THE MAGAZINES.

TEE April number of the Nineteenth Century is greatly occupied with the war, no less than seven of the sixteen papers being either South African or military. The best, perhaps, is the first, on " The Proper Precautions for Imperial Safety," by Colonel Sir G. Sydenham Clarke, who wants, to give his advice in brief, besides an increase to the Line, a second Home Army of two hundred and ten thousand thoroughly organised and officered Militia, to be raised if necessary by the ballot. He thinks this is necessary, as the Volunteers deplete the Militia, and as the total force of all arms now maintained exceeds by sixty-three thousand men the number which voluntary enlistment can be fairly expected to yield. In a great war he would use these Militia as if they were soldiers, holding that the hardship would not be greater than that which the beet Militia regiments have by volunteering inflicted on themselves. He shows by some curious figures that the number of Militiamen varies inversely with that of Volunteers, the proportion of recruits for the Militia varying from one hundred and ninety-six per ten thousand in Carlow, where there are no Volunteers, to twenty-seven per ten thousand in Surrey, which has eight Volunteer battalions. This view is probably correct; but Sir George Clarke, like most soldiers, underrates the depressing effect which a resort to compulsion would have upon the national spirit..—Mr. Arnold-Forster, who desires almost the same as Sir George Clarke, is specially anxious about recruiting, maintaining that the official returns are entirely illusory. We say we receive an average of thirty- one thousand men, but fifteen thousand of them disappear every year through deaths, discharges for inefficiency and other causes, and desertions. He is also desirous that the War Office should be remodelled, a man of real business capacity being selected as Secretary for War, Lord Roberts as Commander - in - Chief, and Lord Kitchener

as Chief of the Staff, and would allow them almost un- limited powers of reorganisation. We agree, adding only that the House of Commons must intend reorganisation, and must not scream with annoyance if twenty or thirty officers with " friends " are summarily shelved for life. —Mr. H. W. Wilson suggests that we are partly misled as to the strength of oar Fleet, there being too many obsolete vessels, and far too few trained Lieutenants and Engineer officers, the latter, moreover, being kept down by ridiculous Service jealousies.—Mr. Lilly repeats much the same ideas with his usual command of language, but seems to hope a great deal from a recognition of the fact that "the party system is breaking down," which may be true or false, but will not in either case reconstruct an Army. The total im-

pression left upon us by these four articles is that what is wanted is not force, but certain improvements to make our

existing force instantly available; that these improvements are not difficult, but that to secure them we require specially able naval and military chiefs with something very, like "a

free hand."—Dr. Wirgman (Canon of Grahamstown) in " The Boers and the Native Question " shows that the Boers are cruel to natives ;—Lord Camperdown suggests that the railways in the Boer Republics, which are State property, should be confiscated and managed by the new Government, their profits being used to give compensation to loyalists, and that the controller of the new Government should be a High Commissioner released from the Governorship of the Cape,

or, in other words, a Viceroy ; —and the Marquis of. Lorne would send out specially picked pauper children to settle in

tee Cape. A plan of that kind has, he says, succeeded admirably in Canada, where two thousand four hundred and ten children have been successfully settled in the last ten years. That is a sensible plan enough, but it is not a large one, and we would rather trust to free grants of land and other measures to attract the regular emigrant.—Of the remaining essays the most interesting are one by Mr. R.

E. Dell, editor of the Weekly Register, on the case of Dr. Mivart, the main thesis being that the Catholic Church has become too much of a purely Latin organisation ; a laudatory account of the French Army by Paul Bettelheim ; and a paper on " The Scarcity of Coal " by Mr. B. H. Brough. He describes a coal famine as existing all over the Continent, chiefly due to the increase of industrial activity, and the failure of the forests, which are practically used up. He entirely deprecates any prohibition of the export of coal, and disposes incidentally of the allegation that coal mining is a specially dangerous occupation :—

" The professors do not appear to have consulted the statistical records to see if coal mining is really an exceptionally dangerous and unhealthy occupation. In Great Britain it certainly is not. Dr. Ogle has shown that it brings little sickness in its train. Excluding accidents, the mortality of coal miners only slightly exceeds that of the healthiest class of men, agriculturists. The annual death-rate of coal miners averages •89l per 1,000 living, whilst the corresponding figures for butchers, tailors, bakers and shoemakers are 1.170, 1.051, '958 and -921 respectively. As regards accidents, the sensational character of occasional colliery accidents is apt to give rise to an exaggerated idea of the dangers of the coal miner's calling. As a matter of fact the mortality in 1898 was 1.28 per 1,000 persons employed."

In the Contemporary Review M. Jean de Bloch takes advan- tage of the South African Campaign to repeat his well-known views on the increasing impossibility of war. He seems to believe that the defence must always be stronger than the attack. If so feeble a people as the Boers could do so mu h with artillery and rifles, what could not a great people do P Stout-

hearted Yeomanry who can ride and shoot, and who would use the spade, are as formidable as soldiers, and therefore the

organisation of great armies may be abandoned. That seems to us an extreme exaggeration. Much can be done by Volun- teers and by the spade, but still Metz did not preserve France, and war has survived all the experience gained from the lines of Torres Vedras. Wellington preceded General Joubert in using this mode of defence, but he did not succeed

in showing soldiers to be unnecessary. M. Bloch believes ap- parently that with modern weapons soldiers will never face rifles well employed; but British soldiers have faced them, and it is doubtful if they slay nearly as large a proportion of the

attacking force as the old muskets did. His only illustra- tions are from Spanish-American wars, and though Spanish-

Americans may be brave, it may be doubted if their discipline is as perfect as that of European Regulars. Herr Bloch, in fact, seems to us rather a dreamy theoriser.—The most inter- esting paper in the number is the extremely thoughtf al one by Dr. Sigmund Milne on the next Pope. He quite admits that the election ie always uncertain, but feels assured, as we also do, that an Italian Cardinal will be elected, the most probable candidate being Cardinal Parocohi, a Lombard of sixty-seven, who was once a Liberal, but has become moder- ately reactionary. He is a man with no claims of birth, but the Church thinks so little of that that the Conclave will be substantially made up of plebeians. Of non-Italian Cardinals only one, Cardinal Leduchowski, is of noble blood, while only three of the Italian majority, Rampolla del Tindaro, Casali del Drago, and °vigils, di Santo Stefano, are patricians,—a curious fact when one remembers the great houses which in former ages competed for the Papal throne. Dr. Male notices incidentally that the Emperor William's candidate is Cardinal Vannutelli, and that Austrian as well as German Cardinals will probably vote for him.—Another interesting paper is one by AI, E. Saint-Genix, a most painful though rather screamy account of the treatmentof orphan girls by the French nuns. They are, he declares, worked to death in order to make revenue for the convents, and then dismissed without resources to starve or sell themselves. A quantity of evidence is offered of this statement, which is indeed no more than Dr. Tnrinaz, the good Bishop of Nancy, forwarded to Rome in a secret report, since published. The authorities there, however, refused to interfere, and an appeal will now be made to the French Chambers.—Many will read with pleasure the Rev. J. M. Bacon's account of the genesis and peculiarities of fogs, his most suggestive sentences being the following explanation of the differences between fogs in smoky cities and fogs elsewhere :—" Proceeding to actual experiment, Professor Frankland established the fact that drops of water subjected for some time to the action of smoke became coated as it were with a protective covering that diminished the natural process of evaporation. Thus we have to conceive that in the early stages, mist, from what- ever cause arising, forms around sooty particles born of myriad chimneys, and impedes the escape of smoke, which thus becomes entangled, and in turn coats the mist particles themselves with its own peculiar deposit of dark yellow greasy compound. This conipound confines each droplet of moisture, at the same time giving its distinctive colour to the gathering fog, and cutting off only too effectually the light and heat of the sun."

The tyranny of the South African problem weighs heavily on the Fortnightly, no fewer than six articles being concerned with the war and the settlement. Of these the most practical is that contributed by Mr. William Hosken, Chair- man of the Outlander Council and of the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce. His scheme of settlement advocates the establishment of a Dominion Government with six provinces, Cape Colony West and East, Natal, Free State, Transvaal, and Rhodesia, and lays down as a fundamental principle the sweeping away of all monopolies. Mr. Hosken estimates that under a pure administration the Dominion would start with an annual saving of five millions in the Trans- vaal, and prophesies that the Boer would soon return to his normal life, his temperament not being thatof anzn.transigeant. One detail in Mr. Hosken's scheme will commend itself even to Mr. Leonard Courtney,—vie., that proportional representa- tion should be instituted.—Mr. Maynard Butler records under the title of "Fifty-Eight Years as Child and Woman in South Africa" an interview with an Afrikander lady of Anglo-Datch-Huguenot descent, who in her early childhood took part in the Great Trek, and is now an ardent admirer of Mr. Rhodes. The naiveté of her attitude may best be illustrated by a single quotation: "He [Mr. Rhodes] is a Nero in the State things, maybe ; but in life he is a good man."—Major E. S. Valentine's historical parallel between the war of North and South and the present campaign bristles with illuminating analogies. Take, for example, McClellan's statement that the electric telegraph was a danger in war, which more than compensated for its value. "It enables the enemy," he said, "to keep fully informed of our movements." At another time he wrote :—" The Army is practically without trained scouts and maps. Without capable scouts in a country like this little good can be. done." Major Valentine concludes with the observation-that k seemingly the lesson of the earlier strife

has failed to teach the great British nation many things it might have learnt." With this remark we may bracket the last sentence of the article on "The Late Campaign in Natal'' : —"It is a consolation to believe that the campaign will, at any rate, be valuable in proving to future leaders of British troops how much success in war depends on their practical professional study of previous campaigns."—Mr. Edward Dicey draws from the history of Lord Carnarvon's abortive attempt to force Confederation upon South Africa the moral that "any scheme for Union must be initiated by South Africa, carried out in accordance with South African ideas, and based upon the fundamental principle that British supremacy throughout the whole of South Africa is to be acknowledged not as a matter of favour, but of right "; and Major Arthur Griffiths, writing on " Our Military Needs," argues cogently in favour of exhausting every expe- dient that may save us from the burden of conscription. —Mr. Rollo Appleyard condemns that portion of the Naval Estimates which deals with the Engineers R.N. as grossly ineffectual and inadequate, but his article, with the main contentions of which we cordially concur, is too technical for discussion in this column.—Another article on a cognate topic is that of Dr. Karl Blind on " Germany as a Naval Power." His historical retrospect ie very interesting, notably the opening passage, which seta forth how in the years before '48 the need of creating a powerful Fleet was the frequent theme of Liberal and Democratic leaders, and fired the muse of Herwegh and Freiligrath. For the rest, Dr. Karl Blind is guilty of exaggeration when he declares that " there is not a single country, there is scarcely a single man of political, scientific, or literary eminence abroad" who is not "deeply aggrieved" by our action in South Africa. As regards the Kaiser's Navy Bill, he thinks that if a plebiscite could be taken it would show a good majority in its favour, and that the Kaiser's Government has only itself to thank for the opposition of Liberal sections of Parliament.—Mr. Garrett Fisher writes with sympathy and knowledge of the " House

of Moliere" ; and Mr. James Joyce contributes a strangely unconvincing eulogy of Ibsen's new play. The writer's quali-

fications to pose as a literary critic may be gauged from a single quotation :—"Ulfheim is, I think, the newest character in the play. He is a kind of surprise-packet."

In a good number of the National there are three articles of outstanding merit,—that of " Coloniensis " on the settlement,

Mr. Leslie Stephen's masterly "appreciation" of Mr. Ruskin, and Mr. H. W. Wilson's "First Lessons of the War—A Blow to Germany." The salient features in the first are the writer's vigorous reply to the arguments already put forward in behalf of cosmopolitan financiers, his well-founded plea for the appointment of a new Secretary of State for Africa, and his

demolition of the popular view that Mr. Rhodes is l'honvine nIcessaire. " In the Orange Free State Mr. Fraser is marked

out by destiny, education. and circumstances as a constitu- tional Khedive. with an Austral Lord Cromer over him. In the Cape Colony Mr. Rose-Innes, whose record is not stained [as Mr. Rhodes's is] by any attempts to eliminate the Imperial factor, would command the support of the loyalists and the respect of the Dutch." Finally, " Colonienais " sums up his suggestions as follows :-

" (1) The settlement of South Africa after the war is a process, perhaps a lengthy process, and cannot be accomplished at a stroke. Hence, forced federation should form no part of the arrangements determined on immediately after the war. (2) The settlement should be one distinctively in the interests of the British Empire, and should ignore pressure from foreign Govern- ments on behalf of interests hostile to Britain when hostility was profitable. (3) The prolific character of the Dutch race, and the prospective exhaustion of the mines, should impel the Briti..h. Government to foster colonisation by every means in their purer, and especially by appointing a British Imperial officer to deal with the cases of Reservists and others who desire to settle in South Africa. (4) The compensation to the loyal Colonists of the Cape and Natal should form the first charge on the Government after the war is over. The compensation should be liberal, and its payment should not be deferred. Delay in this matter will justly disquiet those who have stood firm for England for nine- teen long years. (3) The British taxpayers should be called on to pay, at least, 120,000,000 sterling towards the coat of the war, —the price of rhetoric. (6) Foreign shareholders in the mines already opened up should be taxed in common with their English colleagues. Other resources of the country to be drawn on are the Bewaarplatzen. the railways, dynansibe, the but tax, alcohol, the farms of rebels, and the private property ..f the Presidents and their accomplices, if the property of neutrals is destroyed. 7) The capital should be removed from Pretoria, and established, on the Ottawa precedent, in a more central situation, in order that the evil traditions of Pretoria should be destroyed. (8) A Secretary of State for Africa should be appointed, with a Council drawn from Colonists and men of experience in African commerce and administration. The greatest care should be exer- cised in the choice of Imperial administrators during the settling down of the country, the employment of Mr. Rhodes in any

opacity being specially obnoxious, not merely to the Dutch, but to Anglo-Saxons, who deplore the tart that the Empire has not been dissociated from the Raid to the extent that honour and (-quay require. (9) Subject to the foregoing, let bygones he bygones.'

—Mr. Leslie Stephen's delightful paper on Rnskin would only be spoiled by quotations. We must content ourselves

by referring to the writer's tribute to Ruskin's power of making' description interesting. " Many people," writes Mr.

Stephen, "bad tried their hands upon Alpine descriptions since Saussure ; but Rnskin's chapters seemed to have the freshness of a new revelation. The fourth volume of Modern Painters infected me and other early members of the. Alpine Club with an enthusiasm for which, I hope, we are still grateful."—Mr. Maurice Low, who resumes his post as

chronicler of the month in America, administers a severe rebuke to Lord Rosebery for the "ill-timed garrulity " of his

comments on Mr. Chamberlain's Leicester speech, and.takes a very gloomy view of the attitude of the Foreign Relations Committee in regard to the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, going so far as to express the fear that if the Treaty is ratified with

the pending amendment, Mr. Hay will feel compelled to sur- render his portfolio and retire from public life. However, be sees "a ray of hope" in Lord Salisbury's action in extending the term of Lord Pauncefote's office.—Lieutenant-Colonel F. I. Manse's " Inaccurate History " is an elaborate and

damaging arraignment of the methods of criticism adopted by Mr. Winston Churchill in his book on the campaign which culminated at Omdurman.

Nothing is better reading in Blackwood this month than Mr. C. Hanbury-Williams's paper (written on the spot) on the Canadian contingents, and the North-West Mounted Police

in particular,—a most exhilarating sketch, studded with good anecdotes, and winding up with a passage that invites quota- tion :-

" The Recessional is a great poem. At the moment it was writt. n it put into burning words the idea that. was growing half defined in the minds of most Englishmen, that the power of Great Britain had reached its climax, and that henceforward our Empire might begin to decay. To these men I would say, Come out to the Colonies ; fill your lungs with the wild free air of a new country ; look around and see your blood-brothers living close to Nature herself, facing the difficulties and fighting the foes that beset a young nation. Remember that they are round you and with you, east and west and north and south. Then you will feel and know that the coming century is only seeing the birth of a new Empire greater than we have yet known. Come out here, for here you will feel it in the air."

*--Mr. W. Sichel claims for Disraeli the credit of having been the real founder of the true Colonial policy of Im- perial consolidation, on the strength of a speech delivered a, the Crystal Palace in 1872 ; and Sir Herbert Maxwell, whose versatility and industry fill the indolent reviewer with envy and admiration, discourses pleasantly on names of places.—The author of "Musings without Method," allu-

ding to the Queen's progress through the London streets, makes a perfectly true remark that we have never seen in print before. "Shouts greeted her coming, they followed her when she passed, yet for the moment that she was there the crowd was silent." The comparison between the mob of Paris and London is very well done, and in the course of his tribute to the Theatre Francais the writer offers a timely protest against the worship of stage realism. "Illusion on the stage," he urges, " may best be attained by a consistent

avoidance of realism Where all is false, a breath of reality destroys a just impression ; and the drama, which

should present, not represent, is peculiarly sensitive to the encroachments of such hard facts as heavy furniture and inapposite archmology."—Another excellent paper is that by Mr. John Buchan on "A Comic Chesterfield," the Earl of Buchan, "whose immense vanity," in Scott's phrase, " bordering upon insanity, obscured, or rather eclipsed, con- siderable talents."—The war article is especially interesting this month, and contains a brilliant sketch of what went on

in Ladysmith during the siege.