THE MAGAZINES.

THE only article directly bearing on the Home Rule question in the Nineteenth Century is that in which Mr. Lathbury argues for Exclusion as the only compromise. While agreeing with the Spectator that Ulster, in whole or in part, must be put outside the Home Rule Bill, he inclines to the view that "the smaller the area chosen and the fewer the details by which the process is encumbered, the easier the application of it will be." The pith of the article is to be found in the postscript, where the writer observes that the Government have not shown any special qualifications for the task of suggesting amendments. "They lacked, and necessarily lacked, the one qualification required for success —an accurate knowledge of the mind of Ulster." Why "necessarily"? The lack of an intelligence department—we had almost said of intelligence—has been at the root of the policy of drift which has landed the country in the present crisis. And now by a strange irony this Cabinet of all the talents appeals to the unreformed and powerless House of Lords to extricate them from the difficulties of their own creation. Of the two articles on "France and her Future," by far the more suggestive and convincing is that by the Abbe Dimnet. He gives many remarkable proofs of the decline of militant anti-clericalism in the France of to-day. The Academy has practically no Voltairiens. Of the forty immortals, thirty-five are either practising Catholics or favour- able to Catholicism. The transformation in literature is hardly less noticeable in the Press—" no popular journalist can be named who is anti-Catholic in his writings "; and even in the Chamber anti-clericalism is shorn of much of its aggressiveness. But while the Catholic Church has fewer enemies at the present moment, and more friends outside her own pale than at any time since the lull after 1848, the Abbe Dimnet frankly admits that the mass of people are ignorant of or indifferent to religion. Practising Catholics are few in numbers and negligible in politics. They have no political programme. Again, "it is a strange thing that the literary champions of the Church, men of the type of Bourget, Bazin, Bordeaux, or the poets Claudel or Jammes, should be laymen rather than ecclesiastics, and that the most eloquent of them all, the advocate of the country churches, Maurice Barres, should not be a believer at all!" In short, while maintaining that there are many reassuring signs of the activity of the Church, the Abbe Dimnet finds a lack of leaders—men of genius or especial saintliness. The name of Loisy is not mentioned, and the Abbe's references to Modernism and heresy-hunting are somewhat perplexing. He concludes by expressing the hope that a saint may arise :—

"There is enough self-forgetfulness bordering on heroism in the devotion of the clergy to their work to make the hope a probability, and who can foretell the effect on a generation which may abhor poverty, but does not seem afraid of death in the cause of an ideal ? Certainly the hope of the future does not lie to-day—as it did in the not remote past when everything was hanging on intelligence and theories—in an adaptation of belief to science, but in the superiority of belief as a source of heroism over the mediocrity of economic philosophies. The sight of a saint might change into religious abnegation the energies which are so far limited to patriotic courage. We can only wish and hope, but it is a fortunate coincidenee that just when France as a nation feels the need of an uplifting faith the depositary of the ancestral creed should be through persecution and poverty as pure a medium as can well be conceived. This at least is a fact, if all the rest be only hopes, and it is speaking from the mere historic stand- point to say that the Church seldom, if ever, had such rare opportunities."

Dr. Georges Chatterton-Hill writes at great length on "The Royalist Revival." Dr. Chatterton-Hill is enthusiastic for the monarchy, and apparently regards the Duke of Orleans ae a serious and high-minded politician. But he admits that there can be no return to the ancien regime; nor need there be. "The monarchical institutions of France are essentially elastic in their nature; just as the Church of the Middle Ages has adapted itself to the forms of contemporary life, so *ill the monarchy of France adapt itself to the conditions of the twentieth century."—Colonel A. W. A. Pollock answers Sir Bampfylde Fuller's plea for an alliance with Germany and the United States in an effective article. His main pur- pose is to show that this "ideal alliance" would be impotent in Europe without the adhesion of Germany's present allies ; that it would involve us in the infamy of abandoning France to her fate; and would commit us to a coalition so powerful as to de- stroy utterly the Balance of Power not merely in Europe but throughout the world.—Sir Max Waechter discusses the principal lesson of the Balkan War. It is that the Concert of Europe has again stultified itself and displayed its utter powerlessness to the world. His remedy is to substitute the federation of Europe in a firm and lasting alliance for the maintenance of peace and the defence of civilization. Such a federation, he maintains, was foreshadowed by the late Lord Salisbury in a speech delivered at the Guildhall in 1897, and is " possible provided the nations of Europe recognize the colossal wastefulness of armed peace and determine to create a firm and lasting union which alone will make possible the gradual reduction of armaments."—Commander E. Hamilton Currey, R.N., writes on "The Menace of the Torpedo." Without going the length of Sir Percy Scott, he concludes that, though we are not ever likely to have done with the gun as the primary armament of the warship, its supremacy is gravely threatened by the newer form of attack.—Miss Edith Sichel pays fitting homage to the genius and character of the late Miss Emily Lawless; and amongst other articles of interest we may note Mr. Darrell Figgis's review of the recent Life of Mr. Parnell, and Mr. Charles Bright's plea for an "Inter- Imperial Telegraph Link," in which he diecuasee the question of route, the competition of cables and wireless, and appeals to patriotic Imperialists to undertake, or help to undertake, the Mother Country's modest share-2125,000—in meeting the cost of the line.

Lord Percy contributes to the National Review his impres- sions of the Ulster Volunteers, based upon a recent visit, during which he attended the camp held at Baron's Court in the first week of June. His aim is to estimate the exact value from a military point of view of an improvised force subject to no military code or compulsion, and its chances in an area where a strong minority of the population would be hostile. Lord Percy, as those who know his writings will readily admit, is a severe critic, but he has little fault to find with the organization, moral, physique, and equipment of the force. The Headquarters Staff contains men who have bad brilliant careers in the Army, and have since shown marvellous powers of organization. The mobilization arrangements have reached an extraordinary degree of perfection, and the personnel of the force assembled in Baron's Court revealed a standard of fitness and endurance which he considers to be quite beyond the powers of our Regular recruits or Territorials. Lord Percy observes that the democratic system of electing officers may be open to criticism, but it has worked well up till now. He specially I3ingles out the signalling as perhaps the best part of the whole organization. No liquor was allowed in camp, and the men paid for their keep out of their own pockets. There is no doubt, he concludes, that these men are natural soldiers, and the success of the movement throws a remarkable light on the possibilities of National Service amongst us. "They are of the same race as the Lowland Scotch, and resemble very closely that section of the population in the North of England which is most opposed to militarism,' and yet, once con- vinced of the necessity, they apparently make better soldiers than any others." Lord Percy's reference to the National Volunteers, as initiated by Separatist and openly disloyal secret societies, and as being composed of turbulent, undisciplined Irishmen, and his prophecy that they will refuse to be con- trolled by Nationalist politicians, are not altogether fair to the founders of the movement or the conduct so far of the rank- and-file, while for the moment the control has undoubtedly passed to the Parliamentary Party.—Mr. J. D. Irvine, of the Morning Post, who has made a speciality of forecasting election results, sends an interesting paper on the by-elections, in which he explains his method, compares his predictions with the actual returns, and arrives at the following con- clusion I claim that while the by-elections with which I have dealt as coming within my personal observation do not disclose anything in the nature of a landslide against the Government, they do present a clear indication that the drift of public opinion is setting in steadily against the continuance in office of his Majesty's present advisers. I believe it to be an ever-strengthen- ing drift, and the longer the General Election is delayed the more drastic is the result likely to be on the fortunes of the Coalition."

Lord Willoughby de Broke sketches a programme for the Unionist Party at the next General Election. Besides the maintenance and preservation of the Union, he advocates the repeal of the Parliament Act, the restoration of the House of Lords, the repeal of the Welsh Church Bill (if passed), Universal Military Training, Tariff Reform, and the abolition of Compulsory Insurance and of payment of Members.— Mr. W. J. Courthope makes effective use of Lord Morley's views on Cabinet government as formulated in his Walpole, and shows that not one of the conditions there laid down for the successful working of Cabinet government is satisfied by the present Cabinet.—To most readers the name of Rosalba is solely and indissolubly associated with Thackeray's Rosa and the Ring. Mr. Austin Dobson contributes one of his fascinating eighteenth-century studies on the historic Rosalba- the Venetian pastellist and miniature painter, Rosalba, Carriera.

We must not omit to mention Mr. H. H. Davies's tribute to the late Gustav Hamel, in which he bears witness to the mingled modesty and intrepidity of his friend ; the genial reminiscences of "Henry Matthews on the Oxford Circuit" by Mr. A. J. Ram, K.C.; and the editor's trenchant comments in "Episodes of the Month" on the oil mystery and on Mr. Justice Darling's references, in his summing up of the Canteens Case, to the directorate of Lip tons (Ltd.).

Mr. Harold Spender, under the heading of "The Last Stand," in the Contemporary Review, discusses the Irish crisis in the light of the "new fact "—the arming of Southern

Ireland. His article opens in a reasonable spirit—e.g., he advocates an Irish Convention representing all Irish parties to reshape the Home Rule settlement—but is vitiated by reckless assertions and insinuations ;—

"Visiting Belfast some time ago, before the Ulster Army had been formed, I received definite information that the Tory organisers in London were already pouring in men and money to work up the raw passions and prejudices of the Ulster people to the necessary white heat of rage. I was definitely warned by many men in a position to know that the Tory Party in England had decided to promote a civil war in Ulster in order to embarrass and defeat the Government. I did not believe the story at the time. It seemed to me too wicked a thing to believe, even of opponents who had not shown themselves over-scrupulous in the past. But since then we have seen this war organised. The chief promoter of the rebellion has remained in the intimate confidence of the leaders of the Tory Party. At the same time, there has been a parallel movement on this side of the Channel to keep the British Army from interfering with the Ulster Volunteers. All these things are now known to us."

If they are known to Mr. Spender and his friends, why do they not prove them P These " facts " lead Mr. Spender to the conclusion that Ireland is not really the issue. The heart

of the Tory defiance is to be sought in fear, not of Home Rule for Ireland, but Land Reform for England. "The enemies of freedom in Ireland are the enemies of freedom in Great Britain also. The leaders of the Ulster rebellion are the men who are responsible for the under-payment of English agri-

cultural labourers, for the terrible housing conditions in our great towns, for a feudal ascendancy which overshadows our

laws and liberties." No doubt they also "fill the butchers' shops with large blue flies." Anyhow, our devout pacifist is quite prepared for the sternest repression of these malign and

reactionary influences rather than see this free people again go under the heel of the House of Lords.—Mr. Pine, M.P., takes the "momentous report in favour of local self-govern- ment for Scotland adopted by the Convention of Royal Burghs" as the text for a pronouncement in favour of Federalism, and welcomes with enthusiasm the benign attitude of the Times towards this solution. As an essential preliminary he advocates the assembling of a Constitutional Congress, in which

the best minds in Great and Greater Britain should be asked to participate.—A Bulgarian, writing on "Roumania. and her New Territories," frames a detailed and moat damaging indictment of the policy of repression, intolerance, and con- fiscation now being carried out in New Dobrndja at the expense of the Bulgarian inhabitants. The democratic system of local government has been replaced by a rigid officialism ; two hrindrecl Bulgarian schools have been Closed and tiç property se luestrated; all the churehes and other religious foundations have passed under the control of the Roumanian Clergy; while by. insisting on proofs for the establishing of a right to property, not considered necessary under the Bulgarian law, the Roumanian legislators have practically sanctioned the spoliation of private property. The spoils which have fallen to Roumania were not won by any expenditure of blood or treasure. As the writer puts it "if ever there was a nation which could afford to be not only just, but even generous towards ravished populations, it was the Roumanian on the morrow of the peace that bore the name of ita capitaL"—Mr. M. Marlowe gives an interest- ing account of the formation of the Irish National Volunteers. The founders, he reminds us, were a group of idealists who had hitherto found no place in Irish political life, and he expresses the pious hope that Mr. Redmond will maintain the non-party and non-sectional principles of the organization. Mr. Redmond's successive and inconsistentattitudes towards the movement he extenuates rather than applauds, and admits that 'if the Irish Volunteers had been formed in the first instance into a sort of 'Praetorian Guard' for the Irish Parliamentary Party, half the significance of the adventure would never have been revealed." Meanwhile Mr. Marlowe is satisfied that, as a result of the new movement, Unionists and Nationalists begin for the first time in history to respect each other, and Trish affairs are lifted into a better atmospbere.—Mr. Thomas Seccombe writes on the centenary of Waverley, finding a romantic historic fitness in the fact that the modern historical novel was created on the eve of Waterloo. Mr. Seccombe rightly dwells on Scott's tolerance, impartiality, manliness, and chivalry, and does not hesitate to say that we should regret the loss of the Waverley novels as we should regret that of but one other .work in our literature—the plays of Shakespeare.

Writing in the Forinighity, Dr. Dillon makes a careful study of the condition of things in Albania. He does not take a very hopeful view. He considers that too many out- side interests were consulted in forming the new State. For instance, it should not have been necessary to cut off portions as a sop in order to keep Servia out of the Adriatic, Dr. Dillon is cautious in his criticisms of Prince William. He, however, intimates that the new ruler should mould himself upon the King of Montenegro, and be a chief who knows his people from moving about among them. To play the part of a European Sovereign, living in his capital, is useless. The only way to give coherence to the national life is to supersede the existing chieftains, and to do this the ruler must make himself the chief paramount.—Mr.Wilfrid Ward writes of "Oxford Liberalism and Dogma," in relation to Professor Sanday. No fresh light is shed on the subject, and Mr. Ward seems to consider an appeal to the conclusions 'of Newman as an adequate settlement of difficulties.—There 'is nothing new to say about Ireland, and "Philalethes "merely advises the Lords to make such reasonable amendments to the Amending Bill as will save us from civil war. He truly says that the gigantic blunder of the Government was the assump- tion that the day of civil war was past.—Captain Cecil Price gives a clear account of the work the Boy Scout move- ment is doing in the country from the technical education point of view. When we see what is being done we are more than ever struck by the helplessness of the education authorities, All they can do is to teach boys up to the age -when teaching becomes really important, and then drop them. Amateurs have to step in and carry on the work at the time of crisis in the boy's life, the time between fourteen and seven- -teen. 'As the most important part of this work is the forma- tion of character, perhaps it is better that it should be in the hands of amateurs ; that is to say, enthusiasts. But the country has a right to expect something less foolish than the Minister of Education's speech in reply to Sir Robert Baden-Powell some little time back, when he could find nothing better to say than to quote an unguarded remark someone had made about patriotic military duty. Captain Price, in treating of the educational side of the Scout move- ment, has perhaps not emphasized enough the work being done in the direction of strengthening the ideals of honour, 'duty, and discipline.—Mr. William Archer writes an interest- ing and fair paper on the thorny question of "Manners in India." How can the native gentleman expect equality of social treatment and yet maintain his ideas of caste? At the same time, how can we expect to be liked if we always regard ourselves as heaven-sent rulers of a benighted people? Mr. Archer perhaps comes as near to a practical solution as is possible when he says that in England lawyers, doctors, and other professional men do not feel bound to become the- personal friends of their clients. We are in India profession- ally, for the purpose of giving expert help in matters of government, "and it is only when, forgetting this, we pose as heaven-appointed affable archangels that we have any need to reproach ourselves with the incomplete success of our attempts at affability."

Mr. Ian Hay's second paper in Blackwood on "The Lighter. Side of School Life" gives a sympathetic picture of the house-master—sympathetic alike from the point of view of the master and of the boy.—Mr. J. A. Williamson writes of that never-ending source of wonder, Elizabethan adventure. Michael Lok is the subject of this article, He was one of those who might be described as the East of England school' of adventurers, as opposed to the Western, which included' Drake and Hawkins. Lok was a London merchant, and not an unofficial Admiral. But his devotion to exploration and to new ideas was unquestioned.—Mr. Bernard Capes writes of "The Pleasures of Eating " as they appear in the pages of literature, especially those of the novelists Dickens, Thackeray, and Scott. There is such a gusto about some of the descriptions that Mr. Capes thinks that the meals in question may have had solid foundation in the experience of the author.—Captain H. Ch. de Crespigny gives an account of the pilgrims who stream up the Himalayan valleys to the temple under the glaciers of Badrinath. The road is a dangerous one. The writer describes a terrible avalanche of rocks which nearly overwhelmed his party. In the middle of all this came a pilgrim talking perfect English and relating how he had found 'the truth." Unfortunately a priest was able to fill in the gaps of the story, and the searcher turned out to be a native editor removed from his paper by the police.