Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



277 



THE CHINAMAN AS THE COMING JEW, 

 Bv A Canadian Magistrate. 



Mr. W. Trant, the first police magistrate of 

 Saskatchewan, contributes to the North American 

 Review for February a remarkable paper, entitled 

 " Jew and Chinaman."' He declares that the China- 

 man is the coming Jew. Mr. Trant .says : — 



Thu Cliiiiaman, as the Jew, has discovered ihal where wealth 

 is there also is power, ami he is rapidly becoming wealthy, so 

 that the position of the jew as arbiter of the world's affairs is 

 being threatened by the Chinaman. Napoleon said of China : 

 "There lies a giant sleeping. Let him sleep, for when China 

 moves it will move the world." The white man has awakened 

 the giant, and China is moving. She is making history. China 

 is assimilating Western customs, ideas, and civilisation generally. 

 It may be a bitter pill to swallow, but she is doing it as a 

 matter of prudence and precaution. She has established a 

 complete system of education, from the kindergarten to the 

 university, on the English plan ; her young children are flocking 

 by hundreds of thousands to schools of Western learning. .\ 

 postal service has been established with remarkable rapidity ; 

 telephones, telegraphs, and railways are spreading faster than in 

 any other country ; and commerce, manufactures, and every 

 department of human activity are throbbing with the impulse of 

 a new life. China, always rich in agriculture and minerals, is 

 developing her resources by Western methods. Cotton-mills 

 and steel-mills are multiplying to stlch an extent as to threaten 

 the supremacy of England along these lines. 



If the Jews, despite all the pitiless persecution to 

 which they were subjected, achieved their present 

 position, although they were 



without poetry, without scieoce, without art, and without 

 character, what shall be the result of the Chinese, with their 

 intense solidarity, their marvellous industry, with faith in their 

 new destiny, v\jth a history, literature, and science that are and 

 have ever been the wonder of the world ? China cannot bo 

 kepi bound in her geographical empire for ever. The history of 

 the world shows the fatuousness of the notion. Nor will the 

 overflow be across the plains of Asia and Europe, as was the 

 great movement of long ago. It will take the line of least 

 resistance, viz., across the Pacific. 



OPERA IN ENGLAND. 

 Views uf Dr. Ethel .Smvtii. 



The bio;.'raphical article in the Musical Times for 

 February is devoted to Dr. Ethel Sniytli. 



CAUSES OF failure. 



.■Vs the trend of Dr. Smyth's inspiration is in the 

 (Jirection of opera, her views on the prospects of opera 

 in this country at the present time are interesting. 

 She says : — 



Vou get a first-rate orchestra, goo<.l principals, new scenery 

 paintct, regardless of expense. But all these things arc of 

 little or no value artistically compared with the creation of an 

 adeijtiate emfmhU. 



The Covi nt Ciardcn Syndicate claims to manage the 

 only opera-house in Europe that pays its way without 

 a subsidy, but it i> able to achieve this mainly because 

 it is a fashionable social gathering. The general pro- 

 duction is often excellent, because great singers are 

 engaged, and trouble is spent over favourite works. 

 But -.'.hen a new opera is proposed the risk of failure 

 to please the public is a governing factor in the decision. 



LACK OF THE CRITICAL SENSE. 



The Continental opera-houses are subsidised because 

 the public cares about opera and demands novelties. 

 Dr. Smyth continues ; — 



Whether the English public has a potential t.iste for opera or 

 not we do not know. The food is too badly cooked, and 

 those who are asked to eat it sliow no signs of ai'petite. There 

 is not an audience abroad that has not a rough idea "of whether 

 a performance is good, bad, or indilTerent ; one can say that 

 as regards English opera the English public has not the faintest 

 critical sense in this matter. . . . 



For myself, I have declined two recent offers to produce 

 "The Wreckers" in England, being perfectly certain that it is 

 a waste of time and money. But on the other hand it will be 

 produced in \'ienna next spring, and so certain am I of its 

 being treated as a work of art should be treated that I shall not 

 even preside at the rehearsals. 



Under present circumstances I cannot conceive of ever writing 

 an opera in English again. I would rather "do time" than 

 endeavour to get it properly produced. You cannot make 

 bricks without straw. 



OPERA A CIVILIS.\TION. 



Dr. Smyth thinks English voices extremely beautiful, 

 but the singers have not the most elementary know- 

 ledge of acting and of expressing the drama which the 

 music contains in their action and phrasing. Even the 

 question of light is not thought out. Summing up her 

 views, Dr. Smyth declares : — " Opera is itself a civili- 

 sation, and that civilisation in England is lacking." 



THE FAIRY TALE IN ART. 

 Writing in Chambers's Jotiriial recently, Mr. 

 A. B. Cooper has found a charming subject for an 

 article — " The Fairy Tale in Art." We may explore, 

 he says, every gallery in Europe without finding a 

 single picture with the slightest claim to the title 

 " Old .Master" which has for its subject an incident 

 from a fairy tale. Legend, parable, mystery, 

 mythology are all well represented, but it has been 

 left to the modern artist to discover a mine of wealth 

 in the fairy tale. Of course, the artist was forestalled 

 by the word-painter, but it is interesting to note that 

 during the last fifty years the greatest artists of ou: 

 own country have not thought it beneath their dignity 

 to paint the fairy tale. Two beautiful examples by 

 Mrs. Stanhoiie Forbes are cited — " Hop-o-my- 

 Thumb " and " The Woodcutter's Little Daughter." 

 Mrs. Marianne Stokes has made the fairy tale her 

 special province, and the ])icture " Little Brother and 

 Little Sister " is named to show how she has caught 

 the true authentic note of the fairy tale. Miss 1. L. 

 Gloag has painted " Rapunzel," Val I'rinsep 

 "Cinderella" and "The Goose Girl," ami Mouat 

 Loudon " The Slee|)ing Beauty." Sir ICdward Burne- 

 Jones also painted an allegory of life, " 'l"he Sleeping 

 Beauty," " shadowing sense at war with soul," and .Mr. 

 G. F. Walts painted as one of bis earlier pictures 

 " Little Red Riding Hood." But what a number of 

 fairy tales are still left out in the cold night of artistic 

 neglect ! 



