Leading Ariicles in the Reviews. 



597 



MISSIONARIES AS DIPLOMATISTS. 

 In tlie A»itriuin Revieic of A'(7iai.'s Mr. W, T. 

 K\\\^ writes of Mr. E. T. Williams, Secretary to the 

 American Legation ai Pekin, who initiated the four- ' 

 nation loan for the payment of whicli China pledged 

 the revenue of Manchuria for forty-tive years and so 

 checkmated Russian and Japanese designs : — 



E. T. Williams used to be a n1is^icl[lalv ; (bat is how he got 

 his perfect cormiiaml of the Chinese language ; for there are 

 precious few foreigners, outside the mission body, who master 

 this most dilViciiIl ol" tongues ; probably it needs the grace of 

 religion to support one through the ordeal ! Dr. Tcnney, the 

 Chinese Secretary of the American Legation at Peking, is 

 also an ex-missionary ; as is also E. K. Miller, the present chief 

 of the Ear 1'. I'^tcrn Bureau at Washington. Williams is Ohio 

 born, and an M.A. from Bethany College, W.Va. He entered 

 'he ministry of the Disciples of Christ in 1S75, pre.aching in 

 Denver, Brooklyn, and Cincinnati for a dozen years. Then he 

 *'cnt to China as a missionary, working there in this capacity, 

 >vhicli brings a man closest to the people, from 18S7 to 1896, 

 Then he carried his knowledge of Chinese into the .\mcrican 

 consulate at .Shanghai, where he acte<l as interpreter for two 

 years. As translator to the Chinese Government at Shanghai, 

 during the ensuing three years, he built up a wide acquaintance 

 with the native gentry and officials, and a subst.antial foundation 

 for his work as Chinese secretary of the American Legation in 

 Peking, from 1901 to 190S. This post brought him into rela- 

 tionship with all of the leading Chinese, from the throne down, 

 ami his ch-iracter, quiet, retiring, apt in courtesy, faithful in 

 confiilcnces and steadfast in friendship, won him the intimacy of 

 many Chinese statesmen. He has been unolVicial counsellor to 



my of them in trying times. 



grounds in^o the charming suburb of RocUcliffe, but guber- 

 natorial influence — if it is a gubernatorial project — is limited, 

 and, moreover, by the time the plans are evolved the end of 

 the allotted term is within sight and the old Hall gels a new 

 lease and a new coat of paint. The marquesses and earls of 

 the past have made the best of ihe present premises, and so it 

 must be with the Dale. 



CANADA'S VICEREGAL PALACE. 

 In the Ca/iaiiiii>i Miix''izt/ii; for November Mr. H. T. 

 Branch writes on Ottawa Society and the Duke of 

 Connaught. He says that had Britain sent over 

 instead of Earl Grey or the Duke of Connaught one 

 of the five hundred peers which were to have been, 

 ill certain circumstances, created, it would have 

 reduced the office of an overseas Viceroy to a 

 pitiable or laughable level. There is no ambassador's 

 row in Ottawa. There are no great leaders of 

 society, ai)art from the ladies of Rideau Mall, though 

 Cabinet Ministers' wives and sisters do their pari 

 nobly. It was computed recently that Ottawa con 

 tained thirty millionaires. Ottawa has no great 

 university, no great college, no great newspaper, no 

 great .shop. Hatl the Duke of Connaught been 

 coming for a longer term : — 



The five-year pcrio<l might have permitted and induced the 

 erection of a viceregal dwelling somewhat more creditable to 

 the dignity of the I )ominion than is Rideau Hall. The shorter 

 periixl of two years is not suflficieni for more thin the customary 

 renovation for a new occupant, a little painting, whilcwashing, 

 recovering of furnilure, so to speak. The writer is not, ol 

 course, informcil Mhether or not anything more considerable 

 would have been in any case undertaken, but it is an admilted 

 fact that the present building is a poor alT.iir, speaking moder- 

 ately. In connnon parlance around Ottawa it is termed "a 

 shack," and actually it is a rambling un^hapely struciure, wilh 

 odd corners which have been added from lime to tim(\ and the 

 whole of which has been in continual necil of repairs. Re- 

 current rumours there have been of plans looking to Ihc erection 

 of a palatial mansion somewhere to the north of the present 

 buihiing with an exknsion of the already large and pleasant 



CRUCIAL TESTS FOR THE MONROE DOCTRINE. 



In the Forum for November Mr. Julius Chambers 

 pronounces the Monroe Doctrine to be in the balance. 

 He says that the Argentine Republic is the most pro- 

 gressive State in South America. The population of 

 their capital, Buenos Ayres, is practically li^uropean ; 

 the municipal institutions are in the hands of 

 Germans and English. The probabilities are that ,1 

 landing in force by Germany, provided Great Britain 

 were complacent, would be welcome. In such an 

 event, England remaining neutral, the burden of 

 saving the Argentine Republic from itself would 

 devolve upon the United Slates, single-handed and 

 alone. It is a vast State, but one which its possessore 

 cannot defend from any European Power that 

 seriously means to occupy it. Peru would fall easy 

 prey to English capture, because all the commer- 

 cial interests therein are British. The foreign wedge 

 of assault, if it ever be driven into South America, 

 will go through Uruguay, aimed at the conquest of 

 Argentina. The writer concludes : — 



Disappointed in Morocco, Cermany is the one European 

 Power likely to put the Monroe Doctrine to a test in the near 

 fuiurc. Suppose she were to buy the Danish Islands in the 

 West Indies, how could the United .States enforce a withrlrawal 

 from the purchase? Perhaps we would be willing to trade the 

 Philippines for them ?— a relief in more ways than one. Suppose 

 Japan to have designs upon the Calap.agos Islands, as suspected ? 

 What could the United States do, if Japan were to purchase 

 them from Ecuador ? 



"A GATE BEAUTIFUL." 



Un'hicr the suggestive title "A Gate Beautiful, 

 the Ragged School Union (32, John Street, London) 

 issues a report of its wonderful activities on behalf of 

 crippled and outcast children. In the cause of those 

 who suffer Sir John Kirk has enlisted the services of 

 workers from every grade of society. The officers of 

 the Shaftesbury Society (as it is now known) include 

 men like the King, VVill Crooks, the Duke of \\'est- 

 niinster, and a notable host beside, and the offices 

 are not honorary. The name of Lord Kinnaird is 

 more than a guarantee of tasks attempted and good 

 work accomphshed. 



The report is a work of considerable literary and 

 artistic merit, and the reader who sends sixpence for 

 a copy will end by becoming a regular subscriber and 

 helper to this one of the most humane of our national 

 charitable agencies. 



If by any chance the reader has prior claims on his 

 cheque book, he will never regret the decision to 

 become one of the Society's voluntary workers, whose 

 activities in the past have induced even olVirialdoiu to 

 depart from statistics and do things I 



