It

indirectly for what Europe sends her. Further, every country desires to export. To export without importing is the purpose of all Protectionists; indeed, it is the very essence of the Protectionist craze. is, of course, impossible for them to carry this purpose into effect; and every export they succeed in making to us implies a corresponding import from us-direct or indirect, visible or invisible, present or past. In short, in the words of the old song,

"Over the mountains

And over the waves,
Under the fountains

And under the graves,
Under floods that are deepest,
Which Neptune obey,

Over rocks that are steepest
Trade will find out the way."

The great ebb and flow of business is checked, not stopped, by the impediments which human folly places in its way.

The final result of our inquiry is, that if the maxim, "Trade follows the flag," means that our trade depends on our dominion, it is refuted by the events of the last half-century. "Trade," as has been well said, "does not follow the flag; it follows the price-list." The success of our trade depends, not on the nationality of our purchasers, but on the efficiency and economy of our industrial production. What should be done to promote these qualities is a question which lies be ond the scope of this article; but we may be satisfied that to burden our people with the expense of seizing and governing unremunerative possessions, and with the cost of gigantic armaments created to defend such possessions from all possible rivals, will not tend to economical production. Still less will it tend to economy if, in pursuit of new markets, we are led into war with such countries as France, or Russia, or Germany. Of such a war no one can tell the issue; but we may be very sure that, even if we were successful in the war, there are very few markets which would repay us for the cost. There would be no sufficient "value received." Le jeu ne vaudrait pas la chan

delle.

It follows from the above facts that it is not necessary to extend our Empire in order to maintain our trade, and that extension of Empire is not necessarily followed by increase of trade. Each separate extension must be judged on its own merits. No extension will be valuable to us unless we get "value received" for our outlay, a point which in the case of some of our recent extensions is extremely doubtful. It follows, further, that jealousy of the extension of other civilised nations into the waste places of the world is altogether out of place; and that, even supposing those nations to maintain an exclusive and Protectionist policy, our trade will probably gain more by the better policing and government of those places than it will lose by the commercial rivalry of our neighbours, even when supported by an

exclusive system of Protection. But if, on the other hand, upon any new appropriation by a civilised nation of regions hitherto barbarous or semi-civilised we could be satisfied that they would adopt the policy of the "open door," we should obtain all that our trade requires; and we might regard such appropriation not only without discontent, but with complete and positive approval.

Considerations such as these are peculiarly appropriate at the present moment. We are invited by the greatest military potentate in the world to join in an endeavour to stop the present ruinous increase of military expenditure. The cynicism of those who would throw cold water on such an invitation is little to be envied; but it cannot be denied that the obstacles to any such course as the Russian Emperor proposes are most formidable, and that they will continue to be so, so long as causes of quarrel exist. May not some of the most serious of these causes be removed by such a policy as is suggested above? Take the three most important foreign questions which are now agitating this country-the questions of China, of East Africa, and the new extension of the United States.

We are quarrelling in China about spheres of influence, about railway and steamship concessions, as well as about the "open door." But it is the "open door" which is our chief interest. Is it not pos

sible to say to France, to Germany, and, above all, to Russia, "We have nothing to object to your settlements or spheres of influence in China, provided they do not exclude our ships and our goods; we shall be glad that you should make harbours and railways in China, if only you will allow us to use them on fair and equal terms; we shall even be obliged to you, Russia, if you will introduce order and justice where the effete Chinese Government now encourages tyranny and corruption, provided only you allow your new subjects to buy and sell with us; and on these terms we will heartily join you in reducing the number of warships we now keep on the Chinese coast."

But

Take, again, East Africa. There are abundant reasons why France should not have dominion over the Upper Nile; but in the corre spondence recently issued reference has been made to the necessity for France of having a commercial outlet from her West African possessions via the Soudan and Egypt. Is it not possible to say to France, "Dominion in the Valley of the Nile we cannot concede to it is our policy to encourage your trade with and through Egypt, and to give you every facility for that purpose. So far as international barriers are concerned, let the trade of the Congo and the Niger flow freely down the Nile; but, on the other hand, let the trade of the Nile flow freely down the Congo and the Niger."

you.

These are the principles on which Lord Salisbury has wisely settled our differences on the Lower Niger. May they not also be applied to

the Nile?

Take, again, the case of the United States, and the probable extension of their dominion to Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines. To this we have wisely offered no sort of objection, and have been glad to express our sympathy with the Americans in relieving these fertile parts of the globe from the barren tyranny of Spain. No one feels more strongly than I do the value of this sympathy. No union, legal or otherwise, of English-speaking people can be satisfactory which does not include the United States. But the present sympathy will collapse if it is not supported by common interests. It is the interest of the United States, as it is ours, to keep an open door in China : but it is not so clear that the Americans, who have committed as many financial and economical blunders as any other people on the globe, may not think it to their interest to surround their new possessions by the wall of exclusive tariffs which do so much discredit to the names of Mr. McKinley and Mr. Dingley. May it not be well that we should, by every legitimate means, warn those who wish well to the Anglo-American friendship, that the feelings of Englishmen towards America are not likely to remain what they are now if they find themselves shut out, so far as hostile tariffs can shut them out, from the new territories which the United States are taking under their control?

There are two views which can be taken of the interests and effects of trade. The one is that upon which Great Britain acted in former times, which is still in favour with many foreign nations and with a small but noisy party amongst ourselves the view, namely, that it is the interest of each nation to act in the spirit of monopoly, to keep the trade of the world to itself, and to restrict the trade of other nations. This is the policy which in former times restricted our own trade; which made our own colonies revolt; which has been the cause of many bloody wars, and which, if some of the utterances I have quoted at the beginning of this article become the opinion of our people, may well lead us into bloody wars again.

The other view is that trade is, like mercy, a blessing to him that gives and to him that takes, to him that buys as well as to him that sells; that the less it is hampered with restrictions the more it flourishes; and that a trade which benefits other nations must be a benefit to ourselves. This is the view upon which our country has acted for the last half-century, with great benefit to the world but still greater benefit to ourselves. It is the gospel preached by Cobden -not only, or chiefly, on account of its material advantages, but because it carries into the practical life of the world the Christian message: "Peace and goodwill amongst men." There never was a time when it was more important that this gospel should be zealously preached.

FARRER.

THE NIGHT AFTER SAN JUAN.*

AN EPISODE OF THE CUBAN WAR.

A

S we gazed upon it from afar, the charge of the two gallant infantry brigades up the slopes leading to the heights where the San Juan fort was perched resembled nothing so much as a great wave sweeping slowly, but surely, in from the sea. Before our eyes, in some places, the great wave grew smaller and thinner, and now and again would subside and seem to dissolve altogether, as though robbed of all its power and impetus by the ragged reefs. It seemed even, for a moment, as though the waves must fall back, our thin, broken line recede, for the impossible had been attempted, and that the fire that came from the blockhouse was more than flesh and blood could stand against. Still the little clumps of men kept moving wearily up the hill, with their necks stretched out eagerly, dragging their lagging bodies. But the little clumps of blue which did not advance, which could not move, the heaps of dead and wounded, which in their blue clothing stood out so strikingly against the green background of the jungle grasses, were growing more numerous with every smokeless volley that came from the blockhouse.

Truly, at this moment, it seemed as though the blue waves would not reach the hilltop, and as though the men who had fallen upon the slopes had fallen in vain. Then the bugle note "to the charge" was heard again, and now three of the buglers of the Sixth Infantry alone gave their last dying breath to the trumpet call which shall never die away in the memory of their countrymen. It was heard again and again, above the unceasing "rup rup" of the regular, almost mechanical musketry fire that came sweeping down the slopes from the Spanish position. And with this inspiration, in one place, right under the fort, the human wave rose and ran out into a point. You could count Copyright, 1898, by S. S. McClure Co., U.S.A.

*

on the fingers of your hand the brave men who were leading it, and even as you counted they grew fewer, their arms going wildly up in the air as they fell. Then, with a weak and tired cheer, half-a-dozen men came out upon the open ground in front of the blockhouse, looking strangely tall against the sky line. I expected to see them mowed down, they were so pitifully few, but the Spaniards had fled. In no instance did our line come into closer contact with the retreating Spaniards than 100 to 150 yards, and I am afraid the artists who have pictured the scene differently have succumbed to the temptation to draw the conventional scene of a hand-to-hand conflict, and I am sure they have failed to represent things as they were.

A PRIVATE OF THE SIXTH.

The leader of this thin and scattered line, this forlorn hope that persisted in advancing through the leaden hail, was Lieutenant Ord—of a family that has given many a brave soldier to our country, but none braver than he. There raced with him, running neck and neck the gauntlet of death, a colour-bearer of the Sixteenth Infantry, carrying his great flag unfurled to the battle breeze; a private of the Sixth Infantry; and a little flute-player of the Sixth-a boy of sixteen, looking, however, barely fourteen, who, when the regiment came out of the jungle and the colours of the regiment were uncapped and all made ready for the assault, had been ordered back to the hospital, but had concluded to remain with the other fellows. The young private of the Sixth was an Ohio boy, who joined the regiment just before it left Fort Thomas for the war. He ran by Ord's side, the first on the rush line throughout the terrible climb, only to fall about twenty yards short of the crest of the hill. A deadly pallor overspread his face, and Ord, who had turned to one side in answer to a faint cry from his brave companion, saw that the wound was a mortal one. "My poor fellow," he said, for the moments they had lived together during the charge had bound them together with bonds of steel. "My poor fellow, I can do nothing for you."

"I didn't call you back for anything like that, Lieutenant. I'm done for. But I thought you'd better take my steel nippers; there may be still another wire fence beyond the crest of the hill, and I won't be there to cut it for you."

In a few minutes he died where he had fallen, but not before he had heard the bugle notes that called upon the scattered men to assemble in the blockhouse and the trenches that had been wrested from the Spaniards, and not before his eyes had seen the Stars and Stripes waving over the Spanish fort. And in one thing more his death was merciful; he never knew that the young officer whom he had worshipped with pure, unselfish idolatry had fallen, like himself, in the hour of victory, and lay there stiff and cold, not fifty yards away.