THE MAGAZINES.

Mn. E. DICEY in the Nineteenth Century pleads strongly for a redistribution of seats on the ground that it will "abate" the Irish nuisances, so prominent during the last Session. We do not feel so confident as he does upon this point, for Ireland will still return seventy-two Members, and, as the late Mr. Cashel Hoey used to remark, his "countrymen have a genius for worry"; but we do feel sure that justice requires the redistribution. As we have stated already, we consider that it would be treason to the cause of the Union to leave Ireland with her present power over legislation to which she has no right. It is unjust to accept democracy as the ultimate principle of our government and then leave to a single division of the Kingdom thirty more representatives than on the democratic theory it is entitled to have. Kr. Dicey has, naturally enough, no new argument to produce, for in truth the absolute clearness of the case kills argument. You might as well argue over the first rules of arithmetic. We trust that Unionists will insist in season and out of season on right being done to England in this matter, but that they will make justice to England the ground for their demand, and not Irish obstruction.—There is argu- ment in Mr. Sidney Webb's oddly-named essay, "Lord Rosebery's Escape from Houndsditch," though we do not agree with it. Mr. Sidney Webb thinks that the country sick of the old Liberal cries—which is true enough—and that the work of the future Liberal party must be to secure national efficiency by accepting a national minimum. of "education, sanitation, leisure, and wages" as a legal starting point of industrial competition. To secure this it must give up its old preferences for individualism, and start fresh with, if we understand Mr. Webb, new men for leaders. Ilfr Webb always writes well, and his paper is well worth reading, but he avoids points cardinal to the argument For example, is the idle or inefficient man to receive the minimum of wages? If so, by what substitute for whipping is he to be compelled to work or induced to learn to work well ? It is at that point, as Mr. Webb knows, that Collectivist experiments have usually broken down, and until be states his faith upon that subject it is hardly useful to discuss his ideas. At present the whip is hunger, or rather physical discomfort, and if that whip is to be withdrawn, as it must be when the State secure to every man a minimum of comfort, another will be needed. Dr. Wirgman, canon of Grahamstown, sends a brief but clear history of British settlements in South Africa, and pleads strongly for justice to the "older British Colonists," who number one hundred thousand, and of whom a large pro- portion are fighting on the British side. He advises that a federal Constitution be octroye, and that the Eastern Province Lc separated from Cape Colony.—Mr. Walter Frewen Lord sends a curiously bitter study of the first Lord Lytton (Bulwer), who, he thinks, wrote his novels chiefly in the hope of making money, and finding that bad work sold, was content to give bad work, the most notable exception being The Haunters and the Haunted, when the subject interested him. 'He deliberately wrote down to the level of the paying publiG of his day," and thereby so ruined his mind that The Parisians, which might have given him a great opportunity, proved a failure. What he produced was not literature, but he succeeded because he carried on the Byronic tradition, and because he gave to romance a new interest, that of the super- natural. That is an intelligible and consistent explanation of the novelist, but credits him, we think, with too much deliberate purpose. He seems to us rather a man whose considerable powers and fertile imaginatio4 were spoiled by two habits, that of attitudinising and that of concealing ignorance in a flood of fine words. He had never, for example, thought out the dark spirit, the "Thing," the "Horror," who, as Mr. Lord says, runs through all his novels of the supernatural, and tried to call up gruesome ideas to conceal his own conscious failure of imagination, lauding himself at last in the grotesque absurdity of the last chapter in A Strange Story, the first few chapters of which are the most artistic he ever wrote.—Mr. Auberon Herbert repeats at length and with his usual grace of style his perpetual question,—Why have three men the right to rule two? When democracy has failed, if it does fail, Mr. Her- bert's question will be repeated in a great variety of ways. We should be inclined to answer it in a rather brutal way, that as the five have to live in the same house, and three can always master two, the best way of avoiding quarrels is to make the three legally and morally responsible for the comfort and well- being of all five.

The great paper of the Contemporary Review is by M. Jean de Bloch, and is an eloquent restatement of his well-known views that civilians can fight as well as trained soldiers, that the defence has become more powerful than the attack, and that consequently militarism as a science is about to die out. He pleads eloquently for these assumptions, quoting specially the South African War as his best illustration; buttons they remain assumptions still. That entrenchments will help an army is certain, but where is the proof that trained skill is not wanted to construct entrenchments ? Even if civilians "possess all the best qualities of Regular troops, their discipline and courage, and much more intelligence, initiative, and endurance," they must still have officers, and untrained officers, allowing always for a few men who, like Clive, are generals born, are commonly founduseless. That we under- late the effective force of slightly trained men when they are well led and strongly moved to battle is true, but M. de Bloch pushes his argument too far, so far that if he is correct a mob of a thousand men ought always to beat five hundred Regulars. As a matter of fact, the Regulars, once able to the fairly, have always beaten the mob. M. de Bloch says h a Canadians beat Cronje, but Paardeberg was surely a ,sl;tsuggle, so far as the Colonials were concerned, between two - of half-trained men, not between civilians and Regulars. —The Contemporary has two papers on art, one by Vernon Lee, and the other by Ada Cone apparently tly American irtist. The first is an eloquent assertion n of the aneerican that -he basis of art is utility, what we call art being merely uility regulated by something higher. Her chiefs trat* S the following. Fl nee thirsts for water but has lerefare Giovanni della Robbia determined to produce the effect of water :— domea"And behold the result, the witness of the miracle; in the ty, the fountain cooling this sultry afternoon of June as it has cooled four hundred Junes and more since set up, arch and pilasters and statned gables hung with garlands by that particular Bobbie. Cooling and refreshing us with its empty trough and closed taps, without a drop of real water ! For it is made of water itself, or the essence, the longing memory of water. It is water, this shining pale amber and agate and grass- green tiling and wainscotting, starred at regular intervals by wide-spread patterns as of floating weeds ; water which makes the glossiness of the great leaf-garlands and the juiciness of the smooth lemons and erx)1 pears and pomegranates; water which has washed into ineffable freshness this piece of blue heaven within the gable ; and water, you Arould say, as of some shining fountain in the dusk, which has gathered together into the white glistening bodies and draperies which stand out against that newly-washed tether."

That is very pleasant to read, but is della Robbia's work useful or something else P—Miss Cone's paper isa protest against the imitation of French art, which Americans carry so far that there are now fifteen hundred American art students in Paris, and that America is the great mark at for French paintings.

She desires to see a native art grow up through the develop- ment of utility into beauty, and especially to reject the in- fluence of French art, which she holds to be essentially sensual.

She suggests, however, no practical method of attaining this end, unless it be discarding all painting on canvas, and adopting instea4 the art of Asia, which "does not copy Nature," and for which in its devotion to colour she obviously hankers. She would like to be rid of the figure, and riot in

"disembodied colour which glows and beams and envelops like an aroma." "Whoever has seen a room hung with

Persian silk carpets has given his senses a foretaste of Para- dise " ! It is difficult to discuss such a treatise, but it is worth reading as affording a glimpse into one side of the American mind.

" Calchas," who in point of at yle and incisiveness of expres- sion is quite the ablest of the pseudonymous pundits of the Fortnightly, addresses a very interesting and acute "Open Letter to Lord Rosebery" in the September number of that review. The writer has no difficulty in demonstrating the impossibility of Lord Rosebery's present attitude. "The ride of the accomplished Ishmaelite is not to be combined with the retention of your public influence." Nor is he less suc- cessful in proving how futile is the scheme of creating an ideal middle party :—

" To think of forming a fresh party is too impracticable,—to think of joining the Unionist party too commonplace. The glamour that has been cast about your personality would perish

in that prosaic act Liberalism or nothing,—that is the key of your destiny. The leadership of the Opposition is the only adequate rOle now open to you in this Empire, and it is one that you can morally resume by the mere avowal that the restora- tion of your old party to power through an Imperialist Progressive programme, formulated article by article in its main provisions, is the mission to which you regard yourself as irrevocably com- mitted The Liberal party cannot dispense with you, nor you with Liberalism."

" Cakhas "is perhaps somewhat too dogmatic in dismissing the claims of the alternative Opposition leaders; too sweeping in the assumption that" the only personality through which Liberalism can hope to appeal to the nation and the

Empire against Mr. Chamberlain's is yours " ; and while we entirely agree with him in his contention that the characteristic moral foice of Liberalism in the past depended upon its power to search the national conscience, we cannot altogether endorse his attribution to Lord Rosebery of ethical fervour. The programme considerately sketched for Lord Rosebery by " Calchas " is solid rather than striking, except for the significant hint as to Home-rule. "The main contention must now be that the Irish question cannot be solved on party lines, and that the Opposition, while remaining advocates of some central body for Irish business, will refuse to commit itself to any scheme that cannot be settled in concert with the Unionist leaders." If Lord Rosebery is the man his admirer; believe him to be, such an appeal as that of " Calchas " would be irresistible.—Mr. Iwan-Muller, writing on the settlement of South Africa, sketches a system of Federation of which the following are among the leading feature : (1) the concen- tration of political power in the Senate or Second Chamber; (2) the scheme of Federation to precede the re-establishment of local Parliaments in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony. Should Cape Colony refuse to enter the Federation,

he predicts that in twelve months all parties in the Colony would be suing for admission into the Union on any terms.

For. as Mr. Iwan-Mfiller points out, the prosperity of Cape Colony is to a great extent artificial and conditional. At the close of his article Mr. Iwan-Maller quotes a number of passages from the magazines published at the theological seminaries at Burghersdorp and Stellenbosch before the war in support of his contention that the whole Dutch population of Cape Colony has been for many years essentially disloyal. That is a large proposition, but at any rate the passages quoted afford adequate indications of the existence and trend of Afrikander aspirations. The article is well worth reading as the work of a very able and exceptionally well-informed publicist.— Mr. H. G. Wells's instalment of " Anticipations " deals with "War." In his imaginary twentieth-century State, organised primarily for war, the madern tendency" to differentiate a non-combatant mass in the fighting State will certainly not be respected" ; riflemen, cyclists, and navigable balloons will play a leading part, and the side that can go fastest and hit hardest will always win.

—Judge O'Connor Morris sends a strong plea in favour of the Catholic University for Ireland, "George Paston " contri- butes an excellent critical study of Mrs. Linn Linton, and Miss Beatrice Marshall a readable if somewhat undiscrimi- nating eulogy of Gerhart Hauptmann. Mr. Charles Benham's paper on the Empress Frederick is sympathetic, yet critical ; but is it correct to say that she "remained timid and cautious looking to the last " ?

The new National Review is one of the best and' strongest numbers that Mr. Maxse has ever given us. We have already briefly referred to Sir Edward Grey's review of Mr. E. T. Cook's book on the Transvaal War, but may further note his comments on the disturbing influence of personal prejudices and the peculiar attitude of the anti-British Britishers. "I sometimes wonder," he asks, "how many persons in an audience have had their minds irrevocably made up about the justice of the war by their private opinion concerning the personal character of the Colonial Secre- tary; how many have had their emotions so stirred by the Raid that they have no room for any other fact." —In this context we may note Professor Walter Raleigh's brilliant study of "The Anatomy of the Pro-Boer." Pro- fessor Raleigh's estimate coincides pretty closely with that of Sir Edward Grey. Pro-Boerism, he contends, springs from '• the desire for the beau role, irrespective of the hard necessities of the case." "Their fatal weakness springs from the fact that they are dainty, self-indulgent moralists. They will not take their choice among practicable courses, each of which is attended by unavoidable drawbacks." They find it "intolerably unheroic to belong to the big battalions." Finally he sums up :—

" The Pro-Boer party in the nation is neither an unmixed good nor an unmixed evil. It is in the nature of a luxury; and like other luxuries it has its uses. If the struggle grew closer and grimmer, or came nearer home, with other luxuries it would vanish. While our nature is strong enough to support it, let us frankly admit its virtues. The humane instincts and the keen anxiety to be disinterested that mark the Pro-Boer are a useful corrective to the vices of the baser sort of camp-follower."

It is not often that one comes across a paper at once so pungent and sensible.—Sir Rowland Blennerhassett writes a most interesting appreciation of the Empress Frederick. On the question of her attitude towards Prince Bismarck, he holds that her political views were mistaken up to 1870, but that "during the second part of his ministerial career her

views were correct and true and to the purpose." It is interesting to learn that not a little of her unpopularity was due to her refusal to swim with the growing tide of Anti-Semitism.—Mr. Gustavus Myers, author of the inter- esting "History of Tammany Hall" recently reviewed in

these columns, sends a brief sketch of "Boss" Croker, which reminds us of a portrait by Mr. Sargent. He does full justice to Mr. Croker's pugilistic ability, his unflinching loyalty to his immediate associates, his great executive political ability and infinite attention to detail. Other features in his record are portrayed with a candour which we shall not attempt to emulate.—From Mr. Leslie Stephen's delightful paper on Anthony Trollope we must permit ourselves the luxury of one quotation :— " I do believe,' says Trollope, that no girl has risen from the reading of my pages less modest than she was before, and that some may have learnt from them that modesty is a charm worth yossessing.' The phrase reminds me of my favourite critic, who

declared that there was not a word in Dr. Watts' sermons • whict, could call a blush to the cheek of modesty.' Trollope eett,ini; deserves that rather negative praise. When a novelist court"' popularity by appealing to a perverted taste for the morally repulsive, I consider him to be a blackguard,—even though la.e may be an ' artist' • and, at the day of judgment, he will hate I suppose, be divided into two."

—We cannot quit the National without expressing cas satisfaction with the editor's lucid and sensible summary of the

Ithodes.Schnadhorst episode so far as it has gone in our columns and out of them.

The most striking paper in the September number of _Blackwood is Mr. Stephen Gwynn's "With the Pilchard

Fleet." To say that Mr. Gwynn's description of pilchard fishing off the coast of Cornwall is refreshing is to speak, in hackneyed phraseology, the literal truth. The reader imagines

that he smells the salt water and breathes the soft Wett Country air The slight sketch he gives of the Looe fishermen is very attractive. These men make about £1 a week by their adventurous toil. Speaking of three typical boatmen with whom he used to go out, Mr. Gwynn tells us that, "leading the roughest of lives, there was not a rough word on their tongues." Most of them neither drink nor smoke. My boatman looked a little hurt when I suggested beer to him, and explained that he was a staunch Rechabite.' He did not smoke either, he told me quite simply, since he had found the Lord,' but he was quite prepared to admit that good people smoked ; though in his own case he felt that it made for condemnation.' So I ventured to ask the skipper if he smoked. He had never touched tobacco nor any kind of spirits in his life. And the young man was the same. Very pleasant they were about it, too ; quite free from any touch of bigotry." —"The State of Ireland" is an interesting and fair statement of present Irish difficulties. There are some signs, the writer tells us, of a fresh outbreak of agrarian outrage. The overt object of the "New League" is to further the interests of the poor by lawful agitation, "but the methods of the local branches—if not of the central organisation—are the same which led to what are now called the bad times of 1:st I."

Friction between the landlord and tenant class is aggravated, we are told, by the bitterness of many of the landlords against the lower classes, some of the more violent and foolish of whom may be heard to suggest that "what is really wanted is a Judge Jeffreys and a Bloody Assize."—" A Rector's Story" is a pathetic and well-told tale of rural life.—In "Skinner of Skinner's Horse" we search in vain among many details of the Mahratta Wars for a definite portrait of the Eurasian hero.—" Pianists of the Past" is pleasantly written, and will interest all those who care for first-hand musical gossip. The recollections of the late Mr. Charles Salaman—who wrote the paper and died before he could revise it for the press—stretch over an almost incredible number of years.

The Monthly Review closes the first year of its existence with a number more than sustaining the promise of its earlier issues. Lieutenant Canyon Bellairs, R.N., in his paper on "The Navy at School" maintains that the supremacy of the tactical school is fraught with danger to the country, and that the historical school, vindicated by the results of the manceuvres, must do its fighting during peace to prevent disaster in war. In particular he dwells on the exaggerated importance attached to the menace of the torpedo craft, and emphasises the need of concentration and offensive tactics. In a postscript he tells the following arensmg anecdote of the Naval Manceuvres of 1900 :—

" During the eight days' war practically half the torpedo craft on either side were lost. The net result of all their efforts against battleships and cruisers was the successful attack of four torpedo-boats on the Minerva, in which the Minerva and three torpedo-boats were adjudged to have been sunk. Yet such is the terror that these craft have succeeded in inspiring that the Minerva, in the previous year's manainvres, fought an action with four imaginary torpedo-boats which no one saw except the captem and the gunners aimed at space. It is a case for the Psychical Research Society."

Mr. J. B. Atkins, one of the ablest of our younger war-correspondents, writes with good humour as well as. good sense about the work and future of that class. H's analysis of the causes that make for inaccuracy is excellen.t The correspondent does not want to be inaccurate, but In order to be ahead of his fellows with important news be often willing to risk inaccuracy. "'Substantial truth' is a new standard of sufficiency in British journalism, and it deserves to be discouraged." Then there is the deference to the political bias of the client le of his newspaper, the demand of the public for dramatic descriptions, though modern war- fare is not dramatic, and the fact that in the theatre of war

second-hand evidence is perhaps the equivalent of twentieth- hand evidence in any other circumstances of life." In discuss- ing the censorship, Mr. Atkins has no difficulty in disposing of the contention that the Censors should allow nothing to pass which they do not know to be true. As regards the demands made in the House for the punishment of correspondents who have sent grossly false news, Mr. Atkins holds that the answer should be this :—" If the correspondent has sent the news after being told by the Commander-in-Chief that it was false and should not be repeated, then he ought to be punished for insubordination—in a military sense. But he should not be punished simply because his news was false. There is only one way legitimately to abate the nuisance of inaccuracy, namely, to send to the front correspondents who have both judgment and honesty."—Mr. W. B. Duffield has an interesting paper on " Case against her Allies," in which he insists on the serious menace to Italy of Austria's commercial expansion in the Hinterland of the Adriatic once the Vienna-Salonika line is completed.—The September number also contains a finely imaginative poem, entitled "Commemoration," by Mr. Henry Newbolt.