THE MAGAZINES.
Tax Fortnightly continues, at perhaps rather too great a length, the papers on European politics, popularly attributed to Sir Charles Dilke. The writer, whoever he is, this time discusses the situation of France, and maintains that France is, upon the whole, peaceful. He thinks General Boulanger an able man who advertises himself a good deal, and who, if he fought a successful war, would be Dictator, probably under Republican forms ; but denies that he is warlike, while his colleagues are cautions men devoted to peace. France has no friends or allies, and until the Egyptian Question is settled, or Russia is differently ruled, can have none ; and without allies, France will not voluntarily fight. The " Colonial policy " has "given hostages " to England, and France has now so many points of more or less hostile contact with this country, that it is difficult to understand how the two Powers get along at all. In brief, France is completely isolated, is safe from external attack, and is governed by men who do not want war. All that is quite true ; but the writer does not take sufficient account either of the immense temptation offered to General Boulanger, or of the passion which occasionally seizes nations as well as individuals, or of the fact that there are now two Frances,—civil France and armed France, the latter, with its 2,800,000 drilled men, who in twenty days from the decree of mobilisation would be in barracks, being probably the stronger. An anonymous writer, who heads hie article " Our Noble Selves," maintains that the present generation is richer in men of ability than the two generations which have preceded it. He ridicules the tendency to disbelieve in the genius of the young, and maintains that we have great men who are only "overlooked in the mighty throng of strag- gling genius that we see everywhere blindly surging around us." Genius now suffers from over-production; and papers which in the last century would have made reputations, are now cast every day before London audiences, to be neglected. He pub- lishes long lists of poets, novelists, litterateurs, and men of science who, he maintains, are the equals, or in some cases the superiors, of those who have gone before. The paper is clever, and states a side of the question which needs stating, especially as regards poetry. We cannot admit that we have among us a first-rate poet not belonging properly to the last generation; but we have probably a dozen men whose work would in the last generation have given them fame. The writer, however, overdoes his case, perhaps purposely to secure attention, and raises the new men on too high a pedestal. Mr. Herbert Spencer is not, as he calls him, the greatest philosopher who ever lived ; and of the multitude of names in all departments mentioned in his long roll, two-thirds at least will, unless they do much better work, by 1920 have been forgotten. We are no besotted admirers of the past ; but we should say the mark of the last quarter of the nineteenth century was the extraordinary number of its noticeable, or sometimes even admirable, second-rate men. " Stepniak " gives us another of his painful accounts of Russian life, his thesis this time being that emancipation has crippled the serf-owner only to transfer his power to the policeman. Mr. Lilly replies to Professor Huxley with his usual vigour—hardly any man's style surpasses Mr. Lilly's in its strong lucidity— and Professor G. H. Darwin states the latest conclusions of the experts in earthquakes. The latest idea seems to be that earth- quakes are a result partly of contraction, which in certain places produces catastrophes, partly, perhaps, of the astounding weights placed on portions of the earth by tidal and barometrical pressure :— "The high temperature of the rocks, in those little scratches in the earth's surface which we call mines, proves the existence of abundant energy for the production of any amount of disturbance of the upper layers. It only remains to consider how that energy can be brought to bear. One way is by the slow shrinking of the earth, consequent on its slow cooling. Now the heterogeneity of the upper layers makes it impossible that the shrinkage shall occur with per- fect uniformity all round. Thus one part of the surface will go down before another, and as this most usually occur by a cracking and sudden motion, the result will be an earthquake. The seismic ribbons of which we have spoken are probably lines of weakness along which cracking habitually takes place In the theories of which we have just spoken, the internal beat of the earth acts indirectly, by giving to gravitation an opportunity of coming into play. But as m volcanic eruptions enormous quantities of steam are usually emitted, it is probable that the pressure of steam is the force by which the lava and ashes are vomited forth, and that the steam is generated when water has got among hot internal rocks. From this point of view we can understand that an eruption will serve as a pro- tection against earthquakes, and that the centres of disturbance will usually be submarine."
Minor vibrations go on everywhere, and probably at all times, to such an extent that Mr. Darwin compares the planet to a huge mass of jelly. It is pleasant to know that the starting-point of an earthquake is usually under the sea, but unpleasant to remember that the worst catastrophes are probably produced by what are really very slight oscillations. Hardly anything would stand in London if there were an earthquake with vibrations of a few twenty-fifths of an inch. A quarter of an inch shatters brick and stone chimneys.
We do not know that it signifies very much what the great Whig leaders of 1782 thought was the best relation between Great Britain and Ireland; but Lord E. Fitzmaurice, in the Con- temporary Review, has certainly shown that, as they could not resist the Irish demand for legislative independence, they desired to obtain from Ireland the control of foreign policy and a con- tribution towards Imperial expenses. This was Burke's opinion too, who wrote in 1797
"I humbly conceive that the whole of the superior, and what I should call Imperial politics, ought to have its residence here [in London]; and that Ireland, locally, civilly, and commercially inde- pendent, ought politically to look up to Great Britain in all matters of peace or war, and, in a word, with her to live and die. At bottom, Ireland has no other choice—I mean no other national choice."
Lord Edmond further shows that when Mr. Fox abandoned the legislative supremacy over Ireland, he intended to abandon it frankly and irrevocably. Flood was opposed to this view, but Grattan asserted it in his most vehement style. There is not much in Mr. Rider Haggard's paper " About Fiction." He com- plains that extreme deference for "the young person" in England paralyses novelists, who are thereby deprived of their right to employ the passions as motors, and while condemning Zolaism, pleads for a little more liberty. There is some justice in the com- plaint, but not much. The restraint does not really fetter the strong, and the average novelist is all the better for it. Great novelists are not killed by a few over-prudish sentences from second-rate reviewers, and the circulating libraries cannot exclude a great book. If they do, they triple its sale. The English habit of letting girls read novels as they appear no doubt narrows the range of subjects ; but the advantage is at least equal to the evil. Mr. Rider Haggard expects an outburst of naturalism, due to over-restriction, and no doubt the sale of trans- lated French novels is great ; but the national character is, on the whole, opposed to any such result. There may be some mawkishness in the tone of the hour, but over long periods the English instinct is manly enough. Sir M. E. Grant Duff continues in " India " his onslaught on Mr. S. Smith, making points by the score, but still hitting too hard. He bears strong testimony to the fact that recent excise awe have dis- tinctly checked drunkenness in India, an evil which always follows from our rule, not because of anything we do, but because the ruling caste will always be imitated, and usually by men unable to imitate it. A native does not enjoy alcohol unless he takes too much, and it is rarely therefore safe for him to give up total abstinence. Dr. A. M. Fair- bairn pleads ably for " theology as an academic discipline;" but he weakens his case a little by insisting too much that only those shall study theology who love it. Others, he says, it does not educate. We do not believe that. It may be expedient, for moral reasons, not to create a prejudice against theology by teaching it to the unwilling, though even this is nowadays pushed too far, so that the young in many households are ignorant of a vast mass of necessary knowledge; but un- willing minds may be braced by theology as by any other edu- cation—say, grammar—which they do not like to acquire. It is our fault, of, course, but we do not in the least comprehend
what Michael Field is driving at in the fantasia called " An Old Couple." Adam and Eve grow old, and love each other still ; that is the idea, and the writer wants to say why ; but the " why" somehow escapes us. Is it only because of memories ? If that is the answer, it is not true. The Rev. H. S. Fagan sends an account of Kerry, which is interesting mainly because he states the wrong side very clearly and well. He admits in every line that the secret of Kerry is the agrarian question, but nevertheless declares that if that question ended, the people would still long for Home-rule. Would it be very unfair of the English, without whose aid the agrarian difficulty can never be settled, to demand a breathing-space of twenty-one years in which to try the experiment ? With true security for that period, it might be possible to turn tenants into copyholdere, without greatly robbing either the landlord or the British tax- payer. S. Boglietti's account of the internal politics of Italy is a little dull for English readers ; but it leaves the general im- pression in this country unimpaired. S. Depretis, the Premier, succeeds because he is a pliable Whig, not indisposed to any improvement, but absolutely determined that " order," as understood on the Continent, shall be maintained. With the still restricted electorate, that position makes him master of Parliament.
The important paper of the Nineteenth Century is, of course, Mr. Gladstone's "Notes and Queries on the Irish Demand," which we have noticed elsewhere; but there is a very instructive paper on New York, by Mr. Smalley. He does not leave on the stranger an altogether pleasant impression of his city. He admits that the roads are very bad, the cabs dear and scanty, the elevated railway excessively crowded, the buildings for business often ten stories high, the architecture vulgarised by endless gilt advertisements, and the Press mainly guided and written by Irish littgrateurs. Those must be drawbacks even to a city of beautiful views, and full of the picturesqueness produced by jostling nationalities each member of which has built as seemed good in his own eyes. So, also, must be the roaring life, of which Mr. Smalley is, we fancy, proud " The note, as we are apt to think, of English life, is Lord John Russell's ' Best and be thankful.' No American could have uttered that phrase. New York has long been a prosperous community ; wealth has been heaped up there in greater masses, and these masses in the hands of single men, than anywhere else. To no New Yorker, to no American, would that seem a reason for folding his hands. The millionaire can no more escape the influence of the atmosphere which surrounds him than the youngster whose first dollar is yet to make. It may not be a high ambition to die richer than one's neighbour, but it is an ambition, and it is typical of many better ambitions. The stream bears on with equal velocity the most richly freighted of its burdens and the emptiest hull. And the velocity has no European parallel that I know of. The roar of traffic in the City of London fills the ear and the imagination, but there is something in the move- ment of the streets of New York which takes away the breath, I do not any of him who joins it, but of him who looks on. London is like her own Thames, that mighty flood which, with all its irresistible volume, flows seaward so quietly. The current of New York life sweeps onward with the rash of the rapids above Niagara. It may be said that a man who launches out on that stream must go over the falls below, and so he does sometimes. The descent might be fatal elsewhere ; there it is but a prelude to a fresh start. The American who sits down under discouragement or disaster is not an American. His buoyancy is born with him ; in Wordsworth's phrase, he 'is breathed upon by Hope's perpetual breath.' The most wonderful thing about New York is not its present splendour; it is the New Yorker's clear vision of a future incomparably more splendid."
What on earth does a Now Yorker do when he gets to Heaven ? He must be bored to suffocation. Mr. Smalley notes a change in New Yorkers which may one day produce great effects. They have had since the war a history, have lost their craving for appreciation, and have grown into "the state of mind which Coleridge calls John Bulliem," full of inner conceit, but also of inner strength. Prince Krapotkine once more endeavours to state scientifically what he hopes for from "anarchy ;" but he leaves on the mind the same impression of dreaminess. As we understand him, he thinks that when government, even represen-
tative government, is abolished, and all the sources of wealth, such as land, labour, and steam-power, belong equally to all, and all work to produce useful things, then the whole of 'nankin will have plenty. Why ? There would be plenty, no doubt, all men chose to labour with no compulsion behind them ; how many would do that ? And what, under a regime anarchy, would prevent a strong association from clai more than their share, taking it to live in idleaese at" shooting those who objected ? Society would resist ? The society must be organised, under a strong discipline, with officers allowed to give peremptory commands. So''''y, in short, must have a government, which is just what anarchists say is wholly injurious. Mr. W. Rossiter gives a curious account of "Artisan Atheism." It is, he holds, rather Secularism than Atheism ; but it is accompanied by two unvarying features,—a deep dislike of the clergy, and a belief that the Bible ie a sort of law-book, which is worthless if it contains erroneous statements. He leaves the impression that the ignorance of at least certain classes is deeper than is supposed, and that there is more to hope for in the matter of religion in the removal of this ignorance than we should have imagined. The number of the Nineteenth Century ends as it began, and as all things, to the despair of English mankind, do now begin and end,—with some more Ireland. It is the conclusion of Mr. J. Morley's reply to Mr. Dicey 's book, and is remarkable mainly for this,—that Mr. Morley does not expect as much as many Home-rulers from Mr. Gladstone's Bill :- "England, says Mr. Dicey, will be disappointed, because she will find that she has not attained the object which was her principal inducement to grant Home-role—namely, ' freedom from the diffi- culty of governing Ireland. The dream is vain that under the new Constitution Englishmen would be able to trouble themselves no more about the concerns of Ireland than they do about the affairs of Canada. Ireland would still be oar immediate neighbour, and England would still, disguise the fact as you may, be ultimately responsible for good government in Ireland.' Quis negarit t Certainly there is no finality in the plan of the Bill, if finality means that England has once for all washed her hands of Ireland. That would deserve the name of separation indeed. Nobody but a simpleton and a dreamer can imagine that a society which has been so violently torn, dis- tracted, and bedevilled as that of Ireland for so many ages, will be instantaneously regenerated and readily brought into ideal order by any Government. Equally impossible is it for anybody in his political senses to suppose that England, who has caused or permitted all these difficulties to exist, is either morally or politically free to pass by on the other side as if she had no part or lot in them. Oar view was not that English responeibility would be at an end, bat that it would be more effectually discharged by calling Irishmen to share it with us. If we had ever contemplated finality in the sense, which the author here chooses to aseame, of a complete and summary riddance of Irish affairs, it would have been sheer folly to frame a project with no many points of contact between the Imperial and the local Government. The Lord-Lieutenant, the Receiver-General, the veto, the control of the military force, the resort on occasion to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, all involve relations between the Irish and the English Executive, and therefore all imply the possibility of collision between the Irish and the English Legislatures. That is uadenied and undeniable. If the one great object of an Irish Government is to pick quarrels with the British Minister and the British Parliament, the Gladetonian Constitution offers no patent and infallible method for depriving them of the chance."
That is a passage well worthy the study of English Home- rulers, who vainly expect that after the passing of their Bill, the wicked will cease from troubling, and the weary be at rest. It is also noteworthy that Mr. Morley admits that West Ireland cannot be cured of poverty except by a large and forcible displacement of the people,—a measure which, he says, only a native Parliament could carry out. He expects the Home-role Legislature, therefore, to do very strong things indeed.
Murray's Magazine, on the whole, rather disappoints us. The articles are, as a rule, distinctly better than their titles,—for example, Lady Macdonald's "By Car or by Cowcatcher" is a most spirited account of travel in the Canadian Far West; but the magazine, as a whole, lacks distinction. It is quite readable, and thirty years ago would have been pro- nounced very good ; but it wants something to separate it from other magazines. The disinterred poems and letters of Byron are of little interest, the poems in particular being very poor.
The National Review has one very striking paper, an account of the military frontier of France, by Mr. A. Hilliard Atteridge. He thinks France almost impregnable, unless the neutrality either of Belgium or Switzerland is invaded, the country having now a triple line of defence. Mr. Atteridge believes that some " gaps " of which he speaks have been intentionally left, and that they are, in fact, traps for the slimy. He therefore believes that the attack must, in fact, s through Belgium and Luxemburg ; by violating which 2 Germane can turn " the flank of the French barrier of \
dresses and forts." The position may make of a Franco- an war a serious matter for England ; but it is possible the German Staff have yet another plan.
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