The Review of Reviews. 



October 1. ISI'^fi. 



ALADYIN. 



A Brief Character Sketch. 

 Mr. Kt-r.ogg Durland sends to the American 

 Keinew oj Rtt'iavs a brilliant pen-picture of the 

 leader of the Russian Party of Toil, Aladyin, whom 

 he describes as " Russia's first walking delegate." 



HIS YOUTH. 

 Mr. Durland says: — 



His parents were o£ the soil— poor to misery — over- 

 whelmed, almost, by their poverty and suffering. But the 

 boy of the family managed to survive infancy, and in due 

 time went to work in the fields. He attended the local 

 schools, and toward the period of adolescence he became 

 imbued with the ambition and idealism which have been 

 the making of so many boys in history, and determined 

 to go to college. Animals interested him on the farm. 

 People interested him as his horizon widened. 



EDUCATION. 

 To be a doctor acemed a practical and worthy way of 

 realising his ambition; 50 to the Uuiversity of Kazan be 

 went. At the age of eighteen he was expelled for " doubt- 

 ful propensities": but he got back again, and eventually 

 completed the first year in the faculty of medicine. But 

 Aladyin's mind was too comprehensive and keen to remain 

 concentrated on medicine. He could not be blind to the 

 condition of the people about him. And Simbirsk, his 

 adopted government, was near the annual famine belt. 

 Aladvin saw, and failed to keep his opinions to himself. 

 WTien he went up tor his examination he was informed 

 that it would be useless. The faculty had determined that 

 lie might not continue his studies. 



TRADES UNIOXIST. 



Undaunted, Aiadyin turned to the faculty of science. His 

 university career was not untroubled, but he managed to 

 stick to it for three and one-half years. Then came the 

 final expulsion. He had learned much, however, in three 

 ye.Lrs and he was by no means dissatisfied- 

 He went at once to the outskirt,s of Kazan, there to 

 labour among working men. He organised trade-unions. 

 He dwelt upon the value and necessity of education. The 

 working men listened, and were glad to be guided by him. 

 voung though he was at the time. .\t last he was arrested, 

 li"t liberated on five hundred dollars' bail, pending the 

 delivery of a verdict. On the eve of this announcement 

 he learned what the morrow would bring forth— four years 

 in prison, solitary confinement, followed by eight years of 

 exile in the frozen north, in the government of Archangel. 

 Here he would be allowed seven kopecks a day— less than 

 four cents— tor food. The prospect did not please. He siic- 

 ceeded in crossing the frontier into Germany, but as he 

 h.-xd no money he soon came into difficulty with the police. 



EXILE. 

 Aladyin fled to Belgium. In Brussels he secured work 

 and managed to eke out a living for a few months; then 

 to Paris, where he remained one year. Back to Belgium 

 for three years. Then he went to London, 



IN LONDON. 

 In London he fared indifferently. He did not land on 

 his feet at once. It was long before he was comfortable. 

 \ more veritable Jack-of-all-Trades could scarce have been 

 found lietween West Ham and Ealing. At one time he 

 was a dock labourer down along the Victoria Docks. Then 

 lie was a journalist— a stevedore of the pen— a tutor in 

 tius.sian. This last led to his becoming a regular instructor 

 in Russian to a group of officers. He worked for a time 

 .TS an electrician. When liard put to it, he turned doctor. 

 Once he did veoman service for a lawyer, incidentally 

 picking up many crumbs of useful information which are 

 now proving of value in his parliamentary career. 



AT TOTNBEE HALL. 

 The settlement movement was in its prime then, and 

 Toynbee Hall, that oldest of social centres, was attracting 

 crowds of working men. Aladyin felt m his element, lo 

 Tovnbee Hall he went, in the heart of Whitechapel. Here 

 he" gave three lectures a week in natural science, and some- 

 times a fourth on a social, economic, or historical subject. 



BACK TO RUSSIA. 

 When the famous manifesto of last October was issued, 

 Madyin was one ot the first to return. He came to St. 

 Petersburg no Finland. He went directly to the working 



men, and during the December strike he was one ot the 

 leaders. Finding, the eye of the police upon him. he 

 shortly found it prudent to leave that city. He journeyed 

 to Sinlbirsk. and there found his family, of whom he had 

 not had direct news in several years. When the Duma elec- 

 tions began to be talked of. his villagers asked him to 

 accept their nomination. He at once formed an electoral 

 committee, but upon receiving secret information to the 

 eflect that he might be ■' t.akeii " .at any time, he again 

 cleared awav. He returne<l to the capital, ajid took up 

 his home on the edge ot the Finnish frontier, and only 

 came to the city by day. \\Tiile here, the election took 

 place in his own Government, and he found himself re- 

 turned to the Duma as a Deputy. Immediately upon hear- 

 ing of this he took steps to form a peasant and labour 

 party. His residence abroad had shown him the value of 

 organisation. He gathered the strongest of the elected 

 peasants about him into a kind of council, and this body 

 invited all of the Peasant and Labour Deputies to hurry to 

 St. Petersburg in order to perfect the org.a,nisation3 as 

 rapidly as possible. 



THE KAISER'S NEW TRIPLE ALLIANCE. 



Dr. Carl Peters contributes to the Windsor 

 Magazine a \ery readable sketch of the often-sketch- 

 ed Kaist-r. After recalling the Kaiser's veneration 

 for his grandfather. Dr. Peters remarks on the 

 friendship which- ties him to his brother, Prince 

 Henrv of Prussia, and adds: — 



The relations between these two brothers always remind 

 me of the two brothers in " The Virginians " ot Thackeray. 

 On the one side absolute brotherly friendship, on the other 

 boundless admiration and loyalty. If it be true that a 

 man is best to be valued by what his nearest surroond- 

 ings think of him. the Kaiser will not fare badly. 



Altogether, the Kaiser has a great charm in personal 

 intercourse. This will be confirmed by all who have come 

 into personal touch with him. whatever their natipnality 

 may be He has obliging manners, is lively and witty in 

 his' conversation, and takes a keen interest in all Ques- 

 tions of the dav. He speaks English and French as his 

 own mother tongue. His knowledge is wide, and no h;i3 

 his mother's quick understanding. 



The most notable thing in the sketch, however, is 

 what Dr. Peters reports of a personal conversation 

 with the Kaiser. He says : — 



I know personally that the German Emperor sees tlie 

 welfare of Germanv. and mankind in general, in a close 

 alliance between the three great Teutonic Powers: America, 

 Great Britain and Germany. He told me so himself m 

 February. 1894, at a Court Ball at the Schloss in Berlin, 

 when I" had just come back from a trip through the 

 United States. He was pleased. His Majesty said that 1 

 had gone there. The visit ot Prince Henry in 1902 is in 

 the same line of policy. The American Press is. 1 think, 

 far too suspicions with regard to German political schemes. 

 Of course the Kaiser wants elbow-room tor his commercial 

 and colonial policy. Every Uiinking German desires that. 

 " Our future lies over the seas." he said at Stettin, uut. 

 I think, a development of fifteen years has given ample 

 proof to mankind that Kaiser Wilhelm n. has no military 

 ambition dangerous to the peace of the world. 



Pvthagoras might feel himself a little at home in 

 the Julv Monisi. For number in its various develop- 

 ments forms a prominent subject of discussion. Mr. 

 ■W. S. Andrews describes \vith illustrations the 

 various forms of magic cube. The editor deals 

 with the number Pi in Christian prophecy. The 

 relation between the diameter and the circumference 

 of a circle, long before it was more accurately ascer- 

 tained, even in primitive times, was recognised in 

 the number 3^, or seven halves. Hence perhaps 

 the mystic number 7, the frequent occurrence of 

 '■ three davs and a half," and the phrase, " a time, 

 times and a half." 



