The Reviews Reviewed. 



503 



THE FORUM. 



The October issue is a good number. Most of 

 the articles have been separately noticed. 



Mr. Sydney Brooks gives an English view of Cuba. 

 He says that few countries have an external aspect 

 of greater health and cleanliness. The Americans 

 have put the fear of dirt into the Cuban people. 

 Yellow fever has become not merely obsolete, but 

 virtually impossible. The island is one of the most 

 accessible spots on earth, and yet one of the most 

 neglected. Its material future, however, may be 

 taken as a thing assured. Cuban government is 

 expensive, politics is a struggle of the ins and outs, 

 an affair of deals and accommodations on a basis of a 

 division of the offices and spoils. There is nothing 

 the Cubans so heartily dread and detest as another 

 occupation and government of their island by the 

 Americans, and the fear of it acts as an abiding 

 restraint on their domestic factions. 



Mr. J. S. H. Umsted anticipates from the reform 

 of Chinese currency a brisk demand for American 

 silver. He is afraid of the British introducing the 

 gold standard. 



THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW. 



In the October number there are not many articles 

 claiming special attention. 



AiMERICVN SECURITIES IN EUROPE. 



.\Ir. J. E. Dunning gives some notable facts in this 

 connection. He finds in it " reciprocity in the most 

 noteworthy form " ; — 



It is a noble tribute to the financial genius of the age that 

 there has been found a way to so increase the neighbourhness 

 (>{ nations, their knowledge of and confidence in one another, 

 and their means for maintaining constant and mutual touch, 

 that the needs of one can be matle to feed and sustain the 

 requirements of another under orderly systems and easily 

 workable regulations, and with the nearly complete disappear- 

 ance of that feeling of suspicion and distrust which in former 

 days was sometimes encountered in international enlcrprises. 

 Some of the strong peoples have grown, under this new 

 impulse, to an intimacy of interest which stands far over 

 average "alliances" in potency for general haritiony and 

 peace. 



The annual savings of France are put down at 

 400 million dollars. Italy is a famous saver, but an 

 extremely liberal spender. German national savings 

 are stated to be slightly over 900 million dollars 

 n year. 



IN I'RAISE OF CLARENDON. 



Mr. G. Bradford, Jun., writes on Clarendon as a great 

 English portrait painter. He quotes Warburton, 

 Clarendon's earliest commentator : — 



" In the knowleilge of human nature (the noblest qualifica- 

 tion of the historian) this great author excels all the tlreek and 

 I.ilin historians put together." This is strong langu.igc, but 

 (lie " History " and " Life" go far to justify it. 



IIRIOHTON llOTEtS AND PIERROrs. 



Mr. \y. D. Howells writes entertainingly about his 

 visit to lirighton. He speaks of "that winning note 

 of personal consideration which welcomes the guest 



to the English hotel." He confesses to a passion for 

 pierrots, ever since he saw them at Llandudno six 

 years ago. All the English love those engaging 

 creatures and have them everywhere. He likes 

 Brighton. 



Mr. S. P. Orth inquires, " What of the individual ?" 

 and insists that every function of society will ulti- 

 mately bring its influence to the adjustment of the 

 balance between the individual and the group. Mr. 

 P. S. Peirce discusses a number of industrial diseases. 

 -Mr. Sydney Brooks continues his study of aspects of 

 public ownership. J. E. Hoare writes up the Irish 

 national drama. ' 



THE BIBLIOTH^QUE UNIVERSELLL 



Now and then we have a magazine or a review 

 celebrating its jubilee, but centenaries are as yet 

 indeed rare. The Gentleman s Magazine, which was 

 founded in i73r, is probably our only English 

 example, and the only other magazine to have 

 achieved a similar distinction is, we believe, the 

 Bibltotheque Universelle. 



The Bibliothequc Universelle for October opens 

 with a long obituary notice of Edouard Tallichet, its 

 editor, 1866-1909. The original review was founded 

 at Geneva in 1796, and a few years before M. Talli- 

 chet took it over and transplanted it in Lausanne the 

 Revue Suisse was amalgamated with it. From three 

 hundred subscribers it soon numbered over three 

 thousand. A difficulty then, as now, was to find suit- 

 able novels, for the editor desired his review to be 

 read by all, and the choice was somewhat limited. 



The centenary year of 1896 was a triumpii. 

 Then came bad days. M. Tallichet had what he 

 called " his ideas," and he was unable to make con- 

 cessions to the spirit of the new epoch. Many of his 

 early contributors were dead ; others, discouraged, 

 alienated themselves. Numa Droz remained faithful, 

 but somehow or other the review ceased to be the 

 result of the live forces of French Switzerland. Also 

 competition, which at the beginning was very stu.iN, 

 began to assume redoubtable proportions; oih'-r 

 reviews were founded to suit the tastes of the nt^.v 

 public, and the magazines of France flooded ti.e 

 Swiss market. Nevertheless, M. Tallichet was not 

 discouraged. He regarded the alienation of his 

 readers as merely an abnormal atid passing phenome- 

 non, and always he awaited the event which would 

 respond to his appeals and restore to him honour and 

 prosperity. There was something tragic in this 

 obstinate struggle of an old man for what he believed 

 to be truth and right. Eventually the day arrived 

 when he had to give in. The resources of the review 

 were almost exhausted, and it was a wrench when ha 

 had to |)lace it in other hands. But to the last he 

 continued to take a deep and active interest in it, and 

 it may with truth bq said that he died at his post, inr 

 on the last day of his life he had been busy at lh« 

 office only a couple of hours before his death. 



