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The Penny Poets. REVIEW OF REVIEWS The Penny Poets

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No. 2. Scott's "Marmion."

No. 3. Byron's "Childe Harold," Cantos I. and II., and other Poems.

No. 4. Lowell's Poems. Selections. No. 5. Burns's Poems. Selections. No. 6. Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet."

No. 7. Longfellow's "Evangeline," and other Poems.

No. 8. Selections from Mrs. Elizabeth
Barrett Browning's Poems.
No. 9. Selections from Thomas
Campbell.

No. 10. Milton's "Paradise Lost." (Abridged.)

No. 11. Stories from "The Earthly Paradise." By Wm. Morris. No. 12. Byron's 'Childe Harold."

Part II.

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(Sixpence Monthly).

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REVIEW OF REVIEWS

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Volume of about 250 Pages, containing all that is best in the Poetical Work of these four writers.

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Storm Clouds in the East.

THE PROGRESS OF THE WORLD.

LONDON, Oct. 1st, 1895. Last month closed with an ominous overclouding of the Eastern sky. From the further East came news of Lord Salisbury's ultimatum to the Chinese Government: -"Degrade the Viceroy responsible for the massacre of Ku-cheng in fourteen days, or the British admiral will act." And the British admiral, with all his ships, moved menacingly towards Nankin. The same day came news of the mustering of a great British fleet of seventeen vessels at the island of Lemnos, at the mouth of the Dardanelles-not without cause. For the Sultan had intimated that he had no intention of permitting any real limitation upon his right divine to govern wrong in Armenia, fresh atrocities were reported from these harried uplands, and it was time to give the Commander of the Faithful a hint that even England's patience was not quite inexhaustible. So when Monday's papers were unfolded at yesterday's breakfast table an astonished public found itself next door to war with the Ottoman Empire at one end of Asia and the Chinese Empire at the other. Athrifling, perhaps even an awe-inspiring spectacle, and one which in its way is quite the most alarming witnessed for many years.

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Russias. We have, therefore, the advantage of all the popular strength given by Democracy with all the concentration of purpose in an untrammelled executive that is possessed by an absolute despot. Lord Salisbury for practical purposes in foreign affairs is Tzar. His will there is none to dispute. If he chooses to blow the Sultan's palace about his ears, no one will say him nay. If he occupies Nankin, and therefore invades and occupies Chinese territory, his political opponents will be the first to vote him whatever supplies he needs. Considering what has been written of the bitterness of parties and the growth of faction, such a spectacle of an united nation standing silent in serried phalanx, waiting with loyal obedience the command of its chief, is encouraging indeed.

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end of it, and the smell is fearful. The Central Government, either from inability or want of will, no longer keeps in check the fanatical and disaffected ement in the provinces, and the missionaries have

of Old. enough to feel absolutely free from alleen rabbled in every district save one. Twenty-two calculations of majorities or minorities. It is better still to know that there is no opposition, even of the most formal description, to hamper the Ministers of the Queen in defending the interests and in discharging the duties of the nation. John Bull for once speaks with a single voice and acts with a will as unfettered as if he were the Autocrat of all the

Catholic missions are reported to have been attacked. American, German and British mission stations shared the same fate. It is obvious that unless something is done, and that promptly, the interior of China will be too hot to hold a European. Yet what can be done? We can occupy Nankin, no doubt. But with what result? If there is sufficient

anthority left in Pekin to maintain order and enforce the law even under menace of our guns, well and good. Bas if not --and there is always the danger that we may by our own action bring down with a run the decaying and moribund government which alone stands between four hundred millions of men and anarchy--what then? We shall only have poached on the other end of the egg which Japan has chipped, and the stench will be worse than ever. China is in a very eggshelly condition, and no one dare prophesy what will

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lated. The Governor of edch

the province of Szechuen

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has been degraded by an Imperialedict, and declared to be ineligible for office elsewhere. Szechuen is the most western province of China, and a correspondent of mine in Chung King says that that city is the only large town in the province in which foreigners have not been attacked. The Roman Catholics in that province alone have had forty mission stations looted by the mob. Repeated representations at Pekin have produced nothing more than mockery of compliance with the demands of the Powers, and it seemed, even down to the last moment, that the Viceroy, who is officially and probably personally responsible for the outbreak of violence, would defy all the diplomats of all the Powers. No sooner, however, did the British ultimatum arrive than the Chinese Government, apparently believing that England means business when she puts her fleet in motion, suddenly complied and more than complied-with everything that was asked of her. The degradation of the Viceroy,

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LI HUNG CHANG IN HIS SEVENTY-THIRD YEAR. Taken at Tientsin, July 18th, 1895, after his return from Japan. The bullet mark is seen under the left eye.

ped, will teach a lesson to all the mandarin

is eggshell or gutta-percha. If it is eggshell, we are only at the beginning of our troubles, and the menace intended to extract us from an impossible situation would merely have transferred us from the frying-pan into the fire. Still, Lord Salisbury

is entitled to the credit of a first and sensational suc

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cess.

The Potency

No such good

of news has come Impotence. to us.

from

Constantinople. The officials responsible for the massacres in Armenia are not yet degraded by Imperial edict, nor have any of the demands of the Powers for guarantees against a repetition of the massacres been agreed to by the Porte. Our difficulty in dealing with Turkey is not lack of strength, but the possibility of demolishing the Grand Turk altogether if he forces us to hit him. The British fleet that now lies mustered off the island of Lemnos could, possibly. without even the loss of a gunboat, force the Dardanelles, sink every ship in the Turkish navy, and compel the immediate evacuation of Constantinople by the Sultan and his Ministers. But after we had done all this, where should we be? In naval, if not military occupation of Constantinople, with a probability that we should have to occupy Stamboul just as we occupied Alexandria, in order to prevent the entire destruction of the city. But in the present state of

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