THE MAGAZINES.

IN the Nineteenth Century Sir Charles Elliott discusses Lord Morley's Indian reforms in a spirit of general sympathy tempered with criticism, which is all the more effective for its moderation. He notes, for example, that in framing his electorate Lord Morley's suggestion violates the funda- mental principle on which the Government of India and all the local Governments agree,—that the Mohammedan Member should be chosen by a special electorate composed of Mohammedans alone, and anticipates that in its present form the suggestion will be dropped. The other modifica- tion of the proposals of the Indian Government—that providing for an increased number of non-officiaI members on the Legislative Councils—Sir Charles Elliott holds to involve

* ad Lace. By M. Jourdain. London : B. T. Bateford. [10s. M. not.]

serious risks, but on the whole considers them to be worth running in order to secure the end of enhancing the self- respect and dignity of the Councils. The proposal to ask for power to create Executive Councils, and enlarge those in Madras and Bombay, surprises Sir Charles Elliott, in View of the practically unanimous condemnation • of such a scheme only three years ago by the Government of India. With regard to the most important proposal of all—the appointment of a native of India to the Viceroy's Executive

Council—Sir Charles Elliott expresses a 'strong hope that before such appointment is made opportunities may be given

to the highest authorities in India to record their views. He continues :— "The proposal has already given rise to a multitude of protests. It has been urged that no single native of India can possibly represent the feelings of tbe whole cquntry. If ho is a Hindu be will be distrusted by the Mahommedans, if a Mahommedan by the Hindus. The precedent created by Lord Morley in his own Council supports the argument that there should at least be two men appointed, a Hindu and a Mahommedan. Furthermore, it is felt that any such appointment should be'mado_aa an addition to, not in diminution of, the small number of Englishmen who now share the office. A member of the Executive Council is not only an adviser of the Viceroy, he is the head of a groat Administra- tive Department, in which he exercises the authority, and passes orders in the name, of the Government of India; and to be the head of a Department it is necessary to have passed through an elaborate training and to have risen to a high position in the Administration. It can hardly be asserted that there is at present, or is likely to be for some time, any native of India who fulfils these conditions and is fit to rule over the Home, the Revenue, the Financial, or the Public Works Departments."

Inconclusion, Sir Charles Elliott, while applauding the lofty tone of the debate in the Lords, administers a dignified rebuke to Lord Macdonnell for his extraordinary and mischievous referencea to the partition of Bengal.—A better piece of destructive criticism than Mr. Harold Cox's paper on "The Taxation of Land Values" we have seldom read. His survey of the genesis and development of this ill-considered movement is not only illuminating but positively entertaining. We would specially call attention to the concluding passage in which he deals with the change of front of the Chronicle on the question of existing contracts, which both the late and present Prime Ministers declared would be respected.— Mr. Harold Spender in his answer to the question " What Should the Government Do? "does not clamour' for any heroic action. "The party in the country as a whole are willing to acquiesce in the decision against an immediate dissolution, but if a dissolution is not sought, they profoundly object to the pursuit of a policy which has no proper climax except a dissolution." In other words, they " object to being made fools of," and wish that the House of Commons' campaign should be carried on with at least as much astuteness as is shown by the House of Lords. There must be a "great Budget" ofi democratic lines, for "the Budget of last year gave us but a first taste of what bold finance can do to set right the finance of this country," but "this is not the place to specify particular measures The only wise policy is to concentrate on

Finance legislation." Mr. Harold Spender may make his mind quite easy on that score. The Government are bound to concentrate on finance legislation by sheer force of circumstances ; it is not a case of wisdom, but necessity.

The February issue of the National Review is somewhat lacking in that stimulating quality which we generally find in its pages. Even the attacks on the Unionist Free-traders—if we except the charge of indulging in "flamboyant flap. doodle "—are comparatively mild. We are glad to note that the editor emphatically declares that there is no room in the Unionist Party for Home-rulers, stoutly asserting that it exists to defend the Union, though he somewhat inconsistently quotes with complete approval a passage from the article in

the Observer which begins with the words : "Tariff Reform, with all that it involves, including Preference and Imperial

Union, is an issue even greater than the Irish question, and in some ways not less urgent."—The Weltpolitilc articles in this number are rather disappointing. General von Schlieffen's article from the Deutsche Revue is here translated in &dens°, but the significant passages which relate to the " hemming in of Germany have already been reproduced in all the daily papers. Then we have a long-minded "Diplomatic Reminis- cence" signed "Amateur," giving a detailed account of how the late M. Pobedonoetseff successfully intervened in 1896 to "dish" a scheme hatched in Germany, but supported by

the Russian Ambassador at Constantinople and the Ministers in St. Petersburg, which would have precipitated a collision with Turkey and imperilled the peace of Europe. The plan involved the demand of free egress for the Russian Black Sea fleet; it had been sanctioned by the Council of Ministers and ratified by the Czar, when, according to " Amateur," M. Poliedonostseff intervened, and persuaded the Czar to revoke his decision.—Lord Llandaff deals with "The Educational Imbroglio," pronouncing concurrent endowment on the German basis to be the best solution, but regarding it as impracticable in the present temper of Nonconformity. He therefore recommends as the best alternative that the State

" should endow no form of religious instruction, and should therefore claim no control over that part of education, leaving it to parents and managers to decide what shall be its form and Character, and by whom it shall be given. The State may, how- ever, lastly require that parents and managers shall fulfil what la a duty as well as a right, and may refuse to assist secular instruction in any school in which that duty is neglected."

----Lord Tennyson communicates an article by an Irish ex-landlord on the duties and prospects of that class. The writer, who takes a most pessimistic view of the future, contends that he is not bound by feelings of patriotism to remain in his ruined home, but would show it higher patriotism and a truer regard for the interests of his children by leaving the country. Lord Tennyson admits the hardships of the ex-landlords, but refuses to endorse the advice of their repre- sentative. On the contrary, he holds that if they remain on their influence is bound to grow, and when land purchase is complete they will be able in a variety of ways to assist in the economic rebuilding of Ireland. "The part he has to Play in the future, though non-political, will in my opinion be great. His class will be the only class in Ireland who have no private ends to serve, and the regeneration of the country Will largely depend on their public spirit and oo-operation." The appeal to magnanimity is always taking, but without the practical encouragement which the present Government steadily withholds it is of little avail. —The article on the

reforms of India derives an added interest from the fact that the writer. Sir Arundel Arundel, was the Chairman of the

Committee appointed by Lord Minto in 1906 to consider and report on certain specific suggestions for reform, and on the general question of giving natives of India a larger measure of political representation. We may note that while he approves in the main of Lord Morley's proposals, his criti- cisms are very much in accord with those of Sir Charles tlliott,—notably those on the system of Electoral Colleges, Which, as he points out, destroys the value of Lord Minto's Promise to the Mohammedan deputation two years ago; while le evidently anticipates difficulties from the greater freedom of discussion which it is proposed to grant to the Legislative Councils. On the other hand, he is more favourable than Sir Charles Elliott to the creation of fresh Executive Councils and the extension of those already existing, as well as to the admission of an Indian to the Viceroy's Executive Council.

In the Contemporary Professor H. Stanley Jevons discusses

the Maintenance of the two-Power standard, or, rather, to °Peak more accurately, he endeavours to show that ite maintenanee as a permanent policy is, first of all, practi- cally impossible in view of the growth of Germany and the United States ; and secondly, unnecessary in view of the rapid development of a kind of international morality or Public opinion tending to restrain one country from unjust attack upon another. Here Professor Stanley Jevons makes some important reservations. None the loss, he considers that he has proved his thesis,—viz., "that the Strongest Power Standard is amply sufficient for our protection ; and that the attempt to maintain the Two-Power Standard le not only a burden which we shall soon be unable to hear, but is in reality absolutely unneeded." We may note, however, that among the considerations on which he bases the conclusion is the view, which "we ought thoroughly to understand that the British Empire exists at all

only on the sufferance of other nations," or, in other words, that we could be "crushed absolutely in a few weeks by a

combination, say, of the United States, France, Germany,

Russia, and Japan." We may add that he is not quite correct ri saddling the Conservative Press with the responsibility of

calling wildly" for a huge naval programme so costly that it could only be supported by a loan. The suggestion of a

Joan was certainly broached by the Westminster • Gazette.-- The possibilities of invasion are discussed from a nautical standpoint by "Master Mariner," who holds that the difficulties involved in commandeering transports, pilotage, anchoring, &c., are so great as to expose the fundamental errors underlying the whole idea.—Under the head of "Providence and the Earthquake," the editors discuss the moral and religious bearings of the great catastrophe at Messina. The first paper adopts the line that • the challenge of Nature to the whole race is well calculated to advance the growth of the will-power of men, while the greatness of the tragedy has demonstrated the solidarity of mankind. The second paper deals -with the fear of Nature, and concludes that the reality of evil is not in the "clean destructiveness of Nature, but in the human heart."— The situation created by the decision of the Court of Appeal in regard to Trade-Unions and Parliamentary funds is discussed by Mr. Arthur Henderson, MP., and Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, M.P. The former records his dissent from the decision on intelligible grounds, and with scrupulous moderation of language. Mr. Ramsay Macdonald, discussing the point of "public policy," does not hesitate to assert that "the operations of an organic relationship, such as that which exists between members of Parliament, political parties, and the State, cannot with any profit be made the subject of legal decisions given by men who, by the very nature of their duties, must assume that the relationship is static and fixed."—Mm. Ernest Newman in his paper on Mendelssohn destroys all the grace of his limited approval by the acrimony and violence of his disparagement. The reference to Sterndale Bennett as " Mendelssolm's maiden sister" is simply offensive, and the temper of the whole article is revealed in the following significant passage The exaggerated esteem in which he is held by the man in the street has had the inevitable effect of making most modern musicians rank hint a little lower than he deserves. All of us who have had occasion to write about him have been guilty of this in our time. Our excuse is that we were really peppering away not so much at Mendelssohn as at Mendelssohnism, just as the ingenious French gentleman who fired at Dreyfus the other day pleaded that he had no feeling at all against Dreyfus, but

simply wanted to register his public protest against Dreyfusism.

Symbolic murder of this kind has to be committed occasionally in art criticism."

There are plenty of readable articles, both literary and political, in this month's Fortnightly. " Vidi," by assuming

a knowledge of diplomatic secrets, produces a very plausible explanation of low the Near Eastern imbroglio came about.

According to this writer, the Austrians made up their minds that annexation was inevitable after the manceuvres of 1906, which showed the precariousness of their military tenure of the provinces. Then came the regeneration of Turkey, and there was fear that the administration of Bosnia and Herze- govina was not so successful, but that there might be a powerful demand for reversion to the newly reformed Turkish Empire. Hence it was determined that the annexation should take place on December 2nd. Bulgaria's assistance was needed; and so it was arranged by the Austrians that the annexation and the declaration of the independence of the Principality should be made together. But Prince Ferdinand, who is accused of always playing for his own hand, feared that Europe, if the combined stroke were made, though she might allow the more powerful country to tear up Treaties, might salve her con- science by compelling the small State to keep its engagements. Therefore he thought it safer to act first, and independently. Thus the Austrians were forced to fire their mine pre- maturely, and before there was time to warn friendly Powers. —Mr. David Fraser gives a picturesque account of a journey down the Tigris on a "kelek." This local boat, or, rather, raft, consists of any number of inflated goat-skins, from one to eight hundred, tied in rows under a light framework of poplar poles. The craft is worked by two oars, and floats down the rapids and through the gorges of the great river, apparently with a considerable degree of safety. The sights along the bank and the appearance of the river when it "runs at a speed equal to that of the Niagara Rapids, the slope down which it tears being plainly visible to the eye," are described with great freshness and vigour.—Dr. G-uinness Rogers writes on certain aspects of political Nonconformity. He quotes a writer who says that Dr. Dale "held aloof front the movement for the establishment of Free Church Councils because he foresaw the political absorption of Free Churchism

which was likely to result, and dreaded the loss of spiritual power which that absorption would entail." Dr. Guinness Rogers tells us that he shared Dr. Dale's fears, and says that " the danger has proved to be more serious than I anticipated." He contends that the Free Churches have been led to take this turn owing to the political tendency of the Church of England, who has so often allied herself closely with one of the great political parties. Dr. Guinness Rogers concludes with a warning to the Churches to beware lest, for the sake of attracting working men, they let their purely religious appeals be displaced by "political exhortations."—Mr. Baughan writes sympa- thetically of Sir Edward Elgar's new symphony. At the :same time,, be points out a characteristic quality which, we think, is the indication that the work, good as it is, is not for all time. He observes that "the symphony gives one the impression that it could have been written in one movement, so alike are the movements in character and mood, with the exception of the adagio." We should be inclined not to make this exception, and believe that endlessly varied creation is the touchstone of genius. Sir Edward Elgar seems able to develop indefinitely a strictly limited quantity of material.

• With the masters, not only is the development, but also the material, limitless.

In Blackwood Mr. John Buchan supplies us with some amusing letters of the young Charles Harvey-Townsend written from Italy. This gentleman must have been indeed very much in advance of his time as far as art was concerned, for instead of raving about Guido and the grand manner, he visited the mountains to look for the backgrounds of Bellini I But his real business was to record his chance meeting with the Count of Albani and his Highland piper. They met at the inn of a small North Italian town. The disguise was penetrated, and the Pretender and his fondness for usquebaugh were soon declared. An amusing episode is the arrival of a deputation from America to offer the crown of the new Commonwealth to the legitimate King of England. These very businesslike gentlemen explain that the childless- ness of the proposed Sovereign is a great advantage, as they would be only committed to a King and not to a dynasty. The mission came to an end with a sight of the broken-down old man asleep amid spirit-bottles. The deputation retired unconfounded, remarking : "If we order the coaches now, we may get well on the way to Verona ere sundown." The whole thing is excellently contrived and set forth. —Mr. Charles Whibley gives us the first instalment of a most interesting study of Sir Thomas Overbury. This brilliant figure, together with his companion Robin Carr, afterwards Viscount Rochester, form a strange and sinister picture amid their surroundings of every conceivable phase of intrigue, at the Court of James I. So great was Overbury's power that his father was offered bribes to influence his son. He (the father) records that he "might once have had 21,000" from Sir Francis Bacon "if he would have spoken effectually to his son. But Sir Thomas knew Bacon to be corrupt." Overbury's fall came about by his trying to dissuade his friend Rooliester from marrying Lady Essex. She determined to ruin him, and put an end to his career by the aid of a poisoner. To carry out her plan a complaisant Governor of the Tower had to be appointed, and Overbury shut up in prison. A trumped-up charge of treason soon brought the victim inside the Tower. The last part of the tragedy will be narrated in a further paper.—Sir Henry Brackenbury's " Memories " continue to be of great interest. This month we get his story of the Paris Com- mune, which he saw both with the attacking force at Versailles and also from within the city itself. A striking account is given of the attitude of respectable people in Paris, who allowed the ruffianly element to assume command of the city. These people accused their loaders of doing nothing, and were incapable of finding any one whom they would follow, and so stood by shrugging their shoulders. Sir Henry Braclonibury tells us that he wrote a history of the Franco-Prussian War, and as be wrote it he became convinced of the guilt of Eazaine, in which be ,had not formerly believed. The book was about to appear in Paris when the trial of ]azaine was announced. Unwilling that anything he had written should prejudice the accused, be destroyed the whole edition, having to compensate the publisher. Mr. Norman Douglas in the English Review writes one of those descriptive and historical studies to which Italy so easily lends itself. The island of Ischia in the present instance supplies the material for a picture, after the manlier of the late J. A. Symonds, whose Italian sketches have been so often imitated but never surpassed. The small volcanic island in the Bay of Naples, with its baths, mountains, woods, and vineyards, makes a delightful landscape background to the history and legend which are always so interesting and abundant, not only on the mainland, but in the islands of Italy. Greek fable tells of the giant Typhoeus chained under Ischia and struggling for freedom. The inhabitants know something of these struggles, which reached a climax in the great earthquake of 1883.—A paper on "The Present Discontent in India" by Syed Sirdar

Khan denounces in no measured terms the lawlessness that has of late made the problem of Indian government harder than ever. The writer, a Mohammedan, clearly recognises the enormous advantage of British rule which keeps even justice between the opposing races and religions. He tells us, however, that we have not fulfilled the promises made at various times SS to the development of local self-govern- ment. This, we are assured, is resented by numbers of people who have no sympathy whatever with the extremists. We could have wished greatly that the writer had expressed his views as to how be would prevent widely increased self- government strengthening the forces of race and creed intolerance. The problem is,—How can we give the majority liberty to govern without giving them power to oppress P- The various serials in the magazine proceed, and a new one is started, a story by Mr. Granville Barker, remarkable only for its offensiveness.

The contents of the United Service Afagazine for February are, for the moat part, of a very technical kind, and hence beyond the comprehension of the civilian reader and reviewer. The article on "Heavy Artillery in the Field," however, though in one sense exceedingly technical, may be read with interest. The paper which will be most intelligible to the non- military mind is that on "The Practical Value of Peace Manceuvres." As to the difficulty of getting the private soldier to take peace manceuvres seriously owing to the absence of bullets we agree. We must not forget, however, that the real object of peace manearrres is to teach the General officers and their staffs bow to handle bodies of men up to the point where the firing begins. To give them experience in moving the pieces on the great chess-board, manceuvres are invaluable. Though such movements made on the map in case of a war are useful, they cannot compare in utility with actual movements.