THE MAGAZINES.
THE Nineteenth Century and After. This is how Mr. Knowles has got out of the difficulty of his title. He leaves us, in fact, a name with so many worthy traditions, and yet prevents his review from having the appearance of being out of date. On the cover of the magazine he has added a small " Janiform " head representing the old and the new centuries. Otherwise there is no change. The first contribution to the January number is Mr. Stephen Phillips's " Midnight, December 31st, 1900." This ode, like everything that Mr. Phillips writes, has passion and nobility both in thought and language, but it does not altogether satisfy us. The unrhymed metre is magnificently melodious, and the rush of the words often carries all before it in a veritable tidal wave of emotion, and yet there is something wanting. Perhaps what we miss is the human note, for such prophetic imaginings of the wonders to come are necessarily cold. Still, though we miss the human note, and do not feel the heart that beats against the poem's side as in Herod, we cannot but delight in the verbal music that is blown from these sonorous organ pipes.—" Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry on Spion Kop " is a paper that is sure to create an immense deal of controversy. We shall not, how- ever, attempt to plunge into that vortex. Only two things we must say. The article, though written with great coolness and restraint, is one of the most moving battle pictures we have ever read. The other is that in spite of its sad end, the narrative of Spion Kop makes one as proud of one's fellow- countrymen, and of the British soldier and officer, as does the record of Balaclava. Only the men who rode at Balaclava had but to make one splendid rush into the jaws of death, while hour after hour on that infernal day of Spion Kop our men had to sit still and be scourged by rifle-shot and shell, —foodless, waterless, scorched by the sun, and unable even to reply effectively to their enemy's fire. At Spion Kop as at Balaclava somebody blundered, but who we shall not attempt to say. One thing the new narrative makes clear. The fog played a terrible part in the disaster. Here is a passage from the paper, but it should be read as a whole :— "The fog not merely rendered it impossible to select such defences as would command a field of fire : it made it utterly fruitless to attempt to see what lay beyond the actual hill itself, and thus to anticipate from which direction the enemy's fire would have to be encountered. Hence it was inevitable (con- sidering the formidable positions held by the enemy all along the ridge of hills) that the defences of Spion Kop should prove to be enfiladed by the enemy's fire from some points. For the seizing of Spion Kop had, in a sense, cut the enemy's line. Had it been possible to retain the hill the entire Boer position must have become untenable ; but the column which had carried the hill was now destined to meet an enemy which, everywhere en- trenched, enveloped it on three sides—had now to struggle with the entire Boer force which, occupied with no other attack, turned its concentrated efforts to the task of driving General Woodgate's men off the narrow exposed hilltop. Had Spion Kop been immediately used as a pivot upon which a general movement on the range had been made, the defenders of the hill would have been relieved. Forced to bear the brunt, hour after hour, of the concentrated attacks of an enveloping enemy, who was admirably protected by his defences, while they themselves were completely exposed, the task of the men on Spion Kop—to hold their ground for the thy—must not be called less than heroic."
—In " A Day of Purification" Mr. Jephson makes a very curious and original suggestion, which can best be described in his own words :— " Let us signalise the advent of the twentieth century of the Christian era by inaugurating an annual dedication of one day to a general and determined effort for a social and material improve- ment of high consequence to the physical and moral welfare of our people. Let one day in this, the first year of the new century, and, if posterity see fit, in all its subsequent years, be set apart and devoted wholly to a special campaign against, to a specially vigorous onslaught upon, dirt—to the sweeping away, the washing away, the carrying away, the destruction of dirt—dirt in the widest interpretation of the term : the dirt of persons and dress, and rooms, and passages, and stairs, and buildings of all sorts and kinds, the dirt of yards, and streets, and roads, of every place, in fact, in town or country, inhabited by or used by man or animal. Let it be a day of dedication to this most useful service, this most desirable object. Once in the year let there be an united effort to make our houses and their surroundings, to the best of our abilitiea, as clean as we can make them, and the air which pervades them somewhat purer and fresher; let us have one special day when, throughout the length and breadth of the land, a great and simultalleons effort shall he made by all classes and individuals towards purification and cleanliness."
Whether Mr. Jephson will ever induce mankind to be so sensible we do not know, but we are certain that one day devoted every year to burning rubbish, washing dirty things, and generally cleaning and clearing up would make the world s much healthier place. But we are not very hopeful. Man- kind loves dirt, and endures with great equanimity the fact that " the combination of leisure and inclination " required to clear out its drawers so very seldom occurs.
The Contemporary opens with a very sensational paper by Dr. Dillon, entitled " The Chinese Wolf and the European Lamb." If the information he professes to furnish is not grossly exaggerated, and if the stories he relates are capable of verification, then the Allied troops in China have been guilty of the most wicked and senseless barbarity,—nay, have equalled the Chinese themselves in wanton cruelty. Accord- ing to Dr. Dillon, the soldiers of all the Allies have behaved with shocking brutality to the civilian Chinese, the Russians, Germans, and French being the worst offenders. He even brings charges of rape and .murder against officers, but does not in the worst case name the nationality. This want of precise and specific charges in the • cases where the worst allegations are made is, in fact, a grave defect in the paper. There are also so many rhetorical flourishes that the reader is inclined to grow sceptical. We do not say that Dr. Dillon cannot prove his case, but we do say that his vagueness and his rhetoric are not satisfactory aids to truth, and on so grave a subject we want " the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." We quote a passage from Dr. Dillon's paper, but until the question has been properly discussed we cannot, of course, pronounce a verdict :— "'What in heaven's name is this P' I exclaimed one day. thumping with my knuckles a very big black box in the house of a rich man, who may have then been in Abraham's bosom or in Dives' company. The house was in Tungtachan, the sombre receptacle in one of the largest rooms, and a torturing stench proceeded from it.. It is the gists, sir, three girls,' answered my attendant, who was a European. Their corpses are lying in the box there,' he explained. ' Who put them there ?' 'Some officers.' Are you quite sure of it P' Yea, sir, I was here when it was being done.' ' Did you see the young wt men your- self P' I did. They were the daughters of the man who owns the house. The officers raped them, and then had them stabbed with bayonets. When they were dead they were put into this box, and it was covered up, as you see.' ' Good God, what a dismal state of things we are come to.' That sort of thing happened before, sir. Very often, too, I can tell you. There were worse cases than this. Theme here were raped and stabbed; others have been raped to death, and got no stabbing.' It is true that the characteristic traits of this intern-ttional campaign, so far as Chinamen have felt its effects, have been bloodshed, rapine, and rape. Males and children have been killed, not ale 15)5 with merciful speed, and more than once they were half killed and possibly buried alive—the eel viers' time being short and their victims many l was told of one Chinaman who was shot along with several others, left for dead, shot a second time in the river, into which he bad flung himself on regaining con- sciousness, and found next day on the opposite bank of the Pei-ho with h about a dozen ugly wounds bandaged and in process of heal- ing The officer who then blew the wau's brains out told me the story, which his companions confirmed. Females of all Tea have been abused to death. The circumstantial tales told of the dis- honouring of wives, girls, children, in Tientsin, Tungtacbau, Pekin. are such ae should in normal beings kindle some sparks of indignation without the aid of ' sickly sentimentality.' Surely one needs not to he Puritanital or hysterical to condemn the wholesale ravishing, sometimes to death, of terrified females between the ages of six and sixty by clodhopping, brutish soldiers, who misrepresent alike Christianity and civilitation. I knew well a man whose wife had been dealt with in this manner, and then killed along with her child. He was one of the ' good and loyal people' who were on excellent terms with the Christians; but, if ever he gets a chance of wreaking vengeanoe upon the foreigners, he will not lightly let it slip. I knew of others whose wives and d dighters hanged themselves on trees or drowned themselves in garden-wells in order to escape a much worse lot. Chinese women honestly believed that no more terrible fate could overtake them than to fall alive into the hands of Europeans and Christians. And it is to be feared that they were right. Buddhism and Confucianism have their martyrs to chastity, whose heroic feats no martyrology will ever record. Some of those obscure, but right- minded, girls and women hurled them- selves into the river, and, finding only three feet of water there, kept their beads under the surface until death had set his seal on the sacrifice of their life."
Of course, these terrible changes may not prove sustainable in the form here given, but even if they do not, as we think most probable, we fear it is certain that there has been a great and wanton destruction of life and property, and that the Allies have rendered their task infinitely more difficult by their failure to reassure and protect the population on whose co-operation their own safety so largely depends. They have used the coolies as wise commanders do not even use their transport animals. Even if the question of humanity did not arise, such conduct would be suicidal.—Mr. Stephen Gwynn in his paper on Mr. Phillips's Herod writes a really illuminative piece of poetic and dramatic criticism. He does not stint his praise, but we believe he has warrant for his enthusiasm. —In " England and Russia " Mr. Novicow writes rather an angry plea for a better understanding with Russia. To us he preaches to the converted. He should not, however, assume, as he seems to do, that all Englishmen hate Russia. They do not, even though they may be misled by a false policy into chinking that Russia is politically their natural enemy. We should say, indeed, that such inter- national dislike as there is is chiefly Russian. As we have seen of late, many Russians seem to hate England and Englishmen quite apart from any antagonism of aims. How- ever, we hope and believe that ultimately our statesmen will learn not to be afraid of Russia, and the Russian public will learn that we are not a cruel, bloodthirsty, and oppressive people.
Mr. T. W. Russell's article on "Ireland and Irish Land Once More " falls into three divisions,—a review of past legis- lation, a criticism of the working of the Land Commission, and an exposition of his huge remedial scheme of universal purchase. Mr. Russell's indictment of the Land Commission, and of Mr. Justice Meredith in particular, is certainly worthy of attention, for it is based on specific charges. He declares that the Land Commission has the confidence of nobody in Ireland, that day by day its decisions are being reversed by the Court of Appeal, that landlord and tenant alike regard it as a hostile tribunal. Mr. Russell's panacea—universal pur- chase—means, he admits, that Imperial credit shall be staked to the extent of at least one hundred millions sterling. We cannot but think that Mr. Russell has laid himself open to grave misinterpretation by choosing for the promulgation of this scheme precisely the moment when the bill for an unfinished war has mounted up to another hundred millions, Many of the points in his article are most interesting; the anomaly of tenants on contiguous estates—the better sort paying a considerably higher rent than the forty-nine instal- ments paid by the worse—is undoubtedly an unsatisfactory feature. But Mr. Russell's authorities are not always un- impeachable ; it is strange to find him appealing to that luridly imaginative work, Realities of Irish Life, as a faithful picture of the times; and his statements are often open to dispute. For ourselves, we bold, as we have always held, that the abolition of dual ownership is the true solution of the land question. Unhappily, however, the decision at the moment when a policy of universal purchase might have been adopted went the other way. To go back on the re- jection of compulsory purchase now is a very difficult matter. Still, Mr. Russell has every right to try to convert the nation to his present proposal if he can.—Sir Robert Hart's second article on "China and Reconstruction" is, of course, extremely interesting. He condemns the excesses of the Allied troops, contends that the Chinese Government thought they were waging fair war in Pekin, and extols the Japanese as having set an example in toleration and humanity to all the other Powers in the administration of their quarter of Pekin. Dis- missing partition and a change of dynasty as equally imprac- ticable, Sir Robert declares the only practical solution is first of all " to leave the present dynasty where it is and as it is, and let the people of China deal with it themselves when they feel that its mandate has expired, and in the second place to impose on it as the condition of peace only such stipulations as are at once practical and practicable as well as just and justifiable." If punishment is to precede negotiation, the Emperor Inv never return to Pekin, and till he returns " everything mai be abnormal and unsettled and without a proper foundation." But Sir Robert admits the necessity of punishment in some cases; the only name he mentions is that of Yu-Hsien. The article, in short, is full of reserves and pleas for caution, delay, and deliberation, but it is valuable, like the previous article, as being the only reasoned explanation of the Chinese standpoint.—In this context we may note " Diplo- maticus's " article on " The Concert in China," which is a vindica- tion of Lord Salisbury's apparent lethargy as deliberate but masterly inactivity.—The paper on " Lord Rosebery and the Liberal Imperialists " is a vivacious and effective rejoinder to the spokesman of non-adjectival Liberalism in the last number. The description of Sir William Harcourt as a political gettatore is good; and there is sound sense in the sayings that " The English statesman who jests with ease jests at his peril," and that " Dictators are not imposed by intriguers,' they impose themselves."—Mr. Frederic Harrison's eulogy of Mr. Maurice Hewlett's new romance is chiefly interesting as illustrating the lacunae in the intellectual equipment of a highly cultivated man. Thus he singles out as a " conceit " such a phrase as " a north-east wind singing in the bents," and alludes to the word " keening" as a fine old English term worth saving, though not familiar to the general reader.— The retrospect of the Fortnightly since its start in 1865 recalls some curious facts, as, for example, that M. Rochefort wrote for Mr. Morley, and that Mr. Gladstone was almost certainly the author of the anonymous article, printed in May, 1880, which contained the following appreciation of Disraeli :— " This extraordinary victory has been won by the nation against an extraordinary man. The time probably has not arrived, and certainly my ambition is not bold enough to attempt a full or exact portraiture of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beacons- field. He is too big for a little critic. He is passing, as others have passed, before the tribunal of history. He is not a man of mere talent but of genius. The moment of his great downfall is not the moment for dwelling on the matters, grave as they may he, which will be put down on the wrong side of his account. This much is certain, that in some of his powers he has never been surpassed ; and that his career, as a whole, is probably the most astonishing of all that are recorded in the annals of Parlia- ment."
Mr. Arnold White's " Plea for Efficiency," which stands first in the January National Review, has some telling points, but its cogency is marred by such exaggerations as the following :—" Nominally the government of the Empire is divided between the estates of the realm. Really it is in the hands of a small committee of the Cabinet, of the Press, the Whips, the Trade-Unions, certain social influences, Mr. Middleton, and Mr. Boraston " ; or again, " Nothing can be clearer than this. Unless we can make friends with (a) one or more of the three Great Powers; (b) with Japan ; (c) with the Islamic Powers, Turkey, Persia, and Afghanistan ; or preferably (d) with the United States, we must be prepared either for defeat or surrender." Mr. Arnold White might with almost equal justice have added,—" (e) with the Emperor Menelek ; (f) with Prince Tuan."—Mr. H. W. Wilson's inquiry into that delicate and thorny subject, " The Sur- renders in South Africa," is conducted with tact and modera- tion. In his examination of the various cases he never fails to note extenuating circumstances, and abstains from condemna- tion in the absence of full particulars. He might, however, have considered the influence that the known inability of the Boers to retain their prisoners has exerted of late on the morale of the British troops. The figures as they stand are by no means satisfactory. Thus in one of the November returns 140 officers and 3,746 men are included under the head of " other casualties " without any indication of the place, date of occurrence, or any other particulars.—Dr. Maguire continues his indictment of the technical training of our officers. Here are some of the most striking statements in his paper :—" I have known officers who were refused leave to study for the Staff College, but got leave for Ascot and spent that leave in study notwithstanding." " Four times in the last three years the War Office has prescribed books for study that are out of print." " At the present moment there are no useful treatises on mountain or guerilla warfare or on raids, for sale or on loan in London libraries, yet months ago I was able to procure plenty of them forthwith from Paris. No London publisher would incur certain loss by issuing such works." Dr. Maguire has also a good deal to say on the wretchedly inadequate remaneration of Army instructors, the caprice of pedantic examiners, and the fiasco of our camps of instruction.—Mr. Maurice Low in his American Affairs" has some sensible remarks on the serious drawbacks attaching to the absence of a permanent diplomatic service. At present, if we are to believe him, no American goes into diplomacy willingly ; it is generally to gratify the ambition of his wife or his daughters. Mr. Low predicts momentous results from the passage of the Ship Subsidy Bill. It will, he thinks, revolutionise the carrying trade of the world, and he foretells the capture of the trade by the Americans, precisely as they have captured the iron and steel trade. For the rest, Mr. Low's estimate of American diplomacy in the Far East corresponds closely with that re- commended by Sir Robert Hart in the Fortnightly. —Mr. Leslie Stephen's study of Froude is a most illuminating and sympathetic essay. Mr. Stephen, we note, holds that there is room for the "skilful historical artist" as well as the scientific historian, and declares that nowhere can so vivid and interesting a narrative of the Elizabethan period be found as that furnished by Froude.—Miss Woolward, a relative of Lady Nelson, contributes a temperate " Vindication " of the wife of our great naval hero.
The Monthly Review is full of good articles this month. The two editorial articles, one on " Unity and Uniformity," and the other on " The Little Englander," show a tone and temper which are quite excellent. They both exhibit the " Whig" attitude of mind at its best, and in spite of the fact that it is now fashionable to abuse everything connected with the " Whigs," and to represent their principles as selfish when not ridiculous, we do not hesitate to say that the " Whig" attitude at its best—the attitude of liberal moderation and wise compromise—is one which we devoutly trust will never be left unrepresented in the nation. If the Monthly Review will maintain this outlook on our public life it may do England a real service. The article on " Unity and Uniformity," which deals with the crisis in the Church, ends with the following passage :— "The Church is the guardian of the truth already committed to her keeping ; if she is to remain The Church she must never forget that truth, just because it is eternal, is no less change- able in aspect than unchangeable in substance. There is no such thing in nature as uniformity either of present time or of all times ; in all the millions of men in millions of Sears no two were ever alike; to a thousand generations truth has worn a thousand different faces: the same dawn none ever twice awoke.' Uniformity is not only not the same thing as unity, nor a possible road to it ; it is impossible in itself. It is not only impossible in itself, but if possible it would be the spiritual end of the race of man. The attempt to impose the appearance of it upon any body of men is a vain imagination which has led in the past to indefensible persecutions and the irremediable delay of human progress. The latter is now happily powerless, in England at any rate, to accomplish, but it may 1.-ad, apparently, to results far enough from unity ; if not to exclusion, then to secession. At such a time that voice had need continually to sound in men's ears, nolite ezire—" go not out."'"
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That is the kind of temper which the zealots on both sides will no doubt reject, but it is, nevertheless, not only the " better opinion," but is largely the opinion of the majority of English Churchmen.—The article on " The Little Englander " has also our sympathy. It is in effect a demand for tolerance for the Little Englander. We do not ourselves sympathise with the Little Englander, but there is certainly a place for him and his creed, which is often a very useful corrective to insane Imperialism. But as the writer in the Monthly Review very properly suggests, the Little Englander, if he is to be really effective for good, must clear his mind of cant. " If he would take the mote from the Imperialist eye, he must first remove the beam from his own."—The regular magazine articles in the number are also good. Mr. Hogarth gives a fascinating account of the digging out of the cave of Zeus in Crete, and Mr. Basil Williams, late a gunner in the C.I.V., writes with soldierly modesty and chivalry about the Boers. But perhaps the most interesting thing in a very readable number is the conversations between Colonel Wilks and Napoleon, in which the East India Company's officer showed what an infinitely better bred man he was than the ex- Emperor. Wilks appears an able gentleman of fine manners; the Emperor a vulgarian of genius. " Linesman "—a regimental officer on active service in South .Africa—contributes another of his admirable papers to the January Blackwood. This time he describes the duties, the humours, and the trials of a small post of fifty men guarding the lines of communication. An agreeable feature of this writer is the generously appreciative attitude he invariably adopts towards the Boers. "A commando of 1,000 strong is as respect- able a fighting unit as any regiment in the world A noticeable feature about them [the fighting Boers] is their extreme modesty and reticence with regard to their fighting experiences. It is the hardest thing in the world to ' draw' a Boer into a description of his share in an action." We hope these admirable sketches, which do equal credit to the head and the heart of the writer, may be ultimately collected in book form. There is one delightful story of a platelayer who was carried off by a sniping party, and left on its evacuation by the Boers at a small township some thirty miles distant, whence he issued forth, as Mayor, Commandant, and garrison all in one, to hand over the keys to General Buller's column.—" More Problems of Railway Management" is a thoroughly search- ing piece of criticism, in which some exceedingly candid counsel is offered to reactionary directors, and Mr. Behr's scheme is discussed with great impartiality, while the result of the impending adoption of electric locomotives is fore- shadowed with a good deal of acumen and imaginative insight. —Among miscellaneous articles we may notice Mr. Hanbury- Williams's lively impressions de voyage, " Fifteen Hundred Niles on Fresh Water"; while fiction is represented by another striking tale of demoniac possession—the second in two months — and a further instalment of Mr. Neil Munro's serial,"Doom Castle."
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