THE MAGAZINES.

THE November Nineteenth Century is singularly varied in its contents and in the quality of its articles. Thus we have Mr. Archibald Hurd in an interesting article discussing the sub- marine as a "success," as something, that is, which has" come to stay," and, as a factor in any future naval campaign, is fraught with all sorts of disquieting and indefinable possibilities. On one point, however, Mr. Hurd has few doubts. "Ap- parently there is no defence in narrow waters against the sub- marine. It has rendered the close blockade of an enemy's ports in the old style too risky a proceeding to be attempted. In ease of hostilities a fleet near an enemy's port will have to keep on the move, and even in the open sea the threat of the sub- mersible will be present, unnerving the men."—Another eminently up-to-date paper is that of Father Cortie, of the Stonyhurst Observatory, on "Sun-spots." No certain con- nection between these phenomena and the weather has, in his opinion, yet been reached, but he holds that the researches of Sir Norman Lockyer and his son are most hopeful, and render it not impossible that we may be able to predict famines in India by a knowledge of the relation between the curves of " sun-spottedness " and of barometric pressure.—Dr. Karl Blind, writing on "Macedonia and England's Policy" with a strong anti-Russian bias, bids those who would precipitate an Armageddon reflect how such violent proceedings might come home upon the greatest Mahommedan Power; that is, England herself. He may himself be bidden to reflect that our support of Turkey in 1854-55 did not prevent the Mahommedans from joining the Brahmins in the Mutiny of 1857.—Mr. H. B. Marriott-Watson discourses on "The Deleterious Effect of Americanisation upon Woman" in the style and temper of an Oriental despot. The American woman to him is "more than independent; she is anarchical." But he takes some comfort from the reflection that American civilisation is probably not destined to endure. It is difficult to speak with patience of an article which is disfigured at every turn by such remarks as : "It is considered by the taste of the day quite a creditable thing that some pork-packer's dollars from Chicago should buy a coronet in Mayfair."—The three fiscal articles are all more or less friendly to Mr. Chamberlain's proposals. Mr. Benjamin Taylor, who relies largely on statistics, greatly simplifies his task by the sweeping assertion that "there is nothing in history to compare with the conditions which exist now, nothing in economic records or authority to teach us what will result from these conditions in the future." Mr. Gilbert- son, discussing the effect of foreign tariffs on Welsh industries, contends that the trade as-a whole lias suffered by the impor- tation of bounty-fed steel from Germany and America. It is, he says, "an undoubted fact that a larger proportion of the potential power of steel production is at present in disuse in South Wales than in any other iron district of the world." Mr. J. W. Cross in his able article on "Poor Lancashire"

indicates a guarded adhesion to the new policy. But he evidently sets no great store by Protection as an infallible panacea. Betting and drinking are worse evils than foreign competition :— "A typical Lancashire woman of the lower class, in whose company I travelled the other day from Manchester to Oldham in a third-class carriage, told me, in reply to a question, that trade was very bad in her district, partly perhaps on account of t' war, but mostly because t' women bet a shilling on nearly every race, and they take If bread out of If children's mouths to obtain the shillings, and that was a thing unknownst in Lancashire fifteen years ago, as it was also for women to be seen drinking in the public-houses ' ; and half a dozen fellow-travellers in the same carriage all confirmed her statement."

The chief trouble, in Mr. Cross's opinion, is that we have been too rich and are too luxurious. The remedy is "simple to a fault" :—

" It can be summed up in the one little word economy,' not only the economy that prevents waste of money and substance by our Imperial Government, by our municipalities, and by private individuals, but also economy of time, too much of which is dissi- pated by a business people in racing, betting, polo, golf, bridge, kc., instead of minding the shop ' ; for, however grandiloquently we may talk of our Imperial mission, our Imperial greatness, and our great organising qualities, we are an fond, and must always remain, to our great honour, a nation of shopkeepers."

The editor of the National Review is to be congratulated on having secured an article on "The Military Lessons of the South African War" from no less an authority than General Freiherr von der Goltz, author of The Nation in Arms, and since 1902 in command of the First Army Corps. General von der Goltz,

it is interesting to note, is not one of those who belittle the campaign. He describes it as "the greatest Colonial war the world has ever seen," and, again, as a "desperate struggle." It is satisfactory, moreover, at a time when adverse critics of Lord Roberts the administrator disregard or depreciate his in- calculable services to his country in the field in 1899-1900, to find a great German expert bearing repeated and laudatory testimony to the conception and execution of the British Com-

mander-in-Chiefs plans. Inter cilia, he notes his possession of "that one-sided view' (einseitigkeit) which Moltke says a good

general must possess at the critical moment, when doubt, hesi- tation, and arguments for and against crowd in on him?'

Apropos of the change which came about in the operations with

the appearance of Lord Roberts, General von der Goltz dwells on the power of personality in war, "which is, perhaps, the greatest of all the factors conducing to success." Of the lessons to be learned from the war, the most important, in his view, is the following :—" The South African War has taught us that mere mechanical massing of troops has no effect in the battle of to-day. This is perhaps the most important result, the most striking revelation which it has brought us, and the one which will probably exercise the greatest influence on the development of the art of war in Europe." On the other hand, he is equally convinced of the importance of numbers : "the primary and most telling cause of England's victory was her great preponderance in men and war material." Of the value of mounted infantry in European warfare the writer is sceptical, but admits that the lesson of mobility for all arms can be taken from it.—Sir Leslie Stephen in his further instalment of reminiscences deals with journalism in the " fifties " and " sixties " in his own inimitable fashion, diverging at the outset to recall his experiences as a visitor at Carlyle's house. Thence he

passes to his relations with the Saturday Review under Douglas Cook, that remarkable editor who, with little culture and no polish, had yet an unerring flair for literary talent in others. Incidentally Sir Leslie gives it as his opinion that G. S. Venables, the most remarkable of the contributors who chose to remain obscure, did more than any one else to strike the keynote of the general style of the paper. While holding that the writers in the old Saturday irritated rather

than influenced, Sir Leslie Stephen is inclined to believe that on the whole they contributed a useful element to the con- temporary discussions. The immediately following passage we cannot refrain from quoting :—

" In another sphere, at any rate, the Saturday Review did a lees questionable service. It enlisted the great Freeman, who brought down his sledge-hammer upon poor Froude and all whom he took to be historical charlatans. That Freeman was a bit of a pedant and had a rough and uncouth surface, is, I suppose, undeniable. I came in contact with him only once, and at a later period. He wrote a life of Alfred for the Dictionary of National Biography, under my editorship, but declined to do more because we had a difference of opinion as to whether Athelstane should be spelt with an A. That was, I confess, a question to which I was culpably indifferent ; but I had taken competent advice, and my system (I forget what it was !) had been elsewhere sanctioned by the great historian Stubbs. Now as Freeman was never tired of asserting the infallibility of Stubbs, I innocently thought that I might take refuge behind so eminent an authority. The only result was that for once Freeman blasphemed Stubbs and refused to co-operate any longer in an unscholarlike enterprise."

—On the fiscal side the editor of the National Review is as vigorous as ever in his support of Mr. Chamberlain, repub- lishing the Glasgow address as personally revised by the author, and printing articles by Mr. Inglis Palgrave, editor of the Dictionary of Economics, who lays stress on the "ruined industries" argument, and from Sir Charles Follett, who asserts that "free food is not the differentia, ' of Free Trade, nor can Free Trade be honestly hoisted as the banner of free food." Incidentally Sir Charles Follett adds to the gaiety of the con- troversy by the quaintness of his phraseology,—e.g., "already there is a sough of a riot wave in the air." But in the matter of ornamental invective the editor maintains an un- assailable pre-eminence, referring to the outgoing Cabinet Ministers as "foxes who had cut off their tails," and as "fossils and fanatics." May we suggest, however, that the hard- worked term "Mandarin," as applied to any one who differs from the editor, might be given a rest.—Mr. Walter B. Harris in his paper on "England, France, and Morocco" strongly sup- ports French intervention as the only means of restoring order to the present chaos. France's task, he believes, should be to maintain the status quo, "with an acknowledged and un- questioned right to a preponderating influence in Moorish politics and a surveillance of the Moorish finances." There is no need for a declared protectorate, which might stimulate fanaticism, but France should guarantee the neutralisation of the Straits of Gibraltar, with its southern shore, and an open door for the trade of all nations.—Mr. William Roberts's paper on "Modern French Caricaturists" is curiously un- critical, as may be judged from the fact that he dismisses

Caren d'Ache in two lines.

Readers surfeited with or bored by " fiscalities " will find a welcome respite from facts and figures in the current Con.- temporary. There is, however, an exceedingly able and dis- passionate review of the party situation from the pen of Mr. J. A. Spender, whose remarks on the position of the Free. tradeUnionists are notable for candour as well as impartiality. Mr. Spender sums up their position as follows :— "It is from their point of view—and ours—a great calamity that the Unionist Party should be definitely committed to Pro- tection, and they were entitled to use all their influence within the Party before resorting to the final step. Nevertheless, the avoidance of a decisive debate and division last session has placed

them and us in a considerable difficulty. Beyond a dozen or so of

the leading men, we do not know for certain who they are, how far they are willing to go, and what are their relations with their constituents. They have not established a claim on their op- ponents by any such definite act as that of the Liberal Unionists when in 1986 they voted against and so procured the defeat of the Home Rule Bill. Their policy of delay, though that was far from their intention, has even in its results promoted Mr. Balfour's plan for the conversion of the Unionist Party. All that, however, might count for nothing if there were no other obstacle. Frankly, the great obstacle is the Education Act. So far as public control and abolition of religious tests go, the Opposition cannot com- promise this question and admit it to be a minor issue to the Fiscal question. If they endeavoured to do so, or were under any suspicion of doing so, they would sacrifice an enormously greater support for Free Trade than they could possibly gain from Unionist adherents. It is well to state this matter clearly, but one may add that an honourable understanding ought not to be -liopeless. The experience of the last few months must have con- vinced Unionists as well as Liberals that the Act, as it stands, is • nnadministrable, and that an early reopening of the question is one of the inevitables of domestic politics. It has further to be remembered in this connection that on the Liberal side at all events the question of candidatures is very largely a local one. In very many cases no order from headquarters will avail to with- draw candidates already chosen or to waive opposition to members whom the locality considers not to be of the faith. Sc, much having been said, it remains to express the strongest hope that all possible efforts will be made both to prevent three-cornered fights, in which a Chamberlain candidate may slip in between a Liberal and a Unionist Free Trader, and to avoid the exclusion from Parliament of men who are powerful advocates of Free Trade and have shown their faith in the cause by risking their

• seats or their career in its behalf."

• Nor is his forecast less worthy of consideration. Dismissing - the talk of coalitions and understandings between certain

groups, Mr. Spender regards it as far more probable that events will take the course usual with party secessions in the House of Commons,—viz., that the Liberal party will receive the support, at first partial, and then complete, of the seceders. But, he continues, " just as the Conservative Party was modi- fied in certain ways by the adhesion of the Liberal Unionists, so will the Liberal Party be by the adhesion of the Unionist Free Traders." Whatever these changes may be, Mr. Spender hopes, and every patriotic citizen will share his hope, that out of the present welter will emerge a Liberal party strong in numbers, and efficient in its leadership and organisation. Other- wise the prospect is one of "highly confused and disturbed politics—Governments without stable majorities, the House of Commons controlled by the Irish Party, the Fiscal question hopelessly entangled with the Irish question, and other calamities which it needs no imagination to predict."—By far the most attractive article in the number is M. George Brandes's elaborate study of the career and personality of M. Georges Clemencea.u. We cannot quite believe, how- ever, that the writer will achieve his aim,—that of enlisting sympathy and admiration for the famous French politician and publicist as the unwavering "advocate of strict honesty and true humanity." Rather has he unconsciously laid stress on those incidents in M. Clemenceau's career and those

phases in his complex character which excite suspicion and distrust,—his genius for wrecking Ministries, his reckless choice of instruments (e.g., Boulanger), and his "calm con-

tempt for mankind." Of his fanatical anti-clericalism M. Brandes gives one astonishing example. "I myself heard him refuse an adoring young couple who asked him to be god- father to their youngest child, and be even declined to sign a paper as such because he would have nothing to do with any- thing connected with the Church." And this is euphemisti- cally described by M. Bra,ndes as "never allowing himself to be hampered by tradition" !—Dr. Dillon gives an interesting account of his interviews with insurgent leaders at the Bul- garian monastery of Ryla. The most significant part of the interview is the declaration of the insurgent leader Baitshelf that, unless Europe intervenes, the Macedonians will "abandon their policy of self-restraint," meet cruelty with cruelty, and pay back the Turk in his own coin.—Mrs. Fawcett sends a pleasant and encouraging paper of "Impressions of South Africa, 1901 and 1903." The dying down of racial animosity is illustrated by a remarkable anecdote :—

" When the Loyal Women's Guild first began its work for the systematic care of the graves of those who had fallen, they placed crosses and wreaths on the graves of the enemy as well as on those of our own men. A Bond paper in Cape Town, commenting on this, had an article headed 'Hands off, ye Ghouls !' It is only fair to say that the readers of the paper had more decency than the editor, and they compelled him to insert an apology. But such an incident would be quite impossible now ; indeed cases of an exactly contrary nature came under my notice. On one occasion a lady was looking on while the younger members of the Guild were placing flowers on the graves of Boer and Briton in a cemetery near Cape Town. An old Dutchman approached her and said, 'I wish more of my people could see what I am seeing ; it would go farther towards peace than almost anything.' " —Lastly, d'e may note Mr. Birrelrs altogether charming appreciation of Mr. Morley's Life of Mr. Gladstone.

In the Fortnightly " Autonomos" writes of "Pinchbeck Protectionism." He begins by pointing out the cant of the official mot d'ordre," real Free-trade." This it is impossible to

combine with Colonial preference, because the first, if maimed, must put an end to the last. If through the effects of retalia-

tion other countries agree to trade freely with us, what

becomes of the millions we are to gain from the taxation of manufactured goods ? If this revenue ceases, how are we to make up for the increase of the cost of living brought about by the preference given to Colonial food? " Autonomos " considers that, once started, there is no halting till the logical end of Protection is reached. In illustration of this he

quotes from The Tariff Problem, by Professor Ashley. The Birmingham Professor is under no illusions, and declares plainly for "duties of 50 to 75 per cent, ad vatorein, or even

prohibition." In relation to the idea of exclusion and prohibition, " Antonomos " points out that we have a return to the mediaeval idea of staple industries. This seems to be the meaning of Mr. Chamberlain when he jeers at the jam trade, the outcome of cheap sugar. Apparently the orator and the Professor would decide what trades are to be carrie0 on in the country. The latter says—" not all trades carried on in Great Britain are trades worth preserving." So, it seems, he would, by the taxation of cheap German half-manu- factured steel, cripple our shipbuilding trade. The writer of the article asks :—

" Are the rolling-mills more valuable to the country than the ship-yards ? Shall we keep up the demand for British pig-iron at the expense of those who deal in British ships and British freights ? Is it right that the Tyne and the Wear should suffer in order that Cleveland and the Black Country may grow more prosperous? It would require a very wise and capable Govern- ment to do equal justice in these and scores of similar cases."

Professor Ashley, it seems, realises the difficulty, and suggests that the Executive, assisted by local experts, be given statu- tory powers of imposing duties. This is the logical out- come of Protection.—"Calchas" writes of "Mr. Chamber- lain : the Protagonist and the Future," with his usual brilliancy and epigrammatic force. Epigrams, however, are much more telling when you agree with them than when you do not, and in the present instance brilliant statement of views will not take the place of argument. We quite agree with " Calchas " that Mr. Chamberlain is a commanding figure, and that by his energy and passion he makes himself heard very distinctly. But we may remember that even the blank verse of the King of Paphlagonia was not always argu- ment. The present controversy seems, according to the writer of the article, to be a battle in which the personalities of Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Rosebery are contrasted. Striking personal force is perhaps hardly the ground on which to fudge a national policy. The opposers are thus summed up :—Mr.

Asquith is a "splendid forensic machine " ; Sir H. Campbell- Bannerman "repeats his genial faith with persistent plati- tude " ; Mr. Morley will give us in time his "sonorous proclama- tion of the refrigerated Rousseauisin in which he believes " ; Lord Goschen gives "eloquent echoes of old City tradition"; and finally, we are told, "amid all these Mr. Chamberlain stands out like the central figure of the mediaeval picture which shows St. Thomas Aquinas among the doctors, and paints him twice the size of the rest." This argument from prominence reminds one of the days of the Home-rule con- troversy, and the personal worship of Mr. Gladstone which with so many took the place of argument.—Dr. Macnamara proposes a series of amendments to the Education Act which he considers meet the demand of the Liberals for popular control, and of the Churchmen for denominational teaching. He seems to think that his plan is quite fair because it gives his own side their way entirely, and makes one concession to his opponents. His plan is to have all the managers in all the schools chosen by the municipal or county education authority, thus securing the popular control he desires. He would then allow denominational teaching to be given by volun- teers to those children whose parents desire it, before or after school hours. He even goes so fax as to say that the educa- tion authority should pay for the use of a voluntary school building. With one contention of the article we are in complete accord, and that is the great importance of putting an end to strife and devoting our energies to making the education of the children such that they may be able to compete with countries which have given more attention bo the subject. If the enthusiasm for strife on both sides could only be turned into love of education, much might be done.

Blackwood contains one of those striking studies of Malay character which Mr. Hugh Clifford writes with such sympathy and distinctness. " Sally " is the study of a Malay King's son. The first glimpse we catch of the child is when the Royal witch exorcises the evil spirit from the hammock in which the new-born babe is to lie. At the age of fourteen this child

is sent to England to be educated. We have a picture of the fearful loneliness of the Eastern child, and his gradual reconcilement to the surroundings of an English home. We are left with the boy in a complex condition. "Within the lad the Malayan soul lay dead, or slumbering, and in its stead had been born the soul of a clean-minded, honest-thinking, self-respecting Engliahman, possessed of many of the virtues and not a few of the limitations of its kind." How this multiple personality develops we look forward to being told in another paper.—" The War in the West," by "Martini," is a clear and interesting description of the main lines of the strategy of the late Mancenvres, and its results. The writer does not conceal his contempt for the plans of Sir Evelyn Wood, or their carrying out. He describes the promptness with which Sir J. French's army moved the moment war was declared at midnight on September 13th. By 10 a.m. the next day Scobell's cavalry had marched "forty-two miles without a foundered or even an over-tired horse," while General Bruce Hamilton's infantry brigade did twenty-two miles at over three miles an hour. Of the opposing side the writer says :—

" While Scobell trotted and Hamilton strode through the dark- ness, the enemy had spent the night in a manner sufficiently foolish for raiders marching on London,'—i.e., in hoggish slumber. Not until 6 a.m. on the 14th did the cavalry move out, a portion to the north, to capture Swindon, other portions to Liddington Castle, Eamsbury, and Froxfield, to do—nothing. Having accomplished which, they actually went back nine miles to West Overton to do still less—to camp."

The writer pays a tribute to the brilliant, though ineffectual, counter-attacks of Sir Evelyn Wood when his army made its last stand on the concluding day.

The Month2y Review prints an article by M. Yves Guyot dissecting Mr. Balfour's pamphlet. The article is printed both in the original French and in a translation. M. Guyot attacks the contention that we are to give up Free-trade because the

rest of Europe have not adopted it. He says that France might just as well use that argument to make her abandon her Republican form of government, for no other great Euro- pean State is a Republic. Mr. Balfour's very pamphlet itself is the result of a state of things which exists only in England.

What other national Government discusses questions of high policy quite openly and freely ? In no other country would the publication of the evidence of the War Commission be allowed. Are we therefore wrong in our traditional methods? To the article the editor appends the following important note:—

" We have received from M. Guyot, too late for incorporation in his article, the following significant comment on the tariff figures quoted (on pp. 4 and 12) from Mr. Balfour's pamphlet. These figures are not the actual ones. English exports to France in 1902 were valued by the English Customs at £15,587,000, and by the French at 567 million francs. The duty paid was 36,349,000 francs—i.e., 9 per cent. on the English valuation, and less than 6/ per cent, on the French, instead of 30 per cent. as Mr. Balfour says. This discrepancy arises from the fact that England, thanks to her open door' policy, enjoys the most-favoured-nation treat- ment. Mr. Balfour, in his haste, has taken for the actual tariff the maximum tariff to which England would be exposed if she were to adopt his retaliatory plan of campaign!"

We wish that every elector could be made to read Mr. Winston Churchill's article on Free-trade. It is so simple and direct, and goes to the root of the matter. He is ruthless in his exposure of the absurd claim that new situations have arisen which require new treatment. He points out that the New Protectionists differ in no way from the Fair-traders of 1885, whose contentions were confuted by argument at that time, and proved false by subsequent events. The cry that change and progress demand that we should recast our tried policy is merely a new gilding of the old Protectionist pilL- Mr. Butler Burke's article on "The Radio-Activity of Matter" is difficult for the unlearned to follow, but there seems no doubt that the foundations of science will have to be relaid. Elements appear to be giving way to the movements of electrons, and "All matter is alive" is the conclusion of Mr. Burke.

The Independent Review, which has already established for itself a high position among our leading magazines, does good service to the cause of Free-trade by such articles as an unsigned one on "The Moral Issue." People should ponder well what public life will be like if we revert to Protection

:- "There would be an end of the old honest war of principles between Liberal and Conservative ; our Press, our eleotions, our Parliament, our public, offices would become the arena of a sordid scramble of trusts and companies and their shareholders, seeking to have their incomes doubled by a scratch of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's pen."

France and America are already examples of this.—Mr. John Burns writes a vigorous paper in which he damages many Protectionist arguments. He asks why machinery was excluded from Mr. Balfour's statistics. Was it because "it has risen from 28,000,000 in the blessed year 1872 to 219,619,000 in 1900" P And he quotes Mr. Jeans, the secre- tary of the British Iron Trade Association, who, after giving figures showing our rising trade in engineering products, says—" No other country has an international iron and machinery trade, whether in imports or exports, of equal amount." A good point, too, is made by a quotation from our Consular Report on America for 1902, which states that in America within the last five years—in fact, since high Protec- tion—the cost of living has increased more than in the previous twenty years. This cost of living has increased more rapidly in recent years than wages.