FOREIGN TOPICS.

FRANCESCO CRISPI AND WHAT HE STOOD

THE

FOR.

HE last of the famous quartet of "Italian liberators" passed away with the death of Francesco Crispi, he having shared in the work of uniting "Italia dismembra" with Mazzini, Cavour, and Garibaldi. The late W. J. Stillman, the journalist, who knew Crispi personally for years, recently declared him to have been the ablest statesman in Europe since the death of Bismarck. Crispi, he said, was "the only absolutely honest and patriotic Italian statesman since Cavour."

Signor Crispi, who was in his eighty-third year when he died, was a Sicilian by birth, and received his political education in the early days of the risorgimento, when Cavour was reorganizing the disordered fragments of Italy into the new united

THE LATE SIGNOR FRANCESCO CRISPI.

kingdom. He rose to national prominence during the reign of Victor Emmanuel, and was minister of the interior and premier. His greatest achievement was the formation of the Triple Alliance, of which he may be said to have been the father, an achievement which has gained for him the title of the Italian Bismarck. The ill-starred African colonial venture of Italy, which culminated in the disastrous defeat of the Italian army by Menelik of Abyssinia, in 1896, and a series of bank scandals in Rome in which he was reported to have been concerned, rather clouded his reputation during his last few years. Signor Crispi's life, says the Temps (Paris), was a résumé of contemporaneous Italian history-"all of which he saw and most of which he was." The Temps, referring to the part played by him in the Triple Alliance, declares that he was the incarnation, in Italy, of that spirit of materialism, of blood and iron and thirst for military glory, which Germany had in Bismarck and England is now having in Chamberlain. "Cavour loved peace and order; Crispi conquest and aggrandizement. A new ideal of force, of military grandeur has been substituted for the old ideal of moral grandeur and peaceful triumph on the banks of both the Tiber and the Thames." He recalls, says the Temps, in conclusion, one of those Renaissance heroes of Plutarch who was "so clever, so forceful, and yet so lacking in ideals." An anonymous writer in the Revue Bleue (Paris) condemns the late statesman severely for bringing about the entrance of Italy into the Triple Alliance. He ruined his country to satisfy his ambition, says this writer. All the honest, idealistic convictions of his youth he cast aside at the dictates of personal ambition. The attempt of Italy "to support the dignity of a first-class power on the resources of a fourth-class one, was the fault of Crispi, and it has been the ruin of his fatherland."

"Can one mention a single political act in all of Signor Crispi's ministerial career which could be called generous, of public utility, or of a really durable character? He desired a general Euro

pean war, and brought about international combinations which he fondly hoped would precipitate such a war, but he failed miserably. He dreamed of an alliance with England, but never succeeded in bringing it to pass. He thought to give Italy an empire in Africa, and only involved her in a disgraceful adventure. He dreamed of making his country the equal of the greatest military powers, and by his ruinous commercial policy he did not leave her any means of sustaining an army."

All the Berlin journals publish appreciative biographical notices. The Norddeutsche Zeitung says: "It befits us in this place to pay a tribute of grateful honor to the memory of a man who was a great Italian, a faithful servant of his king, an eager advocate of the Central European alliance of peace, and, by conviction, a friend of Germany." The National Zeitung maintains that by universal consent Crispi must be placed in the first rank of those patriots who brought about Italian unity and raised Italy to her present position as a great power. In Germany it will never be forgotten that Crispi, till he drew his last breath, was the most determined advocate of the German alliance. Most journals deal with the intimate personal relations that were established between Bismarck and Crispi, and recall the saying of the great Chancellor, that the Italian statesman was even more hated than himself. The Kölnische Zeitung asserts that "Italy as a great power was never more respected, on the one hand, and never more hated, on the other, than during the periods when Francesco Crispi was at the helm of the state."

Whatever his faults, says the Epoca (Madrid), he deserves that respect which is always due those who greatly love their country. The Herald (Montreal) calls him the "man of the hour," the leader who had to come when his country needed him -"dogmatic, determined, relentless, unscrupulous, a man of primitive passions, encountering and overcoming others of his kind." Italy is prospering in spite of the materialistic military school represented by Crispi, declare Messrs. King and Okey, in a recently published book. The kingdom, they believe, will soon surprise Europe. They are convinced that, "underneath the slough of misgovernment and corruption and political apathy there is a rejuvenated nation instinct with the qualities that make a great people."-Translations made for THE LITERARY

DIGEST.

UN

A STEP TOWARD PRESS REFORM IN RUSSIA. NDUE importance seems to have been attributed in the American newspapers to the recent measure of press reform ordered by the Czar. In Russia few editors have manifested any enthusiasm over the change. Their comments are reserved, but while they express gratitude they intimate that the favor is a very small one and that they are entitled to much more radical concessions. The new law relates to the system of "warnings." Hitherto a warning was perpetual in duration. Once given it was, in the words of a Russian paper, suspended like the sword of Damocles over the editor and his paper or magazine, and never removed. The third warning carried with it temporary or permanent prohibition of the offending periodical, and the revival thereof exposed it anew to the danger of warnings. The new law limits the force of these warnings. The first is to be in effect one year, and the editor who commits no second offense within that year starts at the end of the period with a clear record. If a second warning comes within the same year, the effect thereof will last two years from the date of its appearance, unless a third one intervenes and causes suspension of the publication. The law also abrogates all warnings heretofore given, and releases some papers from the restraints of the preliminary censorship. Commenting upon this reform, the St. Petersburg Novosti (which had been warned twice-twenty and ten years ago respectively) says:

"The anomalous condition of the press has suffered aggrava

tion from the scheme of perpetual warnings. The paper, which had two warnings hanging over it, was necessarily overcautious and timid, and often refrained from expressing honest and useful thoughts of the utmost orthodoxy, becoming quite colorless and lifeless. And this has been the case with the oldest and best papers, which have abundantly proved their loyalty and utility to society and the government. The newer organs, tho less responsible and less necessary to the country, had a decided advantage, as they were free from the penalties of the former, less liberal press law of 1864."

The Novoye Vremya (St. Petersburg) remarks that the perpetual warning system put the press in the same category with the gravest political criminals and parricides, as these alone, under the law, were excluded from the benefits of the time-limit to penalties. It points out that the worst features of the press code -suspension with the third warning-remains in full force. It recognizes, however, that the measure is something of a relief. The weekly Nedielya (Moscow), however, is not inclined to go even so far as this. It points out that there is a reverse side to the shield, and that the new system has considerable danger within itself. The old law was stringent, it says, but only on paper, for the government was reluctant to give warnings in view of their serious consequences. The penalty was resorted to only in extreme cases, and, in fact, for some time the whole system has been suffered to fall into desuetude. It is to be feared, it continues, that the milder law will revive the practise of giving warnings for trivial causes, and the last state of the press may be worse than the first. A definite law, it says, safeguarding the press and regulating the issue of warnings is indispensable.-Translations made for THE LITERARY DIGEST.

"Both aimed at the highest ideals and were animated by the same aims of progress and culture."

The press of France generally expresses sincere admiration for the character of the Empress. The Temps (Paris) declares that France will never forget her protest which, while it was not wholly effectual, prevented much of the horror which might have followed von Moltke's order to bombard Paris. Of all the English princesses, says the Temps, she most resembled her father. She had his "quick and clear intelligence, his liberal temperament, his interest in politics, his perseverance, and, above all his conscience." "She dies in Germany, respected, honoredand a stranger." She was one of those characters of which the

COMMENTS ON THE DEATH OF THE
EMPRESS FREDERICK.

UNEASY lies the head that wears a crown" is the sub

stance of the European press comment upon the death of the Dowager Empress of Germany. There is no dissent from the tribute to her personal worth and womanly character, and general sympathy and respect is expressed for the courage and patience she displayed during her unhappy later years. Despite her close identification with German life and thought and the fact that she was the mother of the present German Emperor, the press of the Fatherland couches its respectful tributes to her character in much the same terms as tho speaking of a foreign monarch, and British journals declare that she was always an English princess. The hostility at court which embittered her life began with the open enmity of Bismarck, who resented her protest against the bombardment of Paris. She was responsible, he held, for the English influence which was reported to be at work in Berlin during the Franco-Prussian war. The Reichsanzeiger (Berlin), the official organ of the imperial Government, preserves a diplomatic silence as to the public and political influence of the late Empress, and limits its comments to her work in the popularizing of science and art. The warm interest which she took in art in particular, says the Reichsanzeiger, was "sustained by an exceedingly fine faculty of appreciation, and she constantly promoted the cause of art with her entire sympathy." In an equal degree she devoted her attention to works of mercy and of charity, "to those endeavors which have for their object the amelioration of the lot of the poorer classes and the promotion of the health of the people, and in these spheres her efforts were crowned with splendid success." The Kölnische Zeitung and other semi-official journals comment in the same vein. The Hamburger Nachrichten declares that for these works of womanly goodness her name will be held by Germans in everlasting grateful remembrance. Viennese journals express admiration for her liberal, progressive views. She was the real consort of the late Emperor, says the Neue Freie Presse.

THE LATE EMPRESS FREDERICK.

Almighty seems very careful, says the Journal des Débats (Paris), as He sends so few of them to earth.

She was a liberal princess and born to rule, says The Spectator (London), and it was the subordinate position which she occupied in common with all German women that was the primary cause of her unhappiness. Referring to her long quarrel with Bismarck, The Spectator says:

"She was a liberal princess, and to the old servants of the dynasty such a character was as unintelligible as Carlyle found a Jacobin prince of the blood.' Armored as she was in her birth-rank, in which even German heralds could find no flaw, and in the devotion of her husband, she might still, however, have lived down the acrid criticism of Berlin, and have been as popular as Queen Louisa, but that the irony of her fate matched her against the most successful statesman of our age, who detested parliamentarism, disliked brightness in women, and loathed the English ideas' which had made a state great tho governed by an unregimented people. He dreaded their infectious quality, and fought the crown princess almost as an enemy."

Her unpopularity in Germany, says The Guardian (Manchester), was entirely due to her liberal ideas, which were then regarded as distinctively and peculiarly English.

of liberal and humanitarian leanings, and on both counts she was an object of dislike to the men of 'blood and iron.' In Dr. Busch's accounts of Bismarck's tabletalk we see how the Chancellor chafed under the humanitarian restrictions which 'English' sentiment placed on the conduct of the war with France. Other times, other manners. The Empress Frederick belonged to a bygone generation, in which the mitigation of human suffering, whether in war or in peace, was held a noble aim and one especially dear to Englishmen."

She was a born ruler who was denied scope to rule, says The Saturday Review (London). It may be, says this journal further, that her claims to the notice of history are not less remarkable than Bismarck's.

"She taught her son to develop the wide tastes which he inherited from her. Through her Germany has rid itself of some part of its grosser Philistinism, and not a little through her teaching the naturalness of the alliance between Britain and Germany is slowly becoming a political creed."-Translation made for THE LITERARY DIGEST.

FOREIGN COMMENT ON THE STEEL STRIKE.

FOREIG

OREIGN observers of the great steel strike generally prophesy only disaster to American industry from the productive loss already incurred, no matter what the final outcome may be. A number of the continental European journals apparently find comfort for European trade in the assumed setback Uncle Sam has received. It may give America's closest competitors in the Old World a brief breathing spell, says the Independance Belge (Brussels). The magnitude of the interests and values involved is almost beyond comprehension, says the Kreuz-Zeitung (Berlin). The strike shows that the great capitalists are not the kings they imagined themselves to be. The laboring men aim at demonstrating that they are the real lords of the earth. It is the first sign of the approaching reign of labor demagogy in America. The Times (London) contrasts trades-unionism in England with American labor organizations, much to the disadvantage of the former. It says:

"The strength of our unions lies in sheer obstruction. They do not so much obtain active control for themselves as hamper

and curtail the control of the masters. As the result of their settled policy of restriction and obstruction, English industry has to face the competition of the world with one hand tied behind its back. In every direction the unions operate to curtail effective output. Their power to do this depends upon the invincible ignorance of the simplest rules of political economy which distinguishes many English workmen."

The American workman, continues The Times, is better informed. He may strike for higher wages, but he "does not insist upon equal rewards for the competent and the incompetent, nor does he believe that the way to improve his position is deliberately to coerce the better man into equality of production with the worse."

It says in conclusion:

"Our unions teach, and our workmen believe, that a man who does more than the minimum of work takes away the employment of some one else. That blighting and immoral creed has no hold upon American workmen. They expect and obtain high wages, which, however, are not relatively so high as they appear to people in this country. But, whatever they get, they give value for the money. Each man does his best and is paid according to results; while here, so far as the unions get their way, each man has to adhere to an average output calculated to suit mediocrity or even incapacity. That is why union leaders do not obtain in America the pernicious power to thwart enterprise that they relentlessly wield in this country, and that is why they have less chance there than here of dictating to the owners of businesses how those businesses shall be carried on."

The Daily Witness (Montreal) claims that a prolonged fight between labor and capital in the United States would be of incalculable benefit to Europe. It says:

In

"It is because the ablest men go into the army as officers and only the second-rate engage in commerce on the European continent that the Old World is lagging behind in the race. America 'soldiering' has never been popular in the European sense, and the brightest minds have employed themselves in inventions and trade. But a war fought to the bitter end between the 'billion-dollar trust' and its vast army of employees would affect the entire commerce of America disastrously and retard her progress indefinitely."-Translations made for THE LITERARY DIGEST.

POLISH VICTORIES OVER GERMANY.

THE

HE Polish journals of this country are rejoicing over the triumphs in art and science achieved in Germany by their compatriots. While German papers are full of articles demonstrating the necessity of throttling the Poles, says the Dziennik Narodowy (Polish National Daily, Chicago), these very same papers, in their news columns, are citing facts which prove the inexhaustible force of the Polish spirit, and how vain is the persecution which is carried on in Europe against the Polish people. The German correspondent of this journal says:

"Up to the present only a few of Sienkiewicz's works were translated into German. The public, however, began to demand more and more, so that now a publishing house of Leipsic is undertaking the publication of all his works. It is a curious thing that the collective publication of Sienkiewicz in German will begin with 'The Knights of the Cross,' in which the author has represented with such vividness the awful catastrophe of the Germans. Despite the unpleasant memories in Sienkiewicz's work, all the German papers are launching out into praises of the author, and even such journals as the Hamburger Nachrichten and Echo (thoroughly Hakatist* papers) emphasize the fact that Sienkiewicz is the most eminent writer of our day."

German appreciation for Polish music is also manifesting itself

*Hakatism is the term applied by the Poles to the coercive measures of the Prussian Government. It was inaugurated by Bismarck, and the name is a combination of the initial letters of three prominent advocates of coercion-Hahnemann, Kenneman, and Tiedemann.

in the press. Speaking of the presentation, in Dresden, of Paderewski's new opera, "Manru," the correspondent says that it met with "a gigantic success, and all papers asserted that it is the work of an epoch, even the Hakatist papers rendering homage to the Polish musician." Not long since, he continues, these same papers warmly praised W. Kossak, one of the best modern Polish painters. In science, too, the Poles have a representative, "for whom the Germans feel such honor that their papers are collecting funds for the erection of a monument to him on Ponape, one of the Caroline Islands. He is the celebrated trav eler and scientist, John Kubary, who explored the Pelew, Mulgrave, Caroline, and Samoan Islands."

Poland will never die, concludes the correspondent, when she can achieve such triumphs as these.

"We are stronger and stronger in spirit, and we have more and more certainty of gaining the final victory over the brutal ascendency of Prussian and Muscovite myrmidons. Formerly, when physical force was the deciding agent in the contests of nations as well as individuals, we routed the Germans garbed in the cloaks of Knights of the Cross, at Plowce, at Grünwald, at Tannenberg, and at other places. To-day, when the force of the fist is passing more and more rapidly into the shade of historical relics-when, instead, the force of the spirit constitutes more and more distinctly the chief value among peoples, we are gaining one victory after another over our adversaries in all branches of human knowledge. We need not, therefore, sink in hopeless despair over the national fall; we need not lay down our arms before our foes. On the contrary, we can look with pride into the future, as our gigantic forces and abundant resources allow the Polish community not only to keep pace with other nations in the lists of modern contests, but even to outstrip them and win.”—Translations made for The Literary Digest.

IN

COOPERATIVE INDUSTRY LEGALIZED IN RUSSIA.

N view of the participation by factory workmen in the recent student demonstrations and disturbances in the Russian university towns, it is interesting to learn that the Government has just extended full legal recognition and sanction to the artiel, one of the most characteristic and remarkable institutions that the Russian people have developed. The artiel, like the mir, or village commune, is regarded by the social reformers as a safeguard against capitalism and plutocracy, and the conservatives have been supposed to view it with distinct hostility. The mir is in process of decay, and the Government is contemplating its abolition in favor of individual ownership of land in fee simple. Communal ownership is believed to be an obstacle to agricultural progress and the development of initiative and enterprise, and even the Liberal press is divided upon the desirability of governmental protection and encouragement of it. But the artiel-that is, associations of workmen for industrial undertakings where the profits of the employer and contractor are realized and divided by the members themselves, who choose their foremen and leaders-is deemed a progressive institution which may mitigate the evils of capitalism and prevent exploitation of labor by employers. The new law regulates the formation of these associations, but imposes no restriction upon their selfgovernment or their cooperative feature. There is a man in Russia, N. B. Levitsky, who (tho a member of the higher classes) has devoted himself to the organization and encouragement of artiels. He is reported to have organized a large number, and all are flourishing. Interviewed by the Russky Listok of Moscow, he has made the following statements:

"It is not necessary for a workman to have saved any capital in order to join an artiel. It is only necessary that he should be skilled in his trade and honest. The artiel is primarily for the benefit of the wage-workers themselves. Its members are their own masters. All the earnings go into the common treasury and

are subsequently divided, each receiving a share corresponding to the value of his work. The profits of the contractor are thus saved, and the middleman is dispensed with. Owners and employers who have jobs for labor deal with the elected head of the artiel, and the association makes a contract for the performance of the given task. If the artiels accumulate capital, their field of operations is widened, and they are enabled to take contracts involving outlays. But they can start on a small scale.

"Society is a beneficiary of this cooperation, for the cost of buildings and goods is lessened, the contractors' profit not going entirely to labor, but being retained in part by the capitalist or the consuming public. The artiel sells its products cheaper than employers of labor. As for the Government, it is naturally interested in the welfare of the working classes and benefits by everything which reduces poverty, dependence, and idleness. Cooperative production means happier and more comfortable life for the workman."

The law provides for incorporation and pecuniary responsibility of these associations. It is suggested by certain writers that the state might advance money to the artiels at low rates of interest, just as it advances money to landowners.- Translation made for THE Literary Digest.

Strikes in Germany.-The German Government publishes annually an accurate report of the strikes that have taken place within the empire. The Reichsanzeiger, the governmental organ of Berlin, has just given the data for 1900, from which we condense the following:

During the year 1900 there were begun in Germany 1,492 strikes (of which, however, 48 were really an inheritance from the preceding year) and 1,433 strikes were brought to an end. By these strikes 7,740 different business concerns were affected and 298,819 persons, and of these persons 46,782 were not yet twenty-one years of age; 2,733 strikes resulted in the complete closing of the concerns affected, and in the others only portions were closed. In the concerns completely closed there were employed, in all, 142,842 people. Of these 21,641 were under twenty-one. In those concerns in which only a part of the plant was affected 52.904 persons were employed, with 7,527 under twenty-one. The greatest number of persons striking at one and the same time was 122, 803. In the first quarter of 1901, no less than 243 new strikes were begun, to which, however, are to be added 29 from the preceding year, while 203 strikes were concluded. Of these 203 strikes, 44 can be said to have ended successfully and 112 failed, and this is about the average ratio in the last few years. There were but few "lockouts" in Germany, the report for the first quarter of 1901 giving only 5 of these, affecting 1,325 working-people., Three of these were successful and two failures.- Translation made for THE LITERARry Digest.

FOREIGN NOTES.

ACCORDING to the last Swiss census, says the Revue Scientifique (Paris), the number of inhabitants of the republic speaking German has decreased since 1888 from 714 per 1,000 inhabitants to 697, while those speaking French have grown from 218 to 330, those speaking Italian from 53 to 67, and those speaking Romansch have decreased from 13 to 12. The decrease in the German-speaking population is absolute in Neufchâtel, where there has been a falling-off of 5,000. To-day Switzerland counts 2,319,105 speakers of German, 733,220 French, 222,247 Italian, 38,677 Romansch, and 14,087 speaking some foreign tongue. The speakers of Romansch have decreased absolutely 1.5 per cent.

WITH the appointment of Count Gilbert Hohenwart von Gerlachstein as Austro-Hungarian Minister to Mexico, diplomatic relations between the two countries are resumed after a lapse of thirty-five years. Austria had had no relations with Mexico since 1867, when Maximilian, brother of Emperor Francis Joseph, was shot. The Witness (Montreal) refers to the attempt to establish a Mexican monarchy and the court-martial of Maximilian as one of the worst blunders of modern times, altho, it points out, since that time Mexico has been a republic more in name than in fact. Porfirio Diaz, under whom Mexico has prospered for twenty-six years, "is a sovereign in all except in name and in succession." The Politische Correspondenz (Vienna) thinks that it will be of but little use for Austria and Mexico to agree on a consular and extradition treaty, as Mexico's foreign relations are more than likely to be interfered with by the United States, "under the motive of the Monroe Doctrine fanaticism."

FRA

MISCELLANEOUS.

THE HOUSE OF ROTHSCHILD.

RANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN is not generally regarded as a very important financial center, but for more than a century it has been the headquarters of the foremost banking-house of modern times-the Rothschilds. It was in this city that the great establishment had its modest beginning, and since rising to affluence and power and extending its operations to all parts of the globe, the ancient seat has never been abandoned. The following facts regarding the origin and development of the Rothschild house are taken from the August issue of The Bankers' Magazine (New York):

The founder of the house was Mayer Anselm (1743-1812), the son of Anselm Moses Bauer, a small Jewish merchant of Frankfort-on-the-Main. His father wished him to become a rabbi, but he preferred business, and ultimately set up as a money-lender at the sign of the "Red Shield" (Rothschild) in the Frankfort Judengasse. He negotiated his first great government loan with Denmark in 1802, and his transactions on behalf of William, Elector of Hesse-Cassel, were so profitable that when he died ten years later he was a very wealthy man. He left behind him five sons, and branches of the business were established in Vienna, London, Paris, and Naples, each being in charge of one of the sons. The third of these brothers, Nathan Mayer, has generally been regarded as the financial genius of the family and the chief originator of the transactions which have created for the house its unexampled position in the financial world. He came to Manchester about 1800 to act as a purchaser of manufactured goods for his father; but at the end of five years he removed to London, where he found full scope for his financial genius. The boldness and skill of his transactions, which caused him at first to be regarded as rash and unsafe by the leading banking firms and financial merchants, latterly awakened their admiration and envy. By the employment of carrier-pigeons and fast-sailing

LORD NATHAN ROTHSCHILD,

boats of his own for the transmission of news, he was able to utilize to the best advantage his special sources of information, while no one was a greater adept in the art of promoting the rise and fall of the stocks.

The colossal influence of the house dates from an operation of his in 1810. In that year Wellington made some drafts which the English Government could not meet; these were purchased by Rothschild at a liberal discount, and renewed to the Government, which finally redeemed at par. From this time the house became asociated with the allied powers in the struggle against Napoleon, it being chiefly through it that they were able to negotiate loans to carry on the war. Rothschild never lost faith in the ultimate overthrow of Napoleon, his all being virtually staked on the issue of the contest. He is said to have been present at the battle of Waterloo, and to have watched the varying fortunes of the day with feverish eagerness. Being able to transmit to London private information of the allied success several hours before it reached the public, he secured an immense profit by the purchase of stock, which had been greatly depressed on account of the news of Blucher's defeat two days previous.

Head of the London House.

"Maintaining an identity as unchangeable as the Hebrew race to which they belong, and with purposes as inflexible as the ruler of Russia, and a policy as far-seeing as the Church of Rome," says The Bankers' Magazine, "the Rothschilds have steadily built up the prestige of their name until it now outranks that of any other, while their fortune has grown year by year until it has attained to colossal figures. Those who have a talent for guessing have set the actual sum at two thousand million dollars, but until some member of the firm displays a confidential mood, the correctness of this conjecture must remain unverified. Whatever the amount may be, its vastness is undoubted, and the accumulations of a century and a half are being swelled each hour by innumerable tributes from every quarter of the world."

CORRESPONDENTS' CORNER.

Gifts to Colleges.

Editor of THE LITERARY DIGEST:

In your list of "Unprecedented Gifts to Colleges" (LITERARY DIGEST, vol. xxiii., No. 2, p. 35), Southern institutions of learning are conspicuous mainly by their absence. Perhaps it might not be amiss to add that the Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, the Women's Department of Tulane University of Louisiana, has received very recently, in time for announcement at the last commencement, a bequest of about $2,000,000, by the will of its founder, Mrs. Newcomb. W. B. SMITH.

NEW ORLEANS.

Is Mozoomdar a Christian? Editor of THE LITERARY DIGEST :

In THE LITERARY DIGEST for July 6, in the article entitled "A Modern Hindu Saint," Protap Chunder Mozoomdar is called a Christian. As one who has met Mozoomdar in person, who has heard him speak and who has read his published works, I can not allow this statement to pass uncorrected. Mozoomdar is not a Christian, unless Christianity can be identified with universal religion, and unless belief in the living God is all that is required nowadays to make one a Christian. A great deal more used to be required at one time, perhaps I ought to say a great deal less. Mozoomdar is a member of the Brahmo-Somaj in India. He was a life-long friend and disciple of Keshub Chunder Sen, whose life he wrote. In the latter work Mozoomdar himself speaks of the orthodox Christian missionaries in these words: "Their own Trinitarian orthodoxy was so bigoted, their teachings were so intimately akin to the exploded farrago of Hindu dogmatism, their intolerance was so excessive, so unsympathetic, their denunciations of the national religion were so violent and sweeping, that as religious men and reformers they shared very nearly the same criticism which fell to the lot of the less enlightened apostles of the native faith." NANTUCKET, MASS. J. F. MEYER.