Reiieir of Kei'iews. IIS^S. 



History of the Month. 



123 



After the Earthquake at San Francisco : A View of the Fire-swept Area. 



their landlords' estates will be very squeamish about 

 robbins; the foreign bondholder. 



Toe Late! 



I hate pessimism ; but I have seen 

 the opposing forces in Russia at 

 close quarters, and I struggle in vain 

 against the despairing con\iction 

 that it is too late. Everything has been too late. 

 Even when I was in Mo.scow last autumn I warned 

 General Trepofif that nothing but a prompt and total 

 abandonment of the lawless and arbitrary regime 

 could possibly avert a hideous welter of bloody con- 

 fusion, in which not only the dynasty, but Russia 

 itseif might disappear. But instead of abandoning 

 it, and endeavouring to win the confidence of (he 

 nation by a resolute return to methods of legality, 

 they continued for nine months to inflame the popu- 

 lar passion and to justify the distrust of the people 

 by measures of ever-increasing violence and illegality. 

 The result has been exactlv what I anticipated. 

 The Duma has assembled animated by feelings of 

 intense suspicion and savage hatred. At Moscow 

 last September I assisted at a dress rehearsal of the 

 drama enacted last month at the Taurida Palace. 

 Possiblv even last .September it might have been too 

 late. But last month all hope of reconciliation had 

 vanished. We are now witnessing the clash of 

 irreconcilable forces. How it will end no one can 

 say, but the bodeful words of a Russian noble still 

 ring in my ears : " I see no way out, whichever way it 

 turns, until after a slaughter of human beings on a 

 scale ab.solutelv unexampled in modem historv.'' 



The opening of the .Austrian Exhibi- 

 tion at Earl's Court naturally brings 

 about a closer intercourse between 

 the subjects of Edward "VII. and 

 Francis Joseph. That is to the good and only to 

 the good. But it is to be feared that it will take 

 more than one .\ustrian Exhibition to enable the 

 average Englishn^an to feel himself at home in the 

 ever-recurring crises of Austro-Hungarian politics. 

 Last month witnessed a welcome reconciliation be- 



Austria 



and 

 Hungary. 



tween the Hungarians and their King. The General 

 Election resulted in the return of a decisive majority 

 for the Independent party, which gained fifty-four 

 seats. The Emperor-King opened the new Hungarian 

 parliament amid great demonstrations of enthusiasm, 

 announcing the immediate introduction of a univer- 

 sal suffrage bill to be followed by a new General 

 Election. Everything appeared to be going as merry 

 as a marriage bell at Buda Pesth, when suddenly 

 the action of the Hungarians in proposing a new 

 agreement with Austria on the Tariff question pre- 

 cipitated a Ministerial crisis in "Vienna. The new 

 Premier, Prince Hohenlohe, resigned because the 

 Emperor-King has decided in favour of Hungary on 

 the Customs question. 



The House of Lords has begun ex- 

 The fate cellently well. Last month a Bill 

 The Peers passed unanimously by the House 



of Commons was sent up to the 

 Lords for their approval. It was a simple little Bill 

 providing that during a strike or lock-out in this 

 country it should no longer be lawful to import 

 foreign blacklegs. It was a pet measure of the 

 Labour Party, and neither of the great political 

 parties took any exception to it. It happened, how- 

 ever, to be the first legislative bantling of the new 

 House of Commons which came before the House 

 of Lords. On the plea that it was not a Government 

 Bill, the Tory majority rallied in force and trampled 

 the poor Foreign Blackleg Bill out of existence. 

 This is admirable. It gives us a taste of their 

 quality. From this we can forecast the kind of mea- 

 sure they will mete out to the Trades Disputes Bill, 

 the Education Bill, the Plural Voting Bill, and other 

 Ministerial measures. The Lords are living in a 

 fool's paradise from which they will be rudely 

 awakened. But the notion that they can precipitate 

 a. general election by simplv checkmating all Liberal 

 legislation is a dangerous delusion from which it 

 rtould be merciful to deliver them without delay. 

 The resources of civilisation, as Mr. Gladstone said 

 on one memorable occasion, are not exhausted, and 



