that every minister should be removed from active work at the age of, say, sixty, to give assistance to his brethren or live in quietness, as he chooses; the second condition would be that he receive a retiring allowance of not less than half his salary.

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THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY.

HE December Atlantic opens with an article on the British trouble in South Africa, which we have quoted from in another department. In the series of studies of tenement life, by that careful student and picturesque writer, Jacob A. Riis, there is a further and concluding essay entitled "Reform by Humane Touch," in which he reiterates the belief that reform to be thorough must begin at the top; but still, in looking back over recent years and forward to the future, he sees cause for hope and encouragement in the good work that has been done. In Mr. Hamilton Wright Mabie's careful and thorough essay on "Poe's Place in American Literature," he shows that this genius alone among our notable American men of letters was unique and unexpected in his appearance. He describes Poe as still remaining the most distinctive and individual writer that has appeared among us, holding with Hawthorne the supremacy in American literature.

It would be difficult to gather from Mr. Alfred Brown's title, "Wanted, a Chair of Tent-Making," the nature of the subject he had chosen. It is a discussion of the causes of the modern decline of the ministry, written from the layman's point of view, dwelling chiefly on the unrest of congregations demanding continual changes and the sad condition of things where to-day a faithful pastor is practically turned out to starve at the very age when he would be most eminent in another profession. Mrs. Elia W. Peattie writes on "The Artistic Side of Chicago," in an endeavor to show that there is behind the stress and confusion of that great city a steadily growing love of and desire for art and beauty.

THE FORUM.

N the November Forum Dr. H. K. Carroll, the special commissioner of the United States to Porto Rico, who in this number of the REVIEW describes the reforms inaugurated in the island by the American administration, discusses the question, "How Shall Porto Rico Be Governed?" Dr. Carroll advocates making the island a Territory of the United States, equal in rank, rights, and privileges to the existing Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, and Oklahoma. He shows that the rate of illiteracy in New Mexico is still 44 per cent., after the lapse of almost half a century, and yet New Mexico has universal suffrage. Can we not trust Porto Rico just as far?

Ex-Minister J. L. M. Curry contributes a paper on "Spain, Living or Dying?" Dr. Curry thinks there is a fair prospect, under wiser counsels, of a new Spain: "With universal education, fidelity to engagements, economy and honesty of administration, freedom of religion, more liberal commercial regulations, reliance on intelligent and skilled labor, Spain may yet take a high and honorable place among the nations of the earth."

Mr. Hoffman Atkinson advocates the establishment of a civil-service college, to train American officials, especially for the consular and diplomatic services. This want is now met in a measure, we believe, by the

school of diplomacy at Washington opened as a department of the Columbian University.

Mr. Clinton Rogers Woodruff gives an account of Philadelphia's recent experience with her water supply. The same policy of procrastination that cost the city her gas works and keeps up an expensive electric-light service under private management may result, he says, in the loss of the city water works.

In discussing "Educational Problems of the Twentieth Century," President Charles F. Thwing emphasizes the importance of uniting the educational forces now engaged in producing two distinct types of leadership-men of culture and men of power.

Mr. Tom Mann, the English labor leader, defines "The Attitude of the Workers in Europe and America." He outlines the present socialist programme in England as embracing the following specific demands: an eight-hour day, prohibition of the labor of children under fifteen, work for the unemployed, old-age pensions, nationalization of mines, nationalization of railroads, nationalization of land.

Dr. Rudolph Eucken writes on "The Finnish Question," Mr. Jacob Schoenhof on "What the World Owes to France." Mr. A. R. Smith on "The Problem of an American Marine," Mr. Charles Denby, Jr., on "Chinese Railroad and Mining Concessions," Mr. John P. Young on Chinese development and the western world, Capt. A. G. Froud on "Last Winter's Tragedies of the Sea," and Prof. William P. Trent on "Mr. McCarthy's Reminiscences."

THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.

TWO

WO important papers on the peace conference ap. pear in the North American for November. "A Russian View" is presented by the Russian delegate, F. de Martens, who reviews the proceedings at The Hague in detail and declares that the longer the labors of the conference lasted, the more fully views were exchanged among the representatives of the powers, "the more pronounced grew the mutual respect, the more friendly grew the personal relations, the more palpable became the desire to do something for the future." President Seth Low, who was one of the American commissioners, also reviews the action of the conference, and from his own point of view states the attitude of the American delegation. His purpose is to give the ordinary reader, as distinguished from the student, a general idea of the conference and its work. The significance of the arbitration convention, in President Low's opinion, lies in the prospect, not that all war will be prevented, but that the nations will be compelled, in a new way, to justify war to the public opinion of mankind.

Mr. Frank D. Pavey argues that an "open-door" policy in the Philippines is at present impracticable. An amendment to the Constitution exempting the Philippines from the operation of the provision that "all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States" would require the assent of two-thirds of both houses of Congress, or of the legislatures of two-thirds of the States, and the subsequent ratification of three-fourths of the several States. The only other method of "opening" the door would be the passage through Congress of an act making every other port of the United States "an open door to the world's commerce." This would mean an entire overthrow of the present tariff policy, involving the destruction of the present industrial and commer

cial system of the United States, so far as that system is based on the tariff. Neither of the great political parties will commit itself to such a programme. Ergo, the Philippine "open door" is "a political myth."

Prof. Joseph French Johnson, of the University of Pennsylvania, reviews President McKinley's now famous civil-service order of May 29. He declares, as a result of his investigation, that in his opinion the order was issued for good reasons and with a good motive. "If its promulgation was intended to serve any political purpose, it is a most astonishing exhibition of political incapacity, not only for the little it does, but for what it omits to do." Professor Johnson shows that there are many high positions left in the classified service which might have been exempted if a general raid on the offices had been planned. He accepts Secretary Gage's statement that the amendments to the rules are wholly incapable of the evil construction placed upon them by the critics. He concludes:

"If the heads of executive departments are besieged by office-seekers, they may ascribe the invasion not to the order of May 29, but to the false signals which have been hoisted all over the country by the friends of reform. I do not believe that there is any new game in Washington for the spoilsman or that civil-service reform is in peril. "

Mr. Louis Windmüller contributes an eminently sound and sensible article on "Food Which Fails to Feed," discussing not only the evil of commercial adulteration, but also the vicious eating habits so prevalent in this country-habits which tend to impair the digestion even of good food, not to speak of unwholesome counterfeits.

Mr. Bernard Lazare writes on "France at the Parting of the Ways," M. Jules Clarette on "The Dramatic Festivals of Orange," "Carmen Sylva" on "The Story of a Helpful Queen," and Claude Phillips on "The Picture Gallery of the Hermitage," while the Earl of Portsmouth and the Rt. Hon. Arthur J. Balfour contribute articles on the ritualistic controversy in England, the former on "The Rebellion Against the Royal Supremacy" and the latter on "How Ritualists Harm the Church."

IN

THE ARENA.

IN the November Arena appears Mr. Aylmer Maude's translation of an article by Count Tolstoi on "Church and State." This article is prohibited in Russia, and though written several years ago has never been printed there. Mr. Maude's translation has been made from Tolstoi's manuscript. The main thought of the article is summed up in these words:

"True religion may exist anywhere except where it is manifestly false-i.e., violent. It cannot be a state religion. True religion may exist in all the so-called sects and heresies, but it cannot exist where it is joined to a state using violence."

This number of the Arena has three papers on "The United States and the Philippines;" Mr. John H. Marble and Prof F. Spencer Baldwin discuss the pros and cons of the expansion policy, while Mr. Ramon Reyes Lala reviews the Philippine question proper.

In an article on "Twentieth Century Democracy" Mr. Carl Vrooman intimates that since Populism is nothing more nor less than "Democracy up to date," the Populist party is only waiting for the Democratic organization to "come to a full realization of presentday problems" and apply to them the principles enunciated by Jefferson and Jackson. When that time

comes the Populists will gladly give up their distinct political organization and join forces with the Democrats.

Dr. Helen Densmore finds a parallel of the Dreyfus case in the British Government's treatment of Mrs. Maybrick, an American woman whom many believe to be innocent of the crime for which she is undergoing imprisonment. Lord Chief Justice Russell himself has declared that Mrs. Maybrick "was unfairly tried, ought never to have been convicted, and ought to be released." Mrs. Almon Hensley describes the organization and aims of "The Society for the Study of Life," and Mabel MacCoy Irwin defends "The Right of a Child to Be Well Born." Dr. Maximilian Groszmann concludes his discussion of "Criminality in Children."

THE CONTEMPORARY REVIEW.

HE Contemporary for November contains a de

Tout paper or memories of the Crimea by Sir

Edmund Verney, who served as a midshipman on the flagship Britannia, and afterward on the Terrible, a paddle-wheel steam frigate which gained a great reputation during the war. Sir Edmund Verney seems to have seen every one and everything worth seeing in the course of the campaign, and his article is full of amusing anecdotes of the men and events of that turbulent epoch.

"A SUPERB SPECTACLE."

M. Trarieux, formerly French minister of justice and a witness for Dreyfus at the court-martial at Rennes, contributes to the Contemporary a short but very necessary defense of the attitude of French people dur ing the great controversy. He applies the tu quoque argument very appositely to show that other nations are just as liable to lose all sense of justice and decency in great national crises. But, he asks:

"Is it certain that any other country would have been able to exhibit the superb spectacle of a handful of courageous citizens constituting themselves for two years the champions of right and law against all the combined forces of government? Is there a finer example of citizenship known than this epic resistance to insult, intimidation, and menace, solely by the use of those legal weapons which enabled these volunteer soldiers of duty to make their voices heard? Should we not also pay homage to the institutions which have allowed such a conflict? And if the attempt has not been crowned with full success, has it done nothing toward the triumph of truth? Picquart, ScheurerKestner, Zola, finally, tower above the illusory trials and false sentences; they have been the true interpreters of that national spirit which has always shown itself alive to questions of justice and generosity. And their work has been by no means unproductive. Dreyfus is free; his rehabilitation has, in fact, been achieved in the eyes of three-quarters of the world; and to accomplish the reparation which is due to him is but a question of patience and time. These are the results obtained so far, and truly they deserve better things, imperfect as they may be, than a threat of boycotting."

THE PRIMEVAL LANGUAGE.

Mr. Charles Johnston attempts to reconstruct the lan. guage of our remote forefathers, and concludes that "the original speech, the true primeval tongue of man, was quite unlike any language we have ever heard; yet we have all talked it, and all its elements are present in the

tongues of to-day. The primeval language was a vowel language altogether; it had no consonants, or contacts, as we ought to call them, at all. Its words consisted of vowel sounds following each other, repeated or variedof words like aeaea, aoao, aia, auau, aeoia, iaua, oioi, ouou, uaua, ueue, all of which, I may say in passing, are taken from a language in use to-day. The sentences were intermittent streams of vowels, each stream held on so long as the speaker's breath allowed or whim dictated."

The primeval language, he says, is spoken to-day by every child in its first attempts at speech.

OTHER ARTICLES.

Mr. Thomas Hodgkin, who represented Oxford and Cambridge at the historical congress of Cividale in September, contributes an account of his stay in that town.

He says that the congress was a great success, and gives a pleasant account of the courtesy and hospitality which he received at the hands of the Italians. Professor Dicey writes on "The Teaching of English Law at Harvard," the system and success of which is, he thinks, an example to the English universities. The number concludes with a letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Balfour on "The Employment of Volunteers Abroad."

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THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

HE monthly chronique has made its way into the Nineteenth Century also, and with the November number Sir Wemyss Reid begins his task as chronicler.

REMEMBERING VERSUS WRITING.

"Literature Before Letters" is the theme of an interesting paper by Prof. Max Müller. He quotes from Finnish, Polynesian, Greek, and Indian records to show that extensive literatures existed and were handed down intact by aid of memory alone long before the alphabet came in. Such feats of memory seem scarcely credible to us. The writer exclaims:

"Alas! our memory has been systematically ruined, and it hardly deserves that name any longer when we remember what memory was in ancient times. We seem to be piling every day heaps of ashes on that divine light within us. Men who read the Times every morning, possibly Notes and Queries, then blue-books, then possibly novels, or it may be serious works on such different subjects as geology, philology, geography, or history, are systematically ruining their memory.

"I have heard Brandram recite several plays of Shakespeare entirely by himself and without a hitch or a flaw. I have myself, in my youth, repeated compositions of more than a hundred thousand notes on the pianoforte without any effort. The memory is, then, I believe, chiefly muscular, not mental, and if any little hitch happens the chain is often broken, and we must begin again."

THE DEATH OF NELSON.

A very vivid description of the battle of Trafalgar is furnished in the letter (hitherto unpublished) of Captain Cumby, of the Bellerophon, to his son. One pathetic passage may be quoted :

"At half-past 7 we observed that the Euryalus, to which ship we knew Vice-Admiral Collingwood had shifted his flag, carried the lights of the commander-inchief, and that there were no lights on board the Victory; from which we were left to draw the melancholy

inference that our gallant, our beloved chief, the incomparable Nelson, had fallen. But so unwilling were we to believe what we could scarcely bring ourselves to doubt, that I actually went on board the Euryalus the next morning and breakfasted with Admiral Collingwood, from whom I received orders without being once told, or even once asking the question, whether Lord Nelson was slain."

A chart accompanies the letter.

OTHER ARTICLES.

Horticulture as a profession for the educated, by Miss A. G. Freer, is another variant of the same plea for putting brains into the land.

Rev. D. Wallace Duthie, writing on the "remittance man," roundly declares that "if his guardians wish a youth of reckless habits to go headlong to the devil they cannot do better than dispatch him to the colonies and send him remittances monthly."

Mrs. Corner-Ohlmüs gives a vivid sketch of a devil dance she witnessed in Ceylon which resulted in the exorcism of a demon from a native woman. The woman was certainly changed into seemingly a new creature. Mr. A. Shadwell describes the progress of the plague in Oporto, and ascribes it to the century-old sanitation of the city.

Mr. James Stuart, an engineer on the Assam-Bengal Railway, writes on Railway Communication Between India and China." His article is illustrated with a map. Mr. Stuart is convinced that it is by railroads that the conquest of China will be achieved, and he courts the inevitable growl at the lack of British enterprise in that direction. A railroad from the Assam Valley to the Yang-tse Kiang would place Shanghai and Calcutta in direct communication. The advantages of this proposal he sums up as follows:

"The Indian system of railroads is about to penetrate Assam, and troops will soon be able to reach that province from Delhi, Cawnpore, and Lucknow, without trans-shipment or break of gauge, within, approximately, seventy hours. Having attained this point, they could be thrown into China within twenty-four hours by the proposed railroad route. Russia, with her Siberian railroad and military base on the borders of Poland and Germany, would be nowhere in the race for supremacy in China, and we should practically be in a position to hold the field against all comers by gaining complete mastery over its great inland waterway."

adapting the role of a dominant navy to the forlorn hope of a military force charged with the completion of a task which no navy, however powerful, can compass without the swiftly following expeditionary force equipped for that special purpose, which has made our army, small as it was and is, a terror in the past, and promises for the future just such a measure of success as a due recognition of the value of surprise action must needs imply."

THE MENACING COMET.

Writing under this title, Mr. Edward Howard Vincent discourses of comets in general and of Biela's comet in particular :

"It may not be prudent to generalize freely where theory rather than actually assured experience is our guide. If comets exist the substance of which seems entirely gaseous and so transparent that small stars remain visible through them, there are others which give evidence of possessing a dense, compact nucleus, since their light has been strong enough to be seen in the daytime, even when so close to the sun as to be apparently involved in his atmosphere. This happened in the case of the great comet of 1843, when on February 28 it was visible in full daylight near the sun's limb. A similar instance occurred in 1847 with the one discovered by Mr. Hind, which shone so brilliantly that it was observed at noonday and for several hours afterward within two degrees from the sun."

But whether dense or transparent, Mr. Vincent has not much fear of the consequences of a collision.

OTHER ARTICLES.

"Vernon Lee" contributes a very able article on "The Need to Believe: An Agnostic's Reply to Professor William James." The article treats, however, too categorically of Mr. James' contentions, and is generally too negative in tone to be susceptible of a quotation here.

Edith Sichel reviews the letters of Mary Sibylla Holland. Mrs. Holland was a shrewd observer of things, and her letters are full of deep insight and philosophy. The number concludes with a delightful and characteristic allegory by Fiona Macleod.

THE NATIONAL REVIEW.

HE comments on the Boer war in the National Review's monthly chronique deal largely with the question of foreign sentiment, which Mr. Maxse declares to be animated by hatred of England rather than by love of justice.

DEWEY AND THE PHILIPPINES.

The monthly letter from America is largely devoted to Admiral Dewey and the Philippine problem. Mr. A. M. Low thinks that the return of Admiral Dewey has resulted in a great accession to the expansionist strength. He says:

"Before Dewey's arrival the 'anti-imperialists'-the word is a misnomer, but it is part of the political jargon of the day-hoped much from him. He had been represented as opposing McKinley's policy in the Philippines and as championing the cause of Filipino independence. "When Dewey comes home,' said the antiimperialists, the tide will set our way and there will be an end to this "accursed war." When Dewey came home he shattered the hopes of the anti-imperialists

even as he had shattered Spain's pride. In unequivocal language he let it be known that he was in favor of putting down the rebellion first and considering the form of government for the Filipinos afterward. That he believes in 'expansion' and in retaining every foot of conquered territory, and in prosecuting the war with the utmost vigor until the authority of the United States is recognized, we all know. The anti-imperialists could get no comfort from his home-coming."

SUMMER IN ALASKA.

Mr. W. F. Bailey describes "A Summer Trip to Alaska," and gives a pleasant description of Skagway and Sitka in the summer-time. Speaking of the scenery, he says:

"To see glaciers in their arctic magnificence one should go to Alaska. I have seen the ice-rivers of Switzerland and the Tyrol, of Norway and of British Columbia, but never anything like unto the frozen fields that surround Glacier Bay. As the traveler sails north from the Wrangel Narrows to the Lynn Canal he sees many magnificent glaciers lining the mountainous shores, but all sink into insignificance compared with the famous Muir Glacier, which comes into view as you sail through the icy straits. Where this frozen river flows into the sea it has a width of nearly 2 miles and presents a perpendicular front of from 200 to 300 feet high. The great frozen lake behind extends back for at least 30 miles, and is bounded on one side by one of the grandest groups of mountains in the world-the great Fairweather range, the peaks of which rise to a height of over 15,000 feet above the sea."

OTHER ARTICLES.

Mr. Leslie Stephen writes on "The Cosmopolitan Spirit in Literature," Mr. W. R. Lawson on "German Finance," while Miss Godley sends "A Playgoer's Pro test " against the exaggeration of scenic effects in English drama.

THE QUARTERLY REVIEW.

HE October number of the Quarterly is marked

by much freshness and variety, as well as by the solid worth we naturally look for in its erudite pages. It has actually introduced the innovation of pictorial illustrations. Yet more interesting is it to observe the slow and gradual adjustment of its traditional conservatism to the modern democratic environment. It treats sympathetically of the ultra-democratic scheme of Australian federation. It applauds the "new diplomacy" as a means of taking the people into confidence. It has even a word of appreciation for the nouveaux riches!

IN PRAISE OF "SQUIRE MUSHROOM."

This is in the half-playful paper on "A Place in the Country." That phrase is felt to express one of the dearest ambitions of the Englishman, as it also describes one of the best means for socializing and ennobling him. The improving tendency has not disappeared even when the decay of agriculture has made "a place in the country" dependent on a man being "something in the city." The writer concludes:

"It seems historically certain that during an advanced stage of her transformation from an agricultural to a commercial nation England to some extent lost herself. In the social satire of Dickens and Thack

eray-to say nothing of Carlyle, Kingsley, and Ruskin -one may trace a certain alarmist and désorienté attitude toward the prodigies of nouvelle richesse conjured up in their 'racing railroad' days, as if these phenomena were imperfectly understood and not easy to be classed. Increasing familiarity has since shown us that the new broom, the 'Squire Mushroom,' the self-made parvenu, whose independence of the traditional route to respectability seems at first to strike so discordant a note in 'Old England,' the millionaire product of railroads, beer, or soap (a force inexpressible at first except in terms of thousands a year), is, after all, only our old friend John Bull in another costume, with the old aggressive and the old assimilating energies, renewing his youth like the eagle. The passion for ruling, that last infirmity of his noble mind, for expanding his individualist self in some sphere or other to its fullest power, doubtless infects all his social ideals. But if we are still to develop from our aristocracy the demigods required for the duties and enterprises of world-wide empire, much may surely be said for that particular social instinct which so persistently cherishes the romance of feudalism and adapts it to the true needs of democracy."

THE ZEBRA MULE.

The illustrated article deals with "Zebras, Horses, and Hybrids," and the pictures are of zebras and their hybrid offspring. Most of the discussion is concerned with earlier and more recent experiments on "telegony "-the view that "a sire influences all the latter progeny of a dam which has once produced a foal to him." More information is asked for, but the writer does not seem convinced of the truth of this theory. The results of crossing horses or donkeys with zebras are, however, not open to doubt. The writer says:

"There is no doubt that it is a comparatively easy matter to breed these hybrids, and that they are not only extremely attractive animals to the eye, but hardy and vigorous, possessed of great staying powers and promising to be capable of severe work."

He urges they should be bred to supply the paucity of mules needed for Indian transport and mountainbattery work, as well as for service elsewhere; and he suggests that they may, if bred largely in East Africa, as Colonel Lugard proposes, prove a source of wealth and revenue in the future. He recommends "the Zoo" as the best place for further experiment.

There is no article dealing with the subject of the South African question in the Revue des Deux Mondes for October, but M. Charmes alludes to the subject in his chronicle. Writing under the date of September 30, he expresses the belief that war had then already been decided upon, though not yet announced. In the second number, under the date of October 14, when war had already begun, he says that the British cabinet had

the character of the inhabitants has exercised a decided influence. Probably many people will differ from M. Fouillée in thinking that a splendid future lies before this nation. It is a striking fact that the population of Spain is increasing much more rapidly than that of Portugal or Italy, indeed almost as rapidly as that of Germany. The old traditional attitude of courtesy which the Spanish maintained toward strangers concealed a profound indifference. This attitude, M. Fouillée thinks, will not last, and Spain will in the future take her place in the intellectual and commercial life of modern nations.

THE SPANISH PEOPLE.

M. Fouillée contributes to the first October number a careful study of the Spanish people and their national characteristics. He observes that the theory of Marx, who explains all the movements of history by purely economic causes and by altogether materialistic reasons, does not apply to Spain, in the history of which

REVUE DE PARIS.

E have noticed elsewhere the article on "Siberia and Her Exiles." The only topical article in the Revue de Paris for October is the powerful plea for general appeasement and reconciliation contributed by the editor, M. Lavisse. In it the distinguished academician and thinker touches skillfully on the beginnings, on the progress, and on the conclusion of the Dreyfus case. Although the writer makes a determined attempt to be impartial, it is clear that his sympathies are, on the whole, with the anti-Dreyfusards. M. Lavisse implores his fellow-countrymen to forget the very words "Dreyfusard" and "anti-Dreyfusard," and he recalls the advice of the famous chancellor who, during the days of the great wars of religion, charged his friends to remember that they were Frenchmen first and to forget the "diabolical words 'Huguenot' and Papist.'

THE SUEZ CANAL.

M. J. C. Roux undertakes to tell in several chapters the interesting and indeed romantic story of the Suez Canal. During the month of November was celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the inauguration, or solemn opening, of the canal; the event was marked by the unveiling of a statue of M. de Lesseps. Step by step the