THE MAGAZINES.
Mn. CARNEGIE'S paper on "British Pessimism" in the Nineteenth Century will be read with interest, because Mr. Carnegie has managed such vast transactions, but we do not find it specially instructive. Mr. Carnegie has evidently caught the American reverence for size, mass, volume. His general drift is that it is vain for the United Kingdom, which is only one country of 127,000 square miles and 41,000,000 of people, to compare itself with the Union, which has forty-five "countries," covering 3,500,000 square miles, with 77,000,000 of inhabitants. Industrial primacy must pass away from England, and indeed, as Mr. Carnegie shows by many statistical illustrations, it is passing. With the rest of the world, it is true, Great Britain can compare, but even to maintain that contest she must abstain from exhausting her credit and loading herself with taxes out of an aggressive temper "which alienates other Governments and peoples." But if mere size and population lend such strength to America, why do not increasing size and population lend strength to the British Empire ? That America will pass us in the industrial race is possible, indeed almost certain, but sufficient allowance is not made for the reserves of energy in our people which the struggle will develop, for the advan- tages as well as disadvantages of our extreme concentration, and, above all, for the perpetual stimulus which we enjoy in the fact that without our trade we could not live at all. We need not say that the tone of Mr. Carnegie's deprecia- tory argument is in the highest degree friendly.—Sir Robert Giffen calculates that we need a home Army in peace time of 110,000 soldiers, without counting boys and half-trained men, who now make up 90,000 of the 145,000 nominally on our rolls. In addition we need 70,000 men for India, 40,000 for other foreign garrisons, 50,000 for South Africa, and 20,000 for Egypt, making with the 90,000 immature recruits 360,000. In addition to these forces, Sir Robert would have a Reserve of 160,000. He believes that we could obtain the necessary supply of men by offering 2s. a day and "all found," which would add about 24,000,000 a year to the Estimates. Sir Robert always thinks clearly, and his figures are valuable, but we fancy he despises the " boys " too much. Would any regiment of any country like fighting Eton if Eton were thoroughly armed and possessed some tincture of soldiership P—The Rev. Dr. Wirgman, Canon of Grahamstown Cathedral, sends a curious paper on "The Religion of the Boers," which he shows to be the most extreme form of Calvinism. He mentions inciden- tally that the Hollanders whom President Kruger used so freely as administrators were possessed with the idea that if Germany absorbed Holland they might "renew the ancient glories of their race" by founding an Afrikander Republic, with all South Africa for its possession. The war prepara- tions had that end, which, we may add, was not an ignoble one, though incompatible with the very existence of the British Empire.—Mr. W. F. Lord sends a most interesting paper on British "offers to surrender Gibraltar." He shows that for three-quarters of a century after Sir G. Rooks captured Gibraltar, the Sovereign, the Cabinet, and the Ambassador at Madrid cared little for the Rock, and at different times offered it to Spain. In 1718 it was offered to Cardinal Alberoni as an inducement to .Spain to join the Quadruple Alliance, but the Cardinal, a grand dreamer, rejected the offer. In 1720 it was repeated by General Stanhope, then British Ambassador at Madrid, though he asks this time for Florida or Hispaniola in exchange, but this was flatly, and indeed indignantly, declined. George I. repeated the proposal once more in April, 1721, but the Spaniards would not hear of any exchange, and in 1727 endeavoured in vain to recover the fortress by force of arms. Once more the same bribe was held out in 1757, this time by William Pitt, as the price of a Spanish affiance against France, and once more it was rejected. The last offer was made in 1783, when Lord Shel- burne proposed an exchange with Puerto Rico, and this time it might have been accepted but that the British Commons showed such a temper that it was withdrawn, to the great indignation of the Spanish Government. In all cases the English people manifested a strong repugnance to the idea, which was that of statesmen alone. Nobody thought then of a Mediterranean route to the East, and Ministers regarded the key of the Mediterranean as a mere outpost, rather costly, and of no particular importance. They would much rather have had Minorca.—Earl Cowper contributes a very spirited translation of three scenes in M. Rostand's latest play, L'Aiglon, in which the Duo de Reichstadt, a new and very French variety of Hamlet, is the hero.
The first article in the Contemporary Review is by Mr. Lyulph Stanley on "The Government Education Bill." It is, of course, a fierce attack on the Bill, the ablest which has yet appeared. Its keynote is that the Committees of the County and Borough Councils will restrict elementary education, which those bodies view with jealousy and distrust as an encroaching force. He objects also to the extension of the powers of the Board of Education, which, he thinks, will be almost absolute; but we fancy his strongest feeling is against the supersession of the School Board "by a body in which the partisans and advocates of clericalism and irresponsible management shall be put in a position of vantage to scheme for the control and administration of money levied from the ratepayers without giving the ratepayers the fullest voice in its application." Clerics, one perceives, "scheme," while secularists only plan.—The author of Drafting sends an essay intended to prove the necessity for taxing imports to prevent the decay of British trade and prosperity, and is answered in a rather fierce article by Mr. H. Morgan-Browne. The articles will not admit of condensation, but we may note an illustration by Mr. Morgan-Browne that is of interest. The author of Drifting thinks we are getting ruined because our im- ports exceed our exports, but, "taking an average for the three years 1888-9-90, and the three years 1898-9-1900, for the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States, we find that while the annual excess of imports of merchandise into the United Kingdom has grown from 297,000,000 to £167,000,000; in the United States the excess of exports has grown from 28,000,000 to 2117,000,000, and in Germany the excess of imports has increased from 229,000,000 to 262,000,000. Yet it is admitted—nay, with our author it is cause for com- plaint—that both the United States and Germany have been growing in prosperity, and at our expense, all these years." Does the author of Drafting know of a prosperous shop in which the imports do not exceed the exports, the difference representing profit, or would he think himself growing rich if he sold with- out being paid P—Mr. H. V. Weisse protests against the poor stuff in the way of literature on which children are now being fed, and there is much reason in his remarks, but his remedy, "hedging in" the young, is hardly sufficient. The girls who used to be hedged in sufficiently did not develop strong minds. It may be true that "too much reading is a thing to check," but what proportion of the young read too much P—The beat article, however, in a rather dull num- ber is "The Missionary in China," by Mr. H. C. Thom- son, who is favourable to missionary effort, but greatly
dreads the tendency of the order, especially the Roman Catholics, to obtain secular influence and power. The recent success of proselytism in Japan, where there are now fifty thousand Christians, is due, he believes, mainly to the fact that the Japanese are now too strong to dread the missionaries as precursors of foreign attack. The recent cruelties of Europeans in China have greatly increased the feeling against Christianity, and he strongly advises the missionary societies to put in, no claim for compensation. This policy has been followed/by the London Missionary Society, and he would make it universal.
The place of honour in the new Fortnightly is assigned to an alarmist article on Great Britain's position in the Mediterranean by Lieutenant-Colonel Willoughby Verner. The writer's argument may be thus summarised. The Medi- terranean, he argues, is for us a place of arms of supreme im- portance; but recent moves by France and Russia have so far altered our position as to place us at a great strategic dis- advantage, with every chance of our Mediterranean Fleet being overwhelmed in the event of war with the two Powers. To guard against this danger Colonel Verner urges, firstly, that "more battleships should be sent to the Mediterranean; secondly, that many more cruisers should be placed on that station; thirdly, that a large additional flotilla of destroyers should be sent out to thwart the French torpedo-boat scheme; and fourthly, that a proper complement of auxiliaries, con- densing vessels, repairing vessels, ammunition and store. ships, coal-depots, &c., &c., without which a modern fleet cannot keep the sea, should be at once assembled there." It is only right to add that Colonel Verner does not insist on any colossal addition to the Naval Estimates to provide for the realisation of this programme. "Even now in a very Short space of time, we could, by withdrawing vessels from outlying stations, assemble a sufficient force in the Mediterranean to make all attack on us so dangerous to the attackers that it would secure us an immunity from all risks."—As a set-off to the "Fool's Paradise" theory of Colonel Verner we have the views set forth in the articles of Baron de Coubertin, discussed in our last issue, and of Mr. Thomas Barclay, who pleads for a General Treaty of Arbitra- tion between Great Britain and France on the lines of the proposed treaty between America and Great Britain. Mr. Barclay points to the Hague Conventions as a sign of progress, while admitting that the optional character of the submission to the permanent Court proves that "Governments, as heretofore, will necessarily look for guidance to the national feeling behind them, before electing in really dangerous cases of difference to seek arbitration."—Then, as regards Russia, we have" Calchas " insisting in an extremely able article on the peremptory need of pacific relations with other nations imposed on the Muscovite Empire by the exigencies of her finance, home politics, and commercial development.—We have read with great interest Professor H. Macaulay Posnett's lucid and informing paper on the Federal Constitution of Australia. This is an excellent analysis of the surrenders and compromises involved in practical Imperialism. Federalism, as he shows, necessarily involves duality of citizenship—State rights and Commonwealth rights—and this duality further involves the paramount necessity of a written Constitution, a necessity which profoundly distinguishes Federalism from our largely unwritten British Constitution. Thence he proceeds to show the fundamental distinction between the function of the Federal Senate—as the guardian of State rights—and the British House of Lords. Professor Posnett next deals with the vexed question of the constitution of the final Court of Appeal, and points out that while the Australian mode of amending the Constitution is more democratic than that of the United States, both Constitutions are far more diffi- cult to alter than the British. While sceptical as to the growth of genuine, as opposed to intercolonial, Free-trade, he anticipates that under the Commonwealth the sordid oppor- tunism of Colonial politics will give place to the establishment of party ties based on broader principles. Finally, he points out the curious anomaly that our Constitution is the centre of two existing Federations and may soon become the legal centre of a third. "It is not surprising," he continues, "that such an anomaly awakens grave distrust in those who fear the federalising of British institutions. They tell us that Federalism is a rigid system, wanting that elasticity which
our own Constitution supplies. We reply that elasticity may be purchased at too high a price."
There is nothing very fresh or striking in the paper in the National Review in which "An Old Parliamentary Hand' sets forth the "Causes of Unionist Discontent." In regard to Ireland, the writer finds the policy of the present Administra- tion "remarkable for chicanery, feebleness, and pedantic obstinacy," and expresses the fervent hope that Mr. Wynd- ham will not adhere to the policy of trying to reconcile the irreconcilable. In the Far East, he is on safer ground in con- demning our dog-in-the-manger attitude towards Russia. Turning to national defence, he charges the Admiralty with deceiving the House of Commons as to the actual strength of the Navy, and endorses Sir Robert Giffen's criticisms on Mr. Brodrick's Army reform scheme. Against Mr. Brodrick and Lord Selborne personally he has nothing to say ; he credits them with good intentions, public spirit, and energy, and trusts they will "resist to the utmost the pressure of pusillanimous colleagues." Finally, he pleads for a further reconstruction of the present Cabinet, hinting, as an alternative, that if the Opposition were to adhere to the general policy as regards Imperial and foreign affairs indicated by Lord Rosebery, Sir Edward Grey, Mr. Haldane, and Sir Henry Fowler, "they would not look for support in vain from the Unionist ranks."
Much of the criticism in the paper is only too well founded; the constructive part, on the other hand, strikes us as vague and even chimerical.—Mr. W. R. Lawson's unsparing attack on " Morganeering " will be read with keen interest. We have only room to notice two points in his out- spoken condemnation of the methods of high financiers : first, that the public were on this occasion only the subordinate actors in the great financial melodrama, and second, that the danger of "Morganeering " resides in the multiplicity of interests controlled by the great financiers of New York :—
" If the high financiers of New York had nothing but their railways to practise on they would be higher and mightier per- sonages than any of their class in Europa. The present market value of the railroad securities they manipulate exceeds the aggregate capital of all the principal systems in the United Kingdom. But they are monarchs of all they survey in various other fields of finance. No financial group in New York is now completely equipped until it runs half a dozen banks, two or three trust companies, as many insurance companies, at least one line of steamers, a few industrial trusts, and a string of miscel- laneous ventures—all in addition to the railroads, which are the serious part of their business."
Mr. Lawson's conclusion is that a Morgan dictatorship over the commerce and finance of Europe and America has come suffi- ciently within the range of practical politics to make it worth while to contemplate its probable consequences. And those con- sequences, if Mr. Lawson's forecast is to be trusted, certainly justify his comparison of high financiers to Anarchists. We gather, however, that Mr. Lawson sees some hope of salvation for the world in the fissiparous tendencies of " Morganeering," in other words, that the real Napoleon of finance has not yet arisen.—Sir Charles Roe from the vantage ground of thirty- five years' practical experience contributes a useful paper on the Indian Civil Service as a career. He concludes with the following wise words of advice : "Do not choose India unless you are sure that you will feel kindly towards its people, and will have your heart in your work. If you choose it without these conditions, you will be a bad bargain' for India, and India will ever be to you a Land of Regrets! "—Mr. Maurice Low gives an interesting account of President McKinley's trip throughout the States,—" the most extensive journey ever made by a President of this country!' On the Nicaragua Canal question he makes the following interesting statement :--
"Lord Pauncefote will not carry back with him a draft of the new Nicaragua canal treaty, notwithstanding the statements to that effect freely made in the newspapers, but he will be able to inform Lord Lansdowne that a new treaty will be negotiated when he returns next autumn ; that it will contain an article explicitly providing for the neutrality of the canal and recog- nizing the general principle' of neutrality as enunciated in the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, and that Mr. Hay believes that the treaty as negotiated and sent to the Senate will be ratified by that body. Mr. Hay may, of course, be disappointed, as the Senate is a most uncertain body, but the Secretary of State has for many weeks past been obtaining the opinions of Senators, with the result that he thinks he sees the necessary constitu- tional majority in the Senate to secure ratification. I am under the impression that Mr. M3Kinley has made Senators understand that if they want a canal built they must first ratify the new treaty, and that he will not consent to the abrogation of the Clayton-Bnlwer Treaty unless as the result of an amicable arrangement with England."
" X.," writing on "The Focus of Asiatic Policy," is in. clued to regard the concession for the Baghdad Railway as the great determining act of the German Emperor's reign. Mesopotamia, using the word largely, must, in his view, be the heritage of the Teuton or the Slay. "But there is this difference, that while the Russian Empire within itself has colonizing space for innumerable millions, the German sees no other place upon the globe where his race can shape out a true colonial policy on a race-basis. In Chesney's day the Baghdad Railway was but the overland route to India. In the days of the Siberian system and the Cape to Cairo scheme, the Power in possession of the Baghdad Railway -will command the inter-communication of three continents."
The most important article in the Monthly Review for June is a discussion of the coaling-stations problem by Sir John C. R. Colomb. He deals with the main objections made by distinguished naval officers to the transfer of such stations from the War Office to the Admiralty, and finds that the gist of them lies in the idea that their upkeep and defence are something quite apart from Admiralty business, and that, therefore, they will be at once burdensome and unsatisfactory. He considers the objection untenable, and he shows that such naval garrisons could be used in emergencies to feed the Fleet in far-off waters, and that the fact that the resources of such naval bases must always lie, in the long run, in their hinterlands will compel the creation of local Volunteers. Turning his attention especially to the Pacific, he believes that the hope of British survival there lies "in the development of means of local production and mainten- ance of battle power on that ocean. To ports and hinterlands there, our Pacific fleet should look for the pro- duction of all things necessary to its efficiency, certainly not to an island in the North Atlantic." He concludes an able and suggestive paper by calling upon the Australasians and Canadians to prepare themselves to furnish supplies and Volunteers for such advanced naval bases in order that the naval peace garrisons may be at once released for service afloat on the outbreak of war.—An editorial called "The Pyramid of Studies" is full of common-sense on the eternal education problem. The Pyramid of Studies, says the writer, must be constructed with a view to three things,— the ultimate aim of life, the growth of the individual mind, and the urgency of social pressure. We must "deal magnanimously with life" if we wish to produce anything in education beyond formalism. It is not that there is anything wrong with our curriculum ; that is good enough; it is the spirit in which we manipulate it that makes it futile, Of the other articles the best are the literary ones,—the President of Magdalen's illuminating study of Gray's debt to Dante, and the editor's own account of the song-book of Duke Wenceslaus of Bohemia. Nor must we omit to mention Mr. J. Horace Round's discourse on bogus Norman pedigrees, and a witty and charming article by Miss Mary Cholmondeley on early advertising. Altogether, it is a number full of general interest.
The brilliant series of descriptive articles contributed to Blackwood by an officer with the Natal Field Force culminates in a wonderfully vivid account of the battle of Vaal Krantz, which he describes as at once perhaps the most scenically picturesque and tactically most ridiculous battle ever fought. " Linesman," though inclined at times to an exuberant virtuosity of expression, has a very remarkable literary gift. The paper is painfully interesting from beginning to end. We may note in particular " Linesman's " tribute to the imperturbable bravery of the sappers, his curious account of the effect on the morale of the British of the uncanny patience of the Boers in reserving their fire, and his deliberate statement that Colenso was "net destruction, but salvation."—The mis- cellaneous articles are hardly up to the usual standard of excellence. Dr. Louis Robinson's paper on "Minds and Noses" is a strange mixture of physiology and persiflage; but there is a good sketch of "Old Times and New on the Indian Borderland" by an Indian Civil Service official, with some illuminative anecdotes of General Colley and Lord Roberts; and the author of "Musings without Method" dis- courses with his usual incisiveness on the disorganised condi- tion of the British theatre.
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