THE MAGAZINES.

THE Nineteenth Century is less topical than usual in its political articles, but is none the less readable on that account. The Duke of Argyll's article on "Fair Farms versus Fancy Crofts," as its name implies, is prompted by the recent legis- lative experiments of the Government, with which he has little sympathy. He maintains that, in spite of the legislation of 1886, the small holders or crofters have not shown an increased desire to maintain their crofts, but that, on the contrary, they have given them up, and gone to Canada faster than ever. This result he ascribes partly to free imports, partly to the attractions of the towns, largely to the fact that the small farm, and not a mere croft, is the unit which, from the point of view of economics, is the most satisfactory. He has no panacea for existing evils, but believes that the system of land banks provides a far sounder basis than the less business- like aid furnished by the Crofter Commission.—Mrs. Creighton contributes " Some Modern Ideas about Women's Education," dwelling chiefly on the subject of domestic economy. She demurs strongly to the view that highly educated women are inefficient housekeepers, while admitting that Englishwomen have a great deal to learn with regard to domestic management. Mrs. Creighton sums up the question in a passage which is well worth quoting :- " Women, to a certain extent, have themselves to blame for this reaction on the part of so many men in favour of the domestic woman, and against the higher education of women. They have not given their mind sufficiently to domestic matters, perhaps, partly because they often care very little about what they eat themselves. This characteristic of theirs is convenient when it is thought desirable to pay them a lower salary than a man would accept for the same work. The man is not going to make his evening meal off tea and sardines, and rather despises the woman who does ; but society is not prepared to pay her a salary which will enable her to provide herself with anything better. Many women, on the other hand, despise men for caring about their dinner. I remember one, to whom I said when seeing her off into the train, where was she going to dine, that I hoped she was going to have a good dinner, who answered, Oh, I don't care what I eat, I leave that to the men.' Leaving Greediness aside, everyone ought to care what they eat, especially in order that they may be better able to provide suitable food for others. Perhaps, in a state of society where labour was properly apportioned between the two sexes, it would turn out that the work of both ordering and cooking the dinner devolved upon the men, seeing it is they who care most about it. It is already abundantly clear that men make the best cooks. But so long as this work is left to women, they must give their minds to it and

do it as well as it can be done. No long list of honours won by the students of any college will justify insufficient, unappetising and badly cooked food. Nothing will do more harm to the cause

of the higher education of women than any justification for the idea that their health suffers from their studies, and that the women who organise those studies set an insufficient value on the domestic side of life."

—In an interesting paper on " The Authenticity of Ancient Literature, Secular and Sacred," Bishop Welldon sets himself to show by certain conspicuous instances how much more evi- dence there is for the hooks of the New Testament than for some classical books. The case of Homer is tolerably familiar,

but Bishop Welldon does well to recall the curious case of Mr. J. W. Ross, who in 1878 made an elaborate attempt to prove that the Annals of Tacitus were a fifteenth-century forgery. Bishop Welldon sets outs his reasoning at length, "not that it seems to me conclusive—for I think it wholly absurd—but because it corresponds with the reasoning of the advanced Higher Critics upon the books of the Bible, and especially of the Old Testament," and because he believes Ross's case against the Annals to be stronger than the case against much which has been critically challenged in the Old Testament, and far stronger than any possible case which can be made out against any part of the Epistles of St. Paul or the Gospel which bears the name of St. John.—Amongst other articles, we may note Mr. Basil Tozer's plea for the reform of our burial law in order to guard against the dangers of premature burial; Mr. Frank Foxcroft's description of the American Sunday newspaper, which he holds responsible for promoting the increasing secularisation of Sunday ; and Mr. J. A. R. Marriott's paper on " Oxford and the Nation," in

which he fully discusses the question of the extension of the benefits of University education to the working classes. The problem, in his view, is largely one of means, and he looks forward hopefully to its solution once the seriousness of the demand is realised.

In the National Review Mr. Garvin discusses the Australian tariff under the heading of " Preference or McKinleyism." His chief point is that there is no ground for surprise in what has happened. The Government had fair warning, and Mr. Chamberlain predicted the alternatives. Mr. Garvin finds it " impossible to understand the chorus of perverse, provocative,

unworthy comment.. The critics ought to have reversed their mental attitude. They ought not to have been surprised at the stiffness of the tariff. They ought to have been genuinely surprised that it contained any provision for preferences at all." At the same time, his rebukes of ortho- dox Free-traders and timid Tariff Reformers—including the Times—are tempered by some notable admissions,— e.g., that Mr. Deakin, spite of his splendid Imperial states- manship and prodigious intellectual force, " has to reckon with his constituents"; that "Australian McKinleyism " is " a leap in the dark," and may have to be modified. The article is written with Mr. Garvin's usual fervour and rhetorical vigour, but it is noteworthy that he practically leaves out of consideration the large and growing body of public opinion in Australia which is hostile to the new tariff. --We can well understand why the " Irish Nationalist" who has contributed the article on " The Passing of the Irish Parliamentary Party " has preferred to remain anonymous. Of his nationality there can be no doubt, but his Nationalism is of a curiously Ishmaelite quality. Mr. Redmond's oppor- tunism is the chief subject of his mordant satire, but Mr.

Dillon and Mr. O'Brien fare little if at all better at his sacrilegious hands.—Mr. Munro Ferguson, M.P., once more slays the slain in his dissection of the Scottish Small Land- holders Bill; but his criticism is by no means altogether destructive, and he admits that there is room for a large and comprehensive policy on practical lines for dealing with Scotland outside the crofting area.—Major G. F. MacMunu, who accompanied the Committee organised by the National Service League, gives an interesting account of their visit to Switzerland. The aim of those who promoted the visit and their attitude towards Mr. Haldane's scheme are well summed Up in the following paragraph :—

" The National Service League, and all those who follow Lord Roberts's crusade, readily admit that as a masterly organisation, so far as strength and distribution are concerned, the new scheme can only be admired, and that as a permanent objective in the way of numbers it is all we want. It is to the method of filling the corps, successful though it may be, that they take exception. The object of their crusade is to mould the national character, which is so suffering under the strain of modern industrialism, by a patriotic cult and the short military training that has proved so successful in Switzerland. They want to provide trained men over and above those ear-marked for defensive corps, so that when, in trouble, the nation needs men and men flock to the call, they may come as men having know- ledge, and not as encumbrances. The filling of an adequate home defence army is a very small portion of their platform, and because an able organiser is successful in this, the smaller act, it does not follow that their aspirations are attained, though they rejoice that our military plans are on an improved footing. They wish to educate the nation so that it shall of its own accord say to its Government : We are

satisfied with the numbers and organisation of the troops that you provide, but we see that you cannot get full efficiency with voluntary enlistment. We wish you to pass every lad through your territorial army, not only so that you may exact a higher standard, but so that our lads may learn self-discipline, from the hooligan of the slums, to the lounger in the wealthy parts of the cities, and that our country may have a trained people to call to its wars abroad when it turns in its fear or its wrath.' It was in furtherance of this creed that the National Service League invited so many of the Labour and Socialist Party to see in the Swiss mirror the difference between patriotic service and the dreaded militarism."

—The editor in his " Episodes of the Month " blesses the Anglo-Russian Convention, hails the secession of the Times military correspondent from the " blue-water" school, and indulges in picturesque obloquy at the expense of the Premier, Mr. Haldane, and Mr. Birrell. We note that while con- demning the Deceased Wife's Sister Act as unnecessary, he cordially approves of the courageous action taken by the Bishop of Carlisle.

Professor Milyoukov in " The Case of the Second Duma" in the October Contemporary rebuts the contention of the reactionaries and of Dr. Dillon,—viz., that the Duma by its illegal acts and revolutionary sympathies rendered its dissolu- tion inevitable. He shows the extraordinary difficulties by which the " Cadets "—the leading party—were beset, being violently attacked by both extreme parties, and maintains that their aims were moderate and their methods businesslike. The weakest part of their case is their attitude in regard to the proposed censure of political murders, but even here Professor Milyoukov makes it clear they had good tactical reasons for refusing discussion. The pith of his argument, however, is to be found in the statement that the real cause of the Govern- ment's dissatisfaction with the Duma was the democratic spirit which inspired the whole of its legislative work. He attributes the dissolution largely to the social influence possessed by the reactionary clique :-

"From the point of view of this clique the more successfully the Duina's work proceeded, the more dangerous it became and the more urgent became the necessity for its dissolution. We have the assertion of members of this party that for them the greatest danger lay in a `correct' Duma, a quietly working representative assembly, and that they always preferred a revolu- tionary to a moderate Duma because the former was easier to deal with."

In conclusion, the writer gives some remarkable statistics to prove the reactionary revolution worked by the new Electoral Law, the introduction of which was a violent infringement of the Fundamental Laws. Under the new franchise the vote of a wealthy land proprietor is on an average fifty times as powerful as the vote of a small burgess.—Mr. J. A. Hobson contributes a most instructive and valuable paper on " The Swiss Referendum as an Instrument of Democracy." We can only note some of his conclusions. One of the most striking is that the Referendum in practice "discloses a truly serviceable strain of conservatism in the people." He sums up the three advantages claimed for the Referendum in its effect upon the course of legislation as follows :— " (1) That it provides a remedy for intentional or unintentional misrepresentation on the part of elected legislatures and secures laws conformable to the actual will of the majority.

(2) That it enhances the popular confidence in the stability of That it eliminates much waste of political energy by a(v3b.

ling proposals of unknown value to be submitted separately to a quantitative test."

But the final and weightiest claim for the Referendum, as attested by Swiss experience, is "The training in the art of government it gives the people. It may indeed be questioned whether a people whose direct con- tribution to self-government consists in a single vote cast at intervals of several years, not for a policy or even for a measure, but for a party or a personality, can be or is capable of becoming a genuinely self-governing people. Some amount of regular responsibility for concrete acts of conduct is surely as essential to the education of a self-reliant people as of a self-reliant individual. To the intelligent Swiss democrat it never occurs to base his democracy upon a doctrine of infallibility of the people. The people, he is aware, make mistakes ; the Referendum offers more opportunity to make mistakes and therefore to learn from their mistakes than is furnished under purely representative government. But he holds that the obligation imposed on each citizen to take a direct part in the making of the laws he is called upon to obey is essential to the reality of popular self-govern- ment."

—Miss Edith Sellers gives a lively character sketch of M. Demetrius Sturdza, the Roumanian Premier. She passes

lightly over the thorny question of the treatment of the Jews, and lays especial stress on his work as" a financial reformer. Miss Sellers's appreciation reaches its climax in the following passage :-

" M. Sturdza works just as hard when out of office as when in, the only difference being that when out of office he preaches reforms, and when in, he makes them. Unfortunately he is never in office for long at a time ; for that he. is much too staunch a reformer, much too conscientious a leader; for that ho expects a little too much, perhaps, from his fellows."

—The arguments against the new marriage law based on alleged Scriptural prohibition are examined and rejected by the Rev. W. E. Addis, while Mr. J. E. G. de Montmorency sums up the controversy very much on the lines of the Bishop of Carlisle, appealing to the Church to reserve her forces for great issues, and not fritter them away in a cause that has no ultimate merits. " The whole issue was one not of morals but of social convenience, and that is a question for the nation and not for the Church to decide. And the nation his decided." —We regret that we must reserve comment on Sir William Rarnsay's striking article on" Paulinism in the Graeco-Roman World." The views enunciated are so bold, and in some cases, as in dealing with the question of persecution, so original, that it is impossible to render justice to them in a brief summary.

The republication of these articles in book-form is no doubt only a question of time, and will enable us to return to the subject under more favourable conditions.

Mr. Yerburgh's article in the Fortnightly on " Small Holdings" is written with a moderation not usually associated with discussions of the land question. The writer, although in favour of experiments, does not think that the face of the country is going to be altered all at once, as some strenuous politicians seem to expect. Mr. Yerburgh points out that rural depopulation in England cannot be entirely due to our existing land system. M. Meline has shown that in France there is the same tendency as there is here for people to leave the country and go into the towns. If this is so in a country of small holdings and peasant-proprietors, it does not look as if our system of land tenure were entirely to blame for the exodus. Mr. Yerburgh considers that the true way for the State to help in this matter is for County Councils to lend money to enable existing landlords to subdivide large farms and equip them as small holdings. He would also help Co-operative Societies to buy laud to be let out in small quantities.—Sir George Arthur discusses " The Soldier as Student," showing bow important education is to all branches of the Army. With regard to the men, we are told that a very successful experiment was made by Captain Swayne of a course of study for non-commissioned officers. Military and general subjects were taught. The commanding officers testified to the advancement of the men, who worked with great keenness and industry. Although Captain Swayne received the thanks of the Army Council for the results he had achieved, the school was given up owing to lack of funds. An interesting account is given of the special course which was started at the London School of Economics last January, and attended by thirty-one officers. Commercial subjects were studied, and the Director of the school asserted that no class of students could have worked more assiduously and with greater enthusiasm. In emphasising the importance of the study of commercial affairs, Mr. Mackinder, the Director, in an address reminded his hearers that whereas the London and North-Western Railway has gross annual receipts of £15,000,000, the business of the War Office amounts every year to more than twice that sum.—Mrs. Macdonald Goring brings to a conclusion her account of a children's society of "The Friends of Living Creatures," in which Ruskin took a great interest. His letters, of which a number are printed here, show the sentimental side of his character. There is an amusing account of a meeting of the children who formed the society at Bedford Park, when the great man presided. Ruskin was called upon to decide the much-debated question whether it was lawful for a member of the society when at the seaside to catch shrimps. The decision come to was that, as these creatures were wholesome food, it was allowable to catch them "with as much consideration as possible for the shrimps."

A most interesting account is given in Blackwood by Mr. Weigel', the Chief Inspector of Antiquities in Egypt, of the discovery of the tomb of Akhnaton. Not that the tomb and

mummy of this Pharaoh were of themselves of greater value than those of other finds. But the extraordinary character of this young man who ruled Egypt some two thousand four hundred years ago makes this discovery of last year of very great value. Akhnaton began to reign when he was fifteen, and at once entered into a religious revolution. The Syrian sun-god Aton was proclaimed the only deity, and Akhnaton his high priest. This, of course, raised the hostility of that powerful and conservative hierarchy, the priests of Amon-Ra at Thebes. - A temple dedicated to Aton was begun at Karnac, • but eventually the young King chose a new site by the Nile, ' and there built a temple, a palace for himself, and houses for his nobles. On the cliffs surrounding the new temple were inscriptions recording the oath of Pharaoh that he would never leave the place, but devote himself to the religion of Atoll. This religion was something more than sun-worship, for Aton was the mysterious life-giving power of which the sun was the symbol. Mr. Weigel' says :—

" The youthful High Priest called upon his followers to search for their god not in the confusion of battle or behind the smoke of human sacrifices, but amidst the flowers and trees, amidst the wild duck and the fishes: He preached an enlightened nature- study : he was perhaps the first apostle of the Simple Life. Ho strove to break down conventional religion, and ceaselessly urged his people to worship in Truth, simply, without an excess of ceremonial."

We are also given some extracts from one of the hymns to Aton, and are told that this hymn contains several verses almost identical with Psalm civ. For ten years Akhnaton reigned and preached this gentle religion ; after his death the old priesthood of Amon-Ra resumed its sway.—Sir George Scott writes an account of a punitive expedition which operated somewhere on the frontiers of India not far from the sea.. The article is called " Needs Explaining," and if the incidents narrated actually occurred the title is most appropriate. The General commanding the expedition thought only of the honours that might be conferred on him, but fretted because he considered that he was being used for police work. A camp was pitched near a river in a dense jungle, and one day a shot from the bush hit his wash-hand basin. In answer to this there was confused firing into the tangled vegetation around the camp, and a party of bluejackets who accompanied the expedition let off

rockets. One 'of these fell short and plunged into the river, where it turned a somersault and returned to the camp, going straight for the General's tents, which it set on fire. To avenge the outrage of the wash-hand basin the General deter- mined to occupy a village near by. This was easily accom- plished, for it was deserted. Somehow or other, without any

one knowing exactly how, fighting began at different places round the empty village. The troops fired upon one another, and the artillery discharged shells at random, which were more dangerous to their friends than to the enemy. Nobody knew what had happened, and the column returned to camp.

The General explained everything so well in his despatch that he got a C.B. Other members of the expedition refrained from asking questions, as too many things "needed ex- plaining."

The modern Socialist is rapidly abandoning representative government. This is clearly 'seen in the notes on current

events in the Albany Review. In an account of the Govern- ment's English Land Bill, the writer, after indulging in a,

panegyric on the intellect 'and character of Mr. Lewis Harcourt, says :—" His Bill was a distinctly moderate one and the prominence assigned to the County Councils, as compared with the national Commissioners on the one hand, and the Parish Councils on the other, detracts rather seriously from its democratic character, and may impede its working." From this it would seem as if a County Council—which is elected by a wider electorate than Parliament—is an undemo- cratic and obscurantist body. It is quite possible that many County Councils are neither progressive nor enlightened, but it is the fault of the electors if they are so. If freedom is out of date, is it to be replaced by an autocracy of journalistic) Socialists ? It is quite true to say that you must sometimes teach people to use their freedom, but you must not lay the blame for their inaction upon their political opponents.— Some unpublished letters by Lafcadio Hearn are interesting

for the appreciation they show of Mr. Kipling's writings. It was a shock to Hearn to find both Mr. Kipling and Mr.

Swinburne "sinning against justice" in the matter of the Boer War. It was old Japan that so entirely won the heart of Hearn, for the new order he disliked, as this outspoken letter shows "Japanese officialdom is not lovable, and it is Oriental when unpleasant. ` Here, if you don't like things, get out ! Here's your salary.' On the contrary, it suddenly becomes coaxing, caressing, infinitely sweet, and invites you out for multitudinous insult. Then you are suddenly surrounded by smiling combina- tions unimagined and unimaginable, and softly struck in a hundred ways. A knock-down blow is nothing to it. I pity a man of letters in the Government service in Tokyo ! Lasciate ogni speransa, eta."

—Lady Bell writes an amusing article on " Our Present Vocabulary." It is a protest against the absurd fashion of undergraduates' abbreviations and the fashionable young lady's silly use of words. Lady Bell is most anxious that girls should be taught not only to write but speak. She says nothing about boys learning as well. Does she consider male speech beyond hope P In the United Service Magazine for October, under the heading " Official Opinion on Defence," Sir Charles Dilke contributes what is in effect a review of Sir George Clarke's writings on the problems of Imperial defence, including his latest volume, that on Fortification, a republication of a work originally given to the world eighteen years ago. Sir Charles Dilke points out that it is comforting to the taxpayer to learn "that so competent an authority, speaking from the highest possible knowledge of the facts, public and secret, is persuaded that we stand far better now in actual and poten- tial naval superiority than we stood eleven years ago when he was already satisfied." Sir Charles Dilke ends his article by

some criticisms of what is generally called "The Dilke Return," though he disclaims responsibility for its form. It is unwise, he suggests, to give numbers, say of battleships. "All numbers must mislead the unenlightened portion of the public."—An article likely to call forth a good deal of criticism is " Decentralisation and the Defence of India," by Colonel L. J. H. Grey. The author begins by the following notable quotation from one of Lord Salisbury's letters :—

" In a letter to Lord Lytton, of the 9th June, 1876, Lord Salis- bury spoke of the masses in India as being 'for the most part

politically asleep to expect political support in a pinch from the natives of India, as a consequence and recognition of good government, is an optimist's dream. The literary class—a deadly legacy from Metcalfe and Macaulay—are politically alive enough ; but under the most favourable circumstances they never give any political strength to a state In India they cannot be anything else than opposition in quiet times,

rebels in time of trouble. There remains the aristocracy If they are with us, we can hardly be upset."

Colonel Grey's plea for decentralisation, which be thinks should be carried so far as the formation of new Native States out of what is now British territory, strikes us as singularly ill-judged,—nay, fantastic. He actually recom- mends it on the ground that it would make the complete evacuation of India more easy should such a course ever be determined on. Evacuation is a policy which should, in our opinion, never even be discussed, much less prepared for in any sort of way. The shortest road to ruin is to regard the Empire as some day doomed to perish. The British people do not mean to abandon India.