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"Keep the Queen in place, curtail her power, regulate the government, but maintain a show of independence. The introduction of direct French rule has cost much in other colonies. In Algiers it caused a struggle of twenty-seven years, at a loss of many lives and much treasure. In Cochin-China ten years were needed to establish French rule for good. England has had similar experience. Altho possessed of immensely fitting material for the administration of colonies, she needed eight years to subjugate Burma. Madagascar would produce similar conditions. It must be taken into consideration that the Queen has much influence. An order from her to one of the seventy-nine provincial governors is obeyed implicitly, and the French Government should make use of her power."

On the other hand De Mahy, ex-Minister of Marine and Colonial Affairs, is much dissatisfied with the idea of a renewed protectorate. He says in The Figaro:

"I planned the expedition and am quite willing to accept the responsibility for it. But Madagascar must become a French colony. The protectorate is useless; nothing but the full possession of the island can recompense France for her expenditure of men and treasure. Otherwise French commerce there will be exposed to the crushing competition of Manchester and Birming

ham."

The German press feels happy in the knowledge that Madagascar is not yet quite conquered and will for some time remain a safety-valve for the martial spirit of the French. The British papers, who watched the expedition with some jealousy in the beginning, accept the inevitable with a good grace, and hope to reap commercial advantages.

Thus The Whitehall Review says:

"We are quite content that the tricolor should float in Madagascar and that France should accept responsibility for the administration of the island, while Great Britain reaps, in a commercial point of view, the benefits of its opening up and development. Only let our French friends understand that we have treaty rights in Madagascar, and they are neither nullified nor abrogated by General Duchesne's occupation of the capital." The Times points out that the civilization of Madagascar can not be accomplished except by slow and laborious process. The Standard and Daily News pay handsome compliments to the endurance of the French troops, and doubt the ability of their officers for arranging such expeditions. The Morning Advertiser sounds the following note of alarm :

More

"From there French cruisers could swoop down upon British argosies, laden with the wealth of the Indies, just as in the old days British fleets lay in wait for rich Spanish galleons on their way home, heavy with ingots of gold and bars of silver. over, the proximity of the island to the African coast—the Mozambique Channel, which separates the two,, is only 230 miles broad tho primarily dangerous to Portugal, by virtue of her East African possessions, might also menace British interests in the Dark Continent. It may be said, however, that France already possesses a harbor at Diego Suarez, and that the annexation of the rest of the island would not make her much stronger for purposes of attack. The great Napoleon, however, is known to have regarded the acquisition of the island as a stepping-stone to that conquest of India which, like Alexander the Great, he once contemplated but never accomplished. We are now bound to face both the strategic and the commercial results of a French annexation-which will now be simply a question of time."

REPARATION FOR THE SE-CHUEN RIOTS.

ENGLAND has forced the Chinese Government to make

amends for the murder of her missionaries. The old way of settling such matters by the payment of an indemnity was regarded insufficient in the present case. The threat that British guns would be brought into play resulted in the degradation and dismissal of the Viceroy of Se-Chuen, the decree being published in the Pekin Official Gazette. "The Viceroy Liu-Ping Chang," so runs the Imperial Order, "shall be stripped of his honors and degraded from his rank for having failed to protect the missionaries resident within his jurisdiction. He shall never again hold office, so that his case may be a warning to others." The British press was at first much elated over the results of England's naval demonstration. The news was announced with such headlines as "China on Her Knees," "The Efficacy of British Guns," "The Right Way to Deal with China," and similar expressions. Some papers thought that England had thus regained her exclusive sway in Asiatic politics. The St. James's Gazette says:

"We have heard a good deal lately of the decline of British prestige in the Far East because we refused to join Russia and France in taking sides against Japan. Lord Rosebery, as we always thought, did right in a difficult dilemma. It was not worth while making an enemy of Japan in order to oblige China. But when the general resettlement in Eastern Asia comes about, we are not to be elbowed out of it, as the Se-Chuen episode and its sequel may serve to remind those who are somewhat too hastily concluding that we have lost all control over the destinies of that region. We are the predominant power in Southern and Eastern Asia, and must remain so, whatever arrangements other people may choose to make."

The Westminster Gazette makes a comparison between the Se-Chuen and Armenian troubles, saying:

"In dealing with either we are dealing with men whose tricks and wiles are usually more than a match for our diplomacy, and yet with both alike we have sincere motives for disinterested friendship. Will the Turk, we wonder, observe what has happened in China and make his submission before and not after our threats, or will he compel us to show him that we do not confine our strong measures to the already thrice-beaten Chinaman?"

The Chronicle, Newcastle, points out that England is not the only country which has obtained satisfaction. This paper says:

"Can it be that the advisers of the Emperor are awakening to a sense of the rottenness of the present system of government? Germany, too, has received satisfaction for an attack made upon one of her mission stations at Swatow. Like ourselves, however, the Germans had brought their gunboats within reach of the scene of the outrage."

But this confidence in efficacy of the methods employed in bringing China to reason was somewhat dashed when it became known that the governor in whose province the outrages were committed had been deposed already for nearly a year, altho he continued to exercise full sway. Prof. R. K. Douglas writes in The Times:

"Until lately the late Viceroy, Liu-Ping Chang, has been in charge of the province, and it is true that to his action has been popularly attributed the late outrages on the missionaries within his jurisdiction. But if this is the man meant, he was stripped of his rank more than a year ago, and was dismissed from his office, tho still allowed to act, in November last. 'But by especia! grace,' so ran the imperial edict issued on the case, we command that Liu-Ping Chang be simply degraded from his present rank, but allowed to retain his post. This is because we have taken into consideration the many years he has served the dynasty energetically and faithfully, and because he has usually been known as a careful and diligent man in his duties'. . . In November of last year this 'weak and incompetent' official was ordered by a decree 'to give up his post and come up to Pekin to await some other appointment.' Is this the man who is now redegraded and re-dismissed? If so, the Chinese Government have met our demands at a very small cost, and the knowledge of this

may possibly account for the alacrity which they have shown to bring the matter to a conclusion."

The Continental press hold views very much in accordance with the last-quoted paragraph. The Temps, Paris, says:

"The expressions of triumph in the British press are probably intentionally exaggerated, in order to conceal their chagrin that the element of peace and moderation in Emperor Kwang-Su's Cabinet has carried the day, depriving Lord Salisbury of the opportunity for striking a blow which might have restored British prestige. That prestige has markedly declined through the policy of Lord Salisbury's predecessor."

And the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Berlin, remarks: "It is to be questioned whether this settlement of the recent incidents is really a success. The deposition of a really responsible official would have been of great importance, if China could be treated as a European power and according to European principles. But there are proofs, old and new, that the Pekin Government encourages the persecution of Christians, and that the deposition of individual officials does not prevent the repetition of atrocities. Liu-Ping Chang took good care to get his private fortune out of danger; his punishment can not, therefore, be regarded as a guaranty for the future."

The position of Germany is regarded as somewhat ludicrous by some Berlin papers. A leader in the Vossische Zeitung contains the following:

"By joining in the naval demonstrations in consequence of the attack on the Basle mission stations at Swatow Germany now finds herself, curiously enough, a member of two Triple Alliances in the Far East-that of Russia and France and that of Great Britain and the United States. She is thus acting at the same time for and against the Chinese-which does not reflect much credit on the policy of the statesmen who allied themselves with France and Russia to oppose the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Unforeseen complications might result if Russia were discovered to be supporting China in her resistance to the representations of other powers."

The editor bases its fears on an article in the Novoye Vremya, St. Petersburg, which believes that China will enter into great railroad enterprises. "Under these circumstances," says the Russian paper, "we must beware of an invasion into China of all those nations which deal in the education of youthful peoples." This, thinks the editor, is meant for England and Germany. The Journal des Débats, Paris, warns England that Europe will not tolerate British encroachments in China. Says this paper:

“Over and above the praiseworthy desire to protect her missionaries England wishes to show China that she does not always intend to allow France, Russia, and Germany to lead in the Far East. Perhaps England intends to make China feel that she must show some consideration for her in the negotiations which have recently begun relative to the Chinese frontier near the Mekong. England's energetic intervention was partly inspired by the wish to protect her subjects—which must meet with general approbation-partly by diplomatic considerations, which the other powers will do well to watch carefully."

THE crusade against certain music-halls in London, which were closed a year ago through the agitation of the social-purity advocates, has come to an ignominious end. The much-talked-about Empire Music-Hall is again in possession of a license, and doing a flourishing business. Mrs. Ormiston Chant, the London female Anthony Comstock, who led the fight against the music-halls, is, however, still the subject of furious attacks on the part of some papers. The Pall Mall Gazette says: "It is significant that Mrs. Ormiston Chant, who looted most of the notoriety out of last year's campaign, has not even found the sacred cause so worthy that she should postpone her lecturing tour in America in its interest. The inference is obvious and deplorable. She has had her boom. She pleaded before the Council for her weaker sisters and her younger brothers and her relatives generally. Now, having become a person of some name, she has left her young brothers naked to the strange woman, and has gone to America to transmute that name into dollars. So that is the end of Mrs. Ormiston Chant."

SOME of the Madagascar names are very pretty. There is Andriamandroso, and Bonganandrianimpoinimerina, and Manjakandrianambanana, and one of the generals is called Rainadriamampandry.

THE

CUBA, SPAIN, AND SPAIN'S WORST ENEMY. HE Spanish troops in Cuba are stirring, and expeditions are undertaken against the bands of insurgents which terrorize the country. A correspondent of the Independance Belge, Brussels, describes the situation of the troops as anything but enviable. Everywhere the rich planters demand protection—the insurgents destroying the sugar-plantations in order to force the planters and their men to join the Autonomists. From five to fifty men are stationed at the plantations, but they had no chance to pursue the insurgents during the hot season. Here and there engagements take place, the troops generally coming off victorious, although attacked by bands of insurgents numbering hundreds of men. Sometimes the employees of a plantation, armed by their masters, successfully resist attacks. The only person of consequence who has joined the Autonomists is the Marquis of Santa Lucia, and his defection is not yet proven. November will, no doubt, be a month of decisive battles. That the Spaniards will not show much leniency to the insurgents is proved by the expressions of the Spanish Premier, who, according to the Imparcial, Madrid, expressed himself as follows:

"It will be a war of extermination or surrender of all Cuban rebels, macheteros and the like. The military organization is complete, and work will be thorough. This time no fools will be left to create disturbances, and Cuba will be for Spain. We have only one object--the complete subjugation of the island. A portion of the rebels will either be put to death or deported."

And General Martinez Campos has issued a very explicit proclamation in which he says:

"The alcaldes of cities and towns shall report upon the passage of all rebel parties through the territory within their jurisdiction, detailing all circumstances coming to their knowledge as to their numbers, leadership, and destination. Such reports must be made to the Commander-General. . . . The greatest diligence must be observed in every instance.

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'They shall also report in writing and by name all individuals who join such parties, as well as those who, after having taken part in the insurrection, return to their homes without having presented themselves to the authorities for clemency."

The Spanish press, with one accord, agrees that everything must be done to preserve Cuba for Spain. "In these days of misfortune for our country every minor consideration must vanish, and we must rise above the situation," says the Union IberoAmericana, a magazine widely circulated among Spanish-speaking people in America and in Europe. On the whole the SpanishAmerican press does not countenance the insurrection. The exceptions are papers published by Americans. But tho the United States Government may observe strict neutrality, and the other American countries be friendly to Spain, the insurgents have an ally whose help is very powerful—the impending bankruptcy of Spain. Money, London, says:

"The main prop of the Spanish Government is the Bank of Spain. To lend to the Government the bank has been compelled to call in loans until it could no longer obtain funds from its borrowers. When the bank had issued the legal amount of notes an act was passed enabling it to increase its circulation. And the Government continued to borrow. One result is that the bank's solvency is simply a question of the Government's solvency. If the Government can not pay, both will go down together. Another result is that the paper circulation is at a great discount, which increases the difficulties of the Government. The latter collects its taxes in paper and has to pay its liabilities abroad in gold. The same applies to the railroad companies, which are mostly in the hands of French capitalists. Every one resident in Spain feels the debt, having to make payments abroad in gold. Hence the widespread distress and discontent, and the insurrections. The Cuban insurrection has put the finishing touch to matters. If the present insurrection lasts as long as the last one, both Spain and Cuba must declare themselves bankrupt."

The writer then discusses the possible chances of raising money

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for the Spanish Government, and comes to the conclusion that they are slight. He says:

"We may take it as settled that a great Spanish loan in London would fail. It is still more certain that such an issue would not be successful in Germany. Paris might furnish the money, if certain concessions are made to the great French houses respecting Spanish railways, and if Spain joins the Franco-Russia alliance, altho it is not easy to see of what great assistance Spain would be either to France or Russia. But there remains the question: What security has Spain to offer? She has never paid her way during the past half-century. Her deficit has averaged $10,000,000 during the past dozen years, certainly not less. If she obtains $150,000,000 at the-to her-low interest of 5 per cent., her deficit must increase to $17,500,000. Not an encouraging prospect for French investors. But there is the tobacco monopoly.

If that were sold to a foreign company, the loan might be arranged. But holders of existing Spanish securities should clearly understand that if the tobacco monopoly is pledged in the way suggested, their own security is lessened correspondingly, the possibility of future borrowing is rendered so small that it may be left out of account, and default upon the old debt becomes inevitable before long."

THE POPE ON REUNION AND TEMPORAL POWER.

THO

'HO adyanced in years, the present occupant of St. Peter's chair is still actively employed in furthering the interests of the church. Contrary to the practises of former popes and of many living prelates, Leo XIII. does not shun the society of journalists. He is willing to impart his ideas by means of the press. Recently an editor of the Novoye Vremya, St. Petersburg, asked the Russian Ambassador to obtain for him an interview with His Holiness, and the Pope readily consented. The conversation turned upon the Pope's most cherished project-the reunion of the churches. Regarding the possibility of a union with the Greek Orthodox Church, he said:

"The difference between the two churches is not very material, and the hankering after the rule of the entire religious world, which is so often imputed to the Church of Rome by people badly informed on religious subjects, does not exist. Look at the church of Spain: hot a single foreigner is to be found in it. The cardinals, the bishops, the priests-all are native Spaniards. The same rule applies everywhere: the clergy must be national. I have told the Poles again and again: Sever religion from politics, and leave politics alone. The development of historical fate was such that you lost your independence, and now you must be obedient to the power which rules you, else I can not assist you. I have said the same thing in my Encyclical to the Poles." Regarding the Socialists the Holy Father expressed himself as follows:

"The improvement which is going on in the economical situation of the masses, and the increased activity of the church, will cause Socialism to vanish, or at least to change. Even now the change is visible in parts where the church has done much. The church will enlighten the people, will take care of their moral development, and cause all such phenomena as Socialism and

Nihilism to vanish."

The Pope has also expressed himself definitely on the Italian occupation of Rome. He has written a letter to Cardinal Rampolla, in which he protests energetically against the festivities which were held in Rome in celebration of its capture. It will be remembered that Sr. Crispi regarded the downfall of the Pope's temporal power advantageous to his spiritual influence, and many papers then declared that the sovereignty which the Pope exercises over the Vatican and adjoining grounds is sufficient to insure his position as independent head of the church, free from all influence on the part of the Italian Government. The Pope, how

ever, says:

"Rome was not occupied by the Italian troops solely to consum

mate Italian unity. No, by pulling down the walls of temporal sovereignty it was intended to destroy one of the safeguards of spiritual power. The real aim was to turn Rome once more into a heathen city. This has once more been proved by the rejoicings of a sect [the Freemasons] which is at enmity with God. The nation suffers, for the promises that its temporal welfare would be looked after have not been kept. Italy is the prey of party struggles and her institutions are threatened by revolutionary spirit. Nothing can insure to the Pope his independence as long as he does not possess the jurisdiction of a sovereign. The guaranty which is said to have been given us is dependent upon the will of others, and there are even indications of threats that this guaranty will be canceled. If the Italians throw off the yoke of the Freemasons, and lend us a willing ear, we have hopes of a better future. Otherwise we expect nothing but new disasters and dangers."

The Pope's expressions have been seconded by the head of the English Catholics, Cardinal Vaughan, Archbishop of Westminster. He said:

"What has the Italian Government done for the country? It has closed 4,000 religious institutions, robbed 50,000 men and women of their means of subsistence, impoverished 380 convents, and made the clergy liable to military service until their fortieth year. Religion has been banished from the schools, the property of churches and charitable institutions, as well as the income of the Papal See, have been confiscated, and the Pope himself is forced to accept the charity of the faithful. He is forced to ask permission of the Government in appointing bishops, and this permission is often refused. Yet these men miss no chance to declare that the Catholics enjoy perfect freedom! The Pope must be altogether independent because he is the supreme judge of 250,000,000 people; he has the right and the duty to speak with authority not only to the people, but to governments and princes. He is honored because he refuses to recognize the revolution. The Italian Government is not in peaceful possession of Rome, for the Pope and the whole Catholic world protest against this robbery. The life of papacy is like that of Christ-the resurrection will follow. In Rome the Pope must either be sovereign or prisoner."

The Italian papers deny that the Pope has been insulted. "The September festivities," says the Riforma, "were indeed the apotheosis of a revolution, but that revolution is justified by the rejoicing of the people. Nothing is done to combat religion; the prestige of the church has, in fact, increased since 1870."-Translated for THE LITERARY DIGest.

FOREIGN NOTES.

A RUSSIAN judge recently gave a decision worthy of Solomon. A creditor complained that he was unable to get his money from a debtor, altho the latter was in a position to pay. The debtor declared that he had promised to pay on St. Henry's Day-a saint unknown in Russia. The judge ordered him to pay on All Saints' Day, "for that day includes all saints not mentioned on the calendar."

MUNSTER, a prosperous city in Westphalia, is at present the scene of nightly uproars. The police there have decided to close all saloons at II P.M. The good people of Münster regard this as an infringement of their rights. Nightly they gather before the residence of the provincial governor, and shout for liberty and beer.

A M. CLAVERIE has asked the Paris Académie de Médecine to agitate for a corset-tax. He attributes the steady decline of births in France to the wearing of tight corsets, and thinks a tax would stop the evil. The learned gentlemen of the Academy accepted the proposition with the gravity for which they are renowned.

T

THE Monde, Montreal, a French-Canadian paper, accuses King Leopold of Belgium of having robbed his sister Carlotta of her fortune. "Guess the editor wanted to get his paper talked about,' says the Handelsblad. If so, he is successful, for the Belgian Consul threatens to prosecute the paper for libel.

THE Czar of Russia recently made a present of 30,000 rifles to the Prince of Montenegro. Prince Nikita is determined to make some use of the gift, and so he is going to establish a standing army.

"THE German Emperor," according to a report, "has taken a new departure in the way of communicating with his ministers and others while absent from Berlin. While he is in Rominton he is followed whereever he goes by a telephone car, by the use of which he is enabled to speak from any part of the chase with the foresters, gamekeepers, etc., and also to keep up close communication with the ministers and other state authorities in Berlin and elsewhere."

WHI

MISCELLANEOUS.

TYRANNIES OF PRIVATE LIFE.

HILE it is a notorious declaration that Britons never, never will be slaves, and that this was virtually a part of the charter granted to the "tight little island,” beloved by Neptune and Freedom, when by Heaven's command it rose from out the azure main, Mrs. E. Lynn Linton, a proud and loyal Briton, writing for The National Review, lifts the curtain on the English social drama and shows us what she calls the "Demon of Tyranny," who sits laughing in his sleeve, a tormentor and a master. First she touches upon the servant question, as follows: "Between servants and employers, pray, who is master? Time was when that question anwered itself by facts too self-evident to be gainsaid. When Mrs. Pepys could beat her saucy wench, and reduce her to obedience by the unanswerable argument of blows, there was no need then to ask who was mistress. Just as the 'nips and bobs and pinches' of sweet Lady Jane Grey proved the working power of the Fifth Commandment and the obedience to parental despotism it included, so did the high-handed treatment of servants by their employers prove the substantial slavery of my Lord's 'rascal' or my Lady's 'hussy.' Nowadays the lines read the other way. Like a dissolving view the scene has changed, so that what was once a throne is now a stool of repentance, and those who were the prisoners are now the jailers.

"The domestic tyranny exercised by servants is assuming formidable dimensions. In its character, if not its methods, it is essentially an insurrection-a Jacquerie carried on in the home instead of the fields and streets. Following the law of reprisals and the force of the rebound, they who were formerly downtrodden slaves are fast becoming pitiless tyrants. Your house, my dear sir, is no longer your castle where you are the captain and constable, paramount over all; and your drawing-room, madam, is no longer your bower where your handmaidens receive your orders, which they are bound by custom and force majeure to obey. It is a territory divided between two apparently equal powers you the employers who pay the money, and they the employed who do the work. But, as the employers have to pay according to the ruling of the market by the employed, while the employed do their work when and how they list, it is they who

as tho he were a confirmed invalid; in the heyday of his maturity coddling him as if he were an octogenarian bordering on second childhood. She continually uses the expression, 'I shall not allow my husband to do so and so;' or, 'I will make my husband do this and that.' Never by any chance does she confess his right to free action, bound as he is in the chains of her tyrannous affection. In the end she makes him what she has so long fancied him to be, a backboneless valetudinarian, whom the sun scorches to fever and the east wind chills to pneumonia-one who has lost the fruit by 'fadding' about the flower."

It seems that there are very many tyrannies in private life under which the free-born Briton groans. Mrs. Linton says that in those country towns where ecclesiastical politics runs high and the elaborate ritual will have no dealings with the unmusical service, the tyranny of what is essentially sectarianism rules heavily. She adds:

"You must belong to one or the other section, and you must make your choice which it shall be. You will not be allowed to hold a middle course and to see the good in each, and, seeing that good, to sip now from one and now from the other cup. If you go to St. Luke's, where they wear stoles and albs and the sentiment of sacrifice obtains, you will not be welcome at St. Mark's, where the minister recognizes the Wesleyan as his brother and calls the Roman Catholic a papist and an idolater. The tyranny of sectarianism owns no allegiance to the doctrine of a common humanity, and the faceted quality of truth is a heresy which each side rejects alike. The especial church which you attend, and the ecclesiastical doctrines which that church favors, are of more value in the minds of these tyrants for the sake of dogma, than the Sermon on the Mount or St. Paul's famous homily on Charity."

In conclusion Mrs. Linton says that it is well to remember that one who hugs his chains and dares not make a bold stroke for freedom is fit for nothing but slavery, and that many of the tyrannies to which Britons submit are caused by cowardice and might be conquered by courage.

are in reality the predominant partners, while the master and IT

mistress are little better than ornamental figureheads.

"Servants are no longer members of the family. They are professionals, detached from personal ties and with no more feeling of love or gratitude than has the cabman for his fare, whom he drives with skill for which he is paid according to the tariff nailed inside his cab. Their pride is in their profession, and personal affection does not enter into the account. Their own pleasure, their own advantage does."

After going into harrowing details of the arrogant usurpations of servants, Mrs. Linton throws light on various domestic corners, among other things depicting the wife who tyrannizes over her husband. To quote:

"She contradicts him at the head of his own table; interrupts his anecdote to set him right on an utterly unimportant little detail-say, the date of a transaction, which he makes the 7th of September, and she asserts was the 8th; she interferes in all his arrangements, and questions his authority in the stables, the fields, the church, the consulting-room; she apportions his food. and regulates the amount of wine he may take; should she dislike the smell of tobacco, she will not allow him the most transient whiff of the most refined cigarette; and, like her brother with his victim, she teaches the children to despise their father by the frank contempt with which she treats him, and the way in which she flouts his opinion and denies his authority. If she be more affectionate than aggressive, she renders him ridiculous by her effusiveness. Like the 'Sammy, love,' which roused Dean Alford's reprobation, she loads him with silly epithets of endearment before folk, oppresses him with personal attentions, and treats him generally as a sick child next door to an idiot. All out of love and its unreasoning tyranny, she takes him into custody-in public as in private life—and allows him no kind of freedom. Robust and vigorous as he is, she worries over his health

NOTHING PERMANENT IN JAPAN.

T seems that the Japanese have but little idea of or concern for material stability. Mr. Lafcadio Hearn touches upon this subject in his paper on “The Genius of Japanese Civilization" (The Atlantic, October), and accounts for it by the psychic influence of Buddhism, with its vast doctrine of impermanency. He thinks that the Buddhistic teaching that the universe is an illusion that life is but one momentary halt upon an infinite journey; that all attachments to persons, to places, or to things. must be fraught with sorrow; that only through suppression of every desire can humanity reach the eternal peace, has profoundly influenced Japanese national character. We quote some of Mr. Hearn's interesting observations:

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'Generally speaking, we construct for endurance, the Japanese for impermanency. Few things for common use are made in Japan with a view to durability. The straw sandals worn out and replaced at each stage of a journey; the robe consisting of a few simple widths loosely stitched together for wearing, and unstitched again for washing; the fresh chopsticks served to each new guest at a hotel; the light shoji frames serving at once for windows and walls, and repapered twice a year: the mattings renewed every autumn-all these are but random illustrations of countless small things in daily life that illustrate the national contentment with impermanency.

"What is the story of a common Japanese dwelling. Leaving my home in the morning, I observe, as I pass the corner of the next street crossing mine, some men setting up bamboo poles on a vacant lot there. Returning after five hours' absence, I find on the same lot the skeleton of a two-story house. Next forenoon I see that the walls are nearly finished already-mud and wattles. By sundown the roof has been completely tiled. On the following morning I observe that the mattings have been put down, and the inside plastering has been finished. In five days the house is completed. This, of course, is a cheap building; a fine one would

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take much longer to put up and finish. But Japanese cities are for the most part composed of such common buildings. as cheap as they are simple.

"Always and everywhere there is a total absence of what we would call solidity, and the characteristics of impermanence seem to mark almost everything in the exterior life of the people, except, indeed, the immemorial costume of the peasant, and the shape of the implements of his toil. Not to dwell upon the fact that even during the comparatively brief period of her written history Japan has had more than sixty capitals, of which the greater number have completely disappeared, it may be broadly stated that every Japanese city is rebuilt within the time of a generation. Some temples and a few colossal fortresses offer exceptions; but, as a general rule, the Japanese city changes its substance, if not its form, in the lifetime of a man. Fires, earthquakes, and many other causes partly account for this; the chief reason, however, is that houses are not built to last. The com

mon people have no ancestral homes. The dearest spot to all is, not the place of birth, but the place of burial; and there is little that is permanent save the resting-places of the dead and the sites of the ancient shrines.

"Even in Japanese art-developed, if not actually created, under Buddhist influence-the doctrine of impermanency has left its traces. Buddhism taught that nature was a dream, an illusion, a phantasmagoria; but it also taught men how to seize the fleeting impressions of that dream, and how to interpret them in relation to the highest truth. And they learned well. In the flushed splendor of the blossom-bursts of spring, in the coming and the going of the cicada, in the dying crimson of autumn foliage, in the ghostly beauty of snow, in the delusive motion of wave or cloud, they saw old parables of perpetual meaning. Even their calamities-fire, flood, earthquake, pestilence—interpreted to them unceasingly the doctrine of the eternal Vanishing."

IF

AN ENGLISH VIEW OF AMERICAN WOMEN. F, as a famous German writer asserts, wealth and rank compel their possessors to exhibit some deference to public opinion, foreign noblemen will have to renounce the idea of seeking their wives among the rich heiresses of our country. Many of our people regard the foreign aristocrat as decidedly inferior to the young men of America, and many English papers express themselves in very strong terms on the American women of the day. One of the least flattering comments appears in The Realm, London. Here are some of the traits which the writer professes to have discovered in our women:

"The American woman must surely be the vainest creature that struts on this earth. Compared to her, Yum-Yum, in the 'Mikado,' admiring herself in her mirror, and congratulating herself on being the most beautiful woman in all the world, is modest. She at least utters her convictions only to herself, whereas the lady from Chicago or Ciceroville goes up on the housetop, and screams so loud that we are compelled to listen whether She is not a bad-looking woman, and she goes to one of the best Parisian modistes for her clothes. But she is not a lady-the word is out of fashion, but the thing never is—and nothing could make her one. She is quite without charm of manner, and her education is of the sort that our Board Schools give our coachman's children at our expense. Her own comfort is the one thing she thinks of."

we will or no.

And here the writer proceeds to give the American woman what he calls "a piece of comfort: "

"So long as you cover yourself with diamonds in the morning; so long as your voice can be heard from one end of the Rue de la Paix to the other; so long as your one topic of conversation is your frock and what you gave for it; so long as you sit about in the public rooms of a hotel in a gown in which you might go to Court; so long as you are not afraid to state en plein table d'hôte that the room was that stuffy and the women smelt that strong you thought you'd have been sick right there; so long as you do all or any of these things, believe me you need have no fear of being taken for the only kind of English woman worth

considering."

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DID KING SOLOMON IMPORT HORSES FROM

THE

SPAIN?

His

HE novel claim that there are good reasons to claim that Solomon, the son of David, the brilliant king of Israel, was a lover and breeder of horses, that he imported in large numbers the horses of Spain, and that he indirectly at least originated the thoroughbred stock of Arabia, has been made in the name of historical archeology by no less a man than Lopez Martinez, the leading authority in Spain in this department. discussion has attracted the attention of a well-known German scholar, Leo Anderlind, who in the Journal of the German Palestine Society, No. 1 of current volume, discusses the problem in detail, and fully agrees with Martinez in the claim that nothing can be adduced to prove that Solomon did not import his horses from Spain, but that there is an abundance of arguments to show that it is possible and even probable that he did do so.

The current opinion that the horse was originally brought from Asia to Europe and not from Europe to Asia, is rejected by both Martinez and Anderlind, and from extracts taken from classical authors it is shown that the Spanish horses at a very early date enjoyed great celebrity. The horse fossils found in the Spanish peninsula date from prehistoric periods, and shows that this animal abounded here long before the emigration of the Aryans, which took place some 2000 B. C. It is highly probable that already in the age of Solomon the Iberian peninsula was famous for its domesticated horses. Anderlind says:

"There are many reasons to claim that the Iberian horses, as is the case to-day, were 3,000 years ago famous for their excellency and beauty. It is highly probable that these horses at that early date already attracted the attention of a man like Solomon and aroused in him a desire to secure them in order to cross breeds with those already in his possession."

In regard to the question whether it would be possible at that early date to transfer horses the great distance from Spain to Palestine, the author of this article indeed doubts whether it could have been done by land, but claims it could easily have been accomplished by the sea route, and that through the intervention of the Phoenicians, the great navigators of that age and the friends of Solomon. The opinion that possibly Solomon himself imported these horses with his "ships of Tarshish," of which mention is made in both Kings and Chronicles (the Tarshish in question being not the Tarsis of Asia Minor, but the Tartessos of the Greeks, the Boetica of the Romans in Southern Spain), is not regarded with favor by Anderlind, partly because of the lack of suitable landing-places on the coasts in the control of Solomon, and in the nature of the case Solomon's fleet could not have consisted of large vessels, as was the case with Hiram's. On the other hand it is certain that the Phoenicians at a very early period sent their vessels as far as Spain, and could easily have brought horses also for the neighboring King Solomon.

The author then discusses the extent to which Solomon made use of horses, and makes out a strong case to the effect that he could not have secured these without importing them from abroad. A rather shrewd argument is applied in this connection. based upon the calculation of the sums paid by King Solomon to King Hiram, seemingly for materials delivered for the building of the temple. Anderlind concludes that Solomon could not possibly have paid the sums stated in the Old Testament to Hiram for this purpose alone, as these materials could not have cost anything like these sums. The money and cities must have been in payment for something else, and he believes that in part at least they were for the thousands of horses which we are told Solomon possessed, and many of which were probably imported for him by

Hiram.

The author further argues that the interest taken by Solomon in horse-breeding and his labors in this direction were transferred in the course of time to the kindred tribe of the Arabs, where later on the thoroughbred type was developed. The author sums up his conclusions in these words:

"Finally I will in a few words recapitulate the chief results of my investigation. I have found nothing to contradict the statement of Lopez Martinez, claiming that the stables of Solomon contained many Spanish horses, but have found a good deal to favor this idea. The breed of horses established by Solomon may have gone to the Arabs and have given them the basis from which was developed their thoroughbred class."

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