this  kind  in  the  teeth  of  the 
opposition  of  his  own  friends  in  Ireland,  there  can 
be  little  doubt  as  to  the  course  he  will  take.  The 
appeal  to  the  country  will  be  made  on  the  strength 
of  bis  scheme  for  local  government.  The  electors 
will  be  asked  to  choose  between  his  Bill  and  Home 
Rule.  We  could  hardly  wish  for  a  more  satisfactory 
issue  than  this,  uor  can  the  result  of  the  appeal  to 
the  judgment  of  the  nation  be  doubtful. 


THE    NEW   HUMANITAEIAXISM. 

WE  print  on  another  page  an  account,  from  the 
pen  of  one  of  its   leading  members,  of  that 
great  Congress  which — somewhat  to  the   bewilder- 
ment   of    the   ordinary   citizen — has   been   held   in 
London  during  the  present  week.     There  is  ample 
room,  however,  for  a  survey  of  its  proceedings  from 
an  independent  standpoint.     To  us  it  seems  that  the 
Congress  of  Hygiene  is  not  so  much  a  forum  of  de- 
bate ;  it  is  a  sort  of  commemoration,  the  commemora- 
tion of  a  series  of  unsurpassed  victories — Waterloos, 
veritable  Borodinos  and  Marengos,  in  which  millions 
of  lives  have  been  saved ;  victories  so  inspiring  and 
encouraging  that  there  is  no  saying  what  may  be 
done  in  a  few  years.     Meditate  ujwn  the  facts  told 
by  Sir  Joseph  Fayrer  in  his  address  upon  preventive 
medicine.     In   the  England    of   liStiO-"'.' — with  one- 
tifteenth  part  of  it  lakes,  stagnant  water,  and  moist 
places,  the   chill  damp  of  marsh  fever  everywhere, 
houses    of    mud    or    wood,    small,   dirty,    ill-venti- 
lated, the  floors  covered  with   foul-smelling   rushes 
or    sti'aw,    the    streets    unpaved    and    with    open 
gutters,   the    food    scanty    (little    varied,    with  few 
vegetables  and  much  salted  meat),  small-pox,  marsh 
fever,  scurvy,  and  lejirosv  prevalent — the  death  rate 
was  80  per  1,000;  bv  1081-90  it  had  fallen  to  42-1 
per  1,000;  in  1880  it  had  sunk  to  17-85  per  1,000. 
These  ai-e  the  true  victories  of  humanity.    But  much 
remains    to    be    won,  as   may   be    seen   by  compar- 
ing the   death    rate    in  London  with,  say,  those  in 
Bolton  or  some  other  Lancashire  towns.     Sir  Joseph 
Fayrer    calculates    that    preventible    diseases    still 
kill   in   England  yearly  about  125,000  i)ersons,  and 
he  cites  a  calculation  as  to  cases  of  illness  not  ending 
fatally,    that   78|   millions  of  days  of  labour,  or  in 
money    .17,750,000,    are   annually  lost  by   reason  of 
preventible   diseases.      One-fourth    of   the    present 
deaths  take  place,  it  is  estimated  by  some  experts, 
from    such    causes,    and    it    is    pretty    clear    that 
the  preventible   diseases   are  being  prevented.     Dr. 
Priestley,  in  his   striking  paper  on  JIaternitj'   Hos- 
pitals, brings  out  the  fact  that,  while  the  mortality 
in    such    places   iiuder    the    old    ir'giiw   before    the 
introduction    of    antiseptics    was    o-i-21     per    1,001), 
it  is   now   less   than    5  per  per   1,000.     Well  may 
all   concerned   be   proud   of   such   a   triumph.      No 
doubt     there     are    disconcerting    mysteries    which 
so   far    have    baffled  investigators.      A  new   sewage 
system  is  created  in  Salisbury  :  immediately  follows 
an   "extraordinary"    reduction    in    the   death   rate. 
The   old   insanitary    cesspool    system   in   a    Surrey 
village,  to  which  Dr.  Seaton  refers,  is  replaced  by  a 
new   and   elaborate   system :    there   results   an   epi- 
demic  of    diphtheria.      The  discussion   in  the  bac- 
teriology  section   leaves  the  impression  that  Koch, 
Pasteur,  Dr.  Roux,  and  Dr.  IMetschinkoft'  are  but  on 
the  threshold  of  the  subject  in  which  they  are  the 
chief  worker-s.     Whether  Dr.  Metschinkolf  is  right 
in   his    striking  theory    that   there    is    a    strugirle 
a  out  ranee   l>etween  the   cells  of  the  bodv  and   the 


invading  micro-organisms,  the  white  blood  cor- 
l^uscles  seeking  to  devour  the  germs  of  disease,  and 
vice  vertiii,  is  uncertain  ;  the  ways  of  those  enemies 
of  the  race  that  work  in  darkness  are  obscure.  But 
even  with  present  knowledge,  what  an  outlook ! 
For  the  first  time  we  are  within  measurable  dis- 
tance of  a  time  when,  practically  speaking,  all  mem- 
bers of  the  community  will  live  their  full  natural 
lives — will  die  only  because  the  machine  is  outworn. 
Hitherto  a  large  number  have  made  shipwreck  just 
when  going  out  of  port,  many  more  sank  when  not 
half-wa)'  across ;  and  now  we  are  told  that  every- 
body ma}'  make  the  whole  voyage.  If  the  average 
mortality  of  London  in  the  latter  half  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  was  80  per  1,000,  and  in  1889,  17'4, 
what  may  it  not  be  in  1990  ?  In  that  larger  science 
of  political  econoni}',  health  is  no  less  a  factor  than 
wealth.  If  the  smaller  science  of  jjolitical  economy 
has  been  stationary,  the  more  comprehensive  has 
been  advancing,  and  we  look  forward  to  soon  seeing 
National  Health  Budgets  which  will  enumerate 
the  effectives  and  non-effectives  of  society,  state  the 
expenditure  by  reason  of  death  and  sickness,  and  the 
income  in  increaseil  health,  and  so  accurately  com- 
pute the  true  national  surplus. 

In  both  branches  of  the  work  of  the  Congress,  in 
demography  as  well  as  hygiene,  there  is  an  advance, 
and  in  both  is  a  tendency  is  push  out  the  dabbler 
and   the    talker   and    writer   on    things    in    general. 
Science  is  fast  invading  fields  which   had  been  left 
open  to  the  sciolist.     Take,  for  example,  the  subject 
of  the  future  growth  of  nations.     Here,  until  latelj-, 
patriotism  or  chauvinism  was  rampant.     It  said  what 
it  liked,  certain  that  it  could  not  be  refuted.    Through 
French  literature  ran  a  secret  assumption  that  it  was 
in  the  order  of  things  that  the  French  language  and 
civilisation  must  extend  more  and  more  as  the  survival 
of  the  fittest.     All  this  is  changed,  not  so  much  bv 
reason  of  Gravelotte  and  Sedan  as  of  the  inexorable 
facts    which   demogi-aphers  have  made  known ;  the 
spirit  of  vaunting  optimism  has  given  place  to  one  ap- 
proaching despair.    The  same  assumption  may  now  be 
detected  in  English  literature  ;  it  is  taken  for  ^ranted 
that  the  Anglo-Saxon  must  eventually  be  universal. 
We,  too,  ought  not  to  be  over-confident :  the  results 
of  the  last  censuses  of  England  and  the  United  States 
may  well  inspire  doubts ;  and  the  whole  subject  of 
population  is  taking  a  new  asjject.     Further  investi- 
gations in  this  field  pointing  to  new  theories  are  pro- 
ceeding; what  they  are  Mr.  Francis  Galton  indicated 
in  his  address.    "The  whole  question  of  fertility  under 
the  various  conditions  of  civilised  life  requires  more 
detailed  research  than  it  has  yet  received.     We  re- 
quire further   investigations    into  the   truth  of  the 
hypothesis  of  Malthus,  that  there  is  really  no  limit 
to  over-population  besides  that  which  is  afforded  by 
misery  or  prudential  restraint.      Mr.  Galton  throws 
out  some  hints  as  to  the  true  clue  to  the  fertility  of 
different  nations   and  classes ;   and   he  proposes  re- 
search, in  his  favourite  fashion,  into  the  hereditary 
permanence  of  several  classes,  taking  specimens  of 
the  least  and  most   efficient  physically,  morally,  and 
intellectually.     ^Vhcther  the  true  law  of  j^opulation 
will  be    found    in   that  way,   we  have    our   doubts: 
jjarticular  societies  have,  like  other  organisms,  their 
special  law  of  fertility  ;    in  what  is  vaguely  called 
race  may  lurk,  as    he  admits,   a   part  of   the  solu- 
tion   of    that  problem.      Crime  might    be    cited  as 
another  examj^le  that  the  day  of  the  talker  on  things 
in  general  is  nearl}'  over.     Formerly  it  was  always 
safe  to  say  that  education  must  put  down  crime  ;  that 
if  only  we  had  schools  enough,  gaols  might  be  shut 
up.     Everybody  accjuainted  with  the  subject  knows 
nowadays   that   this    is    most    doubtful :    statistical 
science  attests  a  steady  spread  of  education  and  a 
steady  increase  of  certain  forms  of  crime,  and  those 


Auo-ust  IT),  1891.] 


THE     SPKAKi:iJ. 


185 


not  the  least  repulsive.  Much  was  e.xpected  ci 
Couffi'ess  now  sittinfj.  We  ciinnot  sav  more  in  its 
favour  than  that  it  has  realised  what  was  expected — 
that  we  liave  liad  ij^reat  thenii's  worthily  discussed, 
and  an  \inusualiy  small  amount  of  social  science 
chatter. 


^'FUlMUsr 


AGODl)  many  Englishmen  will,  we  imagine,  read 
the  judgment  of  .Mr.  Justice  .Stirling  in  the 
Ailesbury  case  with  a  keen  sense  that  their  country- 
is  still  a  kind  of  Laputa.  We  have  nothing  to  say 
against  the  technical  correctness  of  the  judge's 
tiuding.  It  appears  to  be  quite  in  harmony  with  the 
law.  The  Court  of  Chancery  was  asked  to  act  as 
referee  between  disputing  trustees  of  the  property 
of  which  the  Marquis  of  Ailesbury  is  the  tenant 
for  life,  with  a  goodly  number  of  remainder-men 
attached  to  him.  Lord  Ailesbury  wished  to  sell  a 
hopelessly  encumbered  estate  to  Lord  Iveagh,  late 
Sir  Edward  Guinness,  for  the  sum  of  .t7.JU,U(.H».  One 
trustee  and  all  the  remainder-men  opposeil  the  sale. 
Mr.  Justice  Stirling's  judgment  was  dii'eeted  to  the 
one  sentimental  ]>oint  as  to  whrther  he  was  justified 
in  letting  the  wide  and  beautiful  dcmiain  of  Savernake 
Forest  go  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Ailesbury  family 
with  a  spendthrift  and  bankrupt  tenant,  but  with  an 
available  reserve  of  fairly  thrifty  and  well-to-do  suc- 
cessors. He  decided  that  he  would  not  disappoint 
these  persons  of  their  hope  of  owning  one  of  the 
great  show  places  of  Kugland,  and  of  maintaining 
the  traditions  of  a  family  of  no  gi"eat  repute  in 
the  public  service.  In  other  words,  Mr.  Justice 
Stirling  decided  to  retain  under  the  care  of  a  hope- 
less prodigal  of  twenty-eight,  who  lives  on  the 
grace  of  a  money-lender,  an  estate  which  does  not 
yield  more  than  a  very  few  hundreds  of  net  income, 
which  has  been  let  down  till  it  must  be  in  parts 
almost  below  the  margin  of  cultivation,  and  which,  on 
the  other  hand,  had  the  promise  in  Lord  Iveagh — a 
type  of  the  better  kind  of  noiii-i'HH  ricl(c—oi  an  owner 
of  abundant  resources  and  great  business  capacity. 
The  farmers  of  Savernake  will  have  to  go  without 
their  improvements,  and  the  estate  will  be  allowed 
to  slip  more  and  more  into  "  loop'd  and  window'd  " 
rauiredness,  so  loufr  as  mv  Lord  Ailesburv,  who 
may  have  forty  years  of  highly  useful  life  be- 
fore him,  "  is  to  this  body.''  And  all  because 
Savernake  "  ought,"  in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Justice 
Stirling,  to  belong  to  the  Ailesburys.  '•  Ought  "  is 
good.  It  is  so  modern.  It  exhibits  our  landed  system 
in  all  its  palpitating  actuality.  It  is  so  like  an 
English  judge  to  parade  a  solemn  array  of  precedents 
in  order  to  prove  the  •'  right  "  of  a  family  of  English 
Brahmins  with  the  appropriate  motto  '•  Finmns,''  and 
with  a  craving  to  recover  a  lost  position  in  their  caste, 
to  go  on  ordering  the  lives  of  so  many  thousand 
yeomen  and  plouglmien.  and  to  lay  and  keep  waste  so 
many  tens  of  thousands  of  acres  of  a  country  that 
year  by  year  loses  a  little  more  of  its  power  to  main- 
tain its  rural  population. 

The  human  side  of  thi>  tr.igi-comedy  of  land- 
lordism is  not  a  little  curious.  The  Marquis  of  Ailes- 
bury is  a  young  gentleman  who  has  had  tive  years' 
enjoyment  of  his  title.  His  family  practically  dates 
from  a  cinny  Bruce,  who  got  tlie  right  side  of  King 
James  the  First's  •■lugge"  (we  l>elieve  that  is  the  cor- 
rect historic  expression),  ami  made  haste  to  change 
the  Royal  favour  into  lanils  stolen  from  the  Cis- 
tercians in  Yorkshire  and  an  earldom  of  Elgin. 
Later,  they  married  into  the  family  of  the  Seymours, 
from  which  sprang  the  Protector  Somerset,  one  of 
the  ablest  and  most  rapacious  of  the  nobles 
to  whom  the  Reformation  came  as  a  boon  and  a 


i'lessing  totally  une.Mun'cted  with  tiieology.  From 
this  union  cann-  the  Savernake  Estates,  which 
the  Somersets  origiuiiUy  acipiin-d  by  nrarriage 
and  (nily  remotely  bv  rapine.  The  Ailesburys, 
first  earls  and  tiien  iii;irqni«es,  havi-  as  a  rule  care- 
fully abstained  from  lining  anything  which  might 
entitle  them  to  publii'  gratitu<le.  They  jobbed  tiieir 
two  boroughs  of  .Marlbonnigh  and  (ireat  liedwin, 
which  once  returned  four  members,  so  discreetly  as 
to  earn  the  gratitude  of  George  the  Fourth  and 
to  obtain  their  step  up  in  the  Peerage.  Up  to 
188r>  they  returned,  with  the  trilling  assistance 
of  some  few  hundred  electors,  a  member  for 
Marlborough.  They  have  the  patronage  of  nine 
livings,  which  is  of  course  dispensed  by  the  young 
gentleman  whom  the  Jockey  Club  lately  warned  ojf 
Xewmarket  Heath,  and  who  is  described  by  his  friends 
as  a  whip  of  quite  fantastic  merit.  Lord  Ailesbury 
has  since  and  before  his  accession  •'  done  himself 
proud."  He  has  absorbed  the  little  matter  of  the 
Cistercian  abbe^',  which  counted  for  a  good  tlT-i.odi) ; 
he  has  placed  himself  on  the  books  of  Mr.  Samuel 
(not  Mr.  George)  Lewis  to  the  extent  of  over 
t2()0,00O;  he  has  had  a  brief  and  not  glorious 
cai'eer  on  the  turf ;  he  is  said  to  have  sported  or 
even  invented,  after  the  manner  of  the  First  Gentle- 
man of  Europe,  a  new  coachman's  Ijutton.  His 
position  as  regards  the  i'O  odd  farms  and  the  40,niMi 
acres  of  Savernake  is  curious.  Personally,  he  would 
not  be  a  penny  the  better  for  the  sale.  He  would 
have  to  raise  .t2oO,(iOO  to  pay  his  debts,  and  the 
interest  on  tliis  sum,  together  with  the  jointures 
and  the  outgoings  of  the  estate,  would  reduce  his 
income  from  Lord  Iveagh's  t7">n,(tiin  to  its  pre- 
sent figure  of  a  very  few  hundreds.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  he  feels  the  burden  of  his  position, 
and  would  like  to  be  rid  of  it.  Probably  if  the 
three  kinjrdoms  could  be  searched  through  and 
through  (not  excluding  Whitechapel),  the)'  would 
not  be  found  to  contain  a  man  more  unsuited  to 
exercise  any  sway  over  the  lives  and  fortunes  of 
others,  more  unfit  to  inherit  anything  Init  a  pair 
of  hands  and  the  necessity  to  work  for  his  living. 
But  our  excellent  law  not  only  condemns  him  to  his 
heritage  of  woe,  but  sternly  waves  him  back  from 
his  well-meant  attempts  to  let  in  a  better  man. 
Savernake,  therefore,  remains  with  the  Ailesburys,  on 
the  chance  that  some  future  marquis  njay  be  rich 
enousfh  to  administer  it  with  credit. 

There  is,  no  doubt,  a  certaui  picturesqueness  in 
a  decision  which  permits  Lord  Ailesbury  to  legislate 
for  us,  to  appoint  (possibly  under  the  advice  of  Mr. 
Samuel  Lewis)  to  the  cure  of  souls,  and  to  pass  over 
to  others,  though  not  to  Mr.  Lewis,  the  unearned 
increment  of  Savernake.  The  law  allows  it,  the 
Court  decrees  it,  and,  we  suppose,  we  ought  to  see 
nothing  wrong  in  it.  W'.iat,  however,  does  strike 
us  with  some  seriousness  is  not  the  refusal  of  the 
Court  to  sanction  the  sale,  which,  at  the  best  would 
have  exchanged  a  feudal  lord  of  the  better  type  for 
one  of  the  worse.  It  is  the  appalling  levity  of  a  law 
which,  in  the  mouth  of  a  very  able  ju  Igc,  cimsiders 
a  problem  of  wide  human  happiness  solely  with  respect 
to  what  is  socially  "  due "  to  an  oldish,  but  in  no 
wa}-  a  distinguished  family  of  landlords.  whi.i  have 
fallen  on  evil  days,  but  who  have  nothing  but  their 
own  reckless  improvidence  to  blame  for  them. 
Reading  the  Ailesbury  case  it  seems  difficult  to 
realise  that  we  are  in  post-Revolution  d.iys,  or  that 
we  have  advanced  very  appreciably  beyond  the  ethics 
of  the  seiiTniorial  court.  The  Ailesbury  fa:nily,  with 
a  certain  anticipatory  grace,  have  thought  it  wise 
to  inscribe  "  Fuimus  "  on  their  co.it-of-arm-.  Surely 
it  was  not  too  much  to  ask  Mr.  Justice  Stirling  to 
take  the  lead  thus  opportunely  tendered  him,  and  to 
wTite  "  Fuerunt "'  instead. 


186 


THE     SPEAKER. 


[August  15,  1891. 


THE    EGYPTIAN    QUESTION    AGAIN. 

ri^HE  reflex  of  the  excitement  caused  on  the  Conti- 
I  nent  b}'  the  supposed  attitude  of  England 
towards  the  Triijlc  Alliance  has  made  itself  felt 
in  an  unpleasant  way  in  our  diplomatic  relations 
with  the  Porte.  A  fortnight  ago  we  mentioned 
the  rumour  that  the  Sultan — no  doubt  under  dijjlo- 
matic  instigation — was  anxious  to  reopen  the  nego- 
tiations as  to  the  date  of  the  withdrawal  from 
Egypt  of  the  British  Army  of  occupation.  Last 
week  the  Staiidanl  announced  that  the  negotiations 
had  been  opened,  but  were  to  be  postponed  until 
after  Lord  Salisbury's  return  from  the  Continent. 
This  week  the  same  paper  has  stated — evidently  under 
official  inspiration — that  it  is  with  extreme  impatience 
that  the  Sultan  submits  to  the  jtostjionement. 
Turkish  officials  are  strangers  to  energetic  action, 
and  consequently  can  easily  dispense  with  a  holiday, 
so  that  in  one  sense  the  Sultan's  impatience  is 
intelligible.  It  presents,  indeed,  a  somewhat  curious 
contrast  with  the  slackness  and  the  repeated  delays 
on  the  part  of  the  Porte,  which  brought  Sir  Henry 
Wolff's  mission  in  1887  to  an  abrupt  conclusion.  Then 
we  laid  down  certain  conditions  determining  our 
administration  of  Egypt,  and  pi'omised  that  the 
acceptance  of  them  by  all  the  EurojJean  Powers 
should  be  followed  by  our  withdrawal.  The  Powers 
liesitated,  and  the  Sultan  hesitated,  and  Sir  Henry 
Wolff,  very  properly,  did  not  wait  for  them.  As  to 
the  influences  which  }\ave  now  stimulated  the  Sultan 
to  act,  there  is  no  room  for  doubt. 

Now  it  is  quite  within  the  bounds  of  possibility 
— looking  at  the  way  the  Porte  usually  conducts  its 
business — that  the  negotiations  may  not  be  left  to 
the  present  Government  to  comj)lete.  By  the  end  of 
next  year,  at  latest,  we  shall  have  a  new  Foreign 
Secretary,  and  as  to  the  remoter  future  of  our  policy 
in  Egypt,  the  Liberal  party,  whom  he  will  represent, 
has  always  been  divided  in  opinion.  A  certain 
section — of  less  relative  imjiortance  than  formerly, 
but  still  very  influential  among  the  electorate — 
would  gladly  withdraw  as  soon  as  possible  not  only 
from  Egypt,  but  from  all  foreign  entanglements 
whatever.  Another  section  would  undoubtedly  adopt 
an  ideal  which  is  economically  impossible,  unless, 
like  the  democracies  of  antiquity,  we  made  our  subject 
allies  pay  tribute — democracy  at  home  combined  with 
Empire  abroad.  Both  ideals  are  outside  the  sphere 
of  practical  politics.  With  regard  to  the  immediate 
future,  no  conceivable  Government,  Conservative  or 
Liberal,  can  have  any  policj'  save  one — which  is 
marked  out  for  us  by  circumstances  beyond  our  own 
control. 

In  the  present  si.ate  of  Europe,  and  in  view  of  the 
progress  of  the  scramble  for  Africa,  we  cannot  allow 
the  greatest  prize  in  the  latter  country  to  be  left  a 
prey  to  certain  misgoverninent  and  disorder.  The 
inevitable  and  speedy  result  of  our  withdrawal  would 
be  the  intervention  either  of  ourselves  or  of  some  other 
Mediterranean  Power.  Even  to  fix  a  date  for  that 
withdrawal  would  stimulate  other  Powers  to  prepare 
for  intervention.  France  must  protect  Algiers  and 
Tunis,  Italy  her  possessions — such  as  they  are — in 
Abyssinia.  The  mere  jn-obability  of  such  an  occasion 
would  intensify  all  those  international  jealousies  which 
are  constantly  breaking  out  in  connection  even  witli 
such  trivial  ma'tei's  as  the  sympathies  of  Ras  Aloula 
or  the  religious  orders  in  Tunis — and  which  even 
Signer  Crispi,  desinte  his  fatuous  efforts  to  em- 
phasise them,  declares  he  wishes  to  suppress.  There 
is  plenty  of  explosive  material  in  Crete  and  Macedonia, 
in  Servia  and  Albania,  which  may  bring  about  a 
European  war,  whether  tlie  Triple  Alliance  chooses 
or  not,  witliout  adding  to  it  the  indefinitely  greater 
quantity    which    our   evacuation   of   Egypt,    under 


any  circumstances  within  the  sphere  of  prob- 
ability, would  necessarily  leave  absolutely  uncon- 
trolled. As  to  the  suzerainty  of  the  Porte,  from 
the  Liberal  point  of  view  especially,  there  will 
be  even  less  doubt  about  our  answer.  The  Power 
which  habitually  fails  throughout  its  own  dominions 
in  the  elementary  duties  of  a  civilised  Government — 
which  cannot  repress  revolt  in  Yemen  or  keep  oi"der 
in  Crete  or  Armenia,  or  stop  bi-igandage  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  its  own  capital,  or,  indeed, 
pay  or  clothe  its  own  troops — cannot  be  given 
any  fresh  oj)portunities  for  failure  in  that  part 
of  the  world  where  failure  would  be  most  disastrous. 
Our  own  work — so  well  described  by  Mr.  Alfred 
Milner  in  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  some  weeks  ago — 
will  not  be  finished  for  years.  Till  it  is  finished, 
every  year  gives  fresh  justification  for  our  jjresence 
during  the  next ;  and  until  the  danger  of  a 
Mohammedan  revival  is  past— a  danger  which  the 
partition  of  Africa  is  extremely  likely  to  intensify 
— our  modest  army  of  occupation  cannot  be  with- 
drawn. In  the  interest  both  of  Egypt  and  of  Euro- 
pean peace,  we  must  at  pi-esent  stay  where  we  are. 
By  our  work  in  Egypt  we  are  justified  ;  and  we  are 
justified  still  more  by  the  certaint}-  that  our  presence 
there  nullifies  one  set  of  causes  of  a  European  ex- 
plosion. 


THE    NAYAL    MANCEUVRES. 

THE  general  interest  aroused  by  the  annual 
Naval  Manoeuvres  is  a  hopeful  sign.  It  is  well 
that  the  public  should  endeavour  to  master  the 
lessons  they  teach ;  but  it  is  important  that  these 
lessons  should  be  rightly  understood.  Unfortunately 
in  all  such  object  lessons  there  lies  danger.  The 
correspondents  to  whom  the  public  must  look  for 
teaching  are  frequently  at  fault.  Their  letters, 
often  hurriedly  written,  may  convey  only  the 
impressions  of  the  moment ;  the  broad  aspects 
of  the  operations  as  a  whole  may  altogether 
escape  them.  The  popular  impression  created  by 
last  year's  manoeuvres  was  doubtless  unfavourable. 
No  powder  was  burned  between  the  main  fleets,  and 
the  C  squadron  disappointed  expectation  by  going 
off  into  space,  and  striking  the  prescribed  trade 
route  at  a  point  where  it  was  one  hundred  and  eighty 
miles  vride,  and  no  concentration  of  traffic  existed. 
Yet  these  manoeuvres  were  extremely  instructive. 
Sir  G.  Tryon  showed  how  a  fleet  might  be  handled 
for  the  effective  protection  of  the  most  important 
'•  neck  of  commerce  "  of  the  Empire.  A  new  insight 
into  the  possibilities  of  torpeolo-boat  employment 
was  gained,  auol  the  young  officers  who  conducted 
the  attack  on  the  fleet  in  Plymouth  Sound  clearly 
indicated  the  only  way  in  which  such  an  attack 
coulol  hope  to  be  successful. 

Again  this  year  the  mameuvres  have  ended 
amidst  a  chorus  of  dissatisfaction,  by  no  means 
justified,  and  arising  prinripally  from  a  want  of 
comprehension  of  the  objects  in  view.  It  is  not  yet 
sufficiently  realised  that  instruction  is  best  conveyed 
by  explaining  clearly  to  the  officers  and  men  con- 
cerned the  nature  and  objects  of  all  maud^uvres. 
Mystery  seems  to  jjossess  some  inexjjlicable  fascina- 
tion, and  the  i-esult  is  that  teaching  sutt'ers.  The 
want  of  grasp  of  the  objects  in  view  is  reflected 
from  the  officers  to  the  press,  and  from  the  pi'ess  to 
the  general  public.  The  manoeuvres  of  1890  were 
mainly  strategic ;  those  of  1891  almost  purely 
tactical.  The  wide  striking  range  which  the 
torpedo-boat  was  shown  in  the  former  year  to 
possess,  naturally  suggested  experiments  in  new 
methods  of  dealing  with  this  nature  of  attack. 
Formerly  it  had  been  customary  to  protect  the  battle- 


August  15,  1891.] 


THE     SPEAK  KK. 


1K7 


ship  froin  attack  ai  m-.i  ii\  i|uick-lii  hil;  j,'"'^  .mil 
searcli-li<,'lits;  atauchor.hynettiiij,'.  A  totally  ilirtereiit 
policy  is  possible,  however.  In  place  of  awaitini;  its 
attack,  the  torpedo-boat  luav  l)c  huiiteil  down  by 
special  vessels  possessing'  '^vt  ater  speed  and  tar 
greater  coal  endurance,  able  in  keep  the  sea  in  ail 
"weathers,  and  armed  with  nnnierous  guns  of  the 
class  which  the  torpedo-boat  has  most  reason  to 
dread.  In  order  to  bring  this  new  policy  to  a  test, 
Ireland  was  assnmed  to  lie  the  country  of  an  enemy 
who  had  established  ahmg  his  coast  six  torpedo-boat 
stations,  with  a  view  to  attack  Hritish  commerce  in 
transit  through  St.  George's  Channel.  The  torpedo- 
boat  must  have  a  jiicd  a  terre  to  enable  it  to  refit,  and 
to  secure  rest  and  reliefs  to  its  overworked  crew. 
The  six  torpedo-stations  were  thus  represented  by 
depot-ships  anchored  in  solci-ted  Irish  ports ;  and 
from  them  the  -  Blue  Squadron  "  of  twentj'  torpedo- 
boats,  under  llear-Adminil  Krskine,  might  operate 
at  will.  The  "  lied  Squadron,"  under  Captain  Long, 
consisted  of  three  old-type  armour-cladj  provided  with 
nets — a  skeleton  fleet  of  battle-ships — and  accom- 
panied by  six  "  torpedo-catchers."  According  to  the 
rules  of  the  game,  it  Avas  open  to  Captain  Long  to  cap- 
ture any  of  the  enemy's  depots,  or  to  cajiture  or  put  out 
of  action  the  opposing  torpedo-boats,  on  fulfilment  of 
certain  conditions.  The  various  engagements  have 
been  sufficiently  described.  Captain  Long  appears 
to  have  handled  his  vessels  with  great  vigour,  and 
the  umpires  admit  his  claims  to  the  capture  of  two 
stations  and  four  torpedo-boats;  while  seventeen 
boats  in  addition  are  regarded  as  having  been  put 
out  of  action  for  twenty-four  hours.  Under  the 
rules,  therefore,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  new 
offensive  policy  proved  disastrous  to  the  torpedo- 
boats,  and  their  many  zealous  advocates  will  doubt- 
less jirotest  against  conditions  which  have  previously 
been  accepted.  It  is  not  for  a  moment  to  be  sup- 
posed that  the  arbitrary  conditions  of  the  game  cor- 
responded with  those  of  war  ;  but  the  recent  torped<  >- 
boat  actions  in  Chilian  waters  go  far  to  show  that 
they  are  approximately  fair. 

The  great  principle  of  strategy  which  von 
Moltkc  upheld  was  to  adopt  a  vigorous  offensive. 
The  Xaval  Manrcuvres  of  Lsi'l  appear  to  prove  that, 
as  against  torpedo-boats,  this  principle  is  equally 
sound.  It  follows  that  to  a  great  naval  Power  pos- 
sessing a  vast  commerce  which  must  be  defended  in 
wai-,  torpedo-catchers,  vigorously  handled,  supply  the 
surest  guarantee  of  security.  The  torpedo-boat  is, 
in  the  main,  the  weapon  of  the  Power  whose  policy 
is  the  attack  of  commerce,  and  for  Great  Britain 
its  uses  are  restricted.  To  have  thrown  new  light 
upon  a  question  so  important,  and  to  have,  perhaps, 
supplied  a  check  to  the  tendency  to  the  over-pro- 
duction of  torpedo-boats,  is  no  small  result.  Our 
task  is  to  study  and  grasp  our  peculiar  and  indi- 
Tidual  requirenuMits,  avoiding  all  temptations  to  copy 
measures  which  may  be  adapted  to  the  widely 
different  needs  of  other  Powers. 

Of  the  proceedings  of  tlie  Northern  and  Western 
Fleets,  there  is  little  to  be  saitl.  Eight  first-class  battle- 
ships and  tw-elve  other  vessels — the  most  powerful 
squadron  ever  assembled — were  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  Sir  M.  Culme  Seymour  for  evidutionary 
purposes  in  the  North  S>'a.  and  nineteen  vessels, 
including  eight  battle-ships,  under  Rear-Admiral 
Fitzroy,  assembled  at  Ben  haven.  It  is  to  l>e  re- 
gretted that  the  {U'ogranunc  arranged  for  the  former 
fleet  was  cut  short  by  orders  from  the  Admiralty,  and 
that  bej'ond  the  ordinary  mameuvres  of  the  signal- 
book  nothing  was  attempted,  so  that  no  fresh  light  has 
been  thrown  on  the  much-vexed  question  of  fighting 
formations.  But  the  admirable  way  in  which  the 
mobilised  shijis — huge  complex  machines  as  they 
are,    with     crews     hastily     brought     together — fell 


into  their  place  in  line,  n-ii>its  miiniti'  creilit  on 
the  jjirniiiLHrl  of  J1..M.  Navy,  and  is  full  of  good 
augury. 

Tiif  (ii-riuuns  liavi-  proved  to  tii'-  world  the  value 
of  niano'Livres.  To  (;reat  Britain  the  Navy  is  as  th>- 
Army  to  <  lermany,  and  something  mcjri'.  It  is  only 
by  exercises  skilfully  planned  and  intelligently 
executed  that  tin-  temper  of  tin-  '•tremendous 
weapon  "  on  which  the  existence  of  the  Empire 
depends  can  be  preserved. 


MK.    LIDDEKDALE    ON    THE    SITUATION. 

THE  Xrir  York  III  r<d(l  has  published  a  very  in- 
teresting account  of  an  intervii-w  one  of  its 
representatives  has  hail  with  the  (Governor  of  the 
Bank  of  England.  For  a  considerable  time  past 
fears  have  existed  in  New  York,  as  well  as  upon  the 
Continent,  that  the  Citj'  of  London  had  practically 
become  bankrupt,  and  that  scarcely  a  Iciuling  house 
is  in  a  thoroughly  solvent  position.  Hence  credit  had 
received  a  shock  all  over  the  world,  and  men  were 
afraid  to  enter  into  new  engagenn-nts,  not  so  much 
because  they  apprehended  difficulties  at  home,  but 
because  they  were  doubtful  what  might  happen  at 
any  moment  in  London.  It  is  not  surprising  then 
that  the  representative  of  an  enterprising  journal 
which  publishes  issues,  not  only  in  New  York, 
but  in  London  and  Paris,  should  try  to  ascertain 
what  the  real  facts  are,  or  that  the  Governor 
of  the  Bank  of  England  should  be  willing 
to  allaj',  as  far  as  he  properly  could,  the  alarm 
which  exists.  Briefly,  then,  his  statement  is, 
that  with  a  single  exception,  all  the  important 
houses  in  the  City  are  solvent.  One  house  has  been 
known  to  be  in  difficulties  for  at  least  twelve  months. 
Its  name  has  again  and  again  been  the  subject  of 
talk  not  only  at  home  I)ut  abroad,  and  it  has  on  one 
or  two  occasions  already  received  assistance.  Appa- 
rently it  is  once  more  embarrassed,  but  its  embarrass- 
ments are  being  considered,  and  it  would  seem,  from 
what  the  Governor  of  the  Bank  said,  that  they  are 
likely  to  be  once  nujre  arranged.  \Vhatever  the 
outcome  of  the  negotiations  may  be,  it  seems  to  be 
the  opinion  of  Mr.  Lidderdale,  as  undoul)tedIy  it  is 
that  of  the  City  generally,  that  very  little  influence 
will  now  be  exercised  upon  the  course  of  affairs.  The 
credit  of  the  house  has  been  too  much  under  discus- 
sion. For  the  past  year  it  has  therefo:-e  been  com- 
pelled to  restrict  its  business  in  all  directions,  and 
even  if  it  were  now  to  decide  upon  wiiuling-up.  the 
impression  made  upon  the  general  public  would  be 
sli"-ht.  At  one  time  the  closing  of  the  doors  of  so 
threat  an  establishment  would  unquestionably  have 
produced  a  crisis,  but  the  public  has  now  become 
accustimied  to  the  notion  that  the  difficulties  are 
insuperable,  and  therefore  little  trouble  would  prob- 
ablv  follow  even  if  it  had  to  suspend.  The  Governor 
of  the  Bank  of  England  assured  his  interviewer 
that  with  this  exception  no  important  house  is  now 
in  serious  difficulties.  He  admitted  that  it  was  ex- 
tremelv  likely  that  failures  would  ensue.  After  such 
a  crisis  as  we  have  been  passing  through,  with  a 
breakdown  in  South  America,  and  a  probable  break- 
down in  Southern  Europe,  it  would  be  very  strange 
if  there  were  none  But  these  will  be  unimjiort- 
ant  so  far  as  the  Money  Market  is  c(.>ncerned, 
and  therefore  will  not  have  serious  consequences. 
South  America  is  not  able  to  buy  on  the  scale  it 
had  been  doing  for  years  past,  and  it  would  there- 
fore not  surprise  anyone  if  there  were  to  be  failures 
amoui.:  commercial  houses  in  the  South  American 
trade.  Similarlv  there  would  be  no  cause  for  wonder 
if  there  were  failiu-es   amongst  houses  engaged    in 


188 


THE     SPEAKER. 


[August  15,  1891. 


trade  with  the  United  States — whic-h  has  been  dis- 
ort^anised,  as  everybody  knows,  by  the  McKinley 
tariff — and  in  other  directions  :  but  these  will  be  a  con- 
sequence of  events  that  have  already  happened,  and 
most  people  ai-e  now  so  well  prepai-ed  for  them  that 
they  will  not  have  much  effect  upon  puljlic  opinion. 
Assuming  that  the  Governor  of  the  Bank  of  England 
is  right — and  undoubtedly  he  expresses  the  opinion 
of  the  most  competent  judges  in  the  City — the  crisis 
is  now  drawing  gradually  to  a  close.  The  Bank  of 
England  and  the  Joint  Stock  Banks  have  been 
steadily  increasing  their  reserves  for  eight  or  nine 
months,  and  are  now  unus'iallv  strong.  All  classes 
have  been  at  the  same  time  restricting  their  risks  in 
every  possible  way.  Therefoi-e  the  liabilities  of  the 
country  have  been  gTOwing  smaller  and  smaller 
month  by  month,  and  its  means  of  meeting  them 
have  been  increasing.  We  may  hope,  therefore,  that 
before  long  a  more  confident  and  hopeful  spirit  will 
arise. 

Any  very  great  revival,  however,  is  not  to  be 
anticipated  while  Southern  Europe  and  Russia 
remain  in  their  present  state.  The  ukase  issued  by 
the  Russian  Government  forbidding  the  export  of 
rye  leaves  no  longer  a  doubt  that  the  Russian 
harvest  is  a  failure,  that  much  distress,  if  not  actual 
famine,  is  to  be  ajjprehended  in  extensive  districts, 
and  that,  therefore,  there  may  be  grave  political  as 
well  as  financial  troubles  before  the  Empire.  In  that 
case  there  can  hardly  fail  to  be  a  considerable 
fall  in  all  Russian  securities,  which,  as  our  readers 
know,  the  French  investing  public  have  been  buy- 
ing upon  an  enormous  scale  during  the  past  few 
years.  It  is  roughlj-  estimated  that  the  French 
holdings  of  Russian  Government  bonds  at  present 
are  over  seventy  and  eighty  millions  sterling.  If 
there  were  to  be  a  serious  fall  in  those  securities 
and  a  great  depreciation  in  Russian  credit,  not 
only  would  French  investors  suffer,  but  the  great 
French  banks  that  have  been  active  in  converting 
Russian  bonds  would  have  an  additional  lock-up 
of  their  capital.  Their  credit  would  be  affected, 
and  2)eople  would  begin  to  ask  anxiously  whether 
they  could  tide  over  so  many  difficulties — a  fall 
in  Russian  secui'ities,  following  so  rapidly  upon 
the  great  depreciation  in  South  American  securities 
and  Southern  European  securities,  which  themselves 
followed  so  rapidly  upon  the  copper  crash  and  the 
■Panama  Canal  collapse.  Hardly  less  serious  is  the 
Russian  harvest  failure  as  it  affects  Germany.  The 
poorer  classes  in  Germany  live  mainly  upon  rye, 
and  they  draw  their  supplies  chiefly  from  Russia. 
The  Russian  exports  being  stopped,  naturall}' 
the  price  of  rye  rose  sharply.  Indeed,  rye  is 
now  actually  dearer  than  wheat  in  the  German 
market.  And  it  is  to  be  recollected  that  the  German 
harvest  itself  is  bad,  so  that  the_  stoppage  of  the 
Russian  supply  is  all  the  more  serious.  Already 
trade  has  been  declining  in  Germany ;  industrial 
securities  of  all  kinds  have  been  falling  disastrously  ; 
and  people  have  been  looking  forward  to  the 
autumn  with  grave  apprehension.  Now  it  would 
seem  that  Germany  will  have  to  turn  to  the  United 
States  for  its  food  supply  ujion  an  unusual  scale,  and 
as  she  cannot  export  goods  thither  sutiicient  in 
quantity  to  j)ay  for  her  imports  of  food,  she  will  have 
to  send  gold  to  make  the  payment.  The  German 
money  market  is  likely  thereby  to  be  seriously  af- 
fected by-and-by.  and  if  so,  there  may  be  trouble 
on  the  German  Bourse.  Add  to  all  this  that  the 
bankruptcy  of  Portugal  is  only  a  question  of  time, 
that  the  crisis  in  Italy  is  growing  more  and  more 
acute,  and  that  the  financial  difficulties  of  Spain  are 
vorj'  serious.  When  we  consider  all  this,  and  bear  in 
mind  how  deeply  both  Paris  and  Berhn  are  involved 
in  the  finances  not  of  Russia  only,  but  of  Portugal, 


Spain,  and  Italy  as  well,  we  can  see  that  trouble 
upon  the  Paris  and  Berlin  Bourses  is  only  too  likely 
in  the  autumn,  and  with  that  prospect  no  very  great 
recovery  on  the  London  Stock  Exchange  can  be 
looked  for. 

It  is  possible  of  course  that  the  difficulties  upon 
the  Continent  may  be  counterbalanced  by  a  great 
revival  of  business'  in  the  United  States.  That  is  the 
main  hope  of  the  City,  and  to  a  certain  extent  it 
appears  to  be  well  founded.  The  crops  all  over  the 
United  States  are  exceptionally  good;  the  wheat 
harvest  particularly  is  one  of  the  finest  that  has 
ever  been  gathered  in.  The  maize  harvest  promises 
to  be  exceptionally  good,  and  the  cotton  is  also 
looking  well :  but  as  the  harvest  in  Russia  is  a 
failure,  and  as  the  crops  all  over  Western  Europe  are 
deficient,  the  demand  for  wheat  for  Western  Europe 
will  be  exceptionally  large  this  year,  and  will  have  to 
be  supplied  almost  entirely  by  the  United  States. 
Thus  the  American  farmers  will  be  able  to  sell  all 
their  surplus  farm  produce  at  profitable  jirices  as 
quickly  as  they  please,  and  consequently  that 
they  will  do  better  this  year  than  they  have 
done  for  many  years  past.  It  seems  also  reason- 
able to  conclude  that  the  railways  will  be  able 
to  do  an  exceptionally  prosperous  business.  It 
seems  also  to  follow  that  there  must  also  be  a 
larger  demand  than  for  a  long  time  past  for  Euro- 
pean goods  of  every  kind,  and  so,  in  spite  of  the 
McKinley  tariff;  there  may  be  a  better  trade  with 
Europe  than  there  has  been  for  a  long  time. 
Furthermore,  the  general  expectation  is  that, 
when  all  classes  are  doing  well,  speculation  in 
American  railroad  securities  will  spring  up  in  New 
York,  that  prices  will  consequently  rise,  and  that, 
with  the  recovery  in  American  securities,  European 
holders  will,  to  a  certain  extent  at  all  events,  be  re- 
couped for  their  losses  in  South  America  and  Southern 
Europe.  The  argument  is  undoubtedly  plausible, 
and,  we  should  say,  would  be  likely  to  be  fulfilled 
were  it  not  for  the  fear  of  what  may  happen  upon 
the  Continent.  If  confidence  revives  here,  if  every- 
body begins  to  recognise  soon  that  the  opinion  of 
the  Governor  of  the  Bank  is  sound,  that  no  serious 
failures  are  to  be  apprehended — and  if,  at  the  same 
time,  there  are  no  political  troubles  either  in  Portugal 
or  in  Russia,  and  no  great  convulsion  upon  the  Paris 
or  Berlin  Bourses — it  is  quite  possible  that  we  may 
see  a  revival  in  speculation  in  the  American  depart- 
ment before  the  year  is  out.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  fear  of  what  may  happen  upon  the  Continent  is 
likely  to  deter  all  prudent  people  from  engaging 
rashly  in  new  risks. 


niROXICLE    OP    FOREIGN    AFFAIRS. 


rpi IIS  week  the  comparative  lull  in  international 
X.  alTairs  is  not  counterbalanced  by  any  revival 
of  activity  in  the  internal  politics  of  any  of  the  Con- 
tinental nations.  The  French  fleet  has  at  last  left 
Cronstadt--after  a  recei)tion  of  the  most  enthusiastic 
kind  had  been  given  to  Admiral  Oervais  and  the 
lirincipal  otliccrs  at  Moscow — and.  after  coaling  at 
Christiansand,  will  arrive  at  Portsmontli  on  Thursday 
next.  Some  of  the  loading  French  newsjiaiJers — the 
Tonpa  and  the  Di'lxtts  in  i)articular — ha\e  taken  a 
more  sober  tone  about  the  i)rcseut  enthusiasm  in 
France  for  Russia,  and  pointed  otit  the  extremely 
slender  bases  on  which  a  i)ermanent  friendship 
between  the  two  jjcoples  must  rest.  But  the  popular 
enthusiasm  continues  unabated.  Everywhere  the 
Russian  National  Anthem  is  received  with  frantic 
ai)plause,  while  the  stay  in  Paris  of  the  Grand  Duke 
Alexis  and  his  arrival  at  Vichy  have  been  the  occasion 
of  extravagant  displays  of  interest  and  welcome. 
Of  course,  the  people  who  attend  band  concerts  and 


August  15,  1891.] 


THE     SPEAKER. 


1H!J 


run  lifter  I'orrifjn  princes  ni'ed  not  re|>rosent  t)ie 
mind  <>r  llie  I'lencli  eleeloriite  oT  ISlKt,  any  more  tliiin 
the  nnisie-liuU  puhlir  in  London  in  1S7S  represented 
the  mind  of  tiie  !iKKi'ej;iite  ImikHsIi  eleetonite  of  l.SSO. 
Still,  we  nnist  eoinit  on  ii  eertiiin  decree  of  friction 
with  the  Frencli  (iovernment  iind  tlic  l>'reneli  press 
just  now — even  after  tiie  interutitionHl  courtesies  of 
next  week — tis  tlie  b-Kyiitian  (Question,  to  which  we 
refer  elsewhere,  jirohaljly  will  show  us  very  soon. 

Tlie  lonjj  report  drawn  up  in  the  name  of  the 
French  I?ud),'et  t'otnmission  hy  y\.  (iodefroyCavaiKuac 
indicates  that  a  limit  will  soon  lie  set  to  the  increase 
of  the  National  l)el)t  of  France.  Comparing  ISS;< 
with  ISiK),  the  juniMal  estimates  for  the  ordinary 
budget  ha\e  fallen  about  I  l.iKiii.iHIO  francs,  while  the 
extraordinary  budget,  which  was  then  in<'reasing  the 
debt  by  about  lil(i,()li(i,(Mi(l  francs  a  year  nett.  will  soon 
be  suiipressed  altoKethci',  though  about  172,<Hl(i,()()(l 
francs  of  this  sum  will  have  to  liiul  a  place  in  the 
ordinary  annual  exiienditure.  The  last  loan,  it  is 
hojied,  marks  the  last  ]iermanent  aildition  to  the 
public  debt.  The  extracu-dinary  budget  was  oovei-ed 
by  terminable  S  percent,  rentes,  which  are  now  being 
reduced  by  about  (iS.(i(iO,l)l)()  francs  a  year.  This  may 
be  set  against  tlie  IT'J.odo.ood  francs  above  men- 
tioned, and  the  expansion  of  the  revenue,  it  seems  to 
be  ho])od,  and  the  economies  to  be  elTected,  will  do 
the  rest. 

Tlie  French  and  (ierman  autumn  manonivres  are 
this  year  on  an  exceptional  scale.  In  south-western 
France,  three  army  corps  will  operate  against  a 
supposed  invasion  from  Spain — two  niano'uvring 
near  Dax,  while  a  third  will  be  in  reserve  near 
Toulouse.  Near  Rheims  four  army  corps  will  man- 
CEUvre  for  some  weeks.  The  idea  is  said  to  be  as 
follows  : — A  German  army,  marching  down  the  valley 
of  the  Marne  on  I'aris,  has  detacheil  two  .army  cor])s 
to  protect  its  left,  which  is  threatened  by  French 
troops.  These  cor})s — rei)resented  by  the  Fifth  and 
Sixth  Corps  under  General  (iallifet — will  meet  the 
Seventh  and  Eighth  C'orjis  in  battle  between  C'liau- 
inont  andBrienne  thefirst  head(iuarters  resiiectively 
of  the  two  armies  on  Sejjtember  (ith  and  7th.  The 
(ierman  army  will  then  retreat,  but  another  battle 
will  take  i)lace  on  Sei)teml)er  Utli  ami  lOth  between 
Bar-sur-Aube  anil  Troves.  On  September  rJth,  both 
armies  are  to  unite  under  General  Saussier,  anil 
fight  against  an  imaginary  enemy  near  N'itry  le 
Franvois.  On  Sejitember  11th  the  Pn-sidont  will 
review  them. 

The  German  manoeuvres  are  to  take  i)lace  near 
Cassel,  and  also  in  the  Grand  Dueliy  of  Baden.  In 
the  latter,  two  army  coi-ps  are  to  resist  an  im- 
aginary French  army,  which,  coming  by  Belfort,  is 
sni)posed  to  have  driven  them  back.  A  battle  is  to 
take  place  close  to  the  Swiss  border  at  Basel,  the 
(•ernian  troo])s  being  reinforced  by  means  of  a  new 
"  strategic"  line  of  railway  from  Constance.  After- 
wards some  4(),(i()0  men  are  to  mameuvre  in  Alsace. 

Alarming  rejiorts  have  been  current,  esi)ecially  in 
France,  as  to  the  recent  accident  to  the  (ierman 
Emperor.  His  knee  has  certainly  been  severely  in- 
jured— the  kneecai),  it  is  said,  being  dis])laced  by  his 
fall  on  board  his  yacht  and  its  treatment  may  not 
have  been  very  successful.  I'rof.  Esmarch,  of  Kiel, 
whose  reputation  as  a  surgeon  is  European,  has. 
however,  seen  him,  and  reassuring  reports  have  been 
issued  from  oHicial  and  semi-oflicial  sources,  though 
there  is  some  discrepancy  between  them. 

There  has  been  fresh  excitement  about  the 
"  Bochum  scandals."  Herr  Fussangel,  the  West- 
libalian  journalist  who  had  been  sentenced  to  a 
term  of  imju'lsonment  for  lil)elling  the  income  tax 
assessment  committee  of  the  town,  and  had  made 
startling  revelations  during  the  trial  as  to  the 
possession  by  the  leading  iron  manufactory  of  the 
neighbourhood  of  forged  (iovernment  stanijis  for 
marking  rails  as  a  sign  that  they  had  passeil  the 
requisite  tests,  had  been  accorded  a  respite,  and 
continued  to  publish  his  revelations.  Kaily  last 
week  he  was  summoned  to  undi'i-go  his  imprison- 
ment :  but  he  was  not  ready,  and  preferred  to  go 


aliroail.  His  fiii-ud'-  of  course  hi-ld  tliat  some  high 
ollicial  was  interesteil  in  putting  a  si(,p  to  the 
publication.  Indeed,  n  certain  eagerness  in  that 
direction  has  been  vi--ible  in  olVn-ial  rpiurtei-s  from 
the  lirst.  On  Saturday  morning,  the  body  of  Heii- 
.Steiger,  the  chief  engineer  of  the  woi-ks,  was  found 
near  them,  with  a  pistol  lying  beside  it.  Ap|>ear- 
ances  pointed  to  suicide  rumour  at  lirst  said  even 
to  murder  by  persons  interested  in  checking  the 
revelations;  but  it  i-  now  said  that  it  is  he  who 
originally  furnished  the  information  to  llerr  l-'nsn- 
angel's  pai)er. 

The  (ierman  l.ilier.il  party  are  exultant  over  the 
result  of  a  bye-election  at  Tilsit  in  East  I'l-ussia.  In 
si)ite,  it  is  said,  of  the  grossest  abuse  of  their  power 
by  the  oHicials,  the  Conservatives,  who  have  helil  the 
seat  since  ISSl.have  polled  nearly  twenty  jjer  ci-nt. 
fewer  votes  than  at  a  bye-election  in  l-'ebruary  of 
last  year.  They  attribute  the  l/iberal  victory  to  the 
Socialist  vote  :  but  it  is  very  small,  and  the  Socialist 
journals  counselled  abstention.  The  hands  of  the 
Liberals  will  now  be  considerably  strengthened  in 
the  campaign  against  the  maintenance  of  the  grain 
duties,  which  at  present  lills  so  large  a  s))ace  in 
their  papers. 

Both  rye  and  wheat  rose  sharply  in  Berlin  on 
.Saturilay  in  antici|)ation  of  the  jn-ohibition  of  the 
ex])ort  of  grain  from  Russia,  and  still  more  on 
Wednesday — rye  being  now  deaier  than  wheat. 
Though  the  rejiort  was  exjiressly  denied  on  .\londay 
in  a  semi-official  organ,  a  ukase  was  jiubli^hed  next  day 
absoluti'ly  jirohibiting  the  export  of  rye  and  rye-meal 
from  the  Russian  ports  on  the  Baltic  and  Black  .Sea, 
or  over  her  AVestern  frontiers.  The  movement  of 
grain  is  to  be  facilitated  by  reducing  railway  rates; 
jmblic  works  are  to  be  inidertaken  :  the  distressed 
peasants  are  to  have  firewood  free  from  the  Crown 
forests,  and  grain  is  to  be  i)\irchased  and  issued  to 
them  by  the  local  authorities.  How  the  purchase 
money  is  to  be  raised  is  not  stated,  anil  the  funds 
available  for  the  i)tiri)ose  are  known  to  be  sca:ity. 
The  measure  will  maiidy  affect  (iermany,  where  rye 
is  a  stajjle  food,  nearly  ninety  )ier  cent,  of  that  used 
last  year  having,  according  to  the  Ti)ii<  s.  come  from 
Russia.  It  is  a  severe  blow  to  the  oj)tiinist  view  as 
to  harvest  i)rospects  so  lately  ex)iressed  by  the 
(ierman  Chancellor.  According  to  one  view,  it  lias  a 
political  object-  -to  damage  (iermany  :  but  the  state 
of  Russia  makes  this  hyi)othesis  a  violation  of  the 
scientific  rule  not  to  sui)i)ose  more  causes  than  are 
necessary  to  explain  the  facts.  But  it  is  semi-otlieiallj- 
announced  that  the  grain  duties  in  Germany  will  be 
neither  suspended  nor  reduced. 

The  yoiuig  King  of  Servia  has  passeil  through 
X'ienna  and  reached  Isclil.  on  his  vi-it  to  the 
Emjieror  of  Austria.  The  Austrian  i)ress,  of  course, 
are  hastening  to  remind  Servia  that  Austria  is  her 
friend,  not  Russia.  In  the  Russo-Turki-h  war.  it  is 
said,  it  was  Austria  that  saved  her  after  the  defeat 
of  Alexiuat/. :  and  if  she  will  only  moderate  her 
I'an?lavist  aspirations,  Austria  will  be  able  to  secure 
to  her  a  substantial  share  of  the  heritage  of  the 
Sultan. 

The  Hiuigarian  .Mini-try  h.is  passed  its  new 
County  (iovernment  Hill  of  two  clauses,  empowering 
the  (iovernment  to  appoint  certain  otiicials  and  to 
make  regulations  as  to  local  goverinnent.  This  cen- 
tralisation, it  is  said,  will  o]ien  up  the  eountr.v.  which 
is  notoriously  rich,  but  unilcveloi>ed.  to  foreign 
cai)ital.  The  new  magistrates  will  be  far  easier  to 
deal  with  than  the  old  si|uirearchy. 

The  failure  of  the  leading  bank  at  Trieste,  owing 
to  defalcations  by  a  s))eculating  clerk,  iind  a  series 
of  horrible  murder-  of  Viennese  -ervant-girl-.  who 
were  decoveil  awa>'  by  a  woman  ami  her  husband 
under  pretence  of  liuding  them  situations,  are  items 
of  .Vnstrian  news  this  week. 

A  hitch  has  aiisen  on  the  Swiss  side  in  the 
negotiati(Mis  between  .Switzerland,  (iermany.  and 
Austria  for  a  commercial  treaty.  But  Switzer- 
land has  had  other  things  to  think  about.  The 
Federal    festival     is    just    over,    and     Berne,    which 


190 


THE     SPEAKER. 


[August  15,  1891. 


has  been  oi-c-iii)ying  the  interval  with  a  Geograjjliical 
Congress,  is  now  celebrating  the  seventh  centenaiy  of 
her  I'oiindation.  Tiie  historical  plaj-,  annoiniced  for 
to-day  and  to-morrow  at  0  a.m.,  may  be  witnessed 
by  about  l!t,()()0  persons,  of  whom  ten  thousand  are 
to  be  j)rovided  with  scats  connnanding  a  good  view 
of  the  stage,  while  eight  thousand  more  will  have 
standing  room.  About  900  j)ersons  will  be  on  the 
stage  at  once,  while  1,100  will  take  i)art  in  the  liis- 
torical  jirocession  of  Monday.  The  school-children's 
festival  on  Saturday  afternoon  should  also  be  a 
striking  featui'e,  anil  some  curious  athletic  sjjorts, 
luitive  to  various  ])arts  of  the  canton,  will,  it  is  said, 
be  a  feature  of  the  celeliration. 

The  International  Labour  Congress,  which  will 
meet  on  Sunday  at  Brussels,  will  ])robably  exhibit 
the  considerable  dissensions  now  existing  among  the 
Socialists,  especially  in  Germany,  on  the  (|Uestion  of 
Internationalism  c.  Nationalism. 

JJjevat  J'acha,  the  Governor  of  Crete,  has  man- 
aged to  restore  order  among  the  Mahommedans 
round  Heraclia.  But  insurgent  Greek  bands  had 
begun  to  land  in  Crete,  the  Greek  Nationalist  press 
has  been  urging  the  Greek  Government  to  intervene, 
and  a  section  of  the  Greek  inhabitants  have,  it  is 
said,  invited  English  interference. 

Two  Frenchmen,  managers  of  a  French  wine- 
growing company  in  Turkey,  have  been  carried 
off  by  brigands  from  near  Heraclia,  in  European 
Turkey,  not  far  from  the  Sea  of  Marmora,  and  a 
ransom  of  eCT5,()00  demanded.  The  place  is  within 
a  hundred  miles  of  the  scene  of  the  recent  train 
rol)bery,  and  the  band  is  said  to  be  the  same. 
The  French  (iovernment  has  insisted  that  the  Porte 
shall  secure  their  rescue,  and  both  are  now  fi'ee. 

Four  American  warships  have  been  sent  to  China 
to  i)rotect  American  citizens  who  may  be  endangered 
by  the  ])oi)ular  ujn-ising  against  the  missionaries. 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  HEALTH  CONGRESS. 

(By    ONE   OF   THE   PRESIDENTS.) 

ri"^TIE  complete  success  of  the  Seventh  International 
X  Congress  of  Hygiene  and  Demogra])liy,  holding 
this  week  its  meeting  in  London,  is  now  assiu'ed. 
This  is  not  merely  evident  from  the  large  mnnber — 
close  ujion  three  thousand  British  and  Foreign  men 
of  science  who  have  enrolled  their  names  on  the 
ofiicial  list  of  members,  but  still  more  from  the 
charactei-  and  position  of  those  names.  There  is 
scarcely  a  country  professing  any  claim  to  be  termed 
civilised  which  has  not  sent  delegates,  and  it  may 
safely  lie  said  that  so  long  a  list  of  men  of  light  and 
leading  in  the  numerous  subjects  essential  to  the 
health  and  well-being  alike  of  the  individual  and 
of  the  connmniity  lias  never  liitherto  been  brought 
together.  One  has  only  to  glance  down  the  lifty 
clo.sely-iirinted  jiages  of  theonicial  list  toconvince  one- 
self that  tlie  meeting  togetlusr  of  so  many  ennnent  men 
must  of  itself  prove  fruitful  of  good  results  :  but  when 
we  look  over  the  printed  abstract  of  the  jiapers  which 
have  been  or  are  about  to  be  communicated  to  the 
Congress,  even  those  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of 
bacteriology  and  demograi)hy  may  be  forgiven  if  a 
feeling  of  bewilderment  at  the  innuense  variety 
and  imjOTrtance  of  the  subjects  discussed  and  the 
])robleins  ))ut  forward,  occasionally  oppresses  them. 
The  inaugural  meeting  in  St.  .James's  Hall  on  Monday 
afternoon  was  a  foretaste  of  what  was  to  come.  The 
hall  was  crowded  to  sulTocatiou  witli  delegates  not 
only  from  every  Kuro])ean  coiuitry,  but  with  many 
others,  both  men  an<l  women,  hailing  fi'om  the  far 
East  of  our  great  Indian  ]"]mpire.  Doubtless  the 
pri;sence  of  our  genial  I'rince  on  this  occasion 
added  to  the  rush  of  the  foreigners,  and  that  great 
aiulience  which  heard  the  short  address  delivered  I)y 
the  I'l'ince,  as  President  of  the  Congress,  and  listened 
to  the  feeling  reference  he  made  to  his  own  recovery 
from  severe  illness  some  twenty  years  ago.  nnist  have 
felt  that  the  interest  he  takes  in  hj-gienic  and  sani- 


tary (piestions  is  real  and  vivid.  But  the  absence,  at 
the  Prince's  side,  of  every  member  of  Her  Majesty's 
(iovernment  ^yas  much  commented  on.  .Surely 
on  such  an  occasion  it  would  have  been  only 
courteous  to  our  eminent  guests  that  if  the  Prime 
Minister  could  not  appear,  at  least  some  member  of 
his  Cabinet  might  have  been  told  off  for  this  dutj'. 
Such  an  omission  is  not  likely  to  raise  the  opinion  of 
foreign  men  of  science  as  to  the  importance  which 
attaches  in  the  mind  of  tlie  successor  of  Bea<'onsfield 
to  that  statesman's  well-worn  phrase  of  minitas  oxmia 
sanilas. 

The  Congress  is  divided  into  ten  sections,  each 
presided  over  by  an  i'higlishman  distinguished  for 
his  knowledge  of  the  special  branch,  and  supported 
by  a  long  list  of  vice-presidents  and  mendjers  of 
Council  both  foreign  and  British.  These  sections  are 
all  conveniently  housed  in  the  rooms  of  the  various 
scientific  societies  in  Burlington  House ;  and  this 
we  Londoners  may  say  with  truth,  that  in  none  of 
the  great  Continental  cities  in  which  the  former 
Congresses  have  been  held  has  the  accommoda- 
tion for  the  sectional  work  been  so  amjile  or  so 
complete  as  it  is  hei-e.  It  is  somewhat  difficult 
for  the  ordinary  mind  to  grasp  the  extent  of 
the  subjects  treated  of  under  Hygiene,  and  still 
more  puzzling  to  know  what  is  the  term  under- 
stood by  Demographj^— and  how  jiuzzling  it  is, 
may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  the  Times  of 
Wednesday  spells  it  in  large  capitals  "  Domo- 
grapliy."  That  the  former  is  more  extensive  than 
the  latter  is  clear  from  the  fact  that  nine  of  the  ten 
sections  are  devoted  to  Hygiene,  whilst  one  suffices 
for  Demography.  This,  we  find,  is  after  all  nothing 
more  than  our  old  friend  Social  Science,  dressed  up 
to  deal  with  Industrial  Hygiene,  and  with  the  con- 
ditions of  communities  from  a  statistical  point  of 
view.  It  is  presided  over  by  Mr.  Francis  Galton,  the 
right  man  in  the  right  place.  He  naturally  gave  an 
interesting,  though  avowedly  a  somewhat  speculative, 
address  on  the  betterment  of  the  human  race,  in 
which  he  called  njjon  his  brother  "  Demographers  " 
to  aid  in  raising  the  present  miserably  low  standard 
of  the  li'iman  family  to  one  '•  in  which  the  Utopias 
in  the  dreamland  of  philanthropy  may  become 
jjractical  jjossibilities."  Proposals  to  assist  in  securing 
this  laudable  consummation  is  the  work  in  which  the 
nine  hygienic  sections  are  in  fact  engaged  ;  but  it 
is  of  a  modest  character — these  sections  concern 
themselves  with  very  special  matters.  But  as  "  many 
a  mickle  makes  a  muckle,"  so  the  exact  investigation 
of  the  phases  of  life  of  a  single  microbe  may  open 
out  a  method  of  prevention  for  some  of  life's  greatest 
ills,  and  the  atteution  to  what  may  be  thought  by 
some  to  be  only  petty  details  may  save  thousands  if 
not  millions  of  lives.  So  each  section  brings  its  own 
contributions  of  facts  and  conclusions  to  the  general 
weal,  and  matters  which  to  the  outsider  seem  most 
trivial  tiu-n  out  to  play  an  important  ])art  in  the 
complicated  ])henon>ena  of  life. 

■That  much  has  been  already  done  during  the  last 
half-century  to  imjirove  the  conditions  of  healthy 
living,  all  acknowledge;  but  when  Sir  Josei)h  Fayrer 
tells  us  that  one-fourth  of  all  the  mortality  of 
England  is  caused  liy  jjreventible  disease,  we  feel 
how  much  more  has  still  to  be  accomjilished.  In  this 
great  work  of  life-saving  every  man  of  science  has, 
or  may  have,  his  share.  The  chemist  and  jjhysicist, 
as  Sir  Henry  Roscoe  reminds  us  in  his  Presidential 
atldress,  work  at  the  foiiudation  of  things.  They 
have  to  study  the  laws  and  explain  the  phenomena 
upon  which  deiJend  Ijoth  physiology — the  science  of 
the  body  in  health  and  pathology — treating  of  the 
body  diseased  ;  and.  without  the  hel])  of  the  chemist 
and  the  jjhysicist,  neither  the  ))hysiologist  nor  the 
pathologist  can  do  nuich. 

The  great  interest  of  the  day  doubtless  attaches 
to  the  Bacteriological  section,  so  ably  presided  over 
by  Sir  Joseph  Lister.  It  is  here  that  the  newest  and 
most  startling  revelations  of  modern  science  are  to 
be  looked  for.  Thus  it  has  long  been  a  puzzle  to 
surgeons  why  in  certain  cases  wounds  heal  well  even 


August  15,  1891.] 


THE     SPEAKER. 


191 


■when  tlie  i)atient.s  are  exjiosed  to  coiKlitioiis  usually 
fatal    to    ciinitive    processes.      On    the    batthvlidd 
wounds  of  the  most  serious  eiiaracter,  dressed  l)adly, 
or  not  dressed  at  all,  and  swarming  with   i)ois{>nous 
haeteria,    are     known     someiinics    to     heal    almost 
mirac\ilously.    .MetsehnikolT,  of  the  Institut  Pasteur, 
has  explained  this  a|)parent  anomaly.    Jt  is  true  that 
in   sueh   eases  the  outside  and    visihle   jiarts  of  the 
wound   swarm   witli   i)athogenie  organisms,  but  the 
intei-nal   surface  of  the  wounded   tissue  is  found  to 
be  i)orfeetly  healthy  and  (juito  free  from  them,  for 
soon  after  the  wound   is  made,  the  wandering  i)ha- 
goeytes  are  seen  to  pass  out  from  the  healthy  l)lood- 
vessels,  and  tliey  at  once  sei/.e  ujion  and  devour  any 
poisonous  bacteria  with  which  they  come  in  contact, 
and  thus  preserve    in   a    healthy  condition    the  layer 
nearest  to  the  wounded   llesh.  and  enable  tlie  pro- 
ce.sses   of   re-formation   of  tissue  to  go  on.     Such  a 
battle  is  always  being  fought,  but  the  victory  some- 
times comes  to  the  invading  ho-^t,  and  it  is  only  wlien 
the  defending  forces  are  of  sullicient  number  to  rejjel 
the  attack  that  the  citailel  can  be  held.     So  that  to 
ensure  a  successful  defence,  aid   in  the  shajjc  of  bac- 
tericidal  material  must  be  brought  in  from  outside, 
andthisconstitutesthe  i)rinciple  of  antisei)tic  surgery. 
Otlier    sections    concern    themselves    with    no    less 
important  questions.      We  have  Sir  Nigel  Kingscoto 
presiding  over  that    iu  which  the   relations  of   the 
disease.s   of  animals  to  those  of  man  are  discussed. 
Roux  of  Paris  discourses  in  ehxpient  French  on  the 
pro|)agation  and   prevention    of   rabies,   whilst    the 
question  of   the  infection   of  food   is  treated  of  by 
Brieger  of  Berlin.      Next  comes  Mr.  Diggle's  section 
in    which    the   hygiene    of  infancj-,   childhood,    and 
school-life,    is  considered.     Then  engineering  in    re- 
lation   to   sanitation    is    confessedly   an    imi^ortant 
subject :    the   burning   (jiiestions   of    sewerage    and 
sewage  disposal,   water  sup))ly.  ])ollution  of   rivers, 
and    tow)i    refuse,    being   discussed  under  Sir   John 
Coode.      Lastly   come   naval   and    military   hygiene 
under  Lord  "Wantage,  and  State  hygiene  under  Lord 
Basing.    Here  is  at  anj-  rate  sco])e  wide  enough  :  and 
the  crowded  condition  of  the  sections,  as  well  as  the 
animated  discussions  which  have  taken  i^laee,  show 
that  a   real  interest   is  taken   Ijy  all  present  in  the 
legitimate  business:  so  that  this  Congress  is  by  no 
means  a  gigantic  scientific  ])icnic — though  the  social 
attractions  of  the  meeting  are  most  alluring — but  an 
assembly  of  men  determined  to  do  what  in  them  lies 
to  better  the  condition  of  their  fellows  of  every  rank 
and  of  every  nation. 


JAMES    Kl'SSELL    LOWELL. 

MR.  LOWELL'S  death  makes  agreatgaj)  in  many 
associations;  but  Englishmen  will  think  of  him 
first,  perhaps,  not  as  the  accom])lished  man  of  letters, 
but  as  a  rejiresentative  of  the  Ijest  tyi)e  of  American 
citizenship,  as  a  iiatriot  who  \vas  never  blind  to  the  de- 
fects of  his  country,  as  a  iiublic  man  who  made  the  cul- 
ture of  kindliness  between  two  great  nations,  allieil  by 
blood  and  s))eech,  no  small  i)art  of  his  life.  It  seems 
odd  now  to  look  back  to  the  jjcriod  of  "storm  and 
thrust,"  when  the  American  democracy  was  con- 
vulsed by  civil  war,  and  fiiul  Mr.  Lowell  amongst  the 
foremost  to  chide  England  for  that  sympathy  with  the 
Soutli  which  was  certainly  manifested  by  aclass.  Those 
were  the  times  when  the  brilliant  writer,  who  little 
thought  that  he  would  one  day  charm  English 
audiences  with  the  oratory  which  is  the  highest 
exiiression  of  a  good  digestion,  bade  Englishmen 
with  some  sternness  not  to  take  too  literally  "  w  hat- 
ever  our  Minister  may  say  in  the  effusion  that 
comes  after  ami)le  dining."  The  Minister  who 
suffered  this  re]n'oach  was  Mr.  Reverdy  .Johnson, 
whose  after-dinner  cordialit.\'  was  contrasti'd  by 
Mr.  Lowell  with  Mr.  Adam-'s  warning,  "My  lord, 
this  means  war."  Still  more  interesting  in  this 
retrospect  of  extinct  animosities  is  the  famous 
protest  from  Jonathan  in  the  "  Biglow  Papers." 


•■  It  il.in't  v  •  rn  lianlly  H«lit,  .l'<l.ii, 
AVlnii  Ij'.th  my  li«ii(l«  wuH  lull, 
To  stiiiiiij  iii>   t'l  11  liKht,  .lulin, 
Vi.ii  ( ouniu,  III,  ,I(j|iti  Uull  ! 
Oil-  Cncli'  S,  Mv.  he,  '  I  ifucss 

W'-  liMuw  it  now,*  Hi-/,  ho, 
'Thij  linn's  j.riw  is  iiU  the  law, 

Accor.liii'  ti)  .1.  U  , 
Tht-l's  fit  fi-r  yoti  an'  nii3  I '" 

There  is  more  i)athos  than  fierceness  in  these  lines, 
and  it  is  easy  to  understiintl  now  the  passionate  sense 
of  injustice  which  insjtiied  them.  Then  and  later  Mr. 
Lowell  stood  for  what  was  Ijest  in  American  man- 
hood. No  writer  diil  so  much  to  hclj)  the  cause 
which  triumithed  over  slavery.  Xo  jjolitician  had  a 
higher  concejitionof  statesmanship  than  he  whowrote 
the  noble  eulogy  of  Lincoln,  and  who  believed  that 
his  country  came  victoriously  out  of  a  great  struggle 
by  virtue  of  "  heroic  energy,  jjersistence,  and  self- 
reliance."  In  latter  da\s  there;  were  some  .\merican.s 
who  were  indis|)osed  to  remember  these  services  to 
the  conunonweal,  and  who  treated  .Mr.  Lowell  as  if 
lie  were  indifferent  to  the  national  sentimc-nt  and 
wedded  to  European  ideals.  But  to  the  end  of  his 
life  he  was  keeidy  sensitive  for  the  honour  of  hU 
country.  Never  a  strong  i»arty  man,  he  took  small 
interest  in  the  sordid  struggles  which  make  the  chief 
interest  of  American  ])olitics.  A  true  friend  of 
democrac}',  he  never  hesitated  to  speak  his  mind 
about  those  Avho  betrayed  the  i)ublic  welfare.  His 
denunciations  of  corrui)tion  were  as  scathing  as  hi.s 
satires  on  the  slaveholders.  He  had  a  great  con- 
tempt for  Fourth  of  July  orators,  who  "debased  the 
standard  of  gieatncss,"  and  he  warned  his  cr)untry- 
men  that  "i)oj)ular  government  is  not  in  itself  a 
l)anaeea,  is  no  better  than  any  other  form  exce])t  as 
the  virtue  and  wisdom  of  the  i)eoi)le  make  it  so" — a 
lesson  which  no  one  who  knows  the  working  of 
American  institnti<ins  will  ever  deem  superfluous. 

To  this  iiublic  sjjirit  Mr.  Lowell  added  a  literary 
etiuiiiment  which  few  men  of  letters  have  surpassed. 
Though  he  once  wi'ote  that  America  must  "  submit 
herself  to  the  Euroi)ean  standard  of  intellectual 
weights  and  measures,'  he  always  maintained  an 
inilepeudent  quality  of  mind  and  style.  One  of  the 
most  interesting  things  in  the  "Biglow  Papers"  is 
the  essa.\-  on  Yankee  dialect ;  and  while  he  emjiloyed 
that  dialect  ^\ith  infinite  humour  in  the  dissertations 
of  Mr.  Biglow  ami  his  associates,  Mr.  I^owell  pre- 
served something  of  the  native  raciness  in  his  most 
finished  prose.  I'arlyle,  he  said,  "called  do^vn  the 
tires  of  hea\eii  when  he  could  not  readily  lay  his 
hand  on  the  match-box;"  but  while  he  ne\t'r  dis- 
dained to  turn  to  account  the  lowlier  means  of 
illumination,  Mr.  Lowell  could  command  at  will  the 
higher  lights  of  a  moving  eloepience.  Most  of  his 
))oems  are  full  of  fancy  and  tenderness.  Without 
any  superlative  gift,  he  was  master  of  the  chastened 
exiiression  of  delicate  feeling.  In  the  "  Biglow 
Papers"  lies  the  chief  individuality  of  his  verse,  and 
although  most  of  it  belongs  to  moods  and  incidents 
which  are  of  ))urely  historic  interest,  and  which  have 
a  national  rather  than  a  universal  character,  some  of 
the  humour  will  always  be  ))roverbial.  .lohn  P. 
Robinson  was  an  actual  personage  mIio  has  long 
been  forgotten  even  in  the  |)lace  that  bore  him,  yet 
his  name  has  a   lasting   significance   in    the  famous 

stanza — 

■■]!ut.i..iiM  r. 

KoKinsirn  he 
Siz  thcv  diJu'tkujw  ovoiytliin' Jiuvn  in  .luihc." 

"A  Fable  for  Critics"  has  striking  illusti-ations 
of  Mr.  LowelTs  dexteritj-  and  variety.  The  form 
seems  a  little  old-fashioned  to  us  now.  much  older 
indeed  than  Ilosca  Biglow's  quaint  locutions;  but 
the  wit  is  so  keen  and  the  characterisation  so  deft, 
that  many  of  the  rlnines  share  with  Lewis  Carroll's 
the  capacity  of  clinging  to  the  memory  when  graver 
matters  have  fallen  into  oblivion 

"  -VU  women  he  damns  with  miilnliilr  srmper. 
And  if  ever  he  felt  somi'thinir  like  love's  rlistemi^^r. 
'Twa.-  towards  a  youu;;  LiJy  wh"  spoke  am  iint  Mexic.in. 
And  assisted  her  father  in  making  a  lexicon." 


192 


THE     SPEAKER. 


[August  15,  1891. 


But  Aiuericaiis  may  cherish,  witliout  any  narrow 
prejudice,  the  pithy  phrases  of  Hosea  Biglow's 
"  Pious  Editor,"  whose  maxims  are  still  household 
■words  in  the  politics  of  the  Southern  States : — 

"  It's  wal  enough  agin  a  king 
To  dror  resolves  an'  friggi  r.-, 
But  libbaty's  a  kind  of  thing 
Thet  don't  agree  with  niggers." 

The  reader  who  eares  for  none  of  these  beauties 
of  vernacular,  may  find  amjile  comi)ensation  in  Mr. 
Lowell's  prose.  The  stimulus  of  his  style,  the  clear- 
ness of  his  judgment,  the  catholicity  of  his  taste, 
ought  to  be  a  liberal  education  to  some  of  his 
coinitrymen.  who  offer  us  strange  idols  wifih  robust 
confidence  and  small  knowledge.  As  a  critic  Mr. 
Lowell  had  a  large  endowment  both  of  culture  and 
native  insight.  His  appreciation  of  Emerson  is  a 
fine  instance  of  his  subtle  perception.  "  Those  who 
are  grateful  to  Emerson,  as  many  of  us  are,  for  what 
they  feel  to  be  most  valuable  in  their  culture,  or, 
perhaps  I  should  say,  their  impulse,  are  grateful,  not 
so  much  for  any  direct  teachings  of  his,  as  for  the 
insi)iring  lift  which  only  genius  can  give,  and 
without  which  all  doctrine  is  chaff."  That  is  an 
admirable  touchstone  of  Emerson  as  a  teacher, 
and  it  led  Mr.  Lowell,  naturally  enough,  to  depre- 
ciate the  influence  of  Carlyle.  The  essay  on  Carlyle, 
moreover,  has  the  inspiration  of  the  democrat  who 
feels  liimself  a  champion  of  the  system  on  which 
the  philosopher  of  the  "  eternal  verities  "  poured  his 
fiercest  scorn.  To  Emerson,  wrote  Lowell,  "the 
young  martyrs  of  our  civil  war  owed  the  sustain- 
ing strength  of  thoughtful  heroism  that  is  so 
touching  in  every  record  of  their  lives."  To 
Carlyle  the  civil  war  was  like  "the  bm-ning  of  a 
dirty  chimney."  For  this  unflattering  image,  Mr. 
Lowell  took  amjile  revenge  in  another  analogy 
of  combustion.  "  Imagination,  if  it  lays  hold  of  a 
Scotsman,  possesses  him  in  the  old  demoniac  sense 
of  the  word,  and  that  hard  logical  nature,  if  the 
Hebrew  fire  once  gets  fair  headway  in  it,  burns  un- 
quenchable as  an  anthracite  coal  mine."  But  Mr. 
Lowell's  culture  was  too  broad  to  make  him  a  contro- 
versialist in  every  field  of  literature.  He  roved  through 
the  old  English  writers  without  observing  the  cloven 
hoof  of  feudalism  at  every  turn.  His  knowledge  was 
broad-based  upon  an  active  sympathy  with  the  lives 
of  the  people  ;  but  he  did  not  carry  the  sensitive- 
ness of  a  young  democracy  into  every  corner  of  the 
sphere  of  letters.  Hosea  Biglow  transported  himself 
at  will  into  the  atmosphere  of  Chaucer,  and  Yankee 
idioms  were  superseded  by  a  dispassionate  inquiry 
into  the  origin  of  English  metre.  By  the  quality  ami 
extent  of  his  sc-holarshij),  Mr.  Lowell  was  distin- 
guished amongst  his  conqieers.  By  the  dignity  and 
urbanity  with  which  he  discharged  his  duties  as  an 
official  representative  of  his  country,  he  won  the 
respect  of  all  classes  of  Englis-hmen.  His  gift  of 
speech,  jjersuasive,  picturesque,  always  exhaling  the 
essence  of  delicate  thought  and  observation,  was  not 
the  least  welcome  exjjression  of  a  rare  personality. 
He  represented  that  development  of  the  New 
England  mind  in  which  the  hard  shell  of  Puritanism 
is  penetrated  by  the  glow  of  a  healthier  experience, 
and  by  a  sympathetic  vision,  •'  without  which  all 
doctrine  is  chalT." 


GLASGOW   PROFESSORS    AND    THEIR    WORK. 

THE  lines  of  Scotch  Professors  may  truly  be  said 
to  have  fallen  in  ])leasant  places.  To  asso- 
ciate ])overty  with  the  Universities  of  Scotland  is  a 
great,  if  a  popular  mistake.  There  may  be  needy 
students  north  of  the  Tweed,  as  elsewhere,  but  so 
far  as  the  Professors  are  concerned,  it  is  safe  to 
declare  that  in  no  country  throughout  the  world  do 
their  salaries  mount  u])  to  such  a  sul)stantial  sum. 
Inequalities  no  doubt  exist.  Thus  in  Glasgow  the 
incomes  range  between  £1,758  enjoyed  by  the 
Professor   of    Mathematics,   and   £500    bv   the    Pro- 


fessor of  Astronomy,  while  in  Edinburgh  they 
range  between  £1,254  in  respect  of  Greek,  and 
£831  in  respect  of  Rhetoric.  But  the  averages,  at 
all  events  in  the  Faculty  of  Arts,  are  high,  being 
£1,337  for  Glasgow,  and  £1.079  for  Edinljurgh.  All 
this  may  be  changed  when  the  Ordinances  now 
being  drawn  u\t  by  the  University  Commission  come 
into  force,  but  as  yet  the  Glasgow  Professor  holds 
an  enviable  position.  He  finds  huuself  first  of 
all  in  i)ossession  of  an  income  running  into  four 
figures,  lie  has  also  a  comfortable  mansion  in  which 
to  live  within  the  ])recincts  of  the  College,  and  admir- 
able class-rooms  for  the  accommodation  of  himself 
and  his  students.  A  sijlendid  libi-ary  and  reading- 
room  a,Yc  at  his  disjiosal,  while  the  situation  of  the 
buildings  is  unrivalled  in  any  part  of  the  city.  As 
for  his  -vVork.  it  rarely  extends  beyond  six  months  in 
the  year.  He  has,  moreovei-,  any  advantage  that 
flows  from  being  connected  with  one  of  the  most 
ancient  Universities  of  the  country — an  institution 
whose  liLstory  is  inseparably  associated,  throughout 
its  \vhole  coiu-se,  with  the  ])rt)gress  of  modern  ideas, 
seeing  that  its  foundation,  about  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  was  contenqjoraneous  with  the 
invention  of  the  art  of  printing. 

The  ])resent  head  of  Glasgow  University — Dr. 
John  Caird — -xruist  be  looked  iqion  as  no  unworthy 
successor  to  the  long  line  of  able  and  distinguished 
men  who  have  filled  the  office  of  Princi]3al.  Born  at 
Greenott^  hi  1820,  Dr.  Caird  graduated  at  the  College 
over  which  he  noAV  jjresides,  and  became  minister  of 
Xewton-on-Ayr  in  his  twenty-fifth  year.  He  was 
called  to  the  Church  of  Lady  Tester's  at  Edinburgh 
in  1817,  and  it  might  have  been  thought  that  his 
great  gifts  would  have  sjjeedily  won  recognition  in 
the  historic  ca])ital  of  the  country.  This  was  not 
the  case,  however ;  for  two  j-ears  after  settling  in 
Edinburgh  he  moved  to  the  quiet  parish  of  Errol, 
situated  abotit  half-way  between  Dundee  and  Perth. 
Up  to  that  time,  indeed,  with  all  his  marvellous 
eloquence,  Dr.  Caird  had  failed  to  find  his  way  to 
the  hearts  of  the  j)eople.  He  was  looked  upon  as 
but  little  above  the  ordinary  run  of  pulpit  orators. 
In  illustration  of  this  a  good  story  has  been  pre- 
served. While  at  Errol.  Dr.  Caird  discovered  that 
the  acoustic  properties  of  the  church  were  by  no 
means  of  the  best,  and,  his  congregation  being  scanty, 
he  suggested  to  the  beadle  that  an  improvement 
might  be  effected  by  boarding  up  one  of  the  side 
aisles.  "That  may  do  all  very  well  for  you,"  replied 
the  shrewd  old  Scotchman,  "  but  what  will  we  do 
for  room,  if  we  should  get  a  ]ioi)ular  preacher  to 
follow  you'?"  If  the  beadle  lived  to  follow  Dr. 
Caird's  career,  ami  to  see  him  acknowledged  not 
only  as  the  greatest  ])reacher  of  his  time,  but  as  the 
eminent  chief  of  Glasgow  University,  he  may  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  at  Errol  he  entertained 
a  genius  unawares. 

Dr.  Caird  came  to  Glasgow  in  1857,  was  a^^ 
pointed  Professor  of  Divinity  five  years  later,  and 
has  held  the  ]iost  of  Priiu^ijial  since  1873.  Unlike 
some  of  his  iiredecessors.  Dr.  Caird  holds  no  minis- 
terial charge  in  connection  with  the  Princiiialship, 
but  he  ])reaches  once  a  month  in  the  University 
chapel  during  the  si'ssion.  and  the  calls  made  upon 
his  services  in  other  ([uarters  are  far  greater  than  he 
can  overtake.  He  is  not  a  jitolific  author,  the  only 
works  from  his  i)en,  besides  a  volume  of  sermons, 
being  an  essay  on  the  "Unity  of  tlie  Sciences  "  and 
an  "  Introduction  to  the  Philosophy  of  Religion." 
He  exercises  no  control  over  the  teaching  work  in 
the  University,  while  his  administrative  labours 
may  be  said  to  consist  in  presiding  over  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  Senate,  and,  in  the  absence  of  the 
Chancellor,  over  the  meetings  of  the  University 
Court.  Di-.  Caird  might  not  find  it  easy  to  define 
his  own  duties,  but  liis  imnu'diate  predecessor,  Dr. 
Barclay,  had  no  such  difficulty.  When  congratu- 
lated in  185S  on  his  appointment  as  Princiiial,  Dr. 
Barclay  said,  in  his  own  ])ithy  way,  "  Oh  yes,  I 
deserve  to  be  congratulated.  There's  a  good  house, 
a  fair  stipend,  nothing  to  do.and  six  months'  holiday." 


August  1/),  1891.] 


THE     SPEAKER. 


197 


ediu'ation  u])oii  lines  not  ilosijrned  by  their  pastors 
and  masters.  Tom  docs  his  <|uai>tiim  of  Latin,  and, 
as  k)nfj  as  he  escapes  absolute  disgrace,  fares  little 
how  small  a  fraction  of  his  intellipeneo  he  bestows 
njion  the  task:  the  full  lujwers  of  his  mind  are  re- 
served for  framing  the  rules  of  the  cyclinR  club  and 
decidinfj  whether  or  not  Jones  minor  shall  be  allowed 
to  play  in  tlie  eleven.  These  matters  settled,  he  takes 
his  supiier  with  a  sense  of  "  somethinp;  aeeomijlished, 
somethiuK  done,"  which  no  school  success  could 
sui>|>ly,  and  prejmres  himself  with  i)atience  to 
render  unto  C'jc-iar  or  .\cnoi)hon  the  dues  which  an 
inct)mprelicnsil)lc  late  compi'ls  him  to  give  to  those, 
to  him,  eminently  uninteresting  personages.  The 
real  business  of  life,  however,  he  considers,  is  niean- 
whili'  at  a  standstill. 

Who  shall  say  that  he  is  not  right  V  It  is  at  least 
au  o|)en  question  whether  the  education  that  goes  on 
in  tlie  playground  is  not  quite  as  fruitful  in  good 
results  as  that  which  is  carried  on  in  the  sclioolroom. 
There  the  boy  learns  to  meet  his  fellows,  to  boar  his 
part  in  common  amusements,  to  contend  with- 
out bad  temper,  and  to  subordinate  self  to  party. 
To  these  educating  influences  is  now  added,  in 
instinctive  conformance  to  tlie  s])irit  of  the  time, 
precisely  the  kind  of  training  which  is  most  needed 
for  the  formation  of  good  citi/.ens.  In  view  of  recent 
develoi)ments  of  self-government,  the  increased  jxiwer 
of  municii)alities  and  the  new  responsil)ilities  thiinvn 
npon  local  oi-gauisations  throughout  the  kingdom, 
there  could  be  no  bi'tter  prei)aratioii  for  the  duties 
of  a  citizen  than  the  ))raetic(>  in  the  transaction  of 
business,  the  familiarity  with  methods  of  corjiorate 
action,  which  our  sehooll)oys  and  schoolgirls  are 
thus  unconsciously  acquiring.  When  our  elementai'y 
schools  have  tleveloi)ed  their  social  life  sufliciently 
to  induce  the  formation  of  similai'  habits  to  a 
greater  extent  than  at  pi-esent,  they  too  will  be 
bearing  their  full  share  in  the  training  of  our  citizens. 
Hitherto  the  class-room  has  been  too  much  the  be-all 
and  end-all  of  their  existence,  and  the  cause  of  real 
education  has  been  retarded  thereby. 


OPEN    QUlvSTlOXS. 


TV. — What  cax  we  do  for  thk  Critu-s? 

rilHE  authors  are  going  to  have  a  nice  little  did)  in 
X  Piccadilly  all  to  themselves.  I  have  heard  that 
critics  are  to  be  eligible  for  it :  but,  if  this  is  so,  I  do 
not  think  that  many  critics  will  dare  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  opportunity.  ^Vhere  there  are  clubs, 
there  are  dining-rooms;  and  where  there  are  dining- 
rooms,  there  are  table-knives.  Critic's  cannot  be 
expected  to  run  needless  risks.  Kven  if  there  were 
no  danger,  there  would  be  uiii)leasaiitness.  It  would 
be  trying  for  a  jioor  little  critic  to  enter  the  smoking- 
room,  and  to  see  six  authors  with  an  archdeacon  at 
their  head  walk  out  in  disgust  and  dignity.  Besides, 
critics  are  not  so  well  paid  as  authors :  they  cannot 
afford  to  dress  so  well  :  the\-  would  jirobably  steal 
the  authors"  hats. 

But  something  ought  to  be  done  for  tiie  critics. 
They  sulTer  much.  First,  their  nerves  suffer.  They 
have  to  read  horrible  stories  aliout  murders,  and 
ghosts,  and  mesmerism.  This  is  ruin  to  tlu;  nerves 
of  critics.  They  go  skiiijiing  lightly  through  the 
first  volume,  fall  into  something  awful,  and  are 
brought  home  on  shuchiers.  Nobody  cares.  Tlien, 
again,  their  ojiinions  siilVer:  they  have  their  dearest 
convictions  assaulted  by  agnostical  novels  :  Robert 
Elsmere  knocks  their  creed  into  space,  and  ^liss 
Edna  Lyall  catches  it  as  it  drops.  Lastly,  their 
hearts  suffer  from  laceraticnis.  The  heroine,  in 
her  sinqjle  dress  of  some  soft,  white  clinging 
material,  makes,  iierhaps.  her  innocent  little 
mistake.  We  all  know  what  that  mistake  is.  She 
sees  through  the  foliage  in  the  dimly-lighted  con- 
servatory the  hero  (it  is  not  really  the  hero)  kissing 
(if  it   is-  the    hero,  he  is  not   really  kissing,  but  re- 


moving a  lly  from  the  eye)  her  black-haired  rival. 
(If  it  is  the  liero,  and  he  »«  ki.-^ing.  then  it  is  not  the 
rival  but  his  own  sister.)  .She  goes  to  her  njom,  and 
flings  herself  on  her  bed,  and  at  last  finds  the  relief 
of  tears.  All  this  telU  .,n  the  critics.  They  want  to 
soothe  her  and  comfort  her  ;  or  to  wring  her  neck; 
or  to  do  something  to  -^lop  her.  All  this  snil'ering  is 
inseiiarable  from  the  critic's  regular  work. 

It  isolnioiis  that  it  is  not  exactly  a  club  which 
the  critics  re<iuire.  It  seems  to  be  rather  a  hosjiital 
or,  perhai)s.  an  asylum.  It  must  be  some  iilace 
where  they  will  be  treated  kindly,  and  where  each 
critic  can  be  kept  ap:ut  from  the  rest.  If  they  are 
kejit  together,  they  will  fight.  I  have  exaiiiined 
certain  articles  on  criticism  by  critics,  ami  I  lind  that 
in  all  of  them  the  writer  seems  to  be  trying  to  say 
two  things  espeeiall\  : 

1.  ."My  criticism  and  l"rench  criticism  is  g(Jod. 

2.  The  other  is  Ijad. 

Now  it  is  clear  that  critics  who  disaiijirove  of 
one  another  to  this  extent  cannot  safely  be  kept 
together.  That  is  the  advantage  of  the  asylum. 
Kach  could  have  a  -eiiarate  cell —a  i)added  cell. 
The  authors  might  provide  the  jjadding  out  of  their 
books,  i)erlia|)s.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is 
the  (luestion  of  expense  to  be  considered.  Critics, 
as  has  been  already  jiointed  out,  are  not  rich  men. 
If  the  authors  ])ro\ided  the  iiadding,  they  might 
think  that  they  hail  done  enough :  tliey  are  fre- 
(|uently  inclineil  to  think  this.  A  cemetery  would 
be  kejil  up  at  much  less  cost  than  an  asylum. 
There  would  only  Ije  the  initial  exjiense  for  the 
ground,  and  jiossibly  some  kind  novelist  would 
lirovide  a  little  plot.  It  could  be  planted  with 
wheat  and  tares.  Mild  oats,  and  other  serials. 
The  inscriptions  would  cost  very  little,  because 
Englisli  ci-itieisni  is  ^o  sljockingly  anonymous  :  and 
tlie  tombstones  would  naturally  take  the  form  of  a 
broken  column.  There  is  much  to  be  saiil  for  the 
project,  but  it  is  to  be  i"eared  that  the  authoi-s  would 
bring  it  into  contempt.  They  would  call  the  critics' 
cemetery  the  '•  Saintsbiirying  (iround,"  and  that 
would   never  do. 

It  is  really  very  difliciilt  to  -.ay  what  we  can  do 
for  the  critics.  It  is  a  (|Uestioii  which  has  not  been 
del >a ted  sutlieieiitly.  People  moreoftiMi  ask  fioir  they 
can  do  for  tlio  critics.  During  the  dull  si-ason  perhai)s 
we  may  be  able  to  get  iqi  some  correspondence  on 
the  subject. 


THE    WEEK. 

Mh.  LowKi.i,  wasso  well  known  in  London  society 
that  he  might  almost  have  claimed  to  i)ass  nnister  as 
an  Englislimaii.  He  was  very  jiopular  as  a  diner- 
out,  and  those  persons  who  in  recent  years  were 
invited  to  meet  him  in  Belgravia  and  .Mayfair  justly 
esteemed  themselves  fortunate.  His  talk  was  lively, 
.authoritative,  bristling  with  facts  and  illustrations. 
Perhaps  it  was  suggestive  of  the  critic  rather  than 
thejioet:  for  it  was  only  to  his  intimate  friends,  or 
when  moved  out  of  his  common  mood,  that  .Mi{. 
Lowi;ll  revealed  those  "  silent  silver  lights  un- 
dreamed-of" which  were  hidden  from  the  common 
gaze.  In  the  many  notices  of  his  life  which  have  a]>- 
jieared  in  the  daily  pai>ers  e(im]>aratively  little  atten- 
tion has  been  ))aid  to  the  wonderfully  lieautiful  sjieeoh 
which  he  delivered  at  the  great  meeting  of  American 
citizi'iis  held  in  London  after  the  assassination  of 
Prksidi^nt  Garfiki.i).  No  more  ex(iui>ite  jirose 
elegy  was  ever  iiioiiduneed  u))ona  imlilic  man,  an<l  to 
read"  it  in  the  column--  of  the  newsiiapers  was  a  delight 
to  mind  and  soul.  But  the  s|)eech  w;is  badly  de- 
livered, and  till'  Americans  who  were  pri\ileged  to 
listen  to  it  failed  to  ))erceive  its  beauty.  All  their 
;ipi)lause  was  gi\in  to  an  Episeoiialian  liishoji  who 
liad  mastered  the  tricks  of  the  platform. 

Now  here  verily  is  a  strange  thing.     It  has  seemed 
good  to  the  literary  i-ritic  of  the  J'all  Mull   Gazette 


198 


THE     SPEAKER. 


[Aiig-ust  15,  1891. 


to  sugpest  that  the  i)lot  of  "  Friend  Perditus,"  a  story 
iu  whifh  the  main  incident  turns  upon  a  man's  tera- 
]Kn-ary  loss  of  memory,  must  have  been  taken  from 
Mi{.  Makio.v  Crawi-ohd's  "Witch  of  Prague,"  in 
which  tlie  same  incident  occurs.  Surely  this  particular 
])lot  is  as  old  a'<  the  liills.  It  has  been  used  in  our 
own  time  by  such  writers  as  Mr.  Cl.\rk  RrssKi.r, 
and  Mr.  Cii.vri.es  Rkaue,  and  it  was  useil  more  than 
once  before  either  of  these  authors  was  born.  The 
critic  himself  must  have  been  suffering  from  tlie 
affliction  which  befell  Friend  Perditus  when  lie 
l)enned  his  egregiou.s  statement. 


The  Times  on  Thursday  morning  drew  attention 
to  the  fact  that  "  The  Last  Great  Naval  War,"  a 
booklet  which  yn'ofesses  to  give  an  account  'A  a 
struggle  to  the  death  between  England  and  France, 
had  been  jniblished  on  the  eve  of  the  visit  of  the 
French  fleet  to  our  .shores.  We  believe  that  this 
coincidence  ■was  quite  unintentional.  IIaiii)ily,  there 
is  nothing  in  Mr.  "  Nelson  Seaforth'.s  "  brilliant 
little  book  which  can  wound  the  legitimate  suscepti- 
bilities of  the  French.  Indeed,  it  is  rather  English- 
men who  might  comiilain  that  so  brilliant  and  able 
a  strategist,  so  clever  a  writer,  and  so  thorough  an 
expert  in  knowledge  of  our  naval  affairs,  should  have 
l)ul)lishcd  to  the  whole  world  the  tactics  which  nuist 
undoubtedly  be  followed  if  England  should  ever  have 
the  misfortune  to  find  herself  at  war  with  France. 
The  book  has  only  been  out  a  few  days  ;  but  is 
already  being  talked  of  everywhere,  and  bids  fair  to 
rival  '■  The  Battle  of  Dorking  "  iu  ))opularity.  In 
every  other  respect  it  surpasses  that  over-praised 
pamphlet. 


In  introducing  to  the  English  reader  Tol.stoi's 
study  of  Russian  peasant  character  and  satire  on 
tlie  fads  and  extravagances  of  modern  society  in  the 
land  of  the  Muscovite,  translated  by  Dr.  Dillon 
under  the  title  of  the  "  Fruits  of  Enlightenment," 
Mr.  Pinero  })uts  some  things  very  well.  The 
modern  English  i)laywrigbt  has  not  been  in  the 
habit  of  publishing  his  plays,  because  of  the  injurious 
condition  of  the  American  copyright  law,  which,  till 
now,  has  constituted  the  publication  of  his  play  a 
serious  financial  loss,  and  because  the  )jublic  likes  to 
take  its  reading  easily.  To  imagine  a  great  character 
or  a  grand  scene,  in  Shakespeare  or  Weisster, 
demands  a  more  exhausting  mental  effort  than  the 
realisation  of  a  creation  of  Th.\(;'KERAy  or  Dkkexs. 
This  intellectual  indolence  of  the  iniblic  Mr.  Pinero 
would  like  to  see  overcome,  for  he  thinks  the 
dramatic  form  is  the  nearest  a))proach  to  the  actual 
rejiroduction  of  life,  and  therefore  the  most  natural 
setting  for  the  study  of  character  and  incident. 


What  ^vill  the  novelists  do  if  i)eoi)le  begin  to 
read  dramas  instead?  Will  the  exti-aonlinary  time 
then  arrive,  imagined  by  a  fantastic  individual,  when 
])eo])le  will  Ije  paid  to  read  novels? 


Bi'T  Mr.  Pinero,  as  becomes  an  earnest  artist,  is 
anxious  to  see  our  acting  plays  jjublished,  because 
authors,  conscious  that  their  plays  will  be  subjected 
to  the  cool  and  critical  analysis  of  the  study,  will 
feel  it  incumbent  ui^on  them  to  jiay  closer  attention 
to  the  literary  quality  of  their  labours ;  and  also 
because  they  will  bo  strengthened  in  their  artistic 
pur|)ose  by  feeling  that  there  is  now  open  to  them  a 
medium  of  apiieal  from  the  occasionally  hastily 
formed  and  indefinite  ^•e^dict  of  the  theatre  to  the 
Avell-weighed.  deliberate,  and  final  ju<igment  of  the 
reading  jjublic. 


Why  is  Lamartine  not  read?  asks  M.  RAOtn, 
RosifeRES.  This,  his  centenary  year,  produced 
l)lenty  of  harangues,  and  memorial  verses,  and  paue- 
gyi'ics ;  yet  from  every  quarter  came  the  cry,  "  No 
one  reads  LA.MAiniNE  to-day."  The  main  reason  is, 
doubtless,  as  .M.  RosifeREs  has  it,  that  Lamartine  had 
not  suflicicnt  genius  to  invent  an  ideal  world  ;  nor  was 
he  able  to  concentrate  in  his  verse  thespirit  of  his  time. 
"  That  young  man's  language,"  said  De  Maistre,  after 
reading  La.martine's  fir.st  volume,  "is  exquisitely 
lulapted  for  the  expression  of  his  ideas.  We  shall 
see  what  he  will  do  when  the  age  of  ideas  comes." 
Tlie  age  of  ideas  never  came,  however.  His  fir.st 
volume,  "  Meditations,"  remains  the  best  of  his 
works.  It  is  quite  conventional  in  thought,  and 
rejieats  the  characteristic  imagery  of  tlie  later  ]joets 
of  the  eighteenth  century:  but  although  the  amount, 
the  value,  is  the  same,  he  has  exchanged  for  the 
c<)i)i)cr  coin  of  his  in-edecessors  pieces  of  gold. 


Are  we  forgetting  in  the  vogue  of  General 
JMarbot  that  there  were  others  who  wrote  memoirs 
of  France's  great  jjeriod  ?  Messrs.  Plon,  Nourrit 
cV  Co.  publish  a  collection  of  memoirs  of  the  ancien 
r(''</i)nc\  the  Revolution,  the  Empire,  and  the  Restora- 
tion, the  whole  forming  a  gossiping  history  of 
France.  Beginning  with  Col'nt  de  Cheverney, 
"  introducer  of  ambassadors,"  in  the  reign  of  Louis 
XV.,  we  can  follow  Frencli  history,  home  and 
foreign,  tlirougli  more  than  two  dozen  volumes  of 
memoirs,  souvenirs,  documents,  and  all  manner  of 
co'itfi  divcrx  by  the  Duchess  de  Tourzel,  governess 
of  the  royal  infants  from  ITSU-D.j ;  by  the  Mar- 
chioness  de  Montagu,  who  saw  tlie  actors  in  the 
French  Revolution  "  neither  tlirough  the  large  nor 
the  small  end  of  the  telescope,"  but  with  her  own  eyes  ; 
by  Baron  Hyde  de  Neuville,  who  would  not  bend 
to  Napoleon  ;  by  La  Roche.iacquelin  :  by  Metter- 
NICH,  and  a  bevy  of  lords  and  ladies,  concluding  with 
the  Marc(uis  de  Villeneuve's  "  Charles  X.  and 
Louis  XIX.,"  a  very  lively  picture  of  the  Court  of 
the  exiled  Bourbons. 


If  housekeepers  are  in  earnest  in  wisiiinp  in  benefit  tlie  utienii'loyed  in  Knst 
London,  tliey  shnuUl  Imy  Bryant  &  Mav'.s  M;itehea,  and  refuse  tlie  foreign  matches 
which  are  depriving  the  workers  in  East  London  of  a  larj^e  amount  in  weekly  wagt  s. 


In  his  new  novel,  "  Le  JIari  de  Jacqueline" 
(Charpentier),  Andr6  Theuriet,  who  is  a  sort  of 
Ftcnch  WiLLL\M  Bl.\ck,  returns  to  the  unsophis- 
ticated dwellers  among  the  fields  and  woods,  as  in 
his  ])opular  "  Reiue  des  Bois."  J.vt  ch'eline  de  Noirel, 
the  heroine,  is  plain-looking,  poor,  dowdyish,  ignorant 
of  books  and  of  the  world,  with  nothing  to  say  for 
herself,  and  yet  she  gains  our  interest  and  sympathy. 
^I.  Theuriet  in  his  tenderness  for  women  and 
their  faults  reminds  us  of  Jean  Paul  »iitnis  his 
spirituality. 

Since  Alphonse  Daudet  came  up  to  Paris  from 
the  South  of  l^'rance,  the  land  of  Tartaiiii  has  sent 
out  no  more  promising  writer  than  M.  Paul  Ari'jne. 
Wliat  has  hitherto  been  most  noted  about  his  work 
is  the  success  with  which — liaving  caused  the  Durance 
to  flow,  as  it  were,  in  the  channel  of  the  Seine — 
he  has  annexed  Paris  to  Tarascon.  "  He  is  the  most 
Parisian  of  Provencals,  and  the  most  Proven<,-al 
of  Parisians:"  and  Parisian  and  Proveu^-al  have 
collaljoratcd  in  his  new  work,  "  Les  Ogresses  "  (Cil\r- 
pentier),  the  former  suiJi)lying  the  observation,  and 
the  latter  the  fant;\stic  matter.  It  is  a  satire  on 
women,  witty,  poetical,  very  one-sided,  but  never 
rancorous.  

Two  recently  jiublished  books  dealing  with  the 
Revolution  are  ]\L  ^Maurice  Alrert's  "French  Litera- 
tui-e  under  the  Revolution,  etc.,"  and  "  Orators 
and  Tribunes,"  by  M.  Victor  du  Bled,  with  a  pre- 
fac^e  by  M.  JuLES  Claretie,  both  issued  by  Calmann 
LitvY.  The  former  was  delivered  as  lectures  to 
young  ladies,  with  this  result  among  others — that  iu 
a  study  of  Alfred  dk  Musset,  unable  to  describe 
De  Musset  as  he  was,  M.  Alhert  has  succeeded  to 


August  15,  1891.] 


THE     SPEAKER. 


1!)!) 


porfeotiou  in  deseribiiiK  liiiii  as  lie  was  not.  M.  nv 
Bled's  bot)k  is  aiiocdotic — a  iiiosaie,  none  the  less 
artistic  because  it  is  cousti-ucted  of  fragments. 


Mr.  Wii.i.ia.m  S.\rART  has  followed  up  his  adiiur- 
able  translation  of  Proficssok  Buii.m-15awi;rk'.s 
"  Capital  and  Interest  "  with  a  version  of  his 
'•  I'ositive  Theory  of  Cajjital"  (Mac.MII.I.AN).  I'Rt)- 
FKssoR  BtiiiM-BAWiaiK's  purpose  in  this  work  is  to 
find  for  the  vexed  problem  of  interest  a  solution 
whieh  invents  nothing-  and  assiuues  nothing,  but 
simply  and  truly  attemjtts  to  deduce  the  i)he- 
nomeua  of  the  format  ion  of  interest  from  the 
simi)lest  natural  and  i)sychological  ])rinci))l('s  of 
economic  science.  Mu.  S.maut  linds  that  I'koi'iossou 
Boii.m-Hawkrk'.s  theory  challenges  attrition  by  the 
originality  of  its  ideas  and  the  thoroughness  of  its 
treatment. 

Till-;  jirose  translation  of  the  Iliad  issued  Ijy 
Mkssr.s.  Pkrcivai,  iV:  Co.  was  the  literary  work  of 
Mr.  PfBVKs's  life.  Begun  in  IS7I,  it  was  comi)leted, 
after  many  interrujitions,  in  1SS4.  Dr.  K\i:ia\ 
AnnoTT  is  the  editor,  ;uid  introduces  the  translation 
with  an  exhaustive  analysis  of  the  Iliad. 


Siiaki:;.si'i;are  and  Bitrns  at  least  among  our 
great  poets  have  been  honoured  with  a  Concordance. 
Wordsworth,  as  yet,  has  oidy  a  "  Dictionary," 
jjublished  by  the  author,  "Sin.  J.  R.  Tutin, 
of  Hull,  who  was  already  known  as  being 
responsible  for  several  similar  enterprises.  Mr. 
TfTix's  useful  volume  contains  indices  to  all 
Wordsworth's  allusions  to  persons  and  i)laces, 
ai'ranged  in  sections  to  facilitate  reference ;  a 
collection  with  index  of  all  the  familiar  quotations  ; 
an  a])i)endix  containing  a  hitherto  unpublished  can- 
celleil  version  of  the  "  Ode  to  Duty,"  and  other 
matter.  The  edition  is  limited  to  six  hundred 
copies. 

WILI.IA^r  Ogilvir.  of  Pitteusear,  a  Professor  in 
Aberdeen  in  the  eighteenth  century,  whose  name  is 
hardlj-  known  now  even  in  Scotland,  wrote  an 
"  Essay  on  the  Right  of  Property  in  Land,"  in  which 
he  forestalled  Mr.  HK^•R^■  (iKOiKa:.  This  pamphlet, 
under  the  titleof  •'  Birthright  in  Land,"  is  }mblished 
by  Messrs.  Kegax  Paul  <S:  Co.,  with  biographical 
notes  by  Mr.  D.  C.  Mac  Donald,  of  Aberdeen. 
Ogii.vie.  on  account  of  his  advanced  ojainions,  lived 
practically  as  an  exile  in  his  own  eountrj'. 


A\'e  are  i)romised  a  Conservative  comic  weekly  on 
the  lines  of  the  American  I'uck;  to  be  called  Bin  Ben. 
Why  not  call  it  The  Primyose?  Mr.  W.  Arlisox, 
formerly  of  .S7.  Stephen  s  Revicir.  who  is  to  be  editor, 
ought  not  to  be  in  a  hurry  with  his  first  number. 
He  should  wait  and  take  a  lesson  from  Mark  Twai.v, 
who,  rumour  has  it,  is  about  to  start  a  comic  paper 
in  London  to  teach  us  '•  how  to  do  it." 


A    FREN'CH    PROPHl>7r    OP    EVIL. 

Paris,  Au-iist  llth. 

THAT  "old  men  are  not  always  wise"  is  as  true 
now  as  when  it  was  iirst  said,  but  oM  i)eo))le 
are  generally  interesting  and  often  delightful.  When 
a  man  has  sjjcnt  a  long  life  in  the  service  of  his 
country  and  in  the  ]>ursuit  of  learning,  his  ex- 
periences cannot  but  be  worth  hearing.  If  retired 
from  the  active  pursuit  of  politics,  the  judgment  of 
a  veteran  has  a  special  worth  ;  with  nothing  to  gain 
or  lose,  in  a  personal  sense,  during  the  few  re- 
maining years  of  life,  opinions  become  singularly 
dispassionate. 

M.  Barthelemy  Saint-Hilaire  is  now  in  his  eighty- 
sixth  year.   The  last  decade  has  made  little  difference 


in  his  external  ap|)earaM(o,  which  is  still  remarkable 
for  its  robustness.  Free,  happily,  from  inlirmities— 
save  a  long-standing  defect  in  one  eye-  the  aged 
scholar  is  able  to  piusue  his  studies  and  fidlil  Ids 
engagements  with  sei  iijiiilous  assiduity  and  exacti- 
tude. Winter  ;ind  summer  he  rises  befori-  daybreak, 
lights  his  lire,  makes  Ids  coffee,  and  sits  down  in  hw 
study  to  commune  with  the  immortal  sjjirits  of  the 
l)ast. 

On  enteiing  the  libiaiy,  be(|tieathed  to  his  friend 
and  i)ui)il  by  the  i)hilns,,pber  Cousin,  one  has  a  sen- 
sation of  anti(iuity.  'J'lds  lioary  head  and  strong 
face  with  massive  .jaw  suggest  the  busts  of  Cato  and 
Seneca.  The  impression  is  intensified  as  the  visitor 
runs  his  eye  over  the  seulptured  images  of  the  wise 
men  and  deities  of  Hellas  surmounting  the  book- 
cases. By  long  eonnnerce  with  the  originals  or  their 
exponents,  the  oc<-upant  ha.s  not  only  imljibed  the 
genius  of  ancient  Greece,  but  also  taken  on  its  out- 
ward form.  l'\)r,  as  he  says,  in  rejily  to  a  reference 
to  the  article  in  the  lulinhurijh  Jleiien;  (piestioning 
the  authenticity  of  the  lately-discovered  Aristotelian 
lja))yrus:  "When  one  has  lived  in  intimacy  so  to 
speak  with  Aristotle  all  one's  life,  it  is  not  jjossible 
to  mistake  his  style,  ^'ou,  for  instance,  would  not 
coid'ound  a  i)assage  of  Macaulay  with  a  jjlay  of 
Shakesjjeare,  no  more  than  we  should  the  writings 
of  N'oltaire  and  Bossnet.  The  article  in  the  J'Jdiri- 
hun/li  disi)lays  great  learning  and  pains  to  elucidate 
the  subject,  l)ut  I  do  not  agree  with  the  writer's  con- 
clusion that  he  was  not  in  jjreseuee  of  a  genuine  work 
of  Aristotle." 

But,  besitles  having  studied  the  great  Grecian 
all  his  life.  M.  Saint-llilaiie  has  been  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs.  It  is  true  that  this  is  now  ten 
years  ago,  during  the  eventful  period  of  the  Tunisian 
occupation,  for  which  stroke  of  i)olicy  the  executor  of 
the  high  works  of  President  (Jrevj^  is  by  no  means 
disposed  to  go  into  sackcloth  and  ashes.  He  still 
follows  the  course  of  affairs,  domestic  and  foreign, 
with  an  eager  and  somewhat  troubled  eye,  and  is 
not  slow  to  come  to  .a  conclusion  on  the  whole 
matter.  When  I'rince  Bismarck  was  so  sunuuarily 
got  rid  of  last  year  the  ei-deiaiit  French  Minister 
thus  judged  the  situation: — "I  told  my  colleagues 
in  the  Senate:  'The  sole  reason  which  can  have  in- 
duced the  Emperor  to  |)art  with  his  Chancellor  is 
that  M.  de  Bismarck  ^\•as  o])i)osed  to  a  Russian 
alliance.'  And  events  have  proved  this  to  be  the 
case,  in  des])ite  of  the  apocryi)lial  letter  of  the 
Prince  i)rinteil  by  the  Flr/aro  (which  has  since  been 
denied  l)y  its  alleged  author).  Russia  has  never 
forgiven,  and  never  will  forgive,  "SI.  de  Bismarck 
for  his  conduct  at  the  Congress  of  Berlin,  and  the 
Prince  knows  it.  ^Moreover,  he  knows  what  tiermany 
has  to  fear  from  Russia,  and  so  was  not  i)leased  to 
see  the  young  Kaiser  so  eager  to  make  advances 
to  the  C/.ar." 

"And  you  say  the  same  thing  about  France, 
Monsieur  y"  In  this  respect  M.  Saint-Hilaire  has  never 
varied.  He  may  ha\e  become  moi-e  sce))tical  as  to 
the  fitness  of  his  countrymen  for  Rei)ublican  institu- 
tions ;  he  has  never  wavered  about  the  imi>olicy  of 
an  alliances  Ijetween  .Muscovite  despotism  and  tiallic 
deniocrai-y.  "Let  there  be  no  ndstake  about  this," 
rei)eats  the  aged  statesman.  "  Russia  wants  Con- 
stautinojile,  and  l-'rancc  desires  her  lost  provinces;  a 
bargain  is  to  Ijc  strni'k  on  this  basis  understood  if 
not  expressed  —  in  which  we  stake  the  independence 
of  our  country.  For  if  defeated,  as  would  be  most 
likely,  we  -houlil  be  dismendjered  ;  I'ranee  would 
suffei'  the  fall'  of  Poland.  It  is  absurd  to  su])|)ose 
that  there  is  any  les-^  issue  at  stake.  Russiti  has  not 
renounced  her  as|)iiatii>ns.  and  uevei-  will  until  they 
are  attained.  It  was  to  jireveiit  this,  the  seizure  of 
the  key  of  the  worlil,  as  Napoleon  called  it  at  the 
Congress  of  Erfiirt.  that  we  sacrificed  the  lives  of 
IdU.OOO  soldiers  in  the  Crimea.  A\"hen  I  think  of  the 
future  I  fear  for  my  country "  and  the  solemn 
features  of  the  gazer  into  futurity  assumeil  the 
asi)ect  of  a  seer.  "  Yes."  ho  repeate<l,  in  mystical 
manner,  "  I  see  it  all.  clear  before  me." 


200 


THE     SPEAKER. 


[August  15,  1891. 


It  is  easy  to  smile  at  these  visions  as  it  was  to 
laufrh  at  Heine's  jirophccy  of  the  burning  of  Paris, 
but  wlio  shall  say  what  the  future  may  not  have 
in  store  ?  When  one  has  been  born  under  the 
shadow  of  the  H evolution,  and  lived  to  see  Kings  and 
Emjierors  driven  from  their  thrones,  and  Anarchy 
set  up  on  high,  the  mind  must  be  prone  to  foresee 
things  darkly.  To  the  eye  of  the  i)hilosoi)her  the 
l)rosi5ects  of  his  country  are  not  reassuring.  There 
is  the  old  proneness  to  run  after  jihantasies,  to 
imagine  vain  things,  and  to  cherish  delusions. 
Ministers  go  about  the  country  i-epeating  their  little 
sayings,  ha]>j)y  if  by  chance  they  say  a  good  thing. 
Boiilanger  is  done  for,  but  Boulangism  is  not  extinct. 
If  the  man  had  not  been  a  rogue  he  would  have 
succeeded.  The  j^eople  are  no  more  Rei)ublican  to- 
day than  they  were  thirt j'  years  ago ;  tliey  simjily 

ask  to  be  governed.     The  President but  here  we 

trench  on  delicate  ground,  and  it  is  best  not  to 
repeat  that  "a  perfectly  honest  man  can  become  a 

jierfect "      Also  on  the  rivalry  of  his  successors, 

about  which  some  pithy  words  were  sjioken,  it  is 
well  to  draw  the  veil.  It  is  not  material  for  gossip, 
but  matter  for  instruction  that  we  look  for  in  the 
house  of  the  sage. 

Reverting  to  the  dominion  of  letters,  we  once 
more  have  occasion  to  remark  the  wonderful  fresh- 
ness and  lucidity  of  the  old  scholar's  mind.  He  re- 
peats from  memory  the  various  editions  of  the  Dic- 
tionary of  the  Academy— 1693,  1715,  1834,  1S7S— 
confirming  his  recollection  by  reference  to  the  great 
work  in  his  library,  which  in  every  case  proved 
correct.  He  tells  of  his  collaboration  with  Littre 
for  sixty-five  years — "  that  lay  Benedictine  who 
worked  thirteen  or  fourteen  hours  a  day,  and  left 
a  monument  far  more  naiant  than  our  dictionary" — 
he  hits  off  a  rapid  sketch  of  his  colleagues  in  the 
Palais  Mazariu  still  engaged  over  the  letter  A,  and 
pronounces  the  scheme  of  the  "  Dictiounaire  his- 
toriane  "  to  be  imc  folie. 

In  a  raj)id  survey  over  the  face  of  the  globe,  the 
sagacious  student  dwells  with  ])ride  and  ]ileasure 
ou  the  work  performed  by  England.  Incidentally 
we  are  assured  that  it  is  a  mistake  that  England  or 
the  English  arc  so  unpo]3ular  as  writers  like  Paul 
de  Cassagnac  and  Charles  Laurent  would  make  us  be- 
lieve. He,  almost  alone  among  his  countrymen,  re- 
joices that  '•  you  exclude  the  works  of  M.  Zola,  to 
prohibit  the  sale  of  obscene  ])ictures."  The  moralist 
regrets  tliat  he  cannot  see  the  trace  of  a  like  si)irit 
here.  As  a  thoughtful  student,  this  experienced 
observer  acknowledges  that  the  day  will  come 
when  the  British  Empire  shall  become  a  thing  of 
the  past ;  but  he  hopes  that  all  Britannia's  chil- 
dren will  bear  proudly  their  heritage,  and  avert 
the  knell  of  doom  by  maintenance  of  the  traditional 
(lualities  of  the  race.  All  these,  and  many  other, 
things  are  saitl  by  this  lively  octogenarian,  who 
goes  to  spend  the  vacation  Avith  3Ille.  iJosne, 
Mme.  Thiers'  sister. 


A    CORRECTED    CONTEMPT. 

ri'lHE  whistles  had  sounded,  and  we  were  already 
I  moving  slowly  out  of  St.  David's  Station,  Exeter, 
to  continue  our  journey  ■westward,  when  the  door 
was  pulled  open  and  a  brown  bag,  followed  by  an 
over-dressed  young  man,  came  flj'ing  into  the  com- 
partment where  I  sat  alone  and  smoked. 

The  youth  scrambled  to  a  seat  as  the  door 
slammed  behind  him  :  remarked  that  it  was  "a  near 
shave:"  and  laughed  nervously,  as  if  to  assure  me 
that  he  found  it  a  joke.  His  face  was  pink  with 
rnnning,  and  the  colour  contrasted  unpleasantly  with 
his  pale  sandy  hair  and  moustache.  He  wore  a 
light  check  stiit,  a  light-blue  tie  knotted  through  a 
"  Mizpah "  ring,  a  white  straw  hat  with  a  blue 
ribbon,  and  two  diamond  finger-rings,  doubtfully 
genuine.  One  felt  that,  in  moments  of  candid 
self-communion,    he    owned  his    aiipearance  to    be 


"  rather  nobby."  Being  conscious,  however,  that  it 
needed  a  few  rejiairs,  he  opened  the  brown  bag,  jJuUed 
out  a  duster  and  (licked  away  for  half-a-minute  at 
his  l)rown  boots.  Next,  with  a  handkerchief,  he 
mopi)ed  his  face,  and  wi|)ed  romid  the  inner  edge 
first  of  his  straw  liat,and  then  of  his  collar  and  cutTs. 
After  this  he  stood  up,  shook  his  trowsers  until  they 
hung  with  a  satisfying  gracefulness,  produced  a 
cigar-case — covered  with  forget-me-nots  in  crewel 
work — and  a  copy  of  the  Sporting  Times,  sat  down 
again,  and  asked  me  if  I  could  oblige  him  with  a 
light. 

J  think  the  train  was  passing  Dawlish  before  the 
cigar  was  fairly  started,  and  his  jiink  face  hidden 
behind  the  pink  newspaper.  But  even  then  his 
mann'uvres  allowed  me  no  rest.  Between  me  and  the 
wholesome  sea  his  diamond  rings  kept  flirting  round 
the  edge  of  the  Sportin;]  Times,  his  brown  boots 
shifting  their  position  ou  the  cushion  in  front  of  him, 
his  legs  crossing,  uncrossing,  recrossing,  his  cigar- 
smoke  rising  in  cpiick.  uneasy  jjuffs. 

Between  Teignmouth  and  Newton  Abbot  this 
restlessness  increased.  He  dropped  some  cigar-ash 
on  his  waistcoat  and  arose  to  shake  it  otf.  Twice  or 
thrice  he  picked  \\\i  the  paper  and  set  it  down  again. 
As  we  ran  into  Newton  Abbot  Station,  he  came  over 
to  my  side  of  the  carriage  and  scanned  the  small 
crowd  upon  the  platform.  Suddenly  his  colour 
mounted  to  a  furious  crimson  blush. 

The  train  stopped,  and  he  hesitated  for  a  moment; 
then  bent  aci'oss,  and,  opening  the  carriage  door, 
stepped  out. 

A  little  old  man  with  an  insignificant  face,  a 
greenish-black  suit  that  spoke  eloquently  of  con- 
tinued depression  in  some  village  retail  trade  came 
tottering  up,  his  watery  eyes  full  of  pi-ide  and 
gladness. 

"  Whai.  Chorley,  lad,  there  you  be,  to  be  shure — 
an',  gude  "eart  alaive !  if  I  han't  been  glazin,"  these 
vorty  zecconds  at  a  girt  stranger  chap,  thinkiu"  he 
raus'  be  you.  Shaake  your  old  father's  fist,  lad. 
You'm  lookin'  as  peart  as  a  gladdy  —  ee's  fay 
you  be."  ^ 

The  youth,  consumed  with  a  miserable  shame,  put 
his  hand  into  his  father's,  and  tried  to  withdraw  him 
a  little  up  the  platform,  so  as  to  be  out  of  hearing. 

"  Noa,  uoa ;  we'll  bide  where  us  be,  zoa's  to  be 
handy  vur  th'  train  when  her  ztarts  off.  Her  don't 
stay  no  while,  to  menshuu.  I  vound  Zam  Grigg 
zarvin'  here  as  porter — you  mind  Zam  ?  Danged  if 
I  knowed  en.  at  vurst,  the  vace  of  en  's  that  altered ; 
but  her  zays  to  me.  '  how  be  gettin'  on,  Izaac  "?  '  an' 
then  I  zaw  who  'twas— an'  us  fell  to  talkin'  "bout 
how  long  the  train  ud  stap  here,  an'  th'  upshot  es 
that  her  staps  vaive  minnits — — " 

His  sou  interrupted  him  with  mincing  haughti- 
ness. 

"  'Ow's  mothaw?" 

'•  AVeist  an'  ailin,'  pore  sowl — turble  weist  au' 
ailiii'.    Herd  ha'  come  to  gie  thee  a  kiss,  if  her'd  been 

in  a  vit  staiite  :  but  her's  zent  thee  zummat " 

He  searched  the  tail  ])Ockets  of  his  threadbare 
coat,  and  i)roduced  a  greasy  pajier  of  sandwiches  and 
an  ai)i)le.     1  saw  the  young  man  wini'e. 

'•  Her  reck'ned  you'd  vcel  a  zinkin'  i'  the  stonnnick, 
travellin'  arl  the  waay  from  Hexeter  to  Plymouth. 
There,— stow  it  awaiiy.  Not  veelin'  peckish";'  Never 
mind  :  there's  plenty  o'  taime  betwix'  this  an'  Ply- 
mouth." 

'•  No,  thenks." 

"  Tut-tut,  now "    There  was  a  brief  struggle,  at 

the  end  of  which  the  youth  accei^ted  tlie  packet,  on 
which  spots  of  grease  were  slowly  extending  over 
the  white  papei-  wrapper.  The  little  man  looked 
wistfully  up  in  his  son's  face  :  his  eyes  were  full  of 
love,  but  seemed  to  search  for  something. 

"  There,  now.  Chorley — Zinime  I've  been  doin"  arl 
the  tarlk,  an'  your  mother  '11  be  i)uttin'  me  dree- 
score  o'  questions,  when  I  gets  whome.  How  dost 
laike  it,  up  to  Hexeter ;  an  how"st  get  along"?" 

"  Oh,  kepital — kepital.     Give  mothaw  my  love." 
"  E'es  shin-e.     Fainely  plaised  her'll  be,  when  her 


August  lo,  1891.] 


THE     SPEAKER. 


201 


hears  tbee'rt  zo  naicely  adrest.  ller'd  niaiide  iij)  lici- 
maind,  pore  sowl,  that  arl  your  Ijuttons  lul  be  out, 
wi'out  her  to  zee  arter  num.  J5iit  I  dechire  theo'rt 
(h-est  laike  a  to)izawycr." 

And  with  this,  somehow,  ;i  silence  I'ell  between 
the  two.  The  time  ran  on,  and  the  old  man.  tlioufrh 
he  knew  he  would  l)e  cross-examined  on  every  second 
as  soon  as  lu-  reacheil  home,  shil'tcd  his  Axeipht  from 
one  foot  to  the  otiier,  and  had  not  :\  word.  The 
younjr  couiiter-juni])er  nuuiibled  a  word  or  two  and 
averted  his  eyes  fioni  his  father's  (quivering  lip,  to 
stare  uj)  the  phitform. 

At  last  the  old  man  said — • 

"That  there's  a  stubbard-ajJiile  you've  fjot  in  your 
liand." 

'•  Yes  ;  so  I  see." 

The  guard  shouted,  "Take  your  seats,  ])lease," 
and  held  the  door  while  they  shook  hands  again. 
"Charley"  leant  out  at  the  window  as  our  tr.iin 
moved  olT. 

"  Her  comes  from  the  zeccond  tree  i)ast  th'  inyon- 
bed — al'ays  the  vurst  to  raijjen,  tliat  there  tree." 

The  jjoor  old  man  broke  into  something  resem- 
bling a  run  as  he  followeil  our  carriage  to  .shout 
the  next  sentence. 

"Turble  bad  zoasou  viu-  /.aider!" 

AVith  that  he  halted  at  the  end  of  the  platform, 
and  watched  us  out  of  sight.  His  son  flung  himself 
on  the  seat,  and  drew  a  long  breath.  It  was  twenty 
minutes  before  his  blush  faded,  and  he  regained  con- 
fidence enough  to  ask  me  for  another  match. 

.Just  eighteen  months  after,  I  was  travelling  up  to 
London  in  the  Zulu  express.  There  were  half  a  dozen 
passengers  in  the  comjiartmeiit  with  me  :  and  when 
we  halted  at  Newton  Abbot,  another  stepi)ed  in — an 
old  man,  in  a  black  suit. 

I  recognised  him  at  once.  And  yet  he  was  changed, 
almost  woefully.  He  had  fallen  away  in  flesh  :  the 
lines,  1  thought,  had  deepened  beside  his  upper 
lip :  and  in  sjiite  of  a  glossier  suit,  he  had  the 
appearance  of  hopelessness  which  he  had  not  worn 
when  I  saw  him  for  the  first  time. 

He  took  his  seat,  looked  about  him  vacantly,  and 
caught  the  eye  of  an  acquaintance — a  ruddy  farmer, 
with  thick  grey  side-whiskers — who  nodded  from  the 
far  corner. 

"Travellin"  up  to  Exeter':'"  a.sked  this  farmer, 
with  a  curiously  gentle  voice.  The  old  man  bt-nt  his 
heatl  for  "  j'es,"  and  I  saw  the  tears  s])ring  into  his 
weak  eyes. 

"  There's  no  need  vur  to  ax  your  arrand,"  the 
other  went  on.  drop])ing  his  tone  almost  to  a  whisper. 

"  Xaw,  uaw.  I  be  goin'  up  to  berry  en — e'es, 
VTiends,"  he  went  on,  looking  aroinid  and  asking, 
with  that  glance,  the  sympathy  of  all  jnesent,  "  to 
berry  my  zon,  my  clever  zou,  mj-  only  zon."  ^'f 

Nobody  spoke  for  a  few  seconds.  Then  the  kindly 
farmer  observed — 

"Aye,  I've  heerd  zay  "a  was  clever  to  his  trajide. 
Uxtable  an'  Co.,  his  employers,  sjioke  very  han'some 
of  en,  they  tell  me.  I  can't  call  to  maind,  tho',that 
I've  a-zet  eves  'j)ou  the  voung  man.  since  he  was  a 
little  tacker." 

The  old  man  began  to  fumble  in  his  breast- 
pocket, and  drawing  out  a  i)liotograph,  handed  it 
across. 

"  That  there's  the  last  that  was  tuk  of  en." 

"  Pore  young  cha]),"  saitl  the  farmer,  holding  up 
the  likeness  in  front  of  him,  and  studying  it ;  "  pore 
young  chap  !  Zuch  a  respectable  youth  to  look  at ! 
They  tell  me  'a  made  ye  a  good  son,  too." 

"  Good  ? "  The  tears  rolled  down  the  father's 
face  and  .splashed  on  his  hands,  trembling  as  they 
folded  over  the  head  of  his  stout  stick.  "Good?  I 
b'lieve,  vriends.  ye'U  call  it  good  when  a  j'oung  man 
zends  the  third  o'  his  earniu's  week  b>-  week  to  helj) 
his  ])arents.  That's  what  my  zou  did,  vriun  the 
taiine  he  left  whome.  An'  presunts — never  a  month 
went  by.  but  zouie  little  gift  ud  come  by  the  jiost- 
man  :  an"  little  'twas  he'd  got  to  live  'pon,  at  the 
best,  the  dear  lad " 


The  farmer  was  iia-^ing  back  the  jihotograph. 
".May  1  see  it':""  I  asked  :  and  the  old  man  nodded. 

It  was  the  same  face  -the  same  suit,  even  -that 
had  roused  my  contc  iii|)t  eighteen  months  before. 


I'RO.M    TIIK    MOLNTAINS. 

COME  up  lulu  tlio  iiiouulaiiis.     Set  your  feet 
Liglit-licurliMlly  upon  tlu'ir  wriiiklfd  IIiM>rs. 
And  U'tive  tlie  valli^y   to  it«  Binile.      Be  yunrs 
To  si-.ile  the  trend, ..<  of  tin-  licaviru.s  nnil  meet 
Till'  mighty  wind  iipm  its  throned  .se:it. 

Ci.nii-  up  intij  the  niuuutuin.s.      (jrief  and  care 
Make  liaggard  evni   llie  diviuest   vale, 
And  I);iflied  liopes  hliall  hardly  lo.se  their  palo 

Complexion  in  tliat  soft  and  gentle  air. 

Having  a  need  they  may  not  cancel  there. 

.Set  tliem  upon  tlie  moiuitains.     Bid  them  climb,    . 

Storey  by  cloudy  storey,  .some  vast  hill. 

And  there,  erect  upon  its  pinnacle, 
Deliver  them  to  pro.sences  sublime 
That  know  not  space  and  have  forgotti;ii  time. 

Amuose  Bennett. 


LETTERS    TO    THE    EDITOR. 

THE    SITCATKlX    IN'    IRELAXD. 

Sir, — I  have  read  with  a  pleasure  I  cannot  indicate  your 
leading  article  in  your  issui'  of  last  Saturday — ■"'  Home  Rule 
To-Day."  It  is  an  article  not  only  luminously  clear,  but  it  is 
also — and  this  is  vastly  better — an  article  luminously  fair.  You, 
an  English  Protestant  Lil)eral.  have  no  misgivings  about  the 
Irish  Catholic  priestliood;  you  say  they  have  their  shortcomings, 
certaitdy.  Wlio  is  without  shortcomings!'  Who  omni  hora 
sopit  i  You  trust  tliem.  an<l  wisely,  because  they  are  in  their 
corporate  capacity  the  best  and  the  most  iuHuential  ujiholders  of 
the  "civil  orders''  the  world  has  ever  had.  An  Englishman, 
and  not  a  Catholic,  you  refuse  to  ignore  what  the  English  peojde 
owe  to  the  Catholic  Church.  The  things  you  love  most— the 
keeping  of  the  kingshi])  within  its  (jwu  province,  trial  by  jury, 
the  legitimate  upholding  of  tlio  masses  against  the  illegitim.ito 
action  of  the  classes,  the  ditf  u.sion  of  education,  etc. ;  all  these 
things — England's  glory  today — came  when  England  was  but 
a  young  n.ation.  aiul  from  the  Catholic  Church.  You  don't  be- 
lieve in  tlie  idiocy  that  wo\dd  lead  a  Catholic  to  deal  unfairly 
with  a  man  simply  because  he  h.ippcns  to  be  a  Protestant.  The 
Tory  party — English.  Irish,  and  Scotch — in  the  days  <iuite 
recent,  spat  upon  Parnell;  he  was  in  its  nostrils  a  filthy  smell. 
To-ilav  the  saiil  party  u])hol(ls  Parnell!  Wliv — because  of 
better"  thoughts — liei'iiuse  it  deems  him  right  ■■  No.  To  the 
Tory  party  Farnell  will  be  always  Parnell.  But  because  ho 
lias  become  the  evil  sjiirit  of  discord  among  tlie  Irish  people, 
because  \w  is  doing  his  level  best  to  keep  from  them  what  tliey 
are  justiv  entitled  to — if  you  will — fair  government  from  with- 
out ;  or.  if  you  prefer  it,  fair  government  from  within,  neither 
of  which  the  Tory  jiarty  seems  willing  to  concede.  The  man- 
date that  bids  a  man  "  do  unto  others  as  he  would  have  others  do 
unto  him."  seems  to  be  outside  the  ken  of  the  Tory  jiarty.  The 
Irish  people  must  still  lu — if  this  party  can  secure  if — "  the 
hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  watiT ; "  and  because  Parnell 
helps  tliem  to  attain  this  end.  they  write  him  up.  In  vain  '.  The 
end  is  coming,  comiuir  ipiickly.  and  the  outcome  of  centuries  of 
illwill.  bitterness,  and  injustiei-  will  be  the  union — not  again  to 
be  broken— of  '■  John  "  and  "  Paddy."— Yours,  Mr.  Editor,  ever 

fHithfully.  Sacerdos  HiBERNICCS. 

August  10th,  fSLi). 


M.P.'S.    AS    COMPANY    DIRECTORS. 

Sin, With   reference  to  the  remarks  in  your  issue  of  this 

week  im  members  of  the  ( tovernmeiit  and  members  of  Parlia- 
ment being  either  journalists  or  directors  of  companies.  I  should 
like  to  sav  a  few  words. 

1  do  not  think  anyone  can  justly  object  to  any  M.P.  writing 
for  the  press.  If  he  signs  his  articles  he  merely  delivers  a 
speech  to  a  larsrer  audience  tlian  he  could  adilrcss  ririi  roct.  and 
unsiirned  articles  are  judged  on  their  intrinsic  merits. 

The  case  of  an  M.P.  who  is  the  director  of  a  company  is  a 
verv  dilferent  matter. 

I  think  it  is  one  of  the  scandals  of  the  present  day  that  so 
manv  men  should  enter  Parliament  merely  to  adv.auce  themselves 
tiuaiiciallv  bv  becoming  mure  in  re(me.st  as  directors  of  companies 
owin"  to  the  magic  letters  "  M.P."  after  their  names. 


202 


THE     SPEAKER. 


[August  15,  1891. 


I  innst  not  pfive  any  iiainos,  but  would  rclVr  your  readers  to 
the  "  Directory  of  Directors." 

I  think  all  M.P.'s  should  be  disqualified  l)y  law  from  sitting 
on  any  board  of  directors. — I  remain,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  ConiUHouN  Reade. 
Brooks's,  St.  James's  Street,  August  lOtli,  l8i)l. 

[OuE  correspondent  falls  into  tlie  mistake  of  confounding  legiti- 
mate commercial  undertaking.s  with  bubble  comjiauies.  It 
is  not  only  as  directors  of  business  affairs  that  members  of 
Parliament  turn  their  position  to  account. — Ed.  Speaker. J 


A    LITEEAET    CAUSERIE. 

The  Speaker  Office, 

Friday,  August  Htli,  1891. 

TRULY  we  are  all  in  a  delightful  mess.  Mr. 
W.  D.  Howells  writes  au  essay  on  "  t'riticisni 
and  Fiction,"  in  which  lie  begins  by  demonstrating 
that  any  remarks  he  luaj^  proceed  to  make  can 
possess  no  value  at  all,  and  at  once  proceeds  to  make 
a  number  possessing  very  great  value  indeed.  Next, 
because  Mr.  Howells'  language  is  truculent  rather 
than  conciliatorj^  his  English  critics  miss  all  advan- 
tage they  might  extract  from  his  book,  and  begin  to 
ask  him  unpleasant  questions  which  are  quite  beside 
the  mark.  1  confess  myself  one  of  those  sinners.  It 
seemed,  a  fortnight  back,  pertinent  to  ask  him  how 
on  earth  he  reconciles  with  his  fairly  rigid  theory  of 
novel-writing  the  indiscriminate  jiraise  he  bestows 
on  every  man,  woman  or  child  of  American  birth 
who  hajjpens  to  have  \vTitten  a  book.  But  the  ques- 
tion is  of  little  moment,  and  clouds — as  Mr.  Howells' 
olTensivc  obiter  dicta  cloud — many  more  important 
questions  which  might  easily  be  discussed  with 
serenity. 


Again,  let  us  observe  the  muddle  which  English 
novelists  have  made  with  the  theories  which  Mr. 
Howells  is  not  alone  in  holding.  It  is  not  so  very 
long  ago,  after  all,  that  the  dove-cotes  of  our  fiction 
were  lluttered.  Somebody  shouted  that  we  were 
sunk  in  convention,  .slaves  of  Mr.  Mudie,  producers 
of  boarding-school  literature,  etc.  etc. — the  phrases 
already  stick  in  the  throat,  so  pei-sistently  have  they 
been  repeated.  And  really  the  energy  with  which 
our  novelists  at  once  east  abont  and  tried  to  be 
French,  tried  to  be  Russian,  tried  to  be  naughty 
and  bold  and  bizarre,  tried  to  be  everything  but 
what  God  made  them,  must  .apical  anyone  who  looks 
back  on  the  work  of  the  last  two  years  or  so. 


Take  Mr.  Hardy,  for  instance — Mr.  Hardy  whose 
beautiful  phrase  haunted  the  memory,  whose  tales 
contained  the  sweet  essences  of  Englisla  i)astoral  life, 
and  whose  heroines  sprang  from  the  soil,  cajiricious, 
cajitivating,  and  quite  sufficiently  naughty.  He  took 
the  alarm.  It  seems  but  a  few  weeks  since  he  began 
to  show  signs  of  it,  and  wrote  a  ))lea  for  a  locked 
book-case.  He,  the  creator  of  Fancy  and  Bath- 
sheba  and  Eustacia  and  Grace  Melbnry  de- 
manded a  cui)board  in  which  to  be  French.  This 
Avas  terrifying.  But  in  a  few  months  he  grew  bolder. 
The  shyness  jiassed  off,  and  its  natural  demand,  the 
cupboard,  Avent  with  it.  The  other  day  he  gave  the 
world  his  "  Group  of  Xoble  Dames."  The  bookseller, 
of  whom  I  procured  my  copy,  said  nothing  of  the 
padlock  ■which  I  expected  to  be  included  in  the  price 
of  the  book.  He  simply  wrapped  up  the  volume  in 
brown  ])a]ier.  and  seemed  to  think  lie  had  given  me 
my  money's  worth. 


I  have  read  manj'  reviews  of  this  work.  One 
critic,  who  must  be  a  joy  to  his  friends,  called  it 
"  a  capital  book  for  the  smoking-room,"  and  meant 
the  remark  for  i)raise.  But  he  is  the  one  luminous 
spark,  calm  and  certain,  in  a  general  fog.  His  fellows 
di.slike  the  book  somehow,  but  do  not  say  why.  even 
if  they  know.  They  have  a  dazed  impression  that 
Mr.  Hardy  has  become   very  "  real,"  and  "  realism  " 


owjli  t  to  be  all  right ;  so  they  observe  vaguely  that 
the  author's  style  has  deteriorated,  that  his  faults 
of  construction  show  more  prominently  in  a  short 
tale,  that  he  is  happier  with  rustics  than  with  noble 
dames,  etc.  etc. 


This  is  the  merest  nonsense.  The  truth  is  that 
yiv.  Hardy  is  striving  to  be  French;  and  a  more 
painfully  comic  spectacle  the  ])itiless  gods  never 
laughed  over.  A  hay -maker,  who  should  wear 
patent-leather  boots  and  an  imi)erial  to  .set  off  his 
corduroys,  were  not  a  more  unseemly  sight.  De 
Maupassant  might  be  a  thousand  times  as  indecent 
without  shocking  lis,  while  Hardy's  conscientious 
naughtiness  smells  to  heaven.  There  are  ten  stories 
in  the  volume,  and  as  one  after  the  other  of  the 
author's  heroines  goes  wrong,  merely  to  .show  that 
she  doesn't  care  for  Mr.  Muilie,  the  farce  grows  a 
little  too  ghastly.  But  it  is  written  that  as  a 
man  is  great  so  shall  his  degradation  be  deep  when 
he  plays  tricks  with  his  genius. 


His  style,  it  is  said,  has  altered  sadly  in  this  work. 
Of  course  it  has  :  and  so  must  any  man's  who  ceases 
to  write  what  is  in  him.  As  for  his  faults  of  con- 
struction, which  are  supposed  to  show  more  pro- 
minently in  a  .short  tale,  let  the  critics,  who  suppose 
anything  so  absurd,  at  least  remember  that  this 
same  man  has  written  "  The  Three  Strangers" — a 
ghost  story  which,  in  mere  construction,  cannot  be 
beaten  by  any  in  our  language. 


Another  book  which  has  been  hotly  discussed  this 
year  is  Lucas  Malet's  "  The  Wages  of  Sin."  Much 
that  Canon  MacColl  has  said  about  it  is  true  enough. 
The  strength  of  the  story  is  not  to  be  denied ;  the 
advance  it  marks  is  amazing.  Only  upon  one  point 
can  I  quarrel  with  the  subject.  Why,  I  ask.  will 
writers  be  always  selecting  their  own  temperament 
— the  artistic  temperament — for  analysis  and  study? 
It  is  a  rare  temperament  —  thank  Heaven  —  and 
the  conclusions  based  on  a  study  of  it  are  quite 
inapplicable  to  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
thousandths  of  the  human  race.  A  genius,  such  as 
James  Colthurst,  is  as  abnormal  as  an  idiot,  and 
much  rarer.  The  one  excuse  for  an  artist's  existence 
is  that  he  depicts  his  fellow-creatiu-es  :  and  just  at 
present  he  is  for  ever  painting  himself  and  his 
troubles.  One  would  think,  to  judge  from  the  books 
written  nowadays,  that  this  planet  was  crowded 
with  Dick  Heldars  and  James  Colthursts.  Why 
may  not  the  grocer  have  a  chance?  Grocers  before 
now  have  gone  wrong  and  earned  the  wages  of  sin. 
Also  I  had  studied  Colthurst  before,  in  Zola's 
"  L'(hhiirc."  and  knew  what  his  difficulties  would  be. 


But  it  is  when  we  come  to  Lucas  Malet's  method 
that  we  observe  the  compromise  between  Fi'ench 
and  English  workmanshij).  I'ossibly  no  more  ho]>e- 
less  concession  was  ever  made  to  jM)])ular  British 
taste  than  the  death  of  Colthurst,  in  the  last  few 
pages.  It  knocks  the  reader  on  the  head,  and  it 
knocks  the  whole  book  inside  out.  If  I  under.stand 
the  writer's  purpo.sc,  it  was  to  exhibit  the  cumulative 
effect  of  sin  in  wrecking  the  sinner  ;  and  to  toss  the 
sinner  over  a  handy  cliff  when  he  is  bracing  himself 
to  bear  the  heaviest  burden  of  his  life,  is  just  to  play 
ninepins  with  art.  There  was  a  certain  Roman, 
according  to  Tacitus,  who  threw  his  wife  out  of 
window  "  for  uncertain  causes."  Unless  it  hapjiened 
in  deference  to  the  circulating  library,  I  confess  that 
Colthurst's  neck  was  broken  for  reasons  equally 
vague. 


Again,  who  but  an  English  lady  could  have  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  writing  such  a  story  with  a  running 
commentary  almost  in  the  style  of  Thackeray?  For 
pity's  sake,  if  our  art  is  to  be  French,  let  it  be  all 
French. 


August  15,  1891.] 


THE     SPEAKER. 


■20:i 


Hut  is  tlierc  any  roasoii  why  wo-  shnuld  stiiiKKlc 
to  bt"  Krt'iK'h  or  Russian  or  Amei-icau  or  Scaii(liiiavinu 
or  Sijanish?  Wliat  wo  can  Icarii  from  tlif  novelists 
of  liioso  countries  is  just  to  sit  down  and  describe 
truthfully  what  we  see  about  us.  AVe  do  not  see  - 
whatever  Mr.  Stanliope  Forbes  may  paint— mueh 
French  life  about  us:  we  cannot,  if  we  try.  see  what 
Tolstoi  se.;s,  siiujily  because  Kngland  and  Russia  aie 
two  dilVerent  countries.  All  that  we  can  learn  from 
him,  from  Bjiirnsen,  or  IVom  N'aldes.  is  to  tell  tlie  truth. 

When  we  do  this,  we  may  count  on  the  admira- 
tion of  the  foreigners.  Mr.  Howells,  for  instance, 
who  is  not  disposed  to  love  any  work  ])roduced  in 
P^ngland,  can  hardly  speak  too  reverently  of  Jane 
Austen.  But  to  see  our  novelists  running  up  and 
down  in  a  panic,  and  trying  to  be  foreign,  is  sadden- 
ing. For  unless  we  assume  that  all  nations  are 
alike,  the  truth  about  l-^-ance  is  a  lie  about  Russia, 
and  the  truth  about  Russia  a  lie  about  England. 

A.  T.  (.1  C. 


REVIEWS. 


THE  LABOUR  MOVEMENT  IN  AMERICA. 

The  Lahouk  J[ovemf.nt  in  Ameuica.  By  Kichard  T.  Ely,  Pli.l>., 
Associate  in  rolitic:il  Economy,  Johns  Hopkins  University, 
l.unilon:  \V.   lleiu.--ninnn.      1S91)'. 

rpHE  United  States  furnish  not  only  a  wider  field 
JL  than  any  other  country  for  the  study  of  industrial 
movements,  but  a  more  rich  and  varied  experience. 
The  laws  of  the  several  States  are  in  many  points 
dissimilar  :  diffci-ent  kinds  of  labour  exist  in  the 
different  regions  of  the  country,  and  give  birth  to 
different  kinds  of  organisation.  The  masses  of  the 
peojjle  have  long  ])pssessed  a  remarkable  talent  for 
organising  themselves,  and  have  been  allowed  by 
the  democratic  and  individualistic  structure  of 
society  facilities  for  associating  themselves  into 
trades  unions  and  other  sorts  of  fraternities  which 
the  workmen  of  most  countries  in  Europe  might 
envy.  Moreover,  the  working  classes,  since  they 
constitute  the  majority  of  the  voters,  have  been 
able  to  ])ut  into  i)owei-  such  legislatures  and  otlieials 
a.s  they  desire,  ;ind  to  obtain  the  laws  which  best 
suit  them.  Tliere  has  never  been  a  nation  among 
whom  all  experiments  in  the  W'ay  of  social  and  in- 
dustrial reconstruction  could  be  so  readily  tried 
and  would  be  .sure  of  being  so  fully  recorded.  One 
might  therefore  expect  that  the  Socialists  and  Com- 
munists anil  Anarchists  of  Europe  would  look  with 
peculiar  interest  and  satisfaction  to  America  as  the 
land  where  tlieir  ideas  would  have  the  best  prosj^ect 
of  taking  i)ractical  shajjc.  The  contrary,  however, 
seems  to  be  the  case.  .Much  disa])pointment  with 
America  is  expressed  by  tlie  leadsu's  of  these  ])arties, 
and  by  those  who  in  the  jiress  expound  their  views. 
They  conii)lain  that  the  Americans  are  too  contented 
and  self-satisfied  to  desire  radical  changes.  They 
declare  that  nowhere  is  capital  more  powerful, 
more  grasping,  more  audacious.  Working  men  may 
appear  to  hold  ))olitical  sujiremacy,  but  they  are 
somehow  jn-evented  from  using  it.  They  cannot 
extricate  themselves  from  the  toils  of  ])arty,  witli 
its  comiilex  system  of  organisation.  They  have  not 
the  proper  degreeof  hatredtothe  so-called  honrjjcoisic, 
the  retiuisite  jiassion  for  overturning  the  existing 
order,  and  clearing  the  grouiul  for  the  establishment 
of  something  better. 

The  exi)lanation  of  this  strange  contrast  between 
possibilities  and  results  in  the  United  States,  and 
the  descrii)tion  of  the  various  forms  which  schemes 
of  industrial  reform  and  industrial  revolution  have 
taken,  would  sui))}ly  matter  for  a  most  instructive 
treatise  ;  nor  could  such  a  treatise  come  at  a  moment 
more  suitable  than  the  jjresent,  when  '•  Labour  Ques- 
tions "  are  all  the  fashion.  We  opened  Mr.  Ely's 
book  in  the  hope  of  finding  such  an  explanation  and 
description,  knowing   him  from  his  other  books  to 


be  a  thouglitfiil  and  well-informed  writer,  warmly 
interested  in  these  subjects.  We  must,  however, 
confess  to  some  disapjiuintment.  He  has  a  habit— 
Ijcrhajis  more  common  in  America  than  in  England — 
of  mixing  up  his  sentimenis  and  his  sympathies  with 
his  facts  and  reasoning,  so  as  to  give  a  character  of 
wooUiness  ami  llulline^s  to  his  whole  treatment  of 
the  subject.  Hot  bla<k  colTee  is  good,  and  cold 
water,  either  before  tin-  i-offee,  as  in  the  East,  or 
after  it,  as  among  the  I'lanks,  is  also  good.  But  to 
ixmr  the  colfee  into  the  water,  or  the  water  into  the 
colTee,  is  to  spoil  l)otii.  The  book  is  fre<|uently  vague 
just  where  ])reci>^ioii  was  neeiled,  and  gives  us  ex- 
cellent morality  where  we  needed  hard  facts.  We 
are  told  very  little  either  about  the  Knights  of 
Labour  or  about  the  altem))t  to  work  a  universal 
boycott,  though  these  ai'e  among  the  most  interesting 
l>henomena  of  the  .Vmerican  Labour  struggles.  Still, 
the  book  contains  a  good  deal  of  useful  information 
which  it  would  be  hard  to  find  elsewhere,  and  it  is 
written  in  a  sjiirit  of  laudable  fau-ncss  and  tolerance. 

One  of  the  ((uestions  most  often  asked  regarding 
American  Co-oi)erative  enteriirises  and  trade  or- 
ganisations is  why  they  liave  not  giown  faster  and 
taken  de«'i)er  root  than  in  l-Jngland.  Mr.  Ely  sug- 
gests some  explaniilioiis.  He  thinks  that  "in  no 
country  in  the  civilised  world  have  the  lalionrers, 
as  such,  been  so  isolated  as  in  the  large  industrial 
centres  of  the  United  States."  They  have  received 
far  less  aiil  from  men  of  intellect  and  ])osition  than 
in  England  or  Germany.  "  Other  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  tlie  success  of  Co-oj)eration  are  these — un- 
steady employment,  roving  habits,  the  heterogeneous 
character  of  our  jjoindation — all  preventing  that 
consolidation  and  amalgamation  of  the  masses  which 
co-operation  requires."  lie  adds  another  reason, 
which  has  unich  force — viz.,  that  in  the  United 
States  there  exists  ar.  unec|ualled  "  nuiltii)licity  of 
openings  for  the  giftetl  and  fortunate.  In  older 
countries  a  great  deal  of  talent  has  been  found 
among  laboiuing  classes  ready  to  assist  in  Co-ojier- 
ative  enteri)rises,"  whereas  in  America  the  brightest 
and  most  energetic  of  the  working  class  find  it 
comparatively  easy  to  rise  into  the  class  of  i)eu  or 
brain  workers,  and  thereby  the  workmen  are,  to  a 
large  extent,  deiuided  of  their  natm-al  leaders.  This 
remark  ajjplies  not  merely  to  Co-o])cration,  but  to 
Labour  movements  generally,  and  it  helps  to  explain 
the  ease  with  wliich  the  American  labourers  are  led 
astray  by  childish  fallacies.  Still  more  significant 
is  the  fact  which  he  menti'ius  in  another  place,  that 
the  class  of  hantl  labourei-s  in  the  United  .States  is 
mainly  comjjDsed  of  foreigners,  because  native-born 
Americans  generally  rise  into  higher  kinds  of  work. 
Among  the  skilled  artisans  there  is  a  fair  i)roportiou 
of  natives,  but  the  ur.skilled  are  wholly  Euroi)ean, 
or  Canadian,  or  coloured. 

As  everyone  knows,  it  is  among  the  foreigners, 
and  chielly  among  the  tiermans,  Poles,  Bohemians, 
and  other  Slavs,  that  .Socialism  and  .Vnarchism 
prevail.  The  Anarchist  jiress  is  mainly,  the  more 
moderate  Socialist  press  wholly,  written  in  LJermau. 
The  latter  has  a  rcs])ectable  circulation,  while  the 
Anarchist  so-called  internationalist  journals,  though 
more  numerous,  seem  to  reach  a  very  small  imblic. 
Mr.  l^ly  guesses  roughly  that  the  total  innnber  of 
•'  adherents  of  the  general  jn-inciples  of  moderate 
and  jieaceful  Socialism  in  the  United  States"  may 
be  half  a  million:  ami,  of  course,  estimates  the 
Anarchic  or  Revolutionary  jjarty  at  a  far  lower 
figure.  He  gives  many  si)eeimens  of  the  blood- 
thirsty out))oin-ings  of  this  faction,  antl  api>ears  to 
think  that  they  constitute  a  real  danger  to  the 
State — a\iewwhich  will  not  commend  itself  to  those 
who  remember  the  furious  wrath  evokcil  in  America 
by  the  Chicago  murders,  and  who  gather  from 
Mr.  lily's  own  i)ages  that  Anarchism  makes,  prac- 
tically, no  converts  among  native  Americans.  That 
"moilerate  Socialism."  on  the  other  haml,  <ioes 
advance,  we  can  \\ell  believe;  but  it  seems  in 
America,  as  in  England,  to  consist  rather  in  a 
sympathetic    attitude    towards     the     poor,    and    a 


204 


THE     SPEAKER. 


[August  15,  1891. 


cnriositj'  in  looking  out  for  suggested  reforms,  than 
in  any  acceptance  of  specific  Socialist  schemes. 
How  Mr.  Ely,  with  his  experience  of  tlie  conduct 
of  public  authorities  in  liis  own  coiuitry  and  the 
results  of  ])olitical  patronage,  can  avow  himself  in 
favour  of  giving  the  control  of  railways  to  the  State, 
passes  our  comprehension. 


MELANESIA. 


The    JIelanesians.     Their  Autliropology  and  Folklore.     By  Iv.  II. 
Codrington.     Oxford :  Clarendon  Press. 

Melaxe.si.v  is  the  name  given  to  four  groups  of 
islands  in  the  'Western  Pacific,  not  far  from  North 
Australia  ;  and  Mr.  Codrington's  book  is  an  excellent 
record  of  the  customs,  beliefs,  and  social  institutions 
of  the  islanders.  No  more  valuable  or  more  gentiine 
study  of  man  in  a  very  ]irimitive  state  has  recently 
api)eared  ;  for  it  is  founded  upon  a  long  and  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  people,  and  it  throws  light 
ujion  several  ])()ints  in  anthropology  and  the  evolution 
of  superstitions  toward  which  attention  has  latterly 
been  turned.  And  while  the  sociologist  will  find  in 
this  volume  good  store  of  new  facts  and  suggestive 
observations,  the  general  reader  will  be  touched  by 
the  charm  which  belongs  to  a  picture  of  very  simi)le, 
unsophisticated  manners  that  are  beiugrapidly  obliter- 
ated. The  jiersistent  resemblance — one  might  almost 
say,  the  monotonous  identity — that  i^revails  among 
the  ideas  and  practices,  religious  and  social,  of  man 
in  an  elementary  stage  all  over  the  world  is  i-emark- 
alily  illustrated  by  this  account  of  the  !Melanesiaus. 
Exogamy,  for  exam])le,  seems  to  be  almost  an  abori- 
ginal prinei])le  of  archaic  society  ;  it  is  the  jirimeval 
ordinance  of  prohibited  degree  that  runs  in  different 
versions  all  over  Asia,  although  no  satisfactory  ex- 
])lanation  has  yet  been  given  of  the  invincible  repug- 
nance among  so  many  races  to  intermarriage  between 
persons  who  are  even  conventionally  kinsfolk.  Here, 
in  remote  Melanesia,  we  find  this  rule  universal.  The 
people  are  not  divided  into  tribes,  but  into  two  or 
more  classes  that  are  exogamous,  and  in  which 
descent  is  usually  counted  only  through  the  mother. 
The  base-line  which  unites  and  divides  the  gronjjs  is 
the  marriage  law,  or  the  inviolable  custom  which 
strictly  ijrohibits  the  intercourse  of  men  and  women 
Avith  others  of  their  own  class.  Yet,  although  the 
l)ractice  is  patent,  of  its  cause  or  origin  Melanesia 
gives  no  exjilanation  ;  the  precise  germ  of  utility,  the 
rude  ethical  notions  which  it  represents,  are  still  ojjcn 
to  ingenious  conjecture :  we  cannot  tell  what  has  led 
savages,  with  few  scruples  about  sexual  promiscuity, 
to  condemn  so  rigidly  the  connection  of  i)ersous  su)!- 
posed  to  be  allied,  however  distantly,  in  blood. 

Although  there  are  no  tribes,  the  Melanesians 
have  chiefs,  who  unite  sjiiritual  with  temporal  juris- 
diction, or.  to  speak  accurately,  see  no  difference 
between  tlie  two  things.  '"As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
power  of  chiefs  has  hitherto  rested  ui)on  the  belief  in 
their  sui)ernatural  ])ower  derived  from  thi^  spirits  or 
ghosts  with  which  they  had  intercourse."  The  art  of 
consultation  \vith  infiiiential  ghosts  is  be(|ueathed  to 
a  successor,  and  is  indeed  the  essential  attribute  of 
rulcrship  by  divine  right  :  but  this  hereditary  rejinta- 
tion  for  ghostly  science  has,  like  l*ai)al  infallibility, 
to  be  occasionally  su))i>orted  by  a  liberal  use  of  the 
carnal  weapon  upon  those  who  (Umbt  it.  The  two 
powers,  spiritual  and  temi)oral,  evidently  support 
and  interact  upon  each  other ;  for  while  a  great 
warrior  is  creilited  with  magical  secrets,  the  possessor 
of  charms  and  amulets  is  thereby  armed  with  supe- 
rior forces  ;  and,  again,  a  rich  man  gets  the  repute  of 
bi'ing  a  magician  because  the  multiplication  of  pigs 
and  yams  can  be  produced  by  sorcery.  The  taboo  is 
a  favourite  j)olitieal  engine,  being  used  by  the  chief 
to  kee])  his  own  person  sacred  and  unapproachable, 
and  also  to  boycott  any  Melanesian  Hampden  who 
stands  out  agjiinst  exceptional  demands  by  the  chief 
ii))on  his  i)roperty.  There  are  a  great  many  secret 
societies,  at  which  ghosts  are  understood  to  be  present 
and  to  hold  comuumion  with  the  members,  and  the 


initiation  is  by  wild  singing  and  frantic  dancing  in 
grotesque  costtune ;  yet  although  unlicensed  peeping 
behind  the  scenes  is  punished  by  sudden  death,  no 
one  seems  to  treat  these  mysteries  as  nnich  more  than 
fantastic  masciuerading.  To  the  earnest  European 
iiKpiirer.  who  is  always  on  the  look-out  for  jjrofound 
meaning  and  fai--reaching  symbolism  in  the  childish 
sports  and  sujierstitions  of  wild  folk,  it  is  always 
difficult  and  disappointing  to  realise  the  fact  that 
primitive  man  rarely  takes  his  religion  more  than 
half  seriously,  and  that  his  queer  rites  and  play- 
acting often  mean  nothing  at  all.  Besides  the  secx-et 
societies,  of  which  ghosts  seem  to  be  honorary 
members,  every  village  has  a  kind  of  social  club, 
where  a  system  of  grades,  as  in  Freemasonry,  pre- 
vails, and  where  you  can  jjurchase  your  steps  up- 
ward by  money,  food,  and  the  idjiquitous  ])ig,  who 
is,  however,  not  always  legal  tender  if  he  be  in- 
sufferably tough. 

In  regard  to  Melanesian  religion  Mr.  Codrington 
tells  us  much  that  is  very  curious  and  nothing  that 
is  very  new  ;  but  his  information  is  valuable  just 
because  we  have  heard  of  the  same  sort  of  things  and 
ideas  in  many  other  lauds,  because  the  conceptions 
and  practices  of  these  Pacific  islanders  resemble  so 
remarkably  A\hat  is  done  and  thought  by  ]jeople  in 
similar  stages  of  mental  development  elsewhere. 
These  coincidences  help  us  to  generalise  regarding 
the  primeval  superstitious  of  mankind,  and  aid  us  in 
tracing  what  may  be  called  the  springs  of  natural 
religion.  Hei-e,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  uncivilised 
world,  much  confusion  has  arisen  out  of  the  attempts 
of  Europeans  to  express  vague  and  rudimentary 
fancies  or  images  in  the  highly  condensed  language 
of  organic  religion.  The  words  "  God  "  and  "  Devil." 
for  instance,  as  used  by  an  Englishman,  have  no  sense 
or  fitness  in  apjilication  to  the  loose,  shadowj'  notions 
of  a  savage  about  jihantoms  and  goblins  :  and  as  for 
the  word  "  soul,"  it  causes  endless  confusion.  "  Many 
a  voyager,"  remarks  Mr.  Codrington.  "  carries  away 
as  a  sort  of  joke  the  story  that  the  natives  think 
their  shadows  are  their  souls,  who  could  not  tell 
exactly  what  he  means  by  the  word  soul  which  he 
uses  himself." 

The  ghosts  of  dead  men  are  universally  wor- 
shipped, but  are  to  be  carefully  distinguished,  ac- 
cording to  our  author,  from  the  higher  spiritual 
beings  who  have  never  inhabited  a  human  body ; 
and  both  ghosts  and  spirits  haunt  places,  are  present 
in  trees  and  stones,  where  they  can  be  detected  by 
queer  shapes  and  motions  ;  are  discoverable  in  the 
shajies  of  snakes,  owls,  sharks,  and  other  uncanny 
animals ;  can  be  propitiated  by  food  offerings,  are 
accessible  to  prayer  and  sacrifice,  rule  the  elements, 
deal  in  plagues  and  curses  ;  and,  in  fact,  exercise  all 
the  iiowers  and  attributes  that  are  everywhere 
characteristic  of  embryonic  polytheism  before  the 
divinities  become  heads  of  regular  ilepartments. 
But  whereas  in  the  eastern  islands  the  ghost  and 
the  si)irit  belong  to  two  distinct  classes,  not  sup- 
])osed  to  be  connected  by  origin,  in  the  Solomon 
Islands  "  the  distinction  is  between  ghosts  of  jiower 
and  ghosts  of  no  account  "  ;  between  those  whom 
you  must  ajipease  and  those  from  whom  nothing 
is  expected  :  and  to  the  jjowerful  class  belong,  of 
course,  the  ghosts  of  formidable  men.  On  the 
whole,  this  book  contains  very  strong  but  striking 
evidence  in  corroboration,  first,  of  the  universality 
of  ghost  worship  as  one  of  the  earliest  forms  of 
superstition  ;  and,  secondly,  of  the  view  that  the 
notable  glio.st  is  regularly  promoted.  ui)on  his 
merits  as  a  wonder-worker,  into  the  lower  order  of 
divinities. 

One  may  observe  in  this  description  of  Melanesian 
beliefs  the  strange  iucajiacity  to  accept  death  as  the 
end  of  a  human  being  which  is  at  the  bottom  of  the 
feeling  that  peoples  the  environment  with  inniuuer- 
able  ghosts.  Death  means  only  that  the  soul  has 
de])arted  out  of  the  body,  that  it  has  become  a  sprite 
or  spectre  which  hangs  about  the  house  and  the 
grave,  showing  itself  by  lights  or  noises,  and  making 
itself  ])articularly  troublesome  if  the  body  has  not 


August  lo,  1891.] 


THE     SPEAKER. 


205 


been  buried.  It  may  be  driven  away  by  shouts  or 
bull-roarers ;  or  it  may  be  eoneiliated  by  t'nnei-al 
honours,  in  which  the  death  meal,  or  funeral  feast, 
with  a  morsel  for  the  ghost,  plays,  as  usual,  a  eon- 
siderable  part.  Sacrifices  arc  made  on  tiie  j;rraves  ; 
and  somctiuies  the  wife  is  stranj,'lcil  or  buried  alive 
that  she  nuiy  follow  her  husbantl  ;  for,  although  the 
ghosts  wander  about  incessantly,  there  is,  neverthe- 
less, a  kind  of  Lindjo.  or  place  of  dei)arted  s|)irits,  to 
which  all  ghosts  are  sujiposcil  to  Journey,  and  where 
l)ad  characters  are  refused  admittance. 

The  discerning  leader  will  by  this  time  have  con- 
vinced himself  that  the  .Alehuiesians  have  struck  out 
no  novelties  in  their  religion;  ami  that  its  most 
remarkable  cliaracteristic  is  its  extraordinary  resem- 
blance, generally  aixl  in  many  particulars,  to  the 
ways  of  worshi))  and  s|)iritual  fancies  struck  out  at 
sundry  times  and  in  divers  i)laces  by  the  human 
imagination  working  freely  aiul  independently  uiion 
the  great  troubles  of  life  and  death.  In  illustration 
of  the  curious  ul)i(iuity  of  certain  particular  faljles,  it 
may  be  mentioned  that  we  find  in  Melanesia  the 
Lamia  oi-  l)eautiful  woman,  who  tempts  incautious 
men,  and  turns  intr)  a  snnke  when  ))ropci-ly  exorcised  ; 
while  the  wm-ld-wide  jiractice  of  throwing  stones  on 
a  heap  l)y  the  wayside,  whicii  is  known  all  over  Asia 
and  parts  of  Kuro))c,  with  vei>-  diverse  ex|)Ianati<)ns 
or  objects,  is  nnich  in  vogue  in  tliese  remote  islands. 
There  is  .a  good  sujiply  of  marvellous  myths  and 
rathei-  idiotic  stories  for  the  collectors  of  folklore  ; 
and  altogether  Mr.  Codrington's  book  is  of  real  value 
to  the  student  of  comjiarative  religion  and  sociology. 
It  is  valuable,  not  only  as  a  copious  rejjertory  of 
authentic  jjarticulars  liearing  on  the  mental  condition 
and  manners  of  a  sf)ciety.  that  has  grown  up  naturally 
undisturbed  by  external  intercourse,  but  also  because 
he  haniUes  his  materials  soljerly  and  judiciously, 
without  ineconceived  theories  or  attemi)ts  to  read 
deep  meanings  in  the  shallow  fancies  of  primitive 
brains.  The  custom  of  Taboo,  for  instance,  upon 
which  much  ingenious  speculation  has  been  recently 
exjicnded,  is  very  correctly  defined  by  Mr.  Codrington 
as  a  i)rohil)itive  rite,  with  more  imi)lied  ;  it  is  a  well- 
known  and  obvious  device  for  giving  supernatural 
sanction  to  an  earthly  ordinance,  for  hedging  in  the 
savage  king  with  awfid  divinity.  Ho  shows  also, 
incidentally,  that  what  Euro])eans  call  devil-dances, 
are  often  mere  rhythmic  saltations,  with  no  religious 
meaning  at  all :  that  grotesque  carvings  are  not 
always  idols  ;  and  that  fantastic  games  or  cere- 
monies, which  are  full  of  mj'stic  symbolism  to 
the  philosophic  reader  of  i)aj)ers  before  learned 
societies,  may  be  mere  outbursts  of  the  s])ortive 
barbarian,  or  inventions  to  satisfy  his  credulity. 
There  is  nuich  to  be  learnt  about  ordeals  and  divina- 
tions, which  ai-e  mainly  simple  tests  or  tricks  for 
detecting  culi)rits,  recovering  lost  projjerty,  and  in- 
dicating the  ghost  or  demon  who  is  alllictiiig  a  rich 
man.  Magic  is.  of  course,  an  art  in  high  repute, 
being  closely  allied,  as  has  been  always  the  case, 
with  some  tincture  of  nattn-al  i)hilosophy.  esj)ecially 
in  the  direction  of  jjoisoniiig.  In  short,  the  book  is 
one  that  adds  to  our  knowledge  and  throws  light  in 
various  directions;  and  it  is  well  suited  for  that 
large  class  of  readers  to  whom  the  ways  and  whims 
of  i)riinitive  folk  are  a  source  of  anmsement  or  in- 
struction. 


FRANCE    AND    RUSSIA      UNDER    THE    FIRST 
EM  PI  UK. 

.\LEXAXnUF.       ]'"       ET       N'M'Oi.Ki.X       :>'Al'liKi       LFDIl     ('t)l;l!ESrilNI)^NCB 

INEDITE.    (18)1— lS12j     J';ii- Sei;;  ■  Tiitiatchc'lT.    I'.iris:    I.iljiairio 
.\cnUcmi(iuo  Di.  io:-,   I'erriu  et  <■[.■.      ISSl. 

Tl IK  close  frieudshij)  cxi-ting  at  the  )n-csent  time 
Ijetween  the  French  and  tlie  Ru-sian  ))eo|iIe  is 
a  matter  of  grave  imi)ortai)ci>  to  the  future  (jf  Kuiii|)e. 
It  is  nnprofitablo  to  sjjecuiate  on  the  cau-^es  of  tliis 
friendsliip  :  it  has  been  asserted  that  it  is  liue  merely 
to  the  geogra|)hical  situation  of  the  two  c-ountries: 
that  it  is  tlie  result  of  a  i)cculiar  jittraction  iji  the 
character  of  the  French  for  the  best  Slav  intellects. 


or  that  it  is  the  creation  of  far-seeing  statesmen  of 
both  nationalities,  who  have  endeavoured  to  build 
up  the  feeling  of  friendship  into  a  traditional  alliance. 
The  causes  matter  not ;  the  facts  remain,  that  Russia 
has  learned  moi-e  of  the  ai-ts  of  civilisation  from 
Fiance  than  from  hci-  near  neighbouis,  ami  that 
France  has  always  encouraged  the  asjiirations  of 
Russia  to  become  a  iMuopean  i'ower.  The  history 
of  the  formation  and  giowlh  of  the  friendship  of  the 
two  countries  would  make  a  most  interesting  essay; 
it  dates  from  the  reign  of  I'eter  the  (M-eat,  and  has 
steatlily  develojjed  to  the  present  time.  Inli-ll(?ctually 
it  has  had  great  residts;  the  Empress  Catherine 
ai)preciated  the  labours  of  the  i"'rench  encyclo))a'dist.s 
and  i)ensioned  Diderot  in  the  most  graceful  manner 
by  i)urchasing  his  library,  and  then  making  him  its 
])aid  custodian  ;  she  was  in  constant  comnuinication 
with  the  leailers  of  French  thought,  and  develoi)ed 
their  influence  on  the  budding  literature  of  Russia; 
while  in  modern  days  l''iance  has  repaid  the  debt  by 
interpreting  and  tran>^lating  to  Ivu-oije  the  works  of 
the  great  Kussians.  who  are  at  ))i-esent  exercising 
such  i)rofound  influence  on  Euroi)ean  thought.  Foli- 
tically  the  alliance  has  a  long  and  striking  history  ; 
both  countries  strove  against  Frederick  the  (ireat  in 
the  Seven  Years'  War,  but  while  Rossl)ach  has  been 
followed  by  .Jena  and  .Sedan,  the  I'mssians  have 
never  revenged  their  defeat  at  Ziirndorf.  This  jjoli- 
tical  alliance  has  been  interrupted  by  four  imijortaut 
wars,  those  of  IT'.W-!)!).  lSOO-07,  ISl'i-i:^,  and  lS.-)l-5(i, 
but  while  the  campaigns  of  Suvarof  in  Italy  and 
Switzerland,  the  liattles  of  Austerlit/.  and  Friedland, 
and  the  Crimean  war  exercised  no  a))i)reciable  iidlu- 
ence  on  the  history  of  the  two  nations,  the  war  of 
1S12,  with  its  invasion  of  Russia,  its  burning  of  Mos- 
cow, and  the  disastrous  retreat  of  the  Grand  Army, 
ranks  among  the  most  important  events  in  the  modern 
history  of  Euroi)e. 

Tolstoi,  the  great  Russian  Miiter,  has  grasjied 
alike  the  imjiortance  and  the  dramatic  features  of 
this  great  struggle  in  his  prose  ejjic  "  ^\'ar  and 
Peace;"  he  iniderstood  its  significance,  and  recog- 
nised that  while  the  resistance  of  Russia  to  the  in- 
vader was  national,  the  attitude  of  the  French 
soliliers  was  inirely  military.  The  camjjaign  of  1S12 
showed  an  artuy  fighting  a  nation  with  the  inevitable 
result  that  the  latter  was  victorious.  Beyond  this, 
there  exists  a  jjcrsonal  interest  in  the  great  war.  The 
French  peo))le  had  no  desire  to  tight  Russia,  nor  hatl 
the  French  ai-niy ;  it  was  in  no  respect  necessary  for 
the  ijrosperity  of  France  that  Russia  should  he  con- 
quered and  defeated.  The  war  was  the  work  of  one 
man,  Xajiolcon,  and  tlie  repulse  he  met  with  was  a 
sign  that  his  star  was  setting,  and  that  the  days  of 
his  sujiremacy  were  numbered.  The  history  of  the 
events  which  led  to  the  war  is  therefore  bound  uj) 
in  the  story  of  the  personal  connection  of  Napoleon 
with  Alexander  I..  ('/.:ir  of  Russia,  and  is  of  the 
greatest  interest  and  importance. 

This  history  M.  .Serge  TatistchefF  has  given  in  his 
bulky  volume.  It  may  be  said  at  once  that  the  letters 
of  the  C/.ar  .\lexander.  which  he  has  discovered  in 
the  archives  at  St.  Petersburg,  throw  no  new  light 
of  any  imi)ortance  on  the  relations  between  the  C/.ar 
and  Naixilcon  ;  it  is  the  well-written  history  in  which 
they  are  embedded,  and  the  careful  and  im))artial 
analysis  of  the  despatches  of  the  successive  French 
ambassadors  at  the  Hussian  Court,  which  give  his 
book  a  |)ermanent  value.  On  the  accession  of  the 
Czar  Alexander  after  the  assassination  of  the  C'.ar 
Paul,  the  young  ruler  found  himself  the  only  admirer 
of  France  and  of  the  l'"irst  Consul  at  his  Court.  This 
admiration  had  been  iiis|)ired  into  his  mind  liy  his 
tutor,  the  Swi-s  ijublici^t  L:i  Harpe.  and  he  expressed 
it  freely  to  Duroc.  the  first  envoy  sent  by  Napoleon 
to  St.  Petersburg.  ".lai  toujours  desire."  lie  said  to 
Duroc,  "lie  voir  la  France  et  la  Russie  unies.  Ce  sont 
deux  nations  grandes  et  ]iuissantes  fpie  se  sont  donnes 
ri'-cipro(|uement  ties  i)reuves  d'estinie,  et  (pii  doivent 
s'entendre  jiour  faire   cesser   les   i)etites  divi-ions  du 

continent le  desirerais  beaucou|i  m"entendre 

dircctement  a\ec  le  Premier  Consul,  dont  le  earactere 


20G 


THE     SPEAKER. 


[August  15,  1891. 


loyal  m'est  bien  (!onnn  et  sans  passer  par  taut  <1  inter- 
ni(-diaiies  toujojus  dangereux."     But  hi-;  aaiuiration 
was  not  shared  by  his  mother,  by  his  oouiisellor.s,  or 
by  the  nobles  of  St.  Petersburg,  as  Caulamcourt,  the 
first  accredited    ambassador   of   Napoleon,  soon  dis- 
covered, and   under  their  influence  Russia  took  part 
in  the  campaign  of  Ansterlit/.,  and  after  peace  had 
been  made  between  France  and  Austria,  waged  war 
alone  in  the  campaign,  which  was  terminated  by  the 
battle  of  Friedland.     Then  came  the  dramatic  episode 
of  the  interview  between  the  CV.ar  and  Napoleon  on 
the  River  Niemen.     M.  Tatistcheff  gives  full  promi- 
nence to  this  striking  event,  and  describes,  from  the 
narratives  of  eye-witnesses,  the  uniforms  worn  by 
the  two  monarchs  and  the  anxiety  of  the  King  of 
Prussia  the  fate  of  whose  kingdom  was  under  discus- 
sion as  he  rode  up  and  down   ujion  the  bank,  and 
even  forced  his  horse  in  to  the  water  in  his  longing 
to  hear  what  was  being  said.     The  grandiose  ideas  of 
Napoleon,  his  schemes  tor  the  ruin  of  England  antl 
the  division  of  the  civilised  world  between  two  Em- 
pires of  the  East  and  the  West,  the  glamour  of  the 
fame  of  the  great  conqueror,  and  the  fascination  of 
his  manner,  all  influenced  the  Czar,  who  was  young 
and  suscejitible ;  and  he  returned  to  his  capital  after 
signing  treaties  of  peace  and  alliance  with  Napoleon 
at  Tilsit,  with  his  former  feelings  of  admiration  for 
the  Emperor  of  the  French  multiiilied  a  thousand 
fold.    Napoleon  was  perfectly  well  aware  of  the  Czar's 
feelings,   but  he   did  not  reciprocate   them,  and  ho 
deliberately  prepared  to  take  advantage  of  the  en- 
thusiasm of  Alexander  for  himself.    He  was  to  receive 
everything  and  to  give  nothing,  and  for  a  time  this 
policy,  assisted  by  the  sagacity  of  Caulaiucourt,  the 
French  ambassador  at  St.  Petersburg,  was  completely 
justified.     But  the  Czar  Alexander  was  not  devoid  of 
natural  shrewdness  :  he  began  to  distrust  the  jirofes- 
sions  of  his  illustrious  friend,  and  his  suspicions  were 
further  deepened  by  Talleyrand  during  the  confer- 
ences at  Erfurt,  as  the  wily  diplomatist  acknowledges 
in  the  rMi  Part  of  his  recently  iiublished  Memoirs. 
The  feeling  of  distrust  having  once  taken  the  place 
of    that    of    affectionate    admiration,   the   personal 
friendship  between  the  two  monarchs  grew  less  and 
less.     Napoleon  did  not  recognise  this  fact  immedi- 
ately, but  the  refusal  of  Alexander  to  give  hiin  the 
hand  of  a  Russian  princess  to  take  the  place  of  Jose- 
phine opened  his  eyes,  and  from  that  time  his  policy 
directly  tended  to  war  with  Russia.     That  war  com- 
menced with  the  invasion  of  1.S12,  and  did  not  cease 
iintil  the  allies  occupied    Paris,  and    \ai)oleon    was 
forced  to  abdicate. 

From  this  sketch  it  will  be  seen  that  the  story  of 
the  personal  i-elations  between  Napoleon  and  the 
Czar  Alexander  I.  is  of  surpassing  importance  to  the 
history  of  Eurojie.  It  is  this  story  which  M.  Serge 
TatistchelT  has  endeavoured  to  tell.  As  has  been 
said,  his  researches  have  not  added  much  that  is  new 
to  the  main  features  in  the  hitherto  uniiublished 
letters,  but  ho  has  taken  the  opportunity  of  his  dis- 
coveries  to  com]iile  a  volume  of  real  interest,  which 
cannot  for  the  future  be  neglected  by  any  stu. Cut 
of  the  history  of  Europe  during  the  era  marked  by 
the  victories  of  Napoleon. 


LADY    WILDE'S    ESSAYS. 

Notes  on  Me.v,  Women,  and  I'.ooks.      By  Lady  WiUc.     I.omlon : 
Wiird  &  Bowney.     IS'Jl- 


Lady  Wildk  sweeps  over  a  very  wide  range  of 
subject  indeed,  whether  we  look  upon  it  from  a 
geogra])liical,  a  literary,  or  a  i.olitieal  standi.oint. 
She  travels  over  Germany,  Siiain.  Fiance.  Kiigland, 
and  Irehuul,  dcscen.ling  in  the  literary  scale  from 
.Jean  Paul  and  Caldeion  to  Miss  Jlartiiieau  and  Lady 
Blessingtou,  and  politicailv  diversifying  her  i)ages 
with  notices  of  Daniel  OConnell.  Dr.  Doyle,  and 
Disraeli.  No  doubt  she  touches  nothing  she  does 
not  adorn,  but  a  hypercritical  person  might  feel 
inclined  to  think  she  over-adorns  not  a  few  things. 
Here,   for   instance,    is  a  passage,    the   rhetoric    of 


which  will  be  found,  we  fear,  by  most  people  a  trifle 
excessive : — 

"Hi«  [O'Connell's]  moral-force  agitation  was  a  mighty  oce-in 
pcrpotuallv  heavinf.-  and  di.shing,  and  making  fresh  inroads  upon  the 
tixed  roiks  of  prcjuilice  and  bigotry,  whirhug  into  its  vortex  what- 
ever stiit.ly  vessel  or  tinv  craft  of  a  Measure  was  put  forth  bv 
Ministers,  Absorbing  its  ric'hes  and  then  casting  iiack  the  dismantled 
iiulk  to  the  despairing  launchers.  He  knew  that  Insh  independencvo 
could  never  he  achieved  bv  epileptic  fits  of  mad  ferocity,  and  through 
his  consummate  leadership  he  gained  all  for  which  he  combated 
'without  Ihe  slain  of  a  single  crime  resting  on  the  national 
cause.* '' 

However,  when   all  is  said,  the  chief  fault  to  be 
found  with  this  imblication  is  that  much  of  it  which 
is   interesting    and    intelligent    in    itself   is   scarcely 
needed   in  a  very  much  over-booked  and  very  busy 
age.     Lady  Wilde  has  certainly  nothing  to  say  about 
Richter  which  was  not  said  some  sixty  years  ago  by 
Carlyle,  and  even  her  more  elaborate  treatment  of 
Calderon  will  scarcely  be  needed  by  readers  of  Trench, 
McCarthy,  Fitzgerald,  and  others.     Still,  to  readers 
who  approach  these  great  writers  for  the  first  time 
Lady    Wilde's   essays   will   be   found   valuable,  and 
especially  that  part  of  them  devoted  to  an  analysis 
of  some  of  their  works,  particularly  some  of  the  plays 
of  Calderon.      Lady  Wilde  deals  mostly  with  very 
big  people,  but  we  think  she  succeeds  best  with  the 
few  comparatively  small  people  she  condescends  to 
include  in  her  wide  survey  of  "Men,  Women,  and 
Books."     We  have  all  heard  so  much  about  these  big 
people  before,  and  by  all   sorts  of  jieople,  big  and 
little,  that  it  is  no  doubt  hard  to  please  us  in  any- 
thing said  about  them.     Then  tastes  differ  so  widely. 
The  present  writer,  for  instance,  thinks  very  much 
better    of    George    Eliot    than    Lady    Wilde    does, 
and    very   much    worse   of    the   late   Lord    Lyttou. 
We  have  many  poets  included  in  these  notices,  as 
is    natural,   seeing    that    our    author    is    herself    a 
poet,  and    have   little    faidt    to    find    with  most   of 
^vhat     is     here    said    about    them,    save    that     so 
much  of  it  has  been  said  over  and  over  again  before. 
Of  Wordsworth  and  Tennyson,  for  instance,  where 
can  we  expect  to  find  any  fresh  or  new  "  apprecia- 
tion" or  "  impression ':'"    Leigh  Hunt,  undoubted  poet 
as  he  is.  might  jierhaps  be  considered  the  smallest 
mentioned  in  this  volume,  and  seems  to  us  to  be  the 
most  satisfactorily  handled.     Lady   Wilde  has  not 
so  much   to  say,  save  incidentally,  about  women  as 
the  title  of  her  book  would  lead  one  to  imagine.    Her 
biggest  woman  (George  Eliot)   meets,  as  we  think, 
with  but  very  imperfect  appreciation,  whereas  her 
smallest,  and  the  most  inconsiderable  person  in  the 
whole  book  (Lady  Blessingtou),  forms  the  subject  of 
the  longest  and,  in  our  opinion,  the  most  valuable 
of  these  essays.    Lady  Wilde  does  not  overrate  Lady 
Blessingtou  intellectually,  morally,  or  otherwise,  but 
she  gives  us  a  very  vivid  jiicture  of  the  early  and 
later  life—mostly  a  very  worthless,  though  interest- 
ing one— of  this  once  well-known,  but  now  nearly 
forgotten.  L'isli  adventuress  and  beauty. 

We  do  not  wish  it  to  be  thought,  from  what  may 
be  held,  esiiecially  by  the  softer  sex,  to  be  the  some- 
what cariiing  and  ixVssibly  ungracious  spirit  of  some 
of  our  criticism,  that  we  do  not  think  well  of  most 
of  these  essays.  We  simply  think  they  need  not 
have  been  reprinted  :  in  other  words,  we  fail  to  see 
the  raison  d'etre  of  the  book.  We  might,  however, 
say  the  .same  of  nine-tenths  of  all  the  books  printed 
every  year,  and  of  jierhaps  nineteen-twentietlis  of  all 
the  books  of  criticism.  Why  does  not  Lady  Wilde 
give  us  more  Irish  fairy  and  folk  stories?  She  is 
strongest  on  the  side  of  the  imagination.  She  might 
leave  criticism  to  her  highly  critical  anti-Philistine 
son,  the  prophet  of  the  for nu-  anil  the  scoruer  of  the 
fact.  


VICTORIAN    POETS. 


Vktokian  Tor-T; 


By  .Amy  Shari'C,  Newnbain  (Ullage,  Cambrilge. 
London  :'Methuen  &  Co.     1891. 


This  volume  is  one  of  a  "  I^niversity  Extension 
Series,"  which  Messrs.  Methueu  i^-  Co.  describe  as 
"suitable  for  extension  students  and  home-reading 
circles."     W^e  have,  with  our   own   eyes,  seen   that 


August  15,  1891.] 


THE     SPEAKER. 


20; 


strangely  nanicf!  crcatiu'c,  an  "extension  student"; 
but  a  "  home-reading  cireie"  we  had  always  imagined 
to  be,  like  tlie  mori'  familiar  eirele  of  geometry,  an 
imaginary  eonstruetion,  useful  for  pur|)oses  of  i)ure 
ratioeinatioM,  l)ut  ni'ver  eneouiitered  in  actual  life. 
There  is  little  doubt,  however,  that,  did  such  a  eii-cle 
exist,  some  point  in  its  eireumferenee  would  stand 
uj)  on  the  family  hearth  and  assei't  its  honest  belief 
that  Sir  Ivlwin  Arnold  was  a  greater  jjoet  than 
Hobert  drowning.  And  there  is  less  doubt  that 
sufh  an  assertion — however  heartfelt — should  be  at 
oneo  scolTed  at.  The  ordinary  family,  however, 
niight  find  some  diflieidty  in  sconiiig  intelligently. 
It  is  to  meet  this  erying  want  that  .Miss  Sharjx' 
recommends  twenty-nine  books  of  criticism  and 
reference  to  bo  read  side  by  side  with  the  eight 
most  considerable  Victorian  poets,  and  herself  adds 
a  thirtieth. 

And,  indeed,  if  we  assume  the  existence  r)f  this 
figure,  "  the  home  circle,"  there  is  little  fault  to  be 
found  with  .Miss  Sharjie's  book.  She  is,  as  her 
name  denotes,  of  the  same  sex  as  Elizabeth  Uarrett 
Browning,  and  may  be  jiardoned  for  allotting  a 
separate  essay  to  that  jioetess,  while  t'lough  and 
Matthew  Arnold  are  lum])ed  together  in  the 
following  chapter,  and  Rossetti,  William  Morris  and 
Swinburne  in  the  next.  As  mere  men,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  may  be  forgiven  for  holding  that  either 
Cloiigh  or  Arnold,  whether  we  consider  their  per- 
formance or  their  intluence,  eould  give  Mrs.  Browning 
fifty  points  in  a  hundred  and  beat  her  with  ease. 
But  the  contention  is  unimportant,  and  the  census 
teaches  us  to  allow  for  a  preponderance  of  females 
in  the  family  cireie.  Let  us  note  also — without  com- 
jilaint^the  feminine  note  in  Miss  Sharjie's  criticism 
of  Mr.  Swinburne.  The  battle  over  the  "  ballads 
beautiful" — as  "Slv.  Whistler  calls  them  "was 
fought  out  on  the  ground  of  Morals  versus  Art; 
Swinburne's  position  might  perhaps  have  been 
turned  more  effectively  and  not  less  truly  v.ith  the 
contention  that  as  the  artistic  ideal  vuist  include 
meaning  as  well  as  form,  to  emphasise  and  cover  with 
a  glory  of  noble  language  ugly  facts  or  ideas  essen- 
tially degraded  is  to  set  up  an  ideal  as  false 
artistically  as  it  may  be  hurtful  ethically.  How- 
ever, without  recanting  anything.  Mr.  Swinburne's 
later  Axorks  have  been  cleared  of  the  elements  which 
made  his  earlier  jioems  offensive;  and  there  the  con- 
troversy may  well  rest."  But  Miss  Sharjie  hardly 
lets  it  rest.  Her  sense  of  iirojiriety  colours  the 
whole  of  her  estimate  of  this  i)oet:  and  her  essay 
perhaps  would  better  have  been  shortened  to  this — 
"Chapter  V.  Swiniu-hxe.  There  are  no  snakes  in 
the  home-circle."  It  may  be  added  that  the  whole 
of  this  fifth  chapter  is  curiously  unsympathetic. 
Tennyson  is  known  to  Miss  Sharpe,  and  Browning  — 

••  Tlierf's  ii  JIE  Sooitty  down  at  Cimliridgc- " 

— as  J.  K.  S.  sings;  and  ( 'lough  and  Matthew  Arnold 
are  usually  understood,  in  a  measure,  by  all  who 
reside  near  University  towns.  But  this  same  con- 
tiguity with  a  seminary  of  polite  learning  is  just  as 
sure  to  blunt  the  ajipreciation  of  Rossetti,  -Morris 
and  Swinburne  —widely  as  these  three  poets  differ. 
Rossetti,  especially,  is  no  writer  for  academies.  b\it  for 
artists;  and  the  obtuseness  of  .Miss  Shari>e's  remarks 
ujion  him  is  only  astonishing  at  first.  AVc  make 
haste  to  assert  that  she  tells  the  home-reading  circle 
quite  as  much  as  is  good  for  it. 

The  method  adopted  in  the  tliree  most  imi)orlant 
essays — those  on  Tennyson  and  Mr.  and  Jlrs.  Brown- 
ing— is  that  of  illustrating  each  critical  obser\  atiou 
with  cojiious  illustrations  from  the  works  of  the 
writer  under  review.  And,  for  .Miss  Shariic's])uriJose, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  this  is  the  right  method.  Her 
exposition  of  the  merits  of  tliese  three  jwots  is 
capable  and  lucid — so  far  as  it  goes.  But  to  an 
embracing  survey  of  their  work,  with  its  aims,  con- 
scious and  unconscious,  anil  its  effects,  she  has  not 
attained.  Perhajjs  it  was  no  part  of  her  plan.  If, 
however,  we  allow  the  usefulness  of  her  narrower 
scope,  we  still   liud  ourselves  demanding  something 


moi<-  than  slic-  tells  iis,  not  only  ol  Kussctti,  .Morris 
and  Swinburne,  but  of  Cjough  an<l  ArnoM.  With 
something  that  we  lie-itate  to  call  perversity,  though 
we  teel  it  as  i)erversc,  slic  misses  the  iiecidiar  charm 
of  the  "  BotliJe,"  of  "Thyrsis"  and  "the  Scholar 
(iipsy."  anil  the  Ilomerir  majesty  of  "Balder  Dea.l" 
and  ".SoJiiaband  Hu-tum."  To  lier  "  Bahler  "  a|.pears 
"  somehow  wanting  in  force"  and  the  narrative  in 
"  Solirab  and  Hustum  "  "hardly  seems  swift  enougli, 
l)assionate  enough,  to  make  an  event  so  tragic  as  the 
death  of  a  warrior-son  by  the  hand  of  his  unwilling 
warrior-fatherquite  so  imj)ressive  as  it  ought  to  be." 
In  truth  this  is  just  how  it  would  strike  a  home- 
reading  circle  the  sort  of  folk  who  dote  on  Mr. 
I'ildes'  "The  Doctor"— and  we  can  almost  see 
Arnold's  smileatthe  comi)laint— "  (iive  us  something 
passionate,  i)lease.  And  don't  let  it  deal  with  Hasti- 
ness, like  theijassionof  Swinburne:  but,  if  you  itlease, 
stir  uj)  our  soids  with  just  tlu;  good  old  domestic 
emotion  we  want.  We  know  what  we  like:  we  want 
you  to  be  as  ])ure  as  ever  you  were,  but  kindly  reek 
with  i)assioii."  The  young  men  and  women  who 
ext<'nd  themselves  as  students,  and  form  circles  for 
nuitual  instruction,  are  after  all  of  the  same  bhjod  as 
their  giandi)arents  who  read  Byron  to  each  other 
and  sang  songs  of  sea-rovers  and  jiining  oriental 
beauties:  and  this  is  an  admirable  book  for  then). 
It  will  wean  them,  without  i-iideness,  from  their 
natural  favourites.  It  tells  them  exactly  what 
is  admired  in  academic,  as  opposed  to  home-reading, 
circles:  and  so  leads  them,  gently,  towards  good 
taste. 


ENGRA\ED    GEM.S. 


Tin:  Kn(ihavkI)  (Ikms  of  Clas-^icai,  Times,  with  ;i  Catalogue  of  the 
Gems  ill  the  Fitzwilliain  Museum.  lly  ,1.  Henry  MiJdleton, 
Sladc  Professor  of  l-'iiie  .Vit,  etc.  t'umbndi;i- :  Al  Ilie  fiiiviitity 
Press.      ISill. 

While  everyone  is  aware  of  the  singidar  interest 
attached  to  engra\cd  gcm>.,  lew  writers  have  veu- 
turetl  during  the  last  half  century  on  any  comi)re- 
hensive  discussion  of  this  dillicidt  subject.  lu 
England,  with  the  excejjtion  of  .Mr.  A.  S.  .Murray's 
short  introduction  to  the  Catalogue  of  Gems  in  the 
British  Museum,  there  is  little  e.\ce])t  the  works  of 
the  late  .Mr.  C.  W.  King,  to  whose  memory  the  book 
here  Tintler  review  is  de<iicated.  .Mr.  King's  writings 
areadmirable  in  many  ways,  but  they  are  rather  those 
of  an  aci-onq)lished  scholar  who  delightetl  in  gems  for 
the  side  lights  that  they  throw  on  the  classics,  than 
of  an  arcliH'ologist  of  the  modern  school,  whose  first 
object  is  to  trace  out  the  history  of  gem-engraving 
itself.  Jloreover  several  classes  oi'  gems  which  were 
hardly  known  when  the  failure  of  his  eyes  |tui  an 
end  to  -Mr.  King's  work,  have  since  become  im])ortant. 
On  the  Continent,  by  the  general  consent  of  arclue- 
ologists,  the  subject  has  been  left  almost  entirely  to 
the  few  ])ersc)ns  who  have  the  actual  handling  of  the 
])ublic  collections,  and  St.  Petersburg,  Berlin,  and 
Paris  have  each  had  two  representatives  in  the  dis- 
cussion. These  si.x,  however,  w  ith  one  or  two  others, 
lia\e  i)referred  to  focus  great  learning  on  particular 
parts  of  the  subject,  rather  than  to  write  general 
text-books.  Hence  it  comes  about  that  in  ))ul)li~hing 
an  account  of  the  engraved  gems  of  ehis^ical  tin)cs. 
Professor  .Middleton  enters  a  field  \\  Inch  is  almo'^t 
inioccu)>ied. 

Tli(M)ook  is  st:itfd  to  be  "  a  brief  account  of  the 
engraved  gems  anil  other  forms  of  .-ignet  which  were 
used  by  the  chief  classical  races  of  ancient  times," 
and  is  intended  for  the  general  use  of  students  of 
archa-ology.  ,\n  illustrated  catalogue  of  the  small 
but  interesting  collection  in  the  Pit/.wiHiam  Mu-euni. 
which  was  chiefiy  made  by  Colonel  Leake,  is  adikd 
as  an  ajipendix. 

Professor  .Middleton  begins,  as  is  ine\i table,  with 
the  two  earliest  forms  of  gems  the  Eg.\  plian 
searaba'us  and  the  Habylonian  cylinder-and  quotes 
a  few  exam))les  <if  each.  The  hi>tory  of  the 
scarab.cus,  and  of  its  otTsjn'ing.  the  M-araba-oid, 
is    duly    traced,   through    Phteuicia    to    Etnuia   and 


208 


THE     SPEAKER. 


[August  15,  189]. 


Greece ;  but  the  story  of  the  engraved  cylinder,  a-s 
told  by  Professor  Middleton,  stops  short  with  the 
PhuL'nicians.  It  is  true  that  there  is  little  more  to 
be  told,  as  cxaniiiles  of  Greek  cylinders  are  very 
rare.  The  reader,  liowever,  naturally  asks  whether 
any  reason  can  be  K'^'^n  for  the  neglect  of  the 
cylinder  form  by  Greeks  and  Etruscans,  exce))t  for 
the  special  iiurpose  of  iini)ressing  a  recurrent  design 
on  pottery"/ — and  to  this  question  no  answer  is  sug- 
gested. 

The  account  of  the  cylinder  and  the  scarab  is 
followed  by  a  description  of  the  strange  but  uncouth 
signets  of  the  "  Hittites,"  and  by  an  account  of  the 
"gems  of  the  Greek  Islands."  Here,  again,  the 
reader  will  complain  that  the  author  is  too  brief. 
The  so-called  "  gems  of  the  Islands  "  are  a  strongly 
marked  class  of  stones,  distinguished  by  their  style 
and  by  their  characteristic  shai)es.  They  are  found 
in  the  islands  of  the  -Egean  (whence  their  name), 
but  also  on  most  of  the  adjoining  coasts.  Their 
interest  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  are  found  botli 
witli  dei)osits  of  the  Myceu;ean  j)eriod  and  also  with 
later  Greek  works.  All  this  is  stated  by  Professor 
Middleton.  But  questions  at  once  arise  which  are 
of  interest  to  all  students  of  history,  and  not  only 
to  archa-ologists.  "What  was  this  school  of  artists, 
able  to  bridge  by  a  continuous  tradition  the  dark 
gulf  that  separates  Myceu;e  from  later  Greece  V  Were 
they  seated  at  a  distance — say,  in  Crete?  Were 
they  craftsmen  so  humble  that  the  storms  of  the 
Dorian  Invasion  passed  over  their  heads  V  Is  the 
whole  Myceuiean  culture  subsequent  to  the  Dorian 
Invasion  ? — if,  indeed,  that  invasion  ever  took  place. 
Such  ai-e  some  of  the  solutions  tliat  have  been  pro- 
])osed.  Professor  Middleton  does  not  clearly  indicate 
his  owu  o])inion.  but  we  gather  that  he  would  incline 
to  the  second  of  the  alternatives  given  above. 

After  an  account  of  the  Greek  gems  of  the  finest 
period,  which  would  Ije  more  serviceable  if  it  wei-e 
more  fully  ilhistrated.  Professor  Middleton  turns  to 
Etruria.  In  his  treatment  of  scarabs  found  in 
Etruscan  tombs  he  differs  somewhat  from  his  pre- 
decessors, in  holding  that  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  earlier  and  better  specimens  are  of  Greek  origin. 
Here,  too,  he  might  well  have  defined  and  sujjported 
his  jjosition  rather  more  fully.  It  apjiears  to  us  that 
the  differences  between  the  fine  gems  found  in  Greece 
and  those  of  Etruria  are  so  marked  that  the  idea 
of  an  extensive  import  trade  is  excluded,  unless  w'e 
suppose  that  thei*  was  a  great  manufacture  in 
Greece  of  gems  expressly  designed  for  tlie  Etruscan 
market,  and  of  this  there  is  no  evidence. 

In  the  study  of  gems  some  knowledge  of  the 
technical  methods  of  engraving  is  a  valuable  aid 
in  determining  doubtful  questions  of  date  and 
authenticity.  In  this  part  of  thes  ubject  Professor 
Middleton  is  seen  at  his  best.  With  Ids  inirivalled 
knowledge  of  curious  manual  processes,  he  is  able  to 
(piote  the  methods  of  the  Indian  tribesman,  the 
dentist,  the  glazier,  and  the  gem-forger — one  of 
tlie  latter  class  was  once  obliging  enough  to  disi)lay 
the  whole  of  his  art.  But  on  questions  of  techni(iue, 
as  on  all  otliers  connected  with  gems,  there  is  room 
for  dilTerences  of  o])inion  ;  and  we  doubt  wlietlier 
I'rofessor  Middleton  can  jn-ove  the  use  of  the  wheel 
on  the  "gems  of  tlie  Greek  Islands." 

A  considerable  part  of  the  book  is  devoted  to  a 
discussion  of  gems  with  su)5iiose<l  artists'  signatures. 
These  form  at  once  tlie  most  jierplexing  and  tiie 
most  irritating  of  archaeological  juoljlems  ;  the  most 
perplexing  because  certainty  is  usually  unattainable, 
.•uid  the  most  irritating  because  the  whole  difficulty 
is  due  to  the  folly  of  our  ancestors.  Nevertheless, 
the  histoiy  of  the  signed  gems  is  a  curious  study. 
Two  or  three  specimens  were  extant  all  through 
the  middle  ages.  Between  the  si.xteenth  and  llie 
eigliteenth  centuries,  the  number  of  known  gems 
with  artists"  signatures  slowly  increased,  and  the 
gems  so  signed  began  to  Ije  objects  of  special  value. 
In  the  eighteenth  century  a  royal  Prince  became  an 
amateur  of  gems,  anil  jjrojiounded  a  theory  as  to  one 
Solon,   a   gem-engraver.     .Soon   after   Baron   Stosch 


published  his  book  on  signed  gems,  and  every  man 
of  taste  became  a  collector.  For  more  than  a  century 
the  sui)j)ly  of  signed  gems  was  fully  equal  to  the 
demand,  and  the  catalogues  of  ancient  engravers 
were  swelled  to  a  prodigious  size.  At  length  the 
bubble  burst  some  sixty  years  since,  and  it  only 
lemained  for  archa-ologists  laboriously  to  pick  out 
tlie  true  signed  gems  from  the  accumulated  rubbish. 
Most  of  the  writers  alluded  to  at  the  beginning  of 
this  article  liave  devoted  themselves  to  the  inquiry, 
but  the  uncertainty  of  their  conclusions  is  sufficiently 
shown  by  their  variety.  Meanwhile,  it  fortunately 
happens  that  new  gems  are  from  time  to  time  dis- 
covered which  are  above  sus])icion,  and  stir  up  no 
controversy.  The  Fitzwilliam  JIuseum  possesses  one 
such  gem,  a  work  of  the  admirable  artist  Dexamenos. 
The  chapters  on  which  we  have  not  touched 
treat  of  various  Ijranches  of  the  subject,  such  as 
the  history  of  the  cameo,  the  uses  of  gems  in  anti- 
([uity,  and  the  manufacture  of  glass  pastes.  There 
is  also  an  interesting  section  on  the  use  of  gems  as 
signets  anil  ecclesiastical  ornaments  in  the  middle 
ages.  As  we  have  already  said,  the  main  fault 
that  i;ve  find  in  a  book  in  other  ways  excellent  is 
the  venial  one  of  being  too  short,  and  it  may  be 
hoped  that  its  apjiearance  will  be  of  real  service  in 
promoting  a  renewed  study  of  gems  in  England. 
Thei'e  are  a  few  misprints  and  other  inaccuracies, 
such  as  are  almost  unavoidable  in  a  book  dealing 
with  a  mass  of  details.  We  note,  for  example,  that 
Professor  Middleton  speaks  in  the  present  tense  of 
a  very  remarkable  cup  of  carved  glass  in  the  Museum 
at  .Strasburg.  Tnless  we  are  wrongly  informed,  this 
cuji  perished,  with  much  else  that  was  hardly  less 
fragile,  in  the  summer  of  1870. 


SHILLING    FICTION. 

1.  The  Diary  or  a  Scoindkel  :  Being  t'ne  I'ps  and  Downs  of  a  Man 

about  Town.     Bv  Slax  Pemberton.     London  :   Ward  &  Downey. 
1891. 

2.  Ji'sTiNE  :  OR,  A  Woman"3  Hosorit.    By  AValter  C'alvort.    London: 

Eden,  Remington  &  Co.     1891. 

3.  DiTiFUL  Davohteks  :  a  Tale  of  London  Life.     By  H.  SutherlunJ 

Edwards.     London  :  Eden,  Remington  &  Co.     1890. 

4.  Betweem  the  Lines.     By  Walter  llorries  Pollock  and  Alexander 

Gait.     London  :  Methuen  &  Co.     1891. 

•3.  Bits    i-kom    Bi.inkhonny  ;    or,    Bell    o"  the    Manse.     By  John 

.Strathesk.       Edinburgh    and    London  :     Olijihant.    Anderson    & 
Ferrier.     1891. 

"  The  Diary  of  a  Scoundrel "'  is,  of  course,  the  diary 
of  a  man  with  redeeming  traits  in  liis  ch.aracter ; 
and  the  goodness  of  bad  peojile  is  more  in.pressive — 
in  some  cases  more  attractive — than  the  goodness  of 
the  evenly  virtuous.  It  was  this,  perhajis,  which 
won  the  sympathy  of  the  reader  for  tlie  heroine  of 
"As  in  a  Looking  Glass,"  and  made  that  story  so 
popular.  In  tliis  book  the  scoundrel  was  not  so 
much  of  a  scoundrel  as  the  world  supposed  him  to 
be.  But  for  the  world's  bad  oiiinion  he  had  himself 
chiefiy  to  thank.  His  wife  obtained  a  ilivorce  from 
him  with  a  facility  that  seems  a  little  unusual,  when 
he  could  very  easily  have  jiroved  to  her  that  she  had 
no  reason  whatever  to  susi)ect  him.  He  had  squan- 
dered her  money,  but  he  had  done  nothing  worse. 
However,  he  was  too  proud  to  give  any  explanation. 
"  Wliy  trouble."  he  says,  ••  why  seek  to  convince  a 
woman  wlio  shows  a  desire  to  lie  rid  of  you"?"  The 
story  contains  plcnt}''  of  striking  contrasts  ;  it  deals 
with  the  low  morality  of  high  life,  the  virtues  of  a 
scoundrel,  the  change  from  ric-hes  to  poverty.  It  is 
by  no  means  without  interest :  and  a  rich  American, 
of  tlie  kind  most  common  in  fiction,  provides  the 
rescue  of  the  hero  and  the  hapjiy  ending.  In  short, 
it  is  much  the  kind  of  book  that  the  ]iublic  have 
shown  that  they  like  to  read.  To  more  critical 
reailers  it  will  seem  a  little  over-coloured  and  un- 
natural ;  much  of  it  is  rather  story-like  than  life- 
like. 

On  the  cover  of  "Justine"'  is  the  jiicture  of  a 
young  man  in  an  easy-chair,  gazing  pleasantly  at  a 
skeleton   standing   erect   in   a   cabinet.      This  looks 


August  15,  1891.] 


THE     SPEAKER. 


209 


])r(>iiiisiiiff.  The  opeiiinp  fhajiliT  helps  to  raise  one's 
aiiticiiiatioiis.  There  is  so  iimch  ])reliiiiiiiary  fuss 
that  <me  really  exi)ects  soiiu'tliiuf?  more  tliau  the 
eoiiiinoiiplaee  iminier  story.  .Viul  yet  we  liiid  in  it 
only  tiie  old,  iamiliar  lines.  A  man  is  found  mur- 
dered. It  is  believed  l)y  the  detective  that  a  ei'rtain 
Avonian  eonniutted  tlie  minder.  We  kno\v  that  the 
detective  must  be  wrong,  because  the  hero  is  in  love 
with  that  woman  ;  and  this  alone  is,  to  a  habitual 
reader  of  fiction,  sufficient  evidence  of  her  innocence. 
In  the  enit  the  real  murderess  confesses  her  guilt.  This 
isnot  a  very  ingenious  story.  It  isuot  well  constructed  ; 
it  contains  much  material  which  seems  unnecessary 
to  the  story  and  not  illustrative  of  the  characters; 
in  other  places  the  book  sulTcrs  from  undue  com- 
jiression.  We  notice  here,  as  in  some  other  recent 
volumes,  a  slight  alteration  in  the  detective.  Tlie 
fashion  has  cliangcd,  and  the  detectives  of  fiction 
are,  it  seems,  to  fail  this  winter  :  they  will  be  l)eauti- 
fuUy  foiled  and  turned  back  so  as  to  sliow  the 
superior  cunning  of  the  hero.  They  W'ill,  however, 
be  quite  as  dull  as  they  were  in  the  spring.  There 
is  just  that  amoiuit  of  love-story  in  "Justiue"  which 
one  generally  finds  in  detective  stories,  to  provide 
relief  when  one  is  overwrought  with  the  mystery 
and  bloodshed,  and  to  furnish  motives  for  the  com- 
mitting of  a  murder  and  for  the  hero's  interest  in 
the  detection  of  guilt.  On  the  whole,  ".lustine"  is 
rather  a  poor  si)ecimen  of  rather  a  i)Oor  kind  of 
story. 

In  "Dutiful  Daughters"  Mr.  Sutherland  Edwards 
has  a  subject  which  has  already  been  treated  with 
some  success  by  Shakcsi)eare,  Miss  Wilkins,and  others. 
The  title  is,  of  course,  ironical.  The  two  married 
daughters  of  Mr.  Meeking  were  very  far  from  being 
dutiful.  Owing  to  circumstances  which  need  not  Ije 
detailed  here,  Mr.  Meeking  found  himself  entirely 
dependent  on  his  two  daughters  ;  it  was  ai-ranged 
that  he  should  spend  six  months  of  the  year  with 
each  of  them.  But  the  one  turned  him  out  a  day  or 
two  before  the  right  time,  antl  the  other  refused  to 
take  him  in  until  the  very  day  on  which  he  was  due. 
Consecpiently  we  find  Mr.  Meeking  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  story  in  Kensington  Workliouse.  Mr. 
Meeking  regains  his  old  i)osition  in  the  end.  and  his 
undutiful  daughters  and  sons-in-law  are  generally 
confounded.  It  is  a  clever  little  story,  written  with 
brightness  and  humour;  much  of  it  is  wildly  im- 
in'obal)le  and  farcical,  but  it  is  well  told  and  dis- 
tinctly annising. 

"  Between  the  Lines "  is  a  murder  story,  ratlier 
more  original  and  ingenious  than  the  average  murtler 
story.  The  missing  document,  the  rightful  heir,  and 
the  disguised  villain  are  part  of  the  subject  of  the 
book,  but  they  do  not  constitute  its  chief  claim  to 
originality.  The  impulsive  act  by  which  Mr.  Xtin 
Rhyn  tries  to  screen  tlie  character  of  his  murdered 
friend,  and  the  comi)lieations  which  ensue  from 
that,  are  well  invented,  however.  Mr.  Van  Rhyn, 
we  are  told,  occupied  the  same  set  of  rooms  at  the 
Langham  Hotel  which  had  been  formerly  oc(Ui)ied 
by  that  "•well-known  American  millionaire,  Mr. 
Gilead  P.  Beck."  As  a  com])linient  to  ^Ir.  Besant 
this  kind  of  thing  may  be  all  that  is  delicate  and 
admirable,  but  it  does  not  make  this  story  more 
convincing;  it  may  perhai)s  help  to  make  "The 
Golden  Butterfly "  more  convincing,  which  is  not 
at  all  necessary.  It  is  really  a  mistake  to  remind 
the  reader  that  the  story  is  only  a  story  and  not 
real  life ;  he  is  so  likely  always  to  remember  that 
for  himself.  The  obitujiry  notice  of  M.  Ferdinand 
Montluc  on  the  last  iiage  is  a  capital  imitation  of 
the  i)ersonal  i)aragra])hs  of  certain  newsj)apers.  The 
tone  of  the  writing  is  somewhat  cynical — humoiw- 
ously  cynical.  "  Between  the  Lines  "  is  (luite  a  read- 
able story. 

Many  will  welcome,  the  new  edition  of  "Bits 
from  Blinkboiniy."  There  is  a  pleasant  homeliness 
and  simplicity  about  this  series  of  pictures  of 
Scottish  village  life.  They  have  a  character  and 
quality  of  their  own,  and  are  quite  free  from  the 
common  fault  of  pretentiousness. 


TWO    HOOK    GUIDES. 


A     GVUIE    TO     THE     llllOIi  E    O)     riOOKS     I- 

I{KAi.i;ns.     Editid  l,y  .\itl,ur  H.  JJ.  .\ 
olUulh.il  Colle«c,  ((xioril.     Loudou  :    i 


■  ■  •  -.'TS    AKI>    GenEBAI, 

H'.jiiorarv  Fellow 

niford.       IH'J\. 

A    (irii.E  Hook    to    Books,     r.dil.-l  bv  K.   is.  hargant  aiid   Bcniard 
\\  lii.'.liaw.     Loudon  :  Hfiiry  Knjwdc.     ItS'Jl. 

The  imllMir  nf  tlu'  ti-i-Hli-.'  firnt  named  in  our  luiidiiig  cauilidly 
tells  us  in  his  prefac-  tli.it  it  \h  not  intended  fortlinse  ••  fcrtnnate 
lic-isonsin  an  cnvialile  iio«iti..ii.  more  fortunate  and  more  envied 
llian  they  often  know,"  who  liave  oomi>etent  ndviserM  at  liaud 
who  ean  tell  them  *•  wli.it  to  road."  T)ie  aim  of  Die  hook  is  to 
he  useful  "to  the  eomniitleis  of  the  smaller  Free  Lihrarieo,  to 
the  Edueational  Deparlinents  of  Working  Men's  CooiK-rative 
mill  otlier  Societies,  to  some  of  those  who  are  attending  University 
Extension  I.eetnres,  to  Home  R<-adiug  Cirehs  and  Mutual  Iin- 
lirovenieiit  Soeieties,  and  also  to  a  good  inunv  isolated  (-tuilents 
engaged  in  fiVorts  to  ediieate  themselves."  lliat  it  will  he  u-ieful 
in  this  way  wo  liave  no  d..iihl.  and  there  is  also  a  good  deal  of 
useful  adviee  and  jileasant  literary  matter  intersju-rsed  through 
its  iiages.  Geohigy  must  he  studied  eliiefly  in  the  ojien  air. 
Under  the  liead  of  "  Pliilosojihy  "  the  student'is  advised  to  follow 
two  rules,  tlie  ehief  jioiiits  of  w'hieii  are  1  to  eheek  his  reading 
by  his  own  experienee  of  men  and  things,  and  i  Ji  to  read  the 
liliihisojiheis  themselves  and  not  to  he  eoiitent  with  reading  about 
]i]iilo.soi)hy.  Tlie  (luotatioiis  under  the  various  headings  are 
also  good  and  well  chosen.  Thus,  under  "  Politiejil  S<-ience," 
we  liave  a  iiuotntiou  from  Bagehot  ending  with — "If  eonstitu- 
encii's  knew  move.  iiieinber<  would  have  to  know  more,  and  the 
standard  of  intelligence  of  the  House  of  Commons  would  he 
raised."  Under  this  heading,  however,  we  mav  note  that  we 
were  somewhat  surprised  to  see  "The  Student's  Blaekstone" 
reeouimcuded  as  an  ik/ciuicciI  book  on  the  English  Con.stitution. 
The  second  book  named  in  the  heading  of  this  article  is 
written  on  (piiti  a  difl'erent  ]ilan.  In  it  the  various  subjeets 
considered  are  arranged  alpliabetieally.  The  object  of  the  work, 
as  stated  in  the  preface,  is  "  to  place  at  the  service  of  the  reader 
tlie  opinions  of  those  who  may  be  trusted  t->  give  sound  advice 
as  to  the  books  which  arc  of  valne  in  each  department  of  know- 
ledge." The  word  "  knowledgo  "  is  iiswl  in  a  widi-  sense,  as  it 
includes  in  its  scope  the  "science"  of  self-defence,  for  boxing 
tigmes  ill  the  list  of  subjeets  on  which  treatises  are  recommended. 
Billiards,  cricket,  cycling,  fencing,  football,  and  golf,  with  a 
variety  of  similar  subjects,  have  sjiace  allotted  to  them  in  these 
pages.  From  "Abyssinia"  to  "Zoology."  the  eye  ranges  ov<r 
some  l!ot)  main  subjects  of  the  most  varied  character,  with  verv 
nuiiieroiis  sub-heads,  which  we  are  invited  to  study  in  standard 
treatises.  History.  Science,  .\rt.  Law,  Literature,  and  Tlieologv 
find  a  jilacp.  There  would  seem,  indeed,  to  be  scarcely  any  topic 
of  interest  in  which  the  reader  is  not  referred  to  a  copious  list  of 
aiitliorities.  One  subject  aloue,  which  is.  we  think,  (le.serving  of 
attention,  seems  to  have  escaped  notice.  A  library,  in  order  to 
lie  at  all  complete,  ought  to  have  copies  of  the  best  speeches  of 
the  princijial  orators  of  ancient  and  modern  times.  Demosthenes 
and  Cicero  find  a  place  under  Greek  and  Latin,  and  Burke 
under  England  in  the  sul  -head.  Literature;  but  we  have  looked 
ill  vain  for  Gladstone.  Bright,  and  other  names  of  first-rate  im- 
]iortaiice  in  the  ranks  of  orators.  To  us  the  work  appears  to  err 
rather  on  the  side  of  reduuilaney ;  but  we  have  little  doubt  that 
a  good  many  readers  will  find  it  very  serviceable. 


RTCAEDO   FOR    THE    PEOPLE. 

PKixcin.ES  or  1'oliticai,  Economy  and  T-vxatiox.  By  David  Ric-irdo. 
Edited,  with  iutrodiutory  Essiiy,  Notes,  and  .\i>]ieiiiiice*,  by  E.  C.  K. 
Gomier,  M.A.  London:  George  Bell  A:  Sous.  IS'.'l.  (Bohu's 
.Series .) 

The  publishers  of  Bolin's  scries  deserve  the  gratitude  of  all 
students  of  political  economy  for  Mr.  Conner's  neat  edition  of 
the  chief  work  of  the  best  abused  and  least  studied  of  the  great 
masters  of  the  science.  The  editor  is  a  young  Oxford  man, 
alreadv  favourably  known  a.-:  a  University  Extension  lecturer 
and  writer  on  the  subject  in  the  latter  ea)mcity.  if  we  mistake 
not,  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  He  contributes  an  introduc- 
tion and  appendices,  the  unprelentiousness  of  which  rather 
obscures  their  real  utility,  dealing  with  the  st.'ck  criticisms  on 
Ricardo  and  in  Apiieiulix  .Vi  more  particularly  with  those  of 
Jevoiis  and  Professor  InL'rnm.aiid  the  savage  per>iUialities  of  the 
great  Geriiian  "  inductive"  economist,  Adolf  Held.  He  also 
brings  out  Ricardo's  uumethodical  habit  of  mind — character- 
istic,   bv  the   way,  of   the  English  business   man— sketches  a 

rearrangement  of'the  < tints  in  a  more  logical  onler,  -suece.ss- 

fullv  disconnects  Ricanh.  from  the  Soeiali-t  tlieories  of  the 
relation  of  value  and  labour  that  have  so  often  been  fathered 
upon  him,  explains  vi'ry  clearly  the  position  of  the  theory  i^f 
rent  in  his  svsteiii,  and  exhibits  a  wide  knowledire  of  economic 
liteiatiire  that  was.  till  recently,  far  too  nire  amoUi.'  English 
econniuists.  There  are  u'ood  notes  scattered  thnnigh  the  book 
and  an  excellent  bibliography.  We  believe  this  is  the  first  cheap 
edition  of  Ricardo's  works.  The  pn'si  nt  dress  of  the  series  is  a 
great  iniprovemeiit  on  the  familiar  covers  wliose  repntatiou  is 
somewhat  soiled  in  many  miuds— such  is  the  effect  of  earl)" 
a.ssoeiation— by  their  suggestions  of  cribbing  tit  school. 


210 


THE     SPEAKER. 


[August  15,  1891. 


FIRST   IMPRESSIONS.* 


Prefaced  by  a  lucagre  aud  uiisiitisfactory  biojiTapliical  and 
critical  introduction,  a  new  and  clicai)  edition  of  '•  The  Poetical 
Works  of  John  Greculiaf  Whit  tier  "  Jias  just  licen  broufrht  out 
by  Messrs.  Frederick  Warue  A  Co.  Whitlior  is  always  welcome, 
thoujjh,  as  these  pages  Ihenisclves  bear  witness,  the"  gentle  aud 
attractive  Quaker-poet  of  Amcsbury  is  not  always  inspired — 
except  by  the  motive  to  do  good.  "Soniotinuis  his  muse  is  be- 
trayed into  anything  but  rhylliniic  motion,  yet  never,  in  the 
moral  sense,  into  one  nnworth'y  line.  The  lyrics  aud  idylls  of 
New  England  life  whicli  Wlnttier  has  writ'teu.  often  approach 
in  their  artless  beauty  tlie  \L'yy  perfection  of  art,  whilst  his 
anti-slavery  ]H>ems,  with  their  noble  enthusiasm  of  humanity, 
aud  passionate  protest  against  injustice,  quicken  the  pulse  like 
the  sound  of  a  trumpet,  and  shame  meaner  natures  witli  their 
lofty  views  of  brotherhocd.  In  the  jwetic  interpretation  of 
nature.  Whittier  has  won  for  himself  not  a  great,  but  an 
honoured  place ;  and  wherever  the  sanctity  of  the  home  is  most 
valued,  his  jjoems.  with  their  rich  human  love  and  tenderness, 
will  always  Hud  .-i  place.  It  has  been  finely  said  of  him  that, 
belonging  by  auce.-^try  ami  conviction  to  a  religious  body  making 
much  of  the  -  inner  liglit  "  of  God  in  the  heart,  Whittier  has,  bv 
his  free  and  natural  songs,  made  freedom  a  duty  and  religion  a 
joy.  Whittier  li.is  written  too  much,  but  mucli  may  be  foi^iveu 
to  a  man  who  has  always  written  from  his  heart,  and  who  has 
ever  used  his  gift  of  song  to  <|uickeu  faith,  to  kindle  hope,  and 
to  keep  alive  charity  in  the  hearts  of  meu. 

Dr.  Norraau  Macleod's  racy,  genial,  and  vigorous  sketches 
and  stories  of  Scottish  life  aud  cliavacter  arc  not  nearly  so  well 
known  as  they  deserve  to  be  by  the  jiresent  generation.  We 
are  therefore  glad  to  welcome,  in"  a  neat  volume  published  at  a 
popular  price,  -  The  Old  Lieutenaut  and  His  Son,"  "  Character 
Sketches,"  and  other  "  Remiuiseeuces  of  a  Highland  Parish." 
Norman  Macleod  held  in  Scotland,  as  preacher  and  man  of 
letters,  for  a  long  term  of  busy  and  iutineutial  vears.  a  positiou 
wjiich  was  ncit  imlike.  iu  mauy  respects,  that"  which  Charles 
Kingsley  filled  so  admirably  iu  England.  Both  men  possessed 
to  a  marked  degree  the  power  of  personal  fascination  ;  both  had 
the  courage  of  tlieir  convictions,  aud  both  were  cheery  optimists 
though  never  flatterers,  of  their  kind. 

Evidently  Mr.  Arnold  Wliite  believes  himself  (o  be  a  man 
with  a  mission,  and  "  Tries  at  Truth  "  is,  iu  our  judg-nient.  quite 
too_mod(!sl_  a  designation  for  the  volume  to  which  it'  is  attaclied. 
It  is  possible  to  admit  that  the  accent  of  sincerity  pervades 
these  oracular  deliverauces,  without  at  the  same  time  committing 
ourselves  to  anything  in  the  nature  of  a  hearty  eudorsomen"t 
ot  their  wisdom.  Mr.  White  expresses  the  ho])e  that  there  will 
be  fotmd  some  "  elements  of  strength  iu  thoughts  that  have  been 
written  ouly  after  prolonged  labour";  but  i'^f  there  are  we  are 
bound  to  add  tliat  we  have  missed  them.  The  book  is'unciues- 
tionably  writti^n  with  tli,>  best  intentions,  but  it  is  vitiated  by 
the  rather  fus.sy  and  emotional  character  of  its  benevolence 
Here  and  there  Mr.  White,  iu  dealing  with  the  social  questions 
ot  the  hour,  strikes  the  nail  ou  the  head,  aud,  like  the  late 
Lord  Beacousiiekl,  he  is  on  the  side  of  the  angels.  It  matters 
not  wliat  the  subject  may  be— Socialism,  strikes,  drink  over- 
crowding, pauper  immigrathm,  amusements— ho  is  prepared  to 
-set  everyl)ody  right,  and  he  not  seldom  proceeds  to  do  so 
by  tricking  out  a  few  familiar  moral  commouplaces  and  obvious 
retiections  in  a  smart  dress  of  highly  coloured  rlietoric.  What- 
ever originality  the  book  can  claim  Ties  in  the  direction  of  catch- 
penny phrase  and  stilted  grandiloquence  of  expression.  It  is 
really  dreadful  to  read  jiage  after  pag<>  all  too  ideutifiillv 
decorated  with  this  sort  of  tiling-'- The  Lamb  of  Labour  will 
lie  down  with  the  Lion  of  Capital  only  when  he  is  inside 
or  when  he  is  admitted  as  a  iiartner."  Wo  counsel  Mr.  Arnold 
VV  lute,  to  give  diligent  heed  himself  to  at  least  a  brace  of  his 
own  seutentious  deliverances— for  they  might  have  been  written 
coneeruiiig  the  book  before  us—"  Rhetoric  has  injured  labour 
IU  the  past,  and  -  T  ntutored  emotion  has  wrought  evcu  more 
harm  than  deliberate  wrong." 

Under  the  modest  title  of  •' A  School  History  and  Geography 
of  Northeru  India,"  Sir  William  W.  Hunter  has  just  wdtten  a 

*  The  Poetical  Wohks  of  John  CiuEENLEAF  Whittieu.    With  Life 

Isotes,    ami    Index.     The    Albion    Editiou.       Loudon:    Frederick 

V\  arue  A:  Co.     Crown  Svo. 
AV0EK3.    By  Xorm.an  Mueleoil,   D.D.      Illustrated.     Loudou :   diaries 

Humet  A:  Co.     Oomv  Svo.     (lis.  lid.) 
Tries  AT^TuuTU      By  Arnold  White,  Author  of  "  Problems  of  a  Oreat 

i^itj ,     etc.     Loudon  :  Isbister  &  Co.     Crowu  Svo. 

■*■    ^w.*;P^    ^'™'"'   ^'°    tiEOOKAPHY    OF    NoiiTHEHN    IXDIA.      Bv    Sir 

il^  iri"J-  r  '''"?  ^r"'"' KC-S.I.,  CLE.,  LL.B.     Calcutta :  k  K. 
i^alim  A.  Co.     Lomlon  :  Henry  Frowde.     Crown  Svo      C^s  6d  ) 

By  Richarci  S^ley,  M.D..  Member  of  the  Koval  Collc-e  of  Phv-'icians 

&  Co."  Kovafsvo™"''  "'"'  ^'"'  ^'"''''^  ^""'S""^"^,  Ureeu 

The   UrcEU  Tk x .-    a  Story  ot'  the  \-ciy  Be.st  Society.      By  Sebastian 

DimySvo      (K)      "'"'•     ^""''°"  ^  Sampson  Low,  Marston  &  Co 

WAY.     New  and  EcvLsed  Edition.     Illustrated.     London,  Paris  and 
Melbourne :  Cassell  &  Co.     Crowu  Svo.     (Is.)  "u,  ir,u.»  auu 


singularly  able  summary  of  facts  relating  to  Bengal  and  the 
Northern  Provinces.  The  manual— a  little  book  of  one 
hundred  and  iifty  pages,  packed  with  terselv-expressed  and 
clearly-arranged  information— has  been  prepared  for  use  in  the 
schools  of  India,  but  it  is  also  hoped  that  it  may  prove  of  ser- 
vice to  young  English  and  American  readers.  It  is.  in  truth,  a 
masterly  epitome,  and  we  do  not  know  which  we  admire  most  : 
its  conciseness  or  its  comprehensiveness.  We  only  wish  that 
the  majority  of  .school  books  on  history  and  geograid"iy  displayed 
anything  like  the  skill  and  research  of  this  vigorous'aud  attrac- 
tive volume  on  Northern  India. 

Dr.  Sisley's  mouogra]ih  on  "  Epidemic  Intluenza  "  is  a  book 
which  ajijieals  chiefly  to  the  faculty,  and  yet.  at  the  same  time, 
it  is  not  without  a  certain  painful  interest  to  ordinary  people. 
He  believes  that  inHuen/.a  is  contagious,  aud  he  agrees  with 
Professor  Klein  and  other  authorities  that  the  disease  is  prob- 
ably diK!  to  a  microscopic  organism.  It  seems  clear  that  influ- 
enza spreads  along  the  lines  of  human  intercourse,  for  statistics 
prove  that  large  towns  are  affected  sooner  than  small  ones, 
whilst  village  communities  often  escape  the  visitation  of  the 
epidemic.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  inhabitants  of  asylums. 
prisons,  convents,  and  other  places  more  or  less  cut  oii'  from 
contact  with  the  outer  world,  frefjuently  pass  unscathed,  even 
wlien  the  disease  is  raging  all  luuiid.  "  Dr.  Sisley  thinks  that 
iuHueii/.a.  by  a  short  Act  of  Parliament,  ought  to"  bo  placed  in 
the  category  of  infectious  di.seases  for  which  notification  is  com- 
pulsoi-}',  and  the  whole  drift  of  his  argument  goes  to  jirove  the 
necessity  of  stringent  precautions,  as  well  as  regulations,  in 
regard  to  this  insidious  maladv.  The  book  is  plentifully 
supplied  with  illustrative  charts,"  aud  at  each  stage  of  the 
inquiry  Dr.  Sisley  rests  his  case  ou  statistics  which  cannot 
be  challenged. 

The  freaks  and  foibles  of  a  certain  set  of  rich  and  idle  people 
of  rank  are  caricatured  with  a  little  cleveruess  and  a  good  deal 
of  cynicism  in  "  The  Upper  Ten  :  a  Story  of  the  verv  best 
Soc:e'y.'  The  story,  such  as  it  is,  is  thrown 'into  dramatic"  form, 
aud,  in  consequence,  we  are  supposed  to  overhear  a  succession  of 
conversations,  some  of  which  are  not  half  so  amusing  as  might 
be  expected  from  the  complications  which  arise.  This  rather 
exaggerated  aud  occasionally  pointless  exhibition  of  contem- 
porary manners  is  dedicated"to  M.  Edouard  Paillesou.  and  the 
authors  gracefully  hint  that  he  is  in  a  measure  responsible 
for  the  work  by  virtue  of  '•  Le  Monde  ou  I'on  s'cnnuie." 

Now  that  the  tourist  season  has  set  in  w-ith  its  usual  severity, 
guide-books,  big  and  little,  assume  a  sudden  importance.  Quite 
one  of  the  best  popular  books  of  the  kind— iu  size  and  .shape 
like  a  well-dressed  •'  Bradshaw  "—is  "  The  Offici.il  Guide  to  the 
Loudon  and  North  Western  Railway."  Of  course,  official 
guides  require  to  be  read  with  a  little  healthy  scepticism,  for 
they  naturally  pounce  upon  the  ]iicturesqiie.  and.  with  judicious 
express-paced  .speed,  rush  past,  with  the  briefest  possible  allusion, 
less-favoured  localities.  The  North  AVesteru  Railway,  with  its 
associated  systems,  now  extends  over  some  six  thousand  miles, 
aud  iu  this  volume  of  four  hundred  pages  will  be  f(nind  com- 
pressed a  va.st  amount  of  useful  and  explicit  information,  and 
less  word-painting  tlian  is  generally  the  ease  in  works  of  the 
sort.  The  traveller.  f<u-  cxamjde,  will  find  the  distances  fnmi 
Eustou  and  other  important  stations ;  the  time  allowed  for 
stoppages  in  the  course  of  a  long  jouruey ;  and  particulars  of  the 
letter-boxes,  po.stal  telegraph  offices,  boo'kstalls,  and  ref reshmeut- 
roouis  provided.  luformatiou  is  also  given  ccmcerniug  looji  and 
branch  lines,  aud  the  various  coaches,  steamers,  and  "Ims 
which  p!y  in  counection  with  the  railway.  The  chief  publ 
buildings  and  hotels  ot  the  cities  aud  towns  reached  by  the 
North  Western  Railway  are  also  indicated,  and  the  volume  is 
provided  witli  a  capital  index,  so  that  it  is  possible  to  find  (Uit  at 
once  all  that  the  Guide  has  to  say  eoiieerniiii;-  some  two  tliousand 
places  at  which  the  trains  stop.  "The  new  edition  which  has  just 
been  brought  out  contains  several  .'idditional  maps,  jilaus,  and 
illustrations  ;  and,  thanks  to  Mr.  Neele,  the  superinteudeui  of 
the  line,  and  his  ju-incipal  assistants,  the  details  have  been  ccn- 
siderably  amplitied.  and.  what  jierhaps  is  still  more  to  the  point, 
have  also  been  verified  up  to  the  date  of  publication. 


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VI 


THE     SPEAKER. 


[August  15,  1891. 


CASSELL  &   COMPANY'S  ANNOUNCEMENTS. 

"  Almost  worthy  of   Defoe.  '—r/i<-  Tiiiif». 

NOTiCE.-TiaiJl     LAST     GREAT     NAVAL     WAR, 

In    Oik    Voluim-.   ./In.   7^'i/h  J/ir/s  and  J'laiis.   fs  jiO'V  r  ady,  price  2s. 
This  work,  from  t;  3  pen  of  an  eminent  strategical  authority,  is  already  pronounced  to  be  the  most  important 

essay  of  the  Itind  that  has  yet  been  issued  from  the  press. 

T/ie  Times  says :— "  The  wriler  assumes  that  the  war  has  broken  out  between  this  country  and  France,  and  tha-  its  issues  are  decided,  as  they  needs  must  \k,  at  sea. 
This  hypothesis  is  uTOUght  out  with  singular  vividness  and  precision  of  detail,  and  with  a  masterly  gras])  of  the  essential  elements  of  sea  power,  and  of  the  broad  principles  of 
naval  stratcg>-.  The  book  is,  in  fact,  a  brilliant  and  most  instrucivc  essay  on  the  higher  policy  of  national  defence,  which  has  been  made  to  a-ssume  a  popular  form,  by 
putting  the  concrete  for  the  abstract,  with  a  regard  for  personal  and  realistic  detail  almost  worthy  of  Defoe.  .  .  .  We  have  little  but  praise  to  give  to  '  The  Last  Great 
Naval  War  "  as  a  well  conceived  and  admirably  executed  endeavour  to  lay  before  the  countr>-,  in  a  form  intelligible  to  all,  the  true  principles  of  naval  stratcp-,  and  their 
application  in  these  latter  days  to  the  problem  of  national  and  Imperial  defence.  .  .  .  '  The  Last  Great  Naval  War '  is  a  national  object  les.son  of  e.\ceptional  interest 
and  value."  - . 


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