THE MAGAZINES.

THE drift of Mr. Lathbury's article on " The Clergy and the Education Act" in the Nineteenth Century may best be under• stood from a few quotations :- "What the Bill does is to laicise the Church schools A Church school under the Kenyon-Slaney Clause is like a Baptist school from which all mention of adult baptism is excluded, or a Wesleyan school which knows nothing of the Conference. So long as the Education Act of 1902 remains in force so much of a clergyman's pastoral work as has been done in the school will be

done in subjection to the laity More than any other party at this moment it [the Unionist party] is an anti-clerical Party The Nonconformists dislike the clergy because they are established The Unionists [whose opposition Mr. Balfour had to conciliate] do not, indeed, dislike the clergy, but they like them, as some people like cats, in their place, and that place a strictly subordinate one. The Kenyon-Slaney Clause exactly meets this feeling It is inconceivable that the clergy should long accept such a state of things as this cannot believe that the clergy as a body will be long in making up their minds what their answer will be. They will prefer State schools into which they can enter as of right to Church schools in which they will at best be tolerated as visitors."

Mr. Lathbury, it should be noted, acquits the Government of blame. His indictment is chiefly directed against the clergy themselves for their, in his view, thistaken policy in accepting

financial relief as the price of surrendering the control of religious teaching. Needless to say, we quote Mr. Lathbury's opinion, not to endorse it, but to dissent from it in the strongest possible way. We believe that the leaders of the clergy were wise and statesmanlike in supporting the Bill, and that the Bill, instead of injuring the Church or destroying the true influence of the clergy, will greatly strengthen the Church and add to the authority of all but the most extreme section of the clergy. From the narrow and selfish point of view Clericalism may lose, but in all that is best the Ctrurch will gain greatly by the Bill.

—Mr. Lathbury, we may note, is supported in his con- tention by Dr. Guinness Rogers, who, as the representative of moderate Nonconformist opposition, declares that the financial gain is all that the clergy have secured. For the rest, Dr. Guinness Rogers reiterates his objection to the strike against rates as indefensible and inexpedient. The change that Nonconformists so earnestly desire is, in his opinion, to be accomplished "not by passionate protest-or

sullen obstruction, but• by an honest determination to take advantage of every opportunity which the new system affords, and so to accelerate a more equitable settlement," —Mr. George F. H. Berkeley contributes an interesting sketch of the history of the unification of Ethiopia under

Menelik, based chiefly on the writings of M. Hugues le Roux, Sir Gerald Portal, and Sir Reginald Wingate. His aim is to awaken recognition of the peculiar importance to Great Britain

of Ethiopia, and to combat the apathy which places us at such a disadvantage in the silent conflict between the representatives of the various nationalities at the Court of Menelik.—Sir Michael Foster sends a short but vigorous plea for the ade• quate recognition of the importance of the Local Government Board. As he points out, the Local Government Board ix the brief period since its establishment has not only shared the general increase in the quantity of business to be performed by Government Departments. but has undergone, and is under. going, an expansion of its functions. This expansion, he predicts, from the general trend of Constitutional evolution, is likely to go on at an increased rate. Hence Sir Michael's demand that the choice neither of chiefs nor of staff should be hampered by the idea that the Department is an inferior one, whose needs are not to be considered until those of other Departments have been satisfied.—Mi. Arthur C. Benson and Mr. Frank Fletcher send rejoinders to Sir Oliver Lodge's impeachment of the public•school system. There is one passage in Mr. Fletcher's vigorous paper which calls for comment. He says :—

" A. few boys with real enthusiasm for subjects other than athletics will speedily kindle interests and awaken enthusiasm in a House. It is just for this reason that we value so much our entrance scholarships, not primarily as providing us with boys who will do us credit afterwards, but as furnishing an intellectual leaven, as securing not infrequently intelligent boys from a different class, to whom the high fees of a school like that to which I belong [Rugby] would be otherwise prohibitive."

Mr. Fletcher says "not infrequently." We are glad to think this is the case, as we were under the impression that the majority of these entrance scholarships fell to candidates trained at preparatory schools which made a special feature of such training, and where the fees were quite prohibi- tive to the "different class" of which Mr. Fletcher speaks. —Ali Haydar Midhat, writing on English and Russian politics in the East, recounts the efforts of Midhat Pacha in 1876-1877 to procure for Turkey the friendship of the Western Powers, especially that of England. He traces the growth of Russian influence at Constantinople to the reac- tionary policy of Abd-ul-Hamid, but contends that the Reform party did not perish with the assassination of Midhat, but has actually increased in numbers. " If this Liberal party remains in the shade," he continues, " it is because of the terror that reigns at Constantinople, and also grows in a direct ratio, and because not one partisan of reform is in power or protected by a friendly Power. It is fighting the Government in the midst of the ignorance of the population." The article is not very coherent or illuminative, but these incursions of educated representatives of the "Young Turkey" party into the arena of European journalism are becoming more and more frequent, and that in itself is not without serious significance. Turkey may be ended from without : it can only be mended from within.

The most striking paper in an excellent number of the Contemporary is that on " The New Education in China,' contributed by Mr. Timothy Richard, of Shanghai. The evidences of intellectual awakening which Mr. Richard collects go to prove that the Edict on Reform in Education published in August, 1901, and traceable to the advice of a. missionary consulted by the Chinese plenipotentiaries in May of that year, is not a dead letter. It has led to the establishment of the Imperial College in Shansi and new Colleges in ten different provinces, and to the expenditure of about half a million taels annually on a curriculum in which Western learning holds a prominent place. In further proof of this awakening Mr. Richard transcribes a number of the questions put to the students at the triennial examinations simultaneously held by the special Imperial examiners in the capitals of the eighteen provinces for the M.A. degree. The number of candidates is about a hundred and fifty thousand, and the character of the questions certainly goes far to justify Mr. Richard's contention that in the turning of the faces of this great intellectual army westward we are witnessing the greatest event of modern times.—Another striking article is that on our relations with Germany, by " Patriae quis exul." The author's contributions to the inner history of Teutonic Anglophobia are curiously instructive and his conclusions eminently practical. Here are some of his conclusions :-

" Let us grasp one premiss and the rest will follow. Germany never can be our friend. Economically, because she has the same aims as we have, and is propelled forward by the same economic motor forces ; politically, because of her position between France and Russia—though the present balance of power is probably not indefinite—geographically and ethnologically, because owing to her position in the centre of Europe as the pillar of all German speaking peoples, she must make for expansion and for command of the sea-coasts; psychologically, because the German peoples are by nature envious, hostile to England, and tend to become more so. The Pan-Germanic idea, as yet in its infancy, is no idle chimera. It is a movement en marche : its complement is the Navy League; together they are likely to go far. It is by no means impossible that Germany may eventually cajole or coerce Holland into some form of Alliance—Germany to defend Holland, Holland to give Germany free access to the seas. The war has unquestionably thrown Holland into the mesh of Pan-Germans Germany requires rest, a decade of peace ; she has to put her house in order, to build her fleet, and establish a sound financial policy. She will expand. We cannot check her. And why should we? `Opus est pluribus umbris.' We have learnt our lesson. We see the past as a whole ; we must provide for the future accordingly. If we forgive Germany's bawling let us not forget it. Let us be philosophical, courteous and amiable. Politics have nothing to do with sentiment. Germany can be of real use to us, just as we shall doubtless continue to be of use to her. This one thing let us remember. Could Germany crush us, she would. We must meet her with her own weapons, which are these—brains, science, thoroughness. Above all our fleet must be invincible."

—Dr. Fairbairn contributes a fine appreciation of James Martineau, in which the reference to R. H. Hutton will appeal with peculiar force to readers of this journal.—We may also notice a sentimental but interesting paper on "Kings and Queens," by Mlle. Helene Vacaresco. Like Mr. Dooley, she is apprehensive as to the results of enhanced publicity on modern Monarchs. It is rather curious to read, in the light

of the recent scandal at the Court of Saxony, the tribute which the writer pays to the success with which the small Courts of Germany have contrived to preserve " in full bloom the flower of perfect etiquette and ceremonious politeness."

In the Fortnightly Review Mr. Harold G. Parsons gives an account of the destruction of Colonel Firman's column by De Wet at Tweefontein. The writer was present, being a Lieutenant of Yeomanry, and his story of the occurrence that led up to the disaster, and of the disaster itself, is a clear and sadly interesting narrative,—sad because from the author's account there seems to have been such mismanagement and want of co-ordination in the forces distributed about the district. Colonel Firman had obtained leave to take a rest, which he had earned by two years' constant work, and was at Cape Town. The author says that "a major of infantry, now dead (who had met with a disaster earlier in the war, and, being of lethargic temperament, was not likely to interfere with his energetic subordinate), was given temporary command of what was now for a few weeks known as Firman's Column." The writer describes the usual miserable series of incidents which so often preluded disaster,—the native who possessed information was not listened to, though taken to headquarters by an officer; the absence of reconnoitring, though the Boers were seen in the distance frequently, the effect of this being that De Wet could arrange his plans comfortably without disturbance and make his final onset exactly when it suited

him. Mr. Parsons quotes from De Wet's account of the action, and shows that it is by no means accurate in details.

The effect of the disaster was that this portion of the Free State, which had been hitherto rather neglected, was overrun by sixty thousand of our troops, and this stronghold of De Wet's made untenable for him ; in fact, it was his last success. The writer concludes by saying that no blame attaches to the main body of the Yeomanry present, and expresses his belief that had Colonel Firman been present the disaster would not have happened.—Dr. Crozier's paper, " The Condition of England Question," is a violent attack on the policy of Free-trade. His pronouncement is that England attained her commercial supremacy by means of tariffs, which she abandoned when she had vanquished her rivals. We are told that to persist in the policy of Free-trade is to invite the fate of Spain and Holland. The argument would be more convincing if the author showed that these countries had in the height of their supremacy adopted the incriminated policy " A British Workman" answers, in a clearly written article the pessimistic statistician, Mr. Schooling, who wrote last September in this magazine. The writer quotes figures to prove that the trade of the country in shipbuilding and engineering is on the increase. Mr. Schooling's charge that the workmen are lacking in push, and take their work too easily, is met by the quotation of figures, which show that in 1895 the colliers of Great Britain raised two hundred and seventy tons of coal per man, while in 1896 the average was a little over two hundred and eighty-two tons, The cost of railway construction, which is so high in England, the writer attributes to the rapacity of landlords, and does

not take into account the fact that railways naturally traverse the most populous areas, where land is most valuable. In the country districts of Canada and America, where people

are not so thick on the ground, the land is, of course, cheaper. Mr. Schooling accused British workmen of being too ready to engage in strikes. The answer given is that they are no more ready to do so than the workmen of other countries, and that arbitration should be compul sort'. How the award is to be enforced we are not told. Against the accusation of intemperance the author says that the workman " drinks no more intoxicants than the average man of the other classes of society," but his drinking is done more publicly. This statement is certainly not in accord with the descriptions given of, say, the South Wales collieries by temperate men working there. The paper is clear, well written, and to the point.

We regret that the National Review arrived too late in the week to render justice to its contents in this column.

We may note, however, a slashing article on the Venezuelan imbroglio entitled " A Lesson to Lord Lansdowne." The gravamen of the indictment is contained in the con- tention that Lord Lansdowne fell into a carefully prepared trap " without, so far as published papers go, ever taking the trouble to ascertain what Germany intended to do, or what were the claims to the support of which this country was to commit herself By so doing be gave the

Germans a cases belli in case England declines to support

her ally's claims. This is a dereliction of duty to the nation so grave as to call for the most condign punishment. No Minister has a right to conclude an alliance which departs from the settled and recognised line of national policy, in defiance of public opinion." The case of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, the writer points out, is an entirely different

matter. It may have been a departure from our normal policy, but it was in accord with the wishes of the Empire.— M. Clemenceau puts the case of the Republic against the religious Orders with the lucidity and logical force which are the peculiar mark of the best French publicists. M. Clemenceau traces the progress of the movement for the emancipation of civil society from the dominion of the Church which began with the Revolution. But the menace of the Affaire proved how powerful were the resources still wielded by the " organisa- tion of ignorance," and the Republican Government, "finding themselves compelled to retain control of the Army, of the public schools, and of every branch of the administration into which monks had penetrated, were confronted with the organ- ised forces of the religious Orders." M. Waldeck-Rousseau's Associations Bill partially galvanised a dead letter—for the laws abolishing monastic Orders had never been repealed—by enact- ing that unauthorised Congregations should seek authorisation. M. Clemenceau's complaint against the measure is that it does not go far enough. He cannot see a single serious reason for granting authorisation to some Orders, while refusing it to others. "All Congregations are animated by the same spirit." Accordingly he predicts that the Law, "even if it should one day produce adequate results, will in the interval cause a tremendous outcry without any serious advantage to the State in its great struggle against the Church. It can there- fore only be described as beating the air." The only adequate means of dealing with the question, in his view, is the whole- sale demolition of the political power of the religious Orders, which is incompatible with the institutions of liberty. Once that is removed there will be no need to restrain, to the detriment of the Church, the liberty to teach, or any other part of the legitimate liberty to think and act. " The one liberty which is not permissible is the ' liberty' to abolish the human personality, or, in other words, the liberty to kill liberty."

An anonymous writer in Blackwood pursues a searching inquiry into De Wet's book on the war. The method of the parallel column is employed to show the inaccuracy of details. The writer takes a very low view of the guerilla chief's capacity as a general, and is inclined to consider De Wet's chief importance to lie in the fact that by his energy and patriotism he roused the Free State to action when it was staggering under the blows of Lord Roberts. The writer points out that when De Wet attempted schemes of an ambitions nature he invariably failed, the chief instance being the invasion of Cape Colony. The successes were confined to single blows such as Sauna's Post and Tweefontein, which, however disastrous to us as single incidents, did not affect the progress of events toward the inevitable end. The fact, how- ever, remains that De Wet did do us considerable damage, and was entirely successful in eluding those who so often tried finally to crush him. If we go into the extreme of belittling his capacity, what becomes of those be outwitted and overthrew ? —Mr. Ernest Foxwell writes a very striking account of the terrible experiences of an English lady who lost herself for four days in an unpopulated highland in Japan. The lady wandered to pick flowers a hundred yards from a path, and was enfolded and lost in long grass a foot higher than her bead. She was drowned in the grass, and only emerged after terrible suffering. The Japanese inn- keeper seems to have acted with splendid promptness in organising a search, which was successful. The author, in eulogising the kindness and activity of the searchers, need not have done so at the expense of Europeans, for have not the same qualities often been shown in the Alps ? The description of the mental state of the wanderer during the terrible days and nights is a powerful piece of writing.—Mr. Stephen Gwynn gives us a version of an Ossian ballad, which he tells us is new to scholars. In a note Mr. Gwynn says : " My friend Mr. Seumas MacManus heard it from an evicted cottier in the heart of the Donegal mountains." In the ballad Patrick shows Ossian a vision of hell, where he sees his dead warriors, the Fianna, engaged in conflict with fiends. The Fianna at first repel the demons by means of the flail of Gull MacMorna, but it breaks and the Fianna are worsted. The Saint then tells Ossian that he will grant any wish to lift his comrades out of their torment. But Ossian, who has only that day become a Christian, asks Patrick to give the vanquished hero an iron flail. The version is spirited and brings before us the phantasmagoria of monstrous figures.

The Monthly Review publishes a very interesting series of letters written by Sir Henry Barnard and others from the English camp during the siege of Delhi. These letters were sent to Mr. Barnes, one of the Commissioners of the Punjab. What disorganisation must have resulted from the mortality and disablement through wounds and illness of the officers in command of the besiegers ! In the account of the fighting we meet with the familiar features of British military operations,—absence of transport, and guns outranged by the enemy. On the other hand, there is the indomitable courage and power to " worry through." The letters are made coherent by connecting links contributed by Mr. G. S. Barnes. —The paper on "The Naval Intelligence Department" by Mr. Carlyon Bellairs is a terrible indictment. Here are a few of the instances given. An Order was issued to Cap- tains containing instructions to gunners about the lids of powder-cases, weights and scales for weighing out powder, and how " when the match is burning it is always to be kept over water in tubs,"—part of the Regulations for wooden ships of the past. These Orders were issued in June, 1899, and " continued in force in the succeeding years." On May 3rd Mr. Goschen made a statement about the increase of the Russian Navy, contradicting information in the news- papers. The following day the First Lord had to admit that the newspapers were right, and the Admiralty without intelligence on the subject. In 1902, the Home Squadron wish- ing to practise firing with lyddite shell, the Melampus ' was sent to investigate the Hysken rocks, which were the proposed target. It was then found that a lighthouse was being built on the rock ! It is only fair to say that other navies seem to act in the same extraordinary. fashion. Admiral Dewey, we are told, waited at Hong-kong for weeks before the beginning of the war, but " when orders arrived for him to proceed to the Philippines two days were wasted while waiting for the American Consul from Manila in order to obtain particulars about the harbours and resources of the enemy."