Block, Sioux Falls, South Dak. HARVEY & MCDONALD, 15 Toronto St., Toronto, Canada. MCPHILLIPS & WILLIAMS, Whetham Block, Vancouver, B. C. H. L. CHRISTY Cor. Fifth and Wylie Aves., Pittsburgh, Pa.

The Canon of the Old Testament. NORRIS & HOWARD, Ernest & Cran

By TOBIAS MULLEN, Bishop of Erie, Pa.

Crown 8vo, 688 pp., cloth extra, net, $3.00.

FR. PUSTET & CO., New York, Letter Box 3627.

IS

Cincinnati, O., Letter Box 738.

OUR S

WEELS

8%

SANDFORD'S Perfect Heel Protector saves one

mer Building, Denver, Colo. CLARENCE A. BRANDENBURG, 412 Fifth St., N.W., Washington, D.C. JAMES R. CHALLEN, 20 and 21 Law Exchange, Jacksonville, Fla. WALTER L. CHURCH 9 Franklin St., Boston Mass.

JAMES C. MCEACHEN, Benedict Building, 171 Broadway, N. Y.

A Tonic

Horsford's Acid Phosphate.

Prepared according to the directions of
Prof. E. N. HORSFORD.

This preparation is recommended by Physicians as a most excellent and agreeable tonic and appetizer. It nourishes and invigorates the tired brain and body, imparts renewed energy and vitality, and enlivens the functions.

DR. EPHRAIM BATEMAN, Cedarville, N. J., says:

"I have used it for several years, not only in my practice, but in my own individual case, and consider it under all circumstances For mental exhaustion or overwork it gives one of the best nerve tonics that we possess. renewed strength and vigor to the entire system."

Descriptive pamphlet sent free on application to Rumford Chemical Works, Providence, R.I.

Beware of Substitutes and
Imitations.

CAUTION:

Be Sure the word
is PRINTED
All others are spuri-
NEVER SOLD IN BULK.

"HORSFORD'S"
on the label.
ous.

of shoes. Thousands of Phy

sicians, Lawyers, Ministers, and Business Men wear them. Why don't you? Send 10c. for

N. Y.

-USE

sample pair: 50c. for 6 pair Leon Isaacs &

Outfit," or $2.00 for gross

pairs. Address,

WOODMAN COMPANY,

P.O. Box 2872, Boston, Mass.

third valuation. Best of Security. "Highest

Safe Interest. Large experience. Address

GLUCINUME

Copyrighted 1882 by Leon Isaacs & Co.

PENS. Guaranteed Uniform, Durable.

OFFICE, 239 Broadway, N. Y. Smooth,

TACOMA INVESTMENT CO., Tacoma, Wash. Ask Your Stationer For Them.

ALLECER PIANOS AND ORGANS sent on free test

What

Is

and trial to all parts of the world. You look before you buy. Large Illustrated Catalogues showing newest styles of Pianos and Organs, with very low prices for cash. Organs $32 and upwards. Pianos $185 and upwards. H. W. ALLEGER, Lock Box 36, WASHINGTON, NEW JERSEY. Mention The Ltterary Digest.

The Library of American Literature

By E. C. Stedman and E.M. Hutchinson.

It will pay you to find out by writing to C. L.WEBSTER & CO., 67 Fifth Ave., New York.

THE

to the great and expanding evils that exist in respect of national elections; and the subject is thus brought prominently into notice none too soon. Practices that were rare or unknown in the earlier days of the Republic, are apparently becoming more and more common year by year, whereby injustice and unrepublican advantages are sought and gained by one party or section or faction over another, and they are acquiesced in and winked at even by reputable members of the party profiting thereby, and boldly flaunted to the public gaze by their immediate perpetrators as the best evidences of service and desert. When the continued increase and diffusion of this chicanery in politics shall have poisoned the communities of a majority, or even a less number, of the States, there

will be an end of the liberties of the people, both in a legal and moral sense; for the idea of true liberty is as absolutely opposed to that of fraud and injustice, as is truth to falsehood. But the nation at large has not yet reached any such stage, and until the moral nature of man is changed it never can. Its danger lies in the vicious ambitions and unscrupulous methods of a very small proportion of the people, accompanied by the tolerative indifference of the great body which, so long as its personal comfort is not disturbed, and its taxes are not too grievous, and its judicial establishment proceeds rightly in the main, goes on with its affairs in silence, broken only now and then by a protest in undertone. If a brave and outspoken condemnation is made, the contemptuous answer usually is, "Well, what are you going to do about it?" A pertinent inquiry, too, when the tyranny of the political boss or syndicate is intrenched in the possession of power and commands the very agencies of redress or punishment to which the misgoverned must, regularly, resort. Human experience has shown, however, how with a brave and intelligent people such wrongs are at last righted. Means, regular or revolutionary, adequate to the end are applied, and the community is restored to itself at whatever cost.

But neither the people of the nation nor the people of any State can afford to wait for such extremities. They should— and if they are in the main intelligent and patriotic, they will -take efficient measures to right such wrongs as already exist, and prevent the possibility of minority government; remembering that such governments in States constituted as republics have been usually more corrupt and tyrannical than those of a monarchical character. Ten masters are ten times worse than one. If I were called upon to declare wherein our chief national danger lies, I should say, without hesitation: In the overthrow of majority control by the suppression or perversion of the popular suffrage.

The founders and organizers of this Republic of people and of States constructed the Constitution so that a majority of the people in each State, acting in the election of members of the House of Representatives, and a majority of members acting in making laws, must be the means, and the only possible means, by which a government, democratic in character, could be carried on. The only exception to this was that each State, however small in population, should have one representative, and that a minority in each House should have power to compel attendance of absentees. One independent and coördinate part of one of the three great divisions of a single government-each to be a check on the others for the preservation of liberty and order—was to come directly from the people of each State according to their numbers. There was to be one body which, in its origin and in its representative-character, should be thoroughly democratic.

"

The system of the people of the several States voting for members of the House of Representatives by districts came to be an established one; and for a considerable time these congressional districts were composed of “contiguous territory ' geographical divisions of substantially equal population-without regard to the political opinions or other characteristics of the dwellers therein. Later the astuteness of professional dealers in politics discovered that they could keep the letter of the law as to contiguous territory and ignore the duty of making districts of equal population, so constructing districts that their party could elect more representatives than would be possible if the Constitution and the law were followed in spirit and intent.

The device of gerrymander and the disregard of equal population in representation is being more and more resorted to both in respect of Congressional representation and in the

election of State legislatures. It is manifest that if this great and growing enemy of true democracy is to be banished, it must be by the direct action of Congress. Such action to be effective must supersede State action, and create the districts and adjust their relative populations upon considerations of geography and arithmetic solely; races, and creeds, and parties must be absolutely ignored.

Let us make clear and positive what is doubtful, or what has been perverted, preserving that coördination of powers and restraints that a century of practice has shown to be adequate both for democratic liberty and State rights. We may consistently with the sure scheme of our government provide how each State shall appoint its Presidential electoral body; but, whatever the way, it must be the one act of each State as a whole. Our immigration and naturalization laws should be reformed. No man ought to participate in the government of a republic until he can cease from being rightfully grouped and classed in his action, as of a particular origin.

THE DUTY AND DESTINY OF ENGLAND IN INDIA. SIR EDWIN ARNOLD, K. C. I. E., C. S. I.

North American Review, New York, February. SOLATED by their self-completeness and continental seclusion, the inhabitants of the Great Republic do not realize the extent and importance of India, and the nature and scope of British administration in that Asiatic world. They touch no Oriental races, are perturbed by no Oriental problems, and in national policy have no account to take of Oriental feelings and aspirations. I have read during the recent talk about India, in connection with the temporary trouble in the Pamir, articles in American newspapers, lightly and carelessly penned, as if it were an indifferent matter to civilization generally, and to Americans in particular, whether Russia should ever seriously challenge the British possession of India and perhaps even some day succeed in ousting us from the peninsula. In reality such an event would prove the direst occurrence for human progress-and indirectly for the United States-since the overthrow of the Roman Empire by barbarians. It would be the triumph of the Slav over the Saxon, and would set back the development of Asia, and the advancement of the human race generally, at least a thousand years.

That "real estate" in Kansas City, where I am now writing, would suffer from a decisive victory won over Her Majesty's troops by a Russian army inside India, I would not affirm; but I am quite sure of two facts: one that such a disaster would be as bad a thing for Americans in the long run as for Englishmen, for Hindus, and for the people of Islam; and the other that it will not happen, because-thanks be to God!— Her Majesty Queen Victoria's strength in India, material and moral, is amply sufficient to-day to guarantee the security and tranquility of the stupendous charge it bears there against any force, or combination of forces, likely to be brought forward in challenge of the Empress of India.

Patriotism is a word that has not and cannot have any universal meaning in that vast peninsula, which is a continent and not a country. India has never governed itself, and has never once been governed by one supreme authority until the time of the English rule. Consequently there never was and never could be that common sentiment among its inhabitants which is the necessary basis of the feeling of patriotism. There never even existed one comprehensive native name for the peninsula, regarding it geographically from Comorin to the Indus. Realize what India is! In the immense territory inclosed by the great mountains on the north and the oceans on the south, it contains nigh upon three hundred millions of souls, divided into innumerable races and classes, and speaking many more than a hundred different tongues and dialects. No countries in Europe, none in North and South America, are more widely divided from each other, in blood, religion, customs, and

speech than the Sikhs, say, from the Moplas of Calicut, or the Mahrattas of Poonah from the Mohammedans of Bhopal.

around it.

What has always tended to keep India from homogeneity is her village system, which everywhere prevails. The towns and cities, of which, of course, there are many, are all unconnected in interests and business, and live apart from each other as much as if they were islands in the sea. Between these lie, in the huge interspaces of the rural districts, innumerable villages, constituted on a common plan, and each of them forming the little centre of the agricultural district radiating far These villages are of immense antiquity and possess an identical system of civil life which probably far antedates Moses and the Pharaohs. They never become smaller or larger, for if the population increases, it migrates a few leagues and opens up some new jungle or hill. There are the Patel or chief of the village, the Brahmin astrologer, the blacksmith, the carcoon or accountant, and the low-caste man whose business it is to deal with corpses, human or animal, and to skin the cattle when they die. There is also a panchayet, or council of five, which acts as the village court, and settles small local questions under the sanction of the authorities.

If all India were composed entirely of these villages, tenanted by exactly the same sort of people, there might be such a thing as a homogeneous peninsula, for which its children might cherish that sentiment of patriotism which is evoked with us by the mere name of England and which unites all the States of America, in spite of their different and sometimes discordant interests, under the star-spangled banner. But the numberless millions of India are so split up that the human strata cross and recross each other, and show a hundred lines of cleavage. First, the proportion between Hindus and Mohammedans is about seventeen to one. These Indian Mohammedans are derived from the old governing dynasty of the Mogul, and largely retain the ways and feelings of a lordly and dominant race; constantly quarreling with the Hindus upon religious questions, and always ready to fly at their throats but for the strong restraining hand of the English Government. As matters stand in the great Indian cities, we have occasionally the "work of the world" to keep the peace between the Mohammedans and the Hindus, especially at the chief festivals; while frequently, between whiles, the Hindus will throw the carcass of a pig into a Mohammedan mosque-court, or the Mohammedans will openly slaughter a cow, each of which unkind acts sets a whole province thirsting for blood. If our power were withdrawn these two classes would certainly wage a war of mutual extermination.

The Hindus themselves are cut up into four chief castes, with countless other and minor divisions, which keep them definitely apart. Modern civilization has as yet had little effect upon that antique institution, which is supported by the vast bulk of Hindu opinion. Socially there is no unity among the inhabitants of India, nor any present possibility of it, while they are further split up by geographical and natural limitations, and by the old distinctions between the many kingdoms of India,

The whole great peninsula now lies, under the benignant hand of the "Maharani," Her Majesty the Queen of England. Nor is it without hopeful foresight of amalgamation into a country that we have everywhere instituted and encouraged a municipal system in the towns, which will help to teach Indian citizens the art of self-government. But when folks talk of ready cut-and-dried representative systems for India, and a hasty adoption of the civil and social methods of the West, they talk the "breathless benevolence" of ignorance. Modern institutions are not yet possible in that vast and varied world, which for many years to come wants nothing so much as the complete tranquility, the burra choop, which the Queen's government secures to it.

The duty of the English Government is, beyond all question, to administer this great special and separate Asiatic world for

its own good and for its own sake. India is well contented, and will flourish so long as England's strength suffices, along with justice purely administered, and tolerance truly maintained, and reforms reasonably introduced and fostered, to keep unbroken that deep peace, the first which India has known in all her history. To-day the strength of England is abundantly adequate by land and sea to hold the country against any challenge. No nobler charge was ever laid upon a people than thus to repay to India-the antique mother of religion and philosophy-the immense debt due to her from the West. There are many collateral considerations which should move the popular mind-commercial benefit, colonial advantage, national prestige; but these are weak in comparison with the sublime duty laid upon Great Britain, if ever any duty was sublime, by the visible decree of Providence itself, and it may be said, consecrated to the pride and fidelity of succeeding generations of Englishmen, as well as, in past days, by the brightest valor, the noblest devotion, the highest capacity, and the most unflinching discharge of duty.

Before, however, a General Election is reached, we are to have one more session of a Parliament whose legal limit does not expire until August, 1893. Next month, therefore, Parliament will enter upon its last session, and the last session of a dying Parliament does not generally add much lustre to its reputation. At such periods, the nation is naturally much more concerned in speculating upon the character of its coming sovereign than in watching the last hours of the one who still wears the crown. Authority forgets a dying king.” The House of Commons, as a whole, always keenly sensitive to public opinion, is fully conscious of its own loss of power, whilst the thoughts of individual members become almost wholly absorbed by the consideration of the relations of themselves with the electors, before whom they have soon to appear as candidates. Thus the great arena of national debate is apt to become little better than the platform of the party candidate; all reality is withdrawn from parliamentary discussion; business of a practical kind is neglected; whilst the uncertainty of the future and the hopes and fears of men combine to dispel for the time public confidence in the permanence of any portion of onr national policy.

Our relations with the great Powers of Europe, our position in Egypt, our policy towards Ireland-nay, as matters stand at present, the fundamental principles upon which for centuries the English people have been governed, must be regarded as provisional only. Since we have no fixed or written Constitution to limit the authority of Parliament, the legal power of Parliament is subject to no restrictions whatever. Parliament is supreme over the Constitution. No one questions the absoluteness of its power over the property, the liberties, the lives of Englishmen. As the House of Commons more and more absorbs the powers of the Legislature, a General Election comes to resemble more and more the choice of a dictator by the people. What next Parliament will do, no human being can foresee. It is only certain that it will, like an absolute monarch, have the power to do what it pleases. No wonder that a General Election in the United Kingdom is a time of anxiety to all lovers of their country. Nowhere else is the whole power of the State, the whole destiny of the State, so completely in the hands of the democracy as with us at the

time when one Parliament has been dissolved and the people are called upon to elect a new one.

The last few months have made great changes in the leadership of political parties. It is true that the venerable leader of English Home Rulers is still able to command the devoted allegiance of his followers, though he is no longer expected to perform the everyday duties of an Opposition leader in the House of Commons. In the House of Lords, the little band of ex-official peers who form the Gladstonian party have lost the genial guidance of their experienced chief, Lord Granville. In the House of Commons, the change has been far greater. The Liberal Unionist, the Conservative, the Irish Nationalist party, have each to deplore the loss of its leader. The death of the Duke of Devonshire, and the consequent removal of Lord Hartington to the House of Lords is much more than a blow to the Liberal Unionist party.

Since last session, Mr. Smith and Mr. Parnell have also passed away from the House of Commons-the former regretted and respected by men of all parties as a conscientious and publicspirited statesman. Mr. Smith's transparent sincerity, his conciliatory bearing, his clear head and business-like habits, his devotion to the public service, and the entire absence from his character of a self-seeking or personal ambition, earned for him both the good-will and the confidence of the House of Commons, during a period, moreover, of great difficulty, caused by the disruption of old party connections, when possibly a more brilliant leader might have proved far less successful.

Mr. Parnell's death, coming so soon after his fall, undoubtedly makes a considerable change in the political situation. In three Parliaments he has been a great power. It required a strong man to unite Irish members into one political body, to get them to act as an independent party, and to throw its weight into the Liberal or the Conservative scale, with sole regard to the willingness of either party to promote his great end of establishing an Irish nation," which should take its place amongst the other nations of the earth." He pursued his policy with great ability, with unfailing perseverance, and, up to a point, with conspicuous success. He had dismissed and had made Ministries. His triumph was great when, in 1886, he saw his much-villified policy of Home Rule for Ireland solemnly adopted by Mr. Gladstone himself as the destined work of the Liberal party. There is no one now to play the game which Mr. Parnell played.

The times, indeed, are critical; but if Unionists remain true to themselves, the country may well look forward to a long renewal of the prosperity at home and abroad which has distinguished the career of the Parliament now drawing to a close.

RUSSIA'S PREPAREDNESS FOR WAR.

N. VON ENGELNSTEDT.

Preussische Jahrbücher, Berlin, January.

N the present state of the art of war, the development of railway systems is of vast importance-so important that upon the opening of hostilities and at the beginning of operations the railway is the controlling factor; while the fighting capabilities of nations are in a manner determined by their qualities of organization as indicated by the fitness of their armies for warfare, and by their qualities of efficiency as indicated by their railway facilities. Therefore it is with good cause that Russia, taking a lesson from her unwelcome experiences with her railways in the concentration of troops in 1876, has devoted increased attention to the improvement of her railway system, to the enlargement of locomotive power and rolling stock, and to the promotion of better official management. In the last two years, especially, she has applied large sums to these purposes; and by assigning reserves to do duty on the most prominent strategic railways she has even made the railway service a branch of the military organization. In 1865 Russia possessed only 3,906 kilometers of railway, in 1870

11,243 kilometers, at the outbreak of the Turkish War 20,000 kilometers, in 1886 30,884 kilometers, and in 1891 32,372 kilometers. Still the general railroad conditions leave much to be desired, partly because of the magnitude of the Empire, partly for climatic reasons, and partly because of fundamental defects, so that a satisfactory development is either wholly out of the question, or so far improbable as not to be taken into account—a fact that becomes the plainer when it is remembered that the control of the system is divided among about fifty private companies. In this connection a comparison may be useful: Germany has about 42,000 kilometers of railway as against 31,000 in European Russia-a country nine times larger.

[Various fundamental defects" are here pointed out. Most of the Russian railways are single track; there are only fourteen lines that have double tracks. Stations are far apart-from sixteen to twenty-five kilometers, and on the single track roads only a small number of trains can be moved daily. The management has hitherto been wretched, causing frequent serious accidents. During the transportation of troops in 1877 there were 289 derailments and 280 collisions, in which 281 locomotives and 1,422 cars were damaged, while 484 persons were killed and 958 were seriously injured.

The care given toward the improvement of conditions is indicated by these figures: In 1867 there were only 933 locomotives, 1,888 passenger cars, and 17,088 freight cars on the Russian railways, but in 1884 there were 5,966 locomotives, 7,050 passenger cars, and 118,127 freight cars. The budget of 1890 devoted 10,000,000 rubles for railway construction, 19,500,000 rubles for the improvement of the service (the building of second tracks, etc.), and 7,000,000 rubles for rolling stock; the figures in the budget of 1891 for these purposes were, respectively, 14,159,506, 17,200,000, and 2,595,000 rubles.

The fortified places protecting the western frontier are next enumerated, the conclusion being that the lines of defense are comprehensive, and that the fortresses are strong.]

It would be a mistake to infer from the thoroughness of this protective system that it is Russia's purpose to wholly forego the offensive in the next war. The Czar has important business to complete in Central Asia, and will be under restraint until the year 1894, if not for a longer period, in consequence of matters of equipment, financial difficulties, and famine. Even when these embarrassments are got rid of, he will hardly engage in a war with the Central European Powers unless circumstances are most favorable; for the end to be gained by aggression on the part of Russia is the conquest of supremacy in Asia, and the war for that supremacy will be fought out in the Hindu-Koosh. If he shall succeed in worsting England there, he will aim to fulfill his ambition in Europe-to force the passage of the Dardanelles and to obtain unhindered communication with the waters beyond, by means of diplomatic devices and by the strength of his forces along the western frontier. Yet the possibility remains that he will abandon the defensive as soon as France can reap advantage from a war with Germany and Italy. In that event, as is indicated by the nature of his defensive system and also of the Russian railway system, he will act on the defensive so far as Germany is concerned, and precipitate the largest part of the troops in the military districts of Kiev, Wilna, and St. Petersburg upon Austria and the Balkan States, in order to achieve his design in Europe, the unrestricted use of the Dardanelles.

Internal and climatic conditions and the unsatisfactory development of her railway system, make it impossible for Russia to respond to her Western neighbor with an equal rapidity of operations in the frontier regions, in case sudden war developments or political crises shall make action necessary. Since Russia would, in such circumstances, require a longer time to mobilize her armies and complete their delivery at the frontier than Germany would need; and since, moreover, the Russian lines of operation run close to the frontier throughout long stretches of territory, while Germany is under disadvantages in this regard, it would not be needful for Russia to forward troops from remote parts, and her policy would be

to protect the interior by an extensive system of fortifications.

The mobilization regulations require that the infantry divisions shall be ready to move within sixteen days; in the military district of Warsaw the time allowed is shorter. Judging from the experiences of 1876 it is questionable whether the regulations can be strictly carried out in practice; besides, interferences are to be expected from untoward weather. Undeniably, great strides have been taken since 1876; still it is not at all certain that the whole apparatus can be made to move so smoothly as to complete the work in the period specified. That the Russian War Office is not entirely convinced of its ability to mobilize so speedily is indicated by the fact that an experimental mobilization of the whole Russian army is projected for the coming year. The leaders of the Russian forces must deal with elementary difficulties.

[The writer gives a detailed review of the strength of the Russian armies, and their distribution. From this it appears that there are seventeen army corps available for a European war, and that the number can be increased to nineteen. These do not include reserves and militia.]

The Russian youth are liable to military duty at the completion of the seventeenth year, and at eighteen they are ready for active service in the standing army and its reserves. But since 1890 it has been the rule that during each of the first four years of liability, service shall be limited to two periods of six weeks each.

When it is considered that in the last few years a great many new military forces have been organized, and the Russian army has thus been much enlarged, while since 1881 the military budget has been increased by only 19,000,000 rubles, it is impossible to speak without admiration of the conduct of the military administration.

[To this article the editor of the Jahrbücher adds a postscript, con⚫cluding as follows:

"The danger that we (Germany) have to fear from Russia does not arise from the possibility of sudden offensive action, but from the inexhaustible strength of her population and the scope thereby given for defensive action."]

COLONIAL GOVERNMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN. Westminster Review, London, January.

IN

N Colonial matters, the first broad fact that strikes the observer is that Her Majesty's Government is at rest hardly anywhere. In every part of the British Empire, as well at our very doors as in the farthest and most insignificant of our possessions, alike in the great Colonies with responsible Governments, and the small dependencies under the direct government of the Crown, the same story meets us—a complaint of want of knowledge, and of absence of sympathy in the handling of colonial affairs.

Now, we are neither so magnanimous nor so ignorant as to say that this is entirely the fault of the Mother Country. If the British colonist has bettered many of the virtues of his stock, he has also certainly developed most of the British failings. He is selfish, iike most people, self-assertive, bumptious, and obstinate. Still, there is a large balance of errors which is attributable to the Home Government, and the most practical question for us at home is, how these are to be avoided.

It is customary, especially in the colonies, to blame the Colonial Office, "Downing Street," "Red Tape," "King Log," and so forth; but all this is an incident only of imperfect knowledge. The Colonial Department is only partly to blame. In fact. if the truth were known, the balance of opinion in that office would probably be often found in opposition to the policy adopted. What mars our colonial policy is just what mars British administration generally. The main causes are twothe interference of an ignorant Parliament, and the undue subordination of colonial interests to the exigencies of foreign policy, It is idle to talk of Imperial Federation, and to erect Imperial institutes until a more enlightened and definite understanding as to the reciprocal duties of the Mother