4 AUGUST 1894, Page 22

THE MAGAZINES,

BEBIDES Mr. Gladstone's article, which we have dealt with in another column, there are several good papers in the Nineteenth Century. Mr. W. L. Alden (late American Consul-General in

Rome) puts the Italian case against France with great force, but also with a good deal of exaggeration. The day is, he says, close at hand when Italy must disarm, for the weight of taxation has become intolerable. But if Italy disarms, she must withdraw from the Triple Alliance. But she cannot, withdraw from the Triple Alliance without "placing herself under the heel of France." There is, therefore, argues Mr.

Alden, nothing for it but war,—" France has driven Italy to the choice between war and bankruptcy." Italy has therefore no alternative but to force the Triple Alliance to begin the war at once. This she can do because, though Germany desires peace, she "cannot afford to purchase peace at the price of the disruption of the Triple Alliance " " In case of war, Italy can easily give employment to two hun- dred. thousand French troops that would otherwise oppose Ger- many on the Rbine ; and the Italian fleet can keep the greater part of the French fleet in the Mediterranean. When, therefore, the Italian Government informs the Kaiser that either war with France must be begun without delay, or Italy must withdraw from the Alliance and disarm, the end of the present armed peace will have arrived. Germany must prefer to go to war with Italy as her ally, rather than to await without the aid of Italy the attack of the French. The logic of the situation points inexorably to war. The longer it is delayed the nearer Italy draws to bank- ruptcy or to slavish submission to France. The situation has been made by France, and on her alone must rest the guilt of the coming struggle."

Logically, there seems no possible answer to this ; but for all that we do not believe in " war to-morrow, or the day after at the very latest." Italy is crushed by taxation, no doubt, but she knows that a war would cost a hundred millions sterling, even if it only lasted six weeks, and were successful. No doubt the rest- lessness of Italy, owing to the military burdens shehas assumed, is an ugly and dangerous feature, but it does not justify Mr.

Alden's bellicose syllogisms.—Dr. Russell gives a fairly good ghost-story ; but unfortunately it did not happen to himself, but to a friend. The scene is a Scotch castle, and the manifestation a cold hand passed over the sleeper's face. —Professor Geffoken has an excellent theme in "The War- Chests of Europe," and tells us some interesting things, but he does not get at close quarters with his subject. Only in the case of Germany does he give us the exact figures of the funds available as war-treasure. Germany has 26,000,000 in gold in the Julius Tower at Spandau, and about £25,000,000 more in mobile securities, and would therefore not be forced to raise a war-loan on any terms offered to her. The total amount of Russia's gold-hoard is not stated, but we are told that the amount kept at home is 620,500,000 of roubles. Austria, Italy, and France do not appear to have any gold- hoards ; but the last (France) could, we believe, by appealing to the patriotism of the small investor, at any moment get £100,000,000 at easy rates.—" The Labour War in the United States" is a somewhat perfunctory piece of work. It tries to explain the labour war, and the depression of trade which caused that war, and omits the effects of Protection. Prices have fallen because, says the writer, "the demand for all descriptions of produce has been seriously curtailed, partly owing to the glut of commodities, partly owing to a serious diminution of the purchasing power of the people." He forgets, however, to note that the main cause of this laok of purchasing power is the injury to trade done by the McKinley Aet.—Mr. Egerton, of the Bengal Civil Service, writes a sensible and temperate article on the mud-daubing in Behar. He shows clearly that the marks were made not by animals, but by men and gives his reasons for thinking that the object was a purely religious one, "and has no political significance whatever." But though the primary object may have been religious, the effects may very well have been political. Mr. Egerton quotes from a letter by T. M. Gibbon, "the manager of the Bettiali Raj," which shows how mysterious religious symbols might come to have a disturbing effect on the population :— "It must, I think, be admitted by everyone that it is openly talked over everywhere, thought over by everyone, and that the majority of the natives have at one time or another gone to the Brahmins, to the Mohunts, the Sadhus, the Jotesees, to place an interpretation on the 'omen' or Tutka. Will anyone say that the Tutka has been interpreted as being considered fortunate to any- ene P Every interpretation placed upon it having reference to the worldly estate of the parties concerned denotes misfortune or ealamity—misfortune to the Government, where it has been inter- preted to concern it, misfortune to rajahs, all reasuths, and rulers, and calamity to the people generally. The people have been and are being told that this year will be a year of plenty, but there will be few mouths left to eat it.' Those who deride us for being anxious little know what this means to our superstitious popula- tion, and the effect it will have on them, Should the belief gain ground that the omen presages evil to them personally, absolute apathy will take possession of them should our province be visited by cholera or famine ; only those who have to work for and with them know what a hopeless business it is to help those who will not help themselves. As yet the majority believe that it presages trouble to our Government, evil to all reaeuths. The religious aspirations of the people, the political motives of their leaders, we may safely leave the Government to deal with, but the economic effect of the movement must be closely watched and followed by all who live by and with the people, whether native zemindar or European planter, even at the risk of being dubbed alarmists." Mr. Egerton, however, does not agree with this. He sums up his view by saying that the mud-marks were placed on the mango-trees by Sadhus, and that their object was that stated by one of them to an English non-official :—" The mud-mark is nothing ; it is only an invitation to 'us Sadhus to go to the great Janakpur mela later on." The marks were, in fact, an advertisement of the great shrine,—a pictorial way of saying, "All roads lead to Janakpur." Mr. Egerton ends " The people are quiet and contented, and now the Bagr-Id festival has passed off very quietly, and the rains have come, washing away the mysterious mud-daubs, which are fast disap- pearing from sight, all recollection thereof will soon be obliterated o

f in the minds of the peasants of Bihar, who already regard the whole affair with the utmost apathy and indifference. After what as happened, however, it will not be surprising if, next year, some to new, arm strange sign shall appear to puzzle the heads of the wise and al th e suspicious."

The strong point of the National Review this month is a quite admirable West Indian sketch by that clever writer, "the author of A Study in Colour.'" The sketch, called " Margaret," gives us a picture of a coloured or half-bred Jamaican servant-girl. With consummate art the writer puts us en rapport with Margaret, and makes us feel the pathos of her story. Margaret is the daughter of a white man by a black housekeeper, and all her family are enormously proud of her strain of white blood. That fully compensates for any irregularity as regards her birth. The family are, indeed, so intoxicated by this pride of ancestry, that they want Margaret to use it as a stepping-stone for higher things. It will, they hope, enable her to marry a coloured—i.e., a half-bred—man, or even a white one. Marriage with a negro is not to be thought of—that would be going down instead of going up. Margaret, however, is but little affected by these aspirations, and is sincerely in love with Charley, a pure black, and will not give him up in spite of the pressure which is brought to bear on her. Here is an example of the author's style, which is throughout possessed of a singular sweetness and charm :— " She had, indeed, a good deal to put up with from her aspiring black family. From their own point or view they had some excuse, for in Margaret and her ' clearness ' lay their solitary claim to aristocracy, and on this fortunate fact, and the superior marriage that might be expected to result therefrom, all their hopes were pinned. If she married the dusky Charles, be he never so respectable and well-to-do, all their chance of rising came to an end. One has heard, even at home, of much the same idea, only it is presented in a less crude form. A cousin of Margaret's, then maid to a friend of mine, and herself a nearly black young lady, almost 'cut' Margaret on this account, and Maggie'a folly and low taste' were the favourite themes for the gossip of all the swarthy damsels r)f the locality. The old women shook their heads as she passed by, and used her to point a moral with to the younger ones, but Margaret heeded nothing, and stuck to her point undaunted and undismayed. I may remark, however, that she yielded sufficiently to popular opinion to explain to me at great length that her Charles was not altogether a black man. Into the complicated mysteries of his tortuous descent I cannot enter here. The subtle brown and black distinctions therein involved bewildered me completely, but I know she ended her long history by saying := So you see, Missus, fo' true he not black. He course much darker dan I, but he a pretty broonette colour, wid hair too, and when we marry I tink our children will be a nice light chocolate colour. I like dat colour, Misses, so much. Do you F' For Margaret was, on certain subjects, artlessly frank in her speech,

and from natural observation she had discovered for herself cer- tain indisputable physiological facts. De light coloured people, Misses,' he asserted dogmatically, hal) always such ugly little children, so sickly too, an most always a bad yellah colour. Course I tink a real white Buckra baby much de nicest ob all, but after do real white baby, I b'lieve de light chocolate ones the nicest little tinge. I no 'derstand de girls here at all. Dey tink more ob habing a fair chile den anyting else. Den dey bab to work for it always, fo' true de fader, 'specially when he white or light coloured, nebber help dam more den he 'bliged, an' oftentimes go clar 'way an' you hyar noting more ob him,' and Margaret shook her head at the iniquity of humanity in general and of light coloured mankind in particular."

The end of the story is very touching, but we must leave our readers to find out its details for themselves. We will only quote the last few sentences :— "So far I had written when Margaret herself entered, bright and cheerful, with blue ribbons in her cap.—' Missue, I got a new

bow Ye, Maggie, 1 see—a dark blue one,' I said, as I looked up from my writing.—' No, Minns, not dat kind, but a new lover. He fairer even dan I, an' he say he lub me true, an' make me offer ob marriage, but I do not know yet.'—There was an almost im- perceptible pause.—' Yes, Missus—I no lub him like my pore Charles, but Charles—he dead—an"—so — I—must find anoder sweetheart, an' dis one seem to be a pretty good one—so—I- tink—I—say—him—Yes.' "

—Many readers will be interested in Mr. Symons Eccles's paper on "Sleeplessness." He does not attempt to give reme- dies, but suggests the conditions which alike dispose to and prevent sleep. Noting how animals half asphyxiate them- selves by putting their tails over their mouths and noses when they sleep, he suggests that it may often be found useful to keep the windows of a bedroom closed during the time sleep is desired, provided that there is fair ventilation otherwise obtainable. Interference with rhythmical habit of work and rest Mr. Eccles describes as one of the commonest causes of disordered or defective sleep.—Mr. T. W. Russell criticises "An Irish Landlord's Budget," which appeared in the July number of the National Review, and shows that the losses of which the Irish landlord complains were not in reality "chiefly if not entirely" due to the confiscations of landlords' legal rights by the Land Acts. As Mr. Russell points out, the fall not only in rents, but in the capital value of land, has been much greater in England without Land Acts than in Ireland with. We wish the editor would get a Wiltshire or an Essex landlord to give us his budget. That would indeed be a bitter cry. The Fortnightly Review has an excellent table of contents, but the articles, when one comes to read them, are for one reason or another all a little thin. Mr. H. H. Johnston could, no doubt, write most suggestively on "The Boer Question," but he is prevented by his official position from speaking out. Still, the tone of the article is excellent. It, in effect, asks the Boers to forget their former enmity, and to join hands with us in civilising South Africa. After all, the Boers as Hollanders, are more nearly akin to us than any other European race, and the work of amalgamation should pre- sent no difficulty. The following is Mr. H. H. Johnston's

account of what the Boers have done as Colonists :—

" Much may be forgiven to the Boers for their patient, stubborn struggle with the harsh face of nature in Southern Africa. Take, for instance, the Orange Free State—probably the ugliest country in the whole world. . . . . . And yet the Boers are making this country positively habitable, and in the course of one or two more hundred years it will probably be well forested. The little town- ships that one sees, are pathetic in their raw ugliness. The houses are plain structures of corrugated iron and timber. The streets are unpaved and are ankle-deep in dust. Around the yard of each house are planted straggling conifers which have to be watered daily until their roots shall have struck deep into the moister soil beneath the dry disintegrated rock. A spring has generally been discovered, and from it are created muddy ponds frequented by flocks of white goose and rendered muddier by the horses and cattle coming to drink. Round these ponds are planted weeping willows with thin yellow-green foliage. The willow is a tree which seems to do well in South Africa, but it must be confessed that unsupported by any other foliage or greenery it is singularly shadeless and dreary. Yet, working backwards from these new settlements to the older portions of Cape Colony, one can see that towns of this description, planted abruptly in the harsh karroo, are the spores of civilisation, and that by their extension and by the continual planting of trees the Boers will in time do as much for the Orange Free State as their forefathers did for the Cape of Good Hope, where the magnificent oak avenues and pine forests owe their origin to the foreseeing Dutch planters of two hundred years ago."

—Mr. Savage Landor's article on Corea is very disappoint- ing. He tells one little or nothing that is useful in estimating the chances of China and Japan in the present struggle. Like all other travellers, however, he vouches for the utter misery of the people, and the barbarity of the Government : —

"'What is the use of working and making money,' said a Corean to Mr. Savage Lander, 'if, when the work is done and the money made, this is taken away from you by the officials, and you are worn out for baying done the work, and as poor as before, if, mind you, you are fortunate enough not to be exiled to a distant pro- vince by the angry magistrate who has enriched himself at your expense ? Now,' added the Corean, looking earnestly into my face, ' would you work under those circumstances P" In the Contemporary Review the most noticeable article is Lord Farrer's criticism of the Budget. It is a weighty and moderate apology, and though favourable to Sir William Harcourt, does justice, as the following extract shows, to the other side :— " Few people can have read the dignified appeal made by the Duke of Devonshire on behalf of great landowners who do their duty, and more perhaps than their duty, without respect and sympathy. To the present writer, one of the saddest and most unfortunate events in the recent development of party strife in this country has been the divorce from the popular party of "the great houses" who for more than a century "have loved the people well." Nor can any one travel through this beautiful England of ours without feeling how much of its beauty, of its charm, of all its inherited "wealth of hall and bower," of park and moor and field and forest, traversed by pleasant paths and open to enjoyment by the whole community, is due to the proper pride, the wealth, the taste, and the liberality of successive generations of noblemen and squires who have spent in adorning the country the means and efforts which in other countries have been devoted to seaside villas or to urban palaces. It will be an evil time for town-dwellers in England when Yorkshire and Sussex, Cumberland and Devonshire, are cut up into ten-acre villas or three-acre allotments."

On the whole, however, Lord Farrer does not believe that the effect of the Budget will be to ruin the owners of the halls and bowers.