Ri'netc of Heviews, 1/7/06, 



The Reviews Reviewed. 



85 



THE DUTCH REVIEWS. 



Vragen des Tijds contains an article dealing with 

 the present ixjsition of Church and Stat-e in France, 

 but the most interest-ng contribution to tliat review- 

 is the one dealing with insurance. The writer tells 

 us how the German Government insures its workmen 

 against siokne-ss, and gives details for the guidance of 

 the Dutch. Insurance in Germany is conipulsoi-y for 

 tlni!-^ earning le.^f- than a certain amount. In the case 

 of sickness and old age that amount is roughly equal 

 to £100 per annum. The workman pays half tJie old 

 ago premium and two-tiiiri's of that for sickness, the 

 employer paying the otlior portion in both cases. 

 The State graJits a subsidy in the case of old age 

 pensions. 



Another article deals with the strife between 

 Capital and Labour; and Dr Gids also has a contri- 

 bution on similar lines. An effort is being made to 

 organise labour, and to take such steps as shall pre- 

 vent lamentable collisions between employers. 



Tho next article in Di Gids is an essav on " An lu- 

 troduclion to the Histoi-y of the Dutch Language." 

 It is int.eresting to thoss who ai-e fond of studying 

 the clianges in words how the consonants remain 

 through the ages, or how this one or that one 

 changes into another, but the ordinary reader will not 

 see very much in it. Professor A. G. van Hamel's 

 sketch of '■ The History of the Romance Languages," 

 although very learned, will command more interest. 

 The Romance languages are tho.se which have sprung 

 from the Latin. They were used in songs and bal- 

 lads, which were often stories in rhyme, and so ob- 

 tained their general title. 



The article on "The Lack of Purpose in Living 

 Nature,'' as we may translate tha title, is deci-'edly 

 interesting. We have arrived at certain opinions con- 

 cerning the reason of this or that, and we believe 

 that our conclusions are accurate. We say that 

 various flowers have gaudy colours or sweet pei fumes 

 in order to attract insects, that those little creatures 

 probe amnng the flowers for honey, and .so secure 

 fertilisation. We see in this a plan which appears to 

 us to be just the thing. Are we correct in assuming 

 that eveirytbing is done in that way for such and 

 such a reason? Have we really found it all out, or 

 are we only at the door of the problem? We judge 

 to the best of our ability, according to our lights, as 

 people usad to say. but we may be wrong. 



Ehevier has an interesting article on Agnano, near 

 Naples : it is well illustrated, and the sketch of the 

 career of Adolph Menzel. with reproductions of his 

 p'ct.ures, is readable. 



On-.e Eeitio is an average number; it contain.s the 

 continuation of the series of articles on Hellas, Old 

 and New, with quotations from Byron and others, 

 and vivid descriptions of places, which jointly bring 

 tlie old and the new very close together. 



THE SCANDINAVIAN MAGAZINES. 



Varia for March opens with an account of the 

 haidsliips and perils of General Mnclonald's expedi- 

 tion to Lhassa in the autumn of 1003, and a descrip- 

 tion of tho wonderful city. Zuloaga. the famous 

 Spanish national painter, whose work has just been 

 on exhibition in Stockliolm, is the subject of another 

 article. 



A grini contribution is that given by Tlior Hiigdahl. 

 which, under the title, 'The Atoning Blood," pyo- 

 fes.ses to give a true picture of the horrible superst'- 

 tions existing amongst the country folk of Sweden .so 

 rec mtly as 1840, when a sever© winter was followed 

 by a long drought, and a consequent epidemic of 



smallpox. The .scared people began to whisper among 

 themselves that this must be the wrath of God vent- 

 ing itself upon innocent and guilty alike, and that 

 what the Almighty wanted was— blood! Now, by an 

 evil chance, there was an unfortunate farm-servant 

 lying in prison, accused on very slight evidence of 

 having murdered a ragman. A host of witnesses who 

 hitherto had been silent now came foi-ward. Whether 

 their evidence was false or frue, the judge and jury- 

 had heard so much about the need of Atoning Blood, 

 and, not carina; to oppo.-^e themselves against the' 

 people, that they did not think twice about a verdict 

 of " guilty." Then follows a gruesome description of 

 the execution and its attendant horrors. 



Last month a writer in Dc Gids insisted on an in- 

 crease of Dutch trade in Persia and the Levant. This 

 month in Dansk Tidskrift Dr. J. Ostrup endeavours 

 to rouss Denmark from her contpnted self-effacement 

 as a humb'.e little State, with scarcely any foreign 

 politics at all, to take advantage of the special op- 

 portunities afforded such small countries as herself 

 of "doing good business" abroad. Her very small- 

 ness protects her from the envy and aggre-ssiveness 

 of the Great Powers. What a Frenohman would 

 grudge a German, and the German in turn the 

 Englishman, they would joyfully perm't to a Dutch- 

 man, a Portuguese, or a Dane, and in the near future 

 Denmark will find ample opportunities in the East 

 of increasing her activities and of making a name for 

 herself without rousing political .suspicion and 

 jealousy. 



But this sort of thing should not be left to private 

 enterprise as has been the ca,se, for example, in Siam. 

 It should be the duty of the Government to open up 

 fields of. commerce and labour for the Danes in such 

 countries as would not, after a generation or two, 

 completely absorb the emigrant, robbing the homeland 

 of him and his sons for ever, as is the case in America, 

 from whence, having once made a hearth for himself 

 there, he rarely returns. The emigrant to East Asia, 

 to Siam, to the Levant, would always turn back to 

 the homeland, placing at its disposal such mercantile 

 experience and, haply, also such capital as he had 

 acquired abroad. Now, however, it is to private 

 initiative that Denmark owes such foreign trade and 

 industriis as she ha.s. It is to the enterprise of a 

 private individual at the founding of the great 

 northern telegraphic company in Ea.st Asia that she 

 owes the market for her wares she has there; in 

 spite of w-hich she has !eft herself without any repre- 

 sentative in Pekin, and on the whole Chinese coast 

 possesses but one solitary consul sent out from the 

 home country. 



Dr. Ostrup, therefore, itisists first of all upon a 

 reorganisation and increase of the Danish consular 

 service, which is absurdly inadequate, and a weeding- 

 out of such men as have no other interest in their 

 post than that which lies in the title and uniform. 

 In Constantinople Danish interests have, so far, been 

 'taken charge of by the Sw-edish consulate, and this at 

 a time wlicn very shortly the co iipletion of the Bag- 

 dad railway will unlock the w-hole Orient with its 

 wealth of opportunities both national and private. 

 There may bo some doubt as to whether Denmark 

 should have her representative in Const aJitinople or 

 Bagdad — though in view of the strong centralisation 

 of the Osman Government, Constantinople seems pre- 

 ferable — but there can ho no doubt ivhatever that the 

 lack of a representative in Turkey is depriving Den- 

 mark of a host of chances which, iif counted in money, 

 would far exceed the cost of such representation. 

 Representation is advertisement, ajid adyertisemcnt is 

 as necessai-y to the State as to the individual, if she 

 cares for growth and progress. 



