THE MAGAZINES.

THE editor of the Nineteenth Century provides both bane and antidote—in regard to high finance—in the new number, and with a wise instinct puts the antidote first in the shape of Sir Robert Gillen's admirable paper on "The Dream of a British Zollverein." Sir Robert's position is clearly defined at the outset. He holds that the policy of Imperial Federation should command universal assent, but distrusts some of the suggestions as to commercial union put forward as means to that end, and in particular those of an Imperial Zollverein or of preferential arrangements. He begins by, demolishing the 'view that commercial union necessarily tends to political union, and then enumerates the chief practical difficulties in the wa* of a Customs Union,—viz. : (a) The physical separation of the different parts of the Empire ; (b) the variety of race and business, which makes it expedient for different parts of the Empire to have each its own tariff; (c) the difficulty involved in the " pooling " arrangements among the different States rendered necessary by a Customs Union; (d) the difficulties arising from the uncertain political status of States or Pro- vinces forming part of the Empire. As for preferential duties, Sir Robert Giffen is convinced, and in this we most heartily agree with him, that they would damage both Mother-country and Colonies, and tend to dissolve rather than cement political union. The British Empire is not self- sufficing in regard to products, and the volume of our non- Colonial trade is more than three times that of our Colonial trade. Is commercial union then impossible ? On the contrary, Sir Robert Giffen holds that it is not merely possible but desirable, but it must begin with a recognition by the Colonies of the immense value of the principle of Free-trade. For the rest, he suggests a communication union (i.e., for posts and telegraphs), a monetary union, the assimilation of commercial law, and the negotiation of commercial treaties, with the Empire as a unit, as the true basis of Federation. This, however, pre- supposes a Council of Empire, which is also necessitated by the purely political needs of Federation. Meantime it will be necessary to convert the Colonial Premiers, and this summer offers a grand opportunity to the Cobden Club and others.

Sir Harry Johnston in his paper on "The Problems of Empire" excuses convincingly enough, on financial grounds, the existence of the "Little Englander " party. Under the present arrangement, as he shows, whatever happens, the United Kingdom pays through the nose for the privilege of taking action on behalf of the Empire at large. The asso- ciation between these little islands and the huge Colonial continents is like that of the giant and the dwarf in the fable, in which the latter got all the bard knocks. But Sir Harry Johnston's deduction in favour of a differential tariff

has already been disposed of in advance by Sir Robert Giffen On the other hand, some of Sir Homy Johnston's specific suggestions in regard to the organisation and pay of the Diplomatic and Consular Services are very much to the point :—

" With the exception of the European Embassies, the Chinese Legation, and perhaps of three Consulates-General, it may be stated without fear of contradiction that it is almost impossible for Diplomatists and Consuls to live within the limits of their official salaries and yet worthily represent their country. It seems to be forgotten by the British Treasury that salaries and allowances which were sufficient during the' sixties 'for a Consul or a Minister are, with the marked increase in the cost of good living, inadequate forty years afterwards. Most of the Consuls, in order to be able to live in the style expected of them by the country they represent and the country to which they are accredited, are obliged to turn their hands to the writing of guide-books, the painting of pictures, the collection and discreet sale of bric-k-brao, and any other lawful means of increasing their incomes without contravening the pro- hibition to engage in commerce."

—Sir Lepel Griffin advocates State-aided emigration from India to South Africa as the best solution of the labour problem and the beat means of maintaining the numerical superiority of the loyalist population; Mr. Bryce sends a com- prehensive condemnation of the new Education Bill ; and Judge O'Connor Morris a fierce denunciation of Land Pur- chase in Ireland, which he describes as a "sham," a "false- hood," and a "profoundly immoral expedient" We may also note Mr. Sidney Low's admirably written reminiscences of Mr. Rhodes, and Mr. Leslie Stephen's very able dissection of Mr. Benjamin Kidd's theory of "projected efficiency."

In the new Contemporary the place of honour is given to

Mr. Lyulph Stanley's paper on the Government Education Bill, an ably written defence of the School Boards, packed full of statistics and details, yet not altogether free from a cer- tain acrimony of temper,--e.g., "now clericalism and middle- class jealousy are to control and stifle the schools which were too free from sectarianism for the one, too expansive not to rouse the susceptibilities of the other."—Sir Charles Warren contributes an interesting and genial paper on" Cecil Rhodes's Early Days in South Africa." He effectually disposes of the idea that Mr. Rhodes was the first originator of the scheme

pf extensive British expansion to the North, showing that his original dreams of a united South Africa were all con-

peived from a Cape Colony standpoint, and, curiously enough, that he was chiefly inspired in these views by Mr. Merriman. With regard to the difficulties in Bechuanaland in 1884 which led to the recall of Mr. John Mackenzie from Stellaland, and the subsequent friction between Mr. Rhodes and Sir Charles Warren, and (probably) the Bechuanaland Expedition, Sir Charles places it on record that the trouble "arose out of the failure of Sir Hercules Robinson to beacon off forthwith the new boundary line agreed upon in the 1884 Convention between the Transvaal and Native Protectorate." He is careful to add that though amicable relations were inter- rupted between himself and Mr. Rhodes, he always looked on the matter as entirely influenced by political considerations. For the rest, he holds that a few years in Parliament at home would have greatly strengthened Mr. Rhodes's position in South Africa and developed his sense of political proportion.

He dwells also on "the remarkable frankness and bonhomie of his disposition, which endeared him so much to his com- rades in early life, and the remembrance of which must survive all after-considerations in those who knew him and in later

years differed from him."—Mr. T. W. Russell's suggestions for the settlement of the Irish question form a curious

contrast to Judge O'Connor Morris's paper in the Nineteenth Century. The truth as to landlordism probably lies between the extreme positions maintained by these two writers.—Mise Cobbe's paper on Schadenfreude is an eloquent survey of the development of mercy in modern civilisation, enlivened by

some interesting autobiographical details. —Amongst other papers we may note an excellent criticism of the Protec- tionist position by "A Conservative Peer," a vigorous onslaught on the claim of Ibsen to rank as a great moral teacher, and an instructive paper on the Becquerel Rays by Professor Ramsay.

By far the most interesting thing in the Fortnightly is Mr. Iwan-Miiller's article, "Cecil John L'hodes." The writer brings out very forcibly the total absorption of the man in his Ideal. The belief of Mr. Rhodes in the future of the English

race was absolute, and his whole mind was set upon securing their inheritance. To this end restless energy and the patience born of faith worked for the ultimate realisation. Mr. Iwan- Muller gives the following quotation from a speech made in 1894, which illustrates well Mr. Rhodes's grasp of the future :

"Never hurry and hasten in anything. I remember in the im- petuosity of my youth I was talking to a man advanced in years who was planting—what do you think ? He was planting oak trees, and I said to him very gently that the planting of oak trees by a man advanced in years seemed to me rather imaginative. He seized the point at once, and said to me, 'You feel that I shall never enjoy the shade?' I said Yes,' and he replied, I have the imagination, and I know what that shade will be, and at any rate no one will ever alter those lines. I have laid my trees on certain lines ; I know that I cannot expect to see them beyond a shrub, but with me rests the conception and the shade and the glory.' " Mr. lwan-Miiller traces the history of the connection between Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Hofmeyr and the Bond. Each side found the other necessary. But their aims being mutually

hostile, the connection was that of diamond cut diamond. Mr. Iwan-Miiller says : 'The great mistake which Rhodes made was, that from the beginning almost to the end, he under- estimated the depth and the bitterness of Dutch antipathy to British ideas" ; and also that "he was not, as a rule, a good judge of men. At different times he really believed that the late Sir Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett and Mr. W. T. Stead were serious factors in English politics." It may be that absorption in an ideal prevented that detachment of mind which alone can realise things as they are. Perhaps, too, it was from this cause that Mr. Rhodes so strangely underestimated the fighting power of the Boers, and made him imagine that the people who have kept the forces of the Empire at bay for two years and a half could be surprised and conquered by the police of the Chartered Company. Mr. Iwan-Miiller regrets that he is not at liberty to give in full Mr. Rhodes's report of his con- versation with the German Emperor, but he gives us some very amusing fragments. The Cape to Cairo railway was being discussed, and the talk closed in this manner :—

'"Well, Mr. Rhodes, my section of the railway will be ready in two or three years, and I should much like to come and celebrate the junction with your system, but, as that will be impossible, 1 will send some one to represent me on the occasion.'—' No, Sir,' said Rhodes, your railway won't be ready by that time. I don't know, Sir, anything about your Germans at home, but those out in Africa are the most lethargic, unprogressive people in the world, and I am sure it will take them many years to start their railway.' This was unconventional enough, but there was worse to follow. `Before I go,' said Rhodes, '1 must thank you, Sir, for that telegram [the famous Kruger telegram]. You see, Sir, that I got myself into a bad scrape, and I was coming home to be whipped as a naughty boy by grandmaraina* when you kindly stepped in and sent that telegram, and you got the whipping instead of me.' " We have dealt so fully with this account of Mr. Rhodes that

we have left ourselves no space to consider the other articles in the magazine; but we wish to call attention to Mr. Charles Bastide's study of M. Waldeck-Rousseau. "The ablest trimmer since Gambetta " is the sentence given after an.

analysis of the many remarkable achievements of the French Prime Minister. In 1898, on coming into office, M. Waldeck- Rousseau carried with him the Socialists, imposed a master upon the Army, and provided the country with striking

political spectacles like the banquet to the twenty thousand Maires. France, to judge by last Sunday's elections,

appreciates the peace given her by this strong and sensible. man, who during the Dreyfus agitation wrote up in his

drawing-room: .Tei on n'en parte pas.

Imperial Federation looms large in the National Review also, where Captain Mahan discusses in his usual unimpas- sioned and judicial vein the motive forces that have lent an impetus to that movement in the last thirty years. The drift of Captain Mahan's argument is best expressed in his own

words : "Under all superficial divergences, and misleading appearances, the real question about Ireland and about South Africa has been, Shall Great Britain exist as an Empire, or shall it fall to pieces by a series of willing or tolerated seces- sions ' " In 1874 a foreign naval captain remarked to

Captain Mahan that in his belief England was a coleus ci pieds d'argile. "The phrase," adds Captain Mahan, "voiced

a wish as well as a thought." Since then, however, there has been "the noble record of Great Britain in Egypt," which, as

". Rhodes was in the habit of talking about the mother-country as • Aram!. mamma,' and certainly never realised the sense which the expression would convey to the grandson of Queen Victoria."

Captain Mahan generously observes, "gives inspiration and direction to our purposes for the Philippines," while a languid inclination for Imperialism has been quickened into stirring life by contact with two pressing dangers,—Ireland and South Africa. We have not space even to summarise Captain Mahan's weighty and impressive survey of the situation, but may quote the passage in which he strikes a balance between the advantages to be derived by the Mother-country and the Colonies from the proposed partnership, and sets forth the considerations that make for a closer bond between the United Kingdom and the United States :—

" Imperial Federation proposes a partnership, in which a number of younger anthpoorer members are admitted into a long standing wealthy firm. This simile is doubtless not an exhaus- tive statement, but there can be little doubt that it is sufficiently just to show where the preponderance of benefit will for the time fall. The expenditure of the United Kingdom on the South African war offers a concrete example of the truth, doubly impres- sive to those who, like the writer, see in this instance great Imperial obligation, but little material interest, save the greatest of all—the preservation of the Empire. On the other hand, bearing in mind the spreading collision of interests throughout the world, it is hard to over-value the advantage of healthy, attached, self- governing colonies to a European country of to-day. Blessed is the state that has its quiver full of them. Under such conditions, and with the motives to union that have been presented, it is petty to fasten attention on comparative benefit to the exclusion of mutual benefit. Not by such grudging spirit are great ideas realised, or great ends compassed. Sentiment, imagination, aspiration, the satisfaction of the rational and moral faculties in some object better than bread alone, all must find a part in a worthy motive ; not- to the exclusion of reasonable interests, but to their ennoblement by marriage to loftier aims, seeking gratification in wider activities. Like individuals, nations and empires have souls as well as bodies. Great and beneficent achievement ministers to rorthier contentment than the filling of the pocket. Finally, the broadening and strengthening of British power by the progress of Imperial Federation is necessarily an object of profound interest to Americans. In many quarters it will find deep sympathy ; in others, perhaps, jealousy may be mani- fested. For this there is no good cause. The American Common- wealth and the British Empire have had many jars in the past, the memory of which has not wholly disappeared ; but more and more clearly are coming into view the permanent conditions that from the first have existed, but until now have been overlain and buried by the wreckage of past collisions and disputes. In language, law, and political traditions, there is fundamental identity ; and in blood also, though to some extent differentiated in each by foreign admixture. Coincidently with these, there is a clearly defined and wide belt of geographical separation between their several spheres, save the one common boundary between Canada and the United Sitates. These constitute permanent factors, tending on the one hand to promote understanding, and on the other to avert misunderstandings. To reinforce these there is rapidly arising a community of commercial interests and of righteous ideals in the far East. In proportion to the hold which abiding factors such as those have upon the mind of the states- man, will be the light he finds to thread his way through the passing perplexities of revolving years. The tactical changes of front and redistribution of arrangements, which the incidental progress of events necessitates from time to time, will lack intelli- gence, coherence, and firmness, unless governed by constant reference to the things which cannot be shaken, and which bear to policy the same relation that the eternal principles of strategy do to the conduct of war."

—Professor Case's interesting paper on "The Influence of Mr. Rhodes's Will on Oxford" resolves itself into a vigorous plea for strengthening the obligation of intra-mural residence and for the teaching of Greek. On the residential system Mr. Rhodes laid explicit stress, while the establishment of his scholarships seems likely to bring the Greek question to a crisis. Professor Case's advocacy of Greek is nothing short of impassioned. "Give up Greek," he says, "and civilisation becomes a chaos." He is on safer ground in laying stress on the unequalled mental discipline provided by the study of the language, on its unequalled power and freshness as a vehicle of expression, and on its indissoluble connection with Christian civilisation. Finally, we may note his contention that Mr. Rhodes's will, "literally interpreted as it should be, means the maintenance and extension of the existing, not a revolu- tionised, education at Oxford."—Mr. Maurice Low in his monthly paper on "American Affairs" pays a well-deserved tribute to the splendid work done by General Wood and the American Government in Cuba. "There is only one parallel in the history of all the world. That is Egypt under the master-hand of Lord Cromer."—" Maxwell Gray" pleads eloquently, nay, irresistibly, in the interests of the public, the reviewers, and the novelists themselves, for the silence of the novelist. We hope the editor will seoure an answer from, say, Mr. Crockett or Mr. Guy Boothby.

" Linesman " in Blackwood gives a brilliant description of a surprise, and of the awful confusion wrought by some of the enemy shouting " Retire ":—

" What's that? what's that P • from every throat. Some of the sergeants, remembering their drill, repeat the command, 'Retire.' 'No,' yell others ; 'stay where you are, boys !' But 'retire ' is a difficult word to recall : it jumps down the line like a flame along a trail of gunpowder—no one knows from whom it came, but all hear it. 'Retire, retire ! ' Crash ! from the front, crash ! crash ! crash! terrible volleys rip through the air and smash upon the stones. And the picquets retire, just in time to spread confusion in the supports struggling up the steep from below. They behold a curious sight. The men of the piequets, utterly confused, are falling back one by one, three by three, ten by ten, not always by the shortest way, but running sideways, sometimes forward

again."

But the confusion is only temperary, for as soon as the origin of the cry is understood "not a Briton stirs, and a regular

roar of Stand fast ' roHs down the firing-line."—The un- signed article, "In the Australian Back-Blocks," is very good

reading. The strange nomadic "back boys" encountered by the author are delightful people who get opals and gold, or shoot kangaroos, and whose water-supply is a Bunyip's hole seventeen miles off. They firmly believe in the terrible superstitions connected with the Bunyip, "that strange, mysterious creature, half fish and half fiend, the very sight of which it is said means death to the unfortunate beholder." Then there is the mysterious drug Pidcherie, which money cannot buy, but which gives insensibility to pain. To these unearthly wonders the author adds the description of that awful physical disturbance the " willy-willy," the storm which makes boulders fly. The incongruous part of the whole is that this region, without fixed inhabitants, where gold and precious stones lie about, and which is the playground of devils and cyclones, is travelled over by people on bicycles.—The new instalment of "On the Heels of De Wet" is as interesting and as convincing in its realism as ever.

In the Monthly Mr. T. A. Cook returns to his study of spirals in "The Shell of Leonardo." The writer seems to consider the spiral one of the ultimate facts of the universe, and shows how Leonardo was interested in this form, and studied shells, sharks' intestines, and the motion of the tips of a bird's wing. The spiral staircase is, of course, of very ancient origin, but Mr. Cook believes that the peculiar charac- teristics of the escalier a jour in the Chateau of Blois are attributable to Leonardo. This staircase was built about the time that Leonardo was at Amboise, some twenty miles distant from Blois. It turns in the opposite direction to the ordinary spiral, is, in fact, left-handed, and this is con- sidered by Mr. Cook to be an indication of Leonardo's author- ship, because the master was left-handed in drawing. There is, we are told, no structural reason to account for the depar-

ture from the normal. But is it certain that left-handed drawing would influence an architectural design P In plan- making the movements of the band are not automatic as in

the drawing of objects seen with the eye.—Mr. Roger Fry writes a remarkable paper on "Art and Religion." He begins by pointing out the fact that in the Middle Ages the Church dictated the subjects to be treated by the artists, and shows that this meant a great conservation of energy,

for though great geniuses may be able to use complete liberty- " Most men are stupefied by it. Their creative faculties range impotently over the whole possible field. Whereas, if their imagination is forcibly arrested on a certain set of ideas, even a mediocre mind will strike out some personal and original concep-

tion You can see this in Italian art. Every one painted a Madonna and Child, and yet we feel, for that very reason, the personality of each artist—even the second and third-rate men— more clearly than we do now when every one paints just what strikes his fancy."

Mr. Fry traces the connection between the Church and art down to the late Renaissance, and says :— " We see that the Church ceuld stimulate and control the imagination even of so revolutionary a thinker as Leonardo with- out insisting on dogmatic uniformity And it is perhaps on these lines that the Church of to-day might once more supply what I am convinced is the greatest want o7 our civilisation and our race, the want of an imaginative life to sanctify and ennoble the life of every day."