Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



663 



REVOLUTIONS IX LATIN AMERICA. 



Wanted — a Tribunal of Arbitration. 

 In the June number of Chambers's Journal there is 

 iin article entitled " .\spects of Latin-American 

 Revolution^.'' The writer, a resident for nearly a 

 quarter at a century in various Latin-American 

 republics, sa\s he has witnessed many revolutions, and 

 he gives some details which are the record of personal 

 experience. 



LIFE UNDER MARTIAL LAW. 



Personal ambition, politicivl intrigue, and love of 

 excitement are among the causes. It is comparatively 

 seldom, he says, that they arise from a desire of the 

 mass of the people to free themselves from oppression. 

 The Dictator Rosas was condemned to death in 1861 

 by the .\rguntine Congress as a professional murderer 

 and robber, 2,034 assassinations having been carried 

 out by his orders. On the outbreak of a revolution 

 martial law is proclaimed ; the people live under a 

 dictatorship, and the Government do what they please. 

 Many atrocities are then perpetrated. It is a capital 

 offence to criticise the Government, and in .March, 191 1, 

 two Argentine journalists were condemned to death 

 under such circumstances during a revolution in a 

 neighbouring republic. If atrocities half as bad had 

 been committed by the Turks, the British Press would 

 have been loud in its condemnation and calls for 

 redress ; but the British public, which can be roused 

 to indignation over the Bulgarian atrocities, views 

 with indifference atrocities committed in the South 

 .\merican republics. The writer hopes his article will 

 lead to a thorough investigation of the state of affairs 

 in Latin .Vmerica. 



MARALTJERS IN COUNTRY DISTRICTS. 



Xeutral foreigners who take no part in the revo- 

 lutions arc not left unmolested. Their horses and other 

 property are frequently seized, and no compensation 

 is made. Kven in times of peace there is little security 

 for life and property in remote districts. One of the 

 first acts of revolutionaries is to get " volunteers." 

 These volunteers are rounded up like so many cattle, 

 and tied with a rope to prevent escape. The conse- 

 quence is the remoter parts of the country are soon 

 filled with bands of marauders, who steal horses or 

 anything they may require, and commit outrages and 

 murders with impunity. ' 



SLOGESTED REMEDIES. 



A society for the suppres.sion of revolutions, adds the 

 writer, is quite as necessary as one for the suppression 

 of international strife. He hopes that one will soon l)e 

 established, or that a tribunal, such as that at the 

 Hague, will widen its scope so a.s to include revolutions 

 and civil war. He suggests that such a society should 

 have an accredited agent in every South American 

 capital, empowered to offer his services as mediator 

 between the contending parties, and publish accounts 

 of the revolution and its causes in the European Press, 



to collect evidence of atrocities, and do anything to 

 prevent revolutions or mitigate their effects. As an 

 alternative the foreign consuls or diplomatic agents 

 might form themselves into locul peace committees, 

 acting, if possible, under the auspices of the Hague 

 Tribunal, with the consent of their Governments. 



ARE DEGREES DEMOCRATIC? 



The Judgment of Brazil. 



In the May Bulletin of the Pan-American Union 

 Dr. E. E. Brandon describes higher education in Brazil. 

 He says that up to the present time Brazil has the 

 unique distinction of possessing no universities. There 

 were schools of law, medicine, engineering, and other 

 professions, but no corporation combining two or more 

 of these faculties under one organisation. The new law 

 promulgated in ign has abolished by a stroke of the 

 pen the rights, privileges, and prerogative of these 

 ancient and aristocratic faculties, " .\11 degrees have 

 been abolished, as unsuited to a democratic society." 

 The graduate now receives only a simple certificate of 

 having finished the appointed course of study. The 

 Brazilian doctor, whether of jurisprudence, medicine, 

 or mathematics, was regarded as possessing a pass- 

 port to the most responsible places in the State and 

 society : — 



It seems therefore the part 01" a democracy to abolish this 

 privilege, as it had abolished others. It is worthy of note that 

 in Chile, likewise, the title of doctor does not exist ; in the 

 medical profession only is it used by sufferance or courtesy. By 

 the abolition of titles, the stiffening of entrance requirements, 

 increa.sed severity in yearly and final examinations which can be 

 controlled by the appointive power of the central Government 

 to .State-aided schools, the Republic hopes to lessen the number 

 of aspirants to empty academic honours, and turn the tide of 

 young intellect and energy into channels of social and industrial 

 usefulness. 



Under the new law there has already been formed in 

 Sao Paolo a university corporation, but it is doubtful 

 if the organisation can be made effective. Except in 

 rare instances, it is probable that the independent 

 faculty will continue to be the rule in Brazil. Liw is 

 the fashionable curriculum, and the law school is the 

 gentleman's school. It gives the general culture that a 

 well-to-do citizen feels most useful. The medical schoof 

 offers the best type of higher instruction in the South 

 .Vmcrican countries, and the physician is, as a rule, 

 the best educated man. His training is more practical, 

 and better develops the powers of observation and 

 judgment :^ 



As a result the average physician Is a man of better judgment 

 ami fairer appreciation of actu.iliiics than the average man in 

 other professions, and, contr.iry 10 the cuatoni in the L'nilol 

 Slates, the physician in South .\ir.erica is very frcnuenlly called 

 to positions of high political importance. 



Two delightful features in the English Illustrated 

 Magazine for [une are the charmingly illustrated 

 sketches of VVinchel.sea by Nt. M. loIuiMin, and of 

 Evesham by Arthur Howle> 



