THE MAGAZINES.

As a rule, the Magazines, light and heavy, are very dull this month. The exception is the Nineteenth Century, which has

somehow contrived to avoid the effects of the intellectual paralysis which sets in with the holiday season. Mr. Glad- stone's article we have noticed at length elsewhere. The

paper of most interest after this is Mr. Andrew Carnegie's " Imperial Federation : an American Ideal." We generally find far more to differ from than to agree with in the writings of the apologist of American Protection ; but if Mr. Carnegie continues to write as well and as sensibly as he does in the September Nineteenth Century, we shall in future find our- selves in agreement. Mr. Carnegie begins his article by exposing with crushing force the futility and danger of the Imperial Zollverein delusion. He points out that if the- United Kingdom were mad enough to give the Colonies pre-

ferential treatment, and to close her markets against the rest of the world, she would bring about her commercial ruin. The rest of the world would be certain to retaliate by measures of exclusion, and we should find that, in obtaining the exclu- sive trade of eleven million people, we had imperilled or lost the very large trade which, in spite of the existing protective tariffs, we do with the lands not comprised in the Empire. At

the present moment, and in spite of the McKinley Bill, the United States are England's greatest customer. " What the

Republic would do," says Mr. Carnegie, "if she were dis- criminated against needs no guess, for she has already lodged in the President power to go so far as to prohibit entirely the product of any country that does so discriminate." This demolition of the Imperial Zollverein delusion, good as it is, is not, however, the most noteworthy part of Mr. Carnegie's paper. In the portion which succeds, ho shows not only the gift of statesmanship, but of that higher patriotism which looks beyond Washington or -London, and embraces the whole English kin. Worthy of the highest praise is the passage in which he asks the members of the Imperial Federa- tion League whether they are not " working in the wrong direction :"—

" The position which Britain should aim to occupy is no less than the Headship of the Race,' as the parent of all. Now, even if the various parts of the Empire could be federated under one sovereign—of which there is as little likelihood as that the Republic could be induced to enter—and thus the whole aim of the Federation League' be accomplished, what then ? Eleven millions of people will have been confederated with her—only this and nothing more—and Britain then would only be first in the smaller division of the race. It would not be such a prodigious gain for her after all. We should have Hamlet with Hamlet left out."

Mr. Carnegie then goes on to point out how it may be

possible to found an indissoluble union of amity between the various portions of the English kin, in which the part of Hamlet shall not be omitted. We have.in these columns repeatedly advocated an alliance of friendly autono- mous States rather than Imperial Federation as the ideal. But though the hope that America might not stand aloof has been present in our minds, we have not ventured to dwell on it too strongly. We have felt that as it was our madness and folly that made America part, not in peace but in anger, it was not for the Englishmen of Great Britain, but for those of the United States to say that there was still a possibility of blotting out the past, and of recognising to the full the tie of kinship. Mr. Carnegie has done what we have long hoped some American would do, and has shown that the history, the literature, and all else that makes up the glory of the race, wherever its home, are common stock. Space will not allow us to say all we should like to say about Mr.

Carnegie's paper. We will, however, quote a part of what he calls a "summary of ideas" which have forced themselves upon him "from a study of the question made with an earnest desire to secure first the unity of our race, and through that, for it, the mastery of the world for the good of the world :"—

" First, the great aim of the Federationist should be to draw- together the masses of all English-speaking countries, and to make them feel that they are really members of the same undivided. race, and share its triumphs; that all English-speaking men are brothers who should rejoice in each other's prosperity, and be proud of each other's achievements. The little faults or short- comings of the other members should be overlooked, and all should dwell upon what is best in each, for, as members of the same race, what disgraces one necessarily reflects upon the entire family. Impossible Imperial Federation' and Empire Trade League' should give place to Race Alliance,' and so embrace all in one common bond, the only test being- ' If Shakespeare's tongs a be spoken there,

And songs of Barns be in the air..'

Second, the parent-land should be urged to encourage her colonies, as an able mother encourages her sons, to go forth at maturity and play the part of men—loving and reverencing her, but independent. The idea of Federation among colonies should also be encouraged ; for no greater calamity could happen than that the various English-speaking communities should be divided into small nations, jealous of each other. The sad condition of Europe to-day, an armed camp contrasted with the United States, which is ere long to contain an English-speaking population as great as the whole of Europe, without any necessity for a standing army, should be continually in mind and proclaimed. The Australian Colonies do not require the lesson. These are wise and will federate, and as one irresistible power keep the peace and rule that quarter of the globe without armies, for they, like the Republic, can have no foe; but the union of England and Scotland should be held up to Canada and the United States. I should not like to think that I ever had said or ever should say a. word that would tend to perpetuate upon the American continent two divisions of the rage, or to feel that I had not exerted myself to produce union. The mother-land can do much by reminding Canada of her own union with Scotland, and the happy results which flow from it. The present unfortunate division of the race in America, so fraught with danger, is Britain's work ; the duty upon her to correct the evil is imperative. Nor is she unequal to the task, for she has done things that other nations cannot parallel. The cession of the Ionian Islands to classic Greece, the recent cession of Heligoland to Germany, show her capable of generous, even sublime, action."

With the rest of Mr. Carnegie's paper we cannot deal ; but we will quote in conclusion his last few sentences, with which we heartily concur :—

" It is obvious that such an alliance of the race is dependent upon a union of hearts, and that force or pressure would only defeat it. No more seeds of lifelong bitterness should be sown. The younger members of the race should remember what is due to the parent; the parent should seek to retain their love and reverence by being 'to their faults a little blind and to their virtues very kind;' freely according to each when maturity arrives the same independent existence and the same exclusive manage- ment of its own affairs, as she claims for herself, and for which. she would rather sink under the sea than relinquish. Each member must be free to manage his own home as he thinks proper without incurring hostile criticism or parental interference. All must be equal. Allies—not Dependants. Fate has given to Britain a great progeny and a great past. Her future promises to be no less great and prolific. Many may be the members of the family council of all English-speaking nations, each complete in itself, which I have predicted as sure to come sooner or later ; but, however numerous the children, there can never be but one mother, and that mother, great, honoured, and beloved by all her offspring—as I pray she is to be—' this Sceptred Isle,' my native land. God bless her !"

—Under the title of " Le Comte de Cominges," Mona J. J.

Jnsserand gives some curious glimpses of England and English affairs during the time of Charles II., drawn from the French archives. In speaking of ow• literature as it appeared to France in the seventeenth century, M. Jusserand mentions that he has discovered that the great Sarin- tendant Fouquet actually possessed in his library a copy of Shakespeare. So did Louis XIV. In the catalogue of the Royal library (compiled about 1680), the librarian, however, added the following note, in order, we presume, to explain the presence of the strange folio :—" Will. Shakspeare poeta anglicus Ce poste a l'imaginition assez belle, il pense naturellement, it s'exprime avec finesse; mais ces belles -qualites sont obscurcies par lea ordures qu'il mole ses comedies." It is curious to note that the "inspired savage" theory had not yet been thought of, and that Shakespeare is praised for his art, and only blamed for licentiousness. A passage from an Ambassador's report thus describes the English Navy, which then, as now, awakened the enthusiasm of our neighbours :—" Je vons avoue, sire, qu'il n'y a rien de plus beau voir que tottte cette marine, rien de plus grand ni de plus majestneux que ce grand nombre de vaisseaux faits et a faire, cette nombreuse quantite de canons, de mats, de cordages, de planches et autres machines necessaires a cette sort de guerre.

—(November 6th, 1664.)"—A word must be said for Mr. Auberon Herbert's eloquent protest against the destruction of the New Forest. The question is a perfectly simple one. The Department of Woods and Forests' attempt to make the Forest pay, has proved a dead loss, and can only end in spoiling the one untouched piece of woodland in England. It is, alas ! not a very large piece, for hideous and abortive plantations, useless as timber and horrible to the view, have already ruined thousands of acres. The only satisfactory plan would be to declare the New Forest a National Park, and to hand over its management to a special Board com- missioned to preserve it as a place of recreation, subject to the right of the commoners to graze their pigs and ponies,—the latter are an essential part of the charm of the Forest.

The Contemporary has no paper of political importance, but

the article entitled " A Month in Southern India," is written by Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff, and is therefore delightful reading. Here is his illustration of the extent to which centralisation is carried in India. A telegraph-clerk at a wayside railway-station, three hundred miles from Madras, sent the following telegram to head-quarters :—" Tiger jumping about on the platform. Staff much alarmed. Please arrange." Sir Mountstuart adds that the story has been doubted, but that he has found two people, one now in London, who have actually seen the message with their own eyes. Mr. Christie Murray, in a second instalment of " The Anti- podeans," states his opinion as to the now well-worn question, —Is Australia developing a new type P-

" How far climate and environment may ultimately change the race no man can guess with any degree of certitude. It is a ques- tion on which Australians themselves are fond of speculating, and on which they like to induce their visitors and critics to speculate also. One of the contentions favoured is that they are running to the Greek type. The average traveller will probably change his conception of the Greek type very broadly before he gives any warmth of acceptance to this claim. That they cannot long remain unchanged by the influences which pour in upon them every day seems certain. The average mean temperature of Melbourne itself is only slightly lower than that of Marseilles. Sydney is five or six degrees higher, Adelaide is higher yet, and part of Queensland is of course distinctly tropical. In the northernmost parts of Australia it is evidently impossible that any race of men can for many generations preserve the characteristics of European peoples. In the towns the people show less change than in the country. The country-bred man has already shown the beginning of a new racial type, a type less heavy and solid than the English, but taller, slimmer, and more alert. These men ride like centaurs, and drive at break-neck speed where an English charioteer would infallibly get down and lead his horses. They are born to the companionship of the horse, and ride almost as soon as they can walk. The riders of trained back-jumpers in the ' Wild West' show excited derision amongst men who do the real thing in that direction constantly and in the way of business. They are rather ugly horsemen to an English eye, slouching and lanky, but they can take a horse anywhere and can sit anything that has four legs. No Briton, however expert, can hold a candle to the native born colonial in this respect.'

Professor Tyndall, in his paper on " Phthisis," in the Fort- nightly, propounds the theory that consumption is catching. The results of many careful experiments show, he declares, beyond doubt that the expectorations of phthisical persons are capable of communicating the disease. Professor Tyndall believes that many so-called instances of hereditary long-

disease are the results of a father or mother infecting their children by want of care. Fortunately, if people are only careful, it is possible to live with consumptive patients and yet incur little or no danger, for the malady is not communicable through the breath. Dae precautions are, however, imperative to prevent the propagation of the disease.—In "Social Life

in Australia," Mr. Francis Adams talks the same sort of nonsense that was to be found in his former papers. Like all people who have socialistic leanings, he is dreadfully afraid that the Australians may copy the United States,- " the land where the luxury of the units and the misery of the millions is being carried out to a pitiless conclusion, beside which that of England is almost mild." Mr. Adams Writes cleverly, but his resolve to give the bloated capitalist "the creeps" is a little too obvious. We do not think the capitalist, or any one else, will be very much alarmed at him. —In " A Balkan Confederation," Mr. Bourchier declares that the idea of making a Confederation of Greece, Bulgaria Servia, Montenegro, and Roumania is being seriously enter- tained, but that the great obstacle is Bulgaria, which feels that her best policy is to wait. We confess that the task, said to have been taken in hand by M. Trikoupis, sounds rather like that of getting a monkey, an ox, a dog, a squirrel, and a pony, to occupy one shed. Still, " happy families" can be formed, and a deluge or a prairie-fire will make strange bed-fellows.