48o 



The Review of Reviews. 



A RHAPSODY ON DEATH. 



M. Maeterlinck, in the Fortnightly, concludes 



his study of death, of which the final sentences 



are as characteristic and as lucid as what goes 



before : — 



It were mucli more reasonable to persuade ourselves that the 

 catastrophes which we think that we behold are life itself, the 

 joy and one or other of those immense festivals of mind and 

 matter in which death, thrusting aside at last our two enemies, 

 time and space, will soon permit us to take part. Each world 

 dissolving, extinguished, crumbling, burnt, or colliding with 

 another world and pulverised means the commencement of a 

 magnificent experiment, the dawn of a marvellous hope, and 



Photo fy] [Dover Street Stiidis. 



Maurice Maeterlinck. 



Who h.is been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature this year. 



perhaps an unexpected happiness drawn direct from the in- 

 exhaustible unknown. What though they freeze or fijmc, 

 collect or disperse, pursue or flee one another : mind and matter, 

 no longer united by the same pitiful hazard that joineil ihem in 

 us, must rejoice at all that happens ; for all is but birth and 

 rebirth, a departure into an unknown filled with wonderful 

 promises, and maybe an anticipation of some umiiiirable 

 advent. 



AnA, should they stand still one Jay, become fixed and 

 remain motionless, it will not be that they have encountered 

 calamity, nullity or death ; but they will have entered into a 

 thing so fair, so great, so happy, and bathed in such certainties, 

 that lliey will for ever prefer it to all the prodigious chances of 

 an infinity which nothing can impoverish. 



The studies, by the way, have been jniblished in 

 book form by Messrs. Methuen at 3s. 6d. net. 



THE DARK SIDE OF SOUTH AMERICA. 



The discovery of .South America was said to be 

 the great event of the second Hague Conference. 

 A\'e have heard much of the wealth, enterprise, 

 resources and commercial progress of the South 

 American States. 



"almost unmversal!" 



Another and a very terrible side is given in 

 Blackwood for November, in an article on the 

 immigrant in South Americ a. The writer says : — 



All men are armed in Brazil. The central government is 

 weak. The Brazilians increase slowly or not at all. Being, 

 with few exceptions, half-breeds, they need to be continually 

 recruited by the unmixed race on either side, or else they tend 

 to die out. Their families are small and unhealthy. It is not 

 easy to explain why. The facts are well known, but they are 

 shameful to name. Tl'.e reader will allow us to say no more 

 than this — that a certain hereditary disease is not only widely 

 prev.alent, but is all but universal in Brazil. 



The English, French and German settlers can look 

 after themselves, or are generally protected by the 

 capitalists who employ them. The Italians come 

 in great numbers to help in the coffee harvest, but 

 they return in great numbers. The writer asks, how 

 comes it that the new comers should be so eager to 

 go away again ? He answers ;— 



The reason is that the Governments of these countries do not 

 protect the settler against the feather-headed, brutal, and corrupt 

 usage at the hands of judicial and police officials. 



" WHITE SLAVE " TRAFFIC. 



Many immigrants are far from desirable : — 

 The "White Slave" traffic is horribly active along the 

 South American coast. Companies of high repute are not 

 ashamed to profit by its money. There is no secrecy about the | 

 thing. It is obtruded on the notice of the first-class passenger ' 

 by the flaunting swagger of persons of both sexes who come an I 

 go regularly, and whose purpose is notorious. They take ( 

 first-class cabin for themselves, and perhaps a score of secon \ 

 and third-cLass berths for those they bring with them. Tl ; 

 captain will tell you that they could be stopped, and that 1 

 hates to see his fine ship turned into — and he uses a very pi; 

 word. But the Companies do not act. 



POLICE — ROTTEN. 



The immigrant could be easily protected if trie 

 police did their duty. But — 



The judicial and police establishments of South .^.merica are 

 generally maintained fi r any purpose except the avowed one. 

 They are the political agents of the men in power, and because 

 they are indispensable they mu?t not be punished for their 

 excesses. Their hand is heavy on the poor settler in town or 

 lountry. If a commissary of police desires the good-looking 

 ■ 'aughttr of a small tradesman, and finds himself denied, he 

 will tax the father to ruin. In Buenos Ayres itself, which 

 I iinsts profusely of its civrlisation, the police, mostly Indians 

 lu'in Salta, have seized women in the streets. 



CLERGY- -AS BAD. 



The spiritual police is not much better : — 



I'roui Mexico southwards the disorders of the clcrg)', secular 



or regular, are notorious. Decent behaved clerics can only be 



obtained by importing them. The men who possess what . 



passes for education in .South .\iucrica arre as destitute of all 



religious belief as of sexual morality. 



The only way in which Italy can prevent her help- 

 less sons being exploited and abused is by forbidding 

 the recruiting of labour by the agents of South 

 American employers. 



