THE MAGAZINES.

IN the Nineteenth, Century Mr. Morley continues and con- cludes his suggestive paper on "Democracy and Reaction," taking for his text Mr. Hobhouse's book. The warning note already noticeable in the earlier instalment is sounded even more strongly in this striking passage :— " To think of Progress as a certainty of social destiny, as the benignant outcome of some eternal cosmic law, has been indeed a leading Liberal superstition—the most splendid and animated of superstitions, if we will, yet a superstition after all. It often deepens into a kind of fatalism, radiant, confident, and infinitely hopeful, yet fatalism still, and, like fatalism in all its other forms, fraught with inevitable peril, first to the effective sense of individual responsibility, and then to the successful working of principles and institutions of which that responsibility is the vital sap. Of this fatalism it is not presumptuous to call America the reigning instance at our present time. The young are apt to be too sure.'

Mr. Morley deals faithfully with the evolution of Sodaliam,

noting as a curious fact that "England, where Socialism has as a body of doctrine been least in fashion, has in action by Income-tax and Death-duties] carried Socialism in its protective or restrictive aspect further than most other countries." He shares Mr. Hobhouse's condemna- tion of that form of Socialism which is nothing more than wholesale and omnipotent bureaucracy,—that perverted Collectivism in which " the free spontaneous moral forces are pooh-poohed and all the interest is concentrated on the machinery by which life is to be organised." We have yet to learn, according to Mr. Morley, whether democracy will make for peace, but he draws encouraging omens from the Hague Tribunal ; and in regard to the stability of property is encouraged by the words of Mr. Roosevelt, the "one man living to-day whose utterances may be taken for the voice of democracy on its largest scale." On the working of "the sublime moral revolution of nineteen hundred years ago upon the material and mechanical revolution of to-day" Mr. Morley abstains from pronouncing a definite opinion, contenting himself by comparing the divergent views of Mr.

Hobhouse and Professor Goldwin Smith. One regrets Mr. Morley's reticence on this point, while admitting with him that the theme is too profound for the "meditative musings of a reviewer." But nothing could be more candid or courageous than the last words of the article :—

" Democracy has long passed out beyond mere praise and blame. Dialogues and disputations on its success or failure are now an idle quarrel. It is what it is. Its own perils encompass it. Spiritual power in the old sense there is none; the material power of wealth is formidable. Like kings and nobles in old time, the man in the street will have his sycophants and parasites. At least, as we close Mr. Hobhonse's little book, it is a satisfac- tion to remember that during these last evil years of spurious Imperialism in our country, he and other writers of his stamp, instructed, able, diligent, disinterested, and bold, were found to tell both masses and directing classes the truth. This is what the salvation of democracy depends upon."

—Professor Vambery makes some interesting comments on

the recent rejoicing of the Mohammedans over the Japanese victories, which on the face of it is difficult to reconcile with the long-standing aversion of the Moslems from the Buddhistic world. This change he attributes in part to their hostility to Russia, "their arch-enemy," but refuses to admit that it lends support to believers in the "yellow peril." "The spirit of Islam is too deeply seated in its votaries to be shaken by the example of a heathen nation like the Japanese. It will take a long time before the doctrine of the prophet will give way to modern views like the teaching of Buddha, and the victories of Japan will work only a passing influence over the Mohammedan world."—Mr. Sidney Lee, writing on "The Commemoration of Shakespeare," argues in favour of the erection in London of a monumental memorial in which a statue of the poet shall occupy the foremost place in the design. He insists, however, that the crucial decision as to whether the artistic capacity to execute the monument is available should be entrusted to a Committee of liberal-minded connoisseurs who command general confidence. Until they report in the affirmative it is, in his opinion, useless to appeal to the public for funds.—Miss Gertrude Kingston's im- passioned impeachment of the "fanatical puritanism" of the British theatre-going public has amused us not a little. For example, she is indignant with the British playgoer because he must always have some object on which to lavish his affection. " never know with whom to sympathise that is the attitude of the British public towards the play that endeavours to portray passions instead of poses." People go to the play, said Dr. Johnson, "because they are afraid to sit at home and think." If Miss Kingston could have her way, they would stay at home because they would be afraid to go to the theatre and be made to think.—Bishop Welldon writes interestingly on "The Art of Classical Quotation." That he considers it a dead art may be readily gathered when we mention that he thinks it necessary to translate every

passage, even down to such tags as dyke et decorum eat, &c.

The most exhilarating reading in the National is, as usual, to be found in the editorial "Episodes of the Month." Though we disagree so profoundly with the Fiscal policy of their author, we do not hesitate to say that the National's " Episodes " are among the most brilliant, if, indeed, not the most brilliant, contributions to modern political journalism. Their verve, their fearlessness, their independence, and their sincerity would alone render them remarkable ; but in addition they are written in a style as clear and buoyant as it is picturesque and unconventional. Mr. Maxse hits hard, and, as we think, too often wildly and wrongly ; but he never hits below the belt, and is never either mean or captions in his criticisms. The new heroes this month are Mr. Bonar Law, "the articulate man of business who can both think and talk," and Lord Percy, "the brilliant Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs," whose "very able but frankly pro-Turkish speech" apparently commends itself to the editor. On the other hand, Ministers and "Ministerial jackals" come in for a good deal of out- spoken denunciation. With the editor's comments on the policy of stampede we find ourselves in unexpected accord- ance. Mr. Balfour's manceuvres, as he truly observes, "have neither increased the prestige of Parliament nor improved the electioneering prospects of the Unionist Party." Although the tone of the National is still somewhat pessimistic, the editor extracts some consolation from the MacDonnell episode, in that it has elicited Lord Rosebery's declaration against Home-rule and exposed "a serious rift in the Liberal lute." From this he draws the curious moral that "the sooner the Opposition get into office and tackle the Irish and other thorny problems, the better for all parties."—Lord Llandaff replies at length to M. Combes's recent article on "The Conflict between the French Republic and the Catholic Church." Perhaps the strongest part of his rebutting argument is that in which he contends that the Organic Articles cannot be regarded as part and parcel of the Concordat. On the contrary, he asserts that neither the Pope who ratified the Concordat, nor any of his successors, has assented to the Articles as any part of the Treaty between the Holy See and France. As regards the new Bill, and in particular that part dealing with places of worship, he cites the protests of the Chief Rabbi and the Central Council of the Reformed Churches of France to show that all denomina- tions are equally struck at by the proposed measure. The espionage system as recently practised in the Army under General Andre certainly goes far to justify Lord Llandaff's remark that "any man who professes religion himself, or who values it for his wife and his children, is shut out from advance- ment in his profession and from employment by the State." The wastefulness of the persecution of the Congregations is also insisted on. "No less than two hundred and fifty thousand aged and infirm persons were supported, clothed and served by the charity of the Congregations. All these schools and charitable institutions were erected, maintained, and equipped by voluntary effort, and without any assistance from the public taxes. The cost to the public of replacing them is estimated in millions."—" The Future Functions of the German Navy" are discussed by a member of the German General Staff under the two heads of "Operations against England" and "Operations against the United States." The writer is cheerfully confident of success in both cases. England cannot count on preventing invasion because, though she "can collect immense fleets after a time, those of her naval forces which are ready for war during the very first days are not so overwhelming." As for America, "our fleet will probably be able to defeat the naval forces of the United States, which are distributed over two oceans and over long dis- tances." Here again rapidity of invasion will considerably facilitate victory, "owing to the absence of methodical pre- paration for mobilisation, to the inexperience of the personnel, and the weakness of the Regular Army."--M. Francis Kossuth's paper on" The Hungarian Crisis" should be read in connection with that of Professor Draghicesco's attack on the Magyars in the Contemporary. We must content ourselves by merely noting that M. Kossuth reiterates his professions of loyalty to the Dynasty and Constitution, and makes the curious remark that "whereas in past times the Kaisers alone were our enemies, it may be that to-day the Emperor Francis Joseph is the only friend of Hungary in Austria."— Admiral Penrose Fitzgerald contributes a searching criti- cism of the new regulations for the entry and training of naval officers. Some of his objections are captious ; but in the opinion of the present writer he is fairly entitled to assert, first, that the new method of entry, may if not most carefully watched and guarded, prove distinctly less in harmony than the old with the spirit of the age and the democratic govern- ment of the country; and second, that there is a considerable danger of the new scheme proving far less efficacious in tapping that social class from which the engineers have hitherto been recruited.—We regret to have to note that Canon Ellacombe's charming paper on "House Mottoes" is sadly disfigured by the appalling crop of misprints in the Latin and Greek quotations with which it abounds.

Dr. Dillon writes luridly in the Contemporary on "The Paralysis of Russian Government." The really overwhelming forces of the Empire—the peasantry, who form seventy-five per cent. of the population—have not yet been unleashed, and are still inactive. But he notes as the salient feature of the present phase of the conflict that "society "—a term which in Russia stands for all the intelligent classes of the population—has fallen away from the cause of autocracy, and, under police pressure, has become united, enterprising, and self-sacrificing. Perhaps the most interesting part of the article is that which describes the civil war in the Caucasus, culminating in the massacres at Baku, where, according to Dr. Dillon, the Government, or rather the police, who have virtually taken over the government, have deliberately resorted to the old expedient of inflaming nationality against nationality,—stirring up the Tartars against the Armenians, providing them with State weapons, and inciting them to butchery. Yet in spite of everything, Dr. Dillon draws hopeful auguries from the action of the Ministers who forced the Czar to supplement the Manifesto of March 3rd by the Rescript of the same night. "A Constitution is become necessary; it is even now in sight; the first step towards it has been taken." Half-measures are no longer possible, because there is no statesman at the head of affairs ; only a radical Constitution will satisfy the demands of the Russian people. But meantime, as Dr. Dillon himself admits, the ninety million moujiks show no signs of movement.—Mr. Eltzbacher in his article on "The Agricultural Prosperity of Germany" holds out hopes that similar results may be achieved in England if we create "a substantial peasant class who work with their own hands on freehold agricultural properties of moderate size," secure liberal State aid for experimental chemistry, and impose a moderate Protective tariff on all agricultural products. We may note, however, that Mr. Eltzbacher admits that Fiscal protection may be overdone. "Whether the high and apparently exaggerated duties on agricultural products of the new tariff will be beneficial or harmful to industrial Germany remains to be Been." It may be added that Mr. Eltzbacher's claim to be regarded as an expert in economics is somewhat impaired by the damaging reply to his article on German railways which appears in this very number from the pen of Mr. W. M. Acworth.—Mr. A. P. Nicholson writes with excellent sense on the serious dangers of the new methods of syndicated Parliamentary reporting, by which bald, imperfect, and mis- leading summaries supplied by an agency take the place of independent reports.—Professor Draghicesco, of Budapest, vehemently attacks the Magyars for their alleged Chauvinism, megalomania, and persecution of the non-Magyar races of Hungary, and predicts the coming of a Latino-Slav union which will one day put an end to Magyar preponderance on the banks of the Danube.

In the Fortnightly Sir Rowland Blennerhassett urges that England should sympathise with Czech ideals in the con- troversies now agitating the Austrian Empire. It is argued that our interest is entirely in the direction of supporting the Slav element against the Pan-Germans. These last, should they achieve a Customs Union with Germany, would let her into the Mediterranean by way of Trieste, and make easier her road to Constantinople, Asia Minor, and the Persian Gulf. The crippling of Russia by the Japanese may also affect the situation by enabling Austria to extend her civilising sway over more of the distracted countries of the Balkan region. This is no doubt a consummation desired by England, and, generally speaking, the Liberal ideas of the Czech party find more sympathy with us than do those of the Pan-Germans.--In a paper entitled "Russian Apathy and Insouciance" we get some curious sidelights on the Russian Army. The author, Mr. Julius Price, who as a correspondent was with the Russian army in Manchuria, describes the Russian officer at the front as never taking "the slightest pride in his profession or any interest in his duties or his men." Mr.

Price tells how be was travelling at night near the fighting line, and during constant artillery fire about a mile away,

when "a sudden turn in the road brought me in view of quite a little illumination in the shape of many Chinese lanterns hung in the trees and along the front of a large farmhouse.

Then to my unutterable astonishment I heard through the din of the cannon the familiar tune of a popular waltz being played by a military band inside the courtyard of the place."

It appeared that a General and some officers were celebrating Christmas by a dance, the ladies being the nurses from the field hospitals round about. As a different manifestation of the "insouciance," a description is given of the way in which the army relied more and more on the supplies produced lorRlly in Mukden. These supplies came from China by sea by way of Sin-min-tung, and, of course, were cut off by the Japanese when they deemed it expedient.—" Miles" analyses the available figures of the waste and supply of the Russian army, and considers it unlikely that more than two hundred thousand men of all arms are available for actual fighting. In a note we are told that recent news, apparently authentic, states that "at Harbin alone the deaths have been at least five thousand in a week, which about equals the highest estimate of the number of reinforcements that Russia can deliver there."

Blackwood contains an unsigned article which dissects the account by the German General Staff of Lord Roberts's cam- paign down to the fall of Bloemfontein. The German experts take exception to the policy adopted by Lord Roberts after the first attack upon Cronje's laager. They say : "After the failure of Paardeberg we see the beginning of a fear of attacking or losing men, and the consequent avoidance of a decisive battle against the Boers, which was the real reason of the length of the war. Roberts's order at Paardeberg to make no further attack was not justified by the military situation." The writer of the article maintains that by bom- bardment and waiting Lord Roberts attained all the results.

which could have arisen from a costly attack, and that there- fore he was justified. Similar criticism is applied to Poplar Grove, which, the Germans say, "shows the Commander-in-Chief's fatal endeavours to avoid_ great losses under all circumstances. The troops had realised only too quickly that the Commander-in-Chief's confidence in their capacity was shattered, and that there was no longer any faith in the success of a frontal attack against modern rifles. The fighting at Poplar Grove was typical for the future. To get possession of the country and not to annihilate the enemy's forces became the object of the operations ; manoeuvres take the place of battles."

The writer of the article replies that a frontal attack on this occasion would not have annihilated the enemy, for the Boers would have retreated when we came to close quarters ; and, as it was, had our cavalry been able to pursue, great loss

would have been inflicted on the enemy. The General Staff record the generous treatment of captured Boers by us, and

quote a German officer who was taken prisoner as saying: "Not only the officers, but even the Tom mies, behaved to the prisoners like thorough gentlemen." We wonder whether any of the General Staff, who of course knew the facts, ever-

raised their voices against the chorus of calumny which arose in Germany, or whether the Chinese during the relief of the Pekin.

Legations found that the Germans "behaved like thorough gentlemen."—In another article without signature the problem of the unemployed is discussed. We cannot say that,.

it throws any fresh light on this subject, and all the varied ills. are traced to the same sources,—Trade-Unions and Free-trade. The writer points out one great difficulty which be declares in- creases unemployment, the refusal of the Trade-Unions to allow a man to earn anything unless he works at the full Union rate.—In "Musings without Method" we are warned of the danger that if Norway persists in her separatist policy she may become the scene of Russian intrigue. The tendency of some Norwegian patriots to play off Russia against Sweden might conceivably lead to Russia " protect- ing " Norway with an eye all the time to an open harbour on the North Sea..

Mr. Moreton Frewen's article in the Monthly Review,

"About 'Thinking Imperially,' " reminds us in its tone of Lady Catherine de Burgh's method of dealing with her

cottagers. When they were "disposed to be quarrelsome, dis- contented, or too poor, she sallied forth into the village to settle their differences, silence their complaints, and scold thena into harmony and plenty." We are told, among other things, that instead of hurting the very poor, Mr. Chamber- lain's proposed 2s. duty on corn would have been "for them a princely endowment." Somehow this tax was to have pro- duced one hundred and forty millions of capital by a wave of the tariff juggler's wand. This sum could have been used to deport the poor from England and establish them on farms in outlying parts of the Empire. It is not thought worth while to tell us who would really pay these millions. Nor is a reason given for the statement that if we had had a preferential tariff, millions, not only of English, but of Germans and Scandi- navians, would have gone to our Colonies instead of to the United States. Mr. Moreton Frewen has no doubts, assuring us that "in a very few years at most the entire fabric of Free- trade will have gone by the board," and winds up with a panegyric of Mr. Chamberlain. The article would be of more interest had the writer taken some one particular line of argument and followed it up. Nevertheless, this random "thinking," with its historical references to York- town, and the relative posthumous influence of Gladstone, Bismarck, and Washington, makes some fine confused reading.—Mr. J. L. Bashford in an article dated from Berlin seeks to minimise all German hostility towards this country. We are told in long quotations from the

" communications made to me from one of the chief officials of the Berlin Foreign Office" how entirely we are beloved by all Germans. Says this personage : "Every villager in Prussia knows that the English were the sole allies of Frederick the Great." Nor does one of "the highest naval officials" fall behind his Foreign Office com- panion; indeed, he says that German naval officers look upon the English" as our comrades par excellence." The merchants, too, join in the chorus of praise. Unfortunately, the facts can scarcely be admitted to agree with this favourable view. And the hostile feeling in England towards Germany rests on something more than disgust at the tone of German news- papers during the South African War.—A paper on "Quaint Memories," by Mrs. Emma Hessey, contains a good story of Lord Liverpool, who was travelling incognito with the writer's father. After breakfasting at a hotel in London, the Prime Minister ordered his valet, a raw Sussex youth, to clear the table and pack everything in a portmanteau. By this order of course was meant Lord Liverpool's letters and papers. But the youth took it to include the silver teapot and spoons. When Lord Liverpool was driving away down Oxford Street a cry of "Stop thief ! " was raised, and the landlord of the hotel arrived in pursuit. There in the street the Prime Minister had the mortification of having his luggage opened, and in it was found the plate. Never would the statesman laugh at this episode even years after, so great was his fear that the story might get into the newspapers.

Mr. Davitt in the Independent Review writes an imaginary account of the Irish National Assembly in 1910. At least, he sets out to do this, but before he is fairly started he turns aside to retell the story of the Wyndham-Mac:Donnell affair, and we hear but little more of the future. It is a pity, as the forecast, coming from such a source, might have been interesting. The only definite acts of the majority of the new Assembly we hear about are proposals to borrow fifty millions and a plan for reforming the voting of illiterates. This plan is to render the ballot-papers of each candidate a different colour. No doubt this would make it more difficult to declare schoolmasters illiterates, as has been done in the past ; but it still leaves it open to declare uncertain voters to be colour- blind.—Mr. G. M. Trevelyan writes pleasantly of "The Middle Marches," the country south of the Cheviot Hills. The inhabitants no longer follow the old ways of the Border, but study their Bible and Burns, the popularity of the Scotch poet being accounted for by the fact that many of the inhabitants of the region are Scotch, for during the persecu- tions of Claverhouse men crossed into England to escape from the fire and sword that pursued the Presbyterians in Scotland. The article before us is appropriately illustrated with many quotations from ballad poetry, for here we are on the sacred ground where so many great poems of antiquity were

discovered and preserved, co. Du.]