The Review of Reviews

THE MONTHLY REVIEW. THE Monthly Review is about on its usual level, its defect as a monthly being, perhaps, that it is hardly topical enough. The editorials give the impression of being written by a good writer who has nothing to write about, and they have neither the advantage of being a consecutive commentary on affairs, nor a specialist's treatment of special questions. The illustrations are, however, even better than usual. I have dealt elsewhere with Col. Maude's article on Army Reform," and also with the editorial entitled "The Happy Warrior."

THE NEED FOR EDUCATION.

Sir Henry Roscoe writes mournfully on "The Outlook for British Trade," which he is quite sure will remain gloomy as long as we neglect to educate ourselves. He justly points out that the money we are always squandering on wars for markets will be wasted if we are not able to hold our own in time of peace. We want a High School for Science, and it is the duty of the Government to provide it :

The nation is prodigal of its wealth and of its life when duty calls. We are spending a hundred millions to save our empire in South Africa; and the lives of thousands of brave men on both sides have been sacrificed in the cause. Our educational war is also waged to save the empire. It requires no sacrifice of life, and its cost is a trifle compared with that called for month by month by the Commander-in-Chief in South Africa. Moreover, if all this is true, if England by her supineness and blindness is running even a remote risk of losing her trade and her industrial position, surely we are not asking too great a boon from a Government which has proved itself so alive to its responsibilities as to pay dearly for the honour and welfare of the empire, when we say help us to combat the enemy not by shooting him down, but by proving to him in peaceful contest that the Englishman is the better man.

exist, though Lieutenant Bellairs sees danger from Germany in ten years' time.

LITERARY MYSTIFICATION.

But perhaps the most remarkable thing about the Monthly Review is a little poem entitled "On Lansdowne Hill." The peom, which is introduced as by the writer of "An Englishwoman's Love Letters," is very notable, for it has all the mannerism of Mr. Henry Newbolt, though it is entirely without any of his merit. Now, it has been remarked that Mr. Newbolt is the editor of the Monthly Review, that the writer of the letters has written a poem in it, and that the publisher of the Review, of Mr. Newbolt's verses, and of the "Englishwoman's Love Letters" is the same. The natural conclusion which any one would draw is that the author of the Love Letters is Mr. Newbolt. But most wonderful of all, if we go back to page 23 of the Review, we find the editor, Mr. Henry Newbolt, recommending as one of fourteen books which people ought to read—" An Englishwoman's Love Letters!"

OTHER ARTICLES.

Mr. Hudson Maxim describes the methods of making Smokeless Cannon Powder. Mr. H. L. Nelson writes on Civil Service Reform, and Mr. R. E. Jones asks, "Is the College Graduate Impracticable?" his reply being that college life should begin earlier and end earlier than at present.

THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.

THE North American Review for January is up to its usual high standard. I have dealt elsewhere with Sir Robert Hart's article on "China and her Foreign Trade," with the Duke of Argyll's "Political Situation in Great Britain," with Mr. Alfred Harmsworth's terrifying vision of a newspaper monopoly in the twentieth century, and with Mr. de Blowitz's survey of "Past Events and Coming Problems."

AUSTRALIA FEDERATED.

Mr. H. H. Lusk writes on Australia as "The New Power in the South Pacific." He marks out the sphere of Australia's interests as follows:

She will be interested in the Loyalty group, where France is established, and in the New Hebrides, where she is very anxious to establish herself. She will be solicitous about the Solomon islands, part of which are at present recognised as German territory; and she will take a very deep interest in the future of New Guinea, part of which belongs to Germany, and the rest, beyond the British section, is understood to form part of Holland's great but little used estate in the eastern Archipelago. These will undoubtedly be Australia's first cares, but she will not be content with these for very long. Siam, French and Southern China, and Borneo, are natural marts for her trade, which in the next ten years will be a rapidly increasing one; and, in relation to all these, she will expect to exercise large influence.

THE PARSEES.

The "Great Religion of the World" this month, is Zoroastrianism, and it is treated at length by Miss D. Menant. The Parsees in India number nearly 90,000, and more are to be found in China, Penang, Rio, Mauritius, Cape Town, Madagascar, and Australia, and in certain Persian provinces. Miss Menant says that the Parsees are socially growing more and more important, but they lack unity, and European rationalism has made inroads upon their dogmas.

AMERICA'S ANNEXATIONS.

Ex-President Harrison writes on "The Status of Annexed Territory and Its Inhabitants." Mr. Harrison holds that there is no doubt as to the capacity of the United States to acquire territory, but he points out that a foreign treaty is subordinate to the Constitution, just as an Act of Congress is, and the Constitution declares that all persons born or naturalised in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens of the country. If, therefore, the newly-acquired territory is part of the United States, there is no doubt as to the rights of citizenship possessed by the inhabitants. On the subject of expansion in general Mr. Harrison says little, but it is interesting to note that he takes the case of the Boer Republics as a case of unhealthy expansion, declaring that it is "dropsical."

THE REVUE DES DEUX MONDES. THE Revue des Deux Mondes for January is perhaps not quite so interesting as usual.

THE SITUATION IN CHINA.

M. Courant contributes a thoughtful paper on the relations between foreigners and the Chinese, in which he says that the dominant characteristic of the Chinaman is an extremely practical, patient, and thoughtful spirit, The joined to a poor and impersonal imagination. patriarchal period suggested to the Chinese the first regular organisation of the family, based upon filial reverence; and though that is long ago, they have not sought for anything else. The great mass of the people are to-day exactly what their forefathers were two hundred years ago, even perhaps the same as they were in the time of Confucius. The slight additions which have been made to the social organisation, such as the rural communes and the commercial corporations, have all been based upon a form of the family bond. To foreigners China is not essentially hostile; her civilisation is not incompatible with the presence of Western people within her borders, and the Confucian ethics actually exhibit remarkable coincidences and parallelisms with Christianity. The lesson drawn by M. Courant is that Western novelties should be introduced very gradually, and that, instead of outraging the Chinaman's deepest prejudices, appeal should rather be made to the M. Courant recogstrongly practical side of his nature. nises the difficulty of exacting such care and patience from traders and business people in a hurry to grow rich; he seems, however, to have the greatest hopes of the semi-European education now being given to a number of selected Chinese youths by the missionaries-that is to say, the Catholic ones. Of Protestant missionaries, M. Courant does not seem to think very much-indeed, he says that the very essence of Protestantism, the lack of a hierarchy, and the principle of free inquiry, are both -opposed to the Chinese nature.

SALT.

M. Dastre has one of his extremely solid and informing papers on salt, and especially the salt of the Sahara. Of the physiological need for salt in the human body he gives the usual examples, drawn from sacred and profane history. So universal is salt that it has from time to time served instead of money as a medium of barter, and it is from this use of it that we obtain our word "salary." M. Dastre goes on to deal with the prospects of finding salt in large quantities in the Sahara, and not only what is commonly called salt, but various alkali mineral -deposits which are used in the arts. The old hypothesis that the Sahara was at one time a sea has now been given up, and it is recognised that this desert exhibits a variety of formations of different geological periods.

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE POPE.

The Marquis de Gabriac continues his interesting reminiscences of the years from 1878 to 1880, when he was French Ambassador to the Vatican, dealing more particularly with the question of the elections to the Sacred College. It is well known that the various Catholic Powers in Europe are exceedingly anxious to have as many representatives as possible in the Cardinalate. M. de Gabriac's efforts to obtain an extra hat for France have no great interest for us, but he well describes the impression produced in Rome by the elevation of Dr. Newman to the Sacred College. other appointments, too, exhibited a desire on the part of the Pope to modify the overwhelming Italian majority

The

in the Sacred College. M. de Gabriac, indeed, in writing to his chief at the French Foreign Office, attributes to his Holiness the intention of giving gradually an absolute majority to foreigners, that is to say, to non-Italians. A Papacy which becomes more and more Italian would, after a brief interval, be no more than a Bishopric of Rome. On the other hand, M. de Gabriac argues, a Pontiff who enjoys the support of the whole Catholic world could always command the profound respect of the Italians themselves. In a subsequent conversation with the Pope, M. de Gabriac appears to have satisfied Side himself that his account of the situation was right.

by side with this policy, M. de Gabriac says that the Pope proceeded to alter the personnel of his representatives at the principal foreign Courts; Leo recalled almost all the important Nuncios and substituted his own nominees, who were men of greater worth and distinction. As M. de Gabriac says, one of the most characteristic prejudices of the Holy Father is a horror of mediocrity.

THE COST OF THE WAR.

M. R. G. Lévy contributes an article which should impress French public opinion-though of course it is no news to us here on the cost of the Boer War, which he studies in its proper relation to the whole position of British finance. It may be permissible to quote a few of his weighty sentences :—

England is plunged in an adventure in which her best friends regretted to see her engaged. The situation in South Africa has been compared to that of the American States when, in the eighteenth century, the Colonists rebelled against the Mother country and separated themselves from her in order not to pay the taxes which she claimed to impose upon them. But the actual state of affairs is yet more grave. The majority of American Colonists were English by race, and did not nourish against the Mother country the terrible hatred which is in the heart of the Boers, and which, instead of disappearing as sometimes happens after wars which are followed by a loyal and frankly-observed peace, has been revived by the repeated attacks of Great Britain on the independence and liberties of South Africa.

He goes on to point out that the surrender of the Ionian Islands and the retrocession of the Transvaal after Majuba Hill were examples of a policy which did not diminish the greatness or the prestige of Great Britain, but, on the contrary, exhibited that country to the eyes of the civilised world as a Power which was not guided solely by ambition, and won for her the praise of the Liberals of all countries. Never, continues this expert, did the economic prosperity of Great Britain reach so vigorous a development than in the days when, abandoning an aggressive policy, she contented herself with an army and a navy sufficient for the protection of her colonial territory and her mercantile marine; and he concludes by pointing out that already the war has wiped off the results of twenty years' economy in the paying off of the National Debt. And he goes on:

All these difficulties spring up at a moment when the com mercial competition of Germany and the industrial competition of America press the English hard, and dispute with them— often successfully-the markets of which they thought they possessed the uncontested supremacy. The sky of Albion is full of clouds. We know that her people are not such as to allow themselves to be beaten by reverses or to be turned aside from their path by the obstacles which they meet within it.

In fact, her finances, he says, have suffered the gravest shock that they have sustained for more than a century in the economic reaction of the South African War; and the London market and the commerce of the United Kingdom cannot but be seriously affected by it.

THE NOUVELLE REVUE.

THE Nouvelle Revue for January is unusually interesting. We have noticed elsewhere Captain Gilbert's observations on the war in South Africa, and there are several other articles which call for some notice.

ON THE PLANET MARS.

M. Camille Flammarion, who may be described as the Sir Robert Ball of France, has much to tell us in an illustrated article on this fascinating subject. Mars will be at its nearest to us on February 22nd, when our knowledge of the planet, it is hoped, will be added to. M. Flammarion gives us an interesting account of the surface of Mars, with the names which have been given by astronomers to the various depressions and elevations. Some of the depressions are called seas, but it is by no means certain that there is any water there. Of the much-discussed canals of Mars, which appear as straight lines or almost straight, M. Flammarion has no doubt that they represent the deliberate labour of some kind of living beings; but in speculating as to what manner of life it is that exists on Mars we must always remember the extraordinary difference of climate. For instance, with us the rain falls without any action on our part, and the snow condenses at the tops of our mountains so that the streams and rivers bring us water without occasioning us any very great trouble. It is not so with the Martians, if indeed there are any such people. They have seldom any clouds and apparently no rain, springs or streams of water. They obtain water apparently by the enormous engineering labour of canals from the poles of their planet, where there is an abundance of melted snow. A distinguished American astronomer, Mr. Lowell, has built on a mountain in the state of Arizona an observatory devoted entirely to discovering fresh facts about Mars. Mr. Lowell's theory is that what are called seas on the surface of Mars are really cultivated plains to which the canals bring water. As to the alleged signals made by the Martians to the earth, M. Flammarion has no belief in them.

OTHER ARTICLES.

M. Charpentier opens the number with an amusing account of how New Year's Day is celebrated in China. He recalls the fact that each cycle of time which we call a century only means sixty years in the Celestial Empire. M. Fremeaux tells once more the melancholy tale of Napoleon at St. Helena, but his pages, though not without interest, do not add much to our knowledge of the painful episode. "A propos of John Ruskin" is a sympathetic study by M. Depasse of Ruskin's evident search after the beautiful and ideal. Other articles deal with contemporary and past French art, and British Imperialism in 1900 is severely criticised by M. Judot, who bases his conclusions on the study of blue books, Mr. Chamberlain's speeches, and those delivered by various Liberal statesmen.

THE ITALIAN REVIEWS.

IN the Nuova Antologia (Jan. 16th) Professor Lombroso accuses his compatriots of anti-Italianism. Nothing, he declares, he dislikes so much as Chauvinism or antiSemitism, which is usually a form of exaggerated Nationalism; but, on the other hand, he protests against what he considers the widely-spread habit of crying down everything Italian. There is a passion for cosmopolitanism in Italy just now. In art, in literature, in science, in commerce—everything Italian is decried, and nothing admired save what is imported from beyond the Alps.

The great scientist points out what a serious injury is being done to the country by these means, and pleads for greater justice. His accusations, as far as literature is concerned, receive some support from the previous number of the Antologia, in which appears a most laudatory notice of Rostand's “L'Aiglon,” and a critical article by D. Oliva, on Italian fiction of the past year, which clearly indicates how closely French models are imitated. The deputy, L. Luzzatti, writes on "Science and Faith in the mind of Charles Darwin," his object being to show that Darwin was far less atheistic than many of his enemies and some of his disciples have asserted.

The Civiltà Cattolica prints in full the Pope's letter to Cardinal Richard, and protests energetically against the Associations Bill now before the French Chamber. It also extends its benediction to the New Year Pastoral issued by the English Catholic bishops, denouncing the iniquities of "Liberal Catholicism."

A recognition of the need of women in agriculture is spreading even in Italy. Signor Stanga describes in the Rassegna Nazionale how much has been accomplished already in Belgium and Denmark in the way of agricultural training for women, and points out that in Italy not only poultry rearing and beetroot growing, but especially silkworm rearing, would be largely benefited by trained female labour. He hopes to see the women, not only of the lower but also of the upper classes, offering themselves for agricultural instruction. The Archbishop of Genoa writes a temperate article on that most controversial subject, civil marriage. In Italy the State has imposed a civil ceremony to precede the religious celebration with the result that many poor persons who fail to observe the former find their children under the stigma of illegitimacy. The clericals, on the other hand, denounce all civil marriage as an insult to religion. The Archbishop now comes forward to urge the English plan of concurrent celebration and registration, as giving all the security the State need demand, while casting no slur on marriage as a sacrament.

To the Rivista Politica e Letteraria Colonel Ricchiardi, who commanded the Italian Legion in the Transvaal from the outbreak of hostilities till last September, contributes an interesting account of his military experiences. He writes with great good-humour and not a little selfglorification, and declares that in spite of everything that has been said to the contrary the Boers always treated the foreign volunteers well. He served throughout under General Botha, and it was he who delivered to PoleCarew Kruger's counter-proclamation to Earl Roberts' annexation of the Transvaal. He notes that the Natal Carabineers were their most dangerous foes, and relates that when the English prisoners were released at Noitgedacht twenty Irish soldiers elected to remain with the Boers. Of the future he says: "The Boers will still give the English much trouble. More than 10,000 men, broken up into small companies, carry on a guerilla warfare, and as long as they have at their head generals like Botha, De Wet, Ben Viljoen, Gravet and Delarey, they will never surrender, nor can they be cut to pieces.'

Flegrea opens the century with a smart new cover and an excellent list of contributors. Renny de Jourmont's French articles on French literature are always admirably written.

IN the February number of the Young Woman Mrs. Leily Bingin publishes an interview with Mrs. Clara Novello Davies on the subject of the Royal Welsh Ladies' Choir.

GERMAN MAGAZINES.

Deutsche Revue.

WITH the January number this magazine begins its 26th year. The editor announces that it will continue to be guided by those principles which actuated the founder. He then mentions who will be the chief contributors during this year, and the subjects upon which they will write. The following numbers promise to be very interesting.

THE KAISER AND HIS FLEET.

First place is given to an article by Vice-Admiral A. D. Werner, describing the way in which the German Emperor has built up the fleet. When Crown Prince he was deeply interested in the navy. Once when the author remarked upon the knowledge Prince Wilhelm seemed to have of matters nautical his father replied, "Oh, my eldest son is even more enthusiastic about sea matters than his brother Henry. He knows everything that can be learnt about the subject on land and in books."

When the Emperor William came to the throne he promised that the navy should cease to be controlled by army officers and should have officers of its own. This promise he speedily fulfilled. Then he began the building of ships, and although several disasters happened about that time to the German Navy he persevered. The worthy admiral rather overdoes in his unstinted praise the fore-. sight of the Kaiser, but there is no doubt that if it had not been for him little would have been done in the way of strengthening the fleet. The two things which Admiral Werner seems to consider as of the utmost importance to the navy were the acquisition of Heligoland and the building of the Kiel Canal. In both of these he sees the hand of William II.

ANDRÉE.

Mr. G. Stadling contributes an interesting personal article upon the ill-fated explorer. It appears that even in his youth Andrée was not as other boys were. rather despised play, early to bed and early to rise was his motto, and he was able to get through a vast quantity of work in consequence. At the mature age of six he heard his mother complain of the difficulty she had in getting servants, and promptly sallied out with a lasso to the market-place in order to secure one. was a splendid skater, and surprised every one by his daring. He was educated as a civil engineer, and held different posts under the Swedish Government. devoted himself to the study of atmospherical electricity, and arrived at important results. Whilst he was at Spitzbergen he wished to ascertain the effect of the long darkness upon the sight and the skin. For this purpose he, with his assistants, spent the winter up there, Andrée shut himself in a dark cellar for fifteen days after the reappearance of the sun, in order that at the end of that time his assistants, having regained their normal vision could compare themselves with him. Andrée had the first idea of reaching the Pole by means of a balloon when he was in America. Later he made several voyages in his own balloon, twice crossing the Baltic. At the time of his final departure on his journey to the Pole he was perfectly cool and unconcerned, as were his companions. Mr. Stadling assisted at the ascent but does not say much about it.

Monatsschrift für Stadt und Land.

A. Brachmann contributes an interesting study of Siberia and the deportation question. Statistics, he says,

are very difficult to obtain, and all numbers are approximate only. The time when the exiles were driven over the Ural mountains in chain-gangs has passed, and they now go by train from Moscow. Although the greater part of those who go to Siberia are sent there because of some offence, great numbers now migrate into the country. Writing of the work the prisoners have to do, he says that the working day consists of 13 hours, and that one year of work in the mines is reckoned as equal to 11⁄2 year's work in a factory. A miner gets four pounds of bread, one pound of meat, and a piece of pressed tea. In winter he gets cabbage and potatoes. It costs the State 66 roubles to maintain each prisoner. No women are allowed to work in the mines. The large number who have been exiled to Siberia eventually help to colonise the country. Mr. Brachmann concludes his account of the new reform introduced by the present Tsar by saying that Alexander II. won a high place amongst humane sovereigns by the emancipation of the serfs, but statues should rise to Nicholas II. on the far-off banks of the Amur because of his successful efforts to solve the difficult question of compulsory work in Siberia, and the light which he has brought to that dark country.

Ulrich von Hassell in his monthly survey of Colonial matters remarks on the peculiarity of the Chinese crisis. "We are waging," he says, "a war with the Government in one province and in another we are building a railway which is in every way a work of peace." H. Grotsche contributes an eulogistic sketch of the late Max Müller under the sub-title of "A German Savant in England."

Deutsche Rundschau.

The January number contains further extracts from the interesting diary of Theodor von Bernhardi. The first part deals with Garibaldi's flight from Caprera, and the second tells of the campaigns round Rome. Lady Blennerhassett contributes a sketch of Max Müller, giving extracts from his writings. She does not say much about his youthful days, but compiles, nevertheless, a very interesting article. The amount of work he used to get through must have been enormous. In the political review of the month the editor mentions that the Kaiser had made it quite clear to President Kruger, when the latter was in Paris, that he would not be received officially in Germany, nor would he be granted an interview with His Majesty. In discussing General Mercier's famous speech he points out that although too much significance should not be attached to the utterances of the ex-Minister of War, it nevertheless shows a very grave state of affairs that such a speech was possible in the Representative governing body of France.

Nord und Sud.

Karl Blind gives a long and able account of the Boer War. He prefaces it with a short reminiscence of his meeting with President Kruger in 1884. Mr. Blind mentions a few of the prophecies confidently made at the commencement of the war, which turned out so incorrect. That is easy. It would be much more difficult to cite say half-a-dozen forecasts, made by the "best authorities," that have been approximately right. Mr. Blind comments on the proposal-seriously put forth in some quarters— that the only way to end the war is by deporting the entire population of the Transvaal and Free State; a somewhat weak confession, he thinks, to be made by an Empire numbering some 400,000,000 opposed by about 150,000 men, women and children.

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The Review of Reviews, Volume 23