THE MAGAZINES.

IN the Nineteenth Century Mr. C. J. O'Donnell has an article upon "Ireland and Conservatism." He begins by pointing out that all countries in which Roman Catholicism is an active force tend to be Conservative in ideals and politics, and then devotes himself to discussing the best means of bringing the English Conservative Party into its proper relation of friendship with Irishmen. Mr. O'Donnell finds a hopeful beginning for this movement in two recent " great acts of justice to the Catholic community and to the Irish nation," both of which were the work of Conservatives ; these were Mr. Balfonr's Education Act and Mr. Wyndham's land policy. But the political reform which is destined finally to unite Conservatives and Nationalists is, according to Mr. O'Donnell, Tariff Reform. "Nothing," he says, "nothing on earth can bring back the manhood of the English and Irish peasantry to the countryside but agricultural protection." The gravest obstacle to this entente is of course the demand for Home-rule, which Mr. O'Donnell warns his readers will never be given up in Iireland. Bat he does not despair of surmounting it. The solution, in short, to which the writer leads up is the very one which Mr. Birrell himself proposed in a speech a few days ago. The only sure foundation of Imperialism, Mr. O'Donnell concludes, is "the policy of Home Rule All Round, radiating from the centre of a really Imperial Parliament, representative of every race and every Colony." As our readers know, we regard "Home Rule All Round" as the very worst of all the Home- rule schemes. Much as we detest separation, we should prefer an independent Ireland to this preposterous scheme for destroying both the United Kingdom and the Empire. —Professor Dicey discusses "The Strength and the Weakness of the Third French Republic." Its apparent failures he considers under three heads :—(1) The Republican Constitution is not finally accepted by the whole nation in the way in which the Parliamentary Monarchy is accepted in England. (2) He quotes Chardon's allegations that the whole administrative and judicial system is threatened with collapse. (3) There is some reason for believing that the Republic has fostered a decline in public morality. Against these possible sources of weakness Professor Dicey balances many indications of strength. In the first place, the Republic has proved its adaptability by connecting itself with what may be considered permanent institutions like universal suffrage, as well as by its capacity for gradual growth. It has, moreover, provided solutions for some of the most difficult of political problems. The

possibility, for instance, of combining Presidential with Parlia- mentary government has been clearly shown. Further, Pro- fessor Dicey holds that the action of the Legislature has on many occasions been sincere and courageous ; and this, he declares, is as good a sign as a Government can give of its strength. But the surest ground for an optimistic view of the Republic is to be found, in Professor Dicey's opinion, in the fact that it has lasted so long.—In an article upon " The American Negro as a Political Factor" Professor Kelly Miller (of Howard University, Washington) pleads for racial equality in the United States. He attacks the

theory that the negro is incapable of self-government, and comments with favour upon Hayti and Liberia, where "for nearly a century a handful of American negroes have exercised a salutary control over two millions of natives, and have maintained themselves amid the intrigue and sinister design of great European Powers."

The National Review contains, under the title of " State Tenants in Being : an Experiment," some comments by Sir Gilbert Parker upon the Board of Agriculture's recent Report on Small Holdings. He deals chiefly with the last few pages,

" wherein the working of a dozen schemes of Small Holdings is described with admirable conciseness and lucidity, and yet without complete elimination of the human element." From a consideration of these accounts of individual small holdings Sir Gilbert Parker believes that we may deduce " that British peasants have the qualities required of the small cultivator, that responsibility develops these faculties, that by the dis- tribution of land its capacity as an employer is increased, and its productiveness enhanced." With regard to the question of tenure, he analyses several cases, and shows that although the tenants are able to keep their heads above water, their success would be greater if they owned the land themselves.—" An

Old Etonian" contributes a very entertaining diary of a trip to Canada in the steerage of a liner. The sketches which he gives of his fellow-passengers deserve, had we space, to be quoted in full. On the whole, the conditions seem not to have been intolerably bad (except, perhaps, those which were a consequence of the weather); and the rations, with a few unfortunate exceptions, are described as excellent. —Miss Violet Markham proposes the establishment, "as a definite part of our constitutional system, of a Women's

Council, elected by women on a democratic basis, and to which certain definite functions should be assigned." Such a. scheme might, she hopes, be accepted as a compromise upon the subject of woman suffrage. Although realising the practical difficulties in the way of adopting such a plan, Miss Markham believes that it might form the basis

of a true conciliation scheme.—Mr. St. Loe Strachey writes on "How We Raised the Surrey Veteran Reserve,"

—a paper on which for obvious reasons we are unable to comment.

An interesting history of " Conferences between the Two Houses of Parliament" is given by Sir Courtenay Ilbert in the Contemporary Review. The earliest Conference described by him took place in 1373 to decide whether more supplies should be granted to Edward III. for carrying on the war in France. From then until the beginning of the nineteenth

century they were of very frequent occurrence for discussing differences as to amendments, as well as for more general purposes. For instance,

"in January, 1557-8, after the loss of Calais, twenty-six members of the House of Commons were appointed to confer with three earls, three bishops and three barons on the defence of the realm, and recommended the grant of what has been described as the heaviest subsidy ever granted to an English sovereign, equal in modern computation to an income tax of five ghillinge in the pound for two yeara."

The elaborate procedure was only finally settled in the eighteenth century ; but it was an ancient rule that the Lords were to sit with their hats on while the Commons stood without them. As early as 1606 there is a complaint of " the inconvenience and disease being found very great, in the long and painful standing, and being bareheaded, of such com- mittees."—" The Policy of the Dalai Lama" is discussed in an article by Dr. Sven Hedin. He begins by giving a history of events since the Yonnghusband Expedition ; and describes how China profited by the defeat of Russia by Japan, and by the change of Ministry in England, to assert herself in Tibet :—

" The. English now play the same part as onlookers as the

Chinese did during Younghnsband's expedition. Only they have exchanged parts. Then the English showed great and unswerving energy, while the Chinese, pith an imperturbable Eastern calm, smiled and did not move a finger. Without breaking any treaties the Chinese are now acting with admirable energy, and they want —I ascertained this two years ago—to make Thibet a province as dependent on the Peking Government as is Eastern Turkestan. At present the English sit with folded arms, but they have no reason to smile."

Dr. Sven Hedin expresses surprise that the Chinese ever allowed the Dalai Lama to return from Peking to Lhasa. They did so partly, he believes, owing to the Emperor's death, but partly because the Dalai Lama was considered harmless, and had, moreover, given an undertaking that he would meddle no more in politics. That he broke this under-

taking after his arrival in Lhasa, and became conscience- stricken when the Chinese troops approached the city, is proved by his sudden flight across the frontier into India. —Under the title of " Southward Ho !" Dr. Thomas Hodgkin emphasises the importance to Australia of a sufficient supply of immigrants. He discusses in detail both the kind of man needed and the part of Australia which needs him ; for in some parts "the door is wide open for certain classes of immigrants ; in others, for various reasons, all but a select few will find it closed or sullenly ajar." For dealing satisfactorily with the situation Dr. Hodgkin suggests the formation of an Australian Emigration Society with two divisions, one in England for selecting the men, and the other in Australia to discover the openings.

The first article in the Fortnightly, "Imperial and Foreign Affairs," is chiefly devoted to the Russo-Japanese Agreement, a great diplomatic achievement, the writer thinks, comparable only to Bismarck's Alliance with Austria-Hungary. It was fifteen years after Sadowa that the latter was accomplished, whereas the Agreement is but five years later than tbe.fall of Port Arthur. It makes, we can re'adily believe, for world- peace. Of one thing we may be quite sure, that if Russia had been victorious, no such arrangement would ever have come iuto existence.—" Excubitor " sets himself to prove that Admiral Mahan's warning to the British Government in the matter of naval supremacy does not represent actual facts.

He certainly makes a point when, in replying to the statement that we have abandoned the Mediterranean, he remarks that neither Germany nor Russia has a single ship in that sea.—Mr. George F. Shee in " Machinery or Man- Power ? " ably answers Mr. Archibald Hurd's article in an earlier number on " England's Peril." He is for establishing a manhood service for home defence. We recommend the article to our readers, but there is no need for us to restate what we think on this subject.—Mr. Hilaire Belloc has a very clever article on "Death Duties and Capital." It may be roughly summarised as follows. Is it the tendency of the Death-duties to dissipate capital ? The answer is : It is so. Bat it is confessedly a bad thing that capital should be dissipated. " So far as we can judge from history, nearly every great civilisation has, in its old age, suffered from this disease : it has dissipated its capital by taxation." Should the Death-duties, then, be abolished ? Certainly not : only the money thus obtained must not be treated as ordinary income. " The State must begin a policy of reproductive expenditure." We seem to see a great vista of State enterprises : the nationalisation of railways, for instance, and other undertakings which are of more than doubtful character. But Mr. Belloc's article is a very fine bit of

writing—It would take us too far to criticise in detail Mr. J. M. Sloan's article on " John Calvin and Calvinism." After all, Calvin at Geneva was striving for an ideal which was not present to any other European Government of the time,—

to make a righteous State. And Servetus ? He would no doubt have met with the same fate in any other European city. But though this fact may explain the action of Calvin, it cannot excuse it. He ought to have been able to rise above the moral standard of his age. That is surely the true way to win the title of a great and good man.—Mr. Norman Bent- wich, writing on " The Declaration of London," thinks that we have done well in international bargaining about the law of prizes.---Mr. W. S. Lilly contributes an admirable article on " Talleyrand." That he sets down anything in malice we do not say ; but he certainly does not extenuate.

.Blackwood, it is clear, will have nothing to do with the

truce. The " Maser " is as excitable—strange combination of terms?—as ever he was. We are not concerned to defend the politicians whom he attacks, but we feel that there is such a thing as "taking occasion by the hand," and while the Conference is sitting the occasion is for good words. Possibly the "Maser" thinks with the Labour Members about this same Conference. Be that as it may, we protest against the general denunciation of political life in England. Men are ambitious, self-seeking, serving a class, a company, a syndicate; but such there have always been, and always will be. Where is the Assembly without them ? And when in our own history were " the happiest times when the least suspicion of insincerity was sufficient to deprive a statesman of his country's trust "? In the days of Walpole ? That ideal of sincerity was Prime Minister for twenty-two years. Or in the times of the last Stuarts ? or in those of that sincerest of Kings, Charles I. ? —" Past and Future " is mainly devoted to the subject of the Conference. Perhaps it would have been better if nothing had been said about the confederacy of certain parties anxious to bring it to naught. Otherwise the tone of the article is moderate enough. On the veto question the writer suggests that a measure "passed by two consecutive Parliaments with a General Election between should become law automatically." The rule " prevails," he continues, " at this moment." Further on he tells us that if the Con- ference arrives at a satisfactory result the Irish Party will throw everything into confusion by voting against the Budget. But surely the Unionists would not sacrifice .any- thing gained by the Conference by voting with them.—" The Silent India" is an article well worth consideration. It is only too likely that our attention will be occupied by the noisy Nationalists of India, and, indeed, they have to be looked after; but we shall do well to learn all we can about this vast inarticulate multitude, to be numbered by scores of millions. —" Duffadar " strongly advocates the arming of the cavalry with the rifle instead of steel. Six years ago, he says, the War Office had made up its mind to the change, and now it has gone back.—There is a fine story of a sailor's courage and resource told in " Dalton of the Osiris.' "—" Old English Forestry," by Mr. J. Nisbet, is mainly devoted to Evelyn's Sylva, but we gather that the writer is not unwilling that recent forestry schemes should have " reasonable encouragement and assistance from the State."

In the English Review Mr. James Robinson gives some elaborate tables of votes polled at the last Election under the title of "The Weight of the Electorates." He puts the matter as one between Free-trade and Tariff Reform, and we naturally are not inclined to question his conclusions. One remark, however, we may make. There was a very large minority. The Unionist majority of English seats may seem less significant when we have analysed the numbers, but there remains the fact of a very large anti-Radical party. In view of this we deprecate great changes, whether in the direction of a Single-Chamber Government or of Tariff Reform.-- An article on German semi-official statements by "Nauticus " deals with the Fleet question, and is well worth consideration; it is, anyhow, a good thing to disturb a false security. There is a somewhat wild article entitled "In a Police Court." Mr. Street goes, apparently for the first time in his life, to a Police Court, sees what occurs there, is, as might be expected, greatly shocked, and comes to this conclusion : "A social system which produces such villainies as that of contemporary England is proven vicious, and it is an obligation on those who see that to do what they can politically to change it." Let Mr. Street begin by showing us either in the present or the past a social system in which such seamy spots could not be discovered. For our- selves, Mr. Street somehow gives us a certain comfort. Some seventy years ago the Police Court was a recognised source of amusement. Some humorist went to report, and amused the world vastly with accounts of what he saw and heard. We have improved upon that.—Mr. James Greig has something remarkable to say about the "Rokeby Venus." But it is strange that, while his case depends upon minute details, he should spell the name of its former owners incorrectly P It should be " Morritt," not " Morrit," as it is given three times in one paragraph.

The most interesting article in the United Service Magazine for August is "Moral in War." The writer, who calls himself " Denkmal," modestly proclaims that his paper is a rnPre

pot-pourri of quotations from various authors, and that it pre- tends to no literary merit. In spite of this, the quotations are admirable, and well serve to show the vast importance of character in war. Steadfastness of purpose is perhaps one of the greatest of the moral qualities required by a general, and steadfastness of purpose is seldom given save to men of high character. To put it in another way, in men of bad character it degenerates into that wilfulness and obstinacy which in the end ruined Napoleon.—This article is well pointed by the paper on the " Blenheim Campaign" in the same number, for there we see how Marlborough's triumph was due to the fact that he made a plan, and a good plan, and stuck to it Another article illustrating the importance of moral force in war is a somewhat dreamy study entitled " The Mind of the Fighting Man." It contains an excellent story of the captain of a British frigate in the French war of a century ago, who in the course of a duel with a French line-of-battle ship ran his ship on shore, but not before he had driven his enemy to similar destruction. During the action the master, in whose bands of course was the responsibility for the navigation of the ship, protested to the captain, and at last declared that if the ship was not instantly put about, nothing could save her from going ashore. The captain in answer asked: " Did you ever play chess P " " Sometimes, Sir," stammered the astonished officer. "Did you ever hesitate to sacrifice a knight for a castle P " " No." " Very well; there," pointing to the French liner, "is the castle; it seems as if I should have to sacrifice the knight, which is our own ship." This captain, at any rate, had learnt the great lesson that the primary business in war is to destroy one's enemy, not to preserve oneself.