THE MAGAZINES.

THE Nineteenth Century opens with a short symposium on "The Nation and the Army," to which Lord Erroll and the Rev. H. Russell Wakefield contribute papers. Lord Erroll emphasises a great truth when he points out that the surest) cure for a vulgar militarism is to lay the burden of defence on all. "The light-hearted Mafficker and music-hall hero will think twice before supporting a policy which will put his own precious carcase in the firing line. A professional army and a more or less irresponsible electorate are far more likely to drift into war than a nation in arms."—Sir West Ridgeway writes on "The Liberal Unionist Party," which, in his opinion, has accomplished its work, and for practical purposes has ceased to exist. He gives us a very interesting synopsis of its history, written from the point of view of an enthusiastic Unionist, who has been driven to the conviction that a negative policy of mere opposition to disunion will never solve the Irish difficulty. We cannot follow him in his eulogy of Lord Dunraven's proposals—" Mr. Chamber- lain," he says, "not Lord Dunraven, is the parent of devolu- tion "—nor do we agree that the Unionist party has become merged in the Conservative. On the other hand, there is much truth in his criticism of the Ulster extremists, and of the system which puts Irish policy too much under the control of the Irish law officers. —In "The White Peril in Australasia" Mr. Guy Scholefield has collected some very disquieting statistics about Australian emigration. Four millions of people in Australia regard three million square miles of territory as their own, and try to warn off newcomers. "From 1892 to 1903 Australia lost 1,875 souls by excess of departures over arrivals. In the same period New Zealand gained 54,343." There is a good deal of inter-State emigra- tion. in Australia, but no increase of the aggregate of the white population. The author thinks that the only safeguard against being swamped by emigrants from China and Japan is to throw open the doors, like America, and try to build up a large white community.—Mr. Herbert Paul's paper on " Redistribution" is one of the best political articles in the current monthlies. He writes with great moderation, and his criticism of the Government is free from those constitutional pedantries which too often make the discussions of this subject seem unreal. We need scarcely say that we differ tote cod° from his argument for leaving Ireland alone, but we are in full agreement with his criticism of the proposals so far as they affect Great Britain. "A Redistribution Bill which did not disfranchise Rochester, Salisbury, Taunton, Windsor, Canterbury, or Shrewsbuty, and which gave Shrewsbury the same weight in the House of Commons as East Ham, would be ridiculous, and to call it Gerrymandering would be an unmerited insult to the memory of the late Governor Gerry."—One of the most interesting papers in the number is Mrs. Huth Jackson's "Housekeeping and National Well. Being," in which with much force and good sense she argues against the decline in the art of housekeeping. "The English lady is the worst housekeeper in the world. Two hundred years ago she was the best." Among the leisured classes clever women sit on Committees or write, the less clever play games and " slum " and read, but few can do any- thing in the management of a house. "What we want is a mission to the West End and not to the East End."---Of the other papers, we may note Lady Selborne's short defence of women's suffrage, and a delightfully written and well- informed article on "The Macaronis" by Mr. Norman Pearson.

The National Review this month is an excellent but gloomy number, and the mind of its editor is dark with suspicion,— chiefly of the Kaiser, but partly of the Government and the Opposition. We recommend his account of the negotiations which led to M. Delcasse's retirement, as given in the "Episodes of the Month," as a most valuable antidote to the partisan arguments of writers like M. de Pressense. His conclusion is that the German Emperor has committed an egregious blunder by being too clever, and has thoroughly opened the eyes of France to German designs. His account of the Jaures episode is amusing reading, and he follows every movement and indication of the Pan-Germans with an unwearying vigilance. It is a real asset in English polities to have one publicist who, whatever the strength of his bias, takes the pains to keep his readers fully informed on all the moves of the Continental game. We often find ourselves in disagreement with him, and it seems to us extravagant to Speak of a certain change at the Foreign Office as "equivalent to the loss of three battleships " ; but on many points he Speaks with ample warrant. "The fiasco of the Redistribu- tion Resolution is enough to make a saint swear, and many of the Premier's most hypnotised henchmen are beginning to shake their heads, and to open their eyes to the perils of excessive. cleverness." It is significant that this organ of advanced Chamberlainism should join in clamouring for an October Dissolution.—Mr. Arnold White's narrative a the -Brest festivities is pleasant reading. Especially we like his sketch of the French warrant-officers. "Shrewd men these ; firm supporters of law and order ; hostile to marauders and hooligans, more especially to imperial wrong-doers. The one cry of these honest men was that between France and England there was no cause of quarrel, that there were many interests in common, and that the guardianship of the Narrow Seas should be exercised strictly in the interests of universal peace. There is no occasion to put the dots on the 'i's,' but these honest mariners, bred in storms, did not refrain from indicating the quarter in which dirty weather might be expected."

" Candid Impressions of Germany," by an " English Resident," is a companion piece to the impressions of England by a German resident recently published in the same review. The author's point is that the Kaiser's policy is antipathetic to the thinking classes of Germany, and he selects representa- tive men and makes them give their views on the sub- ject. It is an interesting paper, but in the absence of names necessarily lacks authoritative confirmation.—In many ways the most striking contribution is an essay, " Is Scotland Decadent P" by " Malagrowther." It is an unsparing analysis of the vulgarising tendencies at work in Scotland to-day, the social anarchy, the worship of wealth, the ecclesiastical snobbishness. " At present," says the writer, "Scotland is the dreary paradise of bourgeois prosperity and sectarianism, a country of 15 sects, 3,000 churches, 300 bowling greens, 250 golf courses—and no poet." Presby- terianism, in his view, has sunk to be the creed of the sub-middle class, and has in consequence become a business affair, a matter of "seat-rents." The attack is, of course, grossly overdone, and in many respects exceedingly unfair; but there is just enough truth in the satire to make it useful. At heart Scotland is as sound as ever, but she suffers at the moment from a too great prosperity.—Of the other papers, the best are a clever impressionist picture of America, "-The Land of Effort," by Miss Jane Findlater, and a sympathetic and illuminating study of Racine by Mr. Maurice Baring.

The place of honour in the new Contemporary Review is given to an article by M. Francis de Pressense called "England, France, Germany, and the Peace of the World."

M. de Pressense is a thoroughgoing doctrinaire, who, himself an advocate of a peace policy, cannot forgive M. Delcasse for having incurred a danger of war. He repeats the old story about

N. Delcasse having refrained from giving Germany proper notification of the Moroccan policy, a tale which we should have thought sufficiently refuted by this time. We have every sympathy with the author's desire for international amity, but this will never be secured by shutting the eyes to the hostile designs of a neighbour. And to write of the late Foreign Minister as "a politician maddened by seven years of unmerited fortune" is to prejudice his case at the outset. —In a long and interesting statistical article on "The Occupations of the People" Mr. J. A. Hobson argues that the diminution of foreign trade is in certain circumstances the index to national prosperity, since it implies that the nation is spending a larger share of its income upon higher forms of wealth. "It seems likely that Great Britain has already passed this turning-point in the development of foreign trade, and that in the future, while the volume and even the value of her imports (and therefore of her exports) will show a' continual advance, those imports will constitute a slowly diminishing proportion of the annual aggregate of com- modities and services consumed by the nation."—Mr. George Barlow contributes a study of "The Spiritual Side of Mr. Swinburne's Genius." What he means exactly by "spiritual" we should find it hard to say, but we confess to some distrust of the judgment of a critic who considers

Mr. Swinburne's elegy on Baudelaire the "most superbly flawless of the five great elegies" in the language, and believes the same writer's "Mater Triumphalis" to be "perhaps, on the whole, the sublimest poem in the English language, and, therefore, one of the sublimest poems in the world."—In "A Russian Seaman's Primer" Professor Macaulay Posnett

gives some curious extracts from a Russian manual published before the Crimean War. He argues that superstition and lack of education are at the root of Russian decline, far deeper down than any political evil. The Russian attitude towards education is, lie considers, like that of the Protestant lady in the North of Ireland who insisted upon her Romau Catholic: servants going regularly to Confession, because, as she said; "it may weaken their wits, but it saves my forks and spoons."—The best of the other papers are Dr. Dillon's survey of foreign affairs, in which he argues hopefully for the chances of M. Witte as a peacemaker, and a curious article, "Horn Mortis Nostrm," on the physical sensations of death.

The Fortnightly Review contains an important article on "The Education Difficulty" by the Rev. H. J. Bardsley. The article describes the scheme of suggestions laid down at the Conference at Owens College, Manchester. The following summary is placed at the head of the paper, and describes its scope :— " 1. The dual system is abolished. Owners of voluntary schools receive rent or compensation. There are to be no testa for teachers, but religious needs must be regarded in their allocation.

2. The more serious objections to the undenominational Bible teaching are removed. It is managed by an Advisory Board of managers competent to manage it, and taught by teachers qualified to teach it.

3. The more serious objections to denominational teaching are removed. It is given in school hours under the management and at the expense of denominational Boards, non-controversially, and at the demand of the parents.

4. Similar security is given for the religious instruction of pupil teachers and scholars in secondary schools?'

The main idea of this plan is that there should be some safeguard that religious education should be definitely Christian. This end is, of course, equally to be desired by Churchmen and Nonconformists. The difficulty hitherto has been the attainment of the end without the use of means which one party or the other considered oppressive to their consciences. There are a vast number of people who desire that definitely Christian, and not merely colourless moral, education should be given in schools: These people cannot see why this is not possible without stirring up strife, and to them some such plan as the one Mr. Bardsley proposes should be welcome. Will it be accepted ? This depends largely on the moderate people of

all denominations refusing to support the extremists of their own party. There is one point which the scheme hardly makes clear. If there is to be no inquiry into the capability of a teacher to give religious instruction, how will it be possible to secure a capable teacher in small country schools, where the head-master or head-mistress has only a young subordinate ? We are at one with Mr. Bardsley when he argues that religious instruction should not be left to the chance of voluntary effort, and that it should be given in school hours, as it is at present. It is impossible to believe either that the present state of things can continue, or that a solution cannot be found.—Mr. Sydney Brooks in writing of "Marriage and Divorce in America" gives a picture of the extraordinary confusion existing from the diversity of laws in different States. It seems that a reaction has set in from the extreme laxity of the law of divorce. Not long ago a husband or wife could obtain a divorce after a residence of thirty days in Oklahoma ; now there is no State in which the period is less than six months. The larger part of this article is taken up by an enumeration of the different State laws on the question under consideration. The complexity of the problem makes our admiration of Mr. Roosevelt all the greater for his courage in calling public attention to the chaotic conditions now existing.—Mr. T. H. S. Escott writes of "The Extinction of Egeria." His text is the remark of Gambetta, "Women are our chief want." Mr. Escott traces the influence of women in politics during the latter part of the nineteenth century, calling attention to such figures as the Empresses Eugenie and Augusta, the Crown Princess Frederick, and a host of others on upper or lower steps of the backstairs. The influence of women in politics has generally been indirect, and therefore not palpable at the moment. Egeria may possibly not be extinguished, but only unseen. •

The average man is profoundly ignorant of the details of the Government of India.. Most people have no exact idea as to the nature of the Council which, with the Governor- . General, forms the supreme authority. The growth and authority of this power are the subject of an interesting survey by Mr. G. W. Forrest in Blackwood. The gradual evolution of the Government is traced through the various Acts of Parliament and the intrigues and ambitions of the eighteenth century down to the completely organised machine of the present time. Of late there have been signs that the works are not running quite smoothly, and Mr. : Forrest hints at the possibility of trouble which a too independent Commander-in-Chief might cause by some order which through ignorance ran counter to native suscepti- bilities. This possibility has also been pointed out quite recently by. Lord Roberts in the House. of Lords.—Mrs. S. L. Hinde adds lurid details to the already familiar stories of the man-eating lions of Uganda. She gives a thrilling account of resting with some natives on a track through high grass. The party were mostly asleep when the peculiar noise of a hungry lion was heard. The grass was so high that nothing could be seen, till Mrs. Ifinde got on her pony, when she saw a lion ten yards away sitting up like a eat watching the party. The lion on being seen dropped into the grass, and moved off unseen. The subsequent chase showed that the party had been surrounded by eight lions. —Colonel Malcolm protests against the abolition of military submarine mining. He believes that the Prime Minister and the Times in their denunciation of the dangers of mines have confused the fixed with the floating variety. The question is a. nice and technical one, and no doubt the men who have devoted their lives to the development of an elaborate system of submerged mines are sore at the proposed abolition of this safeguard to our ports. Sailors, we suppose, prefer that the guarding of ports should be in their own hands, as it is they who would suffer most if an accident let an enemy into a port or ,blew themselves up by mistake.—A paper describing "The Island of the Saints" gives a curious account of some • remains on a little island on the West Coast of Scotland which probably date back to the time of Columba. The saint is recorded to have often gone to this island, and the remains of the little church and beehive dwellings built of atone without cement are of so- primitive a construction that they may well date back to the sixth century. The writer pleads for their examination by experts, who might be able to throw light on their origin.

The Monthly Review, like other magazines, adds in an article by Mr. Cope Cornford to the general chorus of inquiry and condemnation respecting our Army policy. It is a singular feature of the controversy that no independent critic has been found to support the present state of things. Opinions may differ as to what should be done, but the unanimity of condemnation of Lord Lansdowne, Mr. Brodrick, and Mr. Arnold-Forster is remarkable.

"Some of My Visitors," a paper of stray reminiscences by

the late Professor Max •Muller, contains amusing accounts of the strange people from, the uttermost parts of the earth who used to visit the Professor at Oxford. Perhaps the most remarkable of these was a Buddhist monk, strong, handsome, and tall, who wore an unspotted yellow silk dress. This im- posing figure in his transit on foot from the railway station to Professor Max Miiller's house attracted a crowd of children . and grown-up people, who "followed him, as if he had been the Pied Piper of Hamelin. But his benevolent smile never forsook him, and at last be turned round in the street and said to his small persecutors, Now, my children, if you will be quiet, I will tell you a story.'" Thereupon the monk told the children a story of a boy who killed flies and was stung by a wasp. "He then asked them, Will you promise me never to torture or kill a fly ?' and some of them gave their bands as a promise that they would never kill any living thing again." Another visitor was a Chinese gentleman of high rank, clothed in purple brocade, who received a perfect ovation from the street boys, which he appeared not to notice. This visitor came with his interpreter to discuss the possi- bility of constructing a universal language. From strange visitors these reminiscences imperceptibly slide into a , dis- cussion of the connection between the fables of La•Fontaine and Pilpay.—Mr. St. Leger Westall in his article on Nelson shows how small a part good fortune played in the incidents which culminated in the Nile and Trafalgar. Rather it was energy and genius which overcame many strokes of ill-luck.

"The Labour Party and the General Election" is the title of an article in the Independent Review by Mr. Philip Snowden, which might be described as the jubilation of the Labour party over the victory they are going to win. We are told that there are to be fifty candidates at the next Election, most of whom will be elected. A few of the more important reforms which the Labour party is to press are given in outline. .Among these appear the nationalisation of most things, including railways, mines, and land. As the land- lord is spoken of as an incubus, we suppose. his shrift will be short. But here is the unsatisfactory part of such sweeping programmes. It is so easy to talk of nationalising land or anything else, but so difficult to work out a plan in detail for carrying the process into practice. Mr. Snowden is. quite as hostile to the Liberal party as he , is to the Tory, and to the minister as to the priest. We are also told that the Administration must • be municipalised, and the War Office, for instance, managed by a Committee of the House of Commons. Mr. Snowden has done the easy part of the work, the generalisations ; the difficul- ties of the working plans he does not even hint at.— Mr. Bulmer's article on "Rural England from Within" should be read and pondered by all rural landlords. If he does not suggest solutions for all the difficulties, be at least puts his finger on many evils which are sorely in need of treat- ment. There is no doubt whatever that there is an immense hardship and a bar to progress resulting from labourers being dependent on their masters for the houses they live in. No man is a free agent, with power to improve his own lot, when he may be rendered homeless at any time after a week's notice. But to remedy this the size of villages must be increased. A man must live near his work in the country, where there are no trams or cheap trains. But who is to pay for the extra houses ? The writer also points out the depressing feature of the labourer's position. In the country there is no career open to him ; he can look forward to no rise ; he must remain as he began, a weekly-wage earner. How this evil can be even partially remedied is a difficult problem. Mr. Bulmer truly says there is no hope to be looked for from the sale of small pieces of land. These are either snapped up by the large landowners and added to big farms, or else sold at fancy prices. The solution the writer of the article offers is that a whole estate should from time to time be bought by the Government or County Council and split up. What would be the result, when the expense of the buildings which would have to be erected is taken into account, is a problem which should be worked out in detail. There seems no other plan for making it possible for a hard-working labourer to look forward to a career. Without this possibility how can we expect the best men to stay on the land ?