THE MAGAZINES.
THE Contemporary Review almost eschews politics this month, for the discussion of "The Women's Suffrage Question," which is continued by Mr. Courtney, among others, can hardly be called political. Mr. Courtney's two arguments for the new franchise are, that logically it is absurd to use women as political agents, yet refuse them the franchise ; and that if they are permitted to work for their living, they must also be permitted to vote. Neither argument seems to us to have much force in it. Women always have persuaded voters, just as the Primrose Dames do ; and liberty to work does not imply liberty to govern.—The political paper is an effort by the Rev. Guinness Rogers to explain why Nonconformist ministers follow Mr. Gladstone. It is, he says, entirely Mr. Gladstone's goodness and depth of religious feeling. Both, no doubt, are claims to confidence, but neither prove in the least that giving Ireland a Parliament of its own is either wise or practicable. Mr. Rogers thinks it is both, but he obviously bases his conviction upon a belief that the full authority of the Westminster Parliament will be in no way impaired, and that it is " absurd " to believe that the Parliament of Dublin will break through statutory limitations, or attempt in any way to infringe religious liberty. "Why," he says, "discuss such a mere chimEers,? If there has been a statesman in England for generations possessed with a genuine love of liberty, and who may be fully trusted to keep the rights of conscience inviolate, it is Mr. Gladstone." There is a splendid confusion there between Mr. Gladstone's intention and Mr. Gladstone's power which deserves notice, as it gives the ex- planation of many votes. Mr. Gladstone does not wish to persecute; therefore, if he gives certain persons the power to persecute, they will not persecute. Why not say at once that a murderer cannot murder if he buys poison of a good chemist ? —We do not find Mr. Pater's essay on " Lacedtemon" very nutritious. It is beautifully written, and from the appreciative point of view; but we only gather from it that Mr. Pater admires persistent self-control. He believes in "the genuine Laconism of the Lacedaomonians themselves, their traditional conception of life, with its earnestness, its precision and strength, its loyalty to its own type, its im- passioned completeness ; a spectacle, aosthetically, at least,
very interesting, like some perfect instrument shaping to what they visibly were, the most beautiful of all people, in Greece, in the world." The point is, nevertheless, whether that Laconism had produced a great people, or only a strong one. Mr. Pater admits, we understand, the tyranny practised on the Helots, and cannot but perceive how completely the life of a Spartan was sacrificed to the attainment of an ideal which, when attained, was a sort of Knight-Templar organisa-
tion without the excuse of religious motive. Like all others who have studied Sparta, he gives up the problem, and acknowledges that he does not know whence the Spartan spring of action came.—Mr. J. M. Soames sends a curious paper which he calls "Trace," and which is a defence of the theory that anything a man has habitually used or worn will retain some " trace " of his spiritual nature ; so that a medium, seeing or touching that thing, will reveal the nature of its possessor. He relates various instances of this which, if true, go far to establish his case ; but before they can be accepted as evidence, cross-examination is necessary, and one cannot cross-examine a document. The world has unconsciously thought for ages as Mr. Soames does, or the worship of relics could hardly have sprung up ; but the world has believed many things for which there is no substantial evidence.—The interest of "The Fate of the East," by "An Old Resident," consists for us mainly in his idea that the end of the Egyptian occupation must be the indepen- dence of Egypt. He thinks that France would agree to this, and that the Sultan must submit. Very likely; but what is to render the independence possible Egypt, since the Greek period, has never been independent ; and if left to herself, would be conquered by the Arabs within two years, or would fall, as all such Oriental States fall, into hopeless anarchy. The strength to stand alone is not in her, nor without a European guidance of centuries, can it be imparted.
The Fortnightly Review opens with an unsigned article, sup- posed, we imagine, to be written by somebody particularly well informed, called "The Gladstonian Secret." There is not much in it. Mr. Gladstone, talking to a friend of his own party, reveals his plan, which is just before the elections to invite the Unionist leaders to a conference having for its object a peaceful and a permanent settlement of the Irish pro- blem through Home-rule. The Unionists, it is assumed, would either yield, and then everything would be simple; or they would refuse, and then their power would be paralysed, for the country would imagine that they were inciting the armed resist- ance in Ulster which they have predicted as a consequence of the passing of Home-rule. No such conference is possible, for there is no common basis of discussion. The Unionist postulate is that the Union is necessary to the Empire and to Ireland, and that any scheme which weakens or destroys it is an unpatriotic scheme, not to be discussed without a dereliction of principle. No Government holds conferences on the surrender of a pro- vince until a battle has been fought and lost, and the Unionist Party, so far from considering its leaders wrong in refusing the proposal, would hold them almost traitors if they accepted it. The paper is fairly well written, but its author does not understand his opponents' point of view, and has produced an academic proposal, not one which would avoid a grave diffi- culty in the actual politics of the Kingdom. There is no compromise possible about Home-rule, except, indeed, a pro- posal that Ireland should be a separate Colony, governed by a Viceroy and five nominated Commissioners for twenty years. That might be considered, though it would be rejected after consideration, as too inconsistent with per- manent British tendencies to afford any prospect of a permanent solution of the problem.—Sir W. T. Maxriott's paper on Egypt is full of facts, some of which have hitherto been overlooked by the public. One of them is, that much of the recent prosperity of Egypt is due to great engineering works, like the repair of the "barrage," or dyking of the Nile, which have more than doubled the cotton crop, and have in- creased the foreign trade by more than £7,000,000; while the revenue has been collected with ease, and without the use of the kourbash, or whip, formerly deemed indispensable to its collection. Sir W. T. Marriott believes that this improvement might be continued further, and that cultivation might be extended up to Khartoum, the only preliminary necessity being an employment of capital which would be perfectly safe, but for the doubt whether England under Mr. Gladstone will not retire from the Nile Valley. Sir W. T. Marriott of course, therefore, deprecates his return to power, holding that France would demand a fulfilment of Radical pledges, and that Egypt requires at least seven years more of firm and just English government. He does not, it should be observed, believe that the Radical pledges will be kept, but thinks that merely by their being made much of, the effect of sound administration is undone.—Sir Lepel Griffin repeats the old and probably true story that the Ben- galee can never succeed in Indian politics, owing to his defects of morale, and the contempt felt for him by other Indian
races; but he produces no new facts, and underrates too much the value of the Bengalee's power of brain. His talk in English is very wearisome, because in English the Bengalee is a mere imitator; but if the warrior races expelled us, and reconquered India, every chief among them would appoint Bengalees to the great administrative posts in his service. Even as it is, the Vizier or the Chancellor in many a Native State is a Bengalee, indispensable alike to his master and h is subordinates, though often hated by the people around him, who suspect with- out accurately knowing his nationality. The basis of power is force, and the Bengalee lacking force will not in the end achieve power; bat he does not deserve the contempt which men like Sir Lepel Griffin pour on him. He is, after all, to the Sikh what the Greek was to the Roman.—The number ends with an American story by the editor, "Elder Conklin," full of couleur locale, and cleverness, but, if it has ended, most un- satisfactory to read. The heroine, a bright, unconventional daughter of the West, deserved a better fate, though this is probably the fate she would have had. Mr. Harris, by-the- way, sketches the man and the woman of the West far better than the Bostonian, who is a little too much of the prig right through. Note a subtle touch in the character of Mre.
Conklin, who has grown weaker and more narrow ever since her marriage, through living with a man whose character was too strong for her, who shades her, so to speak, as a great tree shades a shrub. That is a common enough occurrence, but we do not know that we ever saw it described in litera- ture before.
The Nineteenth Century opens with a most able paper by Mr. St. Loe Strachey, in which in few words, and with remarkable reticence of expression, he gives his grounds for believing that Ulster will resist Home-rule, if necessary to the death. She will not pay the taxes decreed by a Dublin Parliament ; and if they are levied by the aid of British troops, will fully tax a garrison of fifty thousand men. Great Britain will have exchanged the disloyalty of Southern Ireland for the disloyalty of Northern, which is richer, more deter- mined, and more united. Of the depth of feeling among the people of Ulster, Mr. Strachey gives the following striking account
On the morrow of the defeat of Mr. Gladstone's Home-rule Bill, the English public were too busy wondering what would happen next at Westminster to think of anything else. Had they been at leisure, however, to fix their attention upon the city of Belfast, they would have been witnesses of a spectacle well worth their consideration. The rejection of the Bill of 1886 was the signal for rejoicings of a kind to which the modern world is little accustomed, though the manner of these rejoicings was eminently characteristic of the last of the Puritan cities. Belfast remained awake to hear the result of the division, and when the news that saved Ulster flashed across the wires the whole city fraternised.' Strangers, as they passed each other in the streets, stopped to shake hands and to express their thankfulness and delight, fur a common peril and a common relief made all men acquainted. But the enthusiasm was not confined to the streets. Bands of working men went through the suburb roads, knocking at the doors of houses 'to pass the word,' knowing that even at that hour of the night they would be sure of a welcome. All this might perhaps have happened in other towns under similar cir- cumstances, but in Belfast a touch was added that showed the special temper of the people. After a band of men engaged in spreading the good tidings had given their message to the house- hold in some villa on the outskirts of the town, they would fall on their knees in the garden and join in prayer and thanksgiving for the mercy vouchsafed to Ulster. Such acts strike the moral key- note of Belfast."
We note that Mr. Strachey, like all who write on Ulster, ignores the great difficulty in the way of passive resistance,— the existence of a great Catholic population there. The Dublin police would be aided by every Catholic in Belfast, and there would be open fighting in three days.—Dr. C. H. H. Wright sends a brief account of the teaching of some of the great Rabbis, with a selection of their wise sayings, many of which have ever since influenced the instruction of the Jewish
people. It is curious to note, considering the history of the nation since its dispersion, how many of these sayings are
directed against the formalism which has in all ages been the dry-rot of Judaism. Perhaps the most generally interesting passage in the essay is the sketch of Ben Zakkai, the oppo- nent of the Sadducees, who advised his countrymen not to rise against Rome, and fled during the siege of Jerusalem to the Roman camp. He was permitted to found a school in Jamnia (near Jaffa), where he taught that benevolence might replace the daily sacrifice, and founded Talmudic Judaism. "It is owing chiefly to Ben Zakkai's efforts that the Jews, in spite of their misfortunes, continued to exist as a nation, though no longer a State ; that Judaism in its altered form attained the position of a religion, though destitute of a com- mon sanctuary and without sacrifice, and that the Jewish doctrine attained the right of law, though without any recog- nised legal tribunal." In spite of his " Romanising " teaching, which sprang from a genuine love of peace, Ben Zakkai has remained in the estimation of Jews one of the greatest of doctors.—Mr. Robinson, who writes about men-servants apparently from experience, makes much the same complaints as women-servants do, with one noteworthy exception. He com- plains of the usual diet as unbearably coarse. The men, he says, though underworked, are fed like navvies on great joints often badly cooked, and much too seldom varied. The same joint is served up again and again, until the servants, in impatience, cut it up for the swill-tub, and the kitchen is accused of waste. This complaint is, of course, open to the ridicule once poured on it in Punch, where a footman is represented pleading to his master that "the quizzeen is corse, very corse, my lord ; " but it should be remembered that a precisely similar com- plaint, when made by the soldiers, was regarded, and partially remedied, as a genuine grievance. His second complaint is of distrust, the incessant watchfulness which makes servants com- plain that they live like suspected thieves. We should have thought that this distrust was uncommon, and we do not know why, if kept within moderate bounds, it should be found more galling than the almost precisely similar cautiousness which in every house of business checks, and, so to speak, watches all clerks, even when they are gentlemen. No servant can be more under surveillance than a banker's clerk.—The Rev. W. D. Morrison, Chaplain to Wandsworth Prison, does not believe in the popular notions of the decrease of crime. He thinks they are due mainly to changes in procedure, and in the way of arranging criminal statistics ; and so far as murder is con,- cerned, he certainly proves his case :—" The kind of crime which most closely corresponds to these requirements are murders reported to the police. In the decade 1860-69 the yearly average of murders reported to the police was 126; in 1870-79 the yearly average was 153; in 1880-89 the yearly average was 160. According to these statistics the most serious of all crimes has steadily increased within the last three decades, while in proportion to the growth of popula- tion it was nearly as common in the last decade as in the first." There has, indeed, been an increase in almost all indictable offences, the average of offences against the person being from 1870 to 1879, 2,315, while from 1880 to 1889 it was 2,562. In part, however, this increase was due to the Criminal Law Amendment Act, which made crimes of offences not previously punishable. The increase has occurred in spite of a great increase in the police, and is due, Mr. Mor- rison thinks, to the concentration of the people in large cities, which besides increasing temptation, tends to the creation of "a large degenerate caste."—Dr. Jessopp sends one of the pleasantest, of his papers, recounting all that he has discovered of the life of the Rev. John de Gurnay, Rector of Harpley, Norfolk, in 1306. John de Gurnay was an early squarson, holding a considerable estate, eight hundred acres of which he farmed himself, and keeping his own huntsman, though he worked hard all the while as a diligent parish priest. We have no space for extracts, but those who have read any of Dr. Jessopp's writings, will under- stand what he makes of such materials. His work does not vie with the sketch of Abbot Samson, but it is that which it irresistibly suggests.—Mr. H. H. Champion maintains that the British workman is at heart a Protectionist,—that is, he will insist that there be no foreign competition which can keep down his wages. He will exclude all foreigners who are willing to accept lower pay than himself, as resolutely as Australians exclude Chinese ; and he will, if he can, place duties on all things which he himself can make. That is a bad outlook, if it is true; but, fortunately, the consumer has still great power in this country, and the workman will not concede the tax on corn which he must grant if his demand is to become irresistible.
There are in the New Review two forecasts of the coming
Election. One is by Sir Richard Temple, who says that, of the non-doubtful seats, the following will be the distribution :- Conservatives ... 254 Liberal Unionists 42 Gladstonians 200 Nationalists (Irish) ... 82
578 That leaves a majority of fourteen for the Government. There remain ninety-two which are doubtful, and the victory will depend upon how these go. If the Unionists carry half, they will have a small majority, not enough to support a strong Government ; while if they carry sixty, they will be strong enough to drive the machine at least for three years. Sir Charles Dilke, on the other hand, distrusts political prophecy, but points out that a turnover of 5 per cent. among the voters would result in a great change, and that a Govern- ment almost always provokes that amount of distaste. That is true enough, but it also excites enthusiasm, and the total result of the forecast is merely the " ower-true " statement that the ballot keeps its secret.
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